Project Management Tools Benefits
It’s crucial that you have project management tools while you’re trying to run any type of business. That’s because assigning tasks isn’t going to be enough. You need your entire team to know what needs to be done, when it needs to be done and how they need to do it. You need ways to let people know the progress being made and the overall strategies that you need to follow. Several factors are important in keeping your business running smoothly, and that’s where project management tools come in.
These tools allow you to manage your team more effectively because you can always be aware of what’s happening around you. The most important thing is that it’s going to make your team more efficient. The more your team knows about the projects and tasks they’re working on, the more they can get done. All you need to do is make sure you are evaluating the apps you use carefully. After all, the wrong apps and tools could slow down your team rather than improving it. We’ve gone through dozens of apps and tools to find the ones we’ve mentioned below, and we think these are the top ten that you should be looking at for your needs.
Let’s take a look at some of the best Free Project Management software available, so you can select the best fit for you and your team:
If you want online Gantt software, this is the way to go. It’s designed to work with Asana (which we’ll talk about in a moment) and also allows you to link schedules from other sources. That means you only have to put in all of your information once, and you’ll be able to see it across each of your different platforms. You can set up timelines and tasks as well as managing and monitoring your teams’ workload. While you’re at it, you’ll be able to see everything in a format that works for you and your team.
If you’re not using Asana, you can still get a lot out of this system, including monitoring and assigning tasks, assigning due dates, and evaluating progress. All of these things come in several different price points that will help you work with the team that you have and keep apprised of everything that needs to be done.
Some of Instagantt’s awesome features are:
- Gantt and workload view
- Task and subtasks
- Public snapshot sharing options
- Timelines
- Multiple projects and workspaces
- Dependencies and milestones
- Critical path
- Team collaboration options: notification and task assignment
- Estimated and actual cost
- Custom view and custom fields
- Custom color options for progress bars
- Risk and priority
- Baselines
- Drag & drop
- Diverse exporting options: Excel, image and PDF
With this tool, you’re creating workflows, and you’re doing it in a way that’s simple for people to understand and get a handle on. You can create different projects, milestones, and tasks and even use it on any of your devices. This system works on iOS, Android, Google Chrome, and Web. That means any of your users and team members can access it no matter where they are or what type of device they use. And you can check in to see just what they’re doing through the snapshot view.
You get to assign high, low, and medium priority to tasks, see how your team is doing and even set up the start dates and due dates for everything. You’ll also be able to use Gantt style timelines to keep an eye on everything. And you can try out the whole thing for free for 30 days. Then you pay based on the number of people who are on your team.
Some of TeamGantt Features:
- Drag&Drop
- Guest permission
- Baselines
- Multiple project view in one Gantt chart
- Guest permission
- Baselines
- Tasks & Subtasks
You want to be able to keep track of everything that everyone is working on, and that’s where Asana does well. This program gives you the ability to create the task list you want and then move it as much as you like. You also have a visual project timeline that you can use to see everything you need to get done. You can even set up your progress, note due dates, and make sure that scheduling and rescheduling are simple and easy.
What makes this application even better is that it works with several of your other favorites. You can link it to your Slack, Outplanr, Google Calendar, and Dropbox. All of these links make it easy to integrate, and they also ensure you don’t have to put in information all at once. Plus, you can choose between different fee schedules to find what works for you. From free to enterprises.
Asana Features:
If you want to manage tasks efficiently, including managing your more substantial tasks, full projects, small tasks, and notes, you’ll want to check out this service. It’s designed to let you customize everything, so you have a system that works for you. It also enables you to do automatic scheduling with estimated times, and you can choose who gets to see what on the system. That way, when you bring your team into the system, they’re not automatically privy to everything.
You can set goals and see how they’re doing as well as changing up the view that works best for you, check on the status of projects and more. You’ll also have an inexpensive rate because this system is paid based on how many people you have on your team. You only pay $4.99 per person each month.
Click Up Features:
- Task tray
- Notepad
- Assigned comments
- Dark mode
- Integrations
- Assigned comments
- Multiple views
This tool will give you the ability to communicate with your team through what they call ‘best-in-class’ collaboration. They also have document management tools and different communication features. You can even set up priorities for what needs to be done and make sure that your team is working more efficiently at the tasks that matter. If you already use Outlook, iCalendar, or Google, you can even sync your tasks or your milestones to keep everything working together.
