Airtable is a project management and collaboration tool that provides teams with a centralized platform to manage projects, customers, and ideas. Though Airtable is highly flexible and customizable, it can be limited in terms of formatting and might require some practice on the user’s part.
Its main features are:
- Project management to plan projects of all sizes, organize tasks, and analyze work efficiency.
- Document management to keep all critical company assets in a single, accessible location.
- Integrations with key business applications and software.
But it may not be quite the right fit, so let’s explore other project management tools that could be more fitting for your team.
The best Airtable alternatives for project management and collaboration
Software | Free trial | Starting price (paid plans) | Selling point | |
Jira | 7 days | $7.75/user/mo. | Report generation | Try Jira |
Confluence | 7 days | $5.75/user/mo. | Centralized collaboration | Try Confluence |
Trello | 14 days | $5.00/user/mo. | High-value free plan | Try Trello |
Asana | 30 days | $10.99/user/mo. | Breaking down large projects | Try Asana |
Wrike | 14 days | $10.00/user/mo. | Delegation | Try Wrike |
Pricing and details up to date as of 4/19/2023.
Jira: Best for generating reports
Jira products by Atlassian include several project management tools that enable easy task management and information organization. Some of the advantages of Jira include:
- Cloud-based software for access anytime, anywhere
- Relatively low cost
- Access to a library of native app plug-ins
- Report generation
- Visual project progress tracking
- Priority filtering (you can filter kanban cards by due date to sift through to the projects that need your attention first)
Though Jira is a more cost-effective solution, it doesn’t have as many project views or features as some other platforms out there. So if you need something with a bit more customizability and flexibility, Jira might not be the right option for you.
Confluence: Best for centralized collaboration
Confluence is yet another product from Atlassian and is a one-stop solution to make all content accessible to everyone. You can create your own dashboards for your projects. Plus, other platforms, like Trello, can plug into it as well. Confluence also plays a supportive role for Jira (both are Atlassian products) and is excellent for team collaboration.
While Jira is a hub for task management from start to finish, Confluence gives a broader overview to store and organize information used for the projects you’re undertaking in Jira. Confluence is available by subscription, on the cloud, or on an in-house server. Confluence works well for teams of any size and makes sure everyone has the most current information.
Trello: Best for simple task management
The basic version of Trello (also, coincidentally, an Atlassian product) is free and there are no user limits or board limits. With Trello, users can also receive push notifications via text, email, or messaging tool integrations.
Also Read: Trello vs. Jira
It’s also quite easy to use, but you won’t be able to generate reports with the free version. If you upgrade to Trello’s Business Class or Enterprise versions, though, you have access to report generation as well as API integrations with Slack, Github, etc.
Asana: Best for splitting up larger tasks
The term “āsana” in Sanskrit means “sitting down” and informs Asana’s approach to handling collaboration with mindful ease. For example, you can tag one task with multiple projects so that task is pulled into various boards for quick collaboration. You can also create subtasks for larger tasks and assign owners to those smaller subtasks so it’s clear who’s doing what.
Also Read: Airtable vs. Asana
If you’re working in a small team consisting of 15 or fewer members, you may want to check out cloud-based Asana, since its free version includes up to 15 users. Its interface is also user-friendly, so you don’t need to worry about spending a lot of time training your team on how to use it.
Even if you decide to upgrade, its subscription tiers also fall on the lower-end, making it a cost-efficient collaborative tool. If you’re a kanban fan, however, Asana may not be the right fit for you and your team, as it’s limited in its Kanban visualization features.
Wrike: Best for delegation
Wrike allows you to track and delegate subtasks and work with interactive Gantt charts to achieve your business goals. It features visual reports, facilitates real-time collaboration, and is user friendly. It also allows you to track financials as well as your team’s activity and time spent on particular tasks.
Also Read: Wrike vs. Asana
If you use other apps, such as Google Drive or Microsoft Excel, they easily integrate into Wrike. Track your project on the go with Wrike’s Apple and Android mobile device app. It is, however, pricier than comparable collaborative tools like Jira and Asana, but it offers a free 14-day trial.
The most important project management software features
Most useful project management tools will include document management and task management features, but the best tools will also include some of these options:
- Reporting and analytics
- Various project views, such as:
- Kanban cards
- Gantt charts
- Calendar views
- List and grid views
- App integration
- Cloud storage
- Intuitive interface
Choosing the best Airtable alternative
There are tons of Airtable alternatives on the market, but if you’re brand new to project management and only have a few team members, Trello may be a good place to start. Its free version contains quite a few features, so it’s a good, low-risk way to experiment and figure out which are most useful to your business.
However, if your business needs a reporting tool, start with Jira or Wrike. Wrike is pretty feature-rich, but it will be more of a financial investment—you might want to try the 14-day free trial before you commit.
Ultimately, your unique business needs will determine which product is best, but hopefully this list gave you somewhere to start.
Want to do more research? Take a look at our top picks for the best project management software to find some other options for your team.
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