Getting a handle on your life is a tall order. One of the most effective ways to do this is by utilizing a task and project management software. By utilizing one you’ll be able to create tasks, assign them to yourself or others, set due dates and reminders, and even attach files. By using this type of software you’ll be able to better prioritize your day-to-day tasks as well as larger initiatives. But with so many applications out there which one should you choose? It’s helpful to first understand what each application can offer so you can make an informed decision about which app is right for you. This post takes a look at some of the best task and project management apps available today.
What Is Project Management Software?
Let’s say you’re building a house. It’s a complex process in which some tasks must be done in a particular order. You cannot install windows if you haven’t put up the walls yet. You probably have dozens of contractors working on the house, and you have to know which days they are available to pour the foundation, lay the tile, and so forth. Then you have to schedule them based not only on their availability but also on each task happening in the right order. The way to manage a complex project like this one, including all the jobs that need to be done by whom and when, is to use project management software.
Project management software is a type of online collaborative app where everyone who’s working on a project can log in and see what they’re supposed to do and when. They also record their progress on those tasks and add relevant details, such as notes about any changes. People who have the right permission level can see what everyone else is doing or will need to do and when. For the person or people managing the project, the app provides a clear overview of the project and its health. Are all the tasks on track to be completed on time? If one task is late, how does that affect the projected deadlines of other tasks? Is someone available to pick up an urgent task if the person assigned to do it is ill?
Zoho Projects’ Gantt chart view
How We Choose the Best Apps
For this roundup of the best project management apps, we evaluated and tested more than 25 project management platforms and have included here the products with the highest scores. Inclusion is based on PCMag’s independent testing and evaluation. In determining scores, we consider the needs of a variety of business types, including small business on a budget and large organizations that need to manage many projects, people, and budgets simultaneously.
For the purpose of this category, we stick to traditional project management apps. These apps are specifically created to manage projects, rather than ongoing work. A project is a set of work with a start date, an end date, and a deliverable.
To be included in this roundup, the app must offer Gantt charts, which is a type of timeline view that’s commonly used in project management. All the apps included here also have other standard tools for tracking, organizing, and scheduling project-based work.
There are many other excellent collaboration apps that sometimes get called project management apps, such as Trello, Basecamp, and Airtable. While some collaboration or work-management apps are very capable at managing certain kinds of projects, they aren’t necessarily designed for juggling the complexities of dozens or hundreds of projects and their schedules simultaneously. Therefore, we don’t include them here.
What Can You Do With a Project Management App?
Project management apps let you track and manage nearly any kind of project, such as the creation of a new product, building a house or website, or launching a marketing campaign. Teams that use project management apps are typically tracking more than one project at a time. The software helps them figure out when to schedule work based on when things need to get done and the human resources available to do it.
The very best project management apps detect problems before they happen. By tracking the progress of work, they can sound an alarm when a deadline is in danger of slipping, but before it happens. The most powerful project management apps also offer to automatically reflow the project schedule when tasks do fall off course. They generate reports that give managers insight into which team members have too much or too little work assigned to them. Many let you track project budgets, too, and log billable hours so that you can send invoices to clients for time worked.
Notion
Overview: Built to replace several work apps, Notion is a fantastic option if you’re looking to build a customized project management experience.
Notion wants to be your all-in-one knowledge work app. You can use it to write documents, take notes, build knowledge bases, create spreadsheets, and manage projects.
At its core, Notion is built around pages and databases. Within each page, you can add content such as text, images, links, etc. This is already useful, but the true power of Notion lies in databases. You can add several types of databases to any Notion page, including kanban boards, lists, calendars, and tables.
Once you’ve created a database, you can add items to it to represent tasks, project assets, or whatever you need. And you can define custom properties such as “Team Member Name” or “Status” to help you manage your databases. Each item you create in a database is also its own page in Notion, meaning you can get very granular with the way you manage projects.
In addition, you have several options for viewing your databases. For instance, you can switch between viewing your database items on a kanban board and a calendar. This gives you more flexibility for managing your projects and makes it easy for team members to find the information they need.
Finally, Notion includes powerful collaboration features. You can comment on any part of a page, collaboratively edit pages in real time, and @mention other team members.
Price:
- Personal plan is free for individuals (and you can invite up to 5 guests to privately view your work).
- Personal Pro plan ($4/month) offers everything in the Personal plan plus unlimited file uploads, unlimited guests, unlimited version history, and API access.
- Students and educators can get the Personal Pro plan for free.
- Teams wishing to use Notion will need to upgrade to the Team plan ($8/month per team member).
Platforms: Android, iOS, Mac, Windows, Web
If you’d like to learn how to use Notion, check out our founder Thomas Frank’s free Notion Fundamentals course. In it, you’ll find thorough tutorials on all of Notion’s main features. You can also check out the video below to see how he manages his own work:
ClickUp
Overview: More than just a project management app, ClickUp aims to be a unified hub for your knowledge work.
ClickUp attempts to combine to-do lists, project management, documents, spreadsheets, screen capturing, and more into a single app. While I don’t see it replacing all of my work apps any time soon, it is a powerful solution for project management.
Like Asana, ClickUp lets you visualize your projects using lists, boards, calendars, and Gantt charts. However, the app also adds a box view to show you the progress each team member is making on their tasks. This can be especially helpful if you’re managing a large team.
Additionally, ClickUp gives you a broader view of your work with goals. Goals are higher-level priorities for your organization that can guide your projects and tasks. And once you’ve set goals, you can break them down into targets (results you can quantify). You can then link targets to your tasks and watch a progress meter increase as your team completes them.
Price:
- A Free plan is available with unlimited users, unlimited tasks, and limited storage/integrations.
