The ever-expanding global business landscape is quite a challenge for small-team business owners and managers. New businesses are sprouting at an incredible rate as innovation becomes a daily goal, and good organization turns into a must.  

Being held to such high standards will surely keep you and your team on your toes at all times. Thankfully, managers no longer have to deal with these types of problems independently. Project management technology is ready to come to the rescue.

To that end, we’ve researched the current project management software market and compared the available solutions. We’ve ranked the candidates based on a selection of criteria, including user interface, customization features, integration possibilities, automation, pricing, and so on.

Stay with us to find out our 2022 top project management software for small teams, read their reviews, and learn how and why we’ve ranked them.

Best Project Management Software for Small Teams: Top 10 List

Choosing the best project management software for small teams is not easy. If you manage a small team, you should consider several factors. In a nutshell, the platform needs to be easy to use, flexible, and cost-effective. This way, it won’t slow down your team or break your budget but will help them reach their full potential and improve your success rates.

We’ve factored these and a few more aspects in and come up with the following top project management software for small teams. Have a look:

1. monday.com — Best project management software for small teams for 2022
2. ClickUp — Best project management app for small remote teams
3. Teamwork — Best project management software for client account management
4. Asana — Best free project management solution for Mac and PC
5. Wrike — Project management platform with impressive reporting features
6. TeamGantt — Best project management app for small teams with Gantt charts
7. Trello — Top easy-to-use kanban boards-based PM platform
8. Paymo — Best project management software for small teams with multiple projects
9. nTask — Best cheap project management solution for small teams
10. Nifty— Top simple project management tool for small teams

Best Project Management Software for Small Teams — Compared

Now that you’re familiar with our top pick, it’s time we delve a little deeper. Each of the ten sections below is dedicated to one of the project management solutions for small teams we’ve referenced. The sections explore the PM apps’ special features, advantages and disadvantages, and pricing.

The reviews should clarify what each software solution can do for your business and help you pick the most suitable one.

1. monday.com — Overall Best Project Management Software for Small Teams 2022

monday.com is a user-friendly yet feature-packed project management software that has all small business needs. It covers multiple organizational areas, and it’s used by some of the most well-known companies in the world, like Hulu, Uber, Unilever, and Adobe.

Special features:

• Variety of pricing plans — monday.com offers five pricing plans, including a free entry-level one. The plans are designed to cater to your needs as your business develops and grows over time.
• Useful integration possibilities — This project manager tool supports numerous integration that can improve your business’s functionality. Dropbox, Slack, Google Drive, Jira, and Typeform are only a few of the apps you can use in connection to monday.
• Great knowledge base — monday.com offers an extensive and comprehensible knowledge base to all its users. Your new employees should find this feature a great helping hand when learning how the platform works.
• Customizable dashboards — This project management solution allows you to build dashboards and track progress according to your needs. It will ensure all your team members are on the same page regarding where you stand and what your next step should be.
• High-quality interface — monday.com is engineered to be easy to use even if your prior experience with project management software is limited. It’s well-structured, colorful, and elegant. 

Pricing:

• Free plan
• Basic plan for $8/user/month
• Standard plan for $10/user/month 
• Pro plan for $16/user/month 
• Enterprise plan (price available on contact) 

Pros:

• Free plan available
• Elegant and easy-to-use interface
• Numerous integrations and automations
• Customizable dashboards
• Elaborate knowledge base
• Known and successful businesses-approved 

Cons:

• Free plan limited to up to two team members
• No client support 

2. ClickUp — Best Project Management App for Small Remote Teams

ClickUp is an excellent choice of PM software if you’re managing a remote team. It’s one of the project management apps with the most numerous and unique features on the market.

Special features:

• Built-in screen recording — Clickup’s integrated screen recording tool is one of its best assets. It allows you to embed recordings into chat and helps your remote team stay up to date with the latest developments in a few clicks. 
• Easy document integration tools — This platform allows you to embed Google Docs and MS Excel sheets into your project space. This way, ClickUp gives your employees easy access to data and facilitates efficient and effective collaboration.
• Numerous add-on widgets — ClickUp allows you to design your dashboard by adding multitudes of widgets and features to streamline your workflow and communication. 

