ActiveCollab

Vorteile

It is beautifully designed so initially it seemed easier to use and navigate.
It had a client portal and I could track my jobs and invoice/do estimates all from one place.

Nachteile

It has hidden fees. Everywhere it advertises itself as only 7.50 a month. - But using the MAIN FEATURES OF WHY I WANTED THIS APP is extra, like invoicing, time tracking and using the client portal. This was not made clear initially. The client service is terrible. I would ask questions but there response was really terrible english language - not what I would expect from an international app that everyone should be able to understand. Especially a client service person called Darla. Terrible and rude manners and unhelpful.!

In Betracht gezogene Alternativen

PlutoLMS, monday.com und ClickUp

Warum ActiveCollab gewählt wurde

I wanted a app that I could use to track my projects, my daily tasks, and has a timer. Plus I can send out cost estimates and invoices from and my clients can log into to track and make note of project progress and timeline.

Zuvor genutzte Software

Todoist und Asana

Gründe für den Wechsel zu ActiveCollab

Activecollab seems to be the cheapest option where I could managment my projects, finances and clients from one place.

Vorteile

Time tracking. It's wonderful. We are able to track our time down to the specific task within projects. We can also label each project by client and bill clients based on the time we've specifically tracked for each task and project. All of this tracking also allows for reporting to our clients - down to being able to let them know how much time was spent on each task. Customer service is also amazing. One of our team members has made suggestions for new/alternate features/revised functionality, and things were updated fairly quickly! So good. Thank you!

Nachteile

I'd love to see the organization of the projects in a different way. Organized instead by client on the main page. The main page is otherwise less organized than I need it to be.

Vorteile

The very first thing I would like to highlight is ActiveCollab's great, minimalist design. It is one of the most beautiful UI I have ever used. Everything is clearly and logically laid out and it doesn't take many clicks to get to the desired item.
The project management is also simply beautiful, so you don't lose track of everything. Tags and statuses can be customized and the integrated calendar provides an overview of upcoming tasks including deadlines. Task lists and to-dos can be added to each project and sorted by priority. The time tracking is also a nice feature, so you don't have to rely on another program.

Nachteile

Currently, I still find creating customers a bit too cumbersome. I first have to navigate to the "Contacts" item and create the respective company before I can assign a project. I would like to be able to add a project directly from the list of the corresponding company/contact without having to switch back and forth in the menu. An integration with HubSpot would also make work easier if contacts are constantly synchronized, because with HubSpot I always have all contacts automatically.

Vorteile

We've been using ActiveCollab since version 1. We needed more features and flexibility than other project management systems provided and we also were looking for an invoicing system. ActiveCollab provided all of that in one package and we could buy a license to run on our own server instead of paying monthly fees. This pricing model was very attractive for us along with the extra features to make the system fit our project management workflow, made ActiveCollab an easy choice.

Nachteile

The mobile app isn't the best. For those who heavily rely on using their project management system on mobile, this might be something to consider. I'm not a fan of the themes in the theme option, but if using the self hosted version, then you could potentially adjust styling to fit your business better.

Vorteile

ActiveCollab is far less expensive than BaseCamp and more visually appealing than the likes of Zoho or Trello. This makes it ideal for freelancers (myself included), but it could work for larger teams just as well.

It's available everywhere I need it: the web, my Mac, and my phone.

The overall workflow is insanely simple, yet powerful, allowing you to create new clients, projects, tasks and sub-tasks with ease.

Every time you find yourself thinking "hmm...I wonder if ActiveCollab does this..." whatever you try works just as you expected it to. That's a sign of really good UI/UX thinking.

Their customer support is fantastic, as well. All the people I've talked to have been real, friendly humans never bots or clueless outsourced drones.

Nachteile

The Mac app is still being worked on, and it has a few startup bugs, but works fantastically, otherwise.

Vorteile

My team has used many PM tools, but AC by far is the one that they ACTUALLY use on a daily basis. This is because the UI/UX is so uncomplicated, and the customizable views appeal to left and right-brained users (Card system vs. lists vs. calendar views).

Nachteile

My team would love to see the ability to assign a task to more than 1 person, and also to create project 'groups.' We have 2 sides to the company and would like to group each department's projects into their own group vs. all of them being lumped together.

