Best Free Project Management Software for 2024: Getting It Done at Cost
Can't keep track of all the moving pieces? Project management software can help keep you organized and on track. Here’s our list of the eight best free project management software platforms you can use on a budget today.
Written by Beatrice Manuel (Writer)
Reviewed by Aleksander Hougen (Managing Editor)
Facts checked by Jasna Mishevska (Lead Fact-Checking Editor)
Last Updated: 2024-02-13T15:26:00+00:00
All our content is written fully by humans; we do not publish AI writing. Learn more here.
Key Takeaways:
- Project management software makes it easy to plan, schedule and visualize all of your projects. You can see what’s going on at a glance while collaborating in real time.
- We recommend Asana as one of the best free project management apps. It’s optimized for smaller teams and businesses, with powerful features and a free plan that allows up to 15 users.
- ClickUp also offers a powerful free plan, but it has a slight learning curve. monday.com is another great choice, provided you don’t need more than two users.
- The key to getting the most out of your software is knowing how to use it properly and choosing an app that meets the needs of you and your team.
Technology has changed the way we approach project management. Now there are so many options, it’s hard to know where to start. We’re all looking for the best free project management software deal: something that has all the functionality we need to manage projects effectively, but doesn’t cost a fortune. Our experts reviewed dozens of tools to bring you this list.
It’s not an easy task, because a lot of these programs strictly limit their free versions. But not to worry: We’ve done the research for you and created this helpful list of the eight best options to consider in 2022.
If you want to save some time, Asana, ClickUp and monday.com are our top choices for free project management software, though you can also find some gems by reading our list of the best overall project management software.
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11/17/2021
Added Redmine to the list of honorable mentions
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08/25/2022
Updated article to reflect changes in free plans in the project management space.
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05/23/2023
Updated the ranking of the providers, moving ClickUp higher in the list.
The Top Free Project Management Software
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- 7$9.80 / month(All Plans)
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What Makes the Best Free Project Management Software
When considering the best free project management software, it’s important to know what you’re looking for and what your needs are. There are a lot of things to consider, and plenty of good options out there. Thankfully, we run extensive hands-on testing to make things easier for you.
Some project management tools make their powerful features only available to paid users, while others cover these same functionalities in their free versions. When it’s your turn to choose a free project management tool, you should consider what exactly you’ll be using it for.
If you’re just looking for something basic, a simple online to-do list app might be all you need. If you want more advanced options like file sharing, time tracking and reporting tools, you might want to look into a tool that offers those features. Other important considerations include how easy the software is to use and how many users it supports.
Whether you need help starting out or making up your mind between a few finalists, let’s get started with our top eight, which includes Asana, monday.com, Trello, TeamGantt and Airtable, among others.
- Asana — Provides a generous free plan up to 15 users
- ClickUp — Power-packed free plan, but learning curve
- monday.com — Great software, limited free version
- Trello — Kanban board with unlimited free users
- TeamGantt — Free Gantt chart software
- Airtable — Huge number of views and tools on the free plan
- Jira — Best for small Agile teams
- Wrike — Great free spreadsheet, limited otherwise
Asana tops the list due to its feature-packed free plan available for small teams of up to 15 users. It’s great project management software for startups. ClickUp ranks second on our list because its free plan has excellent standard features for unlimited users; you’re just limited in some advanced features.
Meanwhile, monday.com comes in third — while it doesn’t support more than two users on the free plan, one can’t ignore the versatility the platform offers for businesses and project managers of all kinds.
Trello, TeamGantt, Airtable and Wrike all offer unique ways of working on your projects by using different methodology ranging from kanban and Gantt charts to spreadsheet-style management. Jira is very niche for software development teams, but can be used effectively by those adopting Agile reporting tactics.
The Top 8 Free Project Management Software Choices
Depending on your personal requirements, what you’re looking for in a free project management software may vary, but here are our top eight recommendations you can get started with today.
