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Best Project Management Software as CRMs

Written by Camin McCluskey

Co-Founder & CTO

Edited by Steph Leung

Product & Operations Lead

Updated onApr 17, 2025

Managing projects and customer relationships shouldn't require separate tools. The right solution can handle both, making it easier to track your work, sales pipeline, and client interactions all in one place.

We've tested the top platforms that combine project management with CRM features to see which ones actually deliver. Whether you're handling client onboarding, tracking team performance, or managing your sales process, these tools can simplify your workflow.

Best Project Management tools for different use cases

For integrated project management + CRM workflows :

Monday.com product logo

Monday.com

Stackfix Rating:

7.5 / 10

Monday.com goes well beyond basic project management with surprisingly strong CRM capabilities. It offers dedicated templates for sales pipelines and lead tracking, and integrates with tools like Mailchimp so you can run email campaigns and track engagement directly from your workspace.

The standout is its integration with Monday CRM. It works seamlessly with your existing boards while adding features like email sequencing, contact management, and automation that come close to what standalone CRMs offer. Its automation builder scored 9/10 in our testing and connects with over 70 third-party apps, making it easy to bring your project and customer data into one system.

There are some trade-offs. The interface can feel busy with large projects, and the task hierarchy only supports one level of sub-tasks, which may be limiting for more complex workflows.

Still, for teams that want to manage both projects and customer relationships in a single tool, Monday.com offers real value. Its blend of CRM functionality, automations, and integrations makes it a flexible all-in-one platform that’s easy to scale as your needs grow..

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For collaboration between sales and project teams:

ClickUp product logo

ClickUp

Stackfix Rating:

7.3 / 10

ClickUp stands out as a collaborative platform that brings sales and project teams together in one place. It scored well in our testing for real-time collaboration, thanks to features like interactive whiteboards, built-in chat, and shared workspaces that allow both teams to stay aligned on everything from client updates to project timelines.

What makes ClickUp especially useful for CRM collaboration is how it embeds communication directly into workflows. You can add comments to contact records, co-edit proposals, and use @mentions to streamline handoffs between sales and delivery. Its internal docs system scored 8/10, making it easy to build shared client knowledge bases, and workflow automation helps ensure that nothing falls through the cracks when deals move into delivery.

The trade-off is usability. With so many features packed in, ClickUp has a learning curve — it scored 5/10 for ease of use in our review. But for teams that want to break down silos between customer acquisition and execution, it offers a powerful, unified environment that supports both sides of the funnel.

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For flexible contact & pipeline management :

Notion product logo

Notion

Stackfix Rating:

6.6 / 10

Notion is a great fit for teams that want a flexible, build-it-yourself approach to contact and pipeline management. It scored 9/10 for customizability in our testing, thanks to its database-first design. You can create custom fields, link contacts to deals, and view your pipeline in whatever format works best — board, table, or timeline. You can also embed docs, notes, and files alongside contact records, creating a full client knowledge hub in one place.

Automation is solid too. Notion scored 7/10 in this area, helping streamline repetitive tasks like pipeline updates or reminders. That said, it does come with limitations. Visual reporting is pretty basic, so generating advanced pipeline analytics can be tricky. It also lacks native time tracking and team workload views, which might matter for more operationally complex teams.

But if you care more about flexibility and documentation than rigid CRM structures, Notion gives you the freedom to shape your workflow exactly how you want it. For teams that want to build a contact management system that evolves with them, Notion is a smart, scalable place to start.

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For client-based businesses:

Teamwork product logo

Teamwork

Stackfix Rating:

7.0 / 10

Teamwork is a strong option for client-focused businesses, especially those that need built-in financial tracking. In our testing, its time tracking feature let us set hourly rates and monitor project costs in real time, while native invoicing removed the need for separate billing tools. The dashboards scored 9/10, giving clear visibility into project profitability and making it easy to see which clients drive the most value.

Client collaboration is smooth, too. You can use customizable forms that turn requests into tasks automatically, set up approval workflows, and build automated processes to keep projects moving. Its workflow automation earned an 8/10 and helps reduce admin work across client projects.

There are a few limitations. Teamwork supports only four project view types and lacks a proper timeline view, which can be a drawback for teams that manage deadline-driven work. Document handling is also basic — you can import files, but not create or edit them natively.

