10 Best Project Management Software & Tools Of 2024

Regardless of budget limitation, monday.com offers something for everyone. Even if you are working on a team of two with no budget, monday.com can help you get your project done on time and with limited risk. If you are a small two-person team, you can enjoy monday.com for free. If you’re part of a growing team, use advanced project-tracking features, automations and integrations for as little as £8 to £11 per team member per month, if billed annually (minimum of three seats per plan).

General Features

Along with most project management software today, monday.com offers multiple project views, so it’s keeping up with its competitors. In my experience with monday.com, I found I preferred its table view for managing single projects. The color coding of statuses, customization of columns and inclusion of headshots or initials helped me know where each task stood and who was responsible—at a glance. In fact, the Kanban view was too cluttered for my taste because monday.com tries to give you all the fields in one card.

Jeffrey Weide, a project management expert and our advisory board member, likes the platform’s user experience: “It’s visually appealing and with UX designed for end users. It’s a flexible tool for a variety of processes and tasks for integrated teams.”

Additional Features

Creating automations was an easy task. It’s as simple as filling out fields to determine if this happens, then this happens, or condition triggers and actions. I was able to quickly create automated workflows for redundant work so I could focus on completing other work.

I also appreciated how easy it was to read reports but options are limited. The only way to see your data any way you want is to upgrade to the Enterprise plan and I don’t have the budget for that (which is fine because I don’t love creating pivot tables anyway). What I don’t love is that advanced features are mostly locked behind the higher-priced plans. In short: Love the automations; don’t love that they’re on the Standard plan and up.

Cost

We named monday.com one of the best free project management apps available, and it’s definitely a free all-in-one work management solution I’d choose for myself if all I needed were task and project management. However, its pricing structure could be frustrating for small teams that want to upgrade.

The free version is only good for two people, but paid plans have a three-person minimum, so you’re looking at paying at least $27 per month for the entry-level plan. Then, you have to purchase seats in five-seat increments up to 30 and then in 10-seat increments. So, it can get pricey.

Customer Service

Similar to ClickUp, monday.com offers 24/7 support but paid plan users do have access to live chat (not just a chatbot). You also have the option to request a call from an agent if nothing in the help center answers your question. I had no problem finding answers in the help center. In fact, I was able to search for “chat” and find out that monday.com doesn’t have a built-in direct messaging solution.

Mobile App

Although the mobile app theoretically allows you to create tasks and manage your work, it doesn’t always work as intended. I had a few issues with the app getting out of sync with the browser version and I had to force quit a few times. When it did work, I could do the basics, similar to most other project management mobile apps.

Learn more: Read our monday.com review.

Who should use it:

Startup businesses on a shoestring budget should consider monday.com. It offers a free version and free trials so users can test more advanced tiers as their companies can afford them.

ClickUp is best for teams that rely on Scrum for product development. While it includes all the features you would expect from a great project management app, it goes further with templates and features that allow for an Agile software development process. Plans with these features start at free for startup teams and increase to $12 per member per month (if billed annually) for multiple teams.

General Features

ClickUp’s feature offering is robust. It offers collaboration tools (such as real-time editing, mentions, calendar sync, and role creation and permissions), preset and custom automation recipes, reporting dashboards, project-tracking tools (such as checklists, timelines, Gantt charts, Kanban boards and dependencies) and over 1,000 integrations. Use templates or customize dashboards so your team works on its own terms.

It also offers advanced task management, making it one of the best task management software options on the market. In my opinion, because of its advanced features. When testing ClickUp, I appreciated the clean layout of the dashboard. It was easy for me to find tasks I needed to complete, comments I’d been tagged in and which to-dos were most important to other people (in the Trending section). I don’t personally use Scrum to manage projects but ClickUp’s Scrum tools made it easy to run sprints and retros.

