The Best Task Management Software List
Here’s a shortlist of the best task management apps:
Our one-on-one guidance will help you find the perfect fit.
A big part of delivering projects on time has to do with your ability to follow up on tasks. Whether you like it or not, you are the project manager/people herder and your job does not stop at scheduling. Once the project starts, you need to have multiple touchpoints with your team members to make sure they can deliver on the dates they committed to completing work. Task management software can help you keep track of everyone's responsibilities.
What Is Task Management Software?
Let's start with the basics. A task management tool is any digital tool that helps you plan, track, and complete a unit of work. Task management tools will often help list, test, expense, and otherwise organize a given task or subtask. Task management software may also show dependencies between tasks so you know in what order things need to be done.
Overviews Of The 15 Best Task Management Tools
Time for a more in-depth review of these tools, their advanced features, pricing, and more.
monday.com
Best task management software for task automation
monday.com is a great task management software because of the way it has done away with a lot of the trimmings of typical management tools and focused on simple, visually intuitive layouts that help clarify the sequence of work for multiple tasks and tracking project progress. This task management software won the 2019 Webby Award for productivity platform. It provides a highly customizable interface that resembles a spreadsheet, but it includes a ton of additional features that make it much more interactive and visually appealing than a simple spreadsheet for task progress.
monday.com includes message boards, task management boards (for recurring tasks, task dependencies, and task progress), and some easy-to-read visualizations that allow you to display your project data and quickly get an idea of your progress. Members can collaborate by uploading and attaching files, and assigning deadlines and tagging members on tasks. @Mentions of team and individuals are available as well.
Why I picked monday: Because it's so customizable, it's easy to configure monday.com to plan your project timelines and organize schedules, and you can also keep all of your team conversations, briefs, and files in a single shared space, encouraging team collaboration.
monday.com is great for automating tasks as it has a drag-and-drop builder you can use to give instructions to the platform on how to act when a trigger occurs. As such, you can assign tasks to team members when statuses change, notify people, send emails, and more.
monday.com Standout Features & Integrations
Features include project management, task scheduling/tracking, resource management, scheduling, budgeting, calendar management, file sharing, time management, email integration, third party plugins, and notifications. One thing that stands out above all is the multiple ways in which you can collaborate with the rest of the team. This includes comments, mentions, collaborative documents, and even whiteboards.
Integrations include project management apps like Slack, Google Drive, Gmail, Google Calendar, Jira, GitHub, Trello, Dropbox, and Typeform. You can also access thousands of additional apps using the integration with Zapier (requires additional subscription). Finally, there is an API you can use to build custom integrations.
Pros
- Helpful visual/color coding customization
- Long list of supported integrations
- Huge focus on collaboration
Cons
- Gantt charts locked to mid-level plan
- Complex pricing rubric
Wrike
Best task management tool with built-in templates
Wrike is an award-winning, easy-to-use task management software trusted by 20,000+ organizations worldwide. It's suitable for teams with anywhere from five members to an unlimited number of members with multiple projects. It's also a highly configurable workflow management system that allows you to customize workflows, dashboards, reports, request forms, and more.
Wrike's simple interface enables users to switch between Kanban boards, one-click Gantt charts, and traditional workload views to easily assign tasks and easily facilitate team management. The tool offers several templates, including a number of pre-built agile templates. Wrike also features task lists, subtasks, schedules, shared workflows, file sharing, and real-time collaboration. Users can adjust their views between the calendar view, dashboard view, and more.
Wrike boasts easy-to-use navigation with distinct spaces, folders, and tasks. Toggle quickly between the home screen and timesheets, dashboards, calendars, reports, and the notification stream. Wrike has a dedicated help center with interactive training, videos, a ‘Getting Started’ guide, and a thriving community.
Why I picked Wrike: Not only can Wrike’s features be configured for each individual team’s needs, the tool also offers a variety of specific solutions depending on the type of team or organization — including marketing teams and professional service teams.
Wrike has features that allow you to go beyond traditional task management such as workflow automation. And if you deal with assets that a client has to approve, the platform has proofing incorporated into its offering so that you can upload files and request feedback from the client without leaving Wrike.