Still, for businesses that care about client profitability, seamless delivery, and clear reporting, Teamwork offers a clean, reliable system that covers the essentials without overcomplicating your workflow.

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For data-heavy businesses:

Airtable product logo

Airtable

Stackfix Rating:

7.3 / 10

For data-heavy businesses that need detailed customer relationship tracking, Airtable is a standout. Its database-meets-spreadsheet design is ideal for capturing complex engagement data across multiple touchpoints. In our testing, it scored 8/10 for customizability, making it a great fit for teams managing layered customer journeys.

Airtable gives you full control over your CRM structure, with 25+ field types to track everything from website visits to product usage metrics. You can switch between grid, kanban, timeline, and calendar views, while relational databases let you link customer profiles with interaction history, support tickets, or product feedback. The flexibility lets you build a system that mirrors how your business actually works.

You can also set up workflow automations that trigger actions based on behavior, like follow-ups or alerts, and build dashboards that visualise engagement patterns across your product or service.

There are a few trade-offs. Airtable lacks some real-time collaboration features, and it scored 6/10 for ease of use due to its moderate learning curve. But if your team values control, flexibility, and a data-rich view of every customer, Airtable is one of the most powerful tools you can use to track what matters.

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CM

Meet your expert: Camin McCluskey

Stackfix Co-Founder & CTO

Having worked as a software engineer and CTO in enterprise and startup environments, I've been on both sides of the software buying journey. I'm excited to help you find the right software for your business, as well as supporting our partners to communicate what makes their software unique.

Monday.com logo

Monday.com

ClickUp logo

ClickUp

Notion logo

Notion

Teamwork logo

Teamwork

Airtable logo

Airtable

Our rating
Functionality
7

Functionality

7/10

<p>Monday.com offers almost all the functionality most companies need to manage tasks and projects effectively. It has rich functionality natively such as robust automation, customizable forms, time-tracking, analytics, and even invoice creation. This allows teams to streamline their workflows and enhance productivity without relying heavily on external integrations.</p><p>However, it's missing the advanced customizability and automation that larger teams require to manage complex task and project relationships e.g. creating multiple layers of subtasks, meaningful project portfolio management functionality and sophisticated workflows with branches.</p>
9

Functionality

9/10

<p>ClickUp offers a very broad range of functionalities to handle pretty much everything most companies need.. These include workflow views, portfolio management and company goal setting —all in one platform.</p><p>ClickUp also include those functionalities required only by very large companies. Most notable amongst these are: AI feature which help to create documents and fill out templates, an exceptionally large range of templates to choose from when creating documents, multiple layers of subtasks and real-time collaborative workspaces like whiteboards.</p>
6

Functionality

6/10

<p>Notion offers almost all of the functionality most companies will need. It Offers best-in-class inbuilt documentation, and added a lot of AI features in the past year that allows you to query your entire Notion workspace. It has also been rolling out many new features e.g. Notion calendar, forms, and Notion mail (coming soon).</p><p>That said, it’s still missing some features larger teams with many active projects might require, like advanced analytics, robust workflow automation, and time tracking. There’s room for improvement, but it’s evolving fast.</p>
6

Functionality

6/10

<p>Teamwork offer most functionalities that SMBs will require but lacks some more sophistic customisation features useful to larger businesses.</p><p><span style="background-color: rgba(245, 245, 245, 0.5); color: rgb(55, 65, 81);">Teamwork has rich functionality natively. Most notably, strong automation, customizable forms, time-tracking (with approval capabilities), excellent reporting and analytics, and even invoice creation. These features mean teams do not have to reply much on external integrations to reduce friction and enhance productivity.</span></p><p><br></p><p>However, some key features are missing. Chief amongst these are the lack of document creation features and missing project view options. Documents can only be imported for your device - so no customisation and no document templates. All of this work must be done externally, which is particularly painful when it comes to editing documents and sending them back to others. Only 4 project views are available - a timeline view would be useful to view task deadlines concurrently.</p>
7

Functionality

7/10

<p>Airtable offers most of the functionality that companies will need but lacks a few useful features. Users will benefit from strong workflow automations, dependencies, the ability to link tasks, projects, key metrics and company goals, forms which auto populate spreadsheets with responses and more. However, Airtable lacks in-real-time collaboration, the ability to create internal documents and some strong time-tracking features.</p>
Ease of Use
7

