Without proper planning, one cannot even finish their New Year resolutions. SO there is no way the industries can execute giant projects without thorough planning.
Be it a two-man army, or a multinational company, planning a project manually is not only complex but also a hectic and often confusing decision. That is why project planning software is on a craze these days. From planning and scheduling a project to allocate resources, updating team members, and gathering valuable insights to make a report, a project management tool is your all-in-one guide to execute a project fully.
This software can manage all your resources, tasks, budgets, allocate and schedule tasks, and plan and help execute them smoothly. The project management software can even track the tasks with the details, manage marketing, and CRM for you. It makes collaboration easy and utilizes resources of different backgrounds and spaces so the overall quality and standard of the project can increase.
These tools can automate your manual and repetitive tasks and alert the team members. It also manages time tables, provides boards, task lists, charts, etc to simplify your planning. It helps you do all the additional work so you can concentrate on the important part and increase your productivity.
For your convenience, here is a project planning software list from us where we have discussed all the features and benefits of the products. Please take a look…
1. monday.com
monday.com takes the complexities out of planning projects, irrespective of the size and nature of your projects. Considered one of the leading project planning software, it consists of easy-to-use tools for strategizing and implementing your plans. You can manage all your projects from one dashboard. And assign and manage different tasks of different projects with a few clicks. To make the planning more seamless, it also incorporates real-time collaboration tools for all the involved parties.
› Features
• It offers easy-to-understand & easy-to-use project planning tools.
• It offers real-time collaboration tools, making it simpler to develop strategies with your team, regardless of the geographical location.
• It allows you to handle the planning & execution of multiple projects from its single custom dashboard.
• It includes effective tracking functions.
› Benefits
• It keeps everyone aligned on the initial project plans & goals at every stage of the project.
• It improves internal & external communication between diverse stakeholders.
• It empowers you to identify bottlenecks & risks earlier, which, in turn, facilitates timely changes to plans.
• It helps manage projects in their entire lifecycle, eliminating the need to use different tools.
› Price
monday.com project planning software is available in multiple pricing plans. Select the one that suits your business size and requirements. Here is the list:
• Individual Projects - free forever (up to 2 seats)
• Basic Projects - $9 per seat per month
• Standard Projects - $12 per seat per month
• Pro Projects - $20 per seat per month
• Enterprise Projects - custom pricing
2. ProjectManager.com
Even for a complete beginner, the ProjectManager.com is easy to use, and implement. Its simple interface and swift starting help you plan the project smoothly and accurately. It has the simplest planning structure that lets you make a quick decision of what plan you need to avail for your organization. Also, the vast range of tools it uses and the number of methodologies it supports make it ideal for any type of project. You can effectively plan long and short projects and with no extra hassle. Renowned companies like Volvo and NASA use these project planning tools for their businesses every day.
› Features
• Schedule tasks for the team members
• Organizing all the activities
• Create interactive project planning with Kanban boards, task lists, and Gantt charts.
• Track project progress
• Assign resources
• You can collaborate easily with this software
› Benefits
• You can manage projects from IT firms, construction units, marketing plans, professional services, etc.
• You can manage projects of the traditional methodology like Waterfall to modern methods like Agile.
• Add or import new tasks easily so you can make changes in your plans anytime.
• Set the due date to remind the employees
• Shade the charts with different colors so it is easy to locate a task and know its status.
• You can track budget, schedule, and resources from one place
• You can easily adjust the workload of the employees so neither of them gets exhausted.
› Price
You can create the basic project planning with up to 5 members by the Personal plan at $15 per month. The Team plan will cost you $20, and it supports up to 10 people. The most popular Business plan supports 15 people at $25 per month. You can also get unlimited storage plans in this case. You can get a 30 day free trial for all these plans. All prices are for only one user.
3. Microsoft Project
It is one of the most simple, yet powerful project management software and tools to create better projects for your company. The useful analytics and AI-based tools can be your best partner in your project, as you can stay focused and organized throughout the project lifecycle. You can start working on the app without having much prior knowledge of it. With the low starting price, this project management software is a must-try for all organizations.
