6 Best Team Management Apps of 2023
This article is part of a larger series on Project Management.
The best team management apps enable organizations to assign tasks, track project progress, and manage resources from a unified platform. They combine task, project, and resource tools to help teams stay efficient and organized. Must-have features are customizable templates, time tracking, task checklists, and built-in reporting. Many solutions come with a free plan to get you started, while premium plans start at $6 per user monthly.
Best Team Management Apps at a Glance
Team Management Apps | Key Features | Learn More | |
|---|---|---|---|
 4.64 out of 5 | monday.com: Best for Large-scale Projects | ||
$10 |
| ||
 4.61 out of 5 | ClickUp: Best for High-level Tasking | ||
$10 |
| ||
 4.49 out of 5 | Teamwork.com: Best for Client-facing Teams | ||
$8.99 |
| ||
 4.25 out of 5 | Wrike: Best for Remote Teams | ||
$9.80 |
| ||
 4.18 out of 5 | Trello: Best for Small-scale Projects | ||
$6 |
| ||
 4.04 out of 5 | Bitrix24: Best for All-in-One Business Management Suite | ||
$61 for 5 users |
| ||
monday.com: Best Overall for Large-scale Projects
Overall Score:
4.64 / 5
What We Liked
- Up to 11 board views
- 200+ third-party integrations
- Customizable dashboards and boards
Where It Falls Behind
- All plans have pre-defined user numbers, making them too expensive for some businesses
- Limited project views for non-Pro accounts
- Time tracking is locked at the third-tier plan
monday.com Monthly Pricing (per User) Pricing is based on three seats. Save 18% for yearly billing.
- Free: Free for two seats, three boards, whiteboard, 500MB storage, shareable forms, 200+ templates, Kanban view, and custom notifications
- Basic: $10 for unlimited free viewers, 5GB storage, unlimited boards/docs, custom fields, and 24/7 support
- Standard: $12 for 20GB storage, timeline and Gantt views, guest access, and 250 actions for automation/integrations
- Pro: $24 for 100GB storage, time tracking, workload, dependency column, and 25,000 actions for automation and integrations
- Enterprise: Contact sales for 1,000GB storage, advanced reporting/analytics, and 250,000 actions for automation and integrations
- Free trial: 14 days
monday.com, one of our top project management software solutions, is best for cross-departmental teams managing large-scale projects or complex workflows. It uses a project decomposition strategy that breaks down projects into smaller, more manageable parts, allowing you to schedule and organize tasks easily with your team.
The work breakdown structure (WBS) template lets you better visualize and control any size project from scoping, planning, and execution to closeout. Customize the template by adding action items and reordering tasks based on priority.
One major disadvantage of monday.com is that most of its core features are on higher-priced tiers. For instance, time tracking and workload view require a Pro plan upgrade. If you’re looking for a cheaper and less complex alternative to monday.com, try Trello. Core features include templates, automation, and project views—ideal for basic team management without the cost of additional tools. Learn more about their differences in our Trello vs monday.com guide.
monday.com Features
Boards are customizable workspaces for managing tasks, clients, and processes. (Source: monday.com)
- Boards: An interactive whiteboard that lets you track and manage all your workflow elements. Boards are made up of groups, columns, tasks, and subtasks. Pre-built board templates are available to get you started in minutes.
- Timeline column: A visual representation of a project’s timeframe. Set the time range or milestone for each task on your board. See how projects align and who’s busy. Dates can be moved and updated.
- Workload view: Visualize the actual workload of your team by days, weeks, or months. This helps allocate work accordingly and to understand each individual’s capacity.
ClickUp: Best for High-level Tasking
Overall Score:
4.61 / 5
What We Liked
- Feature-rich free plan
- Unlimited storage in paid plans
- Built-in chat
Where It Falls Behind
- Complex setup
- Customization options can be overwhelming
- Mobile app lacks some features available on the desktop version
ClickUp Monthly Pricing (per User) Pay yearly and save up to 37%
- Free Forever: Free for 100MB storage, templates, table, customs status, collaborative docs, Kanban boards, calendar view, sprints, task checklist, 100 automations, dependencies, video recording, and time tracking
- Unlimited: $10 for unlimited dashboards, unlimited file storage, custom fields, form view, Gantt chart, 1,000 automations, portfolios, recurring tasks, delegate reminders, and milestones
- Business: $19 for unlimited teams, custom reporting, 10,000 automations, goals folder, workload management, mind map, timelines, and public sharing
- Enterprise: Contact sales for white labeling, 250,000 automations, team sharing, unlimited custom roles, and document tags
ClickUp delivers what teams need for assigning, organizing, and tracking multiple tasks and subtasks within a project. There are over 35 ClickApps to customize your task management, from automation to custom fields, and time tracking. Fast-track projects by assigning multiple people for any task, turning comments into action items, and breaking down projects into subtasks. Multiple views are available to visualize task progress and timelines better.
