Everyone has a different way of managing projects. Some people like to use their inbox to keep track of tasks. Others prefer to visualize work on a Kanban board or in a calendar view, while some even prefer the old pen and paper system

That's fine on an individual level, but when you collaborate on projects as a team, you need a flexible and capable project management tool that works for everyone. And with so many teams still working remotely, there's an even more pressing need for a task management app that can help track projects, collaborate, and keep everyone in the loop

As a freelance writer, I've worked inside tons of different project management setups across my clients—I've seen how each app approaches the standard features, the potential of great, streamlined collaboration, and the consequences of poor project management

The good news: free project management software can give you the flexibility you need to manage tasks, communicate with stakeholders, and maintain project visibility—without paying a cent. This year, I considered nearly 60 free project management tools, and after extensive testing, I've settled on my top eight picks

## The 8 best free project management tools
Trello for visually managing projects
ClickUp for customized task views
Wrike for spreadsheet-like features
ActiveCollab for freelancers and small agency teams
Airtable for building a customized project management app
GoodDay for multiple project management methodologies
## What makes the best free project management software?
 How we evaluate and test apps
All of our best apps roundups are written by humans who've spent much of their careers using, testing, and writing about software. We spend dozens of hours researching and testing apps, using each app as it's intended to be used and evaluating it against the criteria we set for the category. We're never paid for placement in our articles from any app or for links to any site—we value the trust readers put in us to offer authentic evaluations of the categories and apps we review. For more details on our process, read the full rundown of how we select apps to feature on the Zapier blog

To narrow down the list of the best free project management online tools, I looked for apps that met the following criteria:

Free for unlimited projects.All the project tracking software I chose lets you manage an unlimited number of projects for free (and include at least 10 users for free). Hosted.There are a lot of great, free, self-hosted project management tools, but they take longer to set up and manage. I was looking at task management software that's hosted by the companies that provide the tools. If you're interested in free, self-hosted project management software, I'd recommend checking out Taiga, Lavagna, and Redmine. Collaboration and sharing features.The apps included here make it quick and easy to add team members to your project management setup and control user types and permissions. Flexibility.The best project managers are flexible enough to handle multiple teams, project types, and organization styles, so I looked for apps that support a number of different views and project management methodologies. Integrations.A great project tracker should fit seamlessly into the rest of your stack, so I've only included apps that integrate with other popular software like email and Slack, calendars, document storage, and more

After filtering for those criteria, I ran each remaining contender through a similar testing protocol that included:
Going through the signup process and any onboarding provided
Creating a new project and choosing a primary methodology (Kanban, Scrum, Gantt, etc.) or view (list, table, calendar, etc.) for it
Creating a number of new tasks and adding various details, like due dates, links and attachments, user assignments, and more
Toggling between view options and testing out any additional methodologies offered
Inviting new users and setting permissions
Toggling between team-wide and individual views
Testing out any unique features like time tracking or client views
After running each app through that workflow, I landed on the top eight free online project manager tools you see below

Note: I selected tools that offer web apps (though many offer synchronized web, mobile, and desktop apps). If it's not important to you that your project planner is accessible online, you may also want to consider ProjectLibre and GanttProject in addition to the apps listed below. Both of these tools are powerful desktop-only apps that are designed to be alternatives to Microsoft Project

Need more features and have a bit more flexibility in your budget? Check out our recommendations for the best project management software for small business

## Best free project management software for visually managing projects
**Trello** ![ Trello, our pick for the best free project management software for visually managing projects](httpsimages.ctfassets.net/lzny33ho1g45/41O39Z8k4E7prE9ZWxAW32/3adcf46b015b68f541f85934f4b5d78f/image11.png?
Trello is simple project management software that gives you a way to organize your projects with Kanban boards. And with a generous free plan that allows for 10 boards and unlimited users, it's a tool that anyone can use. Freelancers can use Trello to plan their assignments on a personal board, and teams can use Trello to build a complete project workflow with visibility at every stage


Start by creating a new board from scratch or choosing a template from dozens of options across marketing, sales, design, team management, and more. Add a handful of lists for your tasks (each list is a column), and customize those lists with the steps in your workflow (e.g., to-do, doing, and done) or as separate parts of your project (e.g., development, design, and distribution). Next, add your tasks as visual cards in each column—with labels, due dates, members, checklists, images, attachments, and comments to keep everything in one place