With this system, you can use Gantt charts, which help you to create the timelines you’re looking for. You also get a more straightforward process for staying up-to-date on what’s happening in your projects so you can send the information on to your clients. Pricing is also based on the number of users that you have signed up with the service during the year.
Wrike Features:
- Critical path
- Collaborative team editing
- Folder hierarchy
If you want your team to be able to collaborate on anything and everything, this is a great way to go. It offers you attachment options so you can upload files directly into the system from Google Drive, Onedrive, Dropbox, and many of your other favorites. You can even see who is busy and who isn’t on your team so you can contact people at more convenient times. All you need to do is take a look at the dashboard.
While you’re at it, you’re able to set up different permissions, and you can make sure everything is maintained and updated correctly along the way. That’s because it sends out automatic update requests to make sure everyone is on the same page. When you’re ready to try it out you’ll find time-tracking, reporting, resource management, and planning. It’s all entirely cloud-based, too, so you can access it from anywhere. Plus, some plans vary from $14 to $25 per month.
Smartsheet Features:
Here you’re going to have a basic but easy to use a system for keeping track of all of your different tasks. You can create entirely different boards for different types of jobs, different projects, different teams, or anything else you like. What’s great about this system is that it’s a Kanban management tool, which is one of the most popular methods available. You get to switch between boards however you want and create any tasks that you want within them.
You can drag and drop your cards, add tags, fields, priority levels, and a whole lot more. The interface is user-friendly, and there are even power-ups that help you add on different features that you may need. You also can choose between different modes that range from free for individuals or small groups up to an enterprise version that’s available for each member of your team.
Trello Features:
- Kanban View
- Drag & drop
- Detailed & Quick Overviews of Front/Back Cards
- Tasks and subtasks
- In-Line Editing
- Deadline Alerts and Notifications
What if you could have a system that makes things easier for you and is named for everybody’s least favorite day of the week? Well, you can with Monday. This system offers you plenty of features, including following Twitter and LinkedIn threads and even commenting on different tasks. You also can customize who can access various projects. If you already use other systems, you can integrate them into your account, including Google Drive, Dropbox, and Zapier.
The open-source framework is one of the best parts of this tool, letting you create any integrations and other features you may want. You can also get more detailed reports, and you can add on any people you want, including third-party agents or freelancers. You can choose between different pricing structures depending on the size of your team.
Monday Features:
- Collaboration tool for multiple employees.
- Visual display of progress.
- Easy communication: tag people.
- Email notifications
- Execution Board – with big screen display
- Integrations: Dropbox, Google Drive, Pipedrive
The user-friendly aspect of ProofHub is one of the first things you’re going to like. From there, you’ll love that it’s got a minimal learning curve. You can organize the projects you want to create, the teams that are responsible for them, and more. You get to customize everything from the color scheme to the names and logos that you use. There are even six different language options, so you can make it work for your team even if you’re international.
When you set up each of your team members, you’ll be able to assign roles and provide only the level of access that each team member needs. You also get mobile options that work with both iOS and Android devices. On top of that, you can choose between two different versions that vary from $55 to $99 per month
ProofHub Features:
With this tool, you’re creating workflows, and you’re doing it in a way that’s simple for people to understand and get a handle on. You can create different projects, milestones, and tasks and even use it on any of your devices. This system works on iOS, Android, Google Chrome, and Web. That means any of your users and team members can access it no matter where they are or what type of device they use. And you can check in to see just what they’re doing through the snapshot view.
You get to assign high, low, and medium priority to tasks, see how your team is doing and even set up the start dates and due dates for everything. You’ll also be able to use Gantt style timelines to keep an eye on everything. And you can try out the whole thing for free for 30 days. Then you pay based on the number of people who are on your team.
Teamwork Features:
- Workload
- Templates
- Collaboration
- Board View
- Time Tracking
- Milestones
Hive is known for its collaboration capabilities along with project management features. It is designed to keep track of customer needs. Hive is flexible, as it can deal with unlimited projects and provides thousands of integrations. It keeps the whole team on one platform, no matter if there are 10 members or 1000 members.Once the task is assigned, it keeps all the information transparent to all the stakeholders. Team members can also see their upcoming projects and sub-tasks. Hive also supports email integration features with Outlook and Gmail. So, you can send emails to these clients right from the Hive application.Although it lacks a bit of functionality in the mobile application and the user interface over, there needs a steep learning curve. The user experience is exceptional over the computer platforms. The easy-to-navigate user interface makes project planning, task assigning, and collaboration easier, while integration with other tools is also kept simple.Hive takes collaboration to the next level with its in-app video chat feature. So, your team members can video chat with other team members and with the clients as well. It enhances productivity as all the project details and tasks can be saved in the app during the video chat without needing to use any other application.To get a detailed idea about what the clients want, your team can use different forms to get all the information from the client, which also helps keep a record.
