After hours of research, testing, and comparisons, we whittled a list down to this list of the best task management software on the market today:
Featured partners
Best task management software
Overall score
Best for
Starting price (billed annually)
*Three-user minimum whether you pay annually or monthly
Notion: Best for collaboration
Overall Score
4.04/5
User Reviews
4.63/5
Pricing
4.25/5
Ease of Use
3.38/5
Functionality
4.63/5
Customization
4.88/5
Advanced Features
2.88/5
Pros
- Fully collaborative spaces for team members and guests
- Highly customizable interface and features
- Generous guest account allowances on all plans
- Unlimited file uploads on paid plans
- Various views on all plans including timeline, calendar, and board
Cons
- Some basic functions (audit logs, single sign-on, and workspace analytics) are locked behind expensive plans
- Reporting is limited on free and low-priced plans
- Enterprise plan requires custom quote
Why I chose Notion
At the heart of Notion is customization and collaboration. I’ve been a fan of Notion for years because it’s such a great blank slate for creating whatever you want with whomever you’d like. The free plan allows you to invite up to 10 guests to collaborate on a workspace. You can also build a page precisely how you want or need with the use of blocks.
Using Notion for task and project management is easy when I use a template to start. Otherwise, I found it time consuming to start from scratch. On top of that, it can be a little overwhelming because there’s just so much you can do with Notion. If you rely on charts and graphs for reporting, you may want to consider a different work management tool (such as ClickUp or monday.com) because Notion doesn’t offer much for reporting, especially in the low-tier plans.
Notion is a collaborative work management tool that includes task management as part of its set of features. It offers powerful databases, a collaborative whiteboard and documents, and excellent note-taking tools. It’s a user-friendly platform with no- to low-code customization and its use case list is extensive.
With Notion’s customization, you can create your own statuses and priority tags, and then track tasks by whatever data is most important to you: due date, status, priority, ID number, or assignee, to name a few. The WYSIWYG interface is easily adaptable for most users because you can see exactly what you’re changing as you do it. There are multiple views, so you can see a project as a list, on a board, or on a timeline — all of which make it easier to see tasks blocking other tasks, a whole project, or a simple task list with the responsible parties.
Despite all of Notion’s advanced features, there are few options for analysis of tasks or projects. You can view page analytics, but they’re limited and don’t provide much more than who viewed a page and the total number of views. Workspace analytics are a bit more advanced to show you how members interact with your content, but this is only for Enterprise plan users.
Collaboration
By far the best use of Notion is for collaboration on tasks. You can create a task list within a project or a document and collaborate in real time with team members or guests. This eliminates the need to go back and forth via email or messaging because you can all contribute to a single page simultaneously. The comment feature also lets you rely less on other apps to communicate.
Customization
Literally everything in Notion is customizable. If you don’t like the available templates from Notion, choose one made by a user. If you still can’t find what you need, you can create your own from scratch. The automation option is as easy as choosing a trigger and an action and then saving it. This is even more helpful when you have integrations to tools you use for the rest of your business such as notifying a specific Slack channel when a task has moved from one status to another.
Integrations
Notion offers more than 85 native integrations including Slack, Trello, Adobe XD, and Google Workspace. Connect Trello to Notion for easy linking of Trello cards within a Notion page, for example. If you don’t see an app that you need, Notion allows you to create your own integration with its public API, or use Zapier for other pre-built integrations.
Notion provides four subscription plans, which makes it a scalable option for growing businesses: Free, Plus, Business, and Enterprise. Although there isn’t a free trial for the high-tier options, there is a free trial of Notion’s AI add-on. Notion earned a 4.25 in pricing because of its forever-free plan and somewhat affordable paid plans that start at $10 per user per month (billed annually), though it can’t beat Zoho Projects’ pricing, which starts at $4 per user per month (billed annually).
There’s no pricing information published for Notion’s Enterprise plan, so it’s difficult to determine the value of its highest plan. Plus, Notion charges add-on fees for its AI features, which costs $8 per user per month (billed annually), regardless of which plan you choose.