As you start completing tasks, simply drag the cards to the appropriate list. You can keep track of all comments and tasks that mention you—or that you're watching—from the activity menu

For more features, Trello's Power-Up options (now unlimited even on the free plan) let you view tasks on a calendar, add voting options on tasks, fade away old tasks automatically, and much more. And you can make Trello boards for everything—personal and work tasks alike—to get your work done in a way that best fits your needs

For even more flexibility, use Trello's Zapier integrations to connect Trello with your favorite apps, like Gmail and Slack. Or check out these 6 ways to automate Trello

 Create new Trello cards from new Google Calendar events
**Trello price: **The __free plan__ includes unlimited cards and members, 10 boards per workspace, unlimited Power-Ups, and 250 automated commands each month; upgrade for $5/user/month (billed annually) to the Standard plan that includes unlimited boards, custom fields, advanced checklists, up to 1,000 automated commands per month, and more

Want to use Trello as a team? Learn how Trello uses Trello for its own project management needs. Want to use it as a personal to-do list? Here's how to use Trello for GTD

## Best free project management software for teams
**Asana** ![ Asana, our pick for the best free project management software for teams](httpsimages.ctfassets.net/lzny33ho1g45/5IuiGejQcR4Q36RsPqB5WN/711cb00e1d55b27344274ffe91ddef58/image9.png?
Your to-do list isn't bad—you just need a few more features to manage your team projects. Asana offers just that. It's a project management tool that lets you break projects down into sections and sub-lists, along with dashboards to see how much of the project has been completed already. You'll add, rearrange, and complete tasks the same way you would in a to-do list app, but with the collaboration and organization features you need to work as a team

For your personal tasks—or the things at work that don't fit into a precise project—you can make extra lists in Asana that are only shared with specific people. Your own assigned tasks will also show up in your
*My Tasks* view for a quick way to see the things you need to take care of


Whether you're working solo or with a team, you can automate Asana with Asana's Zapier integrations, letting you connect project information to other apps. Try one of the workflows below, or get inspiration from these automations from real users

 Create Google Calendar events from new Asana tasks
 Create Asana tasks from new Google Forms responses
**Asana price The __free Basic plan__ includes unlimited projects, tasks, and storage; up to 15 users; and list, board, and calendar views. Upgrade for $10.99/user/month (billed annually) to the Premium plan that includes project timelines, custom fields, task dependencies, and more

Learn more about how to use Asana for GTD and how to take advantage of Asana's hidden features. Or see how ClickUp and Asana stack up in our comparison of ClickUp vs. Asana

## Best free project management software for customized task views
**ClickUp** ![ ClickUp, our pick for the best free project management software for customized task views](httpsimages.ctfassets.net/lzny33ho1g45/7avBzHjjADcYoDoHW04gRH/e45f9818d3309a85f9f47fe2f69ab9b2/image3.png?
Most project management apps let you choose from only a handful of task views, like a list, calendar, or Kanban view. Additional views, especially Gantt charts, are usually a premium feature. ClickUp is different

It's a simple and free project management app that lets you choose from 11 different task views, including Gantt charts and mind maps. There are also four different page views: Chat (which displays conversations alongside your tasks), Doc (which lets you create docs, wikis, and knowledge bases), Embed (to add apps and websites next to your tasks), and Form (to add a form next to your tasks to gather, organize, and collect data)

ClickUp's dashboards are just as customizable, letting you choose from more than 20 different widgets, so you can only highlight the most important project information

There's a lot to parse when you're first getting started with ClickUp. The onboarding process won't be as simple as Trello, for example, but the extra customization is worth it—especially when it's completely free. Plus, the company has done a great job with guided in-app onboarding to get you started

With ClickUp's Zapier integrations, you can connect ClickUp with your favorite apps. Try one of the automations below, or read about why ClickUp users love Zapier

