Best project management software: 11 tools compared

85% of Fortune 100 companies choose Asana¹

• What counts as project management software
• The 11 tools at a glance
• Features to look for in your project management tool
• The 11 best project management tools, compared
• Why use project management software?
• How to choose the right project management software for your team
• Choosing the tool your team will still be using next year
• FAQs about project management software

Key takeaways:

There’s no single best project management software; it depends on how your team works and where you’re outgrowing your current software. Based on how your teams work together, the best option for cross-functional teams that need to connect daily work to strategic milestones is Asana.

In addition to Asana, the best software for departments that each shape their own workflow inside one shared system is monday.com, and the best for consolidating several tools at a low entry seat price is ClickUp. Jira is best for software teams running sprints against a backlog, and Trello is best for small teams that want simple visual tracking with almost no setup. The best option for spreadsheet-driven PMOs tracking budgets and schedules is Smartsheet, and Adobe Workfront is best for enterprise marketing and creative operations. Finally, the best software for teams that use Microsoft 365 is Microsoft Planner.

Your marketing team has been begging for a calendar view, but the engineers need an agile board, and you’re overwhelmed by ops requests buried in Slack threads, email chains, and one old sticky note. If you’re choosing project management software your whole team will use, it needs to solve every team’s pain points.

We compared 10 project management software platforms based on how they operate, what they cost, what their AI features do, and what limitations they have.

Asana wrote this guide. We last reviewed every tool in October 2026 and held Asana to the same criteria as the rest, including the areas where another type of tool does better.

The journey of AI adoption is no longer uncharted territory. Supported by research from our Work Innovation Lab in partnership with frontier AI safety and research company, Anthropic, this guide offers a how-to for navigating the journey of AI adoption.

What counts as project management software

Project management software is a digital tool that helps teams organize, track, and complete work on a single centralized platform. It replaces scattered spreadsheets and emails with a shared workspace where teams can collaborate, assign tasks, set deadlines, and monitor progress in real time.

Project management software typically includes features like an API for custom integrations, as well as:

• Task management: Create, assign, and track individual tasks.

Task management: Create, assign, and track individual tasks.

• Project timelines: Visualize schedules with Gantt charts or calendars.

Project timelines: Visualize schedules with Gantt charts or calendars.

• Team collaboration: Share files, comments, and updates in one place.

Team collaboration: Share files, comments, and updates in one place.

• Reporting dashboards: Monitor progress and identify blockers.

Reporting dashboards: Monitor progress and identify blockers.

• Workflow automation: Reduce manual work with automated processes.

Workflow automation: Reduce manual work with automated processes.

How we compared these tools

In order to narrow down the list, we included software that has at least the following features:

• Team-level project planning and tracking

Team-level project planning and tracking

• Multi-user collaboration on projects

Multi-user collaboration on projects

• Reporting visible to project managers

Reporting visible to project managers

• Availability in the US as of the evaluation date

Availability in the US as of the evaluation date

To keep this list focused, we excluded single-user apps and platforms that are exclusively focused on automation.

We also evaluated each tool against the same criteria. For project management, we focused on:

• Planning and views: Whether the tool offers the list, board, timeline and calendar views your team plans in, without re-entering work to switch between them

Planning and views: Whether the tool offers the list, board, timeline and calendar views your team plans in, without re-entering work to switch between them

• Collaboration: How clearly it shows who owns each task, what’s due and what’s blocked, across people and across teams

Collaboration: How clearly it shows who owns each task, what’s due and what’s blocked, across people and across teams

• Reporting and portfolio roll-up: Whether managers can see status across several projects in one place, rather than rebuilding it in a spreadsheet every week

Reporting and portfolio roll-up: Whether managers can see status across several projects in one place, rather than rebuilding it in a spreadsheet every week

• Automation: Which routine handoffs and updates the tool runs on its own, and which plan you need for them

Automation: Which routine handoffs and updates the tool runs on its own, and which plan you need for them

• AI: What the AI actually does in your workflow, what data it can reach, whether a person approves its actions, and whether it’s included, capped, or charged extra

AI: What the AI actually does in your workflow, what data it can reach, whether a person approves its actions, and whether it’s included, capped, or charged extra

