Overview
What is ActiveCollab?
Active Collab is a project management solution built around features such as task management, collaboration, time tracking, and invoicing.
A lot to be improved but better than nothing
Works great for our sprint/scrum tasks, just be aware of limitations and avoid the mobile app
Great option for small businesses
Strong project management tool that provides a great set of features
ActiveCollab or Actively looking for another solution?
ActiveCollab has a simple interface and helps manage tasks easily, though design and some finctionality could be improved
ActiveCollab - Powerful, Simple & Reliable!
- Tracking internal tasks
- Projecting progress
- Clie…
We tried everything and Active Collab is above all.
Wonderful solution when managing projects and personnel. Recommendable.
ActiveCollab a boon for T&M projects
For two teams Active Collab is being used in my organization as project management tool after our customer decided to move to agile scrum …
Excellent solution for project management
Easy, Straightforward Web-Based Project Management Tool for Small to Mid-size Agencies
The best project management tool that you didn't know about
Popular Features
- Team Collaboration (13)6.565%
- Task Management (12)5.959%
- Mobile Access (10)1.515%
- Scheduling (11)1.010%
Reviewer Pros & Cons
Pricing
ActiveCollab Project Management
$8
Self-Hosted Plan
$999.00
Entry-level set up fee?
- $6.25 per member, per month, annual billingOptional
Offerings
- Free Trial
- Free/Freemium Version
- Premium Consulting/Integration Services
Features
Project Management
Project management software provides capabilities to streamline management of complex projects through task management, team collaboration and workflow automation
- 5.9Task Management(12) Ratings
This includes the ability to plan, track, collaborate and report on tasks.
- 1Resource Management(8) Ratings
Resource management is workload planning to maximize resources.
- 3Gantt Charts(7) Ratings
Gantt charts are charts that show tasks or events along the y-axis displayed against time along the x-axis.
- 1Scheduling(11) Ratings
Scheduling capabilities allow users to set schedules on tasks, and create timelines and milestones.
- 7Workflow Automation(1) Ratings
Workflow automation is the ability to route work requests along an approval process automatically.
- 6.5Team Collaboration(13) Ratings
Team collaboration capabilities let team members work directly with each other and provide team updates.
- 7Support for Agile Methodology(7) Ratings
Agile is a time boxed, iterative approach to development that builds software incrementally instead of trying to deliver it all at once near the end.
- 7Support for Waterfall Methodology(1) Ratings
Waterfall methodology is a tradition development method that is linear and sequential.
- 3Document Management(8) Ratings
Document management provides for centralized management of all project documents.
- 4Email integration(9) Ratings
Email integration allows work requests to be made directly from email.
- 1.5Mobile Access(10) Ratings
Mobile access is the ability to access the software from a smartphone or tablet.
- 2Timesheet Tracking(9) Ratings
Timesheet tracking is the ability to track all billable and non-billable hours for each project.
- 1Change request and Case Management(8) Ratings
Change request and change management enables tracking of all customer requests including priority and timeframe.
- 2Budget and Expense Management(7) Ratings
Budget and expense management provides the capability to track all expenses by employee or department and link them back to department. It also enables hourly rates to be set.
Professional Services Automation
Features that support professional services organizations
- 6.9Quotes/estimates(7) Ratings
Ability to create, manage and send project fee proposals to customers
- 6.9Invoicing(6) Ratings
Ability to create, manage and send invoices to clients during or after completion of a project
- 1Project & financial reporting(7) Ratings
Ability to analyze project and financial data based on custom criteria to gather insights and improve business performance
- 7.9Integration with accounting software(4) Ratings
Real-time, two-way sync with accounting or financial software to facilitate project and financial reporting
Product Details
- About
- Integrations
- Competitors
- Tech Details
- FAQs
What is ActiveCollab?
ActiveCollab is a project management software designed to give users complete control over work. The tool is equipped with features to help users organize work and keep free from distractions, even when working remote: workload management, time tracking, project profitability, task dependencies, invoicing, collaborative options, third-party integrations, etc.