 Create Google Calendar events from new ClickUp tasks
 Add starred Gmail emails as tasks in ClickUp [Business Gmail Accounts Only]
**ClickUp price The free plan includes unlimited tasks and users, up to 100MB of storage, and up to 100 uses of Gantt charts, mind maps, dashboards, and timeline views. Upgrade to the Unlimited plan for $5/user/month for unlimited list, board, calendar, and Gantt views, unlimited dashboards, and guests and permissions

Tip: If you're a HubSpot user, you can create new tickets from ClickUp, and then use contact or customer information to launch personalized marketing campaigns

## Best free project management software for freelancers and small agency teams
** (Web, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android) ActiveCollab** ![ ActiveCollab, our pick for the best free project management software for freelancers and small agency teams](httpsimages.ctfassets.net/lzny33ho1g45/1VLuTBSccjZy5LIzAe02Ns/96049d4bbecf4e6634c4d4cfd15430c8/image22.png?
If you're looking to manage client projects and other details like invoicing and time tracking in one place,
__ActiveCollab__ is a great option

Built for agencies and freelancers, the app includes thoughtful details to streamline client management. You can estimate and track time for each task, set the task as billable (or not), and manage expenses right from the task details screen

Even the free plan includes capable user permissions that make it easy to let clients into your process without exposing anything you don't want to. Simply check the
*Hidden from clients* box to hide any task from client users, or add the Client+ add-on to enable a more collaborative user role for more hands-on clients. Select **Workload** from the left-hand menu to manage assignments and team bandwidth, and click on **Reports** to get a pulse on client invoices and payments, projects and tasks across the team, and track time and expenses

With ActiveCollab, you can quickly create and send professional-looking estimates and invoices and integrate with your payment processing or accounting software to streamline billing. You can also
__connect ActiveCollab with Zapier__ to automate task creation, notifications and updates, and more

 Create tasks in Active Collab from new labeled Gmail emails [Business Gmail Accounts Only]
**ActiveCollab price The __free plan__ includes unlimited projects and tasks for up to 3 members, with task dependencies, and list and Kanban views. Upgrade to the Plus plan for $9.50/month (for 3 members) to add Gantt and calendar views, project templates and recurring tasks, and more

Looking for more apps to simplify your administrative tasks as a freelancer? Here are our recommendations for the best time tracking apps and the best accounting apps for freelancers

## Best free project management software for spreadsheet-like features

**Wrike** ![ Wrike, our pick for the best free project management software for spreadsheet-like features](httpsimages.ctfassets.net/lzny33ho1g45/7EotkfsatZY66dE2vzFL1s/458bc2d48ad50aa77f54d9c5015ecf78/image6.png?
If it were up to you, would you manage your projects in a spreadsheet? If so, you might like Wrike. Wrike offers the same flexibility of a spreadsheet—with columns for every bit of info you want to track about tasks. (If you like spreadsheets but need even more customization, head down to our review of Airtable.)
Wrike lets your team update the status of tasks at various intervals—in-progress, on hold, canceled, or completed. Additionally, you can set the status of projects to green, yellow, red, on hold, or canceled, making it easy to create your weekly project status reports

While you can do a lot with Wrike's free plan, its best features—including time tracking, Gantt charts, and custom dashboards—do require a premium plan. If you're running a small operation now but planning to scale in the future, Wrike grows alongside you, giving you all of the tools you need to run both a single small project and many concurrent large ones

If you're interested in the free plan, Wrike's Zapier integrations can help you do more with the project management app, like automatically creating tasks in Wrike from other tools

**Wrike price The free plan includes unlimited projects for unlimited users; upgrade for $9.80/user/month (billed annually) to the Professional plan that includes Gantt charts, shareable dashboards, and more

## Best free project management software for building a customized app
**Airtable** ![ Airtable, our pick for the best free project management software for building a customized app](httpsimages.ctfassets.net/lzny33ho1g45/01Keio5qflqyIjIk0VxYGf/a6ea5805df2c07a7b6998370d82e038e/image15.png?
If you've tried other project management software and haven't found
*the one*, Airtable will let you build it. The app is ready out-of-the-box with a default view similar to a spreadsheet, and it suggests a handful of templated projects based on your team within the company. You can start from one of the suggested templates, browse the rest, or build your own project (called a "base") from scratch

But the real power of Airtable happens when you customize it. It will take some upfront effort to tailor Airtable to be exactly what you need—but if you're willing to spend the time, the sky's the limit. You can customize everything from the methodology and view type to column headers, field types, data validation, and more


