Best Project Management Software: Top 10 Free & Paid PM Tools Compared

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When it comes to project management, members of a team must maintain communication, as poor communication can result in lost income, missed opportunities for growth, and a decline in productivity. As such, the use of one of the best project management tools is essential for any sized business, as these solutions are an asset for maintaining order, assisting in work delegation, and facilitating clear communication about the status of various projects and goals.

That said, finding the best of the bunch for your needs is no easy task. After reviewing many of the leading project management tools, we’ve developed a list of the software solutions that stand out based on criteria like their reputation, feature-to-price value, free offerings, and ease of use. In this article, we’ll review and compare the market’s top options for various needs and budgets.

The Top 10 Best Project Management Tools

Below is a quick overview of the top 10 project management tools, with the almighty Monday.com leading the way:

1. Monday – Overall, the best project management tool in 2024, thanks to its excellent features like collaborative docs and built-in time tracking functions
2. ClickUp – An excellent option for small businesses as it includes a generous free plan and affordably priced paid tiers, perfect for scaling with your business
3. Wrike – Powerful project management software that features great role-based access features for assigning tasks and giving access
4. Smartsheet – Intuitive project management tool with a unique spreadsheet-like layout and a high level of customization, great for Excel fans
5. Teamwork – Budget-friendly option that’s great for remote working teams as it features an excellent communication app, Teamwork Chat
6. Zoho Projects – A popular project management program that links seamlessly with other Zoho apps, like the highly-rated CRM software
7. Quire – Dependable project management tool that offers a highly customizable and user-friendly interface, great for beginners
8. Awork – A great choice for small teams looking for a simple-to-use project management tool with a clean interface
9. ProWorkflow – Useful project management tool with an excellent Active Staff View feature for managing the workload of employees
10. Asana – Simple-to-use project management solution with a ton of useful list views, including Kanban and Gantt charts

Why You Should Use Project Management Software

With the focus being on increasing productivity, communication, and output, there are a ton of reasons project management software is beneficial for businesses of all sizes. Here’s a useful list of the main advantages of using this software:

Collaboration and Communication

Project management tools make it easier to inform team members on even the most minute project plans and specifics, and since all of your information is in one location, you can effortlessly assign tasks, tag team members in comments, and take advantage of document-sharing capabilities.

Furthermore, it prevents conversations from getting lost in email threads, chat rooms on instant messaging services, or even handwritten notes. Knowing who’s responsible for what eliminates confusion, makes progress visible, and promotes task completion on schedule.

All of this keeps the project planning process organized and lessens delays brought on by a lack of structure.

Improved Analytics

Project management software also provides you with insights into a variety of your processes and projects. Most project management tools will have a comprehensive business intelligence solution and customizable dashboards for reporting at a glance (i.e., upcoming deadlines and task completion rates).

By focusing on usable data, comparing it to your KPIs, and visualizing it, you can strategize your next step based on practical insights or enhance your current procedures to cut down on wasted time and money.

Organize Data

Regardless of the type of project you’re working on, project management software allows you to securely centralize project data. As a result, there’s a well-organized informational structure that encourages transparency and enhances collaborative capabilities.

Every team member can work on the latest document version, make revisions in real time, and be certain that everyone else working on the project is aware of any changes thanks to a single source of truth.

Say goodbye to sifting through email threads and searching through each folder in search of the information you’re missing while juggling your different tasks.

Budget Management

Budget forecasting is a feature of the best project management software that analyses data from previous projects to get precise projections for ongoing and forthcoming projects. In fact, most project management solutions can be configured to provide notifications and alarms when you deviate from the planned budget.

Project management software helps decipher intricate budgeting data and present it in understandable reports that can be given to stakeholders and investors. It’s your responsibility as a PM to consistently organize and disseminate this information, and project management software can make this task quick and error-free.

Improve Processes

Your team can create, store, and search a database of workflow rules and procedures thanks to the many document and information management systems you’ll find with leading project management software.

However, more sophisticated project management tools boast capabilities like customizable project request forms, Gantt charts, and automated workflows that are triggered when a specific action (such as requesting a job or task, marking something as finished, etc.) is taken.

Reviews of the Best Project Planning Software Solutions

Now it’s time to take a more in-depth look at the top project management software by reviewing the key features, functionalities, ease of use, pricing, and much more, starting with our number one pick, Monday.

