Introduction
Are you looking for project management tools that can help you manage your projects and team members effortlessly?
If the answer to the above question is yes, then you’ve come to the right place. It won’t be wrong to say that adopting new methodologies, implementing new technologies and tools has become the need of the hour to boost your standing in the current scenario.
We have compiled the best project management tools to improve your game. Before we look at them, let’s understand what project management tools are.
What are project management tools?
Project management tools are software applications designed to help plan, execute, and monitor projects effectively. Project managers and teams use these tools to streamline tasks, improve collaboration, and ensure that projects are completed on time and within budget.
PM tools significantly reduce all the challenges and struggles of project management, so that you can focus on the actual work without any obstacles. They help you manage every aspect of your projects, ranging from work to people.
Best Project Management Tools & Software in 2024
1. ProofHub
ProofHub is a versatile project management tool used by leading organizations like NASA, Disney, Taco Bell, and many more. This all-in-one tool comes packed with powerful features to eliminate the need to depend on tens of different tools to run your project.
Whether you’re a team of 10, 50, or 500 project members, ProofHub is an extremely scalable solution for managing project activities. Managers can use it to take charge of all kinds of project tasks, side-by-side full control on project communication. One of the highlights of ProofHub is that it brings must-have project tools such as files, time tracking, team chat, calendar – everything you can imagine in a neat web portal.
Another useful highlight of ProofHub is its digital proofing feature. Cross-functional teams that work on web design, social media, and advertising projects can greatly streamline their creative process. Organize project flows into “pending”, “in-review” and “approved” stages with all the key stakeholders chiming in seamlessly.
One stand-out aspect of ProofHub is its flat pricing model with no per-user fees, providing a cost-efficient scalable solution and making it accessible to businesses of all sizes.
Features:
Task Management
Managers can hand out tasks in a detailed and organized way. Each task comes with useful context points such as due date, billed time, assignees, files, and comments. This ensures that the team members always know what to do and how to do it.
Time Management
ProofHub comes with its own timesheets feature that lets team members record time spent on tasks. This is very useful when the project is billed by the hour as the managers can accurately plan the project ahead. It makes client communication much more transparent, enabling teams to never struggle while getting bills cleared.
Project Communication
ProofHub offers three tools for communication – Discussions, 1:1 Chat, and Group Chat. Alternatively, team members can also share ideas and thoughts in task comments.
Discussions are Slack-like shared talk boards wherein everyone can post updates for the entire team to take note of. Best for holding discussions, openly sharing feedback, and making topical announcements. Discussions can be subscribed to, just like a Slack channel.
1:1 Chat is meant for personally reaching out to team members. It supports emojis, file attachments and works smoothly in the mobile app.
Group Chat lets teams of all sizes create their own chat groups for sharing internal updates. Any three members can create a group of their own for a more focused discussion experience.
Collaboration
As ProofHub brings all kinds of Project Management Tools under one umbrella, it makes collaboration a breeze. Team members can simultaneously work on the same document, send messages, and update tasks without changing the window. The proofing tool, which comes with in-file annotations further enhances the collaboration experience.
Project Planning
Managers can use nifty tools such as Gantt Charts and Project Timeline Calendar to stay on top of the planning process. These tools directly pull data from the task lists to create a visually perceptible project planning environment. This contributes to fewer missed deadlines, and timely actions whenever there is a roadblock.
Project Reporting
Managers also get insights into critical parameters such as team productivity, time spent on tasks, tasks completed in a week, and so on. These reports make it easy for the manager to make well-informed decisions. If the team is underperforming or if a certain member is off-schedule, the manager will always know. This improves both the quality and timeliness of their decisions.
Pricing:
After a 14-day free trial, ProofHub offers a flat pricing model with two paid plans.
- Essential: Flat $45/month (billed annually) for unlimited users.
- Ultimate control: Flat $89/month (billed annually) for unlimited users.
Start managing your teams and projects efficiently with ProofHub!
2. Scoro
Scoro is known as one of the most comprehensive business management software for professional and creative services. For those who wish to bring structure to your work, Scoro is the right pm tool for you.
Features:
- A single place for projects, clients, and teams
- Be organized in every aspect of your business with seamless workflow
- Get a real-time overview and automated reports
- Can be integrated with tools like DropBox, Mailchimp, Outlook, and more
Pricing:
Essential plan starts at $26/user/month
3. Workzone
Workzone is built by a highly dedicated team to help individuals and organizations gain better control and visibility in work management. It gives them a central place to manage and share work, so everyone stays on the same page.
Features:
- Get top-level reports so everyone knows what’s next on the list
- Makes way for faster communication
- Features like creating tasks, to-do lists, and sharing files easily improves collaboration
- Set permission for different users including clients
Pricing:
Starts from $24 per user per month.
4. Filestage
Filestage is an enterprise-ready marketing project management software that helps teams to get their project deliverables reviewed and approved faster. Filestage streamlines organizes and automates feedback on deliverables throughout the proofing process while reducing errors and ensuring compliance guides are met. Enable colleagues and clients to view and annotate project deliverables (such as documents, images, or videos) in real-time for marketing projects, video production, website design, product catalogs, or anything else – and to approve files when they are complete.