Wrike Standout Features & Integrations
Features include project management, task scheduling/tracking, resource management, expense tracking, budgeting, Gantt charts, marketing automations, collaboration support, and reporting. The thing that stands out the most to me is the number of available features and how this tool can support you as you scale.
Integrations include 400+ pre-built native integrations with the most popular file management software from Microsoft, Google, and Dropbox, along with sales and marketing software from Salesforce and Marketo, and others. An API is also available if you want to build custom integrations.
Pros
- Many options and opportunities to customize
- Holistic, comprehensive task modeling
- Different ways to view the same data
Cons
- No offline access
- No subtasks in the freemium plan
Smartsheet
Best task management software for scaling organizations
Smartsheet is a spreadsheet-like task management software. It has won a few awards for quickly becoming a favorite business app. It’s a nice task management tool if you’re comfortable working in Excel but wants a break from complicated formulas—Smartsheet performs all the calculations for you across multiple sheets. You can also add customized brand logos and set color themes for individual projects.
Why I picked Smartsheet: It offers basic functions a task manager may need for multiple projects such as scheduling project tasks, subtasks, activities, assigned resources, and sections on tasks. Team members get notified of critical changes in real-time, and this online task management tool provides shared views, detailed history, activity logs, automated alerts, reminders, and status reports to keep everyone aligned and informed.
Reporting is a strong feature of this task management app, with editable summary reports that you can easily export to Excel.
Smartsheet Standout Features & Integrations
Features include project management, task scheduling/tracking, calendar management, timesheets, time management, expense tracking, file sharing, Gantt charts, budgeting, email integration, and lead management. The critical path feature highlights all the tasks which directly impact your project completion date to keep an eye on important milestones.
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.
Pros
- Many project templates & resources
- Sheet-to-sheet linking
- Easily customizable dashboards
Cons
- Jira, Salesforce, Dynamics connector limited to Premier plan
- Changes don’t update in real-time
Miro
Best for visual task management
Miro is a visual collaboration and digital whiteboard platform that allows you to collaborate with your team in real time. It's a great tool for visual project management, brainstorming, planning, diagramming, and managing tasks. It's a well-known and trusted platform that's used by over 180,000 organizations worldwide, including several top-tier companies like Nike, Cisco, Walt Disney, and PepsiCo.
Why I picked Miro: I included Miro in this list because of its unique design as a visual task management tool. You can use Miro to visually map out your ideas, tasks, and projects, and add widgets (such as a task tracking widget) to your infinite canvas to keep all your key tasks and details in one place. You can drag and drop items, add sticky notes, and even draw on the board. It's a great way to keep track of everything and stay organized.
Miro Standout Features & Integrations
Standout features for Miro include its infinite canvas, widgets, collaboration tools, screen sharing, and easy folder organization. You can create boards, assign tasks, set due dates, and track progress using visual elements.
Another key feature is diagramming, which includes tools for creating flowcharts, mind maps, org charts, and wireframes to visualize processes and relationships. Miro also supports process mapping, allowing teams to optimize their workflows by creating process maps, value stream maps, and swimlane diagrams.
Miro provides digital workspaces that can accommodate a wide range of team sizes and project scopes, making it a versatile tool for managing tasks and projects in a visually engaging manner.
Integrations include Microsoft Teams, Webex, Zoom, Atlassian (Jira, Confluence, and Trello), Google Workspace, Jira, Azure DevOps, Airtable, Figma, InVision, Adobe XD, Slack, Zoom, and others.
Pros
- Infinite canvas supports unrestricted creativity and tracking
- Rich whiteboarding and brainstorming capabilities for generating ideas
- Offers many customizable templates for quick setup
Cons
- Occasional performance issues with complex boards
- Advanced features require hirer-tier plans
GanttPRO
Best task management software with intuitive Gantt chart timelines
GanttPRO is an intuitive Gantt chart based project and task management tool with a short learning curve. At a glance, project managers and teams can see project information such as what task should be completed, when, and who is in charge.
Why I picked GanttPRO: Task management features in GanttPRO include breaking down assignments into smaller, easier manageable tasks, date and deadline management, filters, statuses, priorities, progress tracking, and more. The drag-and-drop interface comes in handy when there is a need to make quick changes.
In GanttPRO, resource allocation is quick and intuitive. Project managers can see how work is distributed and who has enough tasks or is free for more, and easily drag & drop to redistribute tasks.
