Best Project Management Software

By Kriti Sahay, Technical Writer at SelectHub

Whether revamping a client’s website or launching a space shuttle, every initiative needs efficient management. Project management software puts managers in control of teams, enhances communication and improves progress tracking. Because you can’t just get it done — you need to get it done right.

Looking for a way to streamline your project planning and delivery? This buyer’s guide will cover what PM software is, how it could help your business and how to pick the best solution. We’ll also give you a detailed project management software comparison to help you find the best tool for your needs.

Executive Summary

• The best project management software organizes processes while enhancing visibility.
• Project management systems offer capabilities like task management, resource allocation, document centralization and time tracking. Businesses need clear strategies and prioritization processes to meet project goals.
• Artificial intelligence will automate repetitive tasks and drastically transform the PM landscape.
• Determining your must-have features and planning a strategy for your selection is an essential first step.
• When choosing a vendor, prepare a standard list of questions to help determine the right fit for your team.

So, before buying a system, you need to know whether it's the right type of tool for your needs. Let’s look at the three main types of PM software.

Individual

Individual project management software is used by individuals to manage their personal projects and goals. Independent contractors, freelancers and students are some of the target markets for individual project management systems.

These types of PM software contain fewer features and are less comprehensive than an enterprise level solution, but are useful for managing and maintaining personal productivity.

Collaborative

Collaborative PM software focuses on team-based project management and is commonly used by teams within various organizations. The focus on collaboration makes it easy for teams to communicate and handle various dependencies attached to both individual and team tasks.

These project management systems tend to be more comprehensive and offer tools for agile PM, like scrum, Gantt charts, Kanban boards and more.

Integrated

Integrated project management systems offer the best of both worlds. These tools offer features for both individual productivity management as well as team collaboration. They have personal dashboards for individual users to view and manage their tasks, as well as team dashboards and other collaborative tools for better communication and team project management.

Best Project Management Software

Now that you know what project management software can do and the kinds of tools that are available, how do you decide which product is best? Our analysts did a comparison of the top project management solutions on the market. Check out our picks below!

ClickUp: Best Overall

What It Does

ClickUp is an online task management solution that facilitates team communication and collaboration, with features like task delegation and status updates, a task toolbar and alerts.

It lets you assign tasks and comments to specific employees or groups while creating custom statuses. It offers an agile dashboard to display projects and real-time task progress on the activity stream.

ClickUp provides eight different view options to manage projects and organize tasks. Source

Product Overview

What It’s Best For

ClickUp is the best overall project management systems according to our data and research. In fact, it’s the PM software we use here at SelectHub. It scores high in modules like project planning and scheduling, collaboration and customizability, and provides an overall robust framework for PM.

It’s top scored modules according to our data are:

Pros and Cons From User Reviews

Wrike: Ideal for Integrations

What It Does

Wrike is a cloud-hosted work management application suitable for organizations of all sizes across industries. It offers Gantt charts, workload view, custom dashboards, calendars, real-time updates and task management. You can auto-assign tasks based on status while structuring work according to different initiatives and folders.

It customizes workflows and dashboards to streamline processes while configuring team-specific automation. Real-time notifications and commenting capabilities eliminate copious email threads and unnecessary text messages.

Wrike’s Kanban boards customize workflows to reflect task completion stages. Source

Product Overview

What It’s Best For

Wrike offers an extensive suite of extensions and plugins to expand the functionality of its base software. Integrations are important for project management systems because they help bring together the different software tools and systems used by organizations to run their processes and manage their projects.

Other top rated modules and their scores according to our data are:

Pros and Cons From User Reviews

Teamwork: Ideal for Team Collaboration

What It Does

Teamwork is an online project management platform that manages multiple project operations, like time tracking, task lists, messages and file uploads. It communicates and addresses group objectives while establishing business processes.

Its scheduling capability defines project tasks and tracks in-progress assignments while delegating tasks. Its document management functionality allows document sharing within teams via an ePortal.

Teamwork offers multiple views to track projects from start to finish. Source

Product Overview

What It’s Best For

When it comes to team collaboration, Teamwork certainly lives up to its name. Our data says that it performs the best overall when it comes to collaboration features. Time-tracking and performance management is another area where Teamwork scores highly, with a perfect score according to our analysts.

