Germany, Italy, Russia, U.K, Spain, France, Rest of Europe
China, Australia, Japan, India, South Korea, South East Asia, Rest of Asia Pacific
Brazil, Argentina, Chile
South Africa, GCC, Rest of MEA
| 2021 |
| 2016 to 2020 |
| 2022 - 2030 |
| Avail customized purchase options to meet your exact research needs. |
Project Management Software Market: Regional Analysis
North America To Lead The Global Market In Terms of Size and Revenue Over Forecast Period
In terms of region, the global project management software market is sectored into Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and North America. The North American project management software market is slated to maintain its dominant status during the forecast period subject to the rise in the number of organizations adopting project management software services. Moreover, the escalating demand for project management software among organizations of the sub-continent for proficiently tracking and managing their ventures is likely to act as a stimulator for use of project management software in the region.
Project Management Software Market: Competitive Analysis
The global project management software market profiles industry players such as:
- Microsoft Corporation
- Zoho Corporation
- Broadcom Inc.
- Atlassian Corp PLC
- Oracle Corporation
- Smartsheet.com Inc.
- ServiceNow Inc.
- AEC Software
- Citrix Systems Inc.
- Workfront Inc.
- Streamline Media Group Inc.
The Global Project Management Software market is segmented as follows:
By deployment type.
By End-User
- Oil and Gas
- IT and Telecom
North America
- France
- Rest of Europe
- South Korea
- Southeast Asia
- Rest of Asia Pacific
- Rest of Latin America
- South Africa
- Rest of Middle East & Africa
Table Of Content
Frequently Asked Questions
Which key factors will influence global project management software market growth over 2022-2030?
The global project management software market is anticipated to expand over 2022-2030 owing to the addition of new features to the product such as reminders and setting of due dates.
What will be the value of the project management software market during 2022-2030?
According to study, the global project management software market size was $6.1 billion in 2021 and is projected to reach $15.08 billion by the end of 2030 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of roughly 10.68% between 2022 and 2030.
Which region will contribute notably towards the project management software market value?
The North American project management software market is anticipated to record the highest growth in the ensuing years owing to the rise in the number of organizations adopting project management software services. Moreover, the escalating demand for project management software among organizations of the sub-continent for proficiently tracking and managing their ventures is likely to act as a stimulator for use of project management software in the region.
Which are the major players leveraging the global project management software market growth?
The global project management software market is led by players like Microsoft Corporation, SAP SE, Broadcom Inc., Oracle Corporation, ServiceNow Inc., AEC Software, Citrix Systems, Inc., Smartsheet.com, Inc., Atlassian Corp PLC, Workfront, Inc., Zoho Corporation, Asana, Inc., and Streamline Media Group, Inc.
Choose License Type
Request Free Brochure
Ask for Customization
Free Analysis
Inquiry For Buying
Related News
- Published On -25-January-2023 Global Project Management Software Market Revenue Is Set To Increase To About $15.08 Billion By 2030
Happy Clients
Avail Free PDF Sample Report
Thank you for contacting us..
Thank you for your interest in our research report.
We will be sending you the sample copy of the report shortly. Meanwhile, if you have any specific research requirement then please let us know. We will be glad to assist you in case you have any additional questions, so feel free to get in touch
Zion Market Research is an obligated company. We create futuristic, cutting edge, informative reports ranging from industry reports, company reports to country reports..
Office Address
Zion Market Research Tel: +1 (302) 444-0166 USA/Canada Toll Free No. +1 (855) 465-4651
Asia Pacific Office
3rd Floor, Mrunal Paradise, Opp Maharaja Hotel, Pimple Gurav, Pune 411061, Maharashtra, India Phone No +91 7768 006 007 , +91 7768 006 008
US OFFICE NO +1 (302) 444-0166 US/CAN TOLL FREE +1 (855) 465-4651 Email: [email protected]
We Are On Social
Industry Press Release
We have secured system to process your transaction.
How it Works?
How to Order
Return policy.
Our Company
Terms and Conditions
Privacy policy, zmr in news.
Business Hours
Our support available to help you 24 hours a day, five days a week.
Monday - Friday: 9AM - 6PM
Saturday - Sunday: Closed
- Another action
- Something else here
Project Management Software Market Size & Share, by Implementation (Cloud, On-Premise); Service (Professional, Managed Services); Organization (SMEs, Large Enterprise); End-user (IT, BFSI, E-Commerce, Healthcare) - Global Supply & Demand Analysis, Growth Forecasts, Statistics Report 2023-2035
- Report ID: 4176
- Published Date: Feb 14, 2023
- Report Format: PDF, PPT
Global Market Size, Forecast, and Trend Highlights Over 2023-2035
Project Management Software Market size is anticipated to reach USD 35,000 Million by the end of 2035, growing at a CAGR of 18% during the forecast period, i.e., 2023-2035. In the year 2022, the industry size of project management software was over USD 8,000 Billion.The market is expected to grow exponentially owing to the escalating activities of business process automation. Businesses rely more on automation processes, mainly for automated order entry, email automation, automated batch processing, file transfer, automated report generation and distribution. For instance, around 60% of enterprises were noticed to be utilizing business process automation activities to acquire more visibility in 2022. Additionally, 25% of enterprises were planning to adopt business automation activities during the forecast period.
Furthermore, the global project management software market is also projected to grow on account of the higher demand for task management across different cultures and various geographical regions. Project management is divided into four categories, technical, supportive, adventurous, and expert project manager. It is observed that approximately 10% of resources are wasted owing to poor project management per day. The value of project management can be observed in recent decades when digitalization is at its peak. In 2018, it is believed and admitted by almost 85% of senior executives that the value of project management is fully understood by their enterprises. Hence, all these factors are anticipated to propel the growth of the market over the forecast period.
Project Management Software Sector: Growth Drivers and Challenges
Growth Drivers
- Escalating Utilization in Multiple Industry Such as E-Commerce, IT, Healthcare, and Others - Majority of industries and mainly, e-commerce and healthcare industries are in high need of software that can handle multiple data, generate automated reports, and help in managing tasks more accurately. Hence, these sectors are employing project management software at a high rate. In 2020, more than 85% of the major healthcare organization across the globe were found to be utilizing automation and strategies to enhance their performance.
- Growing Workforce Management Application Industry - In 2020, the workforce management application industry generated revenue of about USD 2.5 billion. The total revenue from 2018 to 2020 was estimated to be around USD 650 million.
- Significant Expansion in Database Management System Industry - The database management industry is set to expand during the forecast period, the industry generated revenue of approximately USD 75 billion in 2020.
- Up-Surged Information Technology (IT) Spending Associated with Multiple Devices - A rise in the spending by the global population in the IT sector can be observed in recent decades. For instance, spending on PCs, mobile phones, tablets, data center systems, enterprise software, and others was projected to reach around USD 4 trillion in 2021.
- Higher Demand in Business Process Automation (BPA) Industry - Business process automation (BPA) was valued at approximately USD 10 billion in 2021 which increased from around USD 8 billion in 2018.
- Possibility of Data Loss Owing to Bugs or Cyber Attacks
- As a result of the increase in frequency and complexity of cyberattacks and digital threats, cybersecurity is now a worldwide problem. But the paucity of new specialists entering the cybersecurity field and the shortage of cybersecurity workers are two of the biggest barriers to combating cybercrime. Web-based attacks have been encountered by 64% of businesses. Social engineering and phishing attempts were experienced by 62%. Malicious code, botnets, and denial-of-service assaults were experienced by 59% of the businesses and 51%, respectively.
- Requirement for Expensive Maintenance Procedure
- Complexity in Understanding and Learning Requisite Tools and Functions
Project Management Software Market: Key Insights
| 2022 |
| 2023-2035 |
| 18% |
| USD 8,000 Million |
| USD 35,000 Million |
| |
Project Management Software Segmentation
End-user (IT, BFSI, E-Commerce, Healthcare)
The global project management software market is segmented and analyzed for demand and supply by end-user industry into IT, BFSI, e-commerce, healthcare, and others, out of which, the IT segment is anticipated to hold the largest share in the global project management software market during the forecast period on the back of huge data traffic and higher rate of adoption of project management software in IT and Telecom industry as IT departments are flooded with project requests from several business units and clients. There has to be a method to prioritize, arrange projects. Mere categorization may not work for enterprise businesses; projects should align with strategic goals of an organization. For instance, data traffic generated by the global population in 2018 was projected to be around 20 exabytes per month. The IT sector is entirely based on the internet and requires enhanced and upgraded software to manage the data.
Our in-depth analysis of the global market includes the following segments:
Want to customize this research report as per your requirements? Our research team will cover the information you require to help you take effective business decisions.
Project Management Software Industry - Regional Synopsis
Asia Pacific Market Forecast
The Asia Pacific project management software market, amongst the market in all the other regions, is projected to hold the largest market share by the end of 2035. The growth of the market can be attributed to the higher adoption of project management software in all sorts of enterprises. Furthermore, escalating demand for cloud-based infrastructure is also projected to boost the growth of the market during the forecast period. In the ranking for innovation potential and business environment, Singapore scored the highest obtaining almost 65% out of 100 percent in 2021. Moreover, the IT sector of Asia Pacific has significant demand for project management software which is further expected to increase exponentially over the forecast period. For instance, IT services in 2022 were anticipated to fall to about USD 200 billion in the region.
North America Market Forecast
Additionally, the global project management software market is further anticipated to grow rapidly in the North America region over the forecast period. The presence of major key players in the market, rising adoption of digital services, and the growing IT and healthcare sector are the major growth driver of the market which are projected to foster the growth of the market in the region during the forecast period. The USA is considered to be a country having the highest health expenditure which is estimated to be more than USD 3.5 trillion.
Companies Dominating the Project Management Software Landscape
- Company Overview
- Business Strategy
- Key Product Offerings
- Financial Performance
- Key Performance Indicators
- Risk Analysis
- Recent Development
- Regional Presence
- SWOT Analysis
- Wrike, Inc.
- Total Synergy Consulting Private Limited
- Deltek, Inc.
- MeisterLabs GmbH
- Stewart Technology Associates
- Dlubal Software GmbH
- Dogtooth Technologies Limited
- Energid Technologies Corporation
In the News
Deltek, Inc. to bring light upon the subject of huge mistakes that are consecutively made by agencies in the industry report in a partnership campaign to elaborate the methods adopted by successful agencies.
Wrike, Inc . to win the Top Rated Award, TrustRadius 2022 in the two categories, primary and secondary. For the primary category, it was selected for Project Management and secondary category, Wrike, Inc. was selected for Creative, Enterprise Marketing, Portfolio Management, and others.
Author Credits: Abhishek Verma
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Growth Drivers and Challenges -->
What are the major factors driving the growth of the project management software market, what would be the cagr of project management software market over the forecast period, what are the challenges affecting the project management software market growth, which region will provide more business opportunities for growth of project management software market in future, who are the major players dominating the project management software market, how are the company profiles selected, what are the segments in the project management software market, which segment captures the largest market size in the end-user in the project management software market, project management software market report scope.
- Project Management Software Market Size
- Project Management Software Market Trends
- Project Management Software Market Analysis
- Project Management Software Market Share
- Project Management Software Market Companies
Copyright © 2024 Research Nester. All Rights Reserved
FREE Sample Copy includes market overview, growth trends, statistical charts & tables, forecast estimates, and much more.
Have questions before ordering this report?
Thank you for contacting us!
"We have received your sample request for the research report. Our research representative will contact you shortly."
Get a free sample of this report
Project management software market.
"We have received your inquiry for the research report. Our research representative will contact you shortly."
Inquire before Buying this Report
"We have received your inquiry for the customized research report. Our research representative will contact you shortly."
Request for Customized Report
"We have received your ToC request for the research report. Our research representative will contact you shortly."
Enter your details to get Table of Contents (ToC)
- CRM Software
- Email Marketing Software
- Help Desk Software
- Human Resource Software
Project Management Software
- Browse All Categories
- Accounting Firms
- Digital Marketing Agencies
- Advertising Agencies
- SEO Companies
- Web Design Companies
- Blog & Research
What is project management software?
Project management software helps businesses plan, organize, and manage multiple projects, such as marketing campaigns, events, product and software releases, and construction projects. The software provides features to help create project workflows, collaborate with team members through built-in messaging and file sharing, track project and task progress, and allocate tasks to individual contributors and teams.
A project management tool helps create project status reports, showcasing upcoming and completed tasks, task dependencies, and due dates. It also creates resource allocation reports identifying resource overloads, imbalances, and availability constraints, allowing project managers to optimize resource allocation.
Capterra lists all providers across its website—not just those that pay us—so that users can make informed purchase decisions. Capterra is free for users. Software and service providers pay us for sponsored profiles to receive web traffic and sales opportunities. Sponsored profiles include a link-out icon that takes users to the provider’s website. Learn more.
Capterra carefully verified over 2 million reviews to bring you authentic software and services experiences from real users. Our human moderators verify that reviewers are real people and that reviews are authentic. They use leading tech to analyze text quality and to detect plagiarism and generative AI. Learn more.
Capterra’s researchers use a mix of verified reviews, independent research and objective methodologies to bring you selection and ranking information you can trust. While we may earn a referral fee when you visit a provider through our links or speak to an advisor, this has no influence on our research or methodology.
Sponsored: Vendors bid for placement within our listings. This option sorts the directory by those bids, highest to lowest. Vendors who bid for placement can be identified by the orange “Visit Website” button on their listing.
Highest Rated: Sorts products as a function of their overall star rating, normalized for recency and volume of reviews, from highest to lowest.
Most Reviews: Sorts listings by number of user reviews, most to least.
Alphabetical: Sorts listings from A to Z.
Related Software Category:
Why is capterra free, i'm looking for project management software that is:.
Table of Contents
What are the common features of project management software?
What are the benefits of project management software, how much does project management software cost, key considerations when purchasing project management software.
Collaboration tools : Facilitates communication and collaboration among team members through a built-in team messaging system, discussion threads, file sharing, and notifications.
Reporting/project tracking : Generates various reports and performance metrics to track progress, analyze data, and gain insights into project health and team performance.
Task management : Creates, assigns, and organizes tasks. Sets priorities, due dates, and task dependencies.
Project planning : Creates project plans, defines project objectives, sets milestones, and establishes project timelines.
Time tracking : Tracks the time spent on tasks and projects to monitor progress, analyze productivity, and manage billable hours.
Budgeting and cost management : Manages project budgets, tracks expenses, and generates financial reports to monitor costs, budget utilization, and profitability.
Centralizes project information : Provides a centralized platform for storing and organizing all project-related information, including tasks, schedules, documents, and communication. This enables easy access to up-to-date project data and promotes collaboration by ensuring everyone can access the same information.
Enhances communication and collaboration : Facilitates communication and collaboration among team members, stakeholders, and clients through built-in messaging and file sharing. The software also sends notifications to individuals, reducing reliance on email and enabling efficient collaboration, even for geographically dispersed teams.
Improves project planning and scheduling : Offers tools to create project plans, set milestones, establish task dependencies, and generate project schedules. Such processes help project managers create realistic timelines, identify critical paths*, and manage project deadlines effectively.
Creates better task management practices : Helps simplify task management by allowing project managers to create, assign, and track project-related tasks. The software also provides visibility into task status, priorities, deadlines, and dependencies, ensuring team members stay on track and work towards project goals.
* A critical path is the longest sequence of dependent tasks that determines that project's overall duration.
Most project management software solutions on the market are priced on a "per month" basis, and their entry-level pricing plans range from $5 to $12+** per month. An enterprise product that's priced higher may include additional features such as unlimited workspace members , advanced reporting, approvals and document proofing, and workload management.
**The pricing included is for the entry-level/lowest-priced offerings found on vendor websites as of July 17, 2023.
Assess the software's risk and issue management functionality . Consider whether the software provides features for identifying, documenting, and managing project risks and issues, such as cost overruns or missed deadlines. Look for features such as risk registers, issue tracking, and mitigation planning to address potential challenges proactively.
Check the software's integrational capabilities . Your chosen software solution should include real-time messaging, file sharing, discussion forums, and commenting capabilities to facilitate communication among team members. Integration with commonly used communication tools, such as email and chat platforms, and CRM tools can also be beneficial to stay updated on customer interactions and project requirements.
Check for the availability of multiple PM methodologies . An ideal project management software offers multiple methodologies, including Agile, Scrum, Kanban, and more. This flexibility allows you to adapt your strategy based on the nature and complexity of each project, and choose the most suitable method that aligns with your project's unique requirements.
Products evaluated for the pricing calculation were taken from Capterra's project management software directory. The pricing ranges exclude freemium versions of the products. The features highlighted were identified based on their relevance and the percentage of products in Capterra's directory that offer them.