Features:
- Build consistent review and approval processes
- Comment on videos, documents, images, and audio files in real-time
- Clear deliverable version management
- Project dashboard to keep an overview of all deliverables
Pricing:
Starts from $49/ month for unlimited users and up to 10 projects.
5. Proprofs
ProProfs Project is one of the simple and feature-packed project management tools designed to help businesses of all sizes manage, track, and execute projects with ease. It brings all your projects under one roof allowing your teams to work on them collaboratively. They can share files on the go, discuss roadblocks, give feedback via task comments, and get real-time notifications on project developments.
From assigning and prioritizing tasks to tracking and executing them, the tool helps you do it all. You can even create timesheets for each team member, manage billable and non-billable hours and generate invoices.
Features:
- Gantt charts
- Shared Calendar
- Kanban Board
- Custom Workflow
- Timesheets
- Insightful reports
- Invoice generation
- Drag and drop functionality
Pricing:
Pricing plan starts at $49.97 per month.
6. HubSpot
HubSpot is an all-in-one CRM tool that combines the power of your marketing, sales, support, and project management teams together. HubSpot’s free Marketing Hub provides you with Projects, a singular place for all your tasks, files, and communications to live in one place. Under the Marketing Hub, you can manage all of your projects within the same software and get real-time feedback, notifications, and results.
With built-in templates, you can start managing your projects instantly. For every project, break down different tasks, assign owners, set due deadlines, and provide any needed attachments or assets in Projects. Since it’s a part of HubSpot’s CRM, you’ll have all your customer data connected alongside your marketing, sales, and support teams.
Features:
- Collaboration boards
- Pre-built project templates
- Customer database and data sync
- Task assignment ticketing systems
- In-depth dashboard analytics
Pricing:
Paid plans start from $45 per month
7. Zoho Projects
Without a doubt, Zoho Projects stands out as one of the best simple project management software that can help you streamline your upcoming work and tasks with a click.
Features:
- Effective file management
- Gantt charts to oversee project progress
- One tool for teams to create, collaborate and communicate
- Can be integrated with ZOHO CRM and other tools to manage every aspect of a growing agency
Pricing:
Paid plans starts from US$5 per user per month.
Read on: Zoho Alternatives – 13 Tools Your Team Will Love
8. GanttPRO
GanttPRO is one of the best pm software, appreciated already by 250k project managers around the globe. It helps build project plans and timelines, track workflow, control expenses, follow deadlines, and arrange productive collaboration in a single place. The solution offers ready-made Gantt chart templates for an easy start.
Features:
- Workload: keep all resources engaged and balanced
- Collaboration: comments, attachments, and notifications
- Workspace: Gantt charts and Board view
- Project templates for easy start
Pricing:
Basic plan starts from $7.99/user/month.
9. nTask
New on the market, nTask is still in its burgeoning state of development, with new features and AI that are being introduced as the tool matures. Its intuitive software design that is easy on the eyes as well as easy to adopt, is one of the many reasons why start-ups, solopreneurs, and even enterprises will readily switch to this newcomer pm tool.
Features
- Task & Project Management: Simple task & project creation using task checklists, updates, progress meter.
- Risk Management: Use a risk matrix to identify and assess potential risks and their frequency of occurrence.
- Issue Management: Create and manage issues with customizable severity, priority, and status options.
- Time Management: Beautifully designed weekly timesheets with manual hours linked to a suitable task or a project.
- Resource Management – Manage resource allocation, project budget, and currency using the Project Planner.
- Meeting Management – Schedule multiple meetings at a time with a clear concise agenda, discussion points, and follow-up actions
Pricing
The Premium plan starts at $4 per user per month.
10. Chanty
Chanty is one of those hybrid project management tools that function as a team collaboration platform as well as a task management system. You can create a task from a message, assign it to a team member, set a due date and task priority. Task discussion takes you to a task-related conversation. Chanty has also in-built audio and video calls. You can integrate Chanty with third-party apps including Trello, Asana, Zapier, Google Drive, Dropbox, Onedrive, Github, Gitlab, Bitbucket, Mailchimp, Giphy, and others.
Features:
- Kanban board
- Due dates
- Task priority
- Task discussion
- Audio/video calls
- Third-party integrations
Pricing:
The Business plan is priced at $3 per user per month.
11. Redbooth
Redbooth is an easy-to-use online task and pm software for busy teams. Moreover, you can keep your entire team organized, in alignment, and always on schedule with Redbooth.
Features:
- Intuitive task and project management
- Easily delegate and assign tasks
- Mobile apps for iOS and Android
Pricing:
The Paid plan starts at $9 per user per month.
12. Celoxis
Celoxis is an award-winning all-in-one pm tool. It helps organizations to plan and track their portfolios, projects, tasks, resources, timesheets, issues, and risks from one place. It has extensive collaboration features including a customizable free client portal. Its dashboards and reporting capabilities are superb and one of the best in the market. It is feature-rich, intuitive, and highly customizable.
If you are comfortable with the Microsoft Project scheduling paradigm, Celoxis is one of the best alternatives to Microsoft Project.
