Choosing the right project management software can often become a pain in the neck, especially when there are so many options to choose from. However, selecting the right project management software is important. The right tool enables communication, organizes the organization’s workload, and more importantly, it impacts the project success. Keeping that in mind, we’ve compiled a list of the best project management software that you might want to check out.
Best Cloud-Based Enterprise Project Management Software
1. ProofHub
ProofHub is a made-for-all solution. From freelancers to multinational enterprises from different business verticals – ProofHub is a project management and collaboration software that conveniently fits within any corporate setup. The software comes with integrated one-on-one/group chat, quick Discussions, Workflows, and Kanban boards, custom reports, custom roles, centralized files, notes, Gantt charts, proofing, timesheets, timers, and many more powerful features. The purpose of ProofHub is to enable teams to collaborate over projects in an easy, diverse manner and get them delivered as scheduled.
2. Wrike
Wrike is a project management tool with a load of useful features like task management, task prioritization, real-time newsfeed, interactive timeline (Gantt chart), and workload management. It works for both distributed and co-located teams. With Wrike, teams can easily schedule, discuss, and prioritize their tasks, and track projects as they progress. Wrike’s Paid packages start from $9.80user/month (annual billing) for the Professional plan.
3. Clarizen
Clarizen is a project management software with a key focus on social engagement. It is designed to automatically prioritize projects, tasks, resources, budgets, and portfolios so that key resources and information are managed appropriately during the project management process. Other than that, templates, personal calendars, project portfolio management, workflows, dashboards, approval processes, and version control are some important features that make Clarizen a part of our top 5 project management tools. Clarizen offers two priced editions – Clarizen’s Enterprise plan starts at $45/user/month and Clarizen’s Unlimited plan starts at $60/user/month.
4. ProjectManager
ProjectManager is a tool designed to elevate efficiency in project planning, budgeting, scheduling, execution, and reporting. It is one of the most trusted project management systems in the market today. The platform essentially focuses on the three major parts of a project management process—planning, monitoring, and reporting. Additionally, it offers advanced add-on features like real-time dashboards, automated emails, and quick report generation. If this interests you, then you can easily sign up for ProjectManager’s free trial.
5. Zoho Projects
Zoho Projects is a cloud-based project management platform designed to make your business projects more productive. The platform comes equipped with features that help to improve collaboration, facilitate monitoring, and enhance productivity and overall quality of the output. With Zoho Projects, teams can get work done and delivered on time. Zoho Projects pricing scheme is quite flexible. It comes with five plans, with a free plan for freelancers and small teams.
Thus, cloud-based PM softwares are ground-breaking with the power to fast-track any organization onto the path of success. In today’s fast-changing business environment, cloud-based software are revolutionizing the traditional workplace. Thus, these software stands undeniably tall in fostering world-class collaboration and improved productivity at the workplace. They indeed have become an indispensable prerequisite at workplace to achieve tremendous success.
What is cloud-based project management?
A cloud-based project management software coordinates the planning, collaborating, monitoring, and delivering of a project. It allows project managers and teams to get work done using a network of tools available within the software, rather than using a plain old whiteboard and sticky notes. The use of project management software scales from business to business—and team to team. But, in all, it is designed to make managing projects and deadlines easier and more effective.
What are the advantages of a cloud-based project management tool?
Cloud-based solutions have been a dominant trend in the business industry for the last few years. New and improved software solutions have been entering the market on a regular basis, making it difficult for organizations to find the right tool. But before you start looking for a project management tool, it’s important to explore the many advantages a cloud-based project management solution has to offer.
Speaking of which—Here are the benefits of using project management software for your business.
Benefits of using cloud-based project management software for your business
1. Easy access
First and foremost, cloud-based project management software allows you to access the information from any part of the world, provided you have an internet connection. Also, you can access content from multiple devices – mobile phone, laptop or tablet. Whether you are in a meeting room, a conference room or at living room in your house – you can have access to all your information right at your fingertips. It successfully eliminates any requirement to be linked to a particular server at your workplace or any specific platform (Windows, Mac, Linux etc). Thus, it provides a lot of flexibility and ease in accessing information from anywhere in the world.
2. Easy to get started with
The best part of having a cloud-based project management tool is the ease it provides the people to get started with it. It does not require any rigorous training, knowledge of extra tools or installations. Unlike conventional methods, which would require you to have specific training about that tool, these software are designed to be used in the most simplest ways. You can link it with any of your social media handles and you are good to go.
