I am looking for a Task and Bug management software that I can use both as a way to manage things that need to be done a website with multiple admins and a way for clients of the site to report bugs/suggest features, ask for updates. The clients are fairly non-technical in general and the software has to be fairly easy to understand. Its for a not-for-profit group so it needs to be fairly cheap or free. It would be nice if its already hosted or could host on a cheap linux host.
+16
A:
There's a plethora of solutions available.
I like Trac, as it integrates well with SVN, and it includes a wiki as well. It is very extensible through Plugins.
Update: I also find Redmine to be quite good, especially in a Ruby environment. Redmine integrates with git, svn and like Trac has a wiki. The main site is loading slow right now, but there's an overview on Wikipedia.
jtimberman
2008-09-17 18:58:09
The Trac plugins are really worth investigating: http://trac-hacks.org/ There are a lot of really powerful add-ons that have been contributed over the years. Don't underestimate that ecosystem when considering Redmine vs. Trac.
runako
2009-05-05 05:02:01
A:
trac works for much of this. there's a little configuration overhead, but it integrates nicely with SVN and I believe there's a Git integration as well, so it can work directly with source control.
cori
2008-09-17 18:58:20
+5
A:
I would suggest RT just because it's the easiest thing for your nontechnical users to interact with: http://bestpractical.com/rt/
bmdhacks
2008-09-17 18:59:24
I gave this the answer as it is what we eventually went with. It also addresses my request for nontechnical users.
Jeff Martin
2009-01-10 07:01:47
I know I'm slow to move but as we finally got an installation of RT running, it appears to me that it really wont fit the bill... its not very user friendly and doesn't have a way for people self register that we can see.
Jeff Martin
2009-06-11 23:00:23
A:
Of course this one will end up here. The FogBugz product pricing page says to contact them for non-profit organizations. For software development, it's great and very easy to use. All things will vary with your definition of "cheap" as well.
Kris Kumler
2008-09-17 19:00:10
$25 per user per month isn't cheap for me, everyone that works on the site are volunteers and there could be many tens of people that would make suggestions/adding tasks.
Jeff Martin
2008-09-17 19:19:28
On the linked page, it says for non-profits to contact them. They offer free two-user editions; I imagine their non-profit pricing would be much cheaper, but I have not priced it.
Kris Kumler
2008-09-18 13:36:55
+1
A:
My company uses bugzilla for bugtracking.
I use bugzilla to do task management. It integrates with Mylyn (task management utility for Eclipse) -> every bug is a task to do.
Bugzilla installed samlessly on my ubuntu box.
jb
2008-09-17 19:00:22
A:
bugzilla? gnats? trac?
of course I've heard good things about a system called fogbugz? ;-)
scunliffe
2008-09-17 19:00:23
A:
FogBugz Is there any other option? :P
May not be ideal for a non-profit organisation, but there is a free version avilable.
It's certainly an 'all-in-one' solution, I'm currently using it on a community based programming project (also non-profit). It's exactly what we need.
Spike
2008-09-17 19:01:22
what is the free version.. i didn't see anything on the site about 'free'
Jeff Martin
2008-09-17 19:20:50
You can activate a trial account. it's limited to only two users but otherwise fully functional
Spike
2008-09-20 22:20:19
FogBugz is available both as a hosted service and a licenced product; in the former case, it's run on Fog Creek servers and requires no maintenance; in the latter, it'll run on Windows, Unix and Mac servers.
Rob
2009-01-10 23:46:42
+6
A:
We use Mantis (http://www.mantisbt.org/) and it works well enough for our needs.
itsmatt
2008-09-17 19:02:07
+2
A:
If you're looking for something that works well for non-technical folks, I would suggest 37signal's Basecamp. Free for one project.
For something more technical, we can't forget to mention Joel Spolsky's FogBugz. Hosted at $25/month.
Jason Navarrete
2008-09-17 19:02:32
I second the motion for FogBugz. It is free if only you want to use it (I do, for my consulting service). It has useful time tracking/estimation features.
Jon
2009-08-29 20:46:16
+3
A:
Both No Kahuna and Unfuddle can be used for free, or upgraded for a small fee to add more features, and they are both hosted. They're both pretty simple, but the features they have are great. Unfuddle's built in SVN and Git repos that read commit messages to resolve tickets automatically are great.
I use Unfuddle at work, and can highly recommend it.
Clinton R. Nixon
2008-09-17 19:05:40
+3
A:
Redmine works and its free. Its not to fancy though.
