10 Best Task Management Software Solutions

Managing projects can be a daunting task, no matter the size of your team. Fortunately, gone are the days of sticky notes and messy Microsoft Excel sheets, as there are many specialized task management tools you can use to streamline your projects and increase productivity.

And what is task management software, exactly?

Essentially, this is any type of software created to help managers and their teams organize time and resources, as well as track the progress of each project they’re working on, down to individual tasks. 

However, not all task management software is created equal. After all, according to the latest project management statistics, 39% of users will find a tool subpar due to a lack of features. As such, finding the right app isn’t as easy as it might seem.

So, in this article, you’ll find the following:

• Our top picks of the best task management software solutions in 2023, 
• A brief overview of the key factors we considered when ranking them, and
• A short guide on how to pick the best task management app for your needs.

How did we pick the best task management software?

Before we get to our top choices, here are the most important factors we considered when making our picks.

Factor #1: Features

First and foremost, we looked into the key features the software offers. Some of the tools we listed only have fundamental, indispensable task management capabilities, such as:

• Organizing workspaces into projects,
• Customizing tasks with relevant details,
• Sharing files, and
• Communicating with team members.

However, some apps offer additional features, such as:

• Advanced templates,
• Additional data storage,
• Task automation,
• Software integrations, and
• AI assistants.

Factor #2: Ease of Use

The purpose of task management software is to help managers and their teams be more efficient at their jobs — so it’s important that an app be easy to use for everyone involved. 

What this means is that the UI should be relatively simple to navigate and the app should have integrated tips and a help center for frequently asked questions.

Factor #3: Pricing

If you’re looking for free task management software, you’ll find that many apps offer free plans. However, they usually only offer basic functionality for a limited number of users, with the more advanced features restricted to one of the software’s paid plans. 

Naturally, cheaper isn’t always better, but the most expensive option isn’t guaranteed to be the best one either. So, we picked apps that offer good value for the money and/or have a feature set that fits the price tag.

Factor #4: Scalability

Every successful business will inevitably grow, and migrating from one software to another can be problematic, either because of missing features or because of the way the migration could interfere with the workflow. 

As such, we prioritized apps that can scale well with your business as it expands. 

What are the best task management tools in 2023?

So, without further ado, let’s take a closer look at our top picks — the very best apps you can use to streamline your workflow and manage your projects in 2023!

#1: Plaky — best for small businesses

Introduced in 2022, Plaky is a task management tool with a comprehensive feature set, which makes it an excellent choice for managing tasks, especially for small businesses. 

It’s also currently the best free task management software you can get.

Plaky’s pros	Plaky’s cons
— Unlimited users and project boards — Comprehensive feature set — Highly customizable layout — Excellent customer support — Well-rounded free plan	— Limited integrations

What do you get with Plaky?

By opting for Plaky, you get access to an unlimited number of project boards for an unlimited number of users, along with several useful organizational features.

First and foremost, Plaky lets users organize projects into easily manageable groups of individual tasks. Further, each project board features customizable fields that display important information about the tasks, including:

• Deadlines,
• Instructions,
• Assignees, and
• Current status.

This makes it easy to skim the board and identify important information about individual tasks at a glance.

In addition to hosting information relevant to the task, each card also has a number of useful features — including: 

• A comment section where you can talk about the task with team members, and 
• A section where you can attach files. 

This way, there’s no risk of important information getting lost in emails or messaging apps.

Apart from customizing the viewing options, users can also switch between 3 views:

• Table view,
• Kanban view, and
• Gantt view (paid plan feature).

Kanban and Gantt views provide great alternatives to teams who want to visually track their workflow. While Gantt is generally used in larger projects, small businesses can also make use of it spot unwanted task and employee overlaps.

In addition, the app offers a breadth of useful project management templates that make it easy to implement the tool for teams in virtually any department or industry, from marketing and HR to sales and customer relations.

Moreover, if the help center doesn’t have the answers you need, Plaky offers excellent 24/7 customer support that can be reached via email, live chat, or phone.

The only major downside to Plaky is that it doesn’t yet offer integration apps other than Clockify, which is understandable given that it was launched relatively recently. That said, teams whose workflow relies heavily on third-party software might not find it ideal.

Why is Plaky the best option for small businesses?

