Free project management software might not come with all of the latest cutting-edge features, like your own generative AI assistant or advanced reporting, but it’s a powerful resource. If you need help keeping track of tasks, empowering teams, and streamlining workflows, particularly in the age of hybrid work, project management software is usually a must-have.
With the top free tools, you can align your teams, boost collaboration, and even access valuable insights into workflows, all while keeping costs low.
What are the best free project management tools available today, and how do you ensure you’re picking the right software?
We assessed some of the top-rated options in the market to bring you this guide.
How to Choose Free Project Management Software
Before we dive into our list of impressive project management solutions, let’s cover how you can make the right choice. There are dozens of free project management tools out there, as well as premium products with free plans for beginners.
In fact, the global project management software market is currently growing at a rate of 10.8%. New solutions entering the space constantly.
So, how do you identify what you need? We based our list of the best free project management tools on the following criteria:
- Project scope: Every company has its own unique set of projects to manage, each with specific pain points, challenges, and obstacles. The ideal project management tool should allow you to customize your workflows to suit your specific needs and manage an unlimited number of projects (for free).
- Ease of use: Project management tools will only benefit your team if they know how to use them. To keep things simple, we recommend prioritizing hosted solutions over self-hosted and open-source technologies where possible. Look for an intuitive user interface and even customizable dashboards.
- Collaboration: Many of the free project management software options covered below can integrate with collaboration tools like Webex and Microsoft Teams. However, it still helps to have some built-in collaborative features, such as chat, project assignment, and file sharing.
- Flexibility: Since the needs and challenges of your projects can vary, flexibility is crucial. Ideally, a project management solution should flex to suit every need, offering access to Gantt charts, calendars, kanban views, and more.
- Integrations: Most business tools are more effective when they can integrate seamlessly with the resources you already use. Look for a flexible solution that can work with your unified communication tools, reporting apps, CRM solutions, and anything else your teams will need to access in the flow of work.
The Best Free Project Management Software: Top Picks
As mentioned above, there are many free project management software options, so we’ve narrowed this list down to a selection of top contenders. We chose these solutions based on their functionality, ease of use, free features, and unique capabilities.
Let’s dive in.
1. Asana: Free Project Management Software for Small Teams
Pros:
- Unlimited tasks, projects, messages, and file storage
- Board, list and calendar views
- iOS and Android mobile apps
- Access to dozens of integrations
- Handy collaboration features
Cons:
- Expensive paid pricing
- No AI on the free plan
Asana is an ultra-flexible free project management software solution, ideal for smaller teams and individuals. Unfortunately, the free plan doesn’t include access to Asana AI, but you’ll still be able to experiment with unlimited tasks, projects, file storage, and more.
Asana makes it easy to organize tasks and workflows in various ways, with list, board, and calendar view options. You can assign specific tasks with due dates to certain team members, track time with integrations, and access instant status updates.
Plus, Asana can seamlessly integrate with various common business apps, from Microsoft Teams to Salesforce, Adobe Creative Cloud, and more.
The Free Plan
Asana’s free plan is extremely generous, with unlimited tasks, projects, messages, activity logs, and file storage. You also get various views, search filters, status updates, and mobile apps. However, you can only collaborate with up to 10 teammates at once.
2. Trello: Simple, Visual Project Management Software
Pros:
- Highly customizable boards, with Power-Ups
- Straightforward visual-first interface
- Lots of templates for beginners
- Generous free plan
- Integrated 2-factor authentication
Cons:
- Limited views on the free plan
- Basic user management features
Trello is one of the most popular project management and collaboration tools in the world today, capable of integrating with a wide range of applications, and offering unique experiences to users. Simplicity is one of the biggest selling points of Trello. It takes minutes to create an account and start creating customizable boards with unlimited cards and “Power-up” options.
You can use Trello to plan assignments and workflows from scratch, or access a range of templates. There’s unlimited storage included on every plan, and you can even experiment with the app on iOS and Android mobile devices.
The Power-Up options are particularly impressive, offering access to calendar task views, voting options, automation, and more. Powerful no-code automation is also built into every Trello board to help boost efficiency and productivity.
The Free Plan
Trello’s free plan includes unlimited cards, 10 boards per workspace, unlimited storage and Power-Ups, custom backgrounds and stickers, and an activity log. You can also run 250 workspace commands per month and enable 2-factor authentication.
3. ClickUp: Flexible Project Views
Pros:
- Plenty of different task view options
- Generous free plan
- In-app video recording included
- Whiteboards and collaborative documents
- Unlimited free plan members
Cons:
- Slight learning curve for beginners
- No AI features on the free plan
Like Asana, ClickUp doesn’t offer its latest AI capabilities on its free plan, but it still gives users a highly flexible environment for project management. The comprehensive solution is ideal for users who want complete control over their task “views.” You can choose from various options, like lists, calendars, Kanban, Gantt views, and more.
One great thing about ClickUp is how effective it can be at improving collaboration. Teams can work on documents simultaneously, access real-time chat, and create whiteboards. There’s even an in-app video recording feature for enhanced collaboration and onboarding.
Plus, the solution supports unlimited team members and sprint management solutions for agile software development.
The Free Plan
ClickUp’s free plan includes 100MB of storage, unlimited team members and tasks, multiple view options, two-factor authentication, and in-app video recording. You also get 24/7 support, sprint management, and whiteboards.
4. Wrike: Included AI Content Generation
Pros:
- AI content generation on the free plan
- Multiple view options
- Web, desktop, and mobile apps
- Easy spreadsheet-style user interface
- Great project tracking features
Cons:
- Limitations on tasks in the free plan
- Basic customization
If you’re used to managing projects with spreadsheets, Wrike could be the perfect free project management software for you. The easy-to-use platform allows you to create comprehensive spreadsheets to track the progress of tasks or experiment with boards and lists.
Wrike enables instant status updates for team members and active task assignments. However, many advanced features like custom dashboards are restricted to paid plans. On the plus side, you get a built-in solution for AI content generation, which isn’t offered by most alternatives.
Wrike is also highly flexible and capable of integrating with 400+ cloud and on-premises applications. It can even enable two-way sync with solutions like GitHub and Jira.
The Free Plan
Wrike’s free plan includes web, mobile, and desktop apps, and unlimited projects for unlimited users. You also get board and table views, and AI content generation capabilities.
5. Airtable: Customizable Free Project Management Software
Pros:
- Highly customizable interface
- Real-time collaboration features
- Excellent range of visualization options
- Developer support with APIs
- Lots of templates for beginners
Cons:
- Slight learning curve for beginners
- Some limitations on records
Airtable is one of the few free project management software solutions that allows users to create their perfect software. The app comes with a range of templates and resources to help you build project workflows. However, you can customize everything from the view type, to data validation.
The Airtable marketplace includes access to various apps that can help you optimize your project workflows and boost productivity. Plus, no-code automation is included as standard, along with an intuitive interface designer for straightforward customization.
The solution offers great real-time collaboration and commenting features, access to mobile apps, and up to 1GB of storage for each “base” you create.
