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1
monday.com
Free version available
Yes
Starting price
From $8 monthly per user
Integrations
Zoom, LinkedIn, Adobe, Salesforce and more
2
Smartsheet
Free version available
Yes, for one user and two editors
Starting price
$7 per user per month
Integrations
Google Drive, Slack, Tableau, Miro, Zapier and more
3
ClickUp
Free version available
Yes, for unlimited members
Starting price
From $10 monthly per user
Integrations
Slack, Microsoft Outlook, HubSpot, Salesforce, Timely, Google Drive and more
The Best Project Management Software of 2024
- monday.com: Best overall
- Teamwork.com: Best for growing teams
- Smartsheet: Best for spreadsheet-style management
- Trello: Best value
Best Overall
monday.com
4.6
Our ratings take into account a product's cost, features, ease of use, customer service and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.
Price
Free to $16 per person per month (minimum of three users)
Mobile App
Yes
Free Trial
14 days
On monday.com's Website
Free to $16 per person per month (minimum of three users)
Yes
14 days
Why We Picked It
This cloud-based platform is a comprehensive project management tool. The many templates allow you to instantly plug in and plan project management. Choose from a work calendar, single project and advanced single project templates. Team members will appreciate the multiple views available that allow them to manage their workflows individually—there are Kanban, Gantt, timeline and calendar views.
Managers can see individual projects at a glance or get a sense of the entire slate of projects the company is working on. All views are customizable, catering to the specific detailed needs of any individual or team.
The system has built-in time tracking, allowing managers to fully understand the cost of a project with the resources allocated. This feature is even available in the mobile app, which is as comprehensive as they come for leadership on the go.
For efficiency, monday.com allows many automations and allows repeat notifications to be turned off, lessening the inbox of each team member. It integrates with Slack, Dropbox, Zoom, Shopify, Google Calendar, Gmail and a slew of other tools.
Learn more: Read our full monday.com review.
Who should use it:
Businesses of any size looking for a robust solution that is cost-effective and allows for flexibility and customization.
Pros & Cons
- Customizable automations
- PMO project planning templates
- Easy to use
- Limited task dependencies
- Support responses can be slow
Best for Growing Teams
Teamwork.com
4.4
Our ratings take into account a product's cost, features, ease of use, customer service and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.
Price
Free to 25.99 per user, per month (minimum of three to five users)
Mobile App
Yes
Free Trial
30 days
Free to 25.99 per user, per month (minimum of three to five users)
Yes
30 days
Why We Picked It
Growing teams need to be able to easily see what tasks are coming and communicate about them, which is why Teamwork.com earns the spot for best for growing teams. Not only does it make it easy for teams to communicate, but it also opens transparency on projects to an unlimited number of free client users. A collaborative document editor gets everyone on the same page, working toward the same goal.
With the Grow plan, organizations are able to customize fields, do resource scheduling and run utilization reports. The editable Gantt chart view is intuitive and comprehensive, giving an overview of project tasks and allowing managers to make appropriate changes to projects.
For teams that work with external clients, the ability to invoice and bill helps take project management into revenue management. The tool allows for expenses to be tracked or to generate a flat-fee invoice.
The system supports webhooks to allow automation to email and Slack. The platform also supports Zapier and integrates with HubSpot. Overall, this platform makes collaboration easy.
Learn more: Read our full Teamwork.com review.
Who should use it:
Those in Agile work environments where projects may change in scope regularly.
Pros & Cons
- Intuitive layout
- Multiple customization options
- Affordable
- Limited project templates
- No image markup tool
Best for Spreadsheet-Style Management
Smartsheet
4.0
Our ratings take into account a product's cost, features, ease of use, customer service and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.
Price
$7 to $25 per user per month (minimum of three users)
Mobile App
Yes
Free Trial
30 days
On Smartsheet's Website
$7 to $25 per user per month (minimum of three users)
Yes
30 days
Why We Picked It
Smartsheet focuses its design and workflow using a spreadsheet-style dashboard that may already be familiar to project managers. Like any good PPM solution, it offers grid, Gantt, card and calendar views. As with standard spreadsheets, you can create formulas in cells and columns to help with tracking and reporting.
