Most popular software project management tools




















When cloud computing presented options and advantages, project management software vendors offered their subscription-based products over the internet to businesses of all sizes.

It also opened the market to more providers offering a variety of systems. Web-based project management software is accessible from any internet-connected web browser through a software-as-a-service SaaS subscription. These online platforms cater to businesses of all sizes across industries. Users in various locations can access the tool from different devices such as desktops, tablets, and smartphones to get up-to-date project status and information from a central database.

Many of these apps provide several methods to visualize project tasks and goal progress, collaborate with coworkers, automate workflows, share files, message team members, and integrate with email. By expanding their feature sets, many web-based project management tools also fall into the categories of collaboration software or business process management software. Examples of web-based project management software include Zoho Projects , Microsoft Project , and Basecamp. The server will be inside their data center and managed by its IT employees.

Companies often purchase a single on-premise license and may have to purchase additional upgrades or updates. Companies prefer on-premise software for their concern on security as well as long-term costs. When the company runs the software on their private servers, they have full control over the data storage and security protocols to protect that data. Enterprises with 50, , or more users can save from monthly subscription costs if they purchase one-time license fees used in on-premise project management software.

They also have control when to schedule software updates to make preparations and not experience any downtime due to an automatic product update inherent in SaaS systems. Specialized software can manage simple projects satisfactorily. A best-of-breed application specializes in one particular capability, such as task management, scheduling, or time tracking.

Integrated suite applications combine several functions like task management, Gantt charting, and time tracking. Businesses prefer integrated tools for a unified solution that provides visibility, improves collaboration, and supports accountability. Startups and small businesses need a simple project management solution with fewer features that cover basic functionality. Task management, team collaboration, document management, and email integrations are the common features in simple project management software.

A comprehensive project management software has more features that cover core project management functions such as scheduling, resource management, and financial management on top of more advanced project management features. A PM suite will have a higher cost but also deliver accurate estimates, dependencies control, unlimited projects within a single instance, real-time progress tracking, and comprehensive reports that justifies the price of the solution.

These tools also require more oversight and time to be more effective in managing projects. Larger organizations and teams prefer integrated project management software, especially for more complex projects. Free project management software is available for home use, for very small teams of people, and as a fully-featured free and open source system.

Many of these tools are offered as a free tier by project management vendors that also provide various levels of paid service. Free tiers may have more limited features, may be restricted to a few users, or may come with limited personalized support.

However, many small teams and those just testing out a new tool may find these options useful to help in their decision-making process.

Open source is a valuable option for large teams looking for a free project management software. These tools provide all of the same features you may find in a subscription or on-premise tool and many of these tools are highly customizable for different project types.

However, access to support, implementation help, and custom changes will need to be managed by an in-house or third party development team. Not every industry is best-served with a standard project management system, and so industry-specific project management tools were developed to reduce the amount of customization a company will need upon implementation.

Construction, software development, financial services, healthcare, and law all have features and customizations that make them better suited to industry work. In industry-specific tools, you can expect to find collaboration tools, expense tracking, portfolio management, contractor management, resource management, and more. These tools may also help you manage a creative team, a remote team, or a specialized project within your larger portfolio.

The right features for your team will depend on the size of your team, the complexity of the projects you run, and the use case you will use the software in. This feature allows team members to:. Task management is essential in a project management software.

The best project management tools offer visual task management in Kanban boards, Gantt charts, waterfall dependencies, and burndown charts. These tools give a visual representation of project progress that is often easier to understand than a set of lists or items in a spreadsheet. Collaboration tools help solve complex projects. These features ensure that everyone who can see a task or portion of the project can comment, add assets to, and notate changes in the same interface where all of the project information is stored.

Visual task representations, messaging, task descriptions, notation features, asset upload capabilities, tags, email integrations, calendar tools, and more are considered collaboration features. Creative teams may run several smaller projects concurrently, and can make use of Gantt charts and cross-team approvals to keep work flowing to reach deadlines.

Large teams should use collaboration tools to keep the project up to date, alert team members to major and minor changes, and centralize assets. Software support documentation helps new and existing team members troubleshoot issues within the software and learn to use the tools quickly. Documentation and support tools that shorten the learning curve include:. Some tools offer email and phone support only to paying subscribers, while others offer only online documentation or customer forums for any plan.

If you think your team will need personalized support, look for tools with good support ratings. This feature significantly increases productivity as the user can manage tasks and updates from their inbox without logging in to the tool. Individual members should also be able to set limits on the frequency and types of email notifications they receive. Price per user drops as the number of users increases.

