10 Best Project Management Software For Startups In 2024

Shortcut is a project management platform designed to unify product and engineering teams by offering a comprehensive suite of tools including kanban boards, reporting, roadmaps, team collaboration, and various integrations. It provides a seamless experience for planning and development, enabling users to easily transition from other tools like Jira and Trello.

One of the key features that make Shortcut ideal for startups is its Kanban-style interface, which offers a clutter-free experience for better team collaboration. This interface allows teams to visualize project progress easily, manage workflows, and automate repetitive tasks. The platform's ability to plan project backlogs and sprints also helps core engineering and product management teams manage projects.

Shortcut's focus on Agile methodologies also makes it a good fit for startups that follow Agile, Scrum, or Kanban practices. The software includes features like epics, stories, and milestones, which help teams break down projects into manageable tasks and track progress.

Integrations include Slack, GitHub, GitLab, Google Drive, Dropbox, Google Calendar, Figma, Zapier, ProductBoard, Loom, Miro, Zendesk, Notion, and Box.

ClickUp is a project management software that sits at the top of many lists. Full of features and with an incredible free version, this tool has what all startups need: great functionality at a low or non-existent price

Collaborative docs will help you create your one pager, investor documents, and partner agreements. Whiteboards can help you brainstorm ideas on a new product. Their in-app chat will keep your comms fresh and without needing to buy another software or relying on instant messaging platforms.

Bonus: If you need more than the 100MB storage limit on the free version, you can get the small team plan and even negotiate the price by letting them know how much you are willing to pay per user.

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 with limited storage for an unlimited number of users. Paid plans start at $5/user/month and offer a free-trial.

monday.com may seem like the most popular project management software that players in the big leagues use today. Though that is mostly true, monday.com is also one of the most helpful tools startup teams should consider implementing early on so that they can eventually join the bigger players. As a bonus, monday.com is easy to set up and we know how important it is to stay on track on all of your projects as you grow.

monday.com knows how important collaboration is for creative teams so it lets you connect in a variety of different ways without ever leaving the platform: commenting, file attachment, @-tagging, “liking” posts, and assigning tasks with point-and-click ease. You can also build team-specific dashboards and project boards so that everyone can easily see what is being worked on.

monday.com integrates with the tools you already know and love, making the transition for your startup team hassle free. Integrations include project management apps like Slack, Google Drive, Gmail, Google Calendar, Jira, GitHub, Trello, Dropbox, Typeform and many more, accessible through a paid plan with Zapier.

monday.com costs from $6/user/month and comes with a free 14-day trial. They offer a free plan for up to 2 users.

Zoho Projects is an online project management tool that lets teams plan, track, and collaborate on project work. The tool is scalable for startups and small businesses.

Zoho Projects allows users to set up project plans, as well as create and assign ad-hoc tasks across the team. The tool also includes features like flexible work hours, baselines, and critical paths in Gantt charts, team based work allocation, and task reminders. Time tracking and resource utilization features help managers ensure that employees are not over or under worked.

Users can automate task transitions and workflows, track activities and progress by using the advanced reports, and manage budgets with expense management features. Collaboration features include team-wide and individual discussion management, a meeting tab to facilitate virtual meetings, a social feed to interact with and keep track of all your project activities, a forum to discuss ideas and solutions, and a central document management module to manage all information. Mobile applications are also available.

Zoho Projects has several integrations with Zoho apps like Zoho CRM, Zoho Cliq, Zoho Meeting, as well as with other third party apps like Microsoft Office 365, Microsoft Teams, Google Drive, Zapier, Zendesk, and ServiceNow.

Zoho Projects offers a free plan as well as a 10-day free trial for paid editions, which start at $4 per user per month.

Miro is a collaborative online whiteboard platform widely used by startups for project management. It provides a range of templates like mind maps and Kanban boards and allows the import and further development of existing charts from tools like Visio.

Teams can express ideas using various formats, including numerical data, images, and videos. Miro's integration with project management tools such as Jira and Asana enables a visual complement to task tracking. By embedding Miro boards within tasks, team members can view project progress and dependencies visually, supporting a clearer understanding of project dynamics. This functionality makes Miro a practical choice for startups seeking a visual and interactive project management solution.

