We tested every major tool. Here's what we'd actually use.
Fast setup, excellent board views, practical automations. The 3-seat minimum is the only caveat for very small teams.
Basecamp. Genuinely different from everything else here — opinionated layout, project-grouped structure, unusual features like Hill Charts. Pricing is a flat fee regardless of headcount, which can be a real value at 10+ seats. Skipped because Basecamp's model assumes your work breaks neatly into discrete projects with start and end dates. For ongoing operations work, it's clunky.
Trello. The original Kanban board. Power-Ups marketplace is more mature than ClickUp's because Trello has been around longer. Skipped because once you need anything beyond simple Kanban — dashboards, time tracking, dependencies — you're stacking Power-Ups and paying for what other tools include natively.
Todoist. Beautiful design, easiest tool on this list to use. Skipped because team functionality is a recent addition; it's still primarily an individual task manager. If you're a solo operator and want one tool for both personal and light project work, it's an excellent pick.
SmartSuite. Sits between ClickUp and Monday on features, with strong data schema and automation. Worth watching — but the company is positioning to move upmarket, which usually means pricing increases. If you're going to pick it, lock in current pricing rather than waiting.
For teams: Asana free allows 10 users with unlimited tasks. ClickUp free is close behind. For individuals: Notion free is the most flexible. Monday's free plan is limited to 2 seats and 3 boards — essentially an extended trial.
SaaS pricing changes constantly. We check every plan and send you what changed — free.
By subscribing you agree to our privacy policy. One email per quarter, no spam.
✓ You're in — we'll send one email per quarter.
The fastest way to get your team tracking projects visually.