In this Monday.com review, I’ll break down what actually stood out during testing, where the platform feels worth the price, where it didn’t meet my expectations, and give you a no-fluff answer if it’s for you or you should skip.

Let’s dive in!

Verdict

Here’s the quick verdict if you don’t want to read the full review:

Tested with our review & scoring methodology Real-world testing Unbiased evaluation

How We Test Project Management Tools

To keep our reviews & final score for each project management app fair and consistent, we evaluate every tool using the same testing framework based on real-world usage, feature depth, and overall value.

Our scoring breakdown after testing 20+ project management apps:

Want a detailed breakdown of how we test each category?

Learn exactly how we test tools → Review methodology

Short on time? Here’s a quick overview of Monday.com

What is Monday.com?

Monday.com is an intuitive project management platform mostly for teams, but individuals can also utilize its free version. Thanks to its security measures and integration options, Monday.com is ideal for enterprises as well.

With this project management tool, you can create workflows, automate processes, and collaborate on projects with your team members.

You can use Monday.com on the web and on your desktop for both Mac and Windows, and offers mobile apps for iOS and Android devices.

What using Monday.com felt like after testing 20+ alternatives

Compared to more robust project management apps like Jira or ClickUp, Monday has a significantly faster learning curve. Monday.com’s task management tools are easy to use, and you can customize the columns and parameters easily.

When testing, I particularly enjoyed using Monday.com’s project views. It offers a wide range of options for reviewing your projects from different angles.

Furthermore, the fully customizable dashboard stood out to me during my Monday.com review. Using its dashboard, you can utilize various widgets and apps to track your projects.

Nonetheless, I ran into a few bugs while testing the mobile app, and there were also some missing features I genuinely expected to find in a project management tool at Monday.com’s price point.

Why Monday.com didn’t score higher (and where it loses points)

Monday.com lost points in pricing (2.5/5) due to its relatively high cost, and in reliability (3.5/5), mainly because of occasional bugs in the mobile app.

Where it truly stood out during testing and earned the maximum score was in its advanced reporting, extensive integrations, and highly intuitive user interface.

Who Monday.com is a good fit for

Who Monday.com is not ideal for

The features that mattered during testing

These were the parts of Monday.com I relied on most while testing it.

Home page

Whenever I test project management tools, I always love to take a look at the home page, as it can provide a quick overview of your projects and tasks. So, a good home page or dashboard can save time and give you the comfort of knowing what you need to deal with today.

Monday.com’s home dashboard is more like a simple page that shows what you visited lately. If you want to know more about your tasks, you need to go to the My Work tab.

Here, you can get quick access to all the tasks and projects assigned to you. Also, Monday.com offers some options to customize your home dashboard.

Nevertheless, I discovered during my Monday.com review that other software like ClickUp or Asana provides more options to customize your home page. Monday.com offers such customization and a more detailed dashboard view under your workspaces, but I will talk about it later.

Now, let’s move on to Monday.com’s project management tools!

Project management software

With Monday.com, you can organize your projects into several workspaces. When creating a project, you can decide whether you need a new workspace for it or if you want to involve it in an existing one.

I was honestly surprised by how fast the setup process was. I could usually create a new project from scratch and start organizing tasks in around five minutes.

You need to select the column types you want to include and the project view you want to apply.

Once you are done with it, you can start adding your tasks and their parameters. Let’s talk about the view options for a minute.

I ended up using the Kanban, and workload views the most. The Gantt view looked polished, but for smaller projects, it felt unnecessary for me.

Besides these, you can use the calendar view, and if you tap the plus icon, more view options will appear. And there will be even more if you select “Explore more,” which I genuinely valued when managing my projects.

I believe this project management software is among the ones I tried, yet it provides the most view options. It is also great that it does not take too much time to load and that the new project view options are used.

For teams, the workload view could be very helpful in reviewing resource allocation. As I work alone, it is not that suggestive, but it can clearly represent how the workload is allocated in your team.

Furthermore, Enterprise customers can create portfolios, where you can get a holistic view of all your projects in one place.

One thing I liked was how quickly I could restructure workflows. Using Monday.com’s project views, I rebuilt my content pipeline for the next few months in about 20–30 minutes.

Templates

Monday.com offers some templates for different industries and teams. Using such ready-made templates, you can create projects even faster.

Overall, I loved that there are plenty of templates, and you can easily personalize them. Just a quick side note: maybe it is just me, but to access the templates, Monday.com loaded at least a few minutes.

Task management features

During my Monday.com review, I realized how easy it is to add and assign tasks to others. You can add a new task with one click and select its status, priority level, timeline, owner, and due date.

In addition, Monday.com allows you to drag and drop individual tasks and move them irrespective of the view option you use.

I liked that that you can create more columns to track your tasks effectively. Furthermore, you can customize the label or create your own.

Once you have created a task, you can add subitems to break down more complex tasks. As you can see, I added 5 subtasks to my main task called AI note-takers YT video. If you click on the task, it will show the additional tasks under this item.

After reviewing Monday.com’s task management tools, I was satisfied, but not perfect. Something that annoyed me repeatedly is the lack of a recurring task function.

The only way to add recurring tasks is to use Monday.com’s automation.

Custom dashboard

Custom dashboards are useful for displaying the key information of all your projects in a single layout. You can apply +30 widgets and apps here so you can understand better the project progress, workloads, budgets, and more.

This is exactly what I expected from a good dashboard view, and this is what I missed on the home page. Overall, the customized dashboard was one of the best project management tools I discovered during my Monday.com review.

Collaboration tools

You can invite your team members to your workspace and start working on projects right away. The first step to getting your team onboard and collaborating is to add them as owners to the tasks.

You can start discussions in your projects, mention others, attach files, and leave comments. Furthermore, you can do the same under each task.

Another useful team collaboration feature is the update feed. Using this Monday.com feature, you get notified when someone mentions or assigns a task to you.

Lastly, you can share projects with your team members and change the permission level to a member, admin, or viewer.

Ultimately, Monday.com has decent team collaboration tools. It has all the essential features a project management tool needs to organize a team’s work.

Automation

You can manage and create custom automation with Monday.com. The automation feature is quite an intuitive and simple tool.

You only need to select the criteria for when the automation should be triggered and the required action in such cases. Depending on the trigger you’ve picked, you might need to select a condition as well.

Docs

Using Monday.com, you can create and draft documents. You can either start from scratch or use a template.

You can add numerous types of formats, such as text, tables, widgets, lists, and more. Furthermore, you can use Monday.com’s AI assistant to help you write and summarize the text.

During my Monday.com review, I found this an easy-to-use tool, which is completely ideal for creating a company knowledge base or writing meeting notes.

Time tracking

When adding columns to your projects, you can select the time-tracking tool as well. Once you add it to your tasks, you only need to hit the start button, and that is.

If you need to export the time tracking column to Excel, you only need to click the column menu dropdown and select “Export Column Data to Excel.” With this, you can collect the time you spend on each task and report it easily.

I think such a tracking feature is sufficient for most people. If you need more advanced time tracking, I typically recommend using a dedicated app for this, as it can give you a much more detailed breakdown of how you manage your time.

AI features

I was curious whether Monday’s newer AI tools were actually useful or just marketing. Over the past year, Monday.com has started putting much more focus on AI, which is now integrated directly into boards, workflows, docs, and automations.

One feature I found interesting is AI Blocks. These can be added to automations and workflows to perform actions like summarizing text, generating content, translating text, or pulling key details from documents.

Monday.com also introduced AI Sidekick. This works like an assistant inside the platform. You can use it to write updates, summarize discussions, or quickly generate content inside Monday Docs.

Another addition is AI Agents. These agents can monitor workflows and trigger actions automatically. For example, they can summarize project activity, detect changes in tasks, or notify the team when something important happens.

However, these features run on AI credits, which are consumed whenever you use them.

Connecting Monday.com with other tools

Monday.com integrates directly with more than 200 third-party apps, making it surprisingly flexible across different workflows and team setups. I found it easy to connect with the tools I already used without needing much extra setup.

It also supports Zapier integrations, which provide access to thousands of third-party apps and automations if you want to build Monday.com into your tool stack.

Monday.com’s user interface

Monday.com has an incredibly intuitive user interface. It is easy to navigate on it, and you can find all the key features with a few clicks. I love that it is simplified, and I do not have the feeling that it is packed.

Monday.com’s mobile app

Monday.com has a mobile version that is available for Android and iPhone users as well. Its user interface is okay, but it still has some bugs and has fewer features compared to the web and desktop apps. The mobile bug happened when I started adding lots of tasks to one of the projects.

Also, sometimes I experience that when you add new items to boards, they do not always sync with the desktop or web app.

Cost vs value

After testing Monday.com, pricing was one of my biggest concerns.

Free plan

Monday.com’s free version has some limitations, and it is only sufficient for individuals at maximum. With the Free plan, you can access 3 boards, 8 column types, +200 templates, up to 3 docs, and the iOS and Android apps.

Basic plan

Monday.com has four paid plans. Whenever you decide to buy one of the paid plans of Monday.com, you need to know that there is no single-user subscription.

If choosing the Basic plan, you can add unlimited items, access to 5GB file storage, prioritized customer support, and you can create a dashboard based on 1 board. Additionally, you get 6,000 trial AI credits. Nevertheless, you can give read-only access to unlimited free viewers.

You can get the Basic plan for $9 monthly if purchasing the annual subscription. If you choose the monthly billing, it is $12 per month per user.

Based on my experience, this plan might be ideal for small businesses, but lacks some critical features.

Standard plan

With the Standard plan, you can use the timeline, Gantt, and calendar views and access the automation and integrations, and you get a 6,000 trial AI credits. Also, you can create a dashboard that combines five boards and provides 20GB of file storage.

It is $12 per month per user if billed annually. If you want to pay on a monthly basis, it will cost $14 per month per user.

Compared to the Basic plan, the Standard plan offers more options to visualize projects, more space for your files, and longer activity logs (i.e., 6 months).

Pro plan

The Pro plan starts at $19 per month if the annual billing is chosen. Otherwise, it is $24 monthly per user.

With the Pro Plan, you access the private boards, chart view, time tracking, formula column, 6,000 trial AI credits, and more automation, integrations, dashboards, and AI credits.

This plan is excellent for small and mid-sized businesses.

Enterprise plan

Lastly, Monday.com offers an Enterprise plan for larger businesses with custom pricing. You get enterprise-scale automation and integrations,12,000 trial AI credits, enterprise-grade security, advanced reporting and analytics, and 24/7 customer support.

Where Monday.com impressed me (and where it didn’t)

After testing real workflows in Monday.com, these were the biggest strengths and frustrations I noticed.

Where It Excels

Where It Falls Short

Monday.com alternatives

If you need something cheaper, more customizable, or better suited for complex workflows, these alternatives are worth considering.

Compare Monday.com vs alternatives

ClickUp VS Monday.com

ClickUp vs Monday

Notion VS Monday.com

Notion vs Monday

Monday.com VS Asana

Monday vs Asana

Teamwork VS Monday.com

Teamwork vs Monday

SmartSuite VS Monday.com

SmartSuite vs Monday

Related article:

• 5 Best Monday Alternatives in 2026 | 20+ Personally Tested Apps

Final verdict: Is Monday.com worth it?

After testing Monday.com against more than 20 project management tools, I can see exactly why so many teams like it. It’s not overwhelming at all to build workflows thanks to its ease of use and polished interface.

What stood out most to me was that I could go from an empty workspace to building up my content schedule and other projects without spending hours configuring everything.

However, Monday.com is expensive for what it offers. It’s nowhere near ClickUp or Jira in terms of feature depth, yet its pricing doesn’t reflect that.

Ultimately, I think Monday.com makes the most sense for teams that value simplicity, clean design, and fast onboarding rather than feature depth.

Related posts:

• 8 Best Project Management Software in 2026 | My Honest List

Why you can trust our reviews

At thebusinessdive.com, our team tests, reviews, and compares hundreds of productivity apps every year — from project management tools to note-taking apps. We dive deep into real-world use cases to help you find the right tools that actually improve your workflow, not just add noise.

