Project management software helps you to organize your business’ resources, assign and monitor tasks, centralize assets, and consolidate communications. We looked at the most popular free project management software options that covered the range of options for small businesses in terms of ease of use and available features.
Best Free Project Management Software Summary Table
| Software Name | What Makes It Unique? |
|---|---|
| Trello | Visual style is easy for non-project managers and small teams |
| Freedcamp | Most comprehensive end-to-end free project management software |
| Asana | Best alternative to Freedcamp |
| Insightly | Basic and easy to use CRM and project management in one tool |
| Bitrix24 | Comprehensive CRM and project management in one tool |
| Wrike | Quick and easy to setup and integrate with other third-party apps |
| Zoho Projects | Comprehensive features, but only free for one project |
| Squidhub | Unlimited storage, uploads, teams, and team member invites |
When considering which free project management software are the best for small businesses, we looked at the best solutions currently available that are:
- Primarily project management tools, not just software with a project management component
- Cloud-based SaaS solutions, not software you install locally
- Entirely free or offer a free option, not just a free trial
We also took into consideration the key features that you are most likely to use, including:
- Task creation, scheduling, and assignment
- Resource management
- Asset storage
- Communication consolidation and archiving
- Reporting
Finally, we considered ease of use and customer support.
We recommend Trello as the best overall free project management software for small businesses, but were nonetheless impressed by the range of other options. Read on to learn more about each of them.
Best Overall Free Project Management Software: Trello
Who is it best suited for?
Trello’s kanban-style interface is an excellent project management option for smaller teams, teams focused on continual product releases (such as software updates), and teams that prefer a visual display for their projects. It’s relative simplicity and ease of use make it ideal for non-project managers, but more experienced ones who operate within the Scrum framework will find it particularly useful as well.
Where Trello can fall short is that it’s not necessarily a complete end-to-end project management solution that fully replaces other apps and software. Your project’s cards can store attachments and you’re able to add notes to them, but there’s no central file repository or communications hub. Time tracking is rudimentary as well, relying on your team to manually enter how much they spent on each task.
However, if your team is mostly looking for task management, then Trello’s relatively simple approach can make it an attractive solution. The free package may be sufficient to meet your team’s needs, making it an economical solution as well.
What’s included in the free package?
Trello’s free package includes most of the software’s core features, but with some limitations on how often they can be used. Teams can use unlimited boards, lists, cards, members, checklists, and attachments but are limited to one power-up (third-party integration) per board and 10MB for attachments.
Paid packages allow for unlimited power-ups and attachments up to 250MB. Finally, paid packages receive priority email support with a response guaranteed within one business day.
What are its primary features?
Users represent tasks using cards that display in lists on a board, making it easy to see who is doing what at a glance. Cards can then be dragged and dropped between lists as their organization, assignment, or status changes.
The ability to fully customize your boards to match your workflow, including third-party integrations, makes Trello an excellent option for teams who may be less accustomed to traditional project management tools.
Most Comprehensive Free Project Management Software: Freedcamp
Who is it best suited for?
Freedcamp is the most comprehensive free project management software available. While it does offer some additional paid features, most businesses will be well-served without them. Freedcamp would be our recommended free project management software if Trello wasn’t so easy to use; but for businesses with a dedicated and experienced project manager, Freedcamp may be the better option.
Some of the features that make Freedcamp a more complete project management tool include:
- Choose between list or kanban-style boards to organize their projects and tasks
- Multiple calendar views to see ongoing work at a glance
- Individual resources can track the time they spend on each task with invoices generated based on hours spent
- Conversation can be centralized on discussion boards
- Consolidate files and documentation in a repository
What’s included in the free package?
Freedcamp offers the most features in its free package of the software we reviewed. And while Freedcamp offers a few additional paid features, most businesses can forego them for their basic project management needs.
In addition to unlimited users and unlimited projects, Freedcamp’s free package includes:
- Project milestones, tasks, and subtasks
- Attach files up to 10MB in size
- Google Calendar integration
- Discussion boards
- Time tracking
- Three-day response time to support inquiries
Paid packages include more features, such as increased file storage, more access to third-party app integrations, wikis, issue tracking, a CRM, and priority support.
What are its primary features?
As the most comprehensive free project management software that we reviewed, Freedcamp offers a wide range of features and benefits. Most notably, it’s a complete end-to-end solution, including:
- View your business’ projects at a glance on your dashboard
- Create, assign, and manage tasks in lists or in a kanban-style board
- Save and search an unlimited amount of files
- Integrate and sync all of your project’s events with Google Calendar
- Create discussion boards and forums to centralize internal project communication
- Track the time each resource spends on a task and project, then bill for that time with the included invoicing application
- Access projects on the go with a mobile app
Best Free Project Management Software Alternative to Freedcamp: Asana
Who is it best suited for?
