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With so many different project management solutions available, figuring out which ones support agile and offer the best Kanban board functionality is tough. You know you want to limit work in progress to enhance efficiency, display information in cards, and quickly adapt to changes or prioritize tasks based on real-time needs but need to figure out which tool is best. I've got you! In this post I'll help make your choice easy, sharing my personal experiences using dozens of different agile tools with large teams and projects, with my picks of the best Kanban software.

What is Kanban software?

Kanban software is a project management tool based on the Kanban methodology where users can move cards across a board to signify progress and visualize the flow of work. Kanban software often includes features such as task assignment, priority setting, real-time collaboration, in-card comments, and analytics to enhance visibility and control over the project's progress.

This visual representation promotes transparency, making it easier for you to identify bottlenecks, track progress, and optimize workflow efficiency.

Overviews Of The 10 Best Kanban Software

Here’s a brief description of each of the Kanban project management software on my list, showing what it does best and including screenshots to showcase some of the features.

1

Smartsheet

Best Kanban + Gantt chart hybrid tool

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.4
7400 reviews

Freemium version available

From $7/user/month

Every Smartsheet subscription tier has access to hundreds of project templates sorted by industry or type. Here you’ll have access to Gantt charts, construction estimators, legal contract management, customer lifetime value (CLV), team productivity documents, performance evaluation sheets, and anything else you can think of. Anyone who uses Kanban schedules as well as other common calendar views like Gantt will appreciate the ability to flip back and forth between them.

Smartsheet is super customizable and you can work with their customer support team to build the platform out any way you need it. This makes it a great option for professional services or niche industry services. There's a bit of a learning curve involved but that's just because it comes with so much to work with.

Smartsheet integrations include Microsoft and Google apps, as well as development essentials like Jira, and useful business apps like Salesforce, ServiceNow, Slack, Box, and Tableau. The platform is extensible through a REST API and webhooks.

Smartsheet costs $7/user/month, with a minimum of 3 users and a maximum of 25 users. They also offer a 30-day free trial.

2

ClickUp

Best for customizing your own set of features

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.7
4135 reviews

Freemium plan available

From $9/user/month

ClickUp's flexible project management app offers over 100 proprietary features to choose from, letting power users highlight what they want and hide what they do not use. Choose simple task lists or more advanced workflows (called 'Statuses') to track updates and progress remotely. Their Kanban boards benefit from this vast feature set, allowing users to customize their boards and workflows according to the unique needs of each project, task, and subtask.

ClickUp has a unique approach to a 'free plan' whereby they allow unlimited users and tasks. Where they hold back, then, is that you only get 100 uses of certain features like custom fields and mind maps. Still, this could work really well for larger teams looking for a free Kanban solution but who don't intend to be on the platform indefinitely.

ClickUp offers native integrations with Slack, G Suite, Dropbox, and many more tools, as well as over 1,000+ integrations through Zapier.

ClickUp is free to use for unlimited users with a 100MB storage maximum. Their paid plan starts at $5/user/month and offers a free trial.

3

Zoho Projects

Best Kanban software for visualizing project phases

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.2
286 reviews

Free trial available

From $5/user/month

Zoho Projects is a web-based project management software that offers various features for project planning, execution, monitoring, and collaboration, making it a well-rounded tool for managing projects effectively. Kanban is a project management methodology that emphasizes visualizing work, limiting work-in-progress, and optimizing the workflow. Zoho Projects allow teams to track their work visually, providing a clear overview of the status of each task and the progress of the project as a whole.

Zoho Projects’ Kanban boards are fully customizable, enabling teams to create them based on their workflow and preferences. Teams can create multiple boards for different projects or stages of the same project. Each panel consists of columns representing different stages of the workflow, such as 'To Do,' 'In Progress,' and 'Done.' Teams can also create custom columns to represent specific stages of their workflow.

Using Zoho Projects you can add tasks, assign them to team members, set due dates, and add descriptions and attachments. Each task on the board is represented by a card containing all the relevant job information. Teams can also add labels to tasks to classify them based on their priority, status, or any other category pertinent to their workflow.

You can move tasks between columns by simply dragging and dropping them. This feature enables users to update the status of jobs and track their progress quickly. You can use the filter and search functionality to find specific tasks, making it easy to focus on what matters most.

Zoho Projects provides several features to help teams collaborate effectively. Teams can add comments to tasks, mention other team members, and discuss specific tasks. They can also use the @mention feature to tag team members and notify them of updates or changes to the task.

