6 Best FREE Project Management Software of 2024

Whether you’re a small business manager, a busy freelancer, or a student who regularly studies, you can increase your productivity and efficiency with the right project management software. However, project management software can be expensive, meaning not everyone can afford it.

There are free project management software available in the market, but if you are going to use a free software, you should definitely choose the best one.

Many products on the market offer subpar features in their free versions. 

And since the features offered are so similar across almost all services, it can be difficult to choose between them. That’s why I tested dozens of project management tools myself and found the 6 best free options .

 

Overall, I think monday.com is the best. The free plan is for 2 people only. However, it allows you to manage almost any type of project with over 200 templates. You can also create simple text documents within the project. These text documents are great for taking notes while working.

What Features Should We Look For in the Best Free Project Management Software?

All the options in this review are optimized for different users. They don’t all have the same features mexico telegram data but they had to have some features for us to include them in this review.

• Convenient free plan. Using the software for free won’t cut it. You should be able to effortlessly manage a project from start to finish without having to pay extra.
• Ease of use. Under normal circumstances, you should be able to start and run a project as soon as you sign up for the software. With all project management tools, you get to use more features as you learn. However, it will help you a lot if it is easy to use in the beginning.
• Project visualizations. Seeing your project from different angles can be very helpful in approaching the project from different perspectives. All of the software in this review offer multiple ways to visualize projects.
• Dashboards and reporting. You may want to see the big picture of a project as it progresses. The software in this review offers a variety of dashboards and reporting options to clearly display project data.
• Project templates. Again, you should be able to start your project as soon as possible after installing the software. Project templates greatly reduce the workload.

1. monday.com: Comprehensive Project Management Software for Individual Use

There is usually a situation like this in project management software ; easy to use ones have limited features, and feature-rich software is difficult to use. I say usually because monday.com is different from alternative services in terms of versatility and ease of use! On the one hand, it is easy to use, on the other hand, it offers more features.

However, the free plan has some limitations. It allows a maximum of two users for those who are new to management software. Also, the best features in the paid plans, such as timesheets or Gantt views, are not available in the free plan. For larger businesses, the Standard Plan offers unlimited users, automated workflows, and timesheet views.

 

Even so,monday.com is the best free project management software for individual use . You won’t be able to run a large business on the free plan, but if you just want to manage your workload better, monday.com is the best for you.

 

Features

• More than 20 column types. In table view, you can add a variety of columns, from basic text and number columns to things like progress trackers and drop-down menus.
• Android and iOS apps. The mobile app allows you to update, create or delete jobs even when you are not at work. This helps you keep your job up to date wherever you are.
• Create custom documents. In addition to classic file uploads, you can create simple text documents on monday.com. It’s not the most advanced word processor on the market, but it’s pretty good if you need to add a lot of information to a job quickly.
• Variety of templates. Monday.com has over 200 custom templates for you to use. Categories range from marketing and design to software development and education. Each template is carefully crafted to include every feature you could possibly need right from the start.

For more detailed information, you can take a look at our comprehensive monday.com expert review .

 

2. ClickUp: (Almost) Unlimited Basic Tools for Large Projects

If you are familiar with any project management software, you know that all services are offered with limitations in free plans. So, you must be aware that only a few users are allowed in free versions. While this is the case with many software’s free plans, it is not the case with ClickUp. You can use ClickUp’s free plan with unlimited users. Not only that, ClickUp also offersYou can add an unlimited number of jobs , so you can manage your projects in ClickUp no matter how many jobs and employees you have .

 

You can use simple automations on the free plan.

 Many other project management software only allow automations on paid plans. I have nothing to say about that. However, if you are using this software for similar tasks, you may not want to use a paid plan. ClickUp allows 100 actions per month. This should be enough for most users.

 

While I like the generous offerings that ClickUp offers, you should also be aware that you will encounter some limitations. You are only allowed to manage 5 projects simultaneously, and the storage is limited to just 100MB. Large business owners or large teams with a lot of projects will want to go with a paid plan. ClickUp’s paid plans are also very good value for money.

