Zoho Projects review |
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|---|---|
| Rating | 4.2/5 |
| Starting price | $4/user/month |
| Key features |
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Regardless of the size of your team, a project management solution should be cost-effective and have features that are effective for your use case. That’s exactly what Zoho Projects aims to do, as it offers a blend of task management, project planning capabilities and third-party integrations suitable for both small and larger organizations.
This Zoho Projects review assesses the platform across multiple categories to help you determine whether it’s right for you. But should it not appeal to you, we considered a few alternatives to ensure that you identify a tool that will meet your needs.
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What is Zoho Projects?
Zoho Projects is a cloud-based project management software that offers teams observability, collaboration and productivity capabilities. It has a range of features spanning project planning, task management, real-time collaboration, time tracking and more.
Hands-on Zoho Projects review results
For a holistic perspective, we immersed ourselves in the Zoho Projects experience based on the categories of its features, how it’s priced, how easy it is to use and its quality of service.
| Criteria | Score |
|---|---|
| Features | 3.3/5 |
| Pricing | 5/5 |
| Ease of use | 3.7/5 |
| Service and support | 5/5 |
Zoho Projects pricing: 5/5
| Pricing plan | Cost/month (per user, billed monthly) | Cost/month (per user, billed annually) |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 |
| Premium | $5 | $4 |
| Enterprise | $10 | $9 |
Free plan
Zoho Projects’ Free plan offers basic project management features, including Gantt Charts, two projects and 5GB of storage, for up to three users. However, the Gantt charts are read-only.
Premium plan
At $4 per month per user when billed annually, the Premium plan has small to medium-sized teams covered. It offers essential project management features such as task tracking, project Gantt charts and unlimited projects plus 100GB of storage.
Enterprise plan
Targeted at larger organizations, the Enterprise Plan costs $9 per month per user when billed annually. This plan includes advanced features such as a portfolio dashboard, global Gantt charts, custom fields and extensive third-party integrations. Zoho Projects’ priced plans are quite cheaper than most of its alternatives in the market.
Core Zoho Projects features: 3.3/5
For the many features Zoho Projects offers, here are some of its top features.
Project planning and scheduling
Zoho Projects offers robust project planning and scheduling features. Users can create detailed project timelines, set milestones and allocate resources efficiently. The Gantt chart (Figure A) view is easy to use for complex projects as it provides a straightforward visual representation of the project timeline.
Figure A
Task management
Task management (Figure B) is another area where Zoho Projects shines. It’s in Kanban view by default, which allows you to drag and drop tasks to whichever category you choose. It offers a couple of other views, the classic and plain views, which I didn’t find as intuitive as Kanban but having a variety of views for projects is great for satisfying user preferences. Zoho Project’s task management features also make it possible to prioritize tasks and set up notifications, ensuring that nothing falls through the cracks.
Figure B
Project views
The platform offers multiple project views including list, board and calendar (Figure C) formats. This flexibility allows teams to choose the view that best suits their workflow. Each view is distinct from the other. For instance, the previously mentioned classic and plain views are quite similar but their nuances easily separate them. Through all these views, you can expect to be on top of all the details concerning ongoing tasks, upcoming deadlines and overall project status.
Figure C
Reporting and analytics
Zoho Projects comes equipped with powerful reporting and analytics tools (Figure D). Users can generate various reports, such as project reports, task reports, timesheet reports and issue reports. They can also use Gantt charts, project timeline Gantt and track planned versus actual time and resource utilization.
Figure D
Third-party integrations
The platform supports 22 native integrations (Figure E), including popular tools such as Slack, Google Drive and Microsoft Teams. This makes it easy to incorporate Zoho Projects into an existing tech stack, thereby streamlining workflows and improving collaboration.
Figure E
Zoho Projects ease of use: 3.7/5
Navigating Zoho Projects offers a generally intuitive experience, especially when it comes to key features such as task management and project planning. As for the mobile app, it’s functional but rather basic, meaning you’re unlikely to get full functionality on the go. The platform offers built-in automations but they’re limited compared to similar project management tools.
