What do the ancient pyramids of Egypt, the building of the Titanic, and the first Apollo Space Mission all have in common? Answer: they were all extremely complex projects that required an entire team of dedicated people and a well thought out plan to complete successfully.
Microsoft Project is a project & Portfolio management solution that is available both as an on-premise option for Windows and Mac and as cloud-based software. MS Project offers integrated project planning tools that help users get an overview and keep their projects organized and on the planned track. Get started with the new Project, starting at $10.00 per month. Learn more Stay organized, focused, and in charge. Tackle anything from small projects to large initiatives. You may or may not be a project manager, but now you can be the boss of any project with a powerful, easy-to-use app. Download OpenProj - Project Management for free. Open Source desktop project management. OpenProj is an open-source desktop project management application similar to Microsoft Project. OpenProj has a familiar user interface and even opens existing MS Project files. Here are the best project management software for Mac choices of 2019: Monday.com Founded in 2012, Monday is one of the top project management software on the market. Introduction The term 'Project Management software' is muddy if not ambiguous. For example, users have different views of delineates “project management” from task or time management. While Microsoft lead the way in desktop project management tools with MS Project. I used it and liked it. But not everyone wanted the complexity that came with all of its capabilities. That includes me now.
As a project manager, you work on complex projects every day. And while your current endeavor might not be rocket science, it still demands an attention to detail and the ability to properly manage both people and resources.
Fortunately, there are tools out there that can help make your project management efforts much easier and more successful.
In this article, we'll take a look at project management software: what it is, why it's important, the eight best apps in this category, and how to choose the right one for your organization. Sound interesting? Then let's get started!
What is Project Management Software?
According to Techopedia, project management software is, 'software used for project planning, scheduling, resource allocation and change management.' Simple enough, right? But let's get more granular:
- Project Planning: Project management software will help you plan and schedule your entire project, ensuring you and your team stay on track. This aspect of the tool is especially helpful for large projects which will take years to complete.
- Resource Allocation: A quality project management app will also give you the tools to appropriately allocate resources like employee time and company funds. For example, most apps give you the option to assign tasks to specific team members.
- Change Management: As a project manager, you know that no project ever goes exactly according to plan. Project management software will help you manage changes effectively and help to ensure each project meets with success.
Why is Project Management Software Important?
Now that we've covered what project management software is, we can discuss why it's important. There are three main benefits to working with this kind of tool. They are: direction, collaboration, and productivity.
1. Direction
If you want your next project to be a success, you have to know what success looks like. In other words, you need direction. You need to develop a plan that will help you get from point A to point B in the most efficient way possible.
Project management software allows project managers to evaluate the scope of a project, break down complex undertakings into manageable steps, and plan every aspect of a project — from task assignment to budgeting.
2. Collaboration
Most projects worked on in a company setting aren't one man (or woman) shows. They require a whole team of people to complete, each with different skill sets and experience levels. Project management software allows team members to better collaborate by offering document sharing, checklist, and communication tools.
These features are especially useful to distributed teams. If you work closely with remote employees or staff members in satellite offices, you'll definitely appreciate the collaboration tools that comes with most project management apps.
3. Productivity
Last but not least, project management software makes teams more productive. When your employees have direction and understand what's expected of them; when they have quality communication, document sharing, and checklist tools at their disposal, they'll be able to complete their work in a much more efficient manner.
This kind of tool also helps managers better delegate tasks and resources so that the entire team runs like a well-oiled machine. No employee is ever over worked and no available resource is wasted.
An Objective Project Management Software Comparison
The following list contains a mixture of free project management software and paid for solutions. Each tool offers exciting features. You'll just need to choose which app best fits your company and go from there.
1. Trello
Trello is a highly visual, completely intuitive project management software. It's based on the Kanban methodology and projects, called boards, can be organized into workflows by creating column like lists and filling them with cards. Each card can be made to represent a task and given due dates and assigned to specific team members.
Trello also makes team collaboration easy by including a chat area where employees can converse about the project and share attachments.
To top it all off, this project management app integrates with many other popular tools such as Slack, Evernote, and Dropbox. Get started today for free or upgrade to the Business Class plan for just $9.99 a month.
2. Asana
Asana can be thought of as a super powerful todo list — powerful enough to accommodate large teams and complex projects. It places a heavy focus on company goals and achieving them on time and on budget.
Once inside the app, Asana users have the ability to view their projects in multiple ways. There's the task list view which (unsurprisingly) lists tasks in the standard to-do list style. There's also the boards view which is essentially a kanban board similar to what Trello offers, and the timeline view which gives a visual representation of how each piece of a project fits together.