Ease of Use

7/10

<p>Monday.com offers a generally user-friendly experience, with an abundance of templates and smooth onboarding that lowers the barrier of entry for non-technical, new users.</p><p>However, when delving into more advanced features, the platform's ease of use starts to wane. There's foreign terminology such as adding a "Problem Framing" quickies block to your docs, or enabling "battery view" for your board. The interface can also become cluttered as you use projects scale and more features are utilised.</p><p>For the average SMB employee, it might take 1-2 days with minimal guidance to become comfortable with the platform.</p>
5

Ease of Use

5/10

<p>ClickUp is a powerful tool, and its high level of customizability can sometimes feel a bit much—especially for tasks that should be quick and straightforward. On average, we’d estimate it takes a startup employee 1-2 days (plus a little guidance) to get comfortable with all the key features.</p><p>To its credit, ClickUp minimizes the number of clicks needed to access most features. But there’s still room for improvement. Some processes—like creating an invoice—aren’t as intuitive as they could be, which can slow things down unnecessarily.</p>
6

Ease of Use

6/10

<p>For those new to Notion, its blank canvas, endless customization options, and sheer number of templates can feel a bit overwhelming at first. Setting up a project management system from scratch might take a few days to figure out—but once you get past that initial learning curve, Notion becomes incredibly intuitive and user-friendly.</p><p>Creating new projects, documents, and tasks is lightning-fast, and there are quick keyboard shortcuts for almost everything, from adding new blocks to navigating between pages. Once you’re up to speed, Notion feels like second nature.</p>
7

Ease of Use

7/10

<p>Teamwork is generally easy to use. Some more complex features (e.g. creating an invoice) are harder to find but these are minimal and the demo videos and self service materials are supplement your learning very well.</p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">We estimate that an average start-up employee would require around 1 day and some guidance to proficiently use all key features of the product. </span></p><p><br></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">It is easy to locate key info and processes are generally intuitive (especially given that so much of the UI works with drag and drop). Some views and features are often hidden in 'more' tabs which could be displayed more effectively. e.g. The Gantt view of task management.</span></p>
6

Ease of Use

6/10

<p>Airtable is generally easy to use. We estimate that an average start-up employee would require around half a day and some guidance to proficiently use all key functionalities of the platform. The notable exceptions to this are the extensions required to make custom reports and creating subtask in table view.</p><p><br></p><p>Airtables key processes are easy to find and do not require many clicks to reach. Some more complex processes like customizing the UI itself can be more hidden.</p>
Look and feel
7

Look and feel

7/10

<p>Monday.com emphasizes visual management with bright, engaging colours and customisable icons. While this visual approach makes it easy to understand project statuses at a glance, it could also quickly get cluttered and busy, Page loads are quick (1-2 seconds).</p>
6

Look and feel

6/10

<p>ClickUp has a well structured UI architecture and is visually acceptable.</p><p>Loading times are fast at roughly 1 second per page.</p>
7

Look and feel

7/10

<p>Out of the box - Notion has a clean, modern, uncluttered interface. But you have the power to completely customise the look and feel of Notion to make it look visually stunning.</p><p>The main drawback is that Notion suffers from slow load times, especially as your workspace grows. Pages can take 3–4 seconds to load, especially if you have a lot of data and files stored&nbsp;in Notion.&nbsp;It’s something to keep in mind if you plan on using Notion as your all-in-one company operating system, or as your usage scales.</p>
6

Look and feel

6/10

<p>Teamwork is visually acceptable and geared more towards functionality. The lack of colour makes the UI plain and feel monotone.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p>The loading times are generally fast (~1 second), however some functions (like generating dashboards take slightly longer (~2.5 seconds).</p>
8

Look and feel

8/10

<p>Airtable has a more customizable UI than most. You can alter colour and some layout features vai their interface designer. However, inevitably, UIs will not differ so much from one user to the next. They could all still have more sleep designs and more colour.</p><p><br></p><p>Loading times are fast (1 second per page).</p>
Customisability
8

Customisability

8/10

<p>As an all-in-one tool, Monday.com offers a high level of customizability suitable for most teams, allowing you to tailor boards with custom columns, statuses, and automation without needing to code. Individual cards can be anything from tasks, projects to deals, employees and client. However, it doesn't match the advanced customization capabilities of tools like JIRA —such as creating multiple layers of subtasks or defining complex task relationships—which may limit larger teams managing complex projects.</p>
9

