Context matters
A four-person architecture studio uses OpenProject mainly for the Gantt chart tied to permit deadlines. Two streets over, a community organization uses the exact same software just for a shared task list, ignoring half its features. Neither is using it wrong; they're solving different problems with the same free tool.
A shop with two tills and one back office rarely needs a project management tool at all. What it usually needs is Google Workspace for shared inventory sheets that update from a phone on the shop floor, and occasionally a lightweight SuiteCRM setup for a loyalty list that's outgrown a paper card system. Trello shows up here too, mostly for tracking supplier orders on a simple board rather than for formal project planning.
Studios juggling several client projects at once tend to lean on Notion for combining a client wiki with lightweight task tracking in one place, since briefs, feedback, and file links all live together. LibreOffice Impress handles pitch decks well enough that Keynote or PowerPoint rarely comes up. SuiteCRM appears less often here; client relationships are usually few enough in number that a well-organized spreadsheet or Notion database covers it.
Volunteer coordination benefits from SuiteCRM's contact and communication history features more than most people expect, especially when donor and volunteer records used to live in someone's personal inbox. OpenProject gets used for grant-funded projects with reporting deadlines, where a formal timeline matters for the funder as much as for the team. Budget constraints here are often the most direct reason for choosing open tools in the first place.
Small workshops with a handful of ongoing orders and a physical production line often do well with a simple Trello board mapped to production stages: materials in, in progress, quality check, shipped. LibreOffice Calc handles quoting and materials tracking without needing a dedicated inventory system. OpenProject tends to appear only once a workshop starts taking on larger, multi-week custom orders that need a real schedule.
A loose collective of freelancers working under one brand tends to reach for OpenProject when client contracts require visible milestones and time tracking, since the reporting is closer to what an enterprise client might expect. For internal coordination alone, several of these collectives find Notion or Trello lighter and faster, reserving OpenProject specifically for the projects where a client is watching the timeline.
