Zenkit

Pros

Zenkit is very affordable with a sleek interface that is very intuitive. There is excellent documentation for its many uses as well as video tutorials and blogs that are invaluable to new users.

Cons

The data storage limits are relatively low. Free users can store up to 1GB of file attachments, but "Plus" users ($9/mo) only receive 6GB.

Pros

I like that Zenkit treats my list of issues as a database and provides me many ways to look at it and manipulated it. This was the initial hook for me and it's kept me hooked. I can view my issues as a list, a kanban board, a table, a hierarchy, and a mindmap. These are just the views I use. There are others. I haven't used the Gantt chart or the wiki views yet.

All of the good planning tools have the same basic fields -e.g. Title, description, the ability to leave notes and to attach things. It's this ability to turn my issues list on it's side so-to-speak and explore it that is amazing. It keeps my from getting overwhelmed by the details and lost in the forest.

The other thing I like most about this software is how flexible it is with the fields. For example each of my workspaces has what I call an anchor collection. I was able to add a custom field in each of my issues that allows me to link any one of the other issues in a workspace back to its anchor. I use this anchor as a way to collect information that anchors all of the issues to it. Sounds like a confusing workflow? The workflow isn't the point - it turns out that as I have gotten to know Zenkit I'm starting to lean away from the use of anchors and create more collections instead. The truly amazing thing here is that I had a low barrier to getting productive with Zenkit. I was able to morph the product to my workflow to get started. It didn't enforce "a way of thinking" on me.

Cons

The user interface took a bit of getting used to. Your issues can become cluttered as you add more custom fields. I'm still getting used to how the filters work as well.

Pros

Zenkit interface is highly configurable, which makes it ideal to collaborate with team members with different technical backgrounds. One of the most amazing characteristics though is that any data can be relational - pretty much like in a RDB - and you can create your own data structures to organize yourself as you prefer.

Cons

The mindmap representation is a bit different of what one's used to find in mindmapping-related software, but this seems to be mostly due to web components limitations.

Pros

The standard views replace any kanban board out there, the other views add a lot more.

Cons

Sometimes, performance is a little sub-optimal (especially on the app), but in the past two years a lot has happened and the team has improved this point already. Looking forward to the next updates.

Pros

I like that our team can see our plans and data in a variety of different formats, as each person has a different work style - some prefer tables, some Kanban, some Gantt. Everyone can get what they want and need.

Cons

Overall, the biggest challenge is not the software itself but getting our team to use it effectively and wholly. But that's an issue with every software implementation.