› Features
• Microsoft Project planning software is easy to start and use
• You can choose from a wide range of tools and methodologies.
• You can manage even the most complex projects here too
•You can leverage the Microsoft teams app to communicate with your team members and present your ideas
•No matter where you are on the earth, you can easily collaborate with the works
• With the help of this dynamic scheduling, you can stay on track with the project.
• You can review the analytics and improve your scope and expectation from the projects.
› Benefits
• Innovation is easier when you have a simple but elaborate platform like this
• This platform is secure- so no one can hack your data
• You can access the documents and important data from anywhere in the world
•As a cloud-based platform, it lowers your upfront cost to a great extent
• The real-time conversation feature boosts the speed and transparency of communication
• The productivity of the whole team will increase through thorough planning and immediate decisions
• The decisions will be more data-driven and based on research and analytics, so your probability of success will increase a lot.
› Price
Microsoft Project has three project plans. Project plan 1 costs you $10 per month per user. Project plan 3 is for $30per user per month, and you can avail of project plan five at $55 monthly for a user.
4. Wrike
Wrike has the top-class organizations as their subscriber list like Google, Dell, Airbnb, Siemens, etc. Its streamlined intake process makes it a great choice even during the lockdown period when most employees work from home. With the benefit of same page optimization, you can create the best campaigns here and ditch the old spreadsheets and other free project management software. Simply put, you can uncover the true potential of the workers through Wrike.
› Features
• It provides two-way sync with Github and Jira
• The Wrike lock lets you manage your important data and privacy with utmost satisfaction
• Wrike Analyze feature provides in-depth data to prosper in your business
• Wrike publish connects it with digital asset management so people can make better choices with the increased impact and more time at hand
• Wrike proof centralizes and streamlines digital asset review faster
• Wrike integrate connects 400+ apps with all the features and different categories
• And lastly, Wrike resource optimizes resource management so the company can have the maximum benefit of the available resource.
› Benefits
• With transparency and 360 degrees of visibility, it can transform the work culture of your organization
• Wrike can automate your works dedicatedly, so you do not have to spend time on repetitive tasks
• Collaboration becomes simple with the use of this tool, as it builds a bridge among the members irrespective of where they are
• Real-time notification, live editing, and other features speed up your working process and create dynamic reports for you
• The prediction of roadblocks and obstacles let you plan accordingly and avoid the consequences
• With the help of top-notch security, it can make you feel at ease and work without any additional headache
• You can unlock numerous possibilities by integrating all the current software and tools.
› Price
The free version gives you 2 GB of cloud storage data. The professional plan will cost you $9.80 monthly for each user, and a team of 5 to 15 people can opt for this. The most popular business model can accommodate 5-200 people with $24.80 per user per month. These also have a free trial for your convenience. For the enterprise model, you have to contact the vendor.
5. Asana
Asana might be the most popular collaboration project management software in the list that most freelancers and solopreneurs recommend. Even global organizations like Deloitte, NASA, The New York Times are frequent users of this tool. Building project plans, setting goals, and achieving them become simple with Asana, with all its modern technology and features. It gives you a more organized approach to your professional life as a whole.
› Features
• It gives you unlimited tasks, projects, activity logs, file storage, board views, and time tracking.
• You can avail of features like dashboards, custom fields, advanced searches, portfolio, and goals.
• It supports unlimited free guests, admin console, priority support, Google SSO, SAML, etc.
• You can set strategic goals so the team can achieve them with proper planning
• Using the forms feature, you can submit and manage all the requests in one place
• The Gantt chart facility lets you build a timeline with a few clicks so you can visualize your whole project cycle and assign tasks accordingly.
• The automation technology reduces errors, speeds up processes, and streamlines data.
› Benefits
• It gives you a real-time view of all the parameters of your current projects
• You can check the status of the whole portfolio with a glance
• Monitoring the progress of the project is a lot easier
• You can check the workload on each employee and distribute the works equally
• You can set the timeline- so the steps and engagement throughout the timetable becomes clear
• You can break up a task into subtasks and track the progress with the Asana
• Add start date and due date of all the activities to plan and keep you motivated
• You can also set milestones and track them. So you can know when you are reaching a critical point in your project.
