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There are so many different project scheduling tools so making a shortlist of the best can be tricky. You want to schedule, plan, and deploy your project resources to deliver successful projects - and need the right tool for your projects and team. I've got you covered! In this post I share from my personal experience scheduling hundreds of projects, using many different scheduling platforms with large teams, and complex projects, and share my picks of the best project scheduling tools.

What is project scheduling software?

Project scheduling software is a tool used for visually planning, organizing, and managing resource allocation for projects. The software allows you to visually plan, execute, and monitor resources throughout the project lifecycle.

Project scheduling tools make the confusion of resource allocation and project planning simpler with a visual interface that supports dragging and dropping tasks, dependencies, assignees, and permissions. It's invaluable in giving the project team and stakeholders clarity on the details of the project plan, a timeline with detailed schedule, assigned tasks, different project views, and collaboration and reporting tools to provide project insights.

Overview of The Best Project Management Software For Project Scheduling

Let’s go into each tool and see in detail how each assists you in building great projects.

1

monday.com

Best for ready-made templates

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.7
8702 reviews

14-day free trial + free plan available

From $8/user/month (billed annually, min 3 seats)

monday.com is a project management platform with intuitive collaboration features that are easy to learn and quickly understand. It’s a highly customizable tool that helps you clarify the sequence of work and see the progress and status of your projects at a glance.

Why I picked monday.com: Most of the project scheduling features in monday.com are in the “timeline” feature—this is where you can plan projects, set deadlines, assign team members, break down tasks, and set dependencies. I find it super handy that you can reassign tasks by simply clicking and dragging. I also like that you can view your timelines as spreadsheets, as lists, on a map, on a Kanban board, and other views.

With monday.com you can create summary charts and export and share project plans in a variety of formats (XML, PDF, etc). Apart from that, the platform enables big-picture views using reporting dashboards that collect data from multiple boards, allowing better progress tracking. In my opinion, all of this is helpful for being more data-driven in your business.

All said and done, monday.com technically doesn’t enable you to make Gantt charts in the very traditional sense (nor can you import or export MPP files). However, it’s a flexible, intuitive schedule management software tool that helps you see where tasks are bottlenecking, understand who’s currently working on what, etc. What’s more, the customizable fields and the drag-and-drop functionality makes it easy to quickly set up and start using. So for those reasons, I decided to include it in my roundup.

monday.com Standout Features & Integrations

Features include automations, shared documents for real-time collaboration, file management, dashboards, Gantt charts, and 5+ views so you can see your project information the way you want to.

Integrations include apps like Slack, Excel, Google Drive, Gmail, Google Calendar, Jira, GitHub, Trello, Dropbox, Typeform, and thousands more accessible via Zapier.

Pros

  • Colorful, graphically pleasant schedule interface
  • Easy to use calendar and task scheduling
  • Resource scheduling tools included

Cons

  • Steep learning curve for beginners
  • Complicated pricing structure
2

Parallax

Best for predictive resource analysis for scheduling enablement

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.5
2 reviews

Free demo

Pricing upon request

Parallax is a project scheduling software that offers an intuitive way to create project plans quickly and easily by connecting tasks with timelines. It uses data points to connect tasks with dates, helping users make more accurate plans without manual calculations. I find that it simplifies task management by providing users with a detailed schedule that can be customized.

You can adjust tasks based on start and end dates, budget constraints, or other variables. In my opinion, this allows teams to execute their projects more efficiently while avoiding costly delays or overruns. The software also offers features like task view and resource view, which provide a real-time overview of the project's progress. I also like that the task view shows who is responsible for each task and who needs the task completed first or last. Meanwhile, the resource view shows who has been assigned the most tasks or requests for additional resources if needed.

Why I Picked Parallax: With Parallax’s forecasting feature, users can track their current project activities, establish and modify future tasks, and understand the overall trajectory of their projects—all in one comprehensive view. Additionally, the software leverages predictive analytics to adjust timelines and cost estimates as changes occur. This feature seemed particularly helpful to me, because it can help organizations stay proactive and minimize risk.

