10 Best Project Management Tools for Businesses
Project management is a complex process that requires extensive planning, task assignments, deadline assessments, and more. It is almost impossible to manage all these without some help where modern tools come to the rescue.
As it is important to have the right tools, so choosing one can be a daunting task. In this write-up, I will introduce you to 10 of the best project management tools for businesses that can help you manage your projects more easily and efficiently.
Read Also: 9 Tools Every Project Manager Should Know
Overview:
| Tools | Great for: | Free Plan? | Price Paid Plan Starts At |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday.com | Centralized planning, AI-powered chatbot, multiple views. Read details. | Yes | $9 /seat/month |
| Wrike | Custom workflows, integrations, detailed reports. Read details. | Yes | $9.80 /user/month |
| ClickUp | All-in-one with modular add-ons, comprehensive features. Read details. | Yes | $9 /member/month |
| Smartsheet | Spreadsheet-like, workflow automation, project scheduling. Read details. | No | $7 /user/month |
| Zoho Projects | Collaboration, resource management, project budgeting. Read details. | Yes | $5 /user/month |
| Trello | Intuitive kanban boards, custom fields, automation. Read details. | Yes | $6 /user/month |
| Asana | Task assignments, deadlines tracking, workflow builder. Read details. | Yes | $13.49 /user/month |
| Teamwork | Advanced reporting, kanban boards, workload management. Read details. | Yes | $12.50 /user/month |
| MeisterTask | Visual task management, Gantt charts, automation. Read details. | Yes | $8.25 /user/month |
| GoodDay | Task distribution, deadline tracking, kanban and scrum. Read details. | Yes | $6 /user/month |
1. Monday.com
Monday.com is an online project management tool that helps teams to track their projects and stay on top of deadlines. It provides a centralized place for teams to plan projects, collaborate, share files, and communicate efficiently.
It also provides an AI-powered chatbot that can automate tasks like setting up meetings, scheduling tasks, and updating task statuses.
Monday.com offers multiple views like kanban boards, Gantt charts, etc. like other tools on this list.
Its customizable forms and project approval automations improve productivity. Its templates help you speed up creating repeatable project resources and structures. Moreover, its dashboards help monitor performance and make project decisions effectively.
Monday.com’s Price: (Offers free plan)
monday.com has a more complex pricing structure than most other tools here. Its Free plan offers bare minimum for 2 members.
The Basic Plan for $9 /seat/month offers unlimited projects and a dashboard.
Both Standard and Pro Plan go for $12 and $20 /seat/month, respectively, offer more features, and the Enterprise plan offers more power for enterprises.
Manage Projects with Monday.com
2. Wrike
Wrike is yet another project management software that makes it easy for teams to collaborate and get work done. It has all the features of a typical project management tool, but what sets it apart is that it can integrate with other applications and services.
This allows you to create custom workflows and automate tasks, saving teams time and improving efficiency.
Wrike provides a 360-overview of all the projects in a list, kanban board, Gantt chart, or time log per your preference, as well as detailed reports about your team’s time spent, deadlines, and critical path analysis, which helps you make strategic decisions about allocating resources.
On top of that, Wrike also offers automated workflows and customisable forms to speed up repetitive work.
Wrike’s Price: (Offers free plan)
Wrike offers a free plan offering common features along with Work Schedules.
Other plans include Professional plan that goes for $9.80 /user/month, Business plan costing $24.80 /user/month with most features like custom fields and workflows, Automation Engine, project approvals, time tracking, and more.
Its Enterprise plan meets extra demands like Single Sign-On (SSO) and Two-Factor Authentication (2FA).
3. ClickUp
ClickUp is an all-in-one project management tool that provides a collaborative workspace for team members with modular add-ons called ClickApps. Its comprehensive set of features includes task management, file sharing, time tracking, and invoicing.
Though I find ClickUp to be more complex than some other tools like Trello, it does, however, offer some advanced features that any project manager or team would need.
The user interface is clean and easy to navigate with the capability to add extra features through its apps like Email, Milestones, LineUp, Task View, etc.
ClickUp’s Price: (Offers free plan)
ClickUp offers a free plan that meets most requirements of individuals and small teams looking for a simple project management tool.
Its Unlimited plan cost $9 /member/month, offers a lot more charts, integrations, and storage.
The Business and Business Plus goes for $19 and $29 /member/month, respectively, offer more features targeted towards enterprises like advanced automation, Single Sign-On (SSO), etc.
4. Smartsheet
Smartsheet is a spreadsheet-like project management tool that helps teams track, plan, and collaborate on projects. So, if you like Excel, you will feel right at home with Smartsheet.
The platform offers features for team collaboration, project management, project scheduling, resource allocation, and task management. You can also create templates for repeatable tasks to save time.
Smartsheet offers useful features like workflow automation, task visualization, and more in calendar and Gantt chart views. You can also create and share templates, assign tasks, update status, and upload files. Its integrations for popular business and team apps work wonders, helping you to boost productivity while following the agile project management approach.
Smartsheet’s Price: (No free plan)
Smartsheet does not have a free plan.
Its Pro plan costs $9 /user/month and offers unlimited dashboards and reports, calendar and Gantt charts, automation rules, and more.
Business plan costing $19 /user/month offers more automation, proofing, custom branding, etc.
Enterprise plan offers more like Smartsheet Advance, Single Sign-On (SSO), domain sharing, Work Insights, etc.