1. Asana
More details about Asana:
- Pricing: Free plan for up to 15 members; $10.99 per user per month, billed annually
- Provider website: asana.com
Pros:
- Easy to use
- Lots of integrations available
- Task management functions
Cons:
- No time tracking features
- Assignments limited to one person at a time
- Limited export functionality
What makes Asana different from its competitors is its simplicity. At its core, Asana is a task management tool; it allows users to share tasks with others and assign due dates for these tasks. Tasks refer to the basic unit of action in Asana and can represent an action item to be completed. They can be a one-time or recurring item.
“Actions” are things you do with or inside a task, like merge, edit, delete, duplicate, assign, reassign or even convert tasks into projects. Actions allow teams to organize these tasks into projects and add notes or files within the task itself. Users can also create groups within Asana to collaborate with people (guest users) outside their organization.
Asana is intuitive and easy to use, even for people who have not worked with other project management systems before. The best part is that it packs all these powerful features into its free plan, which is available for companies with up to 15 employees.
Powerful but Free Project Management Tool
The generous free plan makes Asana a great tool for small businesses. With the free plan, you can manage 1,000 tasks per account. Asana also offers comprehensive views like list, kanban, calendar and board. With the help of these different comprehensive views, remote teams can collaborate and organize activity in one place, across teams, providing more supervision and effective organization-wide control.
If you’re looking for an easy way to keep track of your work without spending a lot of money, Asana’s free plan will help you streamline your projects and keep everything organized. It’s also one of the best web project management software in case you don’t want to download the app on your device.
Asana offers a free plan with unlimited tasks, projects, activity logs and file storage. However, it has a cap of 100MB per file and accommodates only 15 members. More expansive teams looking for features like Workflow Builder, unlimited dashboard and custom rules can opt for the paid plans, starting at $10.99 per user per month, billed annually.
Read more in our review here.
- Up to 10 users
- Price is per user. unlimited users, expanded features
- Price is per user. unlimited users, even more features
- Custom pricing, advanced security features
2. ClickUp
More details about ClickUp:
- Pricing: Free plan available with cap of 100MB storage; paid plans start at $5 per member per month, billed annually
- Provider website: clickup.com
Pros:
- Feature packed free plan
- Unlimited free plan users
- Wide range of views
Cons:
- Some features lack depth
- Lags when duplicating
- Slight learning curve
If you’re looking for a free project management tool that’s easy to use, packed with features on the free plan, customizable and powerful, you should try ClickUp. With its intuitive dashboard, drag-and-drop workflow management, ClickUp forms and integration features, it’s perfect for businesses and multiple teams of all sizes.
For businesses with tight budgets who still want to make the best of their operations, ClickUp’s free plan is more than enough for routine team collaboration.
You get access to almost all the features of the advanced plans on the free tier, including task management views like kanban, 100 uses of the Gantt charts view, calendar views, forms and more. You also get to create mind maps (a rare feature for free plans). No matter the kind of business you operate, ClickUp’s free plan has a viable solution for your operations.
Powerful User-Specific Customization
ClickUp’s greatest selling point for businesses is its immense customization potential (which is why it made it to the best construction project management software list). ClickUp offers a personalized approach that allows you to create and adjust custom fields according to your operational workflows, business size and personal preferences. Its dashboards are also great for high-level reporting across teams.
ClickUp’s free plan comes chock full of features. However, it does have its caps: 100MB per file upload, plus limits on integrations, dashboards, Gantt chart views and custom fields. If you’re planning on collaborating with external vendors or require extensive reporting features (including Agile), an upgrade could be worth it.
Learn more in our ClickUp review. Read our ClickUp vs Asana guide to learn how ClickUp compares to our top pick.
- Basic functionality with some limitations
- All prices per user
- All prices per user
3. monday.com
More details about monday.com:
- Pricing: Free plan available with up to 2 seats; Paid plans starting at $8 per seat, billed annually
- Provider website: monday.com
Pros:
- Incredibly user friendly
- Packed with features
- Offers free plan & trial
Cons:
- Free plan has limited function
- Odd progress between paid plans
- Slower support
Many project management apps offer a great many information and communication options, but they can be hard to navigate and customize to fit your team’s needs. monday.com is an easy-to-use hybrid of an Agile tool and a typical project portfolio management software, with most of the functions you’d expect from either.
