Are you a member of a growing team that struggles to keep up with an ever-expanding list of projects? Do you want to manage everything with robust spreadsheets? If you answered yes, you must start using project management software. This software helps you organize all your projects in one place, streamline workflows, improve communication, and budget your resources.
Managing tasks and to-do lists can be challenging whether you’re a freelancer or a Fortune 500 company. However, you can automate task management processes without breaking the bank with the right project management app.
Benefits
Organization
One of the most significant benefits of project management software is that it helps you stay organized. You no longer have to worry about keeping track of everything on spreadsheets or sticky notes. With project management software, you can manage all your projects in one place and easily access them whenever you need them.
Streamlined Workflows
Project management software also helps streamline workflows. You can assign tasks to team members, set deadlines, and track progress in one place. This helps ensure everyone is on the same page and that projects are completed on time.
Improved Communication
Effective communication is essential for any team; project management software can help. You can communicate with team members directly through the software, eliminating the need for lengthy email chains. This helps keep everyone up to date on the project’s progress, changes, and other important information.
Budgeting Resources
Another critical feature of project management software is that it helps you budget your resources effectively. You can allocate resources such as time, money, and personnel to specific projects, which helps ensure that everything is accounted for and that resources are being used efficiently.
Task Management Automation
Lastly, project management software can help automate task management processes. You no longer have to spend time manually assigning tasks or sending reminders. With project management software, you can automate these processes and save valuable time and energy.
What are the Criteria for Selecting the Best Project Management Solutions for Small Businesses?
When selecting the best project management solution for small businesses, there are several factors to consider. In this essay, the writer highlights nine key criteria to help you make an informed decision.
Choosing the right project management tool can be a game-changer for small businesses. By considering the criteria listed above, you can make an informed decision that will set your team up for success. Remember to choose scalable, user-friendly software that integrates with other platforms, is customizable, and has collaboration features to help manage your projects effectively.
The Best Project Management Software for Small Businesses
Task management in the Small Enterprise world can seem simple. But the process takes longer, and it involves many fewer people involved. However, big business sometimes has a dedicated marketing and sales team, a sales team, and a product development team on site.
Small business project managers have a variety of responsibilities and may even wear different jobs. Is there software available to optimize the workload without wasting time or a lot of time balancing everything else? To find tools that have the proper functions for the job, our team looked at 12 project management tools.
Want your business to thrive?
Boost your team’s productivity and efficiency ratings with time tracking!
Time Clock Wizard
Time Clock Wizard offers a user-friendly interface that simplifies managing employee time and attendance. With many features, this tool is perfect for small teams looking to improve their project management processes.
Pricing:
Time Clock Wizard offers a free plan suitable for small businesses with up to three employees. Several paid monthly plans are available for larger teams, starting from just $19.95. This makes it an affordable option for businesses on a tight budget.
Key features:
Time Clock Wizard offers a range of features to help small businesses manage their projects and teams more efficiently. Here are some of the key features:
Overall, Time Clock Wizard is an excellent project management tool for small businesses. It offers a range of advanced features to help you manage complex projects while still being user-friendly and affordable. So if you’re looking for a project management tool that can help you streamline your workflows and manage your team’s time effectively, give Time Clock Wizard a try.
Hubstaff Tasks
Hubstaff is another cloud-based employee time tracking software that offers features similar to Time Clock Wizard, such as employee monitoring, automatic time tracking, and project management.
Pricing:
Hubstaff Tasks offers a Free Plan for small teams of up to 5 users, making it an ideal project management software for small businesses or startups. The Premium Plan is available for unlimited users for businesses with larger teams at $5 per user/month. This plan unlocks all the advanced features of Hubstaff Tasks, including Roadmaps, Epics, and automated task dependencies.
Key Features:
Hubstaff Tasks is a project management software offering various features to help teams collaborate efficiently. The following are some of the features offered by Hubstaff Tasks:
- Kanban or Gantt-style boards: These boards are great for project planning, and help teams visualize their projects’ workflow. The Timeline view is also useful for visualizing the order of tasks in a project.
- Roadmaps: With Roadmaps, teams can plot out the trajectory of a project and understand the scope of their tasks. This feature empowers teams to tackle shared goals and ensures that projects are on track.
