The Best ClickUp Alternative Shortlist
We take an in-depth look at the pros & cons of the following tools in this review:
- 1. monday.com — Best ClickUp alternative if you’re looking for improved ease of use and a shorter learning curve
- 2. Parallax — Best for enhancing project management through streamlined task tracking and collaboration
Our one-on-one guidance will help you find the perfect fit.
Below you’ll find a list meant to help you find the best ClickUp alternative.
ClickUp is considered by many as a user-friendly collaboration tool that helps remote teams come together and become more productive. And while it has an affordable paid plan structure and new features coming in all the time it can also be too much to handle. Especially for smaller teams that are looking for a simple project planning tool.
So while Clickup keeps that promise of its potential to replace lots of other apps, some teams might find that Clickup is too complicated and misses properly developing some key features.
About ClickUp
San Diego-based ClickUp, founded in 2016 by Alex Yurkowski and Zeb Evans, is an all-in-one project management solution.
The founders say they created the software so businesses could be more productive and get more done, claiming that existing software was “broken”. They believe that by bringing in every tool and app a company uses under one roof, ClickUp can make teams up to 20% more productive.
ClickUp keeps everything related to your business in one centralized place. Instead of jumping from window to window, you work entirely from inside ClickUp. Why? Because all of your tasks, documents, chat, and project management are kept in the same place.
About the Tool
ClickUp is a project management software with advanced features for managing and completing all your team’s projects in one platform. Users can plan projects, use custom fields, schedule tasks, set task dependencies, create automations and manage resources in a centralized workspace, as well as communicate and collaborate with team members and guests.
Task management features include task checklists, subtasks, and task templates. Additionally, you can filter, sort, search for, easily reorder, and view tasks in the manner most convenient for the team. Users can also create Gantt charts, and access calendar views, board views, and over 10 additional ways of visualizing information.
ClickUp also includes excellent features for file sharing and collaborative editing on Wikis and online docs. Users can comment on documents and tasks, mention teammates, and chat with other team members for increased communication and collaboration. Reporting features include the ability to create custom dashboards, as well as six built-in report types for team reporting.
ClickUp offers native integrations with Slack, G Suite, Airtable, Basecamp, Dropbox, Jira, and many more tools, as well as over 1,000+ integrations through Zapier.
ClickUp’s free forever plan is robust and includes all primary features. However, this free version has usage limits and prompts you to upgrade once you use them. The unlimited plan starts at $5/user/month and offers additional functionality.
10 Best ClickUp Alternatives Compared
In this overview, we break down the pros and cons, pricing, trial info, and expert opinion for each of the tools. We’re also comparing every solution to ClickUp so you can understand if it’s a better choice for your team members and specific project needs.
monday.com
Best ClickUp alternative if you’re looking for improved ease of use and a shorter learning curve
Why monday.com is a great ClickUp alternative
If your team’s having a hard time getting used to ClickUp’s UI, monday.com’s interface is much more intuitive thanks to its flat method of organizing information through grids. In essence, everything is managed within a sleek and colorful visual workspace. Unlike ClickUp, monday.com has multiple subscription tiers meaning you can pick what features you want and slice and dice to keep your workspace lean. Additionally, monday.com has a superior mobile app in terms of functionality and GUI.
Parallax
Best for enhancing project management through streamlined task tracking and collaboration
Why Parallax is a great ClickUp alternative
Parallax is a SaaS product that's designed to help teams manage their projects and tasks more efficiently. It's a solid alternative to ClickUp, offering a range of features that make it easy to keep track of what everyone's working on and ensure that nothing falls through the cracks. It offers a unique approach to project management in which it actually helps you visualize your workflow so you can see exactly where things are at and where potential bottlenecks might be. It also has a helpful timeline view that lets you see all your tasks laid out on a timeline, so you can easily see what needs to be done when and who's responsible for what. It's a simple idea, but it makes a big difference when you're juggling multiple projects at once.
Productive
Best alternative for marketing companies and agencies
Why Productive is a great ClickUp alternative
Productive is a cloud-based project management software that allows businesses and creative agencies to streamline workflows, manage projects, budgets, and Sales, and improve productivity. You should consider this tool as an alternative to ClickUp if you work at an agency and would like software that has focused all its features toward making your industry more successful. It provides various tools for organizing tasks, tracking time, managing budgets, invoicing, and reporting. The software provides an interactive dashboard with accurate timelines, enabling managers to see how a project progresses.
Hub Planner
Best ClickUp alternative for capacity planning & requesting work
Why Hub Planner is a great ClickUp alternative
Hub Planner specializes in team scheduling, capacity planning, and requesting work. Instead of waiting for assignments, team members are empowered to check shared to do lists and flag tasks they want to take on or send a notification when they are ready for more work. Meanwhile, team leads can easily parse resource capacity data to make sure no one is over- or under-utilized. With Hub Planner's time tracking feature, teams can easily track their time and record their hours for specific tasks or projects. This makes it easier to monitor progress and ensure that projects are staying on track. Because of this, Hub Planner would be great for a highly motivated, remote/hybrid teams.
Height
Best ClickUp alternative for cross-functional collaboration
Why Height is a great ClickUp alternative
Height is a project management software that's built for cross-functional collaboration across marketing, engineering, product, design, and operational teams. The platform includes real-time project updates, task assignments, and progress-tracking features, as well as budgeting and time-tracking capabilities. Compared to ClickUp, Height has a more straightforward interface and feature set that focuses primarily on task and project management. The software also has reporting and analytics tools to measure team KPIs like time and resource utilization.
