Managing projects has always been a core part of my work.
I learned the hard way just how much the right tool can influence my productivity—for better or worse. I’ve used project management software that promised to keep me organized but left me more frustrated than focused. Some were too complicated, others lacked key features, and a few just didn’t fit the way I work.
One too many missteps later—missed notifications, confusing interfaces, and team members struggling to stay on the same page—I decided to find tools that truly work.
After countless hours of testing and comparing features, I’ve learned that free project management software can be just as valuable as some paid options—if you know where to look. Through hands-on experience, I’ve tested 30+ free solutions to see how they handle task organization, collaboration, and project tracking, keeping an eye out for practical features.
And I’ve got my final cut.
* My project management software list is arranged alphabetically. These tools offer free trials, free forever options, or freemium models. The list also includes monthly pricing for easy comparison.
The best free project management software on my list aren’t just feature-packed—they’re practical, reliable, and tools I’ve used to stay organized and collaborate effectively. Based on my testing, these are the ones I'd personally suggest if you’re looking for a free tool to support your workflows.
Let’s dive in.
In my experience, the “best” tool doesn’t always mean paying for premium features. Some free project management software I tested delivered surprising value by helping me manage tasks, keep projects on track, and collaborate well with my team.
When I set out to find the best free project management software, I didn’t just skim through popular recommendations or rely on surface-level reviews. I spent months testing each tool in different capacities to see how it supports my daily workflows. I aimed to understand how these tools work when managing multiple projects and daily tasks, communicating with other users, and juggling tight deadlines.
I also checked out their user reviews on G2 to understand how others were using the tools and what challenges they ran into. This gave me a well-rounded view of their strengths and limitations. Additionally, I compared them using G2’s grid reports to assess how they measure up against one another regarding functionality and user satisfaction.
When I used to think of project management software, my mind jumped straight to to-do lists and deadlines. But after my experience with this test, I can confidently say that the right tools do so much more—they keep me organized, my team aligned, and my sanity intact, all while being free to use.
When evaluating free project management software, I focused on the following key aspects:
The list below also contains genuine user reviews from G2’s project management software category page. It’s important to note that in the context of this list, vendors offering a free trial are also considered free. To be included in this category, a solution must:
*This data was pulled from G2 in December 2024. Some reviews may have been edited for clarity.
Airtable feels like a spreadsheet on steroids, and for someone who meticulously tracks performance metrics and projects, it was a dream to use. It’s great for projects where data organization is key. The free plan allowed me up to 1,200 records per base, which was sufficient for smaller datasets.
It was also relatively easy for me to set up project trackers and content calendars through customizable templates. However, the storage limitations started feeling slightly restrictive as my projects grew.
I tested Airtable’s automation by setting triggers to update status fields when deadlines approached, which reduced manual follow-ups. The ability to visualize the same data in multiple formats, like Kanban and Grid view, made my workflow highly efficient.
“As a literary agent, what I like best about Airtable is its incredible flexibility and ease of use. It allows me to organize and connect all aspects of my business seamlessly—tracking authors, their publications, royalty reports, payment schedules, book covers, and promotional assets—all in one dynamic platform. The ability to link related records, like an author to their royalty reports or following book ideas to potential comp titles, makes it far more intuitive and powerful than traditional spreadsheets like Excel."
- Airtable Review, Maxwell P. S.
“It's taken some time to learn how to use AirTable. I've done a lot of research and watched a bunch of videos. I know many resources are available on the website, but my organization differs from most marketing and customer service businesses using AirTable. I work for a food bank and have found it challenging to find specific examples or instructions on utilizing AirTable in a way that works for our particular needs.”
- Airtable Review, Kari H.
Asana has been my daily driver for years. The free plan includes task tracking, project timelines, and collaborative tools perfect for managing team workflows or personal projects.
I particularly liked Asana’s ability to create custom workflows and organize tasks into boards or checklists, depending on what suited my projects. I set up boards for tracking articles from ideation to publication, assigning tasks to team members, and attaching files for collaboration. The timeline view gave me a clear picture of overlapping deadlines, which is essential when juggling multiple projects. The ability to comment directly on tasks made communication seamless.
Asana’s free plan worked well for managing small- to medium-sized projects without feeling limited. However, the lack of advanced reporting features was noticeable.
“Asana is very easy to use and intuitive for my team members who don't have tech backgrounds but need to start and contribute immediately. Our six-person org's collective "brain" allows us to self-organize and move quickly. Implementation can be tricky if you don't have a good information architecture model or exposure to work-planning tools, but it's easy to find someone who can set it up for a small fee, too. Once configured, ongoing support needs are minimal."
- Asana Review, Sarah G.