Evernote Teams
Microsoft Visual Studio
Autodesk Construction Cloud
Microsoft Project
Buildertrend
| You might be using an unsupported or outdated browser. To get the best possible experience please use the latest version of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Microsoft Edge to view this website. | |
- Best Project Management Software
Best Project Management Software Of 2024
Expert Reviewed
Updated: Apr 30, 2024, 2:20pm
Project management software makes it easy to plan projects, allocate tasks and keep teams organized so that deadlines and goals are met. With so many project management solutions on the market today—all with different pricing, plans and features—the decision on which to choose can be difficult. To help, Forbes Advisor analyzed dozens of the leading providers and selected the best project management software in 2024, based on pricing, features, customer support and more.
- Best Construction Project Management Software
- Best Project Portfolio Management Software
- Best Gantt Chart Software
- Best Task Management Software
- Best Kanban Software
Best Software for Project Management of 2024
Zoho projects, forbes advisor ratings, methodology, how to choose the best project management software, what does project management software cost, 2024 project management trends, frequently asked questions (faqs).
Featured Partners
From $8 monthly per user
Zoom, LinkedIn, Adobe, Salesforce and more
On monday.com's Website
Yes, for one user and two editors
$7 per user per month
Google Drive, Slack, Tableau, Miro, Zapier and more
On Smartsheet's Website
Yes, for unlimited members
$7 per month
Slack, Microsoft Outlook, HubSpot, Salesforce, Timely, Google Drive and more
On ClickUp's Website
- ClickUp : Best for agile development teams
- monday.com : Best for startups on a tight budget
- Asana : Best for collaboration tools
- Zoho Projects : Best for integrations
- Smartsheet : Best for workflow automation
- Notion : Best for content creators
- Teamwork.com : Best for Client-Facing Service Providers
- Wrike : Best for artificial intelligence (AI) features
- Jira : Best for product development teams
- Confluence : Best for Whiteboard Notes
- Airtable : Best for Data-Driven Companies
- Trello : Best for Kanban-Style Boards
- Coda : Best for Form Creation
- Todoist : Best for Task Management
- TeamGantt : Best for Gantt Chart Creation
Why You Can Trust Forbes Advisor Small Business
The Forbes Advisor Small Business team is committed to bringing you unbiased rankings and information with full editorial independence. We use product data, hands-on testing, strategic methodologies and expert insights to inform all of our content to guide you in making the best decisions for your business journey.
Learn More: How We Test Project Management Software
- 22 providers evaluated
- 34 metrics applied to each provider
- 7 weighted categories for scoring
- 680 data points collected
- 130-plus hours testing software
Best for Agile Development Teams
Starting price
(billed annually)
Integrations
Collaboration tools
Comments, @mentions, real-time edits
ClickUp is best for teams that rely on Scrum for product development. While it includes all the features you would expect from a great project management app, it goes further with templates and features that allow for an Agile software development process. Plans with these features start at free for startup teams and increase to $12 per member per month (if billed annually) for multiple teams.
General Features
ClickUp’s feature offering is robust. It offers collaboration tools (such as real-time editing, mentions, calendar sync, and role creation and permissions), preset and custom automation recipes, reporting dashboards, project-tracking tools (such as checklists, timelines, Gantt charts, Kanban boards and dependencies) and over 1,000 integrations. Use templates or customize dashboards so your team works on its own terms.
It also offers advanced task management, making it one of the best task management software options on the market. In my opinion, because of its advanced features. When testing ClickUp, I appreciated the clean layout of the dashboard. It was easy for me to find tasks I needed to complete, comments I’d been tagged in and which to-dos were most important to other people (in the Trending section). I don’t personally use Scrum to manage projects but ClickUp’s Scrum tools made it easy to run sprints and retros.
James Wilkinson, CEO and co-founder of Balance One Supplements, saw a lot of success from using ClickUp: “We had nothing but a Frankensteinian collection of spreadsheets, email chains and siloed communication. Since then, ClickUp has changed everything for us. The results have been dramatic: Before ClickUp, our product development process often suffered from bottlenecks. We would be reaching out to designers and engineers to get information on project status or request changes, and it would take seven to 10 days for us to get a response. It wasn’t uncommon to have missed deadlines and misunderstandings with people on our team. Since implementing ClickUp, we’ve reduced project completion times by 40%. This translates directly to increased output: We are now able to launch 20% more new product campaigns per month.”
Additional Features
I tend to prefer more visual representation of tasks, which is why I like Kanban and Gantt charts. With that said, I also appreciate linear representation, so I wasn’t too sure about the mind mapping tool but after trying it I found it was much easier than I expected (I wasn’t playing in an open field because there are still boundaries in ClickUp). I also really liked ClickUp’s reporting section because it caters to almost everyone: It includes charts, graphs and numbers.
As an individual user, the free plan from ClickUp was serviceable for my needs. I don’t think I’d ever need to upgrade because I tend to stick to a waterfall style of project management. With that said, $7 per user for the Unlimited plan might be worth it for the unlimited integrations and custom fields. The Business plan seems better for a more established and bigger team that needs timesheets and workload management.
Customer Service
If you’re like me and you work at odd hours of the day or night (sometimes the wee hours are the most creative), 24/7 support is handy. However, ClickUp’s promise of 24/7 support is a little misleading in my opinion. You have 24/7 access to the ClickUp help center, not to support agents. Plus, live chat support (there is no phone support) is only available to paid plan users. The chatbot is helpful but it isn’t perfect. When looking for actual support hours, I didn’t get my answer. So I requested a live agent and ClickUp was a bit buggy when connecting me (it never connected).
It’s rare that I use a mobile app for project or task management, but it is nice to have when I don’t want to pull out my laptop. I was able to easily respond to comments, check progress of tasks I’d assigned and create reminders for myself (or others). Not all features on the browser or desktop app are mirrored on the mobile app, but I doubt I’d want to use a whiteboard feature or Gantt chart from my phone.
Learn more: Read our ClickUp review .
Who should use it:
With robust features, ClickUp is great for any team looking for advanced project management capabilities. But, it is best for companies with Scrum Agile product development, marketing or sales teams.
- Free forever plan for individuals
- Over 1,000 integrations
- Advanced task management
- Pre-built templates
- Top tiers can get pricey for small businesses
- Time tracking can be glitchy
- Can be overwhelming for new users
Decision Factor | Score | Scoring Weight | Expert Take |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
Best for Startups on a Tight Budget
$9 per seat per month, billed annually
(minimum of three seats)
Zoom, Google Docs, Salesforce, Slack and more
Document collaboration and comments
Regardless of budget limitation, monday.com offers something for everyone. Even if you are working on a team of two with no budget, monday.com can help you get your project done on time and with limited risk. If you are a small two-person team, you can enjoy monday.com for free. If you’re part of a growing team, use advanced project-tracking features, automations and integrations for as little as $9 to $19 per team member per month, if billed annually (minimum of three seats per plan).
Along with most project management software today, monday.com offers multiple project views, so it’s keeping up with its competitors. In my experience with monday.com, I found I preferred its table view for managing single projects. The color coding of statuses, customization of columns and inclusion of headshots or initials helped me know where each task stood and who was responsible—at a glance. In fact, the Kanban view was too cluttered for my taste because monday.com tries to give you all the fields in one card.
Jeffrey Weide, a project management expert and our advisory board member, likes the platform’s user experience: “It’s visually appealing and with UX designed for end users. It’s a flexible tool for a variety of processes and tasks for integrated teams.”
Creating automations was an easy task. It’s as simple as filling out fields to determine if this happens, then this happens, or condition triggers and actions. I was able to quickly create automated workflows for redundant work so I could focus on completing other work.
I also appreciated how easy it was to read reports but options are limited. The only way to see your data any way you want is to upgrade to the Enterprise plan and I don’t have the budget for that (which is fine because I don’t love creating pivot tables anyway). What I don’t love is that advanced features are mostly locked behind the higher-priced plans. In short: Love the automations; don’t love that they’re on the Standard plan and up.
We named monday.com one of the best free project management apps available, and it’s definitely a free all-in-one work management solution I’d choose for myself if all I needed were task and project management. However, its pricing structure could be frustrating for small teams that want to upgrade.
The free version is only good for two people, but paid plans have a three-person minimum, so you’re looking at paying at least $27 per month for the entry-level plan. Then, you have to purchase seats in five-seat increments up to 30 and then in 10-seat increments. So, it can get pricey.
Similar to ClickUp, monday.com offers 24/7 support but paid plan users do have access to live chat (not just a chatbot). You also have the option to request a call from an agent if nothing in the help center answers your question. I had no problem finding answers in the help center. In fact, I was able to search for “chat” and find out that monday.com doesn’t have a built-in direct messaging solution.
Although the mobile app theoretically allows you to create tasks and manage your work, it doesn’t always work as intended. I had a few issues with the app getting out of sync with the browser version and I had to force quit a few times. When it did work, I could do the basics, similar to most other project management mobile apps.
Learn more: Read our monday.com review .
Who should use it:
Startup businesses on a shoestring budget should consider monday.com. It offers a free version and free trials so users can test more advanced tiers as their companies can afford them.
- Free version available
- Attractive, easily customizable interface
- Two-factor authentication for all plans
- Collaboration across organizations and external teams
- Gantt and Kanban charts
- Limited features in the lower tiers
- Cluttered boards for in-depth or complex projects
- Limited reporting options
Best for Collaboration Tools
$10.99 per user per month
Google Drive, Microsoft Teams, Outlook, Slack and DocuSign
Comments and messaging
One of the main selling points for choosing Asana over other project management software is its multitude of collaboration tools. Along with most PM software, Asana allows you to comment on tasks and projects, but it also includes in-app chats for one-on-one conversations or even group chats. Aside from making communication easier for your team, Asana also gives you multiple project views, including Kanban-style boards, calendars, workload views and more.
Jeffrey Weide, our advisory board member, also noted Asana’s collaboration tools: “Asana is a communication-focused project software that helps with task management, team collaboration and streamlined workflows.”
I want to give Asana credit for how it handles task dependencies. I like a big-picture view but I also tend to work in the trenches of a project, so it helps to see specific call-outs when a task is blocked by another task. Asana makes this clear with its “blocked by” language and then points directly to the issue. Sure, it’s calling out a mistake I made in planning, but I’m going to take it as constructive criticism, thank you very much. Creating tasks and connecting integrations are intuitive so I was able to use Asana for many years for personal projects.
When I needed more advanced features to manage multiple projects and people, I needed to upgrade to a paid plan. This was the only way to access automated workflows and timeline views with task dependencies. Asana is more customizable at this point with custom fields and project templates. If I worked with more external collaborators, I’d probably spring for the Advanced plan because I really liked the approval feature, which allowed me to accept, reject or return work to a user if I wanted changes; this saved me time because I didn’t have to send an email.
There are a couple of ways you could interpret collaboration in project management software and for Asana, it’s all about communication. I like that I can add comments on a task, tag users or even have a chat without having to pull up a different app. Asana meets most of my collaborative needs admirably, I think, but it does so through integrations. I added Google Chat to Asana, which made the most sense for me because I tend to work in a project management app and my Google Workspace. Sure, I felt silly talking to myself in Asana via Google Chat, but this is how I test software.
The free plan from Asana worked well for me but only for small projects. The Starter plan is pricier than other project management software I’ve used but it offers a lot of features I needed for more advanced project planning, so I think it was worth the cost. I’d likely only upgrade to the Advanced plan if I was running an agency and I required proofing and portfolio management.
When you opt for a paid plan, Asana automatically sets your seats at five users, which might seem a bit misleading. I was able to edit the seats and choose monthly or annual payment but there is a minimum of two users for the Starter plan, which isn’t clear on Asana’s pricing page. That means it would cost me nearly $22 per month (billed annually) if I opted for the Starter plan for just me (and one other seat).
Although I recognize that beggars can’t be choosers, I didn’t love that I had limited access to live customer support with Asana. I tried using the chatbot to get a hold of an agent but it only offers to submit a ticket to support. Still, Asana offers 24/7 support access through its help center and chatbot. Most of my questions were answered in the help articles, anyway.
As with most project management mobile apps, everything in Asana’s mobile app is smaller or there are fewer features compared to the desktop/browser version. I had a few issues with the widgets and had to refresh a few times to make them reappear. I liked that I could update a project’s status or respond to a comment on the fly but that’s about all I’d use Asana’s mobile app for.
Learn more: Read our Asana review .
Asana can work for any size business, but it’s most ideal for midsize companies that need to collaborate with clients or across departments.
- Free plan available
- Built-in messaging tools
- Cross-team collaboration task management
- Integrates with hundreds of other apps
- Pricier than industry average
- May be too complex at the start for some users
Best for Integrations
$4 per seat per month
Microsoft Teams, Slack, Dropbox, Google apps, Github, Zendesk, Zapier and Zoho apps
Comments and @mentions
If you consider the list of third-party app integrations Zoho Projects allows, it may seem short, but if you add on the whole of the Zoho software ecosystem, you’ll likely find all the tools you need. Businesses that are starting out may prefer to choose Zoho for all of its apps to round out their tech stack for easy integration. Plus, Zoho Projects (and its complementary apps) are typically priced below the industry average, so it’s affordable for all business sizes.
Jeffrey Weide, our advisory board member, also finds Zoho affordable: “Zoho Projects is cost-effective programming that can link into other Zoho programs and mobile options to help you integrate these tools on the go.”
Beyond the affordability and native ecosystem of apps, I found Zoho Projects to be one of the easiest project management tools I’ve used. The dashboard had all my tasks listed at the top, with more granular views of what needed my attention below. Rather than show me how I screwed up a project plan (it’s been known to happen; please, no judgment), it didn’t even allow me to create conflicting task dependencies. I know Zoho Projects doesn’t offer a ton of integrations but I also use Zoho Invoice, so I was able to easily create invoices for work I’d done in my project management platform.
I’m a big fan of the shortcuts Zoho Projects offers such as the time tracking feature that you can access from the Kanban board—I didn’t even have to click into a task to start a timer. In fact, the only things I didn’t love about this project management software were the few bugs I came across (I had an issue with assigning a task to a user that appeared as an option but the platform told me there were no matches) and customer support (more on that below).
As useful as the free plan is, Zoho Projects is much better if you upgrade because you gain access to so many more features. The templates and recurring tasks saved me so much time setting up projects but I tend to create projects similar to each other, so this made sense for me. Time tracking helps with figuring out billable hours and I was able to use Zia, the AI chatbot. Zia was a bit like a virtual assistant for me by retrieving data when I asked for it.
As much as I like Zoho Projects’ free plan, I’d say its Premium plan offers one of the best value-to-cost ratios. For $4 per user per month (billed annually), I’d happily subscribe to it to unlock a lot of advanced features, though I was disappointed to see workflow rules are only available on the Enterprise plan. That said, the Enterprise plan only costs $9 per user per month (billed annually), which is even cheaper than Asana’s entry-level plan.
Unfortunately, my experience with Zoho Projects’ customer service wasn’t as positive as my experience using the platform. My attempts to get in contact were difficult, at best. The first time I couldn’t get through to anyone because I tried to contact support outside of their working hours (I never did get the actual range). So the 24/7 support it claims has more to do with the chatbot, help center and ticket submission.
All things considered, Zoho Projects’ support isn’t bad; I did get a response to my ticket within 24 hours and most answers can be found in the help articles.
Perhaps it was the recent update, but I had more bugs with the mobile app than the browser version of Zoho Projects. The app crashed for me a few times and I couldn’t easily access support tickets from the app. I expected the mobile app to not have as many features, so keeping that in mind, it’s fine for quick updates to tasks. I wouldn’t use it as my primary project management tool though.
Zoho Projects is a great pick for small businesses that want to integrate other Zoho apps. It’s especially useful if you’re just starting out and you want to stick to the Zoho ecosystem, as the integrations will be seamless.
- Connects to all Zoho apps and big-name software
- Offers a free plan
- Affordable paid plans
- No user minimum
- Includes built-in chat
- Lots of customization options
- Customer support is limited
- Must create project templates
- Storage space is limited (may require integration)
Best for Workflow Automations
Google Drive, Slack, Tableau, Miro, and Zapier
Real-time doc collaboration
Smartsheet is similar to Airtable in that it’s primarily a spreadsheet project management tool, but it comes with features to enhance it. It’s a highly customizable application, so you can use premade templates to create the type of project you need and then tweak the details to better suit your needs. Its workflow automation is available to all plan users and includes triggers, alerts, reminders and assignments.
Given that Smartsheet is essentially an enhanced spreadsheet application, it’s the automations that would sell me on signing up for it. One of the things that drives me crazy about collaborative spreadsheets is that I have no idea when someone’s changed something. With Smartsheet, I was able to create an automated alert for whenever someone added or changed a row. In hindsight, this isn’t the best idea unless you love constant alerts. But hey, I got what I wanted. And it was easy to create that automation.
A lot of my work requires me to do repetitive tasks, so I use copy and paste often. With Smartsheet though, I could set up rows with conditional formatting so I could apply the same format to each row. This cut down so much on the manual work I was doing so I could focus my attention on, well, other manual work that no project management tool can help with.
Another thing I liked about Smartsheet was its project dashboard. When I have to show stakeholders where I am with a project and how much work is left, I don’t want to create a new report every time. The dashboard shows automatically calculated completions and it’s easy to read, whether your stakeholders prefer pie charts or bar graphs.
