20 Best Project Management Tools To Boost Productivity

To run the Project Management System smoothly, effectively, and efficiently, we use Project Management Applications or Software. With the help of such tools, one may keep track of the activities taking place in the project, such as which task is assigned to which resource/team member, which phase of the project has been completed and when, and so on. There are numerous project management approaches available, including AGILE, WATERFALL, PMBOK, and PRINCE2. Online Project Management Tools. Online project management tools come in a variety of forms, including web-based, cloud-based, and desktop apps. 

The Project Manager is the entity responsible for the smooth execution of these phases. They achieve the results by guiding their team members – being responsible for the various aspects of the project and effectively extracting their services to meet the deadlines and produce the outcomes required.

What are Project Management Tools? 

Project Management Tools are essentially software or web applications built to aid in the actions associated with Project Management such as Process planning, task assignment, progress visualization, goal tracking, etc. They ensure that the primary goal of project management: the successful completion of the project while meeting all the intended outcomes is achieved swiftly. 

These tools are multi-functional and have a lot of benefits when utilized properly, crucial of those being – the streamlined management of workflow in a project. 

Some imperative features of efficient project management tools are listed below: 

• Simple to use
• Customizable
• Contain API integration
• Allow Collaboration 
• Risk analysis

Most product management tools available today are so versatile that they can be used for a multitude of needs from a college student organizing their study plans to a tech giant like Tesla working towards the timely launch of their newest product. 

20 Best Project Management Tools and Software

A good project management tool comes pre-packed with all the necessary features like Task management, Customisation, Workflow automation, Progress monitoring, etc. along with an interactive user interface and real-time support available to its users. 

The tools in Project management discussed below are the leading platforms available in the market that provide these features as well as some unique to only themselves. Most of them have in-built Solutions i.e. pre-made templates for different work fields (Engineering, IT, Sales, DevOps, etc.)  and different branches of companies (Media, Tech, Hunan Resources, Marketing, Designs, etc.) 

1. monday.com

monday.com is a Work OS (Operating System) to manage all your team’s work in one place. No more endless e-mail threads or long meetings! It is highly customizable to each team’s needs regardless of the industry or size of the enterprise. This is why it is used by 180,000+ customers, including Coca-Cola, Hulu, and Lionsgate. Easily track everything your team’s working on, communicate in context and get started in minutes with a super easy set-up.

Key Features:

• Automation to save time on mundane tasks and work smarter
• Integrations with all your different work tools, such as Gmail, Slack, or Hubspot
• 200+ workflow templates for the different needs of a company.
• Secure platform to ensure data privacy.

Pricing Plans:

• Free – $0, up to 2 seats allowed.
• Basic – $8/seat, billed monthly.
• Standard – $10/seat, billed monthly.
• Pro – $16/seat, billed monthly.

2. Trello

Trello is a web-based, kanban-style, list-making application, built to boost productivity and keep track of important tasks in one place. It is developed by Trello Enterprise, a subsidiary of Atlassian. It is used by over 2,000,000 teams worldwide including teams at Zoom, Visa, Coinbase, Grand Hyatt, etc.

Key Features:

• Allows automation via Butler automation – task and workflow automation
• Varying views (Board, Timeline, Table, Calendar, Dashboard, Map, and Workspace views)
• Power-ups i.e. plug-ins like Jira, Slack, Google Drive, InVision, etc for varying functionalities and cross-platform actions. 
• Integrations with 191 platforms like Miro, Jira cloud, Toggl, etc. to bring all your work to one platform

Pricing plans

• Free – US$0
• Standard – US$5/month
• Premium – US$10/month; free trial available. 
• Enterprise – Starts at US$17.50 for 50 users.

3. Asana 

Asana holds a plethora of features for any possible necessity of a team. This project management tool allows teams to access data across members and also note who is doing what, and by when. It is used by famed companies like Deloitte, NASA, Spotify, and The New York Times.           

Key Features

• 21 task management features including kanban boards and time tracking
• App integrations on endless platforms like Tableau, Microsoft Teams, Github, etc.
• Asana apps and API for building apps integrated with Asana. 
• Mobile apps are available on Android and iOS.
• Various views and reporting mechanisms
• Multiple communication methods – projects, teams, etc. 

Pricing Plans

• Basic – (free) 
• Premium – US$10.99/month 
• Business – US$24.99/month  – For companies to manage work across initiatives.
• Enterprise – (Contact Sales) 

4. Jira

Jira is a very popular tool due to its extensive features. Jira plug-in is available in several other product management tools as well. It is powered by Atlassian and has positive testimonials from leading companies like Flo Health, Canva, and Rent The Runway (RTR). It has over 100,000 users including Spotify, Cisco, eBay, and Dropbox.

