Which Simple Project Management Software Is Right for You?

Thumbs up and thumbs down hand gesture

Good project management may be more art than science, balancing human needs, budgetary concerns, and the constraints of scheduling. However, the right tool can make the task a lot easier. 

The very best simple project management software is the simplest that also does everything you need it to. However, making simple but useful tools may be even more difficult than managing a project well. Find out how each of our choices measures up, and which is best for your needs.

Quick View

Software

Price

Features

Services and Support

Customization and Integrations

Mobile Friendly

Three levels of cost with different features, at $7.90, $14.90, and $29.90

Essentials level has basic PM tools, including project mapping, time tracking, and task management

Customer support and help implementing tools

A range of popular integrations and possible customizations

Free mobile app on iOS and Android

Basic tier is free, while more expensive tiers are $9.80 and $24.80

Free tier has unlimited users, task management, and collaboration tools, but limited tasks

A range of professional services. Also, support and training available

Free integration with Google, Microsoft, Slack, and more

Free mobile app for Android and iOS

Basic tier is free, Standard tier is $24.95 and Advanced is $29.95

Customizable Gantt chart, with some other options

Tutorials, classes, and guides available

No integrations and little customization

Android and iOS mobile apps

Free tier offers unlimited project boards and docs, but only two team members. Pay tiers cost less than average at $8, $10, and $16

Task management boards; varied methods for visualizing data; project templates

Guides, tutorials, and community support

Integrates with many common apps; create your own automatic functions

Free iOS and Android apps

Free plan limited to two users. One pay tier at $16 with optional add-ons or customizable tier

Full range of project management, time tracking, and scheduling tools

Limited support; Enterprise tier gets a dedicated team

Common integrations available, at an extra cost

Android and iOS apps

Unlimited projects with free version. Full function has a reasonable price at $12.50 or $22.50

Free tier doesn’t have some basic features, like no templates

Phone, chat, and email support

Popular integrations available, limited customization

Mobile apps for Android and iOS

Individual tier for $15 a month, Team tier for $8.90 per user, free trial available

Task managing, time tracking, and collaboration via Gantt charts

Personal account support

Limited integrations; API available to create your own

Mobile and iOS app free

Free version with unlimited tasks and members, Unlimited is $5, Business is $9 and Business Plus is $19

Task oriented project management app, time management, tracking, and more 

Standard online support at all but Enterprise tiers

Many native integrations, API available for custom integrations, limited API calls at some tiers

Android and iOS app

3 tiers at $10. $30, or $55 per person, per month; separate plans for on-premises options

Gantt chart scheduling, Agile or Waterfall project planning, closely integrated with Microsoft products

Part of Microsoft general support

Closely integrated with Microsoft tools, Automations require an additional subscription

No available mobile app; build your own w/Azure

Free tier, or $13.49 and $30.49 per user per month pay plans

Free tier allows you to manage tasks and progress; strong collaboration tools, unlimited tasks, and projects, up to 15 users

Standard support

Wide range of popular integrations

Android and iOS app available

Quick Verdict

Best Overall – Easy Project provides all the essential tools you’ll need to manage a successful, professional project. Whether you’re working on your own or with a whole company, you’ll find everything you need to get the job done efficiently.

The 10 Best Simple Project Management Software

We’ve reviewed some of the most popular project management solutions and best project management tools so you don’t have to.

Easy Project logo

Easy Project

4.4

$7.90, $14.90, or $29.90

Easy Project’s Essential tier is well named, as it is an affordable option for basic project management tools. It offers options for planning your project, including tools for breaking a project down into tasks, identifying critical path tasks, and creating baselines for assessing performance. 

Work management, tracking time, and personalized dashboards are also available. Additionally, Agile project management specific tools are also available in the Essential tier.

Higher tiers also include resource and financial management tools. Support is also included, as are a range of custom options.

  • Several different price points.
  • Enterprise solutions available.
  • A service team provides support and customization.
  • More expensive options add resource, finance, and customer resource management.
  • No free tier.
  • Helpful tools cost more.
Wrike logo

Wrike

4.6

Free, $9.80, or $24.80

The trend these days is for online, free project management software with added functions costing more. Wrike is a great example of this concept, with a limited, free tier for small projects, while professional tools add a small cost. Free project management apps can be integrated so you can use your Google or Microsoft accounts easily.

Its main selling point is the many project templates that can help you get a variety of projects started. You can make your own templates for your team members as well. Read our in-depth Wrike review to learn more about this software.

  • Free tier.
  • Many free integrations.
  • Agile project management tools.
  • Customizable templates.
  • Limited tasks for free tier.
  • Deployment services cost more.
TeamGantt logo

TeamGantt

2.8

Free, $24.95, or $29.95

Gantt charts have been used in business for about a century, which is a testament to their usefulness. They are designed to help monitor project progress and visualize which tasks are dependent on others. TeamGantt also adds task management options and collaboration tools. 

In some ways, this is a cheap project management software, as there is a free option. However, it’s only suited for small projects with only a few people. Professional and business tools come with a higher price tag.

  • Free plan for small projects.
  • Customizable Gantt charts.
  • Guides, templates, and classes to get the most out of it.
  • Calendar view and task lists alternatives to Gantt chart.
  • Pay tiers are more expensive.
  • No integrations.
  • Lacking customer support.
Monday logo

Monday

4.2

Free to $20

Monday may be the worst day of the workweek, but it’s far from the worst project management app. Whether it’s the best project management software with time tracking, automation, many charting options, and much more will depend on your budget. All of those and a few more features can only be found in the pay tiers.

You may need to spring for the subscription even if your project team is fairly small, as the free plan is limited to two users. However, the price is lower than some other options, so it may be a good choice. Read our complete monday.com review to learn more about this software.

  • Unlimited boards and docs on free tier.
  • Wide range of common integrations.
  • Customizable automizations.
  • Several ways to view info.
  • Pay tiers are less expensive than other options.
  • Free tier limited to two users.
Hive logo

Hive

3.4

Free to $16

Hive offers unlimited projects on the free plan, but only for two users, which is a common limitation. Its single pay tier offers a lot of useful functions. However, many extras come with an individual price tag of between $4 and $6. To get them included in the subscription price, you’ll have to go to Enterprise-level service.

It might be worth the cost, though, as that gets you a priority support team and a range of extra project management software tools, including a Kanban board and other Agile tools.

  • Free tier.
  • Pay tier with a la carte options to fit your budget.
  • Free trial for pay tier.
  • Able to request new features.
  • Limited users for free tier.
  • Pay an additional fee for some individual features.
Teamwork logo

Teamwork

3.3

Free, $12.50, $22.50

Similar in many ways to Monday, Teamwork allows users to assign tasks and track progress. Unlike other options, the free version doesn’t limit assigning tasks or users. It does have far less functionality overall, however. You’ll have to pay or find yourself lacking a critical project management tool.

Teamwork offers plenty of integration opportunities to ensure a seamless workflow, from Google Drive and MS Office to Slack and Dropbox. Plus features such as tracking time, budget management, file sharing, and status updates are beneficial to all project managers. 

  • Unlimited users and tasks at free tier.
  • Pay tiers are lower cost than competitors.
  • Common integrations available.
  • Free trial for paid tiers.
  • Critical tools only available at paid tier.
  • Limited templates, tasks, and integrations even with paid plans.
GanttPRO logo

GanttPro

4.0

$15 or $8.90/user for teams

While there is no free version, GanttPro may be a great option for individual projects. Unlike other options with limited free tiers or costly options better suited to running a business, this simple project management software offers all functions even at the basic level. 

Gantt charts are useful, but a project manager may need more. However, an offered API allows you to create your own integrations if you need added functions.

  • Individual tier has full functionality.
  • Customizable and multi-functional Gantt charts.
  • Common integrations.
  • API available to create your own integrations.
  • No free tier.
  • Functions heavily focused on Gantt charts.
Clickup logo

ClickUp

4.1

Free, $5, $9, $19

ClickUp is a great option if you like being able to track project progress at a glance, as it allows custom workflows. Other project management tools allow collaboration within each task, as well as tracking time spent. 

There are some significant absences on the free tier, including timesheets. You’ll also have to pay if you want to integrate with Google Calendar, Drive, or other products. 

On the other hand, if you don’t think ClickUp is a good project management tool, you can get a refund within 30 days. Other pros include features such as tracking time, management for resources, visual representations of workloads, and many sprint options. Read our in-depth ClickUp review to learn more about this software.

  • Unlimited tasks and members even on the free tier.
  • 30-day satisfaction guarantee.
  • Two-factor security on all tiers.
  • API for wide customization.
  • Some useful integrations not available on free tier.
  • Pay per ‘workspace’ or project.
Microsoft Project logo

Microsoft Project

2.2

From $10, $30, or $55

MS Project may not have the best free project management tools, as you’ll end up paying a fair amount no matter the plan you choose. However, Microsoft has been creating new project management tools for years, even being considered an influence on Agile methodologies. 

The price may be worth it for medium or larger businesses, while small businesses may not want to pay for such heavy-duty management software. Remote project management and communicating between team managers in different locations may also be a challenge and require additional costs.

  • Integrated with Microsoft products.
  • On-premises solutions for brick-and-mortar businesses.
  • Use Azure to create own functions.
  • Requires Microsoft 365 tools.
  • Power Automate for automated tasks.
  • Steep learning curve—not very simple.
Asana logo

Asana

4.0

Free, or $13.49 and $30.49

Asana may actually be one of the best free project management tools. It has a lot of the same functionality as other project management software, including task lists and collaborating with an entire team. It’s in the collaboration area it may shine, particularly when working with small groups.

Some of those functions require one of the paid plans, including the ability to build a new project management tool you may need. To learn more about this software, read our complete Asana review.

  • Free tier has lots of functionality.
  • One view to track several projects.
  • Easy collaboration—suited for Agile projects.
  • Some basic tools not available on the free tier.

Choosing the Right Simple Project Management Software

Finding a simple project management tool that also provides everything you need can be a challenge. Rather than there being a lack of options, however, there may be too many to choose from. 

Every project will have its own needs. Considering these basic project details may help clarify what precisely those needs are.

Scheduling and Task Management Tools

At the most basic level, project planning has two requirements: breaking down and assigning tasks; and scheduling their start and end dates. Any project management tool will therefore cover these basic needs.

However, real-world, complex projects can quickly become a rat’s nest of interdependent tasks. The ability to schedule recurring tasks automatically, or a critical path feature to identify important tasks, can help keep things straight.

Monitoring

Trying to track project progress can be a little like keeping a couple of dozen plates spinning. Even when every team member is doing their best, due dates and task assignments can require finessing. Additionally, time tracking and monitoring project data is a requirement for managing budgets and other logistics. 

User Interface

Though perhaps not often considered, one of the most important project management features can be controlling what everyone can see and do. There are several ways to manage that aspect, including project templates and permissions. For some projects, that sort of customization for the user interface can be key.

Team Collaboration Tools

A traditional approach to organizing a team’s tasks is often required to manage projects. However, modern methods of managing projects have focused ever more on collaborating with team members and away from top-down concepts of how to assign tasks. Any project organized along Agile concepts will need easy-to-use and effective collaboration features.