Some of the main challenges small businesses have to deal with are budgeting and scaling — and Plaky offers a convenient way to overcome them, as it is a free tool with an unlimited number of users and project boards. 

Furthermore, Plaky’s communication features — dedicated comment threads and customizable label tags — allow multiple departments to communicate and collaborate without any hassle, ensuring efficiency for any projects that involve multiple teams.

Plaky’s pricing and availability

Currently, Plaky only offers a generous free plan. However, the app will also have paid plans in the future.

Currently, Plaky 2 paid plans in addition to its generous free plan.

Plaky’s plans	Plaky’s monthly subscription	Plaky’s annual subscription (on a monthly basis)	Plaky’s total yearly cost for 1 user (annual subscription)	Plaky’s total yearly cost for 10 users (annual subscription)
Free	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Pro	$4.99 per member	$3.99 per member	$48	$479
Enterprise	$10.99 per member	$8.99 per member	$108	$1,079

Available for: web, iOS, Android

#2: ClickUp — best for new users

Next, we have ClickUp, a highly popular and flexible task management tool launched in 2017. It offers a number of powerful features, and it’s a great fit for newbies who are looking to get project management experience with a beginner-friendly app.

ClickUp’s pros	ClickUp’s cons
— Clean interface  — Lots of useful templates — Beginner-friendly knowledge base	— Only 100 MB of storage on the free plan

What do you get with ClickUp?

ClickUp allows managers to create multiple team spaces, which are then organized into projects containing individual tasks. 

By default, projects can be viewed in a traditional list or Kanban mode — but the app also has a number of additional view modes, such as:

• Calendar,
• Timeline,
• Team,
• Workload, and more.

This allows managers to have a clear overview of their projects based on whatever criteria are most important to them.

The tasks under each project are also highly customizable. Managers can track the status of each task, view assignees and deadlines, communicate via a comment thread, and share files through the attachment section. 

On top of that, ClickUp also lets users modify tasks by:

• Adding subtasks,
• Creating checklists, and
• Creating connections to other tasks.

This makes complicated tasks or interconnected projects much easier to manage, which is additionally helped by the app’s task automation features. However, they only really shine with the Business pricing plan, which offers 10,000 conditional automations per month.

On top of all that, ClickUp also lets managers create custom dashboards or choose from several dashboard templates with a range of customizable cards and charts that display useful information.

Finally, a notable feature that makes ClickUp stand out is its new built-in AI assistant. It lets users:

• Enhance their writing, 
• Create summaries, 
• Generate action items almost instantly, and 
• Outline marketing strategies. 

It’s already a step ahead of other AI assistants, and it will only get better as ClickUp rolls out more features that are already in the pipeline.

On the downside, the storage on ClickUp’s free plan is fairly limited, and its paid plans can get somewhat expensive. So if you find that it’s not a good fit for you, you can take a look at Plaky as a free ClickUp alternative.

Why is ClickUp best for new users?

All in all, what makes ClickUp the best choice for new users is it’s combination of beginner-friendly features:

• The clean, easy-to-navigate interface,
• The plethora of useful templates,
• A comprehensive resource center, and
• Responsive support.

All of these factors combined make ClickUp an app that’s easy to get accustomed to — whether you’re migrating to it from another software or if it’s the first task management tool you’re using.

ClickUp’s pricing and availability

Currently, ClickUp’s pricing has 5 available plans. 

ClickUp’s plans	ClickUp’s monthly subscription	ClickUp’s annual subscription (on a monthly basis)	ClickUp’s total yearly cost for 1 user (annual subscription)	ClickUp’s total yearly cost for 10 users (annual subscription)
Free	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Unlimited	$9 per member	$5 per member	$60	$600
Business	$19 per member	$12 per member	$144	$1,440
Business Plus	$29 per member	$19 per member	$228	$2,280
Enterprise	Contact sales	Contact sales	Contact sales	Contact sales

Available for: web, Windows, Linux, macOS, iOS, Android

#3: Asana — best for enterprises

Asana is an industry veteran whose eponymous task management software has paved the way for many others to follow. 

Launched in 2012, it is still going strong and is currently the best tool for project management in large enterprises. 

Asana’s pros	Asana’s cons
— Unrestricted workflow automation — Flexible communication tools — Clean UI	— On the expensive side — Limited features on the free plan

What do you get with Asana?

