10+ Best Project Management Tools in 2023

Best Project Management Tools:

Project management is a complex job with geographically dispersed team members it is even harder to manage a team and maintain effective collaboration. To smoothen out team collaboration and task management between members you need Project management software.

Don’t know what that is? Well, this article will fill you all in about Project management software and why you need one!

Project management software makes it easier to plan and distribute tasks among team members. It is an all-in-one working space for multiple projects. You can attribute tasks to each member and also track their performance. This software enhances team productivity by allocating tasks and keeping teams organized so that deadlines and goals are met.

There is so much project management software in the market with different pricing plans and features. It can be overwhelming to find which tool might be right for you and that matches your organization’s project management functions. Don’t worry as we’ve done all the research work for you and brought you a list of the best Project management software with their pricing plans, key features along with their pros and cons.

Keep scrolling to find your organization’s partner in project management!

What Are Project Management Tools?

Project management software is used for project planning, scheduling, and execution of tasks. It is primarily used as an administration system for projects. It allows the project managers to manage the budgeting, quality management, task execution, and documentation for a certain project. This software program can also be used to boost communication and collaboration among the team members working on the project.

These programs act as a right hand for project managers for project planning, task management, and distribution, document sharing and collaboration, bug and error management for tasks and their completion, tracking project progress via Gantt charts and reports time tracking for completing the projects on time and for content sharing among the team members along with their deadlines. With the right project management, you can be more strategic with resource allocation.

How to Choose the Best Project Management Tool

The first step in deciding what the right choice is is to identify what are your requirements for a certain tool. A project management application is hard to set up but at the same time, it ensures both efficiency and effectiveness of task management for the managers. We’ve got you covered on what steps you need to follow to make the right choice.

Following are the six steps that you may need to follow before you start searching for a project management application.

• Define your needs- you need to identify current problems in your workflow. It is also important to find a tool that is cross-functional to be able to cater to a workflow of an organization. Also, keep in mind your organization’s culture and project management methodology.
• Formulate an evaluation team- you need to put together a team of individuals that will match the different functions of your organization. A great management tool will have the flexibility to handle different types of workflows. In this step, you should also compile evaluation standards for a tool and shortlist a number of tools for your organization.
• Test the tool- after deciding on which tool might be good for you, you need to put it to the test. Shortlist a timeframe for which you will test a certain to its full capacity. You need to check if a certain project management tool fulfills your needs identified in step 1.
• Management approval- after a successful run of a tool, you need to convince upper management to install project management software in the workflow of your organization you can do that by striking the potential objections the tool will be addressing.
• Purchase and implement the tool- after approval for a project management tool, you need to make the move in this step! Purchase a certain tool that matches your requirements. To maximize the effective use of this tool you can arrange a training session for your employees.
• Review the tool- After implementation, you need to review the impact of the tool on your organization in handling workflow and task management in different functions.

Best Project Management Tools in 2023:

Here is the list of Best Project Management Tools in 2022 and 2023 for your organization:

1. MONDAY.COM
2. ONLYOFFICE PROJECTS
3. CLICK UP
4. WRIKE
5. SMARTSHEET
6. ZOHO
7. ASANA
8. PROOFHUB
9. MEISTERTASK
10. TEAMWORK

1. MONDAY.COM:

 

Monday.com is an award-winning project management application that is used by many well-known institutions like Coca-Cola, BBC studios, Adobe Hulu, etc. It is an online project management application with useful features like resource and project management, time tracking, collaboration, and reporting. Users can upload and attach files to cards, make comments, mention teammates, and more. You can use monday.com to track hours, timelines, and invoices. It features some useful workflow tools so you can automate different parts of your process. Pricing for this program starts from $10 per user per month it also provides 14 days free trial and a free plan for 2 users.

Features

• Third-party collaboration- you can customize the access of freelancers and third-party agents with your team members on projects.
• Native integration-com is integrated with different software like Microsoft, Google, Dropbox, and Zapier. It is an open-source application where developers can add their own integrations as well.
• Easy communication- The comment section of Monday.com is integrated with Twitter and LinkedIn so team members can stay updated.

Pros

• Detailed reporting capabilities
• Ability to add freelancers and third-party agents
• Easy to customize a workflow or board
• A long list of supported integrations
• Huge focus on collaboration

Cons

• May be too robust for small teams
• Gantt charts locked to mid-level plan
• Cannot handle complex projects.