Integrations

New project management software can have a steep learning curve or there may be one app that would be perfect, if only it wasn’t lacking that one project management tool. Integrations allow you to move data easily back and forth between apps, allowing a smooth project management process. Many apps will even allow you to create your own integrations to fill unique needs.

Resource Management

Trying to manage projects’ resources can both be one of the most difficult and critical tasks. Juggling multiple projects makes it even more difficult. Without the right resources, however, project tasks don’t get completed. A simple project management tool should still have tools to track project budgets and more.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for Simple Project Management Software

Conclusion

Even simple project management tools may still be pretty complicated. Juggling requirements, while getting a group of people of any size to do what you need means balancing many factors. The software has to be at least that complex to keep up.

A great project management tool, however, manages to handle that complexity in an intuitive way. A better goal may be software that clarifies that complexity, offering ease of use that masquerades as simplicity.

ClickUp vs GanttPRO: Flexibility or Ease of Use?

feedback survey on business products

Project management apps are critical tools in modern business, automating or simplifying some of the most difficult aspects of getting things done. That doesn’t mean the apps themselves are simple, unfortunately. We compared ClickUp vs GanttPRO to find out which is best for you.

The flip-side of high-powered, omni-functional apps is often a bewildering array of functions that require an expert to use well. As we compare ClickUp and GanttPRO, we’ll see which has the features needed to manage your projects, and which is more trouble than it’s worth.

Quick Comparison: ClickUp vs GanttPRO

Key Features

Usability

3.5/5

3/5

Budget Management

4/5

3/5

Portfolio Management

3/5

4/5

Gantt Chart View

4/5

3.5/5

Collaboration

4/5

2/5

Time Tracking

5/5

3/5

Customer Support

3.5/5

2/5

Pricing

3/5

3/5

Overall Rating

4/5

3/5

ClickUp vs GanttPRO

Gantt charts are a great tool for managing projects, having been used for over a century. It’s such a useful project management tool that almost every project management software option includes some variation. However, does it offer everything you need to keep yourself organized?

To find out, we’ll compare GanttPRO to the less specialized ClickUp across eight different categories. By doing so, we’ll see how each can work for your business, whether you prefer traditional project planning methods or more collaborative agile project management.

Usability

There are a few different ways to judge usability, but we’re going to focus on basic ease of use. 

Both platforms have a learning curve to climb before you’ll get the most out of them. In fact, in user reviews of ClickUp, the learning curve was one of the most mentioned issues. However, that may be unavoidable, as even simple project management is quite complex. 

Ease of use comes to play in other areas as well. For example, integration with other popular apps is offered by both, as is an API to create your own integrations. However, ClickUp definitely comes out ahead, with a greater range of options easily accessed. 

GanttPRO does integrate with Slack for team communication and Google Drive to access the cloud version of documents. It also allows you to import and export projects in several popular formats including Excel and MS Project.

Budget Management

Every business needs to control its budget to be successful. That’s likely being handled by another piece of software. However, both ClickUp and GanttPRO can track critical budgetary information for companies regarding labor management, resource management, and more. We’ll also discuss another important aspect of budgeting, time management, a bit further down.

ClickUp allows users to define goals and track resources, tying both to associated tasks. You can also see the workload of your team or individual team members. Some of those options are only available at pricier tiers. ClickUp does support some additional integrations to make resource management easier.

GanttPRO has a few tools in this regard, as well. In addition to tracking workload and tasks, you can create and define resources to track and assign to projects. It’s also straightforward to create critical path dependencies, to better avoid costly delays.

Portfolio Management

In this case, your portfolio is all of the projects you have in development. Ideally, a project management software tool will track all of those at once, allowing you to see how using resources for one project may affect others.

The good news is that both ClickUp and GanttPRO can be used to support multiple projects. You can see a whole project in one place, then click over to look at the next. GanttPRO also makes it easy for businesses to monitor multiple projects at once by creating a project portfolio, something that’s a little more complicated with ClickUp.

On the other hand, ClickUp allows unlimited storage, unlimited projects, and unlimited members at a lower price. However, GanttPRO has one price for everything, while you’ll have to pay a bit more to get that with ClickUp. 

GanttPRO also gives you a ‘baseline’ feature helpful in project maintenance, allowing you to compare the projected progress to actual progress. 

Gantt Chart View

You’d probably guess that when it comes to Gantt charts, GanttPRO has a bit of an edge. If you’re not familiar with them, they’re a popular tool for tracking project progress and identifying critical path dependencies, one which almost every project management app makes available. 

With GanttPRO, it’s the default view, so you create a Gantt chart just by setting up your project. You can also share the chart with just a link. In a GanttPRO vs ClickUp comparison, GanttPRO comes out ahead in ease-of-use. 

On the other hand, ClickUp offers a lot of tools when using your Gantt chart, while also allowing you to see the same information across multiple views. Though it may be fiddly, it’s one of several tools you can use after entering information once. 

While the result might be different if we were comparing another Gantt chart-focused app, say Microsoft Project vs GanttPRO, in some ways ClickUp actually might be the better option.

Collaboration

Gantt charts are generally most useful to project planners, allowing them to monitor how tasks affect each other. As a result, it may not be surprising that GanttPRO doesn’t put a lot of emphasis on being able to collaborate with team members. Basics like commenting, file attachments, and notifications are available, but that’s about it. 

If you want to get several employees together at the same time for some cloud-based collaboration, you may need to look at an integration like Slack or Google Drive.

On the other hand, ClickUp’s service comes packed with tools to connect your employees and teams. In addition to email integration and being able to comment on tasks, it’s also possible to have a real-time chat discussion within teams. It’s not just a barebones chat, either. There are tools to keep a topic or interest organized in a discussion. You can also proof documents or designs directly in ClickUp.

Your mileage may vary depending on your company. If you’re looking for something to meet your personal needs, GanttPRO’s basic collaboration tools may be enough. For a larger company, however, good collaboration can be vital.

Time Tracking

GanttPRO is a PM tool with a time tracker that allows users to assign tasks, track working hours for employees, and monitor progress. It does this through a basic time tracker, which allows users to log hours later or use it at the moment as a time clock. All that information, for all of your teams, can then be viewed in a customizable time log report. It’s simple and requires little training.

ClickUp offers a wider range of options. It has a time tracker, but one that is customizable with a number of different fields. Users can also set time estimates for task management, with feedback so estimates get more accurate. 

It’s possible for your business to assess efficiency in project development, monitoring which employees are behind or ahead of schedule. Time tracking can also be done through free mobile apps.

The fanciest feature from ClickUp is Pulse. Using advanced machine learning capability, it generates automated reports based on what you’ve been looking at lately. Even better, it’s available even on the free tier.

Customer Support

As we mentioned, there’s a learning curve with both options. Some support or training really is necessary to get the most out of them. The availability of customer support is therefore a key issue.

The customer service that comes with GanttPRO’s single tier of service is mostly limited to their help center, offering docs and videos explaining how to use the app. If those aren’t clear, you can see if a live rep is available for chat help. However, a representative isn’t always standing by. As a result, you may have to leave a message and hope for a timely response.

ClickUp only offers on-demand support for its enterprise-tier customers. However, they do offer a bunch of other ways to get help, including free online webinars, documentation, videos, and demos showing you how to use all of their features.

There is also a service that will connect you with a free coach offering video chat training, though you do have to schedule an appointment. Support coaches are available to everyone, even those on the free tier.

If DIY isn’t for you, you can hire consultants who can help you set up and use ClickUp, though it’s not a cheap option.

Pricing

Cheap project management software isn’t always good project management software, but price sometimes makes the decision for you. In this case, deciding what features you need may be the key to choosing the right option.

GanttPRO has a very simple pricing structure. You can pay $15 a month, billed annually, for personal use. If you’re using it for a few teams or even a whole company, the cost is $8.90 per user per month, still billed annually. If you’re not sure if it’s for you, there’s a free trial available. All features are available for either option.

ClickUp’s pricing is more in line with other, similar products. There is a free tier with unlimited members and basic features. Above that are four pay tiers, charged per user, with different levels of functionality and a free trial to test them out. Even at the lowest pay tier, however, you get unlimited projects and unlimited storage. 

Both also offer free Apple and Android mobile apps.

Overall Winner: ClickUp vs GanttPRO

While it’s close, ClickUp comes out on top in our comparison. Both platforms have useful features that can help manage a project to completion. Although for personal projects the better choice may be GanttPRO, ClickUp offers a wider range of useful features.

Those features offer more ways of handling task management, tracking employees’ timekeeping, and integrating with other tools your company may use. Unlimited projects don’t make as much of a difference. However, user reviews make it clear that online webinars, documentation, videos, and live rep support would be nice when using the best PM tools ClickUp has to offer.

Depending on your business needs, ClickUp may even be better for personal use. It offers a lot of useful features, including Gantt charts, on its free tier.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for ClickUp vs GanttPRO

Conclusion: ClickUp vs GanttPRO

Many apps love to brag about features like unlimited projects or all the different ways they offer to visualize information. However, when choosing software, a better factor to consider is the ease of use and the degree of support provided. Whatever wonderful features may be offered by the service, they’re only really useful if you can figure out how to use them.

ClickUp vs TeamGantt: Which Project Management Software Should You Choose?

TeamGantt vs ClickUp

In a comparison of ClickUp vs TeamGantt, you’ll see both project management tools can help you efficiently collaborate with your team. To help you decide which of these two top PM software is best for your business, we highlight the most important features and pricing of each.

We checked out pricing and key features such as team management, project management, methodology suitability, reporting, risk management, finance, collaboration and communication, ease of use, customer support, and security.

Clickup logo

ClickUp: Best Overall

From $0

4.0

ClickUp is the best overall project management software for remote teams that collaborate on projects. Originally created in 2017 as an internal productivity tool, you can now use this all-purpose platform to organize your teams and projects into Workspace and Spaces. 

Through ClickUp, you can coordinate with your co-workers via its customizable UI and built-in chats. We recommend ClickUp for small teams that work together remotely on projects, thanks to its hierarchical organization, powerful features, and fairly affordable pricing.

  • Hierarchical organization via Workspace & Spaces
  • Feature-packed free version
  • Multiple customization options via ClickApps
  • Smooth integration with a variety of apps
  • Slows down when too many ClickApps are active

Pricing:

  • Free Forever: Free
  • Unlimited: $9 per member / month
  • Business: $19 per user / month
  • Business Plus: $29 per user / month
  • Enterprise: Contact ClickUp for quote

*Rates for monthly billing

TeamGantt logo

TeamGantt: Best for Visualization

From $0

3.5

TeamGantt is a project planning software that is best for teams who use visualization tools like Gantt charts to complete projects. Originally launched in 2010, this Gantt chart creator makes it simple for you to schedule, manage, and track tasks and resources. It organizes all your documents, conversations, and tasks in a central hub.

The drag-and-drop feature enables you to start planning projects in minutes. We recommend TeamGantt for remote teams that plan projects in a graphic way, thanks to its native Gantt view, ease of use, and reasonable pricing.

  • Built-in Gantt view
  • Risk assessment templates
  • Built-in time tracking ability
  • Limited features

Pricing:

  • Free: Free for 3 users
  • Standard plan: $24.95 per month for 1 user + unlimited guests
  • Advanced plan: $29.95 per month for 1 user + unlimited guests

*Rates for monthly billing

Pricing & Features Comparison

Your selection of project management software will be influenced by the price and functions of each product. Let’s explore the pricing and features of ClickUp and TeamGantt so you can decide which one works best for your team.