Teams can work together to share work via presentations, images and PDFs with real-time updating and collaboration. Start a project using one of the many templates and then customize it by adding or removing certain features. As with any type of spreadsheet system, analytics and reporting are as powerful as you need them to be.
Numerous automation tools use a simple drag-and-drop system, making it easy to set up and customize. Get as detailed as you want with workflow automation, thanks to Smartsheet’s advanced features. The system supports work with Microsoft 365, Google Workspace and Apple ID.
Learn more: Read our full Smartsheet review.
Who should use it:
Companies already working with spreadsheets for PPM purposes will appreciate the solution offered by Smartsheet.
Pros & Cons
- Unlimited customization
- Comprehensive analytics and reporting
- High-security solution
- Not intuitive
- Expensive
Best Value
Trello
3.9
Our ratings take into account a product's cost, features, ease of use, customer service and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.
Price
Free to $17.50 per user per month
Mobile App
Yes
Free Trial
14 days
Learn More
Read Forbes' Review
Free to $17.50 per user per month
Yes
14 days
Why We Picked It
Trello gets the nod for best value because even its free version comes with most of the bells and whistles you could want. It remains one of the easiest-to-use programs and a very popular option among individuals and enterprises alike.
The free version allows you to have unlimited cards with up to ten boards per workspace. This is more than enough for a small company to manage projects from start to finish. Users can assign other team members to tasks and prioritize due dates. When you upgrade to the Standard version, you get advanced checklists with customizable fields. The Premium version allows for multiple views including dashboard, timeline, workspace table, calendar and map view.
Trello integrates with numerous other tools including Slack, Google Drive, Zoom and Microsoft Teams. Most functions are available in the mobile app so that you can have project management capabilities while away from the office. Automation features enable you to set up rules for your cards and boards so that one action triggers another and reduces the number of manual clicks required.
Who should use it:
Anyone unfamiliar with PPM tools will find Trello one of the most intuitive platforms available.
Read more:
Read our full Trello review.
Pros & Cons
- Simple team collaboration
- Power-Ups for integration and file management
- Intuitive Kanban board design
- Limited project views on Standard plan
- No data reporting
Forbes Advisor Ratings
| Company | Company - Logo | Forbes Advisor Rating | Starting price | Price | Mobile App | Free Trial | Learn More CTA text | Learn more CTA below text | LEARN MORE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 4.6 |  | Free to $16 per person per month (minimum of three users) | Yes | 14 Days | Learn More | On monday.com's Website | ||
 | 4.4 | | Free to $25.99 per user per month (minimum of three to five users) | Yes | 30 days | Learn More | On teamwork.com's Website | ||
 | 4.0 |  | $7 to $25 per user per month (minimum of three users) | Yes | 30 days | Learn More | On Smartsheet's Website | ||
 | 3.9 |  | Free to $17.50 per user per month | Yes | 14 days | Learn More | Read Forbes' Review |
Methodology
Forbes Advisor uses a quantitative analysis to give each company a rating based on a five-star system. There are five key areas used with 18 different data points evaluated to rate each company. A total of ten popular solutions were evaluated to create this best of five list.
The sections evaluated are:
- Pricing. We wanted to know if the price of the product fell in line with other industry solutions as well as checking to see if a free version is available.
- General features. We checked to see if basic features were part of the core package that included role assignment, timelines, Gantt charts and software integrations.
- Additional features. Companies were evaluated as to whether or not they had additional features such as budgeting, markup tools and billing and invoicing features.
- Reviews and recognition. Companies were rated based on two review sites, Capterra and Trustpilot. We sought to find out if the company had at least a 3.5-star rating.
- Expert score. This section looked at how easy the software was to use and whether it was a good value for the money.
What is Project Portfolio Management?