Asana offers a comprehensive task management toolset, allowing managers to set up an unlimited number of projects. These can be created from scratch, based on templates, or imported from spreadsheets and other tools.

Individual tasks can be added to other project boards, and the manager can also specify dependencies on other tasks, making cross-team collaboration much easier. 

Speaking of which, the app also offers strong communication features. Team members can communicate via built-in messaging that allows them to contact each other directly or send messages to specific projects or tasks. 

On this front, file sharing is another one of Asana’s strong suits, as it offers unlimited storage on all of its plans, with only a 100 MB cap on individual files.

Furthermore, managers have a thorough overview of a number of important factors thanks to the “Insight” tab, which includes:

• An overview of all current tasks,
• Customizable portfolios for all projects, and
• Specified personal, team, and company goals.

Why is Asana best for enterprises?

What makes Asana stand out for larger companies, apart from its great cross-team collaboration features, is the excellent workflow automation that it offers. 

Starting with its Premium plan, Asana offers users unlimited monthly automations and a workflow builder tool — all of which makes large teams and/or multiple teams much easier to manage and coordinate.

Moreover, Asana’s features come at a cost, and it may be prohibitively expensive for smaller teams or startups. So, smaller teams may want to consider a free alternative to Asana.

Asana’s pricing and availability

At the moment, Asana’s pricing plans come at the following prices:

Asana’s plans	Asana’s monthly subscription	Asana’s annual subscription (on a monthly basis)	Asana’s total yearly cost for 1 user (annual subscription)	Asana’s total yearly cost for 10 users (annual subscription)
Free	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Premium	$13.49 per member	$10.99 per member	$131	$1,318
Business	$30.49 per member	$24.99 per member	$299	$2,998

Available for: web, Windows, Linux, macOS, iOS, Android

#4: Trello — best for smaller teams

Launched in 2011 and acquired by Atlassian in 2017, Trello is a popular tool that’s built entirely around Kanban project management. It’s a favorite among smaller teams, as it’s both beginner-friendly and budget-friendly.

Trello’s pros	Trello’s cons
— Optimized for Kanban — Lots of customizability options — Solid free plan — Good value for the money	— Not optimized for large teams

What do you get with Trello?

Trello is a solid but somewhat limited tool compared to some of the others on this list. It allows an easy overview of all active project boards within a workspace, although it’s limited to only the Kanban view on its free plan. 

Apart from that, it supports:

• Table,
• Calendar,
• Timeline,
• Dashboard, and
• Map view modes.

These features make it fairly flexible, although somewhat limited when we compare Trello to a tool like Asana, which offers additional view modes capable of tracking workload and activity levels. 

Notably, the table view is also a bit difficult to skim since it displays tasks in a continuous list, so the Kanban mode is definitely preferable when using Trello. 

Individual tasks have all the standard customizability you’d expect, allowing you to:

• Add assignees and deadlines, 
• Track task status, 
• Communicate through a comment thread, 
• Share files, and more.

The most noticeable downside to the app is that its Kanban-focused approach is not ideal for large teams. And even though it offers a number of useful templates, advanced users managing larger teams will likely prefer some more flexible, feature-rich alternative to Trello.

Why is Trello best for smaller teams?

Trello is optimized for use with the Kanban method, which is favored by small teams that rely on Agile project management. It’s intuitive, has a clean interface, and comes with Butler — a convenient and beginner-friendly automation tool available even with the free plan.

In addition to the well-rounded free version, Trello’s paid plans are also reasonably priced. The Standard plan expands upon the base by allowing additional customizability, unlimited boards, and advanced checklists, whereas the Premium version offers access to:

• Additional view modes,
• A customizable dashboard, 
• Advanced templates, and more.

Trello’s pricing and availability

At the moment, Trello offers the following subscription plans:

Trello’s plans	Trello’s monthly subscription	Trello’s annual subscription (on a monthly basis)	Trello’s total yearly cost for 1 user (annual subscription)	Trello’s total yearly cost for 10 users (annual subscription)
Free	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Standard	$6 per person	$5 per person	$60	$600
Premium	$12.5 per person	$10 per person	$120	$1,200
Enterprise	N/A	Starts at $17.5 per person (minimum 50 users)	N/A	N/A

Available for:  web, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android

#5: Jira — best for experienced professionals

Also owned by Atlassian (like Trello), Jira was first launched all the way back in 2002 as an issue-tracking tool for software developers. 