Notion subscription tiers
Free
Plus
Business
Enterprise
Forever-free plan:
- Unlimited pages and blocks for single user
- 5 MB file uploads
- 7-day page history
- 10 guests allowed
- Basic automations
- 100 rows per database
- 1 synced database
$10 per user per month*:
- Unlimited blocks for all paid users
- Unlimited file uploads
- 30-day page history
- 100 guests allowed
- Custom automations
- Unlimited synced databases
- 20,000 rows per database
- Custom database automations
- Priority support
$15 per user per month*:
Everything in Plus, and:
- 90-day page history
- 250 guests allowed
- Private team spaces
- SSO
- Advanced analytics
Custom quote
Everything in Business, and:
- Unlimited page history
- Advanced security controls
- HIPAA compliance
- Workspace analytics
- Customer success manager
Notion AI add-on pricing: $8 per user, per month*
*Pricing is based on annual payment up front
Zoho Projects: Best for advanced features
Overall Score
3.86/5
User Reviews
4.29/5
Pricing
4.44/5
Ease of Use
3.19/5
Functionality
4.19/5
Customization
3.25/5
Advanced Features
4.63/5
Pros
- Several advanced features included in all plans
- More affordable paid plans than most competitors
- Instantly intuitive to use
- Includes customizable dashboard
- No add-on costs for AI tools
Cons
- Lots of limits on free plan
- No phone support available
Why I chose Zoho Projects
I’ve been a fan of Zoho Projects for a while now and for multiple reasons. It offers a decent free plan for individual users and small teams that need a task management program to organize a couple of projects. Most of the features I need to get started are included, from task dependencies and custom statuses to subtasks and basic reports. It’s also very affordable, if I want to upgrade.
In fact, I almost gave Zoho Projects more credit for its affordable paid plans; the Enterprise plan is only $9 per user per month (billed annually). No other competitor offers as much value for the price than Zoho Projects. I have taken issue with the lack of support channels, the few integrations, and the limited free plan, but Zoho has added more third-party integrations recently and its knowledge base is helpful. The free plan is still fairly limited, but it remains packed with enough value that it stays competitive with the likes of ClickUp and Trello.
Zoho Projects is one of the many apps available under the Zoho umbrella of apps. It’s focused on project management with a lot of useful task management features. It offers a customizable dashboard that you can populate with charts to show the data most important to you, whether that’s tasks due, upcoming events, or tasks for team members.
As far as task management goes, Zoho Projects allows all users to create tasks, subtasks, and dependencies. Custom views include lists, calendar, kanban, and Gantt charts, but those on the free plan don’t get access to all of these. The Enterprise plan is the most valuable but isn’t so expensive that small businesses wouldn’t be able to afford it. Even if you stick with the entry-level plan, you still get time tracking, an AI chatbot, budgeting tools, and all the integrations Zoho offers (except Zoho Desk and Zoho Directory).
Zoho Projects is one of the most user-friendly task management options available. Each task includes enough fields to make it work for almost any use case, but if you opt for a paid plan, you can create custom fields. There’s a drop-down field for making a recurring task, but there are also more complex automation options (Zoho calls this feature Blueprint), though these are only available on paid plans. The only limit for Blueprint automations is 25 per task layout, but you can create as many as you need for projects.
Advanced features
Although Zoho Projects is at its best on paid plans, there are enough core and advanced features to make the free plan valuable to use. Defining advanced features comes down to comparison. Most of the other task management software solutions available do not allow for task dependencies or reports on free plans, but Zoho Projects does. There are advanced reports available for paid plans so you can get a quick look at a variety of data including priority, task status, completion, and custom reports.
Recently, Zoho Projects updated its free plan to allow subtasks, which was considered an advanced feature. Pre-built templates are also available. Integrations are treated as advanced features, but Zoho allows all users to connect Google apps, Zapier, Slack, Dropbox, Office 365, and Microsoft Teams so you can configure your tech stack almost however you’d like, even if you’re only on the free plan.
