The Top 10 Project Management Tools of 2023 (Ranked): A Deep Dive
Hey, all you project managers and enthusiasts out there! Are you feeling swamped with all the different tools on offer? Which one tops the list?
You’ve landed in the right place. Let’s untangle this web and dive into the top 10 project management tools that everyone’s raving about.
Do you want to get the answer to my top choice for project management tools.? My answer is Microsoft Project.
These days, all project managers need some form of project management software. Creating a schedule with a realistic and achievable resource profile, optimizing your work profile, and developing a productive plan are not easy.
Old school project managers would have to do this in a cumbersome way – probably taking weeks to create.
They must create an achievable schedule that will meet deadlines while, at the same time, determining a customer-driven quality outcome. This is where today’s software project management tools come into their own.
Today, I’ll be judging some of the most widely used project management tools for you to try out. I’ll also mention what these tools are best (and worst at), their features, and payment options.
Then, I’ll describe project management software in general. And include a few of the most frequently asked questions about waterfall and agile project management methodologies.
Do you want to compare some project management software tools?
So, What Are The Best Project Management Tools?
Here are my top picks for the best project management tools on the market in 2023.
1. Trello
Score: 7.5/10
Team Success Features
Powering a productive team means using a powerful tool for meetings, projects, events and goal setting; Trello’s intuitive features allow any team to set up and customize workflows for just about anything quickly.
Lists and cards are the building blocks of organizing work on a Trello board. Every part of your task can be managed, tracked, and shared with teammates. Open any card to uncover an ecosystem of checklists, due dates, attachments, conversations, and more.
Pros:
1. Intuitive Interface: Even if you’re a newbie, navigating Trello feels like a breeze.
2. Versatility: Use it for anything from content calendars to event planning.
3. Integration Power: Connects seamlessly with a slew of other tools.
4. Visual Boards: Perfect for those who love dragging and dropping tasks.
5. Free Version Available: You can start with no cash down.
Cons:
1. Lacks advanced features for large projects.
2. Not ideal for data-heavy tasks.
3. Limited offline functionality.
4. Reporting features could be better.
5. Can get cluttered with many cards.
2. Asana
Score: 8.5/10
The best platform for cross-functional work if you want more efficiency in your organization. Asana is accessible for all teams to use so that you can deliver quality work faster.
Asana is the only platform with goals built-in with related tasks, collaborators and progress to achieve business goals quickly. It is rated best for cross-team collaboration and as a leader in work management by industry experts.
You get simple adoption with less downtime and tailored support to help your teams easily migrate existing data and adopt Asana.
Pros:
1. Task Dependencies: See what needs doing first.
2. Timeline Views: Visualize project timelines with ease.
3. Great Collaboration Features: Comment, assign, and follow tasks.
4. Custom Fields: Tailor Asana to your project’s unique needs.
5. Recurring Tasks: Set it and forget it.
Cons:
1. Steeper learning curve than some tools.
2. The mobile app needs some desktop functionalities.
3. It seems overwhelming to new users.
4. Higher-tier features come at a cost.
5. Limited third-party integrations.
3. Microsoft Project
Score: 9/10
Stay organized, focused, and in charge of anything from small projects to large initiatives. You may or may not be a project manager, but now you can be the project boss with a powerful, easy-to-use app. Work confidently with a powerful yet simple-to-use project management tool. Even complex projects are easier to manage when you can choose methods and tools that best suit your needs.
Use Projects and Teams to empower collaboration and management of projects, including file sharing, chats, meetings, and more.
Collaborate on projects even when you’re on different continents. To update tasks simultaneously so you can get more done together. Microsoft Project can be used with both linear and agile projects.
You get built-in reports such as Burndown and Resource Overview, providing stakeholder insights to stakeholders leading to better results. You can submit timesheets to capture time spent on project and non-project work for payroll, invoicing, and more.
Task path highlighting in Gantt charts gives you visibility into the relationships between tasks.
