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ZZoho Projects

Zoho Projects is a cloud-based project management application for planning, assigning, scheduling, and tracking project work. It combines Gantt planning, task dependencies, time tracking, workflow automation, customization, integrations, and mobile access.

Zoho Projects website screenshot

Why people leave Zoho Projects

Teams may look for an alternative when Zoho Projects’ broad project-management structure does not match how they prefer to organize work. The product centers on projects, tasks, assignments, schedules, dependencies, and progress tracking. That model can be useful for formal delivery work, but a team seeking a simpler task list, a more specialized planning method, or a system built around another type of operational workflow may prefer a narrower tool with fewer concepts to configure and maintain.

Customization can also motivate a comparison with other products. Zoho Projects supports personalized fields, layouts, statuses, and workflows, along with drag-and-drop automation for both simple and complex processes. These options allow teams to adapt the application, but organizations that do not want to design or govern their own workflow conventions may seek a more opinionated product. Conversely, teams with highly specialized processes may evaluate alternatives that offer a different customization model or fit their requirements more directly.

The surrounding application ecosystem may be another consideration. Zoho Projects integrates with other Zoho applications and third-party services, while its time records can feed Zoho Invoice to generate invoices. Organizations already committed to a different finance, collaboration, or productivity stack may prefer a project-management product whose integrations align more closely with those systems. Teams that want billing to be completely independent from their project tracker may likewise compare dedicated timekeeping or invoicing workflows rather than adopting this connected approach.

Finally, deployment, access, and commercial requirements can lead organizations to investigate alternatives. The supplied page describes Zoho Projects as cloud-based, provides mobile applications, and mentions a free version as well as trials for paid editions. A team that requires another deployment model, different control over project data, or licensing that better fits its size and procurement policies may therefore consider other products. The free edition may be enough for some teams, but organizations should compare edition boundaries and longer-term costs against the capabilities they need, particularly Gantt scheduling, resource assignment, automation, customization, integrations, and time tracking.

12 Best Open Source Zoho Projects Alternatives (Ranked)

Each alternative is evaluated for core feature coverage, deployment options, licensing, project health, and overall fit. The ranking prioritizes how closely a tool matches Zoho Projects's primary workflows, using popularity only as a secondary signal.

Openproject website screenshot

OOpenproject15,866

OpenProject is the stronger choice when self-hosting, infrastructure control, or GPL-licensed source code is a requirement, while still covering core project planning, Gantt scheduling, task management, time tracking, and customization. Zoho Projects remains the safer choice for teams that depend on its documented mobile apps, Zoho ecosystem—especially Zoho Invoice timesheet handoff—or visual drag-and-drop automation

What it does

OpenProject is a web-based, open-source project management platform for teams and organizations. It manages projects, portfolios, products, tasks, bugs, agile workflows, roadmaps, and team collaboration in one system.

Documented capabilities include project planning and scheduling with Gantt charts, agile boards, Kanban and Scrum workflows, task management, time tracking, cost reporting, budgeting, product and release planning, collaboration, and integrations with Nextcloud, XWiki, GitHub, and GitLab.

The project offers a self-hosted Community Edition that users can download and install, alongside cloud and on-premises Enterprise Edition options. It is licensed under GPL-3.0.

What it covers

  • Project and portfolio planning
  • Task assignment and progress tracking
  • Gantt scheduling
  • Task relations and dependencies
  • Time tracking and reporting
  • Custom fields and workflows
  • Third-party integrations

What’s different

  • No documented Zoho Invoice handoff
  • No documented mobile applications
  • No documented drag-and-drop automation parity
Leantime website screenshot

LLeantime11,368

Leantime is a credible alternative for teams that want open-source, self-hostable project management with tasks, dependencies, Gantt views, time tracking, goals, and knowledge tools—especially when work must be approachable for non-project managers or neurodivergent users. Choose Zoho Projects instead when documented requirements include visual workflow automation, extensive project customization, or passing times​​e

What it does

Leantime is an open-source project management system aimed at non-project managers. It combines strategy, planning, and execution through kanban boards, Gantt and timeline views, tables, lists, calendars, milestones, subtasks, dependencies, sprints, dashboards, reports, status updates, goals, metrics, and risk analysis.

The platform also documents time tracking and timesheets, wikis and documents, idea boards, retrospectives, comments and discussions, file storage, user roles, project permissions, LDAP and OIDC integration, and integrations with Slack, Mattermost, and Discord. It can be installed locally with PHP, MySQL or MariaDB, and Apache or Nginx, or deployed using the official Docker image and Docker Compose. Managed hosting and a SaaS offering are also documented.