Parallax’s capacity management system lets users easily create profiles for each resource and use them to plan for week-by-week workloads as projects are created. I also appreciate that the software allows users to compare proposed changes against the exact resource capacity, eliminating the possibility of overloading resources and improving on-time delivery. Additionally, it provides strategic planning tools so that adjustments in workloads can be made accordingly when necessary.

Parallax Standout Features & Integrations

Features include resource management, budgeting, dashboards, notifications, API, data visualizations, external integrations, forecasting, multi-user, and scheduling.

Integrations include Harvest, Clockify, Toggl, Kimai, Evenhour, Netsuite, Noko, Tempo, Replicon, Hubspot, Salesforce, Copper, and Pipedrive.

Pros

  • Strong predictive data analytics functionality
  • Easily visualize team's time & capacity
  • Access to experts and best practices

Cons

  • Steep learning curve
  • Not appropriate for startups/small biz
3

Kantata

Best project scheduling tool for workflow automation

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.1
716 reviews

Free demo

Pricing upon request

Kantata is a resource management & PSA software with modules for project scheduling and management, accounting, resource management, business intelligence, and team collaboration.

Why I picked Kantata: I chose this software because it offers a system of dashboards, live time and expense tracking features, and a great document management system. All of these best-in-class features are delivered through straightforward and minimalistic design.

For project scheduling specifically, I find that Kantata offers a comprehensive set of useful features. As you make detailed project plans, the tool support a multi-level work breakdown structure that lets you define the project by a series of granular tasks and subtasks. Other scheduling features I noticed include: Gantt chart-based project plan capabilities, schedule management, multi-level WBS, workflow planning, task assignment and scheduling, and critical path and variance analysis.

It also has some good contextual collaboration features to communicate around tasks, projects, and many other project objects. All of this combined makes it a full suite. It takes some time to truly master, but the simple, streamlined UI shortens the learning curve significantly in my experience.

Kantata Standout Features & Integrations

Features include resource management features (real-time utilization, resource forecasting, capacity management), analytics (built-in reports, custom reporting, trend analysis) and accounting tools (project costing, budget management, invoicing).

Integrations include pre-built integrations with tools like Expensify, G Suite, Xero, Salesforce, Netsuite, Jira, Hubspot, Slack, Concur, Dynamics 365, Qualtrics, and Quickbooks. They also provide an integration platform called M-Bridge to help you build your own integrations.

Pros

  • Aesthetic, simplistic calendaring
  • Various scheduling data views
  • Drag-and-drop Gantt chart timeline
  • Improved task tracking since older versions of the software

Cons

  • Lack of global search function
  • No schedule sharing without log-in
  • Pricing form does not display pricing information
4

Smartsheet

Best for matching resources and team members to specific projects

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

Resource Management by Smartsheet is a high-level resource management and scheduling software that helps modern teams make confident decisions about project planning, team capacity, budget forecasting, team utilization, and hiring needs in real time.

Why I picked Resource Management by Smartsheet: Built-in timesheets, mobile time tracking, and expense tracking enable you to create rich project reports by filtering project data with just a few clicks. I chose this software because these reports can give insight into historical data or offer a forecasted view of team utilization, actual vs. planned time reports, budget tracking, expense reports, and projects in the pipeline.

Over 1,000 companies rely on Resource Management by Smartsheet, from 10-person shops and 100-person teams within global brands to 1,000+ person professional services firms. From my perspective, that's a great indicator that this software is good at what it does. Resource Management by Smartsheet has also been recognized for its design excellence with awards from FastCo, SXSW, IxDA + IDSA, which contributed to my selecting it, too.

RM by Smartsheet Standout Features & Integrations

Features include project and resource matching, dynamic reporting, time tracking, a resource management panel, and a resource timeline for projects.

Integrations include apps like Slack, Brandfolder, Workplace, Microsoft Teams, and Facebook Ads. It additionally has a flexible API you can use to build custom integrations with the tools you use and automation through Zapier where you can connect to 1000+ apps.