- For unlimited file storage, increased integrations, and advanced project management features, you can upgrade to the Unlimited plan for $5/user per month.
Platforms: Android, iOS, Mac, Windows, Linux, Amazon Fire, Web
nTask
Overview: A powerful project management app with built-in time tracking and meeting management features.
nTask is another strong entrant into the world of project management apps.
At the most basic level, nTask separates your work into workspaces that contain tasks. Each of these tasks has its own set of useful productivity features, including a to-do list, planned vs. actual start and end dates, and comments.
None of the above features are ground-breaking, but things get more interesting as you dig deeper.
First, nTask bakes time tracking right into the app. All you have to do is pick a task, click the “Play” button, and start tracking your time. You can then view all of your tracked time within the app’s Timesheet panel. This eliminates the need to use (or pay for) third-party time tracking software.
Along with time tracking, you can also schedule meetings within nTask. Besides the standard details such as date, time, and duration, you can also associate meetings with specific tasks. This way, you don’t have to switch between nTask and other scheduling apps to plan a meeting.
Finally, nTask manages to pack all of this into an aesthetically pleasing interface. There’s a lot of power under the hood, but it’s easy to jump into the app as a new user and quickly get your bearings.
Price: Basic features are free for up to 5 team members. To unlock additional storage, Gantt charts, and custom filters, upgrade to nTask Premium for $2.99/user per month (billed annually).
Platforms: Android, iOS, Web
Basecamp
Overview: A long-standing project management app that still holds its own.
A lot of the apps in this article are very powerful but also complex. In contrast, Basecamp is refreshingly simple (but still powerful).
Basecamp divides your work into projects. Each project contains features such as a to-do list, a calendar, a message board, and a group chat for quick messages. There’s also a place to store documents, images, spreadsheets, and other external files.
This is all pretty standard stuff, albeit executed in a clean, well-designed way. However, there are two key features that set Basecamp apart from other project management apps.
First, each project has a feature called automatic check-ins. These recurring questions prompt team members to report on their progress, reducing unnecessary meetings with management.
Second, Basecamp includes a unique way to visualize your project progress: hill charts. These charts let you see each of a project’s to-do lists on a curve that resembles a hill.
The left half of the curve represents to-do lists that team members are still figuring out how to execute. The right half of the curve represents to-do lists that the team has figured out how to tackle
As team members become more certain about how to execute a to-do list, they can move it up and then down the curve. This high-level view helps you spot project obstacles and intervene if a team needs help.
Price:
- Free trial available for 30 days. After that, a flat fee of $99/month.
- Free accounts are available for students and educators, as well as a 10% discount for non-profits.
- A free Personal version is also available with limited projects, users, and storage.
Platforms: Android, iOS, Mac, Windows, Web
Struggling to finish a personal project? Here’s how to get unstuck.
Jira
Overview: A project management app built for software development teams.
Jira is a popular tool for managing software projects that use the agile development philosophy. Explaining agile development is beyond the scope of this article. But the basic idea is to develop, improve, and release software in increments instead of one large launch.
Jira includes many features built specifically for software development teams. At the core of this are issues, which represent what your team is working on (bug fixes, project tasks, etc.). Jira lets you organize your issues into a backlog, which is a centralized list of all your project’s tasks.
Jira offers two main ways to visualize your project’s tasks: scrum board and Kanban board.
Scrum is a technique for implementing agile development that breaks software projects down into sprints. (See this guide for a more detailed explanation). The scrum board shows you your project’s backlog, your team’s active sprints, and reports about the project.
The Kanban board shows your tasks on a board divided into columns according to their progress. According to Jira, this view is best if your team isn’t working in sprints, but rather a constant flow of work.
If your team already uses or plans to use agile development, then Jira could be the solution you’re looking for.
Price:
- Free for up to 10 users (with limited features).
- For teams of 11–100 users, Jira costs $7/month per user. A discount is available for larger teams, and a self-hosted version is also available.
Platforms: Android, iOS, Mac, Windows, Linux, Web
Monday.com
Overview: A highly visual project management app with extensive automation features.
Monday.com is an intuitive, flexible app for managing projects of all kinds. Like many other project management apps, Monday.com uses boards to organize information. Each board contains items divided into groups and columns.
Groups are the high-level organization for your items, such as “Planning” or “Designing”. Columns contain data related to items, which can be anything from a due date to a person’s name (and much, much more).
Using these building blocks, you can create a system to manage all kinds of work. If you don’t want to create a system from scratch, Monday.com offers dozens of board templates. You can also create your own templates if you want.
In addition to these features, Monday.com lets you automate common workflows (no coding knowledge required). Each automation is based on a recipe that uses information from the Monday.com app to execute an action. For instance, you could automatically notify your social media manager when you mark a blog post as “Published.”
Price:
- Starts at $8/month per user.
- For increased boards, automations, and integrations, you can upgrade to the Standard plan for $10/month per user.
- A free version is available for students and educators.
Platforms: Android, iOS, Web
monday.com
monday.com will help you with project management with features like reporting, Calendar, time tracking, planning, etc. It is suitable for any business size.
Features
- Project development can be tracked through Kanban, Timeline, or Charts.
- It has functionalities for planning sprints, and creating user stories and assigning to team members.
- Reporting.
Pros:
- It provides good collaboration features.
- Integration with third-party applications.
Cons:
- Price
Pricing Details:
- It provides a free trial.
- Basic Plan: $25 for 5 users per month.
- Standard: $39 for 5 users per month.
- Pro: $59 for 5 users per month.
- Enterprise: Get a quote.
Conclusion
Working more efficiently is what we all want. A new tool can help you do just that. But finding a good app isn’t as easy as it sounds. There are a lot of apps available and some offer a lot of similar features.