For smaller teams of up to 15 users, Asana is an attractive end-to-end option if your business is able to forego some features, such as task dependencies, reporting, and a limited number of users to trim costs. It falls short of Freedcamp’s range of features in a head-to-head comparison, but is nevertheless an excellent solution for teams who need a more comprehensive solution than Trello can offer.
Asana was initially designed by Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz. It’s aesthetically pleasing with a nod to its social network roots, easy to use, and includes a comprehensive range of features.
What’s included in the free package?
Asana’s free package is missing some of the features of its paid ones, but still includes enough basics to cover most small business’ project management needs, including:
- Unlimited tasks, projects, and conversations
- Up to 15 team members
- Basic dashboards
- Basic search
Asana’s paid packages give you unlimited users, unlimited dashboards, advanced search and reporting tools, task dependencies, and greater administrative control.
What are its primary features?
Asana boasts all of the basic features that you would expect in project management software, such as the ability to create projects, sub-projects, and tasks within each project, assign due dates, attach documents and files to them, assign them to team members, and track their progress.
Where Asana shines, though, is with its Facebook wall-like dashboard that encourages communication and collaboration within your team. Asana can replace email and third-party communication apps like Slack for communication as your team can shares notes and attachments.
Notifications alert your team members to new project-related items or changes to existing ones, such as tasks or milestones. This helps to streamline workflows as your team is automatically alerted without having to manually check for updates.
Finally, Asana also boasts task relating, following and searching public tasks, prioritizing completion, and a change management processes. And each team member can manage their individual working space, prioritize and organize tasks the way that works best for them, upload files, delegate duties, and generate clean and detailed reports.
Best Free Project Management Software for Basic CRM: Insightly
Who is it best suited for?
Ostensibly CRM software, Insightly can also be adapted for use as a project management tool. Once your sales team closes a deal, you can manage and track the project’s progress through its execution phases. This makes it ideally suited for teams who want the added benefits of a basic project management tool, but without the need for a more comprehensive end-to-end solution.
What’s included in the free package?
Insightly’s free package is a scaled down version of its paid ones, and it relies on users being self-sufficient. Features include:
- 2,500 total records
- 10 mass emails per day
- 2 custom fields per record type
- Lead management
- Task management
- Reporting
- Third-party accounting app integrations, such as Quickbooks and Xero
Missing, however, are these features that are included in Insightly’s paid packages:
- Calendar integration and sync
- Scheduled reports
- Slack integration
- Workflow automation
Finally, and most importantly, Insightly’s free account only allows for up to two users.
What are its primary features?
Because Insightly combines multiple business tools into one, you can view more of your project’s lifecycle from your dashboard. As deals move along your pipeline and close, they become projects to manage; and when they do, Insightly includes the following features to help:
- Attach files and add notes to any project
- Custom fields mean you’re not restricted to Insightly’s templates
- Compose and send emails to your project’s contacts from within Insightly
- Create and track tasks that are associated with each project’s milestones
- Tasks can be one-off or recurring at regular intervals
Best Free Project Management Software for Comprehensive CRM: Bitrix24
Who is it best suited for?
Bitrix24 is ideally suited for businesses that want their CRM and project management tools in one software and need a more comprehensive solution than Insightly.
What’s included in the free package?
Bitrix24 offers a free plan that includes enough features to help your business onboard the software and incorporate it into your workflow, but to fully realize its potential you will have to upgrade to a paid package. Some of the features included in the free package include:
- Unlimited users
- 5GB of storage
- Unlimited projects, tasks, and subtasks
- 5 task dependencies
- Task templates
- Reporting
- Time tracking
- Gantt charts
Upgrading to a paid package gives you increased file storage, the ability to create custom fields, and time management features in addition to enhanced CRM functionality.
What are its primary features?
Bitrix24 is a complete end-to-end CRM and project management tool that offers a more comprehensive list of features than Insightly — albeit at the expense of some ease of use. In fact, Bitrix24 offers so many features that using the software can feel overwhelming at times. That said, its primary features are impressive. Some of the ones that are specific to project management include:
- Social network provides tools for task management, document sharing, and time tracking that are integrated into a social interface to maximize efficiency of communications
- Activity streams, similar to your Facebook feed, keep you updated on the most recent project activity
- Employee workload management lets you see every team member’s task assignments and their total effort, helping you to load balance
- Instant message, group chats, screen sharing, and even voice and video calls (at an additional cost) encourage real-time collaboration
Best Free Project Management Software for Easy Setup: Wrike
Who is it best suited for?
