If you’re familiar with the “Project management triangle” model then you know that it illustrates the relationship between– scope, time, & cost. In result that defines the quality of a work. A project management tool works as a catalyst in this process. You’re probably optimizing one or more of these 3 things. Plus ofcourse, researching best ClickUp alternatives. Let’s get started straight away.
TL;DR - Top 12 ClickUp Alternatives & Competitors
If you’re someone who just wants the meat of the matter or gonna skim through the article for it, here’s the complete list of the alternatives that are going to be discussed:
- Cone
- ProofHub
- Teamwork
- Hive
- Asana
- Wrike
- Infinity
- Toggl Plan
- Trello
- MeisterTask
- Basecamp
- Airtable
Cone should be your choice if you want a comprehensive work management solution that combines project management, time tracking, billing, and client communication functionalities into a single unified platform.
All project management tools contain a common set of obvious features & tools. We’ve tried to collate, & put forth the most adored of their respective features that users report both on online forums & reviews/feedback.
Why Consider Alternatives to ClickUp?
To kickstart one’s journey with a project management tool, ClickUp or others can come handy easily. However, over time business owners realize the need for a tailored & kinda curated platform for their specific business domain needs.
ClickUp offers a wide variety of features & options, nonetheless it’s weak or lacks the niche set of tools that a professional business firm may require. Forcing users to juggle between multiple softwares.
Hence, it's logical to look to cut down on the number of software your firm is dealing with while still getting the same amount of work done; if not more & better. By integrating workflow & maximizing the number of tasks in a single platform.
Limitations of ClickUp
ClickUp encompasses a great deal of options, however it fails to go narrow into a particular problem-statement that a firm might be facing. Integration through third-party websites like Zapier can be tricky & hamper large scale of data while cross-communicating.
It’s not built with a focus on business with client service in mind. It’s increasingly becoming common for the Client to take part in various decision-making processes other than only approving & providing feedback for the project. Especially for firms providing professional services, maintaining such a level of to & fro communication & transparency is an imperative step in building trust & more.
Since it offers a host of services, businesses can feel like paying money for features & tools that they’re hardly or not at all using. Hence want to switch to a better bang for their buck platform.
Finally, niche level features for example billing, proposal software, & others that can take this whole process to the next level that cannot be tackled with ClickUp efficiently. Then to complete such practices firms need to rely on different softwares that puts additional costs while also overlooking minute but important issues &/or errors.
Features That Set Competitors Apart
First & foremost, ClickUp lacks specialized client portal features for organizations to give clients access to project details, updates, and collaboration tools in a secure, branded space.
ClickUp provides simple budgeting and cost tracking tools, but it misses out on the advanced budgeting features found in other project management software. This could pose a challenge for teams requiring comprehensive tracking of project expenses and costs.
Clickup provides a dozen of features, yet its compatibility with vital tools used in professional services firms, like billing or proposal software, may not be seamless. Consequently, users are forced to either manually transfer data or find another tool(s) to get the job done.
Top 12 ClickUp Alternatives & Competitors
1. Cone
Cone, YC backed, offers a work management tool that comprises all the shortcomings mentioned in the above paragraphs. From a dedicated Client portal to combining use cases of multiple software like Harvest, PandaDoc along with the project management tool its pricing becomes more aggressive & brings together the work in one place. Especially for professional service firms, Cone is your best suited alternative that fits the bill. And at a fraction of cost!
Bring all your business’s systems & processes side by side instead of separately dealing with them across multiple tools and platforms ranging between project management, finances, and your resources planning needs. So all your operations can take place smoothly, giving you a good peace of mind.
Pros
- Specialized client portal solving for document management, expectation setting, and client visibility concerns. Made keeping in focus the requirements of professional service provider firms
- Significant savings by replacing multiple tools costs like Harvest, PandaDoc– billing, & proposal software
- Cone simplifies workflows by integrating various operational tools into one platform, eliminating the need to switch between interfaces, synchronize data, or deal with login issues. This saves time and energy, streamlining processes for increased efficiency.
