5 Best Project Management Software for Small Business 2023
This article is part of a larger series onUnified Communications.
When you need to plan, manage, and implement projects from beginning to end, there’s nothing better than dedicated project management software. The best project management software gives everyone a unique way to log in to view tasks, upload associated documents, and contribute to important task-related discussions. The software also makes it easy to stay on task and provides managers with a high-level overview of how projects are progressing through various stages.
We looked at different project management solutions to determine which are best for small business. The best project management systems for 2023 are:
- Zoho Projects:Best overall project management software
- ClickUp:Best for multiple project views
- monday.com:Best for project customizability
- Jira:Best for software projects
- Notion:Best for dragging and dropping tasks
Best Project Management Software for Small Business at a Glance
Article Specific |
Monthly Starting Price*
(per User) |
Key Features |
FSB Rating |
---|---|---|---|
|
$5 |
|
4.58 out of 5 |
|
$9 |
|
4.48 out of 5 |
|
$8 |
|
4.46 out of 5 |
|
$7.75 |
|
4.14out of 5 |
|
$8 |
|
4.09 out of 5 |
*All providers have free plans that offer comparatively simplified feature sets.
Zoho Projects: Best Overall Project Management Software
What We Liked
- Easy integration into the Zoho ecosystem
- Teammates easily communicate through the app on any device
- Robust time tracking
Where It Falls Behind
- The learning curve for Zoho Projects is somewhat steep
- Client contact information is sometimes difficult to add and organize in projects
Zoho Projects Monthly Pricing*
- Free:$0 for up to three users, custom status, Gantt charts, project feeds, and mobile apps on both iOS and Android
- Premium:$5 per user for project Gantt charts, custom views, project budget and EVM, and business rules for issues
- Enterprise:$10 per user for up to 30 project templates, global Gantt charts, inter-project dependencies, and service level agreements (SLAs) for issues
- Free trial:10 days
*Save up to $12 per user, per year if you opt for annual billing.
Part of the larger Zoho ecosystem, Zoho Projects serves as a surprisingly robust project management software solution, which is why it’s earned our top spot. Pricing-wise, Zoho Projects ties neatly with ClickUp as the two project management tools that have the cheapest starting price past the free tier. At only $5 per month, they each provide an easy-to-traverse barrier of entry for small businesses and solopreneurs.
Added value comes with the fact that Zoho Projects also provides its free solution for up to three users, which is very beneficial as teams grow. With this clear small business friendliness come some strong features for project management. Not only does it deliver features like Gantt charts, but it also has built-in chat so that teammates quickly communicate with each other during projects.
This Zoho product also has robust integrations with multiple third-party applications in addition to the solutions in the Zoho suite. A good example of its utility is the ability to not only chat with team members but to use solutions like Zoho Meeting to actually pull teammates into meetings for impromptu or scheduled discussions and planning sessions.
While Zoho Projects is feature-rich and our best overall project management software, it still falls behind in some regards. For example, Projects’ Gantt charts lack drag-and-drop and fine-tuning functionality, which is available on providers such as monday.com.
Zoho Projects Features
- Universal Add:Also called Global Add, this feature allows you to quickly add a variety of work items. For example, tasks are able to be added here, as well as milestones, timesheets, new projects, and forums. This is doable without navigation to the specific modules of the project.
- Web Tab:The web tab allows you to embed a web URL from your browser into Zoho Projects. This is designed to provide easy access to related sites and web applications. You’re able to name the specific web tab, and you’re also able to set permissions for the viewability of specific web tabs.
- Planned vs Actual Hours:This feature allows you to quickly compare the time allotted for each task with what time it actually took to complete them. This helps project managers provide better estimates for clients and stakeholders. There are filters to enable things like month view, project groups, project name, and task status.
ClickUp: Best for Multiple Project Views
What We Liked
- Even the free plan provides 24/7 support from the provider
- Kanban boards are available at every plan tier
- More than 50 popular third-party app integrations
Where It Falls Behind
- Free plan only provides 100MB of storage
- Chat functionality could be much better
ClickUp Monthly Pricing*
- Free:100MB of storage, unlimited tasks, collaborative docs, and Kanban boards
- Unlimited:$9 per user for unlimited storage, integrations, and dashboards, as well as column calculations and email support
- Business:$19 per user for Google single sign-on (SSO), unlimited teams, advanced automations, advanced time tracking, and goal folders
- Business Plus:$29 per user for custom role creation, custom permissions, conditional logic in forms, and subtasks in multiple lists
- Enterprise:Custom pricing for everything in Business Plus and white labeling, unlimited custom roles, default personal views, and live onboarding training
*Save up to 45% when you subscribe to its annual subscription.