• Integrations: Whether the software connects natively to your existing tech stack or if you’ll need custom workarounds

Integrations: Whether the software connects natively to your existing tech stack or if you’ll need custom workarounds

• Administration and security: The permissions, SSO and compliance controls IT will ask about, and how much ongoing admin the tool needs

Administration and security: The permissions, SSO and compliance controls IT will ask about, and how much ongoing admin the tool needs

• Adoption effort: How quickly a team that didn’t choose the tool can start using it

Adoption effort: How quickly a team that didn’t choose the tool can start using it

• Total cost: The combined per-seat price of the plan that includes the features you want, including AI and add-ons

Total cost: The combined per-seat price of the plan that includes the features you want, including AI and add-ons

To come to our recommendations, we checked vendor documentation and published pricing, then reviewed the claims against third-party reviews. Instead of a ranked list, we came to conclusions about who each platform is and is not best for. A focused team of 50 won’t love the same platform as a team of 150 people with multiple cross-functional projects.

The 11 tools at a glance

Here's a shortlist of the best use cases and what sets each tool apart.

Tool

Best for

What sets it apart

Price per seat, per month

Asana

Work management platform

Cross-functional teams that need to connect daily work to strategic milestones

Multi-homing: one task lives in several projects at once without duplicate copies

$10.99 Starter

$24.99 Advanced

Free for 2 users

monday.com

Work management platform

Teams where each department shapes its own workflow inside a shared system

Boards assembled from typed columns rather than a fixed task schema

$9 Basic

$12 Standard

$19 Pro

Free plan for 2 seats

ClickUp

Work management platform

Teams that want tasks, docs, chat and whiteboards in one app at a low per-seat price

Native time tracking, docs and whiteboards included from the $7 tier

$7 Unlimited

$12 Business

AI charged on top (see the AI table)

Jira

Issue tracker for software teams

Software teams running sprints against a prioritised backlog

Agile reporting on configurable workflow states — velocity, burndown, cumulative flow

$9.70 Standard

$19.60 Premium

Free for 10 users

Trello

Visual task board

Small teams that want simple visual tracking with almost no setup

Boards, lists and cards — the fastest first-day setup on this list

$5 Standard

$10 Premium

From $17.50 Enterprise (50-seat minimum)

Smartsheet

Spreadsheet-style work platform

Spreadsheet-driven PMOs tracking budgets and schedules with formulas

Column formulas and cross-sheet references roll individual sheets up into portfolio reports

$9 Pro

$19 Business

Notion

Connected docs and databases

Teams that want documents and the tracker for those documents in one place

Pages and databases share one object model, so a doc and a tracker are the same kind of object

$10 Plus

$20 Business

Airtable

Database builder

Teams building a custom record system rather than adopting a fixed one

A relational database with interfaces and automations layered over it

$20 Team

$45 Business

Wrike

Work management platform

Larger cross-department portfolios that run on formal request intake

Spaces and cross-tagging: one task appears in several folders without a duplicate record

$10 Team

$25 Business

Pinnacle quoted

Adobe Workfront

Enterprise work management

Enterprise marketing and creative operations already standardized on Adobe

Native Creative Cloud integration, with proofing and approval built into the work record

Not published

Quote only for every plan

Microsoft Planner

Project management in Microsoft 365

Teams that already use multiple tools in Microsoft 365

Native Microsoft integrations, including with Copilot. Intuitive interface.

$10 Plan 1

$30 Planner + Project

What each platform’s AI does, and whether you pay extra

Some project management software includes AI features within plans, while others have individual AI add-on plans. Many give you a metered limit and offer more tokens for a fee if you go over it. It can be difficult to get a sense of what using a platform’s AI will actually cost, so we’ve provided example token costs where possible. Here’s the breakdown of AI capabilities.

Tool

What its AI does

Included, metered, or charged extra

Asana

AI Studio builds no-code workflow agents

Included, metered.

50,000 credits a month on Starter, 75,000 on Advanced, 200,000 on Enterprise, pooled per billing account. AI Studio Plus and Pro are paid add-ons on top.

monday.com

Agent actions inside boards; notetaker on Pro

Included, metered.