What it covers

  • Task management
  • Task dependencies
  • Gantt planning
  • Milestone scheduling
  • Time tracking and timesheets
  • Project dashboards and reports
  • Mobile access
  • Third-party integrations

What’s different

  • No documented visual workflow automation
  • No documented custom fields or layouts
  • No documented Zoho Invoice handoff
  • No documented Zoho Projects importer
Worklenz website screenshot

WWorklenz3,147

Worklenz is the stronger choice for agencies and professional-services teams that want open-source, self-hostable project management with time, resource, budget, profitability, and client workflows. Zoho Projects remains the safer choice for teams that depend on documented workflow automation, extensive customization, app integrations, or Zoho Invoice handoff, because equivalent Worklenz coverage is not established.迁

What it does

Worklenz is an open-source project management platform for planning, executing, and monitoring projects. Its documented workflows include task creation with priorities, due dates, progress tracking, list, board, and Gantt views, resource allocation, visual scheduling, project templates, team and client collaboration, comments, file sharing, analytics, and financial insights.

The application also supports time logging on tasks, workload and team utilization reporting, project profitability monitoring, and client portals. It can be used through Worklenz Cloud or deployed on a user-controlled server with Docker and Docker Compose, or installed manually with Node.js, PostgreSQL, and S3-compatible storage.

What it covers

  • Project and task tracking
  • Task assignments and due dates
  • Task dependencies and Gantt views
  • Time logging on tasks
  • Custom status workflows
  • Resource and workload planning
  • Mobile app availability

What’s different

  • No documented drag-and-drop automation parity
  • No documented custom-field or layout parity
  • No documented Zoho Invoice handoff
  • No documented equivalent integration catalog
Plane website screenshot

PPlane56,041

Choose Plane when self-hosting and an issue-, cycle-, module-, and roadmap-oriented workflow matter more than Zoho Projects’ documented scheduling and time-management breadth. Choose Zoho Projects for formal delivery planning that depends on Gantt charts, task dependencies, timesheets, billing handoff, or established Zoho integrations; those capabilities are not documented in the supplied Plane materials.

What it does

Plane is an open-source project management platform for teams that need to track issues, run cycles, manage product roadmaps, and organize project work. Its documented features include work items with rich-text editing and file uploads, cycles with progress and burn-down charts, modules for dividing complex projects, customizable views, pages for notes and actionable items, and analytics for visualizing trends and blockers.

Users can access Plane through Plane Cloud or deploy it on their own infrastructure. The repository documents Docker Compose and Kubernetes installation methods, along with managed hosting. Plane is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and is built with React Router, Django, and Node.js.

What it covers

  • Task and work-item tracking
  • Custom workflow views
  • Project progress insights
  • Mobile workspace access
  • Third-party integration options

What’s different

  • No documented Gantt charts
  • No documented timesheets or timers
  • No documented Zoho Invoice handoff
  • No verified Zoho Projects importer
  • No documented planned-versus-actual schedule comparison
Laravel-gitscrum website screenshot

LLaravel-gitscrum2,908

Laravel-gitscrum is a self-hosted, MIT-licensed option for teams centered on Scrum artifacts, Kanban sprint planning, and GitHub/GitLab/Bitbucket integration. Its main tradeoff is operational and migration risk: the repository describes this edition as code from 2016 that was supported only until 2017. Choose it when self-hosting and an agile development workflow outweigh the need for current maintenance and broad,0.

What it does

GitScrum is an open-source project management application for entrepreneurs, freelancers, managers, and teams. It organizes projects and team tasks within workspaces, supporting product backlogs, user stories, sprint backlogs, issues, task delegation, progress monitoring, milestones, Kanban boards, burndown charts, and Gantt charts.

The application also documents comments, discussions, mentions, attachments, labels, checklists, prioritization, effort estimates, and integrations with GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket. It is presented as a collaborative agile tool with gamification, templates, multilingual support, and white-label options.

The repository contains a Laravel application that can be installed with Composer or Git, using PHP, Nginx or Apache, and MySQL or MariaDB. It documents local/server deployment and provides Docker containers for PHP, Nginx, and MySQL.