One unique aspect of Asana is its industry templates. If you're new to project management, you'll love this feature! Basically, Asana has created a bunch of different project templates for various departments including marketing, HR, and design. Users can use these templates as a proven foundation when building their own workflows.
Just like Trello, Asana offers basic functionality for free. Its Premium plans starts at $9.99 a month, though, if you need to upgrade.
3. Zoho Projects
Zoho is a complete business software suite that's become quite popular over the last view years. One of the company's offerings is Projects, a project management software that makes planning, tracking, and collaborating on projects a breeze.
First off, this app has just about every project management app feature you could ever dream of. It's really powerful! Milestones? Check. Time tracking? Check. Kanban boards, Gantt charts, and live chat capability? Check, check, and check!
Best Free Project Management Software For Mac 2019 Free
No matter what kind of project you happen to be working on, you can plan and manage it effectively inside Projects. But all that functionality is going to cost you if you ever want to graduate past the Free Forever plan.
The Standard plan costs $18 for 6 users per month
4. Wrike
Wrike is another popular online project management software. This tool offers the convenience of a todo list and the power and flexibility of a spreadsheet. That way you can easily see what needs to get done and when as well as more detailed information like task directions, team member assignments, and live chat.
To use Wrike, first start a new project and create specific tasks that needs to be completed. Then click on each task and add important details like who is in charge of completing it, directions for them to follow, and any attachments they might need.
Users can also email each other (not just use an internal chat feature) directly inside this project management app too which could definitely come in handy.
Get started with Wrike today for free. Or upgrade to a more advanced plan for as little as $9.80 a month per user.
5. Monday
What makes Monday, formerly known as Dapulse, different is its focus on workflows. The folks behind this project management app understand that projects rarely go as planned. So instead of simply giving users a standard tasks list to check off, they included a workflow stages feature.
Once a task is created, a colored 'stages' column can be added to represent various stages in the completion of said task. For example, a green mark would mean the task is complete, orange would represent that the task is still being worked on, and red would mean that the person assigned to the task has hit a roadblock.
This system makes it very easy to see, at a quick glance, how far along certain projects are.
Monday also includes useful features like a timeline view, priority level tracker, and internal chat capability. After a free trial, Monday can be accessed for $39 a month for up to five users.
6. Mavenlink
If you constantly work on tight deadlines, Mavenlink may be the perfect project management software for you. The app's Gantt chart feature allows users to estimate time frames for each stage in a project and add dependencies so that they always know which tasks need to be completed first. Deadlines can then be updated based on this information.
Other features include resource management tools, project templates, internal communications, AI powered reports, and much more.
Mavenlink does offer a free plan but it seems that most of the exciting features are only available via upgraded packages which start at $19 a month for five users.
7. Smartsheet
Do you love the organization possibilities of standard spreadsheets but wish they packed a bit more punch? Take a look at Smartsheet, a project management app that combines everything you love about spreadsheets with comments, task assignment, project status, and budgeting features.
The great thing about Smartsheet is its flexibility. You can add extra rows, columns, and checkboxes to your super spreadsheet at any time. You can also view projects via a Gantt chart, set conditional reminders, and add attachments.
Smartsheet is the ideal project management software for spreadsheet enthusiasts and can be accessed for $14 a month after a 30-day free trial.
8. Podio
Podio, a project management tool that's really multiple apps in one. Users choose the apps they want to use and combine them into a single intuitive dashboard. It's a unique approach that allows users to build smarter workflows.
Podio includes all the standard project management features you need like deadlines, task creation, commenting and chat, file attachments, and templates. The monthly cost to access these features ranges from $0 to $24 a month.
9. Teamwork
Teamwork is project management software that boosts collaboration and simplifies workflows. Designed for in-house and remote teams, Teamwork helps everyone communicate more efficiently and transparently.
Included in Teamwork are time-tracking and analytics features. It also has an in-app chat, which lets users discuss projects all in one place. Teamwork’s customizable boards and workflows make the software a fit for nearly any project.
Thanks to its customizations, Teamwork works for teams of all sizes. Small teams can use the free version forever or upgrade to the pro plan for just $10 per month. Bigger teams get additional tools and templates for $18 per month via the premium edition. Enterprise plans are priced to suit and come with stronger access controls, APIs, and security features.
How to Choose Project Management Software
We just mentioned eight different project management software solutions. Each has unique features and benefits. Which one is right for your team? That's what we'll cover in this section.
To discover which project management app is right for your company, follow this simple three-step process:
- Know What Features You Need: Start by deciding which features your team actually needs, which would be nice to have, and which are irrelevant. Then narrow down your list of potential apps by eliminating any that don't have the capabilities you desire.