1,000 AI credits per month on Basic, 2,000 on basic, and 3,000 on pro. Billable events cost varied credits, basic calls like chatbot responses are about 8 credits.

ClickUp

Brain assistant, AI chat and enterprise search

Charged extra.

No plan includes AI. Brain AI is $9 per user per month (1,500 credits) and Everything AI is $28 (5,000 credits), added on top of any paid plan and charged on every paid seat in the workspace. Extra credits cost $10 per 10,000. A $12 Business seat becomes $21 with Brain AI, or $40 with Everything AI.

Jira

Atlassian Intelligence for summaries and drafting

Included from Standard.

25 credits included per month on Standard, 70 credits on Premium. Using Basic Intelligence, each billable event costs 10 credits.

Trello

Atlassian Intelligence for drafting and summarising cards

Included, not metered.

AI features are included in all paid plans with no credit system.

Smartsheet

Smart Assist and Smart Columns

Included, not metered.

AI features are included in paid plans with no credit system. Some external integrations are locked behind the Business and Enterprise tiers. AI formula generation and AI data analysis require Enterprise.

Notion

Notion AI writing, workspace search and agents

Included, but only from $20.

Free and Plus get a limited trial allowance. The standalone $10 AI add-on was retired in 2025, so the real AI entry price is the $20 Business seat. Custom Agent credits about $10 per 1,000.

Airtable

Omni and field agents across the base

Included, metered.

No longer charged per seat. Around 500 credits per editor on Free, 15,000 per paid user on Team, 20,000 on Business. Extra credit packs sold on top.

Wrike

Copilot: risk flags, drafting and summaries

AI essentials included at $10; not metered.

AI Elite included at $25; metered.

The AI features don’t have additional per-seat costs, but the more advanced tools have monthly credit quotas.

Adobe Workfront

Not documented publicly per plan

Not published.

Microsoft Planner

Integrates Planner and other tools into Copilot, adds AI agent assistants

Added with a Microsoft 365 Copilot subscription

Features to look for in your project management tool

Every project management system has different features, but make sure your platform has at least these basics.

Feature

What to look for

Collaboration features

Enable work between team members, departments, and the company, including file sharing, project tracking, and resource management.

Portfolio management capabilities

Connect goals to actionable tasks.

Mobile app

Send off approvals, receive notifications, and manage projects on the go.

Project and reporting dashboards

Make dashboards easy to access and view.

Project view styles

Support Gantt charts, Kanban boards, Lists, and Calendars.

Advanced project scheduling

Set due dates, create milestones, and track time.

Project management app integrations

Fit your business needs.

Resource allocation tools

Assign work based on team capacity, availability, skills, and project priorities.

Automations and dependencies

Update you and stakeholders in real-time.

The 11 best project management tools, compared

Asana: best for cross-functional teams that need to connect daily work to strategic milestones

Visibility can be the stickiest part of cross-functional work because accountability dies without it. Asana is a work-management platform that gives every task an owner, due date, and a connection to strategic priorities.

• Where it's strong: List, board, timeline and calendar views switch planning styles without re-entering data. Portfolios and Goals (Advanced) roll multiple projects into one status view. Agencies can create branded client portals and manage their clients, with related projects, all in one place.

Where it's strong: List, board, timeline and calendar views switch planning styles without re-entering data. Portfolios and Goals (Advanced) roll multiple projects into one status view. Agencies can create branded client portals and manage their clients, with related projects, all in one place.

• Where it falls short: Reviewers on G2 sometimes struggle to use subtasks in the way they need, and some note that if you’re not careful, it’s easy for the volume of information and notifications to become overwhelming.

Where it falls short: Reviewers on G2 sometimes struggle to use subtasks in the way they need, and some note that if you’re not careful, it’s easy for the volume of information and notifications to become overwhelming.

• Best for: Cross-functional teams that need to connect daily work to strategic milestones. 56% of Asana’s reviews on G2 come from the small business category. Ease of use and task management are the top-mentioned strengths across 13,000+ ratings.

Best for: Cross-functional teams that need to connect daily work to strategic milestones. 56% of Asana’s reviews on G2 come from the small business category. Ease of use and task management are the top-mentioned strengths across 13,000+ ratings.

