Project Estimator vs ActiveCollab

Likelihood to Recommend

If you are considering purchasing this (very expensive) software, there is a 100% chance you are doing so because you have been awarded a Government contract that dictates you use 4Clicks Project Estimator. There are plenty of easier to use estimating packages out in the world, but you can't use any of them if you have a contract that requires 4Clicks.

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Tim Corbett

General Manager

Infinite Energy Construction, incConstruction, 51-200 employees

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Scenarios where ActiveCollab works well1) ActiveCollab works well for small teams specifically T&M teams.Its invoicing feature is unique & can make your life easy.2) It is very easy to use & posses good range of filters like on the task list, we can drag/drop tasks, Filter by assignee's,
tasks lists, due dates, or completed tasks. 3) It has some simple but awesome features like when you're in
the middle of writing something i.e a comment on story and get interrupted,
it retains what you wrote.4) It allows you to tag team members in threads of comments to grab their attention, its really needed when teams are distributed. Thus helping team members to collaborate easily & stay on same page.5) It integrates pretty well with other web apps like quickbooks , Slack, Trello, HubSpot, Zapier etcScenarios where ActiveCollab did not work well1) Tasks can not have multiple assignee's here so if two members are working on same task it did not allow you to reflect that.2) Sorting capability is not their under invoicing3) It did not work well for larger teams4) Search option is not very detailed & you may end up wasting lot of time searching one particular bug or issue.

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Sourav Singla ,Safe Agilist, CSP, ICP-ACC, CSM, CSPO, SSM, LSSG

Enterprise Agile Coach

Tata Consultancy ServicesInformation Technology and Services, 10,001+ employees

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Feature Rating Comparison

Project Estimator

ActiveCollab

Takeoff tools

Job costing

Cost databases

Cost calculator

Bid creation

Project Estimator

ActiveCollab

Task Management

Resource Management

Gantt Charts

Scheduling

Workflow Automation

Team Collaboration

Support for Agile Methodology

Support for Waterfall Methodology

Document Management

Email integration

Mobile Access

Timesheet Tracking

Change request and Case Management

Budget and Expense Management

Project Estimator

ActiveCollab

Quotes/estimates

Invoicing

Project & financial reporting

Integration with accounting software

Pros

The estimates it produces are simple and easy to follow. The formatting is good.
The tech support provided is very attentive.

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Tim Corbett

General Manager

Infinite Energy Construction, incConstruction, 51-200 employees

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Great for project and task assignments, project workflow and communications.
Solid web-based platform that doesn't require software downloads, also includes great mobile platform.
Great reporting tools for managing billing, estimating, project workflow and other essential project details.
Allows for both the agency and its clients to interact on a single platform using role-specific permissions.

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Jorden Beatty

Digital Marketing Director

LGD CommunicationsMarketing and Advertising, 11-50 employees

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Cons

The software feels 20 years old. It has not kept up with modern times, and practically functions like an old DOS program.
Clunky interface, arcane commands.
Even their training info focuses on hotkeys like this is 1995. Even though I am of an age to remember computers in 1995, the younger generations of managers/estimators are not. It is time to bring the software into the new century!

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Tim Corbett

General Manager

Infinite Energy Construction, incConstruction, 51-200 employees

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Individual comments cannot be linked to. This makes it more difficult to reference a comment or question.
Unnecessary features cannot be turned off. Since we use it primarily for communication, it would be ideal to turn off tasks etc. that are not needed or be able to move discussions as the first screen.
There isn't an easy way to set up different projects under the same client.

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Nancy Ross

Director

ROMI LabMarketing and Advertising, 1-10 employees

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Support Rating

No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

ActiveCollab 7.3

Based on 3 answers

The support team is responsive to requests and their annual support fees are reasonable. Honestly, we don't have to contact them much. Updates happen automatically and the platform is very solid and does not require a lot of support. Documentation is good and the platform is easy to learn.

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Mike Muller

Executive Vice President

Stevens AdvertisingMarketing and Advertising, 11-50 employees

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Alternatives Considered

WinEst uses much the same database (RS Means/Gordion type) and has a similar interface. It is a bit cheaper.

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Tim Corbett

General Manager

Infinite Energy Construction, incConstruction, 51-200 employees

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I have used multiple project management platforms such as ActiveCollab, JIRA, Trello, etc. Trello has great visualization with their (Kanban Board) board system and support drag and drop functionality for managing tasks. ActiveCollab, however, does not have the fancy visualization, but is very powerful when it comes to ticketing, task management, task delegation, time tracking, etc.

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Ali Zakeri

Data Analyst | SEO Specialist

Xivic, Inc.Information Technology and Services, 51-200 employees

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Return on Investment

As stated before, if you are buying this software, it is because you have a contract forcing you to. While it does work, it is clunky, awkward, and very expensive.
The price of the software and databases has always been high, but with the fairly recent acquisition of 4Clicks by Gordion (who also bought RS Means for their databases), there is literally no competition. Prices will continue to be very high, with no check on how high they can go.
Again, can't fault 4Clicks tech support, as I think it is the best in the industry. They know their product and they respond to issues immediately. Considering what we spend a year for this product, however, you would expect nothing less.

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Tim Corbett

General Manager

Infinite Energy Construction, incConstruction, 51-200 employees

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It has saved us a TON of money (literally thousands) in project management software.
It has helped us gain clients because we can show them the template of what they will see and give them access to it. When others don't have software that does this.
Positive impact on ROI based on the time it's saving compared to our previous PM software.

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Chris Lesner

Founder & CEO

Project World ImpactInternet, 11-50 employees

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Pricing Details

General

Free Trial

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Free/Freemium Version

—

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

No

Project Estimator Editions & Modules

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Additional Pricing Details

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General

Free Trial

Yes

Free/Freemium Version

—

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

Yes

Entry-level set up fee?

Optional

$6.25*

* per member, per month, annual billing

ActiveCollab Editions & Modules

On-premise Edition

Self-Hosted Plan	$999.00¹

license

SaaS Edition

ActiveCollab Project Management	$7.00¹

per member/per month

Additional Pricing Details

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Rating Summary

Project Estimator

ActiveCollab

Project Estimator

ActiveCollab