For new project managers, a free solution can be the best place to start. These tools help set up project and task workflows without any initial costs and can help convince other stakeholders or higher-ups to invest in more capable, paid platforms in the future. No matter what features you’re looking for, we’ve collected the best project management software your team or organization can use for free.

If you’re not already fully versed in project management tools, features, and frameworks, the video below provides an in-depth guide before we examine the specifics of each platform:that offer advanced capabilities and, typically, significantly less user number restrictions. Be sure to check the vendor’s website for detailed featured listings and paid plan descriptions.

Looking for a combined analysis of both paid and free tools? See our comprehensive guide to the best project management software here.

What Are the Best Free Project Management Tools?

TrustRadius already provides the data and ratings to determine which free tool is the best according to real users, at your fingertips. Here are the user-backed best free project management tools available right now:

1. Asana
2. Wrike
3. Airtable
4. ClickUp
5. Todoist
6. Trello
7. Avaza
8. Notion
9. Jira
10. Zoho Projects
11. Basecamp
12. Nifty
13. Quire
14. Podio

These products are a mix of fully-featured PM platforms and use case-specific products like Avaza (for freelancers and agencies) and Todoist (for to-do list tracking). Before a detailed dive into each, here’s a quick comparison of the overall score and key pros and cons of each option:

	trScore	Free Version Limitations	Biggest Pro	Biggest Con
Asana	8.5	10 team members, no automations or proofing	Unlimited projects and storage on free version	Features Asana does best (automations, customizable forms) are only available to paid users
Wrike	8.2	No calendar or Gantt views, only storage platform and email integrations	Unlimited users and customizable views	User interface can be difficult to learn
Airtable	8.6	5 full users, 1,000 records and 1GB of attachments per project	Familiar spreadsheet interface	Limited table size and lack of advanced filtering or formatting options in free version
ClickUp	8.5	Serious lifetime limits on chat messaging and other premium features, no storage integrations	Collaboration features and sprint capabilities	Lifetime limit on premium features in free version with no countdown warning
Todoist	9.1	5 users per project, no calendar view or custom reminders	Simple, to do list interface	Lack of advanced features or customizability
Trello	8.2	10 projects, 10 users, kanban view only	Drag-and-drop visual interface and power-ups for easy customization	Limited document and data storage
Avaza	9.1	1 user with advanced access, 5 invoices per month	Time tracking and billing features ideal for client-facing businesses	Free version invoice limitations easy to reach for large teams or small projects
Notion	8.7	1 user with full access, 10 guest users, basic automations only	Document creation and collaboration features for knowledge management	Few advanced project management features, even with paid upgrade
Jira	8.2	10 users, 100 automation runs per month	Industry standard for agile software development teams	May be overkill, in terms of complexity and cost of an upgrade to paid, for a small team
Zoho Projects	8.3	5 users, 3 projects, no time tracking	Integrates with Zoho’s other products, including their free CRM	Not the best or easiest user interface on the list
Basecamp	8.4	20 users, 1 project, 1GB storage	Offers the same features as Basecamp’s pro version	Limited integration options
Nifty	10	2 projects, no custom fields or automations	Fully featured Gantt charts available in free version	Some other features (forms, custom fields, time tracking) are pricier than some other options
Quire	8.9	10 users, 4 projects, 400MB storage	Unlimited ability to break tasks down into subtasks helpful for complex projects	No advanced features and limited view options
Podio	7.9	5 users, 5 external members, 100 items	Customizable workflows for more than just project management	Tool has to be custom built from Podio’s app templates – no plug and play UI

Asana

Asana is a well-known and popular project management tool that provides more than just the typical free PM features, ranging from task management to collaborative conversations and dashboards. Users on the free version have access to an unlimited number of projects and tasks, various project view settings, as well as several integrations with other tools. Upgrading to paid tiers grants access to custom templates, timelines, task dependencies, and proofing, but the free version is still an incredibly capable platform.

