10 Best Software Development Project Management Tools
From backlogs to testing environments, creating and launching software products is no doubt a complex journey. To help make life easier, we’re sharing our selection of the 10 best software development project management tools.
Written by Dan Ginn (Writer, Script Editor)
Reviewed by Valentina Bravo (Editor)
Facts checked by Goran Nikolić (Fact-checking editor)
Last Updated:
All our content is written fully by humans; we do not publish AI writing. Learn more here.
Key Takeaways: These Are the Best Software Development Project Management Tools
- monday.com — Modern, well-functioning project management software that helps teams manage sprint planning, roadmaps, bugs and tasks for software development. Try the monday.com Pro plan with a 14-day free trial.
- ClickUp — All-in-one workspace for projects and productivity, including Agile dashboards, sprint reporting and native Git integrations. Subscribe to any annual ClickUp plan and save .
- Jira — A streamlined Agile software development project management tool. Try the free plan for up to 10 users.
- Nifty — AI-powered project management software with development flows and sprint management. Get a 14-day free trial and try before you buy.
- Asana — The best free project management tool with features for software development. Create a free account and enjoy a 14-day trial of its premium features.
- Zoho Sprints — An extension of Zoho’s impressive ecosystem for Agile project management. Try the free plan today.
- Wrike — Built for project, resource and financial management. Sign up now for a 14-day free trial.
- SpiraPlan — Professional solution for advanced users in software development. Create an account to access a 30-day free trial.
- ProofHub — Simple software development tools to manage software development projects. Try any plan with the 14-day free trial.
- Trello — Basic, visual kanban software suited to beginners. See if it’s the right fit with the free Trello plan.
Facts & Expert Analysis About Project Management Software for Developers:
- Agile and Scrum: Adopting Agile principles and implementing Scrum practices can help software developer teams build products more iteratively, respond more quickly to issues, and better manage project risks compared to traditional waterfall approaches.
- Familiar integrations: Several solutions integrate with popular software development tools like Jenkins and GitHub.
- Software complexity: Choose tools that match your team’s complexity needs; prioritize intuitive interfaces and essential features over comprehensive functionality that your team might not use.
Creating and maintaining software products is complex. From project planning to task management, it’s no surprise project managers can become overwhelmed. Thankfully, tools are available to make the process easier. In this article, we share the best software development project management tools that you can start using today.
The best project management software solutions all offer tools that suit a range of project management methodologies and frameworks. Our selection can support a variety of approaches, including Agile methodologies, but above all, they have all the tools you’ll need to maintain a smooth workflow when developing your software.
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07/25/2025 Facts checked
We have rewritten this article to reflect the latest software solutions to best support you with software development.
Cloudwards’ Choice: monday.com
Cloudwards’ Choice: monday.com
What I really like about monday.com is its monday dev software. It’s tailor-made for software development, allowing me to manage sprints, bugs and my project management tasks within a single space. It also has an intuitive bug-reporting form that I can quickly fill out and share with my team.
These features are not unique to monday.com, but the software’s design is what makes it stand out — it’s free of jargon and easy to use.
How to Choose the Best Project Management Software for Software Development
With so many project management platform options, it’s important to understand your professional needs before subscribing. For those who are unsure where to start, consider the set of criteria listed below before signing up for a service.
- Feature set: Identify solutions that help with key features, especially for an Agile approach. Choose a service that offers communication tools, workflow boards, sprint planning functionality and reporting tools like burndown and burnup charts.
- Integrations: Consider the other apps you work with on a daily basis. Several project management tools integrate with the likes of Google Workspace, Slack and Zoom, plus Jenkins, GitHub, and a range of professional third-party applications.
- Budget: Look at the cost of several software solutions and decide which one is most in line with your budget. Don’t overlook the best free project management software either, as it may suffice depending on the size of your team and the features you need.
- Scalability: Project management tools often limit the number of users across plans. If you’re planning to scale quickly, look for solutions that have higher user limits — preferably unlimited.
- Ease of use: Some software solutions are more complex than others. Consider the level of experience on your team and decide whether you need simple project management software or are capable of working with a more complex option.
Using Agile and Scrum for Software Development
Agile is a project management approach emphasizing collaboration, flexibility and iterative progress. Scrum, one of several Agile frameworks, helps teams organize work into focused time periods called “sprints,” with defined roles and regular communication.