Key Features

Pricing

Free plan + Paid plans start at $9 per member / month

Free version + Paid plans start at $24.95 per month for 1 user & unlimited guests

Team Management

Hierarchical team organization via Workspaces & Spaces w/ recurring task assignments

Visual team organization via Gantt charts w/ basic task assignments

Project Management

Time tracker function via add-on ClickApp

Built-in time tracker & milestones

Methodology Suitability

Supports Agile & Waterfall project management methodologies

Supports Waterfall & Agile project management methodologies

Risk Management

Lacks advanced risk management feature

Risk assessment & bug report templates

Reporting

Few built-in report templates but expandable via ClickApps

Reporting templates like project health, time tracking & workload reports

Finance Management

ClickApp time tracker generates invoices & marks billable hours

No finance management features except built-in time tracker

Collaboration and communication

Task management & document sharing via Workspaces

Visual project creation & task assignments

Integrations

Integrates w/ most major apps

Basic, limited app integrations

Ease of Use

Powerful features but has a learning curve

Simple dashboard with basic features

Customer Support

Multiple support options accessible year-round, except holidays

Multiple support options

Security

Amazon AWS hosting, password encryption, SSL data transfer & SOC 2 compliance

Amazon AWS hosting, password encryption & SSL data transfer

Pricing

You need the best project management tool that provides good value for money. It should be budget-friendly and functional at the same time.

ClickUp

ClickUp offers a free version of software for personal use, which includes 100MB of storage, unlimited members and tasks, and two-factor authentication. The Unlimited plan for small teams costs $9 per user each month. The rate for the Business package for mid-sized teams is $19 per user a month, while the price for the Business Plus plan for various teams is $29 per user every month. Contact the sales department of ClickUp to get a quote for the Enterprise plan for multiple large teams.

TeamGantt

TeamGantt offers a free plan for three users, which includes the portfolio management feature and daily email notifications. However, it is limited to a single project and a maximum of 60 tasks. You have the option to upgrade to a paid plan if the free plan is too restricted for you. The Standard package costs $24.95 per month for one user and unlimited guests. The price of the Advanced plan is $29.95 per month for one user plus unlimited guests.

Winner: ClickUp. ClickUp is one of the best free project management tools, and it includes more services than the free version of TeamGantt. Clickup also offers more affordable paid plans than its competitor.

Team Management 

You can benefit from a project management platform that makes it simple for you to supervise your team.

ClickUp

This tool organizes teams based on hierarchy via Workspaces and Spaces. Workspaces are global folders where all team members are added. Spaces are folders inside the Workspace where you can add users to assign tasks, subtasks, and due dates. ClickUp also allows you to set recurring tasks like daily or weekly tasks, which TeamGantt can’t do.

TeamGantt

This software features visual team organization through Gantt charts. It only lets you assign new projects and tasks. You can assign team members and set the due date for basic tasks. TeamGantt lets team managers decide who gets added to a project. Users can have view, edit, or admin access to projects depending on what level of permission was granted to them.

Winner: ClickUp. It creates subtasks and recurring tasks for team members, while TeamGantt only assigns basic tasks.

Project Management

Project management software makes it simpler for you to start, monitor, and complete projects by tracking the progress of your team

ClickUp

It doesn’t include a default time tracker for project tasks so you need to enable ClickApp. ClickApp is a web app that adds extra functionality to a Workspace. The time tracker ClickApp lets you monitor projects, set time estimates, and download time reports. You also need to use ClickApps to set milestones, create sprints, and create Gantt charts. Using several ClickApps at the same time might slow down the tool.

TeamGantt

It has default time tracking and hourly estimate features. You can add estimated hours before or after assigning a task. The software has a tracking feature that records time from the beginning of the task to the end. You can also generate time sheets and reports. You may add milestones and schedule them. TeamGantt allows dependencies to be created in only one direction: from finish to start.

Winner: TeamGantt. It is a PM software with a built-in time tracker and milestones that helps you manage projects, while ClickUp relies on ClickApps for time tracker functionality.

Methodology Suitability

You should pick a platform that supports your preferred project management methodology.

ClickUp

ClickUp supports both Agile and Waterfall methodologies. It is handy for Agile teams who work on dynamic projects that are constantly tested and modified to suit consumers. It allows users to create progress labels and move tasks back and forth in the progress chain. Also, it is useful for Waterfall teams who run sprints by assigning subtasks with due dates. There is a Sprint ClickApp which creates sprints and sprint durations.

TeamGantt

TeamGantt can also be used for Waterfall methodology and Agile methodology. It is ideal for Waterfall teams who already planned the project and need to complete it quickly. The default Gantt project view shows the timeline and how many tasks have been done. It is also appropriate for Agile teams who need flexibility. Its project status feature allows team members to keep track of the evolving project timeline.

Winner: Tie. Both ClickUp and TeamGantt support different project management methodologies.

Risk Management

You must select a project management tool that lets you identify, evaluate, and control potential risks which could have a negative impact on your business.

ClickUp

This platform does not have an advanced risk management feature. It only allows you to mark a task based on priority.

TeamGantt

TeamGantt has a spreadsheet risk assessment template which you can use to calculate risks. You can input a risk to find out the probability of occurrence and severity. It automatically completes templates to determine low, medium, or high impact risks. It also has a bug report template.

Winner: TeamGantt. It has templates for risk assessment and bug reports, while ClickUp lacks an advanced risk management feature.

Reporting 

You need a project management app with the ability to generate insightful reports that can help you make future business decisions.

ClickUp

It only has a few built-in report templates. You have to enable reporting ClickApps for added functionality. Even though it has many reporting templates, ClickApps are costly and slow down ClickUp.

TeamGantt

It has three major types of reporting templates: project health, workload reports, and time tracking. The project health report displays the project timeline. The workload report shows you how many tasks each team member is assigned and how many tasks are overdue. Time tracking allows users to measure the time they spend on tasks.

Winner: TeamGantt. It generates sophisticated reports without the extra expenses which ClickUp incurs with ClickApps.

Finance Management 

Finance management features in project management platforms can help you monitor your financial resources.

ClickUp

It has no built-in tools for tracking billable hours or auto-generating invoices. However, you can enable several ClickApps to manage a project’s expenses. The ClickApp time tracker lets a user track time, mark them as billable, and generate invoices automatically. It also has invoicing and budgeting templates. However, ClickApps can be pricey for small to medium-sized businesses.

TeamGantt

TeamGantt app can track time. Aside from this, it has no other features that can assist you with finance management.

Winner: ClickUp. Both software aren’t impressive in finance management. However, ClickUp offers a little more expense management features than TeamGantt if your budget allows it.

Collaboration and Communication

A project management tool should make it easy for you to communicate and collaborate with your business team.

ClickUp

You can use it to share relevant documents within Workspaces to your team members, including Google Docs, PDF files, and images. You can assign tasks to one person, while adding another user as a watcher through its hierarchy method. Guests can be invited to work in Spaces, but guest access is very limited.

TeamGantt

You can create projects and assign tasks through its visual interface. You may add users and assign work to them, set due dates, and carry out project scheduling. Users can assign comments and label work as “Done.” It’s also possible to create milestones to measure progress.

Winner: ClickUp. Both web-based platforms have mobile and desktop apps which lets you coordinate with your team, whether you are working in the office or remotely. However, ClickUp has an edge over TeamGantt because it has offline functionality and it allows task level communication.

Integrations

Integrations with apps and programs can increase the functionality of your project management software.

ClickUp

It integrates with most major apps, including Google Docs, Gmail, Asana, Microsoft Teams, Jira, and Zendesk.

TeamGantt

It only integrates directly with a limited number of tools, such as Google Calendar, iCal, Outlook, Zapier, Trello, Dropbox, Basecamp, and Slack.

Winner: ClickUp. It integrates with way more tools compared to TeamGantt. Take note that if you integrate either software with Zapier, they will gain the ability to connect with more than 4,000 apps.

Ease of Use

You must select a project management platform that is easy to use and navigate for the convenience of your team.

ClickUp

The UI can be overwhelming for new users. Nevertheless, the dashboard offers more in-depth information that helps you work efficiently, such as notifications, approvals, reports, and pie charts. The menu has links to the different Spaces you were added to, as well as related goals and docs. Plus, team members can share other dashboards with you.

TeamGantt

It doesn’t have a steep learning curve so you can use it right away. Its dashboard is simple to navigate. The menu displays the total number of tasks assigned to you and the total number of tasks on all the projects you’re working on. You can click on the list of active projects to view more details which you need to complete your projects.

Winner: Tie. TeamGantt is easier to use for new users, but ClickUp has more advanced features you can maximize once you get used to it.

Customer Support

ClickUp

Free users get support via email, community support, and online webinars documentation videos. For paid users, ClickUp also offers support through live rep and chat training channels. 

TeamGantt

It grants free users access to all support channels except phone support, which is available only for the first 30 days. Plus, it showcases a large library of documentation and video tutorials.

Winner: ClickUp. Both ClickUp and TeamGantt have multiple support options like email contact, phone support, chat training, and live rep. However, ClickUp’s support is more accessible because it is available every day of the year, except major holidays.

Security

ClickUp

It is hosted on Amazon AWS, a top platform for storing and securing user data. It protects your information through password encryption, data transfer over SSL, and offline document storage. Plus, it is SOC 2 compliant, meaning it performs data encryption at rest and supports two-factor authentication. 

TeamGantt

Similar to ClickUp, it is also hosted on Amazon AWS. It safeguards your data through SSL data transfer, password encryption, and offline storage. However, it lacks SOC 2 certification.

Winner: ClickUp. It protects your company’s privacy more thoroughly by offering more security features than TeamGantt.

Alternatives to ClickUp vs TeamGantt

You can check out other software alternatives to ClickUp and TeamGantt that can help you manage the projects of your small business.

Trello is a widely used project management tool that is employed by more than 1 million teams. Its basic features are simple to use even for newbies. It utilizes the Kanban style to give you an overview of your team’s progress through a big board with cards and lists. Most Trello reviews consider it an ideal choice for people who want to manage their projects in a visual way.

  • Easy to use
  • Visual tracking of projects
  • Lacks advanced features
  • Suitable for simple projects only

GanttPRO is an online project management platform that is based on Gantt charts. It allows you to view projects in different formats, such as Timeline, Board, or List. It assists you in coordinating with your team through task management and collaboration tools. It helps you save time on project planning through ready-made templates. Also, in a comparison of ClickUp vs GanttPRO, this software is typically recommended for teams working on small projects.

  • Easy to learn to use
  • Simple, flat rate
  • Basic integrations only
  • Limited customer support

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for ClickUp vs TeamGantt

Do you want to learn more about ClickUp and TeamGantt? Here are our answers to commonly asked questions about the two popular platforms.

Bottom Line on ClickUp vs TeamGantt 

Both ClickUp and TeamGantt are popular among remote teams. They offer helpful project management features via cloud-based systems for an affordable price. However, ClickUp is a cut above TeamGantt.

ClickUp is the overall winner because it offers more advanced features and customization options. Its free version is more useful compared to the free plan of TeamGantt. Plus, ClickApps boost its functionality and it integrates smoothly with more apps.