Here are Teamwork’s highest rated modules:

Pros and Cons From User Reviews

monday.com: Ideal for Mobile Capabilities

What It Does

monday.com is a cloud-based resource management solution that helps teams plan and execute complex initiatives on time. It offers a variety of productivity-oriented functions, like an integrated Kanban board, time tracking, workflow automation, calendar integration with multiple views and automated notifications.

It provides a collaborative environment for organizations to create knowledge bases, communicate and share documents.

Monday.com’s dashboards offer project overviews to help everyone stay on the same page. Source

Product Overview

What It’s Best For

monday.com is notable for its mobile capabilities. It offers robust mobile apps for both Android and iOS which enables teams to manage their work and projects while on the go. It’s also a highly customizable software, scoring a perfect 100 in that department according to our data.

Here are some of monday.com’s highest rated modules:

Pros and Cons From User Reviews

Jira: Ideal for Project Planning and Scheduling

What It Does

Jira is a popular project management system and issue-tracking solution used by agile teams to plan stories, create sprints, track issues and ship up-to-date software. Users can create out-of-the-box workflows or customize them to match their team requirements. It seamlessly integrates with modules offered by Atlassian and helps teams manage their products and projects.

Jira helps teams plan, track and release the best software. Source

Product Overview

What It’s Best For

Jira’s strength lies in project planning and scheduling. It works especially well for agile project management and bug tracking for software development and IT teams. It also includes developer tools like its own query language and compatibility with Java APIs.

Jira’s highest rated modules include:

Pros and Cons From User Reviews

Primary Benefits

Handling multiple factors that influence project success, like resource allocation, collaboration, scope, project size, timelines, cost, quality, risks and client considerations, is challenging.

Overcoming these difficulties requires tools designed to offer project visibility, facilitate communication and optimize task management. The following are some core benefits of project management systems.

Improve Planning and Scheduling

Project planning and scheduling are crucial to managing projects. These modules simplify access while developing consistent task prioritization plans.

Project management platforms streamline resource allocation, dependency determination, deadline setting and deliverable preparation. They lay down robust project delivery foundations.

Enhance Collaboration

Project teams often comprise employees across departments, sometimes even locations, and can have multiple phases. It's challenging to attend all stakeholder meetings and stay updated. Communication breakdown challenges can squander valuable resources.

Project management solutions simplify collaboration across teams by centralizing all communication. They facilitate information access like status updates, project timelines and important notifications.

Control Costs

A multipurpose system efficiently utilizes all resources while curbing scope creep. Managers can track expenditures in real time and identify costly areas using project reporting tools to prevent budgets from skyrocketing.

You can make better decisions, making adjustments as needed or distributing hours differently. Project management platforms keep you fiscally responsible while meeting deadlines.

Mitigate Risks

Every new initiative involves risks that managers have to identify and mitigate. Neglecting possible risks can have catastrophic implications, including project failures. Analyzing potential risks and deploying effective countermeasures is crucial for projects to succeed.

Project management systems identify potential hazards using Gantt Chart modules and Kanban boards. Monitoring deviations in real time makes it easier to respond and nip risks in the bud.

Increase Process Standardization

PM software standardizes teams' processes, making them teachable to newly onboarded employees. Standardization simplifies information and document management systems for teams to store, build and search from workflow database processes.

Often, these are in the form of process management wikis. Sophisticated systems automate process workflows and customize project request forms that employees can trigger while performing specific actions. Automated triggers ensure appropriate next steps.

Streamline Remote Work

With remote work becoming a reality in the post-COVID era, physical workplaces or departments don't bind current projects. Project management platforms help managers lead remote teams effectively while setting clear goals and targets.

Since most PM applications are cloud-hosted, remote and hybrid teams can track project progress and work from any location while onboarding new initiatives.

Implementation Goals

Most businesses looking to implement a project management system share a few common goals. Make sure your business objectives align with the goals we’ve listed below. If not, you may need something different, like a PSA system or an ERP.

SelectHub talked to Elizabeth Harrin, the director of Otobos Consulting and author of the blog A Rebel’s Guide to PM. For her, better visibility and transparency of workloads, reporting tools and performance analytics are the top goals for implementing PM software. With that in mind, let’s look at these and some other common implementation goals.

Basic Features & Functionality

Every project management solution should contain a baseline of capabilities, regardless of the industry or company size it serves. Here are some standard features most project management systems offer:

Advanced Features & Functionality

Advanced features help administrators customize project management platforms fully. These features are essential to customizing workflows for specific business needs.

