10 Greatest Free Challenge Administration Software program I Tried and Preferred

Managing tasks has all the time been a core a part of my work.

I realized the arduous means simply how a lot the fitting software can affect my productiveness — for higher or worse. I’ve used challenge administration software program that promised to maintain me organized however left me extra annoyed than centered. Some had been too difficult, others lacked key options, and some simply didn’t match the best way I work. 

One too many missteps later, missed notifications, complicated interfaces, and workforce members struggling to remain on the identical web page, I made a decision to seek out instruments that actually work.

After numerous hours of testing and evaluating options, I’ve realized that free challenge administration software program will be simply as invaluable as some paid choices if you recognize the place to look. Together with insights from 1000+ G2 critiques, I’ve examined 30+ free options to see how they deal with activity group, collaboration, and challenge monitoring, maintaining an eye fixed out for sensible options. 

And I’ve acquired my last reduce.

10 free challenge administration software program for 2025: My shortlist

*The software program checklist is organized alphabetically. These instruments provide free trials, free ceaselessly choices, or freemium fashions. All pricing particulars talked about within the article are primarily based on publicly accessible information on the time of publication and are topic to alter.

The perfect free challenge administration software program on my checklist isn’t simply feature-packed, they’s sensible, dependable, and a software I’ve used to remain organized and collaborate successfully. Based mostly on my testing, these are those I would personally recommend for those who’re in search of the very best collaborative challenge administration platform to help your workflows. 

10 greatest free challenge administration software program: My greatest finds

The world challenge administration software program market was valued at $6.59 billion in 2022 and is predicted to achieve $20.47 billion by 2030, an indication of simply how important these instruments have grow to be.

The demand spans companies of all sizes. In response to G2 information, small companies make up the biggest share of challenge administration software program customers at 49%, adopted by mid-market firms (33%) and enterprises (18%)

However in my expertise, “greatest” doesn’t all the time imply “most costly.” Some free challenge administration platforms I’ve tried provided spectacular worth, serving to me keep organized, preserve tasks on observe, and collaborate effortlessly with my workforce.

What did I search for in free challenge administration software program? 

After I used to consider challenge administration software program, my thoughts jumped straight to to-do lists and deadlines. However after my expertise with this check, I can confidently say that the fitting instruments accomplish that rather more. They preserve me organized, my workforce aligned, and my sanity intact, all whereas being free to make use of.

When evaluating free challenge administration software program, I centered on the options that actually matter, the type you’ll discover within the main challenge administration software program right now. That features the whole lot from intuitive activity task and deadline monitoring to built-in time-tracking capabilities (important for those who’re in search of the very best challenge administration app with time monitoring) and built-in collaboration instruments.:

• Important options: The perfect challenge administration instruments ought to cowl all of the fundamentals: activity assignments, progress monitoring, deadline administration, and group. I prioritized instruments that assist me break down complicated tasks into manageable duties, assign obligations, and preserve observe of progress clearly and effectively.
• Simplicity and value: Nobody desires to take care of difficult software program. I seemed for straightforward instruments to arrange and navigate with a clear structure and easy design. The simpler the software is to make use of, the much less time I spend determining the way it works and the extra time I’ve to get issues executed.
• Crew collaboration: Since I work with a number of stakeholders, I wanted instruments that made collaboration straightforward. Options like file sharing, group chats, and activity discussions had been essential for maintaining everybody in sync and shifting ahead with out confusion.
• Flexibility: No two tasks are alike, so I wanted instruments to adapt to completely different workflows. I seemed for choices that permit me customise views, arrange customized notifications, and arrange duties in a means that made sense for every challenge.
• Integrations: Managing a number of instruments for various duties will be exhausting, so I wanted challenge administration software program that labored effectively with different instruments I used. Whether or not it was syncing with Google Drive, Slack, or different apps, integration was a key issue for me in selecting the very best instruments.

The checklist under additionally incorporates real consumer critiques from G2’s challenge administration software program class web page. It’s necessary to notice that within the context of this checklist, distributors providing a free trial are additionally thought-about free. To be included on this class, an answer should:

• Create challenge plans and work breakdown construction (WBS) primarily based on the scope
• Outline, handle, and allocate assets primarily based on demand and availability
• Create challenge budgets and evaluate them with precise prices and bills
• Help a number of challenge administration methodologies equivalent to waterfall and agile
• Present challenge templates that may be modified or mixed to create new tasks
• Handle interdependencies between duties and their influence on deadlines
• Mechanically generate a vital path and replace it when the challenge modifications
• Permit customers to mass replace duties with out altering interdependencies
• Embody a number of challenge views equivalent to calendar view or buyer (or associate) view
• Monitor challenge progress, useful resource utilization, and consumer productiveness

*This information was pulled from G2 in 2025. Some critiques could have been edited for readability. 

