Celoxis vs Zoho Projects (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Zoho Projects grades higher than Celoxis: 2.6 against 2.2 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 5, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
Zoho Projects grades higher on value for money. They get the same grade on the free plan, features, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Celoxis
Project and portfolio management with per-seat plans
Zoho Projects
Project management with Gantt charts, timesheets and issues
Which one is for you
Pick Celoxis if
- Fits if you manage projects with schedules, baselines and costs
- Works for teams of 5 or more who will pay for planning tools
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you want resource planning: it starts at Essentials, $25 a user
- Pricey if you need costing, billing or a client portal, on Professional or Business at $35 to $45 a user
- Watch out: every account needs at least 5 full-access users
- Watch out: Jira, Azure DevOps, QuickBooks and Zapier links are paid add-ons on every plan
- Not for you if you want monthly billing figures: the page shows only the yearly price, and unused time isn't refunded
Pick Zoho Projects if
- Fits if you want Gantt planning and timesheets at $4 a user a month
- Works for businesses already on Zoho CRM, Zoho Invoice or other Zoho apps
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you're staying free: 5 users, 3 projects, 5 GB, 50 workflow runs a month and no time tracking
- Skip it if you need critical path, baselines, custom fields or single sign-on on the cheapest plan, as they need Enterprise at $9
- Not for you if you want a desktop app, since on a computer it runs in the browser
- Watch out: VAT or GST is charged on top, and the App Store rating is 4.42 with some plainly unhappy reviewers
How we grade them
| 2.2GPACeloxisFair | 2.6GPAZoho ProjectsGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | DCore is $10 a user a month yearly, but workload and capacity planning start at Essentials, $25, and costing at $35, against a $9 middle. Minimum 5 users, so at least $50 a month. | BPremium is $4 a user a month billed annually, inside the cheapest quarter for project tools here and half the $8 middle, and it buys unlimited projects, 100 GB, timesheets, budgets and Zia AI. Enterprise, with critical path and baselines, is $9. Local taxes come on top. |
| Free plan and trial | C14-day free trial with sample data and no card. No free plan. | CFree for up to 5 users with subtasks, Gantt charts, a whiteboard and the mobile apps, but the caps bite: 3 projects, 5 GB, 50 workflow runs a month and no time tracking at all. The 15-day trial of a paid plan asks for no card. |
| Features | BGantt and baselines, capacity planning, timesheets, expenses, billing, risk, client portal and BI. The listing shows no gap in the core job. | BIt covers the whole job: milestones, task lists, tasks and issues, Gantt charts with all four dependency types on paid plans, timers and timesheets that become invoices through Zoho Invoice, blueprints, workflow rules, budgets and earned value. Asana and Wrike cover the same. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record, and scheduling and BI take setup. | C4.42 from about 730 App Store ratings, which is middling rather than good, and a few reviewers are plainly unhappy. The 15-day trial of any paid plan needs no card, so you can look round the full thing before deciding. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb plus iOS and Android apps, with Jira, Azure DevOps, QuickBooks and Zapier. No desktop app. | BWeb, iPhone, iPad and Android, with Zoho CRM, Zoho Invoice, Slack, Microsoft Teams, GitHub, Zapier and Zendesk wired in and an MCP server for outside AI models. No desktop app, which is what keeps it off the top mark. |
| Best for | project and portfolio management with per-seat plans | Gantt charts and timesheets on a budget |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Celoxis and Zoho Projects. How we grade
Price against what you get
Celoxis starts at $10 a month for each person and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Zoho Projects starts at $4 a month for each person and scores 2.7.
They score the same, and Zoho Projects starts $6 a month lower. Of the other project management tools on the chart, 18 score higher than Celoxis for less, and 2 score higher than Zoho Projects for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Celoxis also covers invoicing, reports and dashboards.
- Zoho Projects also covers tasks, kanban boards, issue tracking and workflow automation.
At a glance
| Celoxis | Zoho Projects | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free plan |
| Starts at | $10 per standard user / month, billed annually | $4 per user / month, billed annually |
| Free plan | None | Up to 5 users, 3 projects and 5 GB of storage, with subtasks, Gantt charts, a whiteboard, mobile apps and 50 workflow executions a month. |
| Free trial | 14-day free trial with sample data, no credit card required | 15-day free trial of any paid plan, no credit card required |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Celoxis | Zoho Corporation |
| Price read from | celoxis.com | zoho.com |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Oct 5, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Celoxis
- Every account needs at least 5 full-access users.
- The listed prices are billed annually; a monthly subscription exists, but the page does not show its price, and unused time is not refunded on cancellation.
- Resource planning starts at Essentials ($25), and costing, billing and the client portal need Professional or Business.
- Jira, Azure DevOps, QuickBooks Online and Zapier integrations are add-ons on every listed plan.