Features:
- All-in-one project management tool
- Easy collaboration, share files, discuss and exchange comments not just with your colleagues but with your clients
- 360-degree real-time insights with our super powerful reports and dashboards
- Easy to customize and intuitive
- Easily allocate resources to tasks based on availability, demand, and skills.
Pricing:
You need to contact their team for pricing details.
13. 10,000FT Plans
10,000ft is a simple yet powerful pm software that helps you make confident operational decisions about your teams and projects. Apart from this, it has resource management and time-tracking capabilities as well.
Features:
- An effective visual resource planning software
- Detailed project tracking
- Flexible planning interface
Pricing:
Basic plan starts from $10/month
Switch to reliable project management software to deliver projects successfully.
14. TeamGantt
TeamGantt is a refreshing pm solution that brings project scheduling software online. You can manage projects with this super-easy Gantt software. Inviting your co-workers, teammates, and friends to view and edit your Gantt chart is simple and fun!
Features:
- Fast drag and drop scheduling
- Intuitive and easy-to-use
- Real-time progress updates
Pricing:
TeamGantt’s pro plan costs $40/manager/month (20 projects per manager).
15. Proworkflow
Proworkflow is one of those project management tools your teams would love. It’s beautiful, versatile, and extremely easy to use. Also, it integrates with all the tools you need – saving you time and streamlining your processes.
Features:
- Makes it a breeze to assign staff, track time, or reschedule projects
- Quoting and invoicing has never been simpler.
- Reliable support and consultation
Pricing:
Paid plan starts from $18 per user per month.
16. Kantata (formely Mavenlink)
Kantata (formely Mavenlink) is a modern software designed for services organizations to connect with people, projects, and make profits. In a world where connectedness, transparency, and performance matter more than ever, Mavenlink helps you deliver projects successfully.
Features:
- Manage multiple projects with ease
- Handle project schedules in an intuitive interface
- Gain visibility of all your projects in your portfolio
Pricing:
Professional plan starts at $18 per user per month
Read more: Mavenlink Alternatives and Competitors: Top 7 Tools You Should Try
17. Insightly
Insightly is a powerful CRM with a project and business management set. It allows you to grow your business faster than ever by building strong customer relationships over time.
Features:
- Effortless tracking of project activity
- Accelerate sales and manage leads
- Helps you build meaningful relationships
Pricing:
From $15 month/user for teams
18. Planview AdaptiveWork
Planview AdaptiveWork (formerly known as Clarizen)is a robust project management tool. It’s perfect for companies handling multiple complex projects and it’s got some great features that include project tracking to risk management features.
But, there are a few downsides to keep in mind. For starters, it’s got a steep learning curve, so it might not be the easiest tool to get up and running. Also, the integration library is somewhat limited compared to other software, and it does require a hefty upfront investment.
Features:
- Automated processes and workflows
- Budget tracking and expense management
- Flexible UI
Pricing:
Contact their sales team for pricing information.
19. Comindware
Comindware is a popular workflow and business process management software. The workflow management software provides key capabilities for task, data, and document management.
Features:
- Focuses on process optimization
- Customer order management and CRM capabilities
- Full process automation, activity monitoring, business analytics as well as enterprise system integration.
Pricing:
Paid pricing starts at $29 per user per month.
20. Easy Project
Easy Project comes with a host of professional project management tools for you, your team, and the whole company. Trusted by top-notch companies like Toyota, Lenovo, Bosch, it is a perfect fit for numerous industries be it IT or educational.
Features:
- Visual project maps and plans
- Compatible with modules for Resources, Finances, Help Desk, and CRM
- Integrated with Outlook, Project, Excel, Redmine
Pricing:
Paid plan starts at $13.50/user.
21. Height
Height is a comprehensive project management tool designed to streamline team collaboration and accelerate product development for startups. It is new in the market so you might have not heard about it.
With Height, teams can create task lists to ensure everyone is synchronized, while the integrated chat feature keeps work-related conversations organized in a single location. Height is specifically tailored to meet the needs of startups aiming to build products more efficiently. Though, it lacks automation functionality.
Features:
- Offers lightning-fast navigation with convenient shortcuts like Cmd-K and jump-to functionality.
- Seamless integrations enable automatic task updates
- Customized workflow with drag-and-drop functionality
- Recently added time-tracking feature
Pricing: Its Team plan starts at $6.99 per user per month billed yearly.
22. Quire
Quire is a web-based task management and collaboration tool that aims to enhance productivity in various projects, such as app development or film production. However, you might find it inconvenient if you prefer working outside a browser since it lacks a dedicated Windows or Mac app.
The priority levels offered by Quire (High, Medium, Low) can be very basic. Moreover, the absence of built-in reminders can result in cluttered task lists and missed deadlines, requiring you to rely on external tools or your own memory. Keep in mind that while Quire is suitable for small and medium-sized teams, it may not meet the needs of larger organizations.
Features:
- Intuitive UI for effortless task creation and organization.
- Ultimate workflow control for streamlined processes
- Tailored solution for small teams
- Swift idea capture through text, camera, and Siri integration.
- Easy-to-use software with powerful task management features.