Our mission? No fluff, no shortcuts—just honest, hands-on insights from productivity pros.

Discover how we stay transparent, read our review methodology, and let us know about any tools we missed.

Frequently asked questions

Is Monday.com actually good?

After my Monday.com review, I realized that it is quite a good project management tool. It offers numerous view options and customization options, and it is an easy-to-use project management app overall.

Is Monday.com actually free?

Monday.com has a free plan for one or two seats, but it has a limited feature set. With the Free version, you can access 3 boards, 8 column types, +200 templates, unlimited docs, and the iOS and Android apps.

With the paid plans starting from $9 per user monthly, you can get more advanced features to manage your projects.

What is the difference between ClickUp and Monday.com?

Both ClickUp and Monday.com are fantastic project management tools. As for pricing, ClickUp is more affordable. Nevertheless, Monday.com has a shorter learning curve than ClickUp.

If we take a look at the features of both project management software, I would say ClickUp has more robust tools. However, the customer support team at Monday.com is better than ClickUp.

Disclosure: I only recommend products I would use myself, and all opinions expressed here are our own. This post may contain affiliate links that, at no additional cost to you, may earn a small commission. Read the full privacy policy here.

Aron Kantor

Hey there! I am Aron, the founder of Thebusinessdive. I have been testing productivity apps for almost three years now. I reach 25.000 -50.000 people monthly with the mission to help you find the perfect productivity apps. Subscribe to my YouTube channel, newsletter, and social media to hear more about the best productivity tools. Let’s dive in!

thebusinessdive.com

The post Monday.com Review 2026: Is the $228 Price Tag Justified? appeared first on .

Stay here, because in this brutally honest Jira review, I will share insights from 3 years of experience in testing project management software and help you decide whether this app is for you or if you should look elsewhere.

Let’s dive in!

Verdict

Here’s the quick verdict if you don’t want to read the full review:

Tested with our review & scoring methodology Real-world testing Unbiased evaluation

How We Test Project Management Tools

To keep our reviews & final score for each project management app fair and consistent, we evaluate every tool using the same testing framework based on real-world usage, feature depth, and overall value.

Our scoring breakdown after testing 20+ project management apps:

Want a detailed breakdown of how we test each category?

Learn exactly how we test tools → Review methodology

Short on time? Here’s a quick overview of Jira

What is Jira?

Jira is a project management and issue tracking tool developed by Atlassian. It was primarily designed for agile project management and is particularly effective for software and IT teams.

Jira offers agile boards (Scrum/Kanban), reporting, and customized workflows to visualize work progress and track projects.

It’s integrated with Confluence, which is a cloud-based team workspace and knowledge management tool ideal for creation, collaboration, and organization.

While this Jira review will mainly focus on the project management features, I will also cover and share my thoughts about Confluence.

My experience with Jira

Jira is a powerful and robust project and issue tracking software developed for larger businesses. Its features are mostly useful for technical teams requiring traceable workflows and in-depth reporting. For example, software development businesses, IT DevOps, or tech-heavy teams.

In terms of customization options, Jira is outstanding. You can customize workflows, issue types, custom fields, and a wide range of automations to help reduce repetitive tasks.

Nonetheless, this extensive feature set, options, and space-focused approach can be daunting and overwhelming for beginners.

Most of the teams I talk with require a simple project management app for tracking tasks and projects and collaborating. For those, Jira is an “overkill” app. The time it takes to master it simply does not make sense to them.

Based on my experience during my Jira review, it is an ideal project management app for teams above 100 users and/or those working in a tech-heavy industry.

Why Jira got a 4.3 / 5 score

Jira scored highly because of its exceptional depth in features and customization. It performed near the top across most categories compared to other project management apps we have tested.

However, it didn’t achieve a higher score for a few key reasons.

First, reporting—while solid—is not as intuitive or accessible as in some competing tools, especially for non-technical users. Extracting insights often requires more setup and familiarity with the system.

Second, and more importantly, Jira’s user experience significantly impacts usability. The platform has a steep learning curve, and its structure (like the “spaces” approach) can feel confusing at first.

Even though the interface looks clean, the sheer number of features and configuration options makes it overwhelming, especially for new users or non-technical teams.

Who Jira is a good fit for

Who Jira is not ideal for

Jira’s key features

Here, I collected the tools I tried during my Jira review.

Homepage

Jira’s dashboard provides a quick look at the recent spaces showing open queries, tasks, and ideas, depending on the type of space.

If you scroll down, you will access the outstanding tasks for today, assigned and viewed tasks, starred spaces, and boards. Unfortunately, I missed the option to customize this page with widgets, for example, showing the timeline view of one of my most urgent projects or a calendar.

Project management

If you are looking for projects in Jira, you’re not going to find them, at least in this way. Instead of projects, Jira uses spaces to better represent the workflows as flexible, ongoing work containers rather than just time-bound projects.

When creating spaces, you can choose from numerous templates for software development, marketing, finance, product management, and more. It takes 30-40 seconds, and Jira will add it to your workspace.

You can visualize project lists, boards, calendars, and timeline views. However, your space (i.e., project) can include way more views and functions, such as goals, backlog, security, etc. You can add these to the navigation panel with a click.

Inside your spaces, you can add further views to give you a picture of your project from a different angle. You have numerous options here, and if you used a template, Jira will pre-fill your space with relevant view options, and you only need to change the parameters.

Task and issue tracking

In your spaces, you can create tasks with a few clicks. But the tasks can be different work types, like a feature, an epic, or a simple task. You can customize and add work types to your workflows.

In contrast to the homepage, Jira provides many customization options here. You have full control over what the fields should include. That said, you can add labels, URLs, tracked time, and many other options.

With this feature, you can easily track issues with customizable fields, types, and workflows that match your team’s processes. It allows you to map issues through stages (e.g., To Do, In Progress, Done) and prioritize to efficiently manage issues.

When creating tasks, you only need to type the name, add an assignee, and a due date, and you are good to go. If you click on your task, you can create sub-tasks and link to other work items.

Nevertheless, there are numerous other smaller tools you can use for your tasks. You can move them, add flags, votes, clone them, add to a parent, and export.

Overall, Jira has one of the most robust task and bug tracking features I have tried so far. It not only offers many functions, but you can further customize them to design them for your workflows.

Service management

Using Jira Service Management, you can receive, track, manage, and resolve requests from your team’s customers. It allows them to share requests via email, help centers, and an embeddable widget. With this tool, you can categorize requests, issues, and changes and prioritize them in one place.

Jira Service Management enables Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) surveys to collect feedback trends upon ticket resolution.

Just a heads-up: It’s a separate Atlassian product that requires an additional fee to use it. However, Jira Service Management offers a free tier for up to three agents, allowing users to try the product at no cost.

Team collaboration features

With Jira, you can share spaces and assign tasks to your team members. When you click on the task, you can add comments, mention others, share files, and set up automatic notifications. In addition to assigning tasks to your team members, you can assign them to teams as well.

In your task, you will access the activity history and work log if your team members used time tracking. Furthermore, you can also see team members editing in real-time, with instant updates on issues to avoid duplicate work.

When it comes to the team collaboration features, we also need to cover Confluence. Scroll down, because in the next step of this Jira review, I will guide you through Confluence and what it can offer.

Confluence

Confluence works as a collaborative knowledge base and documentation hub. It lets you create, share, and organize team knowledge, documents, and meeting notes. So, essentially, it works like a Wiki for your business.

You can create folders to organize content and share them with your team members, but you can keep them private as well. Confluence allows you to add pages, whiteboards, databases, live docs, and more.

It uses a block-based text editor similar to Notion, and you can place headings, pictures, pie charts, links, and many other items in your document.

Confluence is a different product of Atlassian, so even if you use the paid version of Jira, you need to buy Confluence to use it. Nevertheless, up to 10 users can use its basic functionalities for free.

AI features

Jira has numerous built-in AI features across the platform. When clicking on a task, just hit the “Improve Task” and you can improve the description, summarize comments, and more. Furthermore, you can use natural language for searching, and Jira uses AI to find the tasks you need.

Jira also offers a feature called Rovo. It is an AI-powered assistant designed to accelerate workflows, accessing all the Atlassian tools and third-party integrations. You can use it for finding tasks, creating content, or asking for definitions of acronyms and company jargon.

Moreover, with Rovo, you can create AI agents to organize work, automate, write content, prepare OKRs, and more. Based on my experience during Jira review, I found such AI agents useful and helped to avoid switching to ChatGPT when a bit of AI assistance is needed.

Automations

Jira lets you use automations to avoid repetitive manual tasks. For this, the Jira software uses rules. Rules are automations you define in an “If This, Then That” format. Each rule has these elements:

• When: add a trigger
• If: add a condition
• For each: add a branch
• Then: add an action

You can create quite complex automations that include up to 65 components.

Ultimately, you can create powerful automations with Jira. Again, its capacity for components, plus its massive customization options, make it a robust project management app for automations.

Jira’s integrations

To further improve your experience with Jira software, you can add further apps from the marketplace. Jira has a large app marketplace that allows for extensive integrations with third-party tools. For example, you can download apps for time tracking, creating timesheets, script running, and more.

It supports 1,000 integrations, which you can access through the Atlassian Marketplace. You can filter by pricing, category, use cases, and trust signals to find the ideal apps more easily.

Jira’s user interface

During my Jira review, I discovered that it has a good-looking user interface. You can easily switch between the Atlassian apps and access your spaces fast.

Nevertheless, despite its user interface, Jira is a complex app with a very long learning curve. It’s packed with features, integrations, and customization options, which will take time to learn.

Furthermore, in contrast to other project management apps, Jira utilizes spaces, which makes it even more difficult for beginners to use this app.

Jira’s pricing

Jira has a free plan and three paid plans. If you need Jira Service Management or Confluence, you need to purchase them separately.

Jira offers a 7-day free trial for its paid plans, which can be extended to 30 days upon request.

Let’s break down the pricing plans of Jira!

Free plan

Jira’s free version includes unlimited goals, projects, tasks, and forms. Also, you will access backlog, list, board, timeline, calendar, and summary views.

Furthermore, you can use the reports and dashboards, and get 100 automations per month and 2 GB storage. You can utilize the Free plan up to 10 users, which is quite good.

To summarize, Jira has a solid free version ideal for smaller teams. However, it can be an “overkill” for small teams in the sense that this project management app is very complex and full of features. Even though it is an ideal free option, if you are looking for a simple solution, Jira is not ideal for you.

Standard plan

Jira offers a Standard plan for $9.05 per user per month with monthly billing. Besides the features in the Free version, it covers Rovo, user roles and permissions, external collaboration features, multi-region data residency, 1,700 automations per month, and 250 GB storage.

The Standard plan for Jira provides access to customer support via a ticket system during business hours.

It’s recommended for mid-sized businesses. Overall, it has decent pricing, although it would be great if it had a higher automation limit.

Premium plan

Jira’s Premium plan is $18.30 per user per month if choosing the monthly billing. It includes everything in the Standard plan, plus cross-team planning, customizable approval and onboarding, 1,000 automations per user per month, and unlimited storage. The Premium plan for Jira offers 24/7 ticket support for critical issues only.

It was developed for mid-sized and large businesses. After testing numerous project management apps, Jira’s Premium plan’s price tag is okay. However, it has some hidden costs, especially if you start integrating it with third-party apps or want to use Confluence as well.

Enterprise plan

Jira’s Enterprise plan pricing is available when you enter 801 or more users. They offer customized pricing here. Jira’s Enterprise plan includes 24/7 support for all issues.

Pros and cons I discovered during my Jira review

Let’s summarize the pros and cons I found during my Jira review!

Pros of Jira

Cons of Jira

Jira alternatives

Here are some alternatives to Jira if you think it is not right for you.

Wrap-up: Jira review

Jira is an excellent project management app if you are running software development or similar projects, and use Agile or Scrum methodology. While it provides a ton of value for software and larger teams, it’s not a good fit for most other use cases.

It is complex, has a steep learning curve, and is overkill for simple project management and collaboration.