Airtable appears like a spreadsheet on steroids, and for somebody who meticulously tracks efficiency metrics and tasks, it was a dream to make use of. It’s nice for tasks the place information group is essential. The free plan allowed me as much as 1,200 information per base, which was ample for smaller datasets.

It was additionally comparatively straightforward for me to arrange challenge trackers and content material calendars via customizable templates. Nonetheless, reviewers on G2 point out that we now have to be conscious of the storage limitations.

I examined Airtable’s automation by setting triggers to replace standing fields when deadlines approached, which lowered handbook follow-ups. The power to visualise the identical information in a number of codecs, like Kanban and Grid view, made my workflow extremely environment friendly.

For me, Airtable is hands-down one of the vital succesful free challenge administration instruments on the market; when you set it up, it’s arduous to think about managing tasks with out it.

Execs and cons of Airtable: My take

What G2 customers like about Airtable:

“As a literary agent, what I like greatest about Airtable is its unimaginable flexibility and ease of use. It permits me to arrange and join all points of my enterprise seamlessly — monitoring authors, their publications, royalty stories, fee schedules, ebook covers, and promotional property — multi functional dynamic platform. The power to hyperlink associated information, like an creator to their royalty stories or following ebook concepts to potential comp titles, makes it much more intuitive and highly effective than conventional spreadsheets like Excel.”

– Airtable Evaluate, Maxwell P. S. 

What G2 customers dislike about Airtable:

“It is taken a while to discover ways to use AirTable. I’ve executed numerous analysis and watched a bunch of movies. I do know many assets can be found on the web site, however my group differs from most advertising and marketing and customer support companies utilizing AirTable. I work for a meals financial institution and have discovered it difficult to seek out particular examples or directions on using AirTable in a means that works for our explicit wants.”

– Airtable Evaluate, Kari H.

Dive into thoughts mapping and enhance your tasks’ outcomes. Take a look at the greatest thoughts mapping software program I examined and reviewed for 2025.

Asana has been my day by day driver for years and is a user-friendly challenge administration software program for groups. The free plan contains activity monitoring, challenge timelines, and collaborative instruments good for managing workforce workflows or private tasks.

I notably appreciated Asana’s capability to create customized workflows and arrange duties into boards or checklists, relying on what suited my tasks. I arrange boards for monitoring articles from ideation to publication, assigning duties to workforce members, and attaching information for collaboration. The timeline view gave me a transparent image of overlapping deadlines, which is crucial when juggling a number of tasks. The power to remark straight on duties made communication seamless. 

Asana’s free plan made it straightforward for me to arrange small- to medium-sized tasks and preserve the whole lot shifting with out a lot effort. One factor some G2 reviewers famous is that its reporting options within the free plan can really feel restricted for those who’re attempting to dive deep into analytics. 

That stated, for many on a regular basis workflows, Asana delivers a clean, intuitive expertise that makes challenge administration really feel easy. In actual fact, Asana is likely one of the greatest challenge administration software program for small tech startups. 

Execs and cons of Asana: My take

What G2 customers like about Asana:

“Asana could be very straightforward to make use of and intuitive for my workforce members who do not have tech backgrounds however want to start out and contribute instantly. Our six-person org’s collective “mind” permits us to self-organize and transfer shortly. Implementation will be tough if you do not have a great info structure mannequin or publicity to work-planning instruments, but it surely’s straightforward to seek out somebody who can set it up for a small payment, too. As soon as configured, ongoing help wants are minimal.”

– Asana Evaluate, Sarah G.

What G2 customers dislike about Asana:

“Asana is a good software, however it may be overwhelming for novices, and there’s no means of getting a demo session. I attempted to achieve out to their gross sales workforce about this, however there was no response. With these many options, I really feel to completely make the most of all of the options, one must have a demo name.”

– Asana Evaluate, Bishal D.

Take a look at this in-depth comparability of Asana vs. Monday to see how every software works and which one most closely fits your workforce’s wants.

Basecamp is likely one of the most dependable software program for managing tasks. It is simplicity is its power. I examined it throughout a dash involving my workforce’s content material entrepreneurs and web optimization specialists. I recognize that Basecamp prioritizes communication simply as a lot as activity administration. The message board grew to become our hub for updates and suggestions, whereas shared activity lists saved everybody aligned on deliverables.