James Wilkinson, CEO and co-founder of Balance One Supplements, saw a lot of success from using ClickUp: “We had nothing but a Frankensteinian collection of spreadsheets, email chains and siloed communication. Since then, ClickUp has changed everything for us. The results have been dramatic: Before ClickUp, our product development process often suffered from bottlenecks. We would be reaching out to designers and engineers to get information on project status or request changes, and it would take seven to 10 days for us to get a response. It wasn’t uncommon to have missed deadlines and misunderstandings with people on our team. Since implementing ClickUp, we’ve reduced project completion times by 40%. This translates directly to increased output: We are now able to launch 20% more new product campaigns per month.”

Additional Features

I tend to prefer more visual representation of tasks, which is why I like Kanban and Gantt charts. With that said, I also appreciate linear representation, so I wasn’t too sure about the mind mapping tool but after trying it I found it was much easier than I expected (I wasn’t playing in an open field because there are still boundaries in ClickUp). I also really liked ClickUp’s reporting section because it caters to almost everyone: It includes charts, graphs and numbers.

Cost

As an individual user, the free plan from ClickUp was serviceable for my needs. I don’t think I’d ever need to upgrade because I tend to stick to a waterfall style of project management. With that said, $7 per user for the Unlimited plan might be worth it for the unlimited integrations and custom fields. The Business plan seems better for a more established and bigger team that needs timesheets and workload management.

Customer Service

If you’re like me and you work at odd hours of the day or night (sometimes the wee hours are the most creative), 24/7 support is handy. However, ClickUp’s promise of 24/7 support is a little misleading in my opinion. You have 24/7 access to the ClickUp help center, not to support agents. Plus, live chat support (there is no phone support) is only available to paid plan users. The chatbot is helpful but it isn’t perfect. When looking for actual support hours, I didn’t get my answer. So I requested a live agent and ClickUp was a bit buggy when connecting me (it never connected).

Mobile App

It’s rare that I use a mobile app for project or task management, but it is nice to have when I don’t want to pull out my laptop. I was able to easily respond to comments, check progress of tasks I’d assigned and create reminders for myself (or others). Not all features on the browser or desktop app are mirrored on the mobile app, but I doubt I’d want to use a whiteboard feature or Gantt chart from my phone.

Learn more: Read our ClickUp review.

Who should use it:

With robust features, ClickUp is great for any team looking for advanced project management capabilities. But, it is best for companies with Scrum Agile product development, marketing or sales teams.

ClickUp’s website lists its pricing in US dollars. Use our currency calculator to convert pound sterling.

One of the main selling points for choosing Asana over other project management software is its multitude of collaboration tools. Along with most PM software, Asana allows you to comment on tasks and projects, but it also includes in-app chats for one-on-one conversations or even group chats. Aside from making communication easier for your team, Asana also gives you multiple project views, including Kanban-style boards, calendars, workload views and more.

Jeffrey Weide, our advisory board member, also noted Asana’s collaboration tools: “Asana is a communication-focused project software that helps with task management, team collaboration and streamlined workflows.”

General Features

I want to give Asana credit for how it handles task dependencies. I like a big-picture view but I also tend to work in the trenches of a project, so it helps to see specific call-outs when a task is blocked by another task. Asana makes this clear with its “blocked by” language and then points directly to the issue. Sure, it’s calling out a mistake I made in planning, but I’m going to take it as constructive criticism, thank you very much. Creating tasks and connecting integrations are intuitive so I was able to use Asana for many years for personal projects.

Additional Features

When I needed more advanced features to manage multiple projects and people, I needed to upgrade to a paid plan. This was the only way to access automated workflows and timeline views with task dependencies. Asana is more customizable at this point with custom fields and project templates. If I worked with more external collaborators, I’d probably spring for the Advanced plan because I really liked the approval feature, which allowed me to accept, reject or return work to a user if I wanted changes; this saved me time because I didn’t have to send an email.