Basecamp Review: Collaboration Over Project Management

Basecamp review

Basecamp bills itself as a tool for working remotely, which is a great way to sum up its service. Even as recently as five years ago, most team communication could take place through conversations, post-it notes, and saved sections on a whiteboard. 

More and more, however, people are working remotely. Keeping a team working together collaboratively can be a challenge. As you’ll discover in our Basecamp review, it may be the answer to that challenge. We’re focusing specifically on the latest version, Basecamp 3.

Screenshot of Basecamp Homepage

5 Things That Make Basecamp Stand Out From the Crowd

  • Simple and intuitive to use.
  • Flat rate business plan of $99/month, for unlimited users and projects.
  • Lots of tools for communicating and collaborating with your team.
  • Offers tons of integrations with commonly used apps like Google Business, Toggl, Zapier, and more.
  • Very secure; Basecamp has never had a data breach.

Where Basecamp Falls Short

  • Lacks a lot of reporting, analysis, and automation tools.
  • Relies on integrated apps for a lot of important features.

Pricing

Basecamp pricing may be the simplest of any of the cloud-based project management platforms. For individuals or teams with only a handful of people, it may also be the best option for cheap project management software. There are two options:

  • Basecamp Personal: The free version with limited services. 
  • Basecamp Business: Unlimited users and unlimited projects for $99/month flat (or pay yearly to get 15% off).

The Personal version allows three projects, 20 users, and up to 1GB of file storage. It doesn’t allow access to project templates, client access, priority support, or any of the other features $99/month buys you. As a result, it’s best for individual or basic projects.

Basecamp Business can be used for a 30-day free trial, also, providing access to all Basecamp’s features. Unlike other options which charge by user, the simple Basecamp cost makes it easy to decide if it’s worth it for your business.

Team Management

Screenshot of Basecamp team management to-do list

Project management software can often reflect the concerns of those using it. These days, that means a focus on keeping a team on task, collaborating effectively, and staying connected, all while the team may be spread over half the world. For a project manager, task management features are a key aspect of performing that magic trick.

In the latest version of the app, Basecamp 3, to-do lists form the primary method of tracking how many tasks each team member has and setting deadlines. An easy-to-access action log also helps you track what each team member has done, either within a specific project or for your company overall. 

Additionally, you can look over all the tasks you’ve assigned under the ‘My stuff’ tab. Message boards and the “campfire”, or team chat, help you keep in contact. 

There don’t appear to be any tools for time tracking or other types of resource allocation.

Project Delivery Management

Screenshot of Basecamp Hill chart

In some ways, Basecamp is more like a virtual meeting space than anything else. Most Basecamp features, like the message board and campfire, focus on communication. There are fewer tools for tracking the progress of a particular project, estimating needs, or identifying pain points. 

Basecamp does allow you to manage multiple projects and multiple teams. However, project management requires more than good communication. Tools for time tracking, estimating needs in the future, sharing resources between different projects, distinguishing internal and external projects, and milestones are all missing. Perhaps most importantly, there are no tools for identifying or managing task dependencies. 

There is a scheduling tool, but you could use Google Calendar and get basically the same services. Basecamp 3 introduces the Hill Chart, which has some characteristics of a burndown chart and my help with velocity management. However, it’s really more of a visual aid than a reporting tool. 

Basecamp Review: Project Management Failure Statistics

It was reported by KPMG 70% of organizations suffered a failure and 50% failed consistently to achieve their goals due to poor, or a lack of proper, project management

Risk/Issue Management

There aren’t any tools aimed specifically at one of the more important aspects of project management, controlling risk. For example, there is no specific risk or issue log. On the other hand, part of Basecamp’s appeal may be its flexibility. It would be easy to use one of the other project management tools to track risks.

As an example, you could create a specific topic on the project’s message board for risk tracking. Automatic check-ins could be used to create reminders regarding risks. Tasks can be customized and updated with information, for example, regarding a risk. However, no specific tools means Basecamp doesn’t offer much in the way of risk analysis or reporting.

Reporting

Overall, Basecamp 3 has fairly few integrated reporting features. In fact, the only feature may be the Hill Chart. It is a bell-curved-shaped graph that allows you to track the progress of each to-do list. However, there isn’t any automation and everything has to be updated by hand. Note that the chart isn’t available in the free version of Basecamp for personal projects.

Beyond a few basic features, Basecamp looks to one of the many integrations it offers for things like Gantt charts or time tracking.

Finance Management

As with several other aspects of project management, there aren’t any dedicated financial tools within Basecamp. If you were to compare Basecamp to some of its competitors, for example ClickUp, Basecamp starts looking a little sparse.

However, some features might be used as ad-hoc budgeting tools. Alternatively, a range of integrations provide the same functions.

Collaboration and Communication

As we’ve mentioned, Basecamp 3 may have primarily been designed as a communication tool. All of its features are focused on allowing project managers to keep in touch with all team members, even if they’re all remote working. Most of Basecamp’s basic features provide different types of communication:

  • Campfire: The group chat feature for Basecamp allows for most basic chat features, like tagging team members, attaching files, and editing, for real-time team collaboration.
  • Message board: Less ephemeral than chat, message boards allow you to focus the conversation with topics and message categories.
  • To-do lists: This is where you can find tasks assigned, annotated, changed, and marked complete.
  • Documents: The document sharing feature in Basecamp creates documents similar to blog posts, allowing you to insert images or attach files, with additional options to keep track of versioning.
  • File storage: Comments can be added to uploaded files or docs, which sends notifications to the team.
  • Automatic check-ins: Essentially, this allows you to create recurring questions, either as reminders or for something like regular status reports.

Each tool is available at every level of communication, including the entire team or separate departments or project. This is important as you get unlimited users with the Business plan, which could add up to a lot of friendly-fire spam. 

Screenshot of Basecamp campfire team communication

Integration With Other Apps

Basecamp 3 can integrate with a large library of other apps, which is a good thing as it doesn’t have all the features its competitors offer. On the other hand, your team members may already be using some of these apps, including Google Docs and Calendar, Zapier, and Toggl. Other integrations like Automate.io and Zoho Flow offer additional options.

Artificial Intelligence

They say the best project management tool is the one between your ears. However, it’s nice to put some of that burden on your PM software. AI for project management tools looks less like Jarvis fetching Iron Man’s coffee, instead taking the form of automated reports, notifications, or even risk analysis. The only one that Basecamp offers, however, are some types of automated notifications.

With its focus on team communication, Basecamp’s automation centers on notifications. In particular, the automated check-in tool is the closest they offer.

Usability

How Basecamp works, what it's like to organize your projects & teams in one place

Basecamp has to be among the most simple project management software options. One benefit of having a basic user interface and limited number of features is that the learning curve is pretty easy to climb. Different functions are divided among the different tools, so it’s always clear where to go for messages, to chat with team members, to manage tasks, and so forth. Overall, it’s very user-friendly.

Many tools link easily with apps you already use. For example, the Basecamp Calendar, its schedule tool, is easy to use and automatically links to Google Calendar. The mobile apps are similarly easy to use. 

The downside is that Basecamp may not be the best choice for complex projects, as it doesn’t offer many of the tools you’ll need to keep them organized and complete all the tasks efficiently. The Basecamp Personal plan is similarly simple to use, as it has even fewer functions.

The support documents and guides offered are really all you’ll need to use Basecamp effortlessly.

Support

Support for Basecamp 3 comes in three varieties:

Support services offered by Basecamp 3
  • Help guides: The Basecamp manual, which walks you through its project management tools and some specific uses.
  • Video tutorials: There is a small library of videos that go through how to use basic tools, as well as regular live video tutorials.
  • Support messages: If you have a problem with one of the project management tools that’s not answered elsewhere, you can send a message, including file attachments, which Basecamp’s staff will respond to.

Basecamp Business does offer a small, but potentially very useful bump in support. When you sign up for the Business plan, your support messages get moved to the front of the line. That means answering them becomes a priority for Basecamp’s staff, which may be important as their support staff is only a small team. Paying for the Business plan gets you the answer you need much more quickly.

Privacy

Basecamp offers a “Customer Bill of Rights,” which is a grandiose way of describing a few service policies. Like most project management apps, Basecamp 3 and previous versions guarantee you own data in your account and you can expect complete privacy, which in this context means your user data won’t be shared with or sold to a third party. They promise not to share user data and claim they’ve never had a data breach.

Basecamp offers an added layer of secondary security as well. If you decide to leave Basecamp, you take all your data with you. The account owner can download the data whenever it’s required, to move to another service or whatever else they like.

Methodology Suitability

Basecamp’s overall rating for use with either waterfall methodology or Agile methodology is about the same. The software doesn’t offer the usual features for these PM methodologies and takes a different approach to project management.

However, some aspects of this project management solution might be better suited for adherents of Agile, such as the software industry, as it puts such a focus on team collaboration. Also, to-do lists could easily serve as a Kanban board.

However, there is no reason to-dos couldn’t also serve as a loose work breakdown structure. You don’t have to choose a PM methodology when you create projects. Either way, for time tracking, financial tools, or hardcore task management software, you’ll need to look to third-party integrations.

Basecamp Alternatives

There may be no such thing as a perfect project management system. However, Basecamp may be the best project management software for people with just a few specific concerns. As we’ve seen in our Basecamp review, it’s got a clean, super tight interface and a big focus on collaboration. Other options may have more tools for specific problems. Examples include:

5 Basecamp alternatives

Basecamp Personal offers more users for free than most others, though check out our Asana review for a look at another option suited for small businesses. Many project management apps offer a free trial, just like Basecamp does, so you can check out a range of options for no cost.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for Basecamp Review

Final Thoughts on Basecamp Review

While you may be as likely to find Agile methods in the advertising industry as software development these days, different industries or types of project require different tools. Communication tools are always required, so Basecamp can work with just about any project. However, you’ll need to look elsewhere for a lot of necessary business tools.

The 20 Best Project Management Blogs to Follow

Best Project Management Blogs to Follow

The world of project management is forever changing. From new software to resource planning to technological development, keeping up to date with relevant blogs and resources is critical. We’ve listed some of the best blogs for staying aware of ideas and updates in the industry. Find your new favorite project management blog below.

Interested in the best project management tools out there? You should check out this list:

 

1. Project Management

Project management institute website

As the name might suggest, Project Management is your first port of call for an overview of everything project management-related. The website contains numerous helpful features, many of which are listed in the drop-down menus. These include everything from information about affiliate programs and integration to community discussion spaces. 

This site is run by the Project Management Institute. They’ve been working since 1969 in seeking to demystify and uncomplicate the many different aspects of project management which, inevitably, can become difficult to navigate. 

The fact that this site encourages a large amount of participation and discussion within the community is very beneficial for people at all levels of project management. There is space to learn and share advice or opinions. The opportunity to attend webinars and download resources for project managing is another useful feature. 

2. Eye On the Workforce

Blog: Eye on the workforce

Eye on the Workforce is a sub-blog operating off ProjectManagement.com, written by Joe Wynne. He has been producing content since 2000 for people in the project management profession. As the name suggests, this blog specializes in workforce management, which Wynne believes to be a key component in project success. 

The posts on this project management blog specialize in tips for managing and creating a sense of community within the workforce that improves productivity, morale, and profit. He provides a lot of depth in his posts on this topic, ranging from employee communication to human resources and leadership tactics. There’s something here for every project manager.

