What are the best project management tools?

The project management tools space is highly competitive, and there are a plethora of options on the market for startups and any organisation size. I've had deep experience with all of the platforms that I've talked about in this post. Key factors for me is great UX, value for the monthly investment, team/role management and available integrations and these are my top 5 recommendations: Notion, Asana, Airtable, Trello and Clickup. Each of these platforms also have a free-tier plan. Perfect for testing and deciding which is best for you and your team.

What is the easiest project management tool?

It comes down to what you define as 'easiest', but for me the project management tools that are minimalistic in nature in terms of features and have a great UX, are Notion and Trello. Notion has a lot of flexibility and templates available for you to quickly build kanban boards, calendars, tables and more. Trello is the other easy option that focuses on the kanban view. Simple to create 'cards', and create to-do/task columns. Both have awesome mobile apps as well to view what's happening on the go.

What should you consider when looking for a project management tool?

For me personally, it comes down to testing all the tools I've listed. Each have a free-tier so it's essentially risk-free to try. Every startup or eCommerce company I've worked with normally chooses tools based on preference and whether or not other members can pick it up. I think the key things you need to look out for and top features are: Templates - do they have good examples? Inviting team members - what's the cost of every team member? Integrations - can you sync tools together for automation, communications and other custom purposes? Notifications - do they have email or desktop notifications? Even better, Slack integration? Roles/permissions - do you have the choice to choose who views what projects and not? This is my preliminary list. I do consider other factors, but factors above I get companies to think about.

11 Best Project Management Tools to Run & Scale Your Startup (2024)

Favourite

Notion

About:

One of my favourite tools I use everyday for both work and personal use is Notion.

Top Features:

With Notion, there are numerous use cases such as setting up project planning, kanban boards, social content calendars, OKR's, meeting notes hub and loads more.

I use this platform for each of these use cases for work, side projects and client work, but also use it for personal use such as personal budget tracking, personal CRM, content planning and more. You can access anywhere across desktop and the mobile app is awesome.

They have a huge template library available, to help inspire you and kickoff using the tool. There's inspiration from the likes of top tech startups and personnel.

Projects

Organisation

Templates

Pricing:

You can signup and use them platform for free which is really cool. Then plans start from $5 per month for individuals and $10 per month, per user for teams.

Web/App

Freemium

$-$$

Learn more

Favourite

Asana

About:

Another personal favourite tool working with clients and tech startups I've worked with is Asana.

Top Features:

From setting up lists of tasks, project plans using timelines, kanban boards and more, this is a platform made for teams for scaling.

The power of Asana is setting up rules, automations as well as integrations to improve task management, workflows, task delegation, updates on tasks and of course completing tasks and projects.

If you've never used the platform before, there are templates you can choose from to help you get started. Additionally, the reporting feature is really good, helping uncover insights for task progession, prioritisation and more.

Timelines

Integrations

Forms

Pricing:

There's a freemium version for anyone to sign up and have unlimited projects and tasks, which is great value for small teams. However, to get the most of the platform, you need to upgrade for more features, which starts at $10.99 per month, per user.

Web/App

Freemium

$-$$$

Learn more

Favourite

Airtable

About:

A tool I've absolutely loved using for personal use and client work is Airtable. It's like excel and Google Sheets on steroids.

Top Features:

The possibilities with Airtable is extensive, from creating content pipelines, managing projects, timelines, social media assets and so, so much more.

Customise as you would with Google Sheets, but with more ways to view, analyse and automate workflows. A key feature as mentioned which you can't get/do easily with sheets or excel is different ways to view your data and content. Turn listed data into Gantt Charts, Kanban boards, calendars, grid views, gallery view and more.

Automation of workflows is the other core feature that makes this platform amazing. With minimal code, drag-and-drop interface building, Zapier-like automation logic building, as well as integrations, there's so much you can do. You can even build no code applications and use Airtable as a database. You could run a multi-million SaaS business with this tool being the core of the operation.