Related posts:

• 8 Best Project Management Software in 2025 | My Honest List
• 6 Best Asana Alternatives in 2025 | 20+ Personally Tested Apps
• 5 Best Jira Alternatives | 20+ Personally Tested Apps (2025)
• 6 Best Trello Alternatives After Testing +20 Tools (2025)
• 5 Best Basecamp Alternatives in 2025 | 100+ Hours Testing

Hope I was able to help you find the best project management app for you. As always, I will update this Jira review over time so you guys have up-to-date information about this project management software.

Why you can trust our reviews

At thebusinessdive.com, our team tests, reviews, and compares hundreds of productivity apps every year — from project management tools to note-taking apps. We dive deep into real-world use cases to help you find the right tools that actually improve your workflow, not just add noise.

Our mission? No fluff, no shortcuts—just honest, hands-on insights from productivity pros.

Discover how we stay transparent, read our review methodology, and let us know about any tools we missed.

Frequently asked questions

Who is Jira’s biggest competitor?

Besides the popular project management apps like Asana, Monday, or ClickUp, which are better for more use cases, I found Nulab Backlog as one of the biggest competitors of Jira.

In addition to Nulab Backlog, Linear, and GitLab are also great choices for software teams.

Is Jira free or paid?

Jira’s free version includes unlimited goals, projects, tasks, and forms. Also, you will access backlog, list, board, timeline, calendar, and summary views.

If you have a team bigger than 10 users and want to access advanced features, you need to purchase one of the paid plans.

Is Jira still popular?

Jira was among the first project management apps developed for software development and agile teams. Currently, it has over 300,000 customers, and in 2026, it is still the most popular project management app for software development.

Why is Jira so difficult?

Jira provides an extensive feature set with high customization. Therefore, finding all the key features and mastering Jira’s functions takes a lot of time.

Aron Kantor

Hey there! I am Aron, the founder of Thebusinessdive. I have been testing productivity apps for almost three years now. I reach 25.000 -50.000 people monthly with the mission to help you find the perfect productivity apps. Subscribe to my YouTube channel, newsletter, and social media to hear more about the best productivity tools. Let’s dive in!

thebusinessdive.com

The post Brutal Honest Jira Review 2026 | Before You Use It appeared first on .

So, the overall idea sounds exciting.

But how does it actually deliver in real life?

In this Zoho Projects review, I will share my honest experience on how it fits into our business workflows, what features it offers, its pricing model, and its pros and cons.

Let’s dive in!

Verdict

Here’s the quick verdict if you don’t want to read the full review:

Tested with our review & scoring methodology Real-world testing Unbiased evaluation

How We Test Project Management Tools

To keep our reviews & final score for each project management app fair and consistent, we evaluate every tool using the same testing framework based on real-world usage, feature depth, and overall value.

Our scoring breakdown after testing 20+ project management apps:

Want a detailed breakdown of how we test each category?

Learn exactly how we test tools → Review methodology

Short on time? Here’s a quick overview of Zoho Projects

What is Zoho Projects?

To understand Zoho Projects, it helps to first look at the company behind it.

Zoho is a global software company that builds cloud-based business tools across sales, finance, customer support, marketing, analytics, and operations. Rather than offering isolated products, Zoho focuses on building a connected ecosystem where tools are designed to work together.

The company is best known for Zoho CRM, which acts as the foundation of the Zoho ecosystem. CRM plays a central role, with other tools naturally extending into areas like project delivery, billing, and customer support.

Zoho Projects is Zoho’s project management tool within this ecosystem. It is designed to help teams plan work, organize projects and milestones, track time, and create task dependencies, while staying closely connected to other business functions.

My experience with Zoho Projects

While Zoho Projects has a learning curve, especially when setting up advanced features, it is worth it in the end, as it significantly improves the overall user experience and efficiency.

One thing that helped a lot in my workflow was the Chrome extension, which kept Zoho Projects easily accessible at all times. I also found the Gmail add-on genuinely useful. Being able to turn emails into tasks with a single click made it much easier to capture work without breaking focus.

Moreover, I discovered that when reviewing Zoho projects, it is designed to be scalable and customizable to meet the unique needs of different organizations.

My biggest frustration is that Zoho Projects still does not have a native desktop app, and that it doesn’t offer extensive customization options.

Overall, Zoho Projects feels reliable and capable, especially for complex or recurring projects. While the interface is traditional and there is limited visual flexibility, it is a top project management software for structured workflows.

Why Zoho Projects got a 4.3 / 5 score

Zoho Projects outperformed numerous project management apps we have tested in terms of integrations (Zoho ecosystem), reporting depth (workload reports, time log reports, etc. ), and project and task management features.

Where Zoho Projects lost points is in the level of customization options offered (3/5). Compared to other project management software such as ClickUp or Monday, Zoho Projects offers fewer personalization options.

Who Zoho Projects is a good fit for

Who Zoho Projects is not ideal for

Key features

Now, let’s take a closer look at Zoho Projects’ key features!

Dashboard

In Zoho Projects, the dashboard lives inside the Home tab and is split into two views: Personal and Portfolio.

The Personal view focuses on individual work. It shows your tasks, phases, issues, time logs, items due today, and overdue work across all projects.

The Portfolio view provides a higher-level overview of projects. Here, you can see reports such as Project Status, Project Ownership, Project Groups, customer-related reports, and a yearly timeline summary. This view is more about understanding overall project health than managing individual tasks.

Overall, the Home dashboard feels practical and easy to work with. It does a good job of supporting both daily execution and project-level oversight.

Reports and project insights

The reports section gives you a much clearer picture of what is happening across projects, teams, and time.

You can switch between different types of reports, such as Workload Reports, Planned vs Actual, Time Log Reports, and Custom Reports, depending on what you want to analyze.

I found this structure intuitive because it mirrors how project managers usually think about work: who is overloaded, how plans compare to reality, and where time is actually going.

The workload reports are especially useful. Using Zoho Projects’ features lets you view capacity by task owner and time period, and you can switch to a heatmap view to quickly spot overloads or gaps.

Ultimately, this makes it easier to adjust assignments.

Project planning and task structure

At its core, Zoho Projects uses a clear project hierarchy built around projects, milestones, task lists, tasks, and dependencies.

Creating a new project is simple. When you add one, you can either start from scratch or choose from a wide range of ready-made project templates, depending on how much structure you want upfront.

What I really liked here is the way Zoho Projects supports this structure with a large library of premade templates.

Instead of limiting project templates to software or marketing workflows, Zoho offers templates across many different areas, including construction, manufacturing, HR, events, SEO, product launches, and even more practical use cases like wedding planning, travel planning, and vehicle inspections.

I found this surprisingly useful. These templates feel less abstract than what many PM tools offer and more grounded in real-world processes.

Each template comes with predefined tasks and phases, which makes it easy to get started quickly, while still allowing full customization. Of course, you can also create your own templates from scratch.

Compared to other project management apps like ClickUp, Asana, or Monday, Zoho Projects puts more emphasis on industry-specific and process-driven templates rather than flexible visual setups. That makes templates feel more practical, especially for teams that value structure over experimentation.

Once a project is set up this way, it also becomes much easier to automate workflows and manage timelines later on.

Automation and custom workflows

Zoho Projects provides practical customization where it counts, enough to make the tool fit your workflow. You can add custom fields, adjust task statuses, create your own views, reuse templates, and set up simple no-code automations.

On the automation side, Zoho Projects offers a dedicated set of tools for building workflows around that structure. You can create workflow rules triggered by user actions or by date and time, automate status updates, assignments, notifications, and approvals, and manage everything from a single place.

There are also additional automation options like task blueprints, email alerts, and approval flows.

If you are used to some Zoho Projects competitors, such as ClickUp or Monday, where you can redesign almost everything and build very specific setups, Zoho Projects will feel more structured and a bit less flexible.

That said, this can actually be a good thing. Zoho Projects keeps a clear and consistent structure, so you spend less time configuring and more time actually managing work.

It is easy to get started, easy to explain to new team members, and easier to keep organized over time. The trade-off is that it is not the best choice if you want highly customized layouts or very specific workflows.

Built-in time tracking and timesheets

Time tracking is not an afterthought in Zoho Projects. The platform supports timers, manual time entries, weekly timesheets, and timesheet approvals, which is a big deal if you bill clients or need clean internal reporting.

One small thing worth mentioning is that the timer is not immediately front and center. It is there and works reliably, but you may need a moment to notice it when you first start using the tool. Once you do, it works without any issues.

Zoho Projects also makes a clear distinction between billable and non-billable time, and timesheets can go through an approval flow before being finalized. This is something many teams end up solving with third-party tools in other project management platforms.

I discovered that during my Zoho Projects review, teams using other project management apps often rely on external time tracking integrations to achieve the same level of control and reporting as I had with Zoho Projects.

Gantt charts and project timelines

Zoho Projects has a solid Gantt experience that goes beyond a basic timeline view. You can work with task dependencies directly inside the Gantt chart and define how tasks relate to each other, which makes planning more realistic from the start.

What I found useful is that the Gantt view actually feels central to project planning. You can see how tasks shift when timelines change, track progress against the original plan, and quickly spot delays or bottlenecks.

Tools like Asana also support dependencies on their Timeline view, but Zoho Projects feels more oriented toward classic project planning, where tracking planned versus actual progress is part of everyday project management rather than an advanced feature.

Resource and workload management

After reading some user reports, I found that in the course of my Zoho Projects review, this is one of the most underrated features. The platform includes dedicated workload and resource utilization views that help you see who is overloaded and who still has capacity, using clear visual indicators like bars and heatmap-style reports.

What I liked here is that workload planning feels like a built-in part of the tool, not something you have to assemble yourself through dashboards or extra reports. You can quickly understand how work is distributed across the team and adjust assignments accordingly.

This feature matters most for project managers, agencies, and service teams where capacity planning is a daily concern and where knowing who can take on more work is just as important as knowing what tasks are due next.

Collaboration and team communication

Zoho Projects includes built-in collaboration features such as task comments, mentions, file attachments, activity feeds, and a dedicated Chat section for team conversations. This covers most everyday communication needs without relying on external tools.

What stood out to me during my Zoho Projects review is that collaboration is still primarily anchored to work items. While built-in chat exists as a separate space, most discussions naturally happen around tasks, phases, or issues, which makes conversations easier to follow later and keeps context intact.

Compared to chat-first platforms like ClickUp or Notion, collaboration in Zoho Projects feels more structured and work-focused. It works best for teams that prefer communication to support project execution, rather than replace task-based workflows with constant real-time chat.

Roles and user permissions

Zoho Projects supports role-based access control with clearly defined roles such as Administrator, Manager, Employee, and Contractor. These roles are tied to profiles that determine what each user can see, edit, or manage across projects.

This feature becomes especially important if you work with external collaborators, freelancers, or clients. You can give people access only to the parts of a project they actually need, without exposing internal discussions, budgets, or sensitive information.

Many lighter project management tools offer basic permission settings, but Zoho Projects takes a more business-oriented approach. It is designed for teams that need clear boundaries and accountability, not just internal collaboration.

For agencies and service teams, this level of control can make day-to-day project management much easier to maintain.

Zoho Projects user interface

The user interface in Zoho Projects feels clean and structured, with a clear focus on functionality. Navigation is consistent, and once you understand where things live, it is easy to move around.

That said, the UI is not the most modern or visually flexible on the market. Compared to tools like ClickUp or Monday, it feels more traditional and a bit conservative. I see this as a trade-off that works in Zoho’s favor if you value clarity and predictability over heavy customization or pretty design.

Zoho Projects integrations

Integrations are one of the strongest parts of Zoho Projects, especially if you are already using other Zoho tools. The platform is designed to work as part of a larger ecosystem, which makes it easier to connect project work with sales, support, finance, and internal operations.

What stood out to me is that these integrations feel built in rather than bolted on. You are not just syncing data, but actually extending workflows across tools.

For example, the integration with Zoho Books and Zoho Invoice allows users to manage project budgets and invoicing directly within Zoho Projects. Also, the integrations with Zoho’s CRM allow for automatic task creation based on customer interactions, improving project tracking.

