Free online resources

  • Zoho Projects 2 - Free as reviewed (premium plans available) Zoho Projects 2 (free to $80, depending on services) is the posterchild for the "more is more" school of thinking in online project management. Zoho dishes a smorgasbord of online tools for small-business communication and organization. The complementary version serves up the largest entree of online collaboration tools, including messages, forums, wikis, and online chat. At the same time, Zoho is a zealous manager. You can configure project milestones, assign responsibilities, set due dates, schedule meetings, and even post documents to an online storage space. If your needs grow, Zoho can accommodate with a wide selection of paid services. But the app is high maintenance, and the UI can be confusing.
  • OpenProj - OpenProj is a free, open source desktop alternative to Microsoft Project. The OpenProj solution is ideal for desktop project management and is available on Linux, Unix, Mac or Windows. OpenProj is a complete desktop replacement of Microsoft Project and even opens existing native Project files. OpenProj shares the most advanced scheduling engine in the industry with Projects On Demand. The OpenProj solution has Gantt Charts, Network Diagrams (PERT Charts), WBS and RBS charts, Earned Value costing and more.
  • dotProject - dotProject is a web-based, multi-user, multi-language Project Management application. It is an open-source software and free for any uses and is maintained by an open community of volunteer programmers. 
  • GanttProject - GanttProject is a free and easy to use Gantt chart based project scheduling and management tool. Major features include Task hierarchy and dependencies, Gantt chart, Resource load chart, Generation of PERT chart, PDF and HTML reports, MS Project import/export and WebDAV based groupwork management.
  • PHProjekt - PHProjekt is a free open source modular application for the coordination of group activities and to share information and documents via the web. Components of PHProjekt include Group Calendar, Project Management, Time Card System, File Management, Contact Manager, Mail Client and many other.
  • ConsultComm - ConsultComm is a small, lightweight, platform-independent program written in Java that allows anyone managing multiple projects, clients or tasks to effectively keep track of exactly how long they've worked on each project.
  • TaskJuggler - TaskJuggler is a modern and powerful, Open Source project management tool. Its new approach to project planing and tracking is more flexible and superior to the commonly used Gantt chart editing tools. It has already been successfully used in many projects and scales easily to projects with hundreds of resources and thousands of tasks.
  • Collabtive - Collabtive is a modern Web application that allows teams to collaborate on projects, manage tasks, milestones, and files, and send instant messages to each other. It is multilanguage capable, supporting more than 20 languages. Collabtive integrates with other webservices via an XML API. It also provides importing functionality for data from other applications.
  • OpenGoo - It is a complete online solution focused on improving productivity, collaboration, communication and management of your teams.
  • ProjectPier - ProjectPier is a Free, Open-Source, self-hosted PHP application for managing tasks, projects and teams through an intuitive web interface. ProjectPier will help your organization communicate, collaborate and get things done. Its function is similar to commercial groupware/project management products, but allows the freedom and scalability of self-hosting.
  • Redmine - Redmine is a flexible open source project management web application. Written using Ruby on Rails framework, it is cross-platform and cross-database.
  • AceProject - Free as reviewed (premium plans available) For small businesses aspiring to get and stay organized, AceProject looks like the best card in the deck. The free online project management software will not only help you keep tabs on projects, but it'll also help you manage employees and expenses. With a quarter gig of free storage, FTP access, versioning, and up to five projects for free, and AceProject looks like the ace in the hole until you start playing. That's when you run up against the service's cumbersome, dated UI.
  • Basecamp - Free as reviewed (premium plans available) With over 3 million active users, Basecamp is the benchmark of free online project management developed by 37 signals. It helps small businesses and large businesses, from wedding planners to hedge fund managers, to get and stay organized. While other online services like Zoho Projects and AceProject heap on the features—and complexity—Basecamp remains, after nearly seven years of service, the simplest, fastest, and most scalable service available.
  • Huddle - Free as reviewed (premium plans available) With the ability to manage projects, store files, schedule and hold meetings, and facilitate communication through wikis and forums, Huddle's free online service hands small businesses many of the tools they'll need to get organized. While services like Zoho Projects and AceProject function as Swiss Army Knives of online tools, Huddle acts as a scalpel. Despite some limitations in its entry-level offering, where Huddle operates, it's effective: file management is exceptional, and online collaboration is finely tuned.
  • Guidelines for Managing Projects from the UK Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR)
  • Max Wideman's "Open Source" Comparative Glossary of Project Management Terms
  • Open Source Project Management manual