Customisability

9/10

<p>ClickUp is impressively—sometimes overwhelmingly—customizable.</p><p>You’ve got 15 task views to choose from (like board, list, map, and more), the ability to create custom tasks, and access to hundreds of templates tailored to specific teams and tasks. When it comes to workflow automation, ClickUp takes it up a notch. With branching and conditional logic, you can automate almost anything, from internal actions to exporting key data to tools like GitHub, HubSpot, and beyond.</p>
9

Customisability

9/10

<p>Notion gives you endless customization options to shape it exactly how you want.</p><p>You can mix and match blocks—pages, databases, calendars, and project views—and even connect them with third-party tools to create a setup that fits your workflow, system, or use case perfectly. You’re in control of everything: how tasks and projects are organized, the structure of your internal docs and wikis, the platform’s overall look and feel, and even the layout of individual pages.</p><p>That said, Notion isn’t without its limits. It falls short on advanced reporting features and can’t handle workflows that require complex automation, like branching or conditional logic.</p>
6

Customisability

6/10

<p>Where Teamwork offers customisation, it is generally strong. However, it lacks some key customisations useful to businesses of all sizes.</p><p>Teamwork offers great workflow automation customisations. 'If then' logic and a large range of trigger and action functions mean that a vast array of automations are available to increase your team's efficiency. Custom reporting is also very strong with filtering options by custom tag allowing for very specific insights to be gained.</p><p><br></p><p>However, the lack of document customisation (as you cannot create documents) and only having for 4 task management views available will increase the friction and time spent on bureaucratic tasks like formatting documents or prioritizing between tasks.</p>
8

Customisability

8/10

<p>Airtable has strong customizability. Automations integrate with third parties and offer a decent selection of action/ trigger functions, as well as, conditional logic. Highly customizable forms also allow for conditional logic, many answer types and cosmetic customizations like banners, logos and colours. Out-of-the-box reporting extensions also allow for customizable reports.</p>
Ease of Setup
9

Ease of Setup

9/10

<p>Offers a self-serve free trial and allows purchase without needing to talk to sales. Getting started and setting up a few tasks and subtasks should take 20-30 minutes, because it has a very rich library of templates. Full setup should take less than a day.</p>
7

Ease of Setup

7/10

<p>ClickUp makes it easy to dive right in with a self-serve free trial and the option to buy without ever talking to sales—no awkward calls, just action. You can get started and set up a few tasks and subtasks in just 20-30 minutes, thanks to its extensive library of templates. That said, a full setup might take a few days, especially if you’re customizing it to suit your team’s unique needs.</p>
7

Ease of Setup

7/10

<p>Notion offers a self-serve free trial and lets you purchase without needing to talk to sales. Getting started and setting up a few tasks and subtasks should take 20-30 minutes, helped by very extensive library of templates. A full setup shouldn’t take more than a day or two, even for more complex use cases.</p>
9

Ease of Setup

9/10

<p>Offers a self-serve free trial and allows purchase without needing to talk to sales. Getting started and setting up a few tasks and subtasks should take 20-30 minutes, because it has a very rich library of templates, especially for marketing. Full setup should take less than a day.</p>
8

Ease of Setup

8/10

<p>Offers a self-serve free trial and allows purchase without needing to talk to sales. Getting started and setting up a few tasks and subtasks should take 20-30 minutes, because it has a very rich library of templates. Full setup should take less than a day.</p>
Customer Support
7

Customer Support

7/10

<p>Monday.com offers personalised live chat within the platform. When contacted, it was extremely quick to connect with an agent who was decently helpful - although there still seems to be a tendency to send us Help Centre articles. Self-help resources on their Help Centre are high-quality and extensive.</p>
8

Customer Support

8/10

<p>ClickUp offers in-app live chat with both an AI assistant and, if needed, a human agent to help sort out any issues. Response times are quick—usually under an hour.</p><p>On top of that, ClickUp has an impressive collection of self-serve resources that cover just about every functionality and how to use them. They also host webinars and have a solid selection of YouTube videos to help you learn best practices and make the most of the platform.</p>
5

