Name: Top 18 Free Project Management Software
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Project management software is extremely useful. It helps to plan work, organize workflow, and manage resources. In large companies, a good project management tool makes it possible to maintain the organizational hierarchy and keep a steady flow of information.

And while complex tools are an excellent solution for companies that employ a large number of employees on different levels, very often, the free apps make a much better alternative for small and medium-sized businesses. Check out our short guide on the best project management software and how to choose the right tool for your business.

Why Use Free Project Management Software?

Choosing free project management apps is a good idea if you don’t have enough money or financial resources or aren’t sure if that’s the right solution for you. You can test it and decide if you should implement it.

Hence, it is a great resource for startups and those who want to pave the way for further development. They can use it to create a strategy and business plan quickly, and use it to boost growth.

Other than that, free tools very often offer basic functionalities that can be sufficient to manage projects effectively. They’re also easy to use and provide an opportunity for individuals and teams to experiment with different tools and methodologies without a significant financial commitment.

Additionally, free project management software can be helpful for small companies or teams operating without the help of project managers

Overall, while free project management software may have limitations compared to paid options, it can still be a valuable resource for individuals and small teams looking to improve their project management processes without breaking the bank.

⇒ Check also project management tools for students and remote project management guide.

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How to Choose the Right Free Project Management Software Tool?

Choosing the right app for your business may not be easy. You can find so many options that it can be confusing. Here are a few helpful features that can improve your project management process:

User-friendly interface: Opt for a tool with an intuitive UI that your team can easily adapt to. A complicated interface may lead to resistance from team members and hinder productivity.
Free plan with the possibility to upgrade: Remember that not all tools provide a free version; some of them only offer a free trial or limited features.
Key features: Make a list of essential features you require in a project management tool to ensure all your expectations are met and that you can include all the project information.
Managing multiple projects: It’s important to be able to work on different projects within one project. Restricting it to one or a few limits your ability to take on new work or work on unlimited projects.
Integrations: Using integrations for other project management software or your favorite tools can help you better track project progress and streamline workflow.
Cross-platform availability: It’s important to access your data from anywhere and be able to use it across different devices (web, mobile, desktop).

What Is the Best Project Management Software?

Sometimes it’s hard to pick one from all the project management apps. Every tool is dedicated to different users and has various functionalities.

To help you find the right one, we’ve compiled a list of top free project management software. Whether you’re an individual, a small business owner, or a project manager looking for a tool to coordinate the work of your team members, there’s something for everyone.

1. TimeCamp Planner – task management with chat for collaboration

TimeCamp Planner is a task management software with chat. It’s a great project management software, especially for small teams that need a flexible solution to plan work and collaborate in one place. The software is also suitable for everyone who works in the agile methodology. You can download TimeCamp Planner on your desktop, phone (iOS, Android), or access it in your browser.

This free project management software allows you to communicate and collaborate with other employees, teams, and even lets you invite people from outside of your organization. You can use TimeCamp Planner to freely plan your work schedule, employee shift, and all tasks you need to perform.

Here are the main features of TimeCamp Planner:

The flexible design lets you see three boards in one place—your team and spaces (different channels), chat, list of cards with tasks.
You can easily convert part of your conversation into a task.
The Kanban board with projects and tasks allows you to see employee workflow in one place.
Every task can be adjusted – you can set a date, assign people to it, add tags, checklists, descriptions, files, comment on it, and make tasks recurring.
The feature of workspaces allows you to create many spaces, if, for example, you work with various organizations or have different clients
The calendar view lets you visualize the work schedule.
A pleasant and intuitive interface makes TimeCamp Planner easy to use.

TimeCamp Planner gives you space to freely and smoothly collaborate with your teams and clients to create perfect workflow and shifts. No more switching between apps and tabs. You have everything in one place.

Use TimeCamp Planner to keep project management under control

Discover comprehensive features tailored for every stage of team collaboration.

2. Asana – online work, project, and task management

Asana is one of the most popular project management software. It’s a cloud-based platform that lets you manage work, projects, and tasks in one place. Asana has all the features necessary to plan and structure work.

This project management software allows you to follow the full lifecycle of projects, customize it, and change on an ongoing basis. You can set goals, and deadlines, and build a project plan and workflow with a drag-and-drop feature. Asana lets you organize projects however you need.