Joe Wynne is a project management professional himself, having worked in many different areas of the industry. The variety of work he has done reflects the plethora of experience he divulges in his informative blog posts. 

3. PMStudent

Screenshot of PMStudent website

The blogger at PMStudent aims to teach and inform, whether you already have experience in the project management field or you’re just learning about the five project management phases. To be able to learn something new or take away information that you will use at work is something many of us take for granted when we aren’t actively engaging with blogs and resources like this. 

PMStudent offers posts on a range of topics, from building and maintaining a good relationship with your team to project strategy and software advice. The scope of writing means there is something everyone can take away, allowing everyone to grow in the field. 

The blog is run by Margaret Meloni, who focuses on IT Project Management and leadership. She seeks to build a community through sharing skills and ideas that everyone in the industry can benefit from. She also teaches project management skills.

4. The Girl’s Guide to Project Management

Rebel's guide to project management homepage

The Girl’s Guide to Project Management came about as a result of the lack of women who have historically spoken and advised others on project management. The blog was created by Elizabeth Harrin, who has over twenty years of experience in the industry. 

The purpose of the blog is to teach skills that are essential in project management, on a wide variety of topics, including responsibility, networking, task delegation, and tools like Agile. There are over 1,000 articles on the blog, written over the past decade, and the community which has grown from the blog means there is plenty you can do to grow.

As well as the numerous skills to be gleaned from this blog, there are a variety of workshops and templates available to help you organize tasks effectively and hone your skills as a project manager.

5. Simpletivity

Simpletivity

You’ll find Simpletivity specializes in several particular aspects of the project management field, namely efficiency, productivity, and time management (ever heard of scope creep?). Run by Scott Friesen, Simpletivity aims to improve skills like focus and simplify the tasks of a project manager on a day-to-day basis. 

The resources available through the Simpletivity blog enable you to cut down on a lot of administrative details, which may become a hassle in any project management role. By slimming downtime spent on producing work behind the scenes, you can simply focus on what matters.

By utilizing Scott’s time-saving tips, you’ll undoubtedly be able to improve the productivity of yourself and your whole workforce. Creating effective, standard practices in the office is a great way of maximizing your output and minimizing excess tasks, which is what Simpletivity is all about.

6. Helping Project Managers Help Themselves

Helping Project Managers Help Themselves

Here’s another offshoot of ProjectManagement.com: Helping Project Managers Help Themselves. It’s run by the highly experienced Lonnie Pacelli, with over 35 years spent in the industry. That time has been used working for companies like Microsoft as well as working for independent consulting groups and companies. 

Pacelli aims to provide practical information for project managers, the kind of information that you can retain and use when you need it. These tips revolve around communication and seamless collaboration of projects within teams, as well as transferable leadership skills surrounding many aspects of project execution. 

This blog is imperative reading for nuggets of wisdom you’ll apply in the long term. Pacelli’s approach to project management is dynamic and covers many spheres of the industry, much like his own experience. Learning good leadership can be as much about gaining your own experience as it is about taking advice from others.

7. Projects at Work

ProjectsAtWork blog

Another sub-blog of ProjectManagement.com, the purpose of Projects at Work is to explore the dynamism required to overcome challenges in project management and produce more effective results. Run by Aaron Smith, this blog for project managers is all about learning the hurdles of the job and finding ways around them. 

Smith is a writer who focuses on project management skills after 25 years of experience in editing and publishing. Having worked for a variety of areas within his industry, he knows the common challenges of managing projects inside out and explores these problems in his blog. 

This blog is full of interviews and advice pieces about practical issues and ideas within project management that can help you to think further about coordinating a team, arranging resources, and creating outstanding results. What’s great about this blog is how it extrapolates PM problems into real-world ideas and creates food for thought about industry challenges.

8. PM Network

PM Network blog

PM Network is another resource that has grown from the Project Management Institute, sourcing advice, and information from some of the most informed and experienced people in the industry. This journal is published monthly and contains a lot of really helpful advice. 

What’s so great about PM Network is how it draws on so many different voices from within project management, providing content now only about practical challenges in the industry but modern theory and cultural ideas that ultimately have a big impact on work, whether you work in construction, marketing or advertising. 

But PM Network doesn’t stop at just articles. It has a database chock-full of downloadable content, tools, and webinars that will keep you informed and up to date about everything going on in project management. The resources available go back over a decade, as a result covering every imaginable base within the job. 

9. NTask Blog

Ntask website

In project management, NTask is known best for its software, but there is also a very helpful blog available on their website with additional resources for management, regardless of your experience level or industry. This is one of the best-organized blogs of its kind, with many categories and fields of information. 

What kind of information are you looking for? NTask offers articles on productivity, collaboration, resource management, and multi-project management. As well as this, it is certainly well-designed and highly readable in layout and design. 

The articles on this project management blog often act as handy guides to different areas of project management, they are informative and clear. The clarity of the writing would lend itself well to beginners and provides plenty of introductory knowledge about topics like software and integration, which aren’t always super accessible. 

10. The Lazy Project Manager

The Lazy Project Manager's Blog

The Lazy Project Manager blog is one of the most informative out there, not only in terms of the content produced, but the resources easily found within blog posts. Curated by Peter Taylor, who has a wealth of experience in the project management role, it’s understandable that this blog is so full of valuable information.

Content on the blog spans back over a decade, covering the basics of the project management role to more complex issues in business and management altogether. Peter Taylor’s message revolves around the idea of how to be an effective manager; finding your role satisfying, working well with a team, and utilizing the best tools to maximize your success and output. 

More recently, Taylor has converted a lot of his knowledge into widely available books, but this does not detract from the sheer volume of information available on this blog for free which will undoubtedly help even the most seasoned project managers overcome hurdles at work. 

11. Project Management Basics

Project Management Basics

You’ll find Project Management Basics provides lots of in-depth information about the realities of working in project management as well as useful advice and tools that span many aspects of the job. Much of the content is written by Dmitriy Nizhebetskiy, who has over ten years of experience in IT project management, and who has founded his course on the subject. 

Nizhebetskiy’s approach focuses on his own experiences, rather than research or academia. He prides himself on providing relatable and realistic glimpses of what makes a good project manager and how leadership skills can be gained. 

Examples of his posts include real examples of what the role of a project manager involves and interview samples to help you advance yourself into a managerial role. As well as educating on different approaches to the job, he also provides advice on tools like Agile which can maximize your output as a manager.

12. Easy in Theory, Difficult in Practice

Easy in Theory, Difficult in Practice

Easy in Theory, Difficult in Practice is a blog that specializes in maximizing your chances of success in project management. It is run by Kiron Bondale, who writes weekly posts on the site, musing on a variety of topics and conundrums that come with being a project manager. 

Unlike some sites, this blog is arranged in a more personal, conversational way. This makes the page thoroughly accessible but has less of the professional tone that many project management sites have. Like it or loathe it, this site is based on Bondale’s plethora of experiences managing many projects, and he is a great source of wisdom. 

Bondale often writes on the topic of Agile, which is very useful for project managers. As well as this, he shares personal advice about productivity and resource managing, portfolios, and the psychology behind project management jobs.

13. Gina Abudi

Gina Abudi blog

This site aims to share knowledge that applies to a wide variety of industries and clients that are dealt with in project management. Based on her work in Abudi Consulting, Gina Abudi’s blog details wisdom from her personal experiences in management, and Gina is a frequent speaker within forums where she also shares her knowledge. 

Abudi has over 25 years of experience in various roles within project management, for organizations ranging from non-profits to global companies, she is a member of several associations within business. Clearly, her experience cannot be understated. 

With over a decade of advice available on this blog for project managers, there’s information to be gleaned about the realities of project management that can help managers and team members alike. Abudi focuses on producing intelligent strategies that work to produce results around client satisfaction, team productivity, and return on investment.

14. The Digital Project Manager

DPM website

The Digital Project Manager site is full of resources, some free and some paid, but their archive of articles is especially helpful. Spanning a number of topics and issues, this blog is especially informative, and the layout is crisp, making it easy to navigate and very accessible. 

The articles on this site come from several contributors and all have something fresh to say about project management, no matter the angle they take. The blog also spans an impressive variety of topics, from career development to communication, time management to stakeholders, risk management to methodologies, and Agile processes

Undoubtedly, this is a one-stop location for so many project management queries, and the scope of writing and topics makes it one of the most useful and diverse spaces for writing on management across the internet. The resources here are invaluable for new and experienced managers alike.

15. Musings on Project Management

Musings on Project Management - a blog

Musings on Project Management is a more abstract and personal blog about the challenges of project management, but a super valuable page, nonetheless. The writer, John Goodpasture has been managing projects for decades, resulting in reams of advice to share with his audience. In fact, this blog spans more than a decade of regular posts on the topic. 

For any people new to the job or looking for career advancement advice, this project management blog also provides a very helpful and extensive definition of what project management means and how interesting the work can be. 

Goodpasture may be one of the most knowledgeable people writing content on project management today, his writing is always fresh and engaging, and above all, his posts remain regular. This blog is not one to be missed if you’re interested in Agile, risk management, or more general musings on the realities of project management industries today.

16. Finding Marbles

Finding marbles website

Unlike many of the blogs on this list, Finding Marbles is no longer updated. Despite that, it’s definitely worth a peruse for relevant information about project management, especially Agile, Lean, and Scrum methodologies. The site is run by Corinna Baldauf, a German web developer with a degree in computer science. 

Baldauf has a lot of experience with very popular methodologies. As a result, her blog posts are definitely worth reading. She offers advice on when these systems work, and what to do when they don’t. She also has more general advice for working in project management that is friendly and relatable. 

If you’re looking for valuable information about developing a project management career concerning methodologies like Agile, Lean, and Scrum, you need to look no further than Finding Marbles for the answers. 

17. PMHut

Project management hut website

PMHut offers a lot of practical articles detailing lists and advice on making the right choices as a project manager, whether that be choices in the correct technology and software or more general management decisions regarding teams and resources. 

It remains ambiguous whether this blog is going to be updated or not, but the information which remains available is still highly valuable. There’s relatively up-to-date advice about quality tools for project management and a helpful guide for choosing software for project management tasks that considers plenty of the relevant decision factors. 

Although this is a more simplistic blog and less sophisticated than many of the other ones out there, the information remains astute and well thought out. This is an especially ideal blog for anyone new to project management software solutions. 

18. PMI Global Insights

PMI Global Insights blog

The Project Management Institute’s Global Insights blog is an overarching space featuring some of the most well-known names in the project management world. Here, these experienced writers and speakers share insights about a variety of issues common in management. 

You probably won’t find another blog that contains so much experience and influence in the whole sphere of project management. With dozens of contributors sharing their wisdom and advice, the content spans software, metrics, HR, resource management, and leadership lessons.  

While some blogs explore the insights of just one experienced project manager, the scope of the guests writing on this blog is something to be admired. Whether you’re looking for something specific or mere life lessons from people in management, you’ll find what you need when you look here. 

19. Project Bliss

Project Bliss website

Leigh Espy’s Project Bliss is a blog that approaches a variety of topics within project management, it remains regularly updated and has plenty of essential resources. She aims to make the journey into management easier for other people, exploring her career along the way. 