While it has since branched out and become a viable option for experienced professionals in many industries, it still remains one of the top choices in the IT sector.

Jira’s pros	Jira’s cons
— Lots of powerful features — Extensive template selection — Great for virtually any industry	— Can be overwhelming for new users

What do you get with Jira?

While the other tools we’ve taken a look at so far are fairly beginner-friendly, Jira is a lot more complex and potentially intimidating for inexperienced users. 

Like every other popular task management tool, it offers full customization options for individual tasks. Jira also allows users to choose from dozens of options when creating a new project, including templates for different industries, such as:

• Software development,
• Human resources,
• Marketing,
• Finance,
• Sales, and more.

Each section boasts multiple templates for different projects within a given industry. While the exact options and layout may vary slightly based on the template used, the app offers a comprehensive feature set across all of them.

This is fairly obvious from the UI design alone. Jira’s interface is fairly intuitive, but it can also be quite overwhelming, especially with some of the templates that almost make it look like a different app altogether. For those looking for something more beginner-friendly, Plaky is a good free alternative to Jira.

Another feature that makes Jira stand out is the sheer number of integrations that it offers for third-party software. It lets users integrate over 1,000 apps and add them to specific tasks they are relevant for — something that’s especially useful for software developers.

Why is Jira best for experienced professionals?

Put simply, Jira is one of those powerful tools with lots of complex features that advanced users will be able to take full advantage of. 

While it was initially made for software development, its many templates allow managers to easily take advantage of the tool’s capabilities across a number of industries.

For example, under HR, Jira offers project templates for HR project management — including onboarding, recruitment, and policy management, among others — each set up to accommodate the needs of the industry in question.  

Jira’s pricing and availability

At the moment, Jira users can opt for one of the following 4 plans:

Jira’s plans	Jira’s monthly subscription	Jira’s annual subscription
Free	N/A	N/A
Standard	Starting at $7.75 per user	Starting at $790
Premium	Starting at $15.25 per user	Starting at $1,525
Enterprise	Contact sales	Contact sales

Available for: web, Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android

#6: Todoist — best for teams on a budget

In stark contrast to Jira, there’s Todoist — a fairly simple and straightforward app that’s possibly the best task management software for individuals and those on a tight budget, as it comes at a very approachable price.

Todoist’s pros	Todoist’s cons
— Basic, beginner-friendly tool — Clean and minimalist UI — Highly affordable	— No advanced features

What do you get with Todoist?

Sometimes, the best solution isn’t the one that offers the widest set of features, the best templates, or the highest number of integrations. Sometimes, simpler is better, and that’s precisely what Todoist aims to deliver.

With a clean and intuitive interface, the app is incredibly easy to master. A user can get a good grip on all of its features in as little as a few minutes since it offers only the essentials of a task management tool.

Tasks in Todoist are grouped into projects and include:

• A task description,
• Sub-tasks,
• A comment thread,
• A due date,
• A priority,
• Miscellaneous labels, 
• App extensions, and
• Scheduled reminders (on the Pro plan).

Additionally, the app offers a calendar view, and tasks and projects can be easily shared with team members. Overall, Todoist gives users all the tools they need for managing relatively simple tasks and projects.

However, it’s easy to see why its overall capabilities might be seen as lacking compared to alternatives such as Plaky or ClickUp — both of which offer more features at a comparable cost. 

Why is Todoist best for teams on a budget?

Put simply, Todoist has the lowest prices of any app listed here (except for Plaky), starting as low as $4 per month. Moreover, the app’s Pro plan doesn’t scale with the number of team members, and it’s simply a flat monthly fee for up to 25 users.

Todoist’s pricing and availability

Todoist currently offers the following plans:

Todoist’s plans	Todoist’s monthly subscription	Todoist’s annual subscription (on a monthly basis)	Todoist’s total yearly cost for 1 user (annual subscription)	Todoist’s total yearly cost for 10 users (annual subscription)
Free	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Pro	$5/month	$4/month	$48	$480
Business	$8/month per user	$6/month per user	$72	$720

Available for: web, Windows, Linux, macOS, iOS, Android

#7: Wrike — best for workflow management

Another industry veteran, Wrike has been in the market since 2006. 