Project timelines provide a real-time view into the project so you can see all the dependencies, correlations, who’s working on what and with whom, and identify weak spots and risks.

Asana has many small functionalities and because of it, it may be difficult to navigate work in the tool. But after you get to know it, you will be able to fully and flexibly control all your projects.

The free plan of Asana is available for up to 10 team members. However, not all features are included in the freemium version.

Here is a short overview of the main features of Asana:

You can visualize work with project views – Kanban boards, to-do lists, a timeline in the Gantt chart style, calendar.
Unlimited tasks, projects, messages, activity log, file storage, assignee and due dates.
Status updates.
Adjustable tasks: due dates, times, subtasks, custom fields, attachments, forms, dependencies.
Communication features: chat, followers, project and team conversations.
Templates for different kinds of projects
Over 100 integrations with other apps.

Track your time in Asana with TimeCamp integration

3. TimeCamp – time and project tracking with attendance management

TimeCamp is a time tracking software with the most important functionalities of a project management tool. Not only does it let you track the time you and your employees or team members spend on work, but also monitor billable hours, track time against estimates, and keep a record of all tasks and projects.

Automatic functionalities help to eliminate tedious paperwork and administrative tasks. You can flexibly use TimeCamp the way you like and need to. Overall, the app helps to optimize and automate business processes, and at the same time, save time and money.

Also, TimeCamp enables you to recreate your organizational structure by adding groups that represent each of the company’s units. You can divide your employees into different teams, define some special settings for each of them, and give them exact roles and permissions.

TimeCamp is suitable for freelancers, small and large teams, remote workers, and for all the people who want to improve productivity. You can use it to track time, manage and allocate resources, monitor work hours, or manage attendance.

Here are some of the main features:

Automatic time tracking in real-time with comprehensive and detailed reports.
It comes with a wide range of platforms. The tool is available for desktop (Windows, Mac, and Linux) and has native mobile apps available for iOS and Android. You can also use the web plugin for Chrome.
You can work on productivity by monitoring productive and nonproductive activities.
Idle time detection.
Graphical timesheets integrated with calendar.
Detailed and accurate automatic timesheets with approvals; you can also edit time entries, and maneuver in the timesheets to adjust them as you need.
Attendance module to manage attendance, leaves, holidays, remote work, and more.
Measures the working time by particular categories.
Budgeting reports show actual vs. estimated time; you can set notifications to get informed when you’re exceeding the budget
Invoicing.
Integrations with other apps.
Tracking billable and non-billable hours.

4. Freedcamp – lightweight project management

Freedcamp is a simplistic solution for project management. If you’re looking for a plain tool to organize work, it’s the right choice.

The core features that are included in every plan cover tasks management, calendar, files uploaded to a project, milestones, tracking time spent on billable tasks, discussions, and to-do lists.

⇒ Read more about project milestones tracking!

Freedcamp, in its free version, lets you manage projects with unlimited users in a simple way. So if you need to juggle your priorities often, the app will help you adjust the workflow of your team.

For more advanced functionalities, you need to subscribe to one of the paid plans. Pricing starts at $1.49 per user per month. The additional features include Gantt chart view, recurring tasks and events in the calendar, custom fields in tasks, project templates, issue tracker, overview, or Wiki.

5. ClickUp – detail-oriented task management

ClickUp is a free project management tool that facilitates collaboration in teams and whole companies. It combines elements of project management software, task manager, process management, and simple reporting.

The software focuses on comprehensive task management. So if your projects have a lot of tasks and subtasks, and you need to have a unified hub to manage them easily, ClickUp has all the necessary functionalities.

ClickUp has so many features that it would take a while to list them all. Hence, here are the core components:

Tasks in the form of to-do lists. Every job can be adjusted with smallish features—add a description, checklists, indicate priority, set dependencies, create subtasks, add attachments, comment and manage comments in a thread, set dates, and many more.
Project management module with an overview of all projects and tasks.
Creating docs, knowledge bases, notes, and wikis.
Spreadsheets to collaborate directly in the app.
Chat within the tool replaces email within an organization.
Calendar and timeline view of events; you can sync ClickUp with your Google, Outlook, and Apple calendar.
Reminders.
Tracking goals.
Simple time tracking, you can also integrate ClickUp with some of the time tracking apps.

