Best Project Management Software: Find Out Which One Suits Your Business

Project management software platforms have been used by millions of businesses to plan and deliver projects for years now. In 2024, however, they’re frequently used as central, digital hubs where tasks, documents, and data can be stored – and meaningful decisions are made.

After testing a range of project management tools, we awarded monday.com the highest score overall. It makes advanced features like its automation builder incredibly easy to use, and has a clean, uncluttered interface – so it’s perfect for beginners and less tech-savvy teams.

However, monday.com isn’t the cheapest, and if you’re one of many businesses that just don’t have much leftover budget for more software, a provider like Teamwork or Jira might be a better fit.

To find the best project management software platform for your business, take a look at our shortlist below, and for more information, simply scroll down to the review sections contained within this article.

The Best Project Management Software: Quick Answers

Best Project Management Software Reviewed

Every year at Tech.co, we test the top project management software tools on the market, putting them through their paces with our custom testing criteria built around the needs of small and medium-sized businesses.

We’ve looked at the interface, infrastructure, standout features, user experience, pricing and plan tiers, and more to determine the strengths and weaknesses of each tool.

This year, we narrowed our pool down to 10 providers that all provide general-use software that’ll suit the vast majority of businesses. Here’s our full list of the best project management software for 2024:

1. monday.com – Best overall, easiest to use
2. Teamwork– Best for building automations and great value
3. Asana – Best for displaying project data and tracking budgets
4. ClickUp – Best for task management
5. Wrike – Best for integrations, great for large businesses
6. Trello – Great for customer support
7. Smartsheet – Great customer support & security options
8. Jira – Best value for money
9. Zoho Projects – Great value, cheapest first paid plan available
10. Basecamp – Good for basic task tracking and collaboration

Below, you can also find:

• What Is Project Management Software?
• Methodology: How We Test Project Management Tools
• How to Choose Project Management Software for Your Business

Note: All the images used in this article were taken during Tech.co’s project management user testing series. For more information on how we test project management tools, as well as other products, visit our product research page.

1. monday.com – Best Overall, Easiest to Use

Pricing from: $9 per user, per month

Perhaps the most famous name on the list, monday.com provides a flexible project management tool that’s incredibly easy to get to grips with thanks to a drag-and-drop functionality, editable columns, and a simple, board-based default layout.

In fact, monday.com scored 4.2/5 for functionality on our last round of testing, meaning it was only narrowly beaten in this category by last year’s top-rated tool ClickUp. However, the service is so easy to use and has such excellent customer support options that it overtakes ClickUp, our top-rated provider last year, as our best project management software tool for 2024.

monday.com key features and user experience

monday.com’s simple, modern interface makes it a much easier-to-use software tool than many of its competitors – some of our testing team found both Jira and ClickUp a little overwhelming compared to monday.com due to their raft of features.

“I think the user experience is very intuitive. I just guessed where I thought things would be and they ended up being there, which was great.” – Stephanie Lennox, Tech.co ease of use testing participant.

You’ll be able to master monday.com quickly, even if you’re an inexperienced beginner – you’ll be able to get your whole team on board without too much trouble. If you do need some help though, monday.com offers live chat and email support across all tiers, as well as live chat support.

When I was using monday.com, I found that the information in my main table wasn’t automatically saved in the Gantt chart view when I switched between them. This was because I hadn’t selected the information I wanted to include in my Gantt chart, so I used this as an opportunity to test the software’s live chat function and ask for help.

Impressively, monday.com’s support team sent me a video recording showing me where I was going wrong, shortly after I reported I was having difficulties. It took just minutes to resolve the issue.

There are some downsides though. You might miss some third-party integrations – Wrike and Asana both have a larger library of apps that they connect to. What’s more, you’ll need at least the Standard plan to integrate with any software at all.

But you’re less likely to need to call on the functions and features of other software simply because monday.com’s software has so much of the stuff that businesses need to carry out projects successfully.

The Kanban board view in monday.com makes it easy to view and move tasks. Image: Tech.co’s testing process

Who is monday.com for?

With five pricing plans, monday.com can easily accommodate businesses of all sizes, but we’d recommend it most to small and medium-sized teams where not everyone is necessarily the most tech savvy.

monday.com will also be a top option if your business simply can’t afford any downtime – troubleshooting issues and making contact with customer service is really quick, so the turnaround time after technical issues is never very long.

