Digital Marketing

11 Best Project Management Tools and What Makes Them Stand Out

By using project management tools, you can ensure most of your business processes run smoothly.

With them, you can enable your team to prioritize important tasks, avoid distractions, and ensure your budget doesn't get out of control.

What's more?

Project management tools can drive results that impact your revenues while also enabling employees to see how their actions contribute to the company goals.

Tracking project progress constantly is crucial because research shows that companies lose 11.4% of their investment from poor project performance.

If you don't want poor performance, you need project management tools that ensure you don't lose out on resources, time, or revenue.

So, which project management tools are the best in the market?

Discover them below.

How We Choose the Best Project Management Tools

When selecting the best project management tools, we meticulously evaluate various factors to ensure they align with diverse organizational needs:

  • Features: We check the core features and functionality, evaluating if the tool has critical components like Gantt charts, kanban boards, task management, and reporting. The tool needs to provide robust project planning and monitoring capabilities to make the list.
  • Ease of Use: We examine the user experience and interface design in depth through hands-on testing. Intuitive, easy-to-use interfaces that both technical and non-technical team members can navigate with a short learning curve are a plus.
  • Pricing: We examine how transparent the pricing structures are to ensure users can easily understand costs and choose plans that suit their budget. We also research pricing options and free trial availability. Having flexible pricing plans and a free tier allows smaller teams and groups to try the software risk-free. We favor tools that offer strong value for the features.
  • Reviews: We evaluate third-party reviews and see what actual users report about their experiences with onboarding, customer support, and overall satisfaction. High user adoption and loyalty rates are key.
  • Support: We examine the quality of customer support, looking for responsive teams that address queries promptly. We assess vendor viability, searching for project management platforms that have sufficient funding and resources to grow sustainably. Companies that continually invest in their products give buyers confidence in long-term support.

Project Management Tools: Key Features, Pros, Cons, and Pricing

Which project management tools help you improve internal communications and keep your teams organized?

Check out eleven best project management tools, including details on what makes them stand out and their pricing:

1. Microsoft Project

Image via Microsoft Project

Microsoft Project is one of the most powerful project management tools out there. It is ideal for companies with complex project management needs and those who are already using Microsoft products.

But what makes it stand out among project management tools?

It supports multiple methodologies, including Scrum, custom workflows, and Kanban boards. You can use it for hybrid methodologies, agile, and waterfall project management.

Key Features

  • Centralized view of projects and tasks
  • Customizable to suit various project management methodologies
  • Numerous project management views, including the grid view and Gantt chart view
  • Detailed reports with the ability to customize them to your needs
  • Timesheet submission feature to track how team members spend time on projects and non-project activities
  • Resource management feature to track your team's capacity, management-related costs, etc.
  • Project scheduling feature to help you define time frames and plan your task calendar

Pros

  • Rich functionality
  • Integrations with Microsoft tools
  • Different views and tracking options
  • Highly customizable

Cons

  • Challenging for beginners

Pricing

  • Cloud-Based Solutions:
    • Project Plan 1: $10 per user/month
    • Project Plan 3: $30 per user/month
    • Project Plan 5: $55 per user/month

Image via Microsoft Project

  • On-Premise Solutions:
    • Project Standard 2021: $679.99 (one-time purchase)
    • Project Professional 2021: $1,129.99 (one-time purchase)
    • Project Server: Contact their sales team for more details

Image via Microsoft Project

Tool Level

  • Intermediate/ Expert

Usability

  • Moderately easy to use

2.Jira by Atlassian

Image via Atlassian

Jira can help you manage Scrum and agile teams, organize project tasks, and record software bugs. It's a project management tool that is ideal for startups, small businesses, mid-size companies, and enterprises. You can use it to manage entire project phases and collaborate.

Key Features

  • Customizable Kanban and Scrum boards that help project managers visualize workflows or view real-time progress of tasks
  • Numerous reports to help project managers gain insights into real-time performance
  • Customizable workflows to help the project manager extend functionalities
  • Supports other use-cases, including product launches, large-scale events, operational performance, and others
  • Control over what team members have access to for security purposes
  • Roadmaps that offer a clear vision of products in development plus APIs to help project managers automate processes
  • Developer tools and third-party integrations

Pros

  • Customizable workflows
  • Roadmaps with a single dashboard view
  • In-depth project reports and analytics
  • Numerous third-party integrations
  • Rich automation features

Cons

  • This project management tool has a steep learning curve.

