First of all let’s start by explaining what our criteria for a project management application are. The application needs to have a sleek and smooth interface that is easy for the user to navigate and use. The application must have a reasonable price tag, or be offered free. To make it in the top 10 the application needs to run fast and allow you to quickly do all your tasks. We have tried all of these applications so we are not just reading their press releases and feeding you with their bs marketing language.

Let’s get started!

• Freedcamp

  

  Freedcamp offers one of the cleanest interfaces and smoothest interactions (only competitors in that area goes to ApolloHQ who also have a very visually pleasing interface and very good interactions smoothness). The application offers the regular tools like To-Do’s, Discussions, Milestones, Files, Time Tracking, and Invoices. Where it really stands out is its Basecamp Import and the Meebo Chat bar which enables you to chat with all your existing messengers with your colleagues who may use Gtalk, ICQ, Facebook Chat, and many more. The application is young but it has a rapid growing feature list. The very best thing actually is not the features, or the beautiful interface, it’s the applications’ price tag… FREE! That’s right, this application launched a little over a month ago and has announced that it will remain completely free forever with unlimited users and projects! Something the rest of this list won’t offer.

• BasecampHQ

  

  Basecamp is the oldest and most trustworthy in this list. They have been around for a long time and have proven to maintain their application as simple as possible. Some find this quite annoying as they want a lot more functionality out of the system, others find it pleasing as it never gets too complicated. I will remain impartial to this, but will say that I think there are ways to add more features without burdening the users. The application has a very primitive design, same argument stays. So if you are ready to spend a whopping $20-$150 a month for a project management application this should be your first choice.

• ApolloHQ

  

  Apollo is a rather new project management application but it has quickly gained our respect with a decent set of features and a great interface. The biggest issue is they have blatantly offering the application for free, to soon release a set of payment plans that may kick their users out… who knows. Otherwise the application is worth a check, but personally i would wait until they annonce their plans. For a company to take months before releasing a price tag, it’s just scary to start using it.

• GoPlanApp

  

  GoPlan is a nice simple application with a nice interface. Their pricing is pretty fair, seems like the only draw back is the simplicity of the app which actually has offers less than BasecampHQ. But the application is definitely worth a mention.

• Huddle

  

  This application also holds a very special place in the PM world, I for one still find it hard to see the appeal. Especially at a price of $15/user/month, i find it almost slightly repulsive (not the website, but the actual application). It has some customization options that I can see are nicely setting them apart. But otherwise the time it takes you to learn to use this software is a cost i find much more gruesome than the $15 for every team member that joins.

Central Desktop



This application is scary familiar from BasecampHQ. What is worst is the price plan… that’s right i said price plan because it’s only one and it’s $99… that is quite confusing to me, but i’m sure they have some reason behind it. Other than that the design is much less appealing that most other apps on this list (except write… which is just awful). The main benefit of this application is the vast amount of features it has, so if you are looking to get a bunch of features into one application without a choice of having them or not this may be a great choice.

• Wrike

  

  I have tried using this application on multiple occasions and it makes no sense to me. The design is poor, the workflow seems confusing, and overall i’m really not sure how this is rated as one of the better project management applications. The only reason I have included this is because it holds a great respect in the pm world. I will continue trying to use it to find that WOW factor some are finding!

• 5pmweb

  

  This application reminds me of the Python programming languages. I have heard that you either love it or you hate it and no middle ground. And from my experience with it that is a correct statement. Personally i find it rather confusing, and overwhelming. And again there are a lot of people who find this application extremely useful and it works for them. The interface is so bold and in your face that i am a little worried to break something. The demo page took 4 minutes to load, and after a few refreshes it actually started working… so that wasn’t a great third experience withe app. But where this app really meets the rest is its pricing sheet which is no smaller than that of Basecamp or other competitors. Overall this may be the choice for you (if you like Python).

• TeamWorkPM

  

  This one is a little less known application, but not completely unknown. It has very similiar features and interface to that of Basecamp (just like a lot of the other apps on this list). It’s bold and in your face, but not in a good way. It works, but with that price tag you are better of wasting your money with basecamp. But overall it’s not an awful application or anything I just don’t see the wow factor.

Teamly



I hope no one gets mad about including this one. I personally don’t agree that this is a project management application… but they seem to say they are. At any rate, this overly simple application offers a very funky version of Task management. As far as i can tell they are free… but so are most other task applications around the web… at any rate i thought there may be people interested so i shared.

I would like to say that these are solely my views on these applications and if you disagree than that is your view and you are more than welcome to post them in the comments. Also feel free to suggest any other apps you think were worth making it in this list.

This is Angel Grablev writing live from the Web 2.0 Conference in San Francisco. If any readers are attending I would love to meet up.

I will be writing blog entries this upcoming week on the amazing things I learn so stay tuned.

Sincerely,
Angel Grablev