Some of Hive Features:
- Time management
- Portfolio management
- Analytics, insights, and reporting
- Automation features
Nifty is built for every team that needs a solution designed to their needs. It has abundant project management tools under one platform that make the whole team more productive. This abundance of tasks is never confusing or misleading as Nifty has an intuitive user experience to keep the whole project planning, assigning, and tracking journey straightforward.With Nifty, you need to stop using different tools to create roadmaps, work on documents, or assign tasks, as it is the one-stop solution to all your project management needs. Setting project timelines and deadlines are simple here, and it makes employees productive with color-coded instances where team members can know their dependencies and current and upcoming tasks.It establishes discussion through the in-app communication option where users can send messages, voice notes, and media. To create documents on the go, Nifty integrates with Google Docs so you can manage all the documentation and sharing needs within the platform. It also supports creating native forms with all your specific requirements.These Tasks, docs, forms, and reporting features at Nifty also support automated reporting where you can set several actions upon different conditions met. Nifty also keeps the client on the same platform and offers transparency about the project. With its one-click video meeting, team members can discuss any queries with clients, and so can clients.
Some of Nifty Features:
- Real-time project reporting
- Automated project creation
- Calendar view for content scheduling and tasks
- Collaboration with clients with sharable project boards
Airtable is your best choice if you are focusing on developing project databases. Users can add long text notes, attachments, barcodes, links, and checkboxes to the tables for easier progress management for each task.Airtable understands that larger teams with hundreds of tasks can be difficult to keep track of, so it provides powerful sorting, grouping, and filtering tools allowing every team member to arrange their work in the way they want for better productivity. Additionally, it offers a pleasing and easy-to-navigate user experience.Integrations are the easiest with Airtable as it comes with in-app support for applications like Integromat, Automate.io, Zapier, etc. You can integrate over 1000 applications and websites, including CMS, social platforms, and cloud drives, with Airtable for better collaboration.Airtable lacks any tutorials or guides about its platform, so your team members have to train themselves with a slightly steep learning curve considering posting tasks and managing deadlines.It also lets you build custom tables, but the creation is difficult. However, once you have created them, the color-coded project items will make tracking and working easier.Airtable has recently added some automation features to its platform that automatically trigger certain actions. You can simply write "if this then that" with anything you do over the platform, and whenever the trigger situation is met, the consequential action you have set will happen.
Some of Airtable Features:
- Connects with GitHub
- Easy form embedding
- Rollups for organizing data
- Simplest database that even non-technical members can use
Paymo is the right choice for small and medium-sized teams working in the marketing or consultancy niche. It is also an amazing project management option for freelancing and remotely working teams with efficient time tracking, financing, and deadline tracking features. For project management, it supports multiple view options ranging from the list view, Gantt chart, Kanban, and task lists.
The time tracking feature not only tracks the task deadlines but also keeps track of the time you have worked, which is helpful compared to the initial timeline estimates. One of the best things about Paymo's financing features is that it integrates online payment gateways like Square, PayPal, Stripe, etc., from where you can receive payments from clients for work.Paymo mobile app also brings a feature-rich and easy-to-use interface so you can always stay connected with your team on the go. The resource scheduling feature at Paymo lets your team plan their timelines for leaves and client meetings so that the workflow is never disturbed. You can also track current, recent, and upcoming activities in the task view.
With its real-time collaboration, every team member can share files and stay up to date with the project process via notifications. It also supports integration with other tools and CMS like Slack, Google, and Zapier for extra productivity whenever your team needs it.
Some of Paymo Features:
- Transparency in terms of time tracking and project progress tracking
- Comes with project filters for team members to easily track specific projects
- Free for teams with under 10 members
This project management tool focuses on real-time note-taking for different project parts to keep track of all the details in every specific task. Notion offers a unique experience while keeping the whole team on one platform. It comes with basic task management features, but some unique features will bring a few complications and a learning curve for users.
Regarding project timeline tracking, it provides different views like timeline, list, Kanban, and, most importantly, calendar view. However, at the same time, it lacks the Gantt chart view feature that might be significant for some teams. With Notion, you can work on multiple plans simultaneously, but no dependency management features exist.
