There are several good free tools that businesses can use to plan and collaborate on tasks. But not all free tools are built alike. The devil is always in the details. Some tools are completely free while there are others that are limited in features or scope. And then, there are others that only have the very basic features available to the free users while everything else is paid. In this article, we will delve deeper into the various features and try to separate the truly free task planning tools from those that are not.
For the sake of comparison, we will pit our own tool Hubbion.com against the biggest products in the market, namely, Trello, Wrike, Asana and Basecamp.
Users
There are two kinds of task management tools in the market today – closed and open. Closed tools are those that limit a user’s interaction to one specific team. This is useful if you have a set team that you work with and have very little fluctuations (in terms of external contractors, freelancers, etc.). Wrike is a good example of a closed tool while Trello and Hubbion are good as open tools. Open tools typically let you handle multiple teams at once and is great if you are a freelancer or a third party contractor.
In either case, the free version of a number of these tools are restricted either in terms of features or in the number of users it allows. Only Trello and Hubbion are free for unlimited number of users. Asana lets up to 15 people collaborate on projects under their free plan while Wrike restricts that to 5 people. Basecamp is free only for teachers and students.
Number of users under the free plan
[table]
, Hubbion, Asana, Wrike, Trello, Basecamp
Users, Unlimited, 15, 5, Unlimited, n/a
[/table]
Projects
Small businesses can live with access to limited number of users. But a restriction on the number of projects could be a major deal breaker. Thankfully, none of the tools in our comparison list have a real limit on the number of projects you can open in the free version of the software. Basecamp is free only for teachers and students and so may not be an option for you if you are a business.
Number of projects you can open in the free plan
[table]
, Hubbion, Asana, Wrike, Trello, Basecamp
Projects, Unlimited, Unlimited, Unlimited, Unlimited, n/a
[/table]
File storage
A major part of task management and collaboration involves various people in the team sharing their files and getting it viewed and approved by others. This calls for a tool that is generous towards file storage. Hubbion is likely the only tool that has an unlimited file upload and storage policy. Trello comes close with a cap of 10 MB on individual file uploads while Asana has a 100 MB limit on their paid plans. Wrike permits up to 2 GB of storage for the entire team. While Basecamp is not exactly free for businesses, there is still a file size limit of 10 MB if you use your own FTP server.
File size/storage limit
[table]
,Hubbion, Asana, Wrike, Trello, Basecamp
Size limit, Unlimited, 100 MB, 2 GB storage, 10 MB, 10 MB
[/table]
A consolidated summary is provided below. Hubbion offers a free tool that works with unlimited users, projects and file storage. Tools like Trello have a cap on the file size while those like Wrike have a limitation on the number of users.
[table]
, Hubbion, Asana, Wrike, Trello, Basecamp
Users, Unlimited, 15, 5, Unlimited, n/a
Projects, Unlimited, Unlimited, Unlimited, Unlimited, n/a
File storage, Unlimited, 100 MB, 2 GB storage, 10 MB, 10 MB
[/table]
What would your pick be?