Whether you have a large or a small team, managing projects across them may be a tough call. Here’s where Asana comes in handy. Asana is a cloud-based task management software that lets teams collaborate, coordinate, plan, and execute tasks. It saves your teams from email chaos and unnecessary meetings plus helps them meet deadlines effectively.
Project management tools essentially act as a one-s[ace solution where you can track the work of different employees and departments. With the online work culture ongoing, project management tools can lock in work hours, track goals, and are overall, a very handy add-on to an effective workplace.
Using Asana, project management gets clutter-free as the task is broken down into small manageable pieces and each team is assigned a particular goal. The teams can share resources or important documents. The tool even keeps the track of the progress in the project.
Besides all the pros, there are certain loopholes too in the tool. Asana doesn’t let you see the details of due tasks for multiple projects. With this tool, assigning a task to multiple people becomes a bit complex. Since it’s text-based software, it is prone to content modifications and constant changes.
It doesn’t provide you with a time tracking feature and is not so budget-friendly. On the contrary, there are several other low-priced and feature-enriched tools.
So, let’s have a look at some of the best Asana alternatives for team, task, and project management.
1. Teamly
Teamly is a remote project management software that has a zero learning curve so you can start working with your team with no frustration.
One of the big problems your remote team might encounter is explaining tasks, projects or problems. Teamly tackles that issue with screen recordings.
And you can truly do a lot with that video: you can record it with audio, add notes to the screenshot and send it as a link or a file. Your team will feel as if they are in the same room.
Teamly also lets you give access to as many users as you like, including clients and external partners, for full transparency.
It uses two-factor authentication and it backups data regularly, so you can trust you’re in safe hands. It even employs a host of technical, physical and system safeguards to ensure the integrity and privacy of your data.
Moreover, Teamly has robust learning resources, from a Facebook group to a free e-book to keep you always up-to-date.
What’s great about Teamly is it has a very complete 100% free plan, you don’t need to put in your credit card. Its two premium plans are flexible, helping you save money and pay only for what you actually need.
Features
- Create unlimited customized workflows.
- Kanban Boards.
- Screen recording and editing.
- Real-time chat.
- Pre-made templates.
- Time tracking and payroll reporting.
- Set hourly rates.
- Custom SOP doc creation.
2. Teamwork
Teamwork is one of the most simple to use and powerful project management tools available. From the planning of the project to monitoring and delivering it, Teamwork has features to cater to all that’s needed.
You can create and assign tasks with due dates and priority levels to the teams. The due dates can be set automatically or manually as per the project template. The given priority levels help individuals organize their work accordingly. With the use of to-do lists, the individuals can focus on their list of tasks.
Here, users can update multiple tasks from multiple projects simultaneously. Teamwork’s Gantt lets you present visual representations of tasks, dependencies, and progress.
You can plan the project budget, track issues in the task, analyze the critical path for projects and manage resources. There are dashboards too to display project data and KPIs. With Teamwork, communication between the teams becomes easy. There are features like live chat tools, public or private discussions, polls, surveys, and announcements for effective communication.
Teamwork has a Board View that lets you get an overview of the flow of tasks so as to see the scope of the project clearly. It can be done using Kanban, Scrum, or any other methodology.
Its other tools include risk register, filters, desktop apps, timer app, project updates, personalized dashboards, billing, and invoice. Teamwork integrates with other tools like Hubspot, Slack, Xero, Google Drive, etc. to better manage the projects.
It supports remote collaboration too. Teamwork could be a great option for small businesses as it offers a free plan. Also, large firms can avail the advanced features present in their paid plans. Without providing any card details, you can even have a demo of the tool.
Key Features
- Create dashboards and to-do lists
- Seamless communication between the teams
- Prioritization of tasks
- Integrates with other tools
- Budget management
- Manage multiple tasks for multiple projects
- Track the resources and allocate them accordingly
- Track changes in the documents
- Time tracking
- Project templates
Read our full TeamWork review.
3. ClickUp
ClickUp, a cloud-based platform, has an intuitive interface for project management. Tasks can be created and assigned to multiple users. You can generate checklists and customise your workflow with the status that fits the project.
Also, recurring checklists can be generated for a particular schedule. You can even resolve the assigned comments then mark it done to keep things organised.
With this tool, the task becomes more manageable. ClickUp’s Agile Board View gives you the list of the tasks of every team on one board. The Box View helps you see which person has been overloaded and which one needs to be assigned more. You can also create automation or use prebuilt automation templates to automate the workflow.
For everything; be it – spaces, projects, lists, or tasks; ClickUp has inbuilt templates. You can use these templates or customize one for yourself. You can save your undone tasks in the Draft Tasks section to get back and finish later. Also, it lets you set up Epics to manage the backlogs. With Webhooks, you can connect ClickUp with any application. This allows you to enhance the features of the tool.
For time management, ClickUp provides several options like 2-Way Calendar Sync, Time Tracking, Due Dates, Scheduling, Time Estimates, and a few more. It also integrates with Clockify chrome extension automatically.
