On Monday, Marek, the owner of an 11-person design office, opens the Task Manager pricing page. Next to it, he has a list of matters his team still handles outside the task management program. The Classic plan depends on the number of people. But does his office need Mail, Files or Automations?
Task Manager Standard or Pro: first separate team size from features
You're choosing two independent things: a plan based on the number of active seats, and a functional variant - Standard or Pro. Marek therefore checks the size of his team and the need for the three Pro modules separately.
Starter covers up to 8 people, Classic up to 20, and Max up to 35. Above 35 people there's Enterprise with individual pricing - this is a plan based on team size, not a third functional variant. A seat is taken up by an active user; deactivating an account frees up the seat without deleting its data.
Standard doesn't mean a program without AI or attachments
Standard keeps the core of Task Manager: Tasks, Chats, Workspace, Calendar, Board, Notes and Notification Centre. It also includes the AI Assistant, AI knowledge base, data encryption (enabled by the administrator) and PWA - the ability to use the program like an app installed from the browser.
On Tuesday, Ola adds a PDF to the "Website Project" task and discusses it with Magda in chat. She doesn't need Pro for that. Attachments in tasks, chats and notes work in Standard; the paperclip next to a message uploads a file straight from the computer. Email notifications via SMTP - the server that sends messages - also work. The absence of the Mail module means there's no client for reading and writing correspondence within Task Manager, not a lack of notifications.
The AI Assistant can draw on tasks, chats, notes, the calendar and thread attachments, among other things, in both variants. In Standard, it won't get features tied to the unavailable Pro modules, such as using Mail and Files as knowledge sources or suggesting automations. AI remains optional: the program works without it. If you enable it, you use your own key with the model provider and pay the provider directly, with no Task Manager markup. The query, along with the selected context, is then sent to the AI provider.
Mail in Pro helps when a case starts with an email
Choose Pro for Mail if you want to receive and send correspondence alongside your tasks. In Standard, you can still receive email notifications, but you won't be able to open a client's inbox within the program.
On Wednesday, Kasia receives a request for a quote, and Marek creates a task to prepare the offer. In Pro, Kasia can read the thread in the Task Manager Mail module and link it to the task. The link is a navigation shortcut - it doesn't share the email content with the task's participants.
Mail supports IMAP/SMTP servers, meaning it can receive and send messages from a connected inbox. You can connect multiple inboxes, including ones from Polish hosting providers, Gmail or Outlook. The inbox remains private - not even the administrator can see it. If several people use one company email address, each of them connects it on their own account. A team used to one shared inbox on a single account will therefore need to change the way it works. Before choosing Pro, decide who will connect the company address. External images in emails are blocked by default until you click "Show images".
Files in Pro is a shared drive, not a requirement for adding attachments
Choose Pro for Files if you need a folder view, document sharing and control over storage space. Standard is enough if documents just need to accompany tasks, chats and notes as attachments.
Every task and chat in the Workspace has its own folder, where attachments from the thread are stored, including images embedded in messages. Files can be uploaded up to 100 MB per file; the administrator can set a storage limit in the Files module for individual people.
A file placed in a Workspace folder doesn't automatically become visible to the team. Access is managed by the owner, who grants either viewing or editing rights. The exception is files uploaded directly to a task's or chat's folder - these are visible to the thread's participants. If you use the AI Assistant, in Pro you can also point it to a folder or a single file as a knowledge source; the assistant reads the text layer from, among others, PDF, DOCX and XLSX files.
Automations in Pro take over repetitive rules
Choose Pro for Automations if you want Task Manager to react to events according to rules you've set. Standard lets you run tasks and conversations, but doesn't include the module for building these recipes.
On Friday, Marek reviews tasks that no one has responded to for a while. Instead of writing a progress query every time, he can build a "WHEN - IF - DO" recipe in Pro: the event is silence in a task, the condition is a chosen Workspace, and the action is a message in the thread. Automations in Task Manager work inside the application, without an external service. They can also react to a new email in the recipe author's inbox - never anyone else's inbox.