There are a couple of ways you could interpret collaboration in project management software and for Asana, it’s all about communication. I like that I can add comments on a task, tag users or even have a chat without having to pull up a different app. Asana meets most of my collaborative needs admirably, I think, but it does so through integrations. I added Google Chat to Asana, which made the most sense for me because I tend to work in a project management app and my Google Workspace. Sure, I felt silly talking to myself in Asana via Google Chat, but this is how I test software.

Cost

The free plan from Asana worked well for me but only for small projects. The Starter plan is pricier than other project management software I’ve used but it offers a lot of features I needed for more advanced project planning, so I think it was worth the cost. I’d likely only upgrade to the Advanced plan if I was running an agency and I required proofing and portfolio management.

When you opt for a paid plan, Asana automatically sets your seats at five users, which might seem a bit misleading. I was able to edit the seats and choose monthly or annual payment but there is a minimum of two users for the Starter plan, which isn’t clear on Asana’s pricing page. That means it would cost me nearly £20 per month (billed annually) if I opted for the Starter plan for just me (and one other seat).

Customer Service

Although I recognize that beggars can’t be choosers, I didn’t love that I had limited access to live customer support with Asana. I tried using the chatbot to get a hold of an agent but it only offers to submit a ticket to support. Still, Asana offers 24/7 support access through its help center and chatbot. Most of my questions were answered in the help articles, anyway.

Mobile App

As with most project management mobile apps, everything in Asana’s mobile app is smaller or there are fewer features compared to the desktop/browser version. I had a few issues with the widgets and had to refresh a few times to make them reappear. I liked that I could update a project’s status or respond to a comment on the fly but that’s about all I’d use Asana’s mobile app for.

Who should use it:

Asana can work for any size business, but it’s most ideal for midsize companies that need to collaborate with clients or across departments.

If you consider the list of third-party app integrations Zoho Projects allows, it may seem short, but if you add on the whole of the Zoho software ecosystem, you’ll likely find all the tools you need. Businesses that are starting out may prefer to choose Zoho for all of its apps to round out their tech stack for easy integration. Plus, Zoho Projects (and its complementary apps) are typically priced below the industry average, so it’s affordable for all business sizes.

Jeffrey Weide, our advisory board member, also finds Zoho affordable: “Zoho Projects is cost-effective programming that can link into other Zoho programs and mobile options to help you integrate these tools on the go.”

General Features

Beyond the affordability and native ecosystem of apps, I found Zoho Projects to be one of the easiest project management tools I’ve used. The dashboard had all my tasks listed at the top, with more granular views of what needed my attention below. Rather than show me how I screwed up a project plan (it’s been known to happen; please, no judgment), it didn’t even allow me to create conflicting task dependencies. I know Zoho Projects doesn’t offer a ton of integrations but I also use Zoho Invoice, so I was able to easily create invoices for work I’d done in my project management platform.

I’m a big fan of the shortcuts Zoho Projects offers such as the time tracking feature that you can access from the Kanban board—I didn’t even have to click into a task to start a timer. In fact, the only things I didn’t love about this project management software were the few bugs I came across (I had an issue with assigning a task to a user that appeared as an option but the platform told me there were no matches) and customer support (more on that below).

Additional Features

As useful as the free plan is, Zoho Projects is much better if you upgrade because you gain access to so many more features. The templates and recurring tasks saved me so much time setting up projects but I tend to create projects similar to each other, so this made sense for me. Time tracking helps with figuring out billable hours and I was able to use Zia, the AI chatbot. Zia was a bit like a virtual assistant for me by retrieving data when I asked for it.

Cost

As much as I like Zoho Projects’ free plan, I’d say its Premium plan offers one of the best value-to-cost ratios. For £3.20 per user per month (billed annually), I’d happily subscribe to it to unlock a lot of advanced features, though I was disappointed to see workflow rules are only available on the Enterprise plan. That said, the Enterprise plan only costs £7.20 per user per month (billed annually), which is even cheaper than Asana’s entry-level plan.