One function that actually helped this challenge was the automated check-ins. As a substitute of scheduling day by day standups, I arrange a check-in asking, “What did you’re employed on right now?” This saved workforce communication concise whereas guaranteeing accountability. File storage additionally stood out — it’s primary however efficient for centralizing design drafts and approvals.

Execs and cons of Basecamp: My take

What G2 customers like about Basecamp:

“What I like greatest about Basecamp is how seamlessly it helps us handle our distant work course of. As an organization, it permits us to trace our conversations, planning, duties, and challenge progress flawlessly. It is extremely purposeful for activity task, workforce communication, and monitoring challenge developments. Plus, its easy and user-friendly interface permits workforce members to adapt shortly. All of this facilitates collaboration and boosts our total effectivity.”

– Basecamp Evaluate, Özgür Okay.

What G2 customers dislike about Basecamp:

“Basecamp ought to enhance its capabilities to take care of many tasks without delay. Not having Gantt charts makes it arduous to see challenge schedules and assign duties correctly. When engaged on many tasks, this turns into essential. At occasions, the interface can appear busy, notably if you’re coping with varied duties.”

– Basecamp Evaluate, Vibin Okay.

Up for managing a giant challenge? Get challenge administration ideas from professionals to remain on high of your recreation.

ClickUp is likely one of the most feature-packed instruments I examined, making it ideally suited for managing my workforce’s content material calendar whereas experimenting with automation. In actual fact, its a high contender for those who’re trying to find the very best challenge administration software for software program growth. I began by customizing an inventory view for managing deadlines and a board view for visualizing the content material pipeline. 

ClickUp’s time-tracking function was a pleasing shock — simply one of many causes it stands out as the very best challenge administration app with time monitoring. It let me measure how lengthy every stage of manufacturing (like modifying or graphic design) took, which helped refine our workflows. Moreover, the built-in AI assistant made creating duties and documentation a lot sooner.

What impressed me most was ClickUp’s automation capabilities. For instance, I arrange guidelines to maneuver duties right into a “Evaluate” column as soon as their standing was marked “Prepared for edit.” It felt like having an additional assistant managing extra minor particulars. The reporting dashboards supplied insights into overdue duties and workforce productiveness, which had been actionable and clear.

Execs and cons of ClickUp: My take

What G2 customers like about ClickUp:

“There are such a lot of points of clickup that my workforce and I like and luxuriate in. I like that we’re in a position to have completely different areas. This enables every space of labor my workforce has to make use of ClickUp in no matter style makes probably the most sense for his or her jobs. It is customizable for every particular person to make use of and for a bunch, and I get pleasure from you can simply add individuals on a visitor entry degree to view content material as effectively.”

– ClickUp Evaluate, Cora L.

What G2 customers dislike about ClickUp:

“ClickUp gives huge options, which might generally be overwhelming. It does not lean in direction of a minimalist strategy, and initially, we invested a major quantity of effort into customizing it to suit our workforce’s wants and guaranteeing inner alignment. Whereas the in depth options are highly effective, the preliminary setup will be time-consuming and require many changes to combine totally into current workflows.”

– ClickUp Evaluate, Nebi Okay.

I used monday Work Administration for a cross-functional challenge with a number of stakeholders. The visible nature of its boards instantly stood out — it’s extremely satisfying to see duties change standing from “In Progress” to “Completed.” I examined its pre-built templates and located them to be a stable start line, saving hours of setup time.

The integration choices had been a great bonus. I linked monday Work Administration with Slack to obtain immediate updates every time duties had been up to date. The types function was additionally helpful for accumulating stakeholder suggestions with out managing separate instruments.

That stated, monday Work Administration’s reporting options left me wanting extra — it didn’t provide the extent of analytics I wanted to trace marketing campaign efficiency intimately. Often, heavier boards additionally skilled lag, slowing down my workflow throughout busy intervals.

Execs and cons of monday Work Administration: My take

What G2 customers like about monday Work Administration:

“We had been in search of a challenge administration software to make our day by day routine simpler. Beginning with creating a couple of boards, we shortly moved on to integrating up-to-date instruments equivalent to e mail and drive folders. We’re nonetheless struggling to stability growing the workspace and ease of use. However buyer help helps us design our work ecosystem.”

– monday Work Administration Evaluate, Massimiliano M.

What G2 customers dislike about monday Work Administration:

“If I simply needed to discover one thing I dislike about utilizing Monday, it will be that it’s a cloud-based platform, so that you want an web connection to entry all its options. I journey loads and work from my laptop computer throughout my journey. When web entry is not accessible, I’m at a standstill till I can return to a steady connection.”