For instance, if you work in a small marketing agency that juggles a number of clients, monday.com is a great option. It’s easy to navigate interface will ensure that none of your client work gets lost, and any potential technical issues will be resolved quickly, so you can keep your clients happy.

However, larger businesses that need more tools for task and project management might be better off looking into Teamwork, which excels in terms of functionality.

monday.com pricing

There are five tiers of monday.com pricing plans: Individual (which is free), Basic, Standard, Pro, and Enterprise. Here’s a little more detail on what you get on each of the provider’s plans:

Check out our monday.com review to see the full results of our testing and learn more about its features.

2. Teamwork – Best for Building Automation, and Great Value

Pricing from: $10.99 per user, per month

Teamwork offers a great service and, like monday.com, is particularly strong when it comes to ease of use and security, with two-factor authentication available on all plans aside from its free plan.

Teamwork scores an impressive 4.4/5 for pricing, since it has plans that can compete with the likes of Wrike, Smartsheet and Asana.

Teamwork’s range of easily accessible tools helps it score fairly highly for task management (4.3/5) and workflow creation (4.2/5). Automation and a time-tracking function are now available – two features that weren’t provided when we first tested the software way back in 2021.

Teamwork key features and user experience

Managing complex tasks is where you’ll find Teamwork particularly useful, regardless of the plan you choose. Task dependencies and sub-tasks are available on plans and will bring some clarity to the most complicated tasks present in your project, while Gantt charts, calendars, and Kanban boards can be used to track project progress.

I (along with others in our testing group) was really impressed by how easy it was to access different features and views in Teamwork. It’s very intuitive, at least compared to a program like Jira. This led to its ease of use score improvement; it felt like there was a button for pretty much anything.

During testing, we found managing budgets – which can be assigned to projects on all plans and to individual tasks on the higher tiers – much easier with Teamwork than some competitors, many of which seemed to make adding budgets strangely hard. What’s more, Teamwork also integrates with finance platforms like Quickbooks, Freshbooks, Blinksale, and Harvest.

In 2024, Teamwork now offers some sort of automation capability on all of its plans, including its free plan. There’s a total of 10 categories of automation overall. Personally, I love the automation builder. There were so many good examples for inspiration, but actually just building one yourself by following the instructions, which is what I ended up doing, was pretty straightforward.

Users can quickly add team members within Teamwork, using the invitation form. Image: Tech.co’s testing process

Who is Teamwork for?

Teamwork is a great platform that provides a surprising number of features on its free and first paid plan, so will be an excellent option for small businesses that don’t have a big software budget.

Teamwork is a great all-around pick for “traditional” project management. While we’d suggest looking elsewhere for really data-intensive or highly complex projects involving multiple teams, Teamwork will be more than sufficient for most, small-to-medium scale projects run by small teams that just want to get organized.

Groups that extensively deal with client work, including sales teams, will relish the built-in billing and invoicing features. However, it can be tricky to navigate, which might overwhelm users who are not familiar with project management tools, such as an inexperienced sole trader.

Teamwork pricing

Teamwork has a free tier available, though it caps teams at five users, 100MB of file storage, and two active projects at a time. However, it does have a wide range of tools for a plan that won’t cost you a cent, including a Gantt Chart and Kanban board. Here how all of Teamwork’s plans compare:

3. Asana – Best for Displaying Project Data

Pricing from: $10.99 per user, per month

Asana is easy to navigate and includes some great features, such as customizable task fields, task dependencies, and a timeline view. This helped the provider achieve an overall score of 4.5/5, the same score that it achieved during our 2022 testing series.

Like Teamwork, our testing group was particularly impressed by how easy and useful Asana’s automation builder was – a stark contrast to ClickUp’s, which we found a little clunky.

However, Asana is by no means the cheapest platform on the market. Expensive plans mean that it only achieved a 3.7/5 for pricing, behind ClickUp, monday.com, Zoho Projects, and Jira.

Asana key features and user experience

Asana offers great data visualization functions – although it’s important to note that data tools and the automation feature are only available on the provider’s paid plans.