Though it leans toward a general project management app, monday.com isn’t just one thing — it’s a well-balanced suite of project tools that will work across many functionalities. It boasts a wide range of use cases, from marketing and sales to project management and HR, and its versatility and custom workflows can make it worth the upgrade to the paid plans after discovering if the fit is right for you with the 2-person free plan.
Flexible Project Views
monday.com’s strength lies in its multiple project views (it’s the best project management tool for multiple projects). It gives you plenty of options for what you want to see, including kanban, Gantt, timeline and calendar views. It’s the best timeline project management software.
There’s even the option to choose custom views, although it should be noted that some of these features like the Calendar and Gantt view are only available on paid plans.
Paired with the user-friendly interface, it’s simple enough to start using in minutes, but powerful enough to retrieve as much information as you need to stay on top of your projects.
monday.com’s free plan is best suited for individuals as it only comes with two seats, has a limit of 1,000 tasks and only grants users the basic list view and the kanban board. If you want to unlock more project views, unlimited tasks and projects and automations, try a 14-day trial of the paid plans.
Check out our review of the platform. We also have a comprehensive ClickUp vs monday.com comparison guide.
- Maximum users: 2
- Minimum users: 3
- Minimum users: 3
More plans
- Minimum users: 3
- Enterprise-level features.
4. Trello
More details about Trello:
- Pricing: Free plan available with a file size cap of 10MB; $5 per user per month, billed annually
- Provider website: trello.com
Pros:
- One of the best kanban tools
- Easy to use
- Unlimited integrations on free plan
Cons:
- Unreliable 3rd-party integrations
- Limited project views
- No complex project features
Trello is almost like a social network for project management — it’s easy to invite colleagues to join boards and see what they’re working on at any given moment through a Kanban-inspired workflow. You can create multiple boards with unique names. You can also create one-off tasks using its built-in checklist feature, and tasks can be assigned to individual people for more specific delegation.
One of Trello’s biggest strengths is its toolbox for automation and integration. You can integrate and automate your Trello cards with calendar apps to set up reminders when your due dates are nearing, using calendar and due date commands.
If you have tasks that need to be completed in a certain order, Trello will help you get each one done efficiently by reminding everyone involved when their part is due. All of this is part of the free plan, which allows unlimited users and only places a cap on file uploads of 10MB per file.
Enhance Your Team Collaboration
Trello is designed to be intuitive, with drag-and-drop functionality that makes it easy to move tasks around and organize them. The free plan includes all the basic features, including comments, document sharing, tagging teammates and personalized notifications.
Its integration with Slack also kicks it up a notch, allowing you to create cards for team members within the app, set due dates and stay updated on changes made to the cards.
Trello’s free plan is pretty robust, with unlimited users and integrations (called Power-Ups). However, it places a cap of 10 boards per workspace and limits file sizes to 10MB. If you want to scale your collaboration beyond the limited kanban view, opt for the Standard plan, which costs $5 per user per month, billed annually.
You can read our full review of Trello too. If you want to learn how it compares to other tool such as ClickUp, read our comprehensive ClickUp vs Trello guide.
- Unlimited users, 10 boards, Unlimited power-ups, Unlimited storage
- Price is per user, Unlimited boards, Custom fields, Invite guests
- Price is per user, Several new views
- Price is per user, Advanced admin & security settings
5. TeamGantt
More details about TeamGantt:
- Pricing: Free plan available with a cap of 60 tasks; $19 per manager per month, billed annually
- Provider website: teamgantt.com
Pros:
- Easy to use
- Best free Gantt tool
- Great support team
Cons:
- Limited features
- Gantt tool on free plan only
- No budgeting features
TeamGantt is the best free Gantt chart-based project management tool that comes with an impressive array of features. The free tier builds a simple user interface around the Gantt tool’s tried-and-true timeline method, letting you assign due dates to your tasks and view them on a beautiful Gantt chart.
Managers on the platform can set up task dependencies as part of the project timelines — an important feature that many other Gantt chart programs lack in their free versions. For example, if task A has to be completed before task B can start, you can mark it as such and create a visual representation of the contingency.
