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ActiveCollab

ActiveCollab

Overview

What is ActiveCollab?

Active Collab is a project management solution built around features such as task management, collaboration, time tracking, and invoicing.

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Recent Reviews

TrustRadius Insights

Active Collab has become an essential project management tool for two teams within our organization, as it offers a seamless transition …
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Popular Features

View all 18 features
  • Team Collaboration (13)
    6.5
    65%
  • Task Management (12)
    6.1
    61%
  • Mobile Access (10)
    1.5
    15%
  • Scheduling (11)
    1.0
    10%

Reviewer Pros & Cons

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Pricing

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ActiveCollab Project Management

$7.00

Cloud
per member/per month

Self-Hosted Plan

$999.00

On Premise
license

Entry-level set up fee?

  • $6.25 per member, per month, annual billing
    Optional
For the latest information on pricing, visithttps://activecollab.com/pricing

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services
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Features

Project Management

Project management software provides capabilities to streamline management of complex projects through task management, team collaboration and workflow automation

3.7
Avg 7.5

Professional Services Automation

Features that support professional services organizations

5.7
Avg 7.4
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Product Details

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

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.Screenshot of Online payment options.Screenshot of ActiveCollab Workload is a visual resource management tool built for agencies and creative professionalsScreenshot of Everyone’s availability at a glance. You'll know immediately who's available and who's not. Say no to updating spreadsheets! Everyone will be on the same page.Screenshot of Multiple task views currently showing a Kanban view of the task lists and tasksScreenshot of List of tasks with high priority options, assignees, due dates, and task dependenciesScreenshot of Break down your entire work into tasks your team can tackle right away. Deadlines will never surprise you again. Actual priorities are given priority, and everyone is accountable for their work.

ActiveCollab Videos

ActiveCollab Walkthrough - A 7-minute video that covers the basics of using ActiveCollab.
The calendar in ActiveCollab shows everything that has a due date. Just to make sure you never miss a deadline.
ActiveCollab is great if you need to manage all your people in one place. Instead of inviting users one by one, simply create a team and invite them all at once.
ActiveCollab is about people working together. Learn how to get started and invite your team.
A brand-new ActiveCollab is finally here! Bigger and better in just about every way possible, with a whole slew of awesome new and enhanced features.
ActiveCollab Workload is a visual resource management tool built for agencies and creative professionals
ActiveCollab is THE software for project management! Ideal for all types of industries, it supports the workflow, from creating an idea to getting paid. Create project estimates and collaborate directly with your clients. You can invite an unlimited number of clients to your...
 Show More

ActiveCollab Technical Details

Deployment TypesOn-premise, Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based
Operating SystemsWindows, Linux, Mac
Mobile ApplicationApple iOS, Android
Supported CountriesAll Countries
Supported LanguagesBrazilian 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

Active Collab is a project management solution built around features such as task management, collaboration, time tracking, and invoicing.

Basecamp, monday.com, and Teamwork.com are common alternatives for ActiveCollab.

Reviewers rate Integration with accounting software highest, with a score of 7.9.

The most common users of ActiveCollab are from Small Businesses (1-50 employees).
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(35)

Community Insights

TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!

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

(1-3 of 3)
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Score 6 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
ActiveCollab is used by the client services department for communication with clients regarding their projects. Having a centralized platform for reviews allows all parties to be included in discussions and questions about their services.
  • 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.
ActiveCollab is more suited for people looking for project management software since the tasks and project management tools are the primary focus. The time tracking and invoicing components are valuable for this. It is less useful as a communication portal as the project management features actually get in the way and hamper the usability.
Project Management (11)
11.818181818181818%
1.2
Task Management
N/A
N/A
Resource Management
N/A
N/A
Gantt Charts
N/A
N/A
Scheduling
N/A
N/A
Team Collaboration
60%
6.0
Support for Agile Methodology
N/A
N/A
Document Management
N/A
N/A
Email integration
70%
7.0
Mobile Access
N/A
N/A
Timesheet Tracking
N/A
N/A
Change request and Case Management
N/A
N/A
Professional Services Automation (4)
N/A
N/A
Quotes/estimates
N/A
N/A
Invoicing
N/A
N/A
Project & financial reporting
N/A
N/A
Integration with accounting software
N/A
N/A
  • A central communication portal is used to keep all members of the team informed as to the status of specific projects. All staff have access to read past discussions to enable contribution to the current discussion.
  • We have found it difficult to get our clients to adopt usage of ActiveCollab for communication on a reliable basis.
  • The cost per person is high when using it as a communication center.
ActiveCollab has similar features to Basecamp for both project management and communication purposes. However, Basecamp has a better interface for organization of projects within clients and allows for linking to specific comments. However, ActiveCollab is more affordable than Basecamp for businesses just starting out and/or a smaller team as they offer a lower cost entry level.
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.
Mike Muller | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
ActiveCollab is being used in our company as a project management tool. We utilize it for our traditional and digital services. For our digital services, we use it to manage agile workflows along with timeline and task management. It's used by our entire organization and feeds our billing department as well.
  • 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 is well suited for small to medium-sized organizations that want strong project management tools at an affordable cost. It's nice that we can use the self-hosted version to help control costs and utilize the current hosting infrastructure. It's not as appropriate for very large organizations or organizations requiring many different task categories.
Project Management (11)
91.81818181818181%
9.2
Task Management
100%
10.0
Resource Management
70%
7.0
Gantt Charts
90%
9.0
Scheduling
70%
7.0
Team Collaboration
100%
10.0
Support for Agile Methodology
90%
9.0
Document Management
100%
10.0
Email integration
100%
10.0
Mobile Access
100%
10.0
Timesheet Tracking
100%
10.0
Change request and Case Management
90%
9.0
Professional Services Automation (3)
73.33333333333333%
7.3
Quotes/estimates
70%
7.0
Invoicing
70%
7.0
Integration with accounting software
80%
8.0
  • It was a cost-effective way to bring in a good project management tool.
  • It has helped us track billable hours and catch projects that are going over budget.
  • Has greatly improved communication.
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.
The support team is responsive to requests and their annual support fees are reasonable. Honestly, we don't have to contact them much. Updates happen automatically and the platform is very solid and does not require a lot of support. Documentation is good and the platform is easy to learn.
Joshua VanMeter | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 6 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Our support team utilizes ActiveCollab to manage projects that are specific to their department. Overall, it's a fine enough system, but there are some quirks and challenges that need to be addressed before the system can be utilized fluently. We're still working through these challenges, but the system seems to be working as expected.
  • 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)
This is a system built by engineers for engineer-minded people. Nothing fancy, but it does do exactly what you expect it to.
Project Management (9)
23.333333333333336%
2.3
Task Management
60%
6.0
Scheduling
50%
5.0
Team Collaboration
50%
5.0
Support for Agile Methodology
N/A
N/A
Document Management
50%
5.0
Email integration
N/A
N/A
Mobile Access
N/A
N/A
Timesheet Tracking
N/A
N/A
Change request and Case Management
N/A
N/A
Professional Services Automation (4)
N/A
N/A
Quotes/estimates
N/A
N/A
Invoicing
N/A
N/A
Project & financial reporting
N/A
N/A
Integration with accounting software
N/A
N/A
  • It's allowed transparent communication between multiple team members
  • The archives keep track of team communications.
  • The system stays organized, if you can wrap your mind around their organization style.
We've never interacted with their customer support, so we have no frame of reference to give it a reliable review.
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