I use Fogbugz at work like others here and its awesome! :)
Arthur Thomas
2008-09-17 19:06:47
+3
A:
I have used Mantis bug tracker. It's free and needs only PHP, MySQL (MS SQL, DB2, and PostgreSQL are also supported) and web server so it can be installed nearly anywhere. Check demo and see if it's enough for your needs.
Vertigo
2008-09-17 19:08:11
A:
This one is WebBased but I had great experience in the past. LightHouse. It's free for one project.
Martín Marconcini
2008-09-17 19:09:11
+4
A:
I would also totally check out Hiveminder. It's made more for personal task management, but:
- It's free and hosted.
- You can form groups to pass tasks around in and keep track of who is working on what.
- Anyone can add a task by email, with automatic tagging of it based on the email address it's sent to. This is great for user-submitted bugs.
- It's easy to use.
Clinton R. Nixon
2008-09-17 19:09:12
+1
A:
We use Gemini which is kinda like a JIRA clone, deployed on ASP.net. It has a complimentary 5 user license.
+3
A:
I would say Trac - it addresses many of the issues you raised:
- has multi-user support with different access levels (adding/editing tickets)
- free and easy to install and run on your own box
- plethora of plugins and (as mentioned above) integrates nicely with SVN
- i use it at work and have a personal instance i maintain to try out new plugins
As far as finding something that your customers can directly communicate with is a bit trickier - it may be best to have your own staff create tickets in whatever system you go with - end users are not always so good about following instructions (at least not mine!).
brooks hollar
2008-09-17 19:31:42
A:
You might be interested in GForge. It's based on the last version of source that was released for SourceForge and comes in two flavors, one community server (free) and then GForge Advanced Server which is designed more for corporate use, though I believe the first 10 users are free or something of that nature. It's available both as a pre-packaged Virtual Machine for VMWare (VMWare Server and Player are both free), which is the no hassle, svn already integrated option, as well as manually installing on top of a linux OS (I recommend debian for GForge). Their IRC channel provides pretty decent support. I don't recommend using GForge unless you intend to use it to manage multiple projects though, as it is designed for managing multiple projects it may be a bit much to set up just for one project with 3 devs, etc.
TheXenocide
2008-09-17 19:44:31
A:
Fresh Logic Studios - Bugs: http://www.freshlogicstudios.com/Products/Bugs/
Free, Simple, Hosted
Shawn Miller
2008-10-10 15:02:42
A:
You can apply for a free JIRA licence from Atlassian if you're a non-profit organisation. Not sure if they do the fully hosted JIRA Studio in the same way, but that would help with the hosting.
lawsonj2019
2008-10-10 21:13:42
Jira is fantastic. I use it in hosted on a rackspace linux server. Simple to setup. Cheap (or free) for up to 10 users. Also integrates with several other Atlassian tools.
Tone
2010-10-06 03:16:58
A:
Guys,
Your topic is very interesting and actual for me as I am choosing management software for new project.
Please advise what software is better for me to have the following features:
- Ability to save and track planned tasks for developers by time and days. So I will be able to see when any of the tasks is expected to be done.
- Ability to see who and how many time in the past worked on some project and task
- Ability to see free human resources at any time for definite day in the furure.
- Most likely occupation will be shown on calendar.
I worked with bugzilla. It does not allow the mentioned features.
As for now I see my choice between Mantis, Trac and Redmine.
I will be happy if you reject some of them or advise one that fits my needs the best.
Thank you in advance.
Another less important question is "is it important to have Wiki and SVN integrated?". I worked with Bugzilla/Wiki/SVN separately and it was good. I don't understand the advantages of integration.
if you like the topic, you should vote it up. If the question doesn't quite match the question you are trying to ask, you should ask it as another question (reference this question as a close but NOT duplicate.
Jeff Martin
2008-12-31 20:51:23
+1
A:
Check out Intervals, a web-based tool that will address all of the requirements you've outlined in your question. Intervals supports multiple admins and allows for clients to email in work requests. Check out the web site for more information:
jjriv
2009-01-02 19:23:53
A:
We use InTask (www.InTaskPro.com) since 2005 Very good tool - Fast, great modern UI, Multi user/Multi project, document versioning and lots more features. You can download free edition from: www.intaskpro.com
Cons: It's not web based - some people think it's important (i'm not!)
A:
Since you are asking on behalf of a non-profit company, JIRA from Atlassian has a free enterprise license for open source projects and non-profit companies. They have one of the better issue tracking and project management tools in the business and are even used by many open source projects, including Apache.
Nolte Burke
2009-05-05 04:57:10