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The essentials of effective project management do not only include a team of experienced and dedicated professionals. As much as they are critical for the success of any project, using professional project management software really does the trick. In this article, we will review the best Microsoft Project alternative.
Good evening, I'm working with a user that has a Mac and apparently Microsoft does not make Project for OS X. Does anyone know of a free alternative software that can view.MPP or any other project files? Thanks, David. Summary Of The Best Microsoft Project Alternatives For Creating Gantt Charts. It’s easy to be overwhelmed by the baffling array of Microsoft Project Alternatives out there. Below, we’ve put together a reader-friendly table neatly summarizing basic info about the tools described in this article. So, we have covered the six best alternative operating systems for Windows. Our list consists of both free and proprietary Operating Systems; Mac is an example for the latter. So, when you are bored with Microsoft Windows and prefer the change, you can pick one from the six + three options. Asana: Work management platform for teams of all sizes. Likelihood to recommend: 8.4/10. We’ve analyzed data on more than 600 project management tools on Capterra and used the below criteria to identify the Microsoft Project alternatives we’re featuring here. Core project management features: The product must offer the core project management features: task management, collaboration, and project tracking.
With an overabundance of project management tools flooding the internet, it can become a nuisance to choose one for your organization. Luckily for companies, they have innumerable options to conveniently cherry-pick the one that fits perfectly with their team and organizational needs.
One such most widely used project management software is Microsoft Project. By far, it’s the first and most popular choice of around 67% of project managers. Coming with easy integration with Office 365 applications, Microsoft Project seems like a reliable choice for project management.
But, apparently, the most chosen option for project management has lots of shortcomings too, in terms of features and user-ease. These shortcomings make professionals look for a solid Microsoft Project alternative.
Why You Need a Microsoft Project Alternative
Microsoft Project is a great free desktop-based tool to manage projects and streamline workflows. However, in this era of cloud and availability, you cannot limit how you access your data and when. Besides, there are a few limitations that come with Microsoft Project out of the box. Some of these are:
Collaboration
Flawless collaboration is what every team is looking for when using a project management tool. Microsoft Project makes it hard to share data with stakeholders. Unless the other person also has Microsoft Project installed and running, the data cannot be accessed.
Also Read:
The 22 Best Team Collaboration Software for Businesses
Status Tracking
In Microsoft Project, the real-time progress of a task is hard to track. Where the task is at a particular time, and whether it is pending, in progress, or completed, cannot be identified.
Communication Within Tasks
For perfect project collaboration, communication within the tasks is compulsory. While using Microsoft Project, team members cannot communicate or comment on the activities within each task. Moreover, assigned task updates cannot be taken within the tasks.
Pricing
Contrary to most of the project management tools in the market which offer free plans to users, Microsoft Project does not have any free features for its users. All the plans are paid and begin from $7 per user/month.
We have compiled a list of top 16 free tools that can serve as a Microsoft Project alternative. And they are all free – you can get your hands on these without paying a penny!
1. nTask
nTask is a free project management software that has recently entered into the sea of project management tools available online. Coming with strong features of task management, nTask is the top contender for a Microsoft Project alternative and makes it to the top of our list. It’s a tool that caters a broad range of professionals with diverse project needs.
Key Features
Let’s go through some of the key features and modules this tool deals with:
- A simple and elegant user interface for creating and managing projects and tasks.
- Advanced features of task management for assigning, organizing, and prioritizing tasks.
- Timesheets for smart tracking and monitoring real-time progress of activities.
- Meetings management for scheduling and executing meetings through meeting agenda, discussion points, and other such details.
- Intelligent issues management for documenting and solving issues linked with projects.
- Risk management for identifying and tracking potential risks directly or indirectly linked with projects.
- Integration with Slack to make communication even more smooth.
- Multiple workspaces for more than one team to collaborate seamlessly.
- Multiple views and filter options to manage and search for projects, tasks, and issues, etc.
Pricing
- nTask comes with two plans, Free and Pro.
- Pro plan starting at $1 per user/month with an annual billing plan.
Free Features
Microsoft Project For Mac Trial
- Unlimited tasks and meetings
- Unlimited workspaces
- Unlimited members per workspace
- 100 MBs of free storage space
- Issues tracking
Looking for the perfect free Microsoft Project alternative?
See for yourself why MS Project users are switching to nTask. Create unlimited, tasks, meetings, risks, issues & more.
2. Bitrix 24
Bitrix 24 is one of the free project management tools that is adapted for social collaboration between you and your team members. The software primarily works on creating workgroups and centralized news feed for information exchange with the team members.
Tg pro serial. This Microsoft Project alternative lets you create personalized to-dos, and helps to manage projects and tasks through extensive features ranging from Gantt charts, task dependencies, and Kanban workflows, to more systematic tools like employee workload management.
