ActiveCollab vs. Zoho Projects

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
Zoho Projects
Score 8.4 out of 10
N/A
Zoho Project is online project management and planning software that provides project teams with a web-based collaborative environment. Zoho Projects can also include a bug tracking module specifically design to support software development project. It is integrated with other Zoho products including Zoho CRM.
$4
per user/per month if billed annually
Pricing
ActiveCollabZoho Projects
Editions & Modules
ActiveCollab Project Management
$8
per member/per month
Self-Hosted Plan
$999.00
license
Premium
$4
per user/per month if billed annually
Enterprise
$9
per user/per month if billed annually
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
ActiveCollabZoho Projects
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
YesYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesYes
Entry-level Setup Fee$6.25 per member, per month, annual billingOptional
Additional Details——
More Pricing Information
Features
ActiveCollabZoho Projects
Project Management
Comparison of Project Management features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCollab
3.7
13 Ratings
68% below category average
Zoho Projects
8.6
18 Ratings
14% above category average
Task Management5.912 Ratings8.718 Ratings
Resource Management1.08 Ratings8.617 Ratings
Gantt Charts3.07 Ratings9.715 Ratings
Scheduling1.011 Ratings8.616 Ratings
Workflow Automation7.01 Ratings8.013 Ratings
Team Collaboration6.513 Ratings9.918 Ratings
Support for Agile Methodology7.07 Ratings6.35 Ratings
Support for Waterfall Methodology7.01 Ratings8.610 Ratings
Document Management3.08 Ratings9.714 Ratings
Email integration4.09 Ratings9.914 Ratings
Mobile Access1.510 Ratings8.417 Ratings
Timesheet Tracking2.09 Ratings8.917 Ratings
Change request and Case Management1.08 Ratings6.96 Ratings
Budget and Expense Management2.07 Ratings8.713 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
Zoho Projects
7.3
11 Ratings
1% below category average
Quotes/estimates6.97 Ratings5.55 Ratings
Invoicing6.96 Ratings8.611 Ratings
Project & financial reporting1.07 Ratings6.55 Ratings
Integration with accounting software7.94 Ratings8.711 Ratings
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ActiveCollabZoho Projects
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Score 9.0 out of 10
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User Ratings
ActiveCollabZoho Projects
Likelihood to Recommend
3.7
(13 ratings)
8.8
(22 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
9.9
(3 ratings)
Usability
-
(0 ratings)
5.6
(4 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
7.1
(3 ratings)
7.4
(9 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
ActiveCollabZoho Projects
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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Zoho
My work involves projects of 5-15 people with numerous projects running simultaneously. Prior to Zoho, I did not have a central location from which to view all project statuses at once. Zoho looks to provide this and also looks like it will deliver. I am anxious to see how our organization's use of it develops. At this time, I feel I am likely to recommend Zoho Projects because my organization has made great software decisions in the past so I have a level of trust already that the research has been done that Zoho is the best solution for our line of work.
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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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Zoho
  • We use it to manage our sales orders as there are lots of moving parts which are necessary to get client orders done properly.
  • I use it anytime I have a new idea I want to put into motion. As I can create a list for brainstorming, feedback, specific actions necessary in order to test and or implement the idea.
  • Unrelated to business, it's a great way to plan travel in order to make sure you don't forget those important things like passport, flight arrangement, client meeting confirmation, and meeting prep as far as what specific documents or things do you need to bring with you.
  • And since everyone is on the go and expected to keep up with work, the mobile/tablet app makes it a breeze to keep up, work on, and create new projects.
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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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Zoho
  • There is no ability to add custom fields in the "Bugs" module - for example, if we want to add fields such as Version Number.
  • Reporting is not integrated - its a fairly expensive add-on.
  • There is no easy way to track actual and completed dates for tasks - so historical variance analysis is not easy.
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Likelihood to Renew
ActiveCollab
No answers on this topic
Zoho
I've reviewed about 8 other project management solutions and Zoho Projects is the best I've seen without being overly complicated. Zoho Projects keeps getting better! Recent new enhancements makes it even easier to navigate. There are new keyboard shortcuts that cut my time way down. The tools are very easy to use.
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Usability
ActiveCollab
No answers on this topic
Zoho
Zoho Projects is an easy project management tool to use. It provides all the functionality that we required for handling projects. We can easily create personal forms for projects and tasks, allowing us to add and report on our own desire. Apart from this we can create and edit documents in real time which saves our time. This allows us to share text docs, presentations, tables with the whole team and we can work on them together
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Reliability and Availability
ActiveCollab
No answers on this topic
Zoho
Has not been down to my knowledge.
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Performance
ActiveCollab
No answers on this topic
Zoho
Speed meets my expectations.
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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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Zoho
Although it might lack intuitiveness, once you get a hang of how Zoho Projects works, you can do a LOT. The impact good project management has on profitability is huge, and it has helped not only improve communication and coordination when working on a project, but more importantly have adequate tracking of time, due dates and potential bottle necks
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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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Zoho
Zoho Projects provides a more limited set of functionality and customization options than other task/bug trackers on the market, but what it lacks in functionality it makes up for in ease of use. It probably has 80-90% of the features of its competitors but takes about a third of the time to get up and running and realizing value.
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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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Zoho
  • We needed a system to organize our growing business, so anything was better than what we had, which was nothing.
  • Recording time spend is a huge reason for using project software. It has made me aware of the tasks that are taking too long and where we are not being profitable as a company.
  • It has kept our team accountable for what needs to get completed and when projects are not in motion or completed timely. It's helpful to know in order to get billing out faster.
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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.

Zoho Projects Screenshots

Screenshot of Task Automation with Blueprint - Map out your entire workflow with no code as flowcharts. Automate your tasks and notifications and set approval criteria with blueprint.Screenshot of Intuitive Gantt Charts - Say what, say who, say when. And done. Zoho Projects' Gantt chart comes feature loaded with advanced operations such as Critical path and Baseline.Screenshot of Inbuilt Issue Tracker - You can log, organize, track, and fix any problems. Features such as status and workflow, can be customized to suit the exact needs of your project.Screenshot of Drag, Drop and Done - A view of your tasks as cards placed along columns. Helps you identify bottlenecks and reorganize quickly using drag and drop.Screenshot of A quick pulse of all your work - The Portfolio dashboard, is a compact overview of all the work that's been happening across projects with widgets that address the project level timeline, status, ownership, budget health, and clients.Screenshot of Looks that matter - A refreshing UI that supports multiple themes, including an eye-catching dark mode.