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In this Guide
- Top Project Management Software
- Intro and Our Criteria
- Our Reviews of the Top Vendors
- Benefits of Project Management Software
- Common Mistakes Made When Buying Project Management Software
- Pricing Models of Project Management Software
- Key Features of Project Management Software
- Questions to Ask During Your Project Management Software Demos
- Implementing Project Management Software
- Project Management Software FAQs
- Final Advice on Buying Project Management Software
Stressed out looking for the best project management software? Relax! Take in the results of our extensive research exploring the best project management tools on the market. Our top three, Wrike, Teamwork, and Smartsheet are great for most teams, but we’ve got more to share.
If you’re ready to get nerdy, then read on to level-up with insight on our research methods, areas of focus, and general buying criteria. We cover ROI, common pitfalls, and much more. Class is in session for aspiring experts in project management software.
Hand picked by our HR Technology experts after product testing, user research, and much debate - enjoy!
All companies, including yours, can benefit from the right project management software. It can drastically streamline the way you plan, track, and execute all sorts of projects, regardless of their complexity level. If you’re interested in acquiring a solution in this space but not sure where to start, you’ve come to the right place!
We’ve put together this guide to break down everything you need to know about project management software, including the best vendors, key features, pricing details, pros, cons, and more to help you make an informed decision. Scroll down to get started.
Our Criteria: Here's how we chose who made the cut
We take research seriously. To make sure we’re offering our readers the very best solutions in a given software category, we are methodical, rigorous, and expansive in our research. We consult with HR professionals, vendors, and industry experts. We cut through the noise to bring you a carefully curated list of vendors, along with other essential information, to help you find the right software platform for your business.
Here’s how we chose who makes the cut:
Product: We believe in gaining a comprehensive understanding of a product before we recommend it, so we start by getting to know the software. Whenever possible, we meet with a senior executive (CEO or Head of Product) for a demo and Q&A. We also test the product ourselves to make sure it has a solid UI, intuitive workflows, and the features to make it a best-in-class offering.
User feedback: We go straight to the source and compile feedback on user experience. Real-world input supports our commitment to diligence in our software evaluation methods and the products we recommend. Keeping up with the everyday experience of HR pros also puts new vendors on our radar, and it keeps us close to our community so we can better connect the right products to the right people.
Financial metrics: We are certified finance nerds, so we use all the data we can get our hands on to make selections for our guides. We comb through data for concrete statistics like retention rates, growth, profitability, and scalability. We evaluate the bottom line of each product because we know making a software purchase can put your reputation on the line.
Best for a use case: Software is never a one-size-fits-all product. Sometimes the best solution is free or cheap. Other times it’s the one that is best for global companies or the one that’s sized right for early-stage startups. Keeping this in mind, we include solutions across the spectrum so our readers can find the best fit for their unique needs.
Here's more detail if you want to read more about how we research vendors. Our dedicated staff writers rely on hard data, impartial experts, and user feedback to ensure our reviews are helpful, truthful, and hopefully a pleasure to read!
Top Project Management Software
There are several project management software solutions in the market today, each with different features and price points. In this guide, we’ve listed the best project management software solution for businesses of various sizes and industries according to our research and expert council as of 2023.
Why we love it
:
Wrike was named a Forrester leader for a reason; the project management solution is robust enough to be used by midsize and large enterprises in multiple industries and geographies.
- Has a clean UI, and is easy to create projects using templates.
- Offers several options to view projects and tasks, including Kanban board and shareable Gantt chart.
- Assigning tasks is drag and drop.
- Handy cross-departmental functionalities.
- Offers free trials and a free plan with unlimited users.
- Has 400+ integrations and is adding more.
- Frequently adds new features.
- Helpful user community and customer support.
- Supports eight languages.
- Provides advanced security features.
- Can manage both projects and ongoing work.
- Option to view projects and tasks through different views like Kanban.
- A very efficient tool for team communication and work management.
- Doesn’t offer integrated live chat.
- Time tracking cannot be used for invoicing.
- Some users found it challenging to get to know the tool but also noted they got great help from the Wrike team.
- Limits automation actions by subscription tier.
- The free plan’s features are very basic.
- No feature for task reminders.
- Doesn’t offer integrated live chat.
- Time tracking cannot be used for invoicing.
- The free plan offers very limited features.
Wrike
Review:
Wrike is a powerful project management platform for organizations to store and organize work and assets in one shared place.
One standout feature of Wrike is its interactive Gantt chart. It makes it easy to change dates and deadlines, drag and drop tasks, and reschedule tasks in bulk. When users reschedule a task with dependencies, all dependent active tasks are instantly rescheduled on the project timeline. The software also keeps related team members posted on these changes.
In an effort to streamline the workflow and reduce human errors, Wrike has integrated AI in several parts of its project management product, from work to-dos to reports, subtask creation, and project risk prediction. The software is also rated positively for its user community and customer support.
Wrike
Customers:
Wrike has over 20,000 customers in over 140 countries. Names of note are Google, Dell, Ogilvy, Okta, Airbnb, and Siemens.
- Dell
- Ogilvy
- Okta
- Airbnb
- Siemens
Wrike
Pricing:
Wrike offers a free plan and free trials for all of its four paid plans. When paid annually:
- Team (2-25 users) costs $9.80 per user per month.
- Business (5-200 users) costs $24.80 per user per month.
- Enterprise (at least five users) has custom pricing.
- Pinnacle (at least five users) has custom pricing.
Wrike has four plans that are priced as follows:
- Free: Though limitations on the number of active tasks apply, this plan is free of charge and is ideal for small teams looking to get started with a project management tool.
- Professional: The Professional plan packs full project planning and collaboration features and costs $9.80 per user per month.
- Business: The Business plan costs $24.80 per user per month and includes everything in the Free and Professional plans, along with customization and exec reporting features.
- Enterprise: Through this plan, Wrike offers enterprises a comprehensive project management solution with advanced security and controls. Contact Wrike's sales team to get a price quote for the Enterprise plan.
Note: The prices shown above are billed on an annual basis. User licenses are sold in groups of 5.
Best For
Mid-sized, large, and distributed teams working in marketing, creative teams, IT, and professional service.
Why we love it
:
Aside from basic features, Teamwork lets you set dependencies, tag at the task level, and see what your team’s workload capacity is. It’s made for client-based businesses, so the features match, such as invoicing, client views, and custom branding.