“Asana is a great tool, but it can be overwhelming for beginners, and there is no way of getting a demo session. I tried to reach out to their sales team about this, but there was no response. With these many features, I feel to perfectly utilize all the features, one needs to have a demo call.”
- Asana Review, Bishal D.
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Basecamp’s simplicity is its strength. I tested it during a sprint involving my team's content marketers and SEO specialists. I appreciate that Basecamp prioritizes communication just as much as task management. The message board became our hub for updates and feedback, while shared task lists kept everyone aligned on deliverables.
One feature that really helped this project was the automatic check-ins. Instead of scheduling daily standups, I set up a check-in asking, “What did you work on today?” This kept team communication concise while ensuring accountability. File storage also stood out—it’s basic but effective for centralizing design drafts and approvals.
“What I like best about Basecamp is how seamlessly it helps us manage our remote work process. As a company, it allows us to track our conversations, planning, tasks, and project progress flawlessly. It's incredibly functional for task assignment, team communication, and monitoring project developments. Plus, its simple and user-friendly interface allows team members to adapt quickly. All of this facilitates collaboration and boosts our overall efficiency.”
- Basecamp Review, Özgür K.
“Basecamp should improve its functions to deal with many projects at once. Not having gannt charts makes it hard to see project schedules and assign tasks properly. When working on many projects, this becomes very important. At times, the interface can seem busy, particularly when you're dealing with various tasks.”
- Basecamp Review, Vibin K.
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ClickUp is one of the most feature-packed tools I tested, making it ideal for managing my team’s content calendar while experimenting with automation. I started by customizing a list view for managing deadlines and a board view for visualizing the content pipeline.
ClickUp’s time-tracking feature was a pleasant surprise. It let me measure how long each stage of production (like editing or graphic design) took, which helped refine our workflows. Additionally, the in-built AI assistant made the creation of tasks and documentation faster.
What impressed me most was ClickUp’s automation capabilities. For example, I set up rules to move tasks into a “Review” column once their status was marked “Ready for edit.” It felt like having an extra assistant managing more minor details. The reporting dashboards provided insights into overdue tasks and team productivity, which were actionable and clear.
“There are so many aspects of clickup that my team and I love and enjoy. I love that we're able to have different spaces. This allows each area of work my team has to use ClickUp in whatever fashion makes the most sense for their jobs. It's customizable for each person to use and for a group, and I enjoy that you can easily add people on a guest access level to view content as well.”
- ClickUp Review, Cora L.
“ClickUp offers vast features, which can sometimes be overwhelming. It doesn't lean towards a minimalist approach, and at the start, we invested a significant amount of effort into customizing it to fit our team's needs and ensuring internal alignment. While the extensive features are powerful, the initial setup can be time-consuming and require many adjustments to integrate fully into existing workflows.”
- ClickUp Review, Nebi K.
I used monday Work Management for a cross-functional project with multiple stakeholders. The visual nature of its boards immediately stood out—it’s incredibly satisfying to see tasks change status from “In Progress” to “Done.” I tested its pre-built templates and found them to be a solid starting point, saving hours of setup time.
The integration options were a good bonus. I connected monday Work Management with Slack to receive instant updates whenever tasks were updated. The forms feature was also handy for collecting stakeholder feedback without managing separate tools.
That said, monday Work Management’s reporting features left me wanting more—it didn’t offer the level of analytics I needed to track campaign performance in detail. Occasionally, heavier boards also experienced lag, slowing down my workflow during busy periods.
“We were looking for a project management tool to make our daily routine easier. Starting with creating a few boards, we quickly moved on to integrating up-to-date tools such as email and drive folders. We are still struggling to balance increasing the workspace and ease of use. But customer support is helping us design our work ecosystem.”
- monday Work Management Review, Massimiliano M.
“If I just had to find something I dislike about using Monday, it would be that it is a cloud-based platform, so you need an internet connection to access all its features. I travel a lot and work from my laptop during my journey. When internet access isn't available, I am at a standstill until I can return to a stable connection.”
- monday Work management Review, Misha H.
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Notion became my go-to for knowledge sharing, social media planning, and meeting management. I built an editorial calendar linked to our style guide and brainstorming pages. Testing its rich text editor was a delight—it allowed me to embed everything from videos to code snippets within the same document.
One standout feature for me was the ability to create collaborative pages. For instance, I built a shared roadmap where my team could comment directly on ideas and suggest edits. It replaced our scattered notes with a single source of truth.
While Notion excels at planning, I was a bit overwhelmed with its customization level. One quick solution was to use the pre-built templates, but they are not as robust for tracking deadlines as I would like. It also took time to master its database functions, especially when creating complex workflows for larger projects.