It also has a strong app marketplace for integrations, scoring 4.8/5 in this assessment area, since it offers over 400 apps, covering topics like reporting integrations, finance apps, communications tools, and much more.

When we tested Asana several years ago, we found it was lacking in some instances – we struggled with some aspects of budget tracking, for example. But now, you can track budgets for individual tasks on all plans, which Teamwork will only let you do on its priciest plans.

Although Asana is easy to use, it doesn’t deploy a minimalistic design like monday.com does.

“It kind of felt a little bit cramped to me because there’s a lot of data in there. I didn’t have that much space to scroll” – Ollie Simpson, one of Tech.co’s software researchers.

The List view in Asana includes “To Do,” “Doing,” and “Done” sections. Image: Tech.co’s testing process

Who is Asana for?

Asana’s excellent dashboard view will make it an attractive option for any team that’s working on a data-intensive project but also appreciates a clean, intuitive interface and reasonably straightforward automation features.

The wide range of integrations, on the other hand, will be perfect if you’re already wedded to other software and need an app that will slip seamlessly into your software stack.

It’s powerful enough to be suitable for teams of all shapes and sizes – and its portfolio view makes it an excellent option if you’re part of multiple teams managing concurrent projects. It is pricey, however.

Asana pricing

Asana Personal (formerly Asana Basic) is now Asana’s no-fee plan, although as mentioned above, it lacks several important features such as data visualization tools. Here’s a quick table showing how Asana’s plans differ:

See our full Asana Pricing guide for more information.

4. ClickUp – Best for Task Management and Collaboration

Pricing from: $7 per user, per month

ClickUp sees its platform as being far more than a task management dashboard. The company is leaning into the concept of a “Work OS“, which lets all employees organize their work around a central point rather than use multiple apps fulfilling specific, narrower functions.

This means ClickUp is packed full of features (more on this below). ClickUp is our fourth-best-rated project management software tool, finishing with an overall score of 4.5/5 (tying with Asana) after our most recent testing series.

ClickUp key features and user experience

ClickUp’s interface hierarchy starts with teams, and includes spaces, projects, lists, and finally, tasks. You’ll find this structure keeps different projects siloed from each other, reducing confusion while staying flexible enough to work in a range of different contexts.

I found ClickUp’s setup options really clear, and during testing, this meant I got going quite quickly compared to competitors like Smartsheet.

ClickUp has more features on offer than any provider on this list – even monday.com – scoring a test-high of 4.6/5 for overall functionality.

It excelled when it came to task management and has everything you’ll need to track the progress of both your projects and the tasks within it. Task dependencies can be used to ensure your project’s critical path is preserved, and sub-tasks are a great way of distinguishing between smaller tasks existing within larger ones.

ClickUp’s Template Center – which includes a vast range of templates for different industries and businesses – makes it a standout service for workflow creation.

The provider is also great for collaboration, as it provides an advanced online whiteboard and a useful document editing function. There’s even an AI assistant which costs $7 per month per user, and it’s available on all of ClickUp’s paid plans.

ClickUp also offers good data visualization tools, with a chart builder included on all plans. The service proved capable of handling the demands of complex projects during testing.

However, some members of our testing group experienced long loading times and screen freezes, while others thought the interface was a little noisy – meaning it only achieved 3.9/5 for ease of use. This is slightly down from the 4/5 it earned during our 2022 testing.

Users can craft custom automations in ClickUp with a drag-and-drop builder. Image: Tech.co’s testing process

Who is ClickUp for?

ClickUp is the most feature-rich program we’ve tested and will be a good fit for any team that wants an app or platform to centralize all of their day-to-day operations around.

It’s got loads of useful, native collaboration tools and a myriad of project views, which means you’ll rarely have to leave the app once you’ve set it up. It’s a great solution for project managers that oversee large, multidisciplinary teams, such as a senior product manager.

However, due to many of the reasons mentioned above, we wouldn’t recommend ClickUp to absolute beginners in the same way we’d recommend a platform like monday.com. There’s a slightly steeper learning curve that comes with getting to grips with the raft of features on offer.

ClickUp pricing

All in all, ClickUp scores 4.4/5 for pricing, not far off our best value provider, Jira. When we tested ClickUp’s paid plans, it scored particularly highly when it came to task management, customer support, workflow creation, and data visualization.