Its onboarding process is straightforward, and it proves to be an easy tool to use. You can get into a project right off the bat thanks to the project templates it offers. While setting up new projects is relatively simple, the platform could benefit from becoming more scalable as projects grow in complexity.
Zoho Projects customer service and support: 5/5
Zoho Projects truly excels at customer service and support through a vast knowledge base, a multitude of service channels, very responsive support teams, extensive training and mostly positive user reviews.
Knowledge base and help center
Zoho Projects offers an extensive knowledge base and help center, filled with articles, blogs and forums that provide valuable insights and solutions. This makes it easy for users to find answers to their questions without having to reach out for support.
Service channels
Zoho Projects offers multiple service channels, including email, live chat and toll-free support. This ensures that help is readily available through various means, catering to different user preferences.
Availability and responsiveness
The responsiveness of the customer service team is high, making it easy to get timely solutions to any issues you may encounter. Their live chat in particular offers near-instant responses, whether it’s a technical glitch or a query about features, the support team is quick to assist.
Zoho Projects pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Affordable pricing. | No real-time collaboration features. |
| Wide range of features. | Lacks native time-tracking features. |
| Intuitive, user-friendly UI. | Could be more scalable. |
| Excellent customer service and support. | Limited built-in automations |
Best uses for Zoho Projects
Zoho Projects is a multifaceted tool that excels in various project management scenarios including agile development, portfolio management and remote work.
Agile software development
Zoho Projects offers robust core features such as project planning and task management, making it ideal for agile software development teams. The platform supports sprint planning and detailed reporting, aligning well with agile methodologies.
Project and portfolio management
With its affordable pricing and roster of third-party integrations, Zoho Projects is well-suited for project and portfolio management. Organizations can easily track multiple projects, allocate resources and generate comprehensive reports for stakeholders.
Remote work and team collaboration
The platform’s strong task management and third-party integrations make it a good fit for remote teams. Zoho Projects facilitates seamless collaboration through its user-friendly interface and various communication channels, even when team members are geographically dispersed.
Zoho Projects alternatives and competitors
| Zoho Projects | Asana | ClickUp | Wrike | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starting price billed annually | $4/user/month | $10.99/user/month | $7/user/month | $9.80/user/month |
| Core features | Project planning, task management, Gantt charts | Task lists, automations, reporting | Time tracking, ClickUp Docs, hierarchy management | Task management, Gantt charts, real-time reporting |
| Ease of use | User-friendly, easy to learn and use | Highly intuitive, easy to use | Moderate learning curve, feature-rich | User-friendly but can be complex with advanced features |
| Customer service | Excellent, multiple channels, 24/5 support for Premium Support Plan | Good, offers 24/7 support for paid tiers | Excellent, with 24/7 support across all tiers, including the Free plan | Good, with 24/7 support for its two highest support tiers |
| Expert analysis | Ideal for SMBs & task management | Great for workflow automation | Suits teams of all sizes or teams with feature-rich needs | Suited for large, complex projects |
Asana
Asana stands out in its ability to streamline workflows and automate repetitive tasks. Its intuitive interface makes it easy to manage projects, and its reporting features offer valuable insights.
ClickUp
ClickUp is a project management tool with a diverse set of features for all sorts of use cases, including document creation and time tracking. It’s a highly customizable tool, which allows it to serve teams of all sizes.
Wrike
Wrike is a tool tailored for large-scale projects that require intricate planning and resource allocation. Its Gantt charts and real-time reporting features make it a strong choice for complex projects. For a deeper understanding of how Wrike compares to Zoho Projects, check out our Zoho Projects vs. Wrike comparison.
Zoho Projects review methodology
To deliver this review, we evaluated Zoho Projects across five criteria, namely pricing, core features, ease of use, customer service and expert analysis. Each criterion was scored thanks to each having a number of subcriteria that determined the score of each criterion. The criteria scores were then weighted and added to get a total score out of a possible five.
We signed up for a Zoho Projects account to explore its suite of premium features as well as get a hands-on feel of the tool. We then set up a project and put Zoho Project’s capabilities to the test, which helped us determine its top use cases.