Pricing:

• Free plan 
• Unlimited plan for $5/user/month 
• Business plan for $12/user/month
• Business Plus plan for $19/user/month 
• Enterprise (price available on contact)

Pros:

• In-app screen recording
• Simple document integration
• Numerous view options
• Customizable dashboards
• Plenty of add-on apps and widgets

Cons:

• Complex interface
• Overwhelming number of features

3. Teamwork — Best Project Management Platform for Managing Client Accounts

Last but not least on our top project management software list is Teamwork. If you’re looking for a PM app that facilitates collaboration and client accounts management, Teamwork might be your match.

Special features:

• Unlimited client accounts — Teamwork allows you to tailor clients’ access to your project planning and work progress and improve your collaborative relationship. Via Teamwork, your clients add comments and tasks or just view your work, depending on how much access you give them.
• Integrated billing tool — This PM software makes billing and invoicing clients easy with its integrated billing app. It can create bills based on a flat fee you’ve set or an hourly rate you can calculate with the help of Teamwork’s time tracking tool.
• Webhook feature — Teamwork’s webhook feature allows you to create automation with external online services and use it for different purposes, from messaging to tracking workflow. 

Pricing: 

• Free always
• Deliver plan for $10/user/month
• Grow plan for $18/user/month
• Scale plan (price available on contact) 

Pros:

• Useful client account management tools
• Simple drag-and-drop system
• In-app billing and invoicing feature
• Handful of available integrations
• Self-lead training materials

Cons:

• Limited free plan
• Lack of PDF and image markup tools
• Steeper learning curve

4. Asana — Best Free Project Management Software for Small Teams

Close second to monday.com, Asana is an excellent small team top project management software. One of its best features, a highly functional free plan, outshines much of Asana’s competition.

Special features:

• Fantastic free plan — Asana offers an unparalleled free plan suitable for many small-team businesses’ needs. It includes up to 15 team members, unlimited projects, and great time tracking applications.
• Flexibility — This project management tool provides a considerable amount of freedom for project and task organization. You can customize to-do list styles, add subtasks, descriptions, tags, assignees, due dates, and so forth.
• 30-day free trial — Asana has a month-long free trial that can help you make the right final decision about using this software solution.
• Numerous integrations — This software integrates withMS Office 365, Cloud, Jira, Microsoft Teams, Google Drive, Gmail, Adobe Creative Cloud, Clockwise, Slack, and many others. 

Pricing: 

• Basic plan for free
• Premium plan for $10.99/user/month
• Business plan for $24.99/user/month

Pros:

• Amazing free plan
• 30-days free trial
• Clean and user-friendly interface
• Impressive feature set
• Great app integrations

Cons:

• Advanced plans on the pricey side
• Limited assignment tools 

5. Wrike — Project Management Solution With Impressive Reporting Features

Wrike is another globally popular software solution with over 2 million users worldwide. It boasts several fantastic features, including innovative reporting tools that can help you create customizable reports from multiple projects and monitor your progress hassle-free. It is also one of the best IT project management software in the market as well as a fantastic software for all project management needs.

Special features:

• Customizable reports — This project management tool allows users to customize reports according to their needs. Its reporting tools will keep up with data changes across all your projects and tasks and ensure that you, your team, and your collaborators are abreast of the progress.
• Native email integration — Wrike has a unique built-in email integration feature to make your business management easier. You can connect Wrike to your inbox within your profile quickly.
• Personalized dashboard —  Wrike’s dashboards give easy access to your workspaces and inbox. They also highlight your most relevant daily and weekly tasks, add widgets, snooze notifications, and much more.
• Handy schedule tool — This software offers a customizable schedule tool that lets you group or divide employees depending on their tasks and adjusts your timeline accordingly.

Pricing:

• Free plan
• Professional plan for $9.80/user/month
• Business plan for $24.80/user/month 
• Enterprise plan (price available on contact)

Pros:

• Free plan available
• Built-in email integration
• Personalizable dashboards and schedule tools
• Advanced reporting features
• Efficient customer support

Cons:

• Slower loading capacity
• Costly higher-level plans 

6. TeamGantt — Project Management Platform With the Best Gantt Chart Offer

Gantt charts have become one of this industry’s favorite project management tools. TeamGantt centers around these charts, allowing you to use and integrate them with other project management tools for low costs.