Key Features:

• Cloud-based as well as on-premise deployment. 
• Chatbot ‘Angie’ to assist in perusing the interface. 
• Multiple products for differentiating needs i.e 
  • Jira Agile – Using agile methodologies to convert ideas into products. 
  • Jira Software – Designed for project and issue tracking.   
  • Jira Work Management – Tools and templates for Workflow management; most similar to a traditional project management tool. 
  • Jira Service Management – Ensures high-velocity ITSM (IT service management)
  • Jira Product Discovery – Aids in converting project ideas to real-time products. 

Pricing plans

• Free – US$0
• Standard – US$7.75/month; free trial available
• Premium – US$10/month; free trial available. (Billing prices are mentioned per user)
• Enterprise – billed annually, available when user count is above 801. 

5. Wrike

Wrike is an easy-to-learn tool, that can be understood in as little as 3 minutes. It is a versatile and robust project management tool, designed to address modern challenges; that is used by over 20,000+ organizations worldwide including P&G, Pfizer, Siemens, and Sega

Key Features:

• Customizable, scalable, easy-to-use
• Allows Native proofing for direct feedback to assets 
• Supports 400+ popular apps and custom integrations
• Holds a flexible and thorough user interface. 
• Contains an automation engine to reduce manual work. 
• It has Mobile (iOS and Android) and desktop (Windows and Mac) apps accompanied by integrations and an OPEN Rest API? 

Pricing plans

• Free – US $0, for centralized task management. 
• Team (for a quick start) – US $9.80/user/month, for effective team management. 
• Business (most popular) – US $24.80/user/month, an intelligent platform for all use cases. 

6. Adobe Workfront

This project management tool has been built by Workfront and Adobe to power Marketing teams across the globe more efficiently. This tool brings the best of both Workfront and Adobe’s features for the teams to use to achieve a quick and smooth experience enabling the creativity and multi-tasking environment necessary for any marketing campaign.

Key Features: 

• Work automation
• Goal alignment
• Scenario planning
• Budget & expense management
• Workflow management
• Proofing & approvals
• Agile work management
• Reporting dashboards
• Enterprise security

Pricing plans 

• Select – basic features to achieve capabilities to collaborate, execute, and accelerate work.
• Prime – advanced strategic planning and security capabilities.
• Ultimate – advanced capabilities like automation, goal alignment, and scenario planning.

7. Zoho Projects

A feature of Zoho that is heavily built-in with features to support the needs of a software building team, specifically. It allows one to break a project into Milestones divided into tasks and sub-tasks to gain an effortless method of reaching the set goals. It also holds a finance module to make sure the team stays on the assigned budget. It is used by Dell, Airbus, Vodafone, Sodexo, etc.

Key Features:

• CRM – Customer Relationship Management platform.
• BugTracker – To find and fix bugs and ship great software.
• Recruit – An applicant tracking software.
• Sprints – A planning and tracking tool for swift product deployment. 

Pricing plans:

• Free – Rs. 0, allows up to 3 users. 
• Premium – ₹280/user/month billed annually, 10-day free trial available.
• Enterprise – ₹630/user/month billed annually, 10-day free trial available.

8. ClickUp

ClickUp comes with hundreds of features with more being added every day, available for free use and customization. It is focused on providing all the features of multiple productivity apps present in the market in one place to avoid constant switching and reduce the chaos attached to managing the workflow of a team. Netflix, Logitech, and IBM are a few of the 800,000 enterprises that employ ClickUp services.

Key Features:

• ClickUp AI: To aid brainstorming and reduce time-intensive labor.
• Clickup Overview: a unique Hierarchy that helps you create the perfect structure that scales with your needs.
• ClickApps: 35+ apps that add different functionalities to the project. 

Pricing plans

• Free- Best for personal use
• Unlimited – Best for small teams; $5 per member per month.
• Business (Most Popular) – Best for mid-sized teams; $12 per member per month.
• Business Plus – Best for multiple teams; $19 per member per month.

9. Smartsheet

Smartsheet is a cloud-based dynamic work platform that allows organizations to capture all their ideas and data and plan tasks according to one platform. It holds 40+ capabilities. It is focused on providing an immersive experience via its multiple views starting from the simple grid view and moving to Gantt, card, or calendar view to represent data in any form necessary for the work.  

Key Features: 

• Formulas: To conduct a risk analysis.
• Document generation with e-signature.
• Brandfolder Digital Asset Management.

Pricing plans

• Free – $0, No cost, 1 user, up to 2 editors.
• Pro – $7 Per user/month, billed yearly
• Business – $25 Per user/month, billed yearly

10. Microsoft Project

Powered by Microsoft, Projects is integrated with all Microsoft products (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, etc.) as well as the pre-existing functionalities of most project management tools. It is also conclusive of the new Microsoft AI Copilot built on ChatGPT 4 to allow automation in every field necessary, for example: analyzing your data and generating insights in a fraction of a second or drafting your emails. 