Hover over team members’ names in a project plan to see the online presence and start chats or calls through Microsoft Teams for Business (licensed separately).
Pros:
1. Comprehensive Toolset: For those who need a complete solution.
2. Deep Reporting: Dive into analytics and insights.
3. Resource Management: Track budgets, forecasts, and resources in one place.
4. Integration with Microsoft Suite: Plays well with Office.
5. Gantt Chart Excellence: Visualize project progress.
Cons:
1. Can be intimidating for beginners.
2. Pricier than other options.
3. Requires training to maximize its potential.
4. Heavier software might slow some systems.
5. Less user-friendly than its counterparts.
4. Monday.com
Score: 8/10
Best For All Projects and Teams
Boost your team’s alignment, efficiency, and productivity by customizing any workflow to fit your needs and streamlined work for maximum productivity. You can centralize your work, processes, tools, and files and maintain one source of truth across your organization.
Bring teams together and collaborate effectively organization-wide to drive business impact and reach your goals faster. Stay in the loop with easy real-time notifications. Stay on track to reach your goals more quickly, make confident decisions and easily scale workflows for your evolving needs.
An agile project management platform to suit all team sizes and complexity while helping prioritize, plan, execute, and track all assignments, enabling team collaboration and visibility.
You can focus on taking action, providing data-driven evidence and providing client, project and team workflow overviews.
From creating user stories and making assignments to serving as a product management tool, Monday.com makes for easy, agile project management and saves time by automating repetitive tasks to avoid human errors and focus on more critical tasks.
Monday.com seamlessly integrates with third-party tools, reflects changes automatically on the Gantt chart and fosters team collaboration and communication.
Pros:
1. Color-coded Boards: Who doesn’t love colours?
2. Automation Capabilities: Reduce repetitive tasks.
3. Time Tracking: Keep an eye on hours spent.
4. Public Boards: Share progress with external stakeholders.
5. High Customizability: Adapt it to your needs.
Cons:
1. Pricey for small teams.
2. Overwhelming number of features for some.
3. The interface can feel busy.
4. Less intuitive than some competitors.
5. Limited free version.
5. Basecamp
Score: 7/10
Where it all comes together.
Basecamp is the project management platform that helps small teams move faster and make more progress than they ever thought possible. It’s a struggle to juggle people, projects, clients, deadlines, and expectations.
In Basecamp, each project lives on a single page. With everything in reach and every piece of information tracked and organized, everyone knows where to find what they need and say what they need to say.
Pros:
1. Flat Monthly Pricing: No per-user fees.
2. All-in-one Dashboard: Everything in one place.
3. Client Spaces: Keep client communication separate and tidy.
4. Check-in Questions: Get regular updates from your team.
5. Hill Chart: Unique way to track project status.
Cons:
1. Lacks Gantt charts.
2. No time tracking feature.
3. It may be too simplistic for complex projects.
4. Limited advanced features.
5. No task dependencies.
6. JIRA
Score: 9/10
Move fast, stay aligned, and build better – together
The #1 software development tool used by agile teams. Break the big ideas into manageable chunks across teams with user stories, issues, and tasks.
Pros:
1. Agile Friendly: Scrum, Kanban? JIRA’s got your back.
2. Powerful Reporting: Track every metric imaginable.
3. Custom Workflows: Tailor it to your project’s heartbeat.
4. Marketplace Add-ons: Expand its capabilities.
5. Integration with Confluence: Documentation made easy.
Cons:
1. Might seem complex for non-developers.
2. Higher price point.
3. Can feel bulky for small projects.
4. Requires customization to shine genuinely.
5. The user interface could be more intuitive.
7. Slack (for communication)
Score: 7.5/10
Slack is made for people and built for productivity. Your tools are all in on the flexibility to work when, where and how to connect the right people, find anything you need and automate the rest. That’s work in Slack, your productivity platform.