- Evaluate Your Company's Budget: Next, look at your budget. How much software can you realistically afford? While each of the tools in our list have free versions, some of the features you need or want might only be available in higher priced plans.
- Experiment and Get Feedback: Once you've narrowed your options down by features and price, it's time to start experimenting with the remaining tools on your list. Sign up for a free plan or trial. Which apps do you and your team enjoy using?
After going through each of these three steps, you should have a good idea of which project management software is right for you.
Manage Your Projects More Successfully
Project management software will help you and your team complete projects on time and on budget, collaborate effectively, and reach peak productivity levels. We encourage you to try some of the apps listed above and begin experimenting with them. Then choose the tool that suits your organization best. Good luck!
Want to really improve productivity and collaboration on your next project? Pair any of the above mentioned project management software solutions with CloudApp, a powerful visual communication tool. CloudApp's screen recorder , screen shot for Mac , webcam recording, GIF creation, and image annotation features will allow you to clearly communicate with your team and help ensure each of your projects is completed on time and on budget. Give it a try today for FREE.
Mac Os Project Management Software
In this article, Mopinion will explain what project management software is, outline key aspects of project management software functionality that are important to consider when choosing a software for your business and of course, provide you with an overview of the best project management software on the market…
What is Project Management Software?
Project Management Software is software used by a wide range of industries for project planning, resource allocation and scheduling. It enables project managers as well as entire teams to control their budget, quality management and all documentation exchanged throughout a project. This software also serves as a platform for facilitating collaboration among project stakeholders.
What makes a good Project Management Software?
From tracking down deliverables to managing resources and from budget management to collaboration with team members, there is a lot to be considered when running and managing projects. This holds true when choosing the right project management software tool as well. Here’s a list of the top 5 key functionality aspects of project management software to guide you in your decision.
- Task lists – being able to assign and update the status of tasks so that everyone in your team is on the same page is critical
- Schedules – many tools offer calendars, Gantt charts or milestone tools that help you understand where a task fits into the project as a whole and how much time there is to complete it.
- File sharing – being able to share and organise key project documents eliminates time wasted searching for files
- Communication – this is critical in project management as a smooth flow of communication means quick and easy problem solving
- Reporting – this is important for all team members when it comes to updating themselves on the project as a whole. However this is also a huge plus for project managers who want to ensure that the project is progressing and tasks are being carried out in a timely manner
With these aspects in mind, let’s take a look at the top 20 best project management software..
1. Basecamp
Basecamp is a popular project management software that is widely used by many project management teams. This software offers several different collaboration features such as a designated discussion area where users can leave behind comments. Additionally a recap of the projects your team is working (e.g. statuses and updates) is sent out on a daily basis to your email. Users can contribute to discussions via email as well. If you are unable to find a particular item, you can make use of this software’s powerful search tool to locate files or conversations. Some shortcomings, however, include the lack of milestones and customisation options as well as the inability to add an estimated duration for a task or assign it to more than one user.
Pricing: Basecamp is available to businesses for $99/month. For teachers and students it is entirely free of charge.
Website:www.basecamp.com
2. Teamwork Projects
Teamwork Projects is a great project management software for the project management power user. Teamwork Projects includes all the tools you’ll need to track the development of a project. The app is quite flexible and includes various intuitive features such as Task Management, Milestones (e.g. you can link task lists to Milestones), Messaging, File Storage, Time Tracking tools, and more. Teamwork also helps project teams visualise the project using a marked calendar, gantt chart and set-up reporting. File management support is accessible with DropBox, Google Drive and Box.com.
Pricing: Pricing can range anywhere between $69/month (Small office) to $269/month (Business). They also offer an enterprise package (pricing available upon request).
Website:www.teamwork.com
3. ProofHub
ProofHub is an online project management app that places an emphasis on simplicity. This project management software is intended mainly for small and growing businesses. Projects are assigned to groups and clients, who are able to discuss, share and edit. Proofhub also offers to create custom roles for users to create Gantt charts. The following are some of the subcomponents of ProofHub: Custom Roles, Task management, Workflows and Boards, Gantt Charts, Reports, Time tracking, Discussions, Chat, Calendar, File management, Notes, and in-app notifications.
Pricing: ProofHub pricing ranges from $45/month to $99/month depending on the number of projects and storage needed.