There are a couple of features that are nice to have but only available on the higher-priced plans. I found it was much easier to manage a team and their work with the workload management feature. I could see my team’s workload in one window, determine who had too much going on, and then reassign a task from a project timeline.
In fact, Smartsheet offers a lot of additional features that help add functionality to its simple spreadsheet platform, but I don’t love that they’re all kind of à la carte. Most of these advanced features for data synchronization, resource management and advanced automations are costly add-ons.
Jeffrey Weide, a project management professional of 20 years, appreciates Smartsheet for its customization features: “There is a great drag-and-drop and customization element to their dashboards that is helpful if you are starting a PMO or other function that requires status updates to leaders across remote or disperse environments.”
The free plan only allows you two sheets and it lacks forms, template sets, API calls, proofing and other advanced features, so it’s really only suitable for my personal projects. I do like that there are 100 automations per month on the free plan. However, the Pro plan only costs $7 per user per month if you pay annually and it unlocks a lot of the advanced features from Smartsheet.
On one hand, Smartsheet is easy to use. On the other hand, it’s a complex system and I needed help figuring out a few things at times, but live support wasn’t readily available. I had to make do with the help center. In fact, there’s no live support for the free or entry-level plan. It’s an add-on that costs more and is only available to Business and Enterprise plan users.
With all that said, the help center is useful and I was able to figure out how to do something without having to resort to sending an email or spending more money.
There are a few frustrations I’ve had with Smartsheet’s mobile app, such as project planning, but I think that’s just because of the medium. I like that I can access reports easily and it’s scaled well for my phone. Plus, the offline feature is fantastic for when you don’t have service or a Wi-Fi connection. And the times I’ve used the barcode scanner, it was quick and easy.
Learn more: Read our Smartsheet review .
Project teams that prefer spreadsheets for data and project management are likely to take to Smartsheet quickly. The automated workflows, forms and proofing features make it much easier to get work done quickly and efficiently, whether you’re collaborating with teammates, clients or both.
- Workflow automation for all plans
- Intuitive for spreadsheet users
- Real-time commenting
- Card, Gantt and grid views
- No live support
- Pricing adds up with time tracking and resource management add-ons
Best for Content Creators
$8 per user per month
Slack, Zapier, Jira, Asana, Google Drive, and IFTTT
Real-time document collaboration, comments and @mentions
Notion offers one interface to handle all of your content creation projects from start to finish. Not only can you design your content from the platform, but you can also create checklists, store your documents or rich content and share your content from one platform. With a free personal plan and small business paid plans that increase to just $8 per month per user (when billed annually), even freelance content creators can afford this luxury.
Notion is a wide-open playground for writers, but I appreciated the templates available because I need boundaries. Using Notion this way made it much easier for me to create project plans and wikis. Once I was comfortable with the tools and menus, I started to think of all the ways I could use it to my advantage. When I was freelancing, I would’ve loved this platform to create a knowledge base with unlimited files for myself and my virtual assistant so we could easily share samples of my work with clients.
Carl Rodriguez is the founder and owner of NX Auto Transport and he shared with us how using Notion has helped his company:
“Notion stands out for its versatility and adaptability. While many users see it as a note-taking tool, it can be so much more. One unique feature I love is its ability to create interconnected databases. For example, I use it to manage both my project tasks and my team’s performance reviews. By linking these databases, I can see how individual tasks contribute to larger goals and track progress over time. This level of customization and integration is not something you find in many other tools.”
Karolina Gorska, a Senior HR Coordinator, has found success using Notion for HR-related work and as a CRM tool. “The first tool I’ve ever used for project management was Notion. We produce a lot of content as HR and Notion is especially helpful with that. I like the interface, as I’m not a very technical person and I still find it incredibly easy to get around in. Notion is also a great place to keep and build your CRM. One of the most important things about it for me is that it lets you tag each entry. This way I could create groups that are simple to filter out, according to my needs.”
One of the best things about Notion is the guest access it allows. Even the free plan allows up to 10 guests on your board. I really like Notion for its collaborative features. An upgrade to the Business plan unlocks collaborative workspaces, which is where the real magic happens, in my opinion.
I found this incredibly helpful when I was working with a colleague on a project where we both needed to brainstorm. We were able to work on the same block in real time. It’s an uncommon feature for a project management platform.
I’m also a fan of Notion’s AI assistant because it reduces the number of programs you have open and helps you create whatever you want in Notion. For example, rather than using a search engine to help me develop a content plan, I tried using Notion’s AI and got a few ideas. It’s also a fast way to find an obscure piece of data. I do these kinds of searches all the time in Slack because I remember I had a conversation with someone (but who?) on some date (when was that though?) but all I remember is the term “oscillating ostrich.”
I like Notion’s free plan, but it’s unlikely I’d use it as my primary project management tool because it’s so limiting. The thing is, I’d say the same about the entry-level plan because you really get the same features as the free plan but without limits and the addition of live support.
I’d rather spring for the Business plan that includes more security features and collaborative workspaces. And Notion’s AI assistant is great but it’s $8 per user per month in addition to the plan price, billed annually, which ups the cost considerably.
It’s nice to see that Notion uses its platform, too—at least that’s how it appears with Notion’s help center. Unless you subscribe to a paid plan, the help center is the only support you’ll get but it’s a useful knowledge base. I had to use it to figure out why I couldn’t delete an unused workspace (it turns out you can’t do that on mobile). Chances are you won’t need live support because the available documentation is pretty expansive.
I like that most project management software offers a mobile app but it’s never going to be the same as using the platform on your desktop or a browser. Notion’s mobile app includes a lot of the same features but the toolbar looks different. To me, it was a bit like learning a new version of the same thing (or learning two Latin languages) because of the differences and similarities.
I mostly used the mobile version for note-taking and quick status updates. I liked that I was able to add my workspace as a widget so I didn’t have to go through menus in the app to find the area I access most often.
Learn more: Read our Notion review .
Notion would be the best fit for content creators who are solopreneurs or have small teams.
- Free version with unlimited pages
- Highly customizable
- Share with guests and team members
- Unique productivity features, such as habit tracking
- Small business plans lack security features
- Mobile app can be tedious
Best for Client-Facing Service Providers
Teamwork.com.
$9.99 per user per month, billed annually
(minimum of three users)
Dropbox, Google Drive, SharePoint, QuickBooks, and Microsoft Project
In-app chat, @mentions and guest collaborators
Teamwork makes working with and managing client relationships seamless. Paid plans offer unlimited collaborators. This means service-oriented freelancers, consultants and agencies can work directly with clients within the interface to create a deliverable that uniquely meets client needs and expectations.
The biggest benefit I found using Teamwork as my project management platform is that it’s set up ideally for an agency. When working with clients, I need to keep information about those clients separate and I’m able to do that with Teamwork’s client view. With the option to add collaborators, I could share project progress with clients and not risk them changing anything or accidentally deleting something.
Another reason you might want to go with Teamwork for project management is if you need billing and invoicing features. Although being able to offer rate sheets and create invoices is uncommon for project management software, it’s a core feature of Teamwork. I could track billable hours and turn those into invoices for clients, which makes it clear why this software is meant for agencies.
Michael Ashley, the founder of AshleyInsights, likes the features offered by Teamwork. “Teamwork is great for small businesses. It offers a wide range of features, including task management, team collaboration, time tracking and project reporting. I believe Teamwork is especially useful for larger projects that require detailed planning and coordination among team members. One standout feature that I found with Teamwork, was its Gantt chart functionality, which provided a visual representation of project timelines and dependencies, making it easier for me to track progress and identify potential bottlenecks.”
I also liked that you don’t have to integrate a chat program to communicate with your team in Teamwork; there’s a built-in chat feature. Though I do find some of the pre-built reports helpful, not all of them are necessary in my opinion. I suppose I could use them to share information with stakeholders who don’t want to look at project views but I found time, risk and planned vs actual reports the most helpful for my needs.
I’m never going to be a fan of user minimums or caps and Teamwork employs this across all of its plans. The free plan only allows up to five users, though that is generous, I’ll admit. To upgrade to the entry-level paid plan, you’re looking to spend nearly $30 per month (billed annually) for three users. Solopreneurs wouldn’t get the biggest bang for their buck here; however, Teamwork makes up for this by offering some advanced features even on the lowest-tier plan.
Teamwork offers live chat or email support, along with its help center. Although I was able to find most of the answers to my questions from its support documentation, I did reach out for help one evening. I didn’t get a response the same night but I heard back from an agent the next morning. Support hours are 7 a.m. to midnight ET on weekdays, so I was a bit surprised it took nearly 12 hours for them to get back to me. Still, the agent was helpful and friendly.
One of the frustrating things for me about mobile project management apps is that they almost always have incomplete or buggy features. I was able to perform basic tasks using the app but it lacks some functionality compared to the browser version and the user experience isn’t the best. I found the app’s navigation to be a bit clunky, but to be fair, I find most project management mobile apps suffer from the same issue.
Learn more: Read our Teamwork review .
Client-facing professional service providers and agencies will find Teamwork uniquely meets their needs.
- Unlimited collaborators on paid plans
- Free 30-day trial on all plans
- Unlimited clients
- Abundant storage on paid plans
- Budget tracking
- Client-management features such as invoicing
- Few integrations
- Very limited free plan
- Pricier than many competitors
- Limited security features in lower tiers
Best for Artificial Intelligence Features
$9.80 per user per month
Google Drive, Slack, Salesforce, and QuickBooks
Request forms and @mentions
Wrike is a popular project management solution for all types and sizes of businesses, but it stands out with its commitment to automation with artificial intelligence (AI) assistance. There’s a whole category of features devoted to “smart” actions, including search, replies (via mobile) and text recognition. Nearly all of the AI-assisted features are available on all plans (even the free plan). Only AI-assisted project risk prediction is limited to the higher-paid tiers.
Jeffrey Weide, our advisory board member, mentioned why he likes Wrike: “It’s a project software focused on security, complex projects and high control. It’s a great option for larger PMOs or enterprises.”
At Wrike’s core are task and project management features, and I had zero issues learning how to use them. I’m a big fan of the customization of dashboards so I could create my personal “home page” for projects; I just chose the widgets I wanted, such as my tasks, tasks I was following and overdue tasks. The project views look and work as you’d expect, with drag-and-drop functionality on the board view and table view with color-coded status and priority tags.
I rarely notice role assignment features but I tried to invite a collaborator to work on a single task and I couldn’t set permissions at the task level. No big deal though; I just created a project with the one-off tasks and allowed collaborators access to that project only. For simple projects, Wrike worked well for me because I only needed a Kanban board to manage them.
Although I could go on and on about all of Wrike’s added value with its integrations and advanced analytics, I want to tell you about its AI features. They’re available for all plans (except risk prediction) and it’s a bit like having a built-in ChatGPT.
It was so easy to brainstorm and fill in with project plans and task descriptions. It wasn’t perfect by any means, and I certainly wouldn’t use the suggestions without adding specific instructions for my projects, but it was nice to have the assistance. As a caveat, it is worth noting that these features are still experimental right now.
The free plan may be enough for you regardless of team size because Wrike doesn’t limit your user count. And you still get most of the AI features, which is rare among most project management software that offer AI tools. However, it was a bit too limiting for my needs when I had a complex project to run.
For Gantt charts, better security and integrations, I’d have to upgrade to a paid plan. And most collaboration and resource planning tools require you to upgrade to the Business plan, which costs $24.80 per user per month (billed annually) and requires at least five users.
Support seems to have changed a bit recently. Many users have reported that live chat and requests for callbacks don’t work at all. Others have noted that email support is backed up by almost two weeks.
In my experience, I didn’t even have the option to contact support (I was using a free trial); I was only given the option to request a call from sales. I get why Wrike would do this but in its help center, there’s a note that even trial users should have access to live chat support. Any time I tried to log in to my account to contact support, I got an error and reloading only sent me back to my Wrike dashboard.
Wrike’s mobile app isn’t great but it isn’t the worst experience I’ve had either. In my opinion, it isn’t simple enough to be useful on a phone. Using a Gantt chart on a small screen is difficult, at best. And it takes too many clicks to get to a task so it isn’t a time-saving option. With all that said, I liked that I could stay on top of comments in real time.
Learn more: Read our Wrike review .
Wrike provides a lot of value for its free and low-priced plan users with its AI-assisted tools for mobile and desktop apps. However, the richest feature sets are limited by higher pricing, user minimums and added costs, which means Wrike is likely best for larger companies with bigger budgets.
- No user minimum on free plan
- Custom fields and workflows on all paid accounts
- Lots of AI-assisted features on all plans
- Two-user minimum on lowest plan
- User maximums on paid plans
- No real-time reports or time tracking on free or lowest plan
- Job roles and budgeting only available on highest-paid plan
Best for Product Development Teams
$8.15 per user per month (estimated cost)
Slack, Zendesk, Outlook, Google Sheets and GitHub
Given Jira’s history as a bug-tracking tool, it makes sense that it’s best used by product teams and developers. However, it is versatile enough to work for any type of project manager who needs to plan, assign, track and manage tasks and projects. Features such as roadmaps and dependencies make it clear that Jira is best suited for product developers.
Jeffrey Weide, our advisory board member, also sees Jira as a robust tool: “Jira is a great project management program to help with task and issue tracking, agile sprints and reporting for project progress.”
Although I’m not a product developer, I can appreciate the simplicity of Jira’s project management platform. Even the free plan includes most of what I need to manage a project, whether I want to use a Kanban board, list view or a timeline. In fact, I was kind of surprised to see a Gantt chart on Jira. Creating dependencies is as easy in Jira as any other Gantt chart software; I was able to simply drag and drop the link icon up or down to a task.
What I don’t love about Jira is the user experience and how I tend to interact with project management software. From the list view, I couldn’t just click on a task name to open the task, it would just allow me to edit the task name. Same with the timeline view; I had to click on the bar on the timeline, not the name of the task. To me, that’s not intuitive. But it didn’t take long to retrain my brain.
If anything is difficult about Jira, it’s the language it uses. Not everyone who needs project management software knows what issues or epics are but Agile teams will be familiar with the terminology. I didn’t have trouble using any of Jira’s core features but I could see how the issue feature would be a little confusing. With that said, creating a custom issue type is easy; I was able to drag and drop the fields I wanted to use to collect the information I’d need.
Other than commenting on tasks and using @mentions to bring others into a discussion, there isn’t a lot of collaboration in Jira. That’s likely because Confluence is Jira’s complementary program that brings real-time collaboration into the project management platform.
One of the best things about Jira is that it offers a feature-packed free plan for up to 10 users. I was able to create multiple project boards, plus automations, custom workflows and backlog management. It is a bit limiting as far as automations and user roles are concerned.
A Standard plan billed monthly requires at least 10 users and starts at $81.50 per month, or about $8.15 per user. This plan has the same features as the Free plan, but offers more security and admin features, such as advanced roles and permissions, audit logs and support during business hours.
I was a little surprised that Jira didn’t include a live chat option in its platform but the help center articles were useful for me. The best support options are only available to the high-tier plans, so free plan and entry-plan users are stuck with community forums or ticket support.
I think the phrase “your mileage may vary” works here for the mobile app experience. For me, Jira’s mobile app is easy to use for basic functionality. I had no trouble updating tasks and issues. Now if I wanted to create a whole new project and adjust settings, that’s something I’d do on the browser-based platform. I did run into a few errors and issues with tools not appearing as I expected (my keyboard didn’t show up when I tried to search for something) but bugs happen.
Learn more: Read our Jira review .
Who should use it: Although Jira offers a free and low-cost entry-level plan, it’s most useful at the Premium level and it’s intended for dev teams that need task dependencies, high-level project and resource planning and roadmapping features.
- Most features available for all plan levels
- Integrates with popular dev tools, such as GitHub and Figma
- Manage resources with capacity planning (higher tiers)
- Limited support for lower-tier plans
- Complicated guest access allowance
Best for Whiteboard Notes
$6.05 per user per month
Team Files, MacrosSuite, Copy Page Tree, and Comala Publishing
Whiteboard, @mentions and collaborative documents
Confluence is a robust project management tool that has four plans to choose from, one of which is free forever. In the Free plan, you can have up to 10 users with one site. You get unlimited spaces and pages, and access to whiteboards, databases and macros. It’s a unique type of project management software and may work best as a complement to a more traditional project management system. There is access to a structured page tree organization, page versioning and use of the template library. You also get access to the multitude of apps and integrations compatible with Confluence.
Jeffrey Weide, our advisory board member, shared why he likes Confluence: “It’s great for teams needing to share repositories of information such as versioning, tasks and documentation. You’re able to directly tag people in comments or pages, plus you get the ability to link up to other programs like Azure DevOps or Aha.”
One of the ways in which I’ve used Confluence is as a knowledge base for my work. I create style guides and documentation that I need to share with others who work with me. Confluence makes it easy for me to create these living documents and I’ve had editors collaborate with me on them.