It integrates with a lot of other tools to facilitate various actions. It has integrations with GitHub, GitLab, Everhour, Toggl, Dropbox, Figma, Outlook, Zapier, Google Drive, Harvest, etc. ClickUp can be of great use for those who like to have everything customized their own way as the ClickUp platform lets you do exactly that.
And also, the ClickUp platform works great on various apps and devices like Chrome, mobile phones, or desktops. So, the ones looking for such an interface can go for this tool.
Key Features
- Goal and time tracking
- Customize spaces and lists
- Time estimates
- Gantt charts
- Set task dependencies and recurring tasks
- Manage drafts and backlogs
- Activity stream
- Integrations with tools like GitHub and Outlook
- Centralized and efficient processes
- Set reminders and schedule meetings
4. Trello
Trello, an online tool for task management, enables organization, coordination, and progress tracking. Its industry-leading features help you set up workflows and Trello boards. The Trello boards can be customized and shared with other teammates.
Since the Trello board provides visibility to others as well, this enables the entire team to be attentive to the changes in the task. Also, you can use Table view to connect across boards.
With Trello cards, managing tasks get easier. The Trello cards contain checklists, due dates, conversations, documents, and much more to help you track and share progress with your colleagues.
Trello has a Chrome extension as well. You can download the extension and add the icon to your bookmarks section. With this, whenever you land on a relatable webpage, you can easily add it on the board as a Trello card. You can use it to add and share important news and trends in the industry.
Trello has Butler automation which lets you set up rules and commands to your Trello boards. Using this, you can set up actions like automatically crossing out the items in your checklist, removing members from the card, or checking off the ‘Done’ list. You can set up the actions by giving commands as per your requirements.
It seamlessly integrates with Confluence, Slack, Evernote, and other apps to add to the functionalities. Trello works great for those who like to manage tasks with lots of checklists, cards, boards, and attachments.
Key Features
- Trello boards and Trello cards
- Track feedback
- Connect across boards
- Automate common tasks
- Integrates with Slack, Google Drive, etc
- Drag and drop workflow arrangement
- Inbuilt Calendar
- Due dates
- Powerful search and filters
- iPhone and Android mobile apps
- Backup on cloud
5. Mavenlink
Mavenlink is a powerful and flexible project and task management tool.
Whether you have a small team or a large workforce, it has got features for all. Its Gantt tool lets you create charts of the tasks done. The Gantt tool has two sections- task and schedule. Using these sections, you can track the progress of your project.
From planning the project to effectively executing it, Mavenlink manages resources at all steps. It provides templates to let users draft project plans, resource needs, and budget. It then analyses the available resource pools to plan the tasks.
Mavenlink’s accounting feature helps to track time and expense. It has timesheets that allow you to create time entries for the projects and expense reports to track the project expenses and receipts.
With Mavenlink, collaboration with team members remains organized as the conversation and tasks can be conducted over a unified platform. You can post messages over the Activity Stream and then collect the responses from your team members working on the same project. Also, the Activity Stream section lets you attach Google files or other files along with the comments.
Mavenlink has integrations with several tools like Google Drive, Slack, PayPal, Google Workspace, HubSpot CRM, Zapier, Rippling, Hubstaff, and many more. Such information with popular service providers enhances the functionalities of Mavenlink.
Key Features
- Gantt charts
- Resource management
- Time tracking
- Expense reports
- Invoicing
- Integration with other apps
- Customizable templates
6. nTask
nTask offers tools for project management, team management, issue tracking, time tracking, meeting management, and much more. Its project management tool helps you plan, schedule, manage resources and execute the tasks. You can share the task updates with your colleagues, chat with them and share files. The Gantt charts help to visualize the project plan easily.
You can plan and strategize the tasks using to-do lists, time estimations, sub-tasks, and dependencies. Using Progress Meter, the progress of the project can be tracked. It provides issue tracking to fix any errors. It automatically assigns each issue with a unique ID so that it can be easily located and fixed. Also, it integrates with more than a hundred bug tracking apps to resolve any glitch.
With nTask, you can plan and manage your meetings well. You can create and link meetings to particular tasks and can also develop a clear meeting agenda beforehand. To get the meeting participants on one page at a specific time, you can set the time and location for the meetings.
The recurring meetings need not be scheduled again and again. You can set up a time interval after which the meeting will be repeated.
For managing your resources and tracking time, nTask has several tools. You can keep track of the non-billable resources and can set up automated budget reminders which will notify you as your resources start to deplete.
There are features like Automatic Web Timer and Manual Entries to keep track of the time spent. The Automatic Web Timer lets you manage the recurring tasks without spending much time switching over tools to manage the tasks. With Manual Entries, you can manually set the time entries for the tasks.
Key Features
- Kanban boards
- Time tracking with timesheets
- Resource management
- Team collaboration
- Multiple assignees
- Set Milestones
- Budget tracking
- Manage meetings
- Track your non-billable resources
7. Backlog
With Backlog, you can access various project management tools like Gantt charts, Kanban boards, burndown charts, or Boards. It supports bug tracking. You can drag and drop the bugs to fix them and maintain the issue updates. The task management is simplified as the tasks can be broken down into subtasks and checklists. It allows effective team communication and collaboration.
