Free/Open Source project management software

Megan's picture

She has: 11,421 posts

Joined: Jun 1999

Does anyone have any experience with web-based project management software? I'm looking for something similar to Basecamp, where we could keep track of to do's and milestones, upload files, leave notes etc.

I've come across lists of Basecamp alternatives but there are ao many, I don't know where to start. I would prefer something we could install ourselves rather than hosted solutions. Preferably open source (we *might* be able to get a small budget if necessary...)

pr0gr4mm3r's picture

He has: 1,502 posts

Joined: Sep 2006

activeCollab was the preferred alternative until they went commercial. Still, you can host it on your own server and have full control. Celoxis is way too complex...and expensive.

Megan's picture

She has: 11,421 posts

Joined: Jun 1999

I found ProjectPier which was a fork of activeCollab from before it went commercial. It looks promising.

Also on my shortlist is the Storm module for Drupal.

pr0gr4mm3r's picture

He has: 1,502 posts

Joined: Sep 2006

ProjectPier looks like pre-commercial aC with a different (and worse) header. Honestly, activeCollab 0.7 worked fine for me on several projects.

They have: 17 posts

Joined: Apr 2009

I am using PlanningForce its really cool !

They have: 1 posts

Joined: Apr 2009

I am using DeskAway since more than a year now. Its an excellent project management tool which is web-based (open source). It is providing a FREE plan which is free for lifetime with almost all the features provided in a Premium Plan. The premium plans are also not very high as compared to Basecamp, they are almost lesser than half the price of Basecamp. I am very happy with their service and also the features. They have recently updated their features and also added some new features. You can try out by yourself.

They have: 5 posts

Joined: Apr 2009

Hi Megan, I don't have experience with these types of programs but it does sound like something I should look into. I use spreadsheets and word documents to manage my projects, but I might need something more powerful in the future.

I'm curious, why are you looking away from Basecamp, have you already used it and found something that was lacking? Or are you looking for a free or less expensive alternative? Thanks in advance.

Megan's picture

She has: 11,421 posts

Joined: Jun 1999

Lack of budget is the main reason (although it's not really that expensive and I might be able to get some special funding...). Also because I tend to prefer hosting stuff on our own servers if we can.

The Drupal storm plugin would be ideal, since we're already using Drupal to manage documentation and for a blog. Unfortunately Storm is new and not fully developed yet. It's lacking some key features like milestones and the ability to assign tasks to team members.

Brutal's picture

They have: 134 posts

Joined: Feb 2009

TaskJuggler is a modern and powerful, Open Source project management tool. Its new approach to project planing and tracking is more flexible and superior to the commonly used Gantt chart editing tools. It has already been successfully used in many projects and scales easily to projects with hundreds of resources and thousands of tasks.

http://www.taskjuggler.org/

I hope it help you.

He has: 8 posts

Joined: Mar 2006

http://www.rockclimbr.com/.
It is basecamp clone using drupal, so you can build your own with your own features that you need.

Drupal is a popular CMS and these forums/website also uses drupal, so you can easily extend it anytime Smiling

Megan's picture

She has: 11,421 posts

Joined: Jun 1999

Might not want to actually use that:

Note that this website is provided for demonstration purposes only and might be taken down at any time; please don't try and do anything actually serious with it. Wink

As I mentioned above, I was looking at the Storm plugin for Drupal but I think it's too immature right now for this project. If it was just something for myself and a few other understanding techies I'd probably go for it.

MartyThornley's picture

They have: 2 posts

Joined: May 2009

I have been using ProjectPier for my last few projects and love it. Although, the default installation is definitely lacking. If you find and use the 'Marine' theme it helps clean up the look and helps it be more usable.

The only reason I am really able to use it though, is that I hacked into it to make the changes I wanted. It seems that ProjectPier has pretty much died out as far as community support goes. Too bad, it offers a lot and is really close to being great.

A quick look at Deskaway looks promising. Their $25/month plan competes with some other sites at the $99/month level. I will be back to check them out soon.

Marty

DarkLight's picture

He has: 287 posts

Joined: Oct 2007

I notice TWF is running on Drupal (same as my site) and think you should take a look at the Storm Project Module. Native to v6.x, it manages everything you could possibly need.

Hope this helps.

All the best news here: https://newsbotnet.com

Megan's picture

She has: 11,421 posts

Joined: Jun 1999

I did - see above.

Marty - thanks for the info about ProjectPier. Too bad it's not being worked on anymore. I'll probably try it out anyway just to see if it would work for us. It seems like the best option so far.

DarkLight's picture

He has: 287 posts

Joined: Oct 2007

Ahh, my apologies. Smiling I must have missed that post.

They have: 83 posts

Joined: Apr 2009

Respected admin if you don't mind then I will suggest you to go for Drupal's Storm module its very nice one my friend using this module and it also working fine and it will consume very less space and your site is on drupal so this module can easily added to your site.
Thanks.

Megan's picture

She has: 11,421 posts

Joined: Jun 1999

I tried that already - see my posts above.

They have: 121 posts

Joined: Dec 2008

I've heard good things about PHProjekt recently during a college/university IT conference:
http://www.phprojekt.com/index.php?&newlang=eng

Cheers,
Shaggy.

They have: 37 posts

Joined: Dec 2010

planningforce is the best.

They have: 1 posts

Joined: Jul 2011

Etaskman, Smartsheet, Ace Project, Harvest, Acticecollab. These are cool!

They have: 2 posts

Joined: Aug 2011

I agree with Mr strixstrigoi. Smartsheet is cool but I prefer etaskman.

They have: 1 posts

Joined: Apr 2012

"Project-drive" is the best project management software.

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