8 Best Project Management Software to Help You Save Time and Grow a Business

Project management is ubiquitous. No matter the industry, this procedure is used all over the globe in millions of organizations as it brings substantial benefits. And not only to the person conducting or owning the business but also to the staff.

Thanks to the detailed and systematized process of planning, organizing, and managing the project, the team can fully use their capabilities to achieve the highest outcomes.

However, some organizations or individuals in the position of a project manager not always pay attention to the importance of proper project management.Having a degree or a PM certificate doesn't mean you're a good project manager. Obviously, you need to have the right skills and be willing to serve other people. But that's only half of the job.Statistics show that 70% of projects fail. Respectively, 57% of projects fail due to poor communication while only 37% of projects end on time.

What is more, fewer people are using Excel/spreadsheets in project management. That shows the potential for the new cloud software to help manage projects better, more effectively, giving you more time for yourself. It helps to keep a project running, improves communication and collaboration, and eliminates the need to use multiple tools.Hence, implementing the proper project management software is the other half of success. It complements the practice of managing projects and helps everyone understand the processes.

How project management software can help your business

The decision about implementing project management software should be preceded by a thorough analysis of the reasons for which you want to start using the software as well as other factors, for example, industry, location, number of employees or business needs.Regardless of the motives and requirements, project management software can tremendously help your business. There are numerous benefits and creating a full list might be a real challenge. However, these 4 following have the biggest impact on every business.

1. Better team communication

Most, if not all project management software, is aimed at improving teams or organizations' communication and collaboration, and processes related. Such programs help to create unified channels of data transmission, collection, and their management.That, in turn, allows people to always stay on track and know what's happening in the organization. All employees have access to the necessary information and can quickly and easily communicate with each other in one place.That helps to enhance teamwork and collaboration, at the same time eliminating potential misunderstandings resulting from lack of information exchange.

2. Better external communication

While internal communication within an organization is crucial to the project's success, don't forget about your clients, stakeholders or other business you're working with or for.

Project management software not only allows you to manage your employees but also to inform people from outside of your organization about the project's plan, risks, progress, etc. It's important to maintain external communication and keep all people involved in the project informed about how things are looking.

The right software enables you to share all such information with everyone and keep things transparent. Remember, if your stakeholders, investors, or clients see every stage of the project, they are less likely to introduce changes that could harm it because they can monitor and understand why things are going in a specific direction.

3. Easy task visualization

Visualizing tasks is important because of three aspects:

1. Better comprehension of the information,
2. Easier problem identification and solving,
3. Better resource allocation and workflow organization.

Good project management software gives you, your team, and other people involved in the project a clear view of all tasks and processes.

4. Work automation and optimization

We live in times of technological progress and innovation. There is room for that also in project management. Using special tools eliminates the need for spending time on monotonous activities. It helps to save time, resources and makes work more efficient.

8 best project management software

Not every software is appropriate for project management. The market is overfilled with various solutions and each seems to be better than the other. It's easy to get lost when choosing the one for you. And you have to be careful because settling upon the wrong one may do more harm than good.

Also, you can find many guides on project management software. And these are either exhausting lists with numerous tools, not necessarily having the right features, or limited comparisons with little information.Therefore, on our list, you will find only the best project management software trusted and highly rated by many happy customers. You'll find a general overview of each of the tools, main features, user's opinions, price, and the category they fall into. Let's get right to it!

1. monday - customize work and follow the progress

->Try out monday for 14-days free

‍Monday is a project management software which is aimed specifically at helping teams coordinate tasks in one place. It is similar to a to-do app but with better features. It allows you to plan, organize, and track all projects. monday has a user-friendly interface and is intuitive so onboarding your team doesn't require any additional training. It's a simple software but at the same time, it has the power to turn your team into productivity ninjas.Every project you create in monday can be easily customized. It's a fantastic tool to keep everyone on track, make them more effective in their work, and make sure deadlines are met.