3. Highly cost-effective
These cloud-based management software are very easy on your pocket. You don’t need to spend millions on buying servers, additional installations or buying additional storage. Additionally, most of them provide high-standard customer experience and technical support to the buyers. Thus, it is highly cost-effective making it a technology worth investing in.
4. Improved collaboration and productivity
Online cloud-based project management tools are designed to improve collaboration by ending email volleyballing at workplace. These provide a centralized place for communication and document sharing which results in high productivity for every team member without any financial costs. For instance, ProofHub a task management software provides a collaborative platform for effective communication and document. Thus, these tools create many avenues for improved collaboration and better productivity at work.
5. No additional installations and hardware
One of the many advantages these tools offer is that they do not require any hardware nor any additional installations. Unlike old-school technologies where you need to buy additional licenses for every computer with new settings. Cloud-based PM tool eliminates the need of this completely. Additionally, the vendor that allows you to have access of this cloud-related project management tool in a complete hassle-free manner.
6. Low maintenance technology
Cloud-based project management systems being highly cost-effective are also low on maintenance. You don’t need an army of IT people running here and there solving tackling software related challenges. Moreover, the vendors take care of any issues or requirements such as version upgrades and anomalies in the online cloud-based project management software.
7. Reliable and secure
All cloud-based project management software (like ProofHub) are made with world-class technologies and undergo several security measures. Thus, these software are very reliable and secure. There are several mechanisms such as data segregation, SSL certificates that are employed by vendors to secure customer’s data. Even if your laptop gets stolen or lost, you just need to login from your online account and change the password to protect your data.
8. Free monthly trials
About 99.9% of the online cloud-based project management software vendors provide free 30 day trial for the product. It gives the buyer an opportunity to test the features, understand its working and to judge if the tool is a right fit for them or not. Getting a free trial doesn’t hurt, right? So, make sure you try the software properly before investing in it.
9. Allows web-based integrations
To run a business effectively, one has to take help from the number of applications and services. So, it becomes a necessity for the cloud-based project management tool to allow various web-based integrations at one centralized place. It allows users to manage a plethora of tasks and services simultaneously at one place. This, consequently, helps in saving a lot of time and improving productivity.
10. Support for remote teams
Today, more and more organizations are rooting for cross-functional and decentralized teams. They are building teams with a combination of local, remote and overseas talents. In order to make these teams work, each team member should be able to collaborate, share information, and access critical documents whenever and wherever they need to. That’s what cloud-based project management solutions are designed to help with. One of the critical benefits of using a project management tool is that it enables teams to become more mobile and remote.
11. Super time saver
Being able to visualize the overall timeline for the completion of a project or deliverable is an important aspect of the project management process. With the help of a project management software, managers and teams can not only visualize or evaluate the project timeline, but they can also track the exact amount of time that needs to be spent (or has been spent) on a specific task, milestone, or project. Doing this makes it easier for everyone on the team to get a clear understanding of how long each task will take, how each task groups together, and what they can do to cut down the delivery time, thereby finding ways to save tons of time.
Best Cloud-Based Enterprise Project Management Software
Microsoft Project Management Software, better known as MS Project, is a powerful and trustworthy solution for experienced project teams. The software does have a steep learning curve compared to other tools on the market, but it’s still an exceptional way to manage complex projects when used correctly. Once you know the ins and outs of the software, you’ll have a tough time finding an alternative solution as robust as MS Project.
Microsoft Project Management Software: The Good and The Bad
The Good
Centralized Home Screen: If you’re familiar with other Microsoft products, then you’ll feel right at home using Microsoft Project.
In many ways, the tool feels a lot like Excel.
But similar to Excel, you’ll need to have a firm grasp of the software’s capabilities to get the most out of it.
The home screen is an easy way to access the most important information with a centralized view. You can create new projects, open recent projects, or access top-of-mind information.
This is especially useful for those of you juggling multiple projects at scale.
Supports Multiple Project Management Methodologies: Many project management tools on the market only support simple, linear, and basic projects. But MS Project allows you to manage projects in whichever way that you see fit.
The software supports Scrum, Kanban, and custom workflows. You can use it for agile project management, waterfall project management, or even hybrid methodologies.
