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Lightning Tools Lightning Conductor vs. Wrike vs. Zoho Projects

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Lightning Tools Lightning Conductor

    Score9 out of 10
    Mid-Size Companies (51-1,000 employees)
    The Lightning Conductor is a content aggregation tool for Microsoft SharePoint Online and Microsoft Teams. Users can build rich, modern content reports based upon SharePoint lists, SharePoint Search, Microsoft Graph or Microsoft 365 Groups. Content can be aggregated from lists and libraries, and other applications such as Planner, To Do, OneDrive, and Teams.

    $2,200

    per year per installation

    Wrike

    Score8.5 out of 10
    Mid-Size Companies (51-1,000 employees)
    Wrike is a project management and collaboration software. This solution connects tasks, discussions, and emails to the user’s project plan. Wrike is optimized for agile workflows and aims to help resolve data silos, poor visibility into work status, and missed deadlines and project failures.

    $240

    per year 2 users (minimum)

    Zoho Projects

    Score8.1 out of 10
    N/AZoho 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.

    $5

    per month per user

    Pricing
    Lightning Tools Lightning ConductorWrikeZoho Projects
    Editions & Modules
    Lightning Conductor WSP
    From 1950
    per year One WFE
    Lightning Conductor Enterprise Edition
    POA
    per year Four or more WFE
    Lightning Conductor Online
    From 2200
    per year per installation
    Lightning Conductor Plus (Includes Data Viewer)
    From 2500
    per year per installation
    Lightning Conductor Online Enterprise Edition (>10,000 users)
    POA
    per year per installation
    Wrike Free
    $0
    per month per user
    Wrike Team
    $10
    per month (billed annually) per user (2-15 users)
    Wrike Business
    $25
    per month (billed annually) per user (5-200 users)
    Apex
    Request a quote
    per month per user
    Pinnacle
    Request a quote
    per month per user
    Free
    $0
    Premium
    $5
    per month per user
    Enterprise
    $10
    per month per user
    Project Plus
    Contact Sales
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Lightning Tools Lightning ConductorWrikeZoho Projects
    Free Trial
    YesYesYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoYesYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    YesYesYes
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup feeOptional
    Additional DetailsPrices stated are minimum per installation for "stock" products. $2.20 per user/year on top of base price. Enterprise editions can be amended to suit business needs if deemed necessary, additional costs incurred and TBD. All packages include free technical support. Free upgrades available to latest versions of tool as they are released. (online version)Every premium plan begins with a 14-day trial period.Discount offered for annual billing.
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Lightning Tools Lightning ConductorWrikeZoho Projects
    Considered Multiple Products
    Lightning Tools
    No answer on this topic
    Wrike
    Chose Wrike
    Zoho Projects is great for intergration with Zoho and it's modules, but lacks the actual project management elements that Wrike has and is more complicated to set up blueprints etc. We used Redbooth before Wrike and it was limited in what it could do - hence why we moved to …
    Incentivized
    Chose Wrike
    My company already had selected Wrike before I joined. From my experience, it's easier on the eyes, better CX, customisation and automatisation.
    Incentivized
    Zoho
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
    92%
    Would buy again
    819 Answers
    75%
    Would buy again
    6 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
    96%
    Delivers good value for the price
    568 Answers
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    7 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    No answers on this topic
    94%
    Happy with the feature set
    837 Answers
    88%
    Happy with the feature set
    7 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    96%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    391 Answers
    71%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    5 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    91%
    Implementation went as expected
    452 Answers
    57%
    Implementation went as expected
    4 Answers
    Features
    Lightning Tools Lightning ConductorWrikeZoho Projects
    Project Management
    Comparison of Project Management features of Lightning Tools Lightning Conductor and Wrike and Zoho Projects
    Feature
    Lightning Tools Lightning Conductor
    8.6
    2 Ratings
    11% above category average
    Wrike
    7.8
    969 Ratings
    2% above category average
    Zoho Projects
    6.6
    20 Ratings
    15% below category average
    Task Management8.82 Ratings9.1963 Ratings7.520 Ratings
    Search8.42 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    Resource Management00 Ratings7.6832 Ratings7.019 Ratings
    Gantt Charts00 Ratings7.3683 Ratings6.517 Ratings
    Scheduling00 Ratings8.3845 Ratings5.518 Ratings
    Workflow Automation00 Ratings8.0836 Ratings6.014 Ratings
    Team Collaboration00 Ratings8.8963 Ratings7.520 Ratings
    Support for Agile Methodology00 Ratings7.9544 Ratings6.35 Ratings
    Support for Waterfall Methodology00 Ratings8.0492 Ratings8.011 Ratings
    Document Management00 Ratings7.5815 Ratings6.016 Ratings
    Email integration00 Ratings7.8730 Ratings6.016 Ratings
    Mobile Access00 Ratings7.4706 Ratings5.018 Ratings
    Timesheet Tracking00 Ratings7.5459 Ratings7.519 Ratings
    Change request and Case Management00 Ratings7.723 Ratings6.96 Ratings
    Budget and Expense Management00 Ratings6.8354 Ratings6.014 Ratings
    Professional Services Automation
    Comparison of Professional Services Automation features of Lightning Tools Lightning Conductor and Wrike and Zoho Projects
    Feature
    Lightning Tools Lightning Conductor
    -
    Ratings
    Wrike
    7.3
    363 Ratings
    5% below category average
    Zoho Projects
    5.0
    13 Ratings
    42% below category average
    Quotes/estimates00 Ratings8.21 Ratings5.55 Ratings
    Invoicing00 Ratings6.628 Ratings5.012 Ratings
    Project & financial reporting00 Ratings7.5358 Ratings6.55 Ratings
    Integration with accounting software00 Ratings6.9220 Ratings3.013 Ratings
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    Score7.9 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Lightning Tools Lightning ConductorWrikeZoho Projects
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.0
    (4 ratings)
    8.4
    (1004 ratings)
    6.5
    (24 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    8.5
    (109 ratings)
    9.9
    (3 ratings)
    Usability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.4
    (340 ratings)
    5.6
    (4 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.3
    (24 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Performance
    -
    (0 ratings)
    6.6
    (21 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    9.5
    (93 ratings)
    7.4
    (9 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.2
    (5 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Online Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.3
    (13 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.9
    (37 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Configurability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (16 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.4
    (5 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.0
    (7 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.2
    (15 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Professional Services
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (4 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (8 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.6
    (9 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Lightning Tools Lightning ConductorWrikeZoho Projects
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Lightning Tools