1. Monday – Overall, the Best Project Management Tool in 2024

Monday is our overall top pick for the best project management software, as it’s one of the most highly customizable and easy-to-use tools out there. Better yet, it has a useful free plan that’s ideal for smaller-scale businesses or startups, which includes many premium features.

One of the most impressive features is the excellent role assignment. Each team member can be given a defined job, ensuring they have access to the tools they need to do their tasks — this maintains accountability and prevents confusion about who’s working on a project.

Another feature we particularly enjoyed is the collaborative docs function, which enables everyone to co-author documentation and link to other files within the software. Plus, you can create project views that display the data that’s pertinent to your operation using its configurable dashboards.

Alongside these outstanding features, you also get an insane amount of integrations with third-party apps like Mailchimp or Shopify. To automate and sync all your processes, you can explore the integrations by browsing through the add-ons section on Monday to connect with the tools your business already uses.

Moving to another area where Monday excels – the interface and ease of use. We found both to be excellent. For beginners, there are useful hints and a wealth of guides and videos to help you get started, and for those more accustomed to project management tools, there’s also enough here to really sink your teeth into.

However, should you get stuck during your implementation of Monday, there’s a stack of useful support options available for users, including a live chat, a ticketing system, or a deep knowledge base, including useful webinars, videos, and tips and tricks.

Pricing

Alongside a solid free plan for smaller businesses (we’re talking 1-2 people max), there are also some excellent paid plans that can scale alongside your business growth:

As a leader in the project planning space, we highly recommend trying Monday’s free plan risk-free now to see if it’s the right tool for your needs. There’s also a solid 2-week long free trial on the premium plans if you want to test Monday.com in all its glory before committing.

2. ClickUp – A Leading Option for Small Businesses

ClickUp is an all-in-one productivity platform that includes collaborative capabilities, project tracking tools, reporting dashboards, workflow creations, and document organization.

It’s one of the most widely used project management software systems available and includes a ton of potential integrations and some truly unique features. For example, the Whiteboard function allows you and your team to brainstorm while creating a foolproof plan.

You also get access to collaborative docs that function as a Wiki, meaning anyone can join and contribute to the discussion. Additionally, you have access to services like in-app chat and proofing that can speed up customer approvals for marketing assets.

Besides collaboration tools, it also has task and time management tools, and users can create workflows using a whopping 12+ views. For example, you can select a list view for to-do lists, a board for process management, or a Gantt chart view for project timelines to organize tasks, track change, and manage your teams.

Another of the platform’s main features includes the ability to post comments on any task or document, assign comments with action items, communicate in real-time, share attachments, and uniquely, you can even create and annotate in-app video recordings, which are a great asset for training.

To support these premium features, there are also a ton of third-party app integrations available, including Calendly, Google Suite, HubSpot, and Slack, amongst many more. Also, a subscription with Zapier allows you to connect to over 1,000 additional apps.

Pricing

There’s a nice and straightforward plan structure with ClickUp, each of them offering excellent value for money. The cheapest plan (besides the generous free plan on offer) is ideal for small-to-midsize businesses.

However, the Unlimited plan does come with restrictions on custom exports, as you can only export your lists or table views as an Excel or CSV file five times. For larger teams who need more automation, whiteboards, or dashboards, we’d recommend opting for either the Business or Business Plus plans.

3. Wrike – Includes Excellent Role-based Access Control Features

Wrike is an excellent project management tool that’s used by some of the world’s leading brands, like Google, to run, organize, and manage their business. It includes a ton of excellent features like role assignment and Gantt charts and even offers a generous free plan.

Real-time editing and mentions are supported by Wrike, enabling team members to collaborate on tasks and projects without difficulty. Plus, it provides activity streams where users can view real-time updates, remarks, and modifications made by team members.

Unlike many, you can even keep track of the time spent on tasks for insights into team efficiency without the need for integration, and you can create different reports on project progress, team performance, and resource allocation using the platform’s reporting and analytics functionalities.

Although it comes loaded with functionality, it also supports a variety of third-party programs, including Microsoft Office 365, communication apps like Slack, and cloud storage services like Google Drive and Dropbox. Besides data syncing, these integration opportunities improve cross-platform communication.