How To Choose the Best Project Management Software

We’ve talked extensively about the top project management systems on the market, what they do, what they’re best for, and their pros and cons. But sometimes a general software comparison is not enough. You need to know which tool is ideal for you and for that you need to know your exact requirements.

Define Requirements

While lists of features and goals are helpful, every business is unique and has unique needs. Before buying a project management system, you need to be sure of your needs and that you’re buying the right product to address them. When asked for her top tips on buying PM software, Elizabeth Harrin had this to say:

My top tip for buyers wanting to find new project management software is to fully understand why you need it so you can match features to the pain points expressed by the people who will be using it.

Do they really need another tool for document sharing and chat, or will those collaboration features simply dilute what you already have in the enterprise? Do they need planning, scheduling and task management features? Go through all the problems and complaints people have with their current tools and then look to address those with your new product.”

Buying Considerations

Before you make a buying decision, consider whether the software matches the following factors for your business.

Business Size

Small, medium and large businesses have different PM needs. In general, larger businesses with multiple departments and teams will need a more comprehensive project management solution. A small business has less complex needs and can do with simpler software.

Use Cases

Different kinds of projects may need different tools. Your marketing team may need a very different software from your IT team or customer service team. It’s worthwhile to investigate whether a general project management system will do for your employees or if you need a more specialized solution.

For example, a software like Teamwork is designed primarily for client work, so it’s a good choice if that’s the bulk of your team’s work. Similarly, Jira is well-known for agile PM capabilities and issue tracking, which your IT team may appreciate.

For certain use cases, you may need even more specialized software, like construction management software for construction projects.

Integrations

Most projects within any given organization involve multiple teams, multiple dependencies, different phases and the expertise of people from different departments. Integrations and plugins help people across teams and departments collaborate together on one single platform, even if they’re using different programs and tools.

Integrations not only help with everyday functions like file sharing and data export/import, but they also often provide extra functionality of their own. They can expand the scope of your project management software to add tools beyond what’s built into your PM system.

Customer Support

Every organization knows that the customer is the heart and soul of a business — and every customer knows that nothing ruins their day like bad customer service. Before you commit to a product, research the kind of customer service offered by the vendor. Go through reviews, ask your colleagues and ask the vendor what support channels they offer and what their track record is like.

Pricing Considerations

Cost is a big factor when making a software purchase, and it can vary significantly depending on your deployment strategy. While some vendors are upfront in displaying pricing information on their sites, others provide specialized quotes per an organization's needs.

Project management system vendors offer two pricing models: perpetual licensing for on-site deployment and subscription hosting plans for cloud-hosted models.

Subscription Plans

If you want to spend less on IT and backend infrastructure, opt for a subscription-based pricing model where the vendor hosts the software on their server.

The method follows a standard pricing structure of payments per user every month. Most vendors offer scalable plans based on the types of features included and the number of users in each plan.

While many subscription plans don’t require any contractual commitments, others might come with a contractual arrangement. Cloud-based systems offer different plans to suit the needs of small, medium and large-scale businesses.

Perpetual Licensing

Organizations with complex needs and data security concerns usually want to host data in-house, which requires on-premise infrastructure. A perpetual license usually requires you to pay an upfront licensing fee. You may incur additional expenses for regular product upgrades and support. Licensing fees for this strategy vary depending on factors like the number of users.

Current & Upcoming Trends

The industry is evolving rapidly to sync with current and upcoming trends while offering the best project management solutions to meet challenges. The PM world stepped-up to survive post-COVID challenges while adjusting to handle the changing work landscape.

For an in-depth look at where the industry is headed, check out our full project management trends article.

AI and Data Analytics

Artificial intelligence, machine learning and big data analytics have made major waves in the PM landscape. AI will automate administrative tasks like project balancing, resource allocation, schedule creation and budget updates.

Automating repetitive and low-impact tasks will increase organizational efficiency and move employees away from mundane tasks. Project managers have realized that leveraging AI simplifies execution while building meaningful relationships with team members.

According to a recent study, organizations will increasingly adopt advanced digital technologies by 2026. "Organizations will continue to invest in AI to augment skills like decision-making, risk management, data analysis and knowledge management," it says.

Soft Skills and Emotional Intelligence

As projects become more complex and interconnected, managers must satisfy larger stakeholder groups. Along with technical skills, soft skills and emotional intelligence are crucial to PM and delivery.

Project management is much more than handling deadlines, budgets, tasks and scope. Managers must focus on managing people (stakeholders, clients and employees) to yield better results. Zucker had this advice to share:

Organizations often make the mistake of buying project management systems, hoping it will improve their project outcomes. It is important to remember that software enables the process. It does not create it.