Customer Support

5/10

<p>Notion's support team can only be contacted via email, and this option is very hidden away on their site. From our experience, responses take about a full business day—not the fastest—but the agents are friendly and genuinely helpful. On the bright side, Notion’s help center is top-notch, with detailed, high-quality documentation that can often solve your questions without needing to wait for support.</p>
8

Customer Support

8/10

<p>Personalised Q&amp;A is available over email only. But agents are helpful and reply fast (&lt;2 hours).</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p>Excellent self-serve materials with strong depth and quality. Their demo videos and help section (available in app and online) are excellent if you trouble using or finding any key or advanced workflows.</p>
7

Customer Support

7/10

<p>An in-app chatbot is useful for filtering through self-serve material, but if you want to talk to a real human you need to do this via email (not that forms can be submitted via email) and agents will reply within 48 hours - but usually in less than 12 hours.</p><p><br></p><p>Airtable's self-serve materials are excellent. Articles, videos and seminars all have excellent depth and quality. These can all be access in app.</p>
Integratability
9

Integratability

9/10

<p>Monday.com has a vibrant app marketplace with hundreds of plugins and integrations with the most relevant third party apps (e.g. CRM, marketing, developer tools etc). Its standout feature is its pre-built automation templates with most of these apps, which can be added with one-click. It also has an API for custom integrations.</p>
9

Integratability

9/10

<p>ClickUp offers three levels of integrations to keep your workflows connected and seamless.</p><p>First, there are native integrations, including essentials like Slack, email, SSO, and GitHub.</p><p>Second, automatic imports make it easy to bring in data from tools like Monday.com and Jira.</p><p>Finally, there’s a range of other integrations, covering everything from Grammarly and Salesforce to Evernote.</p><p>A nice feature worth knowing about here is connected search in Slack, OneDrive, and SharePoint. Search through all of them simultaneously!</p>
6

Integratability

6/10

<p>Notion offers 110 integrations with a decent range of third-party tools, covering areas like automation, analytics, and collaboration. However, it’s missing some key integrations in commonly needed categories—there’s no native support for customer support tools, calendars, or email platforms.</p><p>That said, Notion does provide an API, so you can build custom integrations if you have specific needs.</p>
8

Integratability

8/10

<p>Teamwork's integrations are not exhaustive but still cover most integrations any SMB will need. These include some automation integrations through slack, Hubspot and others. Here you can set up automatic messages within these integrated software once and trigger has been completed within Teamwork.</p><p><br></p><p>Teamwork also has an API allowing teams to built their own custom integrations.</p>
8

Integratability

8/10

<p>Airtable only offers 36 native integrations which pails in comparison to other project management software - like Clickup or Asana. However, most of the big names are covered - like Jira, Github, Slack etc. Some integrations also include automations - e,g. sending messages in slack or creating a weekly digest in google documents.</p><p><br></p><p>Airtable also offer an API allowing users to build integrations where necessary.</p>
Ease of Migration
8

Ease of Migration

8/10

<p>While you can self-serve export data to formats like Excel, not all information—such as activity logs or certain file attachments—transfers seamlessly. Like other PM tools, custom fields and complex workflows might require manual rebuilding in the new platform, and these limitations can complicate migration efforts for teams with intricate setups.&nbsp;</p>
8

Ease of Migration

8/10

<p>ClickUp makes it easy to export your data with self-serve options for Excel or CSV files. From a list or table view, you can export task data and customize details like whether to include subtasks, choose your preferred date format, and even show “time in status” (how long a task has spent in progress).</p><p>You can also export dashboard cards—those handy visuals that report on your team’s metrics and data. These can be exported in multiple formats, including PDF, PNG, JPEG, SVG, and CSV, giving you flexibility depending on how you want to use them.</p>
8

Ease of Migration

8/10

<p>Notion makes exporting easy with a self-serve option—there’s an export button on every page, so you can quickly grab what you need. For more advanced needs, you can also export data using their API.</p>
8

Ease of Migration

8/10

<p>Teamwork offers a large number of pre-built and custom reports which are all available for exporting mostly to pdf or CSV files. The number of reports available is extensive and the level of granularity retained when exporting is also impressive. This is in part due to Teamwork's excellent reporting of budgeting and profitability. Data visualisation tools (e.g. bar graphs and pie charts) can also all be exported.</p><p><br></p><p>Migrating to and from Teamwork from other project management tools is not possible.</p>
8

Ease of Migration

8/10

<p>Exports of key and custom data and reports are available self-serve via a CSV file.</p>

Best for integrated project management + CRM workflows

Monday.com product logo
Monday.com

Stackfix Rating:

7.5 / 10

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Starting at

$0

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Updated onApr 17, 2025

Monday.com goes well beyond basic project management with surprisingly strong CRM capabilities. It offers dedicated templates for sales pipelines and lead tracking, and integrates with tools like Mailchimp so you can run email campaigns and track engagement directly from your workspace.