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Scrum’s popularity stems from its clear structure: it establishes specific roles, defines sprint goals and includes daily check-ins to ensure everything is on track. When supported by the right project management tools, teams can more effectively manage backlogs, monitor issues and mitigate risks throughout the development process.
If you specifically want Agile tools, take a look at our selection of the best software for Agile project management. If you find all the different methodologies confusing, be sure to reach our full guide explaining what they are and, more importantly, what they mean. You can also learn more in our Scrum vs Agile guide.
Top 10 Project Management Tools for Developers
| Tool: | Free Plan & Limits | Best Price | Board | Collaboration | Affordability |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 2 users | $12 per month (one-year plan) per user for Standard | Customizable, smooth performance | Cloud storage integrations, storage capacity, workspace integrations | Best value on mid-tier plans |
 | Unlimited users; 5 spaces | $7 per month (one-year plan) per user for Unlimited | Custom fields, color-coding | Document creator, allocated storage space, whiteboard | Best value on mid-tier plans |
 | 10 users | $9 per month (one-month plan) per user for Standard | Dedicated backlog tab, spring planning | Confluence integration, storage space allocation | Affordable across all plans |
 | Unlimited users; 2 projects | $7 per month (one-year plan) per user for Starter | AI-powered task management and workflow | Unlimited storage space available, cloud storage integration | Good value on all tiers |
 | 10 users | $10.99 per month (one-year plan) per user for Starter | Unlimited customizable columns for your board | Chat tools, file uploads, link sharing | Expensive entry-level plan |
 | 3 users & projects | $2.50 per month (one-year plan) per user for Elite | Streamlined design with dedicated backlog | Allocated storage space, cloud storage integration | Very cheap across all plans |
 | Unlimited users; No Gantt chart view | $10 per month (one-month plan) per user for Team | Basic and easy-to-use functionality | File uploads, link sharing, cloud storage integration | Odd pricing structure with no middle ground |
 | No | $61.65 per month (one-month plan) for 10 users | Plenty of data fields to log bugs and risks | N/A | Expensive |
 | No | $45 per month (one-year plan) for Unlimited users on Essential | Scrum board, announcements board, native chat tools | Basic note-taking app | No cheap option, but great value for large teams and businesses |
 | 10 collaborators & 10 boards per workspace | $10 per month (one-year plan) on annual billing (based on 3 users) | Dedicated software development templates | File uploads, link sharing, cloud storage integration | Affordable pricing and value on all plans |
1. monday.com — Best Project Management Tool for Software Development
monday.com’s dev is purpose-built for software development. It’s part of monday.com’s wider ecosystem, and you can activate it through a prompt when you create an account. The software is built with tools to log bugs and issues, and to run sprints and management retrospectives, making it ideal for agile teams using the Scrum framework.
It also has plenty of integrations to choose from and covers many of the core bases to help with communication, productivity and general workspace management. You can expand your software development workflow too, as it integrates with GitLab and Azure Devops, as well as other dev-related software.
monday.com Hands-On Testing
From our extensive testing, we find that monday.com is great for managing projects because of how easy the software is to use.
It does lean heavily on the table view, but it really comes to life when you switch to the board view, especially when working within Agile project teams. We’ve found that the prebuilt templates come in handy when we want to quickly kick-start a new project.
monday.com Pricing & Value
monday.com remains a popular project management software due to the value it offers on its Standard plan, and we agree. This plan comes with plenty of features and costs $12 per user per month on annual billing. You can learn more in our monday.com review.
- Maximum users: 2
- Minimum users: 3; All prices per user
- Minimum users: 3; All prices per user
More plans
- Minimum users: 3; All prices per user
- Enterprise-level features.
2. ClickUp — Best Project Management Tool for Workspace Users
ClickUp helps dev teams kick-start a new project with its dedicated software development template. Within it, you can build different sections that suit different elements of your projects, including Scrum boards for bugs, sprints and meeting trackers. You can also build a document management system for all documents related to your project.
This tool also has one of the most extensive levels of integration options, allowing you to connect to more than 1,000 third-party applications. Options for software developers include BitBucket, GitLab and GitHub. With GitHub, for example, you can create a GitHub issue, pull requests and branch without needing to leave the ClickUp app.
