8.9
Spot Score
ActiveCollab Review: Is It The Right Project Management Software For Your Team?
Best for SMB teams · Mid-market · Enterprise
Free Trial Available
SOC 2
Nike
Cisco
Honda
Dell
FujifilmTrusted by many companies including Nike
Overview
Pricing
Features
Buyer feedback
Alternatives
Customers
Media
Security & Compliance
Support
FAQ
Blogs
SpotSaaS Analysis for ActiveCollab
ActiveCollab is a project management tool frequently used by Project Managers, Account Managers, and Team Leads within small businesses, particularly in marketing, advertising, and consulting sectors. A rating of 4.2 out of 5 from 477 reviews indicates broad validation among its users, suggesting it effectively meets the needs of its target audience.
The software's intuitive interface simplifies task and project management, making it easy for teams to stay organized. Additionally, it enhances collaboration by streamlining communication and updates between team members and clients. However, a notable limitation is its lack of modern UI aesthetics and advanced customization options, which might be a drawback for teams seeking more visually dynamic tools.
Quick facts about ActiveCollab
What is ActiveCollab?
ActiveCollab is a web based project management software designed to make managing small business teams as simple as possible. The intuitive interface makes it easy to delegate tasks and kept track of projects. Features such as time tracking, invoicing, time tracking, online payment gateway integration and 30+ realtime project reports will be the main reason why your company will use it.
Pricing
Free Trial available
Best For
Suited for solo users, small teams, SMBs, and enterprise
Security & Compliance
SOC 2Data residency:Global
Platform
Web + mobile app (iOS & Android)
Installed - Windows
Installed - Mac
ActiveCollab Software Demo
ActiveCollab was reviewed internally using user feedback, in-house testing, and market research to assess its performance, reliability, and user experience. Learn how we review products and our evaluation process.
Who should consider ActiveCollab
- Use cases
- Marketing, Advertising, Consulting
- Team types
- Project Managers, Account Managers
- Company size
- 1–50 Employees
Why teams choose ActiveCollab
Easy to use with a simple interface, making task and project management intuitive for teams.
Facilitates collaboration between team members and clients, streamlining communication and updates.
Offers robust project organization tools such as tasks, subtasks, templates, and workload management.
Is ActiveCollab right for you?
What buyers should know before shortlisting ActiveCollab
ActiveCollab stands out as a versatile and user-friendly project management tool that excels in keeping teams organized, fostering collaboration, and streamlining workflows. Its intuitive interface makes it accessible for users of all experience levels, with particularly strong capabilities in time tracking, task assignment, and workload management.
Many users appreciate its ability to centralize communication, file sharing, and project updates, which promotes transparency and efficiency across teams, even those operating remotely. Features like customizable reports and templates further enhance productivity, while the platform’s affordability makes it a great option for small to mid-sized businesses.
That said, some areas leave room for improvement. The system occasionally experiences slowdowns with heavy data loads, and some users miss features like robust Gantt charts or advanced sprint planning tools.
Others highlighted design aspects, such as the lack of visually appealing dashboards or modernized UI, as areas needing attention. Additionally, certain functionalities, like multi-assignee task allocation or a smoother file organization system, could streamline the experience further.
Despite these minor drawbacks, ActiveCollab remains a reliable and comprehensive solution for efficient project management, earning praise for its simplicity, collaboration tools, and beneficial integrations. It's a valuable choice for teams seeking a balance between functionality and ease of use.
ActiveCollab pros and cons
- ActiveCollab pros
Easy to use with a simple interface, making task and project management intuitive for teams.
Facilitates collaboration between team members and clients, streamlining communication and updates.
Offers robust project organization tools such as tasks, subtasks, templates, and workload management.
- ActiveCollab cons
Lacks modern UI aesthetics and advanced customization options like drag-and-drop features or enhanced visual dashboards.
No support for assigning tasks to multiple users, creating additional manual workload for collaborative activities.
Ready to try it?
Get started with ActiveCollab
Start your free trial — no credit card required.
Still comparing?
See how it stacks up
Compare ActiveCollab side-by-side with top Project Management Software alternatives.
What is the pricing of ActiveCollab?
ActiveCollab reviews and ratings
Buyer sentiment
Buyer sentiment is positive across 116 reviews, with strong overall satisfaction.
What buyers like
- Easy to use with a simple interface, making task and project management intuitive for teams.