What’s so impressive about this blog is how informative it is, and how much knowledge is shared by one woman on her project management journey. It’s informative and helpful without being hard to take in. Throughout writing the blog, Espy has covered dozens of useful management topics that encroach on many different industries. 

As well as the variety of article topics presented in the blog, there are also resources available, like downloads and free templates, perfect for those relatively new to project management and those looking for specific advice on methodologies and systems of management.

20. ProjectSmart

Project Smart website

ProjectSmart is a website with dozens of resources about the development of insights in project management. Their clean interface is easily navigated, and their articles are very easy to come by. They’ve been providing access to project management information since 2000 and are easily one of the most reputable sources in the business.

By way of articles, they have an impressive archive spanning almost 15 years, and you can search by specific categories to find information that you need. As well as this, they offer tools and white papers that aim to inform on plenty of valuable topics. 

All articles on ProjectSmart are quality assured, so you know that what you’re getting is the right information. This is undoubtedly an invaluable resource, especially for those more experienced or managing highly professional projects. 

Bottom Line on Project Management Blogs

Project management blogs are an excellent way of gaining awareness for tools and techniques in the industry, growing your knowledge as a manager or a team member. Because industries like marketing and advertising are so dependent on developments in technology, finding accurate sources of information is essential to stay ahead. 

The Complete Wrike Review: Pros, Cons, and Alternatives

Wrike Review

There are many types of project management software out there, but they are not all created the same. Wrike stands out for its accurate time tracking, specialized feature sets for your specific business, and easy to navigate UI. This review of Wrike covers in detail what makes it a tool worth considering. 

Screenshot of Wrike homepage

With so much customizability, Wrike fits into just about any type of business. With several tiers of features, it scales perfectly with organizations of any size. The price may be on the higher side, but you get what you pay for.

Built with people in mind, it’s easy to add and manage users and share documents with anyone you wish. Teams can work together within the platform and track projects along the way. Reports flow in real-time so you can be immediately aware if something or someone falls behind.

  • Specialized packages for marketing, creative, and services delivery teams
  • Time tracking within tasks, with timesheets tracking totals
  • Analytics tool automatically generates charts
  • Slightly more expensive than other PM software
  • Templates can remove some options
  • Can’t prioritize tasks

Pricing

A Wrike account may not be your first choice if you’re looking for cheap or free project management software. It’s neither the most nor the least expensive option to help manage projects, but it is closer to the costlier end of the spectrum. Wrike pricing does include a free version that allows unlimited users but is limited in tasks and features.

Access to many of the most useful features requires a paid subscription. Options include:

  • Professional Plan: $9.80/user per month.
  • Business Plan: $24.80/user per month.
  • Enterprise Plan: Inquire for price.

Additionally, there is the Enterprise Pinnacle plan, which offers specific features for professionals who manage projects which require more sophisticated analytical tools. Like the Enterprise standard option, you’ll have to talk to their sales team about the cost. There are also special offerings for your creative team, marketing team, or service delivery team.

For those uncertain which tier to choose, Wrike offers a 30-day free trial.

Team Management

Image of Wrike time tracking

Most project management software out there, Wrike included, puts its focus in two areas. The first is team management, using task and subtask management to organize a team’s work. Your workspace can be broken up into multiple projects and multiple teams, with the Stream widget keeping you informed of everything that is happening.

Time tracking is included natively, which is an advantage over other platforms. It’s linked to specific tasks, which means it might be easy to lose track of it. On the other hand, it does make it easy to track resource allocation and your team members’ workload. Altogether, Wrike’s features make it suitable for either large teams or small teams.

There is an optional add-on with an additional cost called Wrike Resource that offers some more features such as timesheets and team utilization reports.

Project Delivery Management

Screenshot of Wrike project portfolio overview

The task management features project management software like Wrike offer is aimed at shepherding a team to project completion. In Wrike’s case, there are many tools to help managers track project progress, even complex projects, and identify problem areas.

We’ve mentioned time tracking and workloads. You can also create time estimates by adding ‘Effort’ estimates to tasks. You can also turn tasks into milestones as a way of noting important dates. 

Customizable dashboards offer a number of ways to organize information, dividing things into projects, spaces, folders, and tasks, all of which can be added with a click. The ‘Recent’ area of the dashboard may be of particular use for navigating larger projects. Different views can also be added to spaces and projects, for example, to track dependencies using Gantt charts

Risk/Issue Management

There isn’t a specific tool for issue tracking within Wrike, though you can get those tools through integration with Github. Alternatively, depending on your project management needs, one of Wrike’s other tools could fill the role of risk tracking. Wrike recommends using their Request forms as an issue tracker, for example.

There is also a Project Risk assessment that you can receive each week, which we’ll discuss a bit more when we get to Wrike’s AI options.

Reporting

Some of the most important project management tools are those that help visualize data in an understandable way, whether you’re trying to monitor progress, time tracking, due dates, or whatever. With Wrike, you can easily add Gantt charts to track a business plan or a workload chart to see time spent on each task. 

Additionally, the Analytics tab allows you to automatically generate various charts that are updated as tasks are for real-time visibility. Note that the analytics project management tool is only available for Business plans and above customers. 

Finance Management

creenshot of Wrike budgeting feature

Wrike offers some basic functionality for finance management. For example, you can set a project to track either billable or non-billable hours. Limited options in this area is not unusual for a project management system, which will often integrate with financial tools and then focus on managing other resources. Still, Wrike’s expense combined with the cost of separate financial software might be worth keeping in mind, particularly for projects on a tight budget.

Collaboration and Communication

Wrike task management boards

We mentioned that team management is one area of focus for most project management solutions. The other is usually team collaboration, offering communication and collaboration features to keep remote team members working together. Wrike offers many features to foster communication, many focused on task management. For example, you can comment on individual tasks.

It’s also possible to send private messages to other users. Additionally, Wrike Proof allows you to mark up files stored on Wrike, allowing for some digital asset management, though file storage is somewhat limited. Even the Enterprise level is limited to 5GB per account, which for projects involving graphics or video may only scratch the surface. 

Tasks also have an approval process feature, giving managers a chance to review assignments before marking them complete.

Integration With Other Apps

Icons of Wrike integrations

No project management solution will have every tool you need. To pull those other project management tools, many of which can offer a huge advantage, into your Wrike dashboard you’ll need to look for an integration. Wrike offers a long list of options through their integration marketplace. 

There are a few standard options, including a Salesforce integration, and integrations with both Google and Microsoft products. There are also many specialized apps for specific uses. Additionally, two-way sync keeps information updated across platforms, though at a separate cost. 

Artificial Intelligence

Wrike offers some AI features in a few specific spots. The software uses its AI project management tool, called Work Intelligence, which is described as machine learning technology. It probably is doing a lot behind the scenes, but Wrike picks out instances in which you’ll see it in action:

  • Risk: As long as enough information is entered, Wrike will assess project statuses and determine whether it’s likely to be successfully completed.
  • Replies: Wrike will suggest three replies to messages and notifications based on the conversation context.
  • Document processing: Work Intelligence also provides OCR technology to convert scanned or handwritten notes into text files. 

As far as work management goes, you’re also able to create some automated workflows, such as recurring tasks or notifications.

Usability

Screenshot of Wrike app home user interface

Wrike recently redesigned its user interface, adding some top features requested by users. One of the nicest new features is the ability to design your own Home, choosing what information is easily available. Once you figure out how to get around Wrike’s customizable dashboards, the learning curve is actually pretty easy to climb. The same tools are replicated in different views, so you generally only need to learn to do something once. 

Like most platforms, the different features are built on basic task management. You assign tasks to team members, then track progress, monitor workload, and create reports based on those tasks. Specific tasks can be turned into milestones, or you can add custom fields to all the tasks in a project. Time tracking also takes place within a task. 

Project templates offer you a different set of tools depending on your needs. You may not see the option to track billable hours if you select a template for creative teams, for example. While it’s not exactly simple project management software, anyone who has used similar platforms shouldn’t have a problem. A mobile app for Android and iOS is also available.

Support

It turns out that many people don’t object to complex, feature-rich platforms as long as they’re given the tools to figure it out. As a result, support options are vital. There is a standard set of offerings that has evolved for these platforms that include things like support docs, tutorials, videos, and community support. Wrike provides all of those.

One major difference is the support options for more expensive tiers. For many platforms, these come with dedicated support. However, that’s not true with Wrike.

Instead, it’s good to note that support is supplied by another service. They include things like professionally designed workspaces, help moving to Wrike, and how to get the most out of its analytics, as well as additional support options. 

Privacy

Wrike provides the same sort of security and privacy guarantees you’d expect from any similar platform. It has limited access to uploaded files, for example, and guarantees 99% uptime. Wrike also guarantees that its backup system operates in nearly real-time, so you won’t lose anything if there is a serious issue.

Several additional and professional features for security have an additional cost or require a more expensive subscription. For example, two-factor authentication is an optional add-on. Charging extra for some features is not unusual. Wrike is unusual in offering some of these options ala carte, so you could add them to less expensive tiers if you wanted.

Enterprise-level customers can also add on Wrike Lock, which provides a master encryption key for your account that only you have access to. 

Methodology Suitability

Unsurprisingly, Wrike’s project management solution includes some features tailored toward an Agile approach. If you choose the Software Development set of templates, it will even set up options for Sprint work management. In many ways, Wrike could be used for any type of PM methodology you can build out of a task management system, though choosing the right template may make things a lot easier.

The platform can easily be used with Waterfall methodologies as well. It depends on how you set it up or which template you choose. You get a different set of options with a content creation template than you do with the web development option.

Wrike Alternatives

Most project management software, as we’ve mentioned already in our Wrike review, is based around task management. There are a number of variations on the theme with different price points, interfaces, features, etc. Some examples include:

Many Wrike features can also be found on other platforms. For example, Asana and Monday both provide an equivalent of Wrike Proof. Other options may also offer some of the professional services Wrike does.

The best project management software for your needs may be fairly similar to Wrike. However, since it actually offers some common features, top solutions that businesses look for, you may want to try out some of those other options and see how they suit you. 

The differences may not be apparent in a quick overview, so taking advantage of a free trial or free plan is often a good idea. Wrike does offer some unusual features, most notably native time tracking. 

If the task management model doesn’t appeal to you, there are a couple options that are organized differently, including Confluence and Basecamp. If you’re considering using a Wrike alternative, check out the battle between Microsoft Project vs Monday.com.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for Wrike Review

Final Thoughts on Wrike Review

While the higher price might initially put some people off, Wrike is one of the easier to use and feature-packed professional services out there. That may not make it the right choice for your project management requirements. However, it should be on your short list of platforms worth checking out.

ClickUp vs Microsoft Project: The Best Project Management Software Comparison

Sticky notes pinned to whiteboard

Microsoft was once a disruptive business, but these days they are the establishment. It has had a formative effect on project management for decades, so how can a newbie like ClickUp compete with MS Project? You may be surprised. The ClickUp vs Microsoft Project review will surely help you pick the right software for your business.