GanttPRO Standout Features & Integrations
Features include real-time collaboration features such as immediate email and push notifications, comments, attachments, and mentions, which facilitate communication on projects. Two that I find super useful are related to overdue tasks and bulk changes. You can select multiple tasks based on available filters and change their status, assignee, and more. And if you are wondering which tasks are overdue, the simple click of a button can highlight all of them for you.
Integrations include connections with Jira, Google Drive, Slack, and other applications.
Pros
- Professional Gantt chart templates
- Multiple and flexible project views
- Intuitive interface with a short learning curve
Cons
- Lack of options to create recurring tasks
- Light on integrations
Forecast
Best for managing your projects, resources, and finances in one
Forecast is a task management software that unites your projects, resources, and financials in one AI-powered platform. Project managers can leverage Forecast’s workflow automation capabilities to create smart schedules, estimate timeframes and budgets, and populate timesheets instantly. Forecast is currently used in over 40 countries by an assortment of agencies, consulting companies, SMBs, and enterprises.
PMs can control the workflow by building out detailed task lists and flagging clear priorities. Task cards allow every team member to easily comment, share files, and register time spent. Everything related to the specific task appears in one place, including dependencies and subtasks. You can put together projects for any type of work: fixed price, time and material, or retainer.
Why I Picked Forecast: Forecast’s AI learns from previous work and suggests the number of hours you normally register on similar tasks to help you log time faster. You can monitor time registrations from a team perspective and notify each member if they forget to enter something in. Time tracking utilization on a company-wide level is calculated for you for easy alerts, estimates, and reporting.
Forecast Standout Features & Integrations
Features include batch permissions & access, API, budgeting, billing/invoicing, calendar management, contact management, customer management, dashboards, data export, data import, data visualization, expense tracking, external integrations, file transfer, forecasting, Gantt charts, multi-currency, notifications, password & access management, payroll, project management, scheduling, task scheduling/tracking, timesheets, time management, resource management, collaboration support, software integration, status notifications, and reports.
Integrations include Slack, Microsoft Teams, iCloud Calendar, Google Drive, Google Calendar, Outlook, Harvest, Trello, Asana, GitLab, Github, and dozens more using a paid plan through Zapier. Higher-tier subscriptions include native integrations with Timelog, Xero, QuickBooks Online, JIRA, Azure DevOps, Salesforce, Okta, OneLogin, and Azure Active Directory.
Pros
- Easy to plan projects and timelines
- Can manage resources across multiple projects
- Predictive tasks for spreadsheets
Cons
- Additional fee for onboarding/training
- Milestone data is lumped together rather than separated
Paymo
Best task management software to invoice clients
Paymo is a complete workflow management tool for organizing tasks inside projects, with clear instructions on how, when, and whom to complete them. Apart from task management, it also includes other modules such as time tracking, resource management, scheduling, and invoicing, making it popular for both freelancers and teams. Tasks are really detailed, containing vital information such as hourly budgets, priorities, and statuses to track progress and track tasks in real time.
Planning-wise, Gantt charts make it easy to notice how tasks relate to each other and which of those are critical towards the project completion. Couple this up with project dashboards, and you’ve found a tangible way to tie performance metrics to actual business goals.
Why I Picked Paymo: Paymo is an easy-to-use task management app that has revolutionized the way people complete tasks on a day-to-day basis. It's a great tool for organizing and tracking work, allowing users to stay in control of their projects without becoming overwhelmed. Paymo offers an intuitive user interface, with streamlined options that make it effortless to create and manage tasks. It also makes it easy to monitor progress on any project, with notifications when deadlines are approaching or tasks have been completed. The software allows for detailed customization which means users can tailor the app to their specific needs.
Paymo Standout Features & Integrations
Features include dashboard, data export, data import, data visualization, external integrations, Gantt charts, multi-user, notifications, project management, scheduling, task scheduling/tracking, time management, resource management, collaboration support, and workflow management. One feature I really like is the due date alerts. With a simple checkbox selection, you can have the platform notify you whenever a deadline is approaching, keeping you on top of things.
Integrations include Google Calendar and Slack to name a few, so you can shorten the feedback loop and focus on finishing tasks on time.