The whiteboard feature is great. It’s so easy to work with others remotely on the same whiteboard and Confluence gives you standard shapes, sticky notes and emojis to use on the boards. The most notable features missing are traditional project and task management related.
Although Confluence isn’t a standard project management tool, it offers lots of templates to help you create projects for backlogs, budgets and project schedules. The templates helped me to create projects that work the way I expect but I still felt like the software was missing elements. It makes sense if you realize that Confluence is meant to work in conjunction with Jira. It’s really a collaboration tool that works well with the project management tools in Jira.
Given that I would use Confluence sparingly for brainstorming and documentation, I’d likely stick with the free plan. However, the Standard plan unlocks permissions and external collaboration. But that would cost $600 per year for up to 10 users (even if you only choose the software for a single user).
Support for Confluence is similar to Jira, which tracks because they’re both under the Atlassian umbrella. So, free plan users only get access to help files and community forums. I used some of the documentation to help me with the proofing feature.
Confluence’s app is usable enough, but I needed to wait a beat or two before doing anything because it runs slowly. I was able to comment on posts and tag others easily enough. I also like that I can upload images from my phone, which may be the only reason I’d use it because it saves me the steps of uploading and downloading from a cloud storage service and then to Confluence.
Learn more: Read our full Confluence review .
Whiteboards are useful in project management because they allow brainstorming and community notes to be maintained. Confluence has an easy-to-access whiteboard tool that managers and team members can utilize at all times.
- User friendly
- Easily share code snippets
- Template flexibility
- Document creation can be tricky
- Pricing can get high for large organizations
Best for Data-Driven Companies
$20 per seat per month
Salesforce, Google Calendar, Facebook, Mailchimp, and Slack
Airtable is a supercharged spreadsheet that allows the integration and management of traditional and rich data points (such as photos, videos and other files). While it is most famous for its spreadsheet-like interface, it also allows for other project views, including Kanban card stacks and gallery, grid, calendar and Gantt/timeline views.
Perhaps the best thing about Airtable is how incredibly flexible and customizable it is. That leads me to the worst thing about Airtable: It’s so open-ended that it can be overwhelming to set it up to work exactly the way you want it. I especially like the advanced filtering options so I can find exactly what I need.
As far as core functionality goes, Airtable is easy enough for task and project management at the user level. At the admin level, I found it incredibly time-consuming and complex to set everything up the way my team needed it. Automations are useful for my needs in that I’m able to create a task with all the fields I need to track different things such as status, due date, assignee, editor, publish date and URL. I’m also able to set it up so a document is created in Google Drive with an outline.
With all that said above, Airtable is difficult to use to meet the varied needs of different teams. Not every team uses the same outlines, fields or statuses, and Airtable gets increasingly more complicated when you try to make it work for everyone.
Airtable has a forms feature that I think is helpful for collecting data from external collaborators. It also offers an easy-to-read dashboard that I’ve set up to track the data that is important to me. I can see at a glance which tasks are in which stages, so I know where I need to focus my attention.
I touched a bit earlier on the integration with Google Drive but it’s worth mentioning that Airtable also integrates with Dropbox and Salesforce, which is helpful for importing data. I think one of the most frustrating issues with Airtable is for users who have no admin powers. You’re at the mercy of whatever the admins decide to set up for you, so it might not be the best option for larger companies unless they allow workspaces for each team.
Jeffrey Weide, our project management expert, also notes that “AirTable also has unlimited data-entry use for things that can be used by non-licensed team members to contribute information. You can also easily create data collection forms for anonymous or authenticated users for staff/status updates or minor customer relationship management (CRM) jobs.”
Airtable is expensive compared to most project management software. The free plan is enough for me to use it as a solopreneur but for teams it costs $20 per user per month (billed annually), and that’s the low-priced plan. To get the best of Airtable (customization), choose a paid plan.
As a user, not admin, I submitted a ticket via the support bot in the app. There was no option to contact a live support agent directly, which to me is an inconvenience at times and an issue when you have a business-critical problem with Airtable. I was experiencing slow loading times and errors. I received an email to let me know that I would hear back from support in six hours or less, which is pretty much the majority of a workday, which I find unacceptable.
The best use of the Airtable mobile app, in my opinion, is for viewing reports and data. As far as updating records and tasks, I find it’s hit or miss. I’ve added new tasks but found it difficult to input all the data. This is partly because I’m trying to do work on a mobile phone and app and partly because Airtable didn’t build as much functionality in the mobile app as the browser-based app, which is standard for most project management software.
Learn more: Read our Airtable review .
Airtable is known for its ability to help companies easily import, track and visualize data (even rich data). This makes Airtable ideal for companies with projects centered on traditional spreadsheet-compatible data.
- Easy to use
- Easy-to-use templates for various project types
- Limited features in free plan
- Plans get expensive
- Clunky automation features
- Limited internal communication features available
Best for Kanban-Style Boards
$5 per user per month
Slack, Salesforce, Marketo, NetSuite, and Box
Trello is a Kanban board-style project management tool. It has four plans to choose from starting with the Free forever plan. This plan is perfect for individuals or very small teams looking to stay organized with their projects. It is iOS and Android compatible with respective mobile apps and has two-factor authentication.
Jeffrey Weide, our advisory board member, shared when he likes Trello: “Trello is a great product for those not requiring a full subscription service to manage tasks or projects. They offer a multitude of simple options that include Kanban boards and Gantt charts, plus can work with small groups. There are advanced features in their paid subscriptions as well.”
Full disclosure: I’ve used Trello for years for personal projects. It’s one of the easiest-to-use project management systems I’ve come across and I’ve introduced it to many people I’ve worked with who had never used project management software before. Creating a project and tasks is intuitive and moving a card from stage to stage with the drag-and-drop functionality is quick and easy.
The 10 boards I get on the free plan are plenty for me, and I have yet to run out of automations for my workflows. The only reasons I might upgrade are for the custom fields and unlimited guests on the entry-level plan. Bigger teams would probably do well with Trello’s Premium plan which offers more project views. The timeline view is as easy to use as the Kanban board (with drag-and-drop functionality here, too).
A Power-Up is just Trello’s name for an add-on and these are unlimited and free for all users (any cost goes to the third party, not Trello). I found I was able to bypass some of the advanced features available on higher-paid plans by using integrations instead. For example, there’s an export Power-Up that costs $6 per month (or $18 for a year), so if that’s all you need, it can be more affordable than upgrading to Trello’s Premium plan.
Trello is one of the most cost-effective project management solutions out there. The free plan is robust enough for my needs and it only costs $5 per user per month (billed annually) for the entry-level plan. Double that cost for the Premium plan and you’ll get most of the advanced features Trello offers and unlimited automations.
Atlassian is the parent company of Trello (along with Jira and Confluence), so you can expect the same type of support. Free plan users get access to help documentation and community support while paid plan users can submit tickets. Phone support is only available to Enterprise plan users.
I was able to set up Trello easily enough but I did use the community forums to ask about admin issues. I got an answer from community users the same day and a staff member the following day.
Trello’s mobile app is one of the few I’ve kept on my phone because I use it for personal projects. I’ve used it to track my out-of-state moves and my international travel. I was able to access all of my boards, tasks and comments easily. Adding and editing tasks was easy. I also like that Trello includes quick actions so I can add an attachment or checklist without having to go through menus to find the features.
Learn more: Read our full Trello review .
Trello’s Kanban-style board with drag-and-drop features makes organizing a project and collaboration easy. It’s intuitive to use, and teams respond well to its format.
- Highly visual design
- Drag-and-drop usage
- Simplifies task and project management
- Limited free version
- Scalability is costly
Best for Form Creation
$10 per month per doc maker
Slack, Zoom, Jira, and GitHub
Collaborative documents, comments, @mentions and forms
Coda makes collaboration easy with an interface that feels like a doc but engages with collaborators like an app. There is a free plan you can start with, but if you upgrade to a paid plan, you only pay for document creators—editors are considered free collaborators. All plans get unlimited forms for collecting information.
At the core of Coda are collaborative documents and forms. There are plenty of templates to give you a quick start with the project management software. I chose a project dashboard because it makes the most sense for my team. It must be a lightweight system because it loads quickly. This is where I’ll admit I didn’t expect there to be any task or project management features in Coda and technically there aren’t; rather, you have to build the functionality yourself (or use a template).
When I first started with Coda, it seemed a bit too complicated to use but it’s really easy to edit layouts and documents to make it do what you want. To me, it’s like a cross between Notion and Airtable but much easier to use. Also, I found I could make as many documents and forms as I’d like on the free plan; the biggest limitation is I could only make big docs (50-plus objects and 1,000-plus rows) for myself. Smaller docs you can share with editors as you’d like.
Carl Rodriguez, founder and owner of NX Auto Transport, shared his thoughts with us on using Coda for his business:
“Coda excels in its ability to create interactive documents. It’s like combining a spreadsheet and a word processor but with the power to create dynamic workflows. One lesser-known feature I’ve found incredibly useful is the ability to embed live data from other sources. For instance, I can pull in real-time sales data from a Google Sheet and display it directly in my project planning document. This allows me to make informed decisions without switching between multiple tools or tabs.”
Along with most project management software, Coda offers integrations but similar to Trello, it calls them something different; in this case, they’re “packs.” There are hundreds of these connectors and the options range from communication tools like Zoom and Slack to inventory management systems and payment processors. Of course, they’re only available on paid plans.
There are AI tools included with all plans but the free plan only allows you to try it out with a single question, edit or automation. Each tier gets 2,000 to 12,000 AI tool credits (it works similarly to automations in other software). It’s a bit like having Grammarly or ChatGPT in the app with you.
I’m considering using the free version of Coda for personal projects because I like how customizable it is and the limitations aren’t that limiting. Given that Coda only charges per document maker, it can be an affordable option.
The Pro plan starts at $10 per user per month (billed annually) but you can share editable documents with as many users as you’d like. Think of it like admins and users; you pay for admins but not users, which makes this an affordable option. The Team plan costs $30 per doc creator per month (billed annually) but you also get advanced packs, private folders and document locking.
Customer support via live chat isn’t instant. Usually, there’s an estimation of how long an agent will take before they get back to you though (for me, it was two hours). The chatbot was actually helpful, though, because it directed me to an article that answered my question. All plans get access to live chat and email support but for in-document support, you need to be on a Team or Enterprise plan.
Unfortunately, the functionality of Coda’s browser-based app doesn’t translate well to mobile. I was able to edit my documents but it was a tedious process. Plus it was difficult to impossible to modify layouts. If I continue to use Coda, I’ll only use the mobile app for quick text additions or to answer a collaborator if I’m tagged and nowhere near my laptop.
When you want customized forms to gather information, Coda is the pick of the platforms. It allows you to create and brand forms to make information gathering straightforward.
- Free plan includes useful templates
- Powerful collaboration tool
- Easily monitor team performance
- More expensive than other platforms
- Difficult to use
Best for Task Management
$4 per month
Google Calendar, iCalendar, Toggl Track, Time Doctor and PomoDone
Comments and voice notes
Todoist is a great way to stay on track with personal and team projects. It’s similar to any other project management software in that you can create tasks, subtasks and multiple projects, and assign tasks to other users. There’s also an AI assistant to help reduce manual work. There’s a free plan available but it’s fairly limited.
Getting started with Todoist is easy with its walk-through as soon as you sign up for an account. For the most part, I found it intuitive to create a project and task but that’s where it ended. As I set priorities and added subtasks, the app seemed to change the priorities of my tasks. It also took several clicks for me to add labels; after creating a label, Todoist prompted me to add tasks to that label, which is not how I like to work. I wanted to create a bunch of labels that I know I’d use but I had to exit one label and click on the menu option to create a new one.
Adding a task to a board in Todoist is easy but along with filters, it’s tedious. You can’t really use keyboard shortcuts to set up a project. I had to click a lot to add due dates, labels and to add the task; tab and enter don’t work to move from field to field or to save a task. I also wanted more control over how tasks are treated in each column; for example, if I move a card into the final column, it should mark the task as complete. As it is, if you mark a task as done, it’s just gone to the archive.
Michael Ashley, the found of AshleyInsights, shared his thoughts on Todoist with us:
“Todoist is excellent for its simplicity and ease of use. I like its straightforward interface and intuitive task management features. It’s great for small business owners who need a no-frills task management tool that helps them stay organized and focused on their priorities. One feature I particularly liked about Todoist was its natural language input, which allowed me to quickly add tasks and set deadlines without navigating through multiple menus.”
The AI assistant can help by suggesting tasks or breaking down a task to make it easier to hit your goal or deadline. I tried using the AI assistant to apply filters to tasks but it didn’t work for some reason. Reminders are a nice-to-have feature but they’re only available on paid plans.
Todoist’s Beginner plan is free for up to five users, so it’s a good pick for ultra-small teams. However, you only get up to five personal projects, which isn’t the best for complex or collaborative projects. I’d likely use it for myself if I stick with Todoist.
The Pro plan is affordable at $4 per user per month (billed annually) and allows up to five people but this also includes the AI assistant, calendar views and up to 150 custom filters. If you need Todoist for a whole company, the Business plan is the most viable option at $6 per user per month (billed annually) because it has far fewer limitations and all the features available.
Todoist offers a help center so you can problem-solve on your own but if you need extra help, you can submit a ticket. There is no live support available. After a series of questions to categorize my question, I was able to submit a ticket. There was no estimation of when I would get a response but I did get an email from an agent about 10 hours later with instructions on how to use AI effectively.
If I were to keep using Todoist I might do so just to track my personal tasks. The paid versions can act as a reminder or habit app, so I like it for that purpose. However, I ran into some bugs with this app randomly closing. For project management, it leaves a lot to be desired. Sorting tasks seems to be broken at times (I could only sort once but after exiting the app and trying again, it worked) and it just feels like I have to find loopholes or workarounds to make the app do what I want.
Learn more: Read our full Todoist review .
Staying on track is the key to project efficiency and completion. Todoist is ideal for keeping organizations on task with ease.
- Inexpensive plans
- Easy to learn
- Seamlessly access tasks from various devices
- Lacks off-line functionality
- Not all features are intuitive to use
Best for Gantt Chart Creation
$19 per month per manager
Slack, Trello, Dropbox and Zapier
TeamGantt is primarily a Gantt chart project management tool that’s easy to use, even for beginners. In my opinion, the free plan is only viable for a solopreneur. The paid plans are much less limited with reporting, workload management, priority support and portfolio management.
If you’re just looking for Gantt charts, TeamGantt could be a good option for managing a single small project. The core features are included on all plans, so I was able to effectively manage a project with tasks, subtasks, dependencies and milestones. The dynamic Gantt chart is so easy to use to add tasks, set dependencies and track a project’s progress.
Admittedly, I’m familiar with Gantt charts but I prefer Kanban- and list-style project management. With that said, I’d say TeamGantt is easier to use than most Gantt chart software. My biggest complaint is that I can’t click on a taskbar on a chart or the line to the left to open a task, so I have to slow my roll with clicking to actually open a task window.
Erwin Vico, CEO of Slick Cash Loans, has found TeamGantt to be the best project management software for his company:
“We have been using TeamGantt for a few years, and we find it effective and efficient for implementing projects. The flexibility that it has for collaboration is excellent. TeamGantt is the best tool we have found to easily build and maintain project plans, with automation built in for resource planning. Being a browser-based tool allows for collaboration and seamless across our project management team as well as clients and other departments. The built-in integrations and open API allow us to sync our work in Team Gantt with other tools we use in our business. My favorite part is that the Team Gantt team is always accessible for customer support and working through user-voted enhancements.”
Beyond the basics are workload management, baselines, time tracking and hourly estimating. Time tracking is easy enough to use and I like that I can view multiple projects at once. Another great feature, which is common with Gantt chart software, is the ability to see planned versus actual time.
And although I’ve seen workload management handled in a similar way, I like how TeamGantt handles it. The workload window is minimized by default but you can pull it up at any time and it just resides below your project. This helps you reallocate resources without having to jump from screen to screen.
Depending on the size of your business, TeamGantt could get pricey; the Lite plan costs $19 per manager per month (billed annually). You do get five collaborators per manager though, so it’s affordable in that sense. To get the more advanced features, which I think are necessary for fully formed teams, you should consider the Pro plan, which costs $49 per manager per month (billed annually).
There is a phone number on TeamGantt’s website but it doesn’t seem to be for customer support. Rather there’s live chat and email support should you need it. Our experience was quick and our question was answered thoughtfully. In fact, the agent who responded in less than five minutes stuck around to answer a follow-up question.
Given that the mobile app is named “TeamGantt Companion” in the app store, you should probably expect it to be as such. I certainly don’t expect full functionality of a Gantt chart platform on mobile. I did just fine using it to view projects in list view and commenting on tasks.
Learn more: Read our full TeamGantt review .
TeamGantt is ideal for companies planning on using Gantt charts to stay organized and on task. It is the most user-friendly platform for Gantt chart creation.