In terms of security, there are strong measures available with Wrike, including data encryption, user authentication, and role-based access controls. This guarantees that private project information stays protected and is only accessible to authorized individuals.

Pricing

Wrike includes a free plan that startups, entrepreneurs, or even small businesses can use. It allows you to create an unlimited number of projects which is unique for a free plan, however, you are limited to 200 tasks and subtasks.

That said, the paid plans are competitively priced and will give you access to the full suite of features, like Kanban, dynamic Gantt charts, and advanced analytics.

4. Smartsheet – Offers a Unique and Highly Customizable Spreadsheet-Like Interface

Smartsheet is a cloud-based project management solution that allows teams to plan, track, automate, and report on their work. What makes it particularly unique is the way its interface looks, as it’s modeled on a spreadsheet.

It includes interesting features that make this far more powerful than a standard spreadsheet, including customizable templates, milestone tracking, and Kanban boards – all of which are common with project management software, but Smartsheet nails the basics very well.

The main standout, of course, is the view and layout of Smartsheet, and this leads many to love it or hate it. That said, it does offer other views alongside great customization capabilities to accommodate several needs and preferences.

It’s important to note that Smartsheet is so much more than a glorified spreadsheet and also includes useful features like collaboration tools (including live document editing) and reporting dashboards that make this a complete project management solution.

We also loved the 10,000ft management feature, which you can integrate into Smartsheet to match your projects with workforce requirements. This gives you access to a high-level picture of your team’s availability and the projects they’re engaged in.

Using this, you can select who has the availability to take on additional tasks and deliverables to maintain a smooth flow of projects through your pipeline. Smartsheet does this so well that it’s considered one of the best business resource management solutions.

Pricing

Smartsheet has a simple range of plans, including an excellent free option that includes Grid, Gantt, calendar, and card views, albeit for just one user. For more users, there’s a competitive range of plans for businesses of all sizes, each offering unlimited sheets, dashboards, and varying ranges of file storage.

5. Teamwork – Great for Remote Teams

Teamwork, as a project management tool created with team management at the forefront of its design, lives up to its name. It provides a broad range of features that make it among the best available on the market.

From fostering collaboration to easily managing workloads to monitoring project status in real-time. It gives project managers visibility into the responsibilities of team members, expected and actual progress, and billable work hours thanks to Teamwork’s time tracking feature.

Teams can view their projects in a way that makes the most sense to them, thanks to teamwork project views. Although more than sufficient for most, you’re limited to four project views, including the popular List, Table, Boards, and Gantt.

With the use of these several views, teams can select the one that best suits their particular project and team, simplifying management and tracking of progress. Because everyone can immediately grasp the status of assignments and projects, this flexibility promotes improved teamwork and communication.

A feature we really liked seeing was Teamwork Chat, an app that gives teams a distinct platform tool for team discussions with a similar feel to Slack or Microsoft Teams. Users can share files, start new channels for user groups, and test out Teamwork’s beta video conferencing capability, all from within the app.

Even better, Teamwork integrates with a wide range of apps, including those listed above, should your business already be using them. With these, businesses can collaborate easily across applications without having to manually move between them. Popular links include Gmail, HubSpot, and some of the best accounting tools, like Quickbooks.

Pricing

Teamwork features more plans than most, including the excellent free forever plan, which is a little limited in terms of features, but does include file storage, and unlike many, it allows for up to 5 users.

Each of the other plans allows for seamless scaling alongside your business, with each added extra storage, more users, and an increased number of projects.

6. Zoho Projects – Integrates Seamlessly With Other Zoho Software, Including the CRM

Zoho Projects is a top project management tool with deep features, including the ability to record billing time for various projects and Gantt charts. It even comes with outstanding built-in communication, such as live chat rooms, forum pages, and Zoho Meeting.

The extensive feature set of Zoho Projects makes it unique in a congested market. Beginning with the seamless integration with the rest of the Zoho ecosystem, which consists of apps for meetings, email, IT administration, CRM, finance, and loads more.

Zoho Projects connects with most Google products if your company uses G Suite from Google. One of the clear strengths of Zoho Project is definitely team collaboration.

Besides an integrated chat box for instant chatting, paying customers even have access to file attachments to avoid back-and-forth emails related to ongoing projects. Also, as Zoho offers one of the best CRM solutions on the market, you can seamlessly sync your customer data into Zoho projects.