Customer Service

Unfortunately, my experience with Zoho Projects’ customer service wasn’t as positive as my experience using the platform. My attempts to get in contact were difficult, at best. The first time I couldn’t get through to anyone because I tried to contact support outside of their working hours (I never did get the actual range). So the 24/7 support it claims has more to do with the chatbot, help center and ticket submission.

All things considered, Zoho Projects’ support isn’t bad; I did get a response to my ticket within 24 hours and most answers can be found in the help articles.

Mobile App

Perhaps it was the recent update, but I had more bugs with the mobile app than the browser version of Zoho Projects. The app crashed for me a few times and I couldn’t easily access support tickets from the app. I expected the mobile app to not have as many features, so keeping that in mind, it’s fine for quick updates to tasks. I wouldn’t use it as my primary project management tool though.

Who should use it:

Zoho Projects is a great pick for small businesses that want to integrate other Zoho apps. It’s especially useful if you’re just starting out and you want to stick to the Zoho ecosystem, as the integrations will be seamless.

Smartsheet is similar to Airtable in that it’s primarily a spreadsheet project management tool, but it comes with features to enhance it. It’s a highly customizable application, so you can use premade templates to create the type of project you need and then tweak the details to better suit your needs. Its workflow automation is available to all plan users and includes triggers, alerts, reminders and assignments.

General Features

Given that Smartsheet is essentially an enhanced spreadsheet application, it’s the automations that would sell me on signing up for it. One of the things that drives me crazy about collaborative spreadsheets is that I have no idea when someone’s changed something. With Smartsheet, I was able to create an automated alert for whenever someone added or changed a row. In hindsight, this isn’t the best idea unless you love constant alerts. But hey, I got what I wanted. And it was easy to create that automation.

A lot of my work requires me to do repetitive tasks, so I use copy and paste often. With Smartsheet though, I could set up rows with conditional formatting so I could apply the same format to each row. This cut down so much on the manual work I was doing so I could focus my attention on, well, other manual work that no project management tool can help with.

Another thing I liked about Smartsheet was its project dashboard. When I have to show stakeholders where I am with a project and how much work is left, I don’t want to create a new report every time. The dashboard shows automatically calculated completions and it’s easy to read, whether your stakeholders prefer pie charts or bar graphs.

Additional Features

There are a couple of features that are nice to have but only available on the higher-priced plans. I found it was much easier to manage a team and their work with the workload management feature. I could see my team’s workload in one window, determine who had too much going on, and then reassign a task from a project timeline.

In fact, Smartsheet offers a lot of additional features that help add functionality to its simple spreadsheet platform, but I don’t love that they’re all kind of à la carte. Most of these advanced features for data synchronization, resource management and advanced automations are costly add-ons.

Jeffrey Weide, a project management professional of 20 years, appreciates Smartsheet for its customization features: “There is a great drag-and-drop and customization element to their dashboards that is helpful if you are starting a PMO or other function that requires status updates to leaders across remote or disperse environments.”

Cost

The free plan only allows you two sheets and it lacks forms, template sets, API calls, proofing and other advanced features, so it’s really only suitable for my personal projects. I do like that there are 100 automations per month on the free plan. However, the Pro plan only costs £7 per user per month if you pay annually and it unlocks a lot of the advanced features from Smartsheet.

Customer Service

On one hand, Smartsheet is easy to use. On the other hand, it’s a complex system and I needed help figuring out a few things at times, but live support wasn’t readily available. I had to make do with the help center. In fact, there’s no live support for the free or entry-level plan. It’s an add-on that costs more and is only available to Business and Enterprise plan users.

With all that said, the help center is useful and I was able to figure out how to do something without having to resort to sending an email or spending more money.

Mobile App

There are a few frustrations I’ve had with Smartsheet’s mobile app, such as project planning, but I think that’s just because of the medium. I like that I can access reports easily and it’s scaled well for my phone. Plus, the offline feature is fantastic for when you don’t have service or a Wi-Fi connection. And the times I’ve used the barcode scanner, it was quick and easy.