The project leader does have governance over user permissions so that they can allow different permissions to team members according to their roles. It also provides file storage and sharing features for efficient collaboration and progress tracking. Although it does not come with any time tracking features for the team members working on the project, it does provide reporting features for transparency.
In terms of integrations, Notion supports integrations in a unique way where you can use different apps and tools. Thousands of templates are available here made by the Notion community that you may use.
Some of Notion Features:
- You can allow guest users for project reviews or collaboration needs
- Projects can be started with templates that can be modified as per requirements
- Android and iOS apps are available with an intuitive and feature-rich interface
Infinity improves your team's project planning and organization, where there are different ways to view the timeline and project information using tables, Gantt chart, etc. Every user here has the freedom to select their way of viewing the schedule and customize views for maximum productivity.
Infinity structures data into hierarchies with tabs, items, and workflows so that the team can stay aware of their dependencies, roles, and previous, current, and upcoming activities. Different views for different use cases and the ability to seamlessly switch between any options while maintaining all the project details will increase productivity.Using Infinity, you can structure the work clutter-free, using folders and sub-folders that create a whole file structure. Infinity comes with powerful grouping, sorting, and filtering tools where you can search for projects and choose to hide or show specific attributes for every instance.
Everything is completely customizable for every team member. Once assigned, a user can combine different task attributes to use them however and whenever they want. Additionally, team members can automate their work processes with triggered actions for creating reminders, managing recurring tasks, and reducing manual input for building processes. Ultimately, it helps in saving a lot of time.
Some of Infinity Features:
- Visualize progress reports in different charts with detailed insights about all stakeholders
- Create custom forms and embed them to gather information easily
- Work with over 50 templates and customize them for smarter work and quicker results
Flow not only brings project management features but also powers your communication and integration requirements. So, your team can achieve more while working together and using all the tools you need from the project management software. It offers agile project management experience with features like problem detection, learning support, etc., for the team.
Flow uses notifications to keep everyone on the team up to date with all the information. The whole organization can be divided into multiple smaller teams, with none interfering with other teams' information. You may use public constraints for projects that need input from multiple teams, while other projects can be kept private.
Searching from all the tasks and projects assigned is easy, with filters allowing you to search projects by tag, keyword, group, team, assignee, etc. Flow brings transparency for the team members and clients with an activity comments feature where all stakeholders can actively communicate regarding project milestones. Flow is easy to use and provides all sorts of customizations.Viewing projects and milestone details are easier with the Kanban view. However, one of its biggest cons is that no Gantt chart is available.
Some of Flow Features:
- You can export projects in different formats, including HTML, PDF, CSV, etc.
- Provides access permission to different members according to their role in the team
- For repeating projects and activities, you can use the automation feature with templates for duplicate requirements.
Toggl time tracking software focuses on project management using a simplistic approach. While it tracks your activity time, by the end of every activity, it provides detailed reports that can be used to ask your clients for payments. These reports on Toggl are kept simple to understand while maintaining all the in-depth information, and these can be exported in different formats, including Excel and CSV.
Google does support integrations with other tools and services, including Trello, Asana, Basecamp, Podio, Gmail, FreshBooks, and over 100 others. So, it takes care of your time-tracking needs while you can access all other features from external tools, apps, and services within the platform. Toggl is available on all platforms and has a web application as well.
Project management at Toggl offers a basic experience with simple features like creating sub-tasks and tasks, assigning tasks to different team members, and setting deadlines. It can manage different projects simultaneously while keeping the time-tracking reports focused on your current project.
Some of Toggl Features:
- Toggl provides several view options
- Allows tracking deadlines by projects or clients, keeping everything transparent
- One-click time tracking feature syncs with multiple platforms.
Basecamp is known for its flexibility in features and tools as a project management software. Setting it up is considerably easy as you don't lack any features from day one. It supports integrations with different tools, applications, and services. Thus, your whole team works on one platform with proper communication and collaboration features.
Although Basecamp lacks some important features like Gantt charts, it still works well to meet the collaboration requirements of your team. With Basecamp, work management and progress tracking is easier than with other tools, considering the documentation features. Basecamp provides you with project templates that can be used for managing traditional projects.
Assigning projects and tasks with Basecamp takes minutes, as you don't have to enter any details manually. Tapping on the calendar will mark the dates and deadlines. It can manage multiple projects simultaneously where the constraints of one task will never interfere with others.