Key Features:

• Power BI: Build interactive dashboards using business intelligence. 
• Azure: Build innovative projects/applications on Azure.

Pricing plans: (Cloud-based solutions)

• Project Plan 1: ₹ 785.00user/month
• Project Plan 3:  ₹ 2,355.00user/month
• Project Plan 5: ₹ 4,320.00/user/month

11. Airtable

It started as a spreadsheet-database hybrid but has since been integrated with multiple features that make it a fully functioning project management tool, especially for projects dealing with data (text and pictures) that needs to be tabulated, visualized, and analyzed. It is employed by companies like Shopify, Levis, Expedia, etc.

Key Features:

• App builder – ‘Fastest way to build an app’ a platform to build agile and efficient apps for your project. 
• Interface Designer – Easy to build a customizable interface for the bases present in Airtable. 
• Integrations – With project management tools like Jira, Asana, Trello, and 25 other platforms for communication, payments, CRM, etc. 
• Reporting – Develop tools and extensions for flexible and customized reports. 
• Airtable AI – Integrate AI models into apps and workflows.

Pricing plans: 

• Basic – Free
• Pro: $10/seat/month billed annually
• Plus: $20/seat/month billed annually
• Enterprise: Custom amount.

12. Teamwork

Teamwork is a meticulously designed project management tool that functions with precision and clarity as is clear in its functionalities and features. The site provides distinct comparisons between itself and other project management tools available in the market such as Asana, Wrike, Monday.com, etc. to showcase its uniqueness and complexity.  It is used by over 20,000 companies in the world.

Key Features:

• Budget tracking to track both financial and time-related assets including real-time profitability reports. 
• Resource management tools including a Workload planner and Resource scheduler.
• Time tracking via time sheets and time reports (personal and company-based) to keep a clear track of all billable hours. 
• Specific teams and use-cases i.e. pre-built software and templates to increase productivity and overall usage. 

Pricing plans

• Free – US $0/month, up to 5 users per plan.
• Starter – US $5.99/month per user, 3 users minimum
• Deliver – – US $9.99/month per user, 3 users minimum
• Grow (most popular) – – US $19.99/month per user, 5 users minimum

13. Basecamp

It is an easy-to-use project management software aimed at maximizing productivity for small teams. The key policy of this tool is,that it is simple and concise perfect for small businesses and people new to project management. 

Key Features:

• Hill charts – to visualize task progress.
• Engaging and interactive user interface. 
• ‘The Lineup’ – to get a pictorial view of a project’s timeline. 
• ‘Doors’ – to enable app integrations
• Cloud support for Figma, Airtable, Dropbox, Notion, etc. 

Pricing plans:            

• Basecamp – aimed at freelancers and startups. All features are available. Rs.300/user per month. 
• Basecamp Pro Unlimited – aimed at growing businesses and larger entities. Includes special 1:1 onboarding. Billed annually at Rs. 4800/month for unlimited users. 

14. Slack 

This tool was primarily designed as an instant messaging program for project teams and was integrated with Workflow Builder and other integrations later. The latest integration being built in is Slack AI focused on providing users the comfort of being ready for the future of work. It is used by Uber, Atlassian, BBC, TIME, Twitter, IBM, etc.

Key Features:

• Communication spaces: Huddles, Clips, Canvas, etc.
• Slack Enterprise Key Management: to ensure the security of data.
• Available on Windows, Linux, MacOS, Android, Windows Phone, and iOS. 

Pricing plans:

• Free – Rs. 0/month. 
• Pro – Rs. 545/month, currently Rs. 218/month.
• Buisness+ – Rs. 938/month, currency Rs. 375.20/month. 
• Enterprise Grid – Contact sales for pricing.

15. ProofHub

It is a project management and team collaboration software used by companies like Netflix, Google, Nike, and Disney. It is easy to use, easy to understand, and acts as an all-in-one tool for project organization, tracking of work progress, and providing a clear and engaging work environment to all team members.

Key Features:

• Multi-lingual interface
• Project visualization tools like Gantt charts, 
• Varying workflows for different kinds of projects from Remote work to Agile project management. 
• Custom roles, forms, announcements, and proofing are a few examples of the 15+ list of features available. 

Pricing plans: 

• Allows a free trial and 2 plans for later use
• Essential: US $50/month
• Ultimate Control: US $99/month

16. Podio

Podio is one of the best Project management tools used for CRM (customer relationship management). t is a web-based platform that automates workflows and tasks without using code, so a user without coding knowledge can also use this tool very easily. Podio transforms all the data of your project into a single tool for better content alignment and collaboration between teams.