- Free plan with more than standard project management features, such as team chat, time tracking, and unlimited client views
- Proofing tools are included for all paid plans, so you can review files before handing off to clients
- Create custom tags for projects and tasks
- Built-in time tracking and invoicing means you save money because there’s less dependency on integrations
- Intuitive interface makes it easy for anyone to learn how to use, so there’s less downtime for your team
- Switching between project views is simple
- Subtasks nest under main tasks in list and table views for clear bird’s-eye view of projects
- Affordable, scalable plans make this a viable project management solution for any size of business
- Built-in chat makes it easy to communicate with colleagues without needing to integrate another app.
- Storage is limited on every plan, from 100 MB on free plan up to 250 GB on Grow plan
- Two-factor authentication (2FA) only on high-tier plans
- User minimums required on all paid plans
- Interface is a bit cluttered with small fonts, which makes it hard to read all the info you see
- No markup tools for attachments
Teamwork
Review:
eamwork is a project management tool that is easy to use with its intuitive interface and client-based features. Invite clients to view projects in progress, send invoices, and collaborate on tasks and projects with your entire team. Teamwork doesn’t limit your tasks, and you can create subtasks that nest under main tasks. You can also apply tags to tasks or projects, which makes it easy to find what you need.
Advanced project management features include milestones, portfolio views, and burndown reports (these let you see how projects are going based on task completion rate trends).
Teamwork
Customers:
Teamwork serves several types of businesses, including ValPak, Cox Media Group, Salted Stone, Northwestern Mutual, and Infosys.
Teamwork serves several types of businesses, including ValPak, Cox Media Group, Salted Stone, Northwestern Mutual, and Infosys.
Teamwork
Pricing:
Teamwork offers five plans:
- Free Forever: The Free Forever plan allows you to have up to five members on it and it’s completely free. This plan includes all project views, including list, table, board, and Gantt, plus unlimited task templates, up to two custom fields and project templates, and up to 100 automation actions per month.
- Starter: In this plan, you get everything in the free plan, but limits are less restricting. You get up to 10 project templates and 500 automation actions per month. The Starter plan costs $5.99 per user, per month (billed annually; three-user minimum).
- Deliver: For $9.99 per user, per month (billed annually; three-user minimum) you get everything in the Starter plan and some new features, such as intake forms and team management. Also, your automation actions limit goes up to 1,000 per month and 20 project templates.
- Grow: Teamwork’s most popular tier costs $17.99 per user, per month (billed annually; five-user minimum). You get everything in the Deliver plan, but it’s at this level that you unlock project budget expenses, tasklist budgets, and retainer management features.
- Scale: The Scale plan is meant for larger businesses that require more customization and permissions. Pricing for this plan is by custom quote, so booking a demo is recommended.
Teamwork offers five plans:
- Free Forever: The Free Forever plan allows you to have up to five members on it and it’s completely free. This plan includes all project views, including list, table, board, and Gantt, plus unlimited task templates, up to two custom fields and project templates, and up to 100 automation actions per month.
- Starter: In this plan, you get everything in the free plan, but limits are less restricting. You get up to 10 project templates and 500 automation actions per month. The Starter plan costs $5.99 per user, per month (billed annually; three-user minimum)
- Deliver: For $9.99 per user, per month (billed annually; three-user minimum) you get everything in the Starter plan and some new features, such as intake forms and team management. Also, your automation actions limit goes up to 1,000 per month and 20 project templates.
- Grow: Teamwork’s most popular tier costs $17.99 per user, per month (billed annually; five-user minimum). You get everything in the Deliver plan, but it’s at this level that you unlock project budget expenses, tasklist budgets, and retainer management features.
- Scale: The Scale plan is meant for larger businesses that require more customization and permissions. Pricing for this plan is by custom quote, so booking a demo is recommended.
Best For
Teamwork’s client-minded features, like built-in time tracking and invoicing, it’s best for agencies and freelancers with clients. Although it’s scalable, it’s better for smaller teams, but cross-team collaboration tools could change that.
Why we love it
:
Smartsheet tackles project management by way of spreadsheets. Aside from basic PM features, Smartsheet includes WorkApps, a built-in platform that lets you build apps with no coding experience to help streamline your team’s workflows
- Smartsheet offers 30-day free trial, but you don’t get to try all features (it’s best to request a demo)
- Ability to nest multiple levels of subtasks under a parent task for more complex projects
- Collaboration on spreadsheets makes it easy for remote teams to work on projects simultaneously
- Automations are easy to create and there are no limits to how many automated actions you have going on the top two tiers of plans
- Export feature available for all plans, and you can export to Excel, as a PDF, as an image, to Google Sheets, or to Microsoft Project
- Built-in form builder, which is useful for feedback, approvals, and submissions.
- Difficult to master all features of the platform; may require downtime for training
- Features such as high-level process management and resource management are paid add-ons, even for Enterprise plan users
- Collaboration is in real time, but you must refresh the app to see changes made by others in the same sheet
- No-code app building is only available for the highest tier
- No free plan available
- Low-priced plan maxes out for 10 users; mid- and high-tier plans have a user minimum requirement.
Smartsheet
Review:
Smartsheet hints in its name that it’s a spreadsheet-based project management solution. It’s a flexible, customizable PM app that sets itself apart from the competition with its deceptively intuitive interface. As easy as it is to use the software right away, it’s actually a fairly complex platform that might be difficult to
master if you don’t have a lot of project management experience. If you do have the know-how or the time to devote to training, it can be an excellent choice for automating workflows and even building your own no-code apps to streamline your team’s work.
It may look like a Microsoft Excel copy, but it’s one of the few spreadsheet tools that’s collaborative, so you and your team members can work on sheets simultaneously. One of the unique features of Smartsheet is its ability to nest multiple subtasks under a single parent task (most PM apps only allow a single subtask). The built-in form builder makes it easy to create client intake forms, or bug submittals, which can then be easily added to a sheet for a future project.
Smartsheet
Customers:
Smartsheet is a popular project management platform for many companies including Uber, Alaska Airlines, Domino’s, Lego, Cisco, and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Smartsheet is a popular project management platform for many companies including Uber, Alaska Airlines, Domino’s, Lego, Cisco, and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Smartsheet
Pricing:
Smartsheet has three plans:
- Pro: This plan costs $7 per user, per month (billed annually; maximum 10 users). You get unlimited sheets, dashboards, reports and forms, plus you get access to private sheets. Automations are included, but limited to 250 per month. File storage is limited to 20 GB and each file must be 30 MB or less.
- Business: For $25 per user, per month (billed annually; three-user minimum), the Business plan lifts limits on some of the features, including widgets and sheets per report. If you choose this plan, you get conditional form logic and template sets, both of which can save you time creating a project. You also unlock more admin controls, such as user and group management. This is a good choice for a midsize business with multiple teams to manage.