Pros
- View all projects on a single Kanban board
- Easy to use project filters
- Seamless time tracking
Cons
- Some data export limitations
- No way to invite collaborators/reviewers
MeisterTask
Best for its multi-project task board
MeisterTask is a task management tool with an intuitive user experience and allows users to customize views, projects, and tasks in a way that works best for their teams and workflow. MeisterTask's collaborative features are robust. The tool includes Kanban-style project boards for cooperative project work across teams. Features such as automation, watching, mentioning, tags, and task scheduling also help simplify collaboration.
Why I Picked MeisterTask: A great tool within MeisterTask is the Agenda feature, where users can create customized dashboard sections and pin tasks from any project in order to group and focus on tasks relevant to their own work on one board.
MeisterTask Standout Features & Integrations
Features include project management, scheduling, task scheduling/tracking, time management, bug tracking, resource management, collaboration support, workflow management, 2-factor authentication, anti-virus, API, batch permissions & access, calendar management, contact management, contact sharing, CRM integration, customer management, dashboards, data export, data import, data visualization, email integration, external integrations, file sharing, firewall multi-user, notifications, campaign management, and reports.
Integrations include Google Workspace, Slack, and GitHub — in addition to over two thousand applications via Zapier (may require a paid plan).
Pros
- User-friendly interface with intuitive functionality
- Includes the ability to automate recurring steps
- Gantt-style timeline feature for scheduling tasks on a calendar
Cons
- Recurring tasks limited to paid users
- No subtasks possible, only checklist items
Kintone
Best for building custom task management apps
Kintone is a customizable task management software used by teams at Volvo Trucks North America, Japan Airlines, Shiseido, and over 23,000 organizations worldwide. Their unique approach to project and task management lets you build a wide variety of customizable “apps” either from scratch, using templates or from your existing spreadsheets, for data management, business processes, and workflows.
Why I picked Kintone: Kintone lets you build no-code task management apps by dragging and dropping elements that you want to see onto the page: rich text fields, date fields, drop-down menus, number fields with built-in calculations, spaces for attachments, user or group selection menus, related data from other apps, tables, and more.
Once you’ve built the app you want, you can use it to more easily manage whatever data and tasks you and your team need to track. And with custom notifications and reminders as well as detailed permissions settings, your project tracking solution can look and work however you want it to.
What makes Kintone particularly great for project tracking are the features to filter and prioritize tasks by data field or team member to generate custom reports or dashboard views, as well as the ability to automate reminders and handoffs between team members for multi-step workflows.
Kintone Standout Features & Integrations
Features include project management, dashboards, resource management, analytics, calendar management, conversion tracking, employee onboarding, forecasting, lead scoring, timesheets, collaboration support, reports, pipeline management, budgeting, and process modeling.
Kintone’s built-in communication features allow teams to discuss projects directly in the app and in topic or project-based threads. Dedicated “spaces” organize everything your team needs for your project, including task-tracking apps and searchable conversation threads.
Integrates with other tools like Slack, Gmail, Google Calendar, Outlook, Tableau, Dropbox, Salesforce, HubSpot, Eventbrite, WordPress, QuickBooks, MailChimp, and many more through a paid plan with Zapier or via API integrations.
There are so many ways to customize Kintone it can be hard to know where to start. Read the starter blog “What Can You Build with Kintone?” or watch Creating an App from Scratch for a quick look at how the drag-and-drop builder works.
Pros
- Data is easy to pull and manipulate into good looking reports
- Admin accounts have access to tons of customization tools
- Flexible pricing that includes special deals for schools and NPOs
Cons
- Limited to 5GB/user storage on every pricing tier
- No single-user plan available (minimum 5 users)
Quire
Best task management software for nested task lists
Quire is an award-winning project management software for remote teams that aims to simplify workflows and encourage communication and collaboration. Quire is trusted by hundreds of thousands of users all over the world, including those from big companies across diverse industries such as Google, IBM, Dyson, Nasdaq, and Stanford. The team collaboration and project management features include file sharing, attachments management, comments on tasks, multiple assignees, real-time updates, and a flexible reporting suite.
Why I Picked Quire: Quire is built for teams that struggle to take big goals and make them more manageable; it will help you create and track tasks and subtasks within each greater project item. Three main view modes in Quire include a nested task list view, Kanban view, and timeline view. Quire also helps users manage and track their tasks regardless if they are solo users or working as a team.
