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There are so many different project planning tools that making a shortlist of the best can be tricky. You want to have a central hub to create, visualize, and adjust project plans to ensure successful and timely project delivery - and need the right tool for your team. I've got you covered! In this post, I use my personal experience managing hundreds of projects and planning many different complex projects with large teams to share my picks of the best project planning software.

What is project planning software?

Project planning software is a digital tool that helps you effectively plan, organize, and manage a project from start to finish. It provides a centralized platform where you can input project tasks, set dependencies, allocate resources, and define milestones, creating a comprehensive plan that serves as a roadmap for the project's execution.

This software helps you set the stage for team members to understand how their work contributes to project success and enables clients to comprehend the project's risks and track progress.

Overviews Of The 10 Best Project Planning Software

Here’s a brief description of the project planning software on my list showing what it does best, plus screenshots to showcase some of the features.

Best software for planning project project workflows

  • 14-day free trial + free plan available
  • From $8/user/month (billed annually, min 3 seats)
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Rating: 4.7/5

monday.com is a colorful, user-friendly, jack-of-all-trades project planning tool for modern teams. You’ll be able to plan, track, and deliver projects using hundreds of visual and customizable templates that make data more digestible. View data as a map, calendar, timeline, or kanban. I also love the ability to automate repetitive administrative tasks, like creating new lead entries according to incoming emails.

monday.com costs from $6/user/month and comes with a free 14-day trial. They offer a free plan for up to 2 users.

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Very easy to invite others, share timelines, and assign tasks
  • Simple organization by dragging and dropping tasks
  • Excellent collaborative features

Cons:

  • No bottleneck identification or assistance
  • Automations are not fully customizable
  • Best features locked to Standard or Pro versions

Best for dynamic project management through custom workflows

  • 30-day free trial
  • From $35/user/month (billed annually)
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Rating: 4.4/5

QuickBase is a user-friendly platform that helps you plan and manage dynamic workflows and projects. You can use its no-code builder to craft customized applications tailored to your unique business needs. It's a flexible solution that provides various tools to support your project and resource management and workflow automation.

Even for complex workflows and projects, this tool is capable of helping your map them out and execute them effectively. Because of its code-free builder, it's easy to set up your workflows and get them up and running quickly. The builder can be used for designing workflows, applications, integrations, and automations, making it a versatile tool to contribute to your various work processes.

Paid plans start from $35 per user, per month, and a 30-day free trial is available.

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • User-friendly and quick to learn
  • Helpful and responsive customer support team
  • Highly customizable to suit various industries

Cons:

  • Limited offline access
  • Limited analytics capabilities

Best for planning multiple projects of varying complexity

  • Free trial available
  • From $5/user/month
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Rating: 4.2/5

Zoho Projects is a project planning and management solution that can support multiple projects of any scale or complexity. The platform has tools like Gantt charts, Kanban boards, portfolio dashboards, a built-in issue tracker, and a task automation system with blueprint functionality. The task automation with blueprint feature enables project managers and admins to map out their entire workflow, creating a visual flowchart representation.

Tasks and notifications can be automated, and approval criteria can be set for projects and tasks. The software also has collaboration tools like discussion boards, community forums, and real-time activity feeds. In addition to project planning , users can also benefit from in-depth reporting. The cloud-based software’s reporting tools allow project managers to generate detailed reports to keep track of various aspects of project performance and progress.

Pricing for Zoho Projects starts at $5 per user/month with a 10-day free trial included. A free plan is available for teams of no more than three users.

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Free plan is available for up to 2 projects and up to 3 users
  • Migration from other software providers is available
  • Robust feature suite for team members and project managers alike

Cons:

  • Employee scheduling functionality is limited
  • Large feature set can make for a steep learning curve

Best for multiple project views (lists, kanban boards, Gantt charts, etc)

  • 30-day free trial
  • From $13/user/month (min 5 seats) (billed annually)
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Rating: 4.4/5

ProjectManager is a cloud-based project planning software that runs on both Windows and Mac computers with no downloads or complex installation needed. Gantt chart tools help users and your team plan, schedule, and update your projects in real-time. You can plan simple workflows or full Agile sprints with powerful Kanban boards, Gantt charts, and task lists.

