10 Best Project Workflow Software In 2023

Wrike is one of the bigger tools in our list as it is a Citrix Systems company and you know what that means… Moneeeyyy 💵. Because of this financial backing, it is a tool with many different features and you will see it in a lot of our best lists.

Why I picked Wrike: Let’s focus on the part of this platform that allows us to handle our project. From the home panel, we can navigate to our projects section and, by default, land on the list view. My recommendation is that if you are only starting to define your project you head to the table view. Basically an Excel spreadsheet that will allow you to input information.

Once you are done with recording the tasks, I recommend going to the Gantt chart view. There, you can play around with the arrows and visually connect tasks. This helped me a lot because I can’t make decisions based on cells. I need to see how the tasks are interconnected, duration and if it makes sense to deliver those tasks in that amount of time.

Recommendation: Hover over the left-hand side of the bar chart and look for the arrow that hides the cells on the left. This will help you have a much better, unobstructed view of what you have created.

Wrike Standout Features & Integrations

Features include pre-built templates, custom request forms, interactive Gantt charts, visual proofing, workflow automations, time tracking, project portfolio management, and dashboards.

Integrations include 400+ pre-built native integrations, including integrations with the most popular file management software from Microsoft, Google, and Dropbox, along with sales and marketing software from Salesforce and Marketo.

monday.com is an award-winning project workflow platform that has the functionality to back these accolades.

Why I picked monday.com: They have a feature called subitems, which you might know as subtasks, that allows you to nest activities within your workflow. Subitems can be added at any moment with a couple of clicks, as you can see in the image above.

As your project increases in complexity, monday.com allows you to move tasks between progress stages with their drag-and-drop functionality, create subitems, convert those subitems to main items, and arrange the project in the way you need it to be. Flexibility is clearly the inspiration behind the building of this tool.

Want to take it one step further? monday.com knows that your workflow does not stop at knowing the tasks and their dependencies, but tracking them as well. For that reason, they created an activity log where you can track all the actions performed in a subitem like status updates, task completion, comments, and keep you from being that nagging person I know you hate becoming.

monday.com Standout Features & Integrations

Features include fifteen unique views, resource and project management, time tracking, collaboration, file management, collaborative docs and reporting dashboards.

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.

Ravetree is a project and work management platform with request management and approval workflow tools. It also has resource planning, budgeting and billing, and file management features.

Why I picked Ravetree: This software offers comprehensive project management features that allow teams to plan and execute their work. Projects can be broken into tasks with deadlines and checklists to help employees understand what they're accountable for, when. Teams can be established in the system and can then manage their shared work with a Kanban board, calendar, or spreadsheet.

Request management is something the software is particularly useful for. Users can create custom request forms for cross-functional support requests or incoming client and prospect requests. Multi-tiered approval flows can also be configured, ensuring that incoming requests are validated and overseen by the necessary stakeholders. All requests that filter through the system can then be turned into projects, and work can be delegated to teams and individuals.

Ravetree Standout Features & Integrations

Features include project templates, dependencies, repeating tasks, milestones, client portals, built-in CRM, approval flows, customizable forms, expenses and budgets, resource planning, and file management.

Integrations include Box, Dropbox, Facebook, HubSpot, Instagram, Github, Google Drive, Gmail, OneDrive, Outlook, QuickBooks, and Stripe.

Camunda Platform is an open-source project workflow software that enables organizations to model, automate, and monitor business processes.

It offers a comprehensive set of features for managing and tracking the progress of projects from beginning to end. From process modeling and automation to analytics and monitoring, Camunda Platform makes it easy for organizations to keep their projects on track. It provides users with tools for creating process models that define the steps in a project from start to finish. These models can be used as the basis for automating tasks such as data entry or document processing using BPMN. This eliminates manual work associated with repetitive tasks and ensures that projects are completed efficiently.

Camunda Platform also provides users with powerful analytics capabilities. Users can track the progress of their projects in real-time using dashboard views of KPIs. This allows users to quickly identify areas where processes are not meeting expectations or require further optimization.

It also includes reporting capabilities that allow users to generate reports on the progress of their projects over time. These reports provide useful insights into how processes are performing, enabling users to make informed decisions about how best to optimize their processes going forward. The software includes monitoring tools that enable users to monitor the performance of their processes in real time. These tools provide notifications when certain conditions are met, such as when a task is overdue, allowing users to stay on top of any potential issues before they become serious problems. Additionally, its API enables developers to quickly integrate it with existing tools such as Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Trello without having to do extensive development or maintenance work on their end. 

Hive is VERY intuitive and user-friendly. The information within their Gantt chart is displayed in a way that shows it has countless hours of thought into the user experience.

Why I picked Hive: If you are used to handling your projects within MS Project or spreadsheets, this interface will look and feel like a minimalistic version of it. One thing I love though is that as you assign people to tasks, their picture appears next to the activity bar (see image above). It’s just nice to see the faces of the people you are working with, and you can see who is working on what at a quick glance.

Hive groups project tasks as actions and sub-actions. Both types of tasks have the same properties (you can set dates, add descriptions, assign them) and the number of sub-actions you can create is infinite. For this reason, our friends at Hive added a link at the top of a sub-action card that can take you to the main action. Missing the start date, end date, and task duration fields? You can add them to this Gantt view with only two clicks.

Hive Standout Features & Integrations

Features include a drag-and-drop workflow builder, automations that can incorporate external software, save your workflows as templates, goal management, internal messaging, and AI support for note-taking.

Integrations include Google Drive, MS Teams, Slack, Salesforce, and Jira. You can also access thousands of additional apps via a paid plan with Zapier.

