The Best Free Project Management Software Tools to Try

Avantika Shergil By Avantika Shergil  |  Aug 30, 2024  |  Business Softwares Management Softwares
Best Project Management Software

Quick Summary: Project management software (PMS) is crucial for businesses, big or small, to complete the project on time. But do you know which PMS is the right pick for you? Every project management tool is different, and selecting the right one can be a complex task. However, we have solved this issue in this article. We have described things in detail, explaining every PMS with incisive details. Let’s explore and find the perfect solution, relieving you of the uncertainty and confusion.

Did you know that research by KPMG said that more than 50% of organizations reported that their project failed to achieve their set goals, objectives, and what they set out to accomplish for want of the right project management software? This statistic underscores the critical role that project management software plays in the success of a project.

When you develop a project, build a solution, and create a software/website/application for your business, you set goals and objectives. You define what you want to achieve with the project, and what if you do? Your entire effort leads to a successful accomplishment. While modern startups struggle to save time, resources, and money, project management software can help you plan, organize, and manage projects, tasks, and schedules, leading to a sense of achievement and inspiration.

But, with so many paid and free project management software and tools options available in the market, selecting the one for your business projects can be complex. We help you explore, analyze, and choose the best project management software to manage your projects efficiently. Besides, whether you are a startup, small business, or enterprise, we have researched, reviewed, and brought the best Project management tools that can help to develop your project successfully.

What Is Project Management Software?

Did you know Revenue in the Productivity Software market is projected to reach US$79.05bn in 2024, still 22% of organizations use the software to manage their tasks. Segment-Wise Revenue from Productivity Software

Project management software is a tool that empowers organizations, entrepreneurs, startups, and individuals to plan, organize, and manage projects and teams. It can be beneficial for all types of personal and professional projects and support all industries, including marketing, software development and others. As there are so many options available for project management in the market, understanding them will give you the knowledge to choose the right tool and manage your work efficiently.

List of Best Free Project Management Software

Building a website or an app is not an arduous task, but building or creating one that helps you compete in the market can be challenging. Hence, you must have everything right, even if it is managing your project or selecting the right PM software. We have found the most compelling and resourceful list of top project management software to use in 2025 and given incisive details, including pros and cons, to help you decide the right one for your project. Let’s explore one by one.

Asana: Manage your team’s work, projects, & tasks online

asana project management software

If you want to use project management tools for individuals or a small team, Asana is the right choice for you. It helps your team track progress in real time. Now, Asana is powered by AI, which makes your work smoother, more accessible, and more shareable. This AI feature in Asana can automate repetitive tasks, predict project timelines, and suggest resource allocations. It’s a free yet flexible project management software that comes with several productive features, including task management, file storage, projects, and more for marketing, company-wide, operations, IT, and products.

It comes with both free and paid plans. You get various premium features, such as Asana AI and others in paid plans. However, free plans also offer a range of genius features, like Goals and reporting, workflows and automation, project management, and resource management.

Note: Asana AI is not included in the Free plan.

Who Is It For

Startups and small businesses who need free or paid PM software for personal or professional purposes can find Asana useful. The free plan is suitable for small companies, though if you want to use advanced features, like Asana AI, you need to upgrade your plan to a paid one.

Pros & Cons of Asana Project Management Software

Pros:

  • Unlimited project management
  • Task management
  • Projects Collaboration
  • Integration
  • Messages
  • File storage

Cons:

  • No AI feature with a Free plan
  • Expensive if you decide to pay

Notion: Your connected workspace for wiki, docs & projects

notion project management software

If you are looking for something where you can write, plan, organize, capture thoughts, manage personal projects or even run an entire company, this project management software is for you. The tool is a complete package for a lot of things, including capturing thoughts and building blocks, collaborating with a team, and even getting help from AI, like drafting and translating things. Notion also comes with an API, which allows your team to build custom integrations, enhancing the tool’s flexibility and adaptability to your specific project management needs.

This tool comes with an API that lets your team build custom integrations apart from bulk export, real-time collaboration, and plenty of templates.

Who Is It For

If you are an individual looking for quality project management software or accompanied by a small team, this PMS is the right choice.

Pros & Cons of Notion PMS

Pros:

  • Compatible with many devices
  • Easy to use and customize
  • Several pages
  • Time-saving
  • Help create compelling content
  • Organized projects and automated workflows
  • Seamless integration

Cons:

  • Steep learning curve
  • Only a five MB limit for file upload
  • Poor usability of mobile app
  • Free version limitations

GanttPro: Best for Beginners

ganttpro

GanttPro is the best tool if you want something to make your project planning easy and even manage simple tasks. The tool helps you manage your project and team with a Gantt chart. You can carry out plenty of tasks using this software for project management, such as visualization, online project planning, seamless collaboration, easy-to-share things, and effective presentation.

