Picking Project Management Software That Doesn't Suck
Watched a startup fall apart last year. Good team, solid product idea. Total chaos.
Tasks scattered in Trello. Docs somewhere in Google Drive. Meeting notes in Notion. Discussions buried in Slack threads. Nobody could find anything. Deadlines? Missed constantly. Three months later, half the team quit.
Wrong tool kills teams. Or having five different tools does the same thing.
Tested fifteen project management platforms over three months with real remote teams spread across multiple time zones. Setup time. Learning curves. Mobile apps that actually work. What matters when you can't just walk over to someone's desk.
Short answer: Notion is what I use daily. Handles everything in one spot. ClickUp if you need heavy features. Asana for big teams. Read our detailed Notion review if you want the full breakdown.
Quick Picks
Short on time? Here's what works:
| Tool | Best For | Price | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Notion | Small-medium teams | $8/user/mo | 9.5/10 | Try Free |
| ClickUp | Power users | $7/user/mo | 9.2/10 | Try Free |
| Asana | Growing teams | $10.99/user/mo | 9.0/10 | Try Free |
All three have free tiers. Test with your actual projects before paying. Keep reading for why these eight tools made the list.
How I Tested These
Picking software isn't about checking feature boxes. It's finding what fits how your team actually operates.
What I focused on:
Setup speed: Can someone new get productive fast?
Remote features: Async updates, timezone stuff, mobile that doesn't crash
Flexible vs structured: Does it bend to your workflow?
Integrations: Slack, Google, GitHub, all that
Value: What you get at each price point
Mobile: Matters when you're working from airports
Talked to fifty-plus remote teams. Their feedback shaped these picks.
The Tools
Notion
This runs on my laptop right now. Has for about eight months.
Not flashy. Just works. Built my entire workspace here. Project boards next to documentation next to meeting notes. Everything searchable. One login instead of five different apps.
What sold me: flexibility. Traditional PM tools lock you into their structure. Notion lets you build exactly what your team needs. Simple kanban board? Sure. Complex database with twenty custom fields? Also fine.
What's good:
Database views: kanban, table, calendar, gallery, timeline. Switch between them instantly.
Documentation built in. Embed videos, code blocks, files. Fifty-plus block types.
Templates get you started fast or build your own.
Real-time collab. See teammates' cursors while they edit.
Connects with Slack, Zapier, hundred-plus tools.
AI features for writing and summarizing.
Free for individuals with unlimited pages. Eight bucks per user monthly for teams on Plus. Fifteen for Business tier.
Works for small to medium remote teams. Five to fifty people who want flexibility and will spend time setting it up right. Perfect for async teams that document everything.
Skip it if you need strict project tracking with Gantt charts and resource management. Also if your team hates learning new software. Notion has a learning curve.
Try Notion Free — No Credit Card Required2. ClickUp — Most Feature-Rich Option
ClickUp tries to be everything to everyone—and largely succeeds. If you can imagine a feature, ClickUp probably has it. This makes it incredibly powerful but also means a steeper learning curve.
What makes ClickUp stand out: The sheer breadth of features at an affordable price. You get docs, whiteboards, goals, time tracking, mind maps, and more—all included in plans that cost less than competitors.
Key features:
- Everything Views: List, board, Gantt, calendar, timeline, workload, and more
- Custom fields and statuses: Adapt ClickUp to match any workflow
- Built-in time tracking: Track time on tasks without third-party tools
- Goals and OKRs: Connect daily tasks to company objectives
- Docs and whiteboards: Create documents and collaborate visually
- Automation: 100+ automation templates to reduce manual work
Pricing: Free tier (unlimited tasks and members with 100MB storage), $7/user/month (Unlimited), $12/user/month (Business).
Best for: Power users and teams who want maximum features at minimum cost. Great for teams with complex workflows who'll use the advanced capabilities.
Not ideal for: Teams that want simplicity. ClickUp's feature density can be overwhelming. If you just need basic task management, simpler tools will serve you better.
Try ClickUp Free — Unlimited Tasks3. Asana — Best for Growing Teams
Asana strikes the sweet spot between power and usability. It's structured enough to keep large teams organized but intuitive enough that new members can contribute immediately.
What makes Asana stand out: The balance of features and user experience. Asana has invested heavily in making complex features accessible, with excellent onboarding and a clean interface.
Key features:
- Multiple views: List, board, timeline (Gantt), and calendar views
- Workload management: See team capacity and prevent burnout
- Portfolios: Track multiple projects and their status at a glance
- Goals: Connect work to company objectives with clear progress tracking
- Rules and automation: Automate routine tasks and status updates
- Excellent integrations: 200+ apps including Slack, Google, Microsoft
Pricing: Free for up to 15 users (basic features), $10.99/user/month (Premium), $24.99/user/month (Business).
Best for: Growing teams of 15-100+ who need structure. Excellent for teams scaling up who want a tool that grows with them.
Not ideal for: Very small teams (the free tier is generous but limited) or teams who want all-in-one workspace features like Notion provides.
