ActiveCollab vs. MindMeister

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
ActiveCollab
Score 4.5 out of 10
N/A
Active Collab is a project management solution built around features such as task management, collaboration, time tracking, and invoicing.
$7
per member/per month
MindMeister
Score 5.5 out of 10
N/A
MindMeister is an online mind mapping tool that lets users share maps with an unlimited number of users and collaborate with them in real-time. The vendor says more than 11 million people around the world use MindMeister to brainstorm ideas, plan projects, take meeting minutes, develop business strategies, create stunning presentations and much more. It is designed to be intuitive. MindMeister runs in any standard web-browser as well as on iOS and Android devices, so users can access,…
$5.49
per month
Pricing
ActiveCollabMindMeister
Editions & Modules
ActiveCollab Project Management
$7.00
per member/per month
Self-Hosted Plan
$999.00
license
Personal
$4.99
per user per month
Pro
$8.25
per user per month
Business
$12.49
per user per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
ActiveCollabMindMeister
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup Fee$6.25 per member, per month, annual billingNo setup fee
Additional DetailsMindMeister offers 6-monthly and yearly subscriptions. Discounts for educational users and non-profit organizations are also available.
More Pricing Information
Features
ActiveCollabMindMeister
Project Management
Comparison of Project Management features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCollab
3.7
13 Ratings
68% below category average
MindMeister
-
Ratings
Task Management6.112 Ratings00 Ratings
Resource Management1.08 Ratings00 Ratings
Gantt Charts3.07 Ratings00 Ratings
Scheduling1.011 Ratings00 Ratings
Workflow Automation7.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Team Collaboration6.513 Ratings00 Ratings
Support for Agile Methodology7.07 Ratings00 Ratings
Support for Waterfall Methodology7.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Document Management3.08 Ratings00 Ratings
Email integration4.09 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile Access1.510 Ratings00 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
MindMeister
-
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
ActiveCollabMindMeister
Small Businesses
FunctionFox
FunctionFox
Score 8.3 out of 10
MindManager
MindManager
Score 8.7 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
SAP Ruum
SAP Ruum
Score 9.0 out of 10
MindManager
MindManager
Score 8.7 out of 10
Enterprises
Quickbase
Quickbase
Score 9.2 out of 10
Miro
Miro
Score 9.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
ActiveCollabMindMeister
Likelihood to Recommend
3.9
(13 ratings)
1.3
(16 ratings)
Support Rating
7.1
(3 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
ActiveCollabMindMeister
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
MindMeister is ideally suited for building mind maps, site maps, or similar types of data maps in the cloud without needing to install extra software. I find that it isn't quite as ideal for other types of diagrams (ERDs, flowcharts, etc) as some other tools, though it definitely can handle those things as well.
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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 UI is well laid out and easy to use. The workflow makes perfect sense and makes creating tasks a breeze.
  • The collaboration features make brainstorming not only easy but fun! Everyone enjoys using the tool, which was not the case with other collaboration software we used.
  • I love being able to get all of my thoughts and ideas on the screen to see them and then be able to connect them in a logical way.
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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
  • I think that the free plan should offer a bit more terms of features to make the testing experience more engaging.
  • My experience using the App version was not so good when compared to the web version of it. I feel more comfortable using it in my notebook.
  • Paid plans could be more flexible to support small or temporary demands.
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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
Never had an issue with customer support, though we never really needed anything major as far as technical help. I do not believe they offer 24 hour customer support but we don't need it as MindMeister is not the type of tool we need need 24 hour a day support for. Overall, very happy with the level of support.
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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
I have also used LucidChart and Google Draw to create mind maps and concept maps in the past. I think that MindMeister is by far the cleanest and most user friendly of the three. Google Draw does not have anywhere near the same functionality. LucidChart tends to be clunky and the options to create your map are not always clear and intuitive.
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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
  • The most positive result of using MindMeister is a visualization of each step in work and connections between different nodes(ideas, steps).
  • This greatly simplifies the work, especially collaborative work, since it is easier to show it once than to explain things many times.
  • Negative impact: lack of offline desktop version.
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ScreenShots

ActiveCollab Screenshots

Screenshot of Dashboard and overview of projects.Screenshot of Multiple task views curently 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.

MindMeister Screenshots

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