Key Features
Bitrix 24 offers you the following key features:
- Interactive activity stream showing all the updates and changes in the workflow.
- Chat feature within the activity stream helping the team members to collaborate on a particular task or activity.
- Workgroups for teams to work together on tasks and projects for discussions, task planning, and monitoring progress.
- Customized task reports tracking the time each employee takes to complete a certain task.
- Extranet access for external users through which workgroups can be shared with clients and other organizations to share and monitor the workflow.
- Customizable Kanban boards to visualize the workflows and clearly depict the status of each task.
Pricing
- Bitrix 24 comes with free and multiple paid plans. The paid ones start at $39.
Free Features
The free plan of the software comes with numerous features. Some of these are:
- 12 users, 1 admin
- 5 GB online storage space
- Unlimited projects
- Unlimited tasks/subtasks
- Gantt charts
- 5 task dependencies
3. Zenkit
Zenkit is another free Microsoft Project alternative that is simple to use and provides easy task management. The software provides different tools for different teams to fulfill their overall business needs. Whether it’s project management, CRM, support or any other business solution, Zenkit caters all.
Key Features
- Personalized calendar to arrange tasks according to priorities.
- Team inboxes to assign tasks and monitor progress systematically.
- Customized to-do lists to keep track of all the work that needs to be done.
- Multiple view options (Kanban, list, calendar) for organizing tasks.
- Task labels to identify the priority level and status of each task.
- Comments within tasks to take regular updates from the team.
- Zapier integration helps to connect with multiple other applications.
- Offline mode, facilitating work even without the internet.
- Multiple powerful filters to access the tasks according to needs.
Pricing
- Zenkit provides 3 plans. Personalized, Plus, and Enterprise.
- The personalized plan is free and the other two plans start from $9, billed on a monthly or annual basis.
Free Features
- Unlimited collection
- 5000 items
- Up to 5 teams, 5 members
- 3 GB storage space
4. Zoho Projects
This Microsoft Project alternative is a cloud-based project management software that is designed for small and medium-sized companies. Through Zoho projects, you can easily divide your complex projects into smaller, manageable tasks and subtasks and share updates with the entire team through an interactive feed, featuring the activities.
Key Features
- Kanban boards for classifying and organizing tasks according to their status.
- Social feed consisting of activity stream and status updates about particular tasks.
- Forums for lengthier discussions, with options to add multiple team members.
- ‘Pages’ specific to team projects only. All the information regarding the project can be updated and shared with relevant team members.
- A broad range of charts and reports that can be accessed for resource management.
- Timesheets to evaluate the time each team member spends on a particular task, and to identify bottlenecks in the workflow.
- Issue tracking, along with detailed reports, for timely identification and resolution.
- Gantt charts for visualizing and tracking the project progress.
Pricing
- Zoho projects facilitate free and multiple paid plans. The paid plans begin at $20.
Free Features
The always-free plan comes with the following features:
- Up to 5 users
- 2 projects
- File attachments up to 10 MB
- Feed and custom status for tasks
- Calendars and forums
5. Teamwork Projects
The 5th free Microsoft Project alternative in our list is Teamwork projects. Working on the similar functions of tasks and subtasks, Teamwork Projects helps businesses to achieve group goals through smart workflows and streamlined communication among the team members.
Key Features
- Task and subtasks management, along with assigning tasks to multiple people at once.
- Task priorities label to identify the most urgent tasks that need to be done first.
- Task dependencies to better understand the relationship of tasks.
- Task estimates and progress tracking for managing the workload.
- Messages within the tasks to keep each team member updated on the project.
- Time tracking to determine the total time spent on each task.
- Categorization of time logs into billable and non-billable hours.
- Android, an iOS application and chrome extension to access the software from anywhere.
- Gantt charts view of the project to highlight key tasks and milestones.
Pricing
- Teamwork Projects offers a free, pro, premium, and enterprise plans, along with a 30-day trial.
- The paid plans start from $9 per user/month.
Free Features
Free forever version of the software provides the following features:
- 2 active projects
- 100 MB file storage
- Basic project management
- Limited task boards
- Subtasks
- Color schemes
6. Freedcamp
Freedcamp is a free web-based project management collaboration tool that is designed for solo users as well as teams to organize and manage projects effectively. It made to our list of Microsoft Project alternatives primarily because the software comes with a clean interface which makes managing projects quick and easy.
Key Features
- Division of tasks into subtasks with options to set their visibility on public or private
- Kanban boards to visualize the workflow
- Milestones to set goals for the team
- Wall for team members to communicate on one platform
- Documentation for keeping all the data in one place
- Issue tracker for tracking and managing issues
- Time tracking of the workday for billing clients
- Pre-built Project templates for duplication
- Widgets in one place to access any type of information
Pricing
- There are 4 plans of Freedcamp; Free, Minimalist, Freelancer, and Business. The paid plans start at $1.49 and each plan comes with a free trial of 14 days.