- Epics: Organizing projects by grouping smaller tasks into Epics can help teams prioritize tasks and identify roadblocks easier.
- Automated task dependencies: This feature allows teams to create task dependencies and relationships, which ensures that tasks are completed in the correct order.
- Agile Sprints: Teams can use Hubstaff Tasks as a Scrum tool by breaking their work into Agile Sprints. This feature ensures that the team’s sprints are on track with automated daily and weekly Stand-ups. Teams can also set up notifications to remind them to complete their Stand-ups.
- Customizable project templates: Teams can customize project templates to work for them and track their progress individually with personal to-do lists built into their Tasks dashboard.
- Time tracking: Hubstaff Tasks allows users to track time from their timesheet to tasks and Epics for accurate reporting and invoicing. This data can help teams optimize future workloads.
- User-friendly interface: Hubstaff Tasks offers a user-friendly, intuitive app with a simple interface that requires little to no training.
Overall, Hubstaff Tasks is an excellent project management tool offering basic and advanced features to manage complex projects efficiently.
Asana
Asana is one of the best project management software tools available today. It offers a wide range of features to help manage projects of all sizes, from small teams to large enterprises. In this article, we will discuss the key discussion points of Asana, including its pricing and key features.
Pricing
- Basic Plan – Free: Asana’s Basic plan is a great option for individuals or small teams starting with project management software. It includes basic task management features, such as task lists, a calendar view, and the ability to assign tasks and add attachments. However, it has limited functionality compared to paid plans.
- Premium Plan – $10.99 per user per month (billed annually): Asana’s Premium plan offers additional features, such as advanced search and reporting, custom fields, and task dependencies. It also includes unlimited dashboards, guests, and priority customer support.
- Business Plan – $24.99 per user per month (billed annually): Asana’s Business plan is designed for larger teams or organizations that need more robust project management tools. It includes everything in the Premium plan and features like portfolios, custom rules, and forms.
- Enterprise Plan – Custom Pricing: Asana’s Enterprise plan is designed for large organizations with complex needs. It includes all the features of the Business plan, as well as additional security and admin features.
Overall, Asana’s pricing is competitive with other project management software providers. A Basic plan is a good option for starting individuals or small teams. In contrast, the Premium and Business plans offer more features and functionality for larger teams or organizations. The Enterprise plan is custom-priced, so contacting Asana’s sales team for more information is best.
Key Features
Asana offers a variety of features that help manage projects effectively. One of the most significant features is using Asana’s project management tool as a workflow builder. It enables the building of automated processes and the organizing of team projects.
Asana also allows the creation of Gantt timelines or Kanban boards to visualize and track projects. It allows adding team members’ work to a shared calendar to optimize workloads and track progress.
Real-time insights and progress for any project can be viewed in Asana. It also allows for submitting and managing work requests in one place to keep projects on track. Asana’s project automation helps streamline operations, reduce human error, and automate routine tasks.
With desktop and mobile applications, Asana can be accessed across all devices, even on the go. This feature allows for remote team collaboration and efficient communication.
In conclusion, Asana is an excellent project management tool with many advanced features, making it perfect for managing complex projects of all sizes. With its pricing plans and key features, Asana is a great choice for small businesses and software developers.
Trello
Trello is a popular project management tool that simplifies organizing team projects and tasks. In this essay, we will discuss Trello’s pricing and key features.
Pricing
- Free Plan: Trello’s basic plan is free and includes unlimited boards, lists, cards, members, checklists, attachments, and basic automation features.
- Business Class: This plan is ideal for teams and costs $12.50 per user per month (billed annually) or $15 per user per month (billed monthly). It includes all the features of the free plan, as well as additional features like advanced automation, custom fields, priority support, and more.
- Enterprise: Trello’s enterprise plan is designed for larger organizations and costs $17.50 per user per month (billed annually). It includes all the features of the Business Class plan, plus additional security features, SSO integration, and more.
Trello also offers a 14-day free trial of its Business Class and Enterprise plans, which allows users to try out the advanced features before committing to a paid plan.
Overall, Trello’s pricing is relatively affordable and flexible, making it a popular choice for individuals and teams of all sizes looking for a simple and intuitive project management tool.
