Project Management is a complex maze that can only be understood if you are vigilant from day one and keep an eye on everything that happens within your project.

The software world is quite diverse nowadays. There are a lot of different project tracking tools that are excellent trackers of every element connected to your project and ensures that everything is looked after and you achieve success.

But what do these project trackers track?

As we know that a project consists of the following basic elements:

1. Resources: Every project requires an arsenal of different resources for the development team to utilize them and make the project a definite success. These resources can be many different things like equipment, people, or any other items related to project development.
2. Project Scope: Project Scope is essentially the script or the nature of the project on which it is going to be developed. This will include things like What is required for the project to be completed? What should be the size of the project? Which elements can potentially stall the development process?
3. Time: Based on the calculations done with the project scope in mind, the time to complete the project development process is measured. This depends on a lot of different factors related to the project like resources, interference from the stakeholders, among many others.
4. Budget: Nothing in this life is free and you have to pay for everything if you want the best of it. Just like that, all of the projects that you are trying to develop are going to cost you, and depending on the size and the elements included in them, they are going to cost you a lot. So, to make sure that your project is not stalled in the middle of development, you need to find out how much money is required to finish the development process of the project and pass that information on to the stakeholders.

These are the four basic elements of a project that are also the tracker templates for a project tracking software, that can help the development team to design a project development process in which the project is an instant success and brings more value to the company.

This is where project tracking software comes into play. They are tried and tested project management tools that specialize in tracking all of the different components of a project and make sure that the upper 4 basic project elements are properly tracked and managed.

Why Track Your Project’s Progress?

Many people in the project management paradigm always ask about the purpose of tracking every element connected to a project. Because all of this surveillance over the project can just seem like the over-protected watch of the upper management.

But obviously, it is so much more than that.

For smaller projects, project tracking can be a bit easy than bigger projects and might take a lot less time. But, for the larger projects, the project tracking process can take up a lot of time and resources and might involve many numbers of people to successfully perform.

Here are some of the practices which you can perform to make sure that the project is a definite success and bringing more value to the company. They are:

• An improved level of communication among all of the team members, the project manager, and all of the stakeholders connected to the project.
• An effective resource management process that will help you manage all of your different resources, and makes sure that your staff is not overwhelmed by the flow of the work activities, and the work burden doesn’t affect project timelines and delays priorities.
• A better scheduling system for all of the resources, processes, and tasks related to the project, to make sure that the project is not delayed in the slightest and every goal and milestone is performed and shipped to the client in the agreed-upon timeframe.
• You as a manager, are supposed to come up with the most effective budget management process to make sure that the project doesn’t go overboard, and all of the tasks and activities are performed in the agreed-upon budget on time.

The 11 Best Project Tracker Tools to Use in 2021

Project Management is an incredible field of work because the software industry has created some of the most incredible applications to facilitate you in all of your PM activities.

The following applications are some of the project management tools that are the best Project tracking tools you can use in 2021. They are:

Let’s take a detailed look at all of them.

1. nTask

nTask is one of the best project tracker /management software you can find in the market right now.

It is specifically designed to make sure that all of the activities that you and your team are performing, be tracked and properly filed to make sure that you are informed of all of the changes regarding the project, keep everything in check, and make sure that you succeed.

Key Features

• Project Management
• Brainstorming
• Project Management
• Backlog Management
• Timesheets
• Workflow Management
• Board Meetings
• Meeting Minutes Management
• Gantt Charts

Pricing

• Basic free plan
• Premium plan starts at $2.99/month/user
• Business plan starts at $7.99/month/user

2. Podio

Podio is an excellent project tracking tool that has all of the features that can make sure that your project is well looked after like budget tracking and detailed time tracking tools to keep all of your processes and tasks in check. Some other features that this application provides are given below.

Key Features

• Activity Dashboard
• Activity Tracking
• Automatic Notifications
• Calendar Management
• Chat
• Collaborative Review
• Collections Management
• Communication Management
• Two-Way Audio & Video
• User Management
• Workflow Management

Pricing

• Paid subscription starts at $9/month

3. Wrike

Next project tracking tool is Wrike. Another amazing project management software that can act as an incredible project tracking tool for you with the help of its excellent features like Kanban boards, traditional task lists, and many other tracking methods that can help you keep an eye on everything related to your project and achieve success.

Key Features

• Projections
• Real-Time Notifications
• Real-Time Updates
• Reporting & Statistics
• Resource Management
• Rules-Based Workflow
• Secure Data Storage
• Status Reporting
• Tagging
• Task Planning
• Task Tracking
• Third-Party Integration
• Timer

Pricing

• Paid subscription starts at $24.80/month

4. Monday.com

Monday.com is yet another example of a project tracking tool that can help you keep an eye on everything related to your project like budget and resources etc. so that you can achieve success and gain value for the company.

