These are the 10 best project management software options for project managers of every experience level, based on our hands-on experience.
- monday work management – Best All-Around Performer
- Smartsheet – Best for Fast-Growing Teams
- Wrike – Best for Customization
- ClickUp – Best for Freelancers
- Jira – Best for Agile Teams
- Asana – Best for Remote Teams
- Trello – Best for Smaller Projects & Teams
- Notion – Best for Creative Teams
- Basecamp – Best for Collaboration
- GanttPRO – Best Option for Beginners
As always, our editorially independent picks are based on first-party research and hands-on experience of our writers and editors.
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Our Picks
These are our picks for the best project management tools on the market, recently updated with current pricing and expert insights to help you choose the best project management tool for your team. We’ve also identified the key difference maker for each pick—the key aspect of each selection that make it stand out from the pack.
Let’s dive in.
monday work management: Best All-Around Performer
monday.com’s monday work management is customizable for scalable teams, workflows, and use cases. The highly visual project management platform provides an intuitive centralized workspace for users across the organization. Easy-to-implement automations, notifications, and team collaboration simplify the assignment, tracking, and reporting of any kind of work.
monday.com allows users to modify views and create dashboards to display important project information to decision-makers. monday work management offers a free plan for up to two user seats and several paid plans for teams with different work requirements. It has ready-to-use templates, unlimited project boards, interactive documents, and custom fields. The software is mobile-friendly and includes features for file and project portfolio management, email integration, calendar sync, and in-depth analytics and reporting.
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Why we picked monday
In working with monday, I found that this option stands out due to its remarkable flexibility and visual clarity. This tool’s flexibility allows users to customize their workflows to match the unique needs of their team and adapt to a wide range of industry-specific projects and use cases.
In addition, monday’s highly visual interface simplifies project management by providing an intuitive and centralized workspace. The visual representation of tasks and progress allows teams to quickly grasp project status and collaborate well. My overall positive user experience in reviews made choosing monday as the Best All-Around Performer an easy decision.
monday’s key differences: focus and features
monday Work Management stands out because its ultimate focus is on on flexibility, allowing users and their teams to take on and manage any type of work. Notable features include customizable boards, automations, and dashboards— features that make it ideal for managing various work processes, cross-departmental workflows, and project execution.
How much does monday work management cost?
Smartsheet: Best for Fast-Growing Teams Seeking a Secure, Scalable Solution
Smartsheet is a leading work execution platform with strong real-time work management features, advanced dashboard reporting, collaboration, and automation tools. Organizations dynamically plan, execute, and report on work at scale for any type of project. The tool allows different views of real-time data laid out in instant Gantt, card, grid, and calendar views to accommodate different types of works and teams.
Smartsheet also has automatic update requests and can be used for waterfall and Agile-based projects, product launches, sprint planning, and more. Its resource management feature provides real-time visibility into who is busy and who is available.
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Smartsheet is a mature, feature-rich option that works well for a range of project types and processes. It is an excellent addition to project management offices, especially for teams with multiple project leaders who are responsible for providing management with detailed insights in larger cross-functional environments.
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Read our complete Smartsheet review.
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Why we picked Smartsheet
Fast-growing teams may outgrow the one-size-fits-most capabilities of other PM systems. Smartsheet delivers for teams that need the ability to customize and build more complex functions.
Extensive use of this fast-evolving solution makes it a must-have on our list of top software because Smartsheet’s developers have delivered a comprehensive set of tools needed to operate, from a basic set up all the way to a very robust and complex system of managing programs with multiple projects and with a lot of data pulling from multiple sources and tools.
Smartsheet’s key differences: Flexibility and scalability
Smartsheet is one of the top choices for project management software as it combines flexibility and scalability, with its impressive features specifically designed for teams that need to manage work of varying complexity. Smartsheet can scale from a single project to end-to-end work management. It connects businesses on a no-code, cloud-based platform, allowing anyone to create customized solutions. Unlike traditional tools, Smartsheet offers multiple views including Grid, Gantt, Calendar, and Kanban Card, plus timelines with dependencies, automated notifications, and Sights dashboards for portfolio visibility.
How much does Smartsheet cost?
Wrike: Best for Customization
Wrike is considered by some to be one of the most powerful project management platforms available, designed to help teams adapt to new ways of working. I’ve found Wrike to be flexible enough to meet the disparate needs of just about any team, including marketing, design, professional services, product management, and business operations teams. The project management app can easily adapt to a variety of business needs, whether for managing Agile teams, clients, or remote workers.
Wrike offers a free plan to unlimited users with basic functionality that is sufficient for simple projects. Paid plans include more advanced features, such as shareable dashboards, interactive Gantt charts, time tracking, cross-tagging, custom fields and workflows, automation, and productivity integrations. Enterprise plans have additional security features like single sign-on (SSO), two-factor authentication (2FA), password policies, custom roles, and audit reports that are suitable for hybrid workspaces.
