17 Best Free Project Management Tools for Agile Teams in 2019

When your project is poorly executed, it might be a consequence of poor planning and weak project management. Poor execution leads to drastic results ranging from, but not limited to, financial losses, resource wastage, and time wastage.

Project management is not a new term or a new concept. It has been around for eons, and the internet is flooded with project and team management techniques (both new and old).

Each day a new tutorial or a blog is there with insights into effective project management that one can utilize to minimize the project blunders. We agree it becomes a wearisome task to find the best solution, out of the clutter, suited to your project needs.

We read so many project management blogs having roundups but none of them added real value to users. Some blogs didn’t weigh in pros and cons, while others didn’t pay attention towards the nuances. Therefore, we decided to create our own list and tried out some free project management software available.

So, without further ado, here’s our roundup on 17 best free project management tools of 2019 for agile teams and how they make project management a smooth experience for you:

1. nTask

nTask is a new, yet most versatile project management software available freely in the market. It’s an all-in-one tool that comes packed with the most intelligent features providing a smart over-all coverage to all of your project needs.

Through native modules, nTask mitigates the need to constantly switch applications for effective project management. The tool also ensures an intuitive and smooth experience on the application via smartly developed user interface.

Whether you’re a freelancer, part of a small team, member of a big corporation, or simply a blogger with lots of tasks at hand, the tool caters a diverse range of professionals.

Let’s have a look at some of the core features that placed nTask at the top of our list:

🌟 Key Features

Some of the key modules nTask deals with are:

• Projects: monitor your project schedule through built-in Gantt charts and allocate resources accordingly
• Tasks: create, assign, and track tasks through elaborate task management features. Set due dates, priorities, and statuses to keep your deadlines in check
• Meetings: organize and manage your meetings efficiently by setting meeting agenda, jotting down key follow up actions, and reviewing the meeting minutes
• Timesheets: make time tracking hassle-free by smartly monitoring the time you and your team spends on particular activities
• Issues: associate issues with multiple tasks and timely resolve them by defining issue severity, issue priority, and issue status
• Risks: identify and analyze potential risks your projects are subjected to through nTask’s risk matrix and develop a powerful mitigation strategy

💸 Pricing

The application comes with two main plans:

• Free; the basic version of the application is available for free. If you work alone or with a small team of up to 10 members, you can conveniently enjoy the free version and let nTask streamline all of your work for you.
• Pro; if your team has more members and you need more workspaces, opt for the affordable pro plan of $2.99 per user/per month. Keeping in view the amazing features, like unlimited team members and unlimited storage space, this price doesn’t put a dent in your pocket.

2. Trello

The second tool to make it to our list of best free project management tools is Trello.

At the moment, Trello is one of the most widely used project management software in the market with more than 1.1 million daily active users.

A task management tool working primarily on the principle of adjustable Kanban boards, Trello makes workflow visualization easy for you. It helps in instant tracking of all the tasks and activities that are in line, under progress, or have been done.

The boards are open-ended and can be edited in any way the user wants. The choice of making these boards private or public is also available for the users.

🌟 Key Features

• Kanban boards for workflow visualization
• Easy drag and drop of tasks to instantly indicate the status
• Tags, labels, and categories for organizing tasks
• Public and private access to boards
• Email notifications and reminders
• Checklists management for quickly checking off tasks
• Comments within tasks for quick collaboration
• File attachments to give context to your work

💸 Pricing

Currently, the software comes with three plans.

• Free: Coming with the option of unlimited boards and attachments, this plan is most suitable for small startups and for the basic planning
• Business Class: This plan is for teams and comes with upgraded or enhanced features. The price of the business class plan is $9.00 per user/month. Some of the key features of this plan are the private/public boards option, integration with other applications, and greater storage space
• Enterprise: Designed for big corporations consisting of multiple teams, this plan is elaborate in terms of specifications and the prices are charged according to the no. of users

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3. Asana

Asana is also one of the most commonly used free agile project management tools in the market. A powerful software, Asana comes with a specific set of features to effectively implement Agile methodologies, like sprint planning and backlog management.