The first step should be to define a set of repeatable processes that fit your business needs and context. Execute these processes using your existing tools. Identify and implement ways of improving the process. Then research software that meets those needs.”

Organizations need to help their managers become proficient in soft skills and domain knowledge while hiring people with social skills. Strong managers lead and understand the hopes and needs of their teams, locate frustrations and remove roadblocks that could hamper project progress.

Hybrid Project Management

Having a uniform methodology to tackle projects is a thing of the past, with organizations realizing the complexity of all initiatives and that they can't be equal. Hybrid project management results from merging multiple methodologies to cater to a unique project or industry requirements.

With the growing adoption of Scrum, Lean, Agile and Kanban, the shift to alternative methodologies was imminent. Implementing hybrid models tackles challenges by organizing tasks, projects, communications and resources in one place. Managers are combining agile methods with traditional PM approaches to drive results.

Flexible Work

The pandemic ushered in a revolution in how organizations function and employees work. Remote work and flexible working schedules became much more commonplace, and, as we slowly emerge from the shadow of COVID19, employees don’t seem to want to go back to the old ways of work.

In the spring of 2022, McKinsey conducted their American Opportunity Survey and the results speak for themselves. 87% of employees opted for remote work and offered the ability. Flexible work arrangements also feature among the top three reasons for switching jobs.

Flexible work is also associated with better productivity. In 2023, Slack found that productive workers are more likely to embrace flexible work.

Cloud-based project management software and mobile apps can help employers provide more options for flexible work. These applications allow users to access their workstations from anywhere and ensure productivity even when working from home.

Helpful Questions To Ask Yourself

Choosing the right project management systems should involve a long-term strategy that ensures the solution can adapt to your organization’s growing needs. Use these questions as a starting point for internal conversations:

• What PM challenges do I face today?
• How many projects do I handle currently?
• How will software address my problems?
• What’s my budget?
• Who will use the application?
• Do I need resource management tools?
• Am I looking for a more specialized PM software, like construction management or IT service management?
• Do I need a project management system that’s capable of multitasking?

Helpful Questions To Ask Vendors

Here are a few questions to ask potential vendors to help you learn more about the software and vendor.

About the Software

• Does it integrate with my current applications?
• Is it customizable, and do customizations cost extra?
• How can your software’s capabilities benefit companies in my industry?
• What’s your product roadmap?
• What are the core strengths of the software?

About the Vendor

• How many years of expertise do you have in the industry?
• What customer support and training do you offer?
• How do you handle issues and important updates?
• How long will the implementation take?
• Is the software complex/simple enough for my organization?

FAQs

What's the best free project management software?

ClickUp, Wrike, Teamwork, monday.com and Jira all offer free plans for limited users and personal use. You may want to check out our article on the best free PM software for a more detailed overview.

What's the easiest project management system to use?

monday.com was rated as intuitive by 91% of reviewers talking about ease of use, according to SelectHub research.

What's the best project management system for small business?

ClickUp is the most highly rated app suitable for small businesses, according to SelectHub data and analyst research.

What does project management software cost?

The price of PM software usually depends on the size of your organization and the number of people using the platform, since most apps charge based on the number of users. For small teams and personal use, a lot of platforms like ClickUp, Wrike and Jira even offer completely free plans.

What's the best project management software for construction?

CMiC is the best construction project management software. You can also check out our construction project management software buyer’s guide for more detailed insights into tools for construction management.

Next Steps

Need more help streamlining your project workflows? PM software can improve the quality and speed of your standard initiative delivery and help you gain valuable business performance insights.

If you need further help, check out our free PM software comparison report for more detailed insights on industry leaders. Good luck on your software selection journey!