Defining Features

Asana is known for its intuitive interface and powerful workflow automation, though the workflow automation is only available to paid users. It offers task lists, Kanban boards, and project-tracking features that cater to both small teams and large enterprises. Its free version supports collaboration with up to 10 teammates, which is relatively high for free tools and makes it a strong choice for smaller teams managing multiple projects.

Pros

• Easy to assign tasks and track personal tasks
• Good integration features with various platforms such as Google Drive

Cons

• No access to automation features on free version
• Hierarchical organization (projects, tasks, and subtasks) can be confusing to view and manage

“Asana fixed team issues like project transparency and communication, improved team performance, and enhanced office and mobile productivity. Upper management can solve project management issues quickly, and new hires can use the tool immediately. Asana’s surveys simplify research and data collection. Its free trial, free plan, or paid SaaS subscription gives small and large teams the tools and centralized console to work through project tasks efficiently. Due to its complexity, Asana can be overwhelming at first.” 

Rafiqul Islam | Full-stack Software Engineer | Information Technology & Services Company

Wrike

Wrike is an enterprise-grade project management and work collaboration tool, but also has a free tier for small teams that don’t need all of the bells and whistles that large corporations use. This free version allows 2GB of storage space and an unlimited number of users, which is rare for free options. It provides a variety of features on both web and mobile apps like task management, board and spreadsheet view, and file sharing. It also has a “Real-Time Activity Stream” feature that acts as a social media-type section to see updates on other teammates’ work. Users can comment on and open tasks up to a discussion format in real-time.

Defining Features

Wrike balances ease of use with powerful project-tracking capabilities using tasks and subtasks, customizable views, and work schedules in the free version. Standout features of the paid version include resource management capabilities and customizable dashboards, which helps teams optimize productivity for different projects and needs. The free plan is suitable for small teams and integrations with cloud storage tools for a more connected work environment.

Pros

• Good tracking views and customizable features with various ways to oversee projects
• Good communication capabilities to keep the whole team in the loop

 Cons

• The interface isn’t very intuitive for new users, with reviewers needing significant time to train new team members on the platform
• No integrations with productivity tools or CRMs on free version

“I really like the features of the free version of Wrike. It covers all of my tracking and logging needs. I really like the look of my printed log. Wrike makes it easy to share my logs with my coworkers. I also like the ability to pin my projects so that I can easily find the ones that I am currently working on.” 

Angelique Bey | Content Manager/Digital Librarian | Non-Profit Organization Management Company

Airtable

Airtable is a spreadsheet-based collaborative PM platform for content pipelines, research, and more. Its free version offers essential features like collaboration, email support, different view settings, unlimited bases (Airtable’s word for project), and revision and snapshot history for up to two weeks. Airtable also allows unlimited free “Read” users and 50 “Commentors” on this plan, but only five “Editors.” However, you have to upgrade for users to access certain features, such as Gantt charts, storage integrations, additional color and formatting options, and more.

Defining Features

Airtable is a hybrid between a spreadsheet and a database, offering a visually appealing and highly customizable approach to project management. It allows users to create relational databases, Kanban boards, and calendar views, providing versatility for teams that need flexible organization of tasks and resources. The free plan includes rich field types, automations, and API access, making it a great choice for creative and data-driven teams.

Pros

• Ability to link external or internal documents in the dashboards/projects
• Clean and visually appealing user interface

Cons

• Some features are difficult and time-consuming to learn and master
• The free version lacks advanced color-coding capabilities to better organize data and link elements

“Tracking tasks for software development is my primary use, but the company also uses it to track inventory of computers and software, new hire status, from interview to termination. We’ve also used it for project management and project budgeting. We started out with a few small use cases but grew to be more dependent on Airtable as we became more familiar with its value. Now, we rely on its integration and use it like second nature.”

Verified User | Project Manager | Entertainment Company

ClickUp

ClickUp provides several options for different dashboard views, allowing for greater customization for each team member. You can also use the platform to collaborate, whether working simultaneously on the same document or sending chat messages to others. ClickUp offers mobile apps for both iOS and Android so you can collaborate and manage tasks on the go. However, free plan users are limited to 1,000 lifetime chat messages per plan. When you hit that limit, you’ll have to either upgrade or switch to a different option for chat.