Pricing:
Start from $10.95 per user per month.
23. Teamdeck
Teamdeck offers a complete solution for companies to deliver projects faster. It is an essential pm software for managing resources and monitoring time spent on tasks and projects. With Teamdeck you can book your employees on different projects and create accurate timesheets with one-click time tracking.
Features:
- Resource scheduling
- Timesheets and time tracking
- Leave management
- Measure billable time
Pricing:
Team member plan starts from $3.60 / team member/month
24. Smartsheet
Smartsheet is a portable project management software to help teams collaborate, time-tracking, reporting, resource management, and planning tasks. The cloud-based software has some amazing features that bring it to the list of best project management tools.
Features:
- Leverage team collaboration
- Automatic update requests
- File attachment from Google Drive, Onedrive, Dropbox, and more
- Gain visibility into who’s busy and who’s not
- Secure permission control
Pricing:
The Paid plan is starting at $7 per user per month.
Read more: Best Smartsheet Alternatives & Competitors for Work Management
25. Freedcamp
This is an extremely simple and intuitive tool for large organizations including architecture, interior design, IT services, retail, telecommunication, and many more. Freedcamp offers functionality to unlimited users making organizing details and tasks quick and super easy.
Features:
- Gantt chart to keep a bird’s eye view of tasks
- Split large tasks into smaller subtasks
- 3rd party integrations
- Password manager
- Shared file management
Pricing:
The most popular business plan starts at $7.49 per user / month
26. Hive
Hive’s powerful project management and collaboration software put the needs of a team in a single place. The system lets you track project status, provide a Kanban-style status view, Gantt charts for project progress, and everything that a project team needs on a single page.
Features:
- Provides a central platform for everything
- Plan and repeat tasks using action templates
- Move seamlessly between projects, messages, and files
- Access anywhere from a desktop or mobile apps
- 1000+ integrations
Pricing:
The Teams plan is priced at $3 per user per month.
27. Freshdesk
Freshdesk is a pm software with a comprehensive set of tools to help businesses support the need of customers. It’s simple to set up and offers the best value for money.
Features:
- Integrated Live Chat, Phone Support, and Game Mechanics
- High customizability
- Multi-channel, multi-product, and multi-lingual support
- Great email messaging and self-service portals
- Keep track of conversations
- Resolve issues together through collaboration
Pricing:
Freshdesk offers four price points for various business sizes. You can sign up for Freshdesk’s free trial.
28. Flock
Flock is every team’s collaboration hub. Packed with tons of productivity features, Flock is a messaging and communication tool for project management. It drives efficiency and boosts the speed of execution.
Features:
- Collaboration in real-time
- Jump into video calls with just a click
- Share all types of files and find them easily
- Invite guests to work with you
- Create notes and collaborate with teams on the go
- Share code snippets on the go
- Access your entire Google Drive from within Flock
- Manage your GitHub Repos without switching tabs
Pricing:
Pro plan starts at $4.50 /user/month.
29. LiquidPlanner
LiquidPlanner is a collaboration tool that combines project management and time-tracking. It has an interesting methodology for project management as it lets teams set realistic deadlines based on different scenarios.
Features:
- A realistic range of time to complete tasks
- Integrated time and budget tracking
- Task-specific collaboration boards
- Adding notes to projects
- Cross-project visibility
Pricing:
From $15 per user per month.
30. CoSchedule
CoSchedule is an intuitive marketing project management tool that’s made to help marketers keep their work organized. It improves company visibility by simplifying all project workflows inside one cross-functional calendar. The possibilities of creation are now endless by being able to view all projects, tasks, deadlines, and ship dates in one place.
Features:
- Complete more work by streamlining marketing workflows.
- View, manage, and approve all projects and tasks in one place with Marketing Campaigns and Marketing Projects.
- Visualize project progress from start to finish more easily with the Kanban Project Dashboard.
Pricing:
Pricing begins at $19 per user per month.
31. Zistemo
The zistemo is a smart and professional suite of online pm tools that
keeps projects and teams organized. By live-monitoring team performance against project deadlines, tasks, and budgets, businesses of any size can save more time and streamline workflows.
Features:
- Auto timesheet creation, management, and approval on the cloud, from any device
- Full data integration, live synced online with invoicing, project tracking, and team timers
- Project progress live notifications and instant messaging team communication
Pricing:
After the 30-day free trial, from $15/month/1 user (Starter plan).
32. Basecamp
Basecamp is one of the most popular online pm tools today. It combines all the necessary features at one place helping project members to know what to do and make sure nothing slips through the cracks.
Features:
- Message boards, schedules, to-do lists
- Document and file storage
- Easy-to-use and simple interface
- Tag team members easily
Pricing:
Paid plans starts at $15 per user per month.
Read on: Top 21 Basecamp Alternatives for Project Management
33. Monday.com
Monday.com is a simple but intuitive tool that enables people to manage work, meet deadlines, and build a culture of transparency. The solution is best for streamlining discussions, to see who is working on what, and keeping everyone in the know.
