Developer-Client task and bug tracking solutions?

Question

I have a small software project with a couple clients. What I'm looking for something with the following abilities:

1. clients can submit feature requests, bugs, or tasks
2. clients can see the status of open and closed issues
3. clients can see a change log
4. a place for me to post updates or news

Nice to haves:

• clients can only see the issues that they've posted; not other clients'
• a hosted solution

So far, the choices seem overwhelming. I've looked at Mantis and Hiveminder. Unfuddle seems pretty close. I've avoided FogBugz for the price (and it seems like overkill) and Trac as I'm trying to avoid hosting something myself. Most of the existing solutions seem to be geared towards a team of developers and not for developer-client relations. Anyone have any recommendations?

Answer 1

Take a look at uservoice.com and getsatisfaction.com - probably what you need. It's not positioned as bug-tracking, so you won't have complex workflows or permission schemes, I guess, but maybe that's right for a small team.

Igor

Answer 2

Take a look at Intervals. It has all of the features you've requested and is fairly inexpensive for the plan you would need. http://www.myintervals.com

Answer 3

I know that you said you'd rejected FogBugz -- but your description makes it sound like this might be a solo development effort. Have you considered the free Student and Startup Edition of Fogbugz?

Answer 4

I ended up going with Mantis. Its per project permissions actually works out pretty well for multiple exclusive clients.