Defining Features

ClickUp focuses on making collaboration easier within the project management tool itself. Aside from the free version’s limited chat functionality, features include editing documents, leaving comments and assigning comment owners, and even screen recording. ClickUp’s free version is unique in offering limited uses of many of its premium features. In addition to chat messages, you can try features like Gantt charts, image and PDF proofing, or time tracking for 100 uses each. This might be handy if you have a one-time project that requires some of these typically paywalled features but won’t need them often enough for a subscription to make sense. ClickUp is also one of few project management tools to offer sprint boards, making it useful for teams running on scrum.

Pros

• Highly customizable with multiple task views (list, calendar, Gantt, etc.)
• Free plan allows unlimited tasks and members, as well as trials of premium features

Cons

• Free version doesn’t include unlimited mind maps or custom views
• Collaboration features are severely limited on the free plan, with only 1,000 lifetime chat messages

“We use it to track the projects we are working on within our team. We can use the public forms for other teams to submit work requests to us and we publish public lists of our projects so that other teams can see where their requests are. It’s a complete communication hub, letting us discuss projects and tasks in a way that’s visible to everyone without getting siloed.”

Verified User | Director in Customer Service | Education Management Company

Todoist

Todoist is an easy-to-use, mobile-friendly option that helps individuals and small teams organize and plan projects and task lists. The free version of Todoist offers cross-platform support, productivity reports, and natural language input, which eases the process of creating tasks. The UI requires very little (if any) training for people with basic tech skills. With the free version, users can collaborate on up to five projects at a time, with five users each. Other limitations mean you can’t view team member activity, can’t upload more than 5MB of external files, and can’t customize when you receive notifications. However, Todoist is still a fantastic option if you don’t need comprehensive project management capabilities like time tracking.

Defining Features

As we’ve mentioned, Todoist is a simple tool that excels at personal and small-team productivity. Its minimalist interface with task lists, due dates, priorities, and labels helps users stay organized without feeling overwhelmed. The free version also offers recurring tasks and integrations with productivity apps like Google Calendar and Slack. It’s ideal for individuals and small teams who need a straightforward to-do list with a clean and intuitive design.

Pros

• Easy to organize, edit, and track personal or team tasks
• The easy-to-use and clean user interface makes it simple for users to understand, adjust, and complete tasks

Cons

• Lack of a chat/messaging feature in the software
• Limited customizability and no advanced features

“Todoist is a wonderful tool to use for our organization’s HR department as we have many moving parts to our day to day operations. In order to keep organized and complete long term projects at their calendared completion, I use Todoist as a task tracking by priority. Each day to day item is created so as to keep a record, and ‘one-off’ tasks are thrown into Todoist when brought to me via e-mail, word of mouth, or hand-written messages.” 

Verified User | Employee in Human Resources | Human Resources Company

Trello

Trello is a Kanban-style task management and organizational tool. Trello’s free version includes unlimited users and up to 10 boards. However, this tool may not be ideal for those looking for a tool to include detailed documents, data, or descriptions on tasks, as these are limited. The free version of Trello does not include integrations with most software, although their “power-ups” can be a workaround for this. Its free plan allows unlimited power-ups (extra features) per board, which could be a Gantt chart, Google Drive connection, or voting extensions. The major drawbacks of Trello are very clear from the start — either you’re looking for this Kanban-style format (in which case it’s a great option), or you’re not.

Defining Features

Trello’s boards are highly customizable in terms of appearance and have simple drag-and-drop functionality. You can add integrations to individual boards as needed, and customize the background of each. This customization isn’t just for aesthetics, it can also visually help differentiate each board from the others if you’re using multiple. Trello and its user community have created a variety of board templates as well so you don’t have to start from scratch.

Pros

• Has various collaborative features, allowing users to easily track and work with other team members
• Power-Ups allow for board-level customization

Cons

• File size and detail description limitations
• Only kanban view available in free version

“My employees are scattered across the US. We use Trello to track the activities that need to be accomplished, as well as who is responsible for accomplishing them. I use the automation feature to create lists of recurring activities each month. I also use the template feature, combined with the checklists, to create lists of reports that need to be sent on a monthly basis.”