Pricing

  • Free Plan: $0 for 10 users/month
  • Standard Plan: $8.15 per user/month
  • Premium Plan: $16 per user/month
  • Enterprise Plan: Contact their sales team

Image via Atlassian

Tool Level

  • Intermediate/ Expert

Usability

  • Moderately easy to use

3. Asana

Image via Asana

Among the many project management tools out there, Asana is the one of the easiest to use. It gives project managers control over how they view task lists and automate processes.

What's more?

Asana makes it easy to assign tasks, track, and manage collaborations. With this project planning tool, you can be sure that every team member knows their deadlines and responsibilities.

Key Features

  • Offers multiple project views you can switch between and the ability to customize your dashboard
  • Ability to automate processes, set up custom rules or triggers, and eliminate repetitive tasks
  • Enables team collaboration with numerous file management, group, and team communication options
  • Supports both Scrum and agile project management
  • Easily integrates with communications tools like Zoom, Slack, Dropbox and others
  • Offers portfolios to help your project manager track projects from strategy to execution

Pros

  • Flexible and easy to use
  • Numerous integrations
  • Feature-packed free version
  • Works great for different-sized businesses
  • Effective team collaboration tools

Cons

  • This project management tool can be overwhelming for new users.

Pricing

  • Personal: Free forever
  • Starter: $10.99 per user/month
  • Advanced: $24.99 per user/month

Image via Asana

  • Enterprise: Contact their sales team
  • Enterprise+: Contact their sales team

Image via Asana

Tool Level

  • Beginner/ Intermediate

Usability

  • Easy to use

4. Wrike

Image via Wrike

Wrike is one of the online project management tools tailored for professionals and agencies. It has robust features that you can tailor to any industry or use across multiple projects and departments.

Most importantly, it's one of the cloud-based project management tools, meaning you can access it easily via desktop, web-based browsers, or mobile.

Key Features

  • Consolidated user interface with a 360-degree view of customizable options and detailed overview of important tasks and workloads
  • Project portfolio management to help manage projects from strategy to execution.
  • Offers real-time analytics into team performances, project statuses, approvals, pending task lists, etc.
  • AI-powered project risk prediction and smart automation to help project managers leverage advanced tools like voice commands, document processing, and smart replies.
  • Customization options for interactive Gantt charts, Kanban boards, and purpose-built project templates
  • Custom request forms to help your project manager gather details and auto-assign tasks
  • Has an automated approval process to ensure team members get notified and auto-assigned

Pros

  • Numerous integrations with email marketing tools, communication tools, productivity apps, and other tools
  • Automated insights and resource management
  • Enterprise-grade security
  • Rich functionality
  • Free plan with great features

Cons

  • This project management tool has a steep learning curve for beginners.

Pricing

  • Free: $0
  • Team: $9.80 per user/month plus free trial
  • Business: $24.80 per user/month plus free trial
  • Enterprise: Contact their sales team
  • Pinnacle: Contact their sales team

Image via Wrike

Tool Level

  • Intermediate/ Expert

Usability

  • Moderately easy

5. Basecamp

Image via Basecamp

Basecamp is one of the online project management tools that combine team communication and project management functionalities. It offers numerous team collaboration tools, including message boards, real-time group chat, automatic check-ins, and more.

Additionally, Basecamp offers Hill Charts — a functionality that makes it stand out from other project management tools. And unlike the Gantt charts, Hill Charts help you spot problems, see where projects stand, and make corrections before due dates.