Furthermore, Zoho Projects can connect with third-party tools like Google Drive, Microsoft Office, and Slack to streamline project management.

There are also integrations with Google and Microsoft apps for calendars, email, and documents, but the real value shows if you plan to work inside the Zoho ecosystem rather than mixing many unrelated tools.

Zoho Projects pricing plans

Zoho Projects offers one of the more flexible pricing structures in the project management space, with a usable free plan and several paid tiers that scale gradually as teams grow. In addition to the free plan, Zoho Projects also offers a 15-day free trial on paid plans.

The Free plan supports up to five users and three projects. While it supports only basic issue tracking and reporting features, and only includes 5GB of cloud storage, it is a decent option for small teams or for testing the tool long-term.

Paid plans start with Premium, at €4 per user per month when billed annually, and unlock unlimited projects, custom views and statuses, time tracking, task blueprints, and workflow automation. For many teams, this tier already covers most core project management needs.

The Enterprise and Ultimate plans are aimed at larger or more process-driven teams. These tiers add advanced permissions, higher automation limits, resource management features, portfolio-level dashboards, and enterprise-grade security options like SSO and sandbox environments.

There is also a Projects Plus option for organizations that want Zoho Projects bundled with other Zoho apps. It is a combination of four applications – Zoho Projects, Zoho Sprints, Zoho Workdrive, and Zoho Analytics.

Overall, I found Zoho Projects’ pricing fair, and the Premium and Enterprise plans seem especially an affordable solution compared to other software.

My experience with Zoho Projects

After spending time with Zoho Projects, my overall impression is that this is a genuinely serious project management tool. It is clearly built for teams that care about structure, process, and long-term project visibility.

While Zoho Projects has a learning curve, especially when setting up advanced features, it is worth it in the end, as it significantly improves the overall user experience and efficiency.

My biggest frustration is that Zoho Projects still does not have a native desktop app.

That said, there are a few solid workarounds that make daily use much more comfortable. On Microsoft Edge, you can open Zoho Projects, click the three dots in the top right corner, go to More tools, then Apps, and choose Install this site as an app.

It still runs in the background as a web app, but it gives you a proper desktop-app feel. You can do something similar in Chrome by clicking the three dots, going to Cast, save, and share, and choosing Install page as app.

Another thing that helped a lot in my workflow was the Chrome extension, which kept Zoho Projects easily accessible at all times. I also found the Gmail add-on genuinely useful. Being able to turn emails into tasks with a single click made it much easier to capture work without breaking focus.

Moreover, I discovered that when reviewing Zoho projects, it is designed to be scalable and customizable to meet the unique needs of different organizations. So, if your business grows, Zoho Projects can grow with you.

Overall, Zoho Projects feels reliable and capable, especially for complex or recurring projects. While I would still love to see a native desktop app in the future, the available workarounds make it easy to live with the web version in the meantime.

Pros and cons I found during my Zoho Projects review

Here, I show you the pros and cons I discovered throughout my Zoho Projects review.

Pros of Zoho Projects

Cons of Zoho Projects

Zoho Projects alternatives

Here are some alternatives to Zoho Projects if you think it is not right for you.

Wrap up: Zoho Projects review

Zoho Projects is a strong choice if you are looking for a serious, structured project management tool. It shines in areas like planning, automation, reporting, and resource management, and it feels especially well-suited for teams that run repeatable, process-driven projects.

The tight integration with the broader Zoho ecosystem is a major advantage if you already use Zoho tools or plan to build a connected business stack. As for the pricing aspect, Zoho Projects is affordable for small businesses, making it accessible even for cash-strapped organizations.

Related posts:

• 8 Best Project Management Software in 2025 | My Honest List
• ClickUp vs Monday: My Findings After +6 Months (2025)
• 6 Best Jira Alternatives | 25+ Personally Tested Apps (2025)
• 6 Best Trello Alternatives After Testing +20 Tools (2025)
• 5 Best Monday Alternatives in 2025 | 20+ Personally Tested Apps
• 6 Best Asana Alternatives in 2025 | 20+ Personally Tested Apps

As always, I will update this Zoho Projects review over time so you guys have the latest information on this project management software.

Why you can trust our reviews

At thebusinessdive.com, our team tests, reviews, and compares hundreds of productivity apps every year — from project management tools to note-taking apps. We dive deep into real-world use cases to help you find the right tools that actually improve your workflow, not just add noise.

Our mission? No fluff, no shortcuts—just honest, hands-on insights from productivity pros.

Discover how we stay transparent, read our review methodology, and let us know about any tools we missed.

Frequently asked questions

What are Zoho Projects?

Zoho Projects is a cloud-based project management app designed for managing projects, tasks, timelines, and teams in one place.

Zoho Projects lets project managers create a new project, assign multiple team members, manage task dependencies, track time, and monitor progress using tools like Gantt charts and reports.

It works especially well when handling multiple projects as part of the broader Zoho ecosystem.

Is Zoho Projects free?

Yes, Zoho Projects offers a free plan that supports up to five users and three projects, making it a solid free version for small teams or first-time users.

The free plan includes core features like task management, basic time tracking, and limited storage space. Paid plans unlock advanced features such as workflow rules, detailed reports, single sign-on, premium support, and higher limits, with options available on an annual or monthly basis.

Is Zoho a CRM or ERP?

Zoho is best described as a full business software ecosystem rather than just a CRM or ERP. While Zoho CRM is one of its most popular products, Zoho also offers ERP-style tools through apps like Zoho Books, Zoho Analytics, and other Zoho apps that cover finance, operations, and analytics.

That said, Zoho Projects fits into this ecosystem by connecting project work with broader business workflows.

Is Zoho Projects any good?

Zoho Projects is a strong choice for teams that need structured project management with built-in time tracking, Gantt chart views, and solid reporting.

It is especially useful for project managers and service teams that track time, manage project tasks, and rely on task status, dependencies, and timely delivery. While it may feel limited compared to highly visual tools, it offers reliable core features at competitive pricing.

Jovana Simić

Hey! I’m Jovana, a content writer who loves writing, researching, and testing new productivity apps. With a background in philosophy, I bring a thoughtful but no-bullshit approach to everything I do. Let’s connect on Linkedin!

The post Zoho Projects Review: My Honest Experience (2026) appeared first on .

After testing 20+ project management software recently, this is the first time I’ve seen this pricing model.

But I wanted to take a closer look at this project management software to see how it stacks up against the most popular competitors like Asana or ClickUp.

In this ProofHub review, I will cover the key features I tried, pricing, pros and cons, and, ultimately, my experience with this app.

Let’s dive in!

Verdict

Here’s the quick verdict if you don’t want to read the full review:

Tested with our review & scoring methodology Real-world testing Unbiased evaluation

How We Test Project Management Tools

To keep our reviews & final score for each project management app fair and consistent, we evaluate every tool using the same testing framework based on real-world usage, feature depth, and overall value.

Our scoring breakdown after testing 20+ project management apps:

Want a detailed breakdown of how we test each category?

Learn exactly how we test tools → Review methodology

Short on time? Here’s a quick overview of ProofHub

What is ProofHub?

ProofHub is a project management and team collaboration software for teams. It offers an extensive toolkit of task management, reporting, proofing, and more.

As mentioned, one of the standout advantages of ProofHub is that there is no per-user fee; however, they have adopted flat-fee pricing plans, which makes it a cost-effective solution for both small and larger teams.

Just a heads-up: you can access ProofHub on the web, but it also offers mobile apps for iOS and Android devices.

My experience with ProofHub

ProofHub exceeded my expectations. With its easy-to-use interface, customization options, and unique features like announcements or proofing tools, it is an outstanding project management app.

In addition to these unique features I mentioned, ProofHub did a great job in team collaboration. Using its in-app chat, notifications, and comments, I think it has every tool a team might need to stay organized.

The flat pricing was another huge plus for me. There is no additional charge per user, and there are no extra fees for add-ons.

As for the drawbacks, there are not many. From a feature perspective, it would be great if ProofHub offered more integration options and automations. Also, very small teams or freelancers might appreciate the free plan.

To wrap up my experience with ProofHub, it is a unique project management app that is excellent for teams that need a budget-friendly solution.

Where ProofHub Lost Points

ProofHub lost points when we tested its automations (1.5/5) and integrations (2/5). It severely lacks function depth on this end.

Nevertheless, it offers outstanding collaboration (5/5) and high performance & reliability (5/5). Besides, it performed well in terms of pricing, UI, and customization options.

Who ProofHub is a good fit for

Who ProofHub is not ideal for

ProofHub’s key features

Here, I collected the tools I tried during my ProofHub review.

Dashboard

After you sign up for ProofHub & complete the first tasks, you can access its homepage. Here, you can access your projects, announcements, shortcuts, and more. 

The tools you see on the right side can be found on all the pages. Therefore, no matter where you are, you can add new sticky notes or bookmarks, start the timer, and check the announcements or agenda.

During my ProofHub review, I discovered that it offers many customization options. That said, you can move the widgets around, change their size, add a new background, etc.

The only thing I missed here is the option to add more different widgets, such as reporting boards or recently visited projects.

Nevertheless, the dashboard worked smoothly for me overall.

Project management

On the left toolbar, you can find your projects. Here, you find a quick overview of multiple projects, no matter if they are active or not, and you can add a new one with a few clicks.

With ProofHub, you can also create a template for your projects, so you do not need to add similar projects manually in the future.

When you enter your project, you can access the tasks & view options. ProofHub offers board, table, calendar views, and Gantt charts as well.

The Gantt charts look great, and I believe it is among the top ones I have tried so far. You can easily drag and drop the green blocks to update the timeline of the task and provide a smooth way to track tasks.

Another feature I recommend checking out if you sign up for ProofHub is its project overview feature. It includes a summary of tasks, milestones, logged time, and events relating to the project. In addition, it has an activity log as well, so you can track who did what in a specific project.

Moreover, you can use ProofHub’s file-sharing functions. Here, you can create folders & sub-folders so you can easily structure your documents and facilitate efficient file management.

Now, let’s take a closer look at the task management tools!

Task management tools

If you click on the task, you can easily add and change the task details. That said, you can add start and due dates, custom labels, create dependencies, assign tasks, add sub-tasks, attach files, and write comments.

However, you can also create custom fields, choosing from various types, including text, dropdown, date, and more. I appreciated this feature during my ProofHub review, as it gives you complete control to build your custom workflows in your projects.

When adding a task, you can select the repeat option to add recurring tasks. You can set up daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly recurring tasks to automate reminders and due dates.

Moreover, ProofHub lets you create custom workflows, so you can add more stages to the task or project progress. This feature helps you break down complex projects into more manageable tasks, even with more steps/statuses besides the regular ones (not started, in progress, completed).

I noticed how effectively ProofHub centralizes the task assignments, project progress, file sharing, and task tracking into one dedicated space. Combining this with the filters and searching functions, it works like a task management hub for your team.

Reporting features

ProofHub offers solid reporting features for teams, which you can utilize in numerous use cases. Whether it is progress reports or resource allocation, ProofHub helps you in making data-driven decisions.

If you click on the plus icon, you can add further reports with a few clicks. It only takes a few seconds, and ProofHub generates the report for you. Also, you can download the report in PDF to your PC.

Overall, I was satisfied with ProofHub’s reporting tools.

Proofing tools

Inside the file sharing, you can access the proofing tools. ProofHub allows you to add arrows and rectangles in different colors to highlight specific parts of your document.

On the right side, you can add comments to your team members and approve the document with a single click. Next to the approve, you can download the document to your PC.

You can share files in multiple formats, including JPEG, PNG, and PDF. Additionally, you can create various versions of the same document and share them with your team members.

Personally, I see this feature as valuable in creative work. Sharing here the creative assets with your team members helps the whole team to centralize all the project-related workflows in one place.

Time tracking

ProofHub allows you to create timesheets to record logged time for project assignees. Just click on the plus icon, and you can easily add a new time entry.

When taking a look at the timesheet, you can see the time logged, the date, the task description, and the task list. Besides, you can see a quick summary based on how you set your filters in the top right corner.

With the timesheet, you can not only track time, but also see a breakdown of whether the hours are billable or not.