Features:
- Centralized communication and document management
- Visual project management and tracking
- Analytics and reporting are well-executed
- Smartly integrated with Dropbox, Zapier, Google Drive, and similar sharing and management tools
Pricing:
Monday.com offers a free trial. The Basic plan is priced at $9 per seat per month.
34. Wrike
Wrike is a robust and versatile tool that helps teams collaborate better and communicate with greater transparency. Wrike has plenty of best-in-class collaboration, communication, and document management tools. The tool allows you to set priorities and align your team to work faster and smarter.
Features:
- Tasks and milestones can be synchronized to Google, iCalendar, and Outlook calendars
- Gantt charts help create visual timelines
- Helps you to turn strategy into an actionable plan
- Provide accurate and up-to-date info to clients
Pricing:
The Team plan is priced at $9.80 per user, per month.
35. Asana
Asana is a cloud-based project management software that helps teams to map out every single detail of projects within an organization. Asana enables you to plan your work in a way that’s best for you. It is flexible enough to adapt to you.
Features:
- The free tool offers a basic dashboard and search
- Group tasks into sections or columns in a list or board project
- Notify employees using a personalized inbox
- A Gantt style view of how projects fit together
- Schedule and prioritize tasks on a special Asana calendar
- Generate detailed Progress reports
Pricing:
The starter plan is priced at US$10.99 per user per month.
If Asana doesn’t come out to be your cup of team, you can pick any best Asana alternative.
36. Podio
Podio is an extremely versatile tool. More than 500,000 organizations use Podio to run projects. It is built with a series of app and tools that help teams organize tasks and track their work.
Features:
- Break down large projects into simple to-do lists with assigned tasks
- File uploads, progress statuses, updates, and comments done in real-time
- Real-time comments and deadlines are all laid out on one dashboard
- Integrates with file-sharing services, customer support, and help desk tools
- Visualized reports to mark team’s progress
Pricing:
Podio offers varying pricing tiers, which are priced per employee per month. Premium plan available at $24.
37. Project Insight
Project Insight is a simple and user-friendly interface that fits any team and project size. It offers notable integrations with Box, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Outlook, and Quickbooks. It comes with a simple and user-friendly interface. Users can track all steps of their projects from start to finish.
Features:
- Real-time reports and manages projects from a single location
- Time and expense tracking, resource management, and more
- Real-time access to their tasks and project schedules
- Balance resource work across all projects
Pricing:
The paid plan starts at $9 per user per month.
38. Teamwork
Teamwork Projects is designed to work seamlessly with the tools to form smarter workflows. With a perky interface, easy-to-use toolset, users can create a project, and generate tasks and milestones. Teamwork Projects is available on iOS, Android, Google Chrome, and the Web.
Features:
- Set start dates and end dates for your projects
- Get a snapshot view of what your team is up to with the project activity overview
- ‘Gantt’ style view of your projects
- Gain valuable insights on your team’s performance
- Assign low, medium, or high priorities to tasks
Pricing:
The Starter plan is priced at $5.99 per user per month.
39. ProjectManager.com
Projectmanager.com is an online project management tool that helps users plan, track, and reports on projects online. A powerful project planning and scheduling feature that allows users to manage a team of individuals, balance projects, and document effectiveness.
Features:
- Attach files and comments to collaborate on tasks
- Seamless importing and round-tripping of MS Project plans, Excel files & CSV files
- Real-time dashboards show your status at a glance
Pricing:
The business plan with unlimited features at $28 per user per month.
40. ClickUp
ClickUp is a high-rated productivity solution helping you better manage your tasks, notes, projects, and time. The project management tool helps you figure out who’s doing what and brings all your tasks, projects, and resources in one place. ClickUp lays special attention on views, statuses, features, and processes to give you a better user experience
Features:
- Customize workflow with stages to keep people on the same page
- Create spaces to organize work with customized features, workflows, tags
- Add time estimates for automatic scheduling
- Control what others can see and what they can do
- Make goals and track their success
Pricing:
The Unlimited plan is priced at $10 per month per user.
Read more: Best ClickUp Alternatives & Competitors For Project Teams
41. EventCollab
EventCollab is a web-based application that focuses on event project management and logistics tracking. Whether it is about contacts, data, tasks, schedules, calendars – you can securely manage everything in EventCollab. The interface is easy to navigate which makes managing complex tasks easier than ever. EventCollab uses a variety of technologies to create effective solutions for project and event management.
Features:
- Access projects in real-time
- Keeps track of the details and connects team members
- Restricted permissions, role settings, and data encryption
- Available in the cloud at any time from any location
Pricing:
From $20 per month
42. MeisterTask
MeisterTask is a visually appealing project management tool designed to assist users in planning, organizing, and executing straightforward projects. It offers intuitive Kanban boards and Gantt charts that are both easy to grasp and enjoyable to use. However, MeisterTask’s pricing is relatively high compared to other platforms that provide more comprehensive features and functionalities at a lower cost.
Features:
- Offers a modern, intuitive user interface
- Customizable automation
- Seamless multi-platform synchronization,
- Unlimited projects and team members in its freemium version
Pricing:
The Business plan of MeisterTask is priced at $26.49 per user per month.