‍Main features:

• Easy visualization with calendar, chart, files, kanban, map, and timeline view
• Individual and team projects which can be customized with various columns - you can assign a person, set status and timeline, add as many tasks as you want, create a conversation, add numbers or tags
• Unlimited number of groups
• Colors - to help you keep things organized and make them easy to locate
• Integrations with some of the most popular tools such as Slack, Trello, Asana, Google Drive, Google Calendar, Dropbox, Jira, Excel

Monday users’ base and opinions

Monday is used by 350,000 people from 76 countries, in 40,00 teams. Customers include Discovery Channel, wix.com, wework, and many more.

‍Review marketplaces:

• G2Crowd: 4.6/5 ☆
• GetApp: 4.65/5 ☆

Price:

• Basic - USD 25/month
• Standard - USD 39/month
• Pro - USD 59/month
• Enterprise - USD 118/month

Category: task management, team collaboration, project visualization and planning

2. Trello - basic project management for free

Trello is one of the most popular software adopted by project managers. No wonder people use it so keenly. With its functionality and intuitiveness, it makes one of the world's best project management tools. While it seems to be a simple to-do app, it helps teams to stay organized, connected, and make sure projects are delivered on time.

Trello can be used either individually, as your personal helper in managing your work, or with teams as a tool for planning tasks.

Main features:

• Kanban view for easy task management and monitoring
• Convenient drag-and-drop feature for smooth work
• Personal and team boards
• It takes just a glance to see the project progress, everything happens in the real-time on the board
• You can easily customize tasks - add members, labels, checklist, due date, attachments, move the card, copy it, watch it, or archive
• For a smooth and comfortable work, you can enable power-ups from Trello power-ups base, for example, calendars, repetitive cards or integrations with other platforms
• Trello is available as a web, mobile, and desktop app

Trello users’ base and opinions

As of May 2016, Trello claimed it had more than 1.1 million daily active users and 14 million total signups and the numbers are still growing. It's one of the most often used tools for project management.

‍Review marketplaces:

• G2Crowd: 4.3/5 ☆
• Capterra: 4.5/5 ☆
• GetApp: 4.46/5 ☆

Price:

• Free with limited features
• Business Class - USD 9.99 per user/month
• Enterprise - USD 20.83/ per user/month

Category: task management, collaboration, planning and scheduling

3. Basecamp - project management center for your company

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->Try out Basecamp for 30-days free

Often, working with teams, especially those having more than 10 people, requires using different tools and apps. And that may cause a lot of stress and problems. Switching between email, different documents, tasks, and projects may cause chaos.

So why not use all tools in one?

Basecamp is a software with which you can manage even the most complex project in just one place and be sure all the information stays where it should be. Basecamp works like your or your organization's personal intranet.

Main features:

• You can see all the projects and teams in one place - Basecamp home screen
• Chat - it replaces e-mail and creates a unified channel of communication
• To-do lists with due dates visible to the entire team
• Automatic check-ins
• Schedules allow you to keep track of every task and event

Basecamp users’ base and opinions

Basecamp is used by over 100.000 customers worldwide. It has positive reviews, which you can find on Basecamp customer opinion base. Also, the software is often listed in rankings of the best tools for project management, team collaboration or task management.

‍Review marketplaces:

• G2Crowd: 4/5 ☆
• GetApp: 4.3/5 ☆

Price: The price is the same no matter how many people in your organization use Basecamp - $99/monthCategory: task management, planning, and scheduling, communication and collaboration

4. Paymo - project management with time sheets & time tracking

-> Try out Paymo for 15 days free

Time is money. And the list of the best project management software wouldn't be perfect if it didn't include a tool for tracking time. And here Paymo comes to action.