Website:www.proofhub.com
4. Zoho Projects
Zoho projects is an extensive project management software with a clean and straightforward interface. This software covers the following areas everything from Project Planning (breaking down projects into manageable units) and Gantt Charts (to visual the progress of tasks) to Reporting Tools, Collaboration Software (to ease contact between consultants, vendors, employees and clients) and Document Management. It can also be integrated with tools such as Google Apps and DropBox. Here’s a more in-depth look at Zoho.
Pricing: Zoho offers a free plan that includes 1 project and 10 MB storage, an express plan (€25/month), premium (€50/month) and enterprise (€80/month). These last plans all depend on the number of project and storage space.
Website:www.zoho.eu
5. Nifty
Nifty is a new-wave project management tool that reduces project development cycles and improves team productivity by combining all of the important features of project management into one software. The end result is milestone-driven progress that keep teams inspired, insuring organizational goals remain on schedule. Nifty’s software allows you to manage tasks through both kanban or list view, has a built in calendar that can be integrated with Google, as well as file and document sharing. Collaborating on Nifty is natural because each project has an individual discussion thread encouraging project specific communication. Nifty also has an integration with Github that truly makes Nifty unique by encouraging cross departmental collaboration like no other.
Pricing: Nifty’s pricing ranges from $39 for 10 team members, $79 a month for 25 team members and $124 a month for 50 team members. In each plan teams can invite as many guests or clients as they would like for no extra charge.
Website:www.niftypm.com
6. Trello
Trello is unlike these other project management softwares in that it is an online kanban tool. This means that it visualises an entire project in just one single view. Trello makes it possible to make cards and move them around on the ‘board’. These cards can display – for example, conversations or to-do lists, which can be placed on a board, making them accessible for any of the designated tool users.
Pricing: Trello offers a free package (with unlimited boards, lists, cards and members). It also has a business class package that costs $9.99/month, which includes unlimited ‘power-ups’, which are different features and integrations, and an enterprise package that costs $20.83/month.
Website:www.trello.com
7. JIRA
JIRA is a popular project management software that caters mostly to agile, software development teams. Within the software, these teams can create customisable scrum boards, kanban boards, and make use of agile reporting (in real-time). Users can also track bugs, view any outstanding issues and monitor time spent per task. JIRA comes with a robust set of APIs that enable users to connect it with many third party softwares.
Pricing: Pricing ranges from $10/month to $1500/month depending on how many users you have. There is also an option to deploy JIRA on your own server for a one-time payment.
Website:www.atlassian.com
8. Asana
In order to keep work organised, the Asana project management software offers Tasks, projects, conversations and dashboards. Many satisfied users say that the catchiest feature this tool has to offer is the ability to add customer fields and track only what is important to you. The software also offers Team Pages where ideas and conversations are shared for all to see as well as a ‘Smart Box’ where team members receive only important project updates rather than all messages back and forth. It can be integrated with a large number of other systems including Google Drive, DropBox, Github, MailChimp and more.
Pricing: Asana offers a basic version which is free, however business can also sign up for premium ($9.99/month) or an enterprise package which offers more control and support (pricing upon request).
Website:www.asana.com
9. MeisterTask
MeisterTask’s simple, yet powerful Kanban structure facilitates the smooth management of projects. With its wide range of collaborative capabilities, this smart, intuitive online task management tool is a popular choice for teams that value clean visual design and user experience.
Features such as watching, mentioning, tags and task scheduling make it simple and enjoyable to collaborate with colleagues both in-house and in home office. MeisterTask also includes the first-of-its-kind agenda: a personal board to which tasks from any project can be pinned and organized. Despite this extensive functionality, MeisterTask remains swift and logical thanks to a range of intelligent automations and robust native integrations with software including G Suite, Slack and GitHub.
Pricing: MeisterTask offers a free Basic version with selected core functionality. Pro ($8.25/per user/per month), offers a more comprehensive feature set for single users, while teams are best served by the Business ($20.75/per user/per month) and Enterprise (upon request) packages.
Website:www.meistertask.com
10. Monday.com
Start with Monday.com by creating your personal workflow. With this workflow you can visualize and highlight elements like time management, text or locations. You can share and work with this tool with your whole team and save time by only recording the important documents and conversations.
Pricing: Monday.com offers different paid plans, depending on the size of the company and the number of users. Starting from Basic €17 (2 users/month) to Pro €39 (2 users/month). They also offer an Enterprise package (pricing available upon request).
Website:www.monday.com
11. Wrike
Wrike is a cloud-based collaboration and project management software. This tools helps its users keep track of day-to-day operations and ensures that the project is finished within a certain frame and pre-determined cost. When setting up tasks, Wrike can be integrated with other business tools such as Google Apps, Microsoft Excel, Dropbox and many more.
