Redmine grows in popularity as a project management tool with each new version. In 2021 lot of IT teams look for a way to optimize the use of IT stack. They want to outsource the support and maintenance and move from on-premises to cloud and SaaS solutions. That’s why we compared the most popular Redmine hosting offerings.
Our team prepared a shortlist of the best Redmine hosting providers with a detailed comparison. In our guide, you’ll also find instructions on how to select the right solution. And if you’ve already tried to manage Redmine in-house, we wrote a short guideline about how to prepare for the system migration. If you already know what Redmine is and want to jump right to the meaty part, go to point 4.
However, if you’re new to Redmine, and you want to discover what are the pros and cons of using Redmine, as well as its requirements, then read along — we got your back!
What is Redmine?
Redmine is great open-source software, that up to this day, steams up more than 800 000 businesses with its core code. This number doesn’t include many instances that run or Redmine forks (such as ChiliProject, OpenProject, Easy Redmine) or commercial Redmine-based projects.
Roughly over 2 million organisations use Redmine in their activities every day. Among them, Fortune 500 companies such as IBM, Intel, IKEA, Samsung, Toyota, organisations, NGOs, and universities.
The platform is often a strong competitor for popular project management software such as Asana, Wrike, or Microsoft Projects and the best alternative for Jira.
Since the last two major updates (4.0 in December 2018 and 4.1 in December 2019), it’s more advanced and more user-friendly. It’s one of the most recognizable and popular tools for software development teams.
Redmine pros and advantages
- Open source and free to use.
- Clean structure of projects and sub-projects hierarchy
- Version control (with support for Agile sprints when using plugins)
- Wiki and forums for each project
- SCM integration out of the box (SVN, CVS, Git, and so on).
- Easy time logging in issues
- Great email integration and management of issues through email (for example getting notifications, creating, commenting and updating Issues)
- Better performance and fewer clicks to get stuff done, if properly deployed
No wonder that Redmine is one of the most popular tools for IT and software development teams. It bundles all necessary functions with integrations, add-ons that help to deliver software fast.
Redmine cons and downsides
There are only two downsides of Redmine if you want to use it “out of the box.”
First is its default interface. It looks outdated, as a Soviet car from 80 (Ah, Lada!). But don’t get fooled, as inside there are solutions, flexibility, and security solutions taken from top technologies’ limousine (Ah, Mercedes!). The interface can be changed by installing a theme. There’s plenty of free and commercial ones, and you can see the shortlist in our previous post about most popular Redmine themes
The second con is the fact it’s an open-sourced version. You see, community-supported projects, such as Redmine, WordPress, Linux, or Magento, give the sense that they’re free to use without any costs. And this sense of “free to use” hides the understanding of operational expenses and possible complexities if the software is non-properly established. In 2020 it’s no longer possible to “set and forget” the IT stack that your works depend on. You’d need to tweak the performance and keep an eye if everything runs smoothly.
Why you need a managed Redmine hosting
There are multiple reasons why companies of all sizes are migrating from on-premise Redmine to cloud hosting.
A wide range of reports and comparisons from different sources agreeably says, that open-sourced platforms such as Redmine, WordPress or Magento (to name few) shouldn’t be used at critical functions in the business. When an open-sourced software is used in a mission-important or mission-critical point of the organization, the costs of self-supporting the platform and its infrastructure outweigh the cost of commercial version or support.
Why is the typical hosting equally unuseful? The reason is simple — you’d still need to manage and support the platform with your team. 99% of the hosting companies offer only a pre-installed Redmine on the shared server, with limited access to the root user, file system, and server configuration. This fact alone adds an unnecessary level of complications on already demanding pile of tasks.
Redmine hosting as a service — the ultimate goal
All major issue- and project-management tools are shifting from on-premise toward offering software or platform as a service. Business models, such as SaaS(Software as a Service) or RaaS (Redmine-as-a-Service) provides the client with ready to use a platform that doesn’t need to manage. All the rest — the system backed, it’s maintenance, administration, monitoring, and infrastructure.