- Enterprise: Upgrade to Enterprise for all the features and even fewer limits than the Business plan. There’s no limit to file storage, though files still must be 250 MB or less. It’s at this plan level you can set up single sign-on (SSO) for users, which increases security for your projects. The Enterprise plan pricing is by quote only, so it’s recommended you request a demo from Smartsheet.
Smartsheet has three plans:
- Pro: This plan costs $7 per user, per month (billed annually; maximum 10 users). You get unlimited sheets, dashboards, reports and forms, plus you get access to private sheets. Automations are included, but limited to 250 per month. File storage is limited to 20 GB and each file must be 30 MB or less.
- Business: For $25 per user, per month (billed annually; three-user minimum), the Business plan lifts limits on some of the features, including widgets and sheets per report. If you choose this plan, you get conditional form logic and template sets, both of which can save you time creating a project. You also unlock more admin controls, such as user and group management. This is a good choice for a midsize business with multiple teams to manage.
- Enterprise: Upgrade to Enterprise for all the features and even fewer limits than the Business plan. There’s no limit to file storage, though files still must be 250 MB or less. It’s at this plan level you can set up single sign-on (SSO) for users, which increases security for your projects. The Enterprise plan pricing is by quote only, so it’s recommended you request a demo from Smartsheet.
Best For
Any size company that needs collaborative, spreadsheet-based project management software that’s highly customizable should consider Smartsheet.
Why we love it
:
Trello’s project management app is described as a digital sticky note system and we think this description is spot on. It’s a visual tool that lets you create cards on boards, with a drag-and-drop functionality that makes it easy for anyone to use
- Offers a feature-packed free plan and paid plans are affordable
- Scalable for small teams to large enterprises
- Easy-to-use visual boards (Kanban)
- Multiple views allowed at higher price points
- Excellent for personal projects
- No-code automation included on all plans (including the free plan)
- Two-factor authentication (2FA) on every plan for top-notch security
- Mobile app available for iOS and Android
- Limited customization options (custom fields only; available for paid users)
- Difficult to see subtasks (checklists) at a glance
- Power-Ups (integrations) often include added cost to use
- No visual dependency option to connect one card to another
- Cannot assign subtasks (checklists) to different users on free plan
- Only five to six lists are viewable without having to scroll your board
Trello
Review:
Trello is a visual project management tool that primarily uses the Kanban-style board, which is easy for anyone to use even without prior experience with PM software. Trello creators describe it as a sticky note system, but with added functionality. You can use it to track, organize, and manage personal projects or implement it for a team or across multiple teams.
There’s built-in automation tools that require no coding to set up. Simply choose a trigger and an action to reduce your need to perform tedious tasks (i.e., add a checklist any time you create a new card).
Trello
Customers:
Trello is used by millions and trusted by companies such as, Google, Coinbase, John Deere, Zoom, Visa, and Grand Hyatt.
Trello is used by millions and trusted by companies such as, Google, Coinbase, John Deere, Zoom, Visa, and Grand Hyatt.
Trello
Pricing:
Trello offers four plans:
- Free: This plan is a forever-free plan and allows you to create unlimited cards, but only up to 10 boards. It’s a good solution for individuals who need to track personal projects or for freelancers who want to track client projects.
- Standard: The Standard plan from Trello costs $5 per month, per user (billed annually) and removes limitations on boards and you can upload files up to 250 MB per file. It’s at this level you can invite guests to your board, so it’s a good pick for small teams that need client approval.
- Premium: Trello offers a Premium plan for $10 per month, per user (billed annually) and it turns Trello into more of a traditional project management program with more views, including calendar, dashboard, timeline, and map. You also get access to priority support, an important offer for businesses with multiple users that may need more help than what they can find in the knowledge base.
- Enterprise: For larger companies, Trello has an Enterprise plan that starts for $17.50 per user, per month (billed annually) with a minimum of 50 users required. You get everything that Trello offers at this level, including more security and permissions for better organization of data and users.
Trello offers four plans:
- Free: This plan is a forever-free plan and allows you to create unlimited cards, but only up to 10 boards. It’s a good solution for individuals who need to track personal projects or for freelancers who want to track client projects.
- Standard: The Standard plan from Trello costs $5 per month, per user (billed annually) and removes limitations on boards and you can upload files up to 250 MB per file. It’s at this level you can invite guests to your board, so it’s a good pick for small teams that need client approval.
- Premium: Trello offers a Premium plan for $10 per month, per user (billed annually) and it turns Trello into more of a traditional project management program with more views, including calendar, dashboard, timeline, and map. You also get access to priority support, an important offer for businesses with multiple users that may need more help than what they can find in the knowledge base.
- Enterprise: For larger companies, Trello has an Enterprise plan that starts for $17.50 per user, per month (billed annually) with a minimum of 50 users required. You get everything that Trello offers at this level, including more security and permissions for better organization of data and users.
Best For
Trello is simple project management software meant for anyone. From individuals managing personal projects to PM managers organizing work for a small team or multiple teams, Trello can be helpful.
Why we love it
:
Asana’s project management tool offers multiple views: See tasks in a list, calendar, a Kanban-style board, or Gantt chart. It’s built for managers who need the big picture (goals, objectives, projects) and teams that need to get granular (tasks, subtasks).
- Feature-packed free plan with few limitations
- Excellent tools for cross-team collaboration on projects, tasks, and goals
- No limits on file storage (except file sizes)
- Conversations, assets remain centralized to project and tasks
- Drag-and-drop functionality makes it easy to build projects
- Workflow automation helps reduce manual tasks (available on paid plans)
- Real-time reporting makes it easy for managers to see 50,000-foot views of data with the ability to drill down to more granular views
- No built-in time tracking (must use time tracking app integration)
- Overwhelming amount of features for those not used to project management software
- Tasks and subtasks cannot be assigned to more than one user
Asana
Review:
Asana is a flexible project management solution in that it can work for a variety of managers, employees, and C-suite execs, and for any industry. The multiple views (Kanban, calendar, Gantt, etc.) make it ideal for employees to see tasks, managers to efficiently assign tasks, and stakeholders to see a bird’s-eye view of how projects are going.
There’s no limit to file storage, number of tasks, or storage, so you may be able to use Asana’s free plan or a low-priced plan longer than you’d think. Upgrade only when you need room for more members or advanced features, such as custom rules and integrations with CRM.
Asana
Customers:
Amazon, Google, The New Yorker, AT&T, PayPal, Slack, Spotify all use Asana.
Amazon, Google, The New Yorker, AT&T, PayPal, Slack, Spotify all use Asana.