Resource management is a premium add-on that you need to purchase on top of your Smartsheet plan.

Pros

  • Combines time tracking and resourcing
  • Able to forecast resource utilization
  • Skills database helps resource allocation
  • Intuitive for keeping timesheets and assigning hours

Cons

  • Initial resource set-up takes time
  • Could use better data visualization
  • Bulk project edits don’t apply to resource field
5

Runn

Best project scheduling tool for growing IT and software teams

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
3.7
42 reviews

Free trial + free version available

From $10 /person managed/month

Runn is a real-time project scheduling and resource planning tool with integrated time tracking and powerful forecasting capabilities.

Why I picked Runn: Scheduling is easy and intuitive in Runn, which made it an easy choice to add it to my list. You can simply drag-and-drop to create project phases and allocations. You can also create project milestones, project notes and add project budgets easily. I like how intuitive it is to flick between monthly, quarterly and half-yearly views to plan for the short and long term. If you don’t have the right person at the right time, use placeholders to define the requirements for the project.

Runn makes planning dynamic and visual, which I also appreciate. Watch the charts and reports update as you plan your projects. You can see visualizations of capacity, workload, availability, and billable and non-billable utilization. I like how you can plan out tentative projects to see how your resourcing plans might change if the work gets confirmed.

Track projects, view forecasts, and get relevant metrics within Runn. You’ll have up-to-date data in one place to keep tabs on insights like utilization, project variance, and overall financial performance. You can also use Runn’s built-in timesheets to understand how much time was worked on your projects compared to what was planned.

Runn Standout Features & Integrations

Features include resource scheduling, project planning, capacity management, project forecasting, timesheets, and reporting.

Integrations include apps like Harvest, WorkflowMax, and Clockify for importing project, client, and people data and syncing time entries. With Runn’s API, you can build your own integration to send data across your favorite tools.

Pros

  • Clean UI that’s easy to use & navigate
  • Free version available for 5 users
  • Native integrations & API available

Cons

  • No time tracking built in
  • Cant keep notes on projects
  • Colors are not customisable
6

Silverbucket

Best project timelines and resource management

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

30-day free trial

From €9 /planned person/month (volume discount available)

Silverbucket is a resource and project planning software that helps businesses allocate their people and plan their projects effectively. It helps project managers see who's working on what, when they're available, and how much time they're spending on each task.

Why I picked Silverbucket: I chose Silverbucket for my list because it not only helps you schedule your projects and manage your timelines, but it also helps you delegate work to the right people. The software gives you a project timeline, which is a clear visual representation of each project's progress. I appreciate the simplicity and functionality of the tool overall.

Projects can be planned in accordance with your available resources, and tasks can be assigned based on competency and availability, which I find to be a super useful approach. Employees can also log their hours in the system, giving you a clearer picture of how people are really spending their time on projects.

Silverbucket Standout Features and Integrations

Features include time tracking, utilization heatmap, absence management, project timelines, task management, risk and conflict management, skills mapping, and forecasting and reporting tools.

Integrations include Toggl Track, HubSpot, PowerBI, Millnet, ValueFrame, Microsoft Azure, Marathon, Parm, Planmill, Visma Severa, and Deltek. An API is also available, so you can build additional integrations as needed.

Pros

  • Easily compare resource plans to actual hours
  • Soft booking can be used to create tentative allocations
  • Skills hierarchy system to help plot resources

Cons

  • No ability to create “what if” resource planning scenarios
  • No mobile application available
7

Jira Software

Best for built-in communication & collaboration tools

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.2
4683 reviews

7-day free trial

$10/user/month

Jira is a tracking software solution designed to enable teams to schedule their software development projects efficiently. It’s primarily aimed towards software development and comes with a range of features that help make scheduling projects easier—including roadmaps, reports, and Scrum and Kanban boards that give users critical insights into the context of their work.

Why I Picked Jira: I chose this software because of its flexibility. It supports teams consisting of 1 to 35,000 users and allows them to schedule their work, set deadlines, and stay on track with the project's timeline. Managers can allocate and schedule tasks and streamline the development process and everyone involved can view the status of different tasks and change schedules when necessary.