The main advantage is that your business pays a fixed monthly fee and gets access to Redmine with premium plugins, support, and maintenance. It provides great convenience with a short time to configure and fire up new projects.
When you choose Redmine Cloud hosting, you pass the support and maintenance of your IT backend into the hands of people who can perform the tasks faster and cheaper than your team. At the same time, you and your team can focus on growing your real business.
List of requirements for hosted Redmine
Last year we briefly described 5 the best Redmine hosting, looking at their pricing plans, support quality, and overall offerings. After that post, we received many emails asking us to update the list with more detailed information about the Redmine hosting vendor performance.
So for a good start into 2020, we compared the technical details of the hosted Redmine versions. We check the configuration details they provide, and among them:
- Root access to the system
- Uptime
- Backups frequency and availability
- Security — personal data protection, security certificates, location of the server where the data are stored
- Tiers for active users, projects, and storage. We checked what are the levels of usage, as this can change when projects go into further stages
- Additional features and services, such as premium Redmine plugins, themes, integrations (with GIT and other developer tools), or possibility to apply custom branding ( we checked if you can set up your domain, logo, favicon, or customize the theme).
How to test which Redmine hosting is the best for you?
To gather objective options, we advise that you select 2–3 people from the decision-makers or influencer team that would take part in the test. The best way to test the instance is to re-create a workflow that you are using now or the ideal workflow that you want to implement.
For example:
- Create a project
- Add tasks
- Update them
- Use extra features, try the Agile board, helpdesk
Try to go through a scenario, where different departments need to collaborate on the job, and what happens if you’d like to include a client or sub-contractor.
Another point to keep in mind is to involve your CIO, CTO, or Head of Security, into the selection process, to make sure that new vendor and solution meets the security requirements.
Comparison of top Redmine hosting providers in 2020
1. RedmineUP Cloud
What happens when a group of hardcore Redmine users, developers, and contributors sit down to build a cloud hosting? All-included bundle of premium plugins supported by people who know Redmine as the back of their hands.
RedmineUP Cloud is a premium Redmine hosting designed as a collaboration platform by the team that is spread geographically around the globe and uses it every day. The Cloud is used by the most recognizable brands such as Bosch, Samsung, CISCO, or NASA.
RedmineUP Security Scanner results: A+
RedmineUP Reviews and Ratings: On the day we’re publishing the article, there are 14 reviews of RedmineUP Cloud at Capterra, with a total aggregated rating of 4.4/5
RedmineUP performance test results:
Performance Grade: C — 73/100 points
Page size: 342.6 KB
Requests: 42
RedmineUP averaged server loading time:
- From Sao Paolo, Brazil: 3.80 s
- From Tokio, Japan: 4,48 s.
- From Sydney, Australia: 5,17 s.
- From San Francisco, USA: 2.89 s
- From London, UK: 803 ms
RedmineUP configuration details: - Root admin access to the system: Yes
- Uptime: 99,9%
- Backups frequency and availability: Daily, automatic, available on-demand.
- Security: RedmineUP Cloud is fully GDPR compliant. It uses the hardware delivered by Amazon Web Services with all services located in Europe that are compliant with the ISO 27001 and 27018 standards. The infrastructure is supported with double sourced backups, firewalls, and load balancers and personal data protection protocols to keep customer data safe. By default, data are stored on the server in Ireland. Still, it’s possible to select a custom location at no cost.
- Active user tiers: 5/15/100/unlimited
- Active projects Active user tiers: 5/15/100/unlimited
- Storage space tiers: 5/25/100/Unlimited GB
Additional features/services:
- Plugins: all RedmineUP plugins,
- Themes: all 5 RedmineUP themes,
- Integrations: Yes, with SVN, GitHub, GitLab and
- Branding: complete customization possible
RedmineUP Pricing starts at $29 month. You can test this complete Cloud Redmine during a 15-days free trial. They’re very proactive in customer success, and if you need any custom configuration or NDA before you share any project details, they’ll help you in a blink of an eye.