Mary Alford | Owner | Accounting Company

Avaza

Avaza is a great task management tool for freelancers in particular. It includes all the standard project management features you need — boards for different tasks, different view options, etc. On top of these basics, it also offers tools tailored to users who work with clients, similar to a CRM (customer relationship management) platform. You can talk to clients, track billable hours, and send invoices. Being able to do all of this from the same interface where you track projects saves your team time and headaches. However, limitations of the free plan mean you’re restricted to five invoices per month and ten total customers — but this is usually fine for the smaller teams who would be most interested in this type of free tool.

Defining Features

Avaza allows you to send quotes and estimates to customers, which once approved, allows you to communicate directly with your clients and up to five team members. It also tracks the time you spend on each task to create timesheets for internal payroll or track billable hours for client invoices. After a project is finished, you can send the invoice to the client. Users can track and manage other reimbursable expenses with Avaza as well, with the platform providing reports on everything within the platform, from finances to task management.

Pros

• Good for freelancers and small businesses that need both project and financial tracking
• Free plan includes essential features for small teams

Cons

• Only one user can manage higher-level functions like timesheets, invoice creation, and scheduling on the free plan
• Limitation of only five invoices per month can be a dealbreaker for larger teams or groups that work with more clients

“We use Avaza for project management, estimates, and invoicing. For projects, we use it for both retainer clients and one off work orders. Our clients can approve estimates easily online. The recurring invoice feature is essential for the retainer side of our business. We invoice everything through Avaza and collect payment through Avaza. Then, everything syncs with Quickbooks.”

Verified User | Employee in Information Technology | Marketing & Advertising Company

Notion

Notion is a collaborative project management and organization tool. Popular with those who like to have their documents and project tracking in the same place, Notion functions as a wiki as well as a project management platform. The free version allows one user to invite up to 10 guest collaborators to work on an unlimited number of pages. Storage is capped at 5MB per uploaded file.

Defining Features

Notion is known best for its ability to serve as a full external knowledge base. In addition to managing tasks, users take notes, create spreadsheets, and draft creative projects. For project management, Notion’s free plan offers various views, dependencies, custom properties, and unlimited basic forms. This makes it a fairly robust option for those who don’t need advanced features like invoicing or time tracking, especially for creative teams who would benefit from a document collaboration space.

Pros

• Great knowledge base and document collaboration features
• Most project management features available in the free version

Cons

• Only one full user in the free version
• Lacks advanced project management features, like recurring task scheduling and resource management

“As head of operations, I organized the company’s entire control through Notion. We use it to organize tasks, sectors, pipelines, customer cases, and more. Basically, Notion is a Lego that we can create as we wish. In addition, we use the visualizations for timelines, planning, viewing results, monitoring customer stages, defining projects, and organizing teams. There is also the possibility of creating customized formulas with dependencies on other columns, which is very useful for the company I work for.”

Larissa Bravim Furlan | Operations Analyst | E-Learning Company

Jira

Jira is an application lifecycle management (ALM) tool for planning, tracking, and releasing software. It’s also a popular bug and issue-tracking tool among software development teams, especially in DevOps environments. Their free plan allows users to customize individual workflows and backlogs, develop project roadmaps, conduct project reporting, and integrate with various platforms. It also enables full automation, but only 100 automation runs per month. The free plan is capped at 10 active users and provides 2GB of storage.

Defining Features

Jira offers both Scrum and Kanban workflows, which is outside the norm for most free tools that heavily prioritize one system over the other. Board customization allows you to tailor the platform to your team’s specific agile workflow method, and you can generate a variety of different reports for key metrics on agile projects. These reports include issue dashboards, sprint reports, and burndown charts, with the free plan including several out-of-the-box templates. As an Atlassian product, Jira has plenty of integrations and seamlessly connects to Trello (which we’ve already covered), Confluence, BitBucket, etc.