Next Matter handles workflows in a different way than the rest of the tools in this list. They primarily focus on process creation to streamline operations. Because of this, the tool is less visually appealing than others, but it has an amazing number of hours put into its functionality.

Why I picked Next Matter: One of the jobs we have as DPMs is to create predictable, repeatable patterns of work so it makes the company more efficient. Next Matter helps with that. However, this tool is not recommended if you are just starting to dip your toes into project management. Rather, it requires know-how of the intricacies of dependencies within projects so you are able to automate them. All projects in this platform are called processes and can be arranged by the functional areas in the company.

As you can see in the screenshot, the main view of the functional area of your choosing shows the progress of each of your projects at once, as well as the priority and last time it had any changes made to it.

If you think this could be for you, book a demo and test it. There’s no harm in seeing what it’s about.

Next Matter Standout Features & Integrations

Features include a drag-and-drop process builder, building blocks for e-signatures, barcode scanning, and external access, task automation, and performance tracking through reports.

Integrations include Asana, Gmail, Confluence, Hubspot, Jira, Slack, Trello, Zapier, monday.com, and many more.

If you have been reading the reviews of the other tools in this list, you know that a Gantt view is your best friend to have visibility of your workflow. TeamGantt is specifically focused on making the most out of this type of information display and personalizes it to the point where it’s ridiculously easy to see dependencies between tasks.

Why I picked TeamGantt: Their list view is a condensed version of your tasks where you can add start and end dates with ease. If you decide to use the Gantt view though, I recommend that you input the information on tasks that do not take months to be completed. Why? Because the way you set the duration is by dragging your pointer on the chart section from day 1 to the final day of that task.

One thing I really like about this software is that it still is a collaboration tool at heart. Traditionally, the project file is only for you and, after talking to the team in your checkpoint meeting, you update it. TeamGantt has added permission levels to the platform so you can decide how team members can interact with your plan! This will allow them to only update the tasks that concern them and not mess with other people’s activities or mess up your project plan.

TeamGantt Standout Features & Integrations

Features include multi-project display, drag-and-drop interface, workload and team availability, portfolio views, planned vs actual timelines, dedicated mobile apps, real-time progress, and reporting.

Integrations include tools like Slack, Trello, and Dropbox. Additionally, it offers an API for custom integrations and connects to hundreds of other apps using a paid Zapier account.

ClickUp is one of the DPM favorites because they pride themselves in being a single platform that replaces every productivity tool across the company. Let me tell you. they’re not lying so far.

Why I picked ClickUp: Their project management module is called ‘simple project management’. This module is far from simple in terms of functionality. Create your tasks from the task view. An easy click allows you to add subtasks and see them visually connect with lines, so you can see the hierarchy. Ready to add dates? Go to the view section and change the view to Gantt. From there you can click on the board to create a timeline bar for the task and drag it from the side to adjust for duration.

Easy to use, intuitive, and uncluttered. The level of detail achieved in this and the other views is incredible. I take my hat off to Clickup on this one; the Dr. Seuss kind of hat.

ClickUp Standout Features & Integrations

Features include ClickApps that extend the tool's functionality, templates, nested subtasks, over fifteen task views, automations, in-app collaboration using whiteboards and collaborative documents, and custom reporting.

Integrations include apps like Slack, Toggl Track, Harvest, Vimeo, Figma, Zoom, G Suite, and Dropbox. You can also access thousands of additional apps using Zapier and build custom integrations using ClickUp's API.

If you have been in project management for many years, you will enjoy using Smartsheet. Smartsheet is a powerful project management software with a classic feel to it, almost like having an Excel spreadsheet embedded in a cloud-based platform.

Why I picked Smartsheet: You can tell right away that this software focuses on functionality. There’s no loud colors or aesthetically immaculate interfaces. It’s all about the tasks in the project, and how you can make the most out of them.

If you are just starting your project, it is best if you use the grid view. That way you can focus on recording the information in bulk and you can figure out the dependencies later in the Gantt view. If you’re looking to get wild, go to the calendar view once you are done and embrace chaos!

Smartsheet Standout Features & Integrations

Features include dashboards, reports that consolidate multiple sheets, workflow automation, resource management, multiple views, forms to collect information, and digital asset management using Brandfolder.

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.

Teamwork is a project management software that has been designed to scale with your operation, as it has multiple integrations and features that can be plugged into your software as you grow.

Why I picked Teamwork: Finally a project workflow tool for all of us who have attention problems! Sometimes I find myself working on project #3, when BAM! 💥a trigger makes me remember that I forgot to add that task I discussed about 15 minutes ago to project #1. However, I’m in the middle of this update and I don’t want to change views and change my focus. Enter: quick add!

Quick add allows you to add a task to any project from any place you are within the tool. Unfortunately, this button will not allow you to add subtasks but I’m sure the people at Teamwork reading this are taking notes. Even though their Gantt view is not the most visually friendly, workflows are easy to follow with their other views. Table view is good if you are transitioning from Excel or other cell-based software. Table view shows the tasks, dates, priority, and assignee in the same place.

Warning: the default view filter is set to show incomplete tasks only. This will remove any tasks that you complete and that may scare you! Make sure you set the dropdown to view all tasks on the top-right corner. You’re welcome!

Teamwork Standout Features & Integrations

Features include resource management, workload management, intake forms, external collaborator access, project financials, invoicing, retainers, file management, proofing, templates, and multiple reports.

Integrations include Google Drive, Box, OneDrive, Dropbox, Slack, Microsoft Teams, MS Office, Harvest, Quickbooks, Xero, Hubspot, SharePoint, Microsoft Project, SoftSync, and hundreds of others using a paid plan through Zapier.