Discussion on:

Check out two Microsoft Project alternatives: Basecamp and QuickBase

... For smaller project. I tried many of them a couple of years ago and nothing "serious" emerged from my search. Is there any development in that area?

Last time I checked, Open Workbench was free and open (almost, except for some resource allocation algorithms). It's a mature and stable product.You may get peer support from forums, or you can get paid support from CA, if your company policy requires it.

I have looked for something for my Mac that would allow me to look at MS Project, and I discovered OpenProj. (http://openproj.org/)

Earlier versions were so so, but V1.4 works pretty good.

I've been using this as a MS Project alternative on some smaller projects, and it has done exactly what I need it for. Easy to use, and has some cross-compatibility with MS Project. Nice software, and available for a variety of OS's.

I use it daily. It still has a minor quirk or two, but it gets the job done and I don't have to budget for it.

It seems this software has been aquired by Serena, which still provides the personal version for free. But they recommend a paid subscription for the collaborative version named Projects On Demand. This costs $10/month per user for the first six months, then $20/month thereafter.

It's interesting to see how long the free version will still be available.

I've used GanttProject in the past, which is free and is java based so cross platform (OS X, Windows and Linux).

Take a look at Intervals as an alternative to MS Project. It does a good job at filling the niche between MS Project and Basecamp.
http://www.myintervals.com

Projectmanager.com is also an excellent software for project management. You get 10GB storage, free one month trial (can be extended). It is cheap to buy.

Nuhad Kurukgy M.Sc.,MCSE,MPM

This is a poorly researched article. MS Project has never been the only game in town. There are scores of alternatives to it.

As a long-time project manager I wouldn't even consider Basecamp as a serious project management tool. It's basically a collaborative to-do list that offers document sharing, messaging, and a couple of other simple items. There's no capability of defining the sequence of activities or of printing out a network diagram. It's useful only for the simplest of projects, and then it's only better than an Excel spreadsheet if the team is not co-located.

Hi, Erick. Thanks for the alternatives. The company I'm currently working in has no backend platform installed yet and I think these products can encourage management to test these cheaper otpions.

Liquid Planner has a nice assortment of tools, planning features and collaborative methods. It only get pricey if you have more than three people working on a single project, but for projects involving multiple players that are remotely located it's a great resource.

http://www.liquidplanner.com/

Liquid Planner has a nice assortment of tools, planning features and collaborative methods. It only get pricey if you have more than three people working on a single project.

You have GOT to be kidding. What about dotproject? This is a half hearted attempt to sell someone else's platforms. Please, if you are going to post something don't hide your sales pitch behind the guise of trying to help. You belittle us all.

Project Insight is powerful for project managers and easy for everyone. Don't settle for less software when your company may outgrow it. Project Insight is scalable, and can be customized to fit your business process needs.

I don't think the MS Project does what it should. It is overall a good tool but it is very weak in certain areas (resource planning is one of the main problems). Another important issue is that MS Proejct doesn't promote the right way of using it (I know it sounds wierd but it is true). It is very easy to create so many constraints in your schedule that it becomes almost useless and non-maintainable. Sometimes the resource levelling does very strange things like splitting tasks with no obvious reasons so I have to spend hours to get it right.

MS Project Server is a separate story. I have seen very few successful implementations of it in the enterprise scale and the main reason again is some fundamental flaws in the resource planning.

I am using the Project management tool in Zoho.com. Very easy and flexible with nice features.

If you'd like a tool for managing your time and projects, you can use this application inspired by David Allen's GTD:

http://www.Gtdagenda.com

You can use it to manage and prioritize your goals, projects and tasks, set next actions and contexts, use checklists, schedules and a calendar.
A mobile version is available too.

Basecamp and QuickBase are 2 out of hundreds of web solutions to replace MS Project. I recommend ProjectOffice.net since it is developed by and for people in the IT business. Moreover, bug tracking is included.

also ganttproject.biz, another GREAT free open source product - I've used it for years.

Don?t mind settling for MS Project if switching to other Apps means emptying the coin bank. Lucky I found WORKetc that has been my reliable partner in CRM project management (www.worketc.com/CRM Project Management) ever since I tested drive it. It is a fast, cost-effective business solution for online project management.

Consider using Organasis MyTasker EPM, a software solution for full?fledged offline access to Microsoft
Project Server and participation in corporate planning for ordinary team members.

http://www.organasis.com/MyTaskerEPM.aspx

Unlike standard solutions, MyTasker EPM has been specially designed for team members to work with large
volumes of assignments and a number of projects, as well as making maximum use of the advantages of desktop
applications.
How using MyTasker EPM increases team member efficiency when working with Microsoft Project Server

* Makes it easier to commit new tasks to Project Server
* It's not a secret that many employees use Excel tables or other sources to store their personal tasks.
* MyTasker EPM allows importing tasks from Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word and other sources, transferring
* team members' personal tasks to Project Server in just seconds.
* Simplified analysis and work with tasks for a number of projects
* View project task hierarchy while working.
* View tasks for each project in a separate tab.
* Rich features for grouping and sorting tasks by various criteria.
* Evaluate changes made to tasks before committing them to Project Server.
* Group operations on tasks save time
* Change the deadline for a number of tasks with a single click.
* Automatic calculation of the completion percentage for overall tasks and subtasks.
* Team members can work on the project when and where convenient
* Company employees often go on business trips and need to work on a project and their assignments on the
* road.
* Company branches are connected to the central office over low?bandwidth connections.
* Not dependent on availability of the Project Web Access website and Project Server (an unreliable VPN
* connection, for example).

Basecamp is good, but quite simplistic and often comes short of features many businesses need in project management software.

If you want something that has project dependancy, gantt charts, easy collaboration on tasks, to-do lists, leads, etc. You should check out WORKetc, it offers a full set of project management features but also CRM and billing features as well. It is an amazing project management software and covers all aspects of business.

Their website gives a better run-down than I can: http://www.worketc.com/project_management_software

Another alternative is http://www.proofhub.com/
It is really good and easy to use, it also contains less time for loading. It is a web based project Management Software. It contains many features like time tracking, Real time chat, Collaboration, Online file proofing, Milestones, documentation and many more.

You can try to compare these software with the different project management software available in the market like what is available on this link http://www.timedoctor.com/blog/2011/02/02/43-project-management-software-alternatives

If you've got users who don't need all the bells and whistles of Microsoft Project, Swiftlight is worth a look. Good for level one planning - nice looking timelines, pretty intuitive.

http://www.swiftlightsoftware.com

For those users that need an affordable and lighter alternative to Microsoft Project then RationalPlan is a viable solution:
http://www.rationalplan.com/microsoft-project-alternative.php