Key Features

  • Offers to-do lists to help project managers assign tasks, set due dates, follow up, and add attachments or notes
  • Collaboration and real-time communication features including group chats, pings, and message boards
  • Customizable client access that makes it easy to share project progress with clients
  • Hill Charts to track project progress with ease
  • In-depth reports on projects and team members
  • A search tool that makes it easy to find items without having to scroll through your history.
  • Integrated calendar to sync meetings on Google Calendar and Outlook
  • Check-in feature to help project managers get updates from entire teams

Pros

  • Great collaboration and communication functionalities
  • Robust automation features
  • Unlimited users, projects, and clients at one flat rate
  • Numerous customer support options
  • Advanced client access feature

Cons

  • This project management tool has a high learning curve

Pricing

Free for teachers and students, 10% off for non-profits and charities

  • Basecamp: $15 per user/month, with a 30-day free trial
  • Basecamp Pro Unlimited: Flat fee of $349 per month with a 30-day free trial.

Image via Basecamp

Tool Level

  • Beginner/Intermediate

Usability

  • Easy to use

6. Teamwork

Image via Teamwork

Teamwork is a feature-packed online project management tool. It has intelligent workflows, comprehensive reports, time tracking, Gantt charts, task management tools, and more.

Additionally, this project management tool offers advanced features for complex projects and in-depth insights into resources.

Key Features

  • Customizable Kanban boards and Gantt charts to visualize workflows and project tasks
  • Time tracking to help you track progress and bill clients
  • Manage projects from one central workspace and determine project privacy for team members.
  • Numerous features to help you organize things like meetings, deadlines, updates, milestones, etc.
  • Workload functionality to help you manage team workloads and understand everyone's capacity.
  • Project management apps that work on mobile and desktop.
  • Portfolio project management tool to give you a panoramic view of multiple projects
  • Robust team collaboration functionalities

Pros

  • Numerous advanced features
  • Customization options
  • Multiple integrations
  • Easy collaboration options

Cons

  • This project management tool has very limited features with the free plan

Pricing

  • Free Forever: $0
  • Starter: $5.99 per user/month with 30-day free trial
  • Deliver: $9.99 per user/month with 30-day free trial
  • Grow: $19.99 per user/month with the 30-day free trial
  • Scale: Contact their sales team

Image via Teamwork

Tool Level

  • Beginner/ Intermediate/ Expert

Usability

  • Easy to use

7. monday.com

Image via monday.com

monday.com is among the most used project management tools by teams looking for an all-in-one workspace. It offers streamlined workflows, syncs information to one central location, and helps businesses make data-driven decisions.

Customizable automation that reduces manual errors while also saving time by reducing repetitive tasks. It also offers advanced features to help with project planning and tracking.

Key Features

  • Gantt charts, Kanban boards, and Timeline views to track, plan, and manage project lifecycles
  • Intuitive user interface with unlimited boards to help you visually organize projects, tasks, to-do lists, etc.
  • Workload functionality for resource management and effective allocations.
  • Numerous integrations including Slack, Stripe, Gmail, Dropbox, Microsoft Teams, etc.
  • Ability to invite guests to view your board and access the app from mobile
  • Time tracking abilities to bill clients appropriately and track teams' productivity
  • Custom automation to help you stay up-to-date with projects
  • Checklists that help you split tasks into manageable versions for team members.

Pros

  • Customization options
  • In-app automation
  • CRM functionality to help you manage your pipeline, track sales orders, capture leads, and improve sales conversion rate.
  • Offers advanced search options
  • Customizable project templates for project planning, monitoring, managing, and streamlining work.

Cons

  • The free forever plan on this project management tool has limited features and only allows two seats

Pricing

  • Free: $0 forever for up to 2 seats
  • Basic: Starts from $12 per seat/month
  • Standard: Starts from $14 per seat/month
  • Pro: Starts from $24 per seat/month
  • Enterprise: Contact their sales team

Image via monday.com

Tool Level

  • Beginner/ Intermediate/ Expert

Usability

  • Easy to use

8. Zoho Projects

Image via Zoho

Zoho Projects is one of the best cloud-based project management tools for small and medium-sized businesses. It offers a comprehensive suite of features to help plan, track, collaborate, and deliver projects on time and within budget.

With Zoho Projects, you can create projects, milestones, tasks, subtasks, and dependencies. You can also assign roles, set priorities, track time, and monitor progress.