- Easy Gantt chart creation
- Easy-to-navigate interface
- Visual representation of long-term projects
- Limited number of projects
- Finished tasks still show up in progress reports
Company | Company - Logo | Forbes Advisor Rating | Forbes Advisor Rating | Starting price | Integrations | Collaboration tools | Learn More CTA text | Learn more CTA below text | LEARN MORE |
ClickUp | | 4.9 | | $7 per month | Slack, Microsoft Outlook, HubSpot, Salesforce, Timely, Google Drive and more | Comments, @mentions, real-time edits | | On ClickUp's Website | |
monday.com | | 4.9 | | $9 per seat per month, billed annually (minimum of three seats) | Zoom, Google Docs, Salesforce, Slack and more | Document collaboration and comments | | On monday.com's Website | |
Asana | | 4.6 | | $10.99 per seat per month (billed annually) | Google Drive, Microsoft Teams, Outlook, Slack, and DocuSign | Comments and messaging | | Read Forbes' Review | |
Zoho Projects | | 4.6 | | $4 per seat per month (billed annually) | Microsoft Teams, Slack, Dropbox, Zapier and Zoho apps | Comments and @mentions | | On Zoho's Website | |
Smartsheet | | 4.5 | | $7 per user per month (billed annually) | Google Drive, Slack, Tableau, Miro and Zapier | Real-time doc collaboration | | On Smartsheet's Website | |
Notion | | 4.4 | | $8 per user per month (billed annually) | Slack, Zapier, Jira, Asana, Google Drive and IFTTT | Real-time document collaboration, comments and @mentions | | Read Forbes' Review | |
Teamwork.com | | 4.4 | | $9.99 per user per month, billed annually (minimum of three users) | Dropbox, Google Drive, SharePoint, QuickBooks and Microsoft Project | In-app chat, @mentions and guest collaborators | | Read Forbes' Review | |
Wrike | | 4.4 | | $9.80 per user per month (billed annually) | Google Drive, Slack, Salesforce, and QuickBooks | Request forms and @mentions | | Read Forbes' Review | |
Jira | | 4.3 | | $8.15 per user per month (estimated cost) | Slack, Zendesk, Outlook, Google Sheets, and GitHub | Comments and @mentions | | Read Forbes' Review | |
Confluence | | 4.2 | | $6.05 per user per month | Team Files, MacrosSuite, Copy Page Tree, and Comala Publishing | Whiteboard, @mentions and collaborative documents | | Read Forbes' Review | |
Airtable | | 4.2 | | $20 per seat per month (billed annually) | Salesforce, Google Calendar, Facebook, Mailchimp and Slack | Comments and @mentions | | Read Forbes' Review | |
Trello | | 4.2 | | $5 per user per month (billed annually) | Slack, Salesforce, Marketo, NetSuite, and Box | Comments and @mentions | | Read Forbes' Review | |
Coda | | 4.1 | | $10 per month per doc maker | Slack, Zoom, Jira, and GitHub | Collaborative documents, comments, @mentions and forms | | | |
Todoist | | 4.1 | | $4 per month | Google Calendar, iCalendar, Toggl Track, Time Doctor and PomoDone | Comments and voice notes | | Read Forbes' Review | |
TeamGantt | | 4.0 | | $19 per month per manager | Slack, Trello, Dropbox and Zapier | Comments and voice notes | | Read Forbes' Review | |
This list was a result of careful evaluation of 16 popular project management software platforms that small businesses use. We looked at each contender using our rubric that considers seven categories of 27 project management factors important to small businesses. Next, we gave each criterion a weighted score and tallied all the scores together to land a final star rating.
Some factors we considered when choosing inclusions for this “best of” list include:
Decision Factor | Scoring Weight | Description |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
Read More: How We Test Project Management Software
What Is Project Management Software?
Project management software is a digital platform/tool that businesses or individuals use to plan projects, allocate and track project resources, schedule project timelines and tasks, assign tasks, track progress, capture and implement knowledge and ideas, and collaborate with team members for project completion. It further helps companies stay organized via document storage, search and organizational features.
To choose a project management software, consider each provider’s cost and added fees, overall features and functionality offerings, reporting, integration capabilities, necessary features vs. feature overload, customer reviews and customer support. In this section, we walk you through how to approach this assessment.
Ask an expert
How do I pick the best project management software?
Education Expert
Staff Reviewer
Rachel Williams
Small Business Editor
Ultimately, it is best to take the time to talk to end-users and team members on what is important to them in their project management roles. It is also critical to know if your clients or leadership need reports or dashboards for status updates. Knowing these features will help you dig into the features that may be exemplified for specific products.
Mostly it depends on the project management methodology your team or business uses, but there are other factors to consider. Though it’s tempting to choose software that’s highly customizable, you may need a team member that’s skilled at programming to customize the platform to do precisely what you need. Ease of use ends up being a major consideration because it means less downtime and more immediate adoption.
Assessing your team’s needs will help you pick the best software. For example, consider factors like scalability, ease of use, integration capabilities and security features. Take advantage of trials or demos before making a decision, and make sure the software aligns with your budget as well.
Essential Project Management Software Features
Project management software has basic features that most projects need to be successful. However, extra or unique features make some software options better for certain teams or businesses. It’s important to do your research to understand what unique features might make your project more successful based on your team approach, type of business or type of project. Some highly utilized project management tools and features include:
- Budget planning tools: Budget planning tools allow you to upload your set budget, then track expenses and invoices to compare project costs to the planned budget. By tracking this variance, you can determine if you are running into a budgeting problem. Financial forecasting tools further help you to ensure you don’t run over budget or, worse, have to stop the project because of lack of funds.
- Resource management tools: Resource utilization tools allow you to plan, track and record where resources—such as your talent—are used in the project’s execution. In doing so, it helps to reveal gaps in availability or when certain team members are overused (risking burnout), then adjust resource allocation to prevent problems.
- Task management features: Task management features include automations (that eliminate redundant tasks from to-do lists). Examples include automating invoicing, the identification of critical project changes and managing project workflows. Other task management tools include boards (to visualize moving tasks through their stages to completion), calendars, timeline views, scheduling, task tracking and task prioritization.
- Risk management features: Common project risks include finishing over budget, with a lower-quality outcome than expected or not finishing on time. Many tools within a project management software can help you balance competing demands to finish the project as intended, including critical path charts, checklists, scheduling tools, cost breakdowns, cost variance reports and timelines.
- Reports and charts: Project management software offers digital charts for planning, tracking and readjusting your projects’ timelines, budget and quality as needed. For example, Kanban charts show tasks on a timeline board and their status. Gantt charts also give an overview of a project’s timeline complete with its phases, tasks and outputs. You can gather or feed data into these charts to update in real time.
- Mobile app: Mobile apps help teams easily track, manage and deliver project deliverables from anywhere, helping to ensure all members are always in the know no matter where they are. Real-time knowledge can help them make smart decisions that keep projects progressing as planned. Apps also offer personalized content so team members know the tasks, activities and milestones they must complete each day.
- Integrations: Integrations help to boost a project management software’s performance and cater it to your needs. Slack and Google Drive integrations, for example, allow team members to collaborate within the software on project deliverables. Stripe also allows your team to invoice clients for deliverables. Many project management software offer hundreds or even thousands of integration options.
- Client management tools: Many project management software offer various features for including your clients in the project’s execution, keeping them up to date on the project’s status and maintaining a professional relationship. Such tools include video-conferencing tools, invoicing and the ability to add clients as users to the project management software while maintaining control over what they can and cannot see.
- Collaboration tools: Many project management platforms offer tools to help project execution team members work together seamlessly, even across locations. Some come in the form of integrations, such as Slack. Others, however, are built in. Such built-in tools often include shared calendars, group chats, document sharing, chat forums and team email.
- Demos and team feedback: Project management software may have all the right features but, if your team isn’t comfortable with it, it may underperform in project execution. For this reason, many software programs offer demos your team can use to test them, even allowing you to pilot them in a real project. From there, you can gather team feedback to learn the software’s appropriateness for your team and needs.
Ease of Use
Look for tools and designs that can help your organization use the software easier, despite barriers such as little knowledge of best practices or a cumbersome number of tasks that must be completed on a daily basis. Choosing the right ease-of-use features for your organization depends on many factors, including your company’s tech-savviness and size. However, some ease-of-use features commonly used by small to midsized companies are:
- Templates: Project management software templates incorporate project management best practices.
- Learning materials and opportunities: Software knowledge bases allow project managers and team members to learn how to expertly implement the software’s features based on layman’s terms definitions, videos and more. Demos are another opportunity to learn via often live interaction with software experts who know how to present its features and answer questions in layman’s terms.
- Automations: Automations make complex tasks instant and effortless by taking repetitive and often tedious tasks out of human hands. Less hands-on interaction makes the software’s involvement in project management easier to manage. Preset automation recipes make this ease-of-use feature even more intuitive.
- Mobile apps: Logistically, mobile apps make using the software easier by facilitating the gathering and dissemination of necessary information and helping team members complete tasks in a timely manner. Project field practitioners, for example, can update pertinent information on a project’s status without having to hold up the project to go back to the office to input such data.
Reporting and Analytics
Reporting within project management software presents key data in a meaningful way to help you understand the success or needed improvements in your projects. The best project management software offer dashboards that break down data in the form of graphs, tables and the like to make gleaning insights from the data instant and intuitive.
Determine the types of key performance indicators (KPIs) you may need to track and the types of needed reports to help you track them. Then, when evaluating your considered software, explore its reporting and analytics options and dashboards to determine if they have what you need.
Common reports that may be helpful in a project management software include project status, health, team availability, risk, variance and timeline reports. Common KPIs include percentage of tasks completed, return on investment (ROI), schedule variance, planned vs. actual hours and the planned project value.
Next, evaluate whether the software will continue to meet your needs by exploring whether you can customize the reports or dashboards to meet needs as they arise. Customization options may include the ability to add or remove columns or create new reporting views.
Customer Reviews
Customer reviews offer real-world insights into what it is like to use your considered software and do business with its provider. Search your considered software on tech review sites such as Capterra and TrustRadius. Read the reviews of past and current users. As you do, you are likely to learn the glitches the software experiences, hidden costs not highlighted on the provider’s website and how the software compares to competitor solutions.
Customer Support
Access to quality customer support ensures that, should a glitch happen in the software, your entire project isn’t derailed. To learn more about your chosen provider’s customer support, search for it on review sites such as TrustRadius and look at the company’s plans to understand what will be available to you and when. Aim to at least ensure support will be responsive during your normal business hours and via the mediums your team is accustomed to using.
Business Size Considerations
As you look at the feature set, remember that startups have different needs in project management software than do large enterprises. For example, enterprise companies may need to manage projects with execution steps that span the globe, while startup projects are more likely to span one or two locations. Demos can help you determine what tools are useful for your organization’s size and which will unnecessarily create a steeper learning curve.
Though one software plan or tool may be best for your organization at your current size, those needs are likely to change as you grow. For example, as you grow, you may need a software or plan with greater automation capabilities to scale operations or greater file storage capacity. So, while it is important to choose a software without unnecessary features, it is equally important to choose one that will continue meeting your feature needs as they grow.
[ Compare Best Project Management Software ]
Pricing for small to midsized business (SMB) project management software generally ranges from free to $20 per user per month, depending on the features you want. Most also offer a discount of between 15% and 50% for paying your bill annually. In addition, many companies can use such software for free, including startups, nonprofits and educational institutions. Free trials help users assess whether they want to upgrade from a free plan to a paid one.
More specifically, most providers offer a free plan with a limit on the number of users allowed. For example, monday.com allows two users on each free account. As plans scale up, more users are allowed. In addition, higher-tiered (and so, more expensive) plans offer more robust features, such as more storage, viewers, customer support, security, collaborative tools, automations, customizations and charts. Enterprises often have to request a custom quote.
Significant changes are occurring in nearly every industry as technology advances and attitudes surrounding work and leadership evolve. Project management is no exception, and the styles and strategies for managing both the technical and human aspects of team projects are being adapted to accommodate the new workplace landscape emerging in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Here are the 2024 project management trends that we anticipate growing in the year to come.
A Continued Shift Towards Digital and Remote Work
In our post-pandemic world, fully remote and hybrid work options are here to stay. Gallup reports approximately 56% of full-time employees can fulfill job requirements entirely from home. The transition to fully remote work during the pandemic further illustrated productivity and effectiveness in the workplace could be maintained, even when a majority of employees were working from home.
From a project management standpoint, this transition has its pros and cons. Working in the same physical location as other team members promotes team-building and spontaneous collaboration that can be otherwise limited in a virtual workspace. Despite the perks of in-person collaboration, however, remote employees enjoy the flexible nature of working from home and report increased satisfaction with their work. When given the choice, many remote employees would prefer to remain remote or partially remote instead of returning full-time to the office.
As we move into 2024, project managers are challenged with navigating team dynamics and productivity in an increasingly digital environment. Jeffrey Weide says part of this is finding project management software that meets your remote team’s needs, “but also helps integrate the existing products you use for communication, productivity and scheduling whenever possible.”
Project Management and Change Management
In recent years, companies have enacted increasing numbers of change initiatives to organizations and the structures within. Project managers are learning to integrate the requirements of these change initiatives into project management strategies and plans. It is crucial to create a flexible methodology for integrating change initiatives with specific steps and protocols that your team can follow. These skills will continue to be relevant in coming years as companies grow and conform to the ever-evolving workplace standards.
Hybrid Approaches
Project success strategies have traditionally relied upon adherence to a single project management methodology . Recently, an increasing number of companies have merged multiple approaches to project management in an effort to increase flexibility and create a style that’s adapted to the needs of the individual project. Hybrid approaches also work well when faced with the task of integrating the expectations of new change initiatives presented by company leaders.
Increasing Connection Between Projects and Strategy
Project managers increasingly are asked to expand the scope and scale of strategies in growing workplaces. Rather than simply focusing on individual projects in isolation, project managers are being tasked with learning how individual projects relate to one another and how they work together to advance the goals of the company. This type of understanding can promote the strategic use of a project manager’s skills and help them to consistently make decisions that align closely with the company’s vision.
Increasing Prevalence of AI and Automation
Artificial intelligence, automation, machine learning and data collection and analysis are rapidly becoming critical elements in project management strategies. According to PwC, 77% of high-performing projects utilize project management software to help streamline their work and meet their goals.
AI has the capacity to evaluate outcomes and provide insights into performance strengths and weaknesses, provide organized data to guide important decisions, predict outcomes, estimate timelines, analyze risk and optimize resource distribution. Project management tools and software can also automate time-consuming administrative tasks normally performed by the project manager, leaving the project manager free to focus time and energy on more critical or more nuanced tasks. “Many of the paid products are now offering AI or automation considerations, which can be a great time savings and help offset the costs from a staffing and overhead perspective,” says Weide.
Project managers who take the time to understand how the AI and automation processes in their organization can complement their role will be well-prepared to take advantage of this resource.
Why is project management important?
Project management is important in business because it helps you complete projects successfully and hit goals for yourself and your clients. Coordinating a multifaceted project for which several people owe deliverables, keeping everyone organized and ensuring the output meets expectations—all this while under the stress of a deadline—presents a challenge for even the most experienced project manager. These challenges become more feasible through project management best practices.
What is the best project management software for small businesses?
Companies should choose the best project management software based on their needs and budget. However, monday.com is a very popular project management software among small businesses for its breadth of features, price and available free version.
What are the three main types of project management software?
Individual project management software is set up by one person with one view, such as a spreadsheet view. Collaborative project management software offers one source of truth but also tools that allow people to work on their terms and within their individual roles, such as real-time editing and task-assignment capabilities. Finally, integrated project management software allows for the management and tracking of multiple projects.
What are the benefits of project management software?
Project management software helps you to plan, organize, budget and track the progress of a company project. It also unites a team around shared goals so all are working toward a successful project completion. In dispersed teams, growing businesses or across multiple departments, this can be difficult to do without a software people can join and access from their own devices wherever and whenever they work.
What are the different types of project management methods that are popular now?
There are several options available when it comes to project management methodologies. For example, there is the waterfall method, which follows a linear path and often has between five or six different phases that rely on the deliverables provided by the previous phase. Another option is the lean method, of which Kanban is a part. Kanban is the process of visualizing your workflow. The lean project management method is geared toward reducing waste and delivering value in a short period. Another commonly used method is scrum. Scrum references a simple framework employed by organizations, businesses or individuals, breaking down complex, overarching projects into smaller increments, with each part completed over a predetermined block of time which is known as a “sprint.” Others that you might consider include extreme programming (XP), critical path method (CPM) rapid action development, Six Sigma or a hybrid of two or more of these methods. All of these methods work well with project management software.
Is project management software secure?
Like most types of software, the best project management software programs offer many levels of security. When choosing this type of software, you want to look for security features like two-factor authentication (2FA) or multifactor authentication (MFA), documentation that shows frequent security updates and patches, intrusion detection, the monitoring of user activities, data encryption and privacy protection.
