Published: Jan 4, 2023, 6:32pm
Reviewed By
Reviewed By
Project management software makes it easy to plan projects, allocate tasks and keep teams organized so that deadlines and goals are met. With so many project management solutions on the market today–all with different pricing, plans and features, the decision on which to choose can be difficult. So we analyzed dozens of the leading providers to find the best project management software for small businesses in 2023.
Yes, for up to two seats
INR 660 per seat per month
billed annually (minimum of three seats)
Zoom, Google Docs, Salesforce, Slack and more
Yes, for up to two seats
INR 660 per seat per month
billed annually (minimum of three seats)
Zoom, Google Docs, Salesforce, Slack and more
Regardless of budget limitation, monday.com offers something for everyone. Even if you are working on a team of two with no budget, monday.com can help you get your project done on time and with limited risk. If you are a small two-person team, you can enjoy monday.com for free. If you’re part of a growing team, use advanced project-tracking features, automations and integrations for as little as INR 660 to INR 1300 per team member per month, if billed annually (minimum of three seats per plan).
For small teams with little incoming revenue, the free version offers the ability to manage projects with customizable boards so your team works on its own terms. You can create custom boards using over 200 templates and unlimited docs. Your team members can even work on the go via monday.com’s iOS and Android apps. But, once you’re ready to move on to more complex, large-team projects, monday.com’s plans grow with your needs.
If you’re working with a growing or mature team, you can manage simple projects all the way up to multiple complex projects. Advanced integrations and plan features allow you to perform work using the tools that help your team best communicate, manage risk, plan and stick to a budget, allocate resources as needed and track your project’s progress, iterations, timing and completion.
For example, automations help your team stay on track with little added effort. With a few clicks, you can set a notification to alert you if any task is over budget or a team member has fallen behind. Further, Gantt charts show you how your project is progressing, and what needs to happen next. Zoom, Slack, synced calendars, Salesforce, Google Docs and other integrations allow for seamless and intuitive team collaboration across your organization.
Who should use it:
Startup businesses on a shoestring budget should consider monday.com. It offers a free version and free trials so users can test more advanced tiers as their companies can afford them. For more information, check out our monday.com review.
Yes, for up to five creators or editors
INR 827 per seat per month
(billed annually)
Salesforce, Google Calendar, Facebook, Mailchimp, Slack and more
Yes, for up to five creators or editors
INR 827 per seat per month
(billed annually)
Salesforce, Google Calendar, Facebook, Mailchimp, Slack and more
Airtable is best for companies that are used to managing projects using Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets but want more capabilities. It is a supercharged spreadsheet that allows the integration and management of traditional and rich data points (such as photos, videos and other files). While it is most famous for its spreadsheet-like interface, it also allows for other project views, including Kanban card stacks and gallery, grid, calendar and Gantt/timeline views.
Its integration options really make this software work for any data-driven company. You can, for example, import data from Dropbox or Salesforce. Or, simply create a form that can be sent out via a shareable link to collect data from project participants, target users or project beneficiaries. Then, use templates and drag-and-drop features to analyze data from different perspectives, track how the data is used and forecast resource needs for project completion.
Other ready-made extensions or scripts then allow you to visualize your project as it progresses for a more intuitive experience. Access Airtable Marketplace to create a virtual whiteboard for idea brainstorming or an examinable 3D model of your project. You can even use pivot tables, flow charts and other visual data- and project-reporting tools to showcase project progression and successes.
Who should use it:
Airtable is known for its ability to help companies easily import, track and visualize data (even rich data). This makes Airtable ideal for companies with projects centered on traditional spreadsheet-compatible data. For more information, read our guide on how Airtable stacks up against the competition.
Yes, for one member
INR 410 per member per month
(billed annually)
Slack, Microsoft Outlook, HubSpot, Salesforce, Timely, Google Drive and more
Yes, for one member
INR 410 per member per month
(billed annually)
Slack, Microsoft Outlook, HubSpot, Salesforce, Timely, Google Drive and more
ClickUp is best for teams that rely on Scrum for product development. While it includes all the features you would expect from a great project management software, it goes further with templates and features that allow for an Agile software development process. Plans with these features start at free for startup teams and increase to INR 1570 per member per month (if billed annually) for multiple teams.