Who Is It For

If you have a small team and you want something for them to organize their work and get the project done quickly, GanttPro is for you.

Pros & Cons of GanttPro Tool for Project Management

Pros:

  • Cost-effective as it is reasonably priced
  • Save history.
  • Create a task with start/end dates
  • Track task effectively
  • Set milestones for any project
  • Simple task effectively
  • Collaborate with Team
  • Manage resources

Cons:

  • Lack customization
  • It’s not free
  • No billing and invoicing option

Teamwork: The All-In-One Team Project Management Software

Teamwork Team Project Management Software

If you have a competitive task with milestones to achieve, Teamwork.com is the right project management platform for you. Do this so you can balance team capacity, organize everything in one place, optimize resources, and deliver projects profitably. Most importantly, the PM software helps you prioritize what is essential. For example, it can help eliminate chaos, track teams and performance, create detailed reporting, and organize your team effectively.

Who Is It For

If you have milestone-based projects to manage, you are a business that needs free project management software for max 5 users; Teamwork.com is for you.

Pros & Cons of Teamwork.com

Pros:

  • Simplify operations
  • Customize processes and workflows
  • Task automation with milestones
  • Maximize capacity and utilization
  • Time tracking
  • Dedicated app for mobile and desktop

Cons:

  • Limits for Kanban board view
  • If you are using the free plan, it can only integrate with Zapier

Wrike: Versatile & Robust Project Management Software

wrike project management software

If you are looking for an easy-to-use platform that can help you manage your project and track progress with boards and lists, WRIKE is the right platform for you. Crucially, if you are using or managing your projects with street seats, Wrike is going to be a real help for you. Whether you want instant status updates or active task assignments, this Project Management Software is more than enough for you.

Who Is It For

Wrike is suitable for marketing, creative industries, and professional service teams, as it has designed some stunning features targeting these industries. However, the software is also supported by IT & Engineering, operations, and product management.

Pros & Cons of Wrike Project Management

Pros:

  • Enterprise-grade security
  • 24/7 global support
  • Easy onboarding
  • Can manage work and ongoing projects
  • Good for large Enterprises

Cons:

  • No inviting tools
  • Limited features in the free plan

Smartsheet: The enterprise work management platform

Smartsheet is among the best platforms for workflow automation. You can save more time and use it to focus on the core objectives of your project with smartsheet automating your maximum tasks. It also automates approvals and updates for workflows. It has free as well as paid versions. The free version of it allows you to view, edit, and control documents automatically. However, it is necessary to have a license, or you will not be able to create new work. You can have access to licensed or paid version benefits in a free 30-day trial period. One of the best parts of smartsheet premium is AI, which can provide valuable insights and streamline your workflows. There are also other benefits of paid versions, such as trigger and action blocks, working with the clear cell value action, etc.

Who Is It For

It is a flexible platform for project management that can help any organization elevate its efficiency in performing regular tasks. However, startups benefit from it the best as automation saves more money. The premium version of the license is also very affordable.

Pros & Cons of Smartsheet Project Management Software & Tools

Pros:

  • Collaborate and manage your workflows efficiently
  • Data Analysis and Reporting
  • Multi-layered Security
  • Integration options
  • Automated Task Management
  • Affordable licensed version

Cons:

  • Forces to buy the licensed version
  • Complex interface

Nifty: Convenient and Simple Project Management

Nitty is the most effective project management software, helping startups and enterprises businesses manage their work. It offers a range of features, such as roadmaps to help you set a timeline for your goals, track daily work, collaborate with a team, create docs, capture data, and automate progress reporting, to name just a few. If you have a small team, Nifty is the one-app-stop for all your business project management activities.

Who Is It For

Nifty is good for small and medium-sized startups whose focus is on managing projects, not on tools. Apart from this, if you have milestone-based projects, Nifty project management offers the next level of flexibility to organize, distribute, prioritize, and track tasks with comprehensive details, such as Kanban, List, Timeline, and more.

Pros & Cons of Nifty Project Management Tool

Pros:

  • No bar; add as many team members, guests, and clients as you need
  • 100 MB storage space, enough for small projects
  • Two projects for a good start for small startups
  • Milestones-based task management
  • Project milestones Automatically generate status reports
  • Provides a clear view of project schedules
  • Time tracking helps boost productivity
  • Cost tracking to help startups stay competitive
  • Workload balancing gives peace of mind to the team
  • Centralized communication

Cons:

  • Just 100 MB of storage space, not good for medium-sized or large companies with multiple projects
  • Handles 2 projects, gives another reason for large organizations to avoid
  • Significant learning curve as freshers may find it time-consuming

ClickUp™ | One app to replace them all

clickup project management software

One of the best parts of ClickUp is that you have no limit on the number of users, unlike many other project management software. You get a range of features in a free plan, making the tool most suitable for startups and mid-sized businesses and companies. Some of the top glimmering features include time tracking, in-app video recording, 100 MB space for storing files, limitless projects/tasks, Kanban boards, chat, and more. There are some features, such as Gantt, Timeline, Workload, Mind Map Views, and a few others, that come with a 100 user limit for free subscribers.