You can choose from a vast library of built-in templates best suited to your team needs to easily plan and manage your operations.

To track your team’s work over time, use Asana’s timeline functionality. They can be conveniently created for smooth time management and keeping track of your project’s start and end dates.

🌟 Key Features

• Tasks and subtasks management
• Kanban boards for workflow visualization
• Project timeline for managing deadlines
• Comments within tasks for timely collaboration
• Milestone tracking to keep significant events in check
• Due dates and priority settings for tasks
• File attachments to collaborate on important things
• Sprint planning and sprint management
• Backlog management
• Multiple third-party application integrations

💸 Pricing

There are 4 pricing models of Asana:

• Free: basic version. For small teams that are gearing up
• Small teams: for small teams at a price of $6.25 per user/month. This package is essentially meant for startups and freelancers
• Premium: $9.99 per user/month. The plan includes wide array of features to choose from. The premium plans are usually available for entire businesses
• Enterprise: a customizable plan that can be modified according to your team’s preferences

The prices differ when billed annually or monthly.

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4. Wrike

Coming with a robust set of features, Wrike is one of the first choices of managers when it comes to project management.

Suited for teams of every size, Wrike provides flexibility while getting things done. The dashboard of the application comes with multiple useful features like my overdue tasks, due this week, and overdue etc.

Furthermore, you don’t have to worry about losing track during team discussions, as the live activity stream and team member mentions make your work easy for you.

🌟 Key Features

Some features of this free tool are:

• Tasks and subtasks management
• Time tracking with tasks
• Pre-built project templates
• Gantt charts for visualizing the project schedule
• Live activity stream for staying up to date
• Team mentions for referring to relevant team member
• A workload view for better resource management
• Custom user groups to ensure secure information exchange
• Progress tracking reports to monitor performance

💸 Pricing

Coming towards the pricing of this software, Wrike comes with a range of options to help users select the plan according to their need:

• Free: a simple plan that accommodates 5 users at a time
• Professional:5-15 users who can plan and collaborate on full project. $9.80 per user/month
• Business:5-200 users. This plan works for businesses at $24.80 per user/month
• Marketers:5-unlimited. With unlimited users option, this plan offers customizable services in $34.60 per user/month
• Enterprise:the last plan is also for unlimited users, but comes with enhanced security and control options for the users

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5. TeamGantt

If you’re more of a charts type of person, or your team relies heavily on visual tracking of workload, TeamGantt is the right free project management tool for you.

The tool primarily works on creating Gantt charts for all the underlying tasks. The charts are highly organized and come with features such as separate colored bars for tasks and groups, and progress statuses in terms of percentage.

Other advanced features include addition of multiple resources to tasks at any point, creating dependencies among multiple tasks, and rearranging tasks to denote the rescheduling.

🌟 Key Features

• Tasks and subtasks management
• Drag and drop functionality for scheduling tasks
• Multiple views to match your preference
• Workload management to efficiently allocate resources
• Planned vs actual timeline comparison
• Built-in project templates
• Downloadable PDF version of your project timeline
• Time tracking with tasks
• Filters to view the desired tasks only
• Sticky notes with projects and tasks

💸 Pricing

TeamGantt provides 3 standard monthly plans:

• Free: free basic account. Suited for a team of 3 people and for one project
• Individual: $25 per month. For an individual with up to 5 projects
• Standard Team: $49.75 per month for up to 5 members. The price increases with number of team members
• Advanced Team:$74.75 total per month for up to 5 team members.

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6. Meistertask

Meistertask is a cloud-based task management software which comes with a simple and beautiful user-interface to help you smoothly glide through your daily operations.

This project management solution comes with a mind-mapping tool that allows teams to collect and collaborate on ideas through beautiful diagrams.

