Hive

Overview

Hive is a project and team-work platform for organizing tasks, approvals, billing, and related work in a shared workspace. It is best suited to teams that want planning, collaboration, and AI tools together rather than a standalone task list. The Free plan offers a useful starting point, but its 200MB storage cap and 10-member limit make it a constrained home for a growing team.

Key features

Hive’s planning toolkit spans project views, dashboards, goals, live reporting, templates, custom fields, and portfolios. That range can help teams follow work from individual projects to broader portfolios and adapt fields to their processes. It may be more structure than a team needs if all it wants is a basic list of tasks.

Collaborative Notes, action cards with comments and file attachments, and forms for internal and external teammates give teams several ways to coordinate around work. AI tools can draft email replies, turn meeting transcripts into action items, build projects, proof content, and create dashboard widgets. Monthly AI allowances differ by plan, so teams relying on these features should weigh the quotas against their expected use.

Hive says it offers over 1,000 integrations, including Google Drive, Google Calendar, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Outlook Calendar, Jira, Slack, GitHub, Dropbox, and QuickBooks. Teams already using these services may find the breadth helpful for connecting project work with familiar tools. Hive says workspace messages, groups, actions, and files remain private to the organization, with nonmember access attempts blocked and reported. It also states that it forces 256-bit SSL at network entry points, uses ISO 27001-accredited hosting, and backs up data hourly. Its vulnerability disclosure program covers web, mobile, and desktop apps and pays bounties based on severity.

Pricing

Hive has a free plan and paid per-user plans. Free is billed free forever; Starter and Teams prices are per user per month. Enterprise has custom pricing.

Free fits light project management for teams of up to 10, provided 200MB of storage is enough. Starter removes the storage ceiling and adds Gantt planning and integrations, but still caps workspaces at 10 members and projects at 10; it is an entry-level option for teams that can work within those limits. Teams removes the member cap and adds portfolios, time tracking, and workflow customization, though add-ons cost extra. Enterprise is aimed at organizations that need its enhanced controls, included add-ons, or dedicated support. Hive offers a free trial, but no trial length is stated.

Platforms

Hive lists Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, web, and Windows platforms. Mobile apps are available for iOS and Android. Hive requires an internet connection and does not support offline access, which rules it out for work that must continue without connectivity.

Who it's for

Hive is a strong fit for teams that want project planning, collaboration, and AI-assisted work in the same workspace, especially when they can make use of its views, integrations, and reporting. Free is most appropriate for light use within its storage and member limits; teams needing more storage can move to Starter, while larger workspaces can consider Teams. It is not a good fit for teams that need offline work or expect a generous free storage allowance.

Pros and cons

• Pro: A broad mix of planning views, reporting, collaborative notes, action cards, and forms supports different parts of team coordination in one workspace.
• Pro: More than 1,000 integrations include widely used work and storage services, giving teams options to connect existing tools.
• Pro: Teams has unlimited workspace members and 5,000 AI credits per month, alongside portfolios and time tracking.
• Con: Free storage is limited to 200MB, which can be restrictive for teams attaching files to work.
• Con: Free and Starter both cap membership at 10; Starter also caps projects at 10.
• Con: Offline access is unavailable, so Hive depends on an internet connection.
• Con: Teams’ flexible add-ons cost extra, making the plan price only part of the cost for teams that need them.

Alternatives

For mobile database software, consider RxDB if you want a database with replication and realtime sync in its free plan; choose Hive instead when the priority is project planning and team collaboration. Ditto is another mobile database option, with a free tier that includes 10 cloud device connections, 2GB storage, and 5GB data transfer, but no SLA and limited support. ObjectBox offers a no-cost core database, while its Sync option has custom pricing. Realm offers an open-source database; MongoDB acquired it in 2019 and renamed it MongoDB Atlas Device SDKs in 2023. SQLDelight is a free open-source Kotlin SQL code generation library. For Android UI testing rather than team project management, Espresso is free and supports Android 4.0.1/API 14+ for a single target app. Firebase Cloud Messaging is a no-cost messaging service, and Firestore is a freemium option with daily document read and write allowances in its Standard edition.

Verdict

Choose Hive if your team wants planning, coordination, integrations, and AI tools in one place, and can work online. Its strongest case is the breadth of project and collaboration features; its main drawbacks are the tight Free caps and offline limitation. Teams that need more than light free usage should compare Starter and Teams against their member, project, and add-on needs before committing.