Ease of use
Though ease of use is a less tangible feature, it’s an important factor for any small business that’s starting out or transitioning to a different task management app. Zoho Projects offers a tour of its platform the moment you sign in for the first time. There are also helpful example project templates that give you an idea on how to create and manage tasks in the program. Even without these guides, Zoho Projects is intuitive to use. Navigation makes sense from the start. The left-hand menu includes categories such as feed, discuss, reports, and projects, so it’s easy to figure out where features live.
Creating a task in Zoho Projects is easy. There’s a button at the top right of your project screen, or you can click a plus sign to add a new task from the kanban view or click on a blank line in the list view. Within a task card are a variety of fields that also make sense for project managers: due dates, statuses, start date and duration, tags, priorities, a description box, and a section for comments and documents or files.
Automations are also simple to use and require zero coding. Decide what you want Zoho to do when a certain event takes place. For example, when a task is updated, notify the owner of that task. You can add other conditions to a trigger and more actions through drop-down menus with options.
Zoho Projects offers three subscription plans: Free, Premium, and Enterprise. The forever-free plan is packed with valuable features including integrations to help extend the functionality of the plan. Zoho Projects starts at $4 per user per month (billed annually), but it only goes up to $9 per user per month (billed annually) for its Enterprise plan, which is part of the reason why it gets a 4.44 score in pricing. The only other task management software that scores higher is ClickUp because it doesn’t limit users, while Zoho Projects only allows three users on its free plan.
Zoho Projects subscription tiers
Free
Premium
Enterprise
Forever-free plan:
- Up to three users
- 2 projects
- 5 GB storage
- Basic reports
- Pre-built templates
- Subtasks and dependencies
- Slack, MS Teams, Google, and Office 365 integrations
$4 per user, per month*:
- Unlimited projects
- 100 GB storage
- Advanced reports
- Custom views
- Task duration and reminders
- Time tracking
- Recurring tasks
- Budgeting
- AI-powered chatbot
- Most Zoho integrations
$9 per user, per month*:
Everything in Premium, and:
- 120 GB storage
- 10 read-only users
- User hierarchy/permissions
- Baseline and critical path
- 155 project custom fields
- 255 task custom fields
- Read-only users for Enterprise plan users: $10 per five users, per month*
- Personalize quote required for businesses with 5,000+ users
*Pricing is based on annual payment up front
ClickUp: Best for overall value
Overall Score
3.62/5
User Reviews
4.53/5
Pricing
4.69/5
Ease of Use
3/5
Functionality
3.94/5
Customization
2.94/5
Advanced Features
3.75/5
Pros
- Offers a generous free plan with most features
- Automations allowed on all plans
- Built-in time tracking for all plans
- 2FA available for all plans
Cons
- Limited feature use on free and low-priced plans
- AI tools are a paid add-on
- No permission settings on free plan
Why I chose ClickUp
It’s hard to deny the usability and value of ClickUp. The free plan is chock full of features, which I love. However, a lot of the features you have access to are limited by uses. Sure, I was able to use a Gantt chart, but once I use 60, that’s it. There’s no monthly limit or any way to reset the uses. I’d have to upgrade to a paid plan to be able to use some features again. With all that said, ClickUp is affordable.
I would happily pay $7 per user, per month (billed annually) to unlock more advanced features and limits. And the entry-level plan provides more of the tools I want for task and project management including permission settings for guests, time tracking, and resource management. Still, limits exist for many of the features. And with that said, the most valuable plan is Business at $12 per user, per month (billed annually). It’s a reasonable price to lift most limits.
ClickUp is one of the best known task management software solutions around. It works well as an all-in-one work management system with an emphasis on project and task management. Many users and experts agree that it has an incredible value-to-cost ratio, and its free plan is generous enough for individual use. As much praise as ClickUp gets for its forever-free plan, it isn’t viable to use forever because many of the features with limits don’t reset the limits. So if you run out of the 60 uses of the time-tracking feature, which is likely to happen in a couple of months, you’re stuck with no time tracking unless you upgrade.