“What I like most about Notion is that it is an all-in-one workspace with its intuitive interface, versatility, and powerful database functions. Its user-friendly interface allows you to navigate and customize the platform according to your needs. It's amazing to share information with my colleagues and personalize it.
In addition, it has a wide range of templates and customization options, making it adaptable for different use cases. Regarding collaboration and work sharing, Notion facilitates information exchange by allowing team members to share pages, databases, and documents. It also offers real-time editing and commenting capabilities, facilitating teamwork and project progress.”
- Notion Review, Oksana M.
“One of the downsides of Notion is the learning curve. While the customization options are powerful, they can overwhelm new users. It takes time to figure out how to use all the features. Notion can be slow sometimes, especially when dealing with big databases or complex pages. Offline functionality is limited, which can be a pain if you need to access your notes or tasks without the Internet. Customer support is generally helpful but can be slow during peak hours.”
- Notion Review, Prabhat S.
Smartsheet appealed to the spreadsheet lover in me but elevated the experience to a full-fledged project management platform. I used its Gantt charts to schedule tasks and follow-ups for my projects. Its conditional formatting helped me track task urgency visually, making it easy to prioritize.
I also appreciated its automation workflows, which sent reminders for due dates without any manual effort. In my experience, Smartsheet’s reliance on its grid-like format may feel restrictive for those who prefer more visual approaches like Kanban boards or timelines.
The free plan limited my access to 2 sheets, which prevented me from using it for more than a couple of smaller projects. However, it’s worth considering if your projects are simple and focused.
“The best part of Smartsheet by far is how easy it is to build new sheets and processes. Once we had all our data in Smartsheet, we could port almost all of our processes over instead of using many different programs to get and provide the information we were looking for. It's reached the point where other departments ask, "Is it possible to do this in Smartsheet?" I love that I can almost always say "Yes!"
- Smartsheet Review, Jessica N.
“I wish a wider variety of graph types were available to plug right into dashboards. While the current graphs cover all the primary use types (and do it very well), the complexity of data in a lot of my sheets (that's in there because Smartsheet handles all the complex data so well) is often hard to represent with the current dashboard graph offerings.”
- Smartsheet Review, Shelbie H.
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Teamwork impressed me with its advanced team management features. I started by testing the time-tracking functionality, making it easy to assign hours to tasks and see how much time the team spent on deliverables.
The workload view stood out—it gave me a detailed snapshot of who was working on what, helping me balance tasks effectively across the team. I also spent time exploring the custom task templates, which saved me a lot of time setting up recurring workflows for campaigns.
What I found challenging, though, was the task filtering system—it wasn’t as intuitive as I’d hoped. I also noticed that some integrations didn’t run as smoothly, requiring extra configuration to get them working properly.
Teamwork’s free plan was easy to set up, but the 2-project limit felt restrictive for my needs; I’d recommend this tool to small teams just starting out and needing basic functionality.
“The UI of Teamwork is clean and uncluttered, and the software comes with a fantastic collection of features that aren't overly complicated. I can make sure that everyone on the team is aware of their duties and when they are due by using it to make thorough to-do lists, assign roles, and establish due dates. Setting a task's priority as high, medium, or low is great. I can set a due date for a task. With all these resources at our disposal, we can maintain concentration and alignment, increasing productivity and allowing us to accomplish all of our business goals.”
- Teamwork.com Review, Aleksandra K.
“I would like to see a calendar view that provides necessary information for collaborators and clients to see their tasks at a glance. The import feature needs to work from Excel as 9x out of 10, and it will crash when trying to upload to create a new project. Tracking hours for collaborators is unavailable unless they are a paid subscriber but not affordable for this feature.”
- Teamwork.com Review, Wendy S.
I’m a fan of Trello’s card-based system. It’s easy to navigate, making it a solid choice for simple task management. I focused on testing its custom labels, checklists, and Power-Ups.
Custom labels made grouping tasks by priority or category incredibly easy, and I appreciated how checklists organized individual cards down to the smallest subtask. The power-ups added another layer of functionality, with calendar views and integrations for Slack and Google Drive, making collaboration smoother.
While I liked its simplicity, Trello lacks features for complex workflows, such as task dependencies or timeline management. It’s great for quick, visual organization but struggles when scaling up for larger teams or projects.
“I like everything about Trello...it is the most helpful thing I have found, and I have searched and tried many different things. I use it at work for my daily tasks, and I also use it at home for a variety of other things. I use the free version both at work and home now; I used to have a paid version at work, but not enough people were utilizing it, so they cut it off, which I was bummed about. I love looking at all the templates and have gotten many ideas from them. I love all the different automation options and how easy it is to get started and understand what is available to you.”
- Trello Review, Michelle J.
“it is sufficient for a small team with a simple project, but complex projects are not favorable for Trello. Trello lacks advanced features like time tracking. it cannot handle a high volume of team members and tasks.”