• G2 Rating: 4.4 | 14,024 Reviews

G2 Rating: | 14,024 Reviews

• Choose something else if: Teams that want to build fully custom internal software apps or databases.

Choose something else if: Teams that want to build fully custom internal software apps or databases.

• How it uses AI: All of Asana’s AI features are built into the main platform. AI Teammates can serve as writers, analysts, work intake specialists, and project managers. Asana Dash pulls your incoming communications, meetings, and project priorities into one dashboard.

How it uses AI: All of Asana’s AI features are built into the main platform. AI Teammates can serve as writers, analysts, work intake specialists, and project managers. Asana Dash pulls your incoming communications, meetings, and project priorities into one dashboard.

• Pricing: Per seat per month, billed annually.Starter is $10.99Advanced $24.99Needed for Portfolios, Goals, and resource managementAI Teammates, Dash, and AI Studio are included at both.

Pricing: Per seat per month, billed annually.

• Starter is $10.99

Starter is $10.99

• Advanced $24.99Needed for Portfolios, Goals, and resource management

Advanced $24.99

• Needed for Portfolios, Goals, and resource management

Needed for Portfolios, Goals, and resource management

• AI Teammates, Dash, and AI Studio are included at both.

AI Teammates, Dash, and AI Studio are included at both.

• How it bills AI: AI is included with plan tiers and metered using monthly credits. AI Studio Plus and Pro are paid add-ons on top.

How it bills AI: AI is included with plan tiers and metered using monthly credits. AI Studio Plus and Pro are paid add-ons on top.

Feature and pricing information from: https://asana.com/pricing

Pros and cons sourced from .

See Asana project management in action

Monday.com: best for teams where each department needs its own workflow

If your teams are married to fundamentally different ways of working, monday.com lets them build their preferred setups themselves. It’s a visual, column-based platform that non-technical teams can customize.

• Where it's strong: The drag-and-drop interface gives teams control over how their work is tracked. A large template library makes it easy to set up and customize quickly.

Where it's strong: The drag-and-drop interface gives teams control over how their work is tracked. A large template library makes it easy to set up and customize quickly.

• Where it falls short: Some reviewers on G2 note that monday.com has limited API and MCP options and that the platform can be a little unintuitive at times.

Where it falls short: Some reviewers on G2 note that monday.com has limited API and MCP options and that the platform can be a little unintuitive at times.

• Best for: Non-technical teams that prioritize visual management and need deep customization. Departments that need a high degree of autonomy.

Best for: Non-technical teams that prioritize visual management and need deep customization. Departments that need a high degree of autonomy.

• G2 Rating: 4.7 | 19,335 reviews

G2 Rating: | 19,335 reviews

• Choose something else if: You need consistent executive reporting across many teams, or goals that roll up from the work beneath them.

Choose something else if: You need consistent executive reporting across many teams, or goals that roll up from the work beneath them.

• How it uses AI: monday.com has multiple built-in AI features. Sidekick is a conversational assistant, Magic generates workflows from plain-language prompts, and Agent Builder creates no-code agents. Agents work inside one board at a time.

How it uses AI: monday.com has multiple built-in AI features. Sidekick is a conversational assistant, Magic generates workflows from plain-language prompts, and Agent Builder creates no-code agents. Agents work inside one board at a time.

• Pricing: Per seat per month, billed annually.The free plan is capped at 2 seats.Basic is $9Standard is $12 Pro is $19

Pricing: Per seat per month, billed annually.

• The free plan is capped at 2 seats.

The free plan is capped at 2 seats.

• Basic is $9

Basic is $9

• Standard is $12

Standard is $12

• Pro is $19

Pro is $19

• How it bills AI: AI features are metered, with different amounts of credits consumed for different tasks. Basic AI calls, like chatbot responses, cost 8 credits.Basic: 1,000 credits per monthStandard: 2,000 credits per monthPro: 3,000 credits per month

How it bills AI: AI features are metered, with different amounts of credits consumed for different tasks. Basic AI calls, like chatbot responses, cost 8 credits.