Website: trello. Asana helps teams collaborate on projects. One can view all their tasks as a list form, or see them plotted onto a calendar. The timeline feature is sort of a mix between a calendar and a vision board. Projects get mapped out according to an ideal plan. That keeps everyone involved and motivated to meet deadlines. The task layout view is not super intuitive. You have to click around quite a bit to get to sub-tasks. Also, sometimes Asana sends you many email notifications.

Website: asana. It's prized for having a neat interface that puts collaboration tools front and center. And for syncing information across work applications.

It lets you collate workflows and streamline tasks. It incentivizes productivity and gives everyone a heads up on what they need to do. That's great for project alignment, not to mention morale. Lacks a call recording feature. Website: monday. Cloud-based tool for managing project teams. Helps plan work, track it, and collaborate over distances. Gantt charts help you build a project plan. Keep track of critical tasks.

Automate routine tasks to save yourself time. Use a drag-and-drop interface to visualize and build up automation rules. Timesheets let you log billable and non-billable hours. This is super helpful for invoicing. You can also use Zapier to connect Zoho Projects to a ton of other apps. Excel and Slack, for example. The user interface is not the most intuitive or aesthetically pleasing. Search function is limited to tasks within specific projects.

Website: zoho. Zenkit uses the Gestalt approach to promote project unity. The app offers managers an instant big-picture overview of all ongoing and planned work. It goes on to include several alternative ways of tracking progress. The options include list, Kanban, table, calendar, and mindmap. Switching between views is easy.

And any changes made in one view will automatically get updated to the others. This is an excellent feature for freelancers and teams working with clients. Zenkit offers mobile versions of its app. Their tablet architecture for iPad even supports split screens.

And the overall number of features can be overwhelming at first. There are no free trials for paid plans. Special pricing is available for educational and nonprofit usage. Website: zenkit. Basecamp is designed to improve productivity and organization. It does this by combining communication tools with file storage and work management dashboards. Each project has its own message board, group chat, and to-do lists. And a shared schedule too. You can also set up automatic check-ins, which prompt team members to give an update on status.

Works well as a comprehensive cloud storage platform. Upload and share documents, files, images, and spreadsheets. Organize your files to keep track of everything project-related. This makes it suitable for freelancers and small nonprofits. And for personal projects. Lacks a cohesive, quick overview for seeing what multiple team members are doing. Pricing model is nice and simple. There are no per user fees.

Website: basecamp. Simple project planning software with collaboration features. See your project in full and prioritize work. Organize by boards, lists, and tasks. Track time spent on tasks.

Do work management with task assignments and due dates. Set project budgets and track expenditures. CSV files and copy and paste tasks from other apps.

Convert to-do items and to-do lists into tasks. Break down large chunks of work into smaller tasks so they get done. Website: breeze. Redbooth places strong focus on communication and cooperation. It works as a shared platform where teams can communicate in real time, organize tasks, and keep projects on track.

The PM tool offers dedicated workspaces and many commenting features. It also has powerful time tracking and a project timeline overview. As well as predictive task management. An open source PM tool allows users to download the source code and customize it for free. Some providers, like OpenProject , let users access a fully functional tool online and pay for the hosting service. A free and open source PM tool is a tool where the developers choose to release the source code or allow the use of the tool to others without any payment.

In general, the principles of project management applies to all industries alike. But the execution of processes can vary specific to an industry. A sequential approach may be ideal in the construction industry, but an iterative approach is more valuable to the software development industry. So, with a bottom-up perspective, developers of PM tools for specific industries included customizations to make their tools more relevant, efficient, and effective.

Some examples are Procore , Buildertrend , and Aconex for project management specific to the construction industry. The best project management tools are the tools that fit the requirements of a team or company. Whether an integrated or a best of breed solution, cloud-based or on-premise system, teams should carefully choose the tool with the right features that support the achievement of project and organization goals while boosting productivity, enhancing quality of deliverables, and improving team performance.

Task management features let a project leader list, create, assign, and monitor tasks that come from a work breakdown structure. The project team can easily understand the nature of the task, who is responsible, when it is due, and how it relates to the bigger project. PM tools allow users to order tasks according to priority and move and track them as the tasks go through the different stages of work or phases of a project.

Some tools can further break down a task to subtasks, assign more than one user to a task, or set dependencies in relation to other tasks and schedules. Tools can display tasks in a list, on a Gantt chart, on a Kanban board, or within a calendar. Read also : Relationship vs. Task Oriented Management. Project management tools provide the central workspace and channel where multiple team members can quickly communicate with each other in an organized way.

