Announcing the Top Rated Project Management Software for 2019

TrustRadius Top Rated

Today, we awarded the 2019 TrustRadius Top Rated badges for Project Management Software. The TrustRadius Top Rated awards are the most trusted in the industry because they are an unbiased reflection of customer sentiment, based solely on user feedback and satisfaction scores. Top Rated awards are the voice of the market and are not influenced by analyst opinion, the vendor’s company size, popularity, or status as a TrustRadius customer.

Project Management Software

Project management software helps teams and individuals define, plan, execute, and assess projects. These products often act as project hubs for teams, helping them keep track of tasks that need to be done, who will do them, and when they should be completed. Common features include task assignment and scheduling, file sharing and organization, task grouping, collaboration tools, time tracking, mobile applications, and integration with third-party software like Zapier, Slack, and Google Drive.

The feature scope of project management products can vary widely. Some products, such as Wunderlist, focus exclusively on to-dos and team communication. Other products, such as JIRA, support a variety of organizational methods, custom workflows, and detailed reporting features. Buyers of project management software should consider their organization’s needs. Smaller teams or teams with simpler projects might get bogged down by the extra features of larger systems, while larger teams with complicated projects might need more functionality than a more lightweight project management solution offers. Reviews can help you unpack whether a project management tool will fit your needs.

Here are the winners:

Airtable

Airtable is a cloud-based project management tool. It stores project data in sets of linked spreadsheets, which can then be viewed as tables, a calendar, a gallery, or a kanban board. A cell in an Airtable spreadsheet can hold multiple kinds of information, including file attachments, checkboxes, drop-down lists, and links to other tables. Airtable offers revision history, real-time collaboration tools, and a snapshot feature that can restore a previous database state. A majority (65%) of Airtable users on TrustRadius are from small businesses. Reviewers value Airtable’s customizable project views, user-friendly UI, and table linking capabilities.

“Linking tables within a base are particularly helpful to reduce duplication of entry and to quickly reference how one record is used across different projects. The column functions, field types, and filtering and sorting work well to neatly organize records of information.”

– Verified User | Director | Professional Training & Coaching Company

[easy-tweet tweet=”Airtable: Linking tables within a base are particularly helpful ” user=”trustradius” template=”qlite”]

Wunderlist

Wunderlist is a free to-do list tool. For each to-do, users can set reminders and deadlines, leave comments, and add hashtags. Lists of to-dos can be grouped in folders, shared with other users, and printed. Wunderlist can convert forwarded emails into to-dos and also offers a browser extension that can create to-dos from links and web pages. A majority (58%) of Wunderlist users on TrustRadius are from small businesses. Reviewers highlight Wunderlist’s cross-platform synchronization, list-sharing capabilities, and streamlined design.

“We currently use Wunderlist to keep tabs on different departments in real time. Each person adds items that are needed from various stores…It has helped us stay in communication without clogging up text or email and losing information.”

– Ginger Bailey | Director of Public Relations | Religious Institution

[easy-tweet tweet=”Wunderlist: It has helped us stay in communication without clogging up text or email.” user=”trustradius” template=”qlite”]

Trello

Trello is a cloud-based project management application with a kanban board layout. Tasks, ideas, and discussion topics are represented on a board as cards, which can contain comments, file attachments, due dates, tags, and assigned users. Any number of cards can be added to a list, and a board can hold any number of lists. Multiple Trello boards can be grouped together to help organize multiple projects or teams. Team members can view shared boards, add and delete cards, and move cards between lists. A large portion (45%) of Trello users on TrustRadius are from small businesses. Reviewers appreciate Trello’s intuitive interface and clear visualization of projects.

“Rather than spending time and effort getting lost in emails or instant messages, we have a shared knowledge bank of ideas and tasks within Trello that free us up to focus on other parts of our job.”

– Evan Jaffe | Sr. Product Designer | Computer Software Company

[easy-tweet tweet=”We have a shared knowledge bank of ideas within Trello that free us up to focus on other parts of our job” user=”trustradius” template=”qlite”]

Asana

Asana is a cloud-based project management tool. Projects can be viewed as to-do lists, kanban boards, calendars, and timelines. Each task in Asana can contain subtasks, attachments, assignees, due dates, and comments. A portfolio view shows information about multiple projects, including task progress, project priority, and current status. Asana also supports task dependencies, custom task fields, and bulk task importing from spreadsheets. A majority (53%) of Asana users on TrustRadius are from small businesses. Reviewers value Asana’s centralized communication, high information visibility, and flexibility.

“Implementing Asana helped resolve many communication issues we had between teams around needs, user stories, requirements, the intended implementation, and how the details fit together, both large and small.”

– Kirk Brote | Senior Director of Product Experience | Biotechnology Company

[easy-tweet tweet=”Implementing Asana helped resolve many communication issues we had between teams” user=”trustradius” template=”qlite”]

Smartsheet

Smartsheet is a cloud-based project management tool with a spreadsheet-based UI. Project information is stored in spreadsheets. These spreadsheets can be viewed and edited as tables, kanban boards, calendars, and Gantt charts. Spreadsheets can be linked together, allowing a single update to affect multiple sheets. Smartsheet also offers access permission settings, customizable project portals, forms for data collection, rule-based automation, report generation tools, and a filterable changelog. A large portion (45%) of Smartsheet users are from mid-sized companies. Reviewers highlight Smartsheet’s easily navigable spreadsheet UI, customizable dashboards, and data collection capabilities.