In stark contrast to Todoist, it is a more complex tool geared towards advanced workflow management for mid-sized and large teams, with a focus on analytics and automation features.

Wrike’s pros	Wrike’s cons
— Great automation options — Specialized templates — Useful AI tool	— Expensive — No yearly plans

What do you get with Wrike?

Like most other apps on this list, Wrike has all the features you need for efficient collaboration between team members or multiple teams, with customizable interconnectable tasks organized across multiple projects. 

Even the free plan has all the features necessary to make Wrike a decent task management tool, but what really makes it stand out are the advanced features available with its paid plans. These include:

• Interactive Gantt charts,
• Automations (ranging from 50 to 1,500 monthly actions per member),
• Custom workflows,
• Comprehensive analytics, and more.

On top of that, while it has several convenient premade project templates, its custom templates — like many of the other advanced features — are sadly available only with the more expensive plans.

Something else that sets Wrike apart from the competition is the app’s Work Intelligence AI, which is available with Business, Enterprise, and Pinnacle plans. 

Capable of risk assessment and action item detection, it’s a powerful tool that can greatly optimize workflow in dynamic environments. Moreover, it synergizes extremely well with the app’s automation features.

However, like many other feature-rich task management tools, Wrike also gets prohibitively expensive for larger teams. So, those on a limited budget will likely want to consider a free Wrike alternative like Plaky.

Why is Wrike best for workflow management?

Workflow management is all about optimizing project workflows — and, to do that, managers need:

• Clear insight into their projects, 
• Relevant project KPIs, and 
• Tools to increase productivity and efficiency. 

As mentioned above, Wrike offers all of those things, from complex analytics tools to convenient task automation.

Wrike’s pricing and availability

If you’re thinking of using Wrike, here are the app’s current pricing plans:

Wrike’s plans	Wrike’s monthly subscription	Wrike’s total yearly cost for 1 user (monthly subscription)	Wrike’s total yearly cost for 10 users (monthly subscription)
Free	N/A	N/A	N/A
Team	$9.80/month per member	$117	$1,170
Business	$24.80/month per member	$297	$2,976
Enterprise	Contact sales	Contact sales	Contact sales
Pinnacle	Contact sales	Contact sales	Contact sales

Available for: web, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android

#8: Basecamp — best for project collaboration

Launched in 2014, Basecamp is focused on providing a streamlined all-in-one task management solution. This makes it an ideal option for teams who need to prioritize streamlining project collaboration over powerful features.

Basecamp’s pros	Basecamp’s cons
— Simple and streamlined layout — Favorable pricing on the Pro plan	— No free plan — Somewhat basic feature set

What do you get with Basecamp?

Basecamp takes a slightly different approach to organizing the workspace compared to most other apps on this list. Rather than having it split into projects with individual tasks and a separate customizable dashboard, Basecamp is instead split into the following pages:

• Home,
• Lineup,
• Pings (private chats),
• “Hey!” (notifications), 
• Activity, 
• My stuff, and
• Find.

Further, every project is divided into:

• Message board,
• To-dos (tasks),
• Docs and files,
• Campfire (general chat), and
• Schedule.

These provide the entire team with a convenient hub from which they can access all the important information relating to the project at hand. Moreover, all of the app’s key features are available with its base plan.

Some additional features available with the premium plan include a whopping 5 TB of storage space and around-the-clock support 365 days per year. 

Another benefit of the Pro Unlimited plan is that it comes with a fixed price and no additional charges based on the number of users. So it can be a very cost-effective solution for mid-sized or larger teams.

Why is Basecamp best for project collaboration?

With the above in mind, Basecamp really excels when it comes to small and mid-sized teams where seamless collaboration, communication, and scheduling take precedence over advanced features such as task automation or complex templates.

Basecamp’s pricing and availability

If you think Basecamp might be a good fit for you, here are its current pricing plans:

Basecamp’s plans	Basecamp’s pricing	Basecamp’s total yearly cost for 1 user	Basecamp’s total yearly cost for 10 users
Basecamp	$15/month per user	$180	$1,800
Basecamp Pro Unlimited	Starting at $299/month	$299	$299

Available for: web, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android

#9: Smartsheet — best for complex projects

While task managing software has largely replaced traditional spreadsheets, there’s no denying the sheer level of flexibility they offer. This is why Smartsheet developed its eponymous tool, which combines the best of both worlds.