Who should use it:

Project teams that prefer spreadsheets for data and project management are likely to take to Smartsheet quickly. The automated workflows, forms and proofing features make it much easier to get work done quickly and efficiently, whether you’re collaborating with teammates, clients or both.

Notion offers one interface to handle all of your content creation projects from start to finish. Not only can you design your content from the platform, but you can also create checklists, store your documents or rich content and share your content from one platform. With a free personal plan and small business paid plans that increase to just £8.50 per month per user (when billed annually), even freelance content creators can afford this luxury.

General Features

Notion is a wide-open playground for writers, but I appreciated the templates available because I need boundaries. Using Notion this way made it much easier for me to create project plans and wikis. Once I was comfortable with the tools and menus, I started to think of all the ways I could use it to my advantage. When I was freelancing, I would’ve loved this platform to create a knowledge base with unlimited files for myself and my virtual assistant so we could easily share samples of my work with clients.

Carl Rodriguez is the founder and owner of NX Auto Transport and he shared with us how using Notion has helped his company:

“Notion stands out for its versatility and adaptability. While many users see it as a note-taking tool, it can be so much more. One unique feature I love is its ability to create interconnected databases. For example, I use it to manage both my project tasks and my team’s performance reviews. By linking these databases, I can see how individual tasks contribute to larger goals and track progress over time. This level of customization and integration is not something you find in many other tools.”

Karolina Gorska, a Senior HR Coordinator, has found success using Notion for HR-related work and as a CRM tool. “The first tool I’ve ever used for project management was Notion. We produce a lot of content as HR and Notion is especially helpful with that. I like the interface, as I’m not a very technical person and I still find it incredibly easy to get around in. Notion is also a great place to keep and build your CRM. One of the most important things about it for me is that it lets you tag each entry. This way I could create groups that are simple to filter out, according to my needs.”

Additional Features

One of the best things about Notion is the guest access it allows. Even the free plan allows up to 10 guests on your board. I really like Notion for its collaborative features. An upgrade to the Business plan unlocks collaborative workspaces, which is where the real magic happens, in my opinion.

I found this incredibly helpful when I was working with a colleague on a project where we both needed to brainstorm. We were able to work on the same block in real time. It’s an uncommon feature for a project management platform.

I’m also a fan of Notion’s AI assistant because it reduces the number of programs you have open and helps you create whatever you want in Notion. For example, rather than using a search engine to help me develop a content plan, I tried using Notion’s AI and got a few ideas. It’s also a fast way to find an obscure piece of data. I do these kinds of searches all the time in Slack because I remember I had a conversation with someone (but who?) on some date (when was that though?) but all I remember is the term “oscillating ostrich.”

Cost

I like Notion’s free plan, but it’s unlikely I’d use it as my primary project management tool because it’s so limiting. The thing is, I’d say the same about the entry-level plan because you really get the same features as the free plan but without limits and the addition of live support.

I’d rather spring for the Business plan that includes more security features and collaborative workspaces. And Notion’s AI assistant is great but it’s £7 per user per month in addition to the plan price, billed annually, which ups the cost considerably.

Customer Service

It’s nice to see that Notion uses its platform, too—at least that’s how it appears with Notion’s help center. Unless you subscribe to a paid plan, the help center is the only support you’ll get but it’s a useful knowledge base. I had to use it to figure out why I couldn’t delete an unused workspace (it turns out you can’t do that on mobile). Chances are you won’t need live support because the available documentation is pretty expansive.

Mobile App

I like that most project management software offers a mobile app but it’s never going to be the same as using the platform on your desktop or a browser. Notion’s mobile app includes a lot of the same features but the toolbar looks different. To me, it was a bit like learning a new version of the same thing (or learning two Latin languages) because of the differences and similarities.

I mostly used the mobile version for note-taking and quick status updates. I liked that I was able to add my workspace as a widget so I didn’t have to go through menus in the app to find the area I access most often.

Who should use it:

Notion would be the best fit for content creators who are solopreneurs or have small teams.