The project properties dialog box of the tool helps users with a broad spectrum of options like who to add in a particular task and customized permissions to access tasks. Further options of add-ons and time-tracking can also be accessed from this dialog box.

One interesting feature project properties dialog box comes with is the custom field tab which enables all business users to add pre-defined elements into all of the tasks by just setting them up for once only.

🌟 Key Features

• Kanban project boards to visualize progress
• MindMeister for mind-mapping
• Checklists management
• Customizable dashboards
• Task relationships to identify dependencies
• Comments and file attachments
• Due dates and reminders
• Third-party application integrations

💸 Pricing

Meistertask comes with 4 pricing plans for its users:

• Basic:  Simple and easy task management with up to 3 mind maps
• Personal: $4.99 per month. For individuals and personal projects
• Pro: $8.25 per user/month. For project groups and unlimited integrations
• Business: $12.49 per user/month for enterprises

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7. Paymo

Paymo grabs 7th spot on our list of best free project management software. The tool comes with some pretty powerful project management features to help you manage your projects effectively from initiation till project closure.

Paymo provides comprehensive task management, project management, resource management, and invoicing, all under one platform.

For tracking the time you take for accomplishing a task, just turn on the Paymo application and let it run in the background. At the end of the day, it will show you the recorded time being spent on each application for a particular task.

🌟 Key Features

• Tasks and subtasks management
• Kanban boards for workflow visualization
• Resource scheduling and resource management
• Gantt charts for project scheduling
• Web timer to calculate the time spent on tasks
• Comments within tasks to quickly collaborate
• Invoicing functionality to bill clients
• Built-in project templates
• Budget and expense management

💸 Pricing

• Free: 1 user limit. Perfect for freelancers. The plan offers complete project management and time-tracking features
• Small office: $9.56 per user/month. The plan is meant for teams in the growth phase.
• Business: $15.16 per user/month. For large teams.

The Small Office and Business plans come with a 15 days free trial

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8. Bitrix24

Bitrix24 combines project management and collaboration in one tool, and it’s free, making it one of the most trusted project management applications today. It comprises a social intranet, in-app video conferencing, screen-sharing, HR and customer management tool.

You can organize tasks within your projects and track projects using Gantt charts. Moreover, it enables you to track employee workload and deadlines as well.

The tool also comes with comprehensive CRM management features which allow teams to manage their sales pipeline, automate marketing, and provide customer support through multiple communication channels.

🌟 Key Features

• Activity stream intranet center
• Bulk email to simultaneously send invites
• Calendar sharing for collaborating on schedule
• CRM with multiple powerful reports
• Email notifications and reminders
• Extranet for inviting external users to your workspaces
• File sharing and versioning
• Instant messages to provide timely feedback
• Task management with task reporting
• Time management for billing clients and tracking performance
• User profiles and user groups for managing entire organization

💸 Pricing

The comprehensive Bitrix24 solution is accessible via 4 plans:

• Free: up to 12 users and 5 GB storage space
• Plus: $35 – Up to 24 users and 24 GB storage space
• Standard: $89 – 50 users and 100 GB storage space
• Professional: $179 – unlimited users and unlimited storage space

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9. Basecamp

Basecamp combines project and staff management into one, simple-to-use system. The tool emphasizes project completion within the forecasted time and budget.

Tasks can be organized in due-range to-do lists, with the freedom to reorder and prioritize assignments at any time. It also caters to team collaboration and document management.

🌟 Key Features

• Project templates to reuse at any point
• Recurring tasks management
• Task history to keep track of activities
• File storage & sharing
• Scheduling & prioritization of tasks
• Project performance tracking reports
• Multiple third-party application integrations
• RSS feed

💸 Pricing

$99 per month total – unlimited users, unlimited projects, all features, 500 GB storage space

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10. Freedcamp

On #10, we have Freedcamp. You can plan your project’s schedule with calendar and milestone tools. You can organize your tasks as a standard to-do list or visualize them through Kanban boards.