Key Features

  • Gantt charts to visualize your project timeline and dependencies
  • Kanban boards to organize your tasks by status and priority
  • Timesheets to record and bill your work hours
  • Reports and dashboards to track key metrics and performance
  • Issue tracking to identify and resolve bugs and errors
  • Document management to store and share files and documents
  • Automation to trigger actions based on rules and conditions

Pros

  • Affordable and flexible pricing plans
  • User-friendly and customizable interface
  • Mobile apps for iOS and Android devices
  • Integration with 50+ Zoho apps and third-party tools
  • Strong time-tracking tools

Cons

  • Less functionality than higher-end systems
  • Can be slow with larger projects

Pricing

  • Free: $0 for 3 users/month
  • Premium: $5 per user/month
  • Enterprise: $10 per user/month

Image via Zoho

Tool Level

  • Beginner/Intermediate

Usability

  • Moderately easy to use

9. Kissflow

Image via Kissflow

Kissflow is a great option for businesses looking for user-friendly project management tools that can help them streamline their workflows. It has an excellent, intuitive drag-and-drop interface that allows you to create and customize your own project workflows.

Kissflow is easy to use and offers great customer support, making it an ideal choice for businesses that are new to project management tools. You can also choose from over 50 pre-built templates for common scenarios such as marketing campaigns, software development, event planning, and more.

Key Features

  • Drag-and-drop workflow builder to easily create custom workflows and processes
  • Collaboration tools such as chat, contextual comments, and spaces
  • Advanced reporting and analytics to track project performance and identify areas for improvement
  • Robust task management features to assign, track, and manage tasks
  • Pre-built templates to expedite project setup

Pros

  • Intuitive and user-friendly interface
  • Rapid deployment and implementation with no need for extensive training
  • Robust mobile capabilities and integrations with common apps

Cons

  • Limited customization options for reports and dashboards
  • Integrations are primarily focused on the Kissflow ecosystem

Pricing

  • Basic: $1500/month
  • Enterprise: Contact their sales team

Image via Kissflow

Tool Level

  • Intermediate

Usability

  • Easy to use

10. Trello

Image via Trello

Trello is one of the most popular project management tools in the market. It allows you to organize your projects into boards, lists, and cards, and collaborate with your team in real time. Whether you are managing a personal project, a small business, or a large enterprise, Trello can help you streamline your workflow and achieve your goals.

As a Kanban-style tool, Trello allows users to track progress and collaborate with team members in real-time. You can create different boards for different projects, and add lists and cards to represent tasks, ideas, or stages of progress. You can also assign members, labels, due dates, checklists, attachments, and comments to each card, and drag and drop them across lists as they progress.

Key Features

  • Power-Ups to add functionality and integrate other apps and services into Trello
  • Butler (a built-in automation tool) to automate repetitive actions and workflows
  • Pre-made, customizable templates to serve as starting points for projects
  • Card-based system for task details, checklists, attachments, and due dates
  • Drag-and-drop task management interface with Kanban boards for visual organization

Pros

  • Easy to use
  • Flexible and customizable
  • Excellent collaboration features
  • Multiple views for different needs

Cons

  • Limited reporting and time-tracking tools
  • No financial management features
  • Limited customization options for free users

Pricing

  • Free: $0/month
  • Standard: $5 per user/month
  • Premium: $10 per user/month
  • Enterprise: Starts from $17.50 per user/month

Image via Trello

Tool Level

  • Beginner

Usability

  • Easy to use

11. Airtable

Image via Airtable

Airtable is one of the most versatile project management tools that lets you create and customize your own workflows. You can use it to manage projects, tasks, teams, databases, and more. Airtable is like a spreadsheet, but with more power and flexibility.

With its simple and intuitive interface, you can turn Airtable into a task board, calendar, timeline, reporting tool, and more to fit your team's needs. Whether you're a small team or an enterprise, Airtable makes it easy to collaborate across any kind of project.