There are two ways to add time. First, you can manually fill out your timesheet. Second, you can use the timer on the right side to capture the time spent with each task and save it in your timesheet.

Compared to other project manager apps, I would say ProofHub has an okay time tracking feature, which can be sufficient for most teams.

Team collaboration tools

When it comes to the real-time collaboration tools, ProoHub did a good job. It has an in-app chat that you can utilize to discuss with your team members.

You can send messages, files, emojis, and GIFs. You can create one-on-one or group chats with your team members or even clients.

In addition to the real-time chat, you can write comments to projects and tasks, and share files, so everyone can stay organized & up-to-date.

On the right panel, you can see the notifications and if someone mentioned you. This way, you can easily check if there are any updates.

Under the “People” tab, you can add new team members to your workspace and select their access role or set new custom roles for them. It’s great to see that ProofHub adopted its customization options not just in project management tools, but also in people management features like this.

Ultimately, I discovered that in the course of my ProofHub review, it has massive team collaboration tools, and it is an ideal choice for remote teams.

Announcements

Announcements are also a helpful feature that I did not see at other project management apps. With this feature, you can share updates and achievements with your entire team.

ProofHub allows you to add a title, description, file, and who should receive it, and how long it should last. I appreciated the fact that you can write comments on the announcements.

ProofHub’s integrations

You can connect ProofHub with Google Drive, Google Calendar, Slack, Dropbox, OneDrive, Box, FreshBooks, and QuickBooks.

In comparison to other project management apps, ProofHub has limited integration options, and you can access only a few third-party integrations.

ProofHub’s user interface

ProofHub has a user-friendly interface overall. Throughout my ProofHub review, I easily found the tools, and the navigation was smooth.

Thanks to its intuitive user interface, I believe ProofHub is an ideal tool for less tech-focused teams as well, and offers a short learning curve.

ProofHub’s pricing

ProofHub has transparent and simple pricing and offers two different plans with fixed pricing. Both ProofHub pricing plans offer unlimited users at no additional cost.

Just a side note here: Many project management software not only use a per-user pricing structure, but have many add-ons that you can get only for an extra fee, which makes the ultimate price confusing.

Free Plan

ProofHub does not offer a free plan, only a 14-day free trial. Therefore, it is a less affordable option for freelancers or small teams.

Essential Plan

The Essential Plan is $45 per month if billed annually. If you choose the monthly billing, it is $50 per month.

You can create up to 40 projects with this plan, which includes unlimited users and 15GB storage. Based on my experience, the 15GB storage could be quickly surpassed if you work with larger files.

In terms of project management tools, you access the core features with the Essential Plan. That said, you can use the project management views, discussions, forms, templates, sticky notes, file management, and many other features.

Ultimate Control Plan

If you want to utilize all the advanced features, you have to go with the Ultimate Control Plan. It is $89 monthly if billed annually. Alternatively, it will cost you $99 with monthly billing.

It includes unlimited projects, unlimited users, and 100GB storage. As mentioned, you will also have access to advanced features, such as custom roles, IP restrictions, API access, priority support, project & resource reports, and more.

Overall, ProofHub offers affordable pricing, especially for larger teams, as the cost per team member will be significantly lower compared to Asana, Monday, or ClickUp.

Related articles:

• Asana Pricing For 2026 | This Will Save You +$300
• ClickUp Pricing 2026 | Why Is EVERYONE Choosing It?

Finally, ProofHub has discounted prices for non-profit organizations. So, you can get a 40% discount on the Ultimate Control Plan if you qualify, and you only need to reach out to ProofHub’s customer support team.

Pros and cons I discovered during my ProofHub review

Let’s summarize the pros and cons I found during my ProofHub review!

Pros of ProofHub

Cons of ProofHub

ProofHub alternatives

Here are some alternatives to ProofHub if you think it is not right for you.

Wrap-up: ProofHub review

To wrap it all up, I think ProofHub is one of the best software when it comes to project and team management. It has numerous unique features, and I had a very positive experience during testing. And I can highly recommend this software for teams.

Related posts:

• 8 Best Project Management Software in 2026 | My Honest List
• 6 Best Asana Alternatives in 2026 | 20+ Personally Tested Apps
• 5 Best Jira Alternatives | 20+ Personally Tested Apps (2026)
• 6 Best Trello Alternatives After Testing +20 Tools (2026)
• 5 Best Basecamp Alternatives in 2026 | 100+ Hours Testing
• 35+ Mind-Blowing Project Management Statistics for 2026

Hope I was able to help you find the best project management app for you. As always, I will update this ProofHub review over time so you guys have up-to-date information about this project management software.

Why you can trust our reviews

At thebusinessdive.com, our team tests, reviews, and compares hundreds of productivity apps every year — from project management tools to note-taking apps. We dive deep into real-world use cases to help you find the right tools that actually improve your workflow, not just add noise.

Our mission? No fluff, no shortcuts—just honest, hands-on insights from productivity pros.

Discover how we stay transparent, read our review methodology, and let us know about any tools we missed.

Frequently asked questions

Is ProofHub good?

ProofHub is a top app to manage teams and projects. It has an advanced feature set to handle comprehensive projects in your team.

Is ProofHub better than Asana?

Both project management apps have different strengths and weaknesses. However, if I need to choose, I would definitely go with ProofHub.

How secure is ProofHub?

ProofHub provides enterprise-grade security through measures like 128-bit SSL/TLS encryption, hourly data backups, real-time monitoring, and activity logs.

How much does ProofHub cost?

ProofHub has two pricing plans. The Essential Plan is $45, while the Ultimate Control Plan is $89 monthly when billed annually.

Aron Kantor

Hey there! I am Aron, the founder of Thebusinessdive. I have been testing productivity apps for almost three years now. I reach 25.000 -50.000 people monthly with the mission to help you find the perfect productivity apps. Subscribe to my YouTube channel, newsletter, and social media to hear more about the best productivity tools. Let’s dive in!

thebusinessdive.com

The post ProofHub Review 2026 | A Unique Project Management App appeared first on .

Besides content creation, I also run my own agency with multiple clients, so I was curious how this project management software could help to improve my workflows. I hope this review will give you insight into how this tool can help you and whether it is the right project management software for you.

In this Teamwork.com review, I will cover the key features I tried, pricing, pros and cons, and, ultimately, my experience with this project management software.

Let’s dive in!

Verdict

Here’s the quick verdict if you don’t want to read the full review:

Tested with our review & scoring methodology Real-world testing Unbiased evaluation

How We Test Project Management Tools

To keep our reviews & final score for each project management app fair and consistent, we evaluate every tool using the same testing framework based on real-world usage, feature depth, and overall value.

Our scoring breakdown after testing 20+ project management apps:

Want a detailed breakdown of how we test each category?

Learn exactly how we test tools → Review methodology

Short on time? Here’s a quick overview of Teamwork.com

What is Teamwork.com?

Teamwork.com is a project management software specialized for client work. It helps to keep your client projects on track, manage your resources, and keep tabs on every billable hour.

This project management tool was designed for agencies, IT service providers, consultants, and basically everyone who works with clients.

Teamwork.com offers a desktop app and a mobile version as well for Android and iOS devices. Its wide range of integration options allows you to connect Teamwork.com with numerous third-party apps.

My experience with Teamwork.com

During my Teamwork.com review, this project management software surprised me numerous times. Due to the number and depth of features, it has a longer learning curve, but it is worth the time.

It offers many helpful features for managing client work, including proofs, time tracking, forms, and more. If you are a professional like me who runs an agency, these are valuable tools in my day-to-day life.

Furthermore, it offers advanced reporting and workload management features, making it a fantastic tool for teams. You easily access all the data you need to make your team and processes more efficient.

Teamwork.com focuses on agencies, consultants, creatives, and marketing teams who want to maximize not only their efficiency but also their profits, and it does so well.

Why Teamwork got a 4.3 / 5 score

Teamwork received only 3.5 for project management features, mainly due to a lack of options for project views. Besides this criterion, Teamwork performance was balanced across other scoring benchmarks.

Who Teamwork is a good fit for

Who Teamwork is not ideal for

Teamwork.com’s key features

Here, I collected the features I tested during my Teamwork.com review.

Home page

Before we jump into the features, let’s take a quick look at Teamwork.com’s home page. It offers a quick overview of your projects, gives you access to your calendar, email inbox, and the latest activities.

Here, you can also add new tasks and access the task management tools. So, Teamwork.com’s home page is excellent for quickly overviewing your upcoming tasks & schedules.

Now, it’s time to see the project management features I tried during my Teamwork.com review!

Project management features

You can add a new project with a few clicks. Teamwork.com allows you to use a template, but you can start it from scratch. It offers numerous templates designed for agencies and different teams.

Furthermore, you can select due dates, select the client, choose the project owner, add a description, and more. Once you are done, it takes a few minutes for Teamwork.com to generate the project, and after that, you can add your tasks.

When it comes to project view options, Teamwork.com offers the essential ones. You can use Gantt charts, Kanban boards, and list views to track and visualize your projects.

Compared to other project management platforms, Teamwork.com has fewer view options, and the way you change the project parameters feels clumsy sometimes. But honestly, the project views are not the main focus point of Teamwork.com.

You can utilize the project dashboards to help you get a solid understanding of the tasks, their stages, and non-billable and billable hours. Essentially, it was found to be an excellent tool during my Teamwork.com review for complex projects and client work.

In addition to the dashboards, the milestones feature is also a valuable tool. It is a target date representing a point of progress or a goal within your project. It helps to set clear goals for your team, but it is also great for checking how work is going because the task lists and milestones are connected to each other.

Normally, I talk about the resource and workload management views and solutions here, but I will show them later in more detail.

Let’s take a look at the task management features I tested during my Teamwork.com review!

Task management tools

I loved that you can add tasks from everywhere, no matter which project view you use. With Teamwork.com, you can add or assign tasks with one click.

When creating a task, you can add dependencies, priorities, stages, and due dates. While all these are obvious, and you can add such parameters with every project management app, you can also select followers with Teamwork.com.

The followers tool offers a simple way for you or your team members to keep track of projects or clients. They receive notifications about the updates, and you can select how deeply you want to involve them. So, they can receive all the notifications, only task changes, or only comments.

Furthermore, you can add task lists to a project, so you can group more tasks together. With this option, you can use and create templates, so next time you do not have to add all the tasks manually.

Client management

With tools like Asana or ClickUp, you usually manage projects without a dedicated client layer, while Teamwork.com builds this directly into the core of the platform.

Teamwork.com is a special project management app, as it focuses on client work. Besides projects, you can also add clients. The client view is a centralized place where you can access all your clients’ projects and keep track of high-level client data.

For each client, you can assign more projects with different budgets and project owners. For example, I created a sample client and assigned two projects to it.

If you click on the properties, such as health or budget, you can update them with a click. However, Teamwork.com allows you to customize the columns if you want to see additional information like country or industry, but there are way more options, and you can create custom fields as well.

With Teamwork.com, you can add client users. Basically, it is a limited-permission license for your clients. When adding client users, you can provide your client with visibility into your work and create trackable work that you will invoice your client for later.

Adding client users for your projects is pretty straightforward. You only need to type the name and email address and select the license type.

The client users can leave comments, attach files, edit project items, and reply to messages. Overall, it is a fantastic solution for those cases when your clients also need to contribute to your projects in some way, but you do not want to give them detailed access to project profitability reports, forms, and more.

Budgeting tool

Using Teamwork.com, you can create budgets for projects to track hours and money spent. You can choose from different types of budgets, and choose if the budget repeats or not.

This feature helps you in numerous ways, such as monitoring the cost of each project, tracking profit margin, and having a good understanding of your projects from a financial perspective. You can select the billable rate for each project and easily track the cost, billable hours, and overall profit.

In addition, you can update, edit, complete, and export invoices with Teamwork.com. It lets you prepare an invoice inside the app and export it to your accounting software. You can find this option inside your projects, under the finance tab.

Personally, I appreciate that this platform integrates project management, time tracking, and invoicing into one app. Unfortunately, I have special tax rules in my country, so I could not utilize this feature.