Vorteile

It helps me get my tasks done in no time. The software is really hassle free, so there's never any obstacles when using it. Another great thing about ActiveCollab is that the features are very diverse and the ability to self host really adds to the convenience.

Nachteile

The invoicing module is far too limited. Apart from that, I'm really happy.

Vorteile

AC is easy to use, even for non techno clients. The interface is intuitive and modern. The new version is really fast. We like the Client+ feature allowing to assign task to clients.

Nachteile

We have some small issues with file upload from time to time.

Vorteile

Complexity – time counting, project & task management, reports and invoicing in one place.

Nachteile

Workload feature doesn't adapt to time spent on task already – in consequence, it's a bit confusing to know exactly how much time you should spend on your work in the following days because it's basing on an estimated time only.

Also, it's not possible to create a team in which team members have can view time entries for the project of other team members which makes collaboration witch hour-rate system difficult – I have to send a screen of time spent on a project to my client (who is a team member in ActiveCollab) every month.

Vorteile

You can build timelines and create a checklist of tasks.

Nachteile

Definitely not good for file storage because you can't find files again as there is no folder system. Conversations are hard to find again depending on how many tasks you have. Sometimes the changes you make to dates do not save.

Vorteile

Our entire team is happy to finally use only one piece of software for teamwork. Starting with the project manager, up to the developer and the support all use the same software. Due to the interface (API) the software can be integrated wonderfully into our existing system infrastructure.

Nachteile

We use the self-hosted version of the program. One requirement for the search is the use of ElasticSearch. Unfortunately this is not possible at the moment, so that we cannot use the search.

Vorteile

The way how everything is built and organised. It's simple, and if you need additional features, you just add them via add-ons.

Nachteile

none

Vorteile

ActiveCollab has one of the most cohesive packages for project management that I have ever used. Everything is right there and it isn't too overwhelming. They really know what they're doing.

Nachteile

I would like to see ActiveCollab add a system wide time tracker to the app. I can manually put it in, but I would like if the app just monitored the open window and recorded a log.

Vorteile

Before using it, I wasn't aware of how many thing I have to handle. It simplifies communication within the team and clients, which is very important for everything is in one place. Keeps things in order.

Nachteile

Calendar should be better. I cannot choose different colour by clients, so when there are few projects overlaping, all of them are in the same colour which makes it difficult to keep track, so we need to use other program for that. It puts colour depending on the status of the project (new, in progres...) - not good.

Vorteile

Great task manager
Great user manager
Great Notes manager
Great discussion panels
Easy files integration and search
Good mobile app
Easy import from other tools like trello

Nachteile

No crm
No email integration like Insightly where I can get custom AC code and when reply to someone to have that mail bcc in Activecollab.

Vorteile

Makes keeping up with all projects and team time, deadlines, costs, all of it easy

Nachteile

The company is slow to add new functionality, but not sure if that's a bad thing!

Vorteile

This software is very complete you have many options to see the workload, assign tasks, and collaborate with your team. I highly recommend it.

Nachteile

I think it could improve on maybe how the notes for each project are stored

Vorteile

What I like best are the drop down lists, task manager, and mobile user-friendliness

Nachteile

The design can feel a bit too minimalistic to the point it can feel somewhat harder to navigate, but otherwise few complaints.

Vorteile

The one that I like the most about this software is the quality of service versus to the cost. As I found, it is one of the best in the market.

Nachteile

The mobile app of this software needs to be redesigned for the purpose of ease of use. As my experience, it is not very handy as it is when you use a browser.

Vorteile

As a designer myself, I really like the information architecture and the simplicity of the UI. The notifications are also very useful and well designed by establishing clear context. One other thing I find useful is the timeline view of tasks as it quickly gives a big picture view of the schedule and helps me plan accordingly.

Vorteile

Ease of use. It's does all the basics very well, it's also very reliable.

Nachteile

Some features like check in and check out, desktop download would be great so we are not dependent on internet connection...

Vorteile

Handles end to end project management needs

Nachteile

Sometimes slow to get new features that are requested compared to competitor products

Vorteile

Easy to use, clean design, provides a simple way to record hours and keep everything organized, easy program to learn, no clutter.

Nachteile

Wish that I could connect more with project leads and their schedules, and it would also be nice to be able to view my hours in a calendar view rather than a listed view.