The value of ClickUp doesn’t end with the free plan, though. Paid plans are affordable and full of features that go beyond basic task management. There’s proofing with annotation, a variety of reports (including one for billing), timesheets, time estimates, forms, whiteboards, and built-in chat. Theoretically, you could treat ClickUp as your core business software and fill in with third-party apps that integrate to support.
The newest feature in ClickUp is the AI assistant. Use it to find anything in your ClickUp workspace, get updates on any task or project instantly, create content, and get automation recommendations. All of this is free to try. To continue using it, it costs $7 per user per month (billed annually), in addition to your paid plan cost.
Value-to-cost ratio
Considering the number of features you get on the free and entry-level plans, ClickUp is one of the most valuable task management tools in the industry. Some may say that the limits imposed on these plans are designed to force you to upgrade to continue getting the value you want from the platform, and it’s a fair point. However, when you consider the cost of the Business plan at $12 per user per month (billed annually), it’s still rather affordable compared to other task management software such as monday.com or Asana.
AI features
ClickUp offers an add-on that, while pricey, may be worth it for reducing the manual work you do with task management. ClickUp Brain, which the company calls its AI, helps you find, automate, and produce within the platform. Use it to create descriptions for tasks, add subtasks, transcribe video and audio recordings, and create automated workflows based on the work you do.
ClickUp’s value can be found at all of its four plan levels: Free, Unlimited, Business, and Enterprise plans. The forever-free plan offers enough features to make it viable for an individual or a small team, but you may outgrow it quickly. The paid plans range from $7 per user per month (billed annually) to $12 per user per month (billed annually); the Enterprise plan is by custom quote only. The pricing model may be frustrating if you see a feature locked behind a higher-priced plan, but compared to the industry standard, it’s an affordable range.
ClickUp subscription tiers
Free
Unlimited
Business
Enterprise
Forever-free plan:
- Unlimited users and tasks
- Five spaces
- 100 MB file uploads
- 2FA
- 100 automations (five active)
- 60 Gantt, workload, timeline, and mind map views
- Real-time chat
- Custom fields and statuses
- 24/7 support
$7 per user, per month*:
Everything in Free, and:
- Unlimited spaces
- Unlimited storage
- Guest access
- Custom fields, statuses, and task types
- Gantt view
- 100 timeline, workload, map, and mind map views
- 1,000 automations (500 active)
- Storage app integrations
$12 per user, per month*:
Everything in Plus, and:
- Unlimited views
- Custom ID tasks
- 10,000 automations (unlimited active)
- Private documents
- Timesheets
- WIP limits
- 2FA with SMS
- Google SSO
Custom quote
Everything in Business, and:
- 250,000 automations (unlimited active)
- White labeling
- Conditional logic forms
- Multiple SSO options
- Session management
- Custom roles
- Priority support
- Customer success manager
ClickUp add-ons:
- ClickUp Brain (AI tools): $7 per user per month*
- HIPAA compliance: Custom quote
- Contract and legal review: Custom quote
*Pricing is based on annual payment up front.
monday.com: Best for customization
Overall Score
3.43/5
User Reviews
4.5/5
Pricing
4.44/5
Ease of Use
3.44/5
Functionality
3.13/5
Customization
2.81/5
Advanced Features
3.25/5
Pros
- Fully customizable boards
- Clean interface with bold colors
- Forms included in all plans
- 2FA on all plans
Cons
- Minimum user requirements
- Mobile app isn’t as functional as desktop
- No automations or integrations on free or entry-level plan
Why I chose monday.com
Full disclosure: I’ve used monday for years. As a task management software solution, it’s fantastic because you can customize it to fit your needs precisely. I’ve started from scratch with a board and built out columns and rows as I wanted, but I prefer using a template because it saves so much time. I’m also a big fan of the collaboration tools on monday.com, though I tend to go back to using Google Docs for collaboration because it’s just better. I find monday.com easy to use, but there are a few areas in which the platform could improve.