2. Plan.io
Plan.io is a German-quality that meets the functionality of most popular RedmineUP Plugins and an excellent user interface. If you add to it the fact that rigorous Redmine contributors will support your account, you won’t lose your IT battle.
Plan.io user reviews: The statement above is visible in their averaged rating on Capterra, which is of 4.6/5 — a great result.
Planio Redmine Security Scan result: A+
Plan.io performance test results:
Performance Grade: C — 75/100 points.
Page size: 610 KB
Requests: 38
Plan.io averaged server loading time:
- From Sao Paolo, Brazil: 4,35 s
- From Tokio, Japan: 5.47 s.
- From Sydney, Australia: 5,73 s.
- From San Francisco, USA: 3.70 s
- From London, UK: 974 ms
Plan.io configuration details:
- Root access: No
- Uptime: 99,9%
- Backups frequency and availability: Daily, automatic, available on-demand.
- Security: Data Center located in Germany. It is an ISO/IEC 27001:2005 certified Tier 3 facility with exclusively used servers. Plan.io hosting is 100% compatible with GDPR and German data protection regulations.
- Active user tiers: 5/10/20/45/100+
- Active projects Active user tiers: 3/7/15/40/100+
- Storage space tiers: 5/20/40/80/100+ GB
Additional features/services:
- Plugins: Agile (from RedmineUP), Helpdesk (from RedmineUP), Pidoco, Planio Storage*, Planio Team Chat*,
- Theme: Planio theme with options of customization,
- Integrations: Yes, with SVN, GitHub, GitLab, and similar.
- Branding: possible to customize freely.
Plan.io pricing plans start at $21 (19 EUR/month). They also offer a free-forever bronze plan for the smallest teams, startups, and individuals.
3. OpenProject
OpenProject is not exactly a pure Redmine hosting provider, but a fork of Redmine developed as open-source software as well. The team behind it offers a free community version and a commercial Cloud plans for business clients. Their team is located in Germany and supports some of the largest German companies, such as Siemens, T-Mobile, DB Bahn, or Infineon.
OpenProject user reviews: averaged rating 4.3 / 5
OpenProject Security Scanner results: A+ — they run on their code stack, and update all instances once a new version of the system is available
OpenProject performance test results::
Performance Grade: C — 79/100 points.
Page size: 2.2 MB
Requests: 35
OpenProject averaged server loading time:
- From Sao Paolo, Brazil: 2.15 s
- From Tokio, Japan: 4.75 s.
- From Sydney, Australia: 2.06 s.
- From San Francisco, USA: 2.06 s
- From London, UK: 1,23 s
OpenProject configuration details:
- Root access to the system: Yes
- Uptime: 99,9%
- Backups frequency and availability: Daily, automatic, available on-demand.
- Security: Similarly to RedmineUP, the OpenProject hosting uses the Amazon Web Services compliant with the ISO 27001 and 27018 standards. The team implemented a hosting on virtual cloud secured by backup and load balancer. They fully follow GDPR regulatory requirements.
- Active user tiers: 5–200/Unlimited
- Active projects Active user tiers: Unlimited
- Storage space tiers: Unlimited
Additional features/services:
- Plugins: All OpenProject’s plugins
- Themes: Full customization of the design,
- Integrations: Yes, with SVN and Git tools
- Full custom branding is available
OpenProject uses user-based pricing, which starts at $5,5 (4,95 EUR) per user/month.
4. EasyRedmine
Similarly to OpenProject, Easy Redmine is a Redmine-based software built on top of the Redmine engine. It’s compatible with some of the Redmine plugins. It’s the best for organizations that are driven by various KPI’s — Easy allows to easily track multiple metrics, on charts, dashboards, and in reports. It also offers a profound level of configurability and customization through the system and plugins. Their team works from the Czech Republic and works with respectable businesses, such as Ogilvy, Bosch, Continental, and Lenovo, to name a few.
EasyRedmine user reviews: they gathered over 50 reviews on Capterra, which gives a good impression that the rating of 4,4/5 is well deserved.