Who are project managers, and what do they do?
For the best chance at success, every project needs an owner who is responsible for its completion and success. Project managers exist to fill this need, keep a team on task and ensure the project meets the needs of all stakeholders. This designation could be a subset of responsibilities—or an official job title.
A diverse range of industries requires the skills of a talented project manager. You can be a project manager in construction, publishing, finance, professional services, utilities and many other industries. Despite the final result of the projects looking very different across these industries, the steps and skills to keep a team organized fluently translate across the business world.
Next Up In Project Management
- Best Asana Competitors & Alternatives
- Best Scheduling Apps
- monday.com Review
- Asana Review
- Trello Review
Amy Nichol Smith spent more than 20 years working as a journalist for TV and newspapers before transitioning to software and hardware product reviews for consumers and small businesses. She has been featured in publications such as L.A. Times, Tom's Guide, Investopedia and various newspapers across the U.S.
Rachel Williams has been an editor for nearly two decades. She has spent the last five years working on small business content to help entrepreneurs start and grow their businesses. She’s well-versed in the intricacies of LLC formation, business taxes, business loans, registered agents, business licenses and more.
Jeff Weide is the Academic Director of Health Informatics at University of Denver, Operations Manager for the COVID Rapid Response Program for CDPHE/Insight Global, and Owner/Founder of SHAPE Consulting, LLC. For 20 years, Jeff has been a project and program leader, strategic health leader, management consultant/coach, and process improvement facilitator. Other organizations that Jeff has worked with include Thomas Jefferson Health, Denver Health, STRIDE Health, PMI Mile Hi, Florence Crittenton, and the US Air Force. This variety of work has given Jeff insights on the multiple challenges facing project leaders, organizations, team members, and stakeholders.
Market Research Project Management Software
How important is market research project management software to you? What features are essential? How do you expect it to improve your workflow and your business? There are plenty of questions to ask when evaluating market research project management software.
Time Tracking
Track and report your time spent on projects by taking just a few minutes each day to enter in the start and end times. This will also help you know where you need to allocate more hours when there are deadlines approaching. It can be challenging for teams to stay on top of project time management and billing, but one market research tools can help.
Custom Fields
Managing a project takes careful planning and organizational skills. The most successful projects are managed with the assistance of customer research software . Plus, research has found that 83% of executives surveyed found it more difficult to manage projects in the absence of good project management software. However, not all programs are created equal. Custom fields allow you to customize each step of your project plan so you can stay on top of deadlines, tasks, resources, and goals at every turn. Furthermore, custom fields make it easy for managers to delegate responsibilities within the team, so each person knows what they need to do next.
Surveys & Feedback Tools
Market research panel management software also helps you recruit people for surveys or focus groups by identifying target respondents who match criteria such as location, demographics, or other factors. Market research project management software then sends out invitations via text message, email, telephone call or even postcard for each potential respondent so they can easily respond. The market research project management software then tracks how many people completed the survey and how many were disqualified for not meeting the criteria
Data Visualization
The goal of data visualization is to use visuals to enhance understanding, but it can be difficult to articulate what that looks like. Knowing what kind of data visualizations your team needs is vital to selecting the right tool. What you should look for in market research project management software include: dashboards and/or reports that allow you to pull insights from the work that has been done, ensuring there is consistency between information being presented and being able to view trends over time.
To identify the most important features in market research project management software, you need to have a full understanding of what you need from the software. Market research projects are inherently varied, which means that no single piece of market research software will fit every use case. Still, there are some important features that come up again and again in discussions about the market research industry. For example, reporting is a crucial feature for companies that have multiple teams working on different aspects of the same project. Reporting lets people know where they stand in relation to other team members and helps them track their progress over time. Another key feature is templates: having predefined structures for organizing data can help streamline a project’s workflow by reducing repetition. One more key feature is task management: it’s helpful for making sure everyone on your team knows what they should be doing next at any given moment.
Export Capabilities
Market research management software is great for managing a company’s research needs, but it needs to be able to export its data in a useful way. It is important that the system exports CSV files to work with other programs like Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets. In addition, it should export presentations as PDFs and videos as MP4s to share data more broadly and create an easy way for different teams to collaborate on projects. Along with these features, market research panel management software should have custom fields so that there are no limitations on what can be tracked about each survey respondent. Custom fields are also helpful when compiling data from multiple surveys in one report or putting together insights from many clients.
We care about your privacy
We and third parties use cookies on our website for statistical, preference, and marketing purposes. Google Analytics cookies are anonymized. You can change your preference by clicking on 'Configure'. By clicking on 'Accept', you accept the use of all cookies as described in our privacy statement .
Choose your privacy preferences
Through the cookie statement on our website, you can change or withdraw your consent at any time. In our privacy policy, you can find more information about who we are, how you can contact us, and how we process personal data.
Preferences
- Product overview
- All features
- App integrations
CAPABILITIES
- project icon Project management
- Project views
- Custom fields
- Status updates
- goal icon Goals and reporting
- Reporting dashboards
- workflow icon Workflows and automation
- portfolio icon Resource management
- Time tracking
- my-task icon Admin and security
- Admin console
- asana-intelligence icon Asana AI
- list icon Personal
- premium icon Starter
- briefcase icon Advanced
- Goal management
- Organizational planning
- Campaign management
- Creative production
- Content calendars
- Marketing strategic planning
- Resource planning
- Project intake
- Product launches
- Employee onboarding
- View all uses arrow-right icon
- Project plans
- Team goals & objectives
- Team continuity
- Meeting agenda
- View all templates arrow-right icon
- Work management resources Discover best practices, watch webinars, get insights
- What's new Learn about the latest and greatest from Asana
- Customer stories See how the world's best organizations drive work innovation with Asana
- Help Center Get lots of tips, tricks, and advice to get the most from Asana
- Asana Academy Sign up for interactive courses and webinars to learn Asana
- Developers Learn more about building apps on the Asana platform
- Community programs Connect with and learn from Asana customers around the world
- Events Find out about upcoming events near you
- Partners Learn more about our partner programs
- Support Need help? Contact the Asana support team
- Asana for nonprofits Get more information on our nonprofit discount program, and apply.
Featured Reads
- Project management |
- Project management software and tools: ...
Project management software and tools: Your best picks for 2024
Project management software connects teams, enabling everyone in the organization to prioritize the work that matters most. Software that fosters this type of high-level collaboration is essential for most companies. But at a glance, many of the tools organizations use have seemingly similar features. Use our guide to narrow down your choices and understand which tools are best for different types of companies.
If you manage work, you’re a project manager. But that wasn’t always the case. For many years, the only people responsible for managing projects were (unsurprisingly) project managers. These highly specialized roles used legacy tools that required extensive training and knowledge to use.
Now, almost everyone is expected to manage their own projects, and these outdated tools are no longer practical. And while project manager roles and legacy softwares still exist, modern project management software has adapted to fill the needs of a more dynamic, collaborative workforce.
Whether you’re a brand new business owner who just needs help with invoicing or you're operating a multi-national company, there’s a project management software that’s right for you. Read on to see which project management software fits your company's needs.
What is project management software?
Project management software is a tool that helps teams to organize, track, and execute work. In its simplest form, you can think of project management software as an interactive workspace, where you coordinate the way you work, collaborate, and communicate with others. But the best project management software goes far beyond that—connecting your most advanced workflows across the company and helping you achieve your biggest, boldest goals.
It’s a broad category, and can be as simple as digital checklists or as advanced as a full work management platform. The type of project management software you choose—and the way you use it—will depend on the size, needs, and overarching goals of your organization.
Why use project management software?
These days, everyone manages projects, but they don’t always have the tools they need to manage projects effectively. This often leads to teams using a spreadsheet, which is great for organizing work but doesn't show real-time updates. Spreadsheets are extremely manual, and can actually impede cross-functional collaboration. In short, they lack the capabilities of project management software.
That’s why project management software is so crucial to today’s working environment. Among its many benefits, project management software serves as the connector for work, teams, stakeholders, goals, and everything in between.
The benefits of project management software
Focus your work. You’ll get more done—but more importantly, you’ll get the right work done. With project management software, you’re less likely to duplicate work or waste time searching for materials.
Reduce busywork. With project management software, you can connect every single task to goals that support the company’s biggest, broadest vision—so everyone knows how they’re driving the success of the company with every project. When employees understand how their day-to-day tasks impact the company, they’re even more motivated to produce their best possible work.
Create a system of record. Project management software serves as a system of record for all your projects and their related tasks. As a result, you can simultaneously store information while also making it easier for stakeholders and teams to access and use that information.
Increase cross-functional collaboration . Project management software is, at its core, a team collaboration tool. By bringing together work, goals, and people across projects, teams, and departments, project management software helps you build an interconnected, thriving cross-functional organization.
Store work safely. Ever delete a cell by accident in your spreadsheet? Or forget where you saved your latest to-do list ? Keeping everything cloud-based both helps you stay organized and reduces the chance of you losing work—all while maintaining your privacy.
The 11 best project management software & tools in 2024
There’s a wide range of project management software available in today’s market—choosing just one can feel overwhelming. That’s why we compiled this list of the best products in the industry today, and the types of businesses they’re most likely to help. See how each one compares, and the different ways project management software can streamline and enhance your work.
1. Asana: Best for enterprise companies
Asana goes beyond traditional project management software to provide a full work management solution that supports the dynamic, changing needs of enterprise companies. Asana doesn't just help you manage your tasks (although you can do that too)—it connects all the work your company is doing to your highest-level goals and business strategy. With Asana, you get so much more than project management software, including:
Integrations to all your favorite tools and systems, so you can keep your work organized in one platform.
Goals that connect to everyone and every task across your company, so you can ensure the work that gets done is always the most important.
Automations for tasks, scheduling, assigning work, and much more—all designed to reduce the amount of time you spend on low-priority busywork.
Ready-made project templates so you can get to work on your most important tasks right away.
Reporting dashboards that automatically update stakeholders and eliminate status update meetings.
Security, privacy, and compliance features that keep your data safe.
Discover even more of what Asana can do.
2. Trello: Best for simple project management
Trello is a Kanban-board style project management software , owned by Atlassian. In Trello, you nest project tasks under boards labeled with an overarching theme. For example, you might have a board for “Not started,” “In Progress,” and “Complete.” The setup makes it easy to track project progress from board to board, which is helpful when you need a simple tool for small projects.
3. Smartsheet: Best for spreadsheet lovers
Think of Smartsheet as an advanced version of a spreadsheet, with more capabilities. This system can be intuitive for companies who traditionally used spreadsheets for project management, such as time tracking with timesheets.
4. Jira: Best for Agile-specific project management
Designed specifically for software development, Jira comes ready to launch for teams that use the Agile methodology to do their work. Owned by parent company Atlassian, Jira is often used for common development projects like bug tracking, as well as projects that use the Scrum process .
5. Monday: Best for small businesses
Monday offers a broad spectrum of apps that make it easy to implement and get started right away. This works for small businesses who are new to project management software, though once you rev up your work, company size, or collaboration across teams, you might hit a threshold for what’s possible.
6. Clickup: Best for small teams or startups
Clickup’s intuitive and colorful interface makes it easy to understand and adopt. Clickup is a popular choice for startups with limited resources and smaller teams that may not need as many capabilities.
7. Notion: Best for notetakers
Notion is an elevated system to create and store dynamic documents, sheets, and note taking. This works best for companies or individuals who just need a more organized space for thoughts and ideas, though Notion can feel limited in how you can work with others in the tool itself.
8. Airtable: Best for those who want to build it themselves
Airtable provides a flexible no- and low-code database you can use to build your own bespoke project management system (or other custom application). For those who prefer to oversee the backend development of their project management software, Airtable offers that option.
9. Wrike: Best for client management
Wrike offers stackable storage and security in an easy-to-use format, so both clients and internal teams can safely access information. This can be helpful when you’re working with external partners, such as clients, in addition to managing work as a company.
10. Workfront: Best for marketing-only teams
Workfront (owned by Adobe) is a project management software that was initially developed for marketers. They’ve built out their platform to be a tool for all teams, but because it’s so targeted, users may struggle to coordinate with other teams outside of the marketing department.
11. Microsoft: Best for personal tools
Microsoft Office is often labeled as a project management tool, but that’s mostly because their products are a staple at any company. Because we already know and understand how to use them, Microsoft Office products are often the first tool managers turn to when they start experimenting with project management. But the reality is, Excel spreadsheets and docs weren’t built for collaboration, so you’re better off using them in conjunction with full-fledged project management software.
Features to look for in your project management tool
Ready to buy? Each project management system will have different features and functionality, but we recommend you prioritize a platform with these features at a minimum:
Collaboration features that enable work between team members, departments, and across the company—including file sharing, project tracking, and resource management.
A platform that provides portfolio management capabilities and the ability to connect goals to actionable tasks, so the entire company can see how all work is connected.
A mobile app so you can send off approvals, receive timely notifications, and manage projects on the go.
Project and reporting dashboards that are easy to access and view.
Varying project view styles that support all your project types and operations, including Gantt charts , Kanban boards, Lists, and Calendars (so as your company grows, you know your software has the capability to grow with it).
Enhanced project scheduling to set due dates, create important milestones, and easily track time so everything stays on schedule.
Project management app integrations that fit your custom business needs.
Automations and dependencies that update you and stakeholders in real-time.
The best project management software is the one that grows with you
A lot of project management software claims similar features, and at a basic level, many of them are the same. But when you choose a project management solution, it shouldn’t just be another tool. It should be a full-fledged project management platform that enables you and your team to get their best work done, with less effort.
This means you need a platform that continues to grow, expand, and adapt as your company does. The last thing you need is to hit a ceiling just when you’re getting into your ideal workflow. Asana is built for enterprise teams, which means it can support your project management work from the beginning—when you’re a one-person team with an idea—all the way through your Fortune 100 growth. In fact, more than 80% of Fortune 100 companies use Asana*.
With Asana, it’s not just about putting out more deliverables. Instead, Asana focuses on how you can connect and leverage every aspect of your company’s work, goals, and resources to produce the right work.
Project management software FAQ
Which software is best for project management.
The best project management software is the one with the features you need. Look for a tool like Asana , a full work management platform where you can integrate the apps you already use, connect goals to work tasks, break down silos between teams, and automate time-consuming busywork.
What type of software is project management software?
Project management software is a type of software used for every aspect of project management. Often, this includes everything from the project planning stages (resource allocation, setting due dates, and building and assigning work task lists) to project scheduling, tracking, and reporting. The best project management software will help you coordinate and automate work not just across projects, but also across portfolios, teams, and departments.
What’s the difference between project management software and task management software?
Task management software is used strictly to manage tasks and is focused on production. Often, this looks like a digital to-do list with more capabilities. Project management software goes beyond task management to the actual planning, coordination, and goals of a project. This incorporates the bigger-picture, high-impact work and the actionable tasks you need to get there. Good project management software will also have task management capabilities, but the reverse isn’t always true.
How does project management software work?
Project management software is a tool to help you coordinate everything you need for project management. Often, this includes capabilities to create and assign tasks, scheduling all aspects of a project, and coordinating with others in your project team. The best project management software will also enable you to work cross-functionally across all teams, departments, and projects within your organization.
Is project management software worth it?
The short answer: yes! Project management software has an almost endless list of benefits. Most people immediately think of productivity as the reason to purchase project management software, but the right project management software can do more than increase your output. If you invest in the best project management software, you can break down silos and connect your entire company to your largest visions and goals. This enables everyone to work better on the projects that matter most.
*Accurate as of September 7, 2022 . Asana makes no representations about updating this number.
Related resources
What is project management and its benefits?
9 tips for taking better meeting notes
How Asana streamlines strategic planning with work management
What are story points? Six easy steps to estimate work in Agile
Start free trial
A Beginner’s Guide to Market Research
Business creates goods or services and delivers them to a market that buys or uses them for a fee. Everyone’s happy! That’s the way it’s supposed to work, but anyone who has tried to make a living in the real world has experienced the complexities inherent in such a simple formula. There are many variables to consider in marketing , but let’s just focus on the marketplace and the research required to understand it.
The market can be a small or vastly large group of people who need goods and services. They’ve got money in their pockets and businesses are looking to have them use it to purchase their product or service. But that’s a very general sketch of a process that requires a lot more specifics.
How does a business gather the data they need to understand the needs and wants of the market, and who they should be targeting when developing ideas, advertising and marketing projects ? That’s not so easy—especially from the perspective of a cubicle.
There’s a world outside the office and businesses need to know it intimately if they’re to offer something that the world wants. Whether it’s a delicious meal or a product people don’t even know that they want yet, this process starts with market research.
What Is Market Research?
Market research is shorthand for talking about an organized effort to gather information about customers. It’s a way to profile and target people to know what they desire or what they need, so businesses can exploit that and produce it to their satisfaction. Market research is a relatively young discipline. It began to be conceptualized and practiced in the 1930s, and it grew out of the boom in radio in the United States at that time. Advertisers learned that listener demographics were crucial to companies that sponsored different programs.
