About ActiveCollab

ActiveCollab is a project management solution for creative professionals. It offers cloud-based subscription plans or a self-hosting license. Projects are split into tasks and subtasks. Tasks can be filtered by the due date, assigned users, or custom labels. Dependencies between the tasks can be set, so there’s always an exact order of tasks. Automatic rescheduling allows for the child tasks to follow the change made to the parent task automatically. Tasks can be viewed as a timeline (with shown dependencies), a kanban board, a calendar, or a list. Users can track time and budget spent on each task, set hourly rates, send invoices directly from a project, and export reports. Automatic reminders for clients can be set when payments are overdue. ActiveCollab offers a platform where all the communication (comments, discussions, reactions, in-app chat), projects, tasks and files are centralized. Support is provided online and via email. Monthly, yearly and one-time price plans are available.
ActiveCollab Software - ActiveCollab Workload is a visual resource management tool built for agencies and creative professionals
ActiveCollab Software - Multiple task views currently showing a Kanban view of the tasklists and tasks
ActiveCollab Software - Everyone’s availability at a glance
ActiveCollab Software - My work with tasklists and tasks with high priority options, assignees, due dates and task dependencies
ActiveCollab Software - Calendar view with task dependencies
ActiveCollab video
ActiveCollab Software - ActiveCollab Workload is a visual resource management tool built for agencies and creative professionals - thumbnail
ActiveCollab Software - Multiple task views currently showing a Kanban view of the tasklists and tasks - thumbnail
ActiveCollab Software - Everyone’s availability at a glance - thumbnail
ActiveCollab Software - My work with tasklists and tasks with high priority options, assignees, due dates and task dependencies - thumbnail
ActiveCollab Software - Calendar view with task dependencies - thumbnail

ActiveCollab pricing

ActiveCollab does not have a free version but does offer a free trial. ActiveCollab paid version starts at USD 9.00/month.

Starting Price:
USD 9.00/month
Free Version:
No
Free trial:
Yes

Alternatives to ActiveCollab

ActiveCollab Reviews

Feature rating

Value for Money
4.5
Functionality
4.2
Ease of Use
4.5
Customer Support
4.4
5 reviews of 402 View all reviews
Aleksandar
Aleksandar
  • Industry: Computer Software
  • Company size: 2–10 Employees
  • Used Daily for 1+ year
  • Review Source
Value for Money
5
Features
5
Ease of Use
5
Customer Support
5

5
Reviewed on 04/03/2020

Perfect Project management tool.

ActiveCollab is one of the best, if not the best project management tool that I have ever used and I have jumped from one to another tool for different projects and project types.

If offers so many features, perfect dashboard, milestone preview, calendar, planner, contact details, time tracking and much more.

While it is perfect for managing many different types of projects, this is still not the perfect tool for managing software development projects. The only reason for that would be, there is no (or that was not back then) an integration with Git or other version of control system. It was simply a missing feature back then.
I truly hope that nowadays the ActiveCollab team managed to improve and integrate such feature, but talking 6-7 years ago, that was the only downside that I can say about it. If for some reason that is still not available and you are into software development business, look for something else like Asana or Bitbucket.

Pros

Great dashboard, different types of reports, milestone preview, calendars, time tracking tool are just a few of the features that make this software irreplaceable tool when it comes to project management.

Cons

Lack of integration with Git or another version of control system.

Mohamed
  • Industry: Civil Engineering
  • Company size: 11–50 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source
Value for Money
5
Features
5
Ease of Use
5
Customer Support
5

5
Reviewed on 20/04/2023

A simple Project Manager's review

Overall very smooth experience for me. Fast bandwidth. Bug free experience.

Pros

Project view grouping and filtering with grid and table layout. This is a killer feature for my use case.Very simple yet comprehensive overall system design. This is important for me as my coworkers came from different backgrounds.Activity View is very effective to have an overall view on what's going on without wasting a lot of time.Mobile Application gets the job done. No bugs, no unexpected behavior.