The tools allow individuals to exchange information, hold discussions, send comments or approvals, and send direct messages in the context of work. Every member of a project team uses email. With email integration in a project management tool, information can easily and automatically flow back and forth between the PM tool and the email software.

Users do not have to be directly using the PM tool to create or edit tasks, send comments, set due dates, or update a task status.

They can do these actions from their inbox while they are performing other work functions. Furthermore, bidirectional sync and integration allows team members to receive notifications from either tool whenever there is an update, change, or comment. Project management tools provide a dedicated space for teams and projects to store project files, images, photos, and other digital assets important to the project.

PM tools offer a friendly interface or organizer utility that makes access and search for a file easy. Additional functionality includes easy uploading and downloading of attachments, batch actions, labeling, version control, and security. Aside from web-based interface, more project management tools are now offering mobile access via native integration or HTML5 technology. With affordable yet powerful mobile devices, teams can easily make project updates, communicate with the team as needed, and get the latest update of your PM tool while on the go.

With minimal to no training needed, teams can quickly use the PM tool on their mobile devices with a familiar interface and features using gestures that they use with their other mobile apps. Software support documentation helps new and existing team members troubleshoot issues within the software and learn to use the tools quickly. Documentation like help desk articles, how-to videos, in-software tools, and chat bots provide instant support.

The best project management tools provide a stable core of features that allow users to manage projects effectively. More often, they also offer multiple integrations directly or via API for extended functionality or for seamless workflow. Best of breed PM tools will offer more integrations, but integrated solutions are also offering increasing connectivity to other systems, especially known companies like Google and Microsoft.

Project management tools when used for external clients will benefit greatly with features such as white labeling, custom branding, or customization settings. These features often appeal to sales and marketing agencies and multinational corporations who want to adapt their tool to meet language and cultural requirements.

Project management tools have reporting functionality included, but to varying degrees. Companies should consider the depth of their reporting needs to quickly share information, whether they indicate shortcomings, issues, or problems. More PM tools are offering analytics and business intelligence in their products, so users can get dashboards that show progress and insightful reports that documents performance. If the reporting functionality is not as extensive or if available only in premium plans, then teams should check if they can export data to build custom reports using a business intelligence system or if an integration to a reporting software is possible.

PM tools with scheduling promotes organization in multiple teams. It allows users to set schedules on tasks, create timelines and milestones, and determine dependencies and resources. It is an essential project management function in order to deliver projects on time.

But for organizations with simple projects, short-duration projects, recurring tasks, or small teams, this may not be as important. Time management features in PM tools enable team members track how much time they spend on tasks. It allows project managers set ideal time goals for the project, and integrate with a timesheet or payroll app. Teams with long-term projects or those that regularly employ contractors may find these tools highly useful.

Small businesses relying on spreadsheets or whiteboards are missing an opportunity to manage their projects more efficiently. While they try to avoid high cost, spend time for training, or deal with complex but unnecessary features, small businesses can find a modern project management tool to make their workflow organized, their process efficient, and their stakeholders well informed.

Many project management tools offer a free tier for a small number of team members or seats. So, companies can identify the essential personnel who need access to the PM tool.

For the rest of the company, they can collaborate through email or other forms of integration. If the company needs more users to have access to the tool, they can also choose those products that offer scaling plans or a flat rate for unlimited number of users. Task and project visualizations help teams see the progress of multiple projects running at the same time.

Small businesses need to understand what data or metric is important for them to see. A seamless process to transform these visuals into reports to share with stakeholders is also important. Small businesses have fewer tools, but email is always among them. When their project management tool integrates with their email, the project team can easily share updates and reports with the rest of the company without increasing user subscription. Also, when users do not have to stay directly logged into the PM tool but can collaborate using their inbox, then more individuals can use the limited accounts to work with the software.

Growing businesses face different challenges such as scaling up company requirements, initiating multiple projects simultaneously, and managing more complex projects. Project management tools can help these businesses define their project processes, refine existing inefficiencies, and improve overall project outcomes. As more people get involved in project management, communication and organized collaboration becomes critical. Project leaders and team members will face serious challenges if goals, priorities, and methods are not clear.

PM tools enable multiple teams to work in alignment with bigger business goals with a concerted effort. Time tracking functionality in PM tools help teams track contract work, employee hours, and billable time spent on projects. It enable project teams to tie work hours directly to individual tasks.

The functionality should provide automated computation of hours across projects or filtering of hours for individual contributors. Companies need to check the ability to integrate to accounting or payroll systems. Larger teams have a greater need to track and analyze key project data that comes from multiple sources. They need a project management tool with reporting and analytics engine to display metrics such as total tasks assigned, estimate vs.



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