Best Project Management Software for Data Teams

Website: https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira

Best for: Sprint planning, backlogs, and issue tracking

Starting price: $9.70 per user/month (billed monthly)

Free plan: Yes

Pros: Boards, backlogs, and sprints are built for engineering work; Premium adds cross-team planning and capacity management

Cons: Monthly billing is progressive, so the per-user rate changes with team size; the interface takes time to configure well

Jira is the default choice for data teams that work in sprints. Issues, epics, and stories map cleanly onto data work: a pipeline build, a model retrain, a schema change, or a dashboard fix can each be an issue with a type, a priority, and a sprint. The Standard plan costs $9.70 per user a month on monthly billing for the first 100 users, and it includes user roles and permissions, 250 GB of storage, 400 automation steps per user, and Rovo AI credits.

The free plan covers up to 10 users, which suits a small data team starting out. Premium at $19.60 per user a month for the first 100 users adds cross-team planning, dependency and capacity management, unlimited storage, and 24/7 support for critical issues. Pricing is progressive, so users 101 to 250 cost less per seat, and annual plans are sold in fixed user tiers. Check the band your team falls into before you budget.

Website: https://linear.app/

Best for: Fast issue tracking for product and data teams

Starting price: $8 per user/month (billed annually)

Free plan: Yes

Pros: The interface is fast and keyboard-first, so triage is quick; cycles, projects, and integrations cover the core workflow

Cons: Reporting and portfolio views are thinner than Jira; Plus at $14 is needed for advanced workflow features

Linear suits data teams that want issue tracking without the weight of Jira. Issues move through cycles, projects group related work, and integrations connect to GitHub, GitLab, and Slack, so a data pipeline change can be traced from commit to deployment. The Standard plan costs $8 per user a month billed annually, or $10 billed monthly, and it covers unlimited issues, cycles, and projects for a team of any size.

The free plan covers up to 250 issues, which is enough to test the workflow on one project. Plus at $14 per user a month billed annually adds advanced workflow features, private teams, and more integrations. The trade-off is reporting: Linear has fewer built-in reports and portfolio views than Jira or Asana, so teams that need formal capacity planning across many workstreams may find it thin.

Website: https://asana.com/

Best for: Timelines and cross-team coordination

Starting price: $10.99 per user/month (billed annually)

Free plan: Yes

Pros: Timeline and Gantt views show dependencies across data workstreams; unlimited free guests keep stakeholders in the loop

Cons: No native sprint or backlog views on Starter; portfolios and workload need the Advanced plan at $24.99

Asana fits data teams that coordinate with product, marketing, and operations, rather than working in isolation. The Starter plan at $10.99 per user a month billed annually includes timeline and Gantt views, dashboards, unlimited automations, forms, and custom fields, which covers planning a quarter of data work and reporting progress to stakeholders. Unlimited free guests mean business users can view dashboards and project status without a licence.

The gap is sprint structure. Asana has no native backlog or sprint planning, so data teams that run two-week cycles will need to build that workflow from sections and custom fields. Advanced at $24.99 adds portfolios, goals, workload, approvals and proofing, and native time tracking. The Personal plan is free for up to 2 users, which suits a pair of analysts starting out.

Website: https://monday.com/

Best for: Visual boards and pipeline status views

Starting price: $9 per seat/month (billed annually)

Free plan: Yes

Pros: Boards show every pipeline, owner, and deadline in one view; Standard adds timeline, Gantt, and calendar views

Cons: Basic has no automations or integrations at all; subscription plans start at 3 seats and are sold in seat buckets

monday.com suits data teams that want a board for every pipeline and a status column that anyone can read. Each dataset, model, or dashboard is a row, each stage is a status, and the board shows the whole portfolio at a glance. The Basic plan at $9 per seat a month billed annually covers unlimited items and docs, but it has no automations or integrations, which limits how much of the workflow it can run on its own.

Standard at $12 per seat a month is the practical entry point, adding timeline and Gantt views, guest access, and 250 automation and integration actions a month. Pro at $19 adds time tracking, private boards, and 25,000 automation actions. Seats are sold in buckets starting at 3, so a team of 4 pays for 5 seats, and the free plan caps at 2 seats, which makes it a trial rather than a working plan for a real team.