Scoro
Best for project management with built-in KPI tracking
Why Scoro is a great ClickUp alternative
Scoro has plenty of features that can help you enter, track, and report on key performance indicators (KPIs) for your team. You can track task efficiency, hours logged by activity, and projects by client. Plus, they have robust sales and CRM capabilities to set and monitor sales goals. You can easily build, bookmark, and share reports outlining these results for the key decision makers at the company.
Trello
Best alternative for its power-ups
Why Trello is a great ClickUp alternative
Trello is a great alternative because of the number of features and added functionality it offers. Just like ClickUp, Trello expands its functionality to integrations, but they have the added value of power-ups. These power-ups are developed by the Trello team but also by third-party companies and users. This gives Trello users the option of making almost anything they can think of.
Asana
Best for a simple, collaborative to-do list
Why Asana is a great ClickUp alternative
Not only is Asana free for up to 15 users, but it is incredibly easy to learn and master. Small businesses and startups can easily get what they need using only the free plan. Asana makes for a simple, mess-free to-do list that can be tailored to everything from small personal goals to complex project tracking. And unlike ClickUp, they don't have limitations on how many charts and reports you can access on the freemium plan.
Infinity
Best built-in employee feedback for new ideas
Why Infinity is a great ClickUp alternative
Infinity has a unique “pay once and you’re done” pricing model, which is refreshing in the software-as-a-service space. As for what they do best, Infinity has a “vote” feature that lets you add an interactive feedback icon to new ideas or product direction. This lets all users “like” or “star” new ideas, features, or upcoming projects within your folders/boards. This is a quick and easy way to check the pulse of your team when making decisions for project direction.
Basecamp
ClickUp alternative with a flat monthly rate, no matter your team size
Why Basecamp is a great ClickUp alternative
Basecamp is a great ClickUp alternative for large teams because it does not charge a per-user rate. Instead, Basecamp offers their platform for a $99/month flat fee. This gets you unlimited projects, unlimited users, 500GB storage space, unlimited clients, project templates, and priority customer support.
Need expert help selecting the right tool?
We’ve joined up with Crozdesk.com to give all our readers (yes, you!) access to Crozdesk’s software advisors. Just use the form below to share your needs, and they will contact you at no cost or commitment. You will then be matched and connected to a shortlist of vendors that best fit your company, and you can access exclusive software discounts!
10 Best ClickUp Alternative Comparison Chart
Here is a table where you can compare the tools we just covered in the overviews.
Tool | Free Option | Price | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | monday.com Best ClickUp alternative if you’re looking for improved ease of use and a shorter learning curve | 14-day free trial + free plan available | From $8/user/month (billed annually, min 3 seats) | Visit Website |
2 | Parallax Best for enhancing project management through streamlined task tracking and collaboration | Free demo | Pricing upon request | Visit Website |
3 | Productive Best alternative for marketing companies and agencies | 14-day free trial | From $9/user/month (billed annually) | Visit Website |
4 | Hub Planner Best ClickUp alternative for capacity planning & requesting work | 30-day free trial | From $7/user/month (billed annually) | Visit Website |
5 | Height Best ClickUp alternative for cross-functional collaboration | 30-day free trial | From $8.50/user/month | Visit Website |
6 | Scoro Best for project management with built-in KPI tracking | 14-day free trial | From $28/user/month | Visit Website |
7 | Trello Best alternative for its power-ups | Free trial + free plan available | From $6/user/month | Visit Website |
8 | Asana Best for a simple, collaborative to-do list | Free plan available | From $10.99/user/month | Visit Website |
9 | Infinity Best built-in employee feedback for new ideas | 30 days money back guarantee | From $149 one-time fee | Visit Website |
10 | Basecamp ClickUp alternative with a flat monthly rate, no matter your team size | 30-day free trial | From $15/user/month (billed annually) | Visit Website |
Why Might You Need A ClickUp Alternative?
You want a simpler tool (and you don’t want to replace your other tools)
A simple drag-and-drop interface can go a long way. ClickUp is a big, complex and powerful productivity platform. There’s good reason to believe that it could replace a lot of your other tools. However, it also makes it that much harder to teach someone you are onboarding.
Plus, if you already have and are happy with many of your other project or work management tools, you might not want or need Clickup to replace them all. You might just want to integrate them with what you’ve already got.
You send a lot of invoices
ClickUp isn’t a complete project management platform. Missing features like no invoicing and billing options mean you’ll need to finish your projects in another project management tool.
You need more advanced reporting capabilities
While ClickUp does provide reporting to some extent, it tends to provide basic insights rather than using business intelligence or machine learning to elevate the informational output.
You might want a simpler interface
The huge bundle of features this project management app comes with implies you’ll get an interface that’s cluttered and confusing for newbies. There are also only two subscription plans, free and paid, meaning you can’t cut out features you don’t need with a mid-tier subscription.
Key Project Management Features For A Viable ClickUp Alternative
Task and work management
ClickUp already does task management pretty well by providing multiple ways of viewing tasks, due dates, subtasks, and task lists: List, Time, Kanban Board. Alternatives to this task manager should offer more options or advanced versions of these views.
Resource management
The ClickUp scheduler offers weak limited capacity insights, making it suitable for small teams, startups, and freelancers only. A solid resource scheduler will help you oversee capacity, no matter the team’s size.
Time tracking and timesheets
Time tracking is done either manually or automatically through the ClickUp extension. Timesheets and time reports are a must when switching to another tool.
Team collaboration
It’s hard to beat their collaboration features, so the competitors need a communication suite that’s at least as strong.