In addition to its cheapness, which ties with Zoho Projects, ClickUp stands out for its views. Included with the software are views such as the following:
View Type |
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---|---|
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In fact, the provider itself names views as its “secret sauce,” and it’s good for businesses looking to really perform a deep-dive into various aspects of specific projects. List and table views are also exportable as Excel or CSV files, but it’s important to understand that, in the second tier, this is only available a maximum of five times.
免费计划用户,对于用户来说也是至关重要的to know that ClickUp only allows for about 100MB of storage. This is significantly lower than other providers, like Jira, which provides 2GB of storage space on the free plan. This is significantly offset by the tier two Unlimited plan that provides unlimited storage for only $5 per month.
Every tier of ClickUp includes the ability to comment on task-related threads, which helps teammates coordinate their work. Features like project templates, schedule and time management, team chat, and time tracking are all basic to the platform. For those who need integrations, there are more than 50 available, but if there’s a need for even more third-party support, consider a provider like Zoho Projects.
ClickUp Features
- Box view:Box view provides a representation of each person in your workspace as well as for tasks that are unassigned. Every person’s box will present their assigned workloads, and the box view allows you to drag and drop tasks to where they need to be. If a teammate is too busy for a specific task, send it to another colleague. Tasks are even grouped by status so that redelegation is easy.
- QuickSwitch hotkey:Pressing either Ctrl+K on PC or Cmd+K on Mac will enable the QuickSwitch feature. This provides you with the command center view, which helps you quickly navigate through your views, spaces, folders, and lists. This also provides you with a quick and easy way to search documents, tasks, and even chats.
- Clip screen recording:ClickUp has a unique in-app video recording feature that isn’t really available in other top project management software solutions. The software allows you to capture your entire screen or a browser tab so that you can present it later to clients or teammates. Audio is also capturable via a microphone so that you can provide full-fledged presentations within projects. Shareable links are even generated on the platform.
monday.com: Best for Customizability
What We Liked
- 24/7 customer service and live webinars
- Has more than 50 integrations with third-party software solutions
- Robust security, including distributed denial of service (DDoS) protection, IP whitelisting, and advanced routing configuration
Where It Falls Behind
- Default minimum of three users for any paid plan, which isn’t solopreneur-friendly
- Task dependencies are only available in top two plan tiers
monday.com Monthly Pricing*
- Free:Up to three boards, unlimited documents, 200+ templates, and support for up to two team members
- Basic:$8 per user for unlimited free viewers, 5GB file storage, unlimited items, and prioritized customer support
- Standard:$10 per user for timeline, calendar, and Gantt views, integrations, guest access, and automations
- Pro:$16 per user for private boards and documents, chart view, formula column, extended integrations and automations, and time tracking
- Enterprise:Custom pricing for enterprise-scale automations and integrations, extended security, tailored onboarding, advanced reporting and analytics, and premium support
*Save up to $18 when you subscribe to its annual billing.
monday.com’s work management tools are a leader in project management for a reason. Right out of the gate, new users of monday.com are presented with a series of brief questions. This helps the software customize the overall experience so that utilizing the platform is made much easier. You’re presented with an entirely customizable dashboard that represents your company, its size, and its industry.
monday.com also incorporates daily webinars for users as well as a robust knowledge base that helps provide users with context and support for any issues that might crop up. Agents are also available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, so overall, users will feel very supported. In fact, the overall user experience is some of the best in the industry. Assigning tasks is easy, and it’s very easy to chat and collaborate with teammates. The user interface (UI) is crisp and colorful, with enough visual indicators to make things quickly decipherable at a glance.
安全也是一流的;monday.com firewall features, distributed denial of service (DDoS) mitigation, and options for companies needing Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliance at the Enterprise level. monday.com still falls a bit behind when it comes to guest access; it’s not really available in the free or first-tier paid plan. For this feature in a free plan tier, consider Notion.
monday.com Features
- Task management:Projects are created using a spreadsheet-like tool. Each row is a new task, and each column is a new data point you can track, such as assignee, budget, due date, location, or anything else you wish to add. Once created, you can visualize projects in many different ways, including a timeline/Gantt chart, Kanban board, calendar, and interactive map. Altogether, this makes monday.com the most visually flexible project management program.