ClickUp Hands-On Testing
Cloudwards uses ClickUp for its own project management, and it provides a smooth workflow. It’s not perfect, though, and sometimes reaching a feature can be a bit of a click fest.
For us, ClickUp is great for separating different workflows into categories, and we like having the ability to divide up our workforce into teams and create workflows tailored for each team within a single workspace.
ClickUp Pricing & Value
ClickUp is one of the best free project management tools, and the ClickUp free plan is a great way to test the service. The Business plan is best for software developers, costing $12 per user per month on annual billing. Read our ClickUp review to learn more.
- Basic functionality with some limitations
- All prices per user
- All prices per user
3. Jira — Best Project Management Tool for Scrum Teams
With Jira, there’s no need to use software development templates to get your project off the ground. That’s because the stock UI is built for Agile methodologies such as the Scrum framework. It allows users to troubleshoot issues, quickly implement sprints and manage a product backlog through a dedicated tab.
Because Jira is geared toward software development, it’s not as flexible as other platforms. If your business needs to pivot to a different type of project management, you’ll likely need to look for an alternative software solution. Jira does have integrations, though, including Trello, which is more adaptable in terms of project management.
Jira Hands-On Testing
For the most part, Jira has done a good job of building a platform that’s logical and ready to go. The dedicated backlog tab feels useful, but after some time using the platform, we think it would be better placed directly within the scrum board. Integrating other apps is painless, and even though the design is a little drab, using Jira bears no problems whatsoever.
Jira Pricing & Value
As far as software development project management software is concerned, Jira is extremely affordable. You can jump on the Jira Standard plan for $9 per user per month. Learn more in our Jira review.
- Max. 10 users. unlimited boards, reports and insights; backlog; basic roadmaps; 2GB of storage; community support
- Monthly pricing starts from 11 users, pricing changes based on the number of users. Monthly pricing changes with teams over 110. Annual pricing shown is for 1-10 users
- Monthly pricing starts from 11 users, pricing changes based on the number of users. Monthly pricing changes with teams over 114. Annual pricing shown is for 1-10 users
- Enterprise plan pricing is available when you enter 801 or more users above; User tier: 801 – 1,000
4. Nifty — Best Project Management Tool for AI Features
Nifty is an all-in-one platform that helps you manage projects, discuss them with team members and create documents. Its AI tool — Nifty Orbit — is one of the best we’ve seen for project management. It can create projects from scratch, add tasks and help with project planning. There’s also a Scrum board, a discussion tool and documents to log daily meeting minutes.
Although Nifty is a little thin on in-house integrations, more than 2,000 third-party options are available. For development and coding you’ve got GitHub, GitLab and Bitbucket. There are also plenty of file-sharing and communication tools, such as Google Drive, Zoom, Slack and more.
Nifty Hands-On Testing
This software is certainly easy on the eye, and we especially like using it in dark mode. Views, Forms and Docs sit neatly in the top menu, and other project management tools — like reports and goals — live in the left-hand menu. Accessing integrations felt a bit like escaping a maze, but we got there in the end.
Nifty Pricing & Value
Nifty’s pricing is competitive, and you can get excellent discounts on annual plans. The best price-to-features ratio can be found on the Nifty Pro plan for $10 per user per month. You can learn more in our Nifty review.
- Unlimited members, Two projects, All core features, 2FA, Help center, 100MB storage
- 40 projects, Time tracking & reports, Budgets, Custom fields, Unlimited guests, 100GB storage
- 100 projects, Workflow automations, File proofing, Overviews, Google SSO, 250GB storage
More plans
- Unlimited projects Unlimited storage, Custom roles, Workloads, Permissions, MS SSO, Open API, Priority support
- Everything from Business, Native forms, Dedicated success manager
5. Asana — Best Project Management Tool for Free Users
Asana leads the way as the best free project management software. It allows you to create unlimited projects and tasks, and add up 10 teammates.
Although it lacks some project views, the board is included with the free option, which is perfect for Agile and Scrum workflows. There’s a chat tool as well, allowing users to have open and transparent communication.
Asana has diverse integrations, offering more than 200 options in total. Shakebug is one that will pique software developers’ interest, as you can create bug tasks that will automatically integrate into your Asana workflow.