The wrike app also provides the option to transform emails into tasks. This email integration also enables users to create, assign or edit documents from their email account.
Pricing: Wrike offers a free version, professional version (5-15 users, $9.80/user/month), business version (5-200 users, $24.80/user/month), a version for marketers ($34.60/user/month) and an enterprise version (pricing available upon request).
Website:www.wrike.com
12. Workfront
Workfront is a user-friendly project management software offers customisable project dashboards, real-time reporting and clear visibility of all ongoing tasks and operations. It also offers capacity planning and project prioritisation tools as well as notifies teams of work in progress. Workfront can be integrated with other systems such as Adobe Creative Cloud, Google Drive and Microsoft Outlook.
Pricing: Pricing for all packages is only available upon request.
Website:www.workfront.com
13. Hubstaff
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Hubstaff is a great tool with automated workflows, based on the agile methodology. With Hubstaff you can focus on your sprints by prioritizing tasks, automated stand-ups and easily share comments and the status of the project with your team members.
Pricing: Hubstaff offers a free plan up to 5 users.
Website:www.hubstaff.com
14. LiquidPlanner
LiquidPlanner is a project management software that adapts to your business automatically. For example, when a user’s priorities and resources change, the software automatically updates these changes. This software also offers cross-project visibility, showing insights into progress, risks and budgets for all projects at once. It’s advanced analytics help users manage project performance, view costs and profits, and monitor resource utilisation, client portfolios and baseline trends.
Pricing: LiquidPlanner has three packages (based on team size and features needed): Small Team ($9.99/month), Professional ($39/month) and Enterprise ($69/month).
Website:www.liquidplanner.com
15. Clickup
Clickup is perfect for process and task management. You can customize your workflow, assign tasks and add different types of dependencies for tasks. If you work Agile, this tool will suit you. Manage your sprints, manage the resources, check the workload of your team and work together with other teams in this tool.
Pricing: CickUp offers a free plan and a paid Unlimited plan (€4.55 user/month) or Business plan (€8.18 user/month).
Website:www.clickup.com
16. TeamGantt
TeamGantt is a project management software that caters really well to smaller businesses. It is very easy to set up and can probably be up and running within an hour or two. The software allows users to invite colleagues to a gantt chart, which they can also edit once access has been granted. TeamGantt’s only weak points are in-app communication and collaboration.
Pricing: Pricing ranges from $0/month (max 10 users and 1 project) to $175/month (unlimited users and projects).
Website:www.teamgantt.com
17. Backlog
Backlog is a project management and collaboration tool for different teams in an organization. You can manage projects and tasks wisely and for each team there are special features. Sales teams can track leads, while development teams can assign issues and review code within this one tool.
Pricing: Offers a Unlimited and Enterprise Edition, pricing for both editions is given upon request.
Website:www.backlog.com
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18. Celoxis
Celoxis is rated among the top 3 best project management softwares worldwide. This software is simple and straightforward with a responsive interface that includes a Gantt chart view of projects and a number of different financial tools that can help track hours and project income. Celoxis hosts an online version (the SaaS plan) or users can host the data themselves. This software has many great features, but where it really stands out is reporting with its advanced reporting engine, drill-down charts, time-phrased data and flexible/shareable reports.
Pricing: Celoxis has two packages: SaaS ($25/user a month) and On-Premise, which is the self-hosting service ($450/user – one time payment).
Website:www.celoxis.com
19. Plutio
Plutio is an all-in-one business management platform designed to help you manage projects and tasks, create proposals and send invoices. Track your time from anywhere and visualise everyone’s time entries in a powerful time-sheet, with Plutio you stay organized.
Pricing: Plutio offers a paid plan for individuals $15/month, Studio plan $20/month and a Team plan $30/month.
Website:www.plutio.com
20. ProjectManager.com
Last, but certainly not least is ProjectManager.com. This award-winning tool has several nice features including task management and time sheets, both of which can be updated remotely. This project management tool also offers its users Gantt charts, Project Planning features and a real-time dashboard.
Pricing: Pricing starts at $35/month for a single user. However, they also offer two team packages: $20 per user/month for a team of 10 users and $25 per user/month for a team of 20 users. Additionally, ProjectManager.com offers an enterprise package (pricing available upon request).
Website:www.projectmanager.com
Choosing your PM software
In order to choose the right project management software, it’s important to consider factors such as the size of your business and team, how many features you require and which of those features you most value. Either way, I think you’ll quickly realise that having such a software in place will make your day-to-day work much easier.
We hope this overview has given you some inspiration in choosing which project management software might be right for your business. If you have any suggestions or know of other great project management software, please feel free to put them in the comments below.
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