Project management software, task management software, to-do list app, CRM software, etc. - sounds familiar? We bet you have at least used one or two of these software programs to better manage your tasks and collaborate with your teams and clients. However, you might want to take a minute and learn about a new concept if you want to become even more productive and efficient: end-to-end work management software.
Starting with the most basic concept, what is a work management software? To put it simply, work management software is a digital tool that allows you to plan, break down big projects into digestible tasks, track, streamline, collaborate with team members, organize and review to evaluate if your project is on the right track. With an end-to-end logical workflow structure, a work management software can improve team performance and boost productivity.
While most corporations share the need for a work management software, personal users and small business owners can also deploy a work management tool to better manage team workflow and non-business tasks.
Work Management Software Must-Have Features
- Simple to use: User-friendly interface, easy to use workflow, intuitive user experience without any learning curve, etc.
- Comprehensive task management system: Create tasks and subtasks, assign tags, manage task priorities, Kanban board, and track task list’s health stats, etc.
- Advanced team collaboration: Assign responsibilities clearly to each team member, get notified when anyone makes an update, multiple assignee, create and track personal tasks, view other members’ tasks and manage workload resources.
- Time-based management: Track due and start dates, set automatic repeat dates, view tasks in a timeline view (Gantt Chart view), set time, etc.
- Centralized team communication: Real-time communication, feedback and comments, update notifications to stay in sync with team collaboration.
- Report administration: Comprehensive dashboard view with detailed graphic charts and diagrams, spot potential risks, create personalized list to better focus on what matters.
- File storage and integrations: Keep all the documents centralized and organized to quickly share with team members, access documents and attachments whenever possible, integrate with Google Drive, etc.
There are thousands of work management software and tools that claim to help your businesses tackle goals and challenges. Today we’re going to introduce and review in detail top 10 best work management software that your teams should immediately download and sign up for an account.
Top 10 Best Work Management Software in 2024
A work management software can help you track thousands of tasks, but it doesn’t have to be too complicated to learn. Today we are going to introduce only the most simple-to-use yet powerful work management software that actually helps you get things done.
1. Quire
Recently, Quire has become one of the rising stars for the award-winning collaborative work management software and received a lot of positive reviews and recommendations in Capterra, G2Crowd, GetApp, SoftwareSuggest, Entrepreneurs, etc. As straightforward as it is, Quire is a perfect workload management tool that operates both online and offline to drive success for collaborative teams.
The intuitive and simple user interface is always a dealbreaker for anyone who comes across a new work management tool. Quire developer team has spent years of effort to strive for a delicate balance between simplicity and the powerful features. The elegant and intuitive interface is one of the aspects that Quire users appreciate the most.
You can get your teams on board with Quire and set up each member with different roles and permissions. Quire allows you to create and manage all of your tasks categorized into different projects. With the hierarchical structure, all of your complex projects can be neatly organized and easily coordinated with other team members.
A lot of the work management software or project management software adopt to-do lists as one of the key features. However, Quire brought the flat to-do list to another level and introduced a nested task list - unlimited tasks and subtasks that help you break down big ideas into smaller and doable tasks.
If your team has been working with a whiteboard with sticky notes for a long time, Quire exceptional Kanban board is a perfect option. Unlike other work management tools, with Quire you can tackle your projects and get focused with both Kanban board and nested task list as a perfect duo. Quire is one of the very few, if not saying the first work management platforms allow this.
Quire hierarchical task list lets you brainstorm and plan ahead for your projects. On the other hand, Kanban board is for execution and progress tracking in a visual workflow form. The best thing with Quire is, you can switch between a nested task list and Kanban board at any time to get the best of both worlds.
Sublist is a unique approach that makes Quire stand out among thousands of work management app. For one task list, you can create as many sub-lists as you wish to focus on which matters the most to you. The newly created sublists can mirror the main list and Quire Sublist is a huge advanced step for your work management.
