openproject/help/getting-started/openproject-introduction.md

---
title: Introduction to OpenProject
description: Get and introduction to OpenProject - open source project management software.
robots: index, follow
keywords: introduction to OpenProject
---

# Introduction to OpenProject

Welcome to OpenProject! We are glad to have you here. In this section we will cover an introduction to project management with OpenProject as well as general topics regarding OpenProject.

## Overview

| Popular Topics                                               | Description                                                  |
| ------------------------------------------------------------ | :----------------------------------------------------------- |
| [About OpenProject](#about-openproject)                      | What is OpenProject?                                         |
| [The entire Project Management Life-Cycle](#the-entire-project-management-life-cycle) | Find out more how OpenProject supports the different project phases. |
| [OpenProject products](#openproject-products)                | What is the differences between the Community, Cloud and Enterprise Edition? |
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## About OpenProject

OpenProject is free and **open source software** for **classical as well as agile project management** to support your team along [the entire project life-cycle](#the-entire-project-management-life-cycle). OpenProject is available in more than 30 languages.

OpenProject is licensed under **GNU GPL V3**. The source code is freely published on [GitHub](https://github.com/opf/openproject). We understand free as in free speech. We do offer [paid subscriptions](#openproject-products) for our software.

OpenProject exists since 2011 and is a fork of the deprecated ChiliProject which was a fork of Redmine.

## The entire Project Management Life-Cycle

OpenProject offers a full feature set to **support project teams along the entire project management process:**

![Project Management Life-Cycle](1565860195298.png)

OpenProject enables project collaboration and communication without system interruption from the initial project idea until project closure and documentation.

The following sections provide links to the documentation for each project phase:

| Project phase                                                | Documentation for                                            |
| ------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------ |
| [Project concept and initiation](#project-concept-and-initiation) | Collect ideas and specify project scope and deliverables:  set up a project, document initial ideas, project description, invite members. |
| [Project definition and planning](#project-definition-and-planning) | Create a project overview with detailed information, set up a project plan, create your roadmap. |
| Project launch or execution                                  | Manage all project activities, such as tasks, deliverables, risks, features, bugs, change requests. Use agile boards with your teams. Document meetings, share news. |
| Project performance and control                              | Create and manage project budgets, track and evaluate time and costs. Have custom reports for accurate, current insight into project performance and allocated resources. |
| Project close                                                | Document project achievements, lessons learned, best practices and easily summarize the main results of a project. Archive projects for later reference and lessons learned. |

### Project concept and initiation

OpenProject supports the initial set-up and configuration of a project structure.

| Features                   | Documentation for |
| -------------------------- | ----------------- |
| Create a new project       |                   |
| Set up a project structure |                   |
|                            |                   |
|                            |                   |
|                            |                   |

### Project definition and planning

| Features | Documentation for |
| -------- | ----------------- |
|          |                   |
|          |                   |
|          |                   |
|          |                   |
|          |                   |

### Project launch or execution

| Features | Documentation for |
| -------- | ----------------- |
|          |                   |
|          |                   |
|          |                   |
|          |                   |
|          |                   |

### Project performance and control

| Features | Documentation for |
| -------- | ----------------- |
|          |                   |
|          |                   |
|          |                   |
|          |                   |
|          |                   |

### Project close

| Features | Documentation for |
| -------- | ----------------- |
|          |                   |

## OpenProject products

###  What is the differences between the Community, Cloud and Enterprise Edition?

OpenProject can be used in three different Editions, either on-premise or as software-as-a-service.

* Community Edition: self-installed on-premise.
* Cloud Edition: we host it.
* Enterprise Edition

To compare the features side by side, please visit our [Feature Comparison](https://www.openproject.org/pricing/#features).

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