Quire Standout Features & Integrations
Features include task scheduling/tracking, time management, notifications, external integrations, and data visualizations. One feature that stood out was its personalized sublists. Basically, it lets you grab a bunch of tasks you want to work on and drag them to a dedicated view for only that subset. This prevents confusion and enhances your focus.
Integrations include Slack, Github, Google Workspace, Microsoft, and many more options; plus, thousands of integrations made available through Zapier (paid plan may be required).
Pros
- Multiple task views
- You can receive task comment notifications on your mobile device
- Incorporated pomodoro timer
Cons
- No resource management
- No timeline view in free version
Backlog
Best task management tool for development teams
Backlog is a task management tool for product and project managers, as well as developers on their teams. The tool is available both as a self-hosted solution and as a SaaS and is scalable to fit small teams or enterprises with thousands of users. They have an app for both Android and iOS, so clients and teams can access the tool from mobile devices.
Why I Picked Backlog: Backlog has an intuitive interface, and users can view and make edits to projects and calendars using task updates, Kanban-style Boards, and Gantt charts. Backlog enables pull requests, merge requests, and branches, and it provides features for code review and collaboration (wiki, Git, and Subversion repositories).
Backlog Standout Features & Integrations
Features include 2-factor authentication, API, batch & permissions access, dashboard, data export, data import, email integration, external integrations, file sharing, Gantt charts, notifications, project management, task scheduling/tracking, third-party plug-ins/add-ons, time management, and bug tracking.
Integrations include Typetalk, Cacoo, Redmine, Jira Importer, iCal, email, and Google Sheets. You can build additional custom integrations through Backlog’s API.
Pros
- Easy bug identification and logging
- Can customize the issue characteristics for each project
- Easily separate tasks through projects and milestones
Cons
- Difficult to backup all contents and versioning
- Can’t sort using multiple filters at the same time
Todoist
Best personal task management software
Todoist provides a simple interface for creating, sharing, and prioritizing tasks. You can collaborate by sharing out your lists and assigning tasks to others, and you can use labels and priority tags to bring organization to your task lists.
Todoist is available for macOS, Android, Windows, and iOS, so your team can use it wherever they work. They also have a “productivity goals” quiz on their website to help narrow down what task management features you will get the most out of.
Why I picked Todoist: They have a smart rescheduling feature that suggests an optimal time to schedule tasks that need to be pushed out to a future date based upon past behavior and what you’ve already got on your plate. Scheduling tasks using this extra data takes less planning for busy PMs.
Todoist Standout Features & Integrations
Features include task scheduling/tracking, project management, calendar management, email integration, third-party plugins, time mangement, campaign management, and notifications.
Integrations include Google Drive, Google Maps, Dropbox, Apple Maps, Calendar Sync, Slack, Zapier, and hundreds more apps. They also offer a developer API.
Pros
- User-friendly interface
- Generous free plan
- Cross-device sync
Cons
- Unlocking task duration requires a business workspace add-on
- Does not have features to support complex task management
Asana
Best online task management software for complex projects
Asana is a task management solution with automation tools, a rule builder, and other workplace management items. Asana’s Timeline lets users create a plan that shows how the pieces of a project fit together and help keep work on track as things change.
Why I picked Asana: Asana has a colorful, rich, and inviting user interface with everything from compartmentalized productivity items to playful cartoon animations that “zoom” across the screen to celebrate finishing a task. This scored them very well in the UX category of the evaluation criteria.
Asana lets you view your data in the following views: board, list, timeline, and calendar where you can store and visualise information on your projects including tasks, subtasks, milestones, task assignees, sections, custom fields, and so much more.
Asana Standout Features & Integrations
Features include resource, project, and task management, automations, reporting, and a workflow builder. Asana's task organization capabilities are versatile, allowing users to create detailed task lists, set due dates, assign responsibilities, and establish dependencies between tasks. This level of granularity helps teams keep track of complex projects and ensures everyone knows their role and deadlines.
Integrations include Jira Cloud, Salesforce, Adobe Creative Cloud, Tableau, Slack, Microsoft Office 365, Gmail, CSV Importer, JotForm, EverHour, OneDrive, Zoho Cliq, Box, Mailbird, Instabug, DRopbox, Gitlab, Trello, VElocity, Tick, and many more per their website. Additionally, users can connect Asana to Zapier, Automate.io, and others to integrate with hundreds of more available apps.