ProjectManagement costs from $15/user/month and offers a 30-day free trial.

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Good for costing and construction work monitoring
  • Easy to use project scheduling
  • Fits well into an Agile framework

Cons:

  • No way to track and update partially complete tasks
  • No way to sort Agile Boards by project, only by task
  • Most reports require a manual clean-up

Best for agile team planning

  • 14-day free trial
  • From $7/user/month
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Rating: 4.3/5

Hubstaff Tasks is a project management tool built to simplify project planning and team collaboration. With its Kanban interface, you can create multiple project stages, add tasks to them, and move tasks to different stages by dragging and dropping.

Aside from Kanban, the app has a Sprints feature that lets users organize their assigned tasks by the sprint in which they need to be done. Tasks can be moved to current or future sprints — or to the backlog for non-urgent to-dos.

Hubstaff Tasks includes a Roadmaps feature that allows you to view projects in Gantt chart form. Users can see all projects on a calendar, giving an overview of the team’s timeline.

The app also has daily stand-ups that your team can use to report progress updates and what they will be working on next. Project managers will receive a notification if team members report any task roadblocks.

Pricing for Hubstaff Tasks starts at $7 per user per month.

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Different project views allow for more accurate project planning
  • Built-in stand-ups feature for progress tracking
  • Task notifications help keep everyone on the same page

Cons:

  • Limited integrations
  • No reporting
  • No mobile app

Best project planning software for creative teams

  • Free plan available
  • Starts from $35/month
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Rating: 4.4/5

FunctionFox is a pretty great project planning tool, but it's an especially good fit for creative teams. It provides easy, visually intuitive project management tools like a simple online timesheet feature that helps you figure out if your billable and nonbillable hours on a project are within your estimates. You can also schedule project milestones, meetings, and actions—everything you'd need to plan out and then carry out projects.

FunctionFox costs from $5/user/month and offers a free demo.

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Unlimited number of clients and projects
  • Designed with the creative industry in mind
  • Easy, accessible automatic timer

Cons:

  • Has time tracking but no automated time capture
  • No Kanban board planning
  • Minimal format options for downloading reports

Best for its planning intelligence features

  • 14-day free trial
  • From $15/user/month (billed annually)
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Rating: 4.1/5

LiquidPlanner is a cloud-based project management software that enables users to plan, collaborate on, and deliver projects of all sizes. The software uses a unique 'liquid planning' approach that considers the complexities and uncertainties of real-world projects to create more accurate plans and predictions.

Its forecasting engine helps users predict how long a project will take. This engine considers all project tasks and their dependencies and uses statistical analysis to generate a range of possible completion dates. The forecast can be refined by adjusting the input parameters, such as the estimated effort for each task or the project's expected duration.

Liquid Planner offers integrated time-tracking, which can be used to generate reports, helping users optimize their workflow and productivity. The resource leveling feature automatically schedules and reschedules tasks based on each team member's availability and workload, and ensures that no team member is overburdened with work.

Finally, the data customization feature allows users to choose which data points to display and create custom fields to track additional information. A user can track the number of hours worked on a project or the amount of money spent on materials.

Liquid Planner makes their API documentation available for teams who want to build custom integrations with their current digital ecosystem.

Pricing starts at $15 per user monthly.

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Free plan available
  • Uses Monte Carlo simulations for forecasting
  • Custom rate sheets track billable time

Cons:

  • Unlimited tasks only available in its Ultimate plan

Best for enterprise teams from medium to large companies

  • Free trial available
  • From $24/user/month
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Rating: 4.1/5

Easy Projects is an award-winning enterprise and portfolio project management platform. It is well suited for medium to large enterprise companies that require a highly scalable and configurable solution yet easy to adopt.

