10 Free Project Management Software for Small Teams

actiTIME
actiRESULTS
5 min readJul 24, 2018

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Photo by Zan on Unsplash

For startups and small businesses, it’s crucial to commence utilizing special project management tools early on to avoid mistakes and achieve better results. The problem is that the majority of such software products are barely affordable for a new business.

Nevertheless, there are still some free high-quality tools that can help you start working on your projects effectively! Read on to find out more about them.

1. actiTIME

actiTIME is a simple and intuitive timesheet app with rich project management functionality. It allows managers to plan projects, create tasks, distribute workloads among employees, keep an eye on their progress and quickly detect any problem areas in team performance.

Online timesheet interface in actiTIME where every user can select task parameters
they want to see in their timesheets

In addition, actiTIME’s robust reporting system provides valuable insights into team productivity, time use behaviors, as well as project costs and revenues. In this way, it helps project managers clearly see whether everything goes as planned and identify any risks of schedule and budget overruns promptly.

The tool is available as both a cloud solution and a self-hosted package and is highly affordable. Moreover, teams of up three users can implement the basic version of actiTIME for free, which makes it a great starting option for smaller organizations.

2. Nifty

Nifty is a cloud-based SaaS tool with extensive functionality for successful project management: supports communication, task management and workload planning. The tool has an intuitive UI, which makes it easy to handle. Besides, to help you enjoy a smoother project management workflow, Nifty supports integration with a variety of other helpful apps, such as Google Suite, Slack and Zoom.

In Nifty, you can easily create project milestones, portfolios, and task dependencies to bring your team’s work to another level. Pro and Business plans include even more features! Among them, there are time tracking, budget tracking and comprehensive reports.

3. GanttProject

This app allows users to organize their work structure and manage projects in an easy and visual way. By using GanttProject, you may create tasks and work breakdowns in a hierarchical tree. The tool enables you to set deadlines, priorities and milestones, and create dependency constraints between different pieces of work. Besides, you can assign tasks to responsible team members and monitor their workloads with the help of the resource chart feature.

GanttProject lets users export data in multiple formats and supports Windows, OSX and Linux. Also, the tool is available at no charge, which makes it a perfect solution for small teams that cannot invest in complex project management systems.

4. Nutcache

Nutcache falls into the all-in-one solution category. It means that in addition to collaborative project management, this tool offers teams of all sizes a complete management software package, including project budgeting, task and cost management, time tracking and client billing.

Nutcache is a great solution for agile teams. It has a very flexible configuration and can satisfy the needs of those loyal to the Kanban and the Scrum methodology. On top of that, Nutcache is available at no cost for teams of up to 20 members.

5. Orchard Collaboration

Orchard Collaboration is a free and open-source ticketing, project management and collaboration tool aimed at website development and content management teams.

It allows users to plan projects and control their progress, create tickets and issues per project, and invite customers to projects. The system integrates with GIT and SVN servers, as well as with other third-party services, so you can optimize your project management workflow even further.

6. Hubbion

Hubbion is a free project management and collaboration tool for small teams with such key features as calendar view, task planning and file sharing. It provides basic functionality for task management and offers managers the ability to assign work to employees for easier collaboration.

The tool features a calendar and a dashboard view and allows users to track deadlines, comment on tasks and share files using a built-in messaging window. Users can also add their bosses or customers to the tasks they’re working on to keep them informed on their progress.

7. Workep

This tool is a collaboration platform that automates and centralizes G Suite turning it into an efficient environment for project management, collaboration and planning. Create Google Docs, sync calendar events, use Hangouts and more — to automate the work on your projects.

Workep can easily visualize your team’s work as lists, Kanban boards or Gantt charts, and allows users to export project data. The basic plan for one team of up to 10 users is free, and you can upgrade to access the premium features as your team grows.

8. OpenProject

This open-source project management tool helps organize the entire life cycle of your projects. Its features include project planning, scheduling, monitoring, creating charts and reports, and many more. It also offers security and data privacy features that help you protect critical project data from unauthorized access.

The community version of the software that supports the most essential features is completely free, but cloud hosting and other premium features are available as a paid subscription.

9. Freedcamp

Freedcamp stands out among other project management tools by going for an all-in-one approach with its functionality. It supports pretty much everything from task lists and Kanban boards to calendars and milestones with issue tracking and timekeeping added on top.

The free plan covers all of the core features. Premium functionality includes things like invoicing and CRM capabilities, plus white labeling so you can customize the look of the app by adding your business logo and using a custom URL.

10. ClickUp Productivity Platform

ClickUp is a powerful project management and collaboration solution with a free plan that offers more than many other tools deliver with their premium options.

It allows users to set up customized views depending on their specific workflow, add custom fields, assign goals and priorities to tasks, and convert team members' ideas and comments into actual tasks or subtasks.

Other available features include time tracking, file sharing, Integromat and Zapier support, plus native integration with dozens of other applications.

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actiTIME
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