Asana
Pricing:
Asana has four plans:
- Basic: This is a forever-free plan. There are no limits to tasks, projects, messages, or file storage (100MB per file limit). Collaboration is limited to 15 members, so it’s a good choice for new small businesses and solopreneurs.
- Premium: For $10.99 per user, per month (billed annually) you can get everything in the free plan plus timeline view, a workflow builder, forms, automated rules, and milestones. You can also invite an unlimited number of guests (good for client approval on projects).
- Business: This plan costs $24.99 per user, per month (billed annually) and includes everything from the two lower-tier plans. There are more advanced features at this level, such as goals, custom rules builder, and integrations with programs like Salesforce and Tableau, making it a great pick for larger businesses and agencies.
- Enterprise: The Enterprise plan requires a custom quote from Asana. You get all the same features as the Business plan, but you also unlock custom branding, data export, and 24/7 support. It’s best for large companies that want to add their brand to the Asana platform for a more professional look and require access to customer support at all hours of the day and night.
Asana has four plans:
- Basic: This is a forever-free plan. There are no limits to tasks, projects, messages, or file storage (100MB per file limit). Collaboration is limited to 15 members, so it’s a good choice for new small businesses and solopreneurs.
- Premium: For $10.99 per user, per month (billed annually) you can get everything in the free plan plus timeline view, a workflow builder, forms, automated rules, and milestones. You can also invite an unlimited number of guests (good for client approval on projects).
- Business: This plan costs $24.99 per user, per month (billed annually) and includes everything from the two lower-tier plans. There are more advanced features at this level, such as goals, custom rules builder, and integrations with programs like Salesforce and Tableau, making it a great pick for larger businesses and agencies.
- Enterprise: The Enterprise plan requires a custom quote from Asana. You get all the same features as the Business plan, but you also unlock custom branding, data export, and 24/7 support. It’s best for large companies that want to add their brand to the Asana platform for a more professional look and require access to customer support at all hours of the day and night.
Best For
Whether you’re running a solo operation or a corporation, Asana offers a plan to fit all business sizes. Most industries can use Asana, including content creators, software developers, and product development.
Why we love it
:
Cloud-based Zoho Projects plans and scopes projects, tracks work efficiency, and facilitates real-time collaboration. We love their choice to offer a free version for small teams with basic needs.
- Offers a free plan and free trials for all paid plans.
- Pricing is transparent and affordable for SMBs.
- Enables users to communicate with others within the platform via project feeds, chat groups, and forum tools.
- Available in over 20 languages.
- Has a task reminder feature built in.
- Depending on the plan you choose, Zoho Projects can bring in all kinds of features for project management.
- Budget-friendly tool with flexible, pay-as-you-go pricing.
- Customer service could be more responsive. Users need to buy an add-on for premium support.
- The UI is of lower quality compared to others in this space.
- Limited pre-built project templates offered only to upper-tier users
- So many features might make it too cognitive-heavy for certain teams, like those wanting a much simpler and intuitive tool.
- As such a robust platform, some users have noted that it can take long to load if your internet connection isn’t top notch.
Zoho Projects
Review:
Zoho provides high-quality team collaboration and project management business solutions at a competitive price.
Zoho features work well with one another. For example, a seamless connection between the CRM product and the sales team allows projects to move from inception to delivery without moving from one platform to another.
The communication features are solid. Within Zoho projects, users can interact with others via group chats, group feeds, and meetings. Chat history is auto-stored on the app for future reference.
Zoho Project also has a robust reporting capability. The platform has several project reporting tools, including Gantt chart, time tracking, resource utilization, and tailor-made reports.
While their UI and standard-tier customer support leave room for improvement, the platform's affordability, multi-lingual capacity, and feature-richness make it a good choice for SMBs and distributed teams.
Zoho Projects
Customers:
Zoho has over 200,000 customers. This includes Stanford University, Dell, Vodafone, Edinburgh College, and Tata Chemicals Limited.
Stanford University, Dell, Vodafone, Edinburgh College, Tata Chemicals Limited
Zoho Projects
Pricing:
Zoho Projects has three pricing plans:
- Free: This plan is free of charge for up to 3 users.
- Premium: This plan is ideal for teams with up to 50 users and costs $5 per user per month.
- Enterprise: This plan is ideal for companies with over 50 employees and costs $10 per monthly user.
Zoho Projects has 3 pricing plans:
- Free: This plan is free of charge for up to 3 users.
- Premium: This plan is ideal for teams with up to 50 users and costs $5 per user per month.
- Enterprise: This plan is ideal for companies with more than 50 employees and costs $10 per user per month.
Best For
Zoho Projects is among the best project management platforms for small businesses, startups, and distributed teams that prioritize a one-stop solution with advanced collaboration capability.
Why we love it
:
ClickUp rivals the competition with its real-time chat and native time-tracking features, making it a viable project management solution for small businesses and agencies. Both of these features are available on all plans, including the free plan.
- Offers a feature-packed free plan, including unique features such as real-time chat and whiteboards
- Built-in time tracking available on all plans and all versions (browser, desktop, and mobile app)
- More than a dozen different views are available, so each member can see tasks and projects the way that works best for them
- Create custom fields of any kind, such as for users, tasks, scrum points, dates, phone numbers, etc.
- Proofing is included on all plans levels, so you can easily collaborate on images and PDFs
- Custom real-time reporting lets you see the data that’s important to you, including live views so you can see who’s working on what and when
- Two-factor authentication (2FA) is available for all plans, which increases security for your data and team members
- 24/7 support is available for all plans, though live chat is only available for paid plan users
- May be overwhelming for some users because of the number of features and time needed for onboarding
- Users report that the app can be sluggish at times, which can interrupt the flow of your work
- Limited features and uses for some features on free and low-paid plans, ensuring you must upgrade as you grow your business
- New features and updates to the platform are slow going according to many users
ClickUp
Review:
ClickUp is project management software for all types of businesses, offering more than 15 different project views, dashboards, and real-time reporting for all plans. In addition to basic project management, it offers automations, built-in chat and time tracking.
You can customize fields, views, reports, and workflows. ClickUp also includes a large list of templates to get you started with projects and lists quickly.
One of the more unique value adds from ClickUp is the ability to proof images and PDFs. It’s helpful for any team collaborating and it’s typically missing from basic project management software.
ClickUp
Customers:
ClickUp is used by some of the biggest names in technology and business, including IBM, Samsung, NPR, Wake Forest University, Booking.com, and San Diego Padres.
ClickUp is used by some of the biggest names in technology and business, including IBM, Samsung, NPR, Wake Forest University, Booking.com, and San Diego Padres.