EasyRedmine Security Scanner results: A+ — all cloud-hosted instanced uses a recent release of their software and plugins.
EasyRedmine performance test results:
Performance Grade: C — 71/100 points.
Page size: 3.8 MB
Requests: 34
EasyRedmine averaged server loading time:
- From Sao Paolo, Brazil: 4.71 s
- From Tokio, Japan: 4.75 s.
- From Sydney, Australia: 5.87 s.
- From San Francisco, USA: 3.26 s
- From London, UK: 939 ms
EasyRedmine configuration details:
- Root access: Yes
- Uptime: 99,9%
- Backups frequency and availability: Daily, automatic, available on-demand.
- Security: Like all major vendors, their solution is compliant with GDPR. Servers are located in Europe.
- Active user tiers: 25/50/100/Custom
- Active projects Active user tiers: Unlimited
- Storage space tiers: Unlimited
Additional features/services:
- Plugins: Selected EasyRedmine’s plugins that for an additional fee
- Themes: 3 themes with customization,
- Integrations: Yes, with SVN and Git tools
- Full custom branding is available
EasyRedmine pricing depends on the number of users and plugins that you want to use and starts at $ 98/month. You can test all the features in a 30-days trial.
5. Redmine-hosting.de
Although the domain and website are in German, it’s a great sign. An experienced web-agency Millepondo provides service from Germany. They know Redmine from A to Z. Their supports speaks good English, so you can be sure to be in good and hands.
Millepondo and redmine-hosting.de user reviews are all in positive voice and good ratings. It’s hard to put a number to clients' words, as the reviews are spread around a few social networks and German-speaking forums.
Redmine-Hosting.de Security Scanner results: A
Redmine-Hosting.de performance test results:
Performance Grade: C — 69/100 points.
Page size: 822.7 kB
Requests: 34
Redmine-hosting.de average server loading time:
- From Sao Paolo, Brazil: 2.40 s
- From Tokio, Japan: 3.29 s.
- From Sydney, Australia: 3.41 s.
- From San Francisco, USA: 2.04 s
- From London, UK: 325 ms
Redmine-hosting.de configuration details
- Root access: Yes
- Uptime: 99%
- Backups frequency and availability: Daily, automatic, available on-demand.
- Security. The server center located in Germany and meets all data protection requirements. It is an ISO/IEC 27001:2005 certified data center supported with a firewall, load-balancer, and DDoS protection.
- Active user tiers: Unlimited
- Active projects tiers: Unlimited
- Storage space tiers: 20/500 GB/Unlimited
Additional features/services:
- Plugins: Selected/All RedmineUP plugins,
- Theme: RedmineUP Circle and default Redmine themes,
- Integrations: Yes, with SVN, GitHub, GitLab, and similar,
- Custom branding is possible depending on the hosting profile
Redmine-hosting.de pricing plans depends on the length of the contract (6/12 month) and hosting profile (virtual, shared/dedicated server). The basic one starts from 49$/month + one-time set-up fee. The team offers a full 30-days trial, which you can activate if you get in touch with them.
6. PlanShell
Last but not least, at our list is PlanShell. It is a Redmine hosting provider located in the USA and operates on Redmine based on a Bitnami Redmine Stack.
PlanShell user reviews are unfortunately not gathered in one reliable source.
PlanShell Security Scanner results: Unknown. As the Redmine and Redmine plugins versions information is locked, we couldn’t adequately test it.
PlanShell performance test results:
Performance Grade: C — 75/100 points.
Page size: 356.1 KB
Requests: 67
PlanShell average server loading time:
- From Sao Paolo, Brazil: 3.72 s
- From Tokio, Japan: 2.31 s.
- From Sydney, Australia: 3.09 s.
- From San Francisco, USA: 659 ms
- From London, UK: 2,90 s
PlanShell configuration details
- Root access: No
- Uptime: 99%
- Backups frequency and availability: Available on-demand
- Security: PlanShell uses the Bitnami infrastructure, which meets all rigorous data security and data protection standards. Servers are located in the USA.