One of the key features that make a work management software be in a different class from a simple task management software is the collaboration tool. Your team will always stay in sync with Quire real-time collaboration feature. You can access your projects using your mobile phones and web browsers at any time. Not many work management software can keep your data updated in real-time!
To put in a nutshell, Quire is not only an online work management software, Quire is a bridge between your goals and accomplishments.
Some more amazing features that make Quire your best investment:
- Infinite Nested Task List: Break down big ideas into smaller digestible chunks of tasks.
- Kanban Board: Streamline and track projects visually.
- Sublist: For one to-do list, create as many sub-lists as you wish to focus on which matters the most to you.
- Timeline: A beautiful Gantt chart that helps to map out team schedules in the most intuitive way.
- Dashboard: Get a bird’s eye view of the projects along with detailed charts and diagrams.
- Multiple Assignees: Assign a task to the people who are responsible for it.
- Schedule: Set start date, start time, due date for a task to track the process.
- Smart Folders: View and organize tasks from different projects from different organizations in one place.
- Permission Control: Users management administration at the highest level.
- External Team: Outsource your tasks and assign to third parties without them seeing everything on your projects.
- Share Links: Send an invitation link to your clients so they can access your project without signing up.
- Smart Keyboard Shortcuts: Tons of nifty shortcuts that allow you to work on your project without reaching the mouse.
- Peekaboo: Tuck away non-actionable tasks to get focused on the ones that matter.
- Export and Import data: Pain-free migrating your data or export your projects to save as a local backup.
- Project Template: Save your time by duplicating a project or task to use as a template.
- File Sharing: Easily upload a file or attach a file from Google Drive to your tasks.
- Integrations: Github, Slack, Google Drive, Zapier, Gmail Add-on, etc.
You don’t have to take our word for it, see for yourself about all of the features here. Enjoy, work smart and have fun with Quire!
2. Asana
Asana has always been one of the most popular project and work management software. You can use Asana as a personal to-do list or platform to collaborate with your small teams. Users can choose different layout mode for each project set up, such as list, board, calendar, etc.
Asana interface uses a delightful theme with a lot of bright colors to enhance users’ productivity and working mood. However, it can be a huge drawback for anyone who is in love with the minimalist design.
- Different layout modes: tasks, boards, calendar (premium), timeline (premium)
- Scheduling a task, assignee
- Permission control (premium)
- Custom fields (premium)
- Google SSO (premium)
- Pricing: Starting from $10.99/mo
3. Monday
Monday is a work management app for teams that many companies are fond of. The vibrant theme is somewhat similar with Asana, which also uses very upbeat colors to promote good vibes. However, Monday's user interface isn’t as simple and straightforward as other work management platforms.
Monday has various views such as board, list, chart, map, timeline, etc. which can benefit teams to keep up with their progress. Users can only choose one view for one project though. Given the powerful features, Monday is a good choice for a small creative team who handles complex projects on a daily basis. However, abundance of features can be a setback since this project tracker software requires a huge learning curve and effort, especially for initial setup.
- Different layout modes: tasks, boards, calendar, timeline (Standard package and above)
- Permission control (Standard package and above)
- iOS and Android Apps
- File Storage: 5GB (Basic package) and more
- Pricing: Starting from $25/mo
4. Wrike
Wrike is a work management software that is designed to improve the working speed of a team or a group. The layout is very clean and simple so that users can view important data at a glance without any hassle.
One of the highlights with Wrike is the Timeline view. You can just drag and drop the task to set dependency and visualize the workflow. Wrike task list and board view are similar to other task management tools, you can choose the layout that works best for you.
- Dashboard
- Board, task, calendar, timeline
- Integrations: Gmail, Google Drive, OneDrive, Outlook, Salesforce, etc.
- Pricing: Starting from $24.80/mo
5. Jira
Jira is a work planner that is trusted by many companies. Jira is designed for project managers to plan, assign and track their workload. The whole workflow is customized especially for managers to collaborate with their team members. Jira has quite a few unique features and functionalities that are suitable for internal and external agile tracking and project management.