PPM is a system of operations that helps leadership focus company resources on the most important projects. The most important projects are those that will support the overall objectives of the company and lead to a higher return on investment.
In PPM, leaders track and evaluate multiple projects at the same time and evaluate them based on priority. Projects that will have the biggest impact are given the highest priority. Each project is individually managed for resources, timelines and required assets.
What You Need To Know About Choosing Project Portfolio Management Software
There are four basic areas you should consider when choosing a portfolio management software solution. The first is cost, as every company needs to find something that fits into its overall budget. When considering cost, look at the monthly costs as well as any third-party costs (such as integrations with other software) that may be necessary to have an efficient system.
With that said, you also want to make sure you’re investing in a system that can keep up with your daily workflows. Efficiency is the second thing to consider when choosing a PPM. Choose a system that helps keep your people efficient in task management. The ability to create tasks and track them through a project timeline helps you make sense of complicated projects with a lot of moving parts. Having the right management features is crucial in a service of this kind.
Flexibility is another thing to consider. Things change quickly in many company operations. Your project portfolio management software should give you plenty of options for customizing workflows, tasks, and other options. This way, you have a solution that morphs into what your company needs to organize projects rather than something you need to change systems to fit into.
Software integrations can fill a lot of gaps in your system when it comes to flexibility. Many leading providers offer the ability to connect data with other types of business apps, from customer relationship management (CRM) systems to cloud storage systems and beyond. These integrations can automate a lot of tedious work on your end by automatically connecting information from these other platforms and bring that data into your project management solution.
For example, you could bring in customer information from a CRM like Salesforce into your project portfolio management solution and attach that customer to a task for an agent using Wrike. When they close a sale with that client, they could use that integration to update customer info in their platform and have it automatically update within the Salesforce app while saving them the trouble of having to log into that platform. These small conveniences can add up to save a lot of time and effort for you and your staff.
Finally, find a PPM that makes the whole process visible with transparency to all stakeholders.
Parties should be able to see the whole slate of projects, where each is at and review which take priority on the list. With that said, having a robust set of permissions options can help you maintain project security. While some workers on your team may need full edit access of task items, there could be scenarios where you’re dealing with sensitive information and want to block out unrelated parties from the project. You should also be able to toggle view-edit access for users depending on their involvement in the project.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What are the three phases of project portfolio management?
Each project follows three basic phases. There is the planning phase, followed by the authorization phase that green-lights the project to start. From there, the final phase is to monitor and control the project based on milestones and feedback.
What are portfolio management techniques?
Techniques used in portfolio management include systems and processes used to examine any set of projects or activities. The goal is to find a balance between the risks and returns and use resources effectively. Techniques may evaluate the stability vs. growth that a project offers and review both the attractions and drawbacks of any given project.
What are project portfolio tools?
Project portfolio tools help managers interpret and analyze project performance and often include market demand analytics, resource allocation and management tools and product pipeline processes and workflows. Tools allow the leader to schedule projects based on quantitative and qualitative data.
What are some important tools or features that project portfolio management software should have?
The features and tools you want to have when choosing project portfolio management software include the ability to assign tasks to team members, create and adjust schedules for those tasks, which should be shareable with team members, and share files with team members. This software should be accessible online, preferably with a mobile app as an option and have the ability to grow as your company grows.
Next Up
- Best Project Management Software
- What Is Work Breakdown Structure?
- How To Create An Effective Project Timeline
- Kanban Vs. Scrum
- What Is A Project Manager?
Information provided on Forbes Advisor is for educational purposes only. Your financial situation is unique and the products and services we review may not be right for your circ*mstances. We do not offer financial advice, advisory or brokerage services, nor do we recommend or advise individuals or to buy or sell particular stocks or securities. Performance information may have changed since the time of publication. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
Forbes Advisor adheres to strict editorial integrity standards. To the best of our knowledge, all content is accurate as of the date posted, though offers contained herein may no longer be available. The opinions expressed are the author’s alone and have not been provided, approved, or otherwise endorsed by our partners.