 

Features

• Over 500 templates. Creating a new project is easy with ClickUp’s hundreds of templates. There’s a dedicated template for almost every situation, and each template comes with a user guide to help you use it.
• Real-time collaboration. Add a chat widget to your dashboard to keep project conversations centralized. You can also co-edit documents and write data on Whiteboard in real time, making it easy to brainstorm with your team.
• Built-in time tracking. You can start tracking how long each task takes right within the task or next to it in your List view, so you can easily see where your time is going.
• Pre-built integrations. It has over 50 pre-built integrations, including ClickUp, Slack, GitHub, and even Figma. You can even use an unlimited number of ClickApps (pre-built extensions) to customize your workspace.

3. Smartsheet: Premium Features and Long Trial Period

Wait a minute! Don’t skip ahead. I know Smartsheet doesn’t have a free plan. ButIt offers a 30-day trial period that gives you access to all premium features. Thanks to Smartsheet’s flexibility, this period is more than enough to manage a short-term project.

 

Smartsheet’s biggest strength is its spreadsheets, which it calls “grids.” Grids offer a lot of flexibility for organizing and displaying your projects. Depending on the types of columns you have in a grid, you can quickly turn data into a kanban board, a Gantt chart, or a calendar view.

 

If you’re working on a large-scale project with a lot of data, Smartsheet has every tool you could possibly need. Smartsheet lets you post comments on any element, from specific grids to entire documents, and tag team members. There are also advanced proofing tools for teams working on video projects.

 

You learn more as you use Smartsheet, so you’ll have a hard time getting the hang of it all within the 30-day trial period. If you want to manage larger, longer-term projects, I recommend the Pro Plan (which is surprisingly cheap, too). It may not be exactly free, but Smartsheet’s incredible versatility makes it definitely worth a try.

 

Features

• High-level reports. Smartsheet’s reports are special grids that allow you to show and manipulate specific data from other documents. They allow you to enter data from any grid or even another report. Any changes made to the report are automatically reflected in the source. Changes made in the application are also updated in the report simultaneously.
• Custom dashboards. Dashboards are visualizations of your project’s data. You can create as many dashboards as you want and customize every aspect, from the information you want to show to where and how you want to show it.
• Advanced proofing tools. Team members can add comments and private notes to any file in Smartsheet. For video files, these notes can even be time-stamped.
• Automate workflows. Workflows can do everything from updating information in a grid to sending you personalized reminders to changing a project’s schedule. Best of all, you can create and edit workflows with an easy-to-use visual editor. No need to fiddle with cumbersome formulas.

For more detailed information, you can check out our comprehensive Smartsheet expert review .

 

4. Jira: Generous Free Plan Ideal for Businesses

Free plans usually come in two flavors. They either offer unlimited functionality for a small number of users or limited functionality for as many users as you want. Great for most teams, sure, but not so much for businesses. So is it too much to ask for the best of both worlds? Not for Jira. Jira Work Management’s free plan allows for 10 simultaneous users. You can also track as many projects as you want. You can also track an unlimited number of tasks within all of your projects.

 

Best of all, Jira Confluence’s free plan covers an unlimited number of users for an unlimited number of domains and pages, so you can expand Jira’s free plan with even more free features. It’s a great solution for businesses because it lets you keep all your documents the importance of page titles notes, and collaborative editing in one central place.

 

Is it a great option?

No! With the free plan, you’ll only be able to use Jira’s community and self-service support channels. While the free options are great, they’re never the equivalent of getting help from a real person. Upgrading to a paid plan isn’t cheap by lists but it’s roughly equivalent to a mid-tier plan with other tools, and it’s not expensive.

 

Features

• Unlimited automation. Jira’s free plan includes unlimited single-project automation, saving you time on admin software. If you want to automate tasks across projects, you get 100 uses per month.
• User homepages. Never miss a task assigned to a user again with Jira’s user homepages. Your homepage shows you the tasks assigned to you, recent activity on your projects, and more. You can also set up a customizable dashboard to help you keep track of specific projects.
• Real-time editing. If you use Jira Confluence, you can edit documents in real time with your team. Each document has a detailed version history, making it easy to roll back changes if needed.
• 2GB of storage. You get plenty of storage on the free plan, or you can upgrade to a paid plan to increase that to 250GB. Need more? You can always integrate Jira with cloud storage services like Dropbox or OneDrive.