Cheaper alternative to FogBugz

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+4 Q:

Cheaper alternative to FogBugz

Hey guys, I really love using FogBugz but as a startup we just can't handle the cost of 100 Dollars per month(hosted) or 942 Dollars per year for four developers. I am not using the wiki neither am I using it as a help desk software. I really just need a program for our developers where we can track all the cases, assign them to someone and keep track of time of every user. Are there any alternatives out there our team could try? We really need the time keeping function since its the most important feature.

To make this clear I don't hate on the product because it costs money I would love to have the resources to be able and spend that much money on a bug tracker but developing a product is a lot harder if you're selffunded. The support representative I got on the phone actually told me that we should share the 2 free accounts so we could use their product. Unfortunatly they also don't have a different price for startups. We have gotten an extended trial but it will be up this month.

+2 A:

Redmine offers issue tracking and timekeeping and is free.

We've just started using to keep track of bugs and outstanding features for a development project and are pleased with it so far.

Dave Webb 2009-05-07 19:19:17

+1 A:

Not sure how well it works, but I saw Bugtracker.NET when looking for alternatives.

My own workplace uses Trac for this, so you have two alternatives.

Andrei Krotkov 2009-05-07 19:22:29

Try http://trac.edgewall.org/ or http://www.mantisbt.org/ for example.

abababa22 2009-05-07 19:22:49

+3 A:

What bug tracking software do you use?

Dave 2009-05-07 19:52:05

BugTracker.Net is easy to setup in IIS, but needs SQL Server. RedMine is also very straightforward to setup. BugZilla uses the LAMP stack, so there are a lot of moving pieces.

Deva Annamalai 2009-05-07 20:00:33

+7 A:

So, why can't you spend the extra money? Having four developers working full-time is significantly more expensive, even if you're paying them mostly with equity.

In a startup, you have to move fast, and the last thing you should be economizing on is the stuff that helps you be more productive.

David Thornley 2009-05-07 20:07:54

$100/month is painful to lots of start-ups who are trying to get ramen-profitable. The problem is not that $100 is a lot, but that it's a lot for 1 thing. There are 30 other things that come up and if the solution is $100 on each one it starts adding up.

tster 2009-09-23 23:16:40

It's an obstacle to ramen-profitability, but so is having four developers. I'd say issue tracking is one of the most important things, just after source code control and development systems, so I'm not impressed by the "30 other things" argument. I'd say that without good development systems, VCS, and issue tracking, you're less likely to get any revenue.

David Thornley 2009-09-24 13:30:04

tster: Sure, but it's kind of hard to imagine a startup with 4 full-time developers that isn't ramen-profitable. I've seen startups with millions in funding that hadn't yet hired a 3rd dev. When you're still trying to get ramen-profitable, you're (at best) 2 guys sitting next to each other in your furnitureless apartment with laptops and a whiteboard, and at that stage you don't need a very sophisticated bug/time-tracking system. :-)

Ken 2009-11-26 05:53:03

@david That's because your a programmer, so you think what you do is important. Yes it is, but don't forget other parts of the business without which you would be in just as much shit. Accounting, Lawyers, CRM, Sales, Networking, SysAdmin costs ... $100/month on every little thing soon adds up. I've read several opinion pieces about tech people starting companies that fail because they just don't appreciate how much work goes into the other parts of the business, and so don't give them as much attention.

James 2010-10-08 10:16:43

@James: I'm assuming a startup based on software (if it's a startup that isn't doing something softwarey, why four developers?). In that case, making a product that people like is the number one priority. I don't suggest that startups spend freely, but they need to have good basic tools, spending money for them as necessary. Other things are important, sure, but individually secondary, and you aren't saving money on them by not having a bug tracking program.

David Thornley 2010-10-08 16:37:57

Give TeamSupport a shot. The first three users are free...

CessnaPilot 2009-05-25 15:29:10

I really like Mantis because of the flexibility of creating bug workflows, and the simplicity of setting everything up. It's also free.

However, it's quite limited. It tracks bugs really well, but that's about it.

Jesse Weigert 2009-09-23 23:10:32

Unfuddle has some good features for bug tracking as well as generic project management and such. Their $9/month plan allows up to 10 people.

tster 2009-09-23 23:22:58

+3 A:

Mantis looks pretty cool for a free work item tracking system. It also has webservices support, so you can write any sort of UI for it that you want. There's also Jira ($10 for up to 10 users).

However, paying $1000 for a 4-person team per year to get FogBugz is pretty durn cheap IF the functionality will make you sufficiently more productive to justify the expense. How much time and effort would you have to put into Mantis to get the same functionality... and is that time and effort worth less than $1000?

What you have to decide is, is the additional functionality of FogBugz over Mantis or Jira worth the extra $1000? Maybe the answer is 'No' and so install Mantis/Jira and go onward. Maybe if and when you start making some money and you find Mantis or Jira is limiting your productivity, you think again about buying FogBugz.

BTW, I'm curious as to why time tracking is so important at a startup.

John Clifford 2009-11-26 04:52:01

Bontq its cheaper alternative for FogBugz and other services. For 19$ you have 10 project and 10 users with no unlimit storage + integrated cross-platform application for capture screenshot and video and then attach them right to your items in tracker.

Thomas 2010-09-03 21:49:23

+1 A:

Check YouTrack, Starter Edition is 150$ for a year subscription (10 users, 10 projects). Ajax-based UI, complete key-board support, query-based search, batch modification commands, and etc. It perfectly suits for small developer teams and startups.

Valerie Andrianova 2010-10-08 10:07:01

No time tracking as of v2.x unfortunately

gorohoroh 2010-10-22 16:33:46

TargetProcess has a free version for up to 5 users I believe. It's an agile tool, used for tracking user stories, bugs, time spent. Has a plugin for Visual Studio and I think Eclipse.

jamiebarrow 2010-10-08 10:46:35

ansaurus

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