Pricing
- Starter plan - $5 per user/month
- Essentials plan - $10 per user/month
- Business plan - $15 per user/month
2. ProofHub
ProofHub is another good alternative for firms requiring a constant cross-communication between different levels of team members, managers, & decision-makers for a project. Consisting of all the essential features, its built-in proofing tool stands-out & is much talked about.
Pros
- Get project status report to track the progress of the project
- Flat pricing, offering no limit on the number of users
- Request form to replace taking permission for access & more
Cons
- The design and interface fall short of adding that little extra productivity, as much as a more appealing design and interface would.
- Offers a limited number of integrations & automations
- Doesn’t contain any USP tool & feature for niche businesses
Pricing
- Essential pack: $45 or $50 per month if billed annually or monthly respectively
- Ultimate pack: $89 or $99 per month if billed annually or monthly respectively
3. Teamwork
Teamwork is made by keeping client businesses firm in the mind. From enabling resource allocation to defining workload & capacity management, Teamwork brings many unique features in comparison to a standard project management tool.
Pros
- Time-tracking tools to measure billable hours & more accurately
- Robust & powerful reports & analysis regarding projects
- Collaborate with your client in a more engaging & inclusive fashion
Cons
- Can be overwhelming for new users. Plus, it has a steep learning curve for using advanced features
- Most of the useful features & tool are in the high-end subscription pack
- Offers quite limited number of offline functioning of the platform
Pricing
- Has a Free pack with limited offering
- Deliver: $9.99 or $13.99 per user/month if billed annually or monthly respectively (minimum 3 users)
- Grow: $19.99 or 25.99 per user/month if billed annually or monthly respectively (minimum 5 users)
4. Hive
Hive is considered as a tool for managing large scale employees & mainly maintaining a community driven mindset. Flexible with handling many projects & teams, it helps the company to centralize and keep everyone in the team on the same page.
From time-tracking to integrations, Hive manages to fulfill all major needs for a company where visibility of work is necessary, & moving with all the employees is important.
Pros
- Comprehensive tool that can act as simple task management, & communication tool for everything that’s going on in different functions at the same time
- High-end customizations & integrations to eliminate discrepancies among different verticals in the firm
- Robust tool for end-to-end collaboration, tracking productivity, & providing daily analytics and reports
Cons
- For comprehending its all use-cases it can be steep learning curve for users
- Flexibility in terms of setting dependencies & the like is challenging, making it unsuitable for many agencies & heavy client-focused business
- It’s mobile version is still need optimizations to match the level of functioning that its web users enjoy
Pricing
- Includes a Basic free plan
- Starter: 5$ per user/month if billed annually or monthly respectively
- Teams: 12$ per user/month if billed annually or monthly respectively
- Enterprise: Contact sales
5. Asana
Asana is a cloud-based tool that lets one manage, collaborate, communicate, organize tasks & projects. Best suited for business handling multiple projects while having multiple domains of teams together. And yes, you can do recurring tasks on a weekly & monthly basis as well. Like most tools you can break down your projects into tasks & sub-tasks to reach till the final touchpoints of the project.
Pros
- Ideal tool for solopreneurs & small teams because of good collaboration, assigning tasks, & setting deadlines features
- Relatively smaller learning curve
- Easy to set reminder tools & add recurring tasks option
- Offers custom roles & workflows approval
- Visually appealing design & UI
- Project conversation & forms to collect all details of the project
Cons
- It needs a better managing comments section, it gets messy easily. Email of users can clutter very fast. It’s recommended to turn off most notifications
- Real-time chat function needs optimization
- Not robust, don’t expect it to be a heavy-lifter tool
- Generally considered as overpriced in compare to others
Pricing
- Starter: $10.99 or $13.49 per user/month if billed annually or monthly respectively
- Advance: $24.99 or $30.99 per user/month if billed annually or monthly respectively
6. Wrike
Wrike is preferred by users who like spreadsheets style & already have developed that muscle memory. Working in a column format, users can adjust to all their activity without having to learn a new way of moving around tasks. They can stick to the basics & yet get the work done efficiently.