Head over to the Marketplace to choose from over 80 apps that help you integrate, analyze, and enrich your projects, or build your own custom apps. Airtable also integrates with Zapier, so you can do things like automatically track important information in Airtable, get notifications for activity in your Airtable base, and more

 Create detailed events in Google Calendar from new Airtable records in views
**Airtable price The __free plan__ includes unlimited bases, up to 5 users, 1,200 records per base, and five view options, including grid, calendar, and Kanban; upgrade for $10/user/month to the Plus plan for 5,000 records per base, 5GB of attachments, 3 extensions per base, and more

## Best free project management app for working with multiple methodologies
![ GoodDay, our pick for the best free project management app for working with multiple methodologies](httpsimages.ctfassets.net/lzny33ho1g45/JWPpOe9zEqmP0G72Cs2EN/ce2bbb4a9b261421523b3abd8dea8fbb/image1.png?
GoodDay is flexible enough to satisfy a team with diverse project management needs. The app supports a number of methodologies and views, including Gantt, Agile, Scrum, Kanban, and waterfall. All are available to use on the free plan, making it the most generous and flexible free plan we tested

Every project you create can take a different approach, and you can add additional views of the project at any time. Beyond those views, each project has a
*Summary* tab with an overview of tasks, events, users, and burn down. I also love the *My Work* view, which rolls up work, tasks, calendar, and individual projects assigned to you

When you first set up your GoodDay account, you can choose from a number of different modules, like time tracking, client portals, and billing to make the app do even more for you. For example, the Clients & Customer Portal module includes an extra project type called client projects, while the HR module includes a custom Vacations calendar view

Take GoodDay.work's free plan to another level with its Zapier integration, so you can connect it to the other apps you use most

**GoodDay price The free plan includes unlimited projects and tasks, custom workflows, and up to 15 users; upgrade to the Professional plan for $4/user/month for advanced views (like Gantt), up to 250 users, a customer portal, user roles customizations, and more

## Best free project management software for Agile software development teams
![ Jira, our pick for the best free project management software for Agile software development teams](httpsimages.ctfassets.net/lzny33ho1g45/jwNLDc2bLe7jgQ9pAk6eg/432bb1d8fa78b0fabaffa1855022a863/image17.png?

While the app also offers a Kanban view, Jira is built for Scrum and Agile workflows. When you first sign up, the onboarding flow asks a few questions about your team's projects, level of experience with different methodologies, and deadlines—then it recommends a methodology and project template for you

For Scrum projects, you'll add epics to the
*Roadmap* page. Then you can add issues to your backlog individually, filling in details and assigning them to sprints. Project tracking happens on a Scrum board, the homepage for each project—you can customize column headers and edit task details and status

Jira's catering to developers and engineering teams doesn't stop there: the app also integrates with other development tools like GitHub, GitLab, Sentry, and Jenkins to make quick work of updating and tracking your backlog. And while you can't control user access on the free plan, it does include up to 10 users, so it's ideal for self-contained or smaller dev teams

You can get more out of the free plan by using Jira's Zapier integrations to automatically create new issues in Jira based on Slack messages or GitHub issues

 Create Jira Software issues from new messages posted to a Slack channel
 Generate Jira Software issues from new GitHub issues
**Jira price The free plan includes unlimited projects on one site, up to 10 users, and both Scrum and Kanban boards; upgrade to the Standard plan for $7.50/user/month for more granular user permissions, 250 GB of file storage, and more

See
__how Trello and Jira stack up__ in our app comparison

## What's the best free project management tool?
Honestly, online project management tools are a dime a dozen. And a lot of them will advertise "free" plans that aren't really free—meaning you can't actually manage all your projects without upgrading. The best free task management software will let you do what you need to do without spending a dime. And, as your needs change, they'll support you with more robust features at higher tiers

The good news: free project planning software isfree. So you can test your options, see what you like (and what you don't), and then decide. Here are more tips on how to choose online project management software

*Originally published in May 2017 by Matthew Guay, this post has had contributions from Jessica Greene, Maria Myre, and Emily Esposito. The most recent update was in September 2022.*