Microsoft Project is a project management software which makes it a breeze to organize the whole project timeline including the work schedules, budgets and human work hours. Microsoft Project has become the best project management software which every IT professional and manager loves to work with. Microsoft Project is suitable for everyone from a person with very basic project management needs to a very large team with very complex collaboration and management needs. This is where simpler tools with only essential features come in. We share some of the most competent, simpler and free alternatives to Microsoft Project. There are two types of alternatives that I have used, web based and desktop based. Let’s get started with the list.
1. Openproj
Openproj is so far the best free and open source alternative to Microsoft Project. Openproj is the best alternative because there is very little time and effort required to shift from Microsoft Project to Openproj. It can even open MPP and MPT files created from Microsoft Project but one drawback of Openproj is that it will not be able to save the file back to MS Project file format but rather save it in an XML file which can be opened universally by any XML reader.
Openproj is compatible with Mac OS, Windows and Linux.
2. Gantter
Gantter is a free web based project management application that is especially targeted for small businesses and home users. The biggest feature of Gantter that I like the most is that it can be easily integrated with Google docs. You can also import your MPP files created in Microsoft Project but Gantter will save files in XML format. You can either save your projects locally or on Gantter cloud servers.
3. Teambox
Teambox is another free web based project management tool. Teambox is much like a social network of all the people who are working on a project. You can easily assign tasks, leave comments and fix due dates and this functionality is given just like we post anything on Facebook or any other social network. This makes it stand off from other project management tools. If your requirement is heavy collaboration among the team, Teambox is the perfect solution for you. The free edition of Teambox supports up to 3 projects and 50MB of online space.
4. Rally Community Edition
Rally Community Edition is another web based free and easy to use project management tool. This tool is an ideal solution for small business free for up to 10 users. You can easily plan and track tasks with Rally community edition. The distinction of Rally Community Edition is that it provides personal dashboards for all the users and combines social media tools for better collaboration and getting the right things done at the right time.
5. FreedCamp
FreedCamp is another feature rich web based alternative to Microsoft Project. The thing that attracts me towards FreedCamp is their claim on their homepage:
Over 48 universities, and 31 thousand professionals from 188 countries use Freedcamp every day!
FreedCamp offers an extremely easy to use dashboard which even newbies can get familiar with easily. FreedCamp works in modules and you can install any application that suits your project. This approach is especially successful as people have the flexibility to work on only the tasks and tools that they would like to use. All extras will never be installed. You can install the basic apps during the signup process. The basic apps includes a to-do list, discussions, milestones, time and files.
Which is your application of choice for managing your projects whether at the office or at home? What do you think is the best way to manage projects easily? Is it through using the software or doing things manually?
Image credit: Big Stock Photo
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You should really check out http://www.podio.com
A web-based collaboration tool.
I has an API so people can make apps for it. And there’s an appstore. You can then design a project with exactly the apps (tools) you need for that specific project. Very flexible, it seems. I’m not really sure how the prices are. I’m not paying, but I don’t know if that is because I logged in with my university mail, but I don’t think so, because there is also something called a premium account.
You can choose apps in Packs (bundles) designed for a specific type of project or you can pick single apps. To give you an idea, some of the most popular apps (you can browse by popularity and other ways) are “project collaboration”, “intranet”, “lead management”, “web app development”, “business development”, “recruitment”, “class work collaboration”, etc…
To give you an idea of the packs, for example the “web app development” – pakage, comes with the apps “project backlog”, “sprint planning”, “bugs”, “releases”, “features”, “areas” and “procedures”. And you are of course free to add more or remove anything you find unnecessary.
It is pretty cool, if you asked me.
However, it is not perfect. What really annoys me is the web-site i slow. It drives me nuts. But I hope it gets better, it’s a fairly new project.
We have covered Podio before. Here’s the review: http://maketecheasier.com/podio-impressive-social-collaboration-platform/2011/03/15
Oh sorry. Didn’t see that. And thanks for the article, btw.
Nice blog.
To re-export towards MSProject apparently there are only non-free softwares, but the german-made Merlin is excellent on macs and iOS, also saving interactive web pages etc.
Other than this I’m a bit worried when facing non-open web services (even if free) since I just don’t control the mere existence of the service… When will one of these free cloud things come with its php sources for us to install it on our web servers?
(I don’t dream: these things exist for multiuser agendas for instance : time will come ;-)
Thanks for mention Teambox, we are very pleased
with your recommendation! :)
The link is http://freedcamp.com/.
freedcamp was horrible. didn’t do anything i expected from a project mgmt tool. not for business professionals.
Man there are really many good solutions here. Hope we all can build a good list!
Why is it the commenters just highlight solution that cost money when the article says free!!
I’m an IT manager with a major project with many team members but no budget for a collaborative tool.
I can’t pay the $5,000+ for a Microsoft Project Server. Even the $400 for MS Project Standard is questionable just for this one 6 month project.
However; if I found something at say, $30/yr for each team member, I’d jump on it if it’s a better fit! I welcome all such input.
zoho.com has a lot of collaborative products including project planning, don’t know how good they are (I only used their free “docs” product until Google Docs came out). Don’t know their current payment policies/amounts but it may be worth a look.
There’s no doubt that the price is quite important when it comes to software for small business – not everyone can afford prices provided by MS and some alternative solutions.
I strongly believe, Teamlab.com is what many project managers can call a really useful and affordable collaboration system. We have been using it for several months already and we are pleased with what we got.
And what do you think about Open Workbench?
Regards,
Olivier.
You should try Comindware too. Powerfull tool with a great flexible options, feature of instant real time reporting and tracking a few projects at the same time.
Hi All,
Gantter proudly announces its Blockbuster Summer 2012 Release!
Check out its exciting new features and give us your feedback!
http://gantter.com/feature-updates/gantter-proudly-announces-its-blockbuster-summer-2012-release/
Happy scheduling!
Hello there, Usman! Good day! Thanks for posting the list of free and open source project planning and management tools. Microsoft Project is not at hand so our mentor decided to have a new one, freeware at least. We’ve been through to some sites but offers free trial version only and some are free yet web-based software. This post of you helps a lot and we’ve chosen OpenProj and downloaded it from .
Thanks and good luck !
What about not recommending an open source project filled with basic functionalities bugs that makes it completely unusable on a practical basis as a replacement for a working professional tool, just out of curiosity ?
Nice article. Helped me to choose web based project management software. Thanks
“Microsoft Project is a project management software which makes it a breeze to organize the whole project timeline including the work schedules, budgets and human work hours” – how can any PM who has used MS Project say that.
It’s been a frustrating , semi-reliable and counter-intuitive tool since its inception and has only improved a little. Hence all the alternatives.
Yes we’ve got used to its idiosyncracies but to suggest it makes anything a breeze suggests weak or light experience with it.
I use it MS Proj for some clients as they are accustomed to it but use OpenProj for jobs without collaborative requirements and Zoho for collaborative one off or one stage projects that dont require serious scheduling or estimation.
Not free but having an affordable price, RationalPlan is a serious contender to the title of Microsoft Project alternative:
http://www.rationalplan.com/
ProjectLibre: http://sourceforge.net/projects/projectlibre/ updates OpenProj to open and edit MS project 2010 mpp files (same dev team).
Hello, jyb71
Thanks. Your advise of app has been the most usable of all.
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