Database

Customisation

marketplace

Pricing:

You can signup for the free plan, where you can create unlimited bases. Awesome value already just on the free plan. To have more records in the database, storage and more automation + integrations, you will need to upgrade. Paid plans start from $10 per user, per month.

Web/App

Freemium

$-$$$

Learn more

Favourite

Clickup

About:

I've used Clickup recently and have to say this is a really nice, feature-rich project management tool.

Top Features:

Whilst I do say it's for project management, that's just one of the use cases. But, you can use Clickup for so many things such as using it for Sales/CRM, marketing, development and more. Definitely check out all the use cases and features for each on the site.

This platform I have to say is next-level when it comes to viewing and setting up projects. You can setup checklusts, mind maps, goal tracking, wikis, kanban view, lists view, timelines and more.

Key features also include automation/rules, goal tracking, setting up dependencies for tasks and projects, templates and more. Also plenty of integrations for workflows.

Chat

Goals

Time Tracking

Pricing:

The free plan is pretty amazing which has great features for single users. Pricing for small teams starts from $9 per month, per user. Larger plans for businesses and enterprises are available.

Web/App

Freemium

$-$$$

Learn more

Favourite

Trello

About:

If you've been in tech or startups for a period of time now, no doubt you've either heard or used Trello.

Top Features:

Trello is one of the original project management tools for teams, as well as entrepreneurs around the world. The core functionality and feature that users love is the drag-and-drop Kanban board. It's super easy to create lists, cards and move those cards around depending on the stages of your projects.

However, the platform has come a long way since I first started using it over 10 years ago. Like some of the other PM tools, you can view and create timelines, calendars, see stats of your activities and much more.

To really take things up a notch with your productivity and management of projects/tasks, you can use automation and rules. You can setup automation for cards being moved based on certain completed tasks, schedule tasks for teammates and lots more. There are also lots of integrations available.

Cards

Kanban

boards

Pricing:

One of my favourite things about Trello (and why it's so popular) is that the free version is pretty awesome. Really great for solopreneurs as well as small teams. However, the paid plans are really worth it, especially for growing teams. Paid plans start at $5 per month, per user.

Web/App

Freemium

$-$$$

Learn more

Favourite

Monday

About:

There's a good chance you've seen the ads of Monday across pretty much every platform. Not only do they have a strong marketing game, they also have nailed the game when it comes to project management and productivity.

Top Features:

Signing up is fast and just takes minutes setting up a project, whether that be for bug tracking, marketing campaigns, product roadmaps, customer research and much more.

There are over 200 templates available to help you get started. The drag-and-drop builder makes it easy to customise boards, lists and workflows. There's also over 30 column types you can choose from.

The real benefits come through automation, reducing mundane tasks as well as powering more efficient workflows, so you and your team can focus more on what matters. Addtionally, Monday has a really good mobile app, meaning you can access your key projects anywhere at anytime.

Workflows

apps

great UI

Pricing:

There's a freemium plan for up to 2 users, which includes unlimited boards, docs and even access to the templates. Then pricing begins at $8 per seat, per month for more users, storage and other key features.

Web/App

Freemium

$-$$$

Learn more

Favourite

ProofHub

About:

Another popular platform used by over 80k organisations and startups around the world is Proofhub.

Top Features:

Collaborate on projects through discussions and chats with your team, organise priortities and key tasks, use gantt charts to view timelines and deadlines of projects and loads more.

A really nice feature that this platform has is time tracking software, which means users can time tasks their working on. Great for understanding how long certain tasks take that are part of internal or even client projects (great for agencies).

Analyse detailed reports of how projects are being completed, how long their taking, see visually how many projects are top priority, see time tracked/billed and more.

Chat

Files/docs

Calendars

Pricing:

ProofHub allows within both of their plans to have unlimited users, which is great value for startups. Just flat, simple pricing. The essential plan is $50 per month, billed monthly. Then the 'Unlimited Control' plan is $99 per month, billed monthly. Awesome features and storage for this plan.

Web/App

Paid

$-$$

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Favourite

Forecast app

About:

This is an impressive project management platform I came across recently that encompasses AI and business intelligence features.