- Facilitates collaboration between team members and clients, streamlining communication and updates.
- Offers robust project organization tools such as tasks, subtasks, templates, and workload management.
Common complaints
- Lacks modern UI aesthetics and advanced customization options like drag-and-drop features or enhanced visual dashboards.
- No support for assigning tasks to multiple users, creating additional manual workload for collaborative activities.
- Missing agile project planning tools such as sprints and story writing, limiting flexibility for specific methodologies.
What users are saying
CA
Christian A
11/28/23
"Good platform for keeping our online office organized"
What do you like best about ActiveCollab? It's very ewasy to use, it was easy to implement in our company and it inegrated nively with Hubstaff ...
Read more
PG
Pascual G
11/12/23
"ActiveCollab, a stable and secure project management platform for collaborative work teams."
What do you like best about ActiveCollab? ActiveCollab is excellent when we talk about implementations that do not require the use of hardware ...
Read more
CE
Christian Edward L
10/03/23
"Its just okay"
What do you like best about ActiveCollab? creating and distributing tasks to my workmates What do you dislike about ActiveCollab? for being laggy and ...
Read more
KA
Kamran A
08/30/23
"ActiveCollab – undeniably great project management platform!"
What do you like best about ActiveCollab? ActiveCollab is a great platform to manage our projects but without a missing dashboard it is quite ...
Read more
AU
Anonymous User
05/16/23
"Not as robust as necessary for integrated teams"
What do you like best about ActiveCollab? Easy to get started with, but if you're used to more robust systems for complex teams and processes, this ...
Read more
SR
Sarah R
03/02/23
"User-Friendly, Project Manager's Best Friend"
What do you like best about ActiveCollab? Very user-friendly. Great organization structure for managing multiple tasks/department silos and allowing ...
Read more
- See if ActiveCollab fits your business
- Real pricing — no sales pressure
- A demo or quick answers, your call
Step 1 of 4
How big is your team?
We tailor recommendations to companies your size.
What are the features of ActiveCollab?
ActiveCollab’s Alerts feature ensures users receive timely notifications about task updates, approaching deadlines, and project changes. It…
Brainstorming is a strategy used by design teams to develop solutions to specific design problems. Under regulated settings and in a free-th…
Budget Management in ActiveCollab allows users to plan, track, and control project-related expenses. It compares estimated versus actual cos…
ActiveCollab’s Collaboration Tools foster efficient teamwork through features like task commenting, file sharing, and real-time updates. The…
Cooperative writing is when Two or more people collaborate to create a piece. Cooperative writing, also known as group writing or collaborat…
A personalized invoice, even one that is only semi-stylized, is an opportunity to improve your company's image. Customizing invoices adds a…
A discussion board is an internet application that allows people to have online conversations. Discussion boards are referred to as web foru…
A system or process for capturing, tracking and storing electronic documents such as PDFs, word processing files, and digital photographs of…
Gantt Charts in ActiveCollab provide a visual timeline for planning, scheduling, and monitoring tasks and dependencies. This intuitive inter…
A group calendar allows you to see multiple calendars at once. A group calendar, for example, is handy when planning a team meeting because…
In the service industry, hourly billing is the most popular billing technique. It entails the dynamic creation of project billing records, i…
Idea management is a structured method of producing, capturing, discussing, enhancing, organizing, analyzing, and prioritizing valuable insi…
Issue Management in ActiveCollab allows users to report, assign, and monitor bugs or project blockers. Each issue can be documented, priorit…
ActiveCollab’s Kanban Board provides a flexible, visual layout for managing tasks through stages like “To Do,” “In Progress,” and “Done.” It…
Milestone Tracking in ActiveCollab allows teams to mark major project goals and monitor their achievement. It helps identify progress checkp…
Your firm will be able to hold funds in multiple currencies if you have a multi-currency bank account. When conducting a business across bor…
Online invoicing allows you to create and deliver invoices to your vendors via email rather than printing and mailing physical copies. You c…
ActiveCollab’s Percent-Complete Tracking offers visual and numeric insights into task progress. It helps managers and team members quickly a…
ActiveCollab’s Progress Tracking provides real-time updates on tasks and projects through dashboards and status indicators. It helps teams e…
The final ingredient in improving the profitability of your projects is project billing, which is the ability to swiftly produce bills based…
Project management is used to supervise a team's efforts to meet all project objectives while staying within budget. The information is desc…