Key Features 

  • Customizable fields and views, including grid, gallery, kanban, calendar, and form
  • Automation enables creating workflows (including AI ones) and triggers based on your rules and conditions
  • Collaboration with team members, with chat, comment, and mention functions
  • Integrations that connect Airtable with other apps and tools

Pros

  • Highly customizable to fit your specific needs and preferences
  • Easy to use with a drag-and-drop interface and intuitive features
  • Reliable and scalable to handle large and complex data sets
  • Mobile-friendly with apps for iOS and Android devices

Cons

  • Limited storage and features for the free plan
  • Has a learning curve for advanced features and functions
  • No offline mode to work without an internet connection

Pricing

  • Free: $0/month
  • Team: $20 per seat/month
  • Business: $45 per seat/month
  • Enterprise Scale: Contact their sales team

Image via Airtable

Tool Level

  • Beginner/Intermediate

Usability

  • Moderately easy to use

FAQs

Q1. Which are the key project management tools?

A. Project management tools with the best features include:

  • Microsoft Project
  • Jira
  • Asana
  • Wrike
  • Basecamp
  • Teamwork
  • monday.com
  • Zoho Projects
  • Kissflow
  • Trello
  • Airtable

Q2. Which is the most commonly used project management tool?

A. The need for project management tools depends on your requirements.

For example, if you need a project management tool for team projects, you should opt for Asana. On the other hand if you need a project management tool for client projects, Microsoft Project might be a better choice.

Q3. Which features should you look for in good project management tools?

A. Great project management tools offer the following functionalities:

  • Customizable features
  • Task management features
  • Time tracking
  • Team collaboration and communication tools
  • Numerous integrations
  • Detailed reporting
  • Security

Q4. Which are the best project management tools for SEO?

A. Project management tools that you can use for SEO include:

  • Asana
  • Teamwork
  • Basecamp
  • Slack

Q5. What is the importance of using tools in project management?

A. Using tools in project management can help you:

  • Plan your projects in an organized manner
  • Collaborate easily
  • Set budget tracking
  • Allocate resources effectively
  • Create strong team workflows
  • Monitor projects online

Q6. Which are the best project management tools for designers?

A. Project management tools for designers include:

  • Asana
  • Basecamp
  • Wrike
  • Jira

Q7. Which project management tools are most useful for a small startup?

A. The best project management tools for startups include:

  • Asana
  • Jira
  • Wrike
  • Teamwork
  • Trello
  • Smartsheets

Q8. What is the importance of using project management tools and software for managing a large-scale project?

A. When used for large-scale projects, project management software can make it easy to plan, execute, and manage work. They make it easy for teams to organize work details, share progress, collaborate effectively, and meet deadlines.

Q9. Which is the best tool for project managers to manage their projects?

A. Tools that project managers can use include:

  • monday.com
  • Microsoft Project
  • Jira
  • Teamwork

Q10. Is Trello project management free?

A. Trello offers a free plan you can use for basic project management. It also offers paid plans with numerous advanced features.

Ready to Choose the Best Project Management Tools For Your Needs?

Choosing the best project management tools depends on your business needs.

It’s, therefore, crucial to consider your needs and budget. Most importantly, sign up for free trials to get a feel of the project management tools before choosing one.

Do you have any questions about any project management tools? Please feel free to share them in the comments section below.

Gaurav Sharma

Gaurav Sharma is the Founder and CEO of Attrock, a results-driven digital marketing company. Grew an agency from 5-figure to 7-figure revenue in just two years | 10X leads | 2.8X conversions | 300K organic monthly traffic | 5K keywords on page 1. He also contributes to top publications like HuffPost, Adweek, Business2Community, TechCrunch, and more.

Recent Posts

11 Social Proof Examples That Increase Conversions

If you’re searching for social proof examples to learn from and boost your sales conversions,…

10 hours ago

What is Guest Posting? Everything You Need to Know

In today’s competitive digital marketing world, link building has become crucial in boosting SERP (search…

1 week ago

11 Best Online Video Makers in 2024: A Detailed Comparison

Seeing that video has, over time, become the go-to content type for brands that want…

1 week ago

Influencer Marketing for Startups: 11 Tips To Get it Right

Getting your brand name out there and attracting customers as a startup can be daunting.…

2 weeks ago

9 Best SaaS Billing Software You Can Try in 2024

To successfully operate a subscription-based business, you need a SaaS billing software solution. These software…

3 weeks ago

11 Top SEO Reporting Tools for Agencies in 2024

An agency needs to measure, analyze, and optimize its SEO efforts to meet the diverse…

3 weeks ago