ActiveCollab vs. Backlog

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
ActiveCollab
Score 4.4 out of 10
N/A
Active Collab is a project management solution built around features such as task management, collaboration, time tracking, and invoicing.
$8
per member/per month
Backlog
Score 9.2 out of 10
N/A
Backlog is a project management and bug tracking tool for teams that want higher productivity, greater visibility, and simple project tracking. Development teams can work together with Design, Marketing, IT, and more. Backlog is designed to get everyone on track by organizing work, teammates, projects and tasks. The activity feed and watchlist are designed to help users keep an eye on relevant work and deadlines. Gantt charts and burndown charts are designed to help users visualize project…N/A
Pricing
ActiveCollabBacklog
Editions & Modules
ActiveCollab Project Management
$8
per member/per month
Self-Hosted Plan
$999.00
license
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
ActiveCollabBacklog
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
YesYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup Fee$6.25 per member, per month, annual billingNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Features
ActiveCollabBacklog
Project Management
Comparison of Project Management features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCollab
3.7
13 Ratings
68% below category average
Backlog
9.5
2 Ratings
23% above category average
Task Management6.012 Ratings10.02 Ratings
Resource Management1.08 Ratings00 Ratings
Gantt Charts3.07 Ratings9.02 Ratings
Scheduling1.011 Ratings10.02 Ratings
Workflow Automation7.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Team Collaboration6.513 Ratings10.02 Ratings
Support for Agile Methodology7.07 Ratings00 Ratings
Support for Waterfall Methodology7.01 Ratings8.02 Ratings
Document Management3.08 Ratings9.02 Ratings
Email integration4.09 Ratings10.02 Ratings
Mobile Access1.510 Ratings10.02 Ratings
Timesheet Tracking2.09 Ratings00 Ratings
Change request and Case Management1.08 Ratings00 Ratings
Budget and Expense Management2.07 Ratings00 Ratings
Professional Services Automation
Comparison of Professional Services Automation features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCollab
5.7
8 Ratings
26% below category average
Backlog
-
Ratings
Quotes/estimates6.97 Ratings00 Ratings
Invoicing6.96 Ratings00 Ratings
Project & financial reporting1.07 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with accounting software7.94 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
ActiveCollabBacklog
Small Businesses
FunctionFox
FunctionFox
Score 8.3 out of 10
FunctionFox
FunctionFox
Score 8.3 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
SAP Ruum
SAP Ruum
Score 9.0 out of 10
SAP Ruum
SAP Ruum
Score 9.0 out of 10
Enterprises
Quickbase
Quickbase
Score 9.2 out of 10
Quickbase
Quickbase
Score 9.2 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
ActiveCollabBacklog
Likelihood to Recommend
3.8
(13 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
Support Rating
7.1
(3 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
ActiveCollabBacklog
Likelihood to Recommend
ActiveCollab
Scenarios where ActiveCollab works well 1) 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 etc Scenarios where ActiveCollab did not work well 1) 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 invoicing 3) It did not work well for larger teams 4) Search option is not very detailed & you may end up wasting lot of time searching one particular bug or issue.












Read full review
Nulab, Inc.
The user interface is very good. It is more intuitive in nature. It is easy to use and robust in operation. The dashboard is designed on modernized UI and the interface is also intuitive. I can easily navigate things on my own.
Read full review
Pros
ActiveCollab
  • 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.
Read full review
Nulab, Inc.
  • Gantt chart
  • Github support
Read full review
Cons
ActiveCollab
  • It isn't possible to set members of staff as part time, so if someone is unavailable on certain days you must manually enter them as OOO every single day that they are not in, that other teammates work. Hours also can't be edited individually - everyone is treated as working the same hours in a day, rendering capacity planner useless for flexi working teams
  • Subtasks cannot be assigned their own hours and deadlines, meaning the To Do list view can't be seen in actual date order and capacity planner does not reflect all time allocated to an individual's schedule unless every task is set up as a separate task rather than subtask
  • There is no way to see all tasks of a certain type across multiple campaigns (e.g all copywriting tasks vs all technical tasks) - support team suggested exporting data and making spreadsheets
  • Kanban view isn't available for people's own task lists ('board' view here shows a list)
  • Not possible to have one task be assigned to more than one person
  • Notifications are not sent when tasks are updated, so you have to leave comments and tag people each time
Read full review
Nulab, Inc.
  • The biggest drawback that I want Backlog to fix as soon as possible is that is does not provide any place to explain the problem or bug virtually.
  • There is a need for a tab or space to attach screenshot or video to easily explain the bug or problem in the project.
Read full review
Support Rating
ActiveCollab
We have not required support for ActiveCollab as it works pretty seamlessly. We didn't have any issues with using the platform or with any billing issues. The self-service aspect of the platform is robust and easy to navigate so we have not encountered any errors that required assistance from the support team.
Read full review
Nulab, Inc.
I would give 9 but one less because of the high price.
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
ActiveCollab
ActiveCollab is easier to use and simpler in its setup. It has the right mix of features and simplicity. It's also project-oriented which is important for our workflow. Other tools are often too task-oriented, making it hard to track projects. Overall, ActiveCollab has a great mix of simplicity with good features.
Read full review
Nulab, Inc.
Backlog has all of the top-notch features to increase productivity, visibility, and project tracking. Backlog is easy to use. I first just logged in to the platform and it was [ready] to go. I easily started working on it and it started giving me the bugs’ details on our project. Always available for queries. Listen to the queries very attentively and try to give a solution on the go if applicable. Otherwise, take some time and respond with the advanced workable solution in the limited time frame.
Read full review
Return on Investment
ActiveCollab
  • Allows our team to stay organized and keep conversations on tasks.
  • The To-Do List email every morning helps me mentally prepare and know exactly what I should be doing as soon as I start work.
  • Powerful and useful integrations save lots of time (Google Drive, Slack, Dropbox, Zapier and more!).
Read full review
Nulab, Inc.
  • Software interns get easily used to this tool.
  • One who works in the SDLC gets recognized and it's easy to track rank board.
Read full review
ScreenShots

ActiveCollab Screenshots

Screenshot of the dashboard with an overview of projects.Screenshot of multiple task views currently showing a Kanban view of the tasklists and tasks.Screenshot of Overview of all recent activity.Screenshot of Calendar view with task dependencies.Screenshot of Permission settings (owner, member, client, client+).Screenshot of List of available Add-ons.

Backlog Screenshots

Screenshot of Projects home pageScreenshot of Gantt chartScreenshot of GitScreenshot of commenting in issuesScreenshot of subtasking