Pros
- Good free forever plan
- User-friendly with lots of knowledge resources
- Ready-made workflow templates
Cons
- Timeline view limited to paid plans
- External contributor access is very limited
ProjectManager.com
Best for time management & timesheets
ProjectManager.com is a cloud-based, award-winning task management software for project teams. This tool has robust features for planning projects, assigning tasks, tracking progress, and collaboration. Using this tool, you can also manage timesheets, expenses, and workloads. ProjectManager.com also includes a Gantt chart feature, as well as the ability to switch between Gantt chart, task list, and Kanban board views.
Why I Picked ProjectManager.com: ProjectManager.com provides time management and tracking for easy timesheet creation. You can set up your own custom reports for task progress, timesheets, and expenses across multiple projects. Use the real-time dashboard to see an overview of current project stats to prepare for invoicing or payroll.
ProjectManager.com Standout Features & Integrations
Features include 2-factor authentication, analytics, API, batch permissions & access, budgeting, calendar management, customer management, dashboard, data export, data import, data visualization, email integration, expense tracking, external integrations, forecasting, Gantt charts, multi-user, notifications, project management, scheduling, task scheduling/tracking, third-party plugins/add-ons, timesheets, time management, resource management, collaboration support, and workflow management.
Integrations include Google Drive, Gmail, Google Calendar, and other Google Apps, as well as Microsoft Office and Microsoft Project. For all other integrations, you can use Zapier to sync ProjectManager.com with other tools.
Pros
- Relatively flat learning curve
- Detailed project planning and budgeting
- Highly customizable
Cons
- Business plan only includes 5 guest licenses
- Might be too complex for simple projects
Hubstaff
Best for task reporting & analytics
Hubstaff Tasks is a project management software 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.
Why I Picked Hubstaff Tasks: 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 Standout Features & Integrations
Features include task scheduling/tracking, project management, resource management, time management, dashboards, and multi-user. Hubstaff is particularly good at helping you find and filter through tasks. they have a command you can input in the search bar (assign:[user]) which automatically brings the results that match that criteria to the top.
Integrations include 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.
Pros
- Invoicing is available in free plan
- Intuitive and easy to navigate interface
- Team notifications make collaboration simpler
Cons
- Only 1 integration available in low-mid tier plans
- HIPAA only available in Enterprise tier
Need expert help selecting the right tool?
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The Best Task Management Software Comparison Chart
Here is a convenient table that you can use to compare all the tools we just covered. If, however, you want to expand your research beyond these tools, keep scrolling!
Tool | Free Option | Price | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | monday.com Best task management software for task automation | 14-day free trial + free plan available | From $8/user/month (billed annually, min 3 seats) | Visit Website |
2 | Wrike Best task management tool with built-in templates | Free plan available | From $9.80/user/month | Visit Website |
3 | Smartsheet Best task management software for scaling organizations | Freemium version available | From $7/user/month | Visit Website |
4 | Miro Best for visual task management | Free plan available | From $10/user/month | Visit Website |
5 | GanttPRO Best task management software with intuitive Gantt chart timelines | 14-day free trial | From $7.99/user/month (billed annually) | Visit Website |
6 | Forecast Best for managing your projects, resources, and finances in one | 14-day free trial | From $29/user/month | Visit Website |
7 | Paymo Best task management software to invoice clients | 15-day free trial | From $5.95/user/month | Visit Website |
8 | MeisterTask Best for its multi-project task board | Free trial available | From $8.25/month (billed annually) | Visit Website |
9 | Kintone Best for building custom task management apps | 30-day free trial | From $24/user/month | Visit Website |
10 | Quire Best task management software for nested task lists | Free trial available | From $10.95 /member/month | Visit Website |
11 | Backlog Best task management tool for development teams | 30-day free trial | From $30/month | Visit Website |
12 | Todoist Best personal task management software | Free trial available | From $5/month | Visit Website |
13 | Asana Best online task management software for complex projects | Free plan available | From $10.99/user/month | Visit Website |
14 | ProjectManager.com Best for time management & timesheets | 30-day free trial | From $16/user/month | Visit Website |
15 | Hubstaff Best for task reporting & analytics | 14-day free trial | From $7/user/month | Visit Website |
Other Task Management Software Options
Here’s a few more that didn’t make the top list. If you need additional suggestions for handy task management software, check these out.
