Project management software has a reputation of being complicated. In reality, project management software are just programs that help you organize and manage your projects. If you’d like to learn more about software for project managers for beginners, or about software for project managers for beginners free, check out these free project management software.
Have you just started managing projects or have you just been appointed as a project manager? If you have, you probably need to know about some of the best software for project managers for beginners. Or maybe you started off as an intern and are preparing for a major project at work. In any case, here is a list of tools that can help you succeed in your role as a PM.
TeamGantt
Best easy, low-cost Gantt charts
Visualize projects and tasks on colour-coded, intuitive Gantt charts.
TeamGantt is a project management platform packed with collaborative tools and useful features such as project plan templates and project planning filters—plus, it’s mobile friendly. They offer a host of project templates to get you started quickly including ones for marketing projects, creative & design projects, event planning, software development, and construction projects.
TeamGantt lets you build a base Gantt chart and then save it as a template so that you can reuse your custom design again and again. Although “Gantt” is in their name, TeamGantt lets you toggle between different project views much like other software in this space: task lists, calendars, and so on.
You can access portfolio views and reports in TeamGantt to track the status everything your comapny is working on all at once. This is great for professinoal services businesses that have to juggle multiple clients with multiple projects. Their standard subscription plan (and above) even comes with unlimited guests account access, so customers can following along with your work without asking for constant status updates.
TeamGantt integrates natively with Slack, Trello, and Dropbox; offers additional API integrations; and connects to hundreds of other apps using a paid Zapier account.
TeamGantt is free for 3 users and 1 project. Paid plans cost from $19.90/month for 1 user.
Trello
Best free Kanban board tools
Organize tasks and projects on custom boards and within custom columns that fit your team’s workflow.
Trello is perhaps one of the best know Kanban board tools in the project management space (not that there aren’t alternatives popping up regularly) and it offers a free plan that small businesses will love. It can be your primary planning and organization tool or simply complement whatever else you are using on a daily basis.
Key features include unlimited card creation (even on the free plan), no-code automations, activity logs, project templates, mobile device management, unlimited activity logs, and custom backgrounds & stickers (fun!).
Trello boasts a ridiculously easy learning curve at the cost of hosting some of the more advanced features of some of the other project management tools out there. However, for a basic Kanban board structure—with customizable categories and data fields—with unlimited card creation, Trello really can’t be beat.
Trello integrates with more than 200+ apps and tools your team depends on like Slack, Google Drive, Salesforce, Dropbox and more directly into your Trello boards. (Note: Some connections require an additional subscription fee.)
Trello is free to use for unlimited users. Paid plans cost from $5/user/month and unlock additional features. They offer a free trial to test before you buy.
Flowzone
Flexibility and customization are among the top requirements of any tool that caters to small businesses. In their initial stages, businesses deal with high-impact projects and need to deliver results with consistency. Flowzone can help you with that. Being true to its name, this small business project management software tool comes with an inherent flexibility that makes it a great fit for any industry.
From the simplest projects to complex setups, Flowzone has everything you need.
- Simplified task and project management features
- Team views for transparency
- Separate project scheduling system for remote teams
- All communication in a centralized location
Contrary to the pricing structure of many tools in this list, Flowzone does not limit its features based on the plan you purchase. All features are available from day one and the only limit is on the number of users.
Here are the plans:
- 10 – 50 users: Monthly charges of $12/user. The minimum number of users is 10.
- 51 – 100 users: Monthly charges of $9/user.
- 100+ users: Monthly charges $6 per user.
Projecturf
Small businesses are generally more chaotic in nature. To stimulate growth, such entities must consistently punch above their weight, and this leads to some unique issues for project managers. Smaller teams, fewer resources, and stricter schedules are some of the most common challenges that small businesses face.
Some of the top features of Projecturf are:
- Task delegation
- Project visualization
- Collaborative interface
- Little to no learning curve
- Scalability
The software offers 3 payment plans:
- Basic ($50 flat/month) – A simple collaborative interface to get everyone on the same page.
- Standard ($15/user/month) – Basic task and project management features with 50 GB storage and 3 project templates.