43. Redmine
Redmine is an open-source tool that works cross-platform along with multilanguage support. It gives registered users the ability to create and manage their own projects meaning once you have registered, you are allowed to create your own projects and get access to their features. Being free downloadable software, it is definitely worth a try.
Features:
- Multiple project support
- Role-based access control
- Custom fields for issues, time entries, projects
- Gantt chart, calendar, issue-tracking system
Pricing:
Free
44. Nutcache
Nutcache brings the best of Agile workflow to manage to plan, track, and organize your projects and tasks better. It provides you with all the tools required to complete the project delivery lifecycle. It is trusted by 1,30,000+ companies worldwide to meet their deadlines. With its agile planner which allows you to see at a glance what others are working on.
Features:
- Assign cards to manage priorities
- Set milestones and alerts to never miss a deadline
- Bill time and expenses accurately
- Customizable workflows and well-organized tasks
Pricing:
The paid plan starts at $12.49/user/month.
45. Notion
Notion is an all-in-one workspace where you can write, plan, and collaborate. Unlike traditional tools for project management, Notion has a modern feel both in its looks and features. It is being used to plan and discuss projects, communicate with teams and clients, and keep track of all the important stuff. Notion keeps records of everything and captures unique workflow in the best possible way.
Features:
- Outline ideas and rearrange them in any way
- Syncs across various devices and collaborators in real-time
- Works in the browser and runs offline with the Mac, Windows, and mobile apps
Pricing:
Paid plan starts at $8 per user per month.
46. Paymo
Paymo is a full-fledged task management software helping teams to work better with advanced proper planning, scheduling, task management, and time tracking features. It’s a great tool to bring everyone together and on the same page. Whether you’re a part of a creative, marketing, web designing, business consulting team, Paymo lets you work in harmony and help you manage work faster and better.
Features:
- Advanced task management tools, Gantt charts, and Kanban boards for accurate planning and scheduling
- Discussions and comments for real-time seamless collaboration
- Compare initial time estimates against actual work
- Customizable time and work reports
Pricing:
The starter plan starts at $5.9/user/month.
47. Cage
Cage is a media collaboration software best-suited for designers, creative agencies, and in-house teams. It lets you collaborate with your team directly on the work enabling you to deliver work on time. With its advanced toolkit, you get to gather, discuss, and act on feedback faster. You can also manage projects, teams, and communicate at a single place. It’s also quite effective to get a clear picture of ongoing projects and how your team is performing.
Features:
- Add annotations directly to images, video, audio, PDFs
- Share design decisions, customize color palettes and layouts
- Record different work in progress
Pricing:
Standard plan starts at $8 per user, per month.
48. Avaza
Avaza is a productive solution that teams use to collaborate on projects, schedule resources, track time, manage expenses for a more efficient business. It helps you get more done faster with quick file-sharing, activity feeds, and more. You get to see a bird’s eye view on who’s working on what and manage work assignments and make smarter scheduling decisions.
Features:
- Visualize, filter, and group tasks within and across projects
- Flexible project budgeting and billing options
- Easily manage resource allocated to each project
- One-click time tracking from every screen
Pricing:
The paid plan starts at $11.95 per month for upto 2 users, add more for $7 each /month.
49. Dropbox Paper
Dropbox Paper launched by Dropbox is a new way to collaborate, organize teamwork, and work from anywhere. It is a collaboration app that runs on shared Dropbox space to collect ideas, create documents, chat, and keep everything together in one place.
Features:
- Help teams collaborate in a distraction-free environment
- Keeps people in the loop with real-time collaboration
- Link your Google Calendar or Microsoft Office 365 account
- Visual representation of whatever is happening
Pricing:
Business plan starts at $20/user/month.
Read more: 17 Best Alternatives To Dropbox You Need To About In 2022!
50. Evernote
When you’re planning a project, having all the information in one place makes it easier to keep things organized. Evernote is an app for all your needs of taking notes, making lists, reading content online, and having to look up something that you’ve written before. Keeping everyone on the same page will always make sure that you focus on what matters as projects from start to finish.
Features:
- Set reminders, track deadlines, and gather feedback
- Save important emails
- Stay on schedule with checklists and reminders
- Add keyword tags on notes to find them quickly
Pricing:
Team plan starts at $20.83 per user per month or $249.99 per user per year.
51. Todoist
Todoist is a customizable solution to meet the project management needs of small and midsize businesses. It is a powerful task manager loaded with great features to boost productivity as well as organize tasks and set schedules.
Features:
- Capture and organize tasks with Quick Add
- Measure your progress with visualization
- Email tasks and subtasks directly to your inbox
- Sync across all your devices and integrates with all your favorite apps
Pricing:
Business plan starts at US$6per member/month.
52. TimeCamp
Time Camp lets you easily track the time spent collectively on each project to keep the team’s work under control and communicate with them efficiently. The tool allows its users to manage unlimited projects and customers without any additional costs.
Features:
- Track the progress and detect possible delays
- Collect valuable information about how much time tasks take
- Plan the work of your team
- More precisely estimate the time needed to do a particular type of task
- Bill your clients accurately
Pricing:
Starter Plan cost at $2.99 per user per month.