Who Is It For

Good for startups and medium-sized businesses looking for free project management tools with unlimited free plan members. However, for serious projects, you may need to reconsider the choice, given the limited storage, projects, tasks, and other facilities.

Pros & Cons of ClickUp™ – A Completely customizable project management software

Pros:

  • Effective team collaboration
  • Time tracking for employees
  • Task automation (upto 50 actions)
  • Templates for getting started

Cons:

  • Limited HR features such as payroll and benefits administration and additional software support
  • Businesses that lack CRM features may find it difficult to manage various sales activities, such as lead tracking, sales pipeline management, or contact management.

Jira: Issue & Project Tracking Software – Atlassian

Jira project management software

Jira is the most popular agile project management tool used by most small to medium-sized companies for a variety of purposes. Whether you want to use the technologies for agile software development, personal projects, or ad hoc activities, they efficiently serve all your purposes. Even though the tool for project management is comprehensive and any business of any size can make the best use of technologies, it is an excellent choice for small software or product development teams. It comes with a range of features, such as 2 GB of storage space, an unlimited number of projects, ten users, and more.

Who Is It For

If you have a small or medium-sized project team, Jira can be the best option with a free sprint planning solution.

Pros & Cons of Jira – The Best Project Management Tool

Pros:

  • Better workflows help team efficiently organize work
  • Basic yet clear roadmaps, allowing users to communicate plans
  • Efficient task management and process automation
  • Time tracking to help the team avoid losing track
  • Supports Agile development methodology

Cons:

  • Complexity: as new team may find it overwhelming
  • Limited project management functionalities
  • No reporting features
  • Very limited collaboration feature

Project Management Software Pricing Comparison

Even though we have selected PM software that offers free services, they have separate subscription-based services with advanced features. Here are the costs of using these project management software tools for your business.

PM Software Best for Free Plan Subscription Fee
#1: Asana Manage your team’s work, projects, & tasks online Free for 15 users with unlimited projects and tasks

US$10.99 for Starter and US$24.99 for advanced

#2: Notion Your connected workspace for wiki, docs & projects Unlimited storage with 7 day of work history and support 10 users Comes in three subscription plan “Plus”, “Business” and “Enterprise” with $10
per seat/month, $15
per seat/month and custom subscription plan respectively
#3: GanttPro Best for Beginners Task and project management, Time management, Portfolio management, Budget management, Resource management, and Team Collaboration Basic: $9.99 per user per month Pro: $15.99 per user per month Business: $24.99 per month Enterprise: Custom Price
#4: Teamwork The All In One Team Project Management Software 100 MB of file storage, Access a team calendar and free for 5 users Deliver plan $13.99 per user per month, Grow pricing plan $25.99 per user per month, Scale plan of $69.99 per user per month, and custom Enterprise plan
#5: Wrike Versatile & Robust Project Management Software Unlimited projects and users Team pricing plan for for growing teams at $9.80 per user/ month, their most popular Business plan for all teams across an organization of $24.80 per user/ month, and Enterprise and Pinnacle are custom plan.
#6: Smartsheet The enterprise work management platform 500 MB of storage for attachments, 100 automations per month, Two editors or viewers per plan Pro plan $12 per Member/month, Business $24 per Member/month, and Enterprise plan is Custom pricing Solutions for your needs
#7: Nifty Convenient and Simple Project Management Unlimited members, 100 MB of storage space, and Two projects Personal plan $12 per Member/month, Pro plan $16 per Member/month, Business $25 per Member/month, and Contact sales for Enterprise pricing plan
#8: ClickUp™ One app to replace them all Unlimited tasks and users, 100 MB of storage space Unlimited plan $10 per user/month, Business $19 per user/month, and Contact sales for Enterprise pricing plan
#9: Jira Issue & Project Tracking Software – Atlassian Unlimited projects on 1 site and up to 10 users Standard plan $17.65 per agent/month, Premium $44.27 per agent/month, and Contact sales for Enterprise pricing plan

Final Thoughts

We have listed the top project management software, tools, and platforms in this list, though there are various others that you can explore or keep visiting this article for the latest updates. This is a developing article, and we will keep adding the best project management software once we review it and conduct a practical analysis. After going through this article, you must be able to understand what Project Management Software is and which is good for what.

Avantika Shergil Avantika Shergil   |  Aug 30, 2024

An enthusiastic Operations Manager at TopDevelopers.co, coordinating and managing the technical and functional areas. She is an adventure lover, passionate traveler, an admirer of nature, who believes that a cup of coffee is the prime source to feel rejuvenated. Researching and writing about technology keeps her boosted and enhances her professional journeying.

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