Free Project Management Software Guide 2021

Types of free project management software

Determine if your business needs project management software

Before jumping into choosing project management software, it's essential to evaluate and determine if you need it. Your business may require project management software if:

If this sounds familiar, you need project management software to reduce inefficiencies, boost team collaboration, and gain control of your business.

How to choose the best free project management software for your business

The right project management software can be the difference between achieving net-positive results and closing up shop. Follow the steps below to find the best free project management software for your team.

Is free project management software secure?

Small teams and businesses can upgrade project management software as they grow. The best project management tools typically have valuable features hidden behind a fee. This may include the ability to add more users, use advanced features, or access more in-depth reports.

If you're unsure about the benefits of upgrading from free to paid project management software, contact the support team and request a product demo before purchasing a subscription. Read customer reviews and testimonials and compare the available paid plan features before upgrading.

What is the benefit of using free online project management tools?

Free online project management software brings many benefits, such as the ability to break down projects into tasks and subtasks with clear deadlines and deliverables. Other benefits of free online project management tools include:

What are the challenges of using free online project management tools?

Despite the benefits of free online project management tools, there are potential challenges you may have to avoid. Here’s a list of the most critical challenges of free online project management software.

Software security

Your project management software will likely become a repository for a lot of company information. Over time, it may hold a significant amount of data, including details of customers you've worked with, profit margins on projects, internal and external costs, labor and resource data, and other sensitive information.

Establish that your software is secure by evaluating the five security criteria we shared above. Ensure you can restrict user access and visibility within the application and share guidelines with your team to educate them about software security. Three critical security risks to consider when evaluating free online project management tools are:

Complicating simple projects

Task management, not project management

Lack of training and support

Most paid project management solutions come with training and support through dedicated customer success managers and support teams. Free online project management software often isn't equipped to offer this level of service.

Without support and training, the costs for upfront time, effort, and expense to train your staff and configure the software will be coming out of your pocket. If you run into a bug or an issue, you have to search for the solution and test the fixes. This means more time dealing with the software instead of working on projects and growing your business.

One size fits all

Except for open-source software, you cannot customize free project management software. This means that you cannot easily adapt your free project management solution to fit your organizational structure, project workflows, or unique requirements.

One-size-fits-all software can cause headaches with reviews, approvals, and security. Even if you use an open-source tool, customization will be labor-intensive and complex. You may need someone in-house who has the skills and knowledge to customize and maintain the software, resulting in labor costs.

Inability to grow with your business

Most free project management software only provides a limited solution. Freemium plans are restricted to a limited number of users, projects, and data. They may also exclude certain useful features or the ability to integrate with work applications. This limits your team's ability to use the tool, resulting in a fragmented view of your progress across projects.

Where can you get free project management tools and templates?

A quick Google search will lead you to many free project management tools and templates. The right one for you fits well with your current way of working and ensures best practices are built into your business.

Features to expect from free project management software

Most free project management tools facilitate task and schedule management, but these are not the only features you’ll need to gain project management excellence. Below, we've listed other essential features to look for in free online project management software.

Free online project management tools you need to know about

Now that we've answered some of the most frequently asked questions about free project management software, here's our list of the top free project management software. We’ve chosen these six based on their robust freemium offering.

UDN Task Manager

UDN Task Manager provides maximum security for your project management projects and data. The software enables you to customize workflows and review and approve projects within the application. You can add comments to tasks, projects, and files and create custom fields to suit your business’s unique needs. UDN Task Manager 's free plan features include:

Pricing: Free plan; $9.80/user/month (Professional); $24.80/user/month (Business); Custom (Enterprise). Learn more about UDN Task Manager .

Freedcamp

Freedcamp enables you to manage tasks along with calendar, milestone , and issue-tracker tools to plan and control your timelines. It offers a standard list view and a Kanban board . Freedcamp's free plan features include:

Pricing: Free plan; $1.49/user/month (Minimalist); $7.49/user/month (Business); $16.99/user/month (Enterprise). Learn more about Freedcamp .

Teamwork

Teamwork provides basic task and project management features, allowing you to assign tasks and deadlines, upload files, and chat with team members. Teamwork's free plan features include:

Pricing: Free plan; $10/user/month (Deliver); $18/user/month (Grow); Custom (Enterprise). Learn more about Teamwork .

Trello

Trello's Kanban -board interface allows teams to visually move a project through workflow stages to completion, making it easy to create, assign, and track tasks and projects. Trello's free plan features include:

Pricing: Free plan; $10/user/month; Custom (Enterprise). Learn more about Trello.

ClickUp

ClickUp provides project management and collaboration tools that enable you to work within the application. You can use its spreadsheets and text-editing tools, for example, instead of switching between other work applications. ClickUp's free plan features include:

Pricing: Free plan; $5/user/month (Unlimited); $9/user/month (Business); Custom (Enterprise). Learn more about ClickUp.

What is the best free project management software?

Our top recommendation for free online project management software is UDN Task Manager . Its free plan goes beyond project management, with highly secure collaborative features creating a digital workspace for teams of any size.

Startups, enterprises, businesses, and entrepreneurs can easily build a fully-fledged digital work environment with UDN Task Manager , assured that their data is safe — not even UDN Task Manager employees can access it.