The vendor states that ActiveCollab will give companies a boost and an enjoyable transition towards remote work, with their 90-day trial offer.
They further state that ActiveCollab is used by teams of all backgrounds - from large teams in international corporations to small startups, and everything in between.
ActiveCollab Features
Project Management Features
- Supported: Task Management
- Supported: Resource Management
- Supported: Gantt Charts
- Supported: Scheduling
- Supported: Team Collaboration
- Supported: Support for Agile Methodology
- Supported: Document Management
- Supported: Email integration
- Supported: Mobile Access
- Supported: Timesheet Tracking
- Supported: Change request and Case Management
- Supported: Budget and Expense Management
Professional Services Automation Features
- Supported: Quotes/estimates
- Supported: Invoicing
- Supported: Project & financial reporting
- Supported: Integration with accounting software
Additional Features
- Supported: Time Tracking
- Supported: Task Dependencies
- Supported: Discussion Boards
- Supported: Group Calendars
- Supported: Project Management
- Supported: IT Project Management
- Supported: Percent-Complete Tracking
- Supported: Project Planning
- Supported: Time & Expense Tracking
ActiveCollab Screenshots
ActiveCollab Videos
ActiveCollab Integrations
ActiveCollab Competitors
ActiveCollab Technical Details
Deployment Types | On-premise, Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based |
---|---|
Operating Systems | Windows, Linux, Mac |
Mobile Application | Apple iOS, Android |
Supported Countries | All Countries |
Supported Languages | Brazilian Portuguese, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Dutch, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Lithuanian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, or Turkish. |
Frequently Asked Questions
Comparisons
Compare with
Reviews and Ratings
(35)Community Insights
- Business Problems Solved
- Pros
- Cons
Active Collab has become an essential project management tool for two teams within our organization, as it offers a seamless transition from HP ALM for our agile scrum framework. Its billing and invoice features have been particularly helpful for teams working on time and materials projects, allowing us to easily generate invoices and allocate costs to team members. With Active Collab, we have gained the ability to have a snapshot of our team's work, budget spent, and project deadlines and responsibilities across multiple projects. This platform has become our primary project management system and workflow tool, enabling us to effectively manage projects both onsite, offsite, and even while on the go.
Active Collab is versatile enough to cater to both traditional and digital services, helping us manage agile workflows, timelines, and tasks effectively. We utilize this platform throughout our entire organization and it seamlessly integrates with our billing department. It serves as our main ticketing system, tracking internal tasks, projecting progress, managing client requests, and facilitating internal and external communications. The comprehensive features offered by Active Collab ensure that day-to-day operations of the company and client projects stay on track without anything slipping through the cracks. It enables us to manage projects, resources, and various activities efficiently. In addition, Active Collab acts as an invaluable tool for establishing meetings, delegating tasks, and supervising activities based on the specific requirements of each project. Its extensive functionality makes it the preferred project management tool for web design/digital marketing companies like ours due to its reasonable pricing structure.
Active Collab provides valuable support to our client services department by enhancing communication and collaboration with clients. Its workflow processing capabilities make task completion timely and facilitate seamless project handovers to clients. Not only does Active Collab assist in managing tasks related to design, development, and marketing within our organization as a whole, but it also serves as a dedicated platform for our support team's specific projects. Using Active Collab allows us to effectively manage sprints, assign tasks, track time, monitor progress, and identify any impediments that may arise. The platform's flexibility also helps categorize and estimate future tasks, enabling efficient planning and execution. Overall, Active Collab has proven to be an indispensable tool for our organization in successfully managing projects, collaborating with clients, and ensuring smooth workflow processes.
Effective Billing and Invoice Feature: Many users have found ActiveCollab's billing and invoice feature to be highly effective for time and materials teams. They mentioned that the current version, ActiveCollab version 5, allows for direct time tracking to tasks using the Timer app, making it convenient to create invoices based on the time entries.
Useful File Sharing Capability: The file sharing feature of ActiveCollab was highlighted as very useful for distributed teams. Users can easily share files and screenshots, improving collaboration and communication.