Key features
Trello’s drag-and-drop editor and custom views make it easy for teams to manage their projects and organize tasks. Teams can customize their workflows and create shared and individual projects with no-code automation. Butler automation takes workflow automation to the next level, reducing manual work by automating tasks and workflows. Trello also offers free project templates from industry leaders and its community, empowering teams with a blueprint for success. Trello power-ups can increase team productivity by linking their most-used tools with Trello plugins.
In summary, Trello’s flexibility, ease of use, and low pricing make it an excellent project management tool for small teams and businesses. Its basic and advanced features, collaboration tools, and task management capabilities make it suitable for managing complex projects with multiple users. With Trello, teams can plan, organize, and track projects effortlessly, ultimately improving their productivity and achieving their goals.
Wrike
Wrike is one of the most popular project management software solutions available on the market, offering a wide range of features that can benefit teams of all sizes. Its pricing plans include a free option, making it an excellent choice for small businesses or small teams starting with project management.
Pricing
Wrike offers four pricing plans: Free, Professional, Business, and Enterprise.
1. Free plan includes basic features such as task management, real-time activity stream, task and subtask creation, file sharing, and a mobile app. However, this plan has limited features and is designed for small teams with basic needs.
2. Professional plan costs $9.80 per user per month (billed annually) and includes more advanced features such as Gantt charts, time tracking, shareable dashboards, and custom reports. This plan is ideal for teams that need advanced project management tools.
3. Business plan costs $24.80 per user per month (billed annually) and includes features such as collaboration tools, request forms, workload view, and custom fields. This plan is designed for larger teams or companies that require extensive project management capabilities.
4. Enterprise plan offers customized pricing based on individual needs and includes features such as advanced security and admin controls, dedicated customer support, and custom integrations. This plan is suitable for large enterprises with complex project management needs.
Key Features
One of the key features of Wrike is its customizable workflows, dashboards, and forms, allowing teams to create processes that match their specific needs. In addition, the software offers task and file sharing and automated approvals, which helps streamline feedback and approval processes.
Wrike offers 360-degree visibility across organizations, providing task history that makes storing and locating information from any department easy. The software can also help with resource management, allowing teams to budget their resources efficiently.
Another advantage of Wrike is that it provides scalability, which means the software can grow with your team’s needs, and you won’t have to switch platforms as you expand.
Wrike offers excellent collaboration tools, making it easy to assign tasks to team members, collaborate on files, and track project status. It also offers project templates, which can be beneficial when creating tasks for multiple projects.
Overall, Wrike is an excellent project management tool with advanced features to help teams manage complex projects efficiently. Its free version and scalable paid plans make it an excellent choice for small businesses or small teams.
Monday.com
If you’re looking for a robust project management tool that won’t break the bank, look no further than Monday.com. With a range of pricing options, from a free individual plan to an Enterprise plan that requires contacting the Monday.com sales team, there’s a plan to suit teams of all sizes.
Pricing
Monday.com offers five different pricing plans, each with different features and capabilities. Here is a breakdown of the pricing plans:
- Individual Plan: This plan is free and includes basic features such as access for one user, unlimited boards, 200+ templates, and a limited number of automations.
- Basic Plan: This plan costs $8 per seat/month (billed annually) and includes access for up to five users, unlimited boards, 200+ templates, time tracking, and basic automation.
- Standard Plan: This plan costs $10 per seat/month (billed annually) and includes access for up to five users, unlimited boards, 200+ templates, time tracking, advanced automation, and integration with other tools.
- Pro Plan: This plan costs $16 per seat/month (billed annually) and includes features such as access for up to 25 users, unlimited boards, 200+ templates, time tracking, advanced automation, integration with other tools, private boards, and chart views.
- Enterprise Plan: This plan is customizable and requires contacting the Monday.com sales team for pricing details. It includes the Pro plan’s features and additional features such as personalized onboarding, custom templates, and dedicated account management.
Key Features
One of the standout features of Monday.com is its automation capabilities. The platform makes it easy to automate tasks and processes, reducing the time your team spends on repetitive work. For example, you can set up automated email reminders for upcoming deadlines or receive real-time updates when a team member completes a task.
