Redmine vs SmartSuite Comparison
Compare Redmine vs SmartSuite features, pricing, and more.
Last updated: November 2026
Redmine
6.3/10
Free, open-source, self-hosted web application for issue tracking and multi-project management, with Gantt charts, wikis and time tracking, aimed at technical teams.
SmartSuite
7.3/10
SmartSuite is a no-code work management platform that teams use to build project, process and operations solutions with views, automations and AI agents.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Feature | | |
|---|---|---|
| Scores | ||
| Overall Rating | 6.3/10 | 7.3/10 |
| Cost | 10/10 | 6/10 |
| Ease of Use | 4/10 | 7/10 |
| Analytics | 4/10 | 7/10 |
| Customization | 9/10 | 9/10 |
| Scalability | 5/10 | 7/10 |
| Support | 3/10 | 7/10 |
| Integration | 6/10 | 7/10 |
| Security | 6/10 | 9/10 |
| Pricing | ||
| Free plan | Yes | No |
| Cheapest paid plan | Contact for pricing | $20/user/mo Team |
| Estimated cost for 10 users | Free Open source (self-hosted) | $200/mo Team |
| Features | ||
| App integrations | ||
| Collaboration tools | ||
| Docs | ||
| File sharing | ||
| Gantt charts | ||
| Reporting | ||
| Scheduling | ||
| Task lists | ||
| Task management | ||
| Time tracking | ||
| Timeline view | ||
| Client collaboration | Not listed | |
| Dashboards | Not listed | |
| Databases | Not listed | |
| Kanban boards | Not listed | |
| Knowledge base | Not listed | |
| Spreadsheet interface | Not listed | |
| Team messaging | Not listed | |
| Whiteboards | Not listed | |
| Workflow automation | Not listed | |
Redmine vs SmartSuite cost by team size
Redmine costs less from 5 users.
| Team size | Redmine | SmartSuite |
|---|---|---|
| 1 user | FreeOpen source (self-hosted) | Contact for pricing |
| 5 users | FreeOpen source (self-hosted) | $100/moTeam |
| 10 users | FreeOpen source (self-hosted) | $200/moTeam |
| 25 users | FreeOpen source (self-hosted) | $500/moTeam |
| 50 users | FreeOpen source (self-hosted) | $1,000/moTeam |
The plan that fits each team size, billed monthly, before add-ons and usage charges. Each cost opens that tool's pricing calculator for the team size.
Which One Should You Choose?
Why choose Redmine
- Has a free plan (SmartSuite does not)
- Lower estimated cost for 10 users: Free vs $200/mo
- Higher Cost score (10/10 vs 6/10)
- Better fit for startups (6/10 vs 4/10)
Why choose SmartSuite
- Higher Support score (7/10 vs 3/10)
- Higher Ease of Use score (7/10 vs 4/10)
- Better fit for marketing teams (7/10 vs 3/10)
- Better fit for enterprise (7/10 vs 5/10)
Pros & Cons
Redmine
Pros
- No licence fees under GPL v2, so the only costs are hosting and administration.
- Trackers, workflows and custom fields on issues, projects, users and time entries can all be configured in depth.
- Built-in Gantt chart, calendar, time tracking, and per-project wiki and forums cover many needs without plugins.
- Native integration with Git, Subversion, Mercurial, Bazaar and CVS suits software teams.
- The REST API in JSON and XML, with API-key authentication, supports automation.
Cons
- Reviewers widely describe the interface as dated.
- Agile boards and Kanban need third-party plugins and configuration.
- Reviewers report that it becomes slow on big or complex projects.
- Self-hosting needs Ruby on Rails skills, and there is no official vendor support.
- Advanced analytics need plugins, and some commercial plugins cost roughly $99 to $499.
SmartSuite
Pros
- The same records can be shown as grid, Kanban, Gantt, timeline, calendar, map and dashboard views without duplicating data.
- Its compliance coverage is unusually strong for the category, with ISO 27001, SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA and GDPR audits plus a choice of US or EU data residency.
- Read-only users, commenters and form submitters are free, which lowers the cost of involving stakeholders.
- It ships more than 200 templates and an AI solution builder to speed up setup.
- Reviewers describe the support team as responsive.
Cons
- Team, Professional and Enterprise carry 3-, 5- and 25-seat minimums, and there is no free plan.
- The Team plan allows only 5,000 records per solution, and automation runs plus API calls are hard-capped each month.
- SAML SSO and SCIM are available only on Enterprise and Signature plans.
- There is no team chat or whiteboard, and external access is limited to read-only shared views.
- Reviewers say complex workflows and large data imports take real setup effort, and there are no native desktop apps.
Not sold on either?
Frequently Asked Questions
SmartSuite scores higher on our Project Management criteria: 7.3/10 against 6.3/10 for Redmine. The largest gap is in Cost: 10/10 for Redmine and 6/10 for SmartSuite.
Redmine costs less for 10 users: free on its Open source (self-hosted) plan, against about $200/mo on its Team plan for SmartSuite, billed monthly.
Redmine has a free plan; SmartSuite does not list one.
SmartSuite is the better fit for marketing teams: we rate it 7/10 for them, against 3/10 for Redmine.