ClickUp has many hidden smallish functionalities, so it may take a while to get to know the tool. It literally has features within features, so don’t get misled by the simple look of this project management tool. However, if you don’t need all the extra functionalities, you should think about a more straightforward project management software.

Check our ClickUp Time Tracking integration!

6. Trello – project management software with Kanban boards

Trello is one of the most popular project management tools with Kanban boards. It’s a visual board that lets you organize, manage, and plan tasks. The free version enables individuals to design their work and personal responsibilities, build the workflow for teams, and coordinate complex projects.

The software is easy to use and has a friendly interface. Despite its simple design, Trello offers many useful functionalities.

You can create various boards for different teams with as many task lists as you need. Directly on the board, you are able to add as many cards as you want, and adjust their settings, assign tasks, repeat them for recurrency, comment, share files, and use many other fancy options such as adding covers, stickers, labels, make templates of your tasks and more.

Trello is a lightweight app that lets you visualize projects with simple Kanban boards and quickly see the progress of work and the team’s workflow. It’s one of the best free project management tools.

Additionally, Trello has an extensive list of power-ups that enhance work and collaboration. So, as a stand-alone tool, Trello is already great, but with the add-ons, you can integrate your favorite apps and be more productive.

And the big TimeCamp and Trello power-up automatically tracks your time so you can focus on projects.

Get the integration – TimeCamp + Trello!

7. Microsoft Teams – collaboration and communication

Microsoft Teams is a project management platform suitable for medium-sized to large businesses that need a unified hub for communication and collaboration. The free plan allows you to have up to 5000 members (users) per organization, which is a pretty good number considering that you don’t have to pay for it.

Microsoft Teams features make it possible to work on projects despite the location. It has all the necessary functionalities to exchange information and organize work effectively. It replaces communication tools so you can have everything in one place.

This project management app lets you chat with your team, make audio and video calls, attach, share, and collaborate on files. As a Microsoft product, it connects with Office 365 as well as third-party apps. All the features within the app sync precisely, so you always have a clear agenda.

Even though the free version has some limitations, for example, you can’t record a meeting, there are no administrative functions or meeting scheduling, it’s effective real-time collaboration and meeting platform.

Recently, due to the pandemic, Microsoft Teams has also found its place among teachers, families, and friends who need to stay connected remotely because of the distance. It’s a universal solution for everyone.

8. GoodDay – fully-featured hub for projects and tasks

GoodDay is a robust project management software with a lot of small and big features. The free plan has 1 GB of storage and is available for up to 15 users, so it’s best for small teams. You can use it in different ways, depending on what methodology you follow.

GoodDay combines multiple modules that make a unified system. It has everything from process management to managing events and tasks, simple time tracking, and reporting.

With this free project management software, you can easily organize work, plan schedules, and manage every aspect of a project.

Some of the functionalities that help in managing projects include project and task dependencies, custom statuses and workflows, project templates, recurring tasks and events, basic views of projects (no Gantt charts, workload, and timeline in the free plan), tags, subtasks, time reports with estimates, calendar, work scheduling, and essential time tracking with timesheets.

Reports provide you with an insight into the progress of tasks, tracked time, budget, behavior, and activity. For more advanced features, you need to upgrade.

GoodDay is also available for mobile devices, as a desktop app, and integrates third-party apps.

It is a flexible project management app that offers a lot of helpful features for free. Whether you need a simple or complex tool, this app has everything you need for a light, agile work style.

9. Jira – Agile project planning

Jira is one of the most popular project management tools for agile teams. It’s used by millions of companies worldwide. Jira is an issue and project tracking software and is dedicated to organizations working on software or a product to fix bugs and track issues. A free plan of Jira is available for up to 10 users, includes 2GB storage, and community support.

Jira is built of three products – Jira Software, Jira Service Desk, and Jira Core, so people can work directly within a team and with other teams in one tool.

This free project management software lets you create user stories and issues, plan and prioritize the most urgent sprints, and distribute tasks to different teams and people across the organization. You can customize project views in scrum and Kanban boards, see the big picture of projects with roadmaps, create user stories and issues, plan and prioritize the most urgent sprints, and distribute tasks to different teams and people.