› Price
Asana offers a free version for all the people and businesses that are just getting started with the project organization. The premium plan costs you $10.99 per month per user while billed yearly and $13.99 when billed monthly. The Business plan will cost you $24.99 per month for a user when you pay once a year. And $30.49 when you pay every month. Both versions have a free trial, so you can check if the plan is suitable for you. There is also an enterprise version for our specific needs, you have to visit the website to know its pricing for your own needs.
6. TeamGantt
TeamGantt gives you the necessary tools to build a complete project plan from scratch and helps you throughout the journey to complete the project meeting all the scopes and expectations. You can make better estimates with the help of AI technology, so you can give your clients better services and focus on quality output. Many international top companies like- Amazon, Nike, Google, and Netflix use TeamGantt to manage their portfolio.
› Features
• This free project planning software can forecast workload
• It can estimate resources on an hourly basis
•You can set dependencies and filtering
• You can also get access to Gantt charts that gives your project a visual approach
•The custom project templates let you plan on the go
• You can forecast workloads and export PDFs
• You can also track the resources and the project history with this app
› Benefits
• It can give you daily reminders of the crucial tasks
• The team can update their progress quickly
• It lets you share projects with the team members
• You can chat about the activities and send attachments to your peers and co-workers.
•You can manage the time tracking by manual entry and setting starting and ending times
• It helps you create timely reports too
• You can also get phone and email support for all your problems.
› Price
The free plan of TeamGantt can accommodate three users. If billed yearly, the standard plan will cost you $19.90 with a team of 50 people. And the advanced offer will be for $24.45 per user per month if billed yearly. Yearly billing gives you a 20% discount over the pricing, while the premium versions give you a 30 days free trial. If your team has more than 50 people, contact the website authority for your detailed pricing.
7. ClickUp
ClickUp helps you organize your projects with a few clicks, so you can concentrate your focus on the determinant steps and increase your productivity manifold. ClickUp also attracts so many high-ticket clients like Airbnb, Google, Uber, Nike, etc. The project manager has awarded it with the title of Leader of Spring 2020. With its high security and on-demand support, it has arguably one of the most preferable project management software for teams on the list.
› Features
• It lets you organize projects at a glance
• Collaborate effectively with your team with ClickUp
• Track your progress and determine how far you are from your goal soon.
• You get a variety of resources like Gantt, board, calendar, list, and box.
• It lets you chat and share documents in real-time and notify you about all the critical checkpoints
• With its accurate analytics, you can plan faster yet smarter
• The dashboard feature lets you manage and check the project status at a glance.
› Benefits
• You can execute your ideas and plans faster with this actionable approach that ClickUp offers
• The CRM technology handles your marketing part for you
• The task management part breaks down all your tasks into small chunks and help you complete them
• It specializes in modern methodologies like Agile and Kanban
• You can have team members working anywhere around the globe, but still, they can stay connected to you and the project.
• It helps you iterate all your existing project planning tools in one place for better simplicity.
› Price
The free version can accommodate unlimited members, but you can only access 100MB of online storage. The unlimited plan, however, gives you access to unlimited storage, dashboards, integrations, and guests. It comes with only $5 per month per user if billed annually. You can also get a free trial for the paid plan.
8. LiquidPlanner
LiquidPlanner is the most compatible strategic project management software in the market. You can manage hundreds of projects, track all their impact on the audience, and find out a better solution from that. You can estimate ranges and assign task-level priorities, and automate resource-leveling too. It has an effective support system for the users, and you can also request a demo of their services.
› Features
• It has the integration features of Google Drive, Dropbox, and Box
• It lets you access internal dashboards and analytics
• IOS and android app versions are also available there
• It gives you phone and email support
• You can have unlimited active tasks too.
• You can allow guests up to 50 people at a time
• It also comes with massive document storage
› Benefits
• You can track expenses and single sign-on here too
• You can have up to 50 custom fields
• It lets you accommodate unlimited clients at a time
• You can manage unlimited numbers of active tasks and external dashboards
• You can opt for any plan with only five users minimum
• You can have phone and email support and API access too.