To evenly organize the workflow, you can create a task hierarchy. Also, all the project files can be kept in a workspace from where they can be shared and attached to several locations. Backlog syncs with an online workspace using iOS and Android native apps. Also, it ensures the security of your workspace by restricting the access of IP addresses.
It has features like Wikis and Custom Fields to ensure faster delivery of the tasks. You can create Wikis for all project members to get an overview of the project details anytime. So, the team members are also notified whenever any changes are made to Wikis or new ones are added. And with Custom Fields, you can create custom categories like leads and events as per your workflow.
This helps you keep track of important tasks. Backlog is customizable and flexible. If you have a small team to manage, you can use this tool. Backlog has a forever free option that allows up to 10 users and gives access to 100 MB of storage space. However, the free account can only carry 1 project at a time. Backlog offers Nulab product subscriptions for enterprises looking to securely save their work.
Key Features
- Seamless source and issue integration
- Advanced reporting
- Advanced security and administration
- Easily import data from other systems
- OnDemand and On-premises deployment
- Polished user experience
- Customizable workflows
- Bugs and defect management
- Search and filtering
- Customizable dashboards and wallboards
- Integration with flexible REST APIs
8. MeisterTask
MeisterTask is an intuitive collaboration and task management tool.
Its customizable Kanban-style boards help you maintain the workflow. You can visualize the project by filtering under categories like Assignee, Tag, Due Date, Status, or Schedule. This helps you better analyze the status of the project.
Its automation tool lets you automate the repeating steps in the workflow to increase the efficiency of the task and save time. Also, to perform the same task frequently, you can set up a template for a recurring task.
It has a built-in time tracker to view the time spent on a task. You can generate multiple checklists too on this platform. And it allows file and image attachments up to 200 MB thus saving you from email and hard drive chaos.
MeisterTask also has a private board called Agenda wherein you can pin tasks from any project and organize them as per your needs. For seamless collaboration between the teams, it has some inbuilt communication features like Comments and Mentions.
The Comments section lets you add comments to a task and the assignee or anyone viewing the task will get a notification. And the Mentions feature allows you to mention someone in a task with their name and they’ll get a notification.
Also, MeisterTask supports easy imports. For example, if you want to shift from Asana to MeisterTask, its import wizard will help you shift all your projects and tasks easily. MeisterTask has features for all categories – analysis, communication, security, and sharing. MeisterTask has a good interface on Android devices as well. So, MeisterTask can be a good option for the ones looking for such a platform.
Key Features
- Multiple checklists
- File attachments and information sharing
- Full API use
- Group sharing
- Security restrictions
- WIP limits
- Custom fields
- Custom projects icon
- Automation and integration with other tools
- Email support
- Custom field
9. KanbanFlow
Like its name, KanbanFlow relies on an easy UI and Kanban boards to help businesses manage their projects effectively.
Its features include Kanban boards, time tracking, analytics, and reports.
Its Kanban board gives you an overview of the current task status. You can even customize it to suit your preferences. With WIP limits, you can limit the number of tasks in a column so as to finish your previous tasks before starting a new one.
It lets you divide the tasks into subtasks and manage the progress. Also, you can add swimlanes to your kanban boards to get a better report of the task. You can manage recurring tasks, sharing tasks, and connecting tasks.
For time tracking, it has tools like Timer and Pomodoro statistics. The timer lets you track time spent on the project. You can set up a Stopwatch timer and work effectively. With Pomodoro statistics, you can track the interruptions in your task.
With Boards, Track history, and Dashboards, you can analyze the progress in the task. Its Cumulative Flow diagram depicts the number of tasks present in different columns over time. This can help you track your workflow and locate bottlenecks. It also has a Cycle & Lead time chart to show the time spent to move tasks over different columns in the workflow. Understanding this chart will help you figure out your pace of work.
You can track your progress and analyze when all your work will be down using the Burndown charts. The dashboards are customizable and help you view information from multiple boards on the same page. You can create it using your preferred widgets, columns, and filters. It provides a free plan. So, it is a good option for small businesses.
Key Features
- Data import/export
- File attachments
- Subtasks and kanban boards
- Timer and Pomodoro statistics
- Manage recurring tasks
- WIP limits
- Analyze the progress
- Generate workflows
- Customize dashboards
Conclusion
Project management is an essential element for the smooth functioning of businesses. If the tasks aren’t managed effectively amongst the teams, it might lead to chaos and waste a lot of resources as well as time.
The workflow needs to be managed effectively from the lower level to the upper level without any errors. And this can be managed with the help of various project management tools that have been discussed.
All the tools we mentioned have features to organize the tasks amongst the teams and allow team collaboration. But the tools differ from each other in terms of some specific features, pricing, integrations, and interface.
Most of the tools support free trials. You can look at each tool’s features more efficiently before making your decisions. We recommend starting with ClickUp or TeamWork, and if you don’t like or find both of them useful, Wrike or others in this list will definitely suit your needs.
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