Zoho Projects integrates with other Zoho apps, commonly used apps by Google (Google Calendar, Drive, Spreadsheets, etc.), and Microsoft (Calendar, Excel, Office 365, OneDrive, Teams, and SharePoint), and other third-party apps such as Basecamp, Jira, Slack, Zendesk, and Zapier.

Zoho Projects costs from $5/user/month for tracking unlimited projects. A freemium plan with limited features, as well as a 10-day free trial, are also available.

4

Miro

Best Kanban software for team communication

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.8
3414 reviews

Free plan available

From $10/user/month

Miro is a collaborative online whiteboard with over 1,000 templates including mind maps, Kanban boards, Gantt charts, product wireframes, research boards, and flowcharts. It’s trusted by 99% of the Fortune 100, and used by teams at TransUnion, HP, Upwork, Cisco, Qlik, and Atkins. Miro’s visual platform is built for hybrid work, and has robust resources for continuous learning like Miro Academy, online events, and a community forum.

Miro has an intuitive Kanban template with collaboration features that are built for brainstorming, diagramming, and seamless communication. Your team can leave comments, make collaborative edits in real-time, update task progress, or even launch video calls with its built-in add-on.

At The Digital Project Manager, we use Miro to map out content clusters and to visualize content workflows from the start (brainstorming ideas) to finish (publishing the content on our site).

Miro has integrations with a whole suite of tools, including Zoom, Figma, Asana, Microsoft Teams, Jira, Slack, Google Drive, Box, Airtable, Notion, Azure, and Webex. Some integrations are limited to paid plans only.

Miro is free to use for unlimited members with up to 3 editable boards. Paid plans start at $8/user/month (billed annually).

Pros

  • Free forever plan available
  • Intuitive and easy setup
  • Built-in communication features for streamlined collaboration

Cons

  • Visitor/guest accounts locked to paid plans only
  • Zooming can be jumpy on larger projects
  • Free version does not allow high-quality export to pdf
5

Airtable

Best Kanban software for enterprises

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.6
1339 reviews

Free plan available

From $24/user/month

Airtable is a flexible, scalable project management tool used by the likes of forward-thinking companies like Netflix, Expedia, Buzzfeed, Time, and Medium. Their Kanban board is an intuitive, no-fluff solution that will engage the whole team regardless of tech savviness. Along with that, enterprises will appreciate unlimited workspaces federated to a single company account as well as their training and change management plans for onboarding.

Airtable is free for up to 1,200 records per base and a 2-week history log. Paid plans start at $10/user/month and they offer a free 14-day trial.

Pros

  • Easily automate redundant tasks
  • Rollups and Lookups organize data well
  • Forms are simple to distribute and embed
  • Helpful color-coded lists and project items

Cons

  • Forms can look dated
  • No way to do rich text
  • Charges per “workspace” rather than per user
6

ProjectManager.com

Best for project portfolio management (PPM)

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.4
93 reviews

30-day free trial

From $16/user/month

ProjectManager is an award-winning Kanban software and project management system that boasts an impressive suite of project portfolio management (PPM) tools. Real-time dashboards, all-in-one roadmaps, and multiple project views are just a few of the features available to users to organize their portfolio, so this goes way beyond Kanban boards. The PPM reporting system is useful, too, giving you a birds-eye-view of data.

ProjectManager is praised by customers for its intuitive and easy to learn design; the robust nature of its project reporting suite; its list of advanced features compared to its competitors; and its ability to scale up and down to accommodate projects and teams of all sizes.

ProjectManager integrates with MS Project, Excel, Office 365, Salesforce CRM, QuickBooks, Xero, Dropbox, Desk.com, JIRA, Hubspot, Slack, Zendesk, Evernote, OneLogin, OneDrive, and the complete Google Suite. They also have a powerful REST API to help you build against internal or external tools.

ProjectManager costs from $15/user/month and offers a free 30-day trial.

7

Hubstaff

Best for custom Kanban workflows

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.3
392 reviews

14-day free trial

From $7/user/month

Hubstaff Tasks is a project management tool with multiple task tracking and collaboration features. Its interface is based on the Kanban methodology; it lets you organize tasks in different project stages, which are represented by columns. Each task can be categorized using color-coded labels. One of its notable features is custom workflows. These let you automate assigning tasks to team members at different project stages and moving them forward with one click.