Quick Comparison: ClickUp vs Microsoft Project

Key Features

Budget Management

3/5

3.5/5

Collaboration

4/5

2/5

Portfolio Management

3/5

3/5

Resource Management

3/5

3.5/5

Milestone Tracking

3/5

3/5

Customer Support

4/5

2/5

Pricing

4/5

2.5/5

Pros

  • Lower cost
  • Better support options
  • Allows projections, baselines, and more
  • Review all your projects at once

Cons

  • Limited in some ways
  • Pricey

Overall Rating

3/5

2.5/5

ClickUp vs Microsoft Project

ClickUp is a cloud-based solution for project management software, one of a crop of similar options from a relatively small business. MS Project is a platform from a company that has been a powerhouse for decades. 

In some ways, those differences don’t matter much. Project managers require some resources to keep things organized, regardless of their approach. As a result, both software options share many key features.

However, there are significant differences. They play out in many ways, from bringing in integration to how team members will work together. Keep in mind that Microsoft Project is actually several different products. They include cloud-based solutions, as well as on-site solutions. They don’t all have the same options or functionality. 

Budget Management

One of the primary concerns of a project manager is managing the budget, finding ways to complete projects while also staying profitable. Tools to help manage logistics, employees’ time, and other concerns are critical. Comparing ClickUp vs Microsoft Project reveals two different ways of handling those issues.

ClickUp has some features for time management. We’ll discuss that in more detail when we get to resource management. Otherwise, ClickUp relies on its flexibility. Managing the budget is another task that can be assigned, have a due date set, and so forth.

Microsoft Project offers more tools designed for budget management. In fact, one tool allows you to analyze costs and make projections, as long as it’s set up correctly. There is also a whole set of tools for managing timesheets, sick leave, and more, as well as setting up a custom fiscal year.

Collaboration

Project management software has developed a key role in team collaboration. Employees on remote teams may never actually meet, so the only way to exchange ideas is cloud-based collaboration. 

To aid in that process, ClickUp offers many tools. Users can assign comments on tasks and elsewhere, as well as chat in real-time with other team members, all in the app. You can also customize access so users focus on certain areas. Attaching files to tasks is straightforward and you can even proof them in ClickUp. You can also assign comments to employees to address specific issues.

Microsoft Project allows you to add comments and notes to tasks, but it doesn’t have much else to offer beyond the basics. Project is part of Microsoft Office, with other programs handling communication and collaboration. It does offer some nice streamlining features, like being able to virtually sign documents. 

You can see how ClickUp compares to an app that’s similar in our ClickUp vs Monday.com review, or check out how Project measures up in our Microsoft Project vs Monday review.

Portfolio Management

A company project portfolio is all the projects they have underway or are considering starting. Project portfolio management is like project triage, deciding where you can most profitably put your time and interest. 

ClickUp stays true to form by offering one tool that can be customized. The Portfolio Widget allows you to define some categories across all your projects, allowing you to produce reports, estimate due dates, track time actually spent, etc. It’s one of a few new features available in recent updates.

Microsoft Project can support a much more detailed approach to portfolio management. It offers a range of tools that allow you to analyze your portfolio according to your business goals.

Other tools include using task assignments to determine resource demands or compare multiple portfolio analyses. It might be the better choice for larger companies or those with bigger budgets.

ClickUp is fairly representative of how a lot of apps handle portfolio management. Read our ClickUp vs TeamGantt review to see another example.

Resource Management

This is another area where we’ll see two fairly different ways of approaching the issue. 

ClickUp is focused almost entirely on tasks and the users working on them. As a result, the resources being managed mostly relate to workload. It’s possible to see all your team members’ projects and how they’re spending their time. You can access all that in the workload view.

As you might expect, Microsoft Project has a more comprehensive solution. It uses the portfolio analysis tools and the Resource center to gauge demands on your business and how projects can affect demand. Resource engagements are defined, which can then be associated with tasks. Workload and time tracking can be handled elsewhere or folded into the resource management software. 

Milestone Tracking

Being able to track progress is essential when you organize a project. Project management software therefore often includes tools for comparing the actual completion date of a task to its due date. 

It’s a more complicated process than it might at first seem. Both apps include methods for managing milestone tracking. Gantt charts, a classic method of tracking tasks, progress, and dependencies, are available with both options.

Microsoft Project uses a system of baselines to compare projected progress to actual performance. The number of variables and processes that have to be set up properly is a sign of the complexity of the system. Additionally, exporting the information to create effective presentations probably requires another MS product, like Excel or PowerPoint.

ClickUp has a similar but less complex system using milestones. They are used to mark significant tasks, for example, the shift from planning to development project phases. Milestones is a ClickApp, an additional feature that can be toggled on or off. Free users have limited uses, while any paid plan has unlimited uses. 

As Milestones is less complicated, it’s also less powerful and doesn’t offer the task analysis options Microsoft Project does.

Customer Support

ClickUp user reviews mention that there is a learning curve with ClickUp, though it didn’t seem to be a hindrance to many people. It’s adaptable, which means a certain amount of complexity is inevitable, but it didn’t stop users from utilizing the service. Microsoft Project, by comparison, is a high-powered piece of software that may require expertise to use well.

In either case, the ability to contact customer service, particularly a live rep, is important. ClickUp has a variety of ways to find help, though on-demand support is only available for the highest pay tiers. 

Otherwise, there is a library of online webinars, documentation, videos, and more. You can also make an appointment with a coach for video chat training on a specific project management tool. If the software is really giving you trouble, you can also contact a paid consultant.

Microsoft Project is supported by docs and videos as well. It also offers the same sort of support any MS product would get. Some options are limited to admins, so employees in your company may not be able to access some help. It’s a complicated piece of project management software, a fact that can impact project progress. 

Pricing

Both apps appear to have similar pricing models at first glance. There are several tiers of service with different levels of functionality. Like ClickUp, Microsoft Project can charge based on how many users are in your company. 

ClickUp has a free tier that allows unlimited members, but limits projects. On the whole, however, it still offers a complete project management tool, tracking task progress, and more.

Microsoft Project has only pay tiers, generally for more money than ClickUp. Integration is only with other MS products, no other vendors, for an additional subscription. The tier system is only available for cloud-based options. There are also on-site options with a different pricing structure and somewhat different features.

Small businesses might benefit more from the simpler and less expensive plans from ClickUp, though Microsoft Project offers tools to grow.

Overall Winner

In either case, you’re getting some of the best project management tools available. However, ClickUp comes out ahead in a few areas that are key to project management software. 

Many of the tools on offer are similar. Both use tasks to keep project managers organized, with lots of features to modify a task. Microsoft may appeal in some ways. Its project portfolio management tools allow for projecting into the future. The option to have it fully installed on-site means you don’t have to worry about your internet dropping.

However, ClickUp offers more flexibility and more features for a lower cost, no matter how many employees you have. The ability to integrate with other software vendors is also a plus. 

Everyone has experience with Microsoft products and their difficulty in use, while ClickUp has lots of support options. A free tier doesn’t hurt either. 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for ClickUp Vs Microsoft Project

Final Thoughts on ClickUp Vs Microsoft Project

Microsoft Project has some appealing features, particularly if you need powerful tools for analysis. However, ClickUp may appeal to nimbler companies with smaller teams. With a lower cost and greater flexibility, your project management software will take up less of your project management budget.

Microsoft Project vs monday.com: Which One is Right for You in 2023

Person in suit pointing at star ratings

Is it better to go with the familiar project management service or strike out and try something new and slick? The answer depends on your needs and approach to business. We compared Microsoft Project vs monday.com to see if modern cloud-based project management can compete with the PM software standard.

Quick Comparison: Microsoft Project vs monday.com

Key Features

Pricing

3/5

4/5

Team Management

4/5

3/5

Project Delivery Management

3/5

4/5

Methodology Suitability: Agile

5/5

5/5

Methodology Suitability: Waterfall

5/5

5/5

Risk Management

3/5

4/5

Reporting

3/5

5/5

Finance Management

2/5

4/5

Collaboration and Communication

2/5

5/5

Integration With Other Apps

4/5

4/5

Usability

2/5

5/5

Support

2/5

2/5

Privacy

5/5

4/5

Pros

  • Familiar
  • Powerful enterprise tools
  • Secure and reliable
  • Easy to use
  • Price scales to needs
  • Everything to manage a project in one place

Cons

  • Sharp learning curve
  • Expensive
  • Support can be difficult
  • Lacks some important business features

Overall Rating

3.5/5

4.5/5

Microsoft Project vs monday.com

Microsoft Project and Monday are similar in many respects, but they each have a different approach to project management software. To understand which offers the best project management tools for your team, we’ve compared a dozen different points, including:

  • Pricing.
  • Team management.
  • Project delivery management.
  • Methodology suitability.
  • Risk management.
  • Reporting.
  • Finance management.
  • Collaboration and communication.
  • Integration with other apps.
  • Usability.
  • Support.
  • Privacy.

monday.com has a spectrum of sleek features geared toward a small team working remotely. Microsoft Project is the project management tool in an ecosystem of apps geared toward larger companies with the resources to match. Despite the differences, one comes out ahead in the ease of assigning tasks, monitoring task progress, creating reports, and all the other challenges of managing projects. 

Pricing

The pricing structures of both project management software options is the first place their differing philosophies become apparent. 

Monday offers a typical pricing structure, with access to more features at costlier tiers. There’s a free tier that limits things to teams of two. More expensive tiers allow more users, offer a wider range of options, and can help with more complex projects. While a lot of the focus is on smaller businesses, they do offer an enterprise tier for a bigger company.

Microsoft Project offers both a cloud version and a version fully installed on-premises. However, there’s no free tier, barring a one-month trial, and it’s more expensive. Project managers might want to take advantage of human resources management but will have to pay even more to get it. 

Winner: monday.com

Monday simply offers more at a lower price.

Team Management

A modern company may work with team members around the world. As a result, project management requires the ability to track and manage work assignments remotely. Both Microsoft Project and Monday offer multiple features to help organize tasks and distribute them to different teams.

With Monday, the primary tool to track tasks is the weekly task board, shared with your team and with each task assigned to a person. Time tracking is also available to higher tiers.

MS Project follows a more traditional approach, offering options for using Gantt charts and WBS. Of more interest to a larger business might be the features for human resources management.

Winner: Microsoft Project

MS Project offers important features from the get-go, including having features for HR.

Project Delivery Management

The only thing more complicated than project management is managing multiple projects. Options to organize project delivery and project portfolio management are extremely helpful.

Project scheduling and managing team resources are both areas where Microsoft Project shines. They allow you to use milestones to track progress and offer features to track budget and manage risk.

Monday offers some of the same project management software features, though with a focus on team communication. Tools allow you to track the progress of teams in a way everyone can see. It lacks some tools for managing a company’s overall portfolio, however.

Winner: monday.com

Monday offers many of the same tools for a lower price.

Methodology Suitability

Project management methodologies like Waterfall and Agile require some specific software features to use. Project managers might want to have both available to their business. When comparing Monday vs Microsoft Project, either option might help.

Both allow collaborating with your team to create project tasks. Sprints and Kanban boards are available for both. Microsoft Project does offer tools for key waterfall methods like a work breakdown structure.

Winner: Microsoft Project

Microsoft Project offers more when using waterfall methods, though that may not matter to every user.

Risk Management

Risk management is an important way companies manage risks to their bottom line. As it’s often vital to a projects’ success, and therefore critical to project management, both Microsoft Project and Monday offer methods to track risks. 

MS offers features that allow your team to register risks and track issues. Included is information on the potential cost of the risk and plans for avoiding it.