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Why we picked Wrike
I tested the free version of this tool and picked Wrike to add to this list because of its robust and user-friendly features. Wrike’s built-in customizability means a single platform can meet the needs of most, if not all, of your various teams’ needs. Wrike is adaptable to the unique needs of different types of project teams and industries, making it an excellent choice.
Wrike’s key difference: Broad view of team productivity
Wrike stands out as a project management tool due to its holistic approach to team productivity. Unlike other solutions, Wrike covers a wide spectrum of functions—from work initiation and structuring to collaboration, reporting, and integrations. Its versatility makes it ideal for larger and diverse team needs. Wrike has features like dynamic request forms, templates, and custom item types that are the best fit for unique processes. The tool’s user-friendly dashboard, equipped with enterprise-grade tools, serves well for both one-time projects and ongoing or business-as-usual tasks.
How much does Wrike cost?
ClickUp: Best Free Option
Among a long list of project management software contenders, ClickUp stands out as the best free project management tool because of its robust free plan that allows for unlimited users and projects, with 11 different task views and new AI features. ClickUp is ideal for complex projects that involve critical dependencies across several mid- to larger-size teams. ClickUp’s features allow project teams to use a single platform to manage any type of work — at no cost.
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ClickUp’s free-forever plan includes an impressive list of features that make it stand out from other project management tools that also have a free tier.
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Why we picked ClickUp
ClickUp’s free plan is robust enough for most users to get started and learn more about the tool as they go. It’s feature-set covers all the bases that you would need for most projects to run successfully in the software.Whether you are choosing ClickUp for personal use, are a beginning testing out project management software options for the first time, or just want a free option to run your projects without the extra added overhead cost, ClickUp is an obvious choice for project managers and teams looking to organize and manage their work better.
ClickUp’s key difference: Great short-term solution
ClickUp’s free forever plan provides a solid solution for project management and a foundation for users to explore its features and decide if it’s the right choice before committing to a paid plan or exploring other options.
How much does ClickUp cost?
Jira: Best for Agile Teams
Jira is a development work collaboration tool that’s part of the Atlassian suite of products. As such, its strength lies in its robust project and issue-tracking features for technical and development teams. Task management features in this project management app enable users across the organization to plan, track, manage, and complete tasks, including repeat tasks. It is free for up to 10 users with scalable paid plans for bigger teams.
Jira allows users to create and manage unlimited tasks and projects. Users can access multiple views, such as lists, timelines, calendars, and boards, for different perspectives. A drag-and-drop builder lets users create forms to standardize work, and automation rules offer multiple actions to choose from. Thousands of integrations with apps, plug-ins, and add-ons make this a customizable app to fit many different project scenarios.
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Why we picked Jira
If your team works in iterative software development, engineering, or a similar field, Atlassian’s numerous solutions are likely already part of your tech stack. Seamless integration with Confluence, Slack, Microsoft Teams, HubSpot, and more than 500 other available integrations puts Jira on numerous shortlists. We love Jira because it is a part of the Atlassian suite of products and teams that use one of their products are likely to use a few others and seamlessly use them together.
Jira’s key difference: Integration with software development tools
Jira carves out its own space in the project management tool category with its robust integration with software development workflows, particularly Agile methodologies. Designed specifically for software development teams, Jira offers powerful features for managing tasks, sprints, and releases using frameworks like Scrum and Kanban. This tailored approach empowers teams to plan, track, and deliver software projects more consistently, boosting collaboration and visibility throughout the process.
How much does Jira cost?
Asana: Best for Remote Teams
Asana enables more effective project and task management across the organization in one interface. It provides an organized workspace where users can look at project data using different work views, such as lists, timelines, and boards. Users can create and assign tasks, build plans, customize workflows, and track project progress over time.
Asana offers one of the best free plans available, with feature-rich access for teams of up to 15 people for an unlimited time. With Asana, users can easily track bugs, manage sprints, and plan and run campaigns, events, and product launches. The project management app includes built-in messaging, file storage, a workflow builder, unlimited dashboards, custom fields, forms, automation, mobile apps, portfolios, workload management, approvals, and proofing.
Asana has one of the most robust feature sets available, but we found its inability to assign tasks to more than one user created occasional speed bumps in more complex workflows. As a workaround, other individuals can be tagged in a task. This wasn’t a dealbreaker, but we’d welcome the addition of multi-user assignments.
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Why we picked Asana
Asana is a familiar favorite that I’ve put to the test both professionally and personally to manage and track tasks and workflows, from the simple to-do list to full project and team functionality. A full-featured free-forever plan makes it easy to try Asana on for size. Then, as your team grows, Asana easily scales with your company through a range of pricing plans, varied permissions and access controls, and flexible workspace designs and hierarchies.