Easy-to-Use Interface: ActiveCollab is often described as easy to use by many users. With just a few clicks required to create a new project, they appreciate the well-laid-out dashboard and options, which are easy to navigate.
Cons: Lack of Support for Scaled Agile Frameworks: Some users have expressed frustration with the platform's inability to provide support for scaled agile frameworks like SAFe, which is available in competitors like Rally and Agilecraft.
Platform Stability Issues: Several reviewers have mentioned that they experienced occasional disruptions in accessing the project management tool due to issues on the platform's end, resulting in lost productivity.
Ineffective Search Functionality: A number of users have found the search functionality to be lacking, as filtered searches often exclude projects that should have been displayed. Additionally, some reviewers were unable to find tasks or items even when using relevant keywords.
Attribute Ratings
Reviews
(1-13 of 13)A lot to be improved but better than nothing
- Notifications when people comment on tasks
- Ability to upload files to tasks
- Can assign tags to tasks in order to filter
- Can manually enter time off so that team recieves OOO updates
- 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
Works great for our sprint/scrum tasks, just be aware of limitations and avoid the mobile app
- Track time for projects
- See which tasks are easily assigned
- Move tasks over from one project to another
- Add notes for a particular project that carry over
- Categorize tasks appropriately
- Does not maintain default categories for tasks
- Makes information difficult to share with others not on AC
- Relies on other people to track their time correctly in categories for estimates
- Mobile app is very hard to use and not user-friendly if you are working with multiple projects
Great option for small businesses
- Easily add clients as guests and control the amount of access.
- Clients can start discussions and respond to existing discussions via email.
- Discussions have good formatting options to allow for improved readability.
- Individual comments cannot be linked to. This makes it more difficult to reference a comment or question.
- Unnecessary features cannot be turned off. Since we use it primarily for communication, it would be ideal to turn off tasks etc. that are not needed or be able to move discussions as the first screen.
- There isn't an easy way to set up different projects under the same client.
Strong project management tool that provides a great set of features
- Simple interface.
- Flexible setup of tags and categories.
- Handles agile and waterfall type workflows well.
- Could use more flexibility in setting up categories.
- It would be nice to have multiple Kanban boards inside a project.
- The search functionality could be improved.
ActiveCollab or Actively looking for another solution?
- Simple project management
- Organized task lists
- Solid user management tools
- Uninspired design
- Very basic text editing features, minimal support for screenshots (you get 1 per task/message update)
ActiveCollab has a simple interface and helps manage tasks easily, though design and some finctionality could be improved
- Activity log to see the general picture.
- Ability to manage different projects.
- Daily email report on things discussed the previous day.
- Subtasks cannot be managed as full tasks, with comments.
- No ability to make several assignees.
ActiveCollab - Powerful, Simple & Reliable!
- Tracking internal tasks
- Projecting progress
- Client requests
- Internal and external communications
- Project Management - Makes it very efficient to manage projects using Gantt Charts, daily email reports and custom reports!
- Collaboration - Allows to collaborate with team members, tag them in tasks, send files/attachments.
- Task delegation - With just 2 clicks you can delegate tasks to other team members/users.
- Search functionality - The search functionality is not so promising and I'm unable to find the tasks/items that I need even though I use the keywords that are in the ticket/comments -- Definitely something that needs to be improved.
- No snooze functionality for tasks - If you work on multiple projects and deal with large number of tasks/tickets then things can get messy in your "workspace." An easy feature that can resolve this is to add snooze functionality. That way users can snooze tasks and optimize their workspace until when they really need to work on the task.
- No ability to color code tasks - I'm a visual person and deal with a large number of tasks on ActiveCollab. Seeing my huge pile of tasks in the same color makes me lose track of things and slows me down. It would be very helpful for me if task color coding was added to Active Collab -- I'm sure there are others out there who benefit from this feature, too!
We tried everything and Active Collab is above all.
- They give you the source code to use on your own server.
- It is easy to sort clients and campaigns.
- The email notifications work perfectly when tagging and talking to people. They allow you to subscribe to tasks as well to keep in the loop on what is going on.