– monday Work administration Evaluate, Misha H. 

Instruments apart, do you will have the abilities to excel in your function? Study 14 important challenge administration abilities now. 

Notion grew to become my go-to for data sharing, social media planning, and assembly administration. I constructed an editorial calendar linked to our fashion information and brainstorming pages. Testing its wealthy textual content editor was a delight — it allowed me to embed the whole lot from movies to code snippets throughout the identical doc.

One standout function for me was the flexibility to create collaborative pages. As an illustration, I constructed a shared roadmap the place my workforce might remark straight on concepts and recommend edits. It changed our scattered notes with a single supply of reality.

Whereas Notion excels at planning, some customers on G2 talked about that the customization can take a while to get acquainted and used to. One fast resolution is to make use of the pre-built templates. A number of others additionally famous that it takes time to grasp its database capabilities, particularly when creating complicated workflows for bigger tasks.

Execs and cons of Notion: My take

What G2 customers like about Notion:

“What I like most about Notion is that it’s an all-in-one workspace with its intuitive interface, versatility, and highly effective database capabilities. Its user-friendly interface means that you can navigate and customise the platform in line with your wants. It is wonderful to share info with my colleagues and personalize it.

As well as, it has a variety of templates and customization choices, making it adaptable for various use instances. Concerning collaboration and work sharing, Notion facilitates info change by permitting workforce members to share pages, databases, and paperwork. It additionally gives real-time modifying and commenting capabilities, facilitating teamwork and challenge progress.”

– Notion Evaluate, Oksana M.

What G2 customers dislike about Notion:

“One of many downsides of Notion is the training curve. Whereas the customization choices are highly effective, they’ll overwhelm new customers. It takes time to determine how one can use all of the options. Notion will be gradual generally, particularly when coping with large databases or complicated pages. Offline performance is proscribed, which could be a ache if you’ll want to entry your notes or duties with out the Web. Buyer help is mostly useful however will be gradual throughout peak hours.”

– Notion Evaluate, Prabhat S.

Smartsheet appealed to the spreadsheet lover in me however elevated the expertise to a full-fledged challenge administration platform. I used its Gantt charts to schedule duties and follow-ups for my tasks. Its conditional formatting helped me observe activity urgency visually, making it straightforward to prioritize. 

I additionally appreciated its automation workflows, which despatched reminders for due dates with none handbook effort. 

Smartsheet’s acquainted grid-style structure makes it straightforward to arrange duties and observe particulars, although some G2 reviewers famous it could actually really feel limiting for those who choose extra visible views like Kanban boards or timelines. The free plan additionally restricts entry to 2 sheets, which can be greatest fitted to smaller, easy tasks, but it surely’s nonetheless a stable start line for those who’re managing centered workflows.

Execs and cons of Smartsheet: My take

What G2 customers like about Smartsheet:

“The perfect a part of Smartsheet by far is how straightforward it’s to construct new sheets and processes. As soon as we had all our information in Smartsheet, we might port virtually all of our processes over as a substitute of utilizing many alternative packages to get and supply the knowledge we had been in search of. It is reached the purpose the place different departments ask, “Is it doable to do that in Smartsheet?” I like that I can virtually all the time say “Sure!”

– Smartsheet Evaluate, Jessica N.

What G2 customers dislike about Smartsheet:

“I want a greater diversity of graph varieties had been accessible to plug proper into dashboards. Whereas the present graphs cowl all the first use varieties (and do it very effectively), the complexity of information in numerous my sheets (that is in there as a result of Smartsheet handles all of the complicated information so effectively) is commonly arduous to characterize with the present dashboard graph choices.”

– Smartsheet Evaluate, Shelbie H.

Attempt these free challenge administration templates to simplify complicated workflows.

Teamwork impressed me with its superior workforce administration options. I began by testing the time-tracking performance, making it straightforward to assign hours to duties and see how a lot time the workforce spent on deliverables. 

The workload view stood out — it gave me an in depth snapshot of who was engaged on what, serving to me stability duties successfully throughout the workforce. I additionally frolicked exploring the customized activity templates, which saved me numerous time establishing recurring workflows for campaigns.