Another useful feature is the ability to view projects as Kanban boards or Gantt charts. These views make it easy to visualize project progress and identify task dependencies. Additionally, Monday.com‘s collaboration tools make it simple for team members to work together on projects in real-time, with features such as file sharing, task assignment, and project status updates.
Monday.com offers a customizable dashboard for those managing multiple projects that display project milestones and budgets. This makes it easy to monitor progress and allocate resources efficiently. And with the ability to upload attachments of any file type, you can add context to your projects and keep everything in one place.
Overall, Monday.com is an excellent project management tool that offers a range of advanced features at an affordable price point. Whether you’re a small business or a Fortune 500 company, Monday.com can help streamline your workflows, improve communication, and increase productivity. And with a 14-day free trial, there’s no reason not to try it!
ClickUp
ClickUp is an excellent project management tool that combines all your apps in one place. It offers various pricing plans, including a free one, making it an ideal project management software for small teams or businesses.
Pricing
- Free Plan: As the name suggests, this plan is free and includes basic features such as unlimited tasks, unlimited storage, and a limited number of integrations. This plan is suitable for individuals and small teams who don’t require advanced features.
- Unlimited Plan: This plan costs $5 per user per month and includes unlimited storage, unlimited integrations, and more advanced features such as custom fields, goals, and time tracking. This plan is ideal for small to medium-sized teams who need more advanced features to manage their projects.
- Business Plan: This plan costs $12 per user per month and includes all the features of the Unlimited plan, plus more advanced features such as portfolios, workload management, and custom branding. This plan is ideal for larger teams or organizations that need more control over their projects.
- Business Plus Plan: This plan costs $19 per user per month and includes all the features of the Business plan, plus more advanced features such as custom permissions, time estimates, and task dependencies. This plan is ideal for teams that need to manage complex projects.
- Enterprise Plan: ClickUp’s Enterprise plan is designed for large organizations that require custom solutions and dedicated support. The pricing for this plan is customized based on the user’s requirements.
Key Features
ClickUp’s key features are its ability to break tasks into manageable project sizes, customize task lists, and create and upload documents effortlessly.
With ClickUp’s dashboard and reporting features, project managers can set measurable targets, track goals, and view their team’s progress in real-time. Collaboration is made easy with ClickUp’s real-time chat feature and whiteboards to visualize ideas and strategize visually.
ClickUp offers advanced features like time tracking and resource management for complex projects. With its unlimited plan, you can add unlimited users to your projects, making it an ideal choice for growing teams.
Overall, ClickUp is one of the best project management apps, with a user-friendly interface and features catering to small and large teams. Its affordable pricing plans make it accessible to businesses of all sizes. Give ClickUp a try, and you will not be disappointed.
Teamwork
Project management can be challenging, but it can be a breeze with the right tool. One of the best project management tools out there is Teamwork. This software offers many features to help you manage your projects efficiently.
Pricing:
- Free Forever Plan: This is Teamwork’s free plan, which includes basic features such as task management, collaboration tools, and up to five users.
- Deliver Plan: This plan costs $12.50 per user per month and includes more advanced features such as time tracking, custom filters, and Gantt charts.
- Grow Plan: This plan costs $22.50 per user per month and includes even more advanced features, such as resource management tools, project templates, and budget tracking.
- Scale Plan: Teamwork offers a custom pricing plan for larger or more complex projects. You’ll need to contact their sales team for a quote based on your specific needs.
It’s worth noting that these plans come with unlimited projects, meaning you can manage as many projects as you need without any additional costs. Additionally, the free plan includes unlimited client users, which can be a big cost-saving feature for small businesses that must collaborate with clients regularly.
Key Features:
Teamwork’s key feature is its ability to visualize ongoing projects in a panoramic view, allowing you to check progress and prevent potential silos and issues. The software also offers resource management tools that help manage your team’s resources, from longer-term forecasting to day-to-day capacity planning. With Teamwork time tracking, you can efficiently track and bill time for all your projects.
You can choose between Gantt-style or Kanban-style project views to see the scope of work that needs your attention. Teamwork also offers a complete view of your tasks and highlights project milestones, making managing projects more easily.