Project Planning in ActiveCollab helps teams define scope, set goals, organize tasks, and assign responsibilities. It allows for creating st…
ActiveCollab’s Project Templates save time by allowing users to replicate successful project structures. Predefined tasks, timelines, and wo…
When a subscription business charges a customer's credit card for items or services on a regular billing schedule, this is known as recurrin…
Recurring task management entails ensuring that the project manager correctly manages recurring tasks (those that occur on a regular basis)…
Reporting and Analytics in ActiveCollab offer insights into team performance, project progress, and resource utilization. Users can generate…
ActiveCollab’s Resource Management allows managers to monitor workloads, assign tasks based on capacity, and avoid overbooking. It helps ens…
Status Tracking in ActiveCollab enables teams to monitor the real-time state of tasks and projects using visual indicators like “Open,” “In…
When you send someone a task request in an email message, you assign them tasks. You hand it on to one of your team members (unless the assi…
Task Management in ActiveCollab includes creating, organizing, prioritizing, and tracking work items through their lifecycle. It supports co…
Task Scheduling is a software feature that allows users to organize and manage various tasks in an efficient and structured manner. It is an…
The method involves identifying, monitoring, and progressing the work that has to be done during the day is known as task tracking or task m…
Time & Expense Tracking in ActiveCollab allows users to log hours worked and record associated costs directly within tasks. It ensures accur…
The time tracking feature is primarily used by businesses that bill customers based on the time it takes to resolve a problem. Staff can qui…
ActiveCollab’s Timeline View offers a Gantt chart-style visualization of project schedules, showing tasks, dependencies, and milestones. It…
ActiveCollab security and data handling
Key compliance certifications and security features for IT and security teams evaluating ActiveCollab.
Certifications
Developer & data
Alternatives to ActiveCollab
Recommended
Streamline Projects, Boost Productivity
9.8
Very Good
Recommended
Streamline your projects with ...
9.8
Excellent
Why buyers keep looking beyond ActiveCollab
ActiveCollab restricts task assignments to a single user, lacking the ability to assign tasks to multiple team members simultaneously. This limitation can hinder collaboration, especially in complex projects requiring input from various team members.
While ActiveCollab offers reporting features, they are primarily text-based and lack advanced visual analytics. Users seeking comprehensive, visual reports with charts and graphs may find these capabilities insufficient.
The platform offers limited dashboard customization, which may not suit users who prefer a more personalized project management experience.
ActiveCollab's search capabilities are limited, particularly when not using Elastic Search, making it challenging to locate specific tasks or information efficiently.
The platform lacks advanced workflow automation features, which can be a drawback for teams seeking to automate repetitive tasks and processes to enhance efficiency.
ActiveCollab offers some integration options; however, it may not cover all the third-party tools and applications users may want to include in their workflow.
ActiveCollab Customers
Nike
Cisco
Honda
Dell
Fujifilm
Akiko
Giant
ActiveCollab Support Options
Frequently Asked Questions About ActiveCollab
Common questions buyers ask before choosing ActiveCollab.
ActiveCollab is a Project Management Software. ActiveCollab offers Budget Management, Issue Management, Milestone Tracking, Percent-Complete Tracking, Project Planning and many more functionalities.
Buyers commonly note the following limitations of ActiveCollab: Lacks modern UI aesthetics and advanced customization options like drag-and-drop features or enhanced visual dashboards.; No support for assigning tasks to multiple users, creating additional manual workload for collaborative activities.; Missing agile project planning tools such as sprints and story writing, limiting flexibility for specific methodologies..
Some top alternatives to ActiveCollab includes Quickbase , Smartsheet, ClickUp, Jira and Project Insight.
ActiveCollab offers Free Trial, Subscription pricing models
The starting price is not disclosed by ActiveCollab. You can visit ActiveCollab pricing page to get the latest pricing.
Free buyer scorecard
Evaluate ActiveCollab with the project management software buyer scorecard
A weighted project management software scorecard to assess ActiveCollab objectively and compare it against the alternatives.
- Weighted criteria you can edit
- Score vendors side-by-side
- Shareable with your buying committee
No file downloads on screen — we email it to you. One-click unsubscribe anytime.
Ready to try it?
Get started with ActiveCollab
Start your free trial — no credit card required.
Project Management Software by Country
Disclaimer: This research has been collated from a variety of authoritative sources. We welcome your feedback at [email protected].