The biggest drawback of ClickUp is the limited functionality of its mobile app. Remote teams looking for a full-featured mobile app for team management should consider other options like monday.com. Based on user reviews, monday.com has a fully customizable and user-friendly mobile app, allowing teams to stay updated with their projects from anywhere.
ClickUp Features
ClickUp templates cater to a variety of industries, such as finance, IT, marketing, and engineering. (Source: ClickUp)
- Pulse: Provides a quick overview of your team’s activity report for each hour. See how many users are online and what they’re working on.
- Template Center: Supplies a library of up to 1,000 pre-made project templates for any kind of team. Templates are available in different use cases and skill levels (beginner to advanced).
- Mind maps: Draw connections between tasks and map out workflows using drag-and-drop nodes. Quickly add, edit, or delete tasks and subtasks without switching views.
Teamwork.com: Best for Client-facing Teams
Overall Score:
4.49 / 5
What We Liked
- User-friendly design
- Dedicated tools for managing client work
- Advanced project budgeting features
Where It Falls Behind
- Team chat requires a separate installation for desktop and mobile
- Limited customer relationship management (CRM) integrations
- Gantt chart view could be better
Teamwork.com Monthly Pricing (per User) Save up to 33% with yearly plans
- Free Forever: Free for five users, 100MB storage, Gantt chart, chat, sub-tasks, dependencies, templates, 100 automation, time tracking, time sheets, and milestones
- Starter: $8.99 for 100 projects, 50GB storage, collaborative documents, Gantt filtering, portfolio view, and 1,000 automations
- Deliver: $13.99 for 300 projects, 100GB storage, intake forms, team management, status reports, and 5,000 automations
- Grow: $25.99 for 250GB file storage, unlimited custom fields, time sheets, time reminders, budget expenses, workload capacity, time report, and resource scheduling
- Scale: Contact sales for up to 500GB storage, retainer management, and unlimited project templates, shared dashboards, profitability reports, and unlimited custom reports
- Free trial: 30 days
Teamwork.com is designed both for managing internal project teams and client interactions. It is a client project management app that enables teams to centralize client work and customize client access to projects. Tag clients when their feedback is needed and monitor billable and non-billable minutes used on projects for easier invoicing. You can also store contacts, interactions, and billing information within an accessible hub for client data.
While Teamwork.com comes with an integrated CRM system, the number of supported third-party apps is very limited. There are no options for popular CRM platforms like Salesforce, Pipedrive, and Insightly. If you want a fully integrated team management solution for your app stack, check out Wrike, which offers up to 400 pre-made integrations, plus custom apps for advanced users.
Teamwork.com Features
Determine the billable and non-billable hours of your team members with Teamwork.com’s time report feature. (Source: Teamwork.com)
- Portfolio board: A Kanban-style board that provides a high-level overview of your projects so you can instantly assess their progress. See project trends, individual performance of team members, and the number of completed and overdue tasks.
- Time tracking: A fully integrated time tracking system for monitoring the time spent on a project. Mark time as billable, create time sheets, and send automated alerts for time logging.
- Workload planner: View and manage the capacity of your team members and get real-time insights on who is available to handle more work. The drag-and-drop function lets you easily add, edit, and reassign work to meet priorities and deadlines.
Wrike: Best for Remote Teams
Overall Score:
4.25 / 5
What We Liked
- Department-specific features
- Risk management tools to minimize revenue loss
- Has more AI features than other competitors
Where It Falls Behind
- Lacks built-in chat functionality
- Limits number of users on paid plans
- Time tracking is available on the Business plan or higher
Wrike Monthly Pricing (per User) Displayed fees are billed on an annual basis.