A User-Friendly Approach to Gantt
TeamGantt is an easy-to-use project management software that’s perfect for those who love to work visually to see their complete project workflow. The software allows you to set dependencies and work across multiple projects.
The free plan is limited to one Gantt chart with just the ability to comment. Paid features include a project discussion dashboard, unlimited guest users, the ability to share a view-only link with select users and embedded timeline capability.
TeamGantt’s free plan is available for one project manager (with the option to add two collaborators) and is limited to a single project with 60 tasks. If you want to scale and equip yourself with more Gantt charts, views or project managers, then you can opt for the Pro plan — its most popular plan — which offers 20 projects per manager with unlimited collaborators and no limit on tasks.
Learn more in our review.
- 2 users (1 manager)
- Unlimited
- Unlimited
6. Airtable
More details about Airtable:
- Pricing: Free plan available with cap of 5 creators/editors per base; Paid plans starting at $10 per seat per month
- Provider website: airtable.com
Pros:
- Feature-packed free plan
- Very easy to pick up
- No user limits
Cons:
- Upgrades are expensive
- Less formula-friendly as Excel
- Mobile app is not intuitive
Airtable is a great choice for small and mid-sized teams, especially if you’re looking for a simple solution that won’t require anyone to learn complex software. It’s a cloud-based application that’s easy to start using, and comes packed with tutorials and a knowledgebase.
The free plan includes a range of views, including your typical Excel-style grid views, kanban boards, calendar and form views — plus much more. It’s really easy to track all your projects across teams, thanks to Airtable’s multiple levels of access and sharing options. If you’re looking for easy project tracking that doesn’t require formula-heavy calculations or macros like Excel, Airtable is a good fit.
Adjustable Views for Specific Use Cases
One of Airtable’s most useful features is that you can adjust the way you view data in your tables based on the needs of your current project.
For example, you may want to list all employee contact information in the grid view. If you’re receiving applications, you can create a form and share it using form view. You can add due dates as a field and map everything out on the calendar view. Airtable also allows you to share specific views with your team members.
Airtable’s free plan is a great starting point for small teams or individuals. It offers unlimited bases with up to five creators or editors per base (but unlimited guests who have only read-only access). If you want to unlock more than one integration or more than 1,200 records per base, opt for the Plus plan.
Check out our Airtable review and monday.com vs Airtable comparison guide to understand how the two products compare.
- Up to five users. Unlimited bases. 1,000 records, 1GB of storage per base. Revision and snapshot history for two weeks. Views: grid, calendar, form, Kanban board, gallery and list. 100 automations per month.
- Everything in free, plus unlimited users, 50,000 records and 20GB of storage space per base. Adds Gantt charts and timeline views. 25,000 automations per month.
- Everything in Team, plus 125,000 records, 100GB of storage per base, 100,000 automation per month. Admin controls, single sign-on (SSO) and premium integrations with third-party services.
- Everything in Business, plus 500,000 records, 1TB of storage per base, and 500,000 automation monthly.
7. Jira
More details about Jira:
- Pricing: Free plan available for up to 10 users; Paid plans starting at $750, billed annually
- Provider website: jira.com
Pros:
- Great free plan
- User-friendly interface
- Great reporting features
Cons:
- Lots of technical jargon
- Only Agile method friendly
- No timeline views
Jira, a project management software tool developed by Atlassian, has become one of the most widely used Agile tools on the market. Its popularity can be attributed in part to its being specifically designed to help teams implement Agile principles, including the use of readily available scrum templates.
It’s aimed at software developers; however, larger companies in other industries that also use Agile methodology and don’t have a tool tailored to their needs can use Jira.
Jira works similarly to a kanban board — it lets you visualize your workflow, so you’re able to see how far along your tasks are in real time. Jira also offers customizable dashboards to track issues and bugs, assign tasks and subtasks and view reports on your progress.
Powerful Agile Methodology
Jira might be the best project management software for those using Agile development or the scrum framework. Jira has everything teams need to be successful, from real-time task updates to integrations for useful views like Gantt charts.