Other notable features include built-in video conferencing, Agile workflows, brainstorming templates, and wireframing tools.

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

FigJam is a collaborative whiteboard that has project management features built in. It can be used for a number of things, like virtual brainstorming, workflow design, strategy and planning, and team collaboration. Unlike a more traditional project management tools, this software offers a flexible visual platform that you can customize to meet your needs.

The software's whiteboards are infinite, meaning you can zoom in or out as far as you need. This is helpful for crafting complete product roadmaps and breaking things down into higher- and lower-level views. You can use audio and live chat, stamp and emoji reacts, and even bitmoji avatars to collaborate virtually with your team members. You can also invite external collaborators to work on your boards.

When it comes to project management, the platform's pre-built templates are really helpful. Whiteboard layouts for project kickoff brainstorms, roadmaps, timelines, flowcharts, and workflows are all available. Templates for other things like weekly and daily status meetings are included, too. The software also has calendar and timeline widgets to support your project planning and execution.

Integrations include Figma, Microsoft Teams, Asana, Jira, Mixpanel, and Github. Paid plans start from $3 per user per month, but a freemium plan is also available with unlimited users and up to 3 FigJam files.

MeisterTask is a versatile project management tool designed to cater to the needs of teams looking for an efficient way to organize their tasks and workflows. It stands out with its visually appealing, user-friendly interface that utilizes Kanban boards for task management, allowing users to easily visualize their projects' progress at a glance. The platform is highly customizable, enabling teams to tailor their project boards to fit their specific workflow requirements. This flexibility, combined with features like task automation, due date reminders, and time tracking, makes MeisterTask an effective solution for managing a wide range of projects, from simple task lists to complex workflows.

One of the unique aspects of MeisterTask is its seamless integration with MindMeister, an online mind mapping tool. This integration allows users to brainstorm, plan projects, and then directly convert these ideas into actionable tasks within MeisterTask, facilitating a smooth transition from ideation to execution. Additionally, the platform supports collaboration through features such as file attachments, comments, and task assignments, ensuring that team members can easily share information and stay aligned on their objectives. With its emphasis on simplicity, collaboration, and integration, MeisterTask provides a comprehensive project management solution that helps teams boost their productivity and achieve their goals more efficiently.

Integrations include Slack, Dropbox, Github, Google Drive, Microsoft Teams, Outlook, Trello, Asana, MindMeister, and hundreds more through a paid plan with Zapier. 

MeisterTask costs from $14.50/month (billed annually) and offers a fre trial. 

Freedcamp is a project management software that comes with something that most startups today consider as the industry standard: a robust mobile app that’s available on iOS and Android. This means that startups without an office or with limited available computers can access project management data on their personal smartphone device or tablet.

Freedcamp lets users save passwords, create invoices, back up and edit files—all this on top of the project templates, CRM features, and white labeling capabilities you would expect from a solid project management tool. Freedcamp also has calendars, discussion boards, milestones, a team/process wiki builder, issue tracking, and a time tracker too.

Freedcamp integrates with thousands of solutions through Zapier (which requires a separate paid plan of its own).

Freedcamp is free to use with some feature limitations. Their paid plans cost from $1.49/user/month, which you can try through their 14-day free trial.

Trello is a project management solution that is most known for its Kanban boards. It offers startup teams a comprehensive tool that can be quickly set up and understood with its intuitive drag-and-drop interface for customizing boards and a no-code workflow automation builder. Their free plan lets you run 250 automated command runs per month, which is noteworthy because many PM tools limit automations to paid subscription plans. Startups take note!

Trello is great for startup teams thanks to a feature-packed free plan that Kanban board cheerleaders in particular will appreciate. You get unlimited cards, unlimited members, up to 10 boards per workspace, a list of free integrations with other PM tools (Google Drive, Slack, etc.), unlimited activity logs, mobile app access, and 2-factor authentication for log-ins.

Trello integrates with Confluence, Slack, Dropbox, Google Drive, Evernote, and other third-party apps you typically find in a modern tech stack.

Trello is free to use. Paid plans cost from $5/user/month and come with a 14-day free trial.

Hubstaff Tasks is a project management software for startups 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.