Teamwork makes working with and managing client relationships seamless. Paid plans offer unlimited collaborators. This means service-oriented freelancers, consultants and agencies can work directly with clients within the interface to create a deliverable that uniquely meets client needs and expectations.

General Features

The biggest benefit I found using Teamwork as my project management platform is that it’s set up ideally for an agency. When working with clients, I need to keep information about those clients separate and I’m able to do that with Teamwork’s client view. With the option to add collaborators, I could share project progress with clients and not risk them changing anything or accidentally deleting something.

Another reason you might want to go with Teamwork for project management is if you need billing and invoicing features. Although being able to offer rate sheets and create invoices is uncommon for project management software, it’s a core feature of Teamwork. I could track billable hours and turn those into invoices for clients, which makes it clear why this software is meant for agencies.

Michael Ashley, the founder of AshleyInsights, likes the features offered by Teamwork. “Teamwork is great for small businesses. It offers a wide range of features, including task management, team collaboration, time tracking and project reporting. I believe Teamwork is especially useful for larger projects that require detailed planning and coordination among team members. One standout feature that I found with Teamwork, was its Gantt chart functionality, which provided a visual representation of project timelines and dependencies, making it easier for me to track progress and identify potential bottlenecks.”

Additional Features

I also liked that you don’t have to integrate a chat program to communicate with your team in Teamwork; there’s a built-in chat feature. Though I do find some of the pre-built reports helpful, not all of them are necessary in my opinion. I suppose I could use them to share information with stakeholders who don’t want to look at project views but I found time, risk and planned vs actual reports the most helpful for my needs.

Cost

I’m never going to be a fan of user minimums or caps and Teamwork employs this across all of its plans. The free plan only allows up to five users, though that is generous, I’ll admit. To upgrade to the entry-level paid plan, you’re looking to spend over £30 per month (billed annually) for three users. Solopreneurs wouldn’t get the biggest bang for their buck here; however, Teamwork makes up for this by offering some advanced features even on the lowest-tier plan.

Customer Service

Teamwork offers live chat or email support, along with its help center. Although I was able to find most of the answers to my questions from its support documentation, I did reach out for help one evening. I didn’t get a response the same night but I heard back from an agent the next morning. Support hours are 7 a.m. to midnight ET on weekdays, so I was a bit surprised it took nearly 12 hours for them to get back to me. Still, the agent was helpful and friendly.

Mobile App

One of the frustrating things for me about mobile project management apps is that they almost always have incomplete or buggy features. I was able to perform basic tasks using the app but it lacks some functionality compared to the browser version and the user experience isn’t the best. I found the app’s navigation to be a bit clunky, but to be fair, I find most project management mobile apps suffer from the same issue.

Who should use it:

Client-facing professional service providers and agencies will find Teamwork uniquely meets their needs.

Wrike is a popular project management solution for all types and sizes of businesses, but it stands out with its commitment to automation with artificial intelligence (AI) assistance. There’s a whole category of features devoted to “smart” actions, including search, replies (via mobile) and text recognition. Nearly all of the AI-assisted features are available on all plans (even the free plan). Only AI-assisted project risk prediction is limited to the higher-paid tiers.

Jeffrey Weide, our advisory board member, mentioned why he likes Wrike: “It’s a project software focused on security, complex projects and high control. It’s a great option for larger PMOs or enterprises.”

General Features

At Wrike’s core are task and project management features, and I had zero issues learning how to use them. I’m a big fan of the customization of dashboards so I could create my personal “home page” for projects; I just chose the widgets I wanted, such as my tasks, tasks I was following and overdue tasks. The project views look and work as you’d expect, with drag-and-drop functionality on the board view and table view with color-coded status and priority tags.

I rarely notice role assignment features but I tried to invite a collaborator to work on a single task and I couldn’t set permissions at the task level. No big deal though; I just created a project with the one-off tasks and allowed collaborators access to that project only. For simple projects, Wrike worked well for me because I only needed a Kanban board to manage them.