Market research is a cornerstone on which a business strategy is built, market research being about specific markets while the larger business strategy is about the process of marketing. Market research is fundamental to keeping businesses competitive as it analyzes the needs, size and competitors in the marketplace, so companies can make strategic decisions.
Related: 10 Marketing Tips for Small Businesses That Cost $0
Types of Market Research
There are various techniques to market research. Some are qualitative and use focus groups, in-depth interviews and ethnography, while others are quantitative, which involve customer surveys and analysis of secondary data.
Primary research is when the effectiveness of sales, existing business practices, quality of service and communications are monitored and reported on. This helps the business understand the competition and evaluate a strategic business plan to take advantage of the market.
Secondary research uses data that has already been published and is collected in a new database to help with situation analysis. From this, businesses can develop strategies for benchmarking and targeting specific market segments.
Why Market Research Is Important
Market research is important for the obvious reason that without it, a company is firing blindly into the void. You can create a great product or service, but without knowing who to sell it to it will whither on the vine and die.
Related: How to Plan a Successful Product Launch
There might have been a time when market research wasn’t as necessary when there was less competition and so customers could find your product or service. But that time has long since passed. The more knowledge a company has about the market and the customer’s needs within that market, the more likely it’ll have success.
There are many reasons why businesses should conduct market research. It helps to identify problem areas in your business. You can’t resolve a problem until you first know what it is.
Customer Satisfaction
It’s not just about selling products and services. Market research is also important in that it helps increase customer satisfaction. That means businesses retain more customers and their brand is less likely to be tarnished by false steps and miscalculations. By using tools like surveys for customer feedback , you’re also going to understand the needs of your existing customer base. It’ll help you to know why they’ve chosen your company over your competitors, which will allow you to better serve them.
Campaign Effectiveness
Using market research is one way to help marketing campaigns be more effective. It identifies new business opportunities and then designs the best marketing push to capture the target audience. This is a sure-fire method of increasing sales, which is the backbone of business success.
Knowledge of Competitors
There’s also the benefit of having a bead on what your competitors are up to in the marketplace. It can be used to evaluate your progress but also what your competitors are up to and how they are expanding or not in the market. Knowing what your competitors are up to will offer insight into how you want to strategically place yourself in the market to stay ahead of them.
Market research is also a way to reduce and often avoid loss. If you know the landscape well before you launch a product or service, you will be aware of hurdles to clear and problems to avoid. You’ll also have a better idea of the risks involved in bringing something to market and therefore be able to work on solutions for those risks if they in fact arise.
Related: Free Risk Tracking Template
Business Opportunities Revealed
Then there are the business opportunities that arise from market research. These are new areas that a business might have been ignorant of before and now can exploit for greater market penetration and profits. It will also highlight areas where the business can expand and increase its customer base. New customers can also be discovered through market research, further expanding the company’s reach. Gap analysis is one method that can be used to evaluate how well a service is performing versus its potential.
Set Targets for Growth
Another reason for businesses to conduct market research is that it allows them to set achievable targets for growth, sales and product development. It provides businesses with information that helps with the decision-making process about services and effective product development strategies.
How to Conduct Market Research
There are many ways to get the data you need for market research. Some of them include starting with a business’ own employees. They’re in the front with customers and can offer valuable insight.
Customers can be tapped with comment cards that ask basic questions. Talking to your existing customer base through the web, email, snail mail, telephone surveys or in-person with focus groups is one of the best ways to know what they want and need. You can also track what customers are buying and not buying from you through documentation and records. Be sure to get a firm grasp of your fundamental digital marketing metrics .
In terms of secondary sources, there are resources such as the census bureau, the local chamber of commerce, the department of commerce, libraries, trade and professional organizations and publications.
The process of conducting market research follows these six steps.
1. Define Your Buyer
Before you can sell something, you must know who you’re selling to. What’s their age, gender, location, what do they do for a living, how big is their family, what’s their income, etc? The more data you can get, the better targeted your marketing campaign will be.
Now that you have a profile, you want to find a representative sample of those targeted customers to understand their characteristics, challenges and buying habits through focus groups, surveys, phone interviews, etc.
Related: The Importance of Customer Development for Startups
2. Choose Which Buyers to Survey
When gathering customers for your surveys, you’ll want to get a group that represents each buyer persona you have come up with. It’s good to have a mix of people but you can choose one person if you think that’s best.
Make sure whoever you choose is someone who has recently interacted with you and your competitor and even those who are not interested in purchasing from either. This widens the lens and gives you a more accurate view of the marketplace.
3. Engage the Participants
For the data collected to be accurate and usable, you must engage the participants, whether they’re the ideal panel or not. Try to get a list of customers who made recent purchases.
There are also those customers who purchased from competitors or were close to choosing your product or service but didn’t. You can reach out to participants on social media, leverage your existing network or create an incentive to participate.
4. Prepare Questions
Once you have a group, you must do your due diligence and have targeted questions that have been worked on to get the most out of the audience and help you with the problem at hand, otherwise, you’re wasting everyone’s time.
You want the discussion to be natural and conversational, not scripted. However, it should include a short backgrounder, followed by a short response from the audience on their opinion or problems with the product or service. Then, take a deep dive into buyer researched potential solutions (make this interactive, following up and interjecting more specific queries). Wind down with decisions from the group, and close by opening up for questions and thanking the people there.
5. Know Your Competitors
They’re doing the same thing as you, so the more you understand them and how they act, the better you can respond and exploit areas that they’re not exploring. Also, competition is complicated. It can be a whole company or a division within that you’re competing with. But you must list the competitors and always be aware of them.
6. Summarize Your Findings
Now comes the time to crunch the numbers and look for common threads that run through the data you collected. It can be overwhelming at first, all that information, which is why it’s wise to boil the work down to the essential findings. These make actionable points.
Break your final report into sections: background, participants, executive summary for the main points, awareness of the common questions, consideration for the themes you uncovered, how the group came to decide, and finally an action plan on how to move forward with the information you gathered.
Market research is a project, and projects need tools to manage them. ProjectManager is a cloud-based project management software that has a robust dashboard that can collect, crunch and deliver the market research you gather in easy-to-read and share charts and graphs. Plus it features task management tools like Kanban boards and task lists to keep the project moving forward. See how it can help you make sense of your market research today by taking this free 30-day trial.
Deliver your projects on time and on budget
Start planning your projects.
Project Management Software
Find the best Project Management Software
Popular comparisons.
Buyers Guide
Filter products
Company size.
Pricing Options
- # of User Reviews
- Average Rating
- Alphabetically (A-Z)
- Frontrunners
Compare Products
Showing 1 - 20 of 2286 products
Unanet ERP GovCon
Unanet’s ERP solutions are purpose-built from the ground up for Government Contractors, A/E, and Professional Services organizations. 3,100+ organizations utilize the power of the Unanet software to gain insights, make more strate... Read more about Unanet ERP GovCon
4.4 ( 57 reviews )
Planview AdaptiveWork
Planview Clarizen is an award-winning enterprise work management solution for project portfolio management (PPM) and professional services delivery teams. The solution enables PMOs, EPMOs, PSOs, and ESOs to gain real-time visibil... Read more about Planview AdaptiveWork
4.3 ( 174 reviews )
Base Builders
Built for ARCHITECTS and ENGINEERS that design and draw BLUEPRINTS. BaseBuilders.com is developed specifically for architecture and engineering firms by a veteran of the industry. It handles everything from time tracking to invoi... Read more about Base Builders
4.2 ( 21 reviews )
FunctionFox
FrontRunners 2024
FunctionFox is a cloud-based time tracking and project management application, offering timesheets and estimates, as well as scheduling, task assignment, and reporting. FunctionFox’s capabilities are suited for the billing a... Read more about FunctionFox
4.5 ( 196 reviews )
1 recommendations
Budget Cruncher
Budget Cruncher is a cloud-based solution that helps to create, approve and monitor project as well as corporate budgets. Key features include project management, billing and invoicing, time and expense tracking, resource manageme... Read more about Budget Cruncher
5.0 ( 1 reviews )
B2W Track software for heavy civil construction field tracking and analysis enables contractors to manage projects and costs based on accurate, immediate information from the field on productivity, labor, materials, and equipment ... Read more about B2W Track
4.3 ( 42 reviews )
Project DocControl
Project DocControl is developed by specialty contractors from architecture, engineering, and construction trades to help centralize the large volumes of paperwork that contractors deal with day to day. The system allows specialty ... Read more about Project DocControl
4.4 ( 8 reviews )
InEight provides field-tested project management software for the owners, contractors, engineers and architects who are building the world around us. Over 400,000 users and more than 850 customers worldwide rely on InEight for rea... Read more about InEight
4.4 ( 14 reviews )
Replicon's advanced timesheet functionality lets businesses track valuable information including check-ins/outs, task progress, and billable/non-billable hours. The invoice module allows users to build custom invoices, examine pay... Read more about Replicon
4.5 ( 523 reviews )
JobTrac is a cloud-based construction and project management solution designed for commercial, industrial and residential contractors. Key features include inventory management, communication management as well as project scheduli... Read more about JobTrac
Owner Insite
Owner Insite is a nationally recognized construction project & facility management software company. The company was founded in 2009 in Austin, Texas. Owner Insite’s software-as-a-service (SaaS) empowers key personnel and leaders... Read more about Owner Insite
4.8 ( 26 reviews )
IFS Cloud is a composable enterprise software application that orchestrates customers, people, and assets to reduce complexity, cost and risk as you plan, manage and optimize critical asset availability, strive for operational exc... Read more about IFS Cloud
3.9 ( 30 reviews )
PMWeb is an all-in-one portfolio, program and project management construction software solution geared toward enterprise-level owner organizations. PMWeb serves organizations worldwide across a broad spectrum of industries includi... Read more about PMWeb
4.3 ( 8 reviews )
Deltek Maconomy
Maconomy by industry leader Deltek is a complete, fully integrated Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) accounting system designed for professional service companies both small and large. Maconomy streamlines business operations, el... Read more about Deltek Maconomy
3.9 ( 60 reviews )
Simplify your tech stack and save on cost with the Content Cloud: a secure, easy-to-use platform built for the entire content lifecycle, from file creation and sharing, to co-editing, e-signature, classification, and retention. An... Read more about Box
4.4 ( 5344 reviews )
Pantera Tools
Pantera Tools provides construction professionals with customized solutions to fit their brand, company, and workflows. From our invitation to bid, to project management products, we aim to provide an easy-to-use solution, at a co... Read more about Pantera Tools
4.5 ( 15 reviews )
Premier Construction Software
Premier is the global leader in construction ERP, topping Forbes Advisor's list for Construction Accounting Software in 2023. Tailored for General Contractors, Developers, Homebuilders, and Specialty Contractors, our all-in-one pl... Read more about Premier Construction Software
4.6 ( 261 reviews )
Hydra is a cloud-based project management solution that also offers business process management and knowledge management tools. It helps organizations define, execute, manage and analyze their projects. It is best suited for compa... Read more about Hydra
4.0 ( 2 reviews )
Small businesses require big data to scale and improve. Dovico Timesheet helps growing companies with project time and cost data reports that provide insights into labour availability and billable or non-billable project health. T... Read more about Dovico
4.3 ( 68 reviews )
4castplus is a cloud-based project cost management solution designed to manage and control the finances on major construction projects. It’s a collaborative platform that connects multiple disciplines, data and workflows for the m... Read more about 4castplus
4.5 ( 11 reviews )
Evernote Teams
QuickBooks Time
ADP Workforce Now
Project management software describes a range of solutions that allows individuals and teams to track the progress of projects, from conception to completion.
Currently, there are hundreds of these solutions on the market, ranging from basic free online task trackers to highly complex project management tools that allow users to manage every aspect of a project, from business case creation to final payment.
We’ve created a buyers guide to help improve your understanding of software features and buying decisions that need to be considered for project management software.
Here's what we'll cover:
What Is Project Management Software?
A comparison of top project management software, common features of project management software, what type of buyer are you, key considerations when purchasing project management software.
Project management software is a software tool designed to track the lifecycle of projects that take weeks, months, or years to complete, providing project managers and other team members a single platform for real-time updates on the project's status. Most software solutions available on the market include, but are not limited to, the following capabilities:
Inventory management
Gantt charts
Resource management
Task management (including to-do lists, task lists, subtasks)
File sharing
Collaboration
The primary goal is to increase company efficiency by making the entire project lifecycle visible to all team members. Team members are each given a unique login, allowing them to customize their view, report progress, track time, and monitor the progress of others.
Most project teams find themselves to be more efficient in an intuitive and user-friendly project management platform. It allows people to identify problems before or as they arise, view due dates, and eliminate questions about the current status of any outstanding project tasks. It also provides team members with a collaboration tool to share task progress, set up Kanban boards, and manage to-do lists.
Project status view in Workfront
Industries that commonly use project management software include construction, large-scale manufacturing (e.g., aerospace), software development, high tech, marketing , research, and consulting or professional services. Help desk, quality control, and time tracking are additional uses for certain types of project management software.
There are many popular project management software solutions on the market, and it can be hard to know what distinguishes one product from another and which is right for you. To help you better understand how the top project management systems stack up against one another, we created a series of side-by-side product comparison pages that break down the details of what each solution offers in terms of pricing, applications, ease of use, customer support, and more:
| Most systems allow the user to define the scope of the project; establish due dates; and create, track, and close essential tasks and deliverables. More complex project systems include strong project planning capabilities and the other features described below. |
| Since the purpose is to allow multiple users to monitor their own and others’ progress, a system will have logins for each user with personalized functionality, different types of permission settings, and ways to share and track relevant information between individuals. |
| Most project management software systems include basic calendar functionality to allow users to schedule their projects. More advanced industry-specific solutions build on this, providing specialized intelligent support based on the known phases associated with a typical project. The number of project team members and complexity of resource management could determine which is the best project management system for your business. |
| Another capability common to almost all solutions, this feature allows users to store documents in a central location, share them with the relevant parties, track changes, and manage different versions of the documents. |
| For many companies, particularly those tracking large one-off projects (e.g., construction, large manufacturing, professional services), each project must be individually budgeted, with time and/or expenses tracked. These companies will likely require a solution that incorporates such functionality. Doing so allows bids, budgets, expenses, and revenue to be directly connected to the projects they're associated with. |
| The next level up from budgeting and expense tracking, many products on the market also include full accounting functionality, allowing users the simplicity of using a single system for all functions related to the management and accounting of the project. |
| Resource management allows project managers to account for and assign all resources a project will require. Resources can include both inventory and personnel. |
| Some of the more robust solutions provide the capability of identifying potential risks associated with projects or activities and raising flags to alert the relevant team members. |
| For companies that consider each sale a task to be established, tracked, and closed, customer management can be a valuable addition to the standard capabilities. This moves into the realm of CRM software, in which leads can be tracked and connected to product deliverables. This capability can help track and improve sales cycles. |
| Suited for companies looking to track the entire lifecycle (growth, maturity, and decline) of products, including planning, production, marketing, and management. Support for agile projects with kanban boards and project team scrum scheduling is also common. |
Individuals. Since project management for an individual tends to be a far simpler endeavor, there are a number of low-cost solutions that provide basic project management capabilities such as scheduling , task management, Gantt charts, and file sharing.
Small businesses . Companies with more than a couple of employees will want a system that allows for team collaboration , but usually don’t want the added expense of advanced budgeting, invoicing, resource management, or advanced portfolio management features.
Development-oriented companies. This includes any business for which a single project, once complete, results in multiple sales (e.g., software) as distinct from single-project-single-sale businesses (e.g., construction). These companies will want strong collaborative capabilities—including robust document sharing, version control, and bug reports—possibly with resource allocation as well. These companies typically will not want invoicing, customer management, or other advanced features.
Large or specialty buyers . Construction is the best example of an industry that uses highly specialized project management systems, incorporating budgeting, inventory management, and many other features to manage the lifecycle of an entire project, from lead generation all the way through to final payment. Similar needs extend to other industries (e.g., custom IT solutions, large-scale manufacturing), each of which will have highly specialized solutions specific to that industry. Companies that manage concurrent, complex projects may want to explore project portfolio management (PPM) suites .
Project management software can be a useful tool for boosting team collaboration and tracking tasks effectively. However, its usefulness depends on how well it suits your business requirements. Below are some top considerations to keep in mind to avoid purchasing the wrong tool.
Collaboration for remote teams: The need for remote work is on the rise, and to effectively manage a remote workforce, you need a project management solution that supports remote team collaboration. Many project management tools come with built-in collaboration features, such as an interactive Kanban dashboard with task commenting and team chat channels with file sharing. Whether you have a small team managing a few projects remotely or a large team handling multiple projects, you need a project management tool that supports online team collaboration.
On-premise vs. cloud-based project management solution: A cloud-based project management tool typically comes with subscription-based pricing, and the vendor takes care of software maintenance and hosting. An on-premise solution, on the other hand, requires you to make a one-time software purchase. You then install the software on your computer and manage maintenance and updates on your own. If you have a low budget and few IT staff, a cloud-based tool could be your better choice. For an in-depth review of cloud-based systems, review our buyers guide for online project management software .