ClickUp
Pricing:
ClickUp has five plans:
- Free: ClickUp’s free plan gives you most of the general project management features you need as an individual managing projects
- Unlimited: The Unlimited plan costs $5 per member, per month (billed annually) — a good fit for small teams. There are fewer limitations than the free plan, such as with spaces, lists, and custom fields.
- Business: For $12 per user, per month (billed annually), you get more advanced features for larger teams. You get more automation actions per month and you can require your team to use 2FA for better security for your data.
- Business Plus: When you need cross-team collaboration, the Business Plus plan is the best upgrade for your company. It costs $19 per user, per month (billed annually) and lets you set custom permissions, includes priority support, and gives you even more automations
- Enterprise: Larger businesses with multiple, large teams and agencies may want to consider the Enterprise plan. You can brand your project management platform with white labeling, which presents as more professional to your company and clients. ClickUp doesn’t publish pricing for Enterprise plans, so it’s best to contact them to request a demo and a quote.
ClickUp has five plans:
- Free: ClickUp’s free plan gives you most of the general project management features you need as an individual managing projects.
- Unlimited: The Unlimited plan costs $5 per member, per month (billed annually) — a good fit for small teams. There are fewer limitations than the free plan, such as with spaces, lists, and custom fields.
- Business: For $12 per user, per month (billed annually), you get more advanced features for larger teams. You get more automation actions per month and you can require your team to use 2FA for better security for your data.
- Business Plus: When you need cross-team collaboration, the Business Plus plan is the best upgrade for your company. It costs $19 per user, per month (billed annually) and lets you set custom permissions, includes priority support, and gives you even more automations.
- Enterprise: Larger businesses with multiple, large teams and agencies may want to consider the Enterprise plan. You can brand your project management platform with white labeling, which presents as more professional to your company and clients. ClickUp doesn’t publish pricing for Enterprise plans, so it’s best to contact them to request a demo and a quote.
Best For
Given ClickUp’s relatively affordable plan prices and collaboration tools, even the free and low-priced plan are good fits for individuals and small teams. It is scalable and very flexible, so it can work well for larger companies, too.
Why we love it
:
Unlike most project management software, Jira was built with software developer teams in mind. The visual boards are ideal for running sprints in an Agile-type environment. However, it’s flexible enough you can use Jira’s Kanban-style boards to manage any type of project.
- The no-code workflow automation builder is accessible for all users, so you don’t have to be a programmer or developer to create easy solutions.
- Jira’s Kanban board is specifically designed for Agile style project management, but they’re flexible enough to work for any department.
- Agile teams can use Jira scrum templates to quickly set up sprints, saving you time from having to set them up manually. Simply fill in an epic with a user story and cards with your tasks.
- Advanced security features (SSO, 2FA, permissions, roles) make Jira one of the safest project management apps.
- Roadmaps give clear visibility on projects and task dependency for 50,000-foot views. They’re ideal for product development and management.
- While all project management apps typically offer integrations with popular software, Jira has more than 3,000 integrations (more than industry standard) to make it easy to extend the functionality of the platform.
- May be difficult to master the advanced features (roadmapping, dependencies, automation), especially for new users.
- You won’t find as many project views as other top-rated project management software, so don’t count on Gantt, calendar, or timeline views.
- Jira has much more expensive paid plans than other leading project management apps.
- Users report Jira isn’t the most intuitive platform at the beginning. Finding tags, fields, etc. can be difficult.
Jira
Review:
While Jira is considered one of the best project management software options, it is a bit niche. It was designed to be a bug tracker for technical teams, so it works well for software developers, programmers, and IT professionals that are used to the Agile method of project management.
Even if you don’t run sprints though, Jira can work well as a project management solution for your team. The Kanban-style board is intuitive at first use, though the customization options may be a bit overwhelming to those not familiar with project management software.
Jira
Customers:
Some top-tier customers prefer Jira for product and project development, including Square, eBay, Pfizer, Cisco, and Visa.
Some top-tier customers prefer Jira for product and project development, including Square, eBay, Pfizer, Cisco, and Visa
Jira
Pricing:
Jira offers four plans:
- Free: Jira’s free plan allows up to 10 users and includes most features. File storage is limited to 2 GB. It’s a great pick for a small team or a freelancer.
- Standard: The low-tier Standard plan from Jira costs $77.50 per month and the user limit is set to 35,000, which is much higher than industry average. Most features are the same as the free plan, but you also get access to user permissions and project roles. File storage limit increases to 250 GB. It’s the best plan for small to midsize businesses.
- Premium: For $152.50 per month, Jira’s Premium plan unlocks more advanced features and fewer limits. User limit stays at 35,000, so it can work for any size business. You can create automations for multiple projects and you get advanced roadmap and task dependency features. You also get more security features, admin controls, 24/7 priority support, and unlimited file storage.
- Enterprise: The Enterprise plan includes everything Jira has to offer, including a subscription to Atlassian Access, which gives you single sign-on and enforced two-factor authentication (2FA). It also lets you set up multiple sites, which is best for businesses with many brands that need separate workspaces.
Jira offers four plans:
- Free: Jira’s free plan allows up to 10 users and includes most features. File storage is limited to 2 GB. It’s a great pick for a small team or a freelancer.
- Standard: The low-tier Standard plan from Jira costs $77.50 per month and the user limit is set to 35,000, which is much higher than industry average. Most features are the same as the free plan, but you also get access to user permissions and project roles. File storage limit increases to 250 GB. It’s the best plan for small to midsize businesses.
- Premium: For $152.50 per month, Jira’s Premium plan unlocks more advanced features and fewer limits. User limit stays at 35,000, so it can work for any size business. You can create automations for multiple projects and you get advanced roadmap and task dependency features. You also get more security features, admin controls, 24/7 priority support, and unlimited file storage.
- Enterprise: The Enterprise plan includes everything Jira has to offer, including a subscription to Atlassian Access, which gives you single sign-on and enforced two-factor authentication (2FA). It also lets you set up multiple sites, which is best for businesses with many brands that need separate workspaces.
Best For
Jira is ideal for software development teams that prefer to use the Agile method of project management. Its plans work well for any size team given its high user limit.
Why we love it
:
LiquidPlanner has intelligent features that predict potential problems and completion timeframes, automating a big part of how teams schedule, track, and manage collaborative work.
LiquidPlanner
Review:
LiquidPlanner is a project management software that streamlines the way you plan, track, and execute projects. Their platform stands out for having Planning Intelligence and a Predictive Scheduling Engine that runs thousands of simulations to detect potential problems before they occur and continuously provides the most realistic schedule forecast possible.