Product Comparisons

• ClickUp vs. Wrike
• ClickUp vs. Teamwork
• ClickUp vs. Monday
• ClickUp vs. Jira

Additional Resources

• The Best Free Project Management Software
• Project Management Software Evaluation
• Project Management Software Requirements Checklist and Template
• Project Management Trends
• Construction Management Software Buyer’s Guide

Thought Leaders

	Elizabeth Harrin Founder of Project Management Rebels Elizabeth Harrin is the founder of Project Management Rebels, a community for project managers. She is the author of several project management books including Managing Multiple Projects. A sought-after speaker, Elizabeth also delivers training and mentors project managers. Elizabeth is a Fellow of the Association for Project Management and has spent over 20 years in the profession, delivering technology and business projects large and small. She also writes the award-winning blog, Rebels Guide to Project Management.. You can find Elizabeth online at RebelsGuideToPM.com or on Twitter @rebelsguidetopm.
	Shane Anastasi Founder & CEO, PS Principles Shane Anastasi is the Founder & CEO of PS Principles, a leading provider of professional services skills development and certifications. He is the author of the industry's recognized framework, The Seven Principles of Professional Services and an entrepreneur with experience at startups such as BigMachines, Kimble PSA, Vignette Corporation, Badgeville, CirrusOne and Simplus. Added to this, his many years of experience at large enterprises such as IBM, SingTel and Salesforce.com, he brings a level of planning and scalability that helps small companies accelerate their growth as effectively and efficiently as possible.
	Alan Zucker Founding Principal, Project Management Essentials, LLC I share my passion for project management and leadership through keynote speaking, training and advisory services. With over 25-years of managing project execution organizations and strategic programs I have a wealth of experience. I have: Managed an organization of eleven managers and 150+ project management professionals—delivering over 250 releases per year Managed large programs with budgets up to $125M and over 600 resources, spanning multiple business and technology organizations Led an Agile transformation—implemented Agile accelerators that prepared the organization, trained resources and converted 50% of the work to Agile within 18-months Built a culture of “execution excellence” and “leadership” that: reduced costs, increased quality and improved client satisfaction Through Project Management Essentials, I provide customized training, keynote speeches, coaching and consulting services to clients across the country
	Brett Harned Director Of Education, TeamGantt Brett Harned is a digital project manager with a deep investment in the practice, its value in the larger digital industry, and the growing community. He has over 15 years experience in strategizing, building, and managing digital projects of all shapes and sizes—from flash banner ads to iOS apps, responsive websites, touch kiosks, and more. He takes pride in managing project teams and projects managers alike, finding the right communication tactic to smooth over difficult situations and inspire teams to do their best work. Brett actively writes about digital project management for various publications, has spoken at several events on the topic, and has taught a course on digital PM at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA. In 2012 he founded the Digital PM Summit, an event that draws digital project managers from across the world to one location to learn about and discuss the practice of managing projects.
	Bill Dow Director of Enterprise PMO at UW Medicine Bill Dow, PMP is a recognized expert in Project Management by the Project Management Institute (PMI) for specifically developing and managing Project Management Offices (PMOs). His extensive experience with Project Management and PMOs have enabled him to co-author several comprehensive books available through Amazon.com. Bill has taught at the college level for more than 15 years in Washington State, British Columbia and Ontario, Canada, and has worked at Microsoft for more than 14 years. Bill is now the PMO Director at the University of Washington Medical. He has spoken at multiple Project Management Institute (PMI) conferences, breakfasts and events nationally. projectmanagement.com and projecttimes.com host numerous articles by Bill.
	Mike Clayton CEO & Founder at OnlinePMCourses.com Mike Clayton is the Founder of OnlinePMCourses.com to help build Project Management careers. Mike is a business trainer, author, speaker with 25 years of delivering projects, integrating complex change, training and speaking on these subjects. He has spent the first half of his career managing projects and people. Formerly a Senior Manager with 12 years at Deloitte Consulting, where he managed large and small projects. Prior to that, Mike had an academic career in Physics, from The University of Manchester. Since 2002, he has focused on speaking and training, delivering practical tools and insights based on his experience of complex change. Mike is one of the most successful and in-demand project management trainers in the UK.
	George Jucan Managing Partner at Organizational Performance Enablers Network George Jucan is well known in the project management community as a successful management consultant, captivating speaker at public events, motivating trainer and author of high-impact project management articles. He has over 25 years of experience in complex environments, both in public and private sector, providing consulting services in methodology definition and capability assessment, business reengineering and organizational restructuring, projects audit and recovery, as well as hands-on management of strategic programs and projects. Many of his endeavors won provincial and national awards and/or were profiled in specialty magazines. An internationally renowned expert in standards and methodologies, George is leading the Canadian Standards Mirror Committee at International Organization of Standardization (ISO) for the establishment of Project, Programme and Portfolio Management family of standards (TC258). He also participated in the creation of many PMI standards such as PMBOK® Guide 6th, 5thand 4th Edition, PMCDF - 2nd Edition, and Government Extension to PMBOK 3rd Ed).