One unique feature of Teamwork is its ability to accommodate unlimited free client users. With this, you can give clients free access using Teamwork’s client user type, allowing you to loop your clients in on projects with no added cost.
Finally, Teamwork offers collaboration features that allow you to send messages, files, and notebooks to team members while collaborating on a project. This makes it easier to assign tasks and track project status.
Microsoft Project
Microsoft Project is a project management tool that enables team members and managers to collaborate on projects.
Pricing
- Project Plan 1 is priced at $10 per monthly user. This plan includes basic project features like task management, team collaboration tools, and customizable Gantt charts.
- Project Plan 3 is priced at $30 per user per month. This plan offers more advanced features such as resource management, portfolio management, and time tracking. Additionally, this plan allows users to create and view reports on project progress and forecasting.
- Microsoft Project offers the most comprehensive plan, Project Plan 5, priced at $55 per monthly user. This plan includes all the other plans’ features and offers features such as analytics and visual roadmap planning.
It’s also worth noting that Microsoft Project offers a free one-month trial for users to test out the software before committing to a paid plan. This can be a great way for teams to determine which plan is best for their needs without making a long-term commitment upfront.
Key Features
One of the key features of Microsoft Project is portfolio management. Users can view and model portfolio scenarios to select the best strategy for their team, weigh proposals against business decisions, and consider project cost and resource restrictions.
Microsoft Project also provides a visual roadmap for better visibility among team members and allows for resource requests and engagements to help ensure team members complete projects on time.
Heat maps can be used to see how a team uses resources internally and determine underused or overused tools to optimize productivity. Resource analytics and forecasting help predict what apps and resources a team will rely on moving forward, while reports enable users to monitor progress and pinpoint areas of weakness.
Microsoft Project is an excellent project management tool with advanced features for managing complex projects. It is suitable for small teams, small businesses, and larger organizations and offers a range of pricing plans to suit different needs and budgets.
Its collaboration features, resource management capabilities, and project planning tools make it popular among project managers and software developers.
Podio
Are you looking for project management software that provides a comprehensive set of features at an affordable price? Look no further than Podio.
This platform offers many features, including collaboration tools, task management, and mobile access, making it a top contender for small businesses and small teams.
Pricing
- Free Plan: As the name suggests, this plan is free of charge and allows users to manage their projects with basic features. It includes five employee accounts, up to 500 items, and a maximum of 2 GB of storage.
- Basic Plan: This plan costs $9 per user per month and includes all the features of the free plan, plus more advanced features such as custom branding, automated workflows, and project templates. It also increases the number of employee accounts to 10 and the storage to 5 GB.
- Plus Plan: This plan costs $14 per user per month and includes all the features of the Basic Plan, as well as additional features such as time tracking, custom reports, and advanced user permissions. The Plus Plan also increases the number of employee accounts to 15 and the storage to 10 GB.
- Premium Plan: This plan costs $24 per user per month and includes all the features of the Plus Plan, as well as even more advanced features such as a dedicated account manager, API access, and priority support. The Premium Plan also increases the number of employee accounts to 20 and the storage to 25 GB.
Key Features
One of the most useful features of Podio is its collaboration tools. You can easily share files and status posts with your team and discuss them in real time. This makes it easy to stay on top of complex projects, particularly for small teams.
The platform’s task management system is also user-friendly and provides an easy-to-use interface for creating and assigning tasks.
Podio also offers mobile access through its iOS and Android apps, allowing users to stay connected and productive on the go. This feature is particularly useful for businesses with remote workers or requiring frequent travel.
BiTrix24
With so many project management tools available in the market, choosing the right one for your business can be challenging. However, Bitrix24, a project management tool, stands out.
Pricing
- Free Plan: The free plan offers basic project management features, such as task management, document management, and communication tools. It includes up to 12 users and has a storage limit of 5 GB.
- Basic Plan: The Basic Plan is priced at $49/month and offers additional features such as CRM, time tracking, and Gantt charts. It includes unlimited users and has a storage limit of 50 GB.
- Standard Plan: The Standard Plan is priced at $99/month and includes all the features of the Basic Plan, as well as project templates, workload planning, and HR tools. It includes unlimited users and has a storage limit of 100 GB.