In my opinion, the UI is intuitive; it helps managers plan projects by enabling them to break down ideas into manageable chunks, set up schedules easily, and help teams stay on track with the project even when there are changes in the schedule. Roadmaps also help team members stay on the same page and reduce friction from miscommunications. These allow teams to collaborate easily by seeing each other’s status on the projects and making changes should delays and revisions occur anywhere in the timeline.

I appreciate how the software can help teams stay on track with their projects and accomplish deadlines and handle any possible backlogs. A free plan that supports up to 10 users is available for smaller businesses and teams that first want to test whether the solution is suitable for them before spending on it. The free plan includes several of the same features available in the paid plans, with the main difference being the limited number of users per site and the unavailability of advanced automation, roadmaps, and dependency management that are only available in the Premium and Enterprise plans. Having a project scheduling solution like Jira gives businesses either a basic or advanced roadmap feature that allows people to see the progress of projects in real time and improve project scheduling.

Jira Standout Features & Integrations

Features include product management, project management, issue tracking, collaboration, customizable workflows, reporting & analytics, mobile support, permission & access management, time tracking, custom data fields, and third-party integrations/add-ons.

Integrations include Confluence, Slack, Trello, Google Drive, Bitbucket, GitHub, Salesforce, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams.

Jira Pricing & Plans

A free plan is also available for up to 10 users. Pricing for Jira starts at $10/user/month with the Standard plan, which includes a 7-day free trial.

Pros

  • Highly customizable for variety of projects and teams
  • Built-in tools for communication and collaboration
  • Wide range of integrations with other tools

Cons

  • Limited mobile app functionality
  • Limited functionality on free version
8

Productive

Best all-in-one work management for agencies

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

14-day free trial

From $11/user/month

Productive is a comprehensive, all-in-one work management software for agencies. It covers project management, resource scheduling, time tracking, budgeting, and collaboration.

Why I picked Productive: This software is intuitive, easy to use, and designed specifically with agencies in mind, all of which are reasons why I decided to add it to my list. Not only can you manage your project schedules using the timeline and calendar views, but you can also effectively allocate your resources and manage your project budgets. I also appreciate that work can be assigned based on capacity, skills, and other factors.

Time tracking is built into the platform, helping you understand how long specific tasks take so you can plan better in the future. I found this to be super helpful for accurate billing and invoicing. Speaking of which, billing is also included in the platform. In my opinion, it's a robust all-in-one solution.

Productive Standout Features & Integrations

Features include multiple views (list, calendar, board, timeline, and table), resource planning, project budgeting, document management, time tracking, billing, and reporting tools.

Integrations include Dropbox, Exact, Google Workplace, Jira, Harvest Economic, Outlook, Microsoft Calendar, Slack, QuickBooks, and Xero. A Zapier integration is also available, which can unlock more integrations with a paid account.

Pros

  • Client guest accounts are free
  • All-in-one solution for work management
  • Allocate resources based on skills and availability

Cons

  • Roles and user rights could be more customizable
  • Webhooks locked to higher paid plans
9

ClickTime

Best for time tracking and project management

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

14-day free trial

From $10/user/month

ClickTime is a comprehensive project time tracking system designed to help businesses effectively manage their resources. It helps thousands of organizations achieve smarter time management, greater profitability, and happier clients—all while maintaining a human touch.

Why I picked ClickTime: I chose this software because it allows users to track time spent on various tasks and projects, either through manual entry or by using timers. It also provides real-time visibility into project progress, allowing managers to monitor and allocate resources efficiently. 

I also appreciate that users can summarize and visualize operations at a glance with manager and executive dashboards for streamlined insights into current and future scheduling. You can analyze project schedules and progress by people or by project, giving you flexibility to view and manage your organization however you prefer.

Users can also view a capacity management heatmap to visualize available and assigned staff hours. I find it especially useful that you can view capacity up to six months out, allowing you to take control of scheduling and utilization while avoiding individual overloading and burnout.