ClickUp’s feature offering is robust. It offers collaboration tools (such as real-time editing, mentions, calendar sync, and role creation and permissions), preset and custom automation recipes, reporting dashboards, project-tracking tools (such as checklists, timelines, Gantt charts, Kanban boards and dependencies) and over 1,000 integrations. Use templates or customize dashboards so your team works on its own terms.
ClickUp’s Agile Scrum features put this project management software over the top. Scrum is popular with software developers but is also used by sales and marketing teams. It allows teams to create products that customers love by gathering and incorporating customer feedback after each iteration, or sprint. ClickUp makes this process easy via features such as task progress boards, assignments, checklists, automation tools and collaborative tools to gather feedback.
Who should use it:
With robust features, ClickUp is great for any team looking for advanced project management capabilities. But, it is best for companies with Scrum Agile product development, marketing or sales teams. Learn more with our ClickUp review.
Yes, for one member
INR 330 per month (billed annually)
Slack, Zapier, Jira, Asana, Google Drive, IFTTT and more
Yes, for one member
INR 330 per month (billed annually)
Slack, Zapier, Jira, Asana, Google Drive, IFTTT and more
Notion offers one interface to handle all of your content creation projects from start to finish. Not only can you design your content from the platform, but you can also create checklists, store your documents or rich content and share your content from one platform. With a free Personal plan and small business paid plans that increase to just INR 660 per month per user (when billed annually), even freelance content creators can afford this luxury.
Per Notion, this software is a writing tool, albeit an elaborate one. Create a piece of content, design it and publish it all from one platform. Even add rich content such as images, videos and audio files to your creations. Freelancers who produce content for clients can invite guests (clients) to view, comment or edit pieces for free. Checklist, Kanban, gallery and timeline views allow you to manage the creation process as the professional you are.
To put your services over the top, as a freelancer, you can even create a knowledge base about your services to share with potential clients. For example, you can create packages or tiered pricing pages, your résumé and a branded portfolio to share on your website for potential client consideration. Or, create an internal knowledge base with unlimited files so you always have samples to share upon client request.
Learn more about what it has to offer with our Airtable vs Notion comparison.
Who should use it:
Notion would be the best fit for content creators who are solopreneurs or have small teams.
Yes, for up to 10 users
INR 455 per user per month
Jira, Google Analytics, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Google Drive and more
Yes, for up to 10 users
INR 455 per user per month
Jira, Google Analytics, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Google Drive and more
Confluence by Atlassian is especially helpful for collaboration amongst dispersed teams. Whether you want to unite your entire company or just a small team within it around a shared goal or mission, Confluence gives you all the tools to do so.
While Confluence offers a free plan, its paid plans unlock team features that make virtual project management easy. For example, while its free plan only offers 2 GB of document storage, its paid plans include at least 250 GB of storage. Paid plans also offer insights and analytics so you know which pieces of content are helpful to your team or company and which are not.
For project management, you can set up team or company spaces, then collaborate to produce documents together and publish pertinent documents that aid in project or company success, such as team notes, meeting minutes or company policies. Use integrations to add Kanban or Gantt charts that keep your team on track. Assign tasks to team members so everyone knows their roles and use permissions to appropriately control document access.
For virtual team cohesion, Confluence’s apps, features and templates allow you to unite your company around a shared company culture. For example, you can plan a weekly all-hands meeting that brings everyone together face-to-face, even in a virtual environment. Zoom and Slack integrations help you promote inclusion, internal relationships and a shared company culture. Company feeds and blogs allow you to keep the entire team up to date.
Who should use it:
Confluence is best for companies with virtual teams that need to collaborate on projects while fostering inclusion and positive company cultures.
