Wrike vs. OpenProject

Digital technology has redefined the way we work. It has made us more productive and encouraged us to work together as a team. Today, productivity and collaboration go hand in hand. All most businesses need to get this level of organization is a project management tool like Wrike or OpenProject that helps streamline business processes and keep your team organized and on track. 

Whether you choose Wrike or OpenProject, getting project management software saves you on the costs of doing the manual, repetitive tasks, and also the time that can be spent on the more important matters. Both platforms seek to make project planning and management simple and fun.

In the hunt for a project management tool that suits your business? Use our Product Selection Tool. It helps simplify your search process. Enter your desired features, price, or user requirements, and we’ll send you a list of software options in no time.      

Wrike vs. OpenProject: An overview

Wrike is a software as a service (SaaS) product that is considered one of the best productivity tools in the market today. Initially released in 2006, Wrike was founded in San Jose, California. It delivers a minimalist design and an intuitive, easy-to-use dashboard, housing the project management and productivity tools that make work easy both for individuals and teams. 

Open-source, web-based project management and collaboration platform OpenProject is developed by The OpenProject Foundation and released under the GNU General Public License Version 3 (GPLv3). The software is offered in two versions: community (free/open-source) and enterprise (paid). OpenProject features powerful productivity tools to help you with planning and managing your projects and assigning your team tasks.  

Read also: Wrike vs. Basecamp: A Project Management Software Comparison

Customizing the dashboard

Wrike’s dashboard is simple, elegant, and easy to use. It features a drag-and-drop functionality that makes it easy to rearrange and move elements into columns. It lets you create customizable boards for your teams. You can also adjust and organize the dashboard to fit your team’s working style. 

OpenProject features a powerful dashboard that lets you see your project description, project details, team members, and status and progress report in a single view. It’s a bit complex compared to Wrike’s dashboard, but it does offer you the tools you need to plan and manage projects, customize modules, create benchmarks, track costs and time, and perform other key functions. 

Team collaboration 

It is easy to collaborate with your team in Wrike. It has a centralized communication system that ensures everyone is informed and on track. You can strategize your plans of action, track the project’s progress, view status reports, and assess team performance. All team members can see shared dashboards, Gantt charts, and to-do lists in multiple views.

OpenProject also provides you with excellent tools for team collaboration. It lets you plan your budget, monitor spending, track time, evaluate team performance, and view progress reports. You can also generate reports, make in-depth analysis, and share data-driven insights with your team. 

Managing projects

Wrike streamlines processes and simplifies the workflow to give your team flexibility in accomplishing the tasks assigned across team members. It has a well-organized board that makes project planning and assigning tasks fast and easy. Everyone can view the project’s details, including the description, tasks, schedules, and calendars.  

With OpenProject, you can manage team projects with ease. It supports the entire life cycle of your project from conception, initiation, definition, planning,  launch execution, performance, control, and closing. It allows you to create stories, prioritize sprints, and track tasks integrated with other modules. You can also take advantage of its traditional project management tools such as Gantt charts, road mapping, and customizable columns and filters to organize and manage your projects from beginning to end.  

Integrations

Wrike seamlessly integrates third-party tools and other productivity platforms in the system, including Microsoft Office, Google Suite, Adobe, Box, Tableau, JIRA, and WordPress.

The enterprise edition of OpenProject lets you integrate with other tools and applications. The modules are also accessible on any device. But the open-source community edition runs only on Linux-based devices. 

Wrike or OpenProject?

Both platforms feature traditional project management and collaboration tools. When it comes to ease of use, Wrike’s minimalist and elegant design has an advantage. It is best for all types of businesses across industries. Wrike is widely used because of its simple interface and easy-to-navigate dashboard. Its simplicity stands out as the top reason why people choose Wrike. 

OpenProject, however, offers powerful features such as agile boards, tracking tools, product roadmaps, and self-hosting that is not available in Wrike. But the open-source version of the software requires some technical knowledge and is quite difficult to navigate.  

For more information on other project management platforms, check out our Product Selection Tool. It is easy to use and the good news is it’s free.