You can create checklists within each task and track them from the project view using progress bars. Files can also be attached to task cards, but the free plan only allows up to 100 MB of storage per user. Switching to the sprints view displays all your assigned tasks, organized by sprint. You can move tasks to current or future sprints or to the backlog with a drag-and-drop mechanism similar to Kanban.

Hubstaff Tasks integrates with Active Collab, Asana, Breeze, ClickUp, GitHub, GitLab, Insightly, JIRA, LiquidPlanner, Mavenlink, Paymo, PivotalTracker, Podio, Redbooth, Redmine, Teamwork Projects, Trello, Unfuddle, Wrike, Zoho Projects, Slack, Zendesk, Salesforce, QuickBooks, and other apps. You can boost your integration options with a paid plan through Zapier, unlocking hundreds of other possible connections.

Hubstaff Tasks is free for up to 5 users and 10 projects. The premium plan starts at $7/user/month, and includes a 14-day free trial.

Pros

  • Generous freemium plan
  • Fast to launch & start using
  • Excellent project management templates
  • Easy to onboard new clients

Cons

  • No WIP limits
  • Limited 3rd-party integrations
  • No mobile app
8

Kanban Zone

Best cross-portfolio Kanban board

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.4
18 reviews

30 days free trial

From $10/user/month

Kanban Zone is designed to allow teams to visualize their entire agency and organization by connecting teams and processes. The tool offers a highly flexible Kanban board editor that does not constrain users to perfect grids and instead allows them to truly map their ideal flow of work.

The tool also includes a timeline view for increased planning capabilities, as well as templates and a Portfolio Kanban for traceability across projects. Also available are project and Kanban metrics, collaboration features such as comments and notifications, and workflow management capabilities.

Kanban Zone has a simple interface that helps teams focus on the work at hand, and a team of support experts to help with onboarding and ongoing questions. They have plenty of learning resources on their site for those who want to learn more about kanban methodology.

Kanban Zone can integrate with other project management tools using a (paid) plan through Zapier.

Kanban Zone pricing starts at $5 per month for a personal plan and $8 per month for professional plans. A free 30 day trial is also available.

9

Kanbanize by Businessmap

Best Kanban software for software development teams

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
3.9
22 reviews

14-day free trial

From $179/month for up to 15 users

Kanbanize offers flexible, web-based Kanban boards and built-in business rules so that you can automate all your team's existing processes, dependencies, and interactions. PMs will especially enjoy the ability to forecast the end dates of any initiatives based on the flow of child cards anywhere in the Kanban card hierarchy. Software development teams will appreciate their focus on user stories and epics with transparent cross-team dependencies.

Kanbanize tracks, updates, and automatically reports the status of all projects and their related work items. This way, you can glean status updates at a glance and spend less time building reports and dashboards. They also provide extensive flow analytics through cumulative flow diagrams, cycle time scatter plots, WIP aging charts, Monte Carlo simulations, and cycle time heat maps.

Kanbanize integrates with Google Drive, Dropbox, GitHub, Jira, and other tools (and you can also connect through Zapier)

Kanbanize costs from $149/month for up to 15 users and offers a free 7-day trial.

10

SwiftKanban

Best enterprise kanban software

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
3.8
2 reviews

30 days free trial

From $15/month

SwiftKanban from Digite is a powerful enterprise and portfolio Kanban tool for both co-located and distributed teams. It combines the best of visual management, Kanban, and Scrum to give you a powerful tool for lean/agile software development, visual project management, and business collaboration improvement.

SwiftKanban makes collaboration between multiple teams easier through better visualization of work. Teams working remotely can see the tasks that their colleagues are working on in real-time. SwiftKanban has a number of cool features built-in for defining work-in-progress (WIP) limits, card coloring, and highlighting bottlenecks. It allows product owners to define their backlog flexibly using a varied set of features. SwiftKanban is a great alternative to Trello since it offers way more features and customization options.

SwiftKanban also lets users automate actions within their Kanban board based on any criteria they set using rules. From simple IFTTT rules to automating repetitive tasks to complex configuration of cards and boards, SwiftKanban has it all. Plus, SwiftKanban comes with AI-capabilities built-in where users will be able to get suggestions for Similar cards when creating new cards, using historical data, saving time and eliminating duplication of work.

