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10 Best Project Management Software Of 2023
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.
Essential Project Management Software FeaturesProject 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:
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:
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 ReviewsCustomer 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 SupportAccess 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 ConsiderationsAs 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.
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Best Project Management Software: Top 10 Free & Paid PM Tools Compared
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 ToolsBelow is a quick overview of the top 10 project management tools, with the almighty Monday.Com leading the way:
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 CommunicationProject 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 AnalyticsProject 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 DataRegardless 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 ManagementBudget 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 ProcessesYour 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 SolutionsNow 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 2023
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.
PricingAlongside 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.
Pros
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 Whiteboards 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.
PricingThere'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.
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.
PricingWrike 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.
Pros
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.
PricingSmartsheet 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.
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.
PricingTeamwork 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.
Pros
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.
PricingLike 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.
Pros
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.
PricingQuire 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.
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.
PricingSadly, 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:
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.
PricingAs 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.
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