Read our full ClickUp Pricing Guide for more information.

5. Wrike – Best for Integrations, Great for Large Businesses

Pricing from: $10 per user, per month

Wrike scores 4.4/5 overall, bolstered by an impressive 4.9/5 score for integrations, higher than any other project management tool we’ve tested. If you’re wedded to the apps you currently use, you’re more likely to find Wrike seamlessly fits into your existing tech stack than the likes of ClickUp, which only scores 3.4/5 for integration.

Large businesses in particular will enjoy the fact that Wrike integrates with big names like Tableau, Quickbooks, Teams, Zoom, Slack, RingCentral, Salesforce, HubSpot, Oracle, Xero, MailChimp, Sage, LinkedIn, and many more. Wrike also has two enterprise-focused plans to choose from, whereas most providers offer one.

Wrike key features and user experience

Features in Wrike’s plans include task dependencies, Gantt charts, customizable calendars, and a Document Editor that tracks edit histories. Plus, at higher-paying tiers, a time-tracking feature. This is perfect for managing the complex, multi-stage tasks usually present in projects being delivered by big teams or companies.

It might not be quite as versatile as some of the other software on this list, but it’s straightforward and won’t take you too long to get to grips with, even if your goals are complex. For example, Wrike users can use the spreadsheet-style view called a ‘Table’ to make project amendments easily. Users just have to update the spreadsheet and won’t need to dive into different menus to reallocate tasks or make timeframe changes.

In addition to being reasonably easy to use, Wrike scores particularly well for security (5/5), as it has single sign-on, two-factor authentication, and user permissions available on the Enterprise and Pinnacle plans. IP restriction is also included and can give businesses managing sensitive data peace of mind. Providers like ClickUp don’t offer this.

The Kanban board view in Wrike lets users quickly view all tasks associated with a project. Image: Tech.co’s testing process

Who is Wrike for?

Wrike is a great option for medium to large businesses. Like Asana, Wrike offers a huge range of integrations with other applications, so if you have multiple teams all running different apps, the transition to Wrike won’t nearly be as jarring as it would be with another provider.

Wrike’s high security standards also help to make it one of the most suitable options for businesses storing large quantities of customer data or a lot of employees on their roster. What’s more, if you are a large business, Wrike has two enterprise-grade plans to choose from, while other providers only offer one plan geared towards very large businesses.

On the other hand, if you’ve got one eye on your budget, you might be better off looking elsewhere. Wrike’s free plan is pretty limited compared to the likes of monday.com and Teamwork.

Wrike pricing

Wrike offers a great free tier, though it doesn’t include key features like budget management tools, custom fields, or task dependencies. It’s still a good option for businesses that don’t want to pay for project management software, but that ability to manage complex tasks is significantly quelled. Wrike’s paid plans, on the other hand, are pretty pricey:

Read our full Wrike pricing guide

6. Trello – Best for Customer Support

Pricing from: $5 per user, per month 

Trello offers a “category and task” approach, similar to the one Jira operates on. In fact, it was acquired by Jira’s parent company Atlassian in 2017 – but has been designed from the ground up for project management.

Trello scores 4.3/5 overall and is the best provider when it comes to customer support. Trello’s Enterprise plan, which costs just $17.50 per user, per month is cheaper than Asana, Wrike, and Smartsheet’s Business plans. On this plan, Trello offers phone, live chat, and 24/7 live support, helping it to a perfect 5/5 score for this category.

Trello key features and user experience

Each of the movable “cards” Trello uses to track tasks on its default Kanban board interface can be used to hold information, including the team members involved, subtasks, due dates, documentation, labels, and comments.

Trello is definitely one of the easiest-to-master project management software programs we’ve used – our research team found it to be better than Smartsheet, Jira, Zoho Projects, and ClickUp.

However, the out-of-the-box version of Trello doesn’t have nearly as many features as the likes of ClickUp or monday.com – which is part of the reason why it’s so easy to use. If you opt for Trello, you may have to rely on a catalogue of extensions called Power-Ups for some functions, which activate common project management functions like timelines and calendars.

The Kanban board view in Trello allows users to view helpful images. Image: Tech.co’s testing process

Who is Trello for?