Asana Hands-On Testing
Getting to grips with Asana takes no time at all, and it offers some of the most responsive software we’ve tested. We love how much control we have over our project views, and it’s much easier to customize than most software. If you do get stuck, you can drop into the Asana Academy and become an expert in the software.
Asana Pricing & Value
You may understand by now that the Asana free plan is awesome, but it’s good to know about the paid options too. They’re a little pricier than those of other platforms, though, with the entry-level plan costing $10.99 per month on annual billing. Read our in-depth Asana review to decide if it’s worth it for you.
- 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
6. Zoho Sprints — Best Project Management Tool for Zoho Users
Zoho Sprints is part of the wider Zoho ecosystem and can integrate seamlessly with Zoho Projects. It specifically targets software developers and has a host of tools and integrations that help improve project performance and create a solid testing environment for your software.
Product owners can use Sprints to create and maintain backlogs, as well as manage Epics and other key Scrum components to build their products.
Zoho Sprints is thin on third-party integrations, but that’s by design. The platform wants users to buy into the Zoho ecosystem and combine its plethora of native apps in their workflow. That’s fine if you’re all in on Zoho, but it also means you’ll have to jump in and out of apps if you’re using third-party software, which can quickly disrupt your workflow.
Zoho Sprints Hands-On Testing
The cursor runs smoothly within Zoho Sprints, which is extremely satisfying. Like with most Zoho products, the design is very streamlined, which makes starting a project simple. Linking the backlog to the scrum board should be more straightforward, though — it took some research to figure out. Other than that, everything works how we would like it to.
Zoho Sprints Pricing & Value
Zoho Sprints is as cheap as it gets, with its top-tier plan costing only $5 per user per month on annual billing. The Zoho Sprints free plan may be enough for micro teams as well. Learn more in our Zoho Sprints review.
7. Wrike — Best Project Management Tool for Workload Management
Wrike is a task management software solution that can be as simple or advanced as you’d like, making it ideal for both basic and complex projects. You can organize your tasks in a range of views, including board, list and Gantt chart. The software development template is one of the best we’ve tested — it’s sure to save Scrum masters plenty of time.
It also offers a range of integrations covering different sectors, such as file storage, CRM and security. Highlights for developers include Miro and TestLodge, with the latter allowing you to run AQ tests without leaving Wrike.
Wrike Hands-On Testing
Unfortunately, Wrike doesn’t have the most inspiring UI. However, it works very well and displays snappy performance when moving through features.
We’d like to see some improvements to the navigation, though — it’s not as intuitive as with other options. However, once you understand where features live, the platform falls into place and supports a software development workflow.
Wrike Pricing & Value
Lower-tier plans are affordable, with the Teams plan costing $10 per month (one-month plan) per user per month on annual billing. The next plan costs more than double that amount, meaning Wrike’s pricing structure has no real middle ground. Read our Wrike review to learn more.
- 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.
More plans
- For large teams; Enterprise-grade security and scalability; Plans for 5 to an unlimited number of users.
- For teams with complex work needs; Advanced tools and analytics for complex work; 5 to unlimited users
8. SpiraPlan — Best Project Management Tool for Advanced Software Development
SpiraPlan leans heavily on risk management, allowing users to add a lot of detail that relates to potential issues that may occur while building a product. It also comes with the usual suspects, such as planning boards and test management tools. What stands out is the amount of project data you can add with its features, ensuring no stone is left unturned.
Integrations are scarce on SpiraPlan, especially for more mainstream tools like GitHub. The available options are very niche, including options such as TFS and HelixCore. You can accomplish a lot with the software, though, especially in terms of logging different software releases, tests and results, which you can automatically share with your team.
SpiraPlan Hands-On Testing
If you’re new to project management, SpiraPlan isn’t for you; the terminology and level of functionality will be overwhelming. However, this isn’t the case for those with more experience. The UI is dated and performance can be sluggish, but it has everything advanced users need.
SpiraPlan Pricing & Value
SpiraPlan has one plan, and it’s not cheap. For example, if you bring 10 users, you’ll pay $61.65 per user per month on annual billing. To see if it’s worth the high price, check out our SpiraPlan review.
- *billed annually (monthly billing available)
- *billed annually (monthly billing available)
- *billed annually (monthly billing available)
9. ProofHub — Best Project Management Tool for Communication
for effective software product building.