Features include expense tracking, time-off management, resource management, project management, and business intelligence. Custom dashboard views and automated reports additionally get all stakeholders on the same page, rather than relying on the inflexible nature of canned, out-of-the-box reports.

Integrations include Sage, NetSuite, QuickBooks, Jira, BambooHR, HiBob, ADP, Zenefits, Salesforce, Hubspot, Zoho, Box, Google Drive, Slack, and task management tools like ClickUp. ClickTime also boasts an award-winning API that makes any connection possible.

Pros

  • Cloud-based software offers easy accessibility and real-time updates
  • Intuitive, user-friendly interface
  • Offers extensive reporting tools

Cons

  • Integrations may require additional configuration
  • Mobile app functionality needs improvement
10

Resource Guru

Best for preventing team burnout through balanced workloads

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

30-day free trial available

From $3/user/month

Resource Guru is a dedicated resource management software. The tool allows team members to visualize tasks on calendars, shows what everyone is working on, and clearly displays availability so project managers can maximize utilization.

Why I picked Resource Guru: Project managers can make resource bookings simultaneously while ensuring they aren’t overbooking resources—a handy functionality that earned this software a spot on my list! Because of this, resource and project clashes are automatically prevented, which I really appreciate.

Another capability of the software that I like is that bookings can be added to a waiting list and used for capacity planning later. Each staff member gets their own resource dashboard so they can log in and know exactly what they should be working on. Finally, I love how the powerful reporting features allow users to monitor utilization and business performance, as well as help with capacity planning.

Resource Guru Standout Features & Integrations

Features include resource scheduling, resource management, leave management, project scheduling, capacity planning, and forecasting reports.

Integrations include calendar apps like Outlook calendar, Calendly, and Google calendar. Thousands of additional apps are accessible through Zapier.

Pros

  • Availability bar feature for capacity planning
  • Clash management capabilities to prevent overbooking
  • Powerful resource filters

Cons

  • Integrations are mainly via Zapier, rather than as native integrations
  • No copy-paste of resource tasks
11

Hub Planner

Best for medium and large enterprises

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

30-day free trial

From $7/user/month (billed annually)

Hub Planner is a resource management software with a full suite of project scheduling, time entry, and reporting features.

Why I picked Hub Planner: The core feature that stood out to me is the simple and usable Scheduler, which allows for project and resource planning and visualization. I like how users can drag and drop to plan projects and schedule resources. The tool also offers a multi-function menu, powerful filtering, and a dynamic team capacity bar. Multiple view modes allow for both high-level birds-eye views and granular views of projects.

Hub Planner has a powerful reporting engine with 70+ pre-formatted templates, which I really appreciate as the templates save you a lot of time. If you can't find what you're looking for in a template, you can create reports from scratch.

The software also has a number of inline workflows for timesheets, requesting vacation time, and a slick resource requesting & approval option. The Unassigned Work feature is great for scheduling and forecasting ahead of the pipeline, and users can create custom fields at the resource or project level. Another thing I appreciate is that you can customize schedule notifications and reminders.

Hub Planner Standout Features & Integrations

Features include timesheets and approval, vacation and lead management, reporting, skills matching, and resource management.

Integrations include apps like Basecamp, Slack, and iCal. Thousands more can be accessed using Zapier, and its REst API can help you build custom integrations.

Pros

  • Filter planning & forecasting data by project, resource, group or skill set
  • Easily track several projects and generate reports
  • Good overview of staff task/time allocations and availability

Cons

  • Need to click into modal for more details on events/projects bookings
  • To customize views and schedule layout you need to edit settings
  • Would be nice to view more project booking information like custom fields in iCal
12

Nifty

Best for a comprehensive roadmapping toolkit

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

14-day free trial

From $9 /user/month

Nifty is a project management platform that helps teams plan and track their work. Its roadmapping capabilities help you schedule your projects effectively and keep a high-level view of what's in the pipeline.

