Best Simple Project Management Software for Small Teams

Basecamp groups a project into message boards, to-do lists, schedules and files, so a small team can run a whole project from one screen. The flat Freelancer plan costs $29 per month, which makes the cost easy to predict because it does not rise with each new teammate.

Basecamp suits freelancers and small teams that want one calm place for client work. The free plan covers one project, which is enough to test the layout before moving to the Freelancer plan. The trade-off is scope: Basecamp has no built-in Gantt chart and no time tracking, so teams that bill by the hour or manage linked deadlines will need a second tool.

Price: $29 per month (flat, Freelancer plan)

Free plan: Yes

Website: basecamp.com

Asana turns a project into a list of tasks with owners, due dates and subtasks, and the same project can be viewed as a list, a board or a timeline. That flexibility helps a team that starts simple and later needs more structure, because the work does not have to move to a new tool.

The free plan covers up to 10 collaborators, which suits a small team or a trial run. The entry plan starts at $10.99 per user each month when billed annually and adds timeline views, forms and more automation. Asana fits teams that want clear ownership of every task and a calendar view of deadlines.

Price: $10.99 per user/month (billed annually)

Free plan: Yes

Website: asana.com

monday.com presents work as a colourful board where each row is a task and each column shows status, owner or due date. A manager can see which tasks are done, which are stuck and who owns each one without opening every item.

The entry plan starts at $9 per user each month when billed annually, with a minimum of three seats. There is no free plan beyond the 14-day trial, so a team should use the trial to test a real project before buying. monday.com fits teams that like visual status tracking and want dashboards for reporting.

Price: $9 per user/month (billed annually)

Free plan: Free trial (14 days)

Website: monday.com

ClickUp packs tasks, docs, goals and chat into one workspace, so a team can keep most of its work in a single app. Tasks can be shown as a list, a board, a calendar or a Gantt chart, and custom fields let a team track budget, priority or client name on each task. The free plan covers unlimited tasks and members.

The entry plan starts at $9 per user each month when billed annually and adds unlimited storage, more integrations and guest access with permissions. The wide feature set is also the main drawback: new users can find the settings menus large, and it takes longer to learn than Trello or Basecamp.

Price: $9 per user/month (billed annually)

Free plan: Yes

Website: clickup.com

Notion blends documents and task tracking, so a team can keep meeting notes, project briefs and task boards in the same place. A project page can hold a task board, a timeline and written notes side by side, which suits teams that write a lot and want the plan next to the words.

The free plan suits individuals and small teams, with file uploads capped at 5 MB and page history kept for 7 days. The entry plan starts at $10 per user each month when billed annually and adds unlimited file uploads, 30-day page history and more guest access. Notion fits teams that already write in docs and want tasks beside them.

Price: $10 per user/month (billed annually)

Free plan: Yes

Website: notion.com

Teamwork is built around client work, with projects, task lists, milestones and time tracking in one place. A team can log hours against a task, see how much time a project has used and check who has capacity this week.

The free plan covers up to 5 users, which suits a very small team or a trial. The entry plan starts at $9.99 per user each month when billed annually and raises the project limit to 300, with more integrations and reporting. Teamwork fits teams that manage many client projects at once and need time logs beside the task list.

Price: $9.99 per user/month (billed annually)

Free plan: Yes

Website: teamwork.com

Wrike gives teams a structured way to plan work, with Gantt charts, task dependencies and workload views that show who is overbooked. Request forms let other departments send work to the team in a standard format, so requests arrive with the details the team needs instead of as loose chat messages.

The entry plan starts at $9.80 per user each month when billed annually. The free plan is limited, and the entry plan caps storage at 2 GB per user, so media-heavy teams should check storage needs before buying. Wrike fits teams that plan work in advance and need dependencies between tasks.

Price: $9.80 per user/month (billed annually)

Free plan: Free trial (14 days)

Website: wrike.com

Airtable works like a grid that can turn into a kanban board, a calendar or a gallery with one click, because every view reads the same records. A team can track a content pipeline, an event plan or a product launch in a table, then switch to a board view for the weekly stand-up.

The free plan caps each base at 1,000 records, which suits a small project or a trial. The entry plan starts at $20 per user each month when billed annually and raises the record limit, with one year of revision history and more automation runs. Airtable fits teams that like working in grids and want several views of the same data.

Price: $20 per user/month (billed annually)

Free plan: Yes

Website: airtable.com

Jira is the standard choice for software teams that plan work in sprints. A backlog holds every planned item, the team pulls items into a sprint, and the board shows progress from to do through done. Issues carry priority, labels and linked work, so a bug can point to the feature it blocks.

The free plan covers up to 10 users, which suits a small development team or a trial. The entry plan starts at $9.70 per user each month when billed monthly and adds more storage, audit logs and support. Jira fits software teams that already work in sprints and need backlog planning. Teams outside software should only pick Jira when the sprint workflow matches how they already work.

Price: $9.70 per user/month (billed monthly)

Free plan: Yes

Website: atlassian.com