Smartsheet’s pros	Smartsheet’s cons
— Full spreadsheet versatility — Lots of useful templates — Easy importing and exporting of spreadsheets	— Expensive for larger teams

What do you get with Smartsheet?

With Smartsheet, projects are presented in the form of spreadsheets — offering users all the flexibility of a spreadsheet, combined with the advanced features of modern task management tools.

Each sheet represents 1 project, with tasks in the form of collapsable rows that can host additional subtasks, and as many customizable columns as necessary. 

In addition to basic info such as assignee, start and end dates, and task status, the columns can also display customizable information such as:

• Dropdown lists,
• Contact details,
• Checkboxes,
• Comments, and more.

Smartsheet even offers users over 60 spreadsheet templates that are grouped according to project management methodology and type, which include:

• Agile,
• Waterfall,
• Lean Six Sigma,
• Task prioritization,
• OKR,
• Budgeting, and
• Other.

While the UI may be a bit intimidating at first glance, the app still provides a convenient overview of all the relevant data. Furthermore, it lets users customize it to a similar degree that they could with Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets.

Additionally, Smartsheet supports task automation, complete with multiple templates that make it easy to automate processes to save time and spare users needless micromanagement. 

With all that said, Smartsheet is an extremely versatile and useful tool, but it might not be the ideal fit for teams looking to use Kanban or those who need something more affordable. In either case, Plaky is a viable Smartsheet alternative.

Why is Smartsheet best for complex projects?

Complex projects will inevitably involve actual spreadsheets. More importantly, they’ll likely involve collaboration between different teams, contractors, and clients, who might not be using whatever project management tool you’re using. However, they’d still need insight into the project.

In such scenarios, Smartsheet is particularly convenient, since it allows users to export sheets for Excel, Google Sheets, or in PDF form, as well as import spreadsheet files into the tool.

Smartsheet’s pricing and features

Smartsheet currently offers the following pricing plans:

Smartsheet’s plans	Smartsheet’s monthly subscription	Smartsheet’s annual subscription (on a monthly basis)	Smartsheet’s total yearly cost for 1 user (annual subscription)	Smartsheet’s total yearly cost for 10 users (annual subscription)
Free	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Pro	$9 per member	$7 per member	$84	$840
Business	$32 per member	$25 per member	$300	$3,000
Enterprise	Contact sales	Contact sales	Contact sales	Contact sales

Available for: web, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android

#10: monday.com — best for task status tracking

Last but definitely not least, we have monday.com, another popular and well-rounded task management tool. 

Launched in 2014, monday.com is many a manager’s favorite. What makes it stand out is its accessible, easy-to-skim design that makes task tracking a breeze.

monday.com’s pros	monday.com’s cons
— Comprehensive project overview — Useful templates — Additional apps — Approachable pricing	— Integrations and automations only with the more expensive plans — Limited file storage on cheaper plans

What do you get with monday.com?

Overall, monday.com is a well-rounded task management tool with a design and feature set similar to the likes of Plaky and ClickUp. 

It features workspaces organized into projects with individual tasks and subtasks. From there, managers can customize individual projects and organize them how they see fit.

Users can try out monday.com’s free plan, as it allows access to the bulk of the app’s core features — albeit only for up to 2 users. The paid plans include additional features, such as:

• Priority support,
• Timeline and Gantt views,
• Automations, 
• Integrations,
• Time tracking, and
• Additional charts and columns.

Furthermore, while most task management apps offer templates for use in different industries, monday.com takes it a step further by offering additional apps under its umbrella. These include:

• Work management,
• Dev,
• Sales CRM,
• Marketer, and
• Projects.

Some of these products are similar to the core work management tool, but they come with their own specialized features and separate pricing plans. 

For example, the monday.com sales CRM is one of the best CRM tools on the market, and it offers plenty of powerful features that help:

• Improve customer relations, 
• Store and organize customer data, 
• Provide insight into customer behavior, and more.

While it does offer a comprehensive and competitive feature set, we did find it a bit odd that monday.com offered lower storage capacity on its more affordable plans. Specifically, monday.com offers:

• 5 GB on its Basic plan,
• 20 GB on its Standard plan, and
• 100 GB on its Pro plan.