Adding newsprints to a project, customizing the duration, and adding tasks can be managed with a few simple clicks. MS Project can be fully customized to support your preferred project management style.
Multiple Project Views: For users, projects can be managed from different views within MS Project. The grid view is an easy way to plan projects with an ordered list of pending tasks.
There’s also a Kanban-style board view that’s an excellent visual resource to see the overall status of a project.
You can even fully customize task boards. Additionally, MS Project offers a Gantt chart view.
This helps track dates and the relationships between tasks on a visual timeline.
It’s easy to switch back and forth between each view based on your needs and project management style. Project managers and team members alike love this flexibility.
Custom Reports: MS Project delivers high-level reports. You’ll have total customization and freedom in terms of what you want to be displayed on a particular report.
For such a complex solution, the reporting features are surprisingly easy to use. Just head over the reporting section of the page and select the data that you want to include.
You can add tables and other visual elements to make the reports easier to digest.
The reports are highly shareable and look extremely professional. In addition to generating reports for personal use, they are an excellent tool for presentations with executives and stakeholders.
Time Tracking: MS Project has a “timesheet submission” feature, allowing team members to track how they are spending time. It’s a great way to capture both project and non-project-related tasks.
In addition to tracking how much time was spent on a task, time can also be categorized further.
For example, a user might fill a timesheet for a specific project task and classify it as research and development. This is particularly useful for invoicing, payroll, and job costing.
Not every project management software includes time tracking tools, so the fact that you can get this feature with MS Project is a huge advantage.
Resource Management: The resource management capabilities of MS Project would be considered another advanced project management tool.
It’s not necessarily a common or standard feature offered in other solutions on the market, and it’s certainly not a beginner or entry-level tool. Using MS Project for resource management is a great way to identify your team members’ capacity so you can assign tasks accordingly.
In addition to managing human resources, MS Project supports other work-related resources.
You can use it to track resources like materials, equipment, and other project-related costs.
MS Project allows you to add tons of details here. You can even add a unit of measure for each resource and enter any associated costs as well.
Supports Project Management at Scale: MS Project is an ideal solution for medium to large-sized organizations.
With so many tools out there being marketed towards small teams and beginners, it’s nice to see Microsoft Project stand out by accommodating larger teams’ needs.
If your organization has complex project management needs, there’s a good chance that MS Project can solve them. When this software is put in the right hands, it feels like anything possible.
The Bad
Not For Beginners: Microsoft Project is not an entry-level project management solution. In fact, it’s not really even for people who are just familiar with project management concepts. The software is designed for experienced project managers and technical users. You’ll need more than just some general technical knowledge to figure out how MS Project works. If you don’t fall into this category, you’ll struggle with the software, and so will your projects.
Poor In-App Communication: In terms of team communication, MS Project has room for improvement. You can’t just quickly message or ping a team member within the platform. With that said, Microsoft has tons of other communication tools. It’s likely assumed that most MS Project teams are Microsoft organizations. So you’ll need to use Teams, Outlook, Skype, Yammer, or another one of Microsoft’s tools to communicate with your team. These features aren’t duplicated within MS Project itself.
Lack of Integrations: MS Project doesn’t really play well with other business tools, especially those outside the Microsoft family. It doesn’t connect with Zapier either, which is a popular online resource to sync third-party apps that don’t natively link with each other. If you want to integrate your project management tool with other platforms like Salesforce or Slack, MS Project won’t be an ideal solution for your needs. On the flip side, if you’re using Office 365 and other Microsoft tools, MS Project will fit in perfectly.
Steep Learning Curve: MS Project is not one of those tools that you sign up for today and start managing projects in a matter of minutes. There’s definitely more of a learning curve, especially when onboarding new users. MS Project assumes that users are already familiar with big-picture concepts of project management. From there, it’s just about learning how to use the software. There are plenty of resources and tutorials from Microsoft explaining how to do certain things within the platform. However, you need to know what to look for first. Even experienced users will need to take some time to get used to Microsoft Project Management Software.
Microsoft Project Management Software Pricing and Options
MS Project is not part of Microsoft 365. You can add it to your Office 365 subscription or just purchase it as a standalone product.
There are two different ways to buy Microsoft Project. It’s offered as a cloud-based solution, which is charged as a monthly per-user license. MS Project can also be bought as a one-time fee for on-premise deployment.