    Having experience of SharePoint On Premise and also SharePoint Online, there isn't an out of the box app/webpart that enables you to 'roll up content' from a variety of source's (in my case SP Lists, but there are many other data sources it works with) across site collections with an easy to use and intuitive interface which is what Lightning tools excels at.
    Read full review
    Wrike
    Wrike helped us stitch PMO-related activities under one umbrella. The easy collaboration with multiple access types, combined with security access definitions, helped users across the organization contribute according to their roles. This helped provide the organization with multiple items to be reviewed in a single tool. This saved time in weekly review meetings by avoiding switching between multiple tools & files.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Lightning Tools
    • Aggregate documents across SharePoint site & libraries
    • Filtering for owner/person responsible & due dates
    • Ease of end-user filtering on columns
    • Color-coding & other formatting
    Read full review
    Wrike
    • Excellent dashboards that are easy to use and give amazing insights.
    • User friendly interface that is also easy to interact with.
    • Lot of integrations.
    • Robust project and task management features.
    • Facilitate seamless team collaboration and communication.
    • Highly customizable and multiple project views.
    Read full review
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Lightning Tools
    • Mobile Friendly
    • Calendar/Gantt views
    • Complex/Custom Logic
    Read full review
    Wrike
    • Email alerts sometimes send too slowly.
    • If you put a project on hold, it can be hard to find it once you are ready to return to it.
    • Sometimes there are too many steps/tasks and the main page can get cluttered.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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.
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Lightning Tools
    No answers on this topic
    Wrike
    I wish that Wrike had more drag and drop functionality that would be connected to assignee and also I wish that the finish date of a task would update to the date where you checked completed. It does not do that. Also finishing a task doesn't move the start date of the next task it "protects your time in that way", but our management team wants us to quickly see what we have down the pipeline rather than having to scroll down the list of upcoming tasks.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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.
    Read full review
    Usability
    Lightning Tools
    No answers on this topic
    Wrike
    We have project templates set up based on what job type is selected in our work request form. This helps save time by having specific tasks already on each job as it is opened. Then it's just a matter of scheduling the tasks based on the job request and current workload. As long as a due date is flexible, it's easy to shift specific due dates as needed.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Lightning Tools
    No answers on this topic
    Wrike
    Over two years of (almost) daily usage without outages. Don't remember any errors. I give it 9 only because some Wrike plugins (for online document edit) are based on NPAPI architecture. These types of plugins are being phased out in new browsers, and NPAPI plugins are disabled by default in recent versions of Chrome so you have to do some browser adjustments when you switch browsers or move to another computer.
    Read full review
    Zoho
    Has not been down to my knowledge.
    Read full review
    Performance
    Lightning Tools
    No answers on this topic
    Wrike
    Wrike tasks loads fine, but I hate clicking files and wait for a bit of time since it is powerpoint or word, Wrike assumes I want to open those on Wrike. My suggestion is to link it to office 365 so we do not need Wrike based decoder for PPTX and DOCX
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Zoho
    Speed meets my expectations.
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Lightning Tools
    The Lightning Tools support team responds quickly, and team members are very friendly and helpful.
    Read full review
    Wrike
    During my learning phase with Wrike, I initially struggled with setting up automation rules and request forms. However, Wrike support was always my go-to, resolving issues within seconds or minutes. Their assistance made the learning process much easier. My best experience was receiving step-by-step screenshots to follow, with the support team on standby until I was completely satisfied.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    In-Person Training
    Lightning Tools
    No answers on this topic
    Wrike
    We had staff in person provide some training
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Zoho
    No answers on this topic
    Online Training
    Lightning Tools
    No answers on this topic
    Wrike
    I love the Wrike training options. Wrike Discover has tons of courses, learning plans, certifications, etc. This is an area where Wrike definitely shines! I wish these resources were more in your face for new people, because it seems like a lot of coworkers didn't know all of this training was available to them.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Zoho
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation Rating
    Lightning Tools
    No answers on this topic
    Wrike
    There are a lot of bells and whistles in Wrike, and not all of it is easy or intuitive to understand once it's plopped in your lap. It's easier when there are a few choice people who understand Wrike as a platform and articulate it in such a way where it makes it easy to pass it along to others in the group
    Read full review
    Zoho
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Lightning Tools
    I haven't found another product to compare this one to. Only in SharePoint Online which has a similar App 'Highlight Webpart' ... it's far too complicated to set up and requires learning yet another language and exporting and importing via PowerShell to get any real results that would be useful.
    Read full review
    Wrike
    Jira did not at all help us get our work done as content creators. I think that was because Jira wasn't quite right for our uses. Wrike fits our needs so much better. I can't tell you enough the relief I felt when we adopted Wrike and I never had to use Jira again.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    Lightning Tools
    No answers on this topic
    Wrike
    company purchase
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Zoho
    No answers on this topic
    Scalability
    Lightning Tools
    No answers on this topic
    Wrike
    The sky is the limit for what can be done in Wrike. We started with 1 use case and within 5 months we migrated several key business practices over to Wrike because they were easier to manage. Use cases so far: process improvement, management review, corrective actions, maintenance requests, month-end financial closing, and document management. As we grow, it's easy to imagine putting even more into Wrike where it becomes a cornerstone for how we do business
    Read full review
    Zoho
    No answers on this topic
    Professional Services
    Lightning Tools
    No answers on this topic
    Wrike
    I do not use professional services.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Zoho
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    Lightning Tools
    • Policies easier to portray
    Read full review
    Wrike
    • Different teams (e.g., contracting, compliance, provider relations) can view updates in real time, comment directly on tasks, and escalate items when needed.
    • Wrike allows us to template the contracting process (from intake to signature) to ensure consistency across payers and reduce administrative overhead.
    • Leadership can see the status of negotiations at a glance, identify bottlenecks, and prioritize resources accordingly.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Lightning Tools Lightning Conductor Screenshots