There are a lot of default settings that set the workflow in motion for users to get going with their work while adapting to the tool at their own pace. From the view of status of work to creating reports of work done during a time period.
Pros
- Team members having a bias towards working with spreadsheets to find their workaround it
- Wrike provides mobile apps for iOS and Android devices, enabling users to handle tasks, collaborate with team members, and monitor project advancement while on the move. These apps grant complete access to Wrike's features, enhancing productivity and flexibility for remote and mobile teams.
- No scalability problems & can be adopted by any size of firm
Cons
- Automations and integrations options can seem limited to most client-first businesses
- Reporting & analysis are not in-depth
- Time-tracking & more advanced features are at a higher premium price.
Pricing
- Has a Free pack with limited options
- Team pack: $9.80 per user/month
- Business pack: $24.80 per user/month
7. Infinity
Infinity tries to fill the gap between work management & task management tools. It advertises as 1 tool for all one’s work needs– from organizing tasks to collaboration with members, it acts as an all-in-one productivity tool.
Complete customization to templates for every need, Infinity can be suitable for all business sizes.
Pros
- Folders & subfolders to organize large number of document & files
- Increase customization by adding multiple attributes, creating formulas, & more
- Automation of workflows with beginner-friendly interface
Cons
- Lacks breadth for a project management tool in terms of features
- Not ideal for simple & small projects
- Flat fee for the premium subscription pack– to access niche features
Pricing
- Infinity Pro: $9 or $12 per user/month if billed annually or monthly respectively
- Infinity unlimited white label: $149 or $199 per month if billed annually or monthly respectively (with no cap on the number of users)
8. Toggl Plan
Toggl is a visual-first tool. Team schedule timelines to capacity planning to automations, all the features are crafted while paying attention to the visual factor.
Overall especially effective for agencies in the creative space & the like.
Pros
- Multi-assign tasks to tag more number of users
- Customizable workspace to channel your creative energy
- Visual planning for tasks & projects roadmap
Cons
- With absence of markup tools & more, they make it incomplete solution for managing wide-range of projects
- Scalability issues with larger teams or complex projects, potentially compromising performance and usability as task and team numbers increase.
- Reporting set of tools are limited
Pricing
- Team: $8 or $9 per user/month if billed annually or monthly respectively
- Business: $13.35 or $15 per user/month if billed annually or monthly respectively
9. Trello
Trello is like a traditional management tool in the industry. It’s infamous for its kanban view, simple layout, & more to get the job done without any noise of 100s of features & customizations.
If you’ve simple set of tasks to go through & know your needs are few & repetitive and don’t want distractions from plenty of options & features that most tools offer then Trello is your go to place.
Pros
- Great whiteboard for brainstorming & soundboarding of ideas. To label & tag tasks & projects. Decent color-coding & more.
- Perfect for personal or running side-projects for individuals
- Can be adopted easily by non-techie team members or client
Cons
- Limited options & customizations for managing full-fledged projects
- Not a great option for medium & large team size
- Lacks advanced features & integration for business specific tools
Pricing
- Free plan
- Standard: $5 or $6 per user/month if billed annually or monthly respectively
- Premium: $10 or $12 per user/month if billed annually or monthly respectively
- Enterprise: $17.50 per user/month billed annually (for 50 users, lowering price as users grow)
10. MeisterTask
As the name suggests, MeisterTask is mainly an easy & comprehensive task managing tool. For simple, collaborative projects teams can have a distraction-free environment to focus on their work & not how to use gazillion features that most project management tools offer.
Being an agile tool for product management it consists of most common features while eliminating the overwhelming state for team members.
Pros
- Simple UI & intuitive platform design for any & every type of user to adopt
- Collaborative tools, automations, & handful of important integrations
- Ample of features for less tech-savvy users. Has a mobile application
Cons
- Reporting & similar tools need optimization for advanced project management
- Limited customization & lacks complex tools
- Many basic & useful features are behind pay-wall and seem expensive
Pricing
- Offers a Basic free plan
- Pro: $7 or $9 per user/month if billed annually or monthly respectively
- Business: $12.50 or $16 per user/month if billed annually or monthly respectively
11. Basecamp
Basecamp is an easy to get started with project management tool. Without having to create things from scratch, teams can save time & directly get to making their checklists, SOPs, & more. Its search function is quick to act & the comments section to give feedback is managed well too.
