While setting up your small business, it’s easy to remember to line up the best CRM software for your business or even the best Salesforce alternatives. Another valuable consideration is to pick up the best project management software so that you can keep track of everything going on with your plans, whether you’re working solo or as part of a team. To help you find the right project management software for your needs, we’ve picked out the very best below. Each will help you coordinate your efforts more effectively.
Monday
- Super Customozable
- Completely Zero-Code
- Smooth, Intuitive User Interface
Monday wants to be a one-stop solution for many of your work requirements, meaning besides extensive project management facilities, it also has a sales CRM side of things too if you need to expand. The work management side of things means that you can always see what’s going on at a glance. At all times, you can dip into the project planning side of things and check the timeline on each person’s assigned task so you can see how much longer something will take, as well as if the plan is dependent on another person’s work.
Alongside that, it’s possible to streamline business workflows so you can see how much is being spent, track multiple client projects, as well as simply add more tasks as needed. Effectively, Monday can be as complex or as simple as you need it to be, so it’s simple to adapt to your plans. Monday starts from $24 per month for three users with the plan scaling accordingly depending on how big your business is.
Wrike
- Free for 5 Users
- Interactive Reports
- Pinnable To-Do/Contact Lists
Wrike is another service that’s keen to be an all-in-one solution. It has extensive app integrations as well so you can easily turn a Slack chat into a task or project, or you can integrate data from Salesforce. In terms of project management, Wrike makes it simple to set up a workflow that works well for you and your brain, while also enabling you to set up automations to save you from repeating certain tasks all the time.
It’s possible to set up rules, triggers, and auto-approvals, while you can use customizable templates to further extend what’s done automatically. Wrike is smart so it provides RAID logs which give you insight into any potential risks or delays, while you can also always monitor resources from financial ones to time constraints. A free plan is available. Alternatively, plans start from $10 per user per month.
Quickbase
- Run Complex Projects
- Orchestrate Multi-Step Processes
- Detailed Reporting & Automation
Best suited for larger businesses due to its pricier plans, Quickbase is highly professional-looking project management software. Once set up, you can always check out project progress and tasks in real time with graphs and stats helping you see what’s going on. Alongside that, you can match resources to projects based on the skills of your team and availability, while you can always generate personalized reports and dashboards to monitor performance.
Additionally, it’s a place to store all your project documents as well as track expenses incurred through the project. There are extensive native integrations while you can create custom solutions through the builder application built-in to Quickbase. Automations can be placed through a drag-and-drop interface too. After the 30 day free trial, expect to pay $35 per user per month with a minimum of 20 users required.
Smartsheet
- Highly Scalable
- Powerful Integrations
- Huge Template LIbrary
Smartsheet offers a simple to figure out interface for project management. At a glance, you can easily see what’s going on with a lineup of your whole team along with insight into what they’re doing, from what region and how far they’ve progressed. There are plenty of integrations with popular apps like Zoom, Slack, Microsoft Teams, and many others.
With each project, you can break things down by task before switching between different views. It’s also possible to check out heat maps to see how things are going while you can also manage budgets to ensure that costs don’t get out of control. It’s possible to use Smartsheet for free for one user with the price rising to $7 per month per user for up to 10 users.
FreshBooks
- Easy to Use
- Track Profitability
- Invite Clients/Contractors
FreshBooks might seem like it’s focused on being great accounting software but it’s also excellent for project management. Designed with small businesses in mind, FreshBooks offers plenty of useful tools. That includes a web-based centralized place for file storage, along with easy collaboration tools. It’s also possible to track how profitable a project is likely to be while you can assign costs and billable rates or hours to specific projects.
At all times, it’s simple to check progress and track it, as well as manage team labor. There’s a focus here on the financial side of project management but FreshBooks is still a good option for many small firms. It’s more affordable than most too with deals often available and making things fairly flexible for your needs, so you don’t pay for services you don’t require.
Zoho
- Fully Customizable
- Workflow Automation
- Comprehensive Solution
A hugely popular name in the CRM world, Zoho is also great for project management. It’s colorful and simple to figure out while being complex under the surface as and when needed. At all times, you can take a glance at the status report to see how things are progressing while each team member can keep on top of their individual progress and easily get in touch via the built-in chat to report back.
Gantt charts are the order of the day here but you can also automate many tasks and customize projects to your needs. There are plenty of app integrations while you can also monitor timesheets and invoicing through this form of project management. Zoho is free for up to three users with further plans costing from $4 per month per user. A 10-day free trial gives you time to see if it’s the right fit for you.