Also, it’s possible to streamline and optimize work with automation rules to eliminate repetitive tasks, so you can, for example, auto-assign issues or automate your releases for faster actions. Additionally, you can customize every issue – attach files, link issues or pages, create subtasks, add a child issue, and more.

It’s a project and resource management tool for agile-oriented people with all the necessary features to deliver a project successfully.

Track your time directly in Jira with TimeCamp time tracking integration or via Zapier

⇒ You can also try Azure DevOps as an alternative to Jira. However, it’s available for free only for up to 5 users.

10. Nozbe – simple projects with to-do lists

Nozbe is a free project management software available for up to 3 users. It’s aimed at small teams who need to improve communication and organize task lists.

As for now, you can easily manage tasks and projects. You can set reminders, add assignee, tags, mentions, comments, set the due date, invite people to a project, and see all changes in a change log.

The project lists let you see all the tasks in one view in a single task list. The drag-and-drop feature allows you to move your tasks to a different project easily.

Nozbe is a straightforward app for managing tasks in a team. The free version is best for small teams and individuals who need to arrange all tasks simply and quickly.

You can also try Nozbe Personal, which you can use solo or in a team. It has similar features as Nozbe, only that it’s not available in the free version.

11. Taskeo – business & project management for remote teams

task dashboard screenshot

Taskeo’s project management solution is a part of their comprehensive online business management suite. It’s a free tool that comes with your favorite features for task management and on top of that, it offers some extra functionalities to boost your team’s productivity.

Built by a remote-first team, Taskeo answers challenges that distributed organizations face daily. Their team has created a platform that allows you to do more with fewer apps and manage your tasks with maximum productivity. All Taskeo’s project management features answer the needs of remote employees and you can use them to coordinate your work wherever you are.

Taskeo’s project management features include, but are not limited to:

Personal dashboard.
Activity feed.
Smart search for projects and files.
Workload monitoring feature.
Multiple project views.
Reminders.
Recurring tasks.
Project and tasks templates.

This project management solution integrates with free time tracking that offers detailed reporting, billable and non-billable hours tracking, and project budgeting with internal and external project costs.

12. SmartTask – all-in-one project & task management

SmartTask is a top cloud-based project management software, lauded for its intuitive interface that requires no training. It offers comprehensive features including project management, task management, CRM, time tracking, team collaboration, custom analytics, and reporting.

With SmartTask, effortlessly handle workflows, projects, and sales processes. Manage tasks using list, board, calendar, and timeline views. Access portfolio view for overseeing multiple projects and workload view to prevent burnout.

SmartTask is also known as the cost-effective ClickUp alternative in the project management space.

The free version of SmartTask allows you to create unlimited tasks and projects with unlimited users, however not all the features are included in the free plan.

Here’s a short overview of the main features of SmartTask:

You can manage tasks with multiple views – tasklist, Kanban boards, calendar, timeline.
Task management features – recurring tasks, task dependencies, subtasks, reminders, task comments, guest users, custom fields, file sharing.
Project management features – project milestones, portfolio view, workload view, task auto-scheduling, baseline comparison, project status.
CRM features – task contacts, sales pipeline, call tracking, CRM analytics.
Time tracking features – timelog, timelog activity, budget tracking.
Team collaboration features – instant messaging, vdeo conferencing.
Analytics & reporting features – custom charts, project summary, productivity scoring.

SmartTask also offers ready-made templates for accounts, marketing, operations, engineering, and HR teams.

13. Jotform Tables – spreadsheet-powered database

Jotform Tables allows its users to collaborate with team members by assigning tasks and tracking progress. You can manage your projects easily thanks to Jotform’s well-crafted spreadsheet with many features. While working on the sheet, you can easily keep track of the changes and the updated data.

With Jotform Tables, collecting responses by creating online forms becomes much easier and more convenient. You can customize your forms to make them stand out and send them out easily by using a link, a QR code, or embedding the forms on your website.

Here are some of the main features of Jotform Tables:

Personalized columns.
Advanced search and filter tools.
Instant reports.
PDF generation.
Formulas and calculations.
Revision history.

By using Jotform Tables, you can manage your projects and boost efficiency within your organization. Jotform offers various paid plans according to your needs as well as a free plan.