- Time tracking:Simply click a play button next to a task to begin recording time and a pause button to stop. It’s a simple way to track time spent on a task.
- Forms:Integrate web forms into your project management. When somebody submits an order form or support ticket, you can automatically send the details to monday.com and initiate a new project.
Jira: Best Project Management Solution for Software Teams
What We Liked
- Even free plan users have access to 2GB of file storage
- Designed with technical tasks in mind
- 包括即时票务capabilities
Where It Falls Behind
- Following tasks is difficult due to the software’s complexity
- Jira was originally designed for software development, so for non-engineering and software development teams, it might not be the best fit
Jira Monthly Pricing
- Free:Up to 10 users, unlimited project boards, backlog and timeline, and 2GB of storage
- Standard:$7.75 per user for up to 35,000 users, audit logs, user roles and permissions, data residency, and business hour support
- Premium:$15.25 per user for advanced roadmaps, project archiving, unlimited storage, sandbox and release tracks, and extended support
- Enterprise:Custom pricing for unlimited sites, centralized security controls and user subscriptions, and 24/7 enterprise-grade support
Unlike many of the competing project management options presented in this guide, Jira was originally built for tech teams looking to track bugs in software. This doesn’t limit Jira’s usage to those teams focused on software development or management, but its original purpose certainly provides some key advantages to teams within that field. For example, the software has a drag-and-drop forms builder that quickly allows users to better manage and create specific requests.
虽然不像ClickUp完整视图选项,JiraWork Management manages to include some key views, such as big-picture views of projects in flight, work allocation views, and dependency views. Jira also has distinct Agile project management support; it supports several Agile methodologies to break down projects into phases. Both Scrum and Kanban have boards with customizable designs, delivering transparency for the entire team.
By default, even the free version of Jira includes 2GB of storage space, which is a prime advantage for teams with multiple tasks that also have file requirements. This is highly favorable, especially when compared to other providers with meager file storage capacities in their free versions, like ClickUp. Still, the interface is a bit complex, especially for those without tech backgrounds. For a more easy-to-set-up experience, go with monday.com.
Jira Features
- Agile development:Jira is focused on Agile and Scrum management. As a result, it’s easy to build frameworks from which future projects can be made and managed. There are also tools built in that make managing projects easier, such as Kanban boards, project roadmaps, and backlogs.
- Instant ticket creation:Thanks to its history as a bug and issue tracking tool, Jira also has ticketing functionality for the management of these types of issues. This feature effectively allows general users to quickly create a ticket for IT professionals within the organization to solve issues that arise. This helps both non-technical and technical team members to track progress.
- Automation rules:Jira, like many other project management packages, allows users to create workflow automation processes for the sake of streamlining. With its automation rules, the software permits the creation of triggers, conditions, and actions to perform specific tasks automatically. Each rule chain is very editable and allows you to set the scope of each automation task.
Notion: Best Its for Drag & Drop Functionality
What We Liked
- Drag-and-drop interface makes this a very user-friendly platform
- Notion includes more than 50 templates
- Includes the ability to build wikis for projects
Where It Falls Behind
- Notion takes a while to set up thanks to the detailed options
- Security isn’t as strong as other providers; lacks even two-factor authentication
Notion Monthly Pricing*
- Free:10 guest invitations, basic page analytics, seven-day page history, basic integrations, and collaborative workspace
- Plus:$8 per user for unlimited file uploads and team blocks, 30-day page history, and 100-guest invites
- Business:$15 per user for SSO, private teamspaces, bulk PDF export, advanced page analytics, and 250-guest invites
- Enterprise:Custom pricing for user provisioning, advanced security, audit logs, dedicated success managers, workspace analytics, and custom guest limits
*An annual billing option is also available.
One of the first features of Notion’s collaborative task management solution you might notice is the block interface. Notion uses these designs so that everything is quickly adjustable to the specific needs of the project.
For example, a page generated on the platform has the option to be presented using image blocks, table blocks, text blocks, YouTube video blocks, database blocks, and even full-page blocks. In fact, calling them the building blocks of the platform would be the best description, especially since changing tasks and project features are done using drag-and-drop.
With Notion, you can even grab specific aspects of a block and place them in another with relative ease. There’s a variety of ways to create blocks in your workspace so that teammates can easily navigate through the tasks and processes of the overarching project. In a way, Notion feels much like a modern content management system (CMS) in that layouts are fairly easy to create with a little practice.