The standout is its integration with Monday CRM. It works seamlessly with your existing boards while adding features like email sequencing, contact management, and automation that come close to what standalone CRMs offer. Its automation builder scored 9/10 in our testing and connects with over 70 third-party apps, making it easy to bring your project and customer data into one system.

There are some trade-offs. The interface can feel busy with large projects, and the task hierarchy only supports one level of sub-tasks, which may be limiting for more complex workflows.

Still, for teams that want to manage both projects and customer relationships in a single tool, Monday.com offers real value. Its blend of CRM functionality, automations, and integrations makes it a flexible all-in-one platform that’s easy to scale as your needs grow..

Want to know more? Get a full breakdown of Monday.com's features and pricing.

Pros

  • Powerful but intuitive workflow automation

  • Comprehensive integratability

  • Granular reporting and visualization

  • Exceptional workload visualization

  • Extensive templates that reduce setup time

Cons

  • Limited portfolio management

  • Lacks advanced task management features

Compare all Project Management toolsRead the full review

Best for collaboration between sales and project teams

ClickUp product logo
ClickUp

Stackfix Rating:

7.3 / 10

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Updated onApr 17, 2025

ClickUp stands out as a collaborative platform that brings sales and project teams together in one place. It scored well in our testing for real-time collaboration, thanks to features like interactive whiteboards, built-in chat, and shared workspaces that allow both teams to stay aligned on everything from client updates to project timelines.

What makes ClickUp especially useful for CRM collaboration is how it embeds communication directly into workflows. You can add comments to contact records, co-edit proposals, and use @mentions to streamline handoffs between sales and delivery. Its internal docs system scored 8/10, making it easy to build shared client knowledge bases, and workflow automation helps ensure that nothing falls through the cracks when deals move into delivery.

The trade-off is usability. With so many features packed in, ClickUp has a learning curve — it scored 5/10 for ease of use in our review. But for teams that want to break down silos between customer acquisition and execution, it offers a powerful, unified environment that supports both sides of the funnel.

Want to know more? Get a full breakdown of ClickUp's features and pricing.

Pros

  • Robust collaboration and communication features

  • Powerful workflow automation capabilities

  • Comprehensive project visualization options

  • Advanced reporting and dashboard functionality

  • Robust task management and prioritization

  • Rich functionality at low cost

Cons

  • Customisability can be overwhelming

  • Unintuitive Interface Elements

  • Basic Visual Design

Compare all Project Management toolsRead the full review

Best for flexible contact & pipeline management

Notion product logo
Notion

Stackfix Rating:

6.6 / 10

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Updated onApr 17, 2025

Notion is a great fit for teams that want a flexible, build-it-yourself approach to contact and pipeline management. It scored 9/10 for customizability in our testing, thanks to its database-first design. You can create custom fields, link contacts to deals, and view your pipeline in whatever format works best — board, table, or timeline. You can also embed docs, notes, and files alongside contact records, creating a full client knowledge hub in one place.

Automation is solid too. Notion scored 7/10 in this area, helping streamline repetitive tasks like pipeline updates or reminders. That said, it does come with limitations. Visual reporting is pretty basic, so generating advanced pipeline analytics can be tricky. It also lacks native time tracking and team workload views, which might matter for more operationally complex teams.

But if you care more about flexibility and documentation than rigid CRM structures, Notion gives you the freedom to shape your workflow exactly how you want it. For teams that want to build a contact management system that evolves with them, Notion is a smart, scalable place to start.

Want to know more? Get a full breakdown of Notion's features and pricing.

