20 Best FREE Microsoft Project Alternatives (2021 Update)

Microsoft project planning tool helps you seamlessly keep plan and track of your projects. However, Microsoft project needs considerable training and experience to use. Moreover, this project management tool does not allow you to focus on any specific industry.

Here, is a list of top 20 project management tools which can replace Microsoft Project. This list compromises of commercial and open-source continuous integration tool with popular features and latest download link.

Best Microsoft (MS) Project Alternatives: Open Source/Paid

1) Zoho Projects

Zoho Projects is a collaboration & project management tool created by Zoho. The software helps you to plan your projects, assign tasks, and communicate effectively.

Features:

• Everyone working on a project can log his/her billable & non-billable hours using timesheets
• Create an issue and track them as they get fixed and tested
• The team will always access the latest version of all project documents
• Integrated easily with Third party apps like Google, Zapier, GitHub, Dropbox

2) Nifty

Nifty is an award winning collaboration project management solution used by thousands of forward thinking teams throughout the world. The software helps teams automate project cycles, assign tasks, collaborate efficiently, and manage docs + files.

Features:

• Nifty has a home screen reporting dashboard that centralizes project cycles
• Can operate tasks and milestone in kanban, listview, gantt charts, and swimlane
• Provides automated reporting and projections via endless custom field options

3) Clickup

Click is a project management system created for all kind of users. It helps you to organize projects using a hierarchical approach. It incorporates core capabilities of all the business process sales, marketing, design, and development.

Features:

• ClickUp centralizes everything, to work effectively and efficiently from a single dashboard
• People get different ways of viewing their tasks and projects
• It offers machine learning capability. This helps project managers create accurate and realistic estimates and timeframes to manage their projects

4) Wrike

Wrike is a Cloud-based collaboration and project management tool. It is one of the best ms project alternatives which helps you to scale across teams in any business. This free microsoft project alternative tool allows to set priorities and align your team to work faster and smarter.

Features:

• View real-time reports and status for all kind of team projects
• Helps you to turn strategy into an actionable plan to achieve success
• Provide accurate and up-to-date info to make them create an exact deadline

5) Paymo

Paymo is a project management application that can be used to manage projects from their inception through completion. It is an ideal project management tool for small to medium-sized businesses looking to simplify and fasten their business processes.

Features:

• Get updated information from a various system when estimating a project.
• This free ms project alternative tool allows you to access various tools like Portfolio Gantt Chart or Team’s Tasks to keep track of the project.
• Team Scheduler feature allows you to create a visual timeline of work done by your team members.
• Time tracking reduces feature offers transparency and accountability among manager and employees.
• Tools help you to find how specific project takes. It allows you to create an invoice based on timesheet data.

6) Airtable

Airtable is a project management solution which is suitable for organizations, and businesses of all sizes. It is one of the best microsoft project alternatives which offers organization and collaboration functionalities in an effective and mobile-friendly Table solutions.

Features:

• Allows users to organize their projects, content, ideas, and ideas into a centralized system.
• You need not be a coder to develop your own process logic
• Helps you to filter, sort, and rearrange records
• Customized Views and Fields
• Easy Email, Application, and Social media integration
• Offers support for Forms Management

7) Backlog

Backlog is an excellent project management software that is feature rich while being easy to use. The plans are cost effective with multiple subscription options and are billed per company rather than per user. Both cloud-hosted and on-premise versions are available, as well as a free plan.

Features:

• Gantt Charts and Burndown charts
• Subtasking and issue templates
• Automatically create issues via email
• Built in Wikis for collaboration
• Search and advanced search features
• Full history of issue updates and status changes
• Built in Git and SVN
• Watchlists and Easy drag and drop file sharing
• Native mobile apps

8) Process street

Process Street is a highly accurate process & workflow management tool. It is one of the best microsoft project alternatives ideally suited tool for your team's repeated tasks. This free ms project alternative tool helps you to create, track and optimize business process workflows easily.

Features:

• Helps you to create procedure documents in seconds.
• Allows you to run processes as collaborative workflows.
• Process control & analysis
• This ms project alternative open source software allows you to create Rule-based, Dynamic, and Project workflow
• Fast and effective workflow management.
• Easy Integration with over 1000+ apps
• Run multiple instances of templates as checklists
• Easily track your team progress and collaborate.
• Capture data using forms
• Vast Template Library

9) Asana

Asana is an ideal project management software for small teams. It is available in three different versions Free, Premium & Enterprise.

Features:

• This free microsoft project alternative tool allows management of up to 15 team members. It also offers basic dashboard and search
• Premium version offers Unlimited dashboard, custom fields, advanced search & reporting
• Enterprise version allows managing team members with advanced admin controls like service account and SAML

Download link: https://asana.com/

10) Rational Plan

Rational plan is project management for providing solutions for portfolio management, resource management, and Team Collaboration. It is one of the best microsoft project alternatives that allows you to complete your projects as scheduled, on time and within budget.

Features:

• Helpful for managing projects and shared resources
• Increase productivity using comments on task and email notifications
• Estimate budgets and keep the finance under control by using standard or overtime rates.
• Track project's evolution regarding time and costs

Download link:https://www.rationalplan.com/

11) Twproject

Twproject is a web-based project management tool. It is one of the microsoft project alternatives that minimizes the effort of administrative work and helps the company to grow. It offers built-in Gantt chart to visualize your work plans.