- They don' do Gantt charts well
- Integrations aren't awesome yet
- They don't have task dependencies
- Very nice interface for all user roles in the system.
- Effective notification of pending tasks and optimal management of the equipment.
- Organized work flow, productive tasks and correct execution.
- Creation of filters to better locate artifacts for daily use.
- It is confusing when a review is made, before buying the product.
- It lacks animation and pleasant forms for the user.
- Does not allow effective communication when activities are reported. Since it does not provide a direct message chat.
- The reports that are generated are basic, they do not have personalization characteristics.
When they lack animation and explosiveness at the user level, it expires due to the rich user experiences offered by today's website.
ActiveCollab is a safe investment when talking about dynamics and production in projects, also in the management of the fair of the working group.
ActiveCollab a boon for T&M projects
For two teams Active Collab is being used in my organization as project management tool after our customer decided to move to agile scrum framework from waterfall. Earlier these teams were using HP ALM.
Since project moved from fixed capacity to T&M, Active Collab was very helpful since its billing & invoice features allows you generate the invoices easily.
Here cost can be easily assigned to each team member, Team members can start the timer after they start their work, then allows you to export the time records of team members making it easy to complete the billing.
It tells us precisely how much budget you've spent, who is working on what with how much capacity available and how deadlines and responsibilities overlap across multiple projects.
Thus AC served as excellent tool providing a great snapshot of team work at any given point to customer.
- Its billing & invoice feature worked pretty well for T&M teams. ActiveCollab version 5, the current version, allows you to directly track time to tasks using the Timer app and later create invoices based on those time entries. Their statuses will change through phases, as you are pending payment, or after they are set as paid.
- Here cost can be easily assigned to each team member, Team members can start the timer after they start their work, then allows you to export the time records of team members making it easy to complete the billing.
- File sharing feature is very useful for distributed teams as we can we can easily share files, screenshots.
- Also ActiveCollab ability to connect to Google docs, attach images and link to web pages make it unique from other project management tools.
- AC easily allows you to track your daily tasks & serves reminder if miss on the targets defined by giving daily / weekly reminders regarding tasks and any that have gone over due dates.
- ActiveCollab is quite easy to use. With just a few clicks, you can create a new project.
- The dashboard and options are easy to see and it is well laid out.
- Here user have an opportunity to select the number of emails they receive from ActiveCollab and for some email providers, such as Gmail grouping is enabled. So rather than getting multiple mails, it send you a summary of all the daily notifications in one mail.
- It allows users to upload several files at once on task comments, and if you are set with the owner role, or have the member role but are a project leader, you have a Batch Edit option available on project level. This allows you to edit multiple tasks at once and change all the details on them, such as assignee, due dates, labels, importance, and more.
- It does not provide support to scaled agile frameworks like SAfe which is there for Rally & AgileCraft.
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.
Excellent solution for project management
- Daily notifications to the mail about upcoming tasks and expired, if any.
- Preparation of financial reports and tasks for specific projects. You can form for individual tasks, employees and other criteria.
- The availability of the gantt chart greatly simplifies the process of building the project, as it is an effective tool that helps to see the order of tasks to be performed.
- I would like to supplement the mobile application with the functionality that the service has in the desktop version, for more efficient work.
- Sorting projects and tasks is not always convenient, I would like to customize it for myself.
Easy, Straightforward Web-Based Project Management Tool for Small to Mid-size Agencies
- 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.
- As a web-based platform, sometimes things go down on their end and we lose access to our project management tool to the ire of all.
- Project searching can be hit or miss, and filtered search often leaves out projects that should have shown.
- Email alerts are often not as helpful as they seem.
The best project management tool that you didn't know about
- The time tracking desktop app is great, giving both a list of assigned tasks and allowing time spent on them to be recorded quickly and easily.
- Xero integration means that all time tracked can be used to create invoices within our chosen accounting package with the minimum of fuss.
- Project templates ensure that each new project is quick and easy to set up and that all internal processes are included within each project.
- Notification emails would benefit from being able to set up schedules for reminders when tasks are due for completion.
- A time tracking app for Linus would be a welcome addition.