10 Best ClickUp Alternative Shortlist
Here's my pick of the 10 best software from the 10 tools reviewed.
Get free help from our project management software advisors to find your match.
With so many different ClickUp alternatives available, figuring out which is right for you is tough. Each tool offers unique features and promises to simplify your workflow, but finding the one that matches your team’s needs can feel like searching for a needle in a haystack.
That’s why I’ve done the hard work for you. After thoroughly testing a wide range of project management tools, I’ve compiled a list of the best ClickUp alternatives. These options are designed to help you manage tasks, collaborate effectively, and achieve your goals—whether you’re running a small team or a large organization.
What Are ClickUp Alternatives?
ClickUp alternatives are project management and team collaboration software solutions. They provide similar functionalities to ClickUp, but with different sets of features, user interfaces, and pricing strategies. These tools are used for managing tasks, tracking projects, and facilitating team communication and collaboration.
The benefits and uses of ClickUp alternatives include offering various customization options to fit specific project and team needs, diverse features to cater to different project types, and often more cost-effective solutions. They improve team collaboration, are scalable to accommodate business growth, and usually provide a wide range of integration capabilities with other business tools.
10 Best ClickUp Alternative Comparison Chart
Here is a table where you can compare the tools we just covered in the overviews.
Tool | Best For | Trial Info | Price | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Best for agile design and marketing teams | Freemium version available | From $10/user/month (min of 2 seats) | Website | |
2 | Best for easy onboarding | 14-day free trial + free plan available | From $8/user/month (billed annually) | Website | |
3 | Best for built-in invoicing and proposal generation | Free demo available | Available upon request | Website | |
4 | Best for standardizing project and operation processes | Free trial available | From $100/month (billed annually) | Website | |
5 | Best for agencies | Free trial available | From $9/user/month (billed annually) | Website | |
6 | Best for GitHub integration and real-time updates | Free plan available | From $8.50/user/month | Website | |
7 | Best for portfolio management | Not available | Pricing upon request | Website | |
8 | Best for flexibility and customization | 30-day free trial + free plan available | From $8/user/month (billed annually) | Website | |
9 | Best for all-in-one ideation and task management | Free trial available | From $8.25/user/month (billed annually) + free plan available | Website | |
10 | Best for added power-ups | 14-day free trial | From $5/user/month (billed annually) + free plan available | Website |
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Smartsheet
This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.4.4 -
Wrike
This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.4.2 -
monday.com
This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.4.6
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.
Why Wrike is a great ClickUp alternative
Wrike has two separate plans for agile marketers and creative teams that come with tailored features: like Wrike Publish, an extension for Adobe Creative Cloud, and lots of tailored templates for your workspace. ClickUp has yet to build a native Adobe integration to help creatives connect all of their work. Just note that invoicing, budgeting, and billing are impossible in Wrike too unless you’re using one of their third-party integrations.
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.
Why Accelo is a great ClickUp alternative
Accelo is designed specifically for service-based businesses, offering more than just task management. It brings together client relationship management, project tracking, and billing into one place. By automating tasks like time tracking, invoicing, proposal generation, and project scheduling, Accelo helps teams manage client work without needing extra tools. While both platforms provide project management features, Accelo is uniquely tailored to simplify the workflows for professional services teams with client-facing requirements.
Why Process Street is a great ClickUp alternative
While both Process Street and ClickUp offer robust task management and workflow features, Process Street stands out as a good alternative for teams wanting more standardized and automated processes. Unlike ClickUp's broad project management capabilities, Process Street excels in creating, managing, and optimizing standardized processes and checklists, making it ideal for teams that prioritize consistency and procedural accuracy. Its intuitive, user-friendly interface and templates allow users to quickly build and customize workflows, ensuring that every step of a process is followed precisely.
Why Bonsai is a great ClickUp alternative
Bonsai offers the essential project management capabilities that users like in ClickUp, like task management and scheduling, Kanban board views, file sharing, reporting, and collaboration tools for communicating internally and with clients. What makes Bonsai unique is that it extends its project management capabilities to more aspects of business management to include client management and financial management. As part of these features, Bonsai has built-in invoicing, allowing users to collect payments from clients based on billable hours. It supports automated invoice creation and reminders, payments from different providers, and recurring payments for longer ongoing projects. These comprehensive features are ideal for agencies that need a well-rounded approach to project, financial, and client management.
Why Shortcut is a great ClickUp alternative
Shortcut is a compelling alternative to ClickUp, particularly for software development teams, due to its user-friendly interface and robust project management features. It supports web-based access and mobile applications, making it versatile for various users, from freelancers to large enterprises. Key functionalities include customizable workflows, integrated issue tracking, sprint planning, and customizable roadmaps that provide a comprehensive view of project progress. The platform also allows for seamless integration with version control systems like GitHub and GitLab, enabling real-time updates and automations that streamline workflows.
Why Mavenlink is a great ClickUp alternative
Compared to ClickUp—which is a preference for SMBs—Mavenlink is better suited for large enterprises looking to manage dynamic portfolios of complex projects with diverse needs. Mavenlink offers extensive reporting capabilities that translates real-time, contextual business intelligence into over 60 services-centric reports. Plus, Mavenlink comes with an invoicing module so you can consolidate the entire project lifecycle from planning to payment.