Free Features
- Unlimited tasks and projects
- Unlimited storage space
- Unlimited users
- Time tracking
- Milestones
- Wall and discussions
7. Teamgantt
The 7th free Microsoft Project alternative of our list is Teamgantt. Teamgantt primarily works on creating Gantt charts for all the underlying tasks. The charts are highly organized and come with multiple interesting features such as separate colored bars for tasks and groups, and you can also easily add multiple resources to your tasks at any point.
Key Features
- Drag and drop tasks for creating a schedule
- Discussions linked with relevant tasks
- Customizable Gant chart views
- Workload tracking
- Planned vs the actual timeline
- Project templates
- Time tracking of tasks
- Sticky notes for updates
- Task filters for customized viewing
- Project and task dependencies
Pricing
- Free, Standard Team, and Advance Team plans. The standard and advance plans begin from $49.75 and are billed on a monthly and annual basis. All plans come with a free trial.
Free Features
- One free project
- Basic planning and collaboration for up to 3 people
Microsoft Project Plan For Mac
8. Hygger
Hygger is a product and project management tool which provides an impressive backlog prioritization features, because of which we added it to our list of Microsoft Project alternatives.
The tool helps teams to work on projects through the idea bank which stores all the ideas relevant to product and project development and once approved, these ideas can be transferred to relevant Kanban or Scrum boards for further development.
Key Features
- Idea bank for storing ideas and feedback etc.
- Priority matrix for the screening of ideas
- Kanban boards for workflow identification
- Scrum boards for visualizing the progress of a sprint
- Work in Process limits for identifying bottlenecks
- Swimlanes and labels for organizing tasks
- Roadmaps for tracking the overall progress
- Live activity stream displaying the status of tasks
- Time tracking with detailed reports
- Team inbox for only team relevant messages
Pricing
- Standard ($7) and Enterprise ($14) plans with 14 days free trial.
Free Features
- All the features available in standard and enterprise plans can be availed without any cost for 14 days.
See also:
The Best Scrum Tools of 2020 for Agile Project Management
9. Mavenlink
Mavenlink combines multiple project-based services together in a single application. It’s primarily designed for professional services and for teams to collaborate on large-scale projects. A full-featured project management tool that focuses on team task management, and supports multiple third-party application integrations too.
Key Features
- Project portfolio listing down all the projects
- Gantt charts for tracking the progress
- Reusable project templates
- Powerful third-party applications integration
- Resources management at a task level
- Personalized views for monitoring projects
- Seamless collaboration through advanced collaboration features
- Public and private posts for easy sharing
- Project data secured through access permissions
Pricing
- Mavenlink offers Free and multiple paid plans. The paid plans begin from $19 per month for 5 users.
Free Features
- Unlimited projects
- Unlimited team members
- 500 MB of storage
- Integration with Google Calendar, Tasks, and Contacts
10. Pivotal Tracker
Mac Version Of Microsoft Project
On #10 of our list of free Microsoft Project alternative, we have Pivotal Tracker.
Pivotal Tracker is an agile project management tool designed for agile software teams. The tool enables real-time project collaboration among the team members through a shared storyboard and a prioritized backlog.
Key Features
- Story points to identify actionable work
- Activity estimation
- Workspaces for organizing projects
- My work panel for only your tasks
- Multiple charts for visualizing the team performance
- Mentions for assigning tasks
- Drag and drop file options
- Personalized labels for organizing tasks
- Shared calendar for daily assignments and projects
- Multiple third-party application integrations
Pricing
- Pivotal Tracker offers free and 3 paid plans. Free, Startup, Pro, and Enterprise. The paid plans begin at $12.50, pertaining to the number of projects and collaborators.
Free Features
- 2 projects
- Up to 3 collaborators
- 2 GB storage
11. Wrike
Next up – Wrike.
You’ve probably heard about it as it’s one of the most popular choices of teams when it comes to project management. Being a flexible tool, Wrike provides a multi-dimensional project solution to teams of all sizes.
Coming with an elaborate set of robust features, Wrike enables teams to successfully execute each step of the project, starting from planning till final reporting. Furthermore, you don’t have to worry about losing track during team discussions, as the live activity stream and team member mentions make your work easy for you.
Key Features
- Customizable dashboards
- Gantt charts for project schedule visualization
- A workload view for better resource management
- Time tracking with tasks
- Live activity stream
- Team mentions
- Custom user groups
- Multiple progress tracking reports
Pricing
- There are multiple plans Wrike comes with. The paid plans start from $9.80 per user/month.