As we’ve covered, Trello is one of the simpler providers on this list, so is only really suitable for basic, linear projects. This is why it’s generally better for small businesses, but larger businesses would still find the platform sufficient if they’re not expecting too much from it.

The software just isn’t equipped to deal with complex task management in the same way ClickUp and Wrike are, but if you’re just looking for an uncomplicated space to track tasks and updates and don’t want to spend much, Trello is a solid choice.

That being said, its excellent customer support options – particularly on the Enterprise plan – make it a great alternative to monday.com for businesses that prioritize this sort of thing.

Businesses looking for a bit more functionality would be minded to look at alternative providers, such as monday.com.

Trello pricing

Trello has a free tier, but when compared to ClickUp’s, it doesn’t come close. Overall, it’s quite limited and is only suitable for teams that don’t have any budget to spend on project management software, and just want a basic task management system. Trello also has paid plans available, although they’re quite basic too:

Read our full Trello review or our Trello vs Jira comparison

7. Smartsheet – Great Security and Customer Support Options

Pricing from: $9 per user, per month

You know how sooner or later, everything ends up in a spreadsheet anyway? Well, why not begin your project management with the best spreadsheet possible, instead?

Smartsheet lets you take Excel or Google Sheet-based tracking to the next level – it relies on a spreadsheet-like interface combined with a wealth of handy project management tools that are very easy to use.

Smartsheet key features and user experience

Smartsheet has a lot of advantages. For example, it scores above average for customer support (4.5/5), with onboarding assistance and 24/7 live support available as an add-on on both the Business and Enterprise tiers.

It also achieved a 4.4/5 score for security, as it offers a wide range of compliance certifications and two-factor authentication on its Enterprise plan.

Smartsheet is therefore one of the better options for larger businesses that can’t afford long periods of downtime and store a lot of sensitive data.

What’s more, the interface shares a few abilities with other services well-known to web natives, too. For example, users can be tagged in the comments with the same “@mentions” feature used by Twitter and Slack and can highlight essential bits of text just like in a Word or Google doc.

Smartsheet didn’t perform as well on our recent tests as it did in past ones, with its score decreasing from 4.6/5 to 4.2/5. This was largely because the learning curve was tough:

“It seems like you have to spend a lot of time actually setting up this platform for a team to then use. Other platforms are a bit more straight-out-the-box ready to go.” – James Macey, our lead researcher.

In terms of features, Smartsheet’s task management abilities were strong, thanks to custom fields on all paid plans and features like sub-tasks and task dependencies available to bring clarity to complex tasks. All in all, Smartsheet is a decent jack-of-all-trades generalist tool.

Pop-up panels make it simple to edit within Smartsheet’s spreadsheet view. Image: Tech.co’s testing process

Who is Smartsheet for?

If you’re already working in spreadsheets, Smartsheet’s familiar interface will make the transition to project management software the most smooth. The way the platform is structured makes it a good choice for data-heavy projects, and perhaps even a better choice than ClickUp for this kind of thing.

Smartsheet would suit medium-to-large businesses that need solid security and customer support options, as well as powerful reporting and analytics tools, rather than those that need a collaboration and creation platform.

It’s a bit more of an “advanced” platform than the likes of Trello, so we wouldn’t necessarily recommend it to beginners or teams that just need lightweight software to organize a few tasks.

Smartsheet pricing

Smartsheet’s pricing used to be much higher than the project management software standard, and its first plan used to be exclusively for individuals. They’ve now changed those pricing plans, however – and they’re much more accessible for businesses.

Read our guide to Smartsheet pricing for more information on specific plans.

8. Jira – Best for Value, Ideal for Tech and Dev Teams

Price from: $8.60 per user, per month

Initially developed by Atlassian as a tool for software development, Jira has become a popular general project management software service.

If your IT department already uses it to report bugs, upgrading the rest of your team to its project management services is tempting – but it’s not quite as well suited to industries beyond engineering, software development, and ticket-based work more generally.

Jira key features and user experience

The core Jira interface uses a category-based system: Users can easily drag and drop tasks into categories including “To Do,” “In Progress,” and “Done.” Jira also supports almost 2,000 third-party integrations, which help it address all the needs that its basic service can’t.