- Professional Plan: The Professional Plan is priced at $199/month and includes all the features of the Standard Plan, as well as custom workflows, document approval, and advanced reporting. It includes unlimited users and has a storage limit of 250 GB.
Key Features
Bitrix24 offers a range of features that can help manage even the most complex projects. Bitrix24’s feed, calendar views, and workgroups make collaboration simple. You can use Bitrix24 chats and video calls to discuss projects with team members.
You can also view projects in Bitrix24 with a Gantt chart or Kanban board view. Then, track time for each project and automate tasks to reduce manual work. You can use task and project templates to improve project management. Assign tasks to team members, and keep track of project status.
It is also possible to sync deals, contacts, quotes, invoices, and online payments with Bitrix24. It also integrates with Microsoft Teams, Google Calendar, and other tools. The Standard and Professional plans offer unlimited projects, making them an ideal tool for businesses with multiple projects.
Bitrix24 is an excellent project management tool that can help small and large businesses manage their projects efficiently. Its collaboration features, project management, task management, and integration options make it a must-have tool for project managers.
Its pricing plans are also affordable, making it a suitable option for small businesses and startups. With Bitrix24, businesses can create custom filters, plan projects, and track budgets, making it a versatile tool for any organization.
TeamGantt
TeamGantt is an excellent project management software for small businesses and small teams looking for a project management tool to manage projects effectively.
Pricing
- Free Plan: This free plan includes basic features such as Gantt charts, project templates, and the ability to manage up to three projects. However, it only supports one user and does not offer advanced features like time tracking or workload management.
- Standard Plan: This plan costs $19.90/month and supports a single user. It includes advanced features like time tracking, workload management, and file sharing. The plan allows you to manage up to five projects and comes with collaboration tools like the ability to assign tasks and comment on them.
- Advanced Plan: This plan is priced at $24.45/month and includes all the features of the Standard Plan. It offers more advanced features like custom project views and unlimited projects, making it ideal for larger teams and more complex projects.
Key Features
The key feature of TeamGantt is its customizable Gantt charts, which allow users to easily adjust start and end times, change the order of tasks, and enhance timelines with a drag-and-drop editor.
Another critical feature is the team member availability tab, enabling workload management and gauging productivity. Additionally, TeamGantt allows easy file uploads for collaborative efforts with internal and external stakeholders.
TeamGantt is multi-platform, making it work seamlessly on Mac and PC devices. It also provides a mobile app to update progress and add comments to a task. This feature is crucial for project managers or team members who frequently work on the go.
Zoho Projects
Zoho Projects is a project management software that offers a range of features to help manage projects of all sizes.
Pricing
The Standard Plan is $20 per user/month, while the Professional Plan is $35 per user/month. The Enterprise and Ultimate Plans are available for $50 and $65 per user/month, respectively. These plans offer different levels of access to the software’s key features, making it a good choice for those needing a simple, straightforward project management tool or requiring more advanced features.
Key Features
One of the most important features of Zoho Projects is its ability to handle complex projects. The software allows users to split projects into tasks, subtasks, and milestones and offers Gantt and Kanban boards to help track progress.
The drag-and-drop project blueprint editor is easy to use, and users can set task status, assign team members, and track time spent on tasks. The software also offers advanced reporting features, including numerous charts and graphs that help users plan their projects and manage their teams.
Team collaboration is also an important feature of Zoho Projects, with communication tools that work similarly to social media. Users can identify key discussion points and collaborate with their team in real time.
Other features include time tracking, task management, and resource management. These features make Zoho Projects a good choice for small teams or businesses that need a reliable project management tool.
What is the Best Project Management Software for Small Businesses?
Companies need to choose project management software according to needs and budgets. Between Time Clock Wizard, Hubstaff, and other project management tools, the Time Clock Wizard may be more suitable for businesses with remote workers and small businesses, as it offers more advanced remote monitoring features.
In Conclusion
A robust project management solution can simplify and reduce manual labor while ensuring timely and budget-friendly task completion. Small teams can benefit significantly from these tools by enhancing their project workflow.
However, it is crucial to consider factors such as scalability, affordability, and level of team collaboration required while selecting a project management platform. You can make an informed decision by trying out free trials of different platforms that suit your team’s requirements.