Free Features
- Simple task management for up to 5 users
12. Celoxis
Celoxis provides a comprehensive web-based project management solution for midsize and large teams. This Microsoft Project alternative comes with an integrated set of tools that you can use to manage your projects, resources, expenses, and workflows, all in one place.
The software can be utilized to manage multiple project portfolios. You can create project schedules by defining dependencies and assigning multiple resources per task.
Key Features
- Project portfolio management
- Resource management
- Revenue forecasting
- Performance monitoring dashboard
- Timesheets management
- Expense management
- Activity stream
- Online discussions with mentions
- Numerous third-party application integrations
Pricing
- Celoxis offers paid plans with a free trial of 30 days. The plans are Cloud ($25 per user/month) and on-premise ($450 per user – billed once).
13. LiquidPlanner
#13 spot in this synopsis of top Microsoft Project alternatives goes to LiquidPlanner.
If you have difficulty scheduling and updating your projects, LiquidPlanner might be best suited for you. With a smart scheduler, the tool automatically updates the overall task requirements when resources and priorities change. The updated timeline can then be easily shared with everyone.
With intelligent resource management features, the software allows you to manage your workload better and complete your projects on time.
Key Features
- Priority-based scheduling
- Resource management
- Time tracking
- Documents management
- Budget management
- Customizable dashboard
- Comment mentions
- Task dependencies
- Notifications and reminders
Pricing
- LiquidPlanner’s features can be availed through their paid plans. The software comes with a Professional ($45 per user/month) and Enterprise ($69 per user/month) plans. You can try it out through the free 14 days trial period.
14. Podio
Winding up the list with a platform coming with rich social collaboration features, Podio makes a great alternative to Microsoft Project. The tool allows successful project delivery by claiming to put content, context, and collaboration in one place.
The broad spectrum of collaboration features ranges from likes and file sharing within the system to instant messaging and audio/video calls.
Key Features
- Personal dashboards
- Task management
- Automated workflows
- Private and public workspaces
- Activity stream
- Comments, likes, and file sharing
- Audio and video calls
- Integrated chat
Pricing
- Podio comes with Free and paid plans. The paid plans start from $9.
Free Features
- Task management
- Apps and workspaces
15. Airtable
Looking for another option as a Microsoft Project Alternative? We present Airtable…
The core guiding principle of Airtable is to provide customers with an app that allows them to dictate the app the way you need to utilize it.
Airtable is an easy to use platform, for keeping track of all your product records and your to-do list.
It’s UI/UX is beautiful and spot on. It has the power of a database, flexibility of an app, ease of use of spreadsheets, and user-friendliness.
It has a new block feature as well which makes Airtable not just an app with low-code.
Furthermore, building out a timeline for deliverables is really easy, especially for those who wear multiple hats within any blue-chip conglomerate or non-profit organization.
For small teams, Airtable is an affordable solution, especially for non-profits and startups.
Key Features:
- Due Dates
- Creation and Assignment
- To-Do lists
- Task Prioritization
- Dependencies
- Drag & Drop
- Mass Updates
- Recurring Tasks
- Analytics
- Data Security
- Access Control
- Application Deployment
Pricing:
- Airtable offers four pricing plans – Free ($0/user/month), Plus ($10/user/month), Pro ($20/user/month) and Enterprise (Contact Sales).
Free Features:
- Unlimited bases
- 1200 records
16. ProjectLibre
ProjectLibre is powered by OpenProj. Or at least that’s what it was previously recognized for. Don’t worry; as a totally free Microsoft Project alternative, ProjectLibre offers tons of stuff without any cost.
What makes this program better is its compatibility with MS Project files. If you are transitioning from MS Project 2003, 2007 or 2010 from any OS, whether it is Linux, Mac, or Windows, ProjectLibre can be used for those files. The extensions will open fine – and that too without disturbing any files metadata etc.
This Microsoft Project alternative also supports multiple languages. Since it’s an open-source platform, the dev community put in a lot of effort to introduce all the juicy features that MS Projects users are used to!
You can create dependencies and issues. You can also manage resources and make full use of the native Gantt view. What else could you ask for? Take a look at some of the main highlights of this tool below.
Key Features:
- Compatible with multiple editions of Microsoft Project files series.
- Create issues, tasks, and projects.
- Identify and manage resources as you proceed with the workflow.
- Compatible with multiple OSs, such as; Linux, MacOS, and Windows for super-smooth user experience.
- Comes with Gantt view.
- Overall easy to set up and maintain as compared to conventional project management tools.
Pricing:
- ProjectLibre is free of cost.
- The paid version starts at $1.00 per month only. This is to support the open-source development community.
Have you used any Microsoft Project alternative before? How was your experience? Join the conversation in the comments section below.
See also:
Top 19 Jira Alternatives for Smarter Project Management in 2020
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