It is not solely a time tracking app. It's a software which contains various tools. With Paymo you can schedule tasks, plan your work, communicate with your team in the real-time or reduce work overload. You can use it for different projects at the same time, and still, have everything under control. Paymo is particularly helpful in monitoring the stages of a project as it gives you a detailed insight even in the most complex project.  It's a fantastic solution for everyone - freelancers, small and large businesses.

Main features:

• Task management - you can monitor the progress of tasks in real-time in 4 different task views: Simple, Table, (Kanban) Board, Gantt Chart, and organize work
• Time management - thanks to Paymo automatic time tracker and the desktop app, you can easily log time on any project with accurate numbers and even boost your productivity
• Timesheet reporting - thanks to the time tracking feature, you can see how much time you spent on particular tasks in the reports. You get live updates, can visualize all the data in the form of charts, customize reports or share them with clients.
• Team scheduling - the visual timeline allows you to see your team's status so you're able to allocate work based on their availability
• Financial management - you can create estimates based on project data and share them with clients, add and track expenses, and create invoices based on time entries
• Integrations - Paymo has over 1000 integrations through Zapier as well as API, Google Apps, Adobe CC, GrandTotal and LambdaTest

Paymo users’ base and opinions

Paymo has high opinions in marketplaces which reflects the software's top quality.

‍Review marketplaces:

• G2Crowd: 4.6/5 ☆
• Capterra: 5/5 ☆
• GetApp: 4.75/5 ☆

PricePrice varies depending on how large your business is. It's quite convenient as you may not need all the features available in Business plan if you're a freelancer.

• Free - Complete project management and time tracking solution for freelancers
• Small Office - for growing teams & departments - $9.56/user per month - Modern project management solution for growing small & medium businesses
• Business - designed for large teams - $15.16/user per month - Full-featured project management solution for medium and large businesses

Category: time tracking and billing, complex project management

5. Teamwork Projects - advanced and customizable project management

Teamwork Projects is an advanced software for team communication and collaboration. It allows you to keep all your projects, all information, and files in one place. Teamwork Projects creates a centralized system for planning, coordinating, and monitoring projects - these small and large ones.I recommend this software to all people who want to keep projects and team organized at the maximum level. It's a powerful tool with an intuitive and user-friendly interface.

‍Main features:

• Tasks lists to help you organize work. Tasks have many options (e.g. details, time tracking, subtasks, attachments, discussion)so you can use them to establish a transparent and understandable structure of a project.
• Drag-and-drop Gantt charts help you see every detail of the project and reorganize work to avoid conflicts
• File sharing to organize all documents, data, links, messages, etc. Everything easily accessible in one platform
• The board view allows you to visualize work in a flexible way
• Projects Portfolio gives people the understanding of relations between different teams and projects
• Time tracking and billing make it easier to plan future projects, create estimates and invoices
• Integrations with various tools, also through Zapier

Teamwork Projects users’ base and opinions

Teamwork Projects has many positive reviews and testimonials. You can find them either on review marketplaces or on Teamwork Projects official website with testimonials. The software's popularity keeps growing and can be found in many lists of top project management and productivity software for teams.

‍Review marketplaces:

• G2Crowd: 4.2/5 ☆
• Capterra: 4.5/5 ☆
• GetApp: 4.53/5

Price:

• Free forever, maximum 5 users, for teams who want to try Teamwork Projects
• Pro - $9/user per month, min 5 users. For teams and businesses who need efficient and organized work management.
• Premium - $15/month per user, min 5 users. For larger teams who need business integrations, extra security and in-depth reporting.
• Enterprise - price depending on business. Enterprise-level security, SSO and a dedicated Customer Success Manager for advanced onboarding & training.

Category: complex project management, time tracking, and billing, workflow communication

6. Wrike - project management with table view & project calendars

Wrike is a cloud-based project management software. It has all the features necessary in monitoring project stages and making sure all tasks are completed. Although Wrike can be used by all teams, it's recommended primarily for marketing, creative, project management, product development, business operations, and professional services teams.