2. ONLYOFFICE PROJECTS:

Only Office commonly styled as ONLYOFFICE is an online documentation suite just like Microsoft. It is developed by Ascencio system SIA and is known to be a subsidiary of a Russian Company. The software tools offered by ONLYOFFICE encompass essential documentation tools as that provided by Microsoft such as documentation, presentations, and spreadsheets. This company also features online document editing tools, a platform for document management, corporate communication, mail, and management tools. ONLYOFFICE Projects is a project management program that was developed to aid users in effectively carrying out project handling activities by dividing the tasks into the following main stages: management of your project team, scheduling workflow, task distribution between members, and tracking and reporting project progress to achieve the end results in desired time.

The project’s application for android and iOS allows you to manage your projects stored on your ONLYOFFICE account directly from your smartphone. By using this application you can view, edit and create projects, milestones, tasks, and subtasks, manage your project team, assign responsible persons for each task, access project documents in one secure place, and also create a discussion and commenting bar for team members.

This software program works by following the module structure for project management to manage different tasks. The module structure for ONLYOFFICE Projects is as follows:

• Creating a project- this module is for project creation; title and description, assigning a project manager, and creation of the team.
• Managing your team- this is for the addition of new members, restriction of actions for selective members, and removal of members.  
• Scheduling workflow- this is for milestone creation and for the timeline for achievement.  
• Assigning tasks- this is for task creation. From this module, you can specify the task title, add a description, and assign the task to a certain milestone and responsible members along with a due date. You can also specify a priority for a particular task.
• Creating subtasks- This module is for the creation of subtasks under the head of main tasks. You can use the “ADD FILTER” button to filter the tasks by status, responsibility, milestone, or project along with the due date.
• Using Gantt chart- This module is used for a display of bar charts to illustrate a project schedule and dependency relationships between tasks. The chart will be displayed after selecting a certain project from the projects page, clicking the project title, and switching to Gantt chart mode.
• Leading discussion- This module is used for the creation of a discussion bar for members. You can invite or remove individuals from this discussion bar and also add corresponding project documents to this section.
• Reporting project progress- This module is used to generate progress reports for ongoing projects. You can select the needed report type and configure report parameters.
• Suspending/closing/deleting projects- This module helps in removing the projects that are no longer working or being held on by management.
• Changing Projects module settings- This module corresponds to the degree of access to the project module. This access has five levels (guest, user, project team member, project manager, and project administrator) and corresponding operations to it.

Overview of ONLYOFFICE Project Application Interface

Your Projects application contains the following sections:

• Dashboard- it is the section where you have an overview of your tasks and projects. You can view your upcoming and ongoing tasks, you can view your projects including the ones you follow or you can open a drop-down list of all active projects.
• Tasks- this section contains the list of all your tasks. You can look through the tasks overview and edit them. Look through the subtasks and relevant documents. You can also leave or check the comments for a certain task.
• Projects- here you can look through tasks to see more information about them and an overview of the project its status, team members, and creation date. You can also look through project milestones with their due dates and responsible users. You can also see the project discussion and corresponding documents.
• More- it is the section that contains discussion and documents. All discussions and documents relevant to your projects will be stored in this section.
• Application settings- this section can be used to enable passcode or fingerprint protection for your application or many other settings such as color theme, clear cache, open help, analytics of app usage, etc.

Pros

• Gantt tool for tracking project progress.
• Report generation.
• Separate section for discussion and documentation.
• Member action restriction.
• Built-in password protection for the application.

Cons

• Heavy on system resources.
• Some application glitches.

3. CLICK UP:

ClickUp is a project management tool with features that helps managers efficiently handle tasks for ongoing projects to ensure quality work is provided to their clients. The mission and vision of this application are to save you time. It is an all-in-one free project management software that includes every tool that you need to plan, organize and collaborate on projects with an easy-to-use interface with 15+ variants of views. It also has different pricing plans for different levels of teams; It is free for personal use, $5 per member per month for small teams, It takes $12 per member per month for mid-sized teams, it costs $19 per member per month for large sized teams and you need to contact the sales department of ClickUp which is available 24/7 for enterprise-scale teams.

Features

Some bold features of this PM application are:

• Custom views- ClickUp gives you over 10 different views for projects so all of your teams can stay on the same page (literally)!
• Custom statuses- ClickUp lets you add statuses to multiple projects so you can check the progress of a project at any point in time.
• Assigned comments- Whenever you want to address a comment to a specific team member you can assign it to them and ClickUp will send them a notification to ensure that it doesn’t get overlooked. A team member can mark it as ‘resolved’ once the comment is addressed.
• Gantt chart- ClickUp provides Gantt charts to track and manage your projects. You can view the timeline of your ongoing progress.
• Custom Dashboards- ClickUp’s powerful built-in dashboard will help you visualize and organize project data all in one place automatically.
• Reminders- Reminders for pending and due tasks can be initiated to keep track of project activities.
• Time Tracker- With just one click you can set up a time tracking for each task to see how much time it takes to complete project tasks.