At the heart of any successful software development project is solid communication, especially for Agile teams. ProofHub excels here, as it offers a range of tools, including an announcement feed (think X but without the drama), shareable stickies and a chat tool that you can invite team members and stakeholders to use.
For project management, there’s a simple board view to which you can add files, timesheet logs and your own custom fields. The platform doesn’t integrate with any prominent software development tools, so this option is best for basic users. Integrations for other services like Slack and Google Drive are available.
ProofHub Hands-On Testing
Setting up a project is a fluid process, as ProofHub guides you with some simple prompt-based questions. Although we welcome the simplicity, it’s perhaps too simple in parts.
For example, we couldn’t add extra columns to our board like we could with Asana; we were limited to just three columns. That aside, the software works well and the new design brings the app to life.
ProofHub Pricing & Value
We do have some concerns with the pricing. There’s no free plan, and the ProofHub entry-level plan is $45 per month on annual billing — but it allows unlimited users.
If you’re a medium to large-size company, this could be great, as you can add unlimited users and run up to 40 projects simultaneously. However, it’s not ideal for small businesses. You can learn why in our ProofHub review.
- 40 projects, Unlimited users, 15GB storage
- Unlimited projects, Unlimited Users, 100GB storage, Advanced features
10. Trello — Best Project Management Tool for Beginners
Trello’s identity revolves around its board view. You can build a board from scratch or use a software development template to get going. It’s not as advanced as other tools, but for those who want a simple interface and don’t need anything beyond a scrum board, Trello is easily one of the better options.
Some software developers may struggle with Trello due to its lack of certain functionality. You can’t manage sprints in a dedicated space, and there’s no dedicated section to log releases, bugs and testing. You can fine-tune your board to incorporate these workflows, but it may become overcrowded.
Trello Hands-On Testing
This tool boasts the best board on the market. We’re big fans of how much data you can add to task cards and how simple it is to assign tasks and message other users. The board is as smooth as butter and is fully customizable to suit your project needs. The design could do with an uplift, but you’ll learn to love Trello for what it is rather than how it looks.
Trello Pricing & Value
Trello is one of the more affordable options, with a basic but solid free plan and paid plans starting at $5 per month on annual billing. To find the right plan for you, check out our Trello review.
- 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
Our Methodology: How We Tested the Best Project Management Software for Developers
We put every solution in this article through our rigorous testing process, and we’ve tested some of these platforms for years. Our process involves examining certain features that are applicable to the type of consumer we’re writing for.
- Scrum tools: Since the Scrum framework is a popular workflow in software development, we test software solutions to ensure they have the tools to build backlogs, run sprints, log issues and execute all the other functions that go into Scrum.
- Solid documentation: We test each service’s documentation features and analyze how simple it is to perform tasks such as logging meeting minutes and brainstorming ideas.
- Integrations: We ensure that the tools we recommend integrate seamlessly with the services that software development teams use on a daily basis. We then test how well they blend with the project management software, ensuring there’s no disruption in workflow.
- Inspiring UI: If you’re using a platform on a daily basis, it needs to be enjoyable to use, the navigation needs to be smooth and it must be customizable so you can set it up exactly how you want.
- Affordability: Because price is such an integral part of decision-making, we always ensure the products we recommend are not only excellent tools but also offer good value to the consumer.
- Security and privacy: All the tools we recommend are cloud-based software, so we examine their security and privacy protocols to ensure user data is safe and won’t fall into malicious hands.
Final Thoughts
All the options above are suitable for a range of software development teams, and they will all help you get your processes in order and your projects off the ground. To narrow it down to our top pick, we recommend going with monday.com. However, both ClickUp or Jira made the top three best project management software options.
Remember, most of these platforms offer free trials across all plans. Make the most of these offers so you can give the services a try before committing. It’s also worth gathering feedback from other team members to ascertain which solution they feel best suits their workflow.
Did you find this guide useful? Which other project management software should we include? Which software would you like us to review in the future? Let us know in the comments. Thanks for reading!
FAQ: Agile Collaboration Tools
Managing a software development project involves building tasks, assigning them to team members, and constantly monitoring project success.
Because of its easy-to-use software and familiar terminology, Jira continues to be a popular Agile project management software for development teams.
monday.com is our favorite tool for project management because it’s versatile, easy to use and offers great value for money.