14. Focalboard – open-source project management for technical teams

Focalboard - project management software

Focalboard is a completely free, multilingual, self-hosted project management tool that’s an alternative to Trello, Notion, and Asana. Its open-source type allows your team to adjust it precisely to your needs and streamline projects for better results. Just remember that you’ll need a team of developers to help you modify the tool.

It helps define, organize, track and manage work across individuals and teams. It offers three editions: The Focalboard Plugin merges project management tools with messaging for teams. The Personal Desktop is a standalone app for personal tasks on macOS, Windows, or Linux. The Personal Server supports multiple users for development and personal use.

Some of its features include easy task creation, task assignments, the ability to manage multiple projects, different views, real-time collaboration, pre-built templates, meeting notes, filters, file sharing, team messaging, and more.

15. Zoho Projects – online project management software

Zoho Projects - project management software

Zoho Projects is an advanced project management software favored by many project managers. However, it’s free for up to 3 users.

Zoho Projects is a cloud-based project management tool designed to help teams collaborate, plan, track, and deliver projects efficiently.

It facilitates project management by offering features such as task scheduling, milestone tracking, team collaboration tools, and time tracking functionalities. You can also monitor each project’s progress and team productivity within the reporting and analytics dashboards.

Additionally, Zoho Projects includes Gantt charts for visualizing project timelines and for project overview, customizable dashboards for real-time insights, and integration capabilities with other popular business applications, enhancing overall project efficiency and transparency.

16. Google Calendar – project planning

Google Calendar - project management software

Google Calendar is not a project management software itself, but because of its connectivity with other apps, it significantly improves project planning.

It’s a digital scheduling tool provided by Google, designed to help users organize their events, appointments, and tasks. It allows you to create multiple calendars, share them with others, and set reminders for important events.

By integrating with other Google Workspace apps like Gmail and Google Meet, it facilitates seamless communication and collaboration among team members. Additionally, you can color-code events, categorize them by project or priority, and view schedules in various formats, such as day, week, or month.

With its accessibility across devices and real-time updates, Google Calendar enhances efficiency and transparency within project teams, ensuring everyone stays on track and informed about project milestones and deadlines.

You can integrate it into your current workflow to better plan work, track project progress, and keep everyone on the same page.

17. TeamGantt – Gantt charts software

TeamGantt - project management software

TeamGantt is a free Gantt charts maker online. It offers an interactive Gantt chart feature that helps to visually represent task timelines and dependencies. It let’s you organize and plan your tasks and workload, view other team’s projects, and easily track progress of work.

TeamGantt’s drag-and-drop interface allows for effortless organization and planning of tasks and workload. You can easily track tasks as there’s no steep learning curve, making it accessible to users of all skill levels.

You can also view other team’s projects, facilitating collaboration and transparency within the organization. The platform’s intuitive design and user-friendly features make it a valuable tool for streamlining project management processes and improving overall productivity.

18. Google Docs – document management

Google Docs is one of the most popular free tools that lets you work on documents and collaborate with other team members, users, or stakeholders in real-time.

Its shared access feature ensures that everyone has access to the most up-to-date project documents from any location with internet connectivity. It allows you to track changes and revert to previous versions.

The platform’s comment and suggestion features foster effective communication and collaboration, allowing team members to provide feedback directly within the document. Moreover, Google Docs offers a variety of templates for different project documents, saving time and ensuring consistency.

Integration with other Google Workspace apps enhances productivity while robust security measures safeguard sensitive project information. Overall, Google Docs serves as a comprehensive solution for project teams aiming to streamline workflows and enhance project management processes.

For alternatives to Google Docs, you can check such document management software as OpenDocMan, DocFly, OpenKM, FileInvite, Collabora Online, or Zoho Notebook.

Wrapping It Up

It may not be easy to find a free project management tool. Usually, such apps are available for 5 users or 10 to 15. Hence, they are best for small businesses.

Try them for free if, in your team, you don’t need a project manager and want a collaboration tool to help you structure and plan workflow and transparently organize projects.

Happy managing!

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Kate Borucka Kate is a freelance translator, copywriter, and a content writer specializing in time tracking software, time management, and productivity. When not researching new software, she's reading books, or spending time outdoors.

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Top 18 Free Project Management Software