UPDATE: Assembla.com has changed their ways.  The bottom line is their free, private spaces hosting option is no longer available.  In my opinion, they still have a valuable service, it’s simply not as great now that I have to pay for it. :)

A good while back, I commented about SVN Hosting through SVNRepository.com.  Well, I am still using SVN Repository but I came across another option, Assembla, last week and it deserves some attention.

Though many SVN repositories provide an accompanying Trac instance, that’s about all they do.  Frankly, that’s because that’s all they need to do. Assembla is the exception.  It takes hosting one step further.

Assembla is a complete software development tools package offering workspaces to thousands of teams for FREE.  The screenshot below gives you an idea of what is provided.  There’s everything from a SVN, Git or Mercurial repository to a project-specific Wiki and Chatroom.  If you look around, you will even find a Time Tracking application.

You may add team members to your Workspace with different privileges as well as establish security settings for non-member access.

Creating a space is low friction…just visit the home page, click “Create a new space” and follow the instructions.  The free account includes all of the core functionality and is limited to 200MB of storage.  If the free account doesn’t meet your needs, Assembla does also provide commercial and branded options which include further functionality and support in exchange for cash money.  You can find out more about Assembla plans on their tour page.

I recommend creating a free account and clicking through the tools as Assembla may be a good option for you.