Why I picked Nifty: This software offers a comprehensive roadmapping module that helps you plan out and oversee projects at a team, department, or company level, which I really appreciate. I like that you can view your project roadmap as a traditional timeline spreadsheet (Gantt chart), or opt for the swimlane view to break up projects by focus. The software allows you to set milestones, including recurring milestones, and create custom fields for added context.

Beyond its project scheduling capabilities, the software also has task management, document and file sharing, and reporting tools. You can manage portfolios and create forms, too. Finally, employee management and collaboration tools like time tracking and in-app discussions help reduce app-switching. In my opinion, all this makes it quite a comprehensive solution.

Nifty Standout Features and Integrations

Features include Gantt charts, swimlane view, project homes, task management, document and file sharing, in-app communications, employee time tracking, form builder, and portfolio management.

Integrations include Slack, Zoom, Harvest, Github, Miro, Typeform, Google Drive, Google Calendar, Microsoft Suite, and Webex. You can also import your project data from Jira, Asana, Basecamp, Clickup, Wrike, Trello, or a .CSV file. Additional integrations can be configured with Zapier.

Pros

  • Friendly and intuitive interface
  • Easy migration from other PM platforms
  • Comprehensive functionality for various contexts

Cons

  • Support available only with upper-tier plans
  • Limited storage with some plans
13

Zoho Projects

Best all-in-one project scheduling platform

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 project management and project scheduling software from Zoho. It offers flexibility and customizations to suit the needs of traditional project managers as well as agile teams.

Why I picked Zoho Projects: I chose this software because it has multiple ways of viewing information, like lists, Kanban, or Gantt charts. With task tags and custom views and filters, you can organize your tasks and find them with ease. In addition to timeline planning, you can plan your resources effectively with the drag-and-drop resource utilization module.

I like how easy it is to keep everyone in the loop right inside Projects via inbuilt chat, forums, and comments, or take the social route with the project portal feed. Add to that the integrated advanced analytics capabilities to generate more than 50 types of charts and reports.

The colorful dashboards are also fully customizable so that users can make Zoho Projects their own. The interface and modules are highly customizable. All aspects of the UI from theme colors to arrangement and visibility of the various modules can be changed to suit a user’s preferences. I really appreciate all of these customization options.

Zoho projects also offer free onboarding for customers and a comprehensive online help guide for all users, which I found to be super useful. The platform stands out in cases where there are multiple hand-offs involved. It is especially popular among IT companies, consultants, and education organizations.

Zoho Projects Standout Features & Integrations

Features include task management, task automation, blueprints, time tracking, team collaboration, charts, and reporting.

Integrations. Being part of Zoho’s ecosystem allows Projects to connect to several of Zoho’s own services such as Zoho Books, Zoho CRM, and Zoho’s finance suite. The new Zoho marketplace allows 3rd party integrations as well.

Pros

  • Unlimited number of projects
  • Easy workflow automation
  • Robust communication features
  • Time-track multiple tasks at once

Cons

  • Does not integrate with Quickbooks
  • Lacks some reporting features
  • Lacks some file type export options
14

Microsoft Project

Best for general users

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

30-day free trial

From $10/user/month

Microsoft Project is a project management software built over 35 years ago to help you keep track of all your work.

Why I picked Microsoft Project: I like that this software can be purchased with Office 365 (which many companies use) or as a stand-alone item. Microsoft Project has the honed functionality of an Excel file with scheduling-specific tools for project management pros, which makes it friendly and approachable, in my opinion.

If you need project scheduling help, try the intuitive and robust Gantt chart generator to navigate product timelines. And for adapting to our current needs, MS Project is available in both cloud-based and on-premise options, which I definitely think is worth mentioning.

MS Project Standout Features & Integrations

Features include three types of views, coauthoring on project schedules, pre-built reports, interactive roadmaps, resource management, portfolio modelling, and communication using MS Teams.

Integrations include other Microsoft software, like Outlook, Excel, Skype, and more.