Wrike can be used as a project management tool or as a more general work management and collaboration solution for your small business. It’s extremely quick and easy to set up, which will help minimize any learning curve and increase adoption. Its free package includes basic project management tools, but is better suited for smaller teams or as a trial for larger ones.
What’s included in the free package?
Wrike’s free package includes basic project management features that can help your business manage work more efficiently. Wrike is free for up to five users and includes:
- Task management
- 2GB of file storage
- Basic third-party app integrations (Google Drive, Dropbox, Box, Office 365, OneDrive, and iCal)
- Spreadsheet view of projects
- Real-time activity stream
Upgrading to one of Wrike’s paid packages will give you access to more third-party app integrations, increased file storage, custom fields and workflows, enhanced task and resource management, and time tracking features among others.
What are its primary features?
Wrike’s drag-and-drop interface is extremely intuitive and easy to use, allowing you to quickly create projects, break them down into their component tasks, and see changes as they happen in real-time. As well, Wrike’s activity stream gives you immediate visibility into all project activity as it happens, reducing the need for time-consuming status updates and meetings.
Best Free Project Management Software for One-Off Projects: Zoho Projects
Who is it best suited for?
Zoho Projects’ free plan offers many of the same features as its paid plans, but limits you to a single project. This makes Zoho Projects a solid choice for one-off projects, but not as your business’ primary tool if you manage multiple projects either concurrently or consecutively.
What’s included in the free package?
Zoho Project’s free plan includes a comprehensive list of features — not as many as its paid plans, but plenty for most small business’ needs. In addition to unlimited users, some of these features include:
- 1 project per year
- 10MB of storage
- Gantt charts
- Task management
- Activity feeds
- Import from Microsoft Project
- Google apps integrations
- Issue tracking
Zoho Project’s paid plans will allow you to manage more projects per month and year, dramatically increase your file storage, and give you access to a range of project tracking features like time tracking, invoicing, timesheets, and third-party app integrations.
What are its primary features?
Zoho Projects gives your business the tools it needs to manage most projects, however, you are limited to one project per year with their free package.
Basic project management features, such as task management, Gantt charts, document sharing, and calendar integrations make it easy to assign and track work. As well, more advanced features, such as discussion forums, encourage communication and collaboration.
Finally, issue tracking is unique for a free project management software option and allows you to log and track bugs and defects — even track code changes made in GitHub and Bitbucket.
The Bottom Line
There are many free project management software options available to small businesses, ranging from ones with more features but a limited number of users to others with fewer features but an unlimited number of users. The option that’s best for you will largely depend on the size of your business and if you have a project manager on your team who can make use of more specialized features.
If your business is small, doesn’t have a dedicated project manager, or is focused on the continual delivery of a product (such as software releases) then we recommend Trello as the best free project management software.
However, if you have a dedicated project manager who can maximize the benefits of a more comprehensive end-to-end solution, then we recommend Freedcamp as the best free project management software.
AlexHood
Hi David,
From my personal experience, I would like to recommend Proof Hub. This project management software gives you the possibility to work the way you prefer. This is a very simple and convenient web application. ProofHub has features like online proofing tool, group chats, kanban boards, time tracking and Gantt charts to manage tasks and time more efficiently.
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David
Thanks Laura!
I must add that Trello, although being a great productivity tool is missing key features as Project Management Solution like Resource Manager
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Hi David,
Thanks for sharing that. Most tools have pros and cons, right? For the team member, Trello is just so much more fun than say, MS Project. But as a PM, you’re right, you need to manage resources too! Appreciate your insights. Keep reading and commenting. That’s what keeps our site fun.
Laura, HR
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David Van Bike
After testing most of the detailed tools in this article I ended up with Proggio https://goo.gl/YXrwb3
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Hi David,
Proggio looks worth checking out next time we update this article to see how it compares. Myself, I’m kind of enjoying working with Trello because moving what looks like 3×5 cards around on the desktop helps me keep simple projects prioritized. Thanks for sharing the link.
Laura, HR
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Proggio
Proggio recently added a kanban board! 🙂
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SerhiiG
I use the iSmart.Life application to plan my tasks and projects and monitor their implementation. This is a very simple and convenient application. The application has many useful features: notes, projects, budgets, reports, etc.
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Thanks for the tip!
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Matilda
Thanks for a comprehensive comparison. I’ve heard about Trello and Asana before and used both. Bitrix24 is totally new to me and I am really impressed by Gantt, time tracking and ability to manage clients, create quotes and invoices. I am glad that you helped my find a free project management tool that offers all those ‘premium’ features without charging anything for it.
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