fx-project.de

What It Is

fx-project Open Source is a web-based project management application with a German background, positioned as a free and open-source project management system. It emphasizes end-to-end management across project planning, status boards, reporting, time tracking, documents, expenses, and invoicing, making it suitable for project-based organizations that want to centralize personnel, contracts, costs, and delivery information in one system.

Core Features and Collaboration

Based on the available content, fx-project offers fairly comprehensive functionality. Project planning can be supported with graphical views, while the Dashboard is used to monitor key project metrics. Reports include Gantt, PSP, network diagrams, MTA, EVA, project progress, project status, travel expenses, and more. The system also includes master data management for employees, external staff, customers, contract data, hourly rates, roles, skills, working hours, vacation, and overtime. For collaboration, the product supports assigning specific functions by user, helping avoid exposing everyone to too many irrelevant modules. Employees can enter time by task via a browser or smartphone.

Expenses, Documents, and Invoicing

One notable strength is its relatively complete project cost chain. Working hours are applied to projects together with predefined cost rates; travel expenses can include receipts and statutory travel allowances; and materials can be billed based on inventory or time-based usage. The built-in DMS supports drag-and-drop file uploads by category and records who performed which action on a document and when. For invoicing, the system can generate invoices based on fixed prices, working hours, travel expenses, and materials. It also supports Factur-X/ZUGFeRD and meets requirements related to EN-16931 electronic invoicing.

Pricing and Deployment

The source text clearly states that the Open Source version is free, and mentions that it can be gradually expanded to the Ultimate version through extension packages, but no specific pricing is disclosed. Deployment is relatively flexible: it can be installed on a company’s own server or run as a cloud solution through an internet service provider. On the security side, the system states that security information is encrypted differently depending on the system, passwords are encrypted in the browser before being sent, optional 2FA is built in, and it does not rely on third parties.

Pros, Cons, and Who It’s For

Its advantages are a free open-source starting point and deep project management capabilities, especially for engineering, consulting, or project delivery teams that need time tracking, travel expenses, materials, and invoicing to work together. The drawbacks are that the captured content does not provide information on APIs, mainstream third-party integrations, commercial support SLAs, payment methods, or detailed extension package pricing. The website also contains a large number of 404 pages, resulting in a mediocre public documentation experience. The German-language pages and Germany-focused e-invoicing context also mean Chinese teams should evaluate language barriers, local finance and tax workflows, and implementation costs.

Access from China and Alternatives

Access from China is not covered in the source text, so network connectivity and download speeds need to be tested in practice. Payment methods are also not disclosed. For teams in China that need Chinese-language support and localized services, alternatives include 禅道 and PingCode. For international open-source self-hosted options, consider OpenProject, Redmine, or Taiga. If a more mature commercial ecosystem is required, Jira, ClickUp, or Asana may be worth evaluating.