Basecamp has an automated check-in feature where every team member has prompted a question to get a status update on a specific project they are working on. It helps keep track of the progress for the admin while team members can consistently work on their short-term milestones. It has applications available on iPhone, iPad, and Android smartphones and tablets apart from the PC platforms.
Some of Basecamp Features:
- It allows inviting guest users to collaboration
- Basecamp keeps everything transparent for the clients
- Supports file sharing, uploading, and scheduling
Jira will be an amazing option for teams working on development-based projects with its flagship project tracking experience. It comes with top-notch security solutions along with code management and collaboration features. Jira comes with its extension known as Jira Work Management, which helps manage workloads for developers in terms of reporting, code configuration, and data views.
Jira fulfills your project management demands with integration with over 500 tools and more than 3000 applications and extensions. Jira also keeps track of the time every team member invests in a project, which helps track the efficiency against deadlines and planned timelines. However, the software is not easy to use, and the learning curve can be steep for non-development teams.
It keeps everyone notified and involved with their tasks and notifications with the Android and iOS applications. Jira comes with an import engine where you can upload different types of files, including JSON, CSV, Trello, etc.; after uploading the files, you can work on an extensive range of field values built into the application.Jira allows you to start working on new projects, but it can also be used to import existing and previous projects and transform them into smaller tasks for team members.
Some of Jira Features:
- You may bundle it with other tools like Trello and Crucible.
- It provides different view methods for visualizing your projects
- Provides 20 pre-made templates to start with and add-ons like Issue Templates for Jira
- Brings features for HR, marketing, legal terms, and finance departments in your team.
6 Steps to choosing your project management software
The right project management software can significantly impact how your team performs. So, selecting the right one is crucial. Now that you have gone through these top software choices, here is our 5-step guide that you may use to shortlist the project management software for your team.
1. Outline your requirements
You will start by outlining your requirements because not all software can solve every problem. Every project management software comes with different features; similarly, every team has different constraints, challenges, and requirements that they want to solve using that software. For instance, you may list out the following things:
- The size of your team
- Integration requirements
- Third-party tool support
- Permissions and governance
- Team management and guest access
- Security constraints
- File storage and sharing capabilities
- Collaboration options
As you outline all these requirements, you will be left with a few tools that meet these requirements. Doing so makes the procedure ahead much simpler.
2. Shortlist the best software
Your main goal in this selection process is to narrow things down to one software. As you still have many options, you only need to keep the top 3 or 4 for the steps ahead. So, you can check online reviews across different platforms, consider growth and scalability capabilities, and other testimonials about this software.
Going through these constraints about each tool helps you shortlist the best software choices, leaving you with the best ones.
3. Quick testing for further shortlisting
Now you will be testing the platforms for further shortlisting. Use the web app, dedicated computer software, and mobile app (if available) of all the options you still have.
Using these for a few minutes will give you an idea about the following:
- User experience
- Performance and reliability
- Notifications
- Customization options
- Scheduling
- Accounting
- Task creation and processing
These are essential for your team to thrive when using project management software. By the end of the quick testing phase, you will have ranked the software from the best to the worst.
4. Extensive testing with the team
Pick the best software deduced after quick testing and extensively test it with your team. Ensure they are using every required feature of that software with their professional requirements. Here is how you can get this done:
It not only tests the software but also gives your team exposure to that tool, and when dealing with real tasks, the problems, bugs, and positives about that tool will be easily pointed out.
5. Get feedback about the experience.
Ask everyone working with that software to voice their opinion and point out as many pros and cons as they want. Here are a few options to do it effectively:
- Individual interviews
- Collective discussion
- Digital survey
- Live feedback with the team (most effective option)
After testing, you may find the software useful or not useful. If it was found useful, you might move ahead with the next step; otherwise, take the next tool and repeat it.
6. Cost calculation and subscribing.
Your last step in this process will be finalizing your decision. Sometimes free software will cost you for pro features, integrations, or for using third-party services and features. So, check all that out according to your requirements and finalize your decision with your budget constraints.
Now you will have project management software that meets all your requirements and facilitates your team best.
Conclusion time
If you’re looking to improve the way that your team runs and to make sure that you’re on top of everything, then you need the top 20 best project management tools in 2024. Well, that’s precisely what we have here. Hopefully, one or even several of these will turn out to be the best tool for your team. You can make sure that you have everything you need to keep your team on task and ready to go, no matter what you need next. Each of these tools has excellent features, and we know that you’re going to love them. Check out how each of them can work for you and where you can get signed up with any of them.