SwiftKanban can be integrated with a wide variety of enterprise-class tools such as TFS, JIRA, CA Agile Central and many others using its SwiftSync integration platform. It provides native integration with Slack and MS Teams. Using Zapier, you can also integrate SwiftKanban with a wide range of productivity apps like Google Drive, Gmail, Google Calendar, and GitHub. You can also use SwiftKanban REST APIs as service endpoints to interact with your boards remotely and perform various card functions.

SwiftKanban costs between $0-15/user/month for annual subscriptions and comes with a 30-day free trial of its enterprise plan. It's available in both SaaS and On-Premise versions.

Need expert help selecting the right Kanban Software?

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!

The Best Kanban Software Comparison Chart

Here is a chart where you can quickly compare the tools we just covered in the overviews.

Tool Trial Info Price
1
Smartsheet

Best Kanban + Gantt chart hybrid tool

Freemium version available

From $7/user/month Website
2
ClickUp

Best for customizing your own set of features

Freemium plan available

From $9/user/month Website
3
Zoho Projects

Best Kanban software for visualizing project phases

Free trial available

From $5/user/month Website
4
Miro

Best Kanban software for team communication

Free plan available

From $10/user/month Website
5
Airtable

Best Kanban software for enterprises

Free plan available

From $24/user/month Website
6
ProjectManager.com

Best for project portfolio management (PPM)

30-day free trial

From $16/user/month Website
7
Hubstaff

Best for custom Kanban workflows

14-day free trial

From $7/user/month Website
8
Kanban Zone

Best cross-portfolio Kanban board

30 days free trial

From $10/user/month Website
9
Kanbanize by Businessmap

Best Kanban software for software development teams

14-day free trial

From $179/month for up to 15 users Website
10
SwiftKanban

Best enterprise kanban software

30 days free trial

From $15/month Website

Other Kanban Options

Here are a few more that I didn’t include in the top list, but these are still great tools to check out:

  1. Height

    Best Kanban for cross-functional resource allocation

  2. Clubhouse

    Best free Kanban software

  3. monday.com

    Best Agile workflow

  4. Teamwork

    Best stakeholder/client access controls

  5. Wrike

    Best project template selection

  6. Celoxis

    Best for inter-connected project tasks

  7. Kantata

    Best Kanban software for team collaboration

  8. Toggl Plan

    Best for any non-techy team member

  9. Kanban Tool

    Best for project tasks for a small team

  10. MeisterTask

    Best for your software development team

How I Picked The Best Kanban Software

Here’s a summary of my evaluation criteria. These are things I look for when I evaluate any Kanban solution, and they’re also things to consider when you’re trying to find the right one for your kanban team:

User Interface (UI)

Are the Kanban cards easy to read, manipulate, edit, search, and archive? Is the project roadmap obvious at a glance with real-time details, due date, and drill-down capabilities where needed?

Usability

Does the project management tool offer training, support, and wikis specific to lean work management and Kanban task cards specifically? Can you easily employ work-in-progress limits to keep users focused on what matters most?

Integrations

Kanban apps tend to work in conjunction with other workforce software, as they may not support every element of a team’s day-to-day. Is the tool easy to connect with other tools using an API? Does it work with common PM apps like Jira software, Slack, Asana, GitHub, G Suite, and LeanKit?

Pricing

Does the Kanban tool pricing cover the features you would expect like a detailed board view with powerful filters and sorting? Does the tool cover the Kanban method as well as going above and beyond in additional features needed by agile teams? Is the pricing structure flexible, transparent, and scalable?

Kanban Software - Frequently Asked Questions

New to the Kanban methodology? Just need to know more about your new tools? Whatever you need, here are some answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs) about Kanban software.

kanban software logos list

Which Kanban Software Do You Use?

Now that you’ve read about some of the best kanban board software, find more about agile project management and 8 other popular project management methodologies. I also think you will benefit from our ultimate guide to burndown charts and learning the difference between Kanban and Scrum.

Related tool lists:

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By Ben Aston

I’m Ben Aston, a digital project manager and founder of thedpm.com. I've been in the industry for more than 20 years working in the UK at London’s top digital agencies including Dare, Wunderman, Lowe and DDB. I’ve delivered everything from film to CMS', games to advertising and eCRM to eCommerce sites. I’ve been fortunate enough to work across a wide range of great clients; automotive brands including Land Rover, Volkswagen and Honda; Utility brands including BT, British Gas and Exxon, FMCG brands such as Unilever, and consumer electronics brands including Sony. Ben's a Certified Scrum Master, PRINCE2 Practitioner and productivity nut.