Best Project Planning Tools in 2024
Pick the right project planning software for your team.
What is the best project planning tool? The short answer is "it depends".
When it comes to project planning tools, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. There are many options available, and the best one for you will depend on various factors, such as the size of your team, your industry, and your company culture. It's important to familiarize yourself with your options and evaluate them based on your specific needs.
In this article, we will be examining some of the best project planning tools that are currently available, from simple and lightweight solutions to more robust and feature-rich options.
What to look for in project planning software
A project planning tool is a software application or an online platform that helps project managers and teams plan, organize, and manage tasks, resources, and timelines for a project. These tools typically include the same core features such as task assignment, scheduling, and progress monitoring. Project planning software is also often referred to as project management software.
When choosing a project planning tool, it is important to consider the size of your team, your project management workflows and processes, and the types of projects you usually manage. Different tools may be better suited to different types of processes. For example, if you use Agile methodologies, a tool that supports Scrum and Kanban workflows may be more appropriate than one that is designed for the Waterfall methodology.
Another important consideration when choosing a project planning tool is how user-friendly it is. It can have a major impact on how quickly and effectively your team can work together and get things done.
A tool that is difficult to use or navigate can lead to confusion and frustration among team members, which can ultimately slow down the project and decrease productivity. On the other hand, a user-friendly interface, clear navigation, and intuitive controls can make it easier for team members to quickly understand how to use the tool and access the information they need.
A good project planning tool should also be easy to set up and customize, so that you can tailor it to your specific needs and workflows.
Finally, it's important to choose a project planning tool that integrates with the other apps you're using.
Best project planning tools
Selecting the right project planning software for your team can be a daunting task, as there are a plethora of options available, each with its own set of features and capabilities. Some software may be more basic and suitable for small teams, while other solutions may be more complex and tailored for large enterprises. Some may be specialized project planning tools, while others may cover a wide range of additional use cases.
To help you in your search, we have compiled a list of the best tools for project planning based on real reviews from users.
This list can serve as a starting point in your research and can help you narrow down your options. But remember, the final decision should be based on a thorough evaluation of your team's specific needs and requirements.
1. Nuclino
Pricing: Free, advanced features starting from $5/user/month
Rating on Capterra: 4.8/5
Nuclino is a modern and versatile project planning tool that stands out for its lightweight design and intuitive interface. This makes it easy for teams to get started with the tool and quickly bring everyone on board.
Despite its simplicity, Nuclino offers an array of powerful project planning features. You can organize your projects in many different ways, including a Kanban board, a nested list, a table, or a mindmap-style graph, depending on the view that best fits your project planning workflow. Additional project details, such as due dates, assignees, priority, and more can be tracked using custom fields.
One of the distinctive features of Nuclino is how it combines structured project planning and long-form project documentation. Every card on your board is its own collaborative document.
This allows teams to always keep their work in context by documenting the goals and decisions for every project, creating to-do lists with due dates and reminders, embedding files, and more. Feedback can be exchanged directly within Nuclino using comments and mentions.
While Nuclino excels as a project planning tool, it can also be used for a variety of other purposes such as onboarding new employees, taking meeting minutes, creating employee handbooks, building an internal wiki or company intranet, and more. Nuclino's balance of simplicity and versatility is what sets it apart from other project planning software, making it a great choice for teams looking for a unified, comprehensive solution.
What users say about Nuclino:
"Nuclino has a very intuitive user interface. It is easy to introduce new partners to the group. We have seen a massive increase in our productivity since moving to Nuclino. Managing over 50 individual project members, and just as many individual tasks, has been made easy thanks to this application."
2. Trello
Pricing: Free, advanced features starting from $10/user/month
Rating on Capterra: 4.5/5
Trello has stood the test of time and remains one of the most widely used online project planning tools. It was one of the pioneers of the Kanban workflow and continues to be a top choice for many.
Trello's simplicity is a key factor in its popularity. While it may not have as many features as other options, its user-friendly interface and ease of use make it accessible to anyone, even those without technical expertise. It's also a tool that is fully optimized for managing and planning projects, without trying to do too many things at once.
Looking for more tools similar to Trello? Check out this list of Trello alternatives.