Cons

The optional GetPaid (invoicing and payment management) paid add-on is honestly not for me. It's a very nice and really good addition for more simple uses case like when we just started business, but It definitely needs more attention to fit our needs. We finally opted for a more specialized product to keep track of our finance.

Alternatives Considered

OpenProject and monday.com

Reasons for Choosing ActiveCollab

I tried a lot of PM systems, to the point where I was considering rolling my own. I settled a few years with OnlyOffice, which is honestly respectable and reasonably priced product. But over the years they focused on online document editing and left project management without filling the gaps. In the project management area, Active collab wins easily. It just much better designed and more featured product. Project Management was clealry not a priority for OnlyOffice team.

Reasons for Switching to ActiveCollab

ActiveCollab is honestly better than most I have used or tried. I am a bit demanding person when it comes to software, and ActiveCollab just clicked in my head. Like it's very intuitive, gets the job done quickly, Not missing important feature.
Mari-Nella
  • Industry: Design
  • Company size: 2–10 Employees
  • Used Daily for 1-5 months
  • Review Source
Value for Money
2
Features
2
Ease of Use
2
Customer Support
1

2
Reviewed on 07/09/2021

It is a beautiful app but not that useful

It was nice in the beginning but I just soon realised I needed something with easier to use features and no hidden costs. Onces a app like this becomes too complicated to navigate or customise - you will not use it as you need to daily because of that hassle.

Pros

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.

Cons

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.!

Alternatives Considered

PlutoLMS, monday.com and ClickUp

Reasons for Choosing ActiveCollab

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.

Switched From

Todoist and Asana

Reasons for Switching to ActiveCollab

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

Response from Active Collab

We appreciate your honest feedback, and we are sorry to hear you had this experience with ActiveCollab.
As for the pricing, additional features such as Invoicing, Time Estimates, Workload, Availability, etc., are listed in the GePaid bundle section, which is charged additionally and is not a part of the basic paid plan. You can check out our pricing on the official site here: https://activecollab.com/pricing

Replied 15/09/2021
Verified Reviewer
  • Industry: Marketing & Advertising
  • Company size: 2–10 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source
Value for Money
5
Features
5
Ease of Use
5
Customer Support
3

5
Reviewed on 10/10/2022

Finally a project management system small businesses can afford

We have been using ActiveCollab for around 4 years now and they continue to work on ways to fineness the tool for the better. The support team has always been very responsive -- although we have only had a few SOS calls they AC team reacted quickly and we were able to continue work with very little interruption.

Pros

Visually easy to see what projects and tasks are priority. I also love the budget tracker which allows me to make sure projects stay on budget. This program is extremely easy to learn to use as both an administrator and a day-to-day user. I have worked with so many project management systems in my career (some at a much higher price point) and ActiveCollab is a true competitor for a fraction of the cost.

Cons

When pulling invoices, I wish we had more options as to how to import the time entry notes. Because we require our team to place notes as to what they were doing for the hours logged - we do spend more time than desired editing invoices once the data is pulled in.

Alternatives Considered

Trello, Basecamp and monday.com

Reasons for Switching to ActiveCollab

The price point and features offered were hard to compete with --- best decision we've made.
Verified Reviewer
  • Industry: Religious Institutions
  • Company size: 1,001–5,000 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source
Value for Money
5
Features
5
Ease of Use
5
Customer Support
5

4
Reviewed on 10/11/2020

Self hosted or hosted, an excellent team tool

We have a global team that work on projects together, ActiveCollab keeps us progressing them.
We also use it for collaboration, requests and idea sharing.

Pros

We tried many alternatives, but the simplicity and the ability to self host won us over.
Task lists, Kanban Style boards, Time tracking, Notifying and Assigning all work well.

Cons

I feel the file sharing (or at least referencing a file you have already uploaded) could be simpler. Apart from that we're really happy.

Alternatives Considered

Trello, Basecamp and Asana

Switched From

Asana

Reasons for Switching to ActiveCollab

Primarily the ability to self host, and have a large team accessing without paying by user per month.

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