Zoho Projects review: Gantt, dependencies, timesheets and automation by plan

What Zoho Projects is

Zoho Projects is a project management tool from Zoho. It covers task planning with Gantt charts and dependencies, time tracking and timesheets, budgets, workflow automation and issue tracking. It also connects to other Zoho apps, including Zoho CRM, Zoho Books, Zoho Invoice, Zoho Sprints and Zoho Analytics.

Zoho shows different plan details in some regions; this review describes the US English pages.

How work is organized

Work breaks down into milestones, task lists, tasks and subtasks. Zoho lists three task views: Classic, a detailed task list; Plain, a simple list; and Kanban, which shows tasks as cards in columns by status. Custom statuses are available on every plan, and custom views start on Premium.

Every plan, including Free, can use Zoho's pre-built templates, which include more than 20 predefined industry templates. Saving your own project templates starts on Premium, which allows 20, with 30 on Enterprise and 50 on Ultimate.

For team communication there are feeds, chat, forums and document sharing. On Free, Pages and Chat are limited to one project; paid plans include them in all projects.

Gantt charts and dependencies

Gantt charts are on every plan. You can set dependencies, adjust the lag between dependent tasks and reschedule by drag and drop. What changes by plan is the depth of scheduling:

• Free: finish-to-start dependencies within a project.
• Premium: all four dependency types within a project, plus recurring tasks and task durations in hours or days.
• Enterprise and Ultimate: all four types across projects, critical path, and baselines (15 per project).

Baselines let you compare planned and actual progress, including two baselines side by side. Zoho's End Variance highlights delayed tasks, and Slippage flags tasks that have not started but are already past the baseline end date.

Time tracking, timesheets and budgets

Time tracking is not included on Free. From Premium, you get time logs and timesheets, with timers that record task hours automatically. Admins can approve or reject entries, and Premium lists multi-level timesheet approvals. Multi-user, multi-project timesheets are on Ultimate only.

Project budgets and earned value management also start on Premium, with planned versus actual cost. Workload reports are project-specific on Premium and work across projects on Enterprise and Ultimate. Invoicing works through the Zoho Books or Zoho Invoice integration, which the pricing page does not include on Free.

Blueprints and workflow automation

Blueprints map a task process in a drag-and-drop editor. You set the statuses, who handles each stage, who may move a task to the next status, and which fields must be filled in before it moves. Blueprint for Tasks starts on Premium with 2 per layout, rising to 25 on Enterprise and 50 on Ultimate.

Workflow rules automate actions on work items: 2 per layout on Free and Premium, 20 on Enterprise and 40 on Ultimate. Workflow actions are metered per month, from 50 executions on Free to 50,000 on Enterprise and 500,000 on Ultimate; check the pricing page for the Premium allowance. Custom functions let you write code to call webhooks or trigger business rules.

Issue tracking

Zoho Projects includes an issue tracker for logging bugs, assigning them and tracking fixes alongside project tasks. Its add-ons scale by plan:

• Premium: adding issues by email, issue notifications, business rules and a web-to-issue form.
• Enterprise and Ultimate: linked issues, issue custom fields, SLAs with escalation, and webhooks.

GitHub, GitLab and Bitbucket integrations are listed on paid plans. Zoho Desk, which turns support tickets into issues, is listed from Enterprise.

Plans and what needs a paid tier

We do not publish prices because they change. Check Zoho Projects' pricing page for current numbers. Paid plans are priced per user.

• Free: up to 5 users, 3 projects and 5 GB of storage, with Gantt charts, subtasks, a whiteboard, iOS and Android apps, and Google and Office 365 integration.
• Premium: unlimited projects and 100 GB, plus timesheets, budgets, Blueprints, custom views and Zia AI features.
• Enterprise: critical path and baselines, a portfolio dashboard, single sign-on, two-factor authentication, a custom domain, a sandbox and 10 read-only users.
• Ultimate: multi-user and multi-project timesheets, unlimited custom dashboards, 100 read-only users, and storage of 15 GB per user with a 150 GB minimum per organization.

Client users, who can follow a customer's project, are not on Free and are sold as an add-on on paid plans. Zoho's help center says a client user's email domain must differ from the domain used to sign up for the portal.

Who Zoho Projects fits

Zoho Projects suits teams that plan schedules in a Gantt chart with real dependencies, track time against tasks, and want process control through Blueprints. Teams that ship software or handle client requests may also use the built-in issue tracker instead of a separate bug tool. Businesses already using Zoho CRM or Zoho Books get direct integrations.

Who should look elsewhere

• If you need time tracking on a free plan, Zoho Projects starts it on Premium.
• If you need critical path or baselines, budget for Enterprise or Ultimate.
• If clients must log in to your projects, check the client user add-on cost before you choose a plan.
• If your team mostly works on a board and rarely needs a schedule, a board-first tool such as Trello may be simpler.

How to trial Zoho Projects

Zoho offers a 15-day free trial of any of its three paid plans, and does not ask for a credit card when you sign up. Pick the plan that holds the feature you are unsure about: Premium for timesheets and Blueprints, Enterprise for critical path and cross-project dependencies.

Rebuild one real project with its dependencies in the Gantt chart, log a week of time, and set up one Blueprint for a process you already follow. If you track bugs, file a few through the issue tracker and see whether it can replace your current tool.