Before turning on a recipe, the "Test before enabling" button shows what would happen, without actually doing anything. The run history covers the last 30 days. A recipe runs with the author's permissions, and after three consecutive errors it's automatically paused. So Marek checks whether the rule picked the right Workspace and what message it would add to the thread before enabling it for client matters.
Three questions are enough to choose a plan
Ask yourself whether you want to handle correspondence, a shared drive, or repeatable rules inside Task Manager. If the answer to even one of these questions is "yes", you need Pro; if the answer to all of them is "no", choose Standard.
| A question about everyday work | When you answer "no" | When you answer "yes" |
|---|---|---|
| Do you want to read and send emails alongside tasks? | Standard and your existing inbox | Pro: Mail |
| Do you need a shared drive, not just attachments on threads? | Standard and attachments | Pro: Files |
| Should the program run repeatable rules? | Standard and manual actions | Pro: Automations |
In both Standard and Pro, Marek can run tasks, conversations and deadlines. Pro makes sense when he wants to bring inbox work, documents or rules into the same program as well.
Switching plans doesn't delete previous work
Switching plans doesn't delete previous work: inboxes, Automation recipes and Files remain in the database even after moving from Pro to Standard. Automations are paused, and once a Pro key is entered again, the modules return to their pre-restriction state, with no need to reconfigure.
Moving from Standard to Pro simply means an administrator entering a new licence key; the modules switch on immediately, without updating the application. You can check your current plan under Settings → Advanced → Licence, in the "Plan" row.
Standard doesn't give you access to the Pro modules - it keeps their data in case you switch back.
The Task Manager licence itself is a perpetual one: you pay once for a number of seats, with no per-user subscription. It includes 12 months of updates, and renewing afterwards is optional. If you don't buy a renewal, the program keeps working on the installed version; you simply lose access to newer releases. The rules of the perpetual licence help you separate this cost from the choice between Standard and Pro.
Price depends on two decisions
The price of Task Manager depends both on the seats plan and on the functional variant. So compare Standard and Pro for the same team size, rather than, say, Starter Standard against Classic Pro.
| Plan | Standard | Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Starter, up to 8 people | 690 zł | 1 990 zł |
| Classic, up to 20 people | 1 490 zł | 3 990 zł |
| Max, up to 35 people | 2 290 zł | 5 990 zł |
For Marek's team, the right row is Classic. The annual update renewal for this plan costs 447 PLN for Standard or 1,197 PLN for Pro, and is optional. Remote installation costs 299 PLN on Starter, and is included from the Classic plan upwards. In both variants, the application and its data stay on your own server; shared hosting with PHP 8.1+ and MySQL or MariaDB is enough. You'll find the current variants and services in the Task Manager pricing.
Tomorrow, write down three things you currently handle outside your task program: correspondence, documents, and manually repeated actions. If you'd like to move even one of them into Task Manager, take a look at the Pro variant in the Demo; if not, start your comparison with Standard.
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between Task Manager Standard and Pro?
Pro adds Mail, Files and Automations. Tasks, Chats, Workspace, Calendar, Board, Notes, AI Assistant, AI knowledge base and data encryption are available in both variants.
Does the AI Assistant and encryption work in Standard?
Yes, the AI Assistant, AI knowledge base and data encryption work in both Standard and Pro. The administrator turns on content encryption; don't assume it's active by default.
Can I add attachments and receive email notifications in Standard?
Yes, attachments in tasks, chats and notes, as well as email notifications via SMTP, work in Standard. The Mail module in Pro is for receiving and sending correspondence directly within the program.
How do I switch from Standard to Pro?
The administrator enters a new licence key in Settings → Advanced → Licence. Pro features are enabled immediately, with no need to update the application.
Is Enterprise a third variant alongside Standard and Pro?
No, Enterprise is a plan for teams over 35 people with individual pricing. Standard and Pro define the scope of features, while the plan defines the size of the team.
Sources
The Task Manager Team - we write about teamwork, AI in business and keeping tasks organised, using examples from Task Manager, software installed on your own server. Task Manager has been developed by Blue Creation Group (Piotr Łącz) since 2013 and is used by organisations including Neonet, the Military University of Technology and Polpharma - read customer reviews. We check our articles against the user guide and the latest version of the software.