Ultimately, this Teamwork.com feature can help a lot if you run an agency or consulting business.

Built-in time tracker

During my Teamwork.com review, I took my time and tested the time tracking tool as well. To track time, you can use the timer or log time manually.

When using the timer, you only need to select the project, task, and whether it is billable or not. Once you are done, you will see the timer on the left button of your page. However, you can move it around, and you can pause and stop the time tracking with a click.

Teamwork.com has an easy-to-use timesheet feature besides its built-in time tracking tool. The timesheet automatically captures the time spent on each project.

Although I work alone, I particularly found the company timesheet useful for teams, as it offers a quick overview of how your team members spend time. If you click on one of your team members, you will access a more detailed breakdown of which projects they dealt with.

Lastly, you can apply numerous filters to only track the time spent on a specific client, project, and more.

Overall, Teamwork.com has solid time tracking features, and I think it is one of the best ones I have tried so far when testing project management tools.

Forms

When you enter into one of your projects and hit “more”, you can create new forms with Teamwork.com. Using this feature, you can collect requests, feedback, and other key details. For instance, you can use it as an agency to request information from your clients.

Proofs

Utilizing the proofs, you can streamline the client approval process. The way Teamwork.com designed this feature is great.

You can bring your clients directly into a proof to review, provide feedback, and approve. It allows you to attach files, give due dates, and assing a project and task. Also, you can invite your team members to review the materials before client approval.

It is important to note that your clients do not need licenses to approve, and you will receive a notification once your proofs are approved.

All in all, this is a valuable feature for agencies and consultants, and it was one of my favorite features during the Teamwork.com review.

Automations

Teamwork.com offers many templates for automations. You can easily filter on those based on priority, tags, progress, and more.

However, if you did not find the one you need, you can also create custom automation. It uses the when and then logic similarly to other project management apps. Based on my experience, it was quite easy to set up automations with Teamwork.com.

Reporting tools

Teamwork.com has advanced reporting features. You can quickly access reports on profitability, tracked time, team’s workload, and more.

During my Teamwork.com review, I discovered that this project management software offers many customization options, and this is true for the reports as well. If the pre-built reports are not sufficient for your business, you can create custom reports from scratch.

After testing +15 project management software, I think Teamwork.com has one of the most advanced reporting features.

Workload management features

This project management app has fantastic resource and workload management features that are ideal for managing even larger teams. With these features, you will know exactly who is available, when, and for how much. This way, you can plan your future projects more easily and with confidence.

Teamwork.com provides more view options like schedule, workload, portfolio, or chart to get a clear understanding of the available capacity.

While I work alone, it does not give me that much value compared to a team. Nevertheless, if you run a team, it will probably look like this:

Overall, Teamwork.com has massive resource planning features that are ideal for teams of any size.

Collaboration tools

You can assign tasks, add owners to projects, and easily invite your team members to your workspace. However, Teamwork.com offers more collaboration tools.

The Teamwork Chat offers an excellent solution to discuss inside the app, attach files, create channels, and ultimately get real-time answers about your projects. I especially value the fact that you can create tasks from your Teamwork Chat channels.

Teamwork.com’s integrations

You can directly connect Teamwork.com with many third-party apps. In addition, Teamwork.com has a Zapier integration as well, so you can access an additional 7,000 apps.

Teamwork.com’s user interface

Teamwork.com has an intuitive interface, and I loved its design. However, during my Teamwork.com review, I experienced that sometimes it was challenging to find the features, for example, invoicing.

Also, the design and the ease of use of the Gantt chart view were off for me. But apart from these, I had no problem with Teamwork.com’s interface.

Teamwork.com’s mobile app

Teamwork.com has a mobile version that is available for Android and iPhone users as well. This way, you can manage projects and access your tasks from your mobile devices.

Personally, I used the iOS version and experienced some bugs when filtering on tasks.

Teamwork.com’s pricing

Let’s see what I found during my Teamwork.com review when it comes to pricing.

Free Plan

Teamwork.com offers a Free Plan for individuals and small teams up to 5 users. It includes the built-in time tracking tool, timesheets, client view, invoicing, 5 proofs monthly, limited project budgets, and workload capacity features.

Based on my experience with project management tools, the free version has all the essential project management features and some basic tools for client work. Compared to other project management tools, it is quite a decent free version.

Deliver Plan

The Deliver Plan includes automations and forms, and you can invite client users as well. It starts with 3 users, and you can get it for €10.99 in case of annual billing per user. If you choose the monthly billing, it will cost you €13.99 per user per month.

The Deliver Plan has more advanced project management features, which make it ideal for small teams.

Grow Plan

Teamwork.com offers a Grow Plan to manage more complex projects. It is €19.99 per month per user if you opt for the annual billing. If you want to move forward with the monthly plan, the Grow Plan is €25.99 per month per user. Also, you need at least 5 users to purchase this plan.

This is the plan that has everything a small business might need. It covers the workload and resource management tools, advanced budgeting, and the reports I showed you above.

Scale Plan

The Scale Plan is excellent for small and mid-sized businesses. It has a custom pricing.

Compared to the Grow Plan, this plan does not offer many more features, but provides unlimited access to these features.

Enterprise Plan

Finally, Teamwork.com offers an Enterprise Plan with custom pricing. This plan covers premium customer support and consulting, advanced security & SSO, and you get a dedicated infrastructure.

Pros and cons I discovered during my Teamwork.com review

Let’s summarize the pros and cons I found during my Teamwork.com review!

Pros of Teamwork.com

First, Teamwork.com has the most advanced features among the project management tools when it comes to client work.

Secondly, this project management software has advanced reporting features. You can quickly access reports on profitability, tracked time, team’s workload, and more.

Moreover, Teamwork.com has solid budgeting and time tracking tools.

In addition, it has outstanding collaboration tools, which make it an ideal solution for teams.

Cons of Teamwork.com

When it comes to the cons, one of the issues I encountered is the number of project views. It would be great if Teamwork.com could provide more options for viewing the projects.

Also, I discovered that during my Teamwork.com review, it has a relatively long learning curve due to its extensive feature set.

Teamwork.com alternatives

Here are some alternatives to Teamwork.com if you think it is not right for you.

Teamwork vs alternatives

Teamwork VS ClickUp

Teamwork vs ClickUp

Teamwork VS Monday

Teamwork vs Monday

Teamwork VS Asana

Teamwork vs Asana

Wrap-up: Teamwork.com review

After testing +15 project management software, I believe Teamwork.com is the best for client work. Its features were designed for client-facing teams, and ensure that you not only make your workflows more efficient, but also deliver work on time and on budget.

Related posts:

• 8 Best Project Management Software in 2026 | My Honest List
• Teamwork vs Monday 2026 | I Personally Tested Both
• Teamwork Vs Asana 2026 | The BRUTAL Truth
• Teamwork vs ClickUp 2026 | An Unfiltered Comparison

Hope I was able to help you find the best project management app for you. As always, I will update this Teamwork.com review over time so you guys have up-to-date information about this project management software.

Why you can trust our reviews

At thebusinessdive.com, our team tests, reviews, and compares hundreds of productivity apps every year — from project management tools to note-taking apps. We dive deep into real-world use cases to help you find the right tools that actually improve your workflow, not just add noise.

Our mission? No fluff, no shortcuts—just honest, hands-on insights from productivity pros.

Discover how we stay transparent, read our review methodology, and let us know about any tools we missed.

Frequently asked questions

Is Teamwork.com a customer relationship management (CRM) tool?

Teamwork.com is a project management software for project and task management. It offers advanced features to manage your team’s day-to-day capacity, get an overview of how your time is being spent, and accurately charge your clients for your work.

How much does Teamwork.com cost?

It offers a free version and four paid plans. The Deliver Plan starts with 3 users, and you can get it for €10.99 in case of annual billing per user. If you choose the monthly billing, it will cost you €13.99 per user per month.

The Grow Plan is €19.99 per month per user in if you opt for the annual billing, and starts with 5 users. If you want to move forward with the monthly plan, the Grow Plan is €25.99 per month per user.

The Scale Plan is €54.99 monthly per user if billed yearly, and starts with 5 users at a minimum. The monthly billing is €69.99 per month per user.

Finally, Teamwork.com offers an Enterprise plan with custom pricing and premium customer support.

Where is Teamwork.com based?

Teamwork.com is based in Cork, Ireland. It is a privately owned software company with over 300 employees.

Disclosure: I only recommend products I would use myself, and all opinions expressed here are our own. This post may contain affiliate links that, at no additional cost to you, may earn a small commission. Read the full privacy policy here.

Aron Kantor

Hey there! I am Aron, the founder of Thebusinessdive. I have been testing productivity apps for almost three years now. I reach 25.000 -50.000 people monthly with the mission to help you find the perfect productivity apps. Subscribe to my YouTube channel, newsletter, and social media to hear more about the best productivity tools. Let’s dive in!

thebusinessdive.com

The post Teamwork.com Review 2026: Here Is My Honest Opinion appeared first on .

Using my experience of +2 years of testing productivity apps, I want to put Hive into perspective, so you guys can get an unfiltered opinion about this project management app.

In this Hive review, I will cover the key features I tried, pricing, pros and cons, and, ultimately, my experience with this project management software.

Let’s dive in!

Verdict

Here’s the quick verdict if you don’t want to read the full review:

Tested with our review & scoring methodology Real-world testing Unbiased evaluation

How We Test Project Management Tools

To keep our reviews & final score for each project management app fair and consistent, we evaluate every tool using the same testing framework based on real-world usage, feature depth, and overall value.

Our scoring breakdown after testing 20+ project management apps:

Want a detailed breakdown of how we test each category?

Learn exactly how we test tools → Review methodology

Short on time? Here’s a quick overview of Hive

What is Hive?

Hive is a project management tool designed for teams, whether it is an agency, a marketing team, or a non-profit organization. It has numerous features to track projects, collaborate with team members, and build automated workflows.

You can use it on the web and desktop versions on Mac and Windows. In addition, Hive offers a mobile version as well for iOS and Android devices.

My experience with Hive

Hive is easy to use and still offers many advanced features. I particularly noticed during my Hive review that it has advanced collaboration and AI tools.

I also loved that you can customize your workspace with the add-ons. Furthermore, its dashboard views provide real-time insights into your projects, workspaces, and tasks.

From a feature set perspective, I did not have any major concerns or issues with Hive. There are only a few minor issues, like the number of project views or the lack of an AI feature in the email feature.

The only real issue was with Hive’s pricing plans. While it offers good value for the price, the most advanced and unlimited tools are included in the Teams plan.

Why Hive got a 4.3 / 5 score

While Hive has all the necessary features that most people need to manage projects, it’s not as advanced as ClickUp. Therefore, it loses some points in our testing of its features.

We couldn’t give the most points for pricing, as some advanced features are locked behind team plans.

Who Hive is a good fit for

Who Hive is not ideal for

Hive’s key features

Here, I collected the features I tested during my Hive review.

Home page

As always, I checked Hive’s home page because it is quite important for me to know what you see first when you log in to your account. In terms of Hive, it provides a quick overview of your projects and tasks.

If you scroll down, you will see the workspace activity and your team members, but you can also add some additional widgets and change the theme.

Overall, Hive provides the necessary personalization options for your home page, so you can display the crucial information you need.

Let’s see the project management tools I tested during my Hive review!

App library

Hive offers some add-ons to further customize your experience and the tools you use daily. Personally, I think it is a positive thing that Hive has many add-ons that you can utilize. There are some add-ons that you can use in the free plan, but others require paid plans.

One of my favorite add-ons is the Goals. With this feature, you can create and track goals effectively. You can add goals and sub-goals, and link these to your projects directly.

For example, I created a goal for collaborations to see how I keep up with monthly targets.

Project management tools

Hive offers numerous view options to visualize and track your projects. Each view option gives you a different angle on your projects.

If you click on the plus icon next to the calendar view, you can also choose from more view options. While it does not provide as many project view options as Monday.com, it has all the possibilities that a small or mid-sized business might need.