Manage Projects with Smartsheet
5. Zoho Projects
Zoho Projects — one of the offerings from Zoho — is a project management tool designed to help teams collaborate, organize, and manage projects efficiently. It offers features such as task management, resource management, time tracking, project reporting, and file sharing.
Zoho Projects offers a variety of views like Gantt charts, kanban boards, etc. It features various collaboration tools, including real-time chat, Google Docs-like document editing, and video conferencing.
It also supports project budgeting, which along with its integration with Zoho Books and Zoho CRM helps you complete projects successfully within budget and on deadline.
Zoho Projects’ Price: (Offers free plan)
Zoho Projects Free plan allows 2 projects and 3 users with basic features — two features hardly available in other tools’ free plans.
Premium plan costs $5 /user/month offers unlimited projects, custom views, and automation options.
Enterprise plan costs $10 /user/month offers custom fields, custom roles, SSO, and more enterprise-ready features.
Manage Projects with Zoho Projects
6. Trello
Trello is a leading project management and collaboration tool that helps teams organize their work, set priorities, and stay on track. It offers an intuitive interface with a kanban board layout that lets you drag and drop cards to update task status quickly.
Users can also add checklists, attachments, labels, and comments to cards to add detailed information about the tasks.
One of my favorite features is custom fields, which enable adding extra data to cards. If you add automation with custom fields, it supercharges your task boards.
Though Trello started as a kanban board last decade, now it offers more views like dashboard, timeline, calendar, etc. However, it lacks advanced project management features like email integration, milestones, etc., unlike ClickUp.
Trello’s Price: (Offers free plan)
Trello has a simpler and more affordable pricing structure than ClickUp. It provides a free plan with the bare minimum to get started.
The Standard and Premium plans cost $6 and $12.50 /user/month, respectively, add extra options like unlimited boards, custom fields, unlimited storage, and more, and its Enterprise plan costs $17.50 /user/month if billed annually.
7. Asana
Asana is another popular project management tool that allows users to set up projects, assign tasks, and keep track of their progress.
The app is designed to be easy to use and helps people keep track of tasks and deadlines. Users can also set due dates and attach files, and it features approval rules and workflows.
Asana provides a simple kanban board and a to-do list as well as templates for common projects such as marketing campaigns or software development projects. It has a clean interface and also features various integrations and custom fields and forms for automation.
Asana’s Price: (Offers free plan)
Asana offers a free plan that should suffice the project management needs of small businesses.
The Premium and Business plans cost $13.49 and $30.49 /user/month, respectively, with additional features like workflow builder, unlimited reporting, admin console, and more.
You can also get a customized Enterprise plan with support for SSO.
8. Teamwork
Teamwork is a kanban-based project management suite offering advanced reporting features — all within the same kanban board-like intuitive interface as Trello. Its Workload feature helps manage resources and identify risks at the outset of projects to get better prepared for completing projects.
Teamwork offers kanban boards like many agile-based project management tools and features like dependencies and milestones and a portfolio view to visualize the complete project.
It also supports integrations with popular third-party tools for tracking time, invoicing, and more. Interestingly, it also supports custom branding, custom domain, and more.
Teamwork’s Price: (Offers free plan)
The Free plan works for 5 users, comes with basic features.
Deliver and Grow plans costing $12.50 and $22.50 /user/month, respectively, offer invoicing, team chat, extended kanban boards, table view, and more.
Its Scale plan offers more though I could not find SSO or other enterprise features.
9. MeisterTask
MeisterTask is a project management tool that allows organizations to assign and manage tasks and track their progress. Its features include an activity dashboard, custom fields, backlog management, and file sharing between team members. It is as visually appealing as popular tools like Trello though its revision management interface can be improved.
MeisterTask includes kanban boards, gantt charts, timelines, dashboards, and more for agile teams. You can add attachments and checklists to tasks, set dependencies and relationships, and more using its easy-to-use interface.
It also supports automation and recurring tasks like many other tools on this list, along with detailed reports and statistics, which help improve productivity.
MeisterTask’s Price: (Offers free plan)
Surprisingly, MeisterTask has one of the cheapest plans on this list.
Its Basic plan is free for up to 3 projects and limited integrations.
Pro and Business plans goes for $8.25 and $12.49 /user/month when paid annually offer unlimited projects and integrations.
Enterprise plan offers Single Sign-On (SSO), account manager, etc.
Manage Projects with MeisterTask
10. GoodDay
GoodDay is a project management tool for small businesses. It’s a web-based tool that helps you to easily distribute tasks, set deadlines, and keep track of progress. It offers features for kanban and scrum methodologies like goals and workloads for an easy project management.
GoodDay provides a collaborative and intuitive interface that makes it easy to manage projects. Some of its best features include time tracking, invoicing, expense tracking, and integrations with hundreds of productivity tools like Excel, Jira, Slack, and Trello, like most tools on this list.
GoodDay’s Price: (Offers free plan)
GoodDay has a free plan with all the basic features.
Professional plan starts at $6 /user/month offers advanced analytics, advanced integrations, Gantt and timeline views, and more. Enterprise plan comes with more features like unlimited members and storage, Single Sign-On (SSO), etc.
That’s all about the best project management tools for small businesses. Though these all are the top tools in this space, the best one for you will depend on your requirements.
For example, I use ClickUp for managing my freelance projects and Asana for managing blog posts. Which one did you pick?