Easy Projects, Ace Project and Online Project Management Software, Who came out on top?
3 Stars = It Rocks!
2 Stars = Not So Bad!
1 Star = Hope they don’t quit their day job!
Easy Projects .NET
http://www.easyprojects.net/
FreelanceWeekly Rating: 3 Stars
Set Up: Set up was very easy. You just need to complete the required email confirmation and a 15 day trial was given. Self install source code and hosting are available for purchase.
Navigation: Overall navigation was easy to follow and extremely customizable for an administrator or basic user. You are able to see how an executive, project manager, employee, and client can see their dashboards immediately.
Sharing: Setting up user accounts and navigation was easy. Many of the roles are already predefined in the trial which made getting started easy. EasyProjects.NET also has an excellent time log section that will track timesheets for individual users, billable and non-billable hours for projects, time for a specific project, time for a task within the project, or a date range.
Customer service: Customer service is available via phone support, ticket system, knowledge base, live chat, forum, and video tutorials. However the phone and live chat features have limited availability (voicemail is available through phone support).
Recommendation: Of the programs viewed, EasyProjects.NET had the most useful customizable features. The ability to add fields, customize your homepage, and add widgets like “what’s new this week” to the dashboard are features that allow the user to personalize the program to meet their specific needs and goals.
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ACE Project
http://www.aceproject.com/
FreelanceWeekly Rating: 2 Stars
Set Up: Set up was very easy. There was no verification needed and immediate free access to the full-feature interface was granted. Web application with option for source code is available for purchase.
Navigation: Overall navigation and ease of use was simple. The appearance is straight forward and uncomplicated. There are tabs at the top for Office, New Project, Administrative and the dashboard remains on the left side for easy accessibility within these areas.
Sharing: The project manager assigns access as needed. Even clients can be given the proper access rights including a discussion forum to provide feedback with the option for read-only. CVS importing/exporting is also available.
Customer service: Customer service is available via phone from 8am-4:30pm EST, email and live support (limited hours).
Recommendation: I really liked the ease of use and the simple, user-friendly layout.
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Wrike
http://www.wrike.com/
FreelanceWeekly Rating: 2 Stars
Set Up: Set up was very easy and a 30 day trial was given. Wrike is a web based application, so you do not need to install or download any files to your computer.
Navigation: Easy and self explanatory with the exception of the sharing.
Sharing: I was a little confused when reading how to share tasks. It seems that you would have to create new folders continuously if you are sharing tasks in a project. However, I did like the fact that it would instantly email the team member notice of the project.
Customer service: Customer service is available via phone and email. Voicemail is available for after business hours.
Recommendation: Overall the layout was user friendly with the exception of sharing tasks. There is a potential for confusion among super users.
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Basecamp
http://www.basecamphq.com/signup
FreelanceWeekly Rating: 1 Star
Set Up: Registration requires a credit card. You will have a 30-day free trial that will automatically turn into a paid account at $49.00 per month. You must cancel your trial before the 30 days to avoid your credit card being charged. Basecamp is a web based application like Wrike that doesn’t require any downloads. A tour of the site is available to view without creating an account.
Navigation: The site appears extremely easy to set up and launch. The dashboard gives you a quick glance at your late tasks, tasks due within the next 14 days, project list, and recent task activity. The dashboard is customizable with colors and logos. You can also invoice projects from Basecamp into Freshbooks.
Sharing: There are only 2 types of access levels, admin and everyone else. However, you can assign specific tasks, projects, messages and write boards to different individuals. Email notification will be sent to individuals assigned. There is also a chat function.
Customer service: Customer service is available via FAQs, a forum and email.
Recommendation: Great to execute small projects and tasks for a small business.
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ProWorkflow
http://www.proworkflow.com/
FreelanceWeekly Rating: 1 Star
Set Up: Set up was very easy and a 30 day trial was given. ProWorkflow is available as either a hosted subscription or code download for purchase. Subscription accounts are recommended by ProWorkflow.
Navigation: Self explanatory but there is no customization available.
Sharing: General software/database access settings are available. There is also the ability to assign projects to users.
Customer service: Customer service is available via email contact form and knowledgebase.
Recommendation: Overall ProWorkflow was simple to use. However, lack of customization and awkwardness if you only need to assign a task instead of an entire project were disappointments.
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Projects Center
http://www.projectscenter.com/
FreelanceWeekly Rating: 1 Star
Set Up: Registration for this web based program was easy.
Navigation: Overall navigation and assigning projects and tasks are simple. Email notification is sent to designated person for task/project. A mysql error occurred when in use. However, upon logging out and returning, the program proved to be error-free.
Sharing: User set up was easy.
Customer service: Customer service is available via email or forum.
Recommendation: Easy to navigate, however there is no customization available. Also the limitation of only 750MB of space should be taken under consideration.
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@task
http://www.attask.com/
FreelanceWeekly Rating: Unavailable
Set Up: Unable to set up account. There was no interactive demo offered; only a product tour video that was extremely difficult to obtain.
Navigation: Unavailable
Sharing: Unavailable
Customer service: Customer service was only available by submitting a web-based form. This is supposed to generate a call from an @task representative to you to discuss your needs and show you the site in a demo mode while on the phone.
Recommendation: Unavailable. The attempt to contact customer service resulted in a call from an appointment setter who was scheduling appointments for a member of @task to call me back on another date/time to show me the site and demo it with me.
In a nutshell, they are all free (for now) so try each one out and see which works best for you. Our FreelanceWeekly favorite is Easy Projects .NET.
Freelancing is my life. It's what I know, it's what I'm good at, and I can't imagine doing anything else. You can call me "Freddie the Freelancer"… because I'd prefer not to use my real name for reasons that I'll tell you about in a moment.
11 Comments
Hi, Very nice writeup. I liked the reviews for all the project management apps. It is very helpful for people who really want to signup these tools. You can have a look at DeskAway (http://www.deskaway.com) which is a web-based project management & collaboration tool and is very easy to use.
Another alternative to take a look at would be ours all in one project management and collaboration tool – http://www.comindowork.com. Todo lists, tasks, issue tracking, SVN integration, Gantt charts, MS Project import/export, collaboration, enterprise wiki and much more.
You can also check out DeskAway. It is a project management and collaboration SaaS tool.
We have a free plan that allows 3 projects and 5 users, it does not expire.
http://www.DeskAway.com
Thank you for your feedback about Wrike. Just for the record, you don’t need to create new folders continuously if you are sharing tasks in a project. In Wrike, you can choose to what to share a single task or a whole project. What’s unique about Wrike is that you can securely accommodate two independent projects in one workspace and share them with two different clients. In this case none of your clients will be even aware of another project’s existence. If you’d like to know more, I’d be happy to help.
I think it’s a great post. You can also try DeskAway (http://www.deskaway.com). It is a very efficient and feature rich tool for project management & collaboration.
You could check out HyperOffice. We are one of the oldest players in the online project collaboration arena (since 1998). We include features which are not present in most pm tools – email, web forms, database management, online meetings.
I use mozilla and prefer its applications. Bugzilla is a free Web-based general-purpose bugtracker and testing tool originally developed and used by the Mozilla project.
You rated these all kind of low, lol. Could you do a review on freelancerKit (http://www.freelancerkit.com)
There is a demo to pick apart 
I agree with Jesse, your ratings do seem a bit low. You might include a review of ManagePro (www.managepro.com). This software combines project management, performance management, and strategic planning into one package.
There was no verification needed and immediate free access to the full-feature interface was granted.
its a very useful post.
and i agree all of you.
thanks
The only one that will allow you to have a free account is AceProject. I’m looking for something for a few very small projects.