Best Project Management Software

Project management software packs a lot of information onto your computer screen. That doesn’t mean you always want to look at that info in the same way, though. And with Easy Projects, you don’t have to.

Easy Projects offers several different ways to look at your projects. The calendar view, for example, lets you see what’s due soon. The Kanban view makes it easy to see what stages tasks are at. Throw in a Gantt view and a table view, and you’ve got some good choices for viewing your info. And what makes it even better? Team members can select their view of choice without affecting everyone else.

Now, Easy Projects does have a higher price tag than the other project management software on our list. Even so, its versatile viewing options help you focus the details that matter, making it worth the cost.

Software development often requires a lot of collaboration, both between developers and between your team and your client. Backlog has tools to make that collaboration easier.

Take its code tools, for example. Backlog lets team members review code and add in-line notes to it. It also has code repositories, perfect for version control and code comparisons. It even offers a bug tracking feature that lets you prioritize and track bug fixes. And since you’ll need to communicate with your clients as well, Backlog allows you to create guest accounts that let them see how things are progressing.

While Backlog can take care of many project development needs, you should know that it offers little storage on most of its plans. If you have lots of big files, you’ll either need a top-tier plan or external storage. That’s an easy fix, though, and Backlog’s many collaboration tools more than make up for it.

If you’re one of those businesses that lives and dies by billable hours―like a law firm―then Desktime’s time billing features could be just what you need. It lets you track the time spent on a project, and then you can easily convert that to an invoice for your customer. Keep in mind, though, that Desktime doesn’t support custom time units when you track. So if you bill by 0.6 of an hour, for example, you might have to do some math.

Still, Desktime has plenty of other tools―like vacation scheduling and software integrations―that make it worth pulling out a calculator once in a while. Because in the end, Desktime can help ensure that you and your team have all the information you need to keep projects running (and billing!) smoothly.

Project management software tries to make it easier to communicate about projects. But sometimes, notes and tags aren’t enough. You need to talk about things. Enter GoToMeeting.

GoToMeeting provides conferencing software for all your video call and audio call needs. You can hop on a line with one person to chat about progress on a task, or you can chat with hundreds of people to kick off a big project. And unlike other software that requires a per-user subscription, GoToMeeting requires only organizers to subscribe. That way your project managers will have the tools they need, but you won’t pay for features your team members never use.

As with all conferencing software, GoToMeeting can run into technical problems sometimes. Internet connections, webcams, and more can go awry, so don’t forget to have backup communication methods. But for virtual face-to-face talks, GoToMeeting has what you need.

Do you bill clients by time rather than by project? Then let Desktime’s time billing tools simplify your process.

Desktime has time tracking for both employees and projects. That way you can see who worked on a project and for how long, and you can also see how long a project is taking. You’ll be able to show your clients exactly what they’re getting charged for. You can even use that data to create invoices with Desktime, so you can save time and effort on billing.

While Desktime’s time billing can make your invoicing easier, it doesn’t allow you to customize your units of time (if you charge by 6 minutes or 15 minutes, for example). Depending on how you bill, Desktime’s hourly billing could mean a little more work for you. Even with that issue, though, Desktime’s time tracking will give you the numbers you need.

BeeWits focuses on providing a few super useful features for web design rather than including tons of not-very-applicable tools. So while it won’t work for everyone, it’s perfect for web design.

For example, BeeWits comes with task templates for common web design projects. Building a WordPress site? Just take the WordPress task template, and customize the steps as needed. It’s an easy way to make sure you never forget vital steps, and it saves you time since you won’t have to come up with them yourselves. BeeWits has other useful tools too, like the ability to give clients a limited view that shows how their project is going.

BeeWits does have a pretty narrow web design focus, so you shouldn’t expect lots of extra tools. It has no integrations with other software, for instance. If you just need to manage web design projects, though, BeeWits’s focused tools should work just fine.

The exact features will depend on the software you go with, but you can expect most project management software to let you create projects and related tasks, assign projects to team members, and communicate about the tasks you’re working on.

Project software management prices vary depending on the brand, features, and plan you want. You can find free plans from several companies, but you’ll also see plans that cost closer to $50 per user per month.

And note that we’re talking about a per-user cost. Most project management software―not all―charges per user, so you’ll end up paying more if you have a large team. You will find software that charges per location, per manager, or a simple monthly cost though, so make sure you know what kind of pricing you’re signing up for.

Fortunately, you can get a free trial of most project management software, so you can decide whether or not your team will like it before you pay anything.

To figure out which project management software you should go with, you should think about three things:

• What kind of projects you work on
• What features you want
• What software you need it to work with

For example, if you work on software development, you’ll want a software that can help with code review. But if you have a restaurant, you’ll probably care more about creating task lists for closing. Some project management software is tailored toward specific industries, while others have enough flexibility to work for many kinds of businesses.

And no matter your industry, you may have specific features in mind. You could, say, want a chat tool for communicating with team members. Or you might want to track the time someone spends on a project. In either case, you should keep that in mind as you decide on software.

Of course, if you’re already using other software to help with billing, communication, or anything else, you’ll also want to know that your project management software can integrate with it.

Whether you’re scheduling employees, clients, or your own day, these scheduling softwares can help.