- Active user tiers: Unlimited
- Active projects tiers: Unlimited
- Storage space tiers: 1/3/10/30/60/100/200 GB
Additional features/services:
- Plugins: Selected/All RedmineUP plugins,
- Theme: Abacus theme with possible customization,
- Integrations: Yes, with SVN, GitHub, GitLab, and similar.
- Branding and design customization is available
PlanShell pricing depends only on the storage space needed and starts at $19/month. They have an open demo available, where you can test the configuration.
7. SaaS-Secure
At last place, we listed a Redmine hosting project delivered by S. Ruttloff, a Computer Hard- & Software expert from Germany. Along the Redmine, he offers a range of hosting for other tools, such as Helpdesk or Subversion.
Any SaaS-secure.com user reviews? We couldn’t compare the testimonials from a site with any reliable source of customer reviews.
Result of the SaaS-Secure Redmine Security Scan: F (lowest).
This hosting uses an outdated Redmine version that has some well-known and severe security threats.
Connectivity statistics:
As all other offers, we also tested SaaS-Secure Redmine hosting for speed of connection and page loading. And from all the options we listed, it seems the fastest, however it’s related to default empty Redmine, without any data, and any plugins.
SaaS-Secure performance test results:
Performance Grade: B — 82/100 points.
Page size: 167.9 KB
Requests: 17
SaaS-Secure average server loading time:
- From Sao Paolo, Brazil: 3.01 s
- From Tokio, Japan: 3.59 s.
- From Sydney, Australia: 3.61 s.
- From San Francisco, USA: 1.80 s
- From London, UK: 451 ms
SaaS-Secure configuration details
- Root access to the system: No
- Uptime: Unknown. >90%
- Backups frequency and availability: Daily, automatic, On-demand
- Security: Server are located in Germany, but there is no information about the security standard compliance.
- Active users tiers: 2/10/30/75
- Active projects tiers: Unlimited
- Storage space tiers: 100 MB and 5/10/30 GB
Additional features:
- Plugins: Helpdesk on demand
- Themes: Default Redmine skins,
- Integrations: Yes, with SVN, GitHub, GitLab and
- Branding: Only Custom domain is available.
The first reasonable SaaS-Secure pricing plan starts at $9/month. You can see if something for you during a 7-days trial.
How to prepare for the Redmine migration to the Cloud?
If you already have a Redmine installed on your server after you select a provider, you are ready to schedule a data migration. The best hosting providers, such as RedmineUP or plan.io, provide the data migration service free of charge.
The process of Redmine migration is usually not complicated and can be finished within a business day. So you can sing up the NDA and pass the access data in the morning and, by the end of the day, resume your operations on a new and shiny dashboard.
The only task on your side is to prepare a database dump and copy of other files. If you’re using any shared Redmine hosting, such as Bitnami or other project management tools, such as JIRA or Bugzilla, don’t worry. It’s possible to export the data from them as well. Speak with the provider on how to prepare the database copy. Export from such tools might require a necessary script.
How to choose the best Redmine hosting?
Whether you’re an IT Manager or CTO, you can find betters ways for your employees to spend their time than carrying out maintenance of your IT stack and overpaying for your resources. You should consider choosing managed Redmine hosting to save your resources and advance your team productivity.
Looking at the value for money as well as security requirements, we see a RedmineUP Cloud hosting as “go for it.”
It provides the most plugins, configuration, and integrations options. And with an easy pay-as-you-go model, you don’t need to worry about any long-term commitments.
Our clients are delighted with the approach and value they receive. As one of the clients, George Baker from Gloot told us: “[At Gloot] We needed to migrate our locally hosted instance of Redmine to the Cloud to integrate into our internal tech stack better.”
“Once that became a reality, the advantages of using the services of RedmineUP over managing the environment ourselves are immediately apparent. RedmineUP now manages all the administrative tasks like security and backup to leave our internal resources available to concentrate on other more business-critical actions.” — says George.