Many customers on G2 recognize how the platform simplifies challenge monitoring, however some notice that the duty filtering system will be extra intuitive, particularly when managing bigger tasks. A number of additionally talked about that sure integrations could require extra configuration to run easily. Nonetheless, as soon as the whole lot is about up, the software gives a dependable and environment friendly option to preserve complicated workflows organized

Execs and cons of Teamwork.com: My take

What G2 customers like about Teamwork.com:

“The UI of Teamwork is clear and uncluttered, and the software program comes with a improbable assortment of options that are not overly difficult. I can make it possible for everybody on the workforce is conscious of their duties and when they’re due through the use of it to make thorough to-do lists, assign roles, and set up due dates. Setting a activity’s precedence as excessive, medium, or low is nice. I can set a due date for a activity. With all these assets at our disposal, we are able to preserve focus and alignment, growing productiveness and permitting us to perform all of our enterprise targets.”

– Teamwork.com Evaluate, Aleksandra Okay.

What G2 customers dislike about Teamwork.com:

“I wish to see a calendar view that gives essential info for collaborators and purchasers to see their duties at a look. The import function must work from Excel as 9x out of 10, and it’ll crash when attempting to add to create a brand new challenge. Monitoring hours for collaborators is unavailable until they’re a paid subscriber however not reasonably priced for this function.”

– Teamwork.com Evaluate, Wendy S.

I’m a fan of Trello’s card-based system. It’s straightforward to navigate, making it a stable alternative for easy activity administration. I centered on testing its customized labels, checklists, and Energy-Ups. 

Customized labels made grouping duties by precedence or class extremely straightforward, and I appreciated how checklists organized particular person playing cards all the way down to the smallest subtask. The power-ups added one other layer of performance, with calendar views and integrations for Slack and Google Drive, making collaboration smoother.

Many G2 reviewers recognize Trello’s simplicity and visible strategy, making it a go-to alternative for fast activity group and workforce collaboration. Nonetheless, some notice that superior options like activity dependencies or timeline administration will be improved. Nonetheless, for easy workflows and smaller groups, it stays an easy-to-use and efficient software.

Execs and cons of Trello: My take

What G2 customers like about Trello:

“I like the whole lot about Trello…it’s the most useful factor I’ve discovered, and I’ve searched and tried many alternative issues. I take advantage of it at work for my day by day duties, and I additionally use it at residence for a wide range of different issues. I take advantage of the free model each at work and residential now; I used to have a paid model at work, however not sufficient individuals had been using it, in order that they reduce it off, which I used to be bummed about. I like all of the templates and have gotten many concepts from them. I like all of the completely different automation choices and the way straightforward it’s to get began and perceive what is out there to you.”

– Trello Evaluate, Michelle J.

What G2 customers dislike about Trello:

“it’s ample for a small workforce with a easy challenge, however complicated tasks usually are not favorable for Trello. Trello lacks superior options like time monitoring. it can not deal with a excessive quantity of workforce members and duties.”

– Trello Evaluate, Josephine N.

Wrike gives a feature-rich platform designed for intricate workflows. The real-time modifying capabilities allowed me and a number of stakeholders to collaborate on paperwork and duties concurrently.

Wrike’s request types had been good for me to enhance the movement of incoming work requests. These requests mechanically grew to become actionable duties, so I by no means missed any communication updates.

The analytics dashboard supplied me with clear insights into workforce efficiency and challenge bottlenecks, making it simpler to deal with delays.

Many G2 reviewers spotlight Wrike’s highly effective function set and strong challenge administration capabilities. Nonetheless, some famous that the interface can really feel a bit overwhelming at first because of the variety of instruments and choices accessible. A number of additionally talked about that whereas the desktop expertise is powerful, the cellular app could possibly be extra environment friendly for fast activity updates on the go. Nonetheless, when you get used to the structure, Wrike gives a complete and dependable platform for managing complicated tasks.

Execs and Cons of Wrike: My take

What G2 customers like about Wrike:

“Our firm’s choice to transition challenge administration programs was a complete analysis of the accessible options. We recognized Wrike as the most suitable choice due to its functionality to handle many sorts of tasks. Our group makes use of it day by day to replace work and talk in regards to the job. The software program is cool, and the dashboards are superior! The help we obtain from Wrike workplace representatives and the Wrike neighborhood has been excellent.”

– Wrike Evaluate, Anthony M.

What G2 customers dislike about Wrike:

“Some options (e.g., Wrike Combine) are counted as add-ons, and the extra value is added as an extra payment on licensing prices. This has made some options we’d like to make use of too cost-prohibitive.

It is not the best platform to study, however comprehensible because it’s versatile. We would have liked a devoted workforce to configure + efficiently implement Wrike, which can be difficult for some firms.”

– Wrike Evaluate, Sarah W.

Need to take your workflows even additional? Take a look at my roundup of the greatest AI challenge administration instrumentsto see how automation can increase productiveness.