ASP.NET freelance web developer open source tools and software

Question

I will shortly be looking to take on some small freelance web based projects.

I would really like your opinions on the best of breed tools/software available for freelance web projects. These tools will preferably be free or cheap (or great value). The tools I am talking about are things like:

• CMS
• Ecommerece
• Project management software
• Timesheet software
• Standard document resources
• Mailing/CRM software

I do realize that there are >1000 tools for all of above, but that's really the issue. I don't have time to evaluate them all and would appreciate advise from first hand users.

Answer 1

I use Easy Time Tracker Pro to keep up with the time I spend on different freelance projects, which is especially helpful since I may work on multiple projects from different clients during a day. You can create a hierarchy of customers - projects - tasks - subtasks to organize your time as necessary. The paid version ($50) gives you a timer app (small display near the system tray) that you can use to easily track/log time on a particular task (though you can manually enter time if you want).

It also does reports and invoices based on the time you've logged, though I have to say that the invoice formatting leaves much to be desired and is not very customizable.

Just having an app of this type has really helped me keep my billing accurate.

Answer 2

I've used Freshbooks, which was free for a single user. It handles invoicing very nicely.

Answer 3

For project management software, using a "collaborative model" to work with your clients, you can't beat Basecamp. I use it to collaborate with all of our clients (and some are freelance projects) There is a free version and a subscription based version. The free version would be all you need for freelance project work, IMO.

Answer 4

For timetracking I'm using TimeSnapper. It takes a snapshot of your active applications at an interval. I've set mine to take snapshot every 5 minutes. At the end of the week I'm able to see what I did (and for which client :) Great timesaver, and the basic version is free.

For source control you can find no better that SubVersion. I use it with the Explorer plugin Tortoise.

For bug tracking there's BugTracker.NET, selfdescribed as 'the poor man's FogBugz'

-Edoode

ps. I'm in no way affiliated with any of these.