You can access lists, KanBan boards, tables, Gantt charts, and more. For teams and project managers, the view option is quite useful for resource management, as you can get a quick look at your team members’ capacity, and assign or move tasks between them.

You can easily set up new projects with a few clicks. Hive allows you to import projects from other tools, use a template, or start blank.

Finally, you can create and assign project templates, which is valuable when building projects. Hive offers templates for project managers, client work, creative work, and numerous departments.

Task management features

When creating tasks, you can assign them and add due dates, schedule time, dependencies, labels, and descriptions. Nevertheless, if you scroll down, you can access some additional task management features.

With Hive, you can attach files and add comments, and it will automatically add the recorded time for each task. Ultimately, I think Hive makes task management more efficient and has solid features.

Collaboration tools

You can invite your team members to your workspace and start working on projects. As mentioned, you can add comments, track team members’ projects, and assign tasks.

Furthermore, Hive has collaborative documents that you can edit with your team members. You can insert pictures, attachments, and tables here. The collaborative documents work across all the platforms (web, desktop, and mobile).

In addition, Hive has an instant messaging tool where you can discuss projects and tasks with your team members. With this feature, you can send direct and group messages as well.

Just click on the new message in the bottom left corner, and you can access the instant messaging. When sending a message, you can also attach files, send emojis, and more.

Finally, Hive provides an update feed where you can see if someone mentioned you, but you can also pin the notification.

Ultimately, Hive has solid collaboration features, which make it an excellent solution for teams. ClickUp and Monday.com offer similar collaboration features, but Hive stands out by combining messaging, notes, and project updates in a more unified way.

Inbox

After you integrate Hive with your email provider, you can access your emails inside Hive. You only need to click on the Mail tab on the left, and you can see all your emails.

Besides checking your emails, you can also send emails from Hive, which can be helpful if you do not want to manage your emails, tasks, projects, and messages in one platform.

The only thing I missed a bit about this feature during my Hive review is that they did not integrate their AI solution into mailing. I think it could make emailing even more efficient.

Automation tools

You can access the automations in the app library as an add-on. With the automated workflows, you can automate the small, manual, and repeatable tasks in Hive.

Setting up automations is quite easy, and it is similar to other project management tools. You only need to select the criteria for when the automation should be triggered and the required action in such cases.

Time tracking

Among the add-ons, you can find Hive’s time tracking and timesheet features as well. The time tracking is easy to use, and you can use filters. For example, you can just filter on the time spent with one specific project.

Furthermore, it is also great to export the results in an Excel file. Just click on the download, and you get it instantly.

Overall, I was satisfied with the time tracking feature, as it has everything that you could expect from a project management software tool.

Forms

With Hive, you can create external and internal forms that others can fill out in their browser. The submitted forms offer the possibility to automatically create an action card including the form details.

Essentially, forms have many use cases. You can collect requests, submit bugs, collect information from team members, and more.

Dashboards

Utilizing the dashboards, you can bring the most important information from your workspace and projects into one place. These dashboards provide insights about your tasks and projects.

It is great to customize them with widgets, filters, and external embeds. You can add bar charts, goals, notes, and more.

You can create multiple dashboards that you can share with your team members if you want. To create dashboards faster, you can apply templates from Hive’s library. Hive offers templates for project managers, time and resourcing, marketing, and finance teams.

AI tools

First, Hive has an AI assistant called Buzz built into the software. It helps you to answer questions, create projects, automate workflows, and more. Besides just providing answers, it can also create widgets and dashboards, so it is a valuable feature overall.

Secondly, you can use Hive’s AI feature in the notes as well to create content faster. Besides generating text, you can also use it to generate an image.

Ultimately, Hive has powerful AI features compared to other platforms. Hive’s AI assistant gave me relevant and fast answers to my questions, so I had an absolutely positive experience.

Hive’s integrations

Hive offers some direct integrations with Google Drive, Microsoft Teams, Dropbox, and more. However, you can connect Hive to over 7,000 third-party apps using its Zapier integration.

Hive’s user interface

Hive has a user-friendly design and offers a smooth experience when navigating its pages. After testing numerous project management apps, I believe Hive’s ease of use is outstanding.

During my Hive review, I experienced a short learning curve, and learning its features was quite fast. I also appreciated that it has a Hive University tab on the left, where you can access videos and articles on how to learn to use Hive effectively.

Hive’s mobile app

Hive offers a mobile version for iOS and Android devices. The mobile apps are synced with the desktop version and allow you to create and track tasks and projects, but you can also use the communication tools.

Personally, I used the iOS version and had no issues with it.

Hive’s pricing

Let’s see what I found during my Hive review when it comes to pricing.

Free plan

You can use Hive’s Free plan up to 10 people, and it offers 200MB storage, 10 projects, unlimited tasks, and collaborative notes. You can also access Hive’s email and chat tools.

As for the view, the Free plan includes all the project views, but some of them have a limit of 100 uses. Furthermore, Hive’s Free plan has limits when it comes to AI tools, customization options, integrations, and collaboration tools.

Overall, Hive has a decent Free plan that has some useful features. It is ideal for those who want to try Hive before purchasing it, or if the basic project management features are sufficient for them.

Starter plan

Hive’s Starter plan covers unlimited storage, project views (except project summary and portfolio), collaborative and private notes, and, most importantly, unlimited dashboards. However, it still has limited customization, reporting, and integration options. Also, you can use it for up to 10 team members and 10 projects.

It is $5 per month per user if choosing the yearly plan. If you opt for the monthly plan, it is $7 per user per month.

Ultimately, the Starter plan is a budget-friendly option for small teams that does not require time tracking and forms features.

Teams plan

The Teams plan is $12 per month per user if buying the yearly plan. In terms of monthly billing, it is $18 per user.

With the Teams plan, you can have unlimited workspace users, projects, dashboards, and forms, as well as access to time tracking, timesheets, and resourcing features.

In terms of feature set, the Teams plan has everything that a small or mid-size team might need. Also, you can buy premium add-ons like enterprise security, automations, or proofing for an extra cost.

Enterprise plan

Hive’s Enterprise plan has custom pricing, and they provide more flexibility, extra support, and security if choosing this plan.

Pros and cons I discovered during my Hive review

Let’s summarize the pros and cons I found during my Hive review!

Pros of Hive

First, Hive’s ease of use makes project planning, tracking, and execution smooth. With its intuitive user interface and short learning curve, it is a top project management software.

Secondly, Hive has advanced collaboration features, which are especially useful for small teams.

Moreover, this project management software has super AI features.

Furthermore, the customizable dashboards are great for accessing real-time insights about your workspace.

Lastly, I loved the way they implemented the email and messaging solutions into a project management tool.

Cons of Hive

I had only one issue with Hive, and it is the fact that its Free or Starter plans do not include many advanced features.

Hive alternatives

Here are some alternatives to Hive if you think it is not right for you.

Wrap-up: Hive review

Hive is a very capable project management software for teams. I mostly recommend it for small or mid-sized businesses that need a user-friendly solution to manage projects.

With its advanced collaboration features and AI tools, I think Hive is an excellent project management tool overall. After testing +15 project management apps, it is definitely among my top three picks.

Related posts:

• 8 Best Project Management Software in 2026 | My Honest List
• 35+ Mind-Blowing Project Management Statistics for 2026

Hope I was able to help you find the best project management app for you. As always, I will update this Hive review over time so you guys have up-to-date information about this project management software.

Why you can trust our reviews

At thebusinessdive.com, our team tests, reviews, and compares hundreds of productivity apps every year — from project management tools to note-taking apps. We dive deep into real-world use cases to help you find the right tools that actually improve your workflow, not just add noise.

Our mission? No fluff, no shortcuts—just honest, hands-on insights from productivity pros.

Discover how we stay transparent, read our review methodology, and let us know about any tools we missed.

Frequently asked questions

Is Hive really worth it?

After my review, I can safely say that Hive is worth its price. While many advanced features are included only in the Teams Plan, it is affordable.

Is Hive the best project management software?

Hive is among my top three project management software. With its ease of use, advanced collaboration, and AI tools, it offers an effective solution for small and mid-sized businesses.

Can I use Hive for resource management?

Hive has resource management features that you can utilize to manage your team’s workload. Nevertheless, you can access the advanced resource management features only with the Teams plan.

Disclosure: I only recommend products I would use myself, and all opinions expressed here are our own. This post may contain affiliate links that, at no additional cost to you, may earn a small commission. Read the full privacy policy here.

Aron Kantor

Hey there! I am Aron, the founder of Thebusinessdive. I have been testing productivity apps for almost three years now. I reach 25.000 -50.000 people monthly with the mission to help you find the perfect productivity apps. Subscribe to my YouTube channel, newsletter, and social media to hear more about the best productivity tools. Let’s dive in!

thebusinessdive.com

The post Hive Review: The Best Project Management App? (2026) appeared first on .

Using my experience of +2 years of testing productivity apps, I want to put SmartSuite into perspective, so you guys can get an unfiltered opinion about this project management app.

In this SmartSuite review, I will cover the key features I tried, pricing, pros and cons, and, ultimately, my experience with this project management software.

Let’s dive in!

Verdict

Here’s the quick verdict if you don’t want to read the full review:

Tested with our review & scoring methodology Real-world testing Unbiased evaluation

How We Test Project Management Tools

To keep our reviews & final score for each project management app fair and consistent, we evaluate every tool using the same testing framework based on real-world usage, feature depth, and overall value.

Our scoring breakdown after testing 20+ project management apps:

Want a detailed breakdown of how we test each category?

Learn exactly how we test tools → Review methodology

Short on time? Here’s a quick overview of SmartSuite

What is SmartSuite?

SmartSuite is a collaborative work management platform that helps teams deliver projects, run more efficient processes, and streamline workflows. It has a fresh design compared to the typical project management software.

SmartSuite has a mobile version for iOS and Android devices as well, so you can track your projects anywhere.

My experience with SmartSuite

What I realized first during my testing was SmartSuite’s performance. It is super fast and has almost zero loading time. I loved how they implemented this Excel-like approach when working with tables.

SmartSuite integrates project and data management into a single software solution. It combines aspects of databases, spreadsheets, and project visualization to manage your workflows. For this, it offers many options to control who can access your data and projects.

Overall, SmartSuite was a huge surprise for me, and I think it is definitely among the top project management tools for work management.

Why SmartSuite got a 4.4 / 5 score

SmartSuite received one of the highest scores we gave to project management apps. It has an outstanding feature set that includes project management and reporting tools.

Where it lost points is in pricing (3/5), due to the relatively expensive paid plans. Also, we gave 4 out of 5 for the user interface as it has a steep learning curve.

Who SmartSuite is a good fit for

Who SmartSuite is not ideal for

Now, let’s take a closer look at SmartSuite’s key features!

SmartSuite’s key features

Here I collected the tools I tried during my SmartSuite review.

Workspace

SmartSuite allows users to create and manage multiple workspaces. To select a different workspace, you only need to use the company name dropdown menu on the home page and select another one.

Once you enter your workspace, you can easily select the projects (solutions) you want to work on.

This project management software uses a different structure than others. In your workspaces, you will find your solutions. So, the workspaces are the collections of different solutions. A solution can be anything from a table, records, or projects.

Under the solutions, you can access the tables. The tables include different records, which are individual entries. In the records, you have fields that store specific data about your project.

Let’s see the project management tools of SmartSuite!

Project management tools

SmartSuite implemented a drag-and-drop function, which works smoothly. During my SmartSuite review, I had a feeling that it was an upgraded and user-friendly Excel when I used its tables or sort options.

This work management tool offers numerous view options for your projects and workflows. If you click on the “Create New View” tab, you will access many view types.

It has Gantt charts, Kanban boards, a timeline, and a dashboard view, so you can easily track progress and identify bottlenecks. The dashboard view is especially efficient for proper resource management within your team, as you can get a look at your team members’ capacity.

What I particularly enjoyed is the tools you can use to display, sort, filter, and group information. They really went into the details to manage your databases with the highest efficiency. Such capabilities make SmartSuite an ideal solution to not only manage your projects, but also company-wide databases.

On the left-hand side, you can access the view options. You can easily customize it with SmartSuite’s drag-and-drop function.