Why Miro is a great ClickUp alternative
Miro positions itself as a flexible and customizable digital whiteboard, offering a distinct alternative to ClickUp. Its infinite canvas supports diverse forms of idea expression, from textual and numerical data to visual elements like images and videos. Integration with tools such as Jira and Asana streamlines project management, while asynchronous collaboration features, including comments and reactions, facilitate teamwork across different locations and schedules. The TalkTrack tool also enables users to asynchronously record explanations of process maps, contributing to clear communication. With an over 300 templates available to get you started, Miro adapts to various project needs without imposing a rigid structure.
Why MeisterTask is a great ClickUp alternative
MeisterTask positions itself as a compelling ClickUp alternative, particularly for teams prioritizing intuitive design and seamless integration between brainstorming and task management. Unlike ClickUp, which offers a broad suite of features catering to a wide array of project management needs, MeisterTask focuses on providing a more streamlined, user-friendly experience. Its unique selling point is the integration with MindMeister, an advanced mind mapping tool that allows for effortless transition from ideation to actionable tasks. This feature is especially valuable for creative teams and projects that begin with a brainstorming phase, ensuring a smooth flow of ideas into structured tasks.
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.
About ClickUp
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.
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.
ClickUp Key Features
Here are some of the key features of ClickUp, to help you contrast and compare what alternative solutions offer:
- Integrations: Connect with other tools and platforms to enhance functionality and streamline workflows across different applications. It seems like your message was empty. When looking for an alternative, ensure the task management feature is intuitive, supports rich text descriptions, and includes robust task dependencies to handle complex workflows effectively.
- Task management: Easily create, assign, and track tasks with detailed information such as due dates and descriptions, helping you keep your projects organized. An alternative should offer flexible views that can be easily toggled, allowing teams with different preferences to work cohesively. Ensure it also supports Gantt charts or timeline views for advanced planning.
- Multiple task views: Choose from various views like list, board, or calendar to manage tasks in a way that suits your team's workflow best.
- Automations: Set up automations to handle repetitive tasks, saving time and ensuring consistent project execution. Look for alternatives with customizable, no-code automation that integrates smoothly with your workflows, minimizing the need for manual intervention.
- Custom fields: Use custom fields to add specific information to tasks, allowing you to tailor the tool to your team's unique needs. Make sure the alternative allows for a wide range of field types (e.g., dropdowns, dates, numbers) and lets you filter, sort, and report on them seamlessly.
- Dashboards: Create dashboards to visualize project data and monitor progress, providing insights to keep everyone aligned. Dashboards in alternative tools should support real-time updates, customizable widgets, and the ability to pull data from multiple projects for a high-level overview.
- Templates: Utilize templates for tasks and projects to get started quickly and maintain consistency across your team's work. A good alternative should offer a library of pre-built templates and allow you to create and save your own, ensuring adaptability to various project types.
- Whiteboards: Collaborate visually with team members using whiteboards to brainstorm and plan projects interactively. Check if the whiteboarding feature in alternatives allows for real-time collaboration, drag-and-drop elements, and easy conversion of ideas into actionable tasks.
- Resource management: Manage your team's workload and resources effectively, ensuring optimal use of available capacity. Look for detailed workload charts and resource allocation tools in alternatives, ensuring they provide insights into both current capacity and future planning.
- Shared docs: Create and share documents within the platform to keep all project-related information in one accessible place.
- An alternative should offer a rich text editor with version control and collaborative editing, so documents can serve as a reliable source of truth.
- Integrations: Connect with other tools and platforms to enhance functionality and streamline workflows across different applications. Make sure the alternative supports integrations with your most-used tools or provides an open API for custom connections to fit your unique tech stack.
When searching for an alternative to ClickUp, prioritize a tool that offers flexibility, customization, and features that align with your team's unique needs. Whether it's robust task management, intuitive automation, or seamless integrations, the right alternative should enhance your workflows, foster collaboration, and scale with your projects.
How to Choose ClickUp Alternative
It’s easy to get bogged down in long feature lists and complex pricing structures. To help you stay focused as you work through your unique software selection process, here’s a checklist of factors to keep in mind:
Factor | What to Consider |
---|---|
Scalability | Ensure the tool can grow with your team, accommodating increased projects and users. |
Integrations | Look for compatibility with tools your team already uses for a seamless workflow. |
Customizability | Choose a platform allowing you to tailor features and workflows to fit your needs. |
Ease of Use | Opt for intuitive software to minimize the learning curve for your team. |
Budget | Find a solution that offers the best features within your financial constraints. |
Security Safeguards | Prioritize platforms with robust security measures to protect your data. |
Collaboration Features | Ensure tools support effective team communication and project collaboration. |
Support & Training | Check for available customer support and training resources to assist your team. |
Honestly, it's a lot to digest—and there's a lot of pressure to get it right so I'd suggest using our project management software advisory service to help you shortlist project manager tools that'll be a good fit for you and your organization's specific needs.