Key Features:

• Highly customizable Workspace
• Seamless app integration and automation
• no need for coding understanding

Pricing Plans:

• Free for five employees
• Plus: US $11.20/month
• Premium: US $19.20/month

17. Scoro

Scoro has maintained its number in the list of top Project management tools. It is a software-as-a-service solution that provides creative services to professionals. This tool includes multiple functionalities for a business such as sales, billing, task automation, and time and team management services. Their goal is to provide all the needed information to everyone to make their time and plan effective.

Key Features:

• Actual hours worked on the projects are trackable and billable.
• It supports mobile devices as well.
• Control your entire business from one place

Pricing Plans:

• Essential: US $26/month
• Standard: US $37/month
• Pro: US $63/month
• Ultimate: contact for pricing

18. Notion

The notion is one of the best Project Management tools that is being used widely in the software industry by professionals to keep track of their work and increase their efficiency. It is a freemium productivity tool that offers various organizational tools, such as note-taking, project management, bookmarking, and to-do lists. You can also create customized templates according to your task and requirements.

Key Features:

• Dynamic page content block
• Task Prioritization and scheduler
• It’s a to-do list

Pricing Plans:

• Free: Unlimited blocks for individuals and Limited block trial for teams
• Plus: US $8/month
• Business: US $15/month
• Enterprises: Contact for pricing

19. FreedCamp

Collaboration has never been so easy with teams or in a group itself but with the help of technology and the best Project management tools like Freedcamp. Freedcamp is a web, desktop, and mobile tool for teams to make their collaboration easy. It helps in streamlining projects, processes, workflows, and tracking time and it is free for an unlimited number of users and projects with its core functionalities like calendars, tasks, passwords, and discussions. And for premium features like CRM and Invoices+, you have to pay for it.

Key Features:

• Unlimited Projects, users, tasks, and storage.
• easy to use workflow management tool
• User-friendliness

Pricing Plans:

• Free: Free, forever with all essential features included.
• Pro: US $1.49/month
• Business: US $7.49/month
• Enterprise: US $16.99/month

20. LiquidPlanner

LiquidPlanner is a project management tool that transforms your business manual tasks into automatic and offers automated scheduling, time-tracking functionalities, and analysis management tools. LiquidPlanner is a combination tool of traditional PM and time-tracking. When resources per project change it will automatically update the due dates of that project.

Key Features:

• Advanced Project Scheduling
• Resource management
• Real-time collaboration and update.

Pricing Plans:

• Essentials: US $15/month
• Professional: US $25/month
• Ultimate: US $35/month

Below is the list of all the Project Management tools with Pricing and key features

Conclusion

The right project management tools can ensure exemplary results, leading to the successful outcome of any project that a team focuses its energies on. In this article, we have compiled a thorough overview of the most popular project management tools. The tool used for a project may differ from project to project. It is dependent on project needs, development techniques, client preferences, software cost, and other considerations.

Considering the overall criteria, one can compare and select the best tool from the above list. The above-mentioned tools are the best tools for project management; they are brilliant aids in providing maximized productivity, managing efficient communication across teams, and streamlining the overall workflow of a project to achieve deadlines on time. Hence, picking the best project management tool that meets the needs of the establishment and its clientele can be highly beneficial and lead to multiple positive outcomes.

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FAQs

Which is the best free Project Management tool?

Asana, Jira, Trello, and Wrike are some of the heavily recommended tools for their brilliant features available in the most basic and free plan. Each project management tool is unique in its interface and specific features provided so a thorough research of available tools and their specialties before deciding on the one for you is recommended. 

Why should I use Project Management Tools?

For easy planning, efficient task management, precise project tracking, and countless other reasons. In a world steadfastly moving towards technological growth, project management tools are a window into bringing a tech-based method of organization and management to the table. Using project management tools will allow the team working on a project a common ground to track, assign and analyze all the tasks and data related to the project, and plan and achieve their goals efficiently.  

How to become a project manager in 2023?

A Project Manager is the core of any good team as they are responsible for managing the work of the team from concept to delivery. The traditional route to becoming a Project Manager entails getting qualified, via PMP (Project Management Professional) certifications and then gaining the required experience to be considered a fully-fledged Project Manager. 

Otherwise, you can also self-learn the essential skills required to understand the scope of any project, you can follow 6 Steps to become a Project Manager for more details.  

Which is the best project management tool to manage multiple projects?

Monday.com is considered to best project management tool to manage multiple projects at once due to its beautiful interface, easy-to-use experience, and multiple app integrations to satisfy all your needs in one place. It also provides great apps on both desktops and phones to ensure that work on the go is never an inconvenience.