Special features:

• Affordable Gantt charts — TeamGantt, as you’d expect from their name, boasts the best Gantt charts on the market for their price. They’re easy to use, full of useful features, customizable, and saveable.
• Mobile-friendly — TeamGantt offers a mobile application compatible with both iOS and Android devices. So its users can stay in touch with their teams and up to date with their work while on the go.
• Fantastic communication tools — This software solution tools like shared team calendar, file sharing, and chat inbox facilitate your team members’ communication and help them collaborate more effectively.
• Great customer support — Users can contact TeamGantt’s customer support agents via email, chat, and phone. Plus, they can rely on a fairly extensive knowledge base and comprehensive tutorials for help. 

Pricing:

• Free plan
• Standard plan for 19.90/user/month
• Advanced plan for 24.45/user/month 

Pros:

• 30-day free trial for standard and advanced plans
• Best Gantt charts on the market
• Additional project views available
• Mobile-optimized app
• Multiple customer support channels

Cons:

• No financial management features
• Expensive higher-level plans

7. Trello — Top Easy-to-Use Kanban Board-Based Project Management Software

Trello is a highly functional and user-friendly software that has become one of the best small business project management software. As such, it occupies the golden middle spot on our top 2022 project management software list. 

Special features:

• Intuitive interface — Trello’s user-friendly Kanban boards and famous drag-and-drop interface make this software one industry’s favorites. The boards can be customized — you can add categories, data fields, and unlimited cards — but they still feature enough negative space to provide a good overview.
• Plenty of integration possibilities — This software solution integrates with more than 200 applications and tools, from Google Drive and Dropbox to Slack and Salesforce.
• Solid free plan — Trello’s free plan is one of the best you’ll find out there. It includes unlimited users, several boards, Power-Ups, 250 workspace command runs per month, and more. 

Pricing: 

• Free plan 
• Standard plan for $5/user/month 
• Premium plan for $10/user/month 
• Enterprise plan for $17.50/user/month 

Pros:

• Intuitive interface
• Kanban boards
• No learning curve
• Over 200 available integrations
• Mobile-friendly apps
• Good free plan

Cons:

• Not particularly scalable
• Limited number of features

8. Paymo —  Best Software Solution for Multiple Client Projects Management

Paymo is another software popular among small businesses and freelancers due to its functionality. It allows its users to manage projects, track time, create invoices, and bill clients, all from a single platform.

Special features:

• Automatic time-tracking tool — Paymo has a built-in time tracking tool that tracks time spent on each project. The software uses that information and automatically creates comprehensive invoices for clients.
• Billing-centric system — This software groups projects per client and allows you to set a separate billing system for each of them. You can set an hourly rate by using the time tracking tool or a flat fee.
• Multiple workspace views — Paymo allows its users to choose how they’ll view their work. They can use Gantt charts, Kanban boards, as well as table, list, or calendar view styles.

Pricing:

• Free plan 
• Starter plan for $4.95/user/month
• Small office plan for $9.95/user/month 
• Business plan for $20.79/user/month 

Pros:

• Integrated time tracker
• Convenient billing system
• Flexible project and task view 
• Useful project and task filtering tool
• Affordable pricing plans

Cons:

• Learning curve
• Complex tools

9. nTask — Best Cheap Project Management Software for Small Teams

nTask might suit you the best if you’re on a budget and looking for a project management platform. This software includes a straightforward interface, a solid lineup of features, and several project and task view styles for a low price.

Special features:

• Agile methodology — nTask uses  Agile, a productivity-driven approach to organization. Its users have scheduling, milestone tracking, issue tracking, budgeting, and other helpful tools at their disposal.
• Time tracking tool — This project management platform includes a time tracker for free. The tool is integrated, like in Wrike, so you won’t have to spend time adding it on. It can be extremely handy when working remotely.
• Versatile task and project view possibilities — nTask allows you to view projects and tasks in several ways — from the unique grid and gallery views to the popular Gantt charts and Kanban boards. 

Pricing:

• Basic plan for free 
• Premium plan for $3/user/month
• Business plan for $8/user/month
• Enterprise plan (price available on contact)

Pros:

• Simple-to-use software
• Affordable pricing plans
• Agile approach to management
• Several projects and task views
• Meeting planner and note-taking tools

Cons:

• Extensive privacy policy requirements
• Not suitable for growing businesses

10. Nifty — Best Simple Project Management Tool for Small Teams

Nifty is a relatively new project management platform that prides itself on its simplicity and ease of use. Rather than being packed with features, Nifty offers a smaller number of essential tools designed for smaller-scale businesses.