The software is built to plan and deliver on projects that have varying complexity levels, anywhere from simple tasks to more in-depth projects that involve multiple departments. With this in mind, Easy Projects promotes real-time collaboration between executives, project managers, stakeholders, and all other team members.

Their advanced reporting and business intelligence features help project managers and executives present and analyze large amounts of data in beautifully designed interactive reports and dashboards. In addition, resource loading reports provide a quick and easy way to visualize current and expected resource use, so bottlenecks can be avoided. Advanced capabilities include enterprise-grade security, flexible deployment options, and machine learning project forecasting.

Easy Projects integrates with over 2,000 business apps, including MS Outlook, Jira, Salesforce, Hubspot, and Adobe Creative Cloud.

Easy Projects offers pricing details upon request and a free 14-day trial.

Best for cross-functional project planning

  • 30-day free trial
  • From $8.50/user/month

Height is a project planning software that provides a user-friendly platform for managing projects, tracking progress, and collaborating with team members. It offers an intuitive and responsive interface that allows users to create and manage unlimited projects, tasks, and subtasks.

Height is ideal for companies that handle multiple projects and need an organized way to track work progress. Users can also generate visual reports that showcase team performance, task completion rates, and an overview of all projects, giving essential insights that help decision-making. And pre-built project templates provide users with ready-to-use project outlines, eliminating the need for manual task creation. 

You can create SMART goals using the intuitive goal-setting feature. The software enables teams to set dependencies between tasks to complete each step correctly. Team members can communicate about project updates and discuss assignments in real time. This feature promotes team communication transparency and eliminates communication silos between organizational functions.

Height starts at $8.50/user/month and offers a 30-day free trial and a free plan with unlimited users.

Best project planning software for small teams or small businesses

  • Freemium plan available
  • From $7/user/month
Visit Website
Rating: 4.7/5

ClickUp is a flexible project planning tool that can accommodate small or large teams who need to-do lists, project management, docs and wikis, spreadsheets, email and chat, events, reminders, goal tracking, time tracking, screenshots and recording features, and resource management. Plus, if you are switching from another PM tool, ClickUp can easily import data from other productivity apps.

ClickUp costs from $6.64/user/month with a freemium plan for simple tasks.

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Easy to switch between unrelated project plans
  • Huge number of customization options
  • Impressive organization: create folders, sub-groups, and sub-tasks

Cons:

  • Steep learning curve due to number of features
  • Tricky to email with attachments, files sometimes unopenable
  • More third-party integrations welcomed

Best Project Planning Software Comparison Chart

Here is a table where you can compare the tools we just reviewed in the overviews.

Tools Price
monday.com From $8/user/month (billed annually, min 3 seats)
QuickBase From $35/user/month (billed annually)
Zoho Projects From $5/user/month
ProjectManager.com From $13/user/month (min 5 seats) (billed annually)
Hubstaff From $7/user/month
FunctionFox Starts from $35/month
LiquidPlanner From $15/user/month (billed annually)
Easy Projects From $24/user/month
Height From $8.50/user/month
ClickUp From $7/user/month
Preview Image - 
<h2  class="c-block__title b-summary-table__title c-listicle__title h3" >
	Compare Software Specs Side by Side</h2>

Compare Software Specs Side by Side

Use our comparison chart to review and evaluate software specs side-by-side.

Compare Software

Other Project Planning Software Options

Here are descriptions of a few other tools to try out:

  1. Smartsheet

    Best project template gallery

  2. Hive

    Best online project planning tool for 3rd party integrations

  3. Wrike

    Best project planning software for agencies

  4. ClickTime

    Best for time tracking & project management

  5. Celoxis

    Best for enterprise project planning

  6. Kantata

    Best for contextual collaboration

  7. Birdview

    Best for planning projects, resources, and finances in one system

  8. Office Timeline

    Best for PowerPoint timeline visuals

  9. Hub Planner

    Best project planning software with built-in budget and resource allocation features

