Project management tools are specially designed to help individual or team to handle their projects effectively. The term “PM” tools refers to the computer programs or software that managers use to complete various projects. 

Many people at the early stage use things like spreadsheets, emails, or notes to get aware of what needs to be done. Over time, these tools become messy and confusing. However, the development of project management tools makes things, clear, and easy by placing everything on one platform. These tools help to plan tasks, assign them to different team members, and track them all together. 

There are different types of project management tools. Every tool has its own features and flexibilities. Some tools are easy to use while others are difficult to handle. In this article, we discuss the top 10 project management tools, their working, and their features. Furthermore, if you are overwhelmed with the question that which tool is best for you then this guide also proves helpful. Before switching to the details of project management software, it is important to get answers about why businesses need project management tools.

Why there is a need for a project management tool?

There have been many big changes in the past ten years. For example, during the COVID many people quit their jobs, and businesses suffered a lot. This tough time makes it clear: Companies should have effective tools that help to manage work well. 

There are many benefits of strong project management tools such as:

• It helps the team work together
• Makes different tasks easy and helps to complete them on time
• It keeps all work in one place

Businesses without effective project management tools can lose a lot of time daily. This loss of time can also be known as the “ Dark Matter of Work” that hurts businesses a lot. 

• 13.7 hours per week wasted by employees on untidy and difficult-to-follow work
• Approximately £12,000–£13,000 lost for each worker per annum (using UK average salary and productivity levels)
• 89 days lost per worker annually
• Estimated to be up to £40–£50 million lost annually by businesses (for major UK corporations)

To overcome this loss of time and money, companies need project management tools that are effective, flexible, easy to handle, and provide clear views of work. Now let’s discuss 10 project management tools. 

Top 10 project management tools

Below we have mentioned the top 10 project management tools. Knowing these softwares enables you to how to handle projects effectively and on time. 

The Oxford Training Centre offers a wide range of Project Management Training Courses, helping professionals develop essential skills for planning, executing, and successfully delivering projects in today’s complex business environments.

1. Wrike

Wrike is one of the leading work tools employed by most companies and individuals globally. It is accessible on computers and phones and is compatible with numerous languages. All teams across the globe can collaborate without difficulties.

Wrike is renowned for assisting teams in handling projects. It is excellent for bosses, marketers, and all types of workers. Users claim it is a team collaboration tool leader.

Pros and cons

Wrike has plenty of handy tools such as planning, time tracking, and managing money. It also leverages smart technology to get work done quickly and anticipate issues. That saves time and accelerates team growth.

A few features are difficult to master initially. But most users believe it’s worth it because it makes businesses do more.

Main features

Wrike employs intelligent tech to manage dull tasks, such as updates and lists. It can identify issues before they occur, something that is very useful for project managers.

2. Adobe Workfront

Many large organizations use this tool for managing projects. Its wide use is due to its flexibility, easiness of handling tasks and offering many more features. However, it is a little bit expensive compared to other software. Many big companies use this tool to handle their advanced work. 

Pros and Cons:

Workfront offers all the basic features that the team needs to handle challenging projects. It includes timelines, reports, and dashboards. In addition, it also has the feature of reviewing files and managing assets.

The major drawback is to complicated usage of the interface. Many users faced difficulties in using the interface properly as compared to other platforms. So it’s hard for new team members to learn all the features at once. 

Main Features

• Teams can plan for various scenarios and see potential outcomes with the aid of a scenario planner
• Goal Setting: Enables groups to establish measurable, well-defined objectives
• Dashboards: Provide brief overviews of project progress and workflow

3. ClickUp

ClickUp is one of the powerful project management tools that overcome disorganized work and poor tracking. These issues can lead to many money and time losses. However, ClickUp streamlines tasks centralizes communication, and enhances work productivity. 

Pros and Cons

This tool has a user-friendly interface and offers many features. These advantages make it easy for every team member to use properly and manage their workload. Its scalable pricing attracts many companies to use it for the growth of business. Furthermore, all team members stay connected with collaboration tools such as chat, docs, and whiteboards. In this way, every team member stays updated and keeps things well-organized. 

However, new users may find the sheer volume of features overwhelming, and the initial adoption may be slowed by the learning curve. Additionally, some users think the mobile app is less capable than the desktop version and the automation builder is cumbersome. Notwithstanding these limitations, ClickUp is a good option for teams of all sizes due to its adaptability and customization features.

Key features

• Multiple Project Views: List, Board, Calendar, Gantt, Mind Map, and more
• AI-Powered Assistance: Offers writing assistance, planning, and project summary generation
• Collaboration Tools: In-app chat, docs, whiteboards, and screen recordings for real-time collaboration
• Hierarchical Organisation: Spaces, folders, lists, and tasks for organized structure
• Integrations: Integrates with Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Workspace, Outlook, Dropbox, HubSpot, Salesforce, GitHub, and more
• Automation: Custom workflows and automation to minimize manual effort
• Time Tracking: Integrated features to track project progress and deadlines
• Scalable Plans: From a solid free plan to high-end business plans, good for every team size

4. Smartsheet

Smartsheet is the recommended tool for those who like to use spreadsheet style to manage projects. It works like Excel but offers more features for tracking and organizing work. Users can see project information in visual charts and dashboards.

