Task tracking, project boards, team coordination — without monthly per-seat fees.
Honest recommendations. We built Helix and SIMPL, so we mark them clearly below. But we recommend tools that are not ours when they are the better fit. The goal is helping solopreneurs stop renting software — not just selling our products.
Task management built into the Helix suite — connected to CRM, jobs, invoices
Best when you need tasks connected to your business data. Not a standalone PM tool.
Open source Trello/Notion alternative from Mattermost
Best free Kanban board. Self-hosted only.
Open source task manager with Kanban, lists, Gantt
Feature-rich. Requires Docker setup.
Desktop time tracking + task management
Best for personal productivity. Not for client work.
Project management for non-project managers
Good middle ground. Annual license, not true one-time.
Subscription project management tools charge $10-200/month — affordable at first, devastating over time. A $50/month tool costs $600/year, $2,015 over 3 years with 11.4% SaaS inflation, and $3,771 over 5 years. One-time purchase tools break this cycle. You pay once, own the software forever, and never see a "we are updating our pricing" email again.
The tools listed above are not all perfect. Self-hosted options require technical skill. Free tools sometimes lack polish. But they all share one thing: you are not renting them. Your data stays yours. Your workflow is not held hostage by a subscription you cannot cancel without losing everything.
Because our credibility matters more than one sale. If Obsidian is the best note-taking app and Helix Notes is designed for business context, we will tell you that. When you trust our recommendations, you trust us when we say Helix is the best all-in-one business suite for $279.
Open source tools are genuinely free — no hidden costs. Self-hosted tools require a server ($5-20/month) but you control everything. "Free tier" tools (like Clockify or HubSpot) are free until you need real features, then they cost more than the paid alternatives.