Though the complexity of its interface could be a shortcoming, Jira manages to be one of the top rated tools for agile management systems.
- Unlimited custom fields
- Issue integrations and flexible REST APIs
- Advanced report
- Mobile interface
- Customizable dashboards
- Pricing: Starting from $10/mo
6. Airtable
Airtable is one of the most common work management systems for team collaboration. Using the spreadsheet and database as the core features, Airtable is very user-friendly for those who are Excel-savvy. Recently, Airtable has also included several new views for tracking projects, such as: Calendar, Kanban board, Gallery and Form.
All the projects in Airtable can be treated as independent projects or grouped into a workspace. Teams can choose to work with different projects in different workspaces. Also, if you prefer colorful themes, Airtable allows users to change the colors and do some customizations.
- Two-factor authentication
- Tasks and subtasks option
- Calendar, Kanban, Gallery, Form views
- Templates for each team
- Pricing: Starting from $10/mo
7. Redbooth
Redbooth is a SaaS work management software. It enables users to manage portfolio, resources, time and expenses. Also, if you’re a project manager who is familiar with agile methodology, Redbooth is a good choice for you to track the progress of your team.
Redbooth can be complex at times with heavy features. The UI has been updated several times in order to create the most straightforward interface to onboard new team members.
- Agile Methodology
- Kanban board
- Client Portal
- Portfolio, resource, time & expense tracking
- Pricing: Starting from $9/mo
8. Binfire
Binfire is a simple work management software that is well-integrated and suitable for different businesses and industries. Binfire helps managers to follow and manage projects and following tasks with the six-level deep subtasks.
Binfire also enables users to plan and track projects using various methodologies, such as agile, waterfall, burnt-down chart and scrum. The project dashboard of Binfire lays out every important report and details about a project to avoid information lost within teams.
- Project dashboard
- Collaborative project planning and tracking
- Interactive Gantt chart
- Limited tasks and subtasks
- Pricing: Starting from $5/mo
9. Bitrix24
Bitrix24 is a collaborative work management software with a wide range of features that allow you to plan, schedule and track your projects, tasks and contacts. The main features of Bitrix24 include CRM & sales management and reports, time tracking, calendar view and simple project management functions.
As many other project management platforms offer, Bitrix24 also has a real-time collaboration option for businesses to capture decisions quickly. However, if your team or company doesn’t require a hectic CRM system, maybe Bitrix24 isn’t the right project tracking app for you.
- Comprehensive CRM and sales report system
- Time management
- Calendar view
- Instant messaging feature
- Pricing: Starting from $69/mo
10. Podio
Podio is a cost-efficient online collaborative work management platform which is highly customizable. Users can “build” their own workplace by putting different applications together and everything will be laid out in one single dashboard. The interface is simple and straightforward. You can add or remove the sections that best suit your needs.
Many reviews have stated that Podio is far from a full-fledged work management software, however, there are a lot of collaboration tools that you can take advantage of. Podio has the contact management feature that helps you set up your address book easily. The integrated chat feature enables you to stay in touch with your teammates at any time.
- Online collaboration tool
- File sharing
- Open API
- Extensions: add-ons for better experiences
- Contact management
- Pricing: starting from $9/mo
The Verdict: What’s The Best Work Management Software For You?
Let’s get it straight - there’s no perfect work management software that can flawlessly magically help you organize tasks and achieve team goals, even if you’re willing to write a big, fat check to get the software subscriptions. Instead of searching for the perfect work management platform, you should consider a software that can meet most of your needs and also the budget without creating a huge learning curve among the team.
Take a close look at the problems you’re facing with your projects. There are tons of methodologies to increase productivity as well as optimize teamwork. Try out several task management software to know which one works best for your team. Sometimes, powerful and heavy features do more harm than good.
Your time comes with a price tag, don’t waste your time on ineffective methods and complicated management tools. Choosing the right work management software can make a huge impact on your business’ success. G’luck hunting!