For agencies, & firms that require contractors this can be a good inter-linked tool. From syncing schedules to providing templates the onboarding for all stakeholders is taken care of. Hence, if you're in a business where you need to take timely follow-ups & interact with freelancers & so, this can be a great option.
Pros
- Quick to set up & run. Easy to onboard team members & contractors or clients
- Organize all your checklists, SOPs, systems, & processes in a neat & simple overview and timeline of activities.
- Perfect for small & medium size teams
Cons
- No dynamic & fancy features of the new age
- Ceiling to customization & the look-and-feel of the platform
- UI & UX is okay & plain
Pricing
- Basecamp for freelancers & startups: $15 per user/month
- Basecamp pro unlimited: $299 per user/month
12. Taiga
Taiga stands-out as a free & open-source project management tool. WIthout much compromise a PM can find most features in the platform that they use on a daily basis.
It can be used in the entire project lifecycle. With various Scrum methodologies it can cover a whole lot of business & industries use cases.
Pros
- Easy to pick interface & to start to build upon it
- Community support & interactions
- Product & Sprint backlog features
Cons
- Lack of advanced features & tools to get specific job done
- Installation & setup can be a challenge for non-tech employees & more
- Documentation features can be limited for a slightly big organizations
Pricing
- Being an open-source tool it’s basic plan is free with plenty of features
- Taiga Cloud with Premium support: $70 per month with unlimited number of users (You can also go for a self-hosted plan)
Clickup Plan Comparison With the Alternatives
Clickup offers a competitive price chart ranging from $7 to $19. However, a couple of new-age tools in this list have aggressive & value for money plans from starting just $5, Cone being the case in point.
Every business may not use the gazillion list of features that Clickup offers & hence an alternative can replace it easily giving effective savings & niche related tools, making the deal even sweeter.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):
Can These ClickUp Alternatives Integrate With Other Tools And Platforms?
Yes, all the project management tools mentioned in the list integrate with recognised tools & platforms. Identify the set of tools & platforms you want to ideally integrate in your management tool & choose the best suited alternative for yourself from the list.
Are There Any Downsides To Switching From ClickUp To Another Platform?
Broadly no, as most of the tools mentioned in this list cover common features & tools that are bread & butter for most teams. Depending on the nature of your business you can in fact enhance it by using a niche product that doesn't only meet your project management tool but also tools that are specific & common in your business domain.
How Can Teams Decide Which ClickUp Alternative Is Best For Them?
The central goal is to reduce the number of software a team has to deal with on an everyday basis. Next is to identify the frequently used features & tools that are required in the business and/or are cumbersome for the team to handle.
To combine these needs & wants a team can settle on to the best alternative without compromising on their basic requirements & fill existing gaps.
What Are The Key Factors To Consider When Evaluating Project Management Software?
A project management tool satisfies 4 basic needs- task management, collaboration, file management, and reports & analysis. However, every business has few non-negotiable needs to meet.
Identify your needs & wants, and if required then prepare the existing set of tools that your company makes use of, & match your list of work to see which software can meet & exceed your firm workload.
And ideally one should not fall for only tons of features but inquire if it consists of most of their required tools & features.
Making the Switch from ClickUp - Things to Consider
Pick the free trial or starter pack to test & see if the tool is fulfilling or not for your business. See if you can do more, meaning eliminate the use of already existing tools that your organization uses. For example, with Cone, you can e-sign documents, send project proposals, time-track, process payment, & lot more in a single place.
Almost all data can be easily imported to any new tool that you’re thinking of switching to. Hence, data migration will not be a headache.
Finally, take inputs from your team members & shortlist your one tool as a team. This helps in knowing the uncommon & minute bottlenecks that your team members are dealing with right now. Making them a part of the decision making increases acceptance to the new tool.