Pros

• The ticketing system allows users to easily track and release tickets to teams, improving collaboration and a creating clear line of sight on all projects
• Easy to manage and prioritize documentation in the backlog

Cons

• The user interface has a steep learning curve and can create product confusion and difficulty in navigating
• Jira may not be beneficial to startups or smaller businesses because of its reliance and heavy integration with the rest of the Atlassian ecosystem

“Atlassian Jira excels in complex software development projects and agile environments and offers robust tracking, customizable workflows, and integration with CI/CD pipelines. However, for small teams or non-technical projects, its intricate features and setup may feel overwhelming. Simpler task management tools may suit those scenarios better. Overall, careful tool selection matters.” 

Kunal Mathur | Senior Product Designer | Hospitality Company

Zoho Projects

Zoho Projects is a cloud-based project management tool designed for small to medium-sized businesses. It provides teams with web-based communication and collaboration tools. Zoho’s free version offers Google app integrations, custom status for projects and tasks, feeds, calendars, forums, and 5GB of storage space. It allows up to five users and three projects at a time.

Defining Features

Zoho Projects is a great tool for task automation and document collaboration. The free plan includes core features like task lists, milestones, and dependencies. Its integration with the Zoho ecosystem (including Zoho CRM and Zoho Books) makes it an appealing choice for organizations already using Zoho products or those looking for a functional, free product ecosystem.

Pros

• More customizable than most other free PM tools with fields for start dates, due dates, dependencies, calendars, subtasks, etc.
• The calendar system is very intuitive and useful for visualizing project timelines

Cons

• The overall user interface could use improvements and has a somewhat steep learning curve
• Features on free version are pretty basic – no issue or time tracking

“In our organization, we use Zoho Projects to manage all work-related tasks. Tasks are assigned to specific team members and those members are kept accountable to finish a task based on the deadline set. During a weekly meeting, we go through missed and incomplete tasks. We also discuss and create new tasks..” 

Verified User | Manager in Information Technology | Event Services Company

Basecamp

Basecamp is a web-based project management tool that offers users a comprehensive set of capabilities including to-do lists, file sharing, messaging, reporting, and milestone management. Basecamp Free allows up to 20 users and 1GB of storage, but only one active project at a time. This makes it a great tool for students, freelancers, and personal projects that don’t have several concurrent projects to manage.

Defining Features

Basecamp is a simple yet effective tool with basic functionalities like to-do lists, message boards, and document sharing. Basecamp includes all of the same features in its free and pro versions (aside from the user, storage, and project limitations), with time tracking and user management available as additional paid packages. While the free version is limited to one project, it’s still a solid choice for freelancers, students, and small teams looking for a structured way to manage simple activities without overwhelming complexity.

Pros

• The messaging board enables seamless communication between teams and projects
• Ability to create schedules and task lists for projects, as well as neatly organize documents for projects

Cons

• Integrations are limited compared to other project management tools
• Some users say notifications don’t work consistently for messages and task assignments

“As a graphic design agency, we use Basecamp to keep track of the work we do for clients and share progress with each other. This allows us to communicate with each other so we can collaborate on projects. We assign jobs to each other for each project and are able to make sure we get everything done in a timely fashion.”

Verified User | Employee in Marketing | Design Company

Nifty

Nifty is a great free PM option for teams looking for Gantt chart creation and management. These visualizations are often considered a premium feature in project management tools, but Nifty is one of the few options that includes them in their free version. It organizes projects in portfolios, with projects able to be moved from one portfolio to another. For example, if marketing has finished a project and it gets handed over to sales next, this transfer can be done within Nifty without creating a new project. Nifty does have non-cloud file-sharing capability, although this is capped at the 100MB storage limit. This is one of the lowest storage limits of any tool covered in this article.

Defining Features

One of the great functionalities of the Gantt charts, (which Nifty also refers to as roadmaps) is milestone dependencies. Creating dependencies will block off entire groups of tasks until a milestone is met. On top of Gantt charts, there are a variety of other views available, including calendar view, list view, and swimlane view. Each user can select their preferred view or change as they please. This can make Nifty an ideal option for teams that have a lot of people who prefer to track information in different ways.