In my opinion, monday can be overwhelming when you first use it, much like Notion; when you can do anything, where do you start? This is why I give monday.com more credit for providing more than 200 templates to give you a jumping off point. My biggest complaints about monday.com are its pricing model (user minimums are cruel), its separate apps (monday work management, monday dev, and monday CRM), and that it hides many of its best features behind a mid- to high-tier plan. Yes, I do want automations; but no, I do not want to pay $36 per month minimum and only get 250 actions per month.
monday.com is all about project and task management. The platform is designed to help you organize and streamline your specific workflows, so the emphasis of monday.com is on these spreadsheet-like boards that you can fully customize. Collaboration is also key in monday.com, so there are unlimited documents you can use regardless of which plan you choose.
Every plan comes with access to the list and kanban view so you can see your tasks as you prefer. The higher-level plans gain access to timeline (aka Gantt), calendar, map, and chart views. The free and low-tier plans work well for an individual user managing their own work but aren’t suitable for a business. Many of monday.com’s security features are locked behind the two highest tiers, which get pricey when you have multiple team members — you’d have to pay $760 per month for 31–40 users at minimum for the Pro plan. The kicker is that you won’t even get an audit log, HIPAA compliance, or premium integrations (Salesforce and Jira).
Customization
One of the best features of monday.com is its overall customization. You can make your boards look and perform however you want to make task management more streamlined for your team. Create the columns, fields, and statuses you need. The color coding of statuses makes it easy to quickly see what needs your attention right away.
With so much customization, monday.com may become complicated and overwhelming. Thankfully, there are more than 200 templates you can use to get your boards started.
Task dependencies
The way monday.com handles task dependencies is unique. You can create them on the timeline view in the traditional way, but there’s also an option to add dependencies via a column. Simply choose the tasks that rely on another task to be completed and monday.com sorts the rest of it out for you. It’s a big time saver, and it helps project managers who prefer to stick to a list view rather than timeline.
However, this form of task management on monday.com is somewhat a double-edged sword. The platform handles simple task management for a small business just fine. More complex project management needs are also doable, but it costs more money. So if you only need list and kanban views, monday.com can work well at the Basic plan level. However, if you need a timeline or Gantt view, you need to upgrade to at least the mid-tier plan. The rub is that task dependency columns aren’t allowed until the Pro plan.
The pricing structure of monday.com can be confusing because it requires a minimum user count for each paid plan. The plans available include Free, Basic, Standard, Pro, and Enterprise. The Free plan allows up to two users and is free forever, which is good for individuals. The Basic plan starts at $9 per user per month (billed annually), but it requires at least three users, so the minimum price is $27 per month. The other plans range from $12 to $19 per user per month (billed annually) with the same minimum user requirement, so it would be $36 to $57 per month.
There are a few points to note about monday.com’s pricing structure beyond the user minimum. If you have a business with 16 people who need to use the platform, you’d have to pay for 20 users, which is $180 to $380 per month (billed annually), so for 16 people, that would be $11.25 to $23.75 per user per month, which is more expensive than most of monday.com’s competitors. If you actually have 20 users, it’s a bit more on par with what’s average for the industry at $9 to $19 per user per month.
While monday.com is a scalable solution, the pricing plans are designed to force you to upgrade. For example, a Gantt view at the mid-tier plan is great, but you won’t get a dependency column until you upgrade to the Pro plan.