Pros

• Highly customizable task management.
• Excellent collaboration tools.
• Different project views for visualization in different ways.
• Robust hierarchy.
• Can add freelancers to your team workspace with Custom Access Rights

Cons

• Learning curve due to the number of available features and level of customizability
• No Table view in the mobile app

4. WRIKE:

Wrike is an award-winning web-based project management application suitable for teams of five or more. This software allows an unlimited number of users. The tools and interface are highly customizable you can customize workflows, dashboards, and request forms. You can easily switch between home screens and timesheets, dashboards, calendars, reports, and streams. It also has an intuitive help center with interactive training videos, a getting started guide, and a collaborative community. Users can get advanced insights on their projects with performance reporting tools, resource management and allocation, and more. Pricing of this application starts from $9.80 per user per month with the ability to add free external collaborators to a paid account.

Features

• Three-paned view- an intuitive interface geared towards accessibility and productivity. This interface makes it easy to manage everything from one workspace. You can monitor every task dependency, team communication, and project progress report easily.
• Analytics- powerful analytics and report generation to overview the progress of projects and teams.
• Forms and requests- With Wrike’s easy communication and collaboration tool you can assign tasks and disseminate information effectively and efficiently.
• Integrations- Wrike includes 400+ built-in integrations with software like Microsoft, Google Drive, and Dropbox, and marketing software like Salesforce and market.

Pros

• Provides different ways to view the same data.
• Various built-in features.
• Detailed reports and insights to calculate the progress of a project.

Cons

• Not user-friendly for beginners.
• No offline access.
• No subtasks divisions in the freemium plan.

5. SMARTSHEET:

Smartsheet is a spreadsheet-looking project management program that provides various task insights tools like time reports and Gantt charts. This program will provide you with a break from the complex formulas of Excel. Team members get notified of critical changes in real time, and the tool provides shared views, detail history, activity logs, automated alerts, reminders, and status reports to keep everyone aligned and informed. It has three pricing plan that starts at $9 per user per member with 3 minimum users per team and 25 maximum with a 30-day free trial.

Features

• Gantt charts- Visualization of task progress in Gantt charts and calendar views.
• Personalization- If you are the type that wants everything personalized, including your tools, you can also add customized brand logos and set color themes for individual projects.
• Asset management- Smart sheets provide digital asset management via Brandfolder.
• Reports- Reports are generated with the consolidation of multiple sheets.
• Integration- Smartsheets is integrated with Microsoft, Google, and developers essential like Jira and useful business apps like Salesforce, ServiceNow, Slack, Box, and Tableau.

Pros

• Sheet-to-sheet linking.
• Various project templates and resources.
• Ease of sharing.
• Ease of customization of dashboard and workflows.

Cons

• Can’t customize chart colors
• Changes don’t update in real-time
• Jira, Salesforce, Dynamics connector limited to Premier plan

6. ZOHO:

It is a project management application that can handle projects of all grades and complexity. It comes with features that imitate social networking sites like feeds, forums, and discussions for collaboration. The mobile application of Zoho is available for Ios, Android, and other systems as well. The resource usage table tells you who is available, who is busy, and who is overloaded. Zoho projects cost $5 per user per month and come with a 10 days free trial. It also has a freemium version that features up to 3 users and 2 projects.

Features

• Task automation- Automate routine tasks at regular intervals by setting up a recurring task, and setting reminder emails for tasks.
• Team collaboration- You can also create or download project documents, presentations, and spreadsheets, as well as upload and share files for team collaboration.
• Time tracking- Record the hours spent on tasks and compare them with what you had originally planned.
• Task distribution-  you can define dependencies between tasks and assign them to the right people, schedule events in your calendar, and monitor the percentage of work that’s been completed once the work has begun.
• Integration- you can connect to Zoho’s other services as well as third-party software such as Microsoft, Google, Dropbox Zapier, Zendesk, etc.

Pros

• Easy workflow automation.
• An unlimited number of projects.
• Robust communication features.

Cons

• Does not integrates with QuickBooks.
• Lacks some reporting features.

7. ASANA:

Asana is a saas based project management tool with a focus on collaboration. It has a useful feature of workflow customization to automate recurring tasks. You can invite unlimited guests to multiple projects. You can also apply custom rules and approval workflows for your projects. It’s good for all-size businesses but not ideal for freelancers. The core project management functionalities are handled via different integrations which may not be ideal for some users. The premium pricing plan starts from $10.55 per user per month with 15 days free trial. The business plan costs $24.99 per user per month when paid annually.