Pros

• User-friendly interface with a balanced mix of simplicity and advanced features
• Supports multiple project views (Kanban, Gantt, list, timeline)

Cons

• Free version is limited to just two active projects at a time
• It also lacks more specialized features like time tracking and agile reporting that may be valuable for certain teams

“The ability to create versatile, multi-view projects has been invaluable, leaving less open to being overlooked due to confusion on where the information is located. Nifty’s intuitive, all-in-one platform has saved us time, confusion, and money. Being able to have one central location for all projects has been a gamechanger.”

Ashlie Pappas | Founder | Health, Wellness, and Fitness Company

Quire

Quire is a relatively new, smaller software that offers up to 10 users per organization and up to four projects, which is solid for free platforms. Each project is limited to a maximum of 1,000 tasks, however. Organizations can make lists, sublists, smart folders, and more. Real-time tracking supports collaboration and project planning, paired with quality-of-life features like notifications, reminders, and recurring tasks. Quire does include 400MB of storage (each file is limited to 3MB), which is on the lower end of free PM tools (compared to the 2GB offered by Wrike and Jira).

Defining Features

Quire is a lightweight PM system that emphasizes nested task structures. It allows users to break projects into smaller, more manageable sub-tasks, then break those sub-tasks down again indefinitely, which is particularly useful for complicated projects. The free plan includes up to 10 members per organization, making it an excellent option for startups and small teams that need structured task management without additional costs.

Pros

• Unique nested task structure (tree view) for breaking down complex projects
• Simple, lightweight, and easy to use

Cons

• Lacks advanced features like time tracking, budgeting, or automation
• Nested list and kanban view only: no calendars or timelines

“Quire is really useful for collaborative research projects where multiple team members need to work together on various tasks. Secondly, I can use the sublist function to track the progress of my research projects individually. Thirdly, the basic function is really simple to use, and I can easily teach my mentee how to use it.”

Verified User | Project Manager in Research & Development | Computer Software Company

Podio

Podio is a cloud-based task and project management platform that organizes team communication, business processes, data, and content. Podio’s free plan offers users various task management tools and apps, along with the ability to create workspaces. There can be up to five users and five external members in your workspace. Free plan users can have up to 100 “items” across their workspaces and apps. Tasks and attachments don’t count toward this total, but anything else you create in Podio does. An item might be an individual project, a customer record, or a space for product documentation.

Defining Features

Podio is a customizable project management tool that combines task management, communication, and workflow automation. The free plan includes task management, app building, and integrations and is ideal for small teams that need a flexible and adaptable platform. Its ability to create custom workflows also makes it a strong choice for businesses with unique project management needs.

Pros

• The ability to customize almost every aspect of the software (e.g. forms, apps, templates, etc.)
• Ease of use means you don’t have to be tech-savvy to master the tool

Cons

• Not a traditional project management tool where everything comes prebuilt – you’ll have to select and customize the tools you need
• Podio’s parent company, ShareFile, was acquired by Progress in late 2024, making its ongoing support uncertain

 “Podio is our key tool we use for our account service team. We have built several custom apps that allow us to track everything we do for our current clients.”

Heather Neisen | Director of Account Services | Food & Beverages Company

Find the Right Free PM Tool for Your Team

While some teams and companies may require a premium plan, there are plenty of project management options without the price tag. These are great for small teams and individuals who just need basic features without all of the add-ons and other features of paid enterprise PM platforms. Free versions also give you a glimpse into the product’s full functionality, customer support, and usability if you want to test several different platforms before committing to a premium plan.

Regardless of whether you’re looking for a long-term free solution or just trying out features before deciding on a paid version, real user reviews are an invaluable tool for making the right decision. TrustRadius has thousands of reviews from real users about each platform so you can read actual experiences and use cases that resulted in key takeaways and insights to inform your decision. Even better, you can find reviews from specific industries or company sizes similar to yours, to get the most relevant information and opinions on each product. Browse our list of project management software here.