monday.com subscription tiers
Free
Basic
Standard
Pro
Enterprise
Forever-free plan:
- Two users
- Three boards
- Unlimited documents
- Up to 1,000 items
- 500 MB storage
- Form creation
- 1 week activity log
- Basic dashboards (1 board)
$9 per user, per month*+:
- Unlimited items
- 5 GB storage
- Unlimited boards
- Custom fields
- 24/7 support
$12 per user, per month*+:
Everything in Basic, and:
- Six-month activity log
- 20 GB storage
- 250 automations and integrations
- Guest access (4 billed as one user)
- Timeline, calendar, and map views
- Basic dashboards (five boards)
$19 per user, per month*+:
Everything in Standard, and:
- One year activity log
- 100 GB storage
- 25,000 automations and integrations
- Free guest access
- Custom branded forms
- Time tracking
- Dependency and formula columns
- Workload management
- Chart view
- Basic dashboards (10 boards)
Custom quote
Everything in Pro and:
- Five years activity log
- 1 TB storage
- 250,000 automations and integrations
- Salesforce and Jira integrations
- Customer success manager
- HIPAA compliance
- SSO
- Audit log
- Advanced dashboards and reporting (50 boards)
monday.com
*Pricing is based on annual payment up front
+Three-user minimum
Todoist: Best for simple to-do lists
Overall Score
3.09/5
User Reviews
4.55/5
Pricing
3.81/5
Ease of Use
3.06/5
Functionality
3.44/5
Customization
2.31/5
Advanced Features
2.5/5
Pros
- Intuitive interface
- Includes helpful templates for all plans
- Allows up to five collaborators per project
- Recurring due dates on all plans
- Built-in AI for task creation
Cons
- Functionality can be clunky at times
- Not powerful enough for complex task management
Why I chose Todoist
I’ve spent hours using Todoist for personal and work projects, which is why I have mixed opinions on the to-do app. On one hand, Todoist is very simple to use: I was able to set up four projects with multiple tasks complete with due dates, labels, and assigned tasks to my partners in my household. However, I couldn’t add files to a task except via a comment. Also, I couldn’t quickly apply a label to a task at the board or list level; I had to click on each task to add a label.
Though Todoist can be frustrating to use at times because it doesn’t adapt to fit my working style, it’s also a big time saver and so easy to use at other times. For example, I connected my Google calendar with a few clicks and now I have a two-way sync, so I have no excuse for not completing a task on time. Also, setting up recurring tasks was as easy as typing as I talk: “Dog meds every 20th of the month at 7 p.m.” created a task every month at the exact time with nothing else for me to click or type.
Todoist is aptly named: it is a to-do list app that can serve well as task management software for individuals or small businesses. The platform’s interface is clean and simple, which means you aren’t likely to feel overwhelmed by several features. It’s enough for task management, but it lacks some features to make it a good choice for project management.
There are several common and a few unique features in Todoist that might make it your go-to to-do app. Like all of the best task management software, Todoist lets you connect to a Google calendar so the two apps can exchange data. You can set recurring due dates for tasks you need to complete every day, every week, or any other type of recurrence. Todoist includes a personal goal tracker called Karma, which awards you points when you complete tasks on time. It’s a small gamification feature that can help keep you on track.
One of the great things about Todoist is that it doesn’t gatekeep integrations. All users can connect more than 90 other apps to their Todoist account to extend its functionality. Todoist is mostly meant for individuals and households, but the Business plan includes team functionality so you can manage tasks for teams, which seems ideal for a freelancer manager or a small marketing team.
Ease of use
Todoist is one of the easiest task management programs to use. It’s instantly intuitive for most of its features. You can start by adding a task from the left-hand navigation menu, or create a project and fill it in with tasks. As you add tasks, you can assign them, set due dates, and add labels and priorities. Todoist kind of handles the rest. If you want a recurring task, just type the task name as you would say it and Todoist will add a recurring rule to your task. Make a task an urgent priority and it floats to the top of your to-do list.
Despite all of Todoist’s user-friendliness, it doesn’t always work as you may want. Once you create a label, Todoist spits you out to the label to add tasks to it. You can’t just keep creating labels one after another, like you can with tasks. This may break your flow. Also, you can’t quickly apply labels to multiple tasks from a list or board view; rather, you have to click on each task to do it. So, Todoist is easy but sometimes tedious.
Templates
One of the best ways to get started with Todoist is with a template. Not only are these templates quick starts for projects or lists, they also act as walkthrough guides. You can follow the tasks within templates to learn how to create recurring tasks, how to add files (only through comments), and how to archive tasks or sections.