Within each deployment option, there are several different packages to choose from. We’ll discuss those plans and prices in greater detail shortly.
Compared to other project management tools on the market, the structure is a bit unique. The vast majority of project management software is only offered as a cloud-based tool. So, the fact that Microsoft Project can be deployed on-site makes it stand out from the crowd.
Free cloud-based project management software
1. Instagantt
If you want online Gantt software, this is the way to go. It’s designed to work with Asana (which we’ll talk about in a moment) and also allows you to link schedules from other sources. That means you only have to put in all of your information once, and you’ll be able to see it across each of your different platforms. You can set up timelines and tasks as well as managing and monitoring your teams’ workload. While you’re at it, you’ll be able to see everything in a format that works for you and your team.
If you’re not using Asana, you can still get a lot out of this system, including monitoring and assigning tasks, assigning due dates, and evaluating progress. All of these things come in several different price points that will help you work with the team that you have and keep apprised of everything that needs to be done.
Some of Instagantt’s awesome features are:
- Gantt and workload view
- Task and subtasks
- Public snapshot sharing options
- Timelines
- Multiple projects and workspaces
- Dependencies and milestones
- Critical path
- Team collaboration options: notification and task assignment
- Estimated and actual cost
- Custom view and custom fields
- Custom color options for progress bars
- Risk and priority
- Baselines
- Drag & drop
- Diverse exporting options: Excel, image and PDF
2. TeamGantt
With this tool, you’re creating workflows, and you’re doing it in a way that’s simple for people to understand and get a handle on. You can create different projects, milestones, and tasks and even use it on any of your devices. This system works on iOS, Android, Google Chrome, and Web. That means any of your users and team members can access it no matter where they are or what type of device they use. And you can check in to see just what they’re doing through the snapshot view.
You get to assign high, low, and medium priority to tasks, see how your team is doing and even set up the start dates and due dates for everything. You’ll also be able to use Gantt style timelines to keep an eye on everything. And you can try out the whole thing for free for 30 days. Then you pay based on the number of people who are on your team.
Some of TeamGantt Features:
– Drag&Drop
– Guest permission
– Baselines
– Multiple project view in one Gantt chart
– Guest permission
– Baselines
– Tasks & Subtasks
3. Asana
You want to be able to keep track of everything that everyone is working on, and that’s where Asana does well. This program gives you the ability to create the task list you want and then move it as much as you like. You also have a visual project timeline that you can use to see everything you need to get done. You can even set up your progress, note due dates, and make sure that scheduling and rescheduling are simple and easy.
What makes this application even better is that it works with several of your other favorites. You can link it to your Slack, Outplanr, Google Calendar, and Dropbox. All of these links make it easy to integrate, and they also ensure you don’t have to put in information all at once. Plus, you can choose between different fee schedules to find what works for you. From free to enterprises.
Asana Features:
- Document Management
- Project Management
- Time & Expense Tracking
- CRM
- Collaboration Tools
- Portfolio Management
- Resource Management
- Integration with Instagantt
4. Click Up:
If you want to manage tasks efficiently, including managing your more substantial tasks, full projects, small tasks, and notes, you’ll want to check out this service. It’s designed to let you customize everything, so you have a system that works for you. It also enables you to do automatic scheduling with estimated times, and you can choose who gets to see what on the system. That way, when you bring your team into the system, they’re not automatically privy to everything.
You can set goals and see how they’re doing as well as changing up the view that works best for you, check on the status of projects and more. You’ll also have an inexpensive rate because this system is paid based on how many people you have on your team. You only pay $4.99 per person each month.
Click Up Features:
- Task tray
- Notepad
- Assigned comments
- Dark mode
- Integrations
- Assigned comments
- Multiple views
5. Wrike
This tool will give you the ability to communicate with your team through what they call ‘best-in-class’ collaboration. They also have document management tools and different communication features. You can even set up priorities for what needs to be done and make sure that your team is working more efficiently at the tasks that matter. If you already use Outlook, iCalendar, or Google, you can even sync your tasks or your milestones to keep everything working together.
With this system, you can use Gantt charts, which help you to create the timelines you’re looking for. You also get a more straightforward process for staying up-to-date on what’s happening in your projects so you can send the information on to your clients. Pricing is also based on the number of users that you have signed up with the service during the year.