- Free: Free for 2GB per account, task management, custom work views, work intelligence, project templates, and enterprise-grade security
- Team: $9.80 per user for up to 25 users, custom fields/workflows, calendars, dashboards, Gantt chart, work schedules, analytics view, request forms, and automation (50 actions)
- Business: $24.80 per user for up to 200 users, 5GB storage, portfolio, live reports, custom templates, approval, time tracking, and folder hierarchy
- Enterprise: Contact sales for up to unlimited users, 10GB storage, automation (1,000 actions), and advanced security controls
- Pinnacle: Contact sales for 15GB storage, advanced analytics, automation (1,500 actions), capacity planning, and locked spaces
- Free trial: 14 days
A collaborative team management app like Wrike gives remote teams full visibility into tasks, assignments, and project deadlines. It includes a robust set of remote working tools that enable users to auto-assign tasks to the right people, create shared calendars, and get a quick overview of individual efforts. Ready-built templates designed for remote work are available for building flexible project timelines and visualizing project progress across teams.
While Wrike delivers a promising work management app for team collaboration, note that it has a steep price point, which makes it less suitable for budget-conscious companies. You need to pay a monthly fee of $24.80 for time tracking, 5GB of storage space, and real-time reports. If you’re looking for a feature-rich solution without the premium price, check out ClickUp. It has a generous free plan that includes Kanban boards, sprint management, and collaborative docs.
Wrike Features
Cross-tagging in Wrike can boost your team’s project visibility. (Source: Wrike)
- Cross-tagging: Tag a task in various work streams so other teams can track the same task in the context of their department’s project. This helps in categorizing the company’s entire workload across projects, phases, folders, and milestones.
- Approvals: Streamline your team’s review process with Wrike’s approval management software. Monitor tasks for approval, see who’s responsible, and determine if a pending approval could cause delays.
- Custom item types: A customizable library that acts as a framework for specific business processes. Define which sections to display on the work item view and add custom fields, automation, icons, and subitems.
Trello: Best for Small-scale Projects
Overall Score:
4.18 / 5
What We Liked
- Free plan has built-in automation
- Easy to set up and use
- Highly functional mobile app
Where It Falls Behind
- Relies too much on third-party integration for additional functionality
- Lacks built-in Gantt chart
- Not ideal for external collaboration
Trello Monthly Pricing (per User) Discounted annual plans are available.
- Free: Free for up to 10 boards, built-in automation, templates, unlimited storage (10MB/file), 250 workspace command runs, unlimited activity log, and app integrations
- Standard: $6 for unlimited boards, checklists, unlimited storage (250MB/file) custom fields, and 1,000 Workspace command runs
- Premium: $12.50 for dashboard views, workspace views, templates, data export, and admin and security features
- Enterprise*: $17.50 for unlimited workspaces and organization-visible boards
- Free Trial: 14 days (Premium only)
Trello has a more straightforward approach to team management by emphasizing ease of use and standard functionalities. This is ideal for managing small teams and simple project activities like task tracking, project viewing, and brainstorming. It has five core features: templates, automation, project views, integrations, and Power-Ups, where users can add plug-ins to extend the functionality of their Trello account.
Given Trello’s simplicity, you might want to look into alternative tools, especially if your team is involved in more complex and large-scale projects. Try monday.com, a full-fledged team management app packed with several features for project scheduling, time tracking, reporting, and real-time collaboration.
Trello Features
Trello lets you sync up work with popular third-party calendar apps. (Source: Trello)
- Calendar view: Provides a visual overview of your project deadlines and due dates from third-party calendar apps like Google, Outlook, and Apple. It also displays members, labels, and checklists.
- Power-ups: A collection of add-on tools that extend the functionality of your Trello board. The Power-Up directory includes up to 200 integrations for analytics, automation, marketing, and file management.
- Advanced checklist: Organizes all your tasks in an easy-to-access list and lets you assign a person or due date to checklist items. A checklist can be added to any card so everyone in the team knows the granular details of a specific task.
Bitrix24: Best for All-in-one Business Management Suite
Overall Score:
4.04 / 5
What We Liked
- Comprehensive business management platform
- Built-in office suite for documents, spreadsheets, and slideshows
- Supports video conferencing
Where It Falls Behind
- Limited project views
- Plans are priced for the entire team, so monthly fees are more expensive
- Usability could be much better
Bitrix24 Monthly Pricing*
- Free: Free for unlimited users, team messaging, 48 video meeting attendees, 5GB cloud storage, and limited access to CRM, website builder, and e-commerce
- Basic: $61 for five users, a maximum of 24GB online storage, task management, and omnichannel contact center
- Standard: $124 for 50 users, advanced collaboration, 100GB cloud storage, collaborative document editing, advanced HR tools, and unlimited leads in the CRM tool
- Professional: $249 for 100 users, 1,024GB cloud storage, social media channels, unlimited company knowledge base, and workflow and automation tools
- Enterprise: $499 for 250 users, 3TB cloud storage and advanced access to CRM, HR automation, marketing, project management, and sales intelligence features
*Subscribe to its annual billing for up to 30% discount.