LiquidPlanner
Customers:
- Alaska Airlines
- Clif
- KU
- G5
- Otter Products
- Alaska Airlines
- Clif
- KU
- G5
- Otter Products
LiquidPlanner
Pricing:
When billed annually:
- Free: This plan is free of charge and is limited to 10 users, 300 tasks, 3 projects, and 1 workspace.
- Essentials: For $29 per user per month, teams can use the Essentials plan to create a maximum of 5,000 tasks, 50 projects, and 1 workspace.
- Professional: Starting at $39 per user per month, teams can use the Professional plan to create a maximum of 50,000 tasks, 500 projects, and 20 workspaces.
- Ultimate: For $59 per user per month, the Ultimate plan is LiquidPlanner’s most premium offering, packing all of the platform’s features without any usage limits.
When billed annually:
- Free: This plan is free of charge and is limited to 10 users, 300 tasks, 3 projects, and 1 workspace.
- Essentials: For $29 per user per month, teams can use the Essentials plan to create a maximum of 5,000 tasks, 50 projects, and 1 workspace.
- Professional: Starting at $39 per user per month, teams can use the Professional plan to create a maximum of 50,000 tasks, 500 projects, and 20 workspaces.
- Ultimate: For $59 per user per month, the Ultimate plan is LiquidPlanner's most premium offering, packing all of the platform's features without any usage limits.
Best For
LiquidPlanner is best suited for medium and large companies.
Why we love it
:
Unlike other project management software, Basecamp prefers simplicity in its platform. You won’t find dozens of views in Basecamp or many built-in features, but it’s easy to organize tasks, lists, and projects in a visual fashion similar to Kanban boards.
- Basecamp’s claim to fame is simplicity. All the tools are intuitive and every field is clearly labeled. The visual interface makes your tasks clear and there’s a bird’s-eye view option called Lineup to show you a timeline-like view of all tasks.
- Two pricing models are available: You can either opt for a per-user monthly fee or a flat annual fee for unlimited users. Both plans give you all the features you need — the Pro plan simply gives you a few extras, including additional storage space and priority support.
- You can invite as many clients and outside collaborators as you need to your account at no added charge, regardless of which plan you choose. You also get to choose what clients see and what they don’t.
- There are multiple ways to keep in contact with your colleagues or staff in Basecamp. You can use the message board for announcements, the campfire for ongoing conversation on a project, or pings to have direct messaging with one or more people.
- There is minor automation built into Basecamp. Add yourself or someone else to a task to receive a notification when it’s marked complete. You can also set up to-dos on a schedule for repetitive to-do list building.
- Basecamp’s project management software isn’t built to handle granular and complex projects. You can’t easily create workflow automations, there’s no time tracker, and there’s no priority status or task dependency feature.
- Although $15 per user each month isn’t much, it adds up quickly. Compared to the industry standard, you’ll be paying about $5 more per person monthly for a stripped-down project management tool.
- For important features many teams need in a project management tool, such as time-tracking, forms, workflow automation, task priority, and advanced reporting, you’ll need to accept that you can’t do these things or find an integration. This likely means you have to pay for more software in order to get project management software that works the way you need.
- Basecamp used to offer a generous free plan, but those days are gone. You can get a free 30-day trial of Basecamp, but once that’s gone, you have to subscribe to a plan.
Basecamp
Review:
Basecamp is a user-friendly and versatile project management and team communication software. Companies use it to break up all of their work into separate projects, and each project contains the tools all teams need to work together. This includes message boards, to-dos, schedules, docs, file storage, real-time group chat, and automatic check-in questions.
Basecamp
Customers:
Basecamp is a popular choice of project management software for The North Face, NetSuite, California State University-Stanislaus, and Groupon.
Basecamp is a popular choice of project management software for The North Face, NetSuite, California State University-Stanislaus, and Groupon.
Basecamp
Pricing:
Basecamp offers two plans from which you can choose:
- Basecamp: The lowest priced plan for Basecamp costs $15 per person, per month. The plan includes every feature, but your storage is limited to 500 GB. You can invite as many viewer-only clients as you want to projects, though. This plan would work for an individual or a small business.
- Basecamp Pro: To get an increase in storage and access to priority support, you may want to consider the Basecamp Pro plan. It costs $299 per month, but there are no limits to users or viewers. Plus, you get a one-on-one onboarding session and you can pay annually. This is a better fit for larger companies with 20+ employees.
Basecamp offers two plans from which you can choose:
- Basecamp: The lowest priced plan for Basecamp costs $15 per person, per month. The plan includes every feature, but your storage is limited to 500 GB. You can invite as many viewer-only clients as you want to projects, though. This plan would work for an individual or a small business.
- Basecamp Pro: To get an increase in storage and access to priority support, you may want to consider the Basecamp Pro plan. It costs $299 per month, but there are no limits to users or viewers. Plus, you get a one-on-one onboarding session and you can pay annually. This is a better fit for larger companies with 20+ employees.
Best For
Basecamp is best for mid sized or large companies that require simple project management software for 20 or more users.
Benefits of Project Management Software
Using project management software allows you to:
- Plan projects more efficiently: Project management systems save you a great deal of time in your planning phase. They allow you to quickly lay out what you need in terms of resources, time, as well as budget. To speed things up further, you can even access historical data and copy the blueprint of one of your previous projects over to your new one.
- Manage tasks better: Manually creating, assigning, prioritizing, and keeping track of tasks is quite tedious and time consuming. A lot can simply go wrong. Project management software has everything managers and teams need to stay organized and ensure their projects are successfully completed and delivered on time.
- Stay on schedule: Because project management software lets you define expected completion dates for each of your tasks, everyone in your team is constantly aware of deadlines, and that prompts them to manage their time better and complete tasks before or on their due date.
- Collaborate easily: Project management software facilitates collaboration on tasks that require a team effort. Team members can easily communicate with one another; share documents, files, and notes; and more—all on one platform.
- Increase manager productivity: Using project management software provides managers with a quick bird’s-eye view of what their team is working on and how far they’ve come in terms of progress. The ability to see such information very quickly from a single, organized dashboard saves managers a great deal of time (e.g. they won’t be needing to constantly check on each of their team members’ progress, which frees them up to focus on other important tasks in their department).
