It’s often challenging as a startup manager to keep an eye on all the aspects of all your projects. Resources, budgets, timelines, deadlines, invoices, timesheets just to name a few! But, project management for startups is vitally important and can make or break your growing business. So, you think using an online task management tool will be the solution. And, you’re right! But, it’s also remarkably difficult to decide on the best tool to use. We’re going to save you some time with our top project management tools comparison.

Why use project management tools?

Organization, quick access to information, efficiency, cloud access from anywhere, team collaboration-made-easy, appealing visual content, and affordability are all good reasons to adopt a project management tool. Good project management apps are easy for you and your staff to learn. They make your work smoother while increasing your projects’ productivity. They enable clear and timely communication. They should be a tool that supports you, not a monster you have to fight each day. Project management apps enable you to maneuver nimbly across your full portfolio, track resources, and ensure timely delivery of the objectives. 

Top project management apps for startups in 2022

Each project management tool has so many cool features that we just can’t list them all. So, consider these as highlights, rather than an exhaustive list.

As for pricing, there are as many pricing methods as tools. Many have free business tools for startups, which is great! You can experiment before buying. Or, in some cases if you have a very small team (e.g. 2 or 3 people) you might be able to get away with the free versions. But, the more serious, in-depth, and scaled up your projects are, the paid plans become more and more attractive. 

For consistency of comparison, we’re showing you prices based on this formula as much as possible: per user (seat) per month purchased on an annual basis. 

Now, let’s look at key features and pricing plans of 2022’s top 8 project management apps for startups. 

Weekwise

Weekwise is great for consultancy-oriented businesses and agencies where time/material tracking and resource allocation are critical to project management as well as client expectation management.

Top features

• Resource planning tool enables incredibly easy resource allocation – Weekwise thinks in terms of weeks for maximum balance of flexibility and rigor
• Toggle between individual projects or full portfolio overview 
• Finance management that integrates external and internal budget processes – invoicing customers and timesheets for staff 
• The timesheet calendar view is particularly pleasing and doubles as a workload indicator 
• Clear and color-coded project and portfolio-wide dashboards and timelines 
• Smooth team management and collaboration with Team profiles and Team status reporting 
• Overall very intuitive and easy to use and excellent bang for your buck

Pricing

• Free – $0 per seat/month – max 5 seats 
• Pro – $4.50 per seat/month – min 5 seats 
• Unlimited – $6 per seat/month – min 5 seats

Trello

Trello is like a digitized, team-focused Kanban board on steroids. 

Top features

• Easy-to-create and intuitive Kanban boards 
• No-code automation (up to 250 automated command runs per month with the free plan) 
• Trello cards function as the pieces and parts for your boards (allows as detailed or comprehensive view as you want) 
• Also includes productivity metrics, timelines, table views and dashboards

Pricing

• Free – $0.00/month – user numbers not stated 
• Standard – $5 per user/month – user numbers not stated 
• Premium – $10 per user/month – max 100 users 
• Enterprise – $17.50 per user/month – user numbers not stated

Asana

Asana provides you with project management tools based around Sprint Plans, with a focus on tracking.

Top features

• Workflow builder is a new feature to automate team coordination 
• Creation of Gantt charts, Kanban boards and calendars
• Can integrate with over 100 different apps 
• Reporting features include customizable charts, graphs, and dashboards 
• Workload management feature makes it easy to see work amounts and task distribution

Pricing

• Basic – $0 per user/month – user numbers not stated 
• Premium – $10.99 per user/month – user numbers not stated 
• Business – $24.99 per user/month – user numbers not stated

Teamwork

Teamwork is an easy-to-use project management tool designed to integrate client work and, as the name suggests, focuses on team working.

Top features

• Resource management with workload planner and resource scheduler 
• PM templates, e.g. new client onboarding checklist, task management template, product launch plan template 
• Collaborative Kanban boards to track progress 
• Client user collaboration, i.e. you can invite your clients in to the project on Teamwork for free

Pricing

• Free Forever – $0 per user/month – max 5 users 
• Deliver – $10 per user/month – min 3 users 
• Grow – $18 per user/month – min 5 users 
• Scale – contact Teamwork

ProofHub

ProofHub is designed around its plan, collaborate, organize, and deliver model of project management.

Top features

• Plan: table view, creation of Kanban boards & Gantt charts, assign tasks & roles, customize workflows
• Collaborate: proof with markups and comments; have discussions and chats, a possibility to make announcements
• Organize: includes file uploads, calendar, project templates, report forms, and file version control 
• Deliver: includes timesheets, workload reports, progress reports, and daily agendas

Pricing

• Standard – $45/month – 5-user plan; or $90/month – 10-user plan 
• Business – $135/month – 50-user plan; or $248/month – 100-user plan 
• Bigger teams – 100+ users – contact ProofHub

Kissflow Project

Kissflow Project is one of a series of business tools offered by Kissflow and has a helpful form-builder.

Top features

• Toggle between List, Kanban, Matrix and Task views 
• Customized form-builder with 25+ fields 
• Hold, In-Progress, Done tasks tracker 
• Create sub-tasks to define work in more detail 
• Contextual collaboration with comments, mentions and file-sharing

Pricing

• Free – $0 per user/month – unlimited users 
• Basic – $5 per user/month – min 10 users 
• Advanced – $9.90 per user/month – min 10 users

TeamGantt

As the name implies, TeamGantt is task management software that focuses on making Gantt charts to organize your projects.

Top features

• Specialized in Gantt charts 
• All projects can integrate into one 
• Gantt chart to spot conflicts between projects or get a full overview 
• Resource management with team and workload views 
• Portfolio progress tracker and plan vs actual comparison

Pricing

• Free – $0 per user/month – max 3 user 
• Standard Plan – $19 per user/month – 1+ users (fees decrease as you add ‘guests’) 
• Advanced Plan – $24.45 per user/month -1+users (fees decrease as you add ‘guests’)

Nifty

Nifty focuses on trying to balance between not too simple and not too complex, and stresses automation to lower the needs for meetings. 

Top features

• Platform is based on using Sprints in Agile management
• Automated workflows and task assignments to resources
• Links Sprints to milestones and workloads
• Discussion area that facilitates team communication and serves as a knowledge hub
• Straightforward reporting on project overviews, timelines, tasks, and resources
• Imports previous projects quickly 

Pricing

Nifty uses package fees rather than per user fees. 

• Free – $0/month – unlimited users
• Starter – $39/month – 10 users
• Pro – $79/month – 20 users
• Business – $124/month – 50 users
• Unlimited – $399/month – unlimited users

Which project management tool to choose?

Weekwise is our top choice. Weekwise specializes in visibility into resource planning and allocation and providing budget insight – a real focus on the bottom line! With its timesheet and invoicing features, your project portfolio finances have never been easier to control. Team status and team profile features give you all the up-to-date information you need to manage your project teams and their work successfully. On top of all that, Weekwise is so intuitive you’ll get enthusiastic staff buy-in without any fuss.

Want to try Weekwise, the top tool for project management? GET EARLY ACCESS