Pros

  • Can generate a Gantt chart from a spreadsheet
  • Helpful project template descriptions for guidance
  • Driver prioritization module for ranking strategies/objectives
  • Easy integration with other Microsoft software

Cons

  • Limitations on collaboration tools
  • Steep learning curve
  • Few customization options
15

Paymo

Best project scheduling software for freelancers

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

15-day free trial + free version available

From $5.95/user/month

Paymo is a project scheduling software for small and medium businesses to help creative and marketing teams own their entire project cycle. Besides planning and resource scheduling, Paymo is strong on task management, time tracking, and invoicing functionality.

Why I Picked Paymo: What stood out to me about this software is that it allows you to define the critical path by taking lead and lag time into account for project planning. Resource scheduling-wise, you can view your entire team’s workload across several projects, thanks to the multiple views by user/project/ungrouped tasks.

I like that instead of manually setting up bookings, Paymo creates them automatically (ghost bookings) based on your previously entered task details to cut the data entry process in half. The built-in leave planner can also be used to mark leave days directly from the scheduler, which could really save your company time and money in my opinion.

Paymo Standout Features & Integration

Features include time tracking, task management, budget tracking, resource management, collaboration, Gantt charts, reporting & analytics, invoicing, mobile app, customizations, and third-party integrations.

Integrations include Slack, Google Suite, QuickBooks Online, Xero, JotForm, and Shift, to name a few. Other integrations are available through Zapier or by syncing with their fully-documented API.

Pros

  • Built-in time tracking
  • Great for SMBs
  • Plenty of features & shortcuts

Cons

  • Limited native integrations
  • Storage limits are lower than some others

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Best Project Scheduling Software Comparison Chart

Here is a table where you can compare all the tools we just covered in the overviews.

Tool Trial Info Price
1
monday.com

Best for ready-made templates

14-day free trial + free plan available

From $8/user/month (billed annually, min 3 seats) Website
2
Parallax

Best for predictive resource analysis for scheduling enablement

Free demo

Pricing upon request Website
3
Kantata

Best project scheduling tool for workflow automation

Free demo

Pricing upon request Website
4
Smartsheet

Best for matching resources and team members to specific projects

Freemium version available

From $7/user/month Website
5
Runn

Best project scheduling tool for growing IT and software teams

Free trial + free version available

From $10 /person managed/month Website
6
Silverbucket

Best project timelines and resource management

30-day free trial

From €9 /planned person/month (volume discount available) Website
7
Jira Software

Best for built-in communication & collaboration tools

7-day free trial

$10/user/month Website
8
Productive

Best all-in-one work management for agencies

14-day free trial

From $11/user/month Website
9
ClickTime

Best for time tracking and project management

14-day free trial

From $10/user/month Website
10
Resource Guru

Best for preventing team burnout through balanced workloads

30-day free trial available

From $3/user/month Website
11
Hub Planner

Best for medium and large enterprises

30-day free trial

From $7/user/month (billed annually) Website
12
Nifty

Best for a comprehensive roadmapping toolkit

14-day free trial

From $9 /user/month Website
13
Zoho Projects

Best all-in-one project scheduling platform

Free trial available

From $5/user/month Website
14
Microsoft Project

Best for general users

30-day free trial

From $10/user/month Website
15
Paymo

Best project scheduling software for freelancers

15-day free trial + free version available

From $5.95/user/month Website

Other Project Scheduling Software Options

Here are a few extra project scheduling tools that did not make it to the top 15 but are worth your consideration.

  1. Forecast

    Best project scheduling software for capacity planning

  2. ProjectManager.com

    Best project scheduling software for multiple projects

  3. ActiveCollab

    Best for project scheduling for small teams

  4. Adobe Workfront

    Best for robust feature set

  5. KeyedIn

    Best project scheduling software for international enterprises

  6. ProWorkflow

    Best project scheduling software for beginners who want simple UI

  7. Notion

    Best project scheduling tool for small businesses

  8. TeamGantt

    Best project scheduling tool for beginners

  9. ClickUp

    Best for DPMs looking for one tool to centralize their project scheduling

  10. Hive

    Best project scheduling tool for startups and scaling teams

Selection Criteria For The Best Project Scheduling Software

If you're wondering how I selected the best project scheduling software, here's where I'll break it all down for you. I started with project scheduling software that has high user review and satisfaction ratings. Then, using my experience in scheduling and managing projects, I discerned the key criteria for project scheduling software and compared how each of them stacked up against the rest. After careful consideration, I've determined that these are the most important criteria when selecting the best project scheduling software. Here's a brief list outlining the rationale of my project scheduling feature selection.

Key Features

  • Budget planning: Fields or specific modules where you can keep track of the money and how it’s being spent.
  • Task management: The software should offer various ways to manage project tasks. Likewise, it should have views that let you see these tasks in different ways, such as Gantt charts, calendar views, table views, and Kanban boards.
  • Communication: A lot of PM software has some kind of communication tool built-in. These include team chat, messaging, integrations with email for automatic notifications, a live activity stream or notifications feed, and task comments.
  • Resource management: When we schedule tasks, we also schedule resources. Therefore, the software should have a module where we can look at our team, allocation, workload, and some kind of project dashboard where we can track activity.
  • Analytics & reporting: One of the main benefits of project scheduling software is its ability to easily provide loads of project data and compile it into reports. The best project planning software offers analytics and reporting features like configurable reports, real-time and interactive reporting features, automatic report generation, and advanced analytics that track time, resource utilization, costs, and other key project metrics.

User Interface (UI)

I look at the distribution of elements on screen as well as how attractive the design is. Having ‘pretty’ software is important if you see it every day, in my opinion.

Usability

I experience the tool as a new user and try to analyze how intuitive it is. Also, I approach it as someone who would need to teach others how to use this tool to other people. Is it easy to learn?

Integrations

At a minimum, most project management software will have pre-built integrations with Google Suite, Dropbox, and Box. Something to watch for is integrations with or the ability to sync with calendar apps—while it may seem like a no-brainer, not all tools have pre-built integrations with calendar apps that you’re already using (or you have to upgrade your plan to access that functionality).

Pricing

How does this tool’s price compare to other tools with similar feature sets? I also search for free trials or free versions of the software that allow you to test their functionality for yourself. Small teams with simple project scheduling needs might be able to get by with free project scheduling software.

Project Scheduling Software FAQ

Find answers to common questions other people ask about this topic.

Why You Should Use Project Scheduling Software

Project scheduling software has many benefits. Especially if your organization is scaling. Project scheduling software makes the challenge of scheduling the team on the most appropriate projects, at the optimal time, much simpler. The software helps optimize the sequencing of projects and scheduling of the team to maximize efficiency. It facilitates clearer conversations around team capacity and supports better decision making to hit project deadlines.

Project-Scheduling-Software-1

7 Benefits of project scheduling software:

  1. Defines the project workflow and keeps the team focused on the right tasks. This tool will give your team visual access to the timeline and it can help them see their tasks in the context of the project.
  2. Identifies and tracks your project’s critical path to leverage flex in the schedule. Some solutions can even highlight your critical path with the click of a button.
  3. Wastes less time rescheduling with priorities & dependencies that automatically adjust. This one will save you hours of your time given that you have all dependencies set up correctly.
  4. Sets project baselines to track your project plan against your execution. You'll be able to have conversations with the client that are better informed and where you can measure if you are on track.
  5. Frees up time and energy when you set up the tool to provide automatic deadline reminders. This relieves the pressure of chasing people all the time (but keep doing it, just to be sure).
  6. You can easily visualize, compare, spot holes, and adjust your resource availability.
  7. Generates reports on utilization, organizational demand, and capacity, and review trends to forecast future hiring needs.

There are many more benefits—and they will continue to grow in number as technology evolves, providing more opportunities to better automate tasks and make smarter decisions.

What's Next?

Resource management is a big component of project scheduling as it directly impacts your ability to deliver a project. Learn about resource loading and how it compares to resource leveling to make the most out of available resources. And if you want to impress your stakeholders, we have a wonderful guide on how to really nail project scheduling.

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.