Uniquely, you can also integrate with Zoho Meeting, which will enable you to start video conferences with coworkers directly from your task view. Plus, the program even performs a good job of tracking time, and timelines can be given to projects so that task deadlines can’t be established outside of the project dates.

Individual tasks for Express users also include a built-in time tracker so you can check whether the time is billable for that project, which makes it a popular option for freelancers.

Another feature we liked is the resource management reporting function, which managers, in particular, will be thrilled to see. These weekly reports show which employees are given too much or not enough work, as well as which tasks take up most of their time.

Pricing

Like many other project management tools on this list, Zoho Projects includes a strong free plan for up to 5 users, slightly more than most others, which usually limits you to just one or two users. That aside, there are just two other options to pick from:

Both of the paid plans offer a 10-day free trial, so you can test the Premium or Enterprise plans and all their features free for a short period.

7. Quire – User-friendly Project Management Solution

Quire is a well-regarded project management tool that streamlines workflows and promotes interaction and teamwork. In fact, hundreds of thousands of users worldwide, including individuals from major corporations like Google, IBM, Dyson, Nasdaq, and Stanford, trust Quire.

The tool is designed for teams that struggle to break down major goals into manageable chunks and will assist you in creating and keeping track of the tasks and subtasks that make up each larger project item.

The nested task list view, the Kanban view, and the timeline view are Quire’s three primary view modes, all of which offer detailed information on tasks and can be customized fully to suit your team’s needs. Managers can assign comments and mention within these tasks and lists, making for seamless collaboration.

There’s also a good range of task management tools in Quire, including a Gantt chart builder, task templates, data search, and re-usable tags, which help you visualize your team’s performance.

Plus, there’s a configurable reporting suite, file sharing, attachment management, and real-time updates are just a few of the team communication and project management capabilities to aid you further. In fact, unlike most, Quire also lets you assign numerous assignees to a task or project.

Quire supports thousands of integrations through Zapier (premium account required), in addition to native integrations with Slack, GitHub, Google Workspace, and Microsoft, amongst many others.

Pricing

Quire includes a useful free-to-use plan that can support up to 8 projects and a generous 10 users, far more than many other providers on this list. Paid plans also all come with a 30-day free trial, so you can test out all the features before committing to a premium plan long-term.

8. Awork – Great Choice for Startups or Small Teams

Awork is a cloud-based collaboration tool made to simplify project management, marketing management, and even event administration. The tool enables you to delegate tasks to team members and monitor their performance throughout the project.

The tool’s adaptable Kanban boards, often known as interactive to-do lists, can be used to assign tasks. Additionally, users can create a timeline for each project, enabling them to give clients and stakeholders accurate information about projects.

You can add tasks, subtasks, and deadlines for each project on the boards to make it simpler to understand how your project is progressing. And as you’d expect, a project manager can switch between various perspectives to monitor the status of various tasks.

With Awork, you can organize and exhibit every one of your actions using the Kanban boards, and users can see exactly how the team’s various projects are progressing. The drag-and-drop functionality of the platform makes moving any work simple.

For further integrations, you can link Awork to your calendar and set tasks in order of importance. This way, all of your team can be notified of who’s working on what in one central location. We also really enjoyed how clean the interface is, which is impressive for a slightly lesser-known project management tool.

It’s very simple to get to grips with, and you can learn all the intricacies in a short period. There’s even a strong support team on-hand to help you as and when you need it, and the response times are lightning-fast.

Pricing

Sadly, there’s no free plan on offer with Awork. Depending on the number of users and the features you need, these are the 3 plans you have to choose from:

9. ProWorkflow – Includes an Excellent Active Staff View Feature for Managing Workload

ProWorkflow allows you to manage time and any resources related to your business’s projects — and it lets you have as many users as you need, unlike its rivals. There’s also no cap on the number of projects you can track in ProWorkflow, regardless of the pricing tier.

Better yet, with the integrated time-tracking tool, you can monitor the amount of time spent on projects or on specific tasks without the need for a third-party app.

You can also create reports based on the distribution of the workload among your employees, and you can use that data to identify any possible issues with team members who are over or under-worked. However, the one feature that stands out is the Active Staff View on the ProWorkflow dashboard.