53. Confluence
Confluence helps you manage the details of all your projects. Atlassian’s Confluence provides powerful tools for teams to collaborate, complete projects, and review tasks.
Features:
- No more separate documentation process
- Powerful task management to assign a tag, assignee, and due date
- Organize, track, and review decisions
- Hassle-free file sharing
Pricing:
The standard plan starts from $57.50 per month for 10 users.
54. Functionfox
Functionfox is a timesheet tool trusted by creative professionals all around the world. It is both powerful and easy to use. You can track your projects accurately from conceptualization to completion, reduce admin time, and increase productivity and profits.
Features:
- Simple project creation and management
- Interactive real-time reporting
- Compare budget estimates with actual figures
Pricing:
From $10 per user per month ( 3 user minimum)
55. Workbook
Workbook is a grown-up software suite for project and resource management, CRM, collaboration, file-sharing, forecasting, and accounting. You can choose exactly as per your requirements and only pay for it.
Features:
- Create projects and tasks easily
- Easily customizable
- Supports a client portal
Pricing:
Paid plan starts at £28 user/month.
Why are project management tools important for your business?
A study by pwc shows that 77% of all the successful projects use project management tools in some capacity.
In a fast-paced world where yesterday’s strategies become tomorrow’s roadblocks, standing still is akin to moving backwards. The evident rise of project management tools speaks volumes about them being nothing short of indispensable. Here are the few reasons:
Challenges with traditional tools for project management:
Traditional tools like spreadsheets and emails face significant challenges, as evident by research and industry trends. A study has revealed that 70% of organizations experienced project failures, and half of them struggled to achieve their project goals consistently.
The lack of clear goals, inefficient resource management, and poor communication, were identified as the primary reason for project failure. It is like navigating a maze blindfolded.
Here are some common challenges that businesses encounter with traditional methods:
- Scattered information: Traditional methods often involve scattered project data, including emails, physical notes, and files stored in various locations. This lack of centralization can lead to disorganization, making it difficult to access critical information when needed.
- Communication chaos: Coordinating with team members and stakeholders through emails and phone calls leads to miscommunication and delays. Crucial information can get lost in the conversation, leading to major issues later on.
- Version control discrepancies: Trying to keep track of the latest document versions is hard with traditional methods. One misplaced file can wreak havoc on the whole project’s timeline.
- Limited reporting: Traditional tools, like spreadsheet software, may not provide robust reporting and analytics capabilities, making it challenging to gain valuable insights into project progress and performance. This can hinder decision-making and the ability to communicate project status effectively to stakeholders.
- Resource overload: Without a clear overview of resource allocation, it’s easy to overburden your team members or mismanage their skills.
- Difficulty in remote work management: In a remote work environment, teams not using project management tools may struggle to facilitate seamless collaboration and communication among remote team members.
- Missed deadlines: Traditional methods make it challenging to set and monitor deadlines effectively. You end up chasing time, compromising the quality and scope of your project.
Also read: Top 8 Benefits of a Project Management Software For Managers
Why should we use project management tools?
Project management tools provide a multitude of benefits to project managers, making their work efficient and life easier. Here are some key merits you, as a project manager, can avail:
✅ Faster collaboration
No more hunting down emails or digging through chat history. These tools create a centralized hub where team members can collaborate in real-time. Everyone can work together efficiently, making progress at a faster pace.
✅ Easier delegation
With project management tools, assigning tasks and responsibilities is a breeze. You can easily allocate tasks to team members, set deadlines, and track progress, ensuring everyone knows what they need to do and when.
✅ Accurate project tracking
Say goodbye to manual tracking and spreadsheets! These tools provide automated tracking and reporting features that give you real-time updates on project progress. You can easily monitor milestones, deadlines, and overall project success.
✅ Central data storage
Forget scattered files and folders. Project management tools offer centralized data storage where you can store and access all project-related documents, files, and assets. It keeps everything organized and easily accessible for the entire team.
✅ Seamless communication
Communication becomes easier with built-in messaging and commenting features. Team members can discuss tasks, share ideas, and collaborate without the need for separate communication platforms or endless email chains.
✅ Instant file-sharing
Need to share a document or file? Project management tools provide a streamlined file-sharing system. You can upload and share files within the tool, ensuring everyone has access to the latest versions and reducing the risk of miscommunication.
✅ Accurate time tracking
Keep track of how much time is spent on each task with integrated time-tracking features. It helps monitor productivity, identify bottlenecks, and make more accurate estimations for future projects.
✅ Automated invoicing
Some project management tools offer integrated invoicing capabilities, simplifying the billing process. You can track billable hours, generate invoices, and send them directly to clients, saving time and ensuring accurate billing.
✅ Quick and accurate reporting
With project management tools, generating reports is a piece of cake. They offer customizable reporting features that allow you to generate comprehensive reports on project status, progress, resource utilization, and more, providing valuable insights for decision-making.
How to choose the right project management tool?
When seeking project management software, consider these essential steps:
- Identify your specific needs and constraints, such as budget, team size, and integration needs. Create a list of criteria, including budget, scalability, permissions, and more.
- Next, compile a shortlist of software options by reviewing credible sources and user reviews.