Overall, SmartSuite’s key features are great for teams to manage their projects and data in an organized way. People who love Excel will definitely enjoy SmartSuite’s solutions.

Let’s see the task management features!

Task management features

If you remember the structure of SmartSuite, records are basically the tasks. With SmartSuite, you can add due dates, assignees, status, and many other parameters for your tasks. However, there are way more options when it comes to task management.

You can add custom fields to your tasks, so you can customize them in-depth. For example, you can insert time tracking logs, formulas, addresses, and many others for each task.

An additional tool that I found useful during my SmartSuite review is the color codes. Using SmartSuite’s color codes, you can get a quick look at how the projects are going.

Ultimately, SmartSuite offers a wide range of customization options for your task management. After reviewing +15 project management software, I think there is no other tool that has the same level of personalization options for tasks.

Templates

If you click on the “Add solutions”, you can select the templates. SmartSuite offers many templates for teams and workflows. I tried a couple of templates, and I was quite satisfied-not only with their numbers, but also their quality.

After you insert the template you want to use, you can easily personalize its parameters and build up your projects and databases.

Let’s take a look at the team collaboration features!

Team collaboration features

Real-time collaboration tools are the heart of every project management tool. SmartSuite did not let me down in this.

Using SmartSuite, multiple team members can view and edit the projects at the same time. Also, you can see other team members where they work exactly at the table or records. I appreciated the option to send a link to any page, record, or report as an email attachment.

If you open the member directory, you can invite team members and add teams. This team collaboration feature gives you an overview of who is online, some basic data about their role, interest, skill, location, and skills, and you can reach out no matter where they are working.

Essentially, team members can create profiles, and SmartSuite allows them to share the information they want about themself using the member directory.

If you click on the notifications, you can access the unread comments, mentions, and tasks assigned to you. It is a useful tool for getting real-time updates about the tasks and projects you are involved in.

Permissions and roles

Let’s talk about permission and roles. These help you make your data secure and accessible to the people who want to work with it. SmartSuite has two levels of permissions.

Role-based access determines the maximum permission level that can be assigned to you or your team members. You can find this in the settings menu under your workspace information.

However, you can also provide people with guest access, so they can view the records that you assigned to them. The number of guest accesses depends on the subscription.

Furthermore, you can add solution permissions for your team members. With this type of permission, you can control who can view, create, modify, or delete records in your solutions (i.e., projects).

During my SmartSuite review, I also checked the workflow automation features, which are key aspects for many of you. Let’s see what I found!

Automation

With SmartSuite, you can create workflow automation to accelerate your work by eliminating manual steps and repetitive tasks. To access the workflow automation, just click on the top of the solution you entered and select this option.

It is very smooth to set up automated workflows. It follows the “when and then” logic, and you can add further conditions. You can create automation for events like creating or updating records, submitting forms, and more.

Thanks to SmartSuite’s email integration with Outlook and Gmail, you can set up workflow automation for events when you receive an email.

SmartSuite’s integrations

SmartSuite offers some native integrations, so you can connect this work management tool with Google Drive, Salesforce, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Hubspot, and more.

In addition, you can connect SmartSuite with Zapier, which allows you to access an additional +7,000 third-party apps.

SmartSuite’s user interface

SmartSuite has an intuitive interface and follows a structure different from most project management software. But once you understand its logic, it will be easy to find the tools you need.

That said, SmartSuite has a learning curve. It took time for me to understand what I could and could not do with SmartSuite.

SmartSuite’s mobile app

SmartSuite offers a mobile version for iOS and Android users. During my SmartSuite review, I used the iOS version. Similar to many other project management tools, I also encountered a few bugs here. For instance, it does not save the fields or records.

Nevertheless, the SmartSuite team constantly improves it and adds new features, so it definitely has great potential.

SmartSuite’s pricing

Let’s see what I found during my SmartSuite review when it comes to pricing.

Free plan

Using the Free plan, a maximum of three users and one guest user can utilize SmartSuite. With the free version, you can create five solutions and have 1,000 records per solution. Also, you will access 100MB of file storage, a 14-day recycle bin, and activity history.

When I looked at the features included in the Free Plan, I was surprised. SmartSuite’s free version has numerous tools you can use for free.

You can access all the real-time collaboration tools, many project view options, basic permissions, workflow automation, and all the task management features. However, you can use SmartSuite’s email integration, and some of the features have limits.

Overall, SmartSuite has an outstanding Free plan compared to other project management tools.

Team Plan

The Team plan is $12 per user per month if you choose the yearly billing. If you want to have monthly billing, it is $15 per user per month.

Using SmartSuite’s Team plan, you can have unlimited users, one quest user per paid user, unlimited solutions, 5,000 records per solution and table. You will access a 1-year activity history and a 30-day recycle bin.

This plan covers almost all the view options, except the resource management view and the folders. You can utilize all the collaboration features and get more extensive workflow automations.

Based on my experience, the Teams plan is ideal for small businesses.

No matter which paid plans you want to try, you will get a 14-day free trial, so you can make sure that SmartSuite is the best software for you.

Professional plan

If you opt for the Professional plan, it will cost you $30 per user per month when choosing the annual billing. In the case of monthly billing, it is $34 per user per month.

The Professional plan has all the features included in the Team plan, plus 100,000 records per solution, 100GB of file storage, and a 45-day recycle bin. With this plan, you will access all the view options, email integration, and more advanced permissions.

The Professional plan was designed for small and mid-sized businesses that need more advanced permissions and higher limits on the features.

Enterprise plan

Furthermore, SmartSuite offers an Enterprise plan for organizations that need advanced features, security, and support. It is $45 per user per month in the case of annual billing. If you want to choose the monthly billing, the Enterprise plan is $50 per user per month.

Compared to the Professional plan, it has more advanced security features, and you will get a dedicated customer success manager.

Signature plan

Finally, SmartSuite has a Signature plan that offers full flexibility to customize features, usage limits, and more. You need to contact their sales team for this.

Pros and cons I discovered during my SmartSuite review

Let’s summarize the pros and cons I found during my SmartSuite review!

Pros of SmartSuite

First, SmartSuite has a generous free plan that includes numerous advanced features. I think it has one of the most extensive free versions I’ve tried.

Secondly, SmartSuite is not only a project management software but a data management tool as well, and it fantastically combines spreadsheets with other project management tools.

Moreover, I loved the level of detail of the permissions and roles. You can fully customize who can access your projects with this feature.

Lastly, SmartSuite has many pre-built templates for marketing campaigns, product development, etc., that you can use to create projects faster.

Cons of SmartSuite

My only con was SmartSuite’s mobile app. It was quite slow, and it still has some bugs. However, the good news is that SmartSuite’s team regularly launches new updates to improve the experience and broaden its features.

SmartSuite alternatives

Here are some alternatives to SmartSuite if you think it is not right for you.

Compare SmartSuite vs alternatives

SmartSuite VS ClickUp

Compare SmartSuite vs ClickUp

SmartSuite VS Monday.com

Compare SmartSuite vs Monday

Wrap-up: SmartSuite review

To wrap it all up, I think SmartSuite is one of the best software when it comes to project and work management. I had a great experience during testing, and I can highly recommend this software for teams.

Related posts:

• 8 Best Project Management Software in 2026 | My Honest List
• SmartSuite vs Monday 2026 | No Wrong Choice
• SmartSuite vs ClickUp 2026 | A Honest Comparison
• 35+ Mind-Blowing Project Management Statistics for 2026

Hope I was able to help you find the best project management app for you. As always, I will update this SmartSuite review over time so you guys have up-to-date information about this project management software.

Why you can trust our reviews

At thebusinessdive.com, our team tests, reviews, and compares hundreds of productivity apps every year — from project management tools to note-taking apps. We dive deep into real-world use cases to help you find the right tools that actually improve your workflow, not just add noise.

Our mission? No fluff, no shortcuts—just honest, hands-on insights from productivity pros.

Discover how we stay transparent, read our review methodology, and let us know about any tools we missed.

Frequently asked questions

Is SmartSuite good?

SmartSuite is a solid work, project, and data management platform for teams. It has a generous free version, which includes numerous advanced features.

Is SmartSuite better than Asana?

If you read my review (rage) about Asana, you probably know what I think about that project management tool. However, staying objective, I think both tools have completely different feature sets for managing projects.

While Asana has a shorter learning curve and offers some cool features to manage projects, SmartSuite is more focused on the data and spreadsheet-driven approach. My pick would be SmartSuite, but it totally depends on your preferences.

How much is SmartSuite?

SmartSuite has a free version and four paid plans. No matter which paid plan you choose, you will get a 14-day free trial.

The Team plan is $12 per user per month if the yearly billing is chosen. If you want to have monthly billing, it is $15 per user per month. If you opt for the Professional plan, it will cost you $30 per user per month when choosing the annual billing. In the case of monthly billing, it is $34 per user per month.

Furthermore, SmartSuite offers an Enterprise plan for organizations that need advanced features, security, and support. It is $45 per user per month for annual billing. If you want to choose the monthly billing, the Enterprise plan is $ 50 per user per month.

Lastly, SmartSuite has a Signature plan that offers full flexibility to customize features, usage limits, and more. You will get custom pricing here.

Disclosure: I only recommend products I would use myself, and all opinions expressed here are our own. This post may contain affiliate links that, at no additional cost to you, may earn a small commission. Read the full privacy policy here.

Aron Kantor

Hey there! I am Aron, the founder of Thebusinessdive. I have been testing productivity apps for almost three years now. I reach 25.000 -50.000 people monthly with the mission to help you find the perfect productivity apps. Subscribe to my YouTube channel, newsletter, and social media to hear more about the best productivity tools. Let’s dive in!

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Instead of juggling multiple apps, switching tabs, or digging through old Slack messages, these integrations help you create tasks, manage projects, share files, track time, and schedule meetings with just a few clicks.

For remote teams, sales teams, marketing, support, or anyone juggling constant pings, the right integrations can genuinely boost team productivity and make your Slack workspace feel calmer, not louder.

So here’s the list of the best Slack apps I’ve personally tested, the ones that actually reduce noise, support team collaboration, and help you stay focused without leaving the Slack platform every ten minutes.

Let’s dive in!

The best Slack integrations at a glance

Best Slack integrations	Category	What it does
	Meetings	Creates AI meeting notes, transcripts, and summaries directly from Slack huddles and video calls.
	Meetings	Start, join, and schedule Zoom calls from Slack; receive meeting links and call notifications in channels.
	Ticketing	Turn Slack messages into tickets, manage support requests in threads, and track ticket progress inside Slack.
	Project Management	Create tasks from Slack messages, get task updates, and manage project workflows without leaving Slack.
	Project Management	Convert messages into tasks, manage assignments, and receive real-time Asana updates in Slack.
	Project Management	Create, update, and receive notifications for Trello cards within Slack.
	Visual collaboration	Create and preview Miro boards, receive updates, and bring visual collaboration into Slack conversations.
	Documentation	Turn messages into Coda docs, share interactive pages, and manage lightweight projects directly through Slack.
	Documentation	Send Slack messages to Notion pages, preview shared docs, and keep team wikis and tasks connected to Slack.
	Documentation	Share Drive files, get Calendar alerts, adjust permissions, and receive document activity updates in Slack.
	Automation & AI workflows	Automate workflows by connecting Slack with 8,000+ apps; send alerts, create tasks, and route updates automatically.
	Automation & AI workflows	Write and refine messages, summarize threads, and search across Slack conversations using AI directly in Slack.
	Automation & AI workflows	Turn Slack messages into scheduled tasks, defend focus time, and receive automatic calendar updates.
	File sharing	Share files from Drive, preview documents, and manage access requests directly inside Slack.
	File sharing	Share large files and folders, preview links, and receive Dropbox activity notifications in Slack.
	Team culture & check-ins	Run async standups, surveys, and check-ins through Slack, with automatic summaries in channels.
	Team culture & check-ins	Pair teammates for coffee chats, send social prompts, and automate onboarding rituals inside Slack.
	Time tracking	Start timers, log time entries, and receive daily or weekly time-tracking summaries directly in Slack.