Pros and cons

It offers many detailed features and advanced options which help to handle complex projects very well.

However, having a weak knowledge of spreadsheets may feel difficulty to learn all the features. Furthermore, advanced features are also expensive. 

Key Features

• Automated workflows: Tasks and processes can be set to repeat automatically.
• Content management: Progress boards and alerts help keep track of work.
• Dashboards: Visual displays show project status and goals clearly.

5. Asana

A popular project management tool assists in the coordination of work for any team size. It consolidates tasks, files, planning, and tracking into a single, easy-to-use location. The site allows individuals to view work in various ways, such as lists, boards, or calendars, and keeps everyone synchronized in real-time.

Pros and cons

This is suitable for task planning, team management, and making work straightforward and uncluttered. It makes it simple to know who does what and see how things progress. However, other users feel that planning how much work each individual has might be better.

Key features

• Workflow tools: Individuals can make personalized steps in projects and link team members
• Goals and targets: Teams can establish specific goals and monitor how they are performing
• Timeline and chart views: These enable everybody to look at deadlines and progress in the work at a glance

6.  Jira

Jira tool is used by many businessmen especially those who follow agile methods. At an initial level it is software, and now become a part of Atlassian. Through tis tool, the team can track, organize, and manage tasks with many features.  

Pros and cons

The positive point about this tool is its easy usage and fulfills everyone’s needs. The team can easily set up dashboards and workflows according to their work requirement. Jira can track sprints, assign tasks, and show progress for those who use Scrums or Kanban.

For beginners, this software is difficult to learn especially those who dislike to Agile method. At first, it seems complicated. It also does not manage resources by itself. Along with Jira, the team may need extra tools for workload planning. 

Key features

• Teams can quickly view project plans, progress, and deadlines with Jira’s dashboards. Sharing dashboards with others facilitates updates
• Jira’s search is quick to locate tasks and projects because it uses unique filters and its own language

7. Microsoft Project

Teams can plan, monitor, and oversee work with Microsoft Project, a project management tool. Teams that already use Microsoft software can share files and work together more easily thanks to its best integrations with other Microsoft apps like Teams, Outlook, and SharePoint. If a team is using other software, then Microsoft Project will not integrate as well.

Pros and Cons

Microsoft Project has lots of features for planning and monitoring projects, such as Gantt charts, timelines, and resource allocation. It integrates with other Microsoft applications, which is great for collaboration and communication. It is difficult for beginners to master, and certain features only come with more costly plans. It is best suited for existing Microsoft teams.

Key Features

• Dashboards and Reports: Display project status and assist in tracking work but some of the advanced functionalities require additional tools
• Gantt Charts: Allow teams to view project timelines and deadlines at a glance
• Budget Tracking: Assists in controlling project expenses and keeping plans within budget
• Collaboration Tools: Integrates very well with Microsoft Teams and other applications for effortless teamwork

8. Basecamp

This tool facilitates project management for small groups. Scheduling, task tracking, collaboration, and progress monitoring are among its features.

Pros and cons

The tool’s ease of use is one advantage. It is not confusing because there aren’t many buttons or settings. Since everyone pays the same price, it’s also straightforward and equitable for small groups.

It might not be sufficient for larger groups or more difficult tasks, though, because it is so basic. It doesn’t give you much control. Lists and notes are the primary means of communication, which works well for small teams but may not work well for larger ones.

Main Features

• See what has to be done quickly. Every project has its own list, complete with files and notes
• Use special boards to communicate with your team so that everyone is aware of what is going on
• Assign tasks due dates, monitor progress, and identify issues before they arise. It helps you stay on course by integrating with calendars

9. Trello

Trello is a work and project organizing tool. Boards, lists, and cards are used to display work in an easily visible and comprehensible manner. Dragging and dropping cards from one list to another track progress easily.

Pros and cons

Trello is extremely easy to get started with. Its bright boards and minimalistic layout make it fun to manage tasks for both individuals and teams. All can collaborate, share boards, assign a task, set a deadline, and add a comment right on cards. People utilize it to do tons of things, such as planning events, managing projects, or creating content.

However, Trello is not ideal for large business planning or monitoring numerous projects simultaneously. For larger requirements, other software could be more suitable.

Important features

• Boards in Trello are easy to read and simple to navigate using the card system
• Cards can include due dates, checklists, and comments to make everyone aware
• Butler and Power-Ups aid in automating actions and reducing time

10. Zoho projects

Zoho Projects is a basic project management solution that is especially useful for small teams already using other Zoho applications. It fits into Zoho’s suite of CRM, sales, and hiring tools, and makes sharing data seamless in the overall Zoho system. This improves teamwork for users of the Zoho series of applications.

Pro and Cons

Zoho Projects helps teams manage their tasks and start automating steps in projects to coordinate work, but sometimes adding information to many custom fields is not easy because you cannot select more than one option at a time. Also, the data sometimes has extraneous code.

Key features

• Lets you plan out big or complicated tasks and then puts them on autopilot with automated step progression and approval notifications
• Great for marking and tracking problems with your work. It has custom views to help you visualize and address the most pertinent bugs