- Advanced ($30/user/month) – A comprehensive project management tool with unlimited templates and open projects. It also offers storage space of 100 GB.
monday.com
Best for flexibility & integrations
Small teams can easily keep track of each other’s work, timelines, and upcoming tasks.
monday.com is an easy-to-use project management tool that saves small businesses money in two ways: offering free/affordable entry-level plans and being super user-friendly to cut back on money lost on training and onboarding. They are used by teams at Uber, Adobe, Hulu, and Unilever, so your SMB can feel like its playing in the software big leagues.
monday is flexible and scalable with 5 pricing plans available so that it can grow with you. With their freemium plan, you’ll already have access to unlimited project boards, 200+ free project/task templates, 20+ column types, and their iOS and Android apps. Pay particular attention to the free project template library—here, you’ll find pre-made outlines for editorial calendars, marketing campaign planning, CRM charts, event planning, HR forms, and more. The usefulness of this section for small businesses can not be overstated.
monday.com’s integrations include project management apps like Slack, Google Drive, Gmail, Google Calendar, Jira, GitHub, Trello, Dropbox, Typeform and many more, accessible through a paid plan with Zapier. They also have an apps marketplace with free and paid add-ons to boost your functionality. Again, I cannot stress the level of flexibility and scalability with this form.
monday.com costs from $8/user/month and comes with a free 14-day trial. They offer a free plan for up to 2 users.
Slenke
Slenke is a comprehensive small business project management tool that simplifies work by organizing tasks and improving communication. It allows you to streamline all stages of project management starting from the plan to the final stage. You can make use of this tool’s several templates, monitor your progress, and keep an eye on the overall time and resources you are spending.
- Project and task management
- Seamless project collaboration for everyone
- Excellent project visualization
- Integration with other tools
- Project time tracking
- End-to-end encryption
When it comes to functionality, Slenke does not limit the features based on the package you have. However, the premium plan allows you to run more projects and does not limit the number of users. Here are the details:
- Free Plan – All Slenke features are available for a single project and up to 5 users.
- Premium plan ($18/user/month) – Add unlimited users and run multiple projects at a time with some other benefits like priority support, custom branding, and unlimited storage.
NiftyPM
NiftyPM lives up to its name by centralizing work and creating an automated project management process for your team. This small business project management software comes with all the project and task management capabilities you can expect from any high-end project management software on the market.
- All-in-one tool
- Task and timeline management
- Collaborative functions
- Allows you to switch between Kanban, list, and matrix views
- Import workflows from other tools like Asana, Basecamp, etc.
Businesses at different stages have different requirements and Nifty caters to them. It offers 4 different packages that cover the requirements of all kinds of businesses easily. All rates are flat, so you won’t have to worry about paying a specific fee for every user.
- Starter ($49/month) – For small teams of up to 10 members. The package offers unlimited guest accounts and can run 40 projects at a time.
- Pro ($99/month) – A simple, but powerful choice for budding businesses. Can run unlimited projects at a time and supports up to 20 members.
- Business ($149/month) – Perfect choice for established businesses and teams looking for growth opportunities. This package allows up to 50 members and offers a storage space of 1 TB.
- Enterprise ($499/month) – A comprehensive choice for the most advanced teams. Enjoy all of Nifty’s solutions and add unlimited members to your team without any additional charges.
Asana
Great Features, and an Even Better Free Plan
More details about Asana:
- Pricing: Free, or $10.99 per user per month for the Premium plan
- Website: asana.com
Pros:
- Great free plan
- Colorful interface
- Great advanced features
Cons:
- Pricey
Our second pick is Asana, and for two reasons. On the one hand, it’s the best free project management software out there, allowing up to 15 people to use a good chunk of its features without spending a penny. On the other, it has some amazing advanced features, making it a good pick for small companies that aspire to future growth.
The free plan is likely the biggest draw, as it’s just that good. Users get most of the features found in the Premium plan, but with a cap at the aforementioned 15 users and 1,000 tasks. Some smart planning can keep you under that limit, easy. We go into more detail in our article on Asana pricing, but do note that the free plan includes unlimited storage, which is generous.
Using Asana is pretty easy. It works much like monday.com in that you use the list to enter tasks and then sort them through different views. We like monday.com’s interface a smidge better, but that’s likely down to taste. What sets Asana apart aren’t its run-of-the mill features (read our Asana review for more on these), but rather its advanced ones.
Advanced Business Plans & Features
The Business and Enterprise plans include a number of really cool functions for larger companies, like setting milestones and plotting timelines. Though they’re likely not on the top of a small business’ list, it makes Asana an interesting option for a company planning for growth.
That said, these advanced plans are pretty pricey and, truth be told, so is the Premium plan, which is the upgrade from the free plan. With Asana, it seems you either pay nothing or a lot. Still, it’s good value for the money, and we recommend either giving the free version a spin or trying out one of the paid plans with a 30-day free trial.
Conclusion:
If you’re a beginner and looking for software for project managers to help you with the basics of managing a project, then this guide is for you. Before, I had never done any project management myself. Let me rephrase that: I had no idea what it entails to be a project manager. However, as my work responsibilities changed, I felt forced into learning it after having to handle small projects at work.