Additional Features

Although I could go on and on about all of Wrike’s added value with its integrations and advanced analytics, I want to tell you about its AI features. They’re available for all plans (except risk prediction) and it’s a bit like having a built-in ChatGPT.

It was so easy to brainstorm and fill in with project plans and task descriptions. It wasn’t perfect by any means, and I certainly wouldn’t use the suggestions without adding specific instructions for my projects, but it was nice to have the assistance. As a caveat, it is worth noting that these features are still experimental right now.

Cost

The free plan may be enough for you regardless of team size because Wrike doesn’t limit your user count. And you still get most of the AI features, which is rare among most project management software that offer AI tools. However, it was a bit too limiting for my needs when I had a complex project to run.

For Gantt charts, better security and integrations, I’d have to upgrade to a paid plan. And most collaboration and resource planning tools require you to upgrade to the Business plan, which costs $24.80 per user per month (billed annually) and requires at least five users.

Customer Service

Support seems to have changed a bit recently. Many users have reported that live chat and requests for callbacks don’t work at all. Others have noted that email support is backed up by almost two weeks.

In my experience, I didn’t even have the option to contact support (I was using a free trial); I was only given the option to request a call from sales. I get why Wrike would do this but in its help center, there’s a note that even trial users should have access to live chat support. Any time I tried to log in to my account to contact support, I got an error and reloading only sent me back to my Wrike dashboard.

Mobile App

Wrike’s mobile app isn’t great but it isn’t the worst experience I’ve had either. In my opinion, it isn’t simple enough to be useful on a phone. Using a Gantt chart on a small screen is difficult, at best. And it takes too many clicks to get to a task so it isn’t a time-saving option. With all that said, I liked that I could stay on top of comments in real time.

Who should use it:

Wrike provides a lot of value for its free and low-priced plan users with its AI-assisted tools for mobile and desktop apps. However, the richest feature sets are limited by higher pricing, user minimums and added costs, which means Wrike is likely best for larger companies with bigger budgets.

Wrike’s website lists its pricing in US dollars. Use our currency calculator to convert pound sterling.

Given Jira’s history as a bug-tracking tool, it makes sense that it’s best used by product teams and developers. However, it is versatile enough to work for any type of project manager who needs to plan, assign, track and manage tasks and projects. Features such as roadmaps and dependencies make it clear that Jira is best suited for product developers.

Jeffrey Weide, our advisory board member, also sees Jira as a robust tool: “Jira is a great project management program to help with task and issue tracking, agile sprints and reporting for project progress.”

General Features

Although I’m not a product developer, I can appreciate the simplicity of Jira’s project management platform. Even the free plan includes most of what I need to manage a project, whether I want to use a Kanban board, list view or a timeline. In fact, I was kind of surprised to see a Gantt chart on Jira. Creating dependencies is as easy in Jira as any other Gantt chart software; I was able to simply drag and drop the link icon up or down to a task.

What I don’t love about Jira is the user experience and how I tend to interact with project management software. From the list view, I couldn’t just click on a task name to open the task, it would just allow me to edit the task name. Same with the timeline view; I had to click on the bar on the timeline, not the name of the task. To me, that’s not intuitive. But it didn’t take long to retrain my brain.

Additional Features

If anything is difficult about Jira, it’s the language it uses. Not everyone who needs project management software knows what issues or epics are but Agile teams will be familiar with the terminology. I didn’t have trouble using any of Jira’s core features but I could see how the issue feature would be a little confusing. With that said, creating a custom issue type is easy; I was able to drag and drop the fields I wanted to use to collect the information I’d need.

Other than commenting on tasks and using @mentions to bring others into a discussion, there isn’t a lot of collaboration in Jira. That’s likely because Confluence is Jira’s complementary program that brings real-time collaboration into the project management platform.

Cost

One of the best things about Jira is that it offers a feature-packed free plan for up to 10 users. I was able to create multiple project boards, plus automations, custom workflows and backlog management. It is a bit limiting as far as automations and user roles are concerned.