• Basic: 1,000 credits per month

Basic: 1,000 credits per month

• Standard: 2,000 credits per month

Standard: 2,000 credits per month

• Pro: 3,000 credits per month

Pro: 3,000 credits per month

Feature and pricing information from:

Pros and cons sourced from reviews on G2.

Compare Asana vs. monday.com

ClickUp: best for consolidating several tools and low entry

Small teams tend to build collections of inexpensive tools that do a single thing. ClickUp puts tasks, docs, chat, whiteboards, and AI in one app. It’s built for teams that want one unified tool but many different functions.

• Where it's strong: You get a lot for the seat price. Time tracking, docs, whiteboards, chat, and screen recording are included from the $7 Unlimited plan. With unlimited storage, you can choose when to upgrade based on features, not volume.

Where it's strong: You get a lot for the seat price. Time tracking, docs, whiteboards, chat, and screen recording are included from the $7 Unlimited plan. With unlimited storage, you can choose when to upgrade based on features, not volume.

• Where it falls short: AI features require a separate subscription, which is an additional fee per user per month that adds up quickly. Some reviewers note that all the features can be overwhelming, and it’s difficult to learn.

Where it falls short: AI features require a separate subscription, which is an additional fee per user per month that adds up quickly. Some reviewers note that all the features can be overwhelming, and it’s difficult to learn.

• Best for: Small and midsize teams that want to replace several tools.

Best for: Small and midsize teams that want to replace several tools.

• G2 Rating: 4.6 | 14,871 reviews

G2 Rating: | 14,871 reviews

• Choose something else if: You need predictable AI costs or consistent reporting across a large organization without dedicated admin oversight.

Choose something else if: You need predictable AI costs or consistent reporting across a large organization without dedicated admin oversight.

• How it uses AI: ClickUp Brain answers questions, drafts content, and searches across the workspace. Super Agents can perform actions like coding, design, writing, and automatically manage project priorities.

How it uses AI: ClickUp Brain answers questions, drafts content, and searches across the workspace. Super Agents can perform actions like coding, design, writing, and automatically manage project priorities.

• Pricing: Per seat per month, billed annually.Unlimited is $7Business is $12

Pricing: Per seat per month, billed annually.

• Unlimited is $7

Unlimited is $7

• Business is $12

Business is $12

• How it bills AI: Per seat per month, billed annually.Brain adds $9 with 1,500 credits per monthEverything AI adds $28 with 5,000 credits per monthAdditional credits cost $10 per 10,000

How it bills AI: Per seat per month, billed annually.

• Brain adds $9 with 1,500 credits per month

Brain adds $9 with 1,500 credits per month

• Everything AI adds $28 with 5,000 credits per month

Everything AI adds $28 with 5,000 credits per month

• Additional credits cost $10 per 10,000

Additional credits cost $10 per 10,000

Feature and pricing information from: https://clickup.com/pricing

Pros and cons sourced from .

Compare Asana vs. ClickUp

Jira: best for software teams running sprints

Jira has been the default for agile engineering work for two decades, and it sits at the center of Atlassian’s wider product suite. It’s also a broader project management tool that multiple teams can use.

• Where it's strong: Jira is built for how engineers work, with agile reporting (velocity, burndown, and cumulative flow charts) built in. Teams already using Confluence or Bitbucket get links between tickets, docs, and code without extra setup.

Where it's strong: Jira is built for how engineers work, with agile reporting (velocity, burndown, and cumulative flow charts) built in. Teams already using Confluence or Bitbucket get links between tickets, docs, and code without extra setup.

• Where it falls short: Reviewers on G2 note that non-technical users may find the platform overwhelming, and more complex than necessary for simple tasks.

Where it falls short: Reviewers on G2 note that non-technical users may find the platform overwhelming, and more complex than necessary for simple tasks.

• Best for: Engineering and technical teams, especially those already on Atlassian tools.

Best for: Engineering and technical teams, especially those already on Atlassian tools.

• G2 Rating: 4.3 | 8,022 reviews

G2 Rating: | 8,022 reviews

• Choose something else if: Marketing, operations, or other non-technical teams need to plan and run their own work in the same tool.
• The free plan covers up to 10 users

Compare Asana vs. Jira