Special features:

• Project’s import — Nifty allows users to import projects and tasks from other project management tools. So, you won’t waste time or data during these data re-entry processes if you choose to switch to Nifty.
• Portfolio management — Nifty has a project portfolio tool that allows users to organize their projects based on departments, managers, locations, and so on. The streamlined project dashboard will give everyone a view of projects’ current statuses and improve your team’s efficiency.
• Discussions section — This project management app has a Discussions section that stores all conversations and comments about a project in one place. In this way, your team members won’t have to spend time switching between apps or looking for past comments when working on a project. 

Pricing:

• Free plan
• Starter plan for $39/month
• Pro plan for $79/month 
• Business plan for $124/month
• Unlimited plan for $399/month 

Pros:

• Easy-to-use PM tool
• Effective portfolio management tool
• Gantt charts and several other view possibilities
• Unique discussion section
• Simple project and task import

Cons:

• Smaller number of available integrations
• Fewer features than its competitors
• Pricy monthly plans

How to Choose a Project Management Software for Small Teams: Factors to Consider

Project management tools make your business run smoother and help your team become more efficient. However, that’s only possible if the PM software you use suits your business’s needs, size, and line of work. So, you must make the right decision when choosing PM solutions for your small-team business.

Since project management software comes in all shapes and forms, so use a set of fixed criteria to find the best match. Let’s look at what that set of criteria should include, so you can understand how we’ve ranked PM software and use this evaluation technique in the future.

Ease of Use

One of the first aspects you should consider when choosing a PM software is its interface. Complex platforms that require extensive training will burden your employees and take time off work. Since you lead a small team, this can have very detrimental effects on your business over time. So, you should strive to find software with an intuitive interface that’s easy to use regularly and doesn’t require hours of learning.

Flexibility

The second aspect you should consider is the flexibility of the PM platform you’re planning to use. Flexible software will include numerous useful features and customizable tools to cover many requirements different businesses have. For example, it’ll offer different project management frameworks, several project views, various ready-to-use templates, and so on. Choosing a flexible platform means you can personalize tools to fit your priorities and use features your business and your team find the most helpful. 

Scalability

Scalability goes hand in hand with the previous criterion we’ve discussed. Scalable PM tools offer a few pricing plans with an increasing number of advanced features to support your business’s growth and development over time. It might not seem important to choose a project management software with numerous advanced features like now when your business is still small. Nevertheless, you might find tools like in-app time tracking, unlimited guest access, or multi-level permissions indispensable as your business scales over time.

Automation

Small teams tend to be much busier and more resource-limited than bigger ones. There’s little room for wasting time on mechanical and repetitive tasks, and your choice of a PM app should reflect that. Make sure your project management software supports various automation to handle tasks like data updating and duplicating. In turn, your team can focus on more intellectually-demanding tasks, and you’ll save a lot of time, energy, and money along the way.

Tool Integration

Besides automation, your business can significantly benefit from using a PM tool that supports numerous integrations. Synchronizing and coordinating project information across multiple platforms will keep your clients in the know and make your team more productive. We suggest you make a list of apps your team uses daily and then compare it to the apps the PM platform you’re considering supports.

Security

The PM platform’s security is as important as its functionality. Your data and information should be kept safe round the clock. Look at how your PM app hosts software online, and what security protocols it’s using. Read former and current users’ feedback to ensure you’ve chosen the best option for your business.

Pricing

If you manage a small-team business, pricing plays a significant role in your PM app deciding process. The software solution you choose should be fully functional and cover all your needs but not break your budget. Thankfully, most PM platforms offer several pricing plans, including a free one. Remember to take a good look at what each plan includes to decide on the one that makes the most sense for your business.

Conclusion: What Is the Best Project Management Software for Small Teams?

After thorough research and evaluation, we’ve found that Monday is the best project management software for small teams currently on the market. It meets all the criteria established above and makes planning and project management as easy as pie. 

Nonetheless, Monday might not be what you’re looking for at this moment. For that reason, we’ve provided you with nine other great options to choose from. They’re all quality PM tools that excel in different areas project management comprises. Read the reviews, consider their offers and pricing plans, and select the one you like best.

Read more:

• Best project management apps
• Top project management tools

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