Looking for a good free or cheap task tracking system

Question

I've finally decided that pen and paper/whiteboards are not up to the job as my workload increases so I'm looking for a good task tracking system.

I need something that can track tasks in categories (projects) and allow me to assign priority to each task.

I've tried iTeamWork which requires projects to have an end time which is no good for me as at least one of my projects is ongoing. I also tried Teamly which was required tasks to be set to a specific day which is no good as tasks sometimes take more than a day and I would like them organised by priority rather than specific days.

Preferably looking for something hosted but I'm happy to install on our servers if it supports PHP/MySQL.

Oh, and an iPhone client would be the icing on the cake!

Can anyone recommend anything?

Answer 1

I prefer the free, open-source tool called Mantis. It runs on PHP with either a MySQL or SQL Server back end. You can create ongoing projects. It is easy to use, and user-friendly enough to get your business users to enter cases. It also has an API.

We integrate it with our SVN source control using one of the free plugins.

MantisBT is a free popular web-based bugtracking system (feature list). It is written in the PHP scripting language and works with MySQL, MS SQL, and PostgreSQL databases and a webserver. MantisBT has been installed on Windows, Linux, Mac OS, OS/2, and others. Almost any web browser should be able to function as a client. It is released under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL).

Answer 2

Trac is pretty good, and free.

It uses Python, if you'd be okay with that.

If you only want to consider PHP then Mantis this is good too (more of a bug tracker).

Answer 3

You should take a look at Redmine. It's written in Ruby on Rails but it gets the job done. It's free and very powerful. It's similar to trac, but it supports multiple projects out-of-the-box.

Answer 4

How do you manage contacts/you use any other software?

I ask because instead of using a specific task management program, you may find more benefit in consolidating everything you need into one system. So, via one web based app you could manage all contacts, any leads you're working on securing, projects, to-dos, events, expenses, even invoicing or whatever else you need.

I see a lot of programmers start with a simple CRM or task management tool and slowly build up their list of software they're using only to end up with more problems (i.e. integration issues/costs, jumping between systems to look up info, inefficiency, etc).

Check out WORKetc, their system combines project management/task management (with priorities) with a list of other tools that simplify the overall project management (and self management) process.

This is a comparison they do (it's WORKetc VS other project management systems, you may find it helpful regardless of your choice): http://www.worketc.com/compare

Answer 5

Check out Gemini. Free for 3 Users or Less and is seriously powerful.

Gemini has both an iPhone and iPad App, as well as desktop versions, VS integration, Source Control Integration etc.

Answer 6

Lots of good options suggested here. Based on your description, it sounds like it's just you (rather than a group) that needs this functionality, so perhaps consider Google Tasks. It integrates with Google Mail. It's basic but free.

Answer 7

If you just need an easy-to-use task manager, check out Tracks, which was designed around David Allen's Getting Things Done (GTD) methodology.

You can run it on your own server or use the free hosted service at GTDify. Edit: In March 2012, GTDify announced they would be discontinuing their hosting.