What users say about Trello:
"Trello is our go-to tool for planning and executing projects. We use it to plan and execute projects across multiple teams and functions and it works very well - everyone knows how to use it, everyone follows the boards, works great. We use Asana for my team and Trello for cross-company project planning."
3. Jira
Pricing: Free, advanced features starting from $7.50/user/month
Rating on Capterra: 4.4/5
If your team needs to plan more complex projects, Trello may not be sufficient to meet your requirements. In this case, Jira could be a better option. Both of these project planning tools are owned by Atlassian, however, they are built with distinct workflows in mind.
Jira is one of the most popular Agile project planning tools and has an array of specialized features that aren't found in many other solutions, such as burndown charts, sprint reports, velocity graphs, etc.
The feature set of Jira exceeds that of most of its competitors, though it can be complex and difficult to adopt. It's a great fit for large and experienced developer teams, but others may find the learning curve to be steep. Take the time to fully evaluate Jira with your team before making a decision.
Looking for more tools similar to Jira? Check out this list of Jira alternatives.
What users say about Jira:
"The overall experience has been HIGHLY positive. Jira is the go-to software for project planning and coupled with Jira Service Desk and Confluence (which we use at the moment), it is a very truly powerful piece of software. I have tried other ones, but always came back to Jira."
4. Asana
Pricing: Free, advanced features starting from $10.99/user/month
Rating on Capterra: 4.5/5
Asana boasts a sleek and user-friendly interface, while still offering nearly the same level of flexibility as some of the most powerful project planning software, such as Jira. It is a versatile project planning tool that is suitable for teams and projects of all sizes.
Advanced visualization options, automation of tasks, workload tracking, and work requests are among the standout features of Asana.
Note that Asana is more expensive than other project planning tools on this list, and may not be a financially feasible option for some organizations. Nonetheless, many teams find that it's more than worth the investment.
Looking for more tools similar to Asana? Check out this list of Asana alternatives.
What users say about Asana:
"Asana is an impressive collaboration tool that helps our project teams stay on top of tasks. It helps break down complex projects into simpler tasks with multiple steps and assigns each task to a team member. The timeline view helps us with project planning, and really simplifies tracking progress. It has great integration options with other business tools, like Dropbox and Slack."
5. nTask
Pricing: Free, advanced features starting from $4/user/month
Rating on Capterra: 4.2/5
nTask is a robust project planning tool that enables you to create comprehensive project timelines and delegate tasks to team members. This software allows you to establish deadlines, assign roles and responsibilities, monitor progress, and organize files all in one convenient location. In addition, you can set up notifications to keep track of any modifications made in real time and collaborate seamlessly with your team.
The software is easy to use, with a modern UI and drag-and-drop functionality. With the free plan, you get access to 5 users and some powerful features.
What users say about nTask:
"It's really a hidden jewel because you can take advantage of most of the features for free, and it offers many of the same functions as larger and much more expensive project management tools."
6. Basecamp
Pricing: $15/user/month or $299/month for unlimited users
Rating on Capterra: 4.3/5
Basecamp offers a comprehensive set of tools to help teams stay organized and productive. Dubbed an "all-in-one toolkit" for working remotely, it brings together a variety of features, such as to-do lists, calendars, instant messaging, document management, and file storage, all in one easy-to-use platform.
While it may not have some of the more advanced features that other project planning tools offer, such as Gantt charts, it takes a simpler approach to planning projects, which is what many users find so refreshing about Basecamp. Rather than trying to overengineer your workflow, it focuses on providing a streamlined and intuitive user experience.
It's also worth noting that Basecamp is one of the rare tools that offer a flat monthly fee as an alternative option to paying per user. This makes it a much more scalable option for large and growing teams, allowing them to add more users without worrying about the cost increasing exponentially.
Looking for more tools similar to Basecamp? Check out this list of Basecamp competitors.
What users say about Basecamp:
"Basecamp is a great program for project management as it allows you to easily connect with other people on your team and your clients while working on specific facets of a larger project. Great for planning long-term projects and making sure that everyone is on the same page. I love that it notifies the whole team that is tagged on a certain project whenever anything is updated. I also love the chat feature as well as the automatic check-in option to make sure everyone is meeting their deadlines!"