Todoist is one of the most affordable task management apps available. There are only three plans — Beginner, Pro, and Business — which means it isn’t the most scalable option for businesses. The Beginner plan is forever free and is perfect for individuals and households that want to track personal projects. The Pro plan costs $4 per user per month (billed annually) and includes more features to help with task management including task reminders and duration. The Business plan costs $6 per user per month (billed annually), making it the most affordable top-tier plan among Todoist competitors (even Zoho Projects). It earned a lower score at 3.81 because it isn’t super scalable and it limits free users.
Todoist subscription tiers
Beginner
Pro
Business
Forever-free plan:
- Five personal projects
- List and board views
- 1 week activity log
- 90+ integrations
- Up to five collaborators
- 5 MB upload storage
- Recurring due dates
- Labels and priorities
$4 per user, per month*:
- 300 personal projects
- Task reminders
- Task duration
- 100 MB upload storage
- Calendar view
- AI assistant
- Automatic backups
- Unlimited activity history
$6 per user, per month*:
Everything in Pro, and:
- 300 personal projects per team member
- Team workspace and projects
- 1,000 team member and guest limit
- Team role permission settings
*Pricing is based on annual payment up front
Find your new task management software
How much does task management software cost?
Pricing for task management software sometimes varies wildly, but there is an industry average. Most task management tools follow the same pricing structure of tiers of plans at different monthly per-user costs. There are some outliers, such as Basecamp, that charge a flat fee. Below is a comparison chart to show you what you can expect to pay per user on a monthly basis, if paid in full annually upfront.
| Notion | Zoho Projects | ClickUp | monday.com | Todoist | Trello | Wrike | Teamwork | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free plan | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Starting monthly price* | $10 per user | $4 per user | $7 per user | $9 per user** | $4 per user | $5 per user | $10.00 per user | $10.99 per user** |
| High-tier monthly price* | $15 per user | $9 per user | $12 per user | $19 per user** | $6 per user | $17.50 per user | $25 per user | $54.99 per user*** |
*Paid annually
**Three-user minimum
***Five-user minimum
The average cost for an entry-level plan is about $7.50 per user, per month (billed annually). The high-tier plans average to about $20 per user, per month (billed annually). Keep in mind that both monday.com and Teamwork have user minimum requirements, so you’d pay a higher monthly price with either of those task management solutions.
It’s important to note that only Trello, Todoist, and Zoho Projects are transparent about their enterprise-level plans; all other software listed above require you to contact sales for a custom quote.
What is task management software?
Task management software enables users to create, organize, and prioritize tasks, usually within a larger project, for personal use or for a team. Though task management tools are typically simpler in design than standard project management software, they can be more affordable, easier to use, and help teams collaborate to share the work and hit deadlines.
Many task management programs are part of larger all-in-one work management operating systems (OS) or project management tools, which means you should be able to manage tasks and complex projects from one platform. Typically, task management software providers offer a limited free plan for users but include more advanced features on paid plans, making them scalable as your business grows.
What are the benefits of task management software?
Visibility and trust
Tracking tasks through an activity feed acts as a running tab on work that’s moving down a pipeline or being completed. Task management software helps bring clear visibility to projects by keeping you aware of who’s doing what and when through features like notifications, mentions, and comments. With all the updates available, managers can avoid micromanaging, which helps foster trust and autonomy among your team.
More mental bandwidth
Trying to remember all the tasks you have to do in your personal life is hard enough and adding work tasks on top of that means something’s going to give. Using task management software, personally or professionally, can help you track all of your to-dos without letting anything slip through the cracks.
Improved processes
When you have multiple views of a project and the tasks associated with said project, you can see how well or not so well things are going. The result: you can triage the urgent needs and then study what worked and what didn’t. This bird’s-eye view can help you improve processes whether you’re in the weeds of a big project or starting a string of tasks for a new endeavor.
Time savings
Reclaim your time and focus by using task management software effectively. Having a centralized software for tasks can help managers and employees stay organized, improve communication, and avoid delays.