Automate away routine tasks with the power of generative AI and simplify your workflow with all your favourite apps ready to go in Slack. You can chat, send audio and video clips, or hop on a huddle to talk things out live.
Pros:
1. Instant Communication: Chat in real-time.
2. Channels: Organize conversations by topic.
3. Integrates with Everything: Seriously, everything.
4. File Sharing: Drag, drop, done.
5. Search Functionality: Find old messages with ease.
Cons:
1. Not a full-fledged project management tool.
2. Can lead to notification overload.
3. Conversation threads can become convoluted.
4. The free version has a message limit.
5. Files can get lost in long threads.
8. ClickUp
Score: 8.5/10
ClickUp’s unique Hierarchy helps you create the perfect structure that scales with your needs. Each level of ClickUp gives you more flexibility and control to organize everything from small teams to enterprise companies.
ClickUp’s unique Hierarchy helps you create the perfect structure that scales with your needs.
Each level of ClickUp gives you more flexibility and control to organize everything from small teams to enterprise companies. Get your work done faster with the only AI-powered assistant tailored to your role.
Manage your workflow with Gantt and calendar views. You can manage your team in real-time while customizing tasks, plans, task assignments and chat.
You can swiftly organize projects from start to finish while tracking their progress and goals from kick-off to close.
Click up is perfect for Real-Time Team Collaboration.
Pros:
1. Hierarchical Structure: Tasks, sub-tasks, checklists? Check!
2. Multiple Views: List, board, calendar. You name it.
3. Built-in Time Tracker: Monitor hours with precision.
4. Custom Statuses: Define your workflow stages.
5. Docs & Wikis: Keep all information centralized.
Cons:
1. It Can feel overwhelming due to feature richness.
2. Steep learning curve.
3. Occasional bugs reported by users.
4. Mobile app needs improvement.
5. Some features need to be completed.
9. Wrike
Score: 8/10
Wrike delivers business outcomes faster by aligning strategy with execution to accelerate project delivery. Improve accountability, transparency, and collaboration to keep teams focused on key goals.
Access instant insights and real-time dashboards that support data-led decisions and Agile leadership.
Pros:
1. Interactive Gantt Charts: Drag, drop, and adjust.
2. Time Tracking: Essential for billing and accountability.
3. Document Collaboration: Edit together in real-time.
4. Resource Management: Allocate resources efficiently.
5. Templates: Get started quickly.
Cons:
1. The interface can be non-intuitive.
2. Emails can get spammy.
3. Higher tiers can be expensive.
4. Customization has limitations.
5. Initial setup can be time-consuming.
10. Airtable
Score: 7.5/10
Operationalize your critical data, move beyond rigid tools, and reimagine workflows with AI. No code is required. Simple to build. Intuitive to use.
Enable those closest to the real-world details of your business to customize the apps that accelerate how work gets done.
Pros:
1. Spreadsheets Meet Database: Best of both worlds.
2. Blocks: Add maps, charts, and more.
3. Custom Views: Visualize data your way.
4. Collaboration in Real-time: Teamwork makes the dream work.
5. Templates: Speed up your setup.
Cons:
1. Not strictly a project management tool.
2. Can get slow with large datasets.
3. Limited automation capabilities.
4. Advanced features locked behind pricing.
5. Requires a learning curve.
So, which one takes your fancy? Dive in, explore, and find your project management soulmate!
Microsoft Project! Its deep feature set, integration capabilities, and thorough reporting make it hard to beat for large-scale projects. But remember, the best tool largely depends on your team’s size, your project’s nature, and personal preference. It’s not about the fanciest tool but the right tool!
Microsoft Project: Most flexible and Best Buy!
Monday.com: Best For All Projects And Teams
ClickUp: Best For Real-Time Team Collaboration
Wrike: Best For Strategic Project Planning
Atlassian Jira: Best For Software Development Teams
Asana: Best For Work Management
I’m confident you’ll find a project management tool to meet your requirements from the abovementioned options.