- Trello Review, Josephine N.
Wrike offers a feature-rich platform designed for intricate workflows. The real-time editing capabilities allowed me and multiple stakeholders to collaborate on documents and tasks simultaneously.
Wrike’s request forms were perfect for me to improve the flow of incoming work requests. These requests automatically became actionable tasks, so I never missed any communication updates.
The analytics dashboard provided me with clear insights into team performance and project bottlenecks, making it easier to address delays.
On the downside, Wrike’s interface initially felt overwhelming, with so many features packed into one screen. Additionally, while the desktop experience was robust, I found the mobile app less efficient for quick task updates and on-the-go management.
“Our company's decision to transition project management systems was a comprehensive evaluation of the available alternatives. We identified Wrike as the best option because of its capability to manage many kinds of projects. Our organization uses it daily to update work and communicate about the job. The software is cool, and the dashboards are awesome! The assistance we receive from Wrike office representatives and the Wrike community has been outstanding.”
- Wrike Review, Anthony M.
“Some features (e.g., Wrike Integrate) are counted as add-ons, and the additional cost is added as an additional fee on licensing costs. This has made some features we’d like to use too cost-prohibitive.
It's not the easiest platform to learn, but understandable since it's flexible. We needed a dedicated team to configure + successfully implement Wrike, which may be challenging for some companies.”
- Wrike Review, Sarah W.
| Free project management software | G2 Rating | Free plan | Ideal for |
| Asana | 4.4/5 | For teams of up to 15 users | Small teams and individuals looking for simple task management |
| Airtable | 4.6/5 | With limited record storage | Teams needing a flexible database-style project management |
| Basecamp | 4.1/5 | For up to 3 projects | Small teams or startups requiring simple project tracking |
| ClickUp | 4.7/5 | With unlimited tasks and members | Small businesses or teams needing versatile features |
| monday Work Management | 4.7/5 | For 2 seats only | Individuals or very small teams focused on project visibility and tracking |
| Notion | 4.7/5 | With unlimited pages and blocks | Individuals or small teams who prioritize knowledge management alongside task tracking |
| Smartsheet | 4.4/5 | With limited features | Teams looking for an easy-to-use platform for project tracking and collaboration |
| Teamwork.com | 4.4/5 | With basic features for 2 users | Freelancers or small teams looking for simple project and task management |
| Trello | 4.4/5 | With limited integrations | Individuals or small teams needing visual task and project organization |
| Wrike | 4.2/5 | For up to 5 users | Small teams requiring task management with project and document collaboration capabilities |
Have more questions? Find more answers below.
The best free project management software depends on your specific needs. Tools like Asana and Trello excel in task management and team collaboration, while ClickUp and Wrike offer advanced features for complex workflows. If you're a student or small team, Notion provides excellent flexibility for personal and professional projects.
Yes, Google offers a free task manager called Google Tasks. It integrates seamlessly with Gmail and Google Calendar, making it a simple yet effective option for managing to-dos. For more advanced project management, you can use Google Workspace apps like Sheets and Docs or explore third-party integrations with tools such as Asana or Trello.
Asana and Trello are top picks for collaboration due to their intuitive interfaces and easy task-sharing features. Tools like ClickUp and Wrike also provide robust real-time communication and file-sharing options.
Yes, Trello offers a free plan that is ideal for basic project management. It includes unlimited cards, lists, boards, and basic automation through Butler. While its free version lacks advanced features like Gantt charts or advanced reporting, it's perfect for small teams or personal projects.
Yes, Zoho Projects is a popular project management tool. It helps with task tracking, time management, and team collaboration. While Zoho offers a free plan, it’s best suited for small teams, including basic task management and limited integrations.
Yes, several free project management tools cater to students. Notion is a favorite for organizing coursework and collaborative group projects. Similarly, Trello is excellent for visualizing tasks and deadlines. Many of these tools offer discounts or free upgrades for students.
Yes, some project management tools, like Wrike and ClickUp, offer desktop apps that you can download for free. Additionally, open-source tools like OpenProject can be downloaded and hosted on your own servers for more control.
Open-source project management software, such as OpenProject, is a great option if you require customization and control. These tools are often free to use but may require technical expertise for installation and maintenance. They are ideal for businesses with unique needs or privacy concerns.
Whether you’re managing a personal to-do list or leading a team, I’m confident there’s a solution here for every kind of team and individual user. From visual simplicity to creative flexibility, my top picks for free project management software have a lot to offer.
Remember, the best tool is the one that fits your workflow and helps you hit your goals—without adding complexity. Test a few options, see what clicks with your style, and watch your productivity climb.
Now it’s your turn: pick a tool, dive in, and start managing projects like a pro.
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