Flexibility
One of the best things about the best task management software today is how flexible it is for individuals, teams, and businesses. Whether you’re more concerned about tasks you have due, tasks your team needs to complete, or the progress of multiple projects, task management software can show you everything you need on a customizable dashboard. Most include different views to suit the way you work or for the data you need.
Enhanced collaboration and communication
Task management software enables team members to collaborate in real time, share files, and communicate seamlessly. It centralizes all project-related information, making it accessible to everyone involved. This fosters transparency and ensures everyone is on the same page, reducing misunderstandings and enhancing overall productivity.
Improved task tracking and prioritization
Task management software can easily prioritize, track, and assign tasks. Managers can set deadlines, monitor progress, and make adjustments as needed. This leads to better organization and ensures that critical tasks are addressed promptly. Visual tools like Gantt charts and kanban boards provide a clear picture of the project’s status, helping in timely decision-making.
Increased efficiency and time management
Task management software automates repetitive tasks and provides templates for common project activities. This saves time and allows team members to focus on more critical aspects of the project. Providing an overview of all tasks and their statuses helps identify bottlenecks and reallocate resources as needed, leading to more efficient use of time and quicker project completion.
Also read: Best Free Project Management Software (2024)
What is the business impact of task management software?
Task management software in the business environment is not just a tool for organizing tasks; it’s a strategic investment that can transform a company’s operations. Investing in task management software is akin to investing in the company’s future productivity and success. It ensures that resources are utilized effectively, deadlines are met, and projects are executed precisely, all contributing to a healthy bottom line.
One of the primary benefits of task management software is its ability to foster collaboration across teams and departments. Providing a shared platform where team members can communicate, share files, and update task statuses breaks down silos and encourages a more cohesive working environment. This leads to faster decision-making, fewer misunderstandings, and a more agile response to challenges.
Task management software also plays a critical role in enhancing efficiency and accountability. Managers can easily assign tasks, set priorities, and monitor progress, ensuring nothing falls through the cracks. This level of visibility keeps projects on track and fosters a culture of accountability and excellence. The result is a more engaged and productive workforce that is aligned with the company’s goals and committed to delivering exceptional results.
What are the key features of task management software?
Subtasks
Just as you need tasks to break a project into smaller, more manageable pieces of work, you also need subtasks that nest under a parent task to break it down. This also provides a quick visual indicator of the work that goes into a task and its progress before completion.
Alerts and notifications
Most people cannot remember every task they have to do every day, which is why notifications are important. Also, these are helpful if you’re part of a chain of responsibility for a task such as for approvals, edits, or moving something to a new stage of development.
Reporting and analytics
With the right set of reports you can better understand where resources are spread and how to better utilize your team or budget.
Automation and workflows
Some automations are built into software and need no direction or setup from you (notifications or recurring tasks, for example). However, many task management tools include workflow builders, so you can create duplicate tasks to populate a column or list on the first day of the month or to move a task that’s marked as complete to a specific board or column for the next person. It’s a time-saving feature that reduces the more mundane work project managers have to do.
Task visualization tools
If you’re used to using spreadsheets to manage tasks, a list view may work well for you. Some people are more visual and prefer to have cards in columns in a kanban view. Calendar views are great for mapping out a project over a week or a month. Gantt charts let you visualize a whole project worth of tasks over a longer period of time along with task dependencies.
Integrations to connect apps
Although there are plenty of project management tools available that attempt to be all-in-one solutions, not one has everything you need. Look for task management software that includes key integrations not locked behind the highest tier such as email (Google and Microsoft Outlook), communication tools (Zoom), CRM and HR software, and collaboration software (Slack or Loom).
Choosing the best task management software
Choosing the best task management software requires an understanding of your team’s specific needs and goals. For best results when selecting a task management solution, evaluate features like collaboration tools, tracking capabilities, customization, and integration with existing systems. Also consider the software’s user-friendliness, its scalability, and how its pricing models align with your budget. To find the best fit for you and your team, opt for a solution that offers a trial or demo, allowing you to test its suitability for your workflow and ensuring it aligns with your project management requirements.
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