Features:

• The tool allows you to sperate every project or task in an arbitrary sub-tree of sub-tasks
• It can handle classical project trees and business processes in the same system, and when needed even in the same project
• Twproject is highly customizable for functional and reporting as it does not want to force branching from the main update cycle

Download link: https://twproject.com/

12) Casual

Casual is a visual project and process management software. It helps teams plan and executes projects as simple workflows. It is one of the best ms project alternatives tool for small and growing project management teams.

Features:

• Controlling the project is simple with this visual project management tool
• Automatically document the project and Work proactively
• Casual offers several plans that can fit the budget of businesses depending on their needs and resources

Download link: https://casual.pm/

13) Freedcamp

Freedcamp is a project management tool. It is one of the best ms project alternatives that allows collaboration of single or multiple users using cloud computing. It is an open source platform for as many projects and users you would like to add.

Features:

• This free ms project alternative tool allows to focus on task lists and stay in touch with what's happening
• Splitting larger tasks into smaller subtasks
• This ms project alternative open source tool helps to keep your tasks private

Download link: https://freedcamp.com/

14) LiquidPlanner

LiquidPlanner eliminates outdated plans, missed deadlines, and streamline your work. It one of the free microsoft project alternatives that offers features for IT teams, project managers, development teams, and marketing teams.

Features:

• Priority-based scheduling allows you to keep track of deliverables and deadlines
• Teams can share updates, and recommendations to provide a clearer picture of the project
• Offers drag-and-drop function which allows rescheduling projects

Download link: https://www.liquidplanner.com/

15) Trello:

Trello is a tool designed to replace your team's use of email and chat for task-based communication. It is one of the best ms project alternatives that allows you to collaborate for the project from beginning to end.

Features:

• This open source microsoft project alternative tool allows your team to stay organized
• Integrate the different types of apps to streamline the business process
• You can organize upcoming projects
• Trello stays in sync across all your devices

Download link:https://trello.com/

16) Functionfox:

Functionfox is a project management tool. It helps to reduce admin time, increases productivity and profits. It allows users to compare and analyze information on their finances like real costs and estimates and also look at their project timelines, budget, and productivity.

Features:

• Helps you to understand your business better with instant reports on clients, projects, and personnel
• Ability to assign and schedule tasks for increased control
• Review previous projects when developing new quotes with higher efficiency and accuracy

Download link: https://www.functionfox.com/products.aspx

17) Podio

Podia is a customizable project management solution. The tool helps teams to communicate and organize in a way to facilitate the completion of tasks and projects.

Features:

• Break down projects and workflows into easily management pieces.
• Podio apps are the tools used by teams working on Podio to organize their work
• It provides visual reports to give you a clear overview of your team's work progress
• Manage, assign, guide and automate workflows for every team member for tighter collaboration

Download link:https://podio.com/

18) Taskworld

Taskworld is a cloud-hosted visual task management and planning application. Helps you to keep track of the changes made to a task in chronological order.

• Group related tasks together
• Create tasks, set due dates and assign to yourself or your team members
• Update tasks on multiple projects
• Sort your tasks by adding tags and colored labels

Download link: https://taskworld.com/

19) Roadmunk

Roadmunk is a visual roadmap software helpful for the project management. It is one of the best alternatives to microsoft project that offers advanced data protection to meet the needs of global enterprise clients.

Features:

• Helps you to select between Timeline View, Swimlane View, or mix-and-match multiple views of the roadmap.
• Helps you to create roadmap across multiple products, portfolios, and teams
• Options for customization with many advanced filters

Download link: https://roadmunk.com/

20) Tracker

Pivotal Tracker is an user-friendly, story-based project management tool.

It allows to work collaboratively, focus on what's important. It is one of the best alternatives to microsoft project that facilitates continuous delivery of the software.

Features:

• Allows real-time Collaboration so that you can see and react to all project changes
• Access pivotal track from Google universal navigation
• Share Google Docs and other files with all other Project Members

Download link: https://www.pivotaltracker.com/

21) Axosoft

Axosoft is a project management and bug tracking solution. It is deployable as hosted or on-premises software. It is one of the best ms project alternatives software which allows gathering all or specific information to create a correct product backlog.

Features:

• Axosoft custom dashboards offer an overview of your velocity, projected ship date and more
• Support for workflow automation & Data visualization

Download link: https://www.axosoft.com/

22) Basecamp:

Basecamp is an effective project management tool which allows you to effortlessly assign tasks, organize your team, and track progress. It's available with 60-day free trial and three different pricing packages.

Features:

• Add recurring tasks
• This open source microsoft project alternative tool allows resources allocation and forecasting
• Automated check-ins
• Search filters & notifications

Download link: https://basecamp.com/

23) Sciforma

Sciforma tools and data platform facilitate collaboration by making project data transparent, trustable, and easily accessible. It helps project managers administer all aspects of project, resource, risk, and change management.

Features:

• Review the resource assignments and solve resource overallocation
• Synchronize with your Agile teams and iterations
• Scroll the details to identify the root problems
• Define appropriate attributes and criteria for driving the decision-making processes

Download link: https://www.sciforma.com/

24) Smartsheet

Smartsheet is a collaboration tool for your project management.

It is a work platform that offers exceptional speed to business. Align and execute a process for better, faster and lower-cost onboardings

Features:

• Offer security, user management, and single sign-on capabilities for team and project management
• Smartsheet allows automating actions using simple rules
• Helps to simplify budget and planning

Download link: https://www.smartsheet.com/

FAQ

⚡ What is Microsoft Project?

❓ What are the drawbacks of Microsoft Project?

✔️ What are the best alternatives available for Microsoft Project?