Pros

  • Powerful abstractions and relationships between project items

  • Blank canvas to build your own system

  • Flexible task management

  • Best-in-class document management

Cons

  • Lacks Some Traditional Project Management Features

  • Slow Page Loads with Large Databases

  • Poor Customer Support

  • Severely Limited Analytics & Reporting

Compare all Project Management toolsRead the full review

Best for client-based businesses

Teamwork product logo
Teamwork

Stackfix Rating:

7.0 / 10

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Starting at

$13.99

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Updated onApr 17, 2025

Teamwork is a strong option for client-focused businesses, especially those that need built-in financial tracking. In our testing, its time tracking feature let us set hourly rates and monitor project costs in real time, while native invoicing removed the need for separate billing tools. The dashboards scored 9/10, giving clear visibility into project profitability and making it easy to see which clients drive the most value.

Client collaboration is smooth, too. You can use customizable forms that turn requests into tasks automatically, set up approval workflows, and build automated processes to keep projects moving. Its workflow automation earned an 8/10 and helps reduce admin work across client projects.

There are a few limitations. Teamwork supports only four project view types and lacks a proper timeline view, which can be a drawback for teams that manage deadline-driven work. Document handling is also basic — you can import files, but not create or edit them natively.

Still, for businesses that care about client profitability, seamless delivery, and clear reporting, Teamwork offers a clean, reliable system that covers the essentials without overcomplicating your workflow.

Want to know more? Get a full breakdown of Teamwork's features and pricing.

Pros

  • Excellent Customer Support

  • Exceptional reporting and analytics capabilities

  • Powerful but Intuitive Workflow Automation

  • Robust integration ecosystem

Cons

  • Limited Internal Docs Functionality

  • Basic Task Management Features

  • Limited Project Views

Compare all Project Management toolsRead the full review

Best for data-heavy businesses

Airtable product logo
Airtable

Stackfix Rating:

7.3 / 10

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Updated onApr 17, 2025

For data-heavy businesses that need detailed customer relationship tracking, Airtable is a standout. Its database-meets-spreadsheet design is ideal for capturing complex engagement data across multiple touchpoints. In our testing, it scored 8/10 for customizability, making it a great fit for teams managing layered customer journeys.

Airtable gives you full control over your CRM structure, with 25+ field types to track everything from website visits to product usage metrics. You can switch between grid, kanban, timeline, and calendar views, while relational databases let you link customer profiles with interaction history, support tickets, or product feedback. The flexibility lets you build a system that mirrors how your business actually works.

You can also set up workflow automations that trigger actions based on behavior, like follow-ups or alerts, and build dashboards that visualise engagement patterns across your product or service.

There are a few trade-offs. Airtable lacks some real-time collaboration features, and it scored 6/10 for ease of use due to its moderate learning curve. But if your team values control, flexibility, and a data-rich view of every customer, Airtable is one of the most powerful tools you can use to track what matters.

Want to know more? Get a full breakdown of Airtable's features and pricing.

Pros

  • Exceptional Project Portfolio Management

  • Powerful Workflow Automation

  • Highly Customizable

  • Strong Integration Capabilities

Cons

  • Cumbersome Subtask Management

  • No Internal Documentation Capabilities

  • Absence of Time Tracking

  • No Task Creation from Forms

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How we test products

With so many Project Management tools on the market, we focus on identifying the best options for small and midsize businesses. Our evaluation process reflects real-world usage, prioritizing functionality, ease of use, and overall value. Here’s how we do it:

Functionality

Project Management software should help teams stay organized, track progress, and collaborate efficiently. We start by identifying key use cases—task management, workflow automation, resource allocation, reporting, and team collaboration—then test how well each platform supports these needs. Tools that provide essential features without unnecessary complexity score highest.

User Experience & Onboarding

A great Project Management tool should be easy to adopt and navigate. We test each platform’s interface by accessing core features without prior training and track onboarding time—from account setup to managing the first project. Platforms that require extensive setup or technical expertise lose points.

Collaboration & Workflow Automation

Effective project management requires seamless collaboration. We evaluate built-in communication tools, task dependencies, automation workflows, and team notifications. Platforms that reduce manual effort and improve team efficiency score highest.

Integrations & Compatibility

Project Management software must integrate smoothly with other business tools, such as CRMs, file storage solutions, and communication platforms. We test how well each product connects with essential business systems and assess whether native integrations or third-party connectors are required.

Pricing & Value

We compare pricing across competitors, analyzing what each plan includes and whether critical features are locked behind paywalls. Hidden costs—such as per-user fees, premium automation features, or required enterprise plans—are factored into our assessment. Platforms that offer strong core functionality at a fair price score highest.