It's a fantastic software for optimizing processes and workflow as well as visualizing projects. Its features enable you to keep track of work and gain insight into work progress in the real-time.

Main features:

• Interactive Gant charts to track stages of projects
• Project Calendars to never miss the deadline
• Boards to track team or project progress, get real-time updates, add notes to cards
• Table view to see all tasks, folders, and projects in a spreadsheet format
• Custom workflow and custom fields for flexible work
• Request forms with conditional fields & auto-assignment

Wrike users’ base and opinions

Wrike is used by more than 17,000 companies including Airbnb, TGI Fridays, Hootsuite, and many others.

‍Review marketplaces:

• G2Crowd: 4.1/5 ☆
• Capterra: 4/5 ☆
• GetApp: 4.23/5 ☆

Price:

• Free for 5 USERS - A simple, shared task list for small teams
• Professional for 5, 10, 15 USERS - Full project planning & collaboration, $9.80/user per month, Includes Free Trial of Wrike Proof
• Business for 5–200 USERS - Robust work management with customization & exec reporting, $24.80/user per month (Volume discounts available), Includes Free Trial of Wrike Proof
• Wrike for Marketers - 5–UNLIMITED - Tailor-made solution for marketing & creative teams, contact Wrike to determine the price, Includes Wrike Proof and Wrike Publish
• Enterprise - 5–UNLIMITED - Comprehensive solution with advanced security & controls. contact Wrike to determine the price, Includes Free Trial of Wrike Proof

Category: workflow management

7. Hygger - simple project management for IT

Hygger is a proper project management software for people who pay attention to details. The tool is especially helpful if you need to plan important goals and make sure they are achieved. Not only does it help in managing tasks but also in prioritizing work. It's an effective software great for any type of team.

‍Main features:

• Timeline allows you to set the deadlines for every project and keep track of what's happening with your team
• You can easily and quickly break down your projects into smaller tasks by using table view
• Kanban and Sprint boards help your team stay organized by visualizing the workflow
• Hygger allows your team to stay focused with Swimlanes, WIP limits, Value/Effort Matrix, Weighted Scoring, and RICE/ICE Prioritization
• Time tracking with reports to accurately log hours
• Tasks can be adjusted with various options for better team collaboration

Hygger users’ base and opinions

Hygger has overall positive opinions in the review marketplaces and is said to be a great alternative for Trello or Jira.

‍Review marketplaces:

• Capterra: 4.5/5 ☆
• GetApp: 4.49/5 ☆

Price:

• Free with limited tasks
• Standard - $7 per user/monthly
• Enterprise - $14 per user/monthly

Category: Product & workflow management

8. Jira - advanced project management for large IT projects/businesses

Advanced IT projects' management in Jira[/caption]Jira is not a project management software as any other. It's aimed specifically at the IT sector. It helps in assigning tasks to particular people working on the development of software. Hence, if you have a team of developers working on a project, Jira is the perfect software.In Jira, you can plan and track the progress of works and have a crystal-clear image of every task your team is working on to be sure things are going in the right direction. This powerful software can help your team eliminate bugs, resolve any issues, and take care of tickets. All in agile style, based on a cloud.

‍Main features:

• Customizable Scrum boards to keep you and your team on track
• Kanban boards help in keeping continuity so all processes are smooth
• Agile Reporting accessible to every team member to give them insight into their performance
• Roadmaps for a big picture of the project to avoid complications
• Apps and integrations for more productive work

Jira users’ base and opinions

Jira is used by many organizations around the world. Even though it may not seem to be so popular, it has a large base of customers which continues to grow as Jira adapts to market changes and helps its users do the same.

‍Review marketplaces:

• G2Crowd: 4.1/5 ☆
• Capterra: 4/5 ☆
• GetApp: 4.3/5 ☆

Price:

• Up to 10 users - $10 monthly flat fee
• 11-100 users - $7 per user/month
• Jira offers discounts for 101+ users