Website: https://clickup.com/

Best for: All-in-one workspaces on a tight budget

Starting price: $9 per user/month (billed annually)

Free plan: Yes

Pros: Docs, goals, time tracking, and tasks share one workspace; Core adds unlimited storage and 1,000 automations a month

Cons: The interface packs in many features, which slows new users down; Business at $17 is the first plan with guest seats and advanced reporting

ClickUp gives data teams a single workspace for tasks, docs, goals, time tracking, and chat, which removes the need for several separate tools. The Core plan at $9 per user a month billed annually includes unlimited storage, custom fields, goals, and 1,000 automation actions a month, plus a monthly allowance of AI credits. Custom fields can track dataset owners, pipeline owners, and model versions, which suits teams that want metadata on every task.

The free plan covers the basics for a tiny team, with 100 MB of storage and 100 automation actions a month. The step to Business at $17 per user a month adds 10,000 automations, guest seats, advanced reporting, Google SSO, and private docs, which matters when stakeholders and contractors need access. The interface is dense, so allow a week for the team to settle in and agree on a structure.

Website: https://www.airtable.com/

Best for: Datasets, schemas, and pipeline metadata

Starting price: $20 per user/month (billed annually)

Free plan: Yes

Pros: Linked tables track datasets, owners, schemas, and runs in one place; Team includes Gantt, timeline, and calendar views

Cons: $20 per user a month is the highest entry price in this list; commenters count as billable seats on the Team plan

Airtable is the strongest fit in this list for data teams that manage metadata as much as tasks. A base can hold tables for datasets, pipelines, models, and dashboards, linked so one change updates every view. The Team plan at $20 per user a month billed annually includes 50,000 records per base, 20 GB of attachment space per base, Gantt and timeline views, extensions, and 25,000 automation runs a month.

The cost needs care. On Team, anyone with comment access counts as a billable seat, which can push the bill up fast when stakeholders join to review data. Business at $45 per user a month fixes that by making commenters free, but it more than doubles the price. Airtable is worth it when the data catalogue is large and structured; for simple sprint tracking, Jira or Linear will do the same job for less.

Website: https://www.smartsheet.com/

Best for: Grid-based tracking of data projects

Starting price: $9 per member/month (billed annually)

Free plan: Free trial (30 days)

Pros: Sheets, Gantt, board, and calendar views share the same data; unlimited free contributors can view, comment, and attach files

Cons: No free plan for new signups, only a 30-day trial; Pro caps at 10 members, so larger teams must move to Business at $19

Smartsheet works for data teams that plan in spreadsheets and want the same data shown as a grid, a Gantt chart, a board, or a calendar. Each pipeline or model is a row with columns for owner, due date, status, and data source, and forms collect new requests straight into the sheet. The Pro plan at $9 per member a month billed annually includes unlimited sheets, forms, reports, 250 automations a month, and 20 GB of storage.

The limits are the member caps and the missing free plan. Pro stops at 10 members, and Business at $19 per member a month is needed past that, with a 3-member minimum. Unlimited free contributors can view and comment without a licence, which keeps business stakeholders informed at no extra cost. There is no native sprint or backlog view, so teams that run formal cycles will need to build that from sheets and reports.

Website: https://www.wrike.com/

Best for: Structured delivery with approvals and proofing

Starting price: $10 per user/month (billed annually)

Free plan: Yes

Pros: Request forms standardise data requests from the business; Business adds workload, time tracking, and approvals

Cons: Team stops at 15 users, pushing growing teams to Business at $25; seats are sold in bundles of 5, 10, or 25

Wrike fits data teams that receive formal requests from the business and need to prioritise them. Request forms capture the question, the dataset, and the deadline, and the work passes through approvals before it is scheduled. The Team plan at $10 per user a month covers 2 to 15 users with Gantt charts, dashboards, and calendars, but workload and time tracking need Business at $25 per user a month.

That plan also adds baselines, critical path, request forms, approvals, and proofing, which turns Wrike into a full delivery operations tool. The free plan has unlimited users but only 200 active tasks, so it works as a trial. The 15-user cap on Team is the main trap: a data team that grows past 15 people must move everyone to Business, more than doubling the per-seat price in one step.