Jira, however, doesn’t provide the best experience possible for simple project management – for instance, it doesn’t provide a good experience when it comes to team collaboration, scoring just 2.1/5 since it has no online whiteboard, team instant messenger, or project message board.

Jira only scores 3.2/5 according to our ease-of-use testing framework – compared to the likes of monday.com, it performed poorly.

“I found setting up budgets really complex. I managed to do it but I had to really quite a lot of help articles and you have to set up a custom field. So I think even once you set up the budgets, they’re not even that really usable.” – James Macey, Tech.co’s head researcher.

I’ve used Jira in a previous role, so didn’t find it as difficult to get to grips with as some others in our testing group. If you’re a newbie, however, it’s a much steeper learning curve than the likes of Wrike and Teamwork. It’s not that Jira is a nightmare to use, it just hasn’t been completely optimized for the general user in the same way.

Jira’s Timeline view helps users picture each stage of a project across multiple months. Image: Tech.co’s testing process

Who is Jira for?

If you need basic project management software and you’re prepared to get your head around a bit of unusual jargon, Jira’s tech and software development focused software might just save you a lot of money. Plus, if your IT team is already using it, it’ll make creating tickets and fixing issues even easier.

Jira is particularly good for engineering and tech teams, with CI/CD integrations to give stakeholders complete visibility of the software development cycle, which can be complex and multifaceted. If you’re looking for something a bit more streamlined, Trello might be your best bet.

Jira pricing

All of Jira’s pricing plans can accommodate unlimited users and you can build an unlimited number of projects. This helped the provider score a test-high 4.8/5 for pricing. Here’s all of Jira’s plans:

See our full guide to Jira Pricing or compare plans to other providers.

9. Zoho Projects – Great Value, Good Security Features

Price from: $4 per user, per month

Zoho is a software giant, covering everything from CRM and accounting software to performance and project management software. It’s the latter we’re here to focus on, and if you’d like a more detailed review of the software package, check out our analysis of Zoho Projects features and pricing. Overall, we awarded Zoho a score of 4/5, and it did well when it came to managing tasks.

Zoho Projects key features and user experience

To get the very best out of Zoho Projects, you’ll need to step up to a paid plan. These paid plans include time-tracking, resource management, as well as robust automation builders. These automation builders allow for simple automations that can speed up basic processes, while also allowing for more complicated automated processes that can expedite complex workflows.

Zoho Projects actually scored extremely highly for pricing on our last round of testing (4.6/5), making it the second-best value-for-money provider out of all of the project management software we tested, aside from Jira.

In terms of integrations, Zoho Projects integrates with the rest of Zoho’s business suite. So if you’re already using other Zoho products, it’ll have an advantage. But this also means it doesn’t have quite the range of integrations with third-party software that Wrike does.

The Gantt Chart View in Zoho Projects helps users track daily progress toward their goals. Image: Tech.co’s testing process

Who is Zoho Projects for?

Like Jira, Zoho Projects is one of the better options for teams that don’t have much money to spend – Zoho Projects has a paid plan that retails at a cheaper price than any of the other providers on this list, and an even cheaper enterprise plan relative to the rest of the market.

If you’re a small business that simply needs a program with capable task management tools, automation, and a project message board and you can’t spend $10+ per person on an account each month, it’s worth downloading the free trial and seeing what it’s like.

Of course, Zoho Projects will also be a natural choice for any business that’s already using other applications built by Zoho. On the other hand, if you’re looking for a platform that offers a wide variety of third-party integrations, you’d be better off going with Wrike.

Zoho Projects pricing

Zoho Projects is one of our best value providers – its plans undercut pretty much all of the rest of the market, which makes up for the fact that its software is a little clunkier than the likes of monday.com.

Try Zoho Projects today or find out more about the best Zoho alternatives.

10. Basecamp – Good for Basic Task Tracking

Price from: $15 per user, per month

Basecamp rounds off our list and only scores 2.9/5 overall – a far cry from even Zoho Projects in 9th place, which scores 4/5. This is because Basecamp is set up quite differently than the likes of Asana, Wrike, and Teamwork – it’s more like a fancy to-do list and message with some extra features attached, rather than a fully-fledged project management solution.

Basecamp key features and user experience

Basecamp performed poorly across the board, scoring just 1.7/5 for overall functionality. Basic features found in almost all other project management programs aren’t included, such as Gantt charts and custom fields.