    Screenshot of MODERN SHAREPOINT LIST ROLLUP
The Lightning Conductor is a SharePoint Content Aggregator that can be configured quickly by business users. The Lightning Conductor can be used to aggregate content from SharePoint Lists such as Tasks, Document Libraries, Contact Lists, and Custom Lists making it easy to view content in one place even if it is distributed across many sites and site collections. Key data can be highlighted using conditional formatting and data-bars as shown. Content from Search and Microsoft Graph can also be aggregated with the Lightning Conductor.Screenshot of CONTENT AGGREGATION WITHIN MICROSOFT TEAMS
The Lightning Conductor Web Part can be used within Microsoft SharePoint or Microsoft Teams. Even if content is stored within SharePoint sites, it is useful to have aggregated Documents, Tasks, Announcements, Calendars or Custom Lists from multiple sites displayed in a single handy view in Microsoft Teams. The Lightning Conductor can be added as a Teams Tab in any Microsoft Teams Channel.Screenshot of BUILDING REPORTS ON MICROSOFT GRAPH
The Lightning Conductor can be used (without code) to aggregate content from Microsoft Graph as well as Search and SharePoint Lists. This example displays Microsoft Planner Plans and Microsoft Planner Tasks where users can Add new Tasks, Assign Users to Planner Tasks, Delete Tasks, and Complete Tasks. The same can be performed on Microsoft To Do items and displayed within Modern SharePoint pages or Microsoft Teams Tabs. The Lighting Conductor can also contain multiple views of content, making it ideal to display all of your tasks from SharePoint Task lists, Microsoft To Do and Microsoft Planner in a single web part or Teams Tab.