What it covers

  • Project and task organization
  • Task assignment and progress states
  • Gantt schedule views
  • Team comments and activities
  • Third-party application integrations

What’s different

  • No documented time tracking or timesheets
  • No documented billing integration
  • No documented task-dependency management
  • No documented planned-versus-actual tracking
  • No documented workflow-automation builder
  • No documented mobile applications
Ganttproject website screenshot

GGanttproject1,088

Choose GanttProject when the priority is a GPL-licensed desktop application for Gantt scheduling, dependencies, resources, costs, and file-based exports. Choose Zoho Projects when the team needs a cloud-centered system with documented time tracking, workflow automation, extensive project customization, integrations, and mobile access. The main tradeoff is GanttProject’s narrower, locally installed planning focus and2

What it does

GanttProject is a free, open-source desktop project-management application. Users can organize task hierarchies, define dependencies and milestones, establish baselines, view Gantt and PERT charts, assess resource loads, and calculate task costs.

The application exports projects to PDF, HTML, and PNG and supports interoperability with Microsoft Project, Excel, and other spreadsheet applications. Collaboration is documented through WebDAV and the commercial GanttProject Cloud service. The repository provides Gradle commands to build and run the application locally; the complete app can be built for Linux and macOS.

What it covers

  • Gantt-based project scheduling
  • Task dependencies and hierarchy
  • Milestones and progress baselines
  • Resource assignment and planning
  • Project data export

What’s different

  • No documented time tracking or timesheets
  • No documented workflow automation
  • No documented custom fields, layouts, or statuses
  • No documented mobile applications
  • No documented Zoho integration ecosystem
Scrumboy website screenshot

SScrumboy429

Choose Scrumboy for self-hosted, Kanban-centered work where teams value shareable boards, real-time collaboration, custom workflows, sprints, and control of deployment. Keep Zoho Projects for formal delivery planning that depends on Gantt charts, task dependencies, planned-versus-actual tracking, timesheets, invoicing links, or its broader application ecosystem; those capabilities are not documented for Scrumboy in -

What it does

Scrumboy is a self-hosted project-management and issue-tracking platform centered on customizable, shareable Kanban boards. Users can create projects, define workflows and priority tiers, assign and filter todos, organize work into sprints, collaborate in real time, and review audit trails. It also supports sticky-note walls, voice commands, multilingual use, Markdown notes, anonymous boards, and customizable tags.

The product exposes API access, MCP-compatible client support, outbound webhooks, JSON export and import, OIDC/SSO, two-factor authentication, and optional web push notifications. It is distributed as a Go application with SQLite storage and can run from source, as a Windows executable, or through Docker and Docker Compose. The README documents local server access at port 8080 and persistent data mounted under /data.

What it covers

  • Project and task organization
  • Task assignment and status tracking
  • Custom project workflows
  • Workflow-related automation hooks
  • Mobile-oriented project access

What’s different

  • No documented Gantt charts
  • No documented task dependencies
  • No documented planned-versus-actual tracking
  • No documented time tracking or timesheets
  • No documented Zoho Invoice connection
  • No documented direct Zoho Projects importer

Zametek.ProjectPlan237

Zametek.ProjectPlan is a narrower, open-source desktop planning tool rather than a full replacement for Zoho Projects’ cloud-based work-management environment. Choose it for local project-plan design, Gantt output, or scripted plan compilation; retain Zoho Projects when teams require collaborative assignments, timesheets, workflow customization, integrations, or mobile access.

What it does

Projectplan.net is an open-source, cross-platform desktop application for designing and creating project plans. It is intended to automate tasks involved in project design and can be used for project planning and tracking. The repository also includes a headless command-line tool for scripting, CI pipelines, and batch processing.

The application supports project compilation, scenarios, metrics, Gantt and graph image exports, and imports from Microsoft Project or Excel into its project format. It is distributed for download and can be built from source with the .NET 10 SDK; publishing targets produce self-contained desktop binaries for Windows, Linux, and macOS. A Windows MSI can also be built locally.

What it covers

  • Project-plan creation and tracking
  • Gantt-based schedule output
  • Desktop access to project plans

What’s different

  • No documented timesheets or billing handoff
  • No documented workflow automation
  • No documented custom fields, layouts, or statuses
  • No documented business-app integrations
  • No documented mobile applications
  • No documented Zoho Projects importer
Vikunja website screenshot

VVikunja5,076

Vikunja is a credible alternative for teams that prioritize self-hosting and straightforward task/project organization across list, Kanban, table, and Gantt views. Zoho Projects remains the better fit for formal delivery operations that require built-in time tracking, workflow automation, extensive customization, integrations, or mobile access; Vikunja’s documented time tracking is a separate Pro feature for self‑hos

What it does

Vikunja is an open-source task and project management application for organizing work. Its repository identifies it as a task manager and includes project-management topics, while the README points users to a feature overview and a live instance for trying the product.