7. Wrike
Pricing: Free, advanced features starting from $9.80/user/month
Rating on Capterra: 4.3/5
Wrike is a robust project planning solution that is ideal for large corporations and enterprises. Its interface is jam-packed with features, menus, and dashboards, all of which can be customized to suit your team's workflows.
Wrike offers advanced analytics, time-tracking, work requests, task dependencies, and more, making it one of the most powerful tools on the market. However, this level of functionality comes with a steep learning curve. The platform may not be as user-friendly for beginners, so it's important to allocate time to training your team.
Looking for more tools similar to Wrike? Check out this list of Wrike alternatives.
What users say about Wrike:
"We're a small team of about 15 employees and were originally hesitant to bring on a project management software since email seemed to be working alright for our needs but after realizing things were getting lost in the shuffle, we decided to try Wrike out. I'm so glad we did. We've been using them for about three years and it's really helped us move forward in project planning and scoping. Right off the bat, Wrike held a training for our company."
8. Zoho Projects
Pricing: Free, advanced features starting from $5/user/month
Rating on Capterra: 4.2/5
Zoho Projects is an affordable project planning solution for small teams. It is included in the Zoho Suite. Although it may not have all the advanced features of other tools, it provides the necessary essentials such as tasks, milestones, Gantt charts, and time-tracking. It works seamlessly with other Zoho products such as Zoho CRM, and facilitates collaboration with clients and external parties.
The free version of Zoho Projects is quite restrictive, but the paid plans offer more features at a more reasonable cost compared to many other project planning tools.
What users say about Zoho Projects:
"Zoho Projects is a practical solution for small teams. It's an easy-to-use project planning suite, although it does not allow people to test it before committing to an upgrade. I like the ability to link to other Zoho solutions (CRM, etc.) and integrate information from various third parties."
9. Monday
Pricing: Starting from $8/user/month
Rating on Capterra: 4.6/5
Monday, previously known as Dapulse, is a powerful project planner. Its colorful interface, versatile visualization options, and advanced task automation features have earned it the trust of over 100,000 teams and individuals.
It's worth mentioning that Monday utilizes a tiered pricing system, unlike many other project planning software that charges per user. This could make Monday a more costly option for some, depending on the size of your team.
Looking for more tools similar to Monday? Check out this list of Monday alternatives.
What users say about Monday:
"Before, our team was working almost entirely through extremely long emails, but now we use Monday.com for everything, from project planning & management to internal team goal-setting and tracking to process documentation. Monday.com's customizability can be a blessing and a curse in that regard. You can pretty much always get to the view of what you want, but it may take a bit of time to figure it out."
10. MeisterTask
Pricing: Free, advanced features starting from $8.25/user/month
Rating on Capterra: 4.7/5
If you are in need of an intuitive Kanban board-style project planning tool, MeisterTask is a great option to consider. It offers a range of features for creating and managing tasks, projects, and workflows, as well as collaboration tools specifically designed for teams, such as task assignment, deadline management, and real-time updates.
The interface of MeisterTask is highly customizable, allowing users to create custom sections, labels, and task statuses. Additionally, it is possible to set up automation rules to simplify and streamline your workflows.
What users say about MeisterTask:
"MeisterTask is a great visual project planning tool. I was looking for a tool that could show high-level steps in projects, and give me the ability to share the plans. MeisterTask was just that. Simple, effective, and visually appealing."
11. Taiga
Pricing: Free, advanced features starting from $5/user/month
Rating on Capterra: 4.4/5
Taiga is an issue tracking and project planning tool that is tailored to the needs of Agile software development teams. This open-source tool is offered as both a cloud-based and self-hosted solution. If you're looking for a free project planning tool, self-hosting Taiga can be a good option.
Taiga comes with a variety of specialized functionalities, including customizable Kanban boards, WIP limits, performance dashboards, and burndown charts. And despite its wealth of features, Taiga maintains a fairly simple interface. While it may be challenging for some non-technical users to navigate, developers are likely to find it easy to use.
What users say about Taiga:
"Taiga is a great planning tool and a replacement for Trello. Much easier to use than Atlassian. Useful kanban board."
Other great project planning tools
Other noteworthy tools for project planning include Ora, Linear, Teamwork, Paymo, and many more. The market for these tools is vast and competitive, making it challenging to rank them objectively.
Ultimately, the most effective way to assess if a project planning tool is a good fit for your team is to try it out for yourself.
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