Key Features

• Planning Tools
• Process Control
• Progress Tracking
• Project Management
• Project Templates
• Project Tracking
• Pulse Surveys
• Real-Time Notifications
• Reminders
• Reporting & Statistics

Pricing

• Paid subscription starts at $39/month

5. Jira

Jira is an amazing project management software that has different features like creating a work breakdown structure and other agile features, that allow you to keep everything in check in your project development process, making your project a success and bringing in more value for the company.

Key Features

• Unlimited custom fields
• Seamless source and issue integration
• Advanced reporting
• Advanced security and administration
• Easily import data from other systems
• On-Demand and On-premise deployment
• Polished user experience
• Customizable workflows
• Bugs and defect management
• Search and filtering
• Customizable dashboards and wallboards
• Integration with flexible REST APIs
• Mobile interface
• Scrum, Kanban, and Scrumban boards

Pricing

• Paid subscription starts at $7/user/month

6. Airtable

One of the more beautifully designed applications on this list, Airtable is an amazing project management software that allows you to track all of the different processes and projects in your company’s roster easily, without straining your eyes due to its beautiful UI.

Key Features

• Link Records Between Tables
• Customized Views
• Customized Fields
• Email integration
• Social media integration
• Forms Management
• Collaborative Workspace
• Records Management
• Application integration

Pricing

• Paid subscription starts at $10/user/month

7. Microsoft Project

Probably one of the oldest to-date software on this list, MS Project is an amazing project tracking application that can help you generate project tracking spreadsheets that can help you keep track of all of the entities connected to your project.

These project tracking spreadsheets are an old way of keeping track of everything but it is still valid to use in many different projects all around the project management world.

Key Features

• Simplify IT management
• Anticipate change
• Communicate in real-time
• Deliver projects successfully
• Access from virtually anywhere
• Deliver projects successfully
• Project Portfolio Management
• Discover and share information

Pricing

• Paid subscription at $7/user/month

8. Scoro

Probably one of the most featureful application on this list, Scoro is one of the best project tracker tools that you can use to take care of all of your projects. Just take a look at all of the features that this application has to offer.

Key Features

• Access Control
• Action Item Tracking
• Activity Management
• Ad hoc Reporting
• Asset Management
• Attendance Tracking
• Automated Scheduling
• Automatic Notifications
• Availability Management

Pricing

• Paid subscription starts at $26/month

9. TeamGantt

Next up in the project tracker tools list is TeamGantt. This software uses Kanban boards to keep track of all of the activities being performed in your project.

Key Features

• Employee monitoring and management
• Task Management
• Reports
• Access on The Go
• Project Visualization
• Project Management
• Conversations
• Print PDF’s
• Sub-Groups

Pricing

• Paid subscription starts at $7.90/month

10. Toggl Plan

One of the most effective software choices for all your project tracker activities, Toggl Plan is an incredible application that is full of features that can help you schedule, plan, and communicate all of the information among your team members and be successful.

Key Features

• Multiple Projects
• Progress Tracking
• Project Planning
• Project Tracking
• Milestone Tracking
• Planning Tools
• Project Management
• Project Time Tracking
• Projections

Pricing

• Paid subscription starts at $8/month

11. Todoist

Todoist is incredibly affordable, yet, premium software that can help you take care of all of your project tracking activities. It has a lot of third-party integrations so; you won’t have to part with any of your work applications and can start working from day one.

Key Features

• Subprojects
• Sub Tasks
• Notifications
• Powerful Recurring Dates
• Productivity Visualization
• Labels
• Filters
• Archive Search
• Project templates

Pricing

• Paid subscription starts at $28.99/year

How to Use a Project Tracker?

By this point, you may have seen different software that can help you to take care of all of your project tracking needs and requirements. Using these programs is going to be different. But if you want to know some basic tips to make the user experience rewarding, here’s what can be done:

1. Software Features Vs. Requirements

Any software belonging from any genre has to, first and foremost, be beneficial for you and capable of meeting all your needs and requirements from the moment you set it up according to your criteria.

For a project tracker, the capabilities are supposed to be things like budget tracking that helps to keep track of all of the different processes and tasks related to the project, and all of the money being spent to perform those tasks.

2. Ease of Use Is Proportional to Overall User Experience

Projects and Services change every day and the company needs to have resources and tools that can help them customize those projects and services according to the times.

To do that, the project tracking tool that you use needs to be intuitive and capable of making rapid changes, so that the company can compete with the changing times head-on.

Despite summing up these programs, we are sure that you may be using a completely different tool. If that’s the case, we would love to know all about it. Fill your fellow readers in on your favorite project tracker tool of 2020 through the comments section below.

Alternatively, you can also write to us at fwilson@ntaskmanager.com with your valuable insight. Good luck and don’t forget to have fun with project tracking apps.