The best project management software for small businesses

Project management software can help you with the planning and scheduling of projects, helping you estimate timescales and produce a realistic plan that you can confidently deliver on time

Software can help small business owners and managers manage the busy day-to-day demands of running the business. Popular functions - such as goal setting and tracking, note pads and file sharing - can help you create task lists, track progress and spot bottlenecks before they occur.

Here's our guide to the best small business project management software in the UK.

**Note Prices/fees correct on 31/03/2025 (special offers may apply)

Do you need project management software? 

You could be developing a product, revamping your website or running a marketing campaign. Whatever the nature of your project, good business project management can help ensure it runs smoothly. 

However, traditional dedicated project management packages take real effort to learn. Many offer capabilities far in excess of what's needed for straightforward projects. 

For example, a project to run a direct mail campaign to your customers might be a simple undertaking. With only a few key tasks, it wouldn't require project management software. 

However, taking a whole new product to market might involve hundreds of inter-dependent tasks performed by lots of people, over a longer time period. Project management software would probably be useful for this project. 

Project management software is typically web-based, enabling projects to be managed regardless of location, and team members to communicate far more easily. Designed to be used by everyone on a team (rather than just the project manager), such platforms are usually charged by the month and can be very cost-effective - particularly if you need to manage a one-off project. 

Why use project management software? 

Project management software comes into its own when you need to plan one or more projects involving several people. Most packages allow you to input tasks, create dependencies between them and build a plan to get the project finished. 

Additionally, project management tools can demonstrate what could happen in different circumstances. 

Once you've added the tasks that make up your project, you can rearrange them or change dates to see how that affects the project overall. 

For instance, what would happen to your launch date if your web designer provided the designs for your new website a week late? Project management apps can also improve how a team of people is organised and how they work together. It makes it easier to keep track of objectives. If things aren't going to plan, you can input new details for the affected parts of the project and the overall timelines will update automatically. 

Most project management tools will also produce Gantt charts, giving you a simple, visual representation of what needs doing to bring a project to its conclusion. It’s important you understand the limitations of project management tools. While they can help you plan and schedule projects, they can’t define processes for you, nor manage the people involved.

Find out more about these popular project management software packages:

• monday.com
• HubSpot
• Wrike
• ClickUp
• Smartsheet
• Asana
• teamwork
• Microsoft Planner
• Trello
• Airtable
• Jira Project Management
• Toggl

Top project management software

monday.com

A simple, visual and customisable project management and planning tool that lets you manage all your team's work in one place. Get started quickly and easily see what everyone in your team is working on and manage to-do lists, tasks, and projects across your business. Pricing and features hit the sweet spot for smaller teams, but larger businesses with more complex project management requirements may want to look elsewhere. 

Pricing:

• 14-day free trial.
• Free, basic plan for small teams (up to two members)
• Paid plans start at £8 per user per month.

HubSpot

HubSpot offers a range of integrated tools for managing sales, customer service, content and commerce that makes managing marketing and sales much simpler with one single platform. Spend less time planning and more time marketing with this free online tool that brings together your teams, tools and data. 

Pricing:

• Free package for up to two seats.
• The marketing hub starter costs £14 per user per month.

Wrike

Wrike allows you to visualise project progress, share files, and manage resources, all in one place. Wrike's project management software helps you avoid delays, collaborate across teams, and seamlessly execute your projects. The free version offers extensive task management functionality making it easy to spot and fix scheduling issues and workload imbalances, preventing burnout and promoting a healthier worklife balance. However, reporting can be complicated and the range of features can make it overwhelming. A powerful alternative to Microsoft Project, Wrike is will most likely appeal to larger businesses. 

Pricing:

• Free package for start-ups. 
• The Quick Start package for small teams start at $10 per user per month.

ClickUp

Whether you like seeing your data in boards, charts, or lists, ClickUp has the view for you. Empowering small businesses with low costs, strong customer support, and a forward-thinking approach, it's project management done right. This classy, collaborative project management tool saves you time and energy with ready-made templates, while helping your business scale. 

Pricing:

• There's a free forever package for personal use. 
• Paid plans for teams start at $7 per user per month.

Smartsheet

Smartsheet is an award-winning project management software package that can integrate with a host of enterprise systems and apps. Smartsheet brings your people and processes together, delivering real-time insights that allow you to deliver successful outcomes, faster. Smartsheet will appeal to spreadsheet enthusiasts, while it also offers powerful features that allow you to create a platform for running your business. Visualise your projects with Gantt charts and automate routine, manual tasks, leaving your people free to focus on the work that matters. Smartsheet might be too sophisticated for many smaller businesses. 

Pricing:

• Free trial. 
• Paid packages start at £7 per user per month.

Asana

The free plan from Asana (which is limited to 10 users) can be a good entry-level introduction to project management software, especially if you don’t need fully-featured project management capabilities. Asana is a solid collaboration and task management tool that is ideal for remote teams. 

Pricing:

• Free plan for up to ten users.
• Paid plans start at £9.49 per user per month.

teamwork

teamwork offers all the project management essentials you need. teamwork is easy-to-use, flexible, and feature-rich. It also integrates with a host of tools including Slack, HubSpot and Zapier. Individuals and small teams (up to five people) can use the software for free, but the functionality may be too limited for some. There are also paid-for options for businesses managing more complex projects or with larger teams. 

Pricing:

• Free trial. 
• Paid plans start from £10.99 per user per month for a minimum of three users (billed annually).

Microsoft Planner (formerly Microsoft Project)

Integration with the Microsoft 365 family of software - including Microsoft Teams for collaboration and Microsoft 365, OneDrive and SharePoint software - and powerful features make this a market leader. The low-cost entry level package will be sufficient for many smaller businesses, but it’s not the simplest option for smaller businesses and you may need to invest in training to get started and make the most of the software. 

Pricing:

• A basic version of Microsoft Planner is included in Microsoft 365 but if you want more advanced features you will need a paid plan. 
• Paid plans start from £7.70 per user per month.

Trello

Trello aims to make project management fun and flexible, by organising projects into the boards, lists and cards. It’s a simple and intuitive system that offers a great deal of control and visibility for business owners making it an easy to use tool for organising tasks within a team. Trello does lack the full project management capabilities of more powerful competitors, although the paid plan allows added integrations to deliver more powerful collaboration functionality.

Pricing:

• Free for individuals and small teams.
• Paid plans start at just $5 per user per month.

Airtable

AI-powered Airtable could help you embed AI into your workflows to perform recurring actions. It's quick to get started and is easy to learn with its bold visual design and useful visualisation tools to help track progress. It's a strong contender for those looking for a solution that enables collaboration, particularly for marketing projects. The free package offers reasonable core functionality but it lacks full project management planning and reporting functionality that a bigger team might need.

Pricing:

• Free plan for small teams (up to five editors).
• Free trial.
• Paid plans start at $20 per user per month.

Jira project management

If you need a more comprehensive and traditional project management solution, Jira is a workflow-based system that allows you to visualise your project – from creation to delivery. It’s backed up by some serious processing power, with customisable dashboards and performance management metrics. 

Pricing:

• Free forever plan for up to ten users.
• More advanced paid plans starting at $7.53 per user per month.

Toggl

Keep track of the time spent – and resource invested – in your projects. Toggl can be synced across devices, giving you a breakdown of time spent on projects and for customers. It’s particularly useful at crunching the numbers on complex projects, giving you a realistic time estimate for budgeting or billing.

Pricing:

• Free plan for up to five users. 
• Paid plans start at $10 per user per month.