The Best Free Project Management Software for 2024

Essential features

• Dashboards

  Have essential information at your fingertips and customize your dashboards to show you exactly what you need, when you need it.

• Look up anything

  Whether it is searching for a particular task, issue or document, your project management tool should be able to do it for you at warp speed.

• Reports

  Analyze progress better using graphical or extensive reports that can be shared across teams or to clients

• Automation

  Automating your processes can help reduce time spent on routine work and thus fast-track results.

• Timesheets

  Recording and tracking work hours calls for accountability and increased productivity.

• Collaborate

  Stir up conversations over chat, calls or virtual meetings, on the go.

• Document management

  Good free project management tools should also have a central repository that lets you store crucial documents, which can be accessed and shared within and across teams.

• Prioritize tasks

  Identify critical tasks and create custom task views to prioritize tasks that need immediate attention, so you are on top of it all.

• Issue tracking

  Any kind of bug should be closely monitored right from its discovery to its closure.

• Security

  Make sure you opt for the best free project management tool - one that does not take privacy and security lightly. Data encryption, compliance, and user authentication are some of the factors to be considered.

• Mobile access

  It's essential to have easy access to project updates over smartphones and tablets, wherever you are.

Compatibility

Be it third-party communication tools or any other software that's integral to your organization, your tool should be able to integrate seamlessly to ensure smooth delivery of tasks. Not just that, it should be able to accommodate the operating systems used by your teams, and also support desktop and mobile versions.

Ease of use

Before making a decision, ask your teams these questions - Does the product have a minimal learning curve? Can you pull up dashboards and reports in just a few clicks? Are you able to share updates via chat or call while on the move?

Remember, your teams will be extensively using the tool every waking hour of the day. Therefore, it's important for them to try and test out this free project management tool for themselves to acclimatize with it well.

Work Breakdown Structure

It refers to the hierarchical deconstruction of a project into digestible work items that should be completed within a defined time period in order to achieve the set project goals. This allows you to visualize your project better, have all the essential steps outlined in the form of milestones, task lists, tasks and sub-tasks, and delegate work more efficiently. Execution of tasks is made simple since every task is given structure, and there's little chance of things slipping from your grasp.

Gantt Chart

A Gantt chart provides a visual representation of your project, including its timeline, a list of the various work items that comprise the project, their priority, and more, in the form of task bars that can be moved up or down the timeline and/or resized. . You should also be able to identify and set up related tasks that need to be carried out in a particular sequence. Moreover, pivotal tasks are well-defined in a Gantt chart, so that they can be taken up at the earliest to avoid slow-downs. A free project management software like Zoho Projects offers Gantt charts for you to organize, track and manage your tasks with increased efficacy.

Reports

Reports aid in communicating your project's progress with your teams and stakeholders. Real-time reports on projects, tasks, budget, issues, timesheets and more can be generated using infographics or by listing out comprehensive data. With Zoho Projects, you can create, customize, import or export reports in the form of PDFs or XLS sheets to team members or stakeholders, whenever the need arises.

Collaboration

Free project management tools should have collaborative capabilities, like central storage for documents that can be easily shared across to team members, and team communication to relay updates and other important project information. Zoho Projects provides upto 5GB of storage, and capabilities like social feeds and discussion forums let you post updates or announcements and keep everyone in the loop.

Calendar

Stay on top of your work items, scheduled events, meetings or calls through the Calendar. Always know what's on your plate in a given day or what's planned for the following week/month. Plan time-off, schedule work or set up meetings according to the availability of you and your team.