*Microsoft Graph Reports are only available for SharePoint Online and not SharePoint 2019.Screenshot of BUILDING REPORTS ON MICROSOFT 365 GROUPS
Powered by Microsoft Graph, the Microsoft 365 Group Rollup Provider enables users to aggregate content by browsing and selecting Microsoft 365 Groups. Within Microsoft 365 Groups, you’ll be able to select entities such as Drive Items, Owners, Members, Planner Plans, Planner Tasks, Events, Posts,  Sites, Lists, and Calendars.

*Microsoft Graph Reports are only available for SharePoint Online and not SharePoint 2019.Screenshot of AGGREGATING USING SEARCH
When performance is critical, search can be used for rollups. The Lightning Conductor offers three data source configurations to get to content. Object Model (Real Time Aggregation from SharePoint Lists), Microsoft Graph (Aggregation from Graph Entities such as Planner, OneDrive, Outlook), and Search. The Search Data Source enables the aggregation of content from large SharePoint lists and libraries when performance is critical. Thousands of documents can be displayed in under a second using Search.Screenshot of HIGHLIGHTING KEY BUSINESS DATA WITHIN VIEWS
End users and Site Owners can highlight the data that is important to them, the data that they need to prioritize. Using conditional formatting, data bars, and icons, conditions can be configured to highlight the data that is most important. Icons and Data Bars can be any color or size desired. Examples include highlighting High Priority tasks, Showing data bars for the completion progress of Tasks, or indicating which tasks are assigned to any particular user.

    Wrike Screenshots

    Screenshot of DashboardsScreenshot of DashboardsScreenshot of DashboardsScreenshot of DashboardsScreenshot of Space workflowsScreenshot of Space workflows

    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.