Common Mistakes Made When Buying Project Management Software
Buying software should never be a hasty decision. Meticulous research is required to make sure you don’t waste your tech budget on products that don’t meet your needs. With that in mind, here are some of the most common mistakes businesses make when buying project management software:
- Purchasing advanced project management features when all you need is a whiteboard-like software: Project management solutions can pack advanced and shiny features such as scrum boards, change management, and risk management. Those features are great for teams that use them, such as software development teams. If your team doesn’t have a use for those features, don’t buy them. We recommend that you always spend selectively when buying tech.
- Selecting a project management system that isn’t scalable: Your company may grow rapidly in a matter of months. It may also experience financial struggles, requiring you to shrink your team. No matter what the future holds, you’ll definitely need your project management software to grow or shrink accordingly, without needing to switch to different providers every time you scale.
- Getting into a long-term commitment with a vendor before thoroughly testing their product: The majority of software vendors will offer you a discount if you get into an annual contract. Some will even try to tempt you to get into a 2-year agreement. While such deals can save you a significant amount of money in the long run, you should only commit to a vendor after thoroughly testing their product and verifying that it works for you. This is to save you from the hassle of going back and forth with the vendor regarding their refund policy and incurring cancellation fees.
- Incorrectly using your project management software: You can buy top-of-the-line project management software with a range of robust features and automations, but none of that matters if you’ve placed it in inexperienced hands. For example, if you have a project manager who plans tasks poorly, sets unrealistic timelines, and micromanages people, your project will likely fail with or without project management software.
Pricing Models of Project Management Software
The majority of project management software vendors structure their pricing between 2 to 5 tiers. This way, they ensure the most coverage for customers with various needs and financial capabilities. Those tiers often vary in terms of features and either cost a flat subscription fee ranging between $45 and $100 a month for an unlimited number of employees or have a per-employee-per-month pricing model, which could cost anywhere between $5 and $40 per employee per month.
Do be aware that in all cases, additional fees may still apply for on-demand services such as product setup, training, customization, dedicated account management, and cancellation. Such services may not be included in your monthly subscription. Consult your chosen project management software vendor on the exact breakdown of all their fees, both recurring and non-recurring.
Another thing to watch out for is whether or not your selected vendor has a minimum price commitment. Vendors with a minimum price commitment won’t let you subscribe to certain plans (usually their best-value plans) unless your total monthly or annual spending exceeds a certain amount.
For more information and to learn about our software pricing best practices, check out our ebook on getting the best pricing in HR tech.
Key Features of Project Management Software
- Project planning: Project management software allows you to plan out and visualize all the ins and outs of your project. This includes all the different resources you need, the estimated time and budget, and most importantly, the number and type of people who will work on the project and bring it to life. Depending on the software, you might also be able to share access to the project plan(s) with different stakeholders, both within and outside of the company.
- Task and subtask management: Once you have a plan for your project, you can go ahead and break that plan into tasks and subtasks that you can assign to your team members. Your software should also allow you to order tasks in terms of importance, and—if someone on your team is away for any reason—reassign their tasks to other individuals with the capacity to take them on.
- Dependency management: In project management, it is very common to have tasks that are connected to one another. For example, task C is contingent on the completion of task A. Since cases like that can be difficult to manage, it is only fair to have a system in place that will help you visualize all task dependencies and clearly lay out their developmental stages for collaborators to access and understand what needs to be handled first.
- Project timelines and milestones: Another feature of project management software is the ability to create comprehensive timelines, complete with milestones and time estimates for each milestone. Several project management systems actually have built-in Gantt charts that you can customize, color-code, and access on the go.
- Project progress tracking: With the help of project management software, managers can easily track the progress their team members are making in their individual assignments. Seeing progress from a single interface and in real time enables managers to immediately make informed decisions to boost performance (e.g. identify if certain employees could use some help in accomplishing their tasks, or if they have too much on their plate, reassign a portion of their work to other team members).
- Customizable workflows: One size never fits all in project management, which is why most software tools in this space allow you to customize workflows and continuously finetune them to boost your team’s productivity and achieve the best outcomes.
- Reminders and notifications: Project management software ensures you never miss important updates through in-app, email, and mobile push notifications. You can also customize what you get notified for and set reminders for when certain deadlines are approaching or when certain milestones are completed.
- Kanban and scrum boards: Boards help you stay organized. They enable teams to visualize everything that needs to be done in sequential order, thus speeding up the process of task completion. Depending on your needs, you can get a project management system that supports either or both of the following board types:
- Scrum boards: Relevant to software development, scrum boards are often divided into three columns for to-do, in progress, and done. They’re designed to give teams a real-time picture of where their sprint backlog items stand.
- Kanban boards: A kanban board is also made of columns and task-representing cards but is more flexible than a scrum board. The kanban method supports the continuous delivery of tasks without restricting them to sprints. Teams simply work on tasks as they come in and move them to the done column as they’re completed.
- Workloads and team member availability: Project management software gives you visibility into what each team member is working on so you can ensure they aren’t overworked and all tasks are properly staffed. You can also allow team members to manually update their availability and let you know if they’re able to take on additional tasks or not through the software.
- Team collaboration: Project management software enables teams to seamlessly collaborate on tasks. Most solutions in this space will also have built-in discussion boards and a chat functionality so team members can communicate and share feedback in real time, regardless of whether they’re in the same office building or working remotely from different countries.
- Docs and file management: Apart from real-time collaboration and communication, a good project management solution should allow you to share documents and other types of files easily and quickly with a large number of people. It should also offer extensible cloud storage so you can save all of those documents and files long term.
- User administration: Projects often bring together people at different levels. These include but aren’t limited to managers, employees, freelancers, third-party vendors, and clients. As the person in charge, you may want to give all of those people access to your project but customize that access to keep certain information on a need-to-know basis. With the help of project management software, you can create user groups with different access levels. When done, all that’s left to do is just add people to the correct user group, and they’ll automatically receive the access level that comes with it.
- Time tracking: Manually updating timesheets is a tedious task that’s not only time consuming but almost impossible to perform without error. The good news is that some of the top project management solutions come with a built-in time-tracking tool, ensuring that your project completion time estimates are as accurate as possible.
- Third-party integrations: The majority of project management and collaboration tools offer integration options with your existing business tools, such as those for recruiting, payroll, enterprise resource planning (ERP), team communication, and more, to extend the functionality of your software, have your data synchronize automatically, and eliminate duplicated effort.
- Analytics and reporting: An important feature of any software product or online platform is analytics. Through accurate, real-time data, good project management software allows you to monitor how your team is performing against your pre-defined metrics, both short and long term, as well as the average time it takes them to achieve milestones or tasks. It should display this information neatly in graphs for quick reference as well as let you export the data in CSV and other formats.