Asana’s key difference: Intuitive interface
What makes Asana unique is its interface that is designed with a focus on visual task management and team collaboration. Asana’s interface includes intuitive drag-and-drop functionality, customizable project views, and visually appealing task boards. This focus on visual task management increases team productivity and engagement by providing a clear and obvious way to organize tasks, track progress, and communicate priorities. The visual nature of Asana makes it easier for teams to determine project status at a glance, identify bottlenecks, and collaborate for better project outcomes.
How much does Asana cost?
Trello: Best for Smaller Projects and Teams
Trello’s kanban-style list-making application is a web-based and highly visual tool for organizing projects and phases into cards and boards. With a single glance, Trello tells you exactly what’s being worked on, who’s working on it, and where certain tasks and subtasks are in progress.
Trello can be thought of as digital sticky notes (cards) on a whiteboard divided into project phases. This kanban design makes it quick and easy to add details as tasks or lists, and then organize, move around, and prioritize those tasks or lists. Trello is great for when your team is starting with a list of tasks and deadlines that needs to be built into an immediate action plan.
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Why we picked Trello
Making sweeping generalizations is dangerous, but we’d hazard a guess that nearly every project manager has used Trello at some point in their career. While it may be best suited for smaller-scale projects, Trello’s nearly non-existent learning curve makes it an attractive option for teams of all backgrounds. It’s especially helpful for those who don’t have the operational advantages of a trained project manager and who need a PM solution that’s ready to use out of the box.
Based on my experience using Trello for many agency-level technical projects, this is a stand-out option for smaller teams needing to see what is coming up next and stay connected and up to date with the click of a button.
Trello’s key difference: Kanban boards
Trello’s strength lies in its simplification and representation of tasks and their priority. Users organize tasks on Kanban boards using cards. These customizable boards represent different projects, with lists indicating workflow stages and cards representing individual tasks. Trello’s visual organization simplifies project management so teams can easily understand project status, track progress, and collaborate to get work done.
How much does Trello cost?
Notion: Best for Creative Teams
Notion is one of the most adaptable, multi-functional project management platforms available to users today. With features that support project management, task management, team wikis, vision boards, and more, teams can customize Notion to meet various needs.
The colorful, aesthetically pleasing design of Notion coupled with an easy-to-use interface makes it simple for creative teams to brainstorm, execute, track, and organize within one central application.
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Why we picked Notion
Notion is a great all-around option for fast-moving creative teams that need project management in combination with other resources for brainstorming, planning, and scheduling. Its generous free plan makes it easy for even smaller teams to access powerful project management capabilities and added AI features help resource-constrained teams do more with less.
Notion’s key difference: All-in-one workspace
Notion takes the trophy as an outstanding all-in-one workspace for managing work. From note-taking, document collaboration, knowledge management, and database management, Notion can handle it all seamlessly within a single platform. Its versatility streamlines workflows, eliminating the need to juggle multiple tools. Teams can tailor their workspace to their specific task and collaborate with ease no matter the industry or team size.
How much does Notion cost?
Basecamp: Best for Collaboration
Basecamp is a project management tool with integrated team communication that’s suitable for all types of work environments, especially remote work. It helps companies, teams, and individuals organize tasks, find the information they need quickly, and get real-time project progress updates. Everyone involved can collaborate with dedicated tools for planning projects, sharing files, and discussing ideas.
After a 30-day free trial, Basecamp’s lower-tier plan is available for $15 per user per month and includes all features for unlimited users and projects. The solution also includes a to-do list, scheduling, docs and files, charts, and automated reports. Users can choose to communicate with message boards, group chats, and/or direct messages.
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Why we picked Basecamp
While we wish Basecamp’s free trial lasted longer than 30 days, the fact that Basecamp makes all of its features and capabilities available with that trial should give teams more than enough opportunity to put the system through its paces.
My experience using this software in a creative agency setting proved that instant and easy collaboration between the in-house team, external freelancers and vendors, and the client can be accomplished seamlessly in an all-in-one multi-level yet intuitive project management solution.
Basecamp’s key differences: Simplicity and ease of use
Basecamp is a popular choice among project teams because of its focus on simplicity and user-friendliness. It offers a streamlined interface and straightforward features that minimize complexity, providing a smooth learning curve for users. Teams can quickly onboard and instantly utilize the software to manage their work without having to navigate intricate features. Its built-in tools foster real-time communication across teams.
How much does Basecamp cost?
GanttPRO: Best Option for Beginners
GanttPRO is a great choice for beginners and those new to project management and software tools to manage projects. It offers a packed free plan and a user-friendly interface and is proven to be a scalable solution for when users are ready to evolve into a more complex and supportive environment.
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ClickUp’s free-forever plan includes an impressive list of features that make it stand out from other project management tools that also have a free tier.
Read our complete GanttPRO review.