During testing, we didn’t find Basecamp particularly easy to use, scoring just 2.5/5. While Trello’s basic feature set made the app easy to navigate, Basecamp was so lacking in features that it made it difficult to carry out many of the things we wanted to.

Basecamp’s project dashboard lets users visit message boards, a To Do list, files, and more. Image: Tech.co’s Testing Process

“There’s no task dependencies or automation. The kanban board isn’t really that useful and you can’t use the same tasks that are on your to-do list.”” – Alice Martin, who participated in our project management user testing series.

All in all, Basecamp will suit businesses looking for a very rudimentary program to keep some notes about the tasks they’re completing, and somewhere to send reminders and messages. Teams managing even mildly complex projects will find Basecamp limiting and not fit for purpose.

Who is Basecamp for?

Basecamp is more like a to-do list and a message board with some additional features, rather than a full-blown project management software program. It’ll be great if you have a basic project and need a space to post updates, but beyond that, it’s going to be too basic for most projects taking place in 2024.

If you’re looking for a simple, no-fuss platform with a bit more going for it, Trello would be a great option.

Basecamp pricing

Basecamp only scores 2.8/5 for pricing. Its $299/month flat-rate plan will be useful for large teams of more than 30, as this works out as less than $10 per user, per month. However, as you can expect, teams this large may find Basecamp limiting.

For more information on what you’ll get in each plan, check out our Basecamp pricing guide.

Methodology: How We Test Project Management Tools

At Tech.co we don’t write about products and services without conducting thorough research, and hands-on testing where applicable. While this process can be time-consuming, it’s time well spent if it means we’re providing better, more useful information for your business.

Project management testing criteria

When it comes to project management software, we focus on five key criteria in our testing, based on the factors companies and project managers have told us are most important to their everyday usage. These five criteria are:

• Ease of Use: We assess how easy it is to set up a project, how clear the interface is, and how easy it is to navigate.
• Pricing: We look at all plan costs. Providers offering lots of features for lower costs will have better pricing scores than those that lock them away on higher-tier plans.
• Customer Support: We assess the ways you can contact your project management software provider if something goes wrong. Providers offering 24/7 live support, as well as phone-based support and onboarding assistance, get the best scores.
• Security: For this area, we assess the security options offered by each provider. This includes user-level security features like 2-factor authentication as well as more administrative security measures like user permissions and IP restriction that will be relevant to enterprises. Available compliance certificates are also reviewed.
• Integrations: Lastly, we assess the quantity – and the quality – of the applications each project management software provider integrates with. Some project management apps have entire libraries full of native integrations, such as Jira, whereas other programs rely less on their connectivity to other apps.
• Functionality: This part of our research involves assessing the full feature set that each product provides. We look at 4 function-based sub-categories as part of this, to arrive at an overall functionality score (more on this below).

Functionality analysis

• Task Management: Providers are awarded points for including features that are helpful for viewing task progress, like Gantt charts and Kanban boards, as well as features like sub-tasks and custom fields that allow for better intra-task organization. Generally, the more functional task management features are provided, the more complex tasks a project management tool can handle.
• Project & Workflow Creation: Providers are awarded points for including features that help users streamline workflows, such as automation builders. We assess the quality and quantity of preset project templates, as well as the capacity to create custom project templates.
• Data Visualization: Providers are awarded points for including data display options, such as charts and report widgets, as well as a dashboard to put them all on. Providers that offer more options on cheaper plans, as well as the capacity for customization, score more highly.
• Collaboration: Providers are awarded points based on the range and usability of their collaboration tools. Some providers offer team instant messengers for seamless communication, while the highest-quality solutions on the market now include online whiteboards for virtual brainstorms

It’s important to note that not all of these criteria hold equal weight in our testing methodology. This is best practice, and based on what businesses have told us is essential, compared to what’s simply “nice to have”. Because of their central importance to project management, how easy each tool is to use, how much it costs, and features for project & workflow creation and task management had more of an impact on the overall than other criteria.

What Is Project Management Software?

Project management software is a category of software programs designed to help businesses and individuals plan, organize, and deliver projects.