Start with Asana Free4. Monday.com — Best Visual Workflows
Monday.com stands out with its colorful, highly visual approach to project management. If your team thinks visually and wants to see status at a glance, Monday's boards are immediately intuitive.
What makes Monday stand out: The visual design and flexibility. Monday.com uses a spreadsheet-like board structure that's surprisingly powerful once you understand it. Color-coding and visual status indicators make it easy to spot issues.
Key features:
- Visual boards: Colorful, customizable project views
- Workdocs: Collaborative documents embedded in your workflow
- Automations: No-code automation builder with 200+ templates
- Dashboards: Create custom reports and visualizations
- Time tracking: Built-in time logging for tasks
- Forms: Collect information directly into your boards
Pricing: Free for up to 2 users, $9/seat/month (Basic), $12/seat/month (Standard), $19/seat/month (Pro).
Best for: Visual thinkers and teams who want colorful, easy-to-understand project boards. Great for marketing teams, agencies, and creative workflows.
Not ideal for: Very small teams (free tier limited to 2 users) or teams on tight budgets (gets expensive quickly as you add features).
Try Monday.com Free5. Trello — Best Simple Kanban
Trello pioneered the digital kanban board and remains the simplest way to visualize workflows. If you want to get started in 5 minutes with zero learning curve, Trello delivers.
What makes Trello stand out: Pure simplicity. Boards, lists, and cards—that's it. This constraint is actually Trello's strength. Everyone understands it immediately, and there's nothing to configure.
Key features:
- Kanban boards: Drag-and-drop cards across lists
- Power-Ups: Add functionality like calendars, voting, custom fields
- Butler automation: Simple rules to automate card movements
- Templates: Pre-built boards for common use cases
- Mobile apps: Excellent iOS and Android experience
Pricing: Free (unlimited cards and members, 10 boards), $5/user/month (Standard), $10/user/month (Premium).
Best for: Small teams or individuals who want dead-simple task tracking. Perfect for personal projects, small team collaboration, and anyone who doesn't want complexity.
Not ideal for: Complex projects, large teams, or anyone who needs reporting, timelines, or advanced features. Trello is intentionally limited.
Get Started with Trello Free6. Basecamp — Best for Agencies & Consultants
Basecamp takes a deliberately different approach. Instead of piling on features, it provides a curated set of tools that work together seamlessly. This opinionated design works exceptionally well for agencies and consultants managing client projects.
What makes Basecamp stand out: Client access and project organization. You can invite clients to specific projects, control what they see, and keep all communication in one place. The flat pricing model also makes costs predictable.
Key features:
- Message boards: Long-form discussions organized by project
- To-dos: Simple task lists with assignments and due dates
- Schedule: Shared calendar for milestones and events
- Docs & files: Centralized document storage per project
- Check-ins: Automated questions (like "What did you work on today?")
- Client access: Invite clients with controlled permissions
Pricing: $15/user/month (Basecamp), $299/month flat for unlimited users (Basecamp Pro Unlimited).
Best for: Agencies, consultants, and teams who work with external clients. The flat pricing is excellent for larger teams or companies with many collaborators.
Not ideal for: Teams who want advanced project tracking, Gantt charts, or heavy customization. Basecamp is opinionated about how work should be done.
Try Basecamp Free7. Linear — Best for Software Teams
Linear has taken the software development world by storm with its fast, keyboard-driven interface. If your team builds software and values speed above all else, Linear is worth serious consideration.
What makes Linear stand out: Speed and developer experience. Everything in Linear is optimized for keyboard shortcuts and fast navigation. The interface is beautiful and performant, making issue tracking feel effortless.
Key features:
- Lightning-fast UI: Instant loading and keyboard-first navigation
- Cycles: Built-in sprint planning and tracking
- Roadmaps: Visual product roadmap planning
- GitHub/GitLab integration: Deep integration with code repositories
- Issue templates: Standardize bug reports and feature requests
- API: Powerful API for custom workflows
Pricing: Free for up to 250 issues, $8/user/month (Standard), $14/user/month (Plus).
Best for: Software development teams, especially startups and product teams who value speed and modern design.
Not ideal for: Non-technical teams or organizations that need traditional project management features. Linear is purpose-built for software development.
Try Linear Free8. Jira — Best for Enterprise Dev Teams
Jira is the industry standard for software development project management, especially in larger organizations. It's powerful, highly configurable, and integrates deeply with the Atlassian ecosystem.
What makes Jira stand out: Enterprise-grade features and flexibility. Jira can handle complex workflows, multiple teams, and sophisticated reporting requirements. It's also battle-tested at massive scale.
Key features:
- Scrum and Kanban boards: Full agile workflow support
- Advanced roadmaps: Plan across teams with dependency tracking
- Custom workflows: Build complex approval and status flows
- Reporting: Burndown charts, velocity reports, and more
- Atlassian ecosystem: Seamless integration with Confluence, Bitbucket
- Marketplace: Thousands of apps and integrations
Pricing: Free for up to 10 users, $7.75/user/month (Standard), $15.25/user/month (Premium).
