reorg

Zoho Projects is great for mid-size to larger businesses who need professional project management features such as Gantt Charts, Task Dependencies, Time Tracking and more, but who don’t want to spend the time training on all the complexities of Microsoft Projects and find Basecamp too simple for their needs. Despite having more than enough features, Zoho Projects maintains a clear user interface and is actually surprisingly easy to use.

Zoho Projects is a feature-rich project management software that is still able to maintain a clean user interface. However, since it is feature-rich, make sure that you need all the features before signing up. If you’re looking for something much simpler and more basic to use, this is not the software for you.

On the other hand, if features like Gantt Charts, Time Tracking, and Task Dependencies are what you need, Zoho is a great tool for that. And if you need even more features, Zoho Projects allows add-ons (for an additional fee) such as Wikis, Chat Rooms, and Bug Tracking.

Surprisingly, Zoho Projects is very simple to use, so no training is required. Most of the features are very intuitive, and for those that are a bit harder to figure out, you can always just Google the answer, and you’ll likely land on a Zoho Projects blog post and / or some helpful videos about their different features and how to use them.

So if you’re looking for a complex project management tool that looks good and is easy to use, this is it.

Zoho Project is very feature rich, although they are still able to maintain a pretty clean interface albeit all these features. Here are a list of important features they do and do not have. Keep in mind that Zoho Projects has a lot more features than I focus on, so for a complete list and additional details, you can take a look here.

Included Features

• File/document sharing: Zoho Projects has a really nice document integration. You can do everything from commenting to organizing to modifying to versioning and even searching documents. And it’s pretty easy to use once you find the Document tab within a project.
• Google Docs Integration: Zoho Projects has a great Google Docs integration. All you have to do is connect with your Google Account, and you’re looking through your Google Doc in no time. You can also choose to open your Google Doc with Zoho and edit it without leaving the site!
• Time Tracking: Zoho Projects has a really nice timesheet feature, where you can enter your hours manually, or you can track your time with a little time clock for each task you’re working on. You can view how to track time in Zoho Projects here.
• Create Tasks Via Email: Each project in Zoho Projects has a unique email address where you can create a tasks and even update your task status. These helpful email aliases are located in the “Project Settings” tab in your project Dashboard.
• Task dependencies: Zoho Projects does allow task dependencies in the Tasks Dependency View, but it’s a bit difficult to figure out how to use the task dependencies.
• Milestones: You can easily set Milestones in Zoho Projects by going to Milestones tab under the “Tasks & Milestones” of each project.
• Web-based: Zoho Projects is a web-based software, so you can access it anywhere you have internet.
• Email Integration: Zoho Projects has great email integration. For each project, unique email aliases are created to add tasks, update task status, upload documents, and add forums, all via email.
• Wiki: If you’re willing to pay extra for the Wiki, Zoho Projects has it. The Wiki Add On comes at an additional price ranging from $10/month for 20 Wikis to $40/month for unlimited Wikis.
• Recurring Tasks: Recurring tasks are only available in the Premium or Enterprise Zoho Project plans, so you do have to dish out some extra money for this feature.
• Expense tracking: You can track time, both billable and non-billable in all Zoho Project plans. However, if you want a more advanced resource utilization chart, be prepared a bit extra, since this feature is only available in the Premium and Enterprise versions of the software.
• Gantt Charts: Zoho Projects does include a Gantt View in the projects Tasks & Milestones tab. However, if you want the ability to edit your Gantt Chart in the Gantt View, you’ll need to upgrade to either the Premium or Enterprise plan.
• Reporting and Analysis: Zoho Projects includes some great reports within projects. However, if you’d like a report tab across all projects, you’ll need to upgrade to the Enterprise plan.

Missing Features

• Mobile: Zoho is currently working on the mobile component to Zoho Projects through it’s mobile site and an iPhone application down the line.
• Desktop app: Although Zoho has a few Desktop plugins and integrations, they do not have a full-blown Zoho Projects version for the desktop.
• Workflow System: While Zoho Projects supports workflow features in it’s Bug Tracking add-on, they don’t seem to have added Workflow customization to the Tasks & Milestones.

Zoho Project plans range from free to $80/month or more depending on how many projects, how much storage, and which features you need. The free plan includes 1 project with unlimited users and 10MB of storage. Here are the prices for a monthly subscription. However, you can get 35% off if you get an annual subscription instead.

If you need additional Add-On features, these come at an extra monthly charge as follows (keep in mind that you can get 35% off if you get an annual subscription instead of the monthly one):