The project supports self-managed installation, building from source, and Docker distribution. It also offers a hosted version for users seeking a managed service. The README specifically mentions time tracking as part of Vikunja Pro, but does not document detailed Gantt planning, workflow automation, project customization, integrations, or mobile access in the supplied material.

What it covers

  • Project-based task organization
  • Task assignment and collaboration
  • Due-date planning
  • Gantt task views
  • Subtasks and progress organization
  • Blocking task relations

What’s different

  • Standard-edition time tracking
  • Visual workflow automation
  • Custom fields and layouts
  • Custom statuses and workflows
  • Zoho Invoice handoff
  • Documented mobile applications
Ever-gauzy website screenshot

EEver-gauzy4,330

Ever Gauzy is the stronger fit for organizations that want a self-hosted, open-source platform combining project work with time tracking, HR, CRM, accounting, and invoicing—and can operate a broader business-management stack. Zoho Projects remains the safer choice for teams prioritizing a managed cloud project-management service with documented Gantt planning, dependencies, workflow automation, customization, and an,

What it does

Ever Gauzy is an open-source business-management platform covering enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management, human resources, applicant tracking, work and project management, and employee time and activity tracking. Its documented features include projects and tasks, timesheets, dashboards, reports, integrations, roles, permissions, invoicing, billing, and organization management.

The platform provides browser-based web UI, desktop applications for Windows, macOS, and Linux, and a desktop timer for time and activity tracking. It can run locally through Docker Compose or manual Node.js setup, with SQLite for demos and PostgreSQL or other databases for production. Kubernetes is recommended for production deployments.

What it covers

  • Project and task management
  • Time tracking and timesheets
  • Scheduling capabilities
  • Third-party integrations
  • Reporting and analytics
  • Invoicing-related workflows

What’s different

  • No documented Gantt-chart coverage
  • No documented task-dependency coverage
  • No documented drag-and-drop workflow automation
  • No documented custom fields or layouts
  • No documented mobile applications
  • No documented Zoho Projects importer
Project-management website screenshot

PProject-management1,087

Project-management is the better fit for teams that prioritize an MIT-licensed, self-hosted PHP application centered on projects, tickets, epics, Kanban, Scrum, and time logging. Zoho Projects remains the stronger choice for organizations needing the documented breadth of Gantt scheduling, workflow automation, extensive customization, integrations, mobile apps, and connected invoicing. Migration is therefore a trade:

What it does

Project Management, also described as Helper, is an open-source Laravel application for managing projects, tickets, and client support. Its documented workflows include Kanban and Scrum boards, epics, road maps, issue creation, ticket attachments, dependencies, comments, and logged activities or hours.

The application supports more than 60 languages, Excel export, Jira project and ticket imports, OpenID Connect single sign-on, and Dockerized deployment. The README lists PHP 8+, MySQL 8+, and a Pusher account as prerequisites. Screenshots and Filament, Livewire, and Tailwind references document a graphical web interface.

What it covers

  • Project and ticket tracking
  • Task dependencies
  • Time logging
  • Road-map and epic planning

What’s different

  • No documented Gantt charts
  • No documented workflow automation
  • No documented custom fields or layouts
  • No documented mobile applications
  • No documented Zoho Invoice connection
  • No documented broad app integrations
NearBeach website screenshot

NNearBeach213

NearBeach is a plausible alternative for teams that prioritize MIT-licensed, self-hosted project and task management—especially requirements, Kanban, sprints, and change requests—but it is documented as alpha software and does not show coverage for several major Zoho Projects capabilities. Choose NearBeach if infrastructure control and its development-oriented workflow fit outweigh maturity concerns; choose Zoho 

What it does

NearBeach is an open-source project management system built with Django and VueJS. Its documented features include customer and organization records, requirements and requirement items, Kanban boards, projects and tasks, sprint functionality, and requests for change.

The project is intended to be easy to install and flexible, with stated use ranging from small or personal organizations to enterprises. The supplied README identifies a browser-oriented Django/VueJS application and links to documentation and a hosted homepage, but does not specify a particular installation procedure, container configuration, Gantt views, time tracking, automation, integrations, or mobile applications.

What it covers

  • Project and task tracking
  • Task assignment
  • Progress-oriented work tracking
  • Customizable Kanban boards

What’s different

  • No documented Gantt charts
  • No documented task dependencies
  • No documented time tracking or timesheets
  • No documented workflow automation builder
  • No documented application integrations
  • No documented native mobile applications
  • No documented Zoho Projects importer