Monday offers a similar service for your business by using a risk template. It fulfills a lot of the same functions, allowing users to register risks and track them.

Winner: monday.com

While the features for both options are similar, Monday’s are easier to use and read at a glance.

Reporting

Presenting data is a key aspect of monitoring progress, creating effective presentations, resource management, and project portfolio management. As a result, both Microsoft Project and Monday offer ways to manage information.

Microsoft offers Gantt charts, automated reports, and other features which focus on keeping a larger organization on task.

Monday makes many of the same functions available to the user, but in a more understandable way that can also be shared with team members. Additionally, it’s possible to report the status of tasks without exporting information to Excel or another program.

Winner: monday.com

The slick presentation and easy to use tools make Monday the better option. 

Finance Management

There are few things more important to a business than managing finances and other resources. Both options offer some high powered options for resource management and tracking finances. 

Monday has a full range of options beyond tracking expenses for your project and company. You can even forecast expenses, aided by AI.

Microsoft Project assumes a user has access to MS Office. Some aspects of your projects’ finances aren’t covered, as a result.

Winner: monday.com

Monday offers everything you need in one spot, without buying additional apps.

Collaboration and Communication

A consistent problem will crop up whenever comparing Microsoft Project to Monday, Microsoft Project vs Wrike, or another cloud-based project management software. Microsoft assumes you’re working with their suite of programs, which means Project lacks some key features supplied by other MS apps. 

A user may miss those options when it comes time to collaborate with teams. Monday allows file sharing, live comments on documents, tagging ownership of tasks, and plenty of other ways to stay in touch with team members.

Winner: monday.com

Monday includes everything, while Microsoft wants you to get several other programs.

Integration With Other Apps

This is a strength for both project management software options, though in different ways. Integrations can offer additional solutions that can be useful to any project or business. 

Monday is a cloud-based system with an API, so sharing data isn’t a problem. As a result, there are many integrations available or you can create your own. A user can make a Gantt chart in Monday or in the Data studio instead. 

Compared to Microsoft Project, however, they are about even. The Microsoft Office Suite obviously integrates, but many third-party vendors also work with Microsoft products.

Winner: Tie

It’s two different approaches to integration, which may be equally appealing to a large or small business.

Usability

Microsoft Project is built along the same lines as all Microsoft software, so a user familiar with their solutions will probably find the project management software features easy to access. However, the interface is plain and while user reviews are overall positive, difficulty finding a tool is a common complaint. Compared to Monday or another competitor, say Microsoft Project vs Hive, Project is all business. 

Monday’s ease of use is a big selling point. It’s easy to collaborate, share data, monitor assignments, and do a range of other tasks. Some functions might require a search, like a Gantt chart, but overall, it’s intuitive.

Winner: monday.com

No question, Monday is easier to use.

Support

It doesn’t matter how fancy the software or service is if a user can’t access the features they need for a project. Both options offer a lot of free, self-guided support. For example, video tutorials walk you through how to create tasks and other basic functions. Both also offer chat training. 

In both cases, additional support options are available at higher tiers, though that may not be available to small businesses. A community of professionals, including some you can hire, are available for both as well.

Winner: Tie

In both cases, there are lots of self-help resources, but tailored support is an additional cost.

Privacy

In either case, the software service makes promises regarding the security of your system and the data stored there. Comparing Monday vs Microsoft Project is putting a small company against a juggernaut, but both sides of that come with advantages. Microsoft has the force of a major corporation behind its data security. Choosing to have it fully installed on-site is even more secure.

Monday works hard to be reassuring, however. Security measures include allowing users to activate two-factor authentication for access. You can also receive alerts regarding suspicious user logins, though only for Enterprise customers.

Winner: Microsoft Project

The most secure option is to avoid the cloud entirely and keep everything on-site.

Overall Winner

The overall winner is monday.com, with a wider range of solutions that allow you to collaborate and create reports. Most important is its ease of use. That factor is the most important to real users with everyday work. When there is a problem, video tutorials and other types of support are easy to follow.

Moreover, Monday beat Microsoft Project in many areas, despite being a less expensive service. 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for Microsoft Project vs monday.com

Conclusion: Microsoft Project vs monday.com

Perhaps surprisingly, monday.com actually offers a better service for a lower cost when compared to MS Project. With everything else being equal, ease of use becomes the most important factor.

How Many Trackers Do You Track? Guest Post By Cristian Young

White smartwatch with a bluish screen

Time tracking. Invoicing. Success metrics. Key Contacts. Managing a project can become overwhelming quickly. And the tools we use to track these aspects of projects can quickly become too time-consuming. That inclination project managers have to track any critical or risky component requires moderation and thought. As we know, with the addition of every tracker (and data point for that matter), comes exponentially more work in maintaining it.

Track Your Trackers

Like so many approaches to successful project execution, upfront planning and risk-mitigation is critical. Rarely, however, is the risk of complex and misaligned tracking considered and discussed. At the start of a new project or phase then, the Project Manager should have the right conversations in order to craft an effective Tracking Plan. Essentially, this document will track your trackers.

Information Overload

Before exploring the components to your ‘Tracking Plan’, let’s take a minute to reflect on the dangers of tracking. Why is tracking a high-risk activity?

The rise of technology has made data and information capture remarkably easy. Oftentimes for no money at all, anyone can store gigabytes of data for almost nothing. As a result, a “Why not?” mentality has risen, when it comes to storing data. There is a danger to all this. Let’s try not waste anyone’s time (including our own) by keeping track of too much data that no one will consume.

Ask yourself:
• “Will this data help someone make a business decision?”
• “Will knowing this actively mitigate risk?”
• “Am I already capturing this information elsewhere? In another tracker or some other database?

Which Are Your SLAs?

Firstly, when you or your organization made the agreement to deliver a project, you (hopefully) agreed upon Service Level Agreements (SLAs). These SLAs are those items that, if you don’t deliver, can be deemed a breach of contract and lead to legal action. No one wants that situation, so include tracking of your SLAs in your Tracking Plan. I have unfortunately, seen too many instances of well-run projects being unable to report metrics against their SLAs. It is crucial to identify proper metrics and discuss them with the client so there are no unpleasant surprises.

Must-Haves

Consider what your organization requires from an operational standpoint. There are certain trackers you won’t be able to avoid that your company might require to operate successfully. Fine, those are needed. After addressing what your organization needs, think about the project. Would it be disastrous to not track vacations with a large deployment in December? Maybe. And after determining what your team needs to function, think, too, about what your team needs to be happy. Metrics that boost team morale can make the difference between a good project and a great project.

Mind the Gap (and the Overlap!)

Once you have defined what needs to be tracked, look for overlaps. Look for gaps. You do not want to waste time tracking the same information in several places. That sounds like a sure-fire way to have out of sync information. For those out there tracking with MS Excel, it may be worth the effort of learning how to use Macros if that means better data quality.

In summary: applying our planning expertise to project tracking will provide the framework we need to succeed. No more trackers that repeat the same information from a different lens. If a gap arises, let us be flexible, make an amendment, and improve our Tracking Plan.

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For more resources, see the Library topic Project Management.

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Cristian is currently a Consultant with SapientNitro and pursuing a Master’s degree at Columbia University. He has consulted as an IT Project Manager in the aerospace, education, non-profit, consumer products, and financial industries.

Exotic Project Management Software

Businessman studying project details pinned to a white board

Guest post from Alexander Mitnikov.

Where does a typical software vendor come from? IT-companies from the USA, the UK, Canada, India and Germany have a substantial representation in the market. However, in search for a suitable project management tool for instance one might bump into some extraordinary countries. Serbian business tool, software from Denmark, Latvian startup – these are the word combinations that rarely bother our hearing and even when they do chances are that you are not likely to put your faith in such vendors due various reasons like fear of a scam or general watchfulness towards something new and unfamiliar. Consequently, less popular IT-companies are compelled to come up with outstanding features to get their share of customers. The purpose of this article is to illustrate what practical advantages some exotic software vendors have to offer by giving several concrete examples.

Podio ( https://company.podio.com/project-management-software ) is an all-inclusive project management and web collaboration tool from Denmark that supplies its users with an overwhelming amount of features: projects, tasks, milestones, calendar, meetings, discussions, file-sharing, email integration, reporting, budget control, CRM and many more. Mentioning a tool that it does not encompass is quite a challenge. However, that’s not the biggest advantage of Podio. Comprehensive functionality is undoubtedly a plus, but Podio goes even further and grants a full-scale mobile access to its services. Podio App Store offers hundreds of free applications for business that can be either obtained separately or in special packs depending on the functionality you need. The applications are available on Android and iPhone. Everything from business development and community management to human resources and marketing is at your disposal. Clear and reasonable pricing plans ($8 per an employee per month) is one more reason to pay attention to a vendor from Denmark. The company is backed by the Nordic-based venture capital investor Sunstone Capital, which makes it a trustworthy partner.

ActiveCollab ( http://www.activecollab.com/) is another full-fledged project management/collaboration product. It was developed by a Serbian company named A51 d.o.o. The toolset of activeCollab has every right to be called outstanding. It includes all the necessary features to keep track of your projects, collaborate with your team and partners, save time as well as the ability to integrate the product with other services according to your specific needs. What makes activeCollab trustworthy and more functional at the same time is its deployment solution. The tool can be installed on your own server, thus it gives you more freedom than you get with SaaS solution e.g. you are not limited by the amount of users, projects or storage space for your documents. Availability of the source code of the product is another factor that verifies the company’s status and its serious intentions to establish a long-term partnership with its customers. ActiveCollab offers two types of perpetual licenses for $499 and $249 that differ in the amount of features supplied. A free demo version is also available which makes Serbian product an attractive offer for modern businesses.

TeamLab ( http://www.teamlab.com/ ) is last but not least on our list (no pun intended). A promising Latvian startup also has something to brag about, namely online services for various businesses. Among those are project management, community building, CRM, calendar, reports on user activity and workload, internal chat, wiki etc. Just like its Serbian rival (or in this context soul mate) TeamLab developers decided to lay their cards on the table and provide access to its source code to promote openness and reliability. The product is also available in SaaS version for those who prefer ready-to-use services hosted by professionals. TeamLab’s gimmick is undoubtedly its document management feature. Presentations, images, spreadsheets can be uploaded and added to a particular task or project. Users are enabled to create, share, import and what’s more important – edit documents online. The recent introduction of the first full-fledged HTML5-based word processor leaves no doubt that the company is planning to keep on developing in this realm. The only thing you are charged for is additional services that include either 20 or 50 GB of extra storage space and advanced files upload for $19 or $49 per month respectively.

To sum up, modern software market’s geography has expanded dramatically. With all due respect for software vendors who have already established a good reputation, sometimes developers from the countries that can be easily called dwarfs of the industry have a lot more to offer. It doesn’t necessarily mean that we have to shift our focus dramatically towards the newcomers of the market. Our goal as consumers is to take into account as many options as possible no matter where they are from. This in turn will intensify market competition inevitably increasing the quality of the products represented. What can be more motivating than that?

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For more resources, see the Library topic Project Management.

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Alexander Mitnikov is a freelance translator interested in modern business and technology trends. His passion is software that helps entrepreneurs and freelancers like himself enhance their working process to the full. He is currently working as a marketer at Ascensio System SIA.