  10. Runn

    Best software for analyzing project profitability

  11. Planview Clarizen

    Best project planning for marketers

  12. ProWorkflow

    Best planning tool mobile app for most touchscreen-based devices

  13. Trello

    Best for task collaboration

  14. Sciforma

    Best for Waterfall and Critical Chain methodologies

  15. Scoro

    Best for building and construction management

  16. Teamwork.com

    Best for project templates

  17. Forecast

    Best for AI work automation

  18. Basecamp

    Best for software development planning

  19. OpenProject

    Best open source project planning software

  20. Asana

    Best simple to use project planning

  21. EasyProjects

    Best for web design planning

  22. TeamGantt

    Best free Gantt chart software

  23. Workzone

    Best for personal to-do lists and automatic reminder emails

  24. KeyedIn

    Best for project portfolio planning

Free Project Planning Software

  1. Nutcache – Pretty generous free plan: free forever for max 20 users (includes unlimited projects, time tracking, some integrations, and more)
  2. Runn – Free for up to 5 users with unlimited projects
  3. TeamGantt – Free forever for up to 3 users and 1 project
  4. Wrike – Free for up to 5 users
  5. Monday.com – Free for up to 5 users
  6. ClickUp – Free for unlimited users with some storage and feature restrictions
  7. Asana – Free for up to 15 users

How I Picked The Best Project Planning Software

Selecting the top software for this review was a process that resembled a funnel. First, I selected all the popular project planning tools I could find based on user reviews and ratings. Then, I narrowed down the list based on my experience in project management and the features that I believe are key to have. Finally, I selected the top 10 and defined the criteria below to help with my evaluation. Here’s a summary of my evaluation criteria:

User Interface (UI)

Project management software needs to organize all data quickly, efficiently, and cleanly. It’s easier to get teams and clients on board when your tools make it visually clear what needs to happen when.

Usability

Does the project planning software offer tutorials, training, whitepapers, forums, and customer service to help users? Does it work with iOS and Android for planning on-the-go? How does it support remote teams or hybrid teams? Can you create accounts for your entire team and set up user permissions as needed?

Integrations

You’ll find with project planning software that you might need two or more tools to do everything you need to do. Does each planning tool connect to everything else in your tool kit, such as task management software, CRMs, and invoicing software? Does the project software plug into common project-oriented software like Excel, Google Drive, Jira, Microsoft Project, Zapier, messaging apps (like Slack), Dropbox, and so forth?

Pricing

How appropriate is the price for the features, capabilities, and use case? Is pricing clear, transparent, and flexible? I place priority on tools that have simple scalability options to add additional features, users, or storage space. Most tools charge depending on the number of users or according to which features you require.

What key features do I look for in project planning software?

  1. Planning and scheduling charts and templates
  2. Task dependencies
  3. Project timelines, calendar views, and roadmaps
  4. Team collaboration features and communication features (chat, comments, etc)
  5. Task management and work management features, such as checklists and to-do lists or a timeline view
  6. Documentation for planned workflow processes
  7. Track progress through real-time reporting and analysis of KPIs
  8. Project budget planning and tracking
  9. Portfolio management and tracking overall portfolio health
project planning software logos list

What's Next?

The best project management software and all the advanced features in the world will not be enough if you cannot create a project plan. In our 10-step guide to a project plan, you can quickly learn about this phase’s deliverables, how to work with agile methodologies like Scrum, and access a template that is perfect for small teams in startups or other small businesses.

And speaking of phases, you should read about the project life cycle. This article tells gives you a quick rundown of each phase and the docs related to them.

Related Tool Lists:

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By Ben Aston

I’m Ben Aston, a digital project manager and founder of thedpm.com. I've been in the industry for more than 20 years working in the UK at London’s top digital agencies including Dare, Wunderman, Lowe and DDB. I’ve delivered everything from film to CMS', games to advertising and eCRM to eCommerce sites. I’ve been fortunate enough to work across a wide range of great clients; automotive brands including Land Rover, Volkswagen and Honda; Utility brands including BT, British Gas and Exxon, FMCG brands such as Unilever, and consumer electronics brands including Sony. I'm a Certified Scrum Master, PRINCE2 Practitioner and productivity nut!