You can also use the calendar to help with short and long-term planning. Manage files, hold discussions inside your projects, and upgrade to add extra tools for invoicing, CRM, and more.

🌟 Key Features

• Shared file management
• Tasks and subtasks management
• Discussion boards for centralized communication
• Calendar with Google integration
• Issue tracker for tracking all the underlying issues
• Time tracking for billing clients
• Team milestones to set project goals
• Unlimited users, projects, and storage
• Support response within 3 business days

💸 Pricing

Freedcamp comes with following plans:

• Free: unlimited projects, tasks, storage, and users
• Minimalist: $1.49 per user/month
• Freelancer: $3.39 per user/month
• Business: $7.49 per user/month
• Enterprise: $16.99 per user/month

Each plan offers its own set of distinct features.

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11. Zoho Projects

Next up – Zoho Projects.

Zoho projects leaves a mark by providing a unique set of features which enable an Agile team to achieve their project goals effectively.  The tool makes team collaboration hassle free by providing an interactive feed and forums to instantly gain valuable project insights and give feedback.

Along with that, the tool also provides advanced reporting functionality through multiple means, like Gantt charts and resource utilization charts, to name a few.

🌟 Key Features

• Tasks and subtasks management
• Kanban boards for identifying the workflow
• Task dependencies to define the relationship
• Activity feed for timely collaborating on tasks
• Project progress reports to monitor performance
• Time tracking with tasks
• Issue tracking for timely identifying and resolving issues
• Gantt charts for project scheduling
• Knowledge base for projects
• Client invoicing management
• Milestones management
• Documents management

💸 Pricing

The plans Zoho Projects offers are:

• Free: 5 projects, 5 users, feeds, and few other basic features
• Standard: $20 – for small teams
• Express: $40 – up to 15 users
• Premium: $85 – up to 20 users
• Enterprise: $125 – up to 25 users

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12. Airtable

#13 tool in this review of free project management software is Airtable.

The tool combines the functionality of task management and spreadsheet to provide the most user-friendly experience while managing projects.

It comes with a pleasing design and an easy-to-use interface to help users have fun while getting things done.

An interesting feature of the tool is Blocks. Airtable allows you to create a perfect workflow by quickly adding activities to blocks and visualizing the workstream for efficient execution.

🌟 Key Features

• Elaborate tasks management
• Time tracking with tasks
• Pre-built project templates
• Video chat functionality
• Issues and bug tracker
• Powerful project sorting filters
• Client project tracker
• File attachments
• Third-party application integrations

💸 Pricing

This free project management tool is available in 4 categories:

• Free: basic task management
• Plus: $10 per user/month
• Pro: $20 per user/month
• Enterprise: custom pricing – advanced enterprise features

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13. Jira

Considered #1 software development tool chosen by Agile teams, Jira gives us all the right reasons to include it in our blog. It allows software teams to use workflow mapping, along with multiple other Agile development functionalities, for releasing the software effectively.

Jira makes sure you get things done right from the beginning by providing an array of features supporting multiple Agile frameworks.

For tracking your project performance in real time, you can get access to a vast library of Agile reports ranging from basic burndown and burnup charts, to more advanced sprint reports and velocity charts etc.

🌟 Key Features

Some of the core features Jira comes with are:

• Customizable Scrum boards
• Kanban boards for identifying the progress of tasks
• Customizable project dashboard
• Roadmaps for planning the project’s work
• Powerful bug and issues tracker
• Customizable workflows
• Custom search filters to view what’s important
• Numerous Agile reports for tracking performance
• Multiple third-party application integrations

💸 Pricing

Jira offers a free trial of 7 days and paid plans. The paid plans start from $10 per month (increases with the number of users).

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14. Smartsheet

Another popular tool we have added here for you is Smartsheet.

Smartsheet has been able to gather quite an audience over the years. Essentially relying on a spreadsheet format for managing projects and tasks, the platform serves as a single systematic and flexible solution for all the task management needs of a team.