Wrike Features:
- Critical path
- Collaborative team editing
- Folder hierarchy
6. Smartsheet
If you want your team to be able to collaborate on anything and everything, this is a great way to go. It offers you attachment options so you can upload files directly into the system from Google Drive, Onedrive, Dropbox, and many of your other favorites. You can even see who is busy and who isn’t on your team so you can contact people at more convenient times. All you need to do is take a look at the dashboard.
While you’re at it, you’re able to set up different permissions, and you can make sure everything is maintained and updated correctly along the way. That’s because it sends out automatic update requests to make sure everyone is on the same page. When you’re ready to try it out you’ll find time-tracking, reporting, resource management, and planning. It’s all entirely cloud-based, too, so you can access it from anywhere. Plus, some plans vary from $14 to $25 per month.
Smartsheet Features:
- Spreadsheet templates
- Predecessor tasks
- Automated workflows
7. Trello
Here you’re going to have a basic but easy to use a system for keeping track of all of your different tasks. You can create entirely different boards for different types of jobs, different projects, different teams, or anything else you like. What’s great about this system is that it’s a Kanban management tool, which is one of the most popular methods available. You get to switch between boards however you want and create any tasks that you want within them.
You can drag and drop your cards, add tags, fields, priority levels, and a whole lot more. The interface is user-friendly, and there are even power-ups that help you add on different features that you may need. You also can choose between different modes that range from free for individuals or small groups up to an enterprise version that’s available for each member of your team.
Trello Features:
- Kanban View
- Drag & drop
- Detailed & Quick Overviews of Front/Back Cards
- Tasks and subtasks
- In-Line Editing
- Deadline Alerts and Notifications
8. Monday
What if you could have a system that makes things easier for you and is named for everybody’s least favorite day of the week? Well, you can with Monday. This system offers you plenty of features, including following Twitter and LinkedIn threads and even commenting on different tasks. You also can customize who can access various projects. If you already use other systems, you can integrate them into your account, including Google Drive, Dropbox, and Zapier.
The open-source framework is one of the best parts of this tool, letting you create any integrations and other features you may want. You can also get more detailed reports, and you can add on any people you want, including third-party agents or freelancers. You can choose between different pricing structures depending on the size of your team.
Monday Features:
- Collaboration tool for multiple employees.
- Visual display of progress.
- Easy communication: tag people.
- Email notifications
- Execution Board – with big screen display
- Integrations: Dropbox, Google Drive, Pipedrive
9. ProofHub
The user-friendly aspect of ProofHub is one of the first things you’re going to like. From there, you’ll love that it’s got a minimal learning curve. You can organize the projects you want to create, the teams that are responsible for them, and more. You get to customize everything from the color scheme to the names and logos that you use. There are even six different language options, so you can make it work for your team even if you’re international.
When you set up each of your team members, you’ll be able to assign roles and provide only the level of access that each team member needs. You also get mobile options that work with both iOS and Android devices. On top of that, you can choose between two different versions that vary from $55 to $99 per month
ProofHub Features:
- Collaboration
- File sharing
- Gantt charts
- Idea management
- Product roadmapping
- Multi-language
- Chat
10. Teamwork
With this tool, you’re creating workflows, and you’re doing it in a way that’s simple for people to understand and get a handle on. You can create different projects, milestones, and tasks and even use it on any of your devices. This system works on iOS, Android, Google Chrome, and Web. That means any of your users and team members can access it no matter where they are or what type of device they use. And you can check in to see just what they’re doing through the snapshot view.
You get to assign high, low, and medium priority to tasks, see how your team is doing and even set up the start dates and due dates for everything. You’ll also be able to use Gantt style timelines to keep an eye on everything. And you can try out the whole thing for free for 30 days. Then you pay based on the number of people who are on your team.
Teamwork Features:
- Workload
- Templates
- Collaboration
- Board View
- Time Tracking
- Milestones
Conclusion
loud-based technology has taken the world by storm. An increasing number of organizations are storing their applications and data in cloud-based management software. Thus, enabling it to become a worldwide phenomena.
According to this report, more than 60% of the businesses utilize cloud-technology in the world. The number is staggeringly high.
Ever wondered what makes it the most sought-after thing in the business today? And more importantly, why it must make it to the list of the requisites for your business or not?