› Price
The free trial for 14 days lets you have access to the professional plan with all its benefits. The professional offer lets you manage multiple projects with $45 per month for a user. The enterprise plan is suitable for large companies.
9. Freedcamp
Freedcamp refers to itself as the first truly intelligent project management software. Freedcamp has tons of prominent users worldwide like Google, Apple, Paypal, Deloitte, and Gettyimages. It can give you the most flexible experience as a work and project management software.
› Features
• It supports Kanban boards where you can drag our tasks in a modern way to a specific list
• It helps you divide the project into manageable tasks
• The team members further divide these tasks and activities into the subtasks
• You can also have your tasks as private
• Use the Gantt chart to have a visual representation of your project status.
• It also contains discussion threads, so you do not have to wait for the slow email communication.
› Benefits
• You can create events, tasks, and more divisions with the calendar feature
• You can also track the milestone with the Freedcamp app
• Track time on every part of your project
• The issue tracker can give you a dynamic approach to level up your project managing
• With the help of android and IOS apps, you can collaborate easily
• The password system secures all your data
• Its in-built CRM feature manages your client relationship too
• It generates invoices and billing so you can focus on the creative tasks
• The number of project templates available is sufficient to tackle any project quickly.
› Price
Apart from the free plan, the minimalist pricing plan costs you $1.49 per user per month when you pay annually. The business plan is for $7.49 monthly for a user when paid yearly and $8.99 when you pay monthly. The enterprise version is for $16.99 for a user per month when you pay once a year. The paid plans also come with 14 days of a free trial.
10. Kantata, formerly Mavenlink
Kantata is your first choice when you are going for a faster and accurate project scheduling and planning software. The G2 awarded it time and again as the leader of project management, project portfolio management, work management, resource management, and professional services automation of 2020. Comparably, Digital project manager, Gainsights, and other companies have also chosen Kantata as the best in a few categories.
› Features
• It shows project-related data in real-time and also helps you forecasting the future tendencies and obstacles easily
• Using the resource management feature, you can assign tasks, due dates and send other necessary details too
• It assists you in creating a rough sketch of the hard and soft resource allocation for future reference
• You can assign tasks with due dates
• The respective members can also send documents and attach links so you can track the actual progression of works
• It lets you manage your schedule by a list view or a timeline-wise view
› Benefits
• The Gantt chart lets you visualize the projects with the current status
• You can do a critical path analysis to find out which task takes up most of the time
• You can also set various dependencies of the tasks and link them accordingly
• It also lets you manage the change requests from a single platform
• You can share files and access permissions with top-notch security
• The mobile apps also make the project planning more accessible to you from literally anywhere.
› Price
The most basic plan is free in Kantata. If you want to opt for professional and premium plans, you can have a free trial period. You just have to request the company for a demo. We recommend you get a personal tour that will help you to understand which subscription will be the best for you.
11. Paymo
Paymo is the one platform that can transform your computer into your office. It can single-handedly create schedules, manage tasks, track work time, and generate invoices for your client base.
› Features
• You can integrate all your tools and software here
• You can plan and schedule a project
• You can also track the progress of the project
• You can work from anywhere and get team members from anywhere in the world
• Due to its cloud-based nature, you can have workers from all over the world to work on your project.
• You can customize so many options and collaborate with others
• The time management feature lets you have track of the due dates you are having soon.
› Benefits
• You can plan a budget by the financial management feature
• The resource management feature optimizes the usage of resources for you
• It can generate invoices and make custom reports based on the data
• The mobile apps make the project plans far more accessible
• The integrations feature lets you manage all your project planning from one platform
• The file management facility lets you manage all the necessary documents properly and organize them.
› Price
Paymo comes with two price models. The small office is for growing departments and teams, which comes with $9.95 per user per month. And the business version is for $15.70 monthly for a user. You can get a free trial for both versions.
Conclusion
After getting to know about so many project management tools, you must be wondering how to choose project planning software. Here is a tip- start studying the features of each product. Then create a list of benefits you need from the project. Then tally it with the software and make sure that the subscription cost suits your budget. Also, look out for other people’s suggestions and reviews on the internet. These tools are sure to change how you manage your projects forever.