Bitrix24 combines all essential business tools in one platform to bring together people, tools, and information. While it’s a CRM system, Bitrix24 includes a multitude of services for file management, sales, marketing, ecommerce, and website building. With over 35 tools onboard, Bitrix team management has everything you need to track work time, break down tasks, set task dependencies, and visualize projects.
While Bitrix24 is a good choice for those wanting to centralize business communications, its massive array of features can be overwhelming. The complexity of its software makes it difficult to set up and use. If you’re looking for a Bitrix24 alternative that is just as feature-rich but has better usability, check out monday.com. This provider strikes a balance between ease of use and functionality, making it ideal for any type of workflow.
Bitrix24 Features
Monitor your team’s level of efficiency with Bitrix24’s supervisor view. (Source: Bitrix24)
- Task automation: Automatically triggers a set of actions when a task moves to a specific stage. Assign robots to send emails, create new tasks, and change task status.
- Autofocus mode: When dealing with multiple tasks, turning on this feature allows the system to automatically filter the task for you. Tasks with updates and comments are moved to the top of the list.
- Supervisor view: Provides a summary of the tasks your team members work with. Under each employee’s name, you can find their department, efficiency rate, and the number of tasks they’re responsible for.
How We Evaluated the Best Team Management Apps
We hand-picked a variety of team management apps based on popularity, industry sentiments, and functionality ratings among users. From there, we designed a six-category rubric to accurately evaluate and compare all the providers we will cover. After computing the final scores, we selected six providers based on which ranked the highest. Learn how we evaluated our top options by clicking on the tabs below:
20%
Pricing
25%
General Features
20%
Advanced Features
10%
Ease of Use
10%
Customer Support
15%
Expert Score
20% of Overall Score
We examined the subscription plans of all our top picks and gave points to those charging less than $15 for the base plan. We explored their feature inclusions (entry-level to enterprise tiers) and saw which ones have more value for money. We gave more weight to those offering a free team management app, volume discounts, cheaper annual fees, and a lengthy free trial for the paid plans.
25% of Overall Score
We looked for capabilities typically found in a team management app, including file storage, task reminders, time tracking, and a mobile app. We also checked if all plans support two-factor authentication to ensure account security.
20% of Overall Score
Many providers offer industry-specific capabilities to support unique team management needs. To find the best team apps, we looked for specialized features like data export, milestone tracking, and retainer management. We also reviewed the number of third-party integrations available and automation tools.
10% of Overall Score
We assessed the usability of each group organization app by testing it ourselves and analyzing customer reviews from reliable websites. We reviewed the feedback of recent users and checked for learning curves during the setup and configuration phase.
10% of Overall Score
For each team management software, we checked the type of customer service channels offered, like phone, live chat, email, and helpdesk. We gave higher points for 24/7 coverage.
15% of Overall Score
We assessed the performance of each team management system by looking at its standout features and user-friendliness. We also considered their level of popularity and value for money.
*Percentages of overall score
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
A team management tool is a set of features dedicated to work scheduling, task assignment, team communication, and data storage. It includes features that enable managers and team members to track project progress and allocate workload accordingly.
No. Many team management apps provide free entry-level plans that include basic features of their services. Upgrading to a premium plan won’t cost that much because pricing typically starts at $6 per user on a monthly basis. Depending on the provider, discounts apply if you subscribe annually or register multiple users.
We recommend Trello because the free plan is more than enough to support a small team with basic project requirements. You get up to ten boards, unlimited cards, built-in automation, and templates. If you ever need to upgrade, premium plans start as low as $6 monthly. Trello is a no-brainer solution that is light on features, making it a good place to start for a team management app.
Bottom Line
A team management app is a powerful tool for managing projects and enhancing team morale. With so many options in the market, it’s important to find which one aligns with your team’s project strategy and objectives. After evaluating our top six options, we pick monday.com to be the best overall due to its high level of workspace customization, rich app integrations, and intuitive interface. Sign up for its free plan to find out how it can transform your team’s workflow.
