Whether you’re working from the office or from the comfort of your home, project management software is a useful tool for any team. Here is some of the best project management software available today.
1. Best for Customized Collaboration: Wrike
Wrike is a platform that is flexible enough to offer just as much or as little as your team needs.
The free version is a simple and effective way to manage tasks, share files and more among small teams of up to 5 people. Larger teams or teams that want more features might opt for the Professional or Business versions of Wrike, which come at a monthly cost per user.
Although it can be pricey for larger teams, Wrike is an innovative platform that continues to grow. Top features of this platform include customized workflows, report templates, real-time reports, time tracking, project and task approvals, and more.
Even with its many features, Wrike is relatively easy to set up and use on a daily basis. It can be integrated with Google Drive and MSFT Office 365 to make sharing easier among team members.
Pricing: The free plan starts at $0 per month for up to 5 users.
For more than 5 users, pricing starts at $9.80 per month per user.
Mobile app? Yes
2. Best for Automated Workflows: Monday.com
Monday.com is a tool that is simple, functional and colorful in its project tracking. Whether your team is working on complex projects or simple daily tasks, Monday offers the perfect way to organize and make sure that everything is meeting its deadline.
If there are certain milestones that are important to your team, you can set up customized automations to ensure that no one misses the message.
You can set project deadlines for each task that you assign to your team. Comments can also be added to each project to allow for task-specific conversation amongst the team.
Users can change the status of a task at any time to keep the team aware of how progress is going without clogging up email feeds or notifications. Monday allows you to integrate with common software such as Gmail, Google Drive, Dropbox, Mailchimp and Slack.
Pricing: Starts at $8 per month for each “seat” or user.
Mobile app? Yes
3. Best for Free Option: ClickUp
ClickUp offers a free plan that’s not limited by the number of members that are on your team. It includes 100MB of storage, unlimited team members and unlimited tasks. There is a paid version as well with more unlimited features.
Whether you go for the free or paid version, you’ll be able to import any of your already-in-progress projects from other productivity apps such as Trello, Asana, Airtable, and even software such as Wrike and Monday.com.
ClickUp offers over 160 features, which you can pick and choose from to make your project management software work the best for your team. Process management tools allow you to follow each tasks’ progress and include customizable statuses, recurring checklists, goals and workload charts.
The task management tools allow you to set up recurring tasks, task checklists, subtasks, bulk rescheduling, mind maps and more. ClickUp also offers time management and reporting tools such as due dates, task scheduling, calendar syncing, time tracking and public sharing.
Pricing: Free for unlimited users
Paid plans start at $5 per month per team member
Mobile app? Yes
4. Best for Gantt Charts: GanttPRO
If you’re part of a visual team, you’re probably familiar with Gantt charts. This project management tool provides a visual view of scheduled tasks in the form of a bar chart.
A Gantt chart usually provides several pieces of valuable information at a glance, including the project’s start date, specific tasks, who is assigned to each task, how the team is working together and the end date of the project.
While some project management software does offer Gantt charts as a feature, GanttPRO makes it a defining feature. Not only that, it helps companies and teams use Gantt charts to communicate among themselves and with clients in a more efficient manner.
Getting started with GanttPRO can be as simple as choosing a template for your industry as your baseline. The template comes with tasks that are typical in your industry as well as customization and guidance to help you tailor the template to fit your team’s projects.
The software allows you to assign tasks as well as project roles and track changes for each project. You’ll also be able to schedule tasks for your team and connect with each collaborator to ensure that everyone is on the same timeline.
Its time and resource management tools make it easy to track the team’s progress and keep tabs on crucial conversations happening amongst the team.
Pricing: Pricing starts at $6.50 per month per user
Mobile app? No
5. Best for Time and Budget Tracking: Zoho Projects
Zoho Projects is a solid budget option for any team that is looking for a useful tool that doesn’t break the bank.
You can give permissions and roles to members, and even add clients as users to allow them to keep track of the progress on their projects. Projects can also be easily integrated with ZoHo Springs, Zoho CRM, Zoho Desk, Zoho Flow and more.
This tool allows you to customize and organize projects to your heart’s content. Projects can be broken down into tasks and milestones with reminders so no one loses track of them.
Your team can even track their hours by planned work hours for each task or project as well as the actual hours spent on each task. Zoho Projects also allows you to predict the total estimated cost for a project and compare that to the actual cost based on the rate per hour for your team.
Teams can collaborate within this platform via shared documents, forums, chats or through Zoho’s interactive feed.
Pricing: Plans are free for up to 3 users
Larger team plans start at $5 per month per user
Mobile app? Yes
Important Features of Project Management Software
Before you choose a project management software, consider some of the most important features and what your team will benefit from. Our picks for the best features include:
- Customizable projects and tasks: Each company and team is unique, so it’s unlikely that everyone works the same way. You’ll want to find a project management platform that allows you to customize projects and tasks to make the layout make sense for your team. While templates are a nice place to start, working within a template that cannot be changed can be limiting.
- Collaboration features: If your team works together on projects, collaboration features will make everyone’s lives a lot easier. Look for platforms that offer a comment section for tasks as well as the ability to tag and notify other users. You may also want to look for software that can be integrated with email platforms, Google Drive, email marketing software, and more.
- Time and budget tracking: If you’re concerned about your team’s productivity and making sure that you’re charging clients appropriately, this is a feature that may be useful for you. By utilizing time and budget tracking, you can see how much time your team is actually spending on each project and make sure that you’re not overspending on a project.
- Reporting: Your project management software should be able to provide real-time updates about project status, recent changes or missed deadlines.
Benefits of Project Management Software
The benefits of project management software are many. Sign on and you can expect:
- Your team to easily communicate and collaborate on projects, even if they’re working remotely
- The ability to review each team member’s workload in one space and reassign or move tasks around if necessary
- Easy tracking of project progress
Cost of Project Management Software
Project management software doesn’t have to be expensive, but if you want the most robust features, you might have to be willing to spend some money.
Each company sets its own pricing structure, but here’s an idea of what you can expect to pay.
For small businesses: Most companies offer a free version of their software for small teams with up to 3 or 5 users.
For mid-size Businesses: Most companies offer plans that start as low as $5 per month per user.
For large businesses: For large businesses, especially those with over 200 members, most companies offer customized plans. To get a rate, you’ll need to talk with the company’s customer service team. Contact a platform’s customer service team for a quote.
Which Software is Right for My Business?
To find the right software for your business, you’ll need to gain an understanding of your team’s needs. What sort of tasks and projects need to be tracked? Are there other programs that you want to be able to integrate with your project management software?
Once you have a list of must-haves, review your options and sign on with the platform that offers the best value for the features that you need.
Best Project Management Software Methodology
Benzinga analyzed the top project management software by industry and winnowed down the list to include those with the best attributes. We prioritized pricing, features and scalability. We also considered the availability of a mobile app and consumer reviews.