Features

• User interface- Asana features a very simple interface with tons of flexibility options for views.
• Visual Timeline of Projects- Asana’s visual project timeline feature is a Gantt chart of sorts. It highlights your task due dates, assignees, and progress over time.
• Integrations- Asana can integrate with loads of applications to become a hub for all your business activities. It can integrate with slack, Google Calendar, Dropbox, Outlander, Unito, etc.

Pros

• Drag and drop functionality for task management and files update.
• Multiple integration options.
• Workflow automation.
• Simple and user-friendly interface.

Cons

• Not ideal for complex projects.
• Very limited features on the freemium plan.
• Hard to collaborate over the purchase of a plan.

8. PROOFHUB:

ProofHub provides a centralized space for team collaboration and project management. It provides a workspace for specified task lists, workflows, Gantt charts, discussions, calendars, and documents. It helps you organize and keep track of your team members’ tasks through task insights. The reports generated via proofHub provide a detailed overview of task progress. It can generate reports on workload and resource reports. It is good for freelancers and businesses of all sizes. ProofHub has no cap on the number of users and offers a flat fee irrespective of the number of users. There are two plans: the Essential plan is priced at $50 per month while the Ultimate Control plan costs $99 per month.

Features

• User Interface- ProofHub has a very simple and beginner-friendly interface.
• Customization- ProofHub gives you tons of customization options to suit your needs. You have complete control over the color scheme of your tool as well as the layout.
• Multilingual- It also offers multilanguage support for French, German, and Spanish.
• Access rights- ProofHub lets project managers assign custom roles to employees. These custom roles give employees varying access to your tool.

Pros

• Provides loads of customization.
• Can handle complex projects.
• Simple and user-friendly interface.
• Security features like custom access.

Cons

• Lacks additional functionality such as budgeting capabilities
• Reputation for bugs.
• Not many integration options.

9. MEISTERTASK:

Meister Task is a web-based project management tool for team collaboration and effective communication regarding tasks. It offers an activity monitoring dashboard that keeps track of ongoing projects and active tasks with the rate of completion. It also provides useful features like backlog management, customizable fields, file-sharing capabilities, and more. It provides a highly customizable visually appealing interface. The pricing plan for MeisterTask is divided into four tiers; Basic, Pro, Business, and Enterprise. The Basic plan is free and supports up to three projects. The Pro plan costs $4.19/per user/month while the Business plan costs $10.39/per user/month. The Enterprise plan features customizable pricing.

Features

• User-friendly interface- MeisterTask features a simple yet visually appealing user-friendly interface.
• Team collaboration- Each user has a central place to share files and ideas with the rest of the team. There’s also an activity stream for sharing deadlines, updates, and assignments.
• Customization- MeisterTask lets you customize dashboards according to your needs. You can choose features you want to display in front of your project timeline board.

Pros

• Multiple integration options.
• Ease of customization.
• Team members can easily collaborate on a plan.

Cons

• Cannot handle complex projects.
• Mobile application tools lack functionality.

10. TEAMWORK:

Teamwork is a Kanban-based online project management tool with great customization features. It offers advanced reporting features with Gantt charts, time tracking, and workload reports so you can visualize the progress of your projects. It allows disabling of features for selective team members. It allows for branding accounts with custom company identities. Teamwork is known for collaboration and task distribution. The free plan allows for 5 users and offers 100 MB of storage. The Pro plan costs $10/user/month when billed annually. The Premium plan costs $18/user/month when billed annually. Custom enterprise pricing is also available.

Features

• Intuitive task board- Teamwork features a unique task board that will only let you see your recent tasks and ongoing tasks.
• Email integration- Teamwork lets you reply to members’ comments and notifications via email.
• Invoicing Capabilities- Teamwork’s time tracker has an invoicing tab that can be a useful billing feature. It can calculate billable hours in order to generate invoices for your clients.

Pros

• Ease of customization.
• Useful invoicing tool.
• Simple and user-friendly interface.
• Robust mobile application.
• Multiple reports for project progress visualization.

Cons

• The free plan is only useful for small teams.
• Cannot handle complex projects.

Conclusion:

A project management tool helps you manage teams and day-to-day project activities in a productive and efficient manner. They help streamline all the processes involved in completing project deliverables. Whether it’s managing workloads, scheduling your calendar, or tracking your progress. So many activities are covered by a PM tool it’s almost impossible to manage a complex project without a project management software tool! That is why we’ve gathered some of the best project management tools just for you to improve your project management process. Scroll above to find out the right pick for you!