Top Features:

Create plans and tasks fast, and see in the future thanks to AI how long tasks are projected in terms of time. You will also get suggestions of who the best team members are for tasks you create. Pretty cool if you ask me!

View task timelines, kanban board views as well as lists. Go deeper into task items and users to see key metrics and info on efficiency of tasks. The AI learns from history and suggests projected times helping you make better decisions around resources.

The amazing feature which really takes the cake for me is the analytics suite. Get a granular and holisitic views of projects, team members, deadlines and targets and so much more. This helps you see which tasks/projects are profitable, make decisions on resource management fast based on real-time data, and project where things are heading, ensuring your 2 steps ahead.

Forecasting

Discover insights

Pricing:

Pricing begins at $29 per month, billed annually for each user. The lite plan requires a minimum of 10 seats. There are also pro and plus plans available.

Web/App

Paid

$-$$$$

Learn more

Favourite

Teamgantt

About:

If you're looking for software that focuses and does a great job with Gantt charts, then you need to check out Teamgantt.

Top Features:

Creating gantts can take a long time and can be limited without great software, especially if you build them in Excel or Google Sheets. With Teamgantt, you can get gantts created in minutes thanks to the drag-and-drop builder.

Within the one interface as part of your project, view your gantts and dive into details such as workloads of team members, deadlines, calendar views and more.

Other awesome features include time tracking, real-time progress of tasks, sticky notes, file storage and more. There are also numerous templates you can get started with.

Timelines

Kanban

Drag-and-drop

Pricing:

There's a free plan for up to 3 users, then plans start at $24.95 per month for 1 user and unlimited guests.

Web/App

Freemium

$-$$$$

Learn more

Favourite

Hive

About:

A great software solution to consider for your project management requirements is Hive.

Top Features:

Packed with features, you can setup unlimited projects and tasks, view various formats of your projects, as well as time tracking.

Integrate Slack for improved communication workflows, as well as use the in-app instant chat called Hive Chat. There's also a feature called Hive Mail, a shared mail experience for communicating with your team. Pretty awesome.

Go futher and automate key processes and workflows, including tenmplates, task assignments, task progress statuses and more. There are also many integrations available with your favourite tools.

Multi-views

Automation

feature-rich

Pricing:

There's a free solo plan for up to 2 users. For more features and users, you will need to upgrade to the teams plan, starting at $16 per user, per month. An enterprise plan is also an option for larger organisations.

Web/App

Freemium

$-$$$$

Learn more

Favourite

Teamwork

About:

Teamwork is a project management (PM) tool that is actually made for those who run client-relationship businesses, whether it be an agency/consultancy, freelancing, or some sort of professional services. I tried it out recently and I can say I'm super impressed by what Teamwork as a platform can do (especially for consultants like me).

Top Features:

It's got a lot of amazing features which are useful for those running a firm/independent-based business, incl. the likes of team/budget views, timelines, reports, and lots more.

I'm a big fan of the UX (and UI looks really awesome too). You can collab/share workspaces with clients all within the Teamwork platform, so the design and UX no doubt will impress clients (and other freelancers/contractors you may work with).

Also, there are some great automation triggers available for tasks/workflows, plus super helpful templates to quickly spin up key spaces for yourself, and clients.

Real-time collaboration

Integrations

Templates

Pricing:

They have some awesome paid plans depending on what specific features, customisation, and members you need. Really good affordable plans compared to other PM platforms. As you can kickstart with the $0 plan, and upgrade when you've given it a good test run.

Web/App

Freemium

$-$$$

Learn more

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11 Best Project Management Tools I've loved using across startups (2024)

Notion

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Asana

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Airtable

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Clickup

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Trello

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Monday

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ProofHub

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Forecast app

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Teamgantt

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Hive

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Teamwork

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Platform

Pricing

Plans

⚡ Frequently Asked Questions ⚡

What are the best project management tools?

What is the easiest project management tool?

What should you consider when looking for a project management tool?