Project management software programs include features for tracking tasks and budgets, visualizing project data, communicating with teammates, and managing the workflows of those involved in the project. Robust reporting features, time-tracking, and resource management tools are also commonplace in 2024.

Project management software allows project managers to get a high-level overview of the progress of their project, as well as what everyone who’s taking part is working on. Most modern project management software tools also give users the opportunity to automate mundane or repetitive tasks, such as notifying team members when certain tasks are completed.

How To Choose Project Management Software for Your Business

Choosing a new software to install at your business can be daunting. The added costs, training, and the over-arching feeling of dreaded “change” is enough to induce sweat on the spot. Fortunately, we can help you make the right decision when it comes to project management software, to ensure a certain return on your investment and happier, more efficient staff.

Technology has seriously improved project management over the last few years, and many of the top options now are far quicker and easier to implement than you might expect, plus many can be customized to suit your own unique way of working.

Below, we’ll go over some criteria you should consider when it comes to choosing the right project management software for your business. Once you’ve chosen, you might want to take a glance at our general project management tips, too.

Company size

One of the easiest ways to narrow down your search for the right project management software is by the size of your company. Many tools cater to smaller businesses without a lot of team members, while others a tailor-made for enterprise-level organizations.

Small businesses

If you’re a small business looking for project management software, there are a few things you should definitely look out for before making a decision.

First off, you can likely avoid the more expensive plans and providers right out of the gate. Most of the pricier options are geared toward enterprise-level organizations that need robust analytics, vast customizability, and a whole lot of users. Small teams can typically get by with the free or entry-level plans, as long as you don’t require those advanced features for something specific.

Additionally, smaller teams should avoid some of the more complicated providers, like Jira, as they can be difficult to figure out due to the massive feature catalogues that you likely won’t even end up using. Stick to the easy-to-use options, like monday.com and ClickUp, so your whole team can enjoy improved productivity without learning a confusing new platform.

Mid-sized businesses

Finding the right project management software for mid-sized businesses is a bit more difficult than for small or large businesses because the needs can vary dramatically from company to company. Still, there are some guidelines to follow to make sure you end up with a solid platform for your business.

For project management software at a mid-sized business, it all comes down to what you want to use it for. If you just need a simple progress tracking platform, aim for ease of use, which you’ll find in ClickUp or Smartsheet. If you’re looking for more core features like collaboration and discussion, tools like monday.com, Asana, and Basecamp are a great fit. And finally, if you’re looking for a robust, analytics machine that can handle the unique requirements of your business, platforms like Teamwork, Jira, and Zoho will get you there.

Enterprise-level businesses

Not to be blunt, but enterprise-level businesses really do need project management software to keep track of everything going on. Fortunately, there are some options geared towards these larger businesses to help you monitor the wide range of metrics you likely want to keep track of.

For one, you’ll almost certainly be looking at the more expensive tiers, if not the enterprise-level solutions, provided by each platform. They typically allow for more users, more metrics, and more support, so you can be sure everyone is on the same page.

You’ll find enterprise-level solutions available through basically every provider on this list, but there are some that will truly improve your productivity. Jira and Wrike have features that will attract larger businesses, but other mid-tier solutions like monday.com and Asana offer enterprise plans that are great if you need the spaces for users but you don’t require all those advanced functions.

Budget

As with any decision in the business world, cost plays a pivotal role in which project management software will be a good fit. Obviously, measuring return on investment isn’t easy with this kind of software, but spending a lot versus spending a little can change what kind of platform you end up with and how well your team works together.

Small budget

If you don’t have a lot of room in the budget when it comes to adding new software, you’re in luck. As long as you don’t need robust analytics, advanced features, and a lot of users, many of these platforms offer free plans that can handle everything and then some.

If you’re looking for a bit more, entry-level plans are typically only a few dollars a month, and they offer great free trials that can let you test them out before you make a decision. monday.com, for instance, offers a great 14-day free trial of their easy-to-use platform to see if it fits your needs.

Big budget

If you’ve got a lot of flexibility in your budget for project management software, you’re all set. Project management software typically doesn’t cost too much compared to other business software, so it’ll be hard to go overboard when looking for the best fit.

That isn’t to say you should just throw money at the most expensive platform you can find. A big budget just means you get to focus on the important stuff, like user counts, feature sets, and support options, so you can get the perfect option for what you need.