Zoho Projects
- The Free plan is limited to 5 users, 3 projects and 5 GB of storage, and it does not include time tracking.
- Critical path, baselines, custom fields and single sign-on need the Enterprise plan or higher.
- Apps are listed for iOS, iPad and Android only; on a computer Zoho Projects runs in the browser.
- Local taxes such as VAT or GST are charged on top of the listed prices.
Key features
Celoxis
- Gantt scheduling and baselines
- Every plan includes Gantt charts, advanced scheduling, project templates, split and recurring tasks, and baselines.
- Resource and capacity planning
- Workload tracking, capacity planning, job roles and resource-conflict alerts start on the Essentials plan.
- Timesheets, expenses and billing
- Timesheets arrive on Essentials, expenses and costing on Professional, and project billing on Business.
- Portfolio dashboards and BI
- Aggregated dashboards, analytics and weekly executive reporting cover many projects at once.
- Intake, risk and issue tracking
- Project intake management, risk management and issue tracking are included from the Professional plan.
- Client portal and custom apps
- Clients are free users who can collaborate on permitted projects, and the platform lets you build custom apps.
Zoho Projects
- Gantt charts and dependencies
- Gantt charts lay out the task schedule and show where actual progress departs from the plan. Free allows finish-to-start dependencies; paid plans allow all four types.
- Timesheets and invoicing
- From the Premium plan, billable and non-billable hours are logged by hand or with timers, and an integration with Zoho Invoice turns timesheets into invoices.
- Issue tracker
- Issues are tracked next to tasks. Business rules, linked issues and a web-to-issue form start at Premium, while SLAs and webhooks need Enterprise.
- Blueprints and workflow automation
- Task blueprints and workflow rules automate routine steps, with monthly execution caps of 50 on Free, 5,000 on Premium, 50,000 on Enterprise and 500,000 on Ultimate.
- Zia AI and MCP server
- On paid plans Zia summarizes, translates, creates tasks and subtasks and surfaces insights. A Zoho MCP server, listed on every plan, lets outside AI models read and act on project data.
- Budgets and portfolio tracking
- Premium adds project budgets and earned value management. Enterprise adds a portfolio dashboard, critical path and baselines.
Plans
Celoxis
Core$10
per standard user / month, billed annually
Gantt charts, advanced scheduling, templates, baselines, dashboards and BI reporting. Includes 2 read-only users; timesheets cost an extra $5 per user / month.
Essentials$25
per standard user / month, billed annually
Adds workload and capacity planning, job roles, work calendars, timesheets and resource-conflict visibility. Team-member users $18, timesheet users $12. Includes 5 read-only users.
Professional$35
per standard user / month, billed annually
Adds project intake, risk management, issue tracking, expenses and project costing. Team-member users $24, timesheet users $12. Includes 10 read-only users.
Business$45
per standard user / month, billed annually
Adds project billing, a client portal, advanced security and higher platform limits. Team-member users $29, timesheet users $14. Includes 15 read-only users.
EnterpriseCustom
Quoted by sales for large PMOs: higher platform and API limits, cloud or on-premise deployment and enterprise support.
Zoho Projects
Free$0
Up to 5 users, 3 projects and 5 GB of storage, with subtasks, a whiteboard, mobile apps and 50 workflow executions a month.
Premium$4
per user / month, billed annually ($5 billed monthly)
Unlimited projects, 100 GB of storage, time logs and timesheets, task blueprints, project budgets, Zia AI features and 5,000 workflow executions a month.
Enterprise$9
per user / month, billed annually ($10 billed monthly)
Adds critical path and baselines, a portfolio dashboard, custom fields, profiles and roles, single sign-on, a sandbox and 10 read-only users.
Ultimate$14
per user / month, billed annually ($15 billed monthly)
Adds 15 GB of storage per user (150 GB minimum), 100 read-only users, 100 resources, unlimited custom dashboards and multi-project timesheets.
Ways to pay less
Celoxis
- Nonprofit
Nonprofit discounts on request
The pricing FAQ says nonprofits can contact Celoxis with their details to ask about a discount.
Zoho Projects
- Annual discount
$12 less per user a year on yearly billing
Yearly billing is $4, $9 and $14 per user / month for Premium, Enterprise and Ultimate, against $5, $10 and $15 billed monthly. The pricing page states the saving as $12 per user a year.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Celoxis or Zoho Projects?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Zoho Projects is cheaper to start with: $4 a month for each person, against $10 a month for each person for Celoxis. Celoxis starts at $10 per standard user / month, billed annually, and Zoho Projects starts at $4 per user / month, billed annually.
Which has a free plan, Celoxis or Zoho Projects?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Zoho Projects has a free plan. Celoxis does not, though it has a free trial.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.