Best for: Larger development teams and enterprises who need powerful, configurable project tracking with strong agile support.
Not ideal for: Small teams or non-technical users. Jira's power comes with complexity—it requires significant setup and administration.
Start with Jira FreeHow to Choose the Right Tool
With so many solid options, how do you pick the right one? Here's our decision framework:
By Team Size
- Solo or 2-5 people: Notion, Trello, or Linear (software)
- 5-15 people: Notion, ClickUp, or Asana Free
- 15-50 people: Asana, ClickUp, or Monday.com
- 50+ people: Asana, Monday.com, or Jira (software)
By Primary Need
- All-in-one workspace (docs + projects): Notion
- Maximum features at low cost: ClickUp
- Balance of power and simplicity: Asana
- Visual project tracking: Monday.com
- Dead-simple kanban: Trello
- Client project management: Basecamp
- Software development (fast): Linear
- Software development (enterprise): Jira
By Budget
- Free: Notion (individuals), Asana (up to 15), ClickUp, Trello
- Under $10/user/month: Notion ($8), ClickUp ($7), Linear ($8)
- $10-15/user/month: Asana ($10.99), Monday.com ($12)
- Flat pricing: Basecamp ($299/month unlimited)
Our Recommendation Process
- Start with your workflow: What does your team actually do day-to-day?
- Test with real projects: Use free tiers with actual work, not toy examples
- Involve the team: The best tool is one people actually use
- Give it 2-3 weeks: Initial impressions can be misleading
- Don't over-optimize: A good tool you actually use beats a perfect tool you don't
Frequently Asked Questions
Notion offers the best free tier for individuals and small teams with unlimited pages and blocks. For teams specifically, Asana supports up to 15 users on their free plan with essential project management features. ClickUp also has a generous free tier with unlimited tasks and members, though with 100MB storage limit.
If you just need simple task boards, Trello remains excellent for unlimited boards and cards on their free plan.
Project management software can significantly reduce internal email—most teams report a 40-60% reduction after adoption. Tools like Asana, Monday.com, and ClickUp include comments, @mentions, and notifications that replace many status update emails.
However, you'll still need email for external communication with clients, vendors, and partners. The best approach is using PM software for internal project discussions while keeping email for external conversations.
For remote teams, we recommend Notion as the top choice because it's designed for asynchronous work. Everything is documented, searchable, and accessible from anywhere. Its flexibility lets you create wikis, docs, and project boards in one place.
Asana is excellent for remote teams that need more structured project tracking with features like Timeline views and Workload management. ClickUp works well for remote teams that want maximum customization.
Most project management tools cost $7-15 per user per month for standard plans. For a team of 10, expect to pay $70-150/month. Enterprise plans with advanced features typically cost $20-30/user/month.
Many tools offer generous free tiers: Notion (unlimited for individuals), Asana (up to 15 users), ClickUp (unlimited users with limits), and Trello (unlimited boards). We recommend starting with free tiers to evaluate before committing to paid plans.
Yes, absolutely. Slack is excellent for real-time communication but terrible for project tracking. Conversations get buried, tasks fall through the cracks, and there's no single source of truth for project status.
Think of it this way: Slack is for discussions, project management software is for decisions and deliverables. Most successful remote teams use both—Slack for quick conversations and PM software for tracking actual work. Many PM tools integrate directly with Slack for seamless updates.
Traditional PM tools like Asana, Monday.com, and Jira are purpose-built for project and task management with structured workflows, timelines, and reporting.
Notion is fundamentally different—it's a flexible workspace where you can build your own project management system alongside documentation, wikis, meeting notes, and more. This makes Notion incredibly versatile but requires more setup time.
Choose traditional PM tools if you want ready-made project structures. Choose Notion if you want flexibility and an all-in-one workspace.
Yes, most tools support importing data from competitors. Notion, ClickUp, and Asana all have import features for common formats like CSV, Trello boards, and Asana exports.
However, expect the migration to take time—typically 1-2 weeks for a small team, longer for larger organizations. Some information (like comments and attachments) may not transfer perfectly. We recommend running both tools in parallel for 2-4 weeks during transition.
All major PM tools (Notion, ClickUp, Asana, Monday.com) use enterprise-grade security including encryption at rest and in transit, SOC 2 compliance, and regular security audits.
For highly sensitive data, look for tools offering: SSO (Single Sign-On), 2FA enforcement, audit logs, data residency options, and HIPAA compliance if needed. Enterprise plans typically include advanced security features and dedicated support.
Final Recommendations
After extensive testing, here are our final recommendations:
For most remote teams: Start with Notion. Its flexibility, generous free tier, and all-in-one approach make it the safest choice. You can always add more specialized tools later if needed.
For teams wanting maximum features: ClickUp delivers more functionality per dollar than any competitor. Just be prepared for a learning curve.
For growing teams that need structure: Asana provides the best balance of power and usability, with a clear upgrade path as you scale.
The best project management tool is one your team will actually use. Take advantage of free trials, test with real workflows, and involve your team in the decision.
Try Notion Free — Our #1 Pick
