Best Free Task Management Software Of 2024

Notion is an organization and productivity tool that unites project management, note-taking and to-do list features. It comes with a simple interface that makes it easy for freelancers, startups and smaller teams to collaborate on multiple tasks and projects.

You can prioritize and schedule tasks with Kanban boards, calendars, task lists and sprint organizers. There’s also a shared team calendar that shows an overview of ongoing and one-off tasks, making it ideal for long-term project schedules.

We can’t forget the file uploading and sharing system you can use to share a variety of resources with your team. In addition, all Notion tasks have a comment feature you can use to discuss progress, issues and other relevant information with all the parties involved.

Learn more: Read our full Notion review.

Who should use it:

If you’re in the market for a task management software that offers a lot of versatility and collaboration features, Notion is worth considering.

With ClickUp, your team can collaborate, organize and track projects in one, user-friendly interface. To ensure optimal flexibility, it offers many task views, including list, Gantt and timeline views and the ability to customize tasks, categories, comments and more to meet your unique needs. Plus, you can build a custom dashboard that will give you a high-level overview of a project.

You may also take advantage of automation capabilities that can activate movements based on triggers. Additionally, ClickUp makes it a breeze to create and customize reports. You’ll be able to quickly determine what projects are in progress, which tasks have been completed and what deadlines have been missed.

Learn more: Read our full ClickUp review

Who should use it:

If you’d like the freedom to customize your workflows to accommodate your unique team and goals, ClickUp may make sense.

Teamwork.com is a user-friendly, cloud-based platform that can help you effectively manage your projects, sub-tasks and teams. Thanks to features including custom branding, unlimited collaborator access and billable time tracking, it’s a great option if you’re a consultant or agency with multiple clients.

You can use its premade templates or create your own for tasks, projects and more. In addition, you may add milestones to tasks so that you and your team members understand how to achieve your goals. Other noteworthy perks include Kanban boards with automation features, expense tracking and invoice creation.

Learn more: Read our full Teamwork.com review.

Who should use it:

If you’re a consultant or agency who would like to streamline your processes and improve productivity, Teamwork.com should be on your radar.

Developed by Atlassian, Jira is a project management software for Agile teams. While it was initially intended to be a bug-tracking solution, it has evolved to help project managers plan, assign, track and review projects in real time.

Jira has two tracking boards to ensure you meet your project goals. Scrum is ideal if you’d like to set deadlines and track progress. Kanban makes more sense if you’re looking for a visually compelling way to look at your projects and tasks.

In addition, Jira features Roadmaps, which key stakeholders can use to get a big-picture view of a project. It’s essentially a visual summary that outlines the timelines, priorities and goals of a project. Roadmaps can help ensure each project is on track and resources are being used wisely.

Learn more: Read our full Jira review.

Who should use it: 

If you believe in the Agile approach to project management, Jira can be a solid pick.

Airtable is a task management software that functions as a real-time database. Your team can use it to create, manage and share databases in an aesthetically pleasing way. Since Airtable offers a variety of views, including list, timeline, gallery, Kanban, Gantt and calendar views, you can choose how you’d like to filter, sort and group critical information.

The tool also has role assignment features, including Owner/Creator, Editor, Commenter and Read-Only. These features give you control over what certain team members can and cannot do within a workspace. You’ll be able to keep your data secure and accurate while also supporting a collaborative environment.

Learn more: Read our full Airtable review.

Who should use it:

If you’re seeking advanced project management features, such as Interface Designer, role assignments and unique views that you might not find elsewhere, Airtable may be worthwhile. 

You can think of Smartsheet as an “upgraded Excel.” It’s a spreadsheet-like software with a clean interface that can allow you to add and assign tasks, set due dates, track progress and receive notifications in real time. Where Smartsheet really shines, however, is its powerful reporting and analytics capabilities.

With the Reports feature, you can consolidate crucial data from multiple sheets into a single overview. Once you’re satisfied with a report, you may share it with others or export it to Excel, Google Sheets or PDF. Since Smartsheet’s reports are bidirectional, any changes that are made to them get updated in real time so you never have to worry about outdated information.

It’s important to note that plans can be quite restrictive on the number of users. The free plan is only usable by one person, plus two editors. The Pro plan only allows up to 10 users. Upgrading to the Business plan allows for unlimited users, but requires a minimum of three users making it at least $75 per month.

Learn more: Read our full Smartsheet review.

Who should use it:

If reporting and analytics are of utmost importance to you and your team, Smartsheet can be a good fit, especially if you’re familiar with Excel and Google Sheets.

Todoist is a project management tool that offers a number of features to help you manage tasks more efficiently. The projects feature can come in handy if you’d like to differentiate certain tasks. You can color-code your projects and organize your tasks in a hierarchical structure.

You’ll find it easy to create tasks, which are individual items on your to-do list. Each task can include a due date, label and priority level. You may view your tasks in a list or Kanban board view. Also, since there’s a filter feature, you can organize your tasks based on specific criteria. Additionally, you may set task reminders so that you’re always on track.

Paid personal plans start at $4 per month, but don’t include the features most teams would need in order to thrive. Todoist is a beta testing team workspaces that cost $6 monthly per user and provide admin roles, task reminders, and other important collaboration features.

Learn more: Read our full Todoist review.

Who should use it:

If you’re a solopreneur or manage a small team, Todoist can be a great tool for your project management and task management needs.

Trello is a simple, kanban-style task management tool that anyone on your team can learn quickly, regardless of their technical experience. Despite its intuitive interface, it offers exceptional automation capabilities. There’s an automation bot called Butler, which can help you set up rule-based triggers. Once you answer a few questions, Butler will configure the automation on your behalf.

Also, the platform can create automatic reports based on task status and send auto-generated emails to applicable team members. The free plan is a great option, even if you have many team members as it supports unlimited users, tasks, and integrations.

Learn more: Read our full Trello review.

Who should use it:

If you’re looking for a basic task management software that can easily automate your processes, Trello can be a good fit.

Asana is a task management software with an intuitive interface and no shortage of integrations. The free plan comes with unlimited projects, tasks, and comments. You can create, schedule, and prioritize tasks in a variety of formats, such as Gantt charts, kanban boards, and task lists. The shared team calendar can give you a long-term view of your projects and where everything stands.

Since there are many pre-made templates to accommodate different use cases, such as meeting agendas, employee onboarding, and product roadmaps, you can get started right away without much planning and effort. We can’t forget the report dashboards, which provide useful insights on things like budget projections and task completion over time.

Learn more: Read our full Asana review.

Who should use it:

If you want to get your projects up and running in no time via premade templates, Asana is a solid choice.

TeamGantt is a task management tool that offers more than just Gantt charts. It comes in a drag-and-drop format and allows you to easily switch from Gantt chart, Kanban board and calendar view so you can choose how to manage your workflow. Plus you can look at multiple projects on the same screen and truly understand how you’re using your resources and whether there are any conflicts that require a resolution.

When it comes to collaboration, TeamGantt excels as users can make comments on individual tasks or use the conversation inbox, which tracks comments and mentions. In addition, this tool offers a variety of pre-made templates for initiatives such as marketing and project management so you can hit the ground running in no time.

Learn more: Read our full TeamGantt review.

Who should use it:

If you manage a larger team with multiple projects and many moving parts, TeamGantt can come to the rescue.