- Mobile access: On-the-go access is very important in project management. Nobody wants to limit themselves to laptops or desktops. Luckily, most project management solutions offer iOS and Android project management apps that managers can use to check on their team’s progress and keep track of deadlines on the go. Project collaborators can also use project management mobile apps to share updates and communicate with one another anytime, anywhere.
- Additional features: In addition to the above, some project management software solutions may also carry advanced modules for budgeting, invoicing, resource allocation and management, expense tracking, asset management, capacity planning, issue tracking, and risk management.
Questions to Ask During Your Project Management Software Demos
As you’re researching and comparing different project management software products, we always recommend that you schedule demo sessions with the top vendors on your list to make sure their solution covers your needs. Here are a few questions you can ask when you get in touch with those vendors:
- Can you show me what employees see through their accounts?
- Does your software leverage any artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning for process automation?
- Is your software easy to implement, and would I be able to set it up myself?
- What business apps does your product integrate with?
- What metrics have you used to prove the effectiveness of your software?
- What data protection laws is your software compliant with?
- How much does your product cost for my team size?
- How will the current pricing change as our team grows or shrinks?
- Will you assign my business a dedicated account manager?
- Can you walk me through your Customer Support SLAs?
- Do you have a help center with articles and other documentation for self-service?
Implementing Project Management Software
The shift to cloud computing has impacted many software types, including project management software. The majority of products in this space are cloud based, delivered through a software-as-a-service (SaaS) infrastructure. Getting started with cloud-based software is fairly easy. Once you’ve selected a vendor that meets your requirements and purchased a subscription, you can create an account and start configuring it right away (e.g. import your employee data, invite your employees to sign up, and start creating projects).
Though not many, there are some project management software solutions that are self-hosted (on-premise). Self-hosted solutions generally take longer to set up in comparison to their cloud-based counterparts. Depending on your chosen vendor, you may need to consult them regarding their product’s compatibility with your current company hardware. You may even be able to have them send a representative to install the product on your behalf, which is always recommended for you to get up and running with the system as quickly as possible.
Note: Most of the software vendors we’ve listed in this guide provide step-by-step video tutorials and help docs that assist customers in implementing the product. For more information, you can reach out to your assigned account manager or a customer support representative.
Project Management Software FAQs
What is project management?
Project management entails the application of processes, skills, experience, and resources to achieve specific objectives within specific constraints, mainly time and budget.
What is PMO?
A project management office (PMO) is a group or department that’s responsible for defining and maintaining project management best practices within an organization. They ensure projects are executed to the highest standards on time and within their allocated budget.
What is agile project management?
Agile project management (APM) is an iterative methodology to project delivery. It entails breaking projects into manageable tasks or iterations that are tackled in a meaningful order. Working in iterations enables project managers to continuously deliver value to key stakeholders throughout a project’s life cycle rather than just at the end. It also promotes continuous improvement, as project managers can easily make adjustments and incorporate stakeholder and end-user feedback with every iteration.
Why is project management important?
It’s important to have clear direction for any company or team undertaking to be successful. Good project management provides teams with a plan so their efforts are continuously geared toward the same goal(s). It also saves time and money, and it fosters teamwork.
What is project management software?
Project management software is software companies use to plan, allocate resources, and effectively execute projects. It facilitates collaboration and can also be used to communicate updates with stakeholders, both within and outside the organization.
What is a Gantt chart?
Named after its inventor, Henry Gantt, a Gantt chart is a type of bar chart that displays a project’s schedule. Teams use it to visualize where their tasks or events stand against a defined time period.
What is the difference between a kanban board and a scrum board?
Scrum boards are relevant to software development. They’re often divided into three columns of To-Do, In Progress, and Done, and are designed to give teams a real-time picture of where their sprint backlog items stand. A kanban board is also made of columns and task-representing cards but is more flexible than a scrum board. The kanban method supports the continuous delivery of tasks without restricting them to sprints, as the scrum method does. Teams simply work on tasks as they come in and move them to the done column as they’re completed.
What is project risk management?
Project risk management is a process project managers go through to identify and manage potential risks that may affect their project as it progresses. Though not all project risks can be anticipated, the aim is to catch and have a solution in place for as many potential issues as possible to minimize their impact and achieve the best results possible.
What are the features of project management software?
Project management software commonly offers features for:
- Project planning and visualization
- Task and subtask management
- Dependency management
- Timelines and milestone creation
- Project status tracking
- Workflow customization
- Reminders and notifications
- Kanban and scrum boards
- Workloads and team member availability tracking
- Team collaboration
- Docs and file management
- User administration
- Time tracking
- Analytics and reporting
What are the benefits of project management software?
Project management software enables teams to plan projects better, execute tasks faster, and collaborate more effectively.
What should I look for in project management software?
Besides ensuring a project management solution covers the features you need, make sure it is also easy to use, scalable, can integrate with the rest of your tech stack, and has a mobile app for on-the-go access.
How are project management software solutions deployed?
Most project management software solutions are cloud based, meaning they are accessible through most web browsers (i.e. Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge), either on your Mac or Windows desktop or on your mobile device—no installation necessary.
What is the best free project management software?
The best FREE project management software solutions are:
- Wrike: Has a free version with limitations on the number of active tasks
- Trello: Has a free version with an unlimited number of users, cards, and up to 10 Trello boards
- Asana: Has a free version that’s great for teams getting started with project management
- Zoho Projects: Has a plan that’s free of charge for up to 3 users
- Teamwork: Has a plan that’s free of charge for up to 5 users
- ClickUp: Has a free plan that comes with 100 MB storage, unlimited members, and tasks
- Basecamp: Has a free plan that’s limited to 3 projects, 20 users, and 1 GB storage space
- TeamGantt: Has a free plan that’s limited to 3 users and 1 project
- LiquidPlanner: Has a free plan that’s limited to 10 users, 3 projects, and 1 workspace
- Jira: Has a free plan that’s limited to 10 users
Final Advice on Buying Project Management Software
Choosing a project management solution can be a difficult process, as the market is saturated with many offerings, but we’re confident you’ll make a good selection if you:
- Align with your project managers and key stakeholders regarding their needs and expectations before selecting a product.
- Carefully consider those needs, as well as your budget, and choose a product that meets them.
- Request a trial account to test the platform’s features first hand.
- Schedule demo sessions with different vendors in this space to get all of your questions answered.
Thanks for reading our guide on project management software. If you’re interested in similar software solutions that boost employee productivity and drive up engagement, check out our guides on Remote Team Management Software, Objectives and Key Results Software, and Performance Management Software.
Top Project Management Software
- Smartsheet:Spreadsheet-based project management softwareSpreadsheet-based project management software
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