Best Project Management Tools for Agencies

Website: https://monday.com/

Best for: Agencies that want visual boards and flexible workflows

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

Free plan: Yes (free up to 2 seats)

Pros: Boards adapt to retainers, campaigns, or web builds; unlimited free viewers on priced plans

Cons: Automations capped at 250 actions a month on Standard; guest access starts on Standard at $12

monday.com builds work around boards with typed columns, so an agency can shape a board for retainers, campaigns, or web builds without forcing every client into the same template. Basic costs $9 per seat per month on annual billing, with a three-seat minimum, and covers unlimited items, boards, and free viewers. Standard at $12 adds Timeline and Gantt views, guest access, and 250 automation actions a month, while Pro at $19 adds time tracking, private boards, and 25,000 automation actions.

The free plan covers up to 2 seats with 3 boards, which is enough to test the shape of the tool but not to run client work. The limit to watch is that automations and integrations are capped by plan, so a busy agency can hit the 250-action ceiling on Standard fast. Client-facing work also needs guest access, which starts on Standard, so the real entry price for agency use is $12, not $9.

Website: https://asana.com/

Best for: Agencies that want structured projects and goals

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

Free plan: Yes (free up to 2 users)

Pros: Timeline and Gantt views from Starter; multi-homing links one task to several projects

Cons: Portfolios, workload, and time tracking wait for Advanced at $24.99; no built-in time billing on Starter

Asana gives agencies an opinionated structure: list, board, timeline, and Gantt views from Starter, plus rules, forms, and custom fields. Starter costs $10.99 per user per month on annual billing, and Advanced costs $24.99. The Personal plan is free for up to 2 users. Multi-homing lets one task live in several projects at once, which suits agencies that run the same deliverable across a client account and an internal sprint.

The jump from Starter to Advanced is steep, and portfolios, goals, workload, and time tracking all wait for Advanced. A small agency can run well on Starter, but the moment capacity planning matters, the price more than doubles per seat. Asana is a strong pick for deadline-driven client work, and a weaker one for agencies that need built-in time billing, since time tracking arrives late in the plan ladder.

Website: https://clickup.com/

Best for: Agencies that want one tool for tasks, docs, and time

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

Free plan: Yes

Pros: Free plan covers unlimited tasks and members; tasks, docs, goals, and time in one workspace

Cons: Wide interface takes time to learn; detailed billable reporting improves on Business at $17

ClickUp packs tasks, docs, whiteboards, goals, and time tracking into one workspace, with a free plan that covers unlimited tasks and members. Core costs $9 per user per month on annual billing, and Business costs $17. Core adds unlimited storage, Gantt charts, and custom fields, while Business adds workload views, time estimates, and advanced automations. The free plan is generous enough for a small agency to run real work before paying.

The breadth is the appeal and the risk: ClickUp can replace several tools at once, but the interface carries a lot of surface area, and new staff need time to learn where things live. Time tracking is native, though detailed reporting on billable hours improves on Business. For an agency that wants one subscription instead of four, Core at $9 is the cheapest way to get tasks, docs, and goals in a single place.

Website: https://www.teamwork.com/

Best for: Agencies that bill clients and track project budgets

Starting price: $9.99 per user/month (billed annually)

Free plan: Yes (free up to 5 users)

Pros: Invoicing and project budgets built in; free plan covers tasks, milestones, and time tracking

Cons: Full billing and profitability picture needs Accelerate at $24.99; fewer third-party integrations than larger rivals

Teamwork is built for client work: projects, tasks, time tracking, and invoicing sit in one system, with a free plan for up to 5 users. Basics costs $9.99 per user per month on annual billing, and Accelerate costs $24.99. The old Deliver and Grow plan names are gone, and the current ladder is Basics, Accelerate, and Scale. Invoicing, project budgets, and profitability reports are the features that set it apart from general task tools.

The catch is that the full billing and profitability picture needs the higher tiers, so a firm that invoices from tracked time should price Accelerate, not Basics. The free plan covers small teams well, with tasks, milestones, and time tracking included. Teamwork suits agencies that bill by the hour or by project and want the invoice to come from the same place as the work.

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

Best for: Larger agencies that need Gantt charts and workload views

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

Free plan: Yes

Pros: Interactive Gantt charts from Team; approvals and workload charts on Business

Cons: Seats sold in bundles, so a 6-person team pays for 10; time tracking sits on Pinnacle, not Team or Business

Wrike is a work management platform for larger teams, with interactive Gantt charts from the Team plan and resource planning on higher tiers. Team costs $10 per user per month on annual billing for 2 to 15 users, and Business costs $25 for 5 to 200 users, billed annually only. Pinnacle and Apex are priced on request. A free plan covers board and table views, and every plan includes a 14-day trial of the priced features.

