ActiveCollab vs. MeisterTask

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
MeisterTask
Score 8.0 out of 10
Small Businesses (1-50 employees)
MeisterTask is a task management and collaboration tool. It aims to let teams manage tasks in a beautifully designed and customizable environment, which is designed to be intuitive. The vendor says MeisterTask's project boards adapt to any team’s workflow, making it suitable for managing everything from software sprints to editorial calendars. According to the vendor, while other task management apps often only visualize work, MeisterTask takes it one step further by automating recurring…
$8.25
per month
Pricing
ActiveCollabMeisterTask
Editions & Modules
ActiveCollab Project Management
$8
per member/per month
Self-Hosted Plan
$999.00
license
MeisterTask Pro
$8.25
per user/per month
MeisterTask Business
$20.75
per user/per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
ActiveCollabMeisterTask
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
YesYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup Fee$6.25 per member, per month, annual billingNo setup fee
Additional DetailsDiscounts are available for education and non-profit organisations.
More Pricing Information
Features
ActiveCollabMeisterTask
Project Management
Comparison of Project Management features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCollab
3.7
13 Ratings
68% below category average
MeisterTask
7.8
20 Ratings
4% above category average
Task Management5.912 Ratings8.619 Ratings
Resource Management1.08 Ratings00 Ratings
Gantt Charts3.07 Ratings8.03 Ratings
Scheduling1.011 Ratings6.26 Ratings
Workflow Automation7.01 Ratings7.218 Ratings
Team Collaboration6.513 Ratings8.219 Ratings
Support for Agile Methodology7.07 Ratings8.216 Ratings
Support for Waterfall Methodology7.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Document Management3.08 Ratings00 Ratings
Email integration4.09 Ratings7.017 Ratings
Mobile Access1.510 Ratings8.618 Ratings
Timesheet Tracking2.09 Ratings8.515 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
MeisterTask
-
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
ActiveCollabMeisterTask
Small Businesses
Stackby
Stackby
Score 9.8 out of 10
Stackby
Stackby
Score 9.8 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
ActiveCollabMeisterTask
Likelihood to Recommend
3.7
(13 ratings)
7.6
(20 ratings)
Support Rating
7.1
(3 ratings)
8.9
(2 ratings)
User Testimonials
ActiveCollabMeisterTask
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.












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MeisterLabs
The best part about Meistertask is how dead simple it is, while still absolutely nailing what it needs to really get right. Meistertask makes task management dead simple for me and keeps the detail out of the way unless I specifically need it.
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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.
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MeisterLabs
  • The learning curve is really short compared to other software that is related to this.
  • It is very easy to manage several projects at the same time, thus saving time in the work process.
  • Managing the elements of the list is very comfortable since its interface allows everything to work in an orderly manner based on what I want to put as important for me.
  • It has versions that are adapted to any type of company or if you want to give a personal use because it also has an option based on what you want to do with MeisterTask.
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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
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MeisterLabs
  • Some detailed task definitions may be difficult to implement.
  • Those using traditional project tools may find MeisterTask a little bit superficial and scattered.
  • Often you may need additional tools to complete the inefficiencies of Kanban board (no analytics for team performance, lack of time planning, etc.).
  • Reports and analytics are limited.
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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.
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MeisterLabs
Meister task is a great project management app. However, I moved to a move extensive project management tool for our growing team
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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.
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MeisterLabs
Meistertask seems like it was made for work, and it doesn’t hide its features amid complicated menus. The Mobile experience is one of the best I have used in task management. It integrates with other tools more widely via Zapier and various built-in ecosystem connections within the Meisterlabs space. If you need to get started simplifying your digital life, this can help.
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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!).
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MeisterLabs
  • MeisterTask saves me a lot of time in communicating about various tasks of a project. The activity chat feature lets me communicate with other members of my team without having to be in the same location as them, and increasing our productivity.
  • It has caused me to use some additional time though, and create a Gantt chart myself instead of being able to use a built-in feature.
  • MeisterTask is great for letting us organize and keep track of all aspects of a project and make sure each one gets done by its respective due date.
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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.

MeisterTask Screenshots

Screenshot of MeisterTask DashboardScreenshot of MeisterTask Personal AgendaScreenshot of MeisterTask Project BoardScreenshot of Task boardScreenshot of MeisterTask TimelineScreenshot of MeisterTask Automations