- Test each software with a free trial, focusing on core features and user-friendliness.
- Collaborate with a small team to assess how the software functions in a real work environment.
- Gather feedback from your team through interviews, surveys, or live demos, considering both technical features and user experience.
- Calculate the software’s cost against potential time savings and benefits, aiming for positive ROI.
- Finally, select the software that aligns with your needs and test it with a short-term contract. If it doesn’t meet expectations, you can easily transition to another tool.
This comprehensive approach ensures you choose the right project management software that boosts your team’s productivity and efficiency.
Key considerations while choosing a project management tool
Choosing the right tool for your project management needs is crucial for your business success. Here are the few essential factors, minus the technical jargon, that can help you sort and filter the chaos:
- Know your project needs: Start by understanding your project’s size, scope, and team. Are you working with remote teams or in-house? Do you need collaboration, automation, or customization features? Knowing your specific needs is the first step.
- Team size: Your team’s size matters. Small and large teams have different dynamics and needs. Opt for a tool that can grow with you, accommodating more features and team members as your projects expand.
- Key features: Once you know your needs and team size, focus on essential features. Do you need task management, collaboration, resource allocation, or time tracking? Create a checklist with must-have features like Gantt charts, agile capabilities, reporting, and integrations.
- User-friendly interface: A user-friendly tool is a time-saver. Look for tools with a smooth learning curve that won’t require extensive training. This way, your team can quickly adapt, saving you time and money.
- Integration capabilities: Ensure the tool works well with what you already use, but be mindful of costs and security risks. Some tools offer in-house integrations, eliminating the need for third-party add-ons.
- User feedback and reviews: Learn from others’ experiences by reading user reviews. Their insights can help you make an informed decision about a project management tool.
- Trial periods and demos: Take advantage of trial periods and live demos offered by many project management tools. Hands-on experience will help you see if the tool aligns with your workflow and meets your specific requirements.
- Pricing and ROI: Finally, consider the financial aspect. Look beyond the initial price and factor in per-user fees, hidden features, upgrade costs, and potential hidden fees. Seek out discounts and licensing options to ensure scalability with your organization’s growth.
With this easy approach, you can find the right project management tool without getting lost in the sea of options.
Also read: How to Choose A Project Management Software: A Complete Guide
Top features to expect from a great project management tool
Some features are the bedrock of successful project management, regardless of the nature of the project. They help project managers in quantifying outcomes and synchronizing the timeline. Here is the list of absolute essential features for effective project management.
- Task management: Effective task management ensures that tasks are assigned and tracked seamlessly. The tool must allow you to create, assign, and monitor tasks, keeping your project on the path to success.
- Collaboration & Communication: Collaboration is the cornerstone of project success. Your tool of choice must provide seamless collaboration features such as shared document repositories and real-time chat among team members, regardless of their location.
- Project planning: Visualizing your project’s roadmap is essential. Seek a tool that offers project planning features like Gantt charts or Kanban boards, enabling you to align your project’s goals with a well-structured timeline.
- Resource allocation: Managing resources efficiently can mean the difference between meeting or missing your project deadlines. Look for a tool that allows you to allocate resources with precision, ensuring that your team’s skills and time are optimally utilized.
- Time tracking: Time tracking is vital, both for productivity and budgeting. Ensure your project management tool includes time-tracking and timesheets that allow you to monitor hours spent on tasks and projects accurately.
- Reporting and analytics: Informed decisions are essential in today’s data-driven economy. Opt for a tool with rich reporting and analytics capabilities that provide insights into resources, project progress, bottlenecks, and areas for improvement.
- Customization: Every project has unique requirements. Your software should offer some customization to adapt to your specific needs. However, it is also essential that customizations are easy and intuitive to implement.
- Integrations: Seamless integration with other essential tools in your workflow is a must. Look for a project management tool that easily integrates with the software you already use, streamlining your project’s ecosystem.
- Mobile access: Your chosen tool should provide a mobile app or responsive web design, ensuring you can manage your projects on the go.
- Customizable request forms: Ensure your software allows you to collect project requests efficiently, so you can start on the right foot with all the necessary information.
- Automation: Save time and reduce manual work by choosing a tool with automation features. Automate repetitive tasks, reminders, and notifications to keep your project running smoothly.
- Proofing: If your project involves creative assets, make sure to invest in a tool that includes proofing and approval features to streamline the review process.
Focus on these essential features to filter the available options accordingly. Your projects and team members deserve a tool that assists with the work without causing any complexities.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, project management tools bring efficiency, organization, and a productive approach to handle your projects well. However, there is no one size fits all project management tool. Choosing the right tool depends primarily on the nature of your work.
When selecting the right project management tool, it’s crucial to align your work’s nature with the tool’s capabilities. Additionally, weighing the cost against the value it adds in to your work is definitely a smart move. It’s understandable that choosing the right tool can seem daunting, but a little upfront diligence can save you a lot in the long run.
To make your decision even easier, explore user reviews and take advantage of free trials. Don’t commit until you’re absolutely certain that your chosen tool is the ideal fit. Your project management journey just got a whole lot smoother.
Transform project chaos into clarity with ProofHub’s organized project management.