Seats are sold in bundles of 5, 10, or 25 depending on team size, so a 6-person agency pays for 10 seats on Team, which doubles the bill. Time tracking sits on Pinnacle, not on Team or Business, which is a real gap for agencies that bill hours. Wrike fits agencies that need deep scheduling, workload charts, and approvals, and it fits them less well when the budget only stretches to the Team plan.

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

Best for: Agencies that run client work in sheets and reports

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

Free plan: Free trial (30 days)

Pros: Sheet model with formulas, dependencies, and rollups; contributors view and comment free

Cons: No free plan for new signups; Pro caps at 10 members, so growing teams move to Business at $19

Smartsheet runs client work in sheets, with Gantt views, reports, and dashboards built on top of a grid. Pro costs $9 per member per month on annual billing, or $12 billed monthly, for 1 to 10 members, and Business costs $19, or $24 monthly, with a three-member minimum. There is no free plan for new signups; a 30-day trial opens the full feature set. Contributors can view, comment, and submit forms without a priced seat.

The sheet model suits agencies that live in spreadsheets and want formulas, dependencies, and rollups without a database. The Pro cap of 10 members means a growing agency moves to Business at $19 fairly soon, and automations on Pro are capped at 250 runs a month. Smartsheet is a strong pick for reporting-heavy client work and a weaker one for agencies that want chat, docs, and tasks in a single view.

Website: https://www.notion.com/

Best for: Small agencies that want docs and tasks in one place

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

Free plan: Yes

Pros: Docs, wikis, and databases in one workspace; unlimited guests on Plus

Cons: Gantt, workload, and time tracking come from views and integrations; setup effort grows as structure needs grow

Notion combines docs, wikis, and databases in one workspace, so a small agency can keep client briefs, meeting notes, and task boards in the same place. The free plan covers individuals and small teams, Plus costs $10 per user per month on annual billing, and Business costs $20. Plus adds unlimited file uploads, 30-day version history, and unlimited guests, while Business adds SAML SSO, private teamspaces, and bundled AI.

Notion is not a dedicated project management tool, so Gantt views, workload charts, and time tracking come from database views and integrations rather than native features. That flexibility is the appeal for a small creative agency and the limit for a larger one: the more structure client work needs, the more setup Notion demands. At $10 per member, it is one of the cheapest ways to give a small agency a shared home for docs and tasks.

Website: https://airtable.com/

Best for: Agencies that manage client work as a database

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

Free plan: Yes

Pros: Grid, Kanban, Gantt, and timeline views over the same records; strong automation limits on Team

Cons: Highest entry price in this list; every editor needs a priced seat, so costs climb fast

Airtable treats client work as a database, with grid, calendar, Kanban, Gantt, and timeline views over the same records. The free plan covers 1,000 records per base, Team costs $20 per seat per month on annual billing and raises the cap to 50,000 records, and Business costs $45 with a 125,000-record cap. Team adds Gantt and timeline views, Interface Designer, and 25,000 automation runs a month.

The per-seat price is the highest entry in this list, and Airtable bills every person who can edit a base, so the seat count climbs fast when clients and contractors need edit access. Read-only collaborators and form submissions are free, which helps. Airtable earns its price when an agency runs content calendars, asset libraries, and client pipelines as linked records, and it is overkill when a simple task board would do.

Website: https://hive.com/

Best for: Chat-first agencies that want tasks, chat, and AI in one place

Starting price: $5 per user/month (billed annually)

Free plan: Yes (free up to 10 members)

Pros: Lowest priced tier in this list; free plan covers up to 10 members with unlimited tasks

Cons: Proofing, timesheets, and resourcing are add-ons at $5 to $8 per user per month each; real price for agencies is closer to $22 than $12

Hive pulls tasks, chat, notes, and AI automation into one workspace, with a free plan for up to 10 members. Starter costs $5 per user per month on annual billing and adds Gantt views, the in-app calendar, and the Buzz AI assistant. Teams costs $12 and adds unlimited members and projects, custom fields, forms, time tracking, and portfolios. The entry price is the lowest priced tier in this list.

The catch is the add-on model: proofing and approvals, timesheets, team resourcing, advanced dashboards, and automations are sold separately, at $5 to $8 per user per month each, so the real price for an agency that needs proofing and timesheets is closer to $22 than $12. Hive suits chat-first agencies that want one home for conversation and tasks, and it suits them less well when the budget needs a single all-in price.