Stackfix’s Fit Score

All of these factors contribute to Stackfix’s Fit Score, a proprietary ranking system that measures how well each Project Management tool aligns with a buyer’s needs. It combines two key elements:

  • Requirements Met – How many buyer requirements the software fulfills
  • Stackfix Rating – Our expert assessment of the software’s overall quality, usability, and value

The result? A clear, data-driven recommendation that helps businesses choose the right Project Management software—without hours of trial and error.

FAQs

What is a Project Management tool?

A project management tool is a software application that helps teams plan, organize, and track their work. It’s a centralised hub where everyone can collaborate, manage tasks, and keep projects moving smoothly. The key features of a Project Management tool usually include:

  • Task Management: Create, assign, and track tasks to ensure everyone knows what needs to be done and by when. This helps keep projects on schedule and ensures accountability.
  • Project Planning: Use calendars, timelines, or Gantt charts to map out milestones and deadlines. Visual planning helps organize tasks and spot potential delays early.

What should I consider when buying Project Management software?

Choosing the right Project Management software can make or break your team’s productivity and collaboration—so it’s essential to find one that fits your workflow, integrates with your existing tools, and aligns with your budget. Here are the key factors to consider before making your decision.

  1. Your requirements. It's important to first define what you need the project management tool to accomplish. Consider the types of projects you want to track – whether you need to manage all projects across the company, including departments like HR and sales, or focus on specific types of projects. This decision will directly influence the features and level of customization you require.
  2. Ease of use. Look for an interface that your team will actually like and use. A cluttered or overly complex interface can overwhelm less experienced teams, meaning all those fancy features go to waste. That’s why Stackfix gives every project management tool an ‘Ease of Use’ rating, so you can quickly see which ones are intuitive and user-friendly. Click into each product above to find the right fit for your team.
  3. Workflows and integrations.Take stock of your current workflows and the tools you use. You may want to connect the project management tool with your existing tools such as Google Calendar for time blocking, customer support platforms, design and engineering tools, and Slack for updates
  4. Cost. Many project management tools offer seductive free plans, but it's essential to check if the free plan includes the features you need. Additionally, consider how pricing scales as your team grows to avoid unexpected expenses down the line. Factor in setup costs and feature limitations to ensure the tool remains cost-effective as your usage increases.
  5. Customer support. This is one of those things you don’t think about—until you really need it. If something goes wrong during setup or day-to-day use, will the vendor be there to help? Look at response times, availability (24/7 or just business hours?), and self-serve resources like help centers or community forums. To make this easier, Stackfix rates every project management tool on customer support. Click into each product above to see how they stack up.


What are the common mistakes to avoid when buying Project Management software?

Avoiding common pitfalls when choosing Project Management software can save you time, money, and workflow frustrations. Here are some of the biggest mistakes startups make—and how to avoid them.

  1. Falling into the “all-in-one” trap: A lot of project management tools boast about being all-in-one solutions, but this often means they can be bloated and clunky. Depending on your specific needs, a more streamlined and focused tool might allow your team to move faster and use only the features that truly matter for your projects.
  2. Buying based on vendor popularity: The project management space is flooded with big names dominating through big marketing budgets (looking at you, ClickUp and Monday.com) While these popular tools are generally solid choices, ensure they’re the best fit for your use case, and has the features that you need.
  3. Over-optimizing for scalability: Sounds counterintuitive, right? But trying to pick a tool that can handle every possible future need can actually make things more complicated. Most* project management tools offer solid migration options and integrations, making it easy to switch if your needs change. Plus, unlike sales systems where migrating all client data is crucial, you usually don’t need to transfer every completed task or project. Instead of choosing a PM with a massive feature list you might never use, go for one that fits your current growth stage. A streamlined solution with the features you need now keeps things simple and efficient, and you can always upgrade as your team and projects expand.

How much does Project Management Software typically cost?

Several providers (like Asana, ClickUp, Notion, and Jira) offer free plans with core functionality, though these typically restrict user limits, advanced views, and automation capabilities.

For enterprise plans and above, you can expect to speak to sales for a bespoke price. These custom quotes typically factor in integration requirements, security needs, and advanced reporting capabilities. To skip the demo calls, be sure to check out our pricing calculator.

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