Availability of mobile applications: Many employees need access to their software in the field as well as the office. With a project management app, you can assign tasks to your team members, view the status of individual tasks, and track the overall project progress, even when you’re on the go.
Make sure to take your mobile needs and the availability of a mobile app into consideration when evaluating different systems. For information on products particularly suited to Mac devices, check out our Mac project management software guide .
Note: The application selected in this article is an example to show a feature in context and is not intended as an endorsement or recommendation. It was obtained from sources believed to be reliable at the time of publication.
Related Project Management Software
By Application
- Agile Project Management Software
- Kanban Software
- Scrum Software
- Bug Tracking Software
- Patch Management Software
- Idea Management Software
- Online Project Management Software
- Product Management Software
- Project Management Software For Mac
- Project Planning Software
- Project Portfolio Management Software
- Project Tracking Software
- Resource Management Software
- Strategic Planning Software
- Task Management Software
- Time And Expense Tracking Software
- Online Time Tracking Software
- Time Tracking Software
By Industry
- Construction Project Management Software
- Creative Project Management Software
- Enterprise Project Management Software
- IT Project Management Software
- Manufacturing Project Management Software
- Marketing Project Management Software
- Project Management Software for Engineering
- Small Business Project Management Software
Your current User-Agent string appears to be from an automated process, if this is incorrect, please click this link:
Best free project management software of 2024
Manage your projects for free
- Best free project management software in full
Best overall
Best content marketing tool, best for simplicity, best for remote working, best for small business, best for tracking, how we test.
Project management is an essential activity within the workplace. It is the application of known processes and methods to achieve project goals within some defined constraints.
1. Best overall 2. Best content marketing tool 3. Best overall 4. Best for simplicity 5. Best for remote working 6. Best for small business 6. Best for tracking 7. How we test
Every project must have a leader (or multiple leaders) that assigns tasks to each team member, and everyone must contribute to the project’s success. It can be difficult to manage projects manually, but the good thing is that many software platforms make it easier.
Project management software makes it easy to plan, organize, and manage human resources to achieve project goals, and you’ll find it being used in virtually every serious enterprise. We scoured the web to identify the best free project management software so that you don’t have to. All the platforms we’ll mention are good choices to adopt for project management within your organization.
We've also listed the best free office software .
Reader Offer: Save 18% on Monday.com annual memberships Monday.com is an easy-to-use and customizable work management platform, enabling teams of all sizes to plan, manage and centralize work. Get started now and boost your team's communication and productivity.
Preferred partner ( What does this mean? )
Best free project management software of 2024 in full:
Our expert review:
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid.
Trello is arguably the most popular project management tool worldwide. It was created in 2011 by a company called Fog Creek Software (now Glitch) and sold to Atlassian in 2017 for over $400 million.
Trello offers a free plan for individuals and teams that want to manage their projects effectively. With the free plan, you can create up to 10 boards per workspace and unlimited project cards. You get unlimited file storage, although the size of a single file is capped at 10 MB. You can access the platform via the web or download the app on your mobile device, and Trello is notably friendly to mobile users.
The free plan supports two-factor authentication for extra security. Enabling this feature means that access won’t be granted to any user’s account except two modes of identification are provided (the first is the username and password and the second is usually a one-time pin sent to the user’s phone number or email address).
With Trello, a lead project manager can easily assign tasks to their subordinates and track their progress in real-time. The free version alone provides ample features to manage projects effectively, but you’re free to subscribe to a premium plan to get access to advanced features such as organization-wide permissions, public board management, and single sign-on.
Read our full Trello review .
2. Monday Work Management
If you're looking for a way to keep your team organized, Monday.com is the way to go. It's a great way to plan, monitor, and manage your work. You'll get access to your own workspace, and then you can use boards to keep track of all the stuff you need, from tasks to projects to workflows.
You can customize the boards with columns that show all the info you need, like task titles, dates, who owns what, status, and what's most important. Plus, you can use the collaboration features on Monday.com to make it easier for your team to communicate with each other. This helps you better understand what needs to be done, make better choices, and work faster with pre-made automations. Finally, you can keep track of the whole project with a dashboard that can bring all the info from different boards together.
We love that there are five different plans to pick from, with the lowest one being free forever which has two seats and three boards. The others start with the Basic plan, which has at least three seats and costs $8 a month, but you can get a discount if you pay annually. To get access to automations, you need to move up to the Standard plan, which costs $10 per seat and has a maximum of 250 seats per month. Finally, there's the Enterprise plan, which is totally customizable.
The company offers a range of support services, including chat, email, and phone calls. Additionally, a free trial is available for the paid plans, as well as smartphone apps for iOS and Android devices.
Read our full Monday Work Management review .
3. Microsoft Planner
Almost everyone knows Microsoft , the company behind the Windows operating system . Apart from Windows, Microsoft offers many other consumer and business software, including some that don’t require extra payment. Microsoft Planner is bundled for free for every organization already subscribed to the Microsoft 365 software suite. It’s a simple, visual tool for organizing teamwork in professional settings.
The main draw to Microsoft Planner is its simplicity. There’s no struggle to set it up; just access it via the web link or download the app on your iOS or Android device, then sign in with your Microsoft account. Note that personal Microsoft accounts aren’t permitted to use Microsoft Planner, but only organization accounts under Microsoft 365.
Microsoft Planner works using the Kanban project management methodology, which was developed by Japanese automaker Toyota to improve manufacturing efficiency. The Kanban system involves dividing a project to-do list into three sections; the backlog, the list of items currently in progress, and the list of completed tasks. As the project proceeds, you can move items from one section to another with ease. This methodology helps companies keep tabs on a project’s progress in a visual, interactive way.
With Microsoft Planner, lead project managers can monitor everything about the progress of their project in one place, and the same applies to the other employees tasked with fulfilling the project. The platform automatically visualizes project tasks into pie and bar charts to make them easy to monitor.
This platform is famous for its ease of use and simplicity, but it doesn’t offer as many advanced features as you can find on other competitors such as Trello.
Remote work took off rapidly after the Covid pandemic of 2020 and increased the need for companies adopting this model to have suitable project management systems. Fortunately, Nifty, an app launched in 2017, fulfills that need.
Nifty is much more than project management but nonetheless excels in this sector. It makes it easy for project leads to assign tasks to their subordinates and monitor the progress of the project in real-time. You can choose from one of several project management visualization methods including Kanban, List, Swimlane, and Timeline. This gives users the ability to choose the method they prefer instead of being locked to one method as with many other apps.
The "My Work" section of this app is where you keep track of all task assignments, activities, and time logs. You can filter tasks by important factors such as due dates, assignees, and milestones to see exactly how a project has progressed. You can even automate task assignments if you don't have the time or patience to do that manually. Likewise, you can set up recurring tasks based on specific dates or statuses.
The free version of Nifty supports a maximum of 2 active projects, which is quite small. But, if you pay for a premium subscription, you can manage as many projects as you want and get unlimited storage.
5. Zoho Projects
Zoho is an Indian software company famous for providing affordable alternatives to popular software tools. It offers a project management tool called Zoho Projects , with a free plan that offers many features. If you wish to upgrade, the premium plan is relatively affordable, making it an ideal option for small businesses with tight budgets.
With Zoho's free project planner, you can easily map out your project goals and identify the progress as your team works on them. You're free to assign tasks to other members of your team in a few steps; you can do that manually or automate the process. You can create timesheets to log billable and non-billable hours, which is useful for consultancies working on projects for external customers. There's built-in integration with Zoho's invoicing tool, so you can automatically generate invoices from your timesheets.
You can access Zoho Projects either via the web platform or by downloading the app on your iOS or Android device. The platform has an intuitive interface that makes it easy and enjoyable to use, but we observed that the task search function didn’t work well.
Zoho Projects has integrations with many third-party software tools to provide extra functionality. For example, you can link it with your Slack account for instant workplace communication and Dropbox for file storage.
Read our full Zoho Projects review .
Asana is a popular web or mobile-based “work management” platform. It offers an extensive feature set and makes it easy to manage and collaborate on projects in professional settings.
The premium version of Asana starts at $11 per user per month, which is costly, but, fortunately, there’s a free plan that anyone can adopt. The free Asana plan lets you assign unlimited tasks and manage an unlimited number of projects. You can also store an unlimited number of files, although each file is capped at 100MB.
The free plan supports collaboration for up to 15 team members. Anything above that number, and you’ll need to pay for a premium plan.
You can access Asana via the web interface or by downloading the mobile app on iOS or Android. The platform has integrations with over 100 third-party apps to offer extra functionalities, e.g., Microsoft Teams for audio and video conferencing or Okta for single sign-on.
Asana has a lot of project management and collaboration features, which is good. However, this means that new users may find it difficult to navigate their way around the platform. Too many features to manage and understand can be overwhelming, but the good thing is that you can get used to the platform with time.
Read our full Asana review .
We've also listed the best productivity tools .
The first thing we considered was the features that each platform offers. Does it have features that enable teams to manage and collaborate on projects? What unique features set it apart from the competition?
We also considered the ease of use because that’s important for every software, especially those that’ll be used by non-technical users. Pricing also played a part, although all the platforms we mentioned offer free versions. Other important factors we considered include customer support, cross-platform compatibility, performance, and security.
Get in touch
- Want to find out about commercial or marketing opportunities? Click here
- Out of date info, errors, complaints or broken links? Give us a nudge
- Got a suggestion for a product or service provider? Message us directly
- You've reached the end of the page. Jump back up to the top ^
Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletter
Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed!
Stefan has always been a lover of tech. He graduated with an MSc in geological engineering but soon discovered he had a knack for writing instead. So he decided to combine his newfound and life-long passions to become a technology writer. As a freelance content writer, Stefan can break down complex technological topics, making them easily digestible for the lay audience.
Send Anywhere review: A web-based solution to sending files to someone else
Discovering SHAREit: A comprehensive review
NYT Connections today — hints and answers for Wednesday, June 19 (game #374)
Most Popular
- 2 Company backed by Bill Gates has begun construction of an revolutionary, 'affordable' nuclear power station — TerraPower's Natrium reactor uses sodium which could be key to quenching AI's energy thirst
- 3 Apple quietly released a new operating system that almost nobody noticed — unnamed OS surfaces in Private Cloud Compute blog as Apple goes ballistic on AI
- 4 Your DJI drone might soon be banned in the US – and yes, this news is just as bad as it sounds
- 5 Google fully launches VPN for Pixel users
- 2 Apple quietly released a new operating system that almost nobody noticed — unnamed OS surfaces in Private Cloud Compute blog as Apple goes ballistic on AI
- 3 Tesla’s Superchargers are changing the game for Rivian and Ford’s EVs
- 4 A walking expert says walking 10,000 steps a day is 'irrelevant' if you’re not doing this one thing
- 5 Hate going back to the office? Microsoft Teams might have just solved one of the biggest return-to-office problems
IMAGES
VIDEO
COMMENTS
The global project management software market size was valued at USD 6.59 billion in 2022 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 15.7% from 2023 to 2030. ... For the purpose of this study, Grand View Research has segmented the global project management software market report based on component, solution, services, deployment, enterprise size, end ...
The Project Management Software Market size is estimated at USD 6.54 billion in 2024, and is expected to reach USD 10.86 billion by 2029, growing at a CAGR of 10.67% during the forecast period (2024-2029). As today's corporations increase in size and complexity, an all-inclusive solution is needed to manage and coordinate an entire organization ...
Olivia's research and analysis is informed by nearly 200,000 authentic user reviews on Capterra and over 10,000 interactions between Capterra software advisors and project management software buyers. Olivia also regularly analyzes market sentiment by conducting surveys of project managers and PMO leaders so she can provide the most up-to-date ...
Software Market Insights: Project Management. A complete guide for software and SaaS providers to effectively position their project management solution and engage B2B buyers. Over 85% of businesses actively use project management software and the market is expected to reach a valuation of $7 million by 2026.
The Project Management Software Market size was valued at USD 3.56 Billion in 2023 and the total Project Management Software revenue is expected to grow at a CAGR of 14.34% from 2024 to 2030, reaching nearly USD 9.1 Billion by 2030. Project Management Software Market Overview: Project management software is witnessing rapid growth as organizations seek efficient tools to manage projects across ...
The project management software market is projected to be worth US$ 7,507.9 Million in 2024. The market is anticipated to reach US$ 25,306.7 Million by 2034. The market is further expected to surge at a CAGR of 12.9% during the forecast period 2024 to 2034. Attributes. Key Insights.
2. Smartsheet Integrated Marketing — Best for resource and digital asset management in one place. 3. ClickUp — Best free plan for marketing project management software. 4. Scoro — Best for all-in-one project management. 5. Kantata — Best for marketing agencies and professional services businesses. 6.
Market Overview. The global project management software market size was valued at USD 6 billion in 2021. It is expected to reach USD 15.06 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 10.77% during the forecast period (2022-2030). Project management software is used for planning, scheduling, allocating resources, and managing change.
Project Management Software Research. 6 comprehensive market analysis studies and industry reports on the Project Management Software sector, offering an industry overview with historical data since 2019 and forecasts up to 2029. This includes a detailed market research of 19 research companies, enriched with industry statistics, industry ...
Find the top Market Research software of 2024 on Capterra. Based on millions of verified user reviews - compare and filter for whats important to you to find the best tools for your needs. ... Project Management Software. Browse All Categories. Service Categories. Accounting Firms. Digital Marketing Agencies. Advertising Agencies. SEO Companies ...
NielsenIQ: Great for evaluating product launch-related market research and data. Loop11: Test website usability and user experience metrics with your participants. Ubersuggest: Keyword and content research tool, great for competitive advantage insights. BrandMentions: Social media monitoring software and platform.
Industry Perspective: The global project management software market size was evaluated at $6.1 Billion in 2021 and is slated to hit $15.08 Billion by the end of 2030 with a CAGR of nearly 10.68% between 2022 and 2030. The market report is an indispensable guide on growth factors, challenges, restraints, and opportunities in the global marketplace.
Project Management Software Market size is anticipated to reach USD 35,000 Million by the end of 2035, growing at a CAGR of 18% during the forecast period, i.e., 2023-2035. In the year 2022, the industry size of project management software was over USD 8,000 Billion.The market is expected to grow exponentially owing to the escalating activities of business process automation.
Compare. Zoho Projects. 4.4 (575) Capterra Shortlist. Visit Website. Zoho Projects is an online project management tool that helps teams plan, track, and collaborate on tasks with ease. Learn more about Zoho Projects. Project Management features reviewers most value. Access Controls/Permissions.
Best Software for Project Management of 2024. ClickUp: Best for agile development teams. monday.com: Best for startups on a tight budget. Asana: Best for collaboration tools. Zoho Projects: Best ...
Market research management software is great for managing a company's research needs, but it needs to be able to export its data in a useful way. It is important that the system exports CSV files to work with other programs like Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets. In addition, it should export presentations as PDFs and videos as MP4s to share ...
2. Trello: Best for simple project management. Trello is a Kanban-board style project management software, owned by Atlassian. In Trello, you nest project tasks under boards labeled with an overarching theme. For example, you might have a board for "Not started," "In Progress," and "Complete.".
Similarweb is a cloud-based website traffic analysis solution, which helps businesses across finance, hospitality, retail, education, media and various other industries track the online activity of customers, prospects, partners a... Read more. 4.5 ( 100 reviews) Compare. Visit Website.
Market research is a project, and projects need tools to manage them. ProjectManager is a cloud-based project management software that has a robust dashboard that can collect, crunch and deliver the market research you gather in easy-to-read and share charts and graphs. Plus it features task management tools like Kanban boards and task lists to ...
Celoxis is one of the best project management apps for medium and large organizations. This app provides ample reports and other tools that give decision-makers and business owners value. For ...
Project Management Software Market Growth & Trends. The global project management software market size is expected to reach USD 20.47 billion by 2030, expanding at a CAGR of 15.7% from 2023 to 2030, according to the new report by Grand View Research, Inc. The growth of the project management software industry can be attributed to the increasing ...
Find the best Project Management Software for your organization. Compare top Project Management Software systems with customer reviews, pricing, and free demos. ... software development, high tech, marketing, research, and consulting or professional services. Help desk, quality control, and time tracking are additional uses for certain types of ...
Campanis, N. A. (1999). Project management in market research. PM Network, 13 (9), 41-44. Reprints and Permissions . by Nicholas A. Campanis, PMP. E VERY PROJECT MANAGER strives to complete his or her project on time, within budget, and meeting performance expectations. Normally, when this is accomplished, we consider the project a great ...
Use Project and Teams to empower collaboration and management of projects, including file sharing, chats, meetings, and more. Work hand in hand without being side by side Collaborate on projects even when you're on different continents.
Zoho is an Indian software company famous for providing affordable alternatives to popular software tools. It offers a project management tool called Zoho Projects, with a free plan that offers ...