“My team manages over 75+ projects with multiple moving parts and I need an easy way to see a snapshot of daily progress on all projects, as well as a dashboard view that includes statuses. Smartsheet does just that…It’s like having all of the up to date, real time info at my fingertips.”

– Megan Gates | General Manager in Marketing | Publishing Company

[easy-tweet tweet=”Smartsheet: It’s like having all of the up to date, real time info at my fingertips” user=”trustradius” template=”qlite”]

Wrike

Wrike is a cloud-based project management tool. Projects can be viewed as kanban boards, spreadsheets, Gantt charts, or calendars. Tasks are organized within folders and can contain subtasks, attachments, dependencies, comments, and custom field data. Wrike includes time tracking, form data collection, project dashboards, live multi-user file editing tools, change tracking, granular analytics, workflow automation, customizable file review systems, and reporting features. A large portion (43%) of Wrike users on TrustRadius are from mid-sized companies. Reviewers value Wrike’s in-app editing and review systems, detailed time-tracking and reporting features, and flexibility for varying user preferences and project types.

“Our content team can upload a document, review/edit it together, then send it off to our design team. When they’ve finished the design process, they can send the graphical files to our web team which can publish the final content… all of this trackable and reportable so it’s always clear where the project sits at any given time.”

– Verified User | Contributor in Marketing | Computer Software Company

[easy-tweet tweet=”Wrike: it’s always clear where the project sits at any given time.” user=”trustradius” template=”qlite”]

JIRA

JIRA is an application lifecycle management (ALM) and project management tool designed for agile development. Projects are stored as collections of issues, which can contain sub-tasks, a time estimate, a priority level, and file attachments. Projects can be viewed as scrum boards, kanban boards, and lists. JIRA offers multiple kinds of agile reporting, including burndown charts, sprint reports, and velocity charts. It also includes customizable workflows and timeline creation tools. Customers can choose to host JIRA in the cloud or on their own servers. A large portion (43%) of JIRA users on TrustRadius are from mid-sized companies. Reviewers enjoy JIRA’s configurable workflow tools, customizable reports, and visibility into project status and personal performance.

“JIRA is the ultimate in project management software… You can write custom reports, you can set up workflows the way you need, and it’s got a nice looking UI to top it off.”

– Richard Rout | Software Developer in IT | Computer Software Company

[easy-tweet tweet=”JIRA is the ultimate in project management software” user=”trustradius” template=”qlite”]

Basecamp

Basecamp is a project management tool that aims to replace individual group chat, calendar, and file management applications with an all-in-one solution. Tasks in Basecamp are organized in to-do lists and can contain comments, assignees, priority levels, and file attachments. Basecamp includes multiple ways for teams to communicate, including group chatrooms, message boards, direct messaging, and scheduled automatic check-in questions. It also offers document management tools, personal dashboards, a calendar view for projects, and project and activity reports. A large portion (45%) of Basecamp users are from small businesses. Customer reviews frequently highlight Basecamp’s upcoming task reminders and streamlining of team-client communication.

“I think that if you are working with teams and clients, Basecamp is ideal to remain effective and organized. It really helps with clear communication, making sure that work gets done and that everything gets recorded so that everyone is aware of what is going on.”

– Laure Helemski | Client Service Lead | Marketing and Advertising Company

[easy-tweet tweet=”Basecamp is ideal to remain effective and organized.” user=”trustradius” template=”qlite”]

Microsoft Project

Microsoft Project is a cloud-based project management tool with a focus on employee and portfolio management. It offers timesheets, staff request tools, workload heatmaps, and analytics tools to understand progress and find issues. Project also offers modeling tools to evaluate project proposals and reporting tools to share progress. Standard task management, project overview, and file-sharing tools help individual team members keep track. A sizable portion (41%) of Project users on TrustRadius are from mid-sized companies. Reviewers often mention that Project’s forecasting and estimate tools help them understand long-term projects and prepare for risks in advance.

“On the projects that I dealt with, Project had a positive impact on the overall business objective, allowing realistic estimates of the duration, personnel, equipment and materials…Project is very well suited for large projects involving numerous personnel, equipment and materials,and expected to take many months or even years to completion.”

– Fred Abraham | Principal and Managing Director | Defense & Space Company

[easy-tweet tweet=”On the projects that I dealt with, Project had a positive impact on the overall business objective” user=”trustradius” template=”qlite”]

Congratulations to the winners of the Top Rated Project Management Software Award!

Top Rated Criteria

Products included in the 2019 Top Rated Project Management Software list must have been in the top tier of their category TrustMap as of February 13th, 2019. To qualify for the Project Management Software Top Rated Award, products must have at least 10 reviews written within the past year, a TRScore of at least 7.5 out of 10, and must receive at least 1.5% of the traffic in their category.  Every reviewer is verified and every review is vetted before publication. Products are plotted on the TrustMap based on end-user data, including users’ likelihood to recommend scores as well as buyer research patterns. To learn more about TrustMaps and Top Rated methodology, check out this page.