For example, the “issue tracking” view organizes bugs by sprint, while the “scrum board” view allows a team to see what needs to be done and the status of each task in a particular sprint cycle.
Jira’s free plan is optimal for smaller development teams of up to 10 users, offering 2GB storage and access to scrum and kanban boards, backlogs, Agile reporting and even customizable workflows. Larger teams looking for greater storage capacity, global and multi-project automation, more admin controls and advanced dependency management should opt for one of the paid plans.
If you’re part of a software development team, Jira might be the perfect solution for you. However, if you require a more versatile tool, check out the other in this list, other Jira alternatives or read our comprehensive ClickUp vs Jira article. You can also refer to our Jira review for a more in-depth look into the software.
- Max. 10 users. unlimited boards, reports and insights; backlog; basic roadmaps; 2GB of storage; community support
- Annual price is for 10 users; with more than 10, annual pricing changes based on the number of users. Monthly pricing changes with teams over 100.
- Annual price is for 10 users; with more than 10, annual pricing changes based on the number of users. Monthly pricing changes with teams over 100.
8. Wrike
More details about Wrike:
- Pricing: Free plan available with a cap of 2GB storage per account; paid plans starting at $9.80 per user per month
- Provider website: wrike.com
Pros:
- Easy to use
- Strong reporting features
- Nice spreadsheets
Cons:
- UI isn’t aesthetically pleasing
- Self-help tutorials are brief
- Questionable privacy policy
Wrike is one of the best project management software for marketing teams and bigger agencies. Its free plan includes a full set of tools that set it apart from its competitors, with 2GB of storage.
You get access to two views in addition to the basic spreadsheet view: the list view (default) and the kanban board view. All three offer a quick overview of tasks and the ability to add details and comments — the kanban board is particularly useful for managing large projects with various moving parts.
Integrations are a major differentiator for Wrike. The app lets you link your cloud storage and file-sharing services directly to your projects. This makes it easier for anyone working on the project to access files without having to go through multiple steps or remember where any particular document is saved.
Consolidated Reporting
Wrike’s standout feature is its excellent reporting and dashboard functionality. This dashboard is unique compared to other project management solutions in that it provides a consolidated view of your entire workflow on a single page. Each project has three panes — one dedicated to project and team details, the second to functional breakdowns and tasks and the third for all current tasks.
Wrike’s free plan is a great starting point, offering plenty of features including task and subtask management, live activity streams and external and internal collaborators. However, only 200 active tasks can run at a time and you only get 2GB of storage per account. If you need more storage per user and want advanced reporting features like shareable dashboards and interactive Gantt charts, it’s worth considering an upgrade.
Read our Wrike review today.
- Unlimited users. Basic features.
- Price is per user. Plans for 5, 10 and 15 users.
- Price is per user. No monthly option. Plans for 5 to 200 users.
- Plans for 5 to an unlimited number of users.
Final Thoughts
The best free project management tool is the one with the features that work for you. Everyone is different, and there are plenty of great options out there. The secret is to match it to your own needs and preferences, and those of your team.
On this list, you’ve seen a variety of tools ranging from those featuring Gantt-chart based project management to Kanban and scrum-inspired methodology. Some, like Asana and ClickUp, offer generous free plans accommodating more users while others, such as monday.com, pack a ton of features but limit users, so you’re incentivized to upgrade. The tool that is right for you depends entirely on your budget and project management needs.
For similar articles, you can refer to our best project management software for freelancers.
So, what are you looking for in a project management tool? Is price the reigning factor, or is usability more important to you? Of the eight above, which is your favorite? Did we miss any on this list? Let us know in the comments and as always, thanks for reading!
FAQ
Google doesn’t offer a dedicated project management tool. However, you can combine Google’s other tools like Sheets, Drive and Calendar into a substitute for a comprehensive project management app.
Trello is one of the easiest project management apps you can get started with. Following a kanban-based system, it doesn’t require its users to have any prior experience.
Asana is a comprehensive project management platform, packed with powerful features for easy collaboration across remote teams. The free plan allows calendars, boards and a limited number of tasks, providing a great alternative to MS Project.