In comparison, many other apps (including Asana, ClickUp, and Trello) offer unlimited storage on all their paid plans. 

Moreover, we found that some of the features limited to the premium plans are available at lower prices or even for free with a monday.com alternative such as Plaky.

Why is monday.com best for task status tracking?

The app makes better use of contrast and color coding than any of the others we’ve looked at so far, with the ability to add additional colors and labels in the “Status” and “Priority” columns.

As such, it’s very easy to keep track of progress at a glance or identify problematic tasks. For example, you can use red to mark tasks that are overdue, purple to indicate a task is blocked due to a dependency on another unfinished task, dark blue to indicate a task that needs to be checked by the manager before proceeding, etc.

monday.com’s pricing and availability

Currently, monday.com offers the following pricing plans:

monday.com’s plans	monday.com’s monthly subscription	monday.com’s annual subscription (on a monthly basis)	monday.com’s total yearly cost for 1 user (annual subscription)	monday.com’s total yearly cost for 10 users (annual subscription)
Free	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Basic	$12 per user	$9 per user	$108	$1080
Standard	$14 per user	$12 per user	$144	$1,440
Pro	$24 per user	$19 per user	$288	$2,880
Enterprise	Contact sales	Contact sales	Contact sales	Contact sales

Available for: web, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android

Why you should use task management software

With all of the above in mind, you probably have a good idea as to what you’ll get by using specialized software for task management. But, if you’re still on the fence, here are the main benefits to consider.

Benefit #1: Seamless multitasking

One of the biggest challenges when it comes to project task management is juggling multiple tasks, especially if they are interconnected. 

Fortunately, task management software makes multitasking much simpler by giving you clear insight into the details on every task under every project.

Benefit #2: Efficient communication

As any experienced PM will agree, effective communication in project management is absolutely crucial, and the larger the team, the more important it becomes. 

It’s easy for information to get lost in emails or third-party messaging apps, but task management tools offer a solution to this.

Namely, all of the tools listed here offer communication features, at the very least in the form of comment threads on projects or tasks. Others also allow direct messaging between team members. 

This way, all communication takes place and is recorded on the platform, and there’s no risk of anything getting lost.

Benefit #3: Comprehensive project overview

It’s crucial for a manager to always have a clear overview of the projects they’re in charge of. A task management app not only allows them to have access to everything that’s happening with regards to a project, but also an overview of all of the team’s activities.

Benefit #4: Increased productivity

As the popular saying goes: a penny saved is a penny earned. And since time is money, every minute saved with the help of a task management app adds up at the end of the day, as well as at the end of the project timeline. 

As such, using a task management tool can noticeably improve productivity in both the short and the long term.

How to choose the best task management software for your needs

When it comes to project and task management software, there is no simple one-size-fits-all solution. So, how do you determine which of the apps listed here is the right one for you?

Step 1: Determine your long-term budget

The first and most important step is to determine how much you can afford to spend on task management software. 

This is fairly easy to do initially. But, since the pricing on most apps scales with the number of users, it’s important to account for your growth projections — and see if the app you’re considering would be a good fit in the long term.

Step 2: Consider the feature set

While task management apps are generally similar, they are never identical. As such, it’s important to carefully consider an app’s feature set and if it’s a good fit for your needs. 

Step 3: Do your own research

Before narrowing down your picks, always do extensive research. This mainly involves reading through professional and customer reviews, as they can provide crucial insights into an app’s strengths and weaknesses from both a professional’s and a layman’s perspective.

Step 4: Test them out yourself

And finally, before making any long-term commitment, give every app on your shortlist a trial run. 

This is easy to do, as most apps have free plans you can use to test them out indefinitely. Some also offer free trials for their advanced plans which last anywhere between 7 and 30 days.

Pick the right tool and watch your productivity rise

All in all, a task management tool can greatly improve your team’s efficiency. And, if you are already using one, there could always be another that might make an even better fit for your team’s needs.

At the end of the day, so long as you follow the above steps, you’re guaranteed to find a useful tool capable of improving your team’s efficiency on every front, in addition to making everyday tasks easier for each team member.

If you are looking for a task management tool that offers a way for you to keep a bird’s eye on all of your tasks, as well as communicate seamlessly with your team, Plaky is a great choice. Its free plan that includes unlimited users, spaces, and items is an ideal way to see if it’s the right tool for you.