Choosing the right project management software is critical when it comes to running an efficient business. The software needs to integrate with your team’s workflows and the needs of your specific business in a way that allows team members to focus on tasks rather than managing those tasks.
While some teams are using Wrike very effectively, others may find themselves wanting something different. