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Project tracking software helps teams monitor progress, hit deadlines, and stay aligned by centralizing updates, timelines, and task statuses in one place. It solves common project challenges like shifting priorities, lack of visibility, and missed handoffs—making it easier to catch risks early and keep everything moving forward.

At The Digital Project Manager, I independently tested and reviewed a wide range of project tracking tools to see which ones truly help teams stay on top of their work. I evaluated each platform’s ability to provide real-time updates, customizable dashboards, and actionable reporting that supports both Agile and traditional workflows.

In this guide, you’ll find my top picks for project tracking software. Whether you're managing a remote team or just need better visibility into progress, these tools will help you track what matters most.

Why Trust Our Project Tracking Software Reviews

We’ve been testing and reviewing project tracking software since 2012. As project managers ourselves, we know how critical and difficult it is to make the right decision when selecting software.

We invest in deep research to help our audience make better software purchasing decisions. We’ve tested more than 2,000 tools for different Project Management use cases and written over 1,000 comprehensive software reviews. Learn how we stay transparent & our project tracking software review methodology.

Compare Specs Side-By-Side

Here is a table you can use to compare the tools we just covered in the overviews.

Best Project Tracking Software Reviews

Below are my detailed summaries of the best project tracking software that made it onto my shortlist. My reviews offer a detailed look at the key features, pros & cons, integrations, and ideal use cases of each tool to help you find the best one for you.

Best for visual project planning

  • 14-day free trial + free plan + free demo available
  • From $9/user/month (billed annually)
Visit Website
Rating: 4.6/5

monday is one of the most flexible tools you can use for project management. This software lets you organize tasks, track projects, create goals, and assess employee workload. Consultant Fred Baker, who has worked with firms implementing monday, highlights both its strengths and setup challenges: “Consulting with firms on Monday has shown its flexibility, though setup can be complex without guidance.”

Why I picked monday.com: I chose monday.com because its visual interface lets your team members see which task they should work on at a glance. It also presents the information in multiple views, such as Kanban, timeline, Chart, and table. This way, you have the flexibility to track your project according to your preferences.

Additionally, monday.com lets you track your team's progress through customizable dashboards and reports. I like that you can track your team members' tasks through the time tracking column in the table view. Once you add the column to your project schedule, each person from your team can start and stop a timer related to their task within that one view.

monday.com Standout Features & Integrations

Features include an automation builder that allows teams to create no-code workflows that automate repetitive tasks, such as status updates, notifications, and task assignments. Additionally, monday.com’s collaborative docs enable teams to work together in real-time on project-related documents, linking them directly to tasks for easy access and enhanced collaboration.

Integrations include Slack, Google Drive, Gmail, Google Calendar, Jira, GitHub, Trello, Dropbox, and many more through a paid plan with Zapier.

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Huge focus on collaboration
  • Easy to connect to other tools via integrations library
  • Automations are easy to create and require no coding

Cons:

  • The Gantt view cannot be used to build a project from scratch
  • Some views have trouble auto-updating

New Product Updates from monday.com

November 30 2025
monday.com Integrates AI Agents and Apps

monday.com now allows integration of AI agents and apps to enhance task management and insights generation. For more information, visit monday.com's official site.

Best for project-wide visibility

  • 14-day free trial available
  • From $19.9/user/month (billed annually)
Visit Website
Rating: 4.5/5

Scoro is an all-in-one work management software that includes features for project management, sales, customer relationship management, billing, and more.

Why I picked Scoro: As a project tracking software, Scoro offers full visibility into the real-time progress of tasks, events, and projects. It has an agile Gantt chart that keeps everything up to date in one place. This feature extends to workload planning and scheduling to help project managers and teams maintain balance and avoid overbooking. The platform also facilitates the management of recurring client work with automated billing processes.

Additionally, I like that Scoro's features go beyond simple project management to include other operations, like tracking time spent and billed and income and expenses. The platform even has a comprehensive CRM feature to provide a 360-view of customers, interactions, and deals.

Scoro Standout Features & Integrations

Features include a financial overview dashboard that combines project tracking with revenue, expenses, and profit margins to provide a comprehensive financial snapshot for every project. Additionally, Scoro’s solid retainer management feature allows teams to monitor recurring revenue streams, track progress against retainer budgets, and automate billing cycles for long-term client projects.

Integrations include Microsoft Exchange, Xero, QuickBooks, Sage Intacct, Expensify, Stripe, Google Calendar, Jira, Slack, Asana, Dropbox, PayPal, and more.

New Product Updates from Scoro

Scoro Enhancements for Invoicing and Work Management
Scoro lets you link time entries to existing invoices in just a few clicks.
November 16 2025
Scoro Enhancements for Invoicing and Work Management

Scoro improves invoicing and work management by allowing allocation of time and costs to invoices and customizing project task views. For more information, visit Scoro's official site.

Best for professional service automation

  • 14-day free trial
  • From $49/user/month
Visit Website
Rating: 4.3/5

Polaris PSA by Replicon is a professional services automation platform built to support your project tracking and resource management workflows. It centralizes real-time data across projects, resources, and finances, giving your team live insights.

Why I Picked Polaris PSA: I like its SmartBeats feature that collects updates like hours worked, remaining effort, and completion estimates directly from team members and systems like Slack or Asana. These real-time insights support PSA needs by helping service leaders track project delivery, manage billable hours, and detect delays before they escalate.

Polaris PSA also stood out for its SmartMatch resource recommendation engine, which directly addresses one of the core challenges in PSA: assigning the right people to the right projects. SmartMatch analyzes skills, availability, location, and cost to suggest the best-fit team members, making it easier to plan and track projects.

Polaris PSA Standout Features & Integrations 

Features include a mission control dashboards that give you live visibility into project and financial metrics, keeping you in control of project health and margins. Additionally, SmartBudget lets you create bidding and budget models by simulating resource costs, utilization, and margins to help win profitable work. 

Integrations include SAP, ADP, Salesforce, Quickbooks, Atlassian, Microsoft Dynamics, Sage, Servicenow, Zero, Zoom, Outlook Calendar, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Azure DevOps, Google Meet, Google Calendar, and other popular business software. 

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Includes advanced scheduling capabilities
  • Smart time tracking with Slack/MS Teams integration
  • Real‑time visibility into project status

Cons:

  • Complex implementation for smaller teams
  • Limitations on custom fields and workflow tailoring

New Product Updates from Polaris PSA By Replicon

September 7 2025
Polaris PSA: Project-based billing, custom rates, and role assignment messaging

This week's Polaris PSA update brings three enhancements: project-based bill grouping, custom amount billing with rate and unit options, and messaging to catch missing role assignments. These features help you organize billing, add precise custom charges, and keep your projects aligned with rate cards. Visit Polaris PSA's website for more.

Best for project templates

  • Free plan available
  • From $10/user/month (billed annually)
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Rating: 4.2/5

Wrike is a cloud-based project management software that helps teams organize their workflow, collaborate on different projects, and track their work. For consultant Harvey Eckstein, one of Wrike’s standout features is its ability to simplify repeatable processes: “Wrike’s blueprints (templates) are ideal for event management because they automate repeat tasks.”

Why I Picked Wrike

I picked Wrike because of its standout project templates that cater to various industries, making it an ideal choice for project tracking software. These templates are highly customizable, allowing you to tailor them to specific needs such as marketing campaigns, IT projects, or creative workflows. With features like change control processes and daily task tracking, Wrike simplifies complex workflows and enhances team collaboration. By using Wrike's smart search tool, your team can easily find and adapt templates to fit any project, addressing the challenge of organizing and managing tasks efficiently.

Wrike Key Features

In addition to its best-in-class project templates, Wrike offers a range of features that make it a strong contender for project tracking software.

  • AI Automation: Automates repetitive tasks to save time and help your team focus on more critical activities.
  • Dynamic Request Forms: Streamlines the work intake process by ensuring all necessary information is collected from requesters.
  • Custom Views: Provides multiple project visualization options, including Board, Table, Gantt, and Calendar views, to enhance collaboration.
  • Real-time Reporting: Facilitates easy progress tracking through customizable report generation and scheduling.

Wrike Integrations

Integrations include Microsoft SharePoint, Google Sheets, Salesforce, Zoom, Adobe Creative Cloud, Google Drive, Power BI, Miro, Tableau, and Wrike for Microsoft Teams.

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Enhanced visibility with robust reporting tools
  • Flexible project templates
  • Straightforward onboarding with video walkthroughs

Cons:

  • 2FA is locked behind the enterprise plan
  • Can be complex to customize the platform

New Product Updates from Wrike

Streamlining Workspaces with New Updates
Visual of Wrike's custom space templates allowing streamlined workspace setup with various template options.
October 19 2025
Streamlining Workspaces with New Updates

Wrike announces custom space templates, AI Agents in Wrike Labs, and a new Guage widget to improve project management. For more information, visit Wrike's official site.

Best for portfolio management

  • 14-day free trial
  • From $17/user/month
Visit Website
Rating: 4.6/5

Bubble PPM is a scalable, highly configurable platform designed for mid- to large size companies looking to improve project tracking and successful delivery of portfolio strategy.

Why I picked Bubble PPM: The Bubble platform is an intuitive PPM Software that’s designed with its end-users in mind. I chose it because it provides a range of customizable dashboards, reports, and tools to support portfolio-oriented company leaders and project delivery teams. I also like that the system offers a range of out-of-the-box tools based on best practices from their many years as a specialist consultancy, so that teams can hit the ground running. 

By leveraging a modular and permissions-based platform, the software is easily tailored to current organizational needs. But it can also grow and evolve as the company's needs change, which I appreciate for scalability. Bubble makes it easy for users to see the whole picture or just the views and slices of data that are relevant for their role. I also noticed its in-built notifications help to ensure that users are getting the right Information at the right time, to work proactively and mitigate risks.

Bubble PPM Standout Features & Integrations

Features include process modeling capabilities that allow teams to visualize and optimize workflows, ensuring alignment with organizational goals and best practices. Additionally, the platform's advanced risk assessment tools integrate directly with project tracking, enabling proactive identification and mitigation of potential project challenges.

Integrations include over 400 native integrations with apps like SAP, JIRA, Confluence, MS Teams, Slack, Salesforce, Hubspot, Sailpoint, Power BI, and SSO/MFA. Plus, you can build your own integrations with their powerful API.

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Provides a single source of truth for multiple project portfolios
  • Real-time updates and summaries of projects
  • Highly customizable to fit complex business needs

Cons:

  • Substantial implementation efforts may be necessary to get started
  • Dashboards can be tricky to format and edit

Best for full lifecycle project delivery

  • Free demo available
  • Pricing upon request
Visit Website
Rating: 4.1/5

Kantata is designed to help you do more than just track tasks—it gives you full visibility into projects across their entire lifecycle. From planning and staffing to delivery, tracking, and reporting, Kantata ensures that every stage of your project is connected so nothing slips through the cracks.

Why I picked Kantata: I chose this platform because it’s built to scale with your needs, whether you’re part of a small consulting team or managing enterprise-level portfolios. It’s especially strong for professional services organizations, where collaboration, financial oversight, and resource management all need to work together seamlessly. With Kantata, your team gets a single source of truth for timelines, budgets, and progress updates.

One of the standout features for me is its ability to tie project tracking directly to financials and resources. You can view progress against milestones, monitor project burn, and see how staffing and budget decisions affect outcomes in real time. That connection between day-to-day tracking and lifecycle delivery makes it a powerful tool for teams who need more than just a task manager.

Kantata Standout Features & Integrations

Features include built-in trend analysis tools that reveal performance patterns over time, dynamic dashboards that consolidate project health metrics, and scenario planning to help leaders adapt when project priorities shift.

Integrations include Salesforce, SAP, Jira, Xero, BambooHR, Slack, Worday, QuickBooks, HubSpot, and NetSuite.

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Predictive resource management
  • Strong financial management capabilities
  • Supports real-time collaboration

Cons:

  • Customization options could be limited for some users
  • Mobile app functionality is limited compared to desktop version

Best for unified project tracking and resource planning

  • 14-day free trial
  • From $18/user/month (billed annually)
Visit Website
Rating: 4.2/5

ProWorkflow is a project management software designed for teams in industries such as marketing, consulting, and IT who need precise project tracking and planning. By centralizing project details, time tracking, and invoicing, it helps tackle challenges related to workflow efficiency and team collaboration.

Why I Picked ProWorkflow

I picked ProWorkflow because it combines project tracking with resource planning tools like Kanban and Gantt charts, crucial for managing workloads effectively. Its time tracking feature ensures your team meets deadlines, while integration with tools like Xero aids in financial operations, making it a comprehensive project tracking solution.

ProWorkflow Key Features

In addition to unified project tracking and planning, ProWorkflow offers:

  • Client Management: Seamlessly integrates with third-party accounting software to streamline client interactions and financial management.
  • Reporting & Insights: Provides tools for generating detailed project reports, aiding in data-driven decision-making.
  • Materials & Expenses: Allows for centralized management of project-related costs and materials.
  • Quoting & Estimating: Facilitates the conversion of quotes into invoices, simplifying the billing process.

ProWorkflow Integrations

Integrations include Xero, QuickBooks Online, MYOB, FreshBooks, Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, SharePoint, Google Workspace, and an API is available for custom integrations.

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Its extensive reporting tools provide valuable project insights.
  • Integrates well with Xero for streamlined financial operations.
  • Reliable time tracking integrates seamlessly with accounting software.

Cons:

  • Limited customization in dashboard views compared to some rivals.
  • Some users suggest improvements in reporting functionality.

Best for simplicity and ease of use

  • Free plan available
  • From $4/user/month (billed annually)
Visit Website
Rating: 4.2/5

Zoho Projects is a powerful project tracker that offers easy-to-use built-in tools for issue tracking, time tracking, and project reporting. As a project tracking solution, Zoho Projects delivers all kinds of information. This includes project progress, budget status, resource capacity, and any potential project issues.

Why I Picked Zoho Projects: Some of the key features of this software that made me choose it for my list are the well-rounded project visibility and reporting capabilities. In my opinion, a good project tracker ensures complete visibility into every aspect of the project, especially when it comes to performance and progress. The built-in project reporting is responsible for providing managers with all the information they need regarding their open and closed tasks, expenses, and the overall performance of their project.

Automated invoicing is another feature that made me want to include this platform. Project managers and stakeholders can easily bill their clients for time and materials that are recorded in the timesheets module, which I found to be super helpful. The system will auto-generate invoices with all the logged activity data from the entire team that worked on the project.

Zoho Projects Standout Features & Integrations

Features include a critical path analysis feature that helps teams identify task dependencies and key activities that directly impact project timelines. Furthermore, Zoho Projects offers advanced issue tracking tools that integrate with its time tracking and reporting features, which enables teams to monitor and resolve project bottlenecks efficiently.

Integrations include Microsoft Office 365, Microsoft Teams, Google Drive, Zendesk, and ServiceNow. Integrations via Zapier and Zoho Flow are also supported. Being part of the Zoho ecosystem allows you to connect to several of Zoho’s own services for Sales, Marketing, CRM, customer service, and more.

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Easy workflow automations
  • Migration from other software providers is available
  • Robust feature suite for team members and project managers alike

Cons:

  • Free tier is limited—only supports up to five users and two projects
  • Lack of file type export options

Best for cross-border project control

  • Free plan available
  • $14/user/month
Visit Website
Rating: 4.6/5

VOGSY is a comprehensive project tracking and management tool designed for global teams. It combines CRM and ERP functionalities to help you manage projects, resources, and finances efficiently, no matter where in the world your team operates.

Why I Picked VOGSY:

I picked VOGSY because of its ability to manage international projects. It supports multiple currencies and countries, allowing your team to handle global operations without a hitch. This makes it ideal for businesses looking to expand their reach and manage their projects across borders. Another feature that stands out is its resource planning capabilities, which allow you to allocate and manage your team's workload effectively. This ensures that you can optimize your resources and keep your projects on track.

Additionally, VOGSY offers robust tools for financial oversight, providing you with real-time insights into your project's revenue, costs, and margins. This transparency helps you make informed decisions and keep your projects financially healthy. Its project management features include the ability to track time and expenses, which is crucial for maintaining control over project budgets and timelines.

VOGSY Standout Features & Integrations

Features include reporting capabilities that allow you to track revenue, costs, and margins across different regions and offices. The platform also offers document management through its drive integrations, which helps you keep your project documents organized and accessible. Moreover, VOGSY provides revenue forecasting based on resource planning, giving you a clear picture of future financial performance and helping you plan accordingly.

Integrations include QuickBooks, Deltek, Xero, Sage, Certinia, Oracle Netsuite, Exact, PHC-GO, Tally, Wave, ABSS, and Omie.

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Real-time global financial overview
  • Fast setup and onboarding
  • Robust resource planning tools

Cons:

  • Limited mobile functionality
  • Basic customization options feel restrictive

Best for agency management

  • Free demo + 14-day free trial
  • From $9/month (billed annually)
Visit Website
Rating: 4.7/5

Productive is an all-in-one agency management tool, providing features that cover project management, time tracking, budgeting, resource planning, sales tracking, and billing. It is aimed at professional service businesses and agencies that require a centralized system to manage various aspects of their operations. For business owners, one of the biggest advantages is the ability to directly connect time tracking with financial outcomes. Jason Keeley, Business Owner at PoolCalculator.net, put it this way: “Productive connects time and money in a very clear way. It shows me how much effort each job takes and makes sure our budget stays on track.”

Why I picked Productive: Productive's project tracking software is designed to assist agencies and professional service businesses in managing their projects effectively. It provides a centralized system for budgeting, resource planning, and reporting, which are crucial for tracking project costs and performance. The project management feature allows for the organization of tasks, setting deadlines, and real-time collaboration among team members. 

Time tracking can also record work hours, which is essential for billing and productivity analysis. The platform additionally offers different views, such as Gantt, list, and table views, to visualize project timelines and deliverables. A workload view is available to monitor the allocation of team members and their availability.

Productive Standout Features & Integrations

Features include a built-in sales pipeline that integrates with project tracking to help agencies manage leads and projects within a single platform. Additionally, Productive’s automated invoicing directly links billable hours and expenses to client invoices, reducing manual effort and ensuring accurate billing for every project phase.

Integrations include Jira, HubSpot, Xero, Google Calendar, Exact, Slack, QuickBooks, Fortnox, and Microsoft Outlook.

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Robust resource planning and tracking
  • User-friendly interface that simplifies task tracking
  • Integrated financial management and reporting

Cons:

  • Could have more integrations
  • Not ideal for businesses outside professional services industries

Best for end-to-end agency tracking

  • 7-day free trial
  • From $9/user/month (billed annually)
Visit Website
Rating: 4.4/5

Bonsai is a business management software that integrates various features for client management, project management, and financial management. 

Why I picked Bonsai: I like that Bonsai has a comprehensive feature set that lets you monitor agency projects end-to-end. This includes managing tasks and facilitating real-time collaboration. The platform allows you to assign tasks to team members, track time spent with timesheets, and view project status with intuitive Kanban boards.

Bonsai takes project tracking a step further with its integrated resource and financial tracking features. You can allocate resources based on team capacity and build and track different types of budgets, whether it's fixed rates, hourly rates, or retainers. The platform even offers customizable reports and analytics so you can track project profitability, utilization, and billable and non-billable hours.

Bonsai Standout Features & Integrations

Features include contract and proposal integration within project tracking, which helps facilitate smooth transitions from client onboarding to project execution by keeping all related documents organized and accessible. Moreover, the tool's built-in client portal provides a centralized space for communication, file sharing, and project updates, ensuring clients stay informed and engaged throughout the project lifecycle.

Integrations include Xero, HubSpot, Gmail, Google Calendar, Calendly, Zapier, Slack, QuickBooks Online, ClickUp, Trello, Google Drive, Google Sheets, and more.

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Automation for tasks like recurring invoices
  • Offers high-quality customizable templates
  • Client portal helps manage multiple clients

Cons:

  • Lack of advanced and granular project tracking features
  • May not be best for scaling operations

Best for flexible project views

  • 30-day free trial + free demo available
  • From $9/user/month (billed annually)
Visit Website
Rating: 4.4/5

If you’re leading a team through shifting priorities and multiple moving parts, Smartsheet gives you a way to capture tasks, timelines and approvals in one place instead of bouncing between spreadsheets and chat threads. Designed for project managers, PMOs and operational teams in mid-sized to enterprise organizations, it blends familiar grid-style layouts with project-oriented views so your team can track work more transparently.

Why I Picked Smartsheet

I chose Smartsheet because its ability to provide flexible views—such as Gantt, grid, card and calendar—lets your team visualize work the way it makes sense to you, and its built-in workflow automation (for reminders, approvals and task routing) means you’re not manually chasing status updates. I also appreciate how its portfolio-level dashboards give you visibility across multiple projects so you can spot shifts in priority or resource overload early. Together, these features make Smartsheet a strong fit for organizations that want more structure and oversight for their project tracking without losing flexibility.

Smartsheet Key Features

In addition to its project tracking capabilities, Smartsheet offers several other features that enhance its utility:

  • Automated Workflows: Streamline repetitive tasks by setting up automated workflows, reducing manual intervention and errors.
  • Resource Management: Allocate resources efficiently and track utilization to ensure your team is working at optimal capacity.
  • Reporting and Analytics: Generate detailed reports and analytics to assess project performance and identify areas for improvement.
  • Collaboration Tools: Use built-in collaboration tools to communicate with your team in real-time, ensuring everyone is aligned.

Smartsheet Integrations

Integrations include Slack, Microsoft Teams, Power BI, Salesforce, Adobe Creative Cloud, Jira, ServiceNow, Tableau, DocuSign, and Google Workspace. An API is available for custom integrations.

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Its templates gallery provides tailored starting points for different teams (IT, marketing, operations).
  • The workload tracking feature helps identify over-allocated team members and balance assignments.
  • Smartsheet lets teams create flexible views (grid, Gantt, card) so project tracking aligns with their preferred style.

Cons:

  • Not ideal for highly complex or bureaucratic project environments.
  • Interface can appear complex or unintuitive for teams not familiar with spreadsheets or advanced views.

Best for visual project tracking

  • Free plan available
  • From $8/user/month (billed annually)
Visit Website
Rating: 4.8/5

Miro is a cloud-based collaborative whiteboard platform that promotes visual collaboration, remote teamwork, and creative problem-solving. Its versatile framework allows teams to create entirely unique workflows based on what works best for them. However, it also offers numerous pre-built templates for teams that require more structure.

Why I picked Miro: Miro made it onto my list because it distinguishes itself with an open canvas that encourages free-form brainstorming and workflow development, supported by the ability to present ideas in diverse formats, including numerical data, images, videos, and branded content. This feature allows for the creation of detailed project boards with legends and color coding for clearer communication.

I also appreciate that it offers time tracking capabilities that can help your teams monitor and analyze the time spent on projects or specific tasks. In my opinion, this feature can be useful for tracking productivity, estimating project timelines, or identifying areas for improvement. Additionally, Miro provides activity logs that record changes made to boards, allowing you to review the history of board edits and contributions.

Miro Standout Features & Integrations

Features include pre-built templates, including for mind maps, user story maps, and Kanban boards, commenting, voting, stickies, and @mentioning features, video conferencing and screensharing, TalkTrack, which allows users to record process explanation videos, a Miro Assist AI, and cross-device synchronization.

Integrations include Dropbox, Slack, Jira, Confluence, Atlassian, GitHub, Microsoft Teams, Trello, Unsplash, and Google Drive.

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Infinite whiteboard accommodates various project management methods
  • Free forever plan available
  • Built-in communication features for streamlined collaboration

Cons:

  • Visitor/guest accounts locked to paid plans only
  • Zooming can be jumpy on larger projects

Best client portals for sharing insights

  • 14-day free trial
  • From $19/user/month (billed annually)
Visit Website
Rating: 4.8/5

Rocketlane is a project tracking software purpose-built to run customer-facing projects.

Why I picked Rocketlane: I chose this software because it uniquely combines project management, document collaboration, and communication. In my opinion, this helps teams hit their project goals and accelerate time-to-value. Rocketlane offers private and shared views for project plans and documents as well as a customer portal for stakeholder and client views. You can also codify your best practices with project and document templates to create them once and reuse them forever across projects.

If you want to have every project tracking tool in one software, time tracking within the platform is available but has to be activated from the software's settings so you can use it. The settings also allow you to set reminders, timesheet approvers, and submission days, which I find to be super useful. Your team can access all of the time-tracking features from the clock on the left panel, and add time entries by filling in the required fields.

Rocketlane Standout Features & Integrations

Features include white-label customer portals that enable businesses to deliver a branded experience to clients. Moreover, the tool's unique ability to tie conversations directly to tasks and documents ensures context is never lost. Rocketlane’s live document collaboration feature also supports real-time editing and feedback to reduce iteration cycles and ensure stakeholders are always aligned.

Integrations include Slack, Jira software, Workato, and Salesforce. Additionally, you can connect Rocketlane to thousands of apps through its Zapier integration.

Best for goal alignment

  • Free plan available
  • From $7/user/month (billed annually)
Visit Website
Rating: 4.7/5

Nifty is a comprehensive project management software with roadmapping, task management, and reporting tools. You can use it to plan out your work, track your progress, and report on your productivity and outputs.

Why I picked Nifty: I added this software to my list because you can develop roadmaps, assign tasks, create dependencies, set deadlines, and automate repetitive tasks using this software. It provides various views so you can oversee your work in whatever way is most helpful to your context, which I appreciate. Project statuses are automatically tracked based on completion status, which gives you a real-time update on how work is progressing compared to your plan.

The software also has live chat and file sharing features, which can help team members collaborate on their work. Time tracking is also included, helping you understand how much time various tasks and projects take up. On top of all that, I like the robust reporting tools that let you dig into productivity data and understand what's working well.

Nifty Standout Features and Integrations

Features include a project home feature that acts as a centralized hub, providing a bird’s-eye view of key project details, discussions, and updates for quick alignment. Moreover, Nifty’s swimlane view offers a unique perspective on task progress and enables teams to visualize and manage dependencies and resource allocation in a clear, organized layout.

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

Best for building custom project workflows

  • Free trial available
  • From $24/user/month
Visit Website
Rating: 4.6/5

Kintone is a customizable project tracking software used by teams at Volvo Trucks North America, Japan Airlines, Shiseido, and over 23,000 organizations worldwide.

Why I picked Kintone: 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. Kintone apps can be customized for project management, sales CRM, customer databases, expense reports, shared to-do lists, equipment management, product feedback, and much more.

Kintone lets you build no-code project tracking 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’s built-in communication features also 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.

Kintone Standout Features & Integrations

Features include a drag-and-drop app builder that allows teams to create fully customized project tracking solutions tailored to their specific needs without any coding. Its "Spaces" feature also provides a centralized hub for project-related tools, discussions, and resources to ensure everything your team needs is organized in one location. Additionally, Kintone’s dynamic data filtering and prioritization capabilities enable teams to generate tailored reports and dashboards.

Integrations include 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.

Best for small teams

  • 14-day free trial
  • From $1.49/user/month (billed annually) + free plan available
Visit Website
Rating: 4.5/5

Freedcamp is a project management and collaboration software that lets managers schedule, track, and review their team’s work.

Why I picked Freedcamp: This tool enables you to delegate tasks, set tasks goals, manage project timelines, and discuss projects using notes and comments. I chose it because you can also set up custom notifications to let your team know when something changes. The software shows you the status of all your tasks in real-time, which I find helps you stay on top of things without endless calls, emails, or meetings. I also like how it helps you track projects using calendars, Kanban methods, Gantt charts, or a grid view.

Freedcamp Standout Features & Integrations

Features include a wiki-style document feature that provides a centralized space for teams to create and maintain knowledge bases, ensuring project information is always accessible and up-to-date. The platform’s bulk edit functionality also allows managers to quickly adjust multiple tasks at once. Furthermore, Freedcamp’s built-in issue tracking system ensures that bugs or roadblocks can be logged, assigned, and resolved efficiently.

Integrations include Google apps, Dropbox, OneDrive, Slack, Trello, Jira, and hundreds of other tools.

Best for flexibility

  • 30-day free trial + free demo available
  • From $10.99/user/month (min 3 users, billed annually)
Visit Website
Rating: 4.4/5

Teamwork is a flexible tool that simplifies the work of project managers with milestone creation, time-tracking, invoicing, and billing features. The software has a clean interface, enabling managers to schedule tasks and oversee workflows with ease.

With Teamwork, you can see what all your team members are working on, identify bottlenecks, and attach relevant documents to tasks or subtasks. The built-in time-tracking features can help you pinpoint your organization’s most profitable services, so you can improve your resource allocation process.

Teamwork integrates with 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.

Teamwork costs from $12.50/user/month. You can test the software for free for 30 days. The software also offers a free-forever plan for up to 5 users. The free plan includes basic project and task management features, milestones, and collaboration features.

Best for agile projects

  • 7-day free trial + free plan available
  • From $7.16/user/month (billed annually, min 5 seats)
Visit Website
Rating: 4.2/5

Jira is a project management platform designed by Atlassian that supports planning, tracking, and launching projects using an agile product development framework.

Why I picked Jira: This software has sprint planning, agile reporting, Kanban boards, Scrum boards, and code review tools, making it a well-rounded option that was easy to add to my list. Users can generate reports based on various criteria, such as time spent on tasks, status changes, and completion rates. I like that this gives you an accurate view of how much progress has been made on a particular project or task set. The issue tracking and escalation capabilities allow teams to keep track of bugs and other issues associated with their projects.

The project management features in the product help teams plan and execute their work effectively. I noticed that users can set up custom fields for different types of tickets, set ticket priority levels, and assign due dates to ensure tasks are completed on time. You can create scrums or sprints within the platform to break tasks into bite-sized chunks that can be tackled and tracked more easily. Custom workflows can also be configured to streamline handoff and collaboration.

Jira Standout Features & Integrations

Features include WIP (Work-In-Progress) limits that empower teams to maintain focus and productivity by ensuring manageable task loads, reducing bottlenecks, and improving overall efficiency. The platform also includes deployment frequency and cycle time insights that enable development teams to monitor and improve their delivery speed. Furthermore, Jira's advanced release hub provides detailed oversight of version control and release readiness.

Integrations include thousands of apps available through the Atlassian marketplace, like Adobe, Confluence, Dropbox, Figma, Google Workspace, InVision, Microsoft, Miro, Slack, Trello, Zendesk, and Zoom.

Best for creative professionals

  • Free demo available
  • From $10.50/user/month (billed annually)
Visit Website
Rating: 4.4/5

FunctionFox is a timesheet and project management tool that enables you to keep multiple projects on track and on time.

Why I picked FunctionFox: The software is simple to set up and has a smooth learning curve, so your team should be able to use all of its features after watching the onboarding video tutorials. This is one of the primary reasons I decided to include it on my list.

I can tell that the platform was designed with creatives in mind. For example, you can set up tasks with different hourly rates within the same project. You can assign different values for each project, so it’s easy to keep them within budget. I like that you can then use Gantt charts to track the projects until completion. The Manager and CEO views provide detailed information about a project’s timeline, status, and costs, helping you provide estimates to your clients.

FunctionFox makes invoicing easy, which I appreciate. Instead of asking team members to submit their timesheets, project managers can select a project and see at a glance how much time each member spent on it.

FunctionFox Standout Features & Integrations

Features include a retainer tracking feature that is tailored for creative professionals, allowing users to manage ongoing client retainers by monitoring hours logged against pre-agreed budgets. The software also provides freelancer-specific access that enables external contributors to log time and tasks without compromising overall project security.

Integrations are not available at the moment.

Other Project Tracking Software

Here are a few more tools that did not make it to the top 10, but are good options for you to review.

  1. Birdview

    For resource capacity planning

  2. GoodDay

    For project tracking alerts

  3. Ravetree

    For cross-departmental projects

  4. OpenProject

    Open source project tracking software

  5. Runn

    For tracking project milestones

  6. Plaky

    For a robust free plan

  7. Visor

    For customizable data visualization

  8. ESPMI

    For thorough reporting features

  9. ClickUp

    For multiple tracking views

  10. Celoxis

    For tracking dependencies and risks

  11. Accelo

    For contextual project visibility

  12. Screendragon

    For customizable workflows

  13. ClickTime

    For time tracking

  14. Hubstaff

    For managing remote teams

  15. Adobe Workfront

    For automated workflows

  16. Hub Planner by Milient

    For resource scheduling

  17. GoodDay

    For Agile and Waterfall methodologies

  18. ReptonPOD

    For structured phase progression

  19. Businessmap

    A leading Kanban platforming with built-in business rules to automate processes and interactions among agile teams

  20. Projectworks

    For its robust reporting features

Selection Criteria For Project Tracking Software

When selecting the best project tracking software to include on this list, I considered common buyer needs and pain points like ensuring real-time visibility into project progress and managing task dependencies effectively. I also used the following framework to keep my evaluation structured and fair:

Core Functionality (25% of total score)
To be considered for inclusion on this list, each solution had to fulfill these common use cases:

  • Tracking project progress
  • Assigning tasks and set deadlines
  • Monitoring team workload
  • Generating reports and analytics
  • Integrating with other project management tools

Additional Standout Features (25% of total score)
To help further narrow down the competition, I also looked for unique features, such as:

  • AI-powered project forecasting
  • Customizable dashboards
  • Automated workflow triggers
  • Time tracking with invoicing integration
  • Offline access with automatic sync

Usability (10% of total score)
To get a sense of the usability of each system, I considered the following:

  • An intuitive and clean interface
  • Drag-and-drop functionality
  • Minimal clicks required for common actions
  • Mobile and desktop accessibility
  • Easy customization without technical expertise

Onboarding (10% of total score)
To evaluate the onboarding experience for each platform, I considered the following:

  • Interactive product tours
  • Pre-built project templates
  • A self-service knowledge base and FAQs
  • Live chat or chatbot guidance
  • Onboarding webinars or training sessions

Customer Support (10% of total score)
To assess each software provider’s customer support services, I considered the following:

  • 24/7 customer support
  • Multiple support channels, including chat and phone
  • A responsive ticketing system
  • An active user community or forum
  • SLA-backed response times

Value For Money (10% of total score)
To evaluate the value for money of each platform, I considered the following:

  • Transparent and scalable pricing plans
  • A free trial or demo version
  • Features balanced with cost-effectiveness
  • Unlimited users or projects at competitive pricing
  • Continuous updates and improvements without additional fees

Customer Reviews (10% of total score)
To get a sense of overall customer satisfaction, I considered the following when reading customer reviews:

  • Highlights for ease of use and adoption
  • Performance and reliability feedback
  • Mentions of customer service responsiveness
  • Indications of real-world ROI and productivity impact
  • Assessments of long-term user satisfaction trends

How to Choose Project Tracking Software

It’s easy to get bogged down in long feature lists and complex pricing structures. To help you stay focused as you work through your unique software selection process, here’s a checklist of factors to keep in mind:

FactorWhat to Consider
ScalabilityMake sure the software can handle your team’s growth. Look for flexible user limits, ample storage, and features that scale with project complexity.
IntegrationsYour project tracking tool should connect with the apps you already use, like Slack, Trello, Jira, or Google Drive, to keep workflows smooth and avoid data silos.
CustomizabilityEvery team works differently. Choose a tool that lets you tailor workflows, dashboards, reports, and automation to fit your processes.
Ease of UseA complicated interface slows your team down. Look for a clean layout, easy navigation, and minimal learning curve to help teams get up to speed fast.
BudgetPricing varies widely. Decide if you need advanced features or a basic plan, and watch for hidden costs like add-ons, storage fees, or per-user pricing.
Security SafeguardsYour data must stay protected. Look for encryption, role-based access controls, regular backups, and compliance with standards like SOC 2 or ISO 27001.
Collaboration FeaturesTeams need to work together seamlessly. Look for @mentions, file sharing, real-time updates, and comment threads to keep communication clear.
Reporting & AnalyticsYou need visibility into project performance. Choose a tool that offers customizable reports, real-time dashboards, and KPI tracking to monitor progress.

A good project management tool is flexible enough to handle different kinds of projects but still user-friendly enough for teams that might not be very tech-savvy. It’s about finding that balance.

Luis Juaristi

Luis Juaristi

Smartsheet Developer & Consultant

In my research, I sourced countless product updates, press releases, and release logs from different project tracking software vendors. Here are some of the emerging trends I’m keeping an eye on:

  1. AI and Machine Learning Integration: Artificial intelligence has moved from a concept to a significant component of project tracking software. This trend streamlines smart scheduling, predictive analytics, and risk assessment, enhancing project coordination.
  2. Advanced Blockchain Applications for Security: The use of blockchain in tracking applications is a notable trend. It boosts project security and data integrity, providing tamper-proof records and secure transactions. This enhances transparency and accountability across the project lifecycle.
  3. Automated Time Tracking: Project tracking software now often includes automated time tracking to ensure team compliance. These tools offer real-time workload insights, improve efficiency, and support accurate budgeting and resource management.

What Is Project Tracking Software?

Project tracking software is a tool that helps teams plan, monitor, and manage tasks, timelines, and deliverables to keep projects on track.
It centralizes project details so team members and managers can easily see what’s completed, in progress, or overdue. Commonly used by project managers, IT teams, and marketers, it improves visibility, streamlines coordination, and supports on-time delivery.

Types of Project Tracking Software

Project tracking software comes in various types to meet the needs of different businesses. Below is a breakdown of common project tracker examples:

  1. Free Project Tracking Software - Free tools – like free client tracking software – offer core project tracking features like task management and progress tracking, making them ideal for small teams or individuals needing to manage projects without cost.
  2. Project Tracking Software for Small Businesses - Designed for smaller teams, these platforms provide intuitive project trackers and often integrate with other tools to streamline operations.
  3. Project Tracking Software for Large Organizations - Large enterprises track multiple projects with advanced features like resource allocation, budgeting, and portfolio-wide progress tracking, ensuring smooth management of complex initiatives.
  4. Construction Progress Tracking Software - Construction progress tracking software monitors materials, labor, and timelines. It often includes budgeting and compliance tools to ensure safety and cost efficiency.
  5. IT Project Tracking Software - Designed for IT teams, this type of project tracking system focuses on bug fixes, software development lifecycles, and user support.
  6. Creative Agency Project Tracking Software - Agencies can use agency management systems and trackers to manage client briefs, feedback loops, and design revisions. They often integrate with collaboration tools for smooth communication across design, marketing, and production teams. If you're wanting to brand your dashboards with your agency or client's branding with minimal coding, we recommend using a white label dashboard software.
  7. Healthcare Project Tracking Software - For healthcare projects, these platforms manage regulatory compliance, patient data, and equipment to enssure tracking aligns with medical standards and maintains efficiency.
  8. Manufacturing Project Tracking Software - In manufacturing, tool tracking software supports resource allocation, production timelines, and equipment maintenance to ensure deadlines are met and key tasks are tracked in assembly and production.

Features of Project Tracking Software

When selecting project tracking software, keep an eye out for the following key features:

  • Task management: Organize, assign, and track tasks to make sure everyone knows their responsibilities and deadlines. This keeps your project moving and cuts down on confusion.
  • Real-time collaboration: Share updates, files, and feedback instantly with your team, so everyone stays in sync—whether you’re across the hall or across the globe.
  • Progress tracking: Monitor project milestones, timelines, and completion percentages so you always know where things stand (and can spot any trouble early).
  • Resource allocation: Assign and balance workloads across your team, ensuring no one’s swamped and your resources are put to good use.
  • Time tracking: Log hours spent on tasks and projects, making it easier to manage budgets, bill clients, and evaluate efficiency.
  • Customizable dashboards: Set up dashboards to get the data and insights you care about most—without getting lost in the weeds.
  • Gantt charts and timeline views: Visualize schedules and dependencies, making it simple to see how pieces fit together and spot potential delays before they happen.
  • Document management: Store, organize, and access important project files easily, so the right people always have what they need at their fingertips.
  • Notification and alerts: Get timely reminders and updates, so you won’t miss deadlines or important changes as your project develops.
  • Reporting and analytics: Generate detailed reports on progress, costs, and team performance to help you make informed decisions and steer your project in the right direction.

AI Features in Project Tracking Software

Modern project tracking software often includes AI-powered features to make managing projects even easier:

  • Automated task suggestions: AI can analyze your project data and suggest next steps or assign tasks based on team members’ workloads and skills.
  • Predictive analytics: Get forecasts for project timelines, potential delays, and resource bottlenecks, so you can take action before issues arise.
  • Smart notifications: Receive intelligent alerts about high-priority tasks, overdue items, or potential risks, helping you stay ahead of problems.
  • Natural language processing: Use simple, conversational commands to update tasks or generate reports, saving you time and effort.
  • Automated reporting: Let AI compile and summarize project data into easy-to-read reports, so you can focus on decision-making instead of data crunching.

Benefits of Project Tracking Software

Implementing project tracking software can provide several benefits for your team and your business. Here are a few you can look forward to:

  • Better project visibility: Keeps teams aligned with real-time updates, progress tracking, and dashboards showing project status at-a-glance.
  • Fewer missed deadlines: Uses task assignments, due dates, and reminders to keep projects moving and prevent last-minute rushes.
  • More accurate time estimates: Tracks how long tasks take to complete and use past data to improve future project and resource planning.
  • Easier collaboration: Allows team members to comment on tasks, share files, and update statuses in one place, avoiding scattered messages.
  • Faster problem detection: Spots delays, overloaded team members, or budget overruns early with project insights and predictive analytics.
  • Clearer accountability: Assigns tasks with owners and deadlines so everyone knows who’s responsible for what, reducing confusion.
  • Better budget control: Monitors spending, compares costs to estimates, and keeps projects within financial limits with built-in budgeting tools.

Costs & Pricing For Project Tracking Software

Selecting project tracking software requires an understanding of the various pricing models and plans available. Costs vary based on features, team size, add-ons, and more. The table below summarizes common plans, their average prices, and features included in project tracking software solutions:

Plan Comparison Table For Project Tracking Software

Plan NamePrice (per user/month)Features
Free$0Basic task tracking, limited users and projects, basic reporting
Basic$10 - $20Task tracking, simple reporting, basic integrations, limited users and projects
Standard$20 - $50Advanced task tracking, time tracking, reporting and analytics, integrations, multiple users/projects
Premium$50 - $100Advanced project management features, resource management, advanced reporting, unlimited users/projects
A breakdown of plan types, costs, and features for project tracking software.

It's always a good idea to start with a free or basic plan to get a sense of the tool before committing to a larger investment. However, it's also important to research and understand your chosen tool's options for scalability.

Common stages when your company may want to upgrade their pricing plan include:

  1. Team Expansion: As the team grows, the need for additional user licenses increases.
  2. Increased Project Load: When the number of active projects increases, a higher tier may offer better management features.
  3. Advanced Reporting Needs: As the company grows, the need for detailed analytics and reporting becomes crucial for making informed decisions.
  4. Integration with Other Tools: To integrate project tracking with tools like CRM, accounting, or communication platforms, upgrading tiers may be needed for API access and integrations.
  5. Enhanced Security and Compliance: For large organizations or regulated industries, upgrading to a tier with advanced security, compliance support, and data protection is essential to safeguard sensitive information.

New & Noteworthy Product Updates

Below you’ll find our release notes and take on the latest and greatest project tracking software product updates. Discover what’s now possible through feature releases, improvements, and updates on web, desktop and mobile apps. Learn what’s new, if it’s hot - or not, and why it matters for tracking projects.

Q1 2025 Project Tracking Software Updates

monday.com Update Notes

A screenshot showing an example of monday.com's new Item ID column feature. A graphic request chart shows various items listed alongside their date, rating, description, priority, request source, brief, and the new Item ID, which is a unique serial number associated with each item.
monday.com's new Item ID column feature assigns a unique identifier to each item, allowing users to track and reference tasks more efficiently.

On March 2, monday.com released the Item ID Column, which assigns a unique identifier to each board item. IDs can be system-generated or customized to match project or organizational naming conventions.

The Custom Key option improves tracking and makes it easier to reference items using familiar labels.

This is especially useful for teams needing precise identification—like project managers, developers, and ops teams managing tasks, issues, or inventories.

Verdict: Hot! Automation + Organization + Customization = Success

Zoho Projects Update Notes

A screenshot of Zoho Project’s new accessibility features, which are available on the Personal Settings page within “Personal Preferences”. The screenshot highlights the features, including a screen reader, hover text, strikethrough for closed items, font families, a zoom function, keyboard shortcuts, custom scroll, reading mask, text spacing, animations, cursor size, and font size.
Zoho Projects has introduced new accessibility features, including a reading mask, customizable text spacing, animation controls, screen reader support, and interface adjustments to enhance usability for diverse user needs.

Zoho Projects has added accessibility features to support users with visual, auditory, and sensory needs. Tools include a Reading Mask, customizable text spacing, animation controls, adjustable cursor and font settings, screen reader support, and hover magnification.

Settings can be adjusted via Personal Preferences, the Quick Access toolbar, or the Sign-out page for a personalized experience.

These updates benefit users with visual impairments, cognitive challenges, or those using assistive tech.

Verdict: Hot! Accessibility will always be hot and on trend.

Productive Update Notes

A screenshot of Productive’s new Document Style Editor showing a user editing an invoice. The invoice is to the right of the screen, while a document template editor is on the right. This includes areas to edit the document template name, style, and type. There are also options for Localization (change the language and labels), Customization for the header, footer, and document notes, and Email (subject, destination, and content that will appear when sending the invoice).
Productive's new Document Style Editor allows users to customize and save templates of a variety of documents to ensure brand consistency and streamline document creation.

On February 18, Productive launched a Document Style Editor for customizing exported PDFs to match brand guidelines. Users can control typography, layout, colors, and upload custom fonts to create polished, professional documents.

A real-time preview panel displays updates across document types like invoices and proposals, with hover-to-preview and support for custom brand colors via color picker or HEX/RGB codes.

Ideal for businesses seeking branded consistency—especially useful for marketing, brand, and admin teams.

Verdict: Hot! Branding is everything, after all.

Wrike Update Notes

A screenshot of Wrike’s new Dark Mode feature, showing a Waterfall table for a project in “Dark Mode” —instead of a white background, the background is a dark navy or black.
Wrike's new Dark Mode feature allows users to switch to a darker interface, reducing eye strain and enhancing visual comfort while working.

In January 2024, Wrike released updates to enhance usability. Dark Mode reduces eye strain, while Table View now allows public links for easy sharing without a Wrike account.

Request Forms gained support for all blueprints, custom item types, and conditional questions. Users can also convert account-level forms to space-level for greater flexibility.

These improvements help project managers and admins streamline coordination, data sharing, and customization.

Verdict: Not. Dark mode is great for the eyes, but isn’t especially new or different.

Miro Update Notes

A screenshot of Miro’s new Catch-Up feature. It shows a close up of a section of a Miro board, where a “Catch up” bubble has appeared. It reads: “Since you last visited this board, the team has refined the user flow and proposed several features to enhance user experience. They’ve updated the project timeline and are now focusing on the technical implementation details. Your input is needed on integrating these new elements into the existing framework.”
Miro's new Catch-up feature uses AI to generate visual summaries of board changes and comment threads to help users quickly review updates and prioritize tasks.

In January 2025, Miro launched Catch Up (BETA), an AI tool that summarizes board updates and highlights key comments, helping teams prioritize tasks without reviewing every change manually.

Another feature, Synced Copies, lets users embed content across boards with real-time syncing—updates to the original appear everywhere, ensuring consistency.

These tools boost collaboration for project managers, designers, and cross-functional teams by keeping everyone informed and aligned.

Verdict: Hot! AI is getting more and more normalized, but it’s still a hot new trend in our book.

Nifty Update Notes

A screenshot of Nifty’s new Recurring Tasks feature, displaying a tasks dashboard. Within the settings, in the Recurring Tab (next to Due Date, Start Date, and Reminders), users can set the time for recurring tasks, and what the recurrence should be based on (such as the date). Other categories to set include “Select”, the frequency, the day of the week the task should occur on, the time, and when the recurrence should end. Users can also generate these details with AI. At the bottom of the tab, users can select Advanced Options, Disable recurring, Set recurring, or Cancel.
Nifty's new Recurring Tasks feature automates task creation at set intervals, reducing manual work and ensuring consistency in repetitive workflows.

On January 3rd, Nifty launched features to streamline date-based workflows. Recurring Tasks automate daily, weekly, monthly, or custom schedules—ideal for teams handling routine work.

The new Date Difference field calculates the number of days between two dates, helping teams track deadlines and durations without manual math.

These updates support project managers and team leads who rely on recurring tasks and accurate scheduling to stay productive.

Verdict: Hot! Automation might not be new, but it is certainly trendy.

Kintone Upgate Notes

A screenshot of Kintone’s new enhanced permission management feature, showing a table with the users in rows and permissions in columns. These rows can be ordered by priority with arrows. Permission columns include Permissions inheritance, System administration, Create apps, Manage apps, Create spaces, Create guest spaces. Within the columns, there is a checkbox for “Allow”, which administrators can use to turn a permission on. The “manage apps” column is highlighted.
Kintone's new enhanced permission management feature allows administrators to restrict app management within their domain, ensuring centralized control.

In March 2025, Kintone released updates to enhance governance and usability. Stricter app permissions now limit configuration access to authorized users, ensuring centralized control.

Improved error messages on the Permissions for Records page make troubleshooting easier.

These updates help admins, IT teams, and developers manage security and permissions more efficiently.

Verdict: Not. Permission management is so important for security, but it isn’t especially innovative. 

Scoro Update Notes

A screenshot of Scoro's new time-off visibility feature. It displays a weekly calendar for team member “Amanda Haller”. Her time off — 4 hours on Wednesday and the full day on Thursday, are highlighted in yellow. The rest of the calendar is grey. In the sidebar, the user can also see other available views, such as Unassigned, All projects, and All companies.
Scoro's new time-off visibility feature in the Planner highlights time-off hours and provides detailed time-off information when clicking the icon under a user's name.

In March 2025, Kintone released updates to improve platform governance and usability. App permissions are now stricter, allowing only authorized users to configure settings—ensuring better control and security.

Error messages on the Permissions for Records page are also clearer, making it easier to identify and fix issues during saving.

These enhancements support admins, IT teams, and developers in managing permissions and maintaining system integrity more effectively.

Verdict: Not. These are great new features, but not particularly new or exciting.

 Rocketlane Upgrade Notes

A screenshot of Rocketlane’s new invoice feature. Along the top are tabs including “Invoice details”, “Select projects”, “Select uninvoiced work”, “Modify line items”, “Notes and attachments”, and “Preview.” In the “Select Projects” tab is a list of different projects, along with their billing type, invoiceable revenue, last invoiced date, and last invoice. Next to each project is a checkbox that can be selected. There is also a search bar and filter at the top. At the bottom, you can save your work as a draft, go back, or go to “Select uninvoiced work.”
Rocketlane now automates the transformation of approved time logs into invoices, reducing manual reconciliation and ensuring accurate billing.

In January, Rocketlane launched a new invoicing feature to streamline billing for professional services teams. It supports time-and-materials, fixed-fee, and subscription models, with multi-currency support and automatic invoice generation from approved time logs.

Custom approval workflows and a real-time dashboard help track billed, paid, and pending invoices for better cash flow forecasting.

Project managers and finance teams benefit from improved billing accuracy and accounting integration, enabling more focus on client delivery.

Verdict: Hot! Invoicing can be tedious, but it’s so important. Anything to streamline the process is definitely hot. 

Teamwork.com Upgrade Notes

A screenshot of Teamwork.com’s new Placeholders feature, showing a Gantt chart that displays each team member’s tasks within a specific project and time allocated for each task as colored bases across a condensed calendar.
Teamwork.com's new Placeholders feature allows project managers to assign roles to tasks without specifying team members, enabling better workload planning and resource allocation.

In February 2025, Teamwork rolled out updates to improve project planning and client oversight. The new Placeholders feature lets users assign roles without naming team members, helping managers plan by skill, avoid over-allocation, and support hiring.

The new Clients View offers a centralized dashboard with insights into profitability, budgets, billable time, and project health.

These updates help project managers, finance teams, and client leads better manage resources and track client performance.

Verdict: Hot! The more information you can give yourself and the client, the better.

Project Tracking Software Frequently Asked Questions

Find the answers to common questions about this topic.

What’s the difference between project and issue tracking?

Project tracking is about overseeing the overall progress and health of your entire project. It involves managing timelines, milestones, budgets, deliverables, resources, dependencies, and overall status updates across all aspects of the project. A project tracking tool will show you at a glance what’s on track, what’s overdue, and how your team’s workload or budget is trending.Issue tracking is much more granular and focuses specifically on identifying, logging, prioritizing, and resolving smaller problems, bugs, requests, or obstacles as they arise throughout the project lifecycle.

Issue tracking prevents small problems from becoming bigger roadblocks by assigning responsibility, tracking the details of each issue, and monitoring progress until resolution.For most digital project managers, both forms of tracking are essential: project tracking provides strategic oversight and keeps stakeholders informed, while issue tracking ensures nothing falls through the cracks and daily hurdles are managed swiftly. Many modern project management platforms combine both into a single system so you can directly link issues to project milestones, see how blockers affect timelines, and keep every layer of work visible.

Is there any free project tracking software for digital project managers?

Yes, there are several free options for digital project managers who want to get started without a big upfront investment. Tools like Trello, ClickUp, Asana, and Jira all have free plans, typically designed for small teams or personal projects. These free versions usually include key features project managers need, like Kanban boards, task lists, basic dashboards, and collaboration functions.

However, free plans often limit the total number of users, available integrations, file storage, automation capabilities, and advanced reporting tools. If you have a large or growing team, or need premium features like Gantt charts, resource management, or admin controls, you may quickly outgrow the free plan and need to upgrade.It’s smart to try out these free plans first to get a feel for usability and team adoption. Evaluate whether the essential features are included and if the upgrade path fits within your budget as needs evolve. Also, check if the platform allows seamless data migration when moving to a paid tier.

What is Earned Value Management in project tracking?

Earned Value Management (EVM) is a systematic approach used in project tracking to objectively quantify how much work has been accomplished versus how much was planned and spent. With EVM, you measure three key metrics: Planned Value (what you budgeted to achieve by a specific date), Earned Value (the quantifiable work completed), and Actual Cost (how much you really spent to achieve that work).By comparing these metrics, EVM gives you powerful insights into whether your project is behind schedule, over budget, or both.

For example, if your earned value is lower than your planned value, your project is running late; if your actual costs exceed the earned value, you’re over budget. EVM is especially useful in complex or high-stakes digital projects where close tracking of progress and resources can make or break delivery. Many project management tools now offer EVM dashboards or reporting features so you can monitor these metrics and take corrective actions in real time.

What are the most common challenges faced when implementing project tracking software?

Implementing project tracking software can come with several hurdles. Teams often experience resistance to change, especially if they’re used to different workflows or older tools like spreadsheets and email. Another challenge is choosing a tool that doesn’t align with your team’s needs, which can lead to wasted time and money. Data migration from existing systems or platforms can be complex or incomplete, disrupting ongoing work.

Onboarding is also a major concern—without adequate training or clear guidance, team members may underuse or misuse the system, leading to inconsistent data and adoption. Integration with existing tech stacks (like email, file sharing, or time tracking) can also be more difficult or costly than expected. To overcome these challenges, involve your team in the selection process, start with a pilot group, and prioritize intuitive user interfaces. Provide accessible training resources, set clear guidelines and expectations, and gather feedback for continuous improvement. Make sure your IT department or an implementation specialist is involved early if integrations or migrations are required.

How do project tracking tools facilitate team collaboration across different time zones?

Project tracking software is built to support teams spread across multiple time zones, which is common for digital agencies and remote teams. Features like real-time updates, shared dashboards, and centralized communication ensure everyone works from the same information. Setting tasks and meetings in users’ local time zones helps avoid scheduling confusion.

Most tools include comment threads, @mentions, and activity feeds to keep the conversation organized by task or project, so updates don’t get lost in endless email chains. File sharing, centralized document storage, and integrations with chat tools (like Slack, Teams, or email) help team members access resources and communicate easily, regardless of location. Notification controls let each team member set preferences to avoid after-hours pings, making collaboration both effective and respectful of personal time.For distributed teams, choosing a platform that prioritizes asynchronous communication and automatic syncing is key—so everyone stays aligned, even if their work hours don’t overlap much.

Can project tracking software integrate with tools like ERP or CRM systems?

Yes, most modern project tracking solutions offer a range of integration options to connect with popular ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), CRM (Customer Relationship Management), HR, and finance tools. These integrations allow you to automatically sync project budgets and timelines with your company’s financial data, connect client information or sales pipelines with ongoing work, and even update your invoicing and billing based on project progress.

You’ll often find built-in, one-click integrations with widely used tools like Salesforce, HubSpot, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Workspace, and more. For less common platforms or custom workflows, many project trackers provide robust APIs or support middleware tools like Zapier, Make (Integromat), or native plugins.When evaluating project tracking software, map out your most important integrations—especially for reporting, billing, and team communication—and check if they’re available in your plan or require extra configuration or add-ons.

What security features should I look for in project tracking software?

When selecting project tracking software, prioritize robust security features to keep your team’s data safe. Look for role-based permissions so you can finely control who can see and edit information. Encryption should be enabled both for data stored on the provider’s servers (at rest) and for data sent to and from users (in transit). Single sign-on (SSO) and multi-factor authentication help verify user identities and minimize the risk of unauthorized access.

If you deal with confidential projects or client data, insist on compliance with standards like GDPR, SOC 2, or ISO/IEC 27001, and check the provider’s data residency and retention policies. Detailed audit logs let you track who made changes to tasks or project settings, which is important for accountability. Ask how often the provider conducts security audits and updates, and look for tools that publish transparency reports or have up-to-date security certifications.

How can I get my team to actually use project tracking software consistently?

Adoption starts with selecting a tool that fits your team’s working style—simple interfaces, relevant features, and easy onboarding go a long way. Customize dashboards, boards, and notification settings so each team member sees information relevant to their role.Provide clear, step-by-step onboarding, and supplement it with hands-on demos or short how-to videos. Set expectations early by defining processes for logging, updating, and closing tasks.

Encourage participation by highlighting how the tool saves time, clarifies priorities, and eliminates confusion. Recognize and reward consistent use—shoutouts in team meetings or small incentives can go a long way.Collect regular feedback and be willing to tweak workflows or switch tools if you see persistent friction. Ultimately, make project tracking software a central part of your project reviews, status updates, and day-to-day work—so it becomes a helpful habit, not another chore.

 

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Ben Aston
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. I'm a Certified Scrum Master, PRINCE2 Practitioner and productivity nut!

Contact me here to get your product reviewed.