Yes, for up to 5 users
INR 825 per user per month, billed annually
(minimum of three users)
Dropbox, Google Drive, SharePoint, QuickBooks, Microsoft Project and more
Yes, for up to 5 users
INR 825 per user per month, billed annually
(minimum of three users)
Dropbox, Google Drive, SharePoint, QuickBooks, Microsoft Project and more
Teamwork makes working with and managing client relationships seamless. Paid plans offer unlimited collaborators. This means service-oriented freelancers, consultants and agencies can work directly with clients within the interface to create a deliverable that uniquely meets client needs and expectations. While plans are a bit pricier than competitors’ plans, Teamwork offers a 30-day free trial for all tiers so you are sure of your choice before committing.
Teamwork’s free plan is limited and it is best to upgrade to offer the best client experience. Its first-tier paid Deliver plan starts at INR 825 per user per month (with a minimum of five users) while its Grow plan starts at INR 1480 per user per month (with a minimum of five users) when billed annually. Unlike competitor plans, the unlimited collaborators’ feature and 30-day free trial make these plans worth the price. And, if your project needs more hands for client satisfaction, you can hire freelancers to help without paying for extra seats.
In terms of client-facing features, paid plans offer team chat tools, a collaborative document editor, intake forms, client-access controls as well as the ability to track time spent on work and issue invoices. Clients can directly comment on project deliverables, task lists and milestones to ensure their needs are met throughout the project development process. This means more satisfied clients who are more likely to become repeat clients.
Who should use it:
Client-facing professional service providers and agencies will find Teamwork uniquely meets their needs.
This list was a result of careful evaluation of over 40 popular project management software that small businesses use. Some factors we considered when choosing inclusions for this “best of” list include:
We looked at each project management software using our own rubric that takes into account ten project management software factors we know are important to small businesses. Next, we give each software factor a score, then tally all the scores together to land a final star-rating score.
Project management software is a digital platform/tool that businesses or individuals use to plan projects, allocate and track project resources, schedule project timelines and tasks, assign tasks, track progress, capture and implement knowledge and ideas, and collaborate with team members for project completion. It further helps companies stay organized via document storage, search and organizational features.
Project management software has basic features that most projects need to be successful. However, extra or unique features make some software options better for certain teams or businesses than others. It’s important to do your research to understand what unique features might make your project more successful based on your team approach, type of business or type of project.
For example, most project management software have tools to plan, schedule, assign tasks around and report on project status and completion. Most include views such as Kanban or Gantt to track progress and dependencies.
Each also has extra or a unique set of features that make one a better fit for some teams than other options. For example, these may include social and collaboration tools, design tools, advanced analytics, databases, unique integrations, invoicing tools, time or habit tracking, customizable automation tools, publishing capabilities and knowledge bases.
Project management apps are used to manage the development and completion of a project from anywhere via the web and iOS and Android devices. Most of the time, a project management app is used in conjunction with the desktop version of the same project management software. This partnership simply allows for more flexibility around when and where team members can work on and stay up to date on the project.
Using your app, you can organize projects, create overviews and timelines for them, assign tasks or roles, manage resource allocation and track your project to completion. You can even invite a team to your project app so everyone can collaborate on it together. And, you can integrate other apps for added features that enable ease or success of project completion.
However, small screens often make project management apps a bit more tedious to use. For this reason, large or complex tasks are often easier to accomplish via the software’s desktop version while the Android or iOS version allows team members to complete small tasks while on the go, receive reminders around their tasks and roles, and track progress. Still, in a pinch, iOS and Android app access allows for any task completion anywhere and anytime.
To choose the right project management system, first, consider what monthly or yearly budget you have to spend. Many project management software options require you to pay by the user. So, count how many people will need to use the software, then calculate the per-person cost you can afford.
Next, make a list of the basic features you need to complete projects with your team. Also consider the level of tech experience your team has. For example, consider if your team needs drag-and-drop builders, pre-built templates and ample integration apps to choose from, or if it is tech-savvy enough to build its own apps using an API.
Based on your project and company, make a list of unique features you may need. For example, do you need your chosen software to integrate with Trello or Asana? Or, do you need a project management software that will also help you invoice clients or collaborate with external teams on documents?
Finally, research “best project management software” and make a list of software that meets your above-described criteria (or at least close to it). Test your list of software via free versions or free trials to decide which is best for your team. You can do so, for example, by inviting a sampling of your employees to try out the software and then provide feedback on which they would prefer and why.