With it, workflow management is made simpler as you’re able to see everything you need to know at a glance. It shows you how each staff member is spending their time, breaking it down into tasks, projects, and much more.

Pricing

As is common with project management software, there are three plans to choose from, but sadly, none of them are free to use. We also think they’re a little overpriced when you look at the feature-to-cost ratio, especially when compared to other providers on this list.

10. Asana – Simple-to-Use Project Management Solution

Asana is a reliable, approachable project management application that’ll satisfy the demands of most users. Although it’s not quite as strong as other rivals, its user interface is a huge selling feature for folks who have never used this kind of program before.

The free-to-use Basic plan includes lists, kanban boards, and unlimited projects, tasks, and comments. Plus, it can be used by up to 15 people, which is far more than any other free plan on this list, making it an excellent option for small businesses and startups.

By removing the cap of 1,000 tasks, the more premium plans expand upon the essential Asana capabilities found in the Basic tier. Countless team members and unrestricted free visitors can be added to your projects, and you’ll get an infinite number of dashboards and Asana’s colorful timeline (Gantt chart).

Beyond this, Asana also offers powerful automation with its workflow tool, allowing you to automatically alert assignees of new tasks, send Slack messages, and similar to improve productivity and minimize back-and-forth communications.

The adaptability of Asana with its various project views is what really sets it apart. However, as with most PM tools, different perspectives are unlocked at different tiers. That said, what’s really nice is that the free Basic tier does include all the essential views, including Kanban boards, lists, and calendars.

Pricing

The free plan allows up to 15 users to test the service, and we found it to be more than generous, with no limit on the number of tasks and projects allowed. For more users and features, including time management and collaboration tools, it’s worth upgrading to the premium plan, though.

The Market’s Top PM Tools Compared

Here’s a quick overview of each of the best project planning tools to help you easily compare key factors like pricing, compatibility, and their top features:

What’s the Best Free Project Management Tool?

If you don’t want to spend any money, there are some free project management tools out there, but it’s worth noting that they come with limitations, like the number of users, limited customization, and often even a limit on the number of tasks and projects that can be done.

Below is a useful table showing the best free project management programs in 2024:

These will all do the job for a small business or individual looking to plan their workload better, but generally, it’s wise to use the free versions to trial the tool, but it’s a worthy investment to upgrade to a paid plan or to at least consider the cost of scaling when the need arises.

How We Ranked the Best PM Software SolutionsTo ensure we pick the best project management solutions out there, we have strict criteria for what we look for. This includes things like features, price, compatibility, and ease of use. We’ve listed some of the key factors below to help you make an informed decision:

• Features: The best project management tools will include important features like Gantt charts, time-tracking tools, collaboration, and file-sharing functions as standard, but some have unique features that set them apart. For example, with Monday, you can send mass personalized emails from within the main hub.
• Integrations: It’s likely that you’re already using some tech like Google Suite or Shopify, and the best project management apps should link seamlessly to these. Therefore, it’s important to make note of what your business currently uses to make sure your preferred software can integrate with this.
• Price: You should never purposely look for the cheapest plans, as this can lead to opting for a tool or a plan that isn’t the best fit for your needs. Instead, look for a plan that has a good feature-to-price ratio to ensure you’re getting good value for money.
• Compatibility: The top project management software should have apps for mobile devices, like Android and iOS, as well as support for desktop clients, Windows and Mac. This means you can work on the go or with whatever equipment your business already uses.

It can be hard to know how to choose the right project management solution for you. Knowing what you need from a tool from the outset will make it easy to determine which one is best for you, plus, many offer free plans or trials, so you can shortlist your top picks and narrow down your options without paying a cent.

Conclusion | What’s the Best Project Management Software to Use in 2024?

With the best project management tools, you can quickly create a hierarchy of activities for effective and efficient completion. You can also use it to show which actions are dependent on one another and which steps need to be performed in order. In turn, this facilitates the team’s ability to complete its work.

Overall, they help businesses keep on top of workers’ productivity and allow for seamless collaboration with other team members, as well as ordering tasks, improving customer relations, and much more.

We’d highly recommend trying Monday, as it has an excellent feature-to-price ratio, offers a ton of customization options, and even has a generous free plan for small businesses to use. Get started risk-free now.

Project Management Software FAQs