A highly customizable project management solution, Smartsheet gives users the leverage to automate their workflows the way they want.

Combining the ease of using a spreadsheet, along with more advanced project management features, it provides an overall solution to project managers.

🌟 Key Features

• Dashboard for key project activities
• Kanban boards for smooth workflow visualization
• Multiple views for tasks
• Easy file attachments with tasks
• Reminders for deadlines
• Activity log for staying updated
• Downloadable summary reports
• Team portal for centralized team communication
• Customized themes for individual preferences
• Multiple sorting filters

💸 Pricing

Smartsheet comes with a free trial of 30 days, and upgraded plans. These plans are:

• Individual: $14 per month
• Business: $25 per user/month
• Enterprise: customized pricing plan

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15. Podio

It would be injustice on our part if we didn’t add Podio in this elaborate review of free project management software.

It’s a platform which combines task management and social collaboration features into one integrated solution. The tool allows successful project delivery by claiming to put content, context, and collaboration in one place.

The collaboration features Podio comes with range from likes and file sharing within the system, to instant messaging and audio/video calls. These features allow you to closely track team performance and what each team member is working on.

🌟 Key Features

• Personal dashboards for monitoring performance
• Comprehensive task management
• Automated workflows
• Private and public workspaces
• Activity stream to update activities
• Comments, likes, and file sharing
• Audio and video calls
• Integrated chat for instant feedback

💸 Pricing

Podio provides 4 plans to users:

• Free: basic task management for up to 5 employees
• Basic: $9 per month – unlimited external users
• Plus: $14 per month – automated workflows with other advanced features
• Premium: $24 per month – full suite of advanced features

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16. LiquidPlanner

A tool specifically designed for smartly scheduling and planning your project, LiquidPlanner fits perfectly with the standards of best project management software.

With a smart scheduler, the tool automatically updates the overall task requirements when resources and priorities change. The updated timeline can then be easily viewed and shared with everyone.

Other interesting features include effective resource management, cost and profit analysis, and clients’ portfolio management.

🌟 Key Features

• Automated smart scheduler
• Resource workload reports
• Time tracking with individual tasks
• Customizable and shareable dashboards
• Budget and expense tracking
• Client portfolio management
• Pre-set project templates
• Milestones and dependencies
• Multiple third-party applications access

💸 Pricing

LiquidPlanner has two paid plans:

• Professional: $45 per user/month – for small businesses
• Enterprise: $69 per user/month – for large organizations

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17. Redbooth

Suited for teams of every size, Redbooth can be the best project management software solution for you if you’re looking for a simple, yet comprehensive tool.

Coming with a pretty neat user-interface, the tool encompasses an interesting feature set to help you efficiently achieve your project goals.

Through the project timeline, visualize your project schedule and stay ahead of your deadlines. Furthermore, through the Zoom integration, you can connect with your team members from anywhere and conduct video conferences to share insights.

🌟 Key Features

• Project dashboards to monitor key performance indicators
• Gantt charts for visualizing the project timeline
• Customizable Kanban boards
• Task statuses, priorities, and due dates
• Detailed progress tracking reports
• High definition video conferences
• Team workload management
• Built-in project templates for instant working

💸 Pricing

• Pro: $9 per user/month – unlimited workspaces, time tracking, and HD video calls
• Business: $15 per user/month – resource management, advanced subtasks, Redbooth predict
• Enterprise: upon request – multi-org setting, success manager, volume discounts

The plans come with many other project management features.

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The Top 7 Free Agile Project Management Tools Compared

Conclusion

In a nutshell, there are pros and cons associated with each type of these free agile project management tools available, with no single one being perfect.

You just need to find out the one that caters to your individual and team needs and make the best out of the options available.

 

Also read

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2. The Best Slack Alternatives for Effective Project Management
3. Top Project Management Terms and Concepts of 2019
4. The Best Excel Alternatives for Project Management and Spreadsheets
5. Best Business Management Software to Use in 2019