- FunctionFox
Best task management software for creative teams and agencies
- Basecamp
Best free task management software for personal use
- ProWorkflow
Best for task and project flexibility
- Swit
Best task management tool for built-in chat and collaboration capabilities
- TeamGantt
Best online task management software for teams
- ClickUp
Best free task management software for teams
- Nifty
Best enterprise task management software
- Teamwork
Best for scaling teams and businesses
- Hive
Best task management tool for agencies and digital marketing teams
- Ayoa
Best complete work management tool
Selection Criteria For The Best Task Management Software
The software selection started with task management software that has high user review and satisfaction ratings. Then, using my experience in digital project management, I discerned what key criteria were most important for task management software. I later compared how each of them stacked up against the rest.
After careful consideration, I've determined the most important criteria when selecting the best task management software, which you can find below:
Core Functionality
To be considered a task management software, the platform needs to cover these essential components:
- Letting you create tasks that you can assign to a user.
- Setting due dates for everyone to know when they have to finish their work.
- Creating subtasks so you can break down larger chunks of work.
Usability
Usability is an important factor to consider when selecting task management software. It refers to how intuitive and user-friendly software is and can be the deciding factor in your final decision. Task management software has become increasingly sophisticated over the years, and some programs are more complex than others.
It’s important to ensure that your choice of software is easy to navigate so that you can streamline your task management efforts. Not only will this save time, but it will improve productivity as fewer mistakes are likely to be made if users don’t have to wrestle with complicated interfaces. However, keep in mind that good customer support and training material can counter a complicated interface.
User Interface
User interface (UI) and user experience (UX) play a major role in the decision-making process of a new project management tool. A great UI should be intuitive and easy to use. Not only does this create better customer experiences, but it can also drastically reduce onboarding and training costs for businesses.
Additionally, UX design helps users navigate websites and apps quickly and accurately by using effective visual cues. This makes it easier for users to access individual tasks and information they need in order to do their jobs efficiently.
Key Features
Key features of task management software include:
- Task Creation and Organization: Users can create and input tasks easily, including titles, descriptions, due dates, and priorities. This feature allows for the quick capture of tasks as they arise.
- Task Assignment and Collaboration: Users can assign tasks to themselves or others within the team. Team collaboration features often include the ability to comment, attach files, or discuss tasks. This facilitates communication and teamwork.
- Task Prioritization and Deadlines: The software allows users to set task priorities and deadlines, helping them focus on what's most important and ensuring that tasks are completed on time.
- Task Tracking and Progress Visualization: Users can track the progress of tasks, often through status updates (e.g., not started, in progress, completed) or visual progress bars. This feature provides a clear overview of the project's status.
- Reminders and Notifications: The task management system can sends reminders and notifications to users when tasks are due or when there are updates or comments related to their tasks. This helps users stay on top of their responsibilities.
Software Integrations
Software integration allows programs and applications from different providers to work together seamlessly and efficiently. This provides businesses with easier access to data, faster workflow processes, improved scalability, and enhanced communication between systems – all of which are essential components of success for any organization. In each task management software review, I consider whether integration capabilities for each tool are available out-of-the-box or if they need to be added on as an extra cost or feature.
Pricing
As you can see from my list below, task management software pricing ranges from totally free to $99+/month. This depends on what features you want, how many users you need, the types of integrations you require, and other considerations. If you just need a basic to-do list, there are tons of free task management software options.
Task Management Software FAQs
Here are a few questions I get a lot about task management tools.
What is task management software used for?
Are there other task software tools to consider?
What is the best task management software?
What is the difference between task management and project management?
What is the difference between time management and task management?
Does task management software make me more productive?

What's Next?
To-do lists online are not just for project managers and their teams. We all need some sort of task organizer to help us get by. You can read more about the tasks we encounter in project management and 3 tips on how to stay on top of them. However, if you are ready to go to the next step in task management, you can read about how to create a Gantt chart.
We also have a very interesting article on what tasks a project manager is responsible. It explores the ways that you can start building your own systems and best practices for effective task management.
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