Notion allows users to access workspaces from a variety of platforms, including mobile, desktop, or via a browser. Each project has the ability to set fonts, add images or videos, or full pages.
There’s also a variety of project management templates available from galleries presented within Notion. Notion also integrates with a variety of third-party solutions for collaboration, like Slack, Google Calendar, and Zoom. Still, if you want to use a provider with built-in features without integrations, a project management solution like monday.com might be more appropriate.
Notion Features
- Wiki:Through Notion’s block-based interface, it’s easy to craft wikis for your projects. This gives team members a simple way to view practices for the project, review meeting notes, and view instructional videos for tasks. Like much of Notion, this is buildable via blocks.
- Advanced note tracking:Using blocks, users can quickly add notes to any Notion project. This is easily organized through views in the platform, such as list view.
- Starter templates:Notion has hundreds of starter templates that allow you to create tasks that are predesigned based on the type of work. Examples include a content deliverables template, a company values template, Kanban boards, and Scrum templates.
How We Evaluated the Best Project Management Software
A project management software solution delivers a means to manage tasks and team members on specific projects. It also makes it easy to provide accurate time tracking and project scheduling for the purposes of clients. For this guide, we evaluated five solutions based on cost, general and niche features, customer support, and how they performed for both experts and everyday users.
Click on the tabs below to learn how we evaluated the best project management software for small teams:
15% of Overall Score
We compared subscription prices of project management software, including the availability of a free plan or cheaper annual pricing. For each solution, we considered a baseline per user price point of $10 a month for the first paid tier as well as a $20 baseline for the second tier and higher.
25% of Overall Score
This is where many small businesses pay the most attention. For general features, we asked whether each project management software option had project templates, scheduling and deadline management, team or group chat functionality, cloud storage, and/or time tracking. Since these are fairly important criteria for most businesses, we assigned the highest weight to general features.
20% of Overall Score
Not every user needs every feature, but at the same time, some features really shine for some businesses. For advanced features, we looked for premium offerings, such as workflow automation, webform support, live editor features, and integrations with third-party software solutions and ecosystems.
10% of Overall Score
Some teams don’t have a dedicated IT organization, and for these, having a project management suite that’s easy to set up and use is critical. For this reason, we evaluated whether a solution needed a high technical skill to use and implement, and we also evaluated how intuitive the interface is.
10% of Overall Score
提供者提供电话支持吗?如何教育津贴il or ticketing? Some providers also deliver 24/7 web chat support. For most users, help is critical when something goes wrong, so we evaluated the support structures of each provider so that a business knows what to expect if they need help with some aspect of the software.
20% of Overall Score
We calculated our expert score by identifying standout features that deliver the best value for money. We also checked out the popularity of each provider and how easy it was to incorporate their solutions into existing processes. How users wrote about each provider was also important, so we took a look at that as well.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Project management is important because it allows individuals to keep track of the tasks they need to accomplish. When you know what is on your plate for the day or the week, you can manage your time better. It also provides teams with a window to see where the project stands in the overall process. Teams will also be able to collaborate more effectively regarding a specific project.
有四个主要类型的项目管理ftware that can be used to streamline processes for different projects. These include:
- Individual:A single application that can manage spreadsheets, tasks, and tools.
- Collaborative:An option that allows teams to collaborate. This is highly customizable, but it may have difficulties processing concurrent data input.
- Integrated:Information is integrated with this software and allows users to access it through a central dashboard. This is ideal for analyzing data.
- Cloud-based:This is a software app that is hosted in the cloud. Multiple people can access it simultaneously, and the app can be customized to your individual liking.
The tools that you will look for in project management software are going to vary based on your business’ needs. With that being said, the most commonly used tools include:
- Gantt charts
- Work breakdown structure
- Communication management plans
- Team building activities
- Project baseline
Bottom Line
Project management helps teams stay on track and gives managers high-level and detailed views of key projects. To work effectively for your team’s needs, the best project management software for small business needs to handle all the specific tasks your business deals with. It also needs to be easy to use and something your team members can easily adopt in their daily routines.
So, what is the best project management software? For the purposes of this guide, we’ve determined Zoho Projects is the best current option for small businesses looking for task organization and management. It provides features like time tracking, cloud storage, team chat, and collaboration, and stands out for its simple-to-use interface. Paid plans offer a 10-day trial without the need for a credit card. Click on the button below for more details.