A Standard plan billed monthly requires at least 10 users and starts at $12.48 per month, or $7.16 per user. This plan has the same features as the Free plan, but offers more security and admin features, such as advanced roles and permissions, audit logs and support during business hours.

Customer Service

I was a little surprised that Jira didn’t include a live chat option in its platform but the help center articles were useful for me. The best support options are only available to the high-tier plans, so free plan and entry-plan users are stuck with community forums or ticket support.

Mobile App

I think the phrase “your mileage may vary” works here for the mobile app experience. For me, Jira’s mobile app is easy to use for basic functionality. I had no trouble updating tasks and issues. Now if I wanted to create a whole new project and adjust settings, that’s something I’d do on the browser-based platform. I did run into a few errors and issues with tools not appearing as I expected (my keyboard didn’t show up when I tried to search for something) but bugs happen.

Who should use it:

Although Jira offers a free and low-cost entry-level plan, it’s most useful at the Premium level and it’s intended for dev teams that need task dependencies, high-level project and resource planning and roadmapping features.

Jira’s website lists its pricing in US dollars. Use our currency calculator to convert pound sterling.

Trello is a Kanban board-style project management tool. It has four plans to choose from starting with the Free forever plan. This plan is perfect for individuals or very small teams looking to stay organized with their projects. It is iOS and Android compatible with respective mobile apps and has two-factor authentication.

Jeffrey Weide, our advisory board member, shared when he likes Trello: “Trello is a great product for those not requiring a full subscription service to manage tasks or projects. They offer a multitude of simple options that include Kanban boards and Gantt charts, plus can work with small groups. There are advanced features in their paid subscriptions as well.”

General Features

Full disclosure: I’ve used Trello for years for personal projects. It’s one of the easiest-to-use project management systems I’ve come across and I’ve introduced it to many people I’ve worked with who had never used project management software before. Creating a project and tasks is intuitive and moving a card from stage to stage with the drag-and-drop functionality is quick and easy.

The 10 boards I get on the free plan are plenty for me, and I have yet to run out of automations for my workflows. The only reasons I might upgrade are for the custom fields and unlimited guests on the entry-level plan. Bigger teams would probably do well with Trello’s Premium plan which offers more project views. The timeline view is as easy to use as the Kanban board (with drag-and-drop functionality here, too).

Additional Features

A Power-Up is just Trello’s name for an add-on and these are unlimited and free for all users (any cost goes to the third party, not Trello). I found I was able to bypass some of the advanced features available on higher-paid plans by using integrations instead. For example, there’s an export Power-Up that costs $5 per month (or $18 for a year), so if that’s all you need, it can be more affordable than upgrading to Trello’s Premium plan.

Cost

Trello is one of the most cost-effective project management solutions out there. The free plan is robust enough for my needs and it only costs $5 per user per month (billed annually) for the entry-level plan. Double that cost for the Premium plan and you’ll get most of the advanced features Trello offers and unlimited automations.

Customer Service

Atlassian is the parent company of Trello (along with Jira and Confluence), so you can expect the same type of support. Free plan users get access to help documentation and community support while paid plan users can submit tickets. Phone support is only available to Enterprise plan users.

I was able to set up Trello easily enough but I did use the community forums to ask about admin issues. I got an answer from community users the same day and a staff member the following day.

Mobile App

Trello’s mobile app is one of the few I’ve kept on my phone because I use it for personal projects. I’ve used it to track my out-of-state moves and my international travel. I was able to access all of my boards, tasks and comments easily. Adding and editing tasks was easy. I also like that Trello includes quick actions so I can add an attachment or checklist without having to go through menus to find the features.

Who should use it: 

Trello’s Kanban-style board with drag-and-drop features makes organizing a project and collaboration easy. It’s intuitive to use, and teams respond well to its format.

Trello’s website lists its pricing in US dollars. Use our currency calculator to convert pound sterling.