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While there are countless types of business management software available, project management tools are the best choice for business management because they encourage collaboration and growth. They offer the perfect mix of features to address the complexities of modern business operations.
Project management tools do more than just manage one-time projects – they can integrate into the life cycle of your business. For instance, the best business management tools promote digital adoption and help unite remote teams. They also help to streamline processes and automate tasks to reduce bottlenecks and boost productivity.
I tested the top project management tools to find the ones worth investing in for business management. My top recommendation is monday.com, which offers tools to centralize management, enhance collaboration, provide powerful analytics, simplify processes, and drive business growth. monday.com offers a free plan to help you explore all its offerings.
What We Look For in the Best Business Management Software
During my tests, I focused on what a business needs for effective management and growth. Here are the key features I prioritized:
User-friendly interface. A user-friendly interface is important because it simplifies navigation and reduces the learning curve, allowing your team to adopt the software quickly. All the tools I recommend offer intuitive and easy-to-use interfaces.
Customization options. Customization options enable businesses to tailor the software to their unique processes and workflows, enhancing operational efficiency. All the solutions on my list have a high degree of customizability.
Integration capabilities. All the software options included in my list offer robust integration features so you can seamlessly connect with other tools and platforms. This streamlines data flow and improves productivity across different business functions.
Advanced reporting and analytics. Advanced reporting and analytics are important because they help businesses make informed decisions based on real-time data. Several of the tools I evaluated include strong analytics features to support data-driven decision-making.
Scalability. Avoid outgrowing your business management software. I looked for software tools that are designed to scale with your business needs. That way, the software can grow alongside your business.
monday.com covers all business aspects from projects and tasks to HR and operationsmonday.com excels in workload management by providing managers with a clear visual overview of team capacities1 and project progress. You can assign tasks, set due dates, and view workload distribution, making it easy to balance team efforts and improve overall performance.
It also simplifies project management with customizable automation rules that handle repetitive tasks like status updates or reminders, significantly reducing manual effort and human error. This is particularly useful for large teams where manual task management could be time-consuming and prone to mistakes.
Crucially, monday.com provides built-in tools to monitor project expenses, budgets, and billing for accurate financial tracking. This feature is invaluable for project managers who need to maintain financial oversight without juggling multiple software tools.
Features
Timeline view. Perfect for strategic business planning, monday.com’s Gantt timeline allows supervisors to plan projects, track progress, and manage dependencies visually. You can drag and drop tasks to adjust timelines and instantly see how changes affect your overall project plan.
Customizable dashboards. Highly customizable dashboards let you create the perfect overview of your projects, tasks, and team performance. You can add widgets for time tracking, project updates, and key performance indicators (KPIs) to suit your specific needs.
Great for global teams. monday.com supports multiple languages so you can collaborate with team members around the globe. You can easily switch to your preferred language from your profile.
Advanced security. With features like two-factor authentication, data encryption, and enterprise-grade security certifications, monday.com keeps your data safe. You can also set custom permissions and access controls to protect sensitive information.
Smartsheet can also be used for smaller projects that need spreadsheet-based softwareSmartsheet provides powerful reporting tools that allow businesses to create advanced, real-time analytics and visualizations for informed decision-making. You can use multiple views, including Gantt charts, dashboards, and pie charts to customize these reports. This allows your teams to track progress, budget, and key metrics at a glance.
Smartsheet also excels in cross-department collaboration with customizable workspaces tailored to various teams1 such as HR, finance, and marketing. It centralizes communication and project management by providing shared tools and templates to create project charters, detailed project plans, and RACI matrices to align communications and expectations.
What’s more, Smartsheet’s spreadsheet-like project interface makes it intuitive for users familiar with Excel. This combines the flexibility of spreadsheets with advanced project management capabilities, like task management, automation, and integration with over 3,000 apps.
Features
Portfolio management. Smartsheet provides tools for managing multiple projects at a strategic level, including portfolio reporting and dashboard views to track overall performance, ROI, and strategic alignment.
Vendor management. This allows you to manage vendor relationships directly in the platform, including tracking contracts, performance, and payments.
Free templates. There are free templates for SMBs, from profit and loss templates to client databases and even inventory tracking. This can help you save time, especially if you’re new to the game.
Compliance and governance. Smartsheet includes features to help businesses comply with regulations, including audit logs, user activity tracking, and data retention policies.
Teamwork is one of the easiest business management software to learnTeamwork offers integrated billing and invoicing tools1 that are especially valuable for agencies and service-based businesses. You can track billable hours, generate invoices, and manage all financials directly from within the platform. Built-in invoice templates and automated invoicing processes simplify billing, reduce administrative work, and ensure timely payments from clients.
Teamwork also excels in client access and permissions, allowing businesses to provide clients with controlled access to projects. Clients can view project progress, approve work, and provide feedback, which improves transparency and communication.
A slight disadvantage of using Teamwork is that its performance can slow down when handling a large number of projects or extensive datasets. But don’t get me wrong: it’s still an excellent choice for agencies and teams looking for strong project management features, like task and time tracking or client collaboration tools. It remains a great fit for managing multiple clients and projects easily, especially if you’re focused on client transparency and invoicing.
Features
Comprehensive project management. Teamwork provides all the tools you need to manage projects from start to finish. Use task lists, time tracking, Gantt charts, and milestones to keep projects on track and promote team accountability.
Risk management tools. Teamwork includes risk management features that help you identify, evaluate, and mitigate risks across projects, aiding in better strategic decision-making.
Template library. You get access to a library of customizable project templates, allowing you to standardize processes and reduce setup time for recurring types of projects.
Team utilization reports. Teamwork provides detailed reports on team member utilization, helping managers balance workloads, forecast staffing needs, and optimize resource allocation.
Zoho Projects allows users to automate tasks to manage timelines effectively
Zoho Projects is a versatile project management tool that is part of the larger Zoho ecosystem, known for providing a range of business software solutions. It is best suited for small- to medium-sized businesses looking for a comprehensive suite that offers task management, time tracking, and collaboration tools all in one place for a decent price.
The platform’s integration with the Zoho Suite makes it even more valuable for businesses already using other Zoho applications. The seamless connection with Zoho CRM, Zoho Invoice, and other tools ensures a smooth flow of information, helping teams to manage projects and customer relationships from one central platform.
Zoho Projects excels at offering customization options, from workflows to project dashboards. However, new users or those unfamiliar with project management software might find it has a bit of a learning curve. While the interface is feature-rich, you may need time to explore and understand its full range of capabilities as a beginner. I ultimately think it’s worth it.
Features
Issue tracking and workflow. Zoho Projects helps teams track issues with customizable fields and prioritize them with status updates. Automated workflows for task assignments and notifications also ensure there’s no room for errors.
Interactive Gantt charts. You can adjust schedules directly on the chart by dragging and dropping tasks, making it easy to adapt to changes in real time. You can also highlight the critical path in your project, which allows managers to focus on tasks that directly affect project completion time.
Built-in time tracking. You can track work hours efficiently with Zoho’s built-in time tracking tools. These include time-sensitive notifications and timesheets, as well as analytical reports.
Budgeting and expense tracking tools. Zoho Projects includes tools to track budgets and expenses, from simple budget allocation to its Zoho Books integration for advanced expense management.
If you’re managing Agile teams, Jira is perfect for business management across departments
Jira’s agile roadmap planning features provide a comprehensive platform for high-level project management. Its advanced roadmaps allow teams to plan and track project initiatives, align them with long-term business goals, and manage multiple teams.
You can use features like sprint planning, milestone setting, and visual timelines to manage dependencies and keep everyone on the same page, making it ideal for businesses focused on Agile methodologies. However, you may find Jira’s advanced features harder to learn, especially if you’re unfamiliar with Agile frameworks.
Jira also integrates perfectly with development tools such as Bitbucket and GitHub, which is ideal for software development or IT-focused teams. These integrations strengthen collaboration by linking code changes directly to tasks. This streamlines the development process and provides real-time updates on build and deployment statuses.
Features
Incident management. Jira includes reliable incident management features for tracking and resolving operational issues.
Custom workflows. Businesses can design custom workflows to reflect unique processes, approvals, and business rules, which helps maintain compliance and standardization.
Reporting for regulatory compliance. Jira provides advanced reporting capabilities that can help you track necessary metrics and activities to ensure compliance with various regulations and standards.
Hundreds of integrations. Jira software is compatible with 500+ integrations and 3000+ other extensions, which can help you calibrate your team’s ideal process.
ClickUp helps your departments communicate better and boosts productivityClickUp offers a powerful module to set and track business goals and OKRs (Objectives and Key Results), allowing you to align your team’s activities with broader business objectives. With features like custom statuses, templates, and visual dashboards, ClickUp provides a flexible structure for creating, monitoring, and adjusting goals as needed.
Resource management across teams is another one of ClickUp’s strengths. It includes time tracking, resource allocation, and workload management features, which help businesses optimize their resources effectively. You can monitor time spent on tasks, manage team workload with capacity planning tools, and allocate resources dynamically to meet project demands.
ClickUp is great for larger businesses handling multiple projects or functions simultaneously. A potential downside is that smaller teams may find ClickUp’s feature sets too broad and pricing plans too expensive for their business management needs.
Features
ClickUp AI. You can increase productivity by automatically generating subtasks, summarizing discussion threads, and automating standups. These tools can help you manage daily operations more efficiently, allowing you to focus on strategic decisions and the bigger picture.
Document collaboration and knowledge management. Built-in document creation and editing tools allow teams to collaborate on business documents, policies, and SOPs.
Email integration. You can manage, send, and receive emails directly within ClickUp, linking communication with tasks and projects for easy collaboration and record-keeping.
Custom fields for data management. ClickUp allows you to create custom fields, enabling your business to capture and organize unique data points relevant to your operations, such as customer data, inventory levels, or project-specific metrics.
If your business is client-oriented, HubSpot is definitely for you
HubSpot integrates project management with a CRM system, allowing you to track customer interactions, manage sales pipelines, and execute marketing campaigns from one platform. The CRM offers customizable sales pipelines, detailed contact management, and an intuitive deal management system, which supports a trouble-free workflow for both sales and marketing teams.
However, one minor drawback is the relatively steep pricing for advanced features, especially for smaller businesses. While HubSpot offers a free plan, accessing the full suite of its powerful tools requires a significant investment, so it might be better suited for larger businesses.
Striven offers a comprehensive suite of business management tools, from accounting to CRM
Striven is an all-in-one business management platform that integrates accounting, CRM, project management, and HR into a single solution. It’s ideal for SMBs that require a centralized system. Striven stands out for its wide range of features, particularly its accounting and financial management tools, which I recommend for their depth and flexibility.
What I don’t like is its smaller range of integrations with popular third-party applications. This can limit its adaptability for businesses that rely heavily on external tools. If you’re looking for smooth integration with existing software ecosystems, monday.com or Teamwork may be better options.
TeamGantt makes project management simple with intuitive Gantt charts
TeamGantt is a project management tool for visualizing and tracking your projects through Gantt charts. I love its user-friendly interface and straightforward approach to project planning. It’s great if you want to create and manage project timelines without a steep learning curve. Team members can drag and drop tasks, assign roles, and update their progress quickly.
The main downside to TeamGantt is its limited feature set compared to more comprehensive project management solutions. It lacks advanced features like built-in billing or resource management, which may be a drawback for larger organizations or if you have more complex project management needs.
Bonsai provides an intuitive platform for freelancers and agencies to manage contracts and invoicesBonsai is a business management tool specifically designed for freelancers and small agencies, with features like contract management, invoicing, and time tracking. It’s simple to use, allowing solo professionals and small teams to manage their entire client workflow from a single platform. I think the contract and proposal templates are great for streamlining administrative tasks.
However, the biggest limitation of Bonsai is its relatively narrow focus. While it excels at providing essential tools for freelancers, it lacks some of the more robust project management or team collaboration features that you might need for more complex project tracking, such as built-in chat, Gantt or Kanban boards, and advanced reporting.
Choose the Right Business Management Software for Your Team
Choosing the right project management software can transform your business by increasing efficiency, improving collaboration, and ensuring scalability. Based on my research and testing, here are my top recommendations to help you make the best choice.
If you’re looking for highly customizable workflows and smooth integrations, monday.com is my top recommendation1. It offers an intuitive interface and diverse features, perfect for businesses that need flexibility and a wide range of integrations.
Or, if you’d rather have flexible management with spreadsheet-like functionality, go with Smartsheet1. It provides everything you need for managing complex projects and data-driven decision-making, plus excellent automation tools for repetitive tasks.
On the other hand, if ease of use and built-in billing are your main priorities, consider Teamwork instead1. Teamwork is ideal for agencies and service-based businesses, offering a streamlined platform to manage projects, track billable hours, and improve client collaboration.
Here’s a summary comparison table to wrap everything up and help you make an informed decision:
What is business management software and how can it benefit my business?
Business management software is a suite of tools designed to streamline and automate various business processes, such as project management, CRM, accounting, and HR. It can improve collaboration and provide valuable insights through data analytics. monday.com is a great example of complex project management that’s suitable for this very purpose.
What are the key features to look for in business management software?
Essential features include project management, customer relationship management (CRM), invoicing, time tracking, collaboration tools, and reporting/analytics. Customizability and scalability are also important. For example, Smartsheet can comfortably scale with small businesses as they grow into enterprises.
What are the cost considerations when selecting business management software?
Costs can vary widely. Evaluate subscription models, one-time fees, and hidden costs like additional user licenses or premium features. Consider starting with a free trial or demo to assess value before committing. monday.com has a great free plan for up to two users that lets you customize your dashboards and test out over 200 templates.
How can business management software improve team collaboration?
These tools often include features like shared calendars, task assignments, and document sharing, all to strengthen communication and coordination among team members. Teamwork is my recommendation as it includes these features and more, both natively and through integrations. For more options, you can check our top 10 project management software for 2024 and decide which tool is best suited for your business.
Roxana David is a writer specializing in website builders, credit card processors, and project management software. Before joining Website Planet, Roxana honed her writing skills as a successful freelance writer and reviewer for another popular blog. Her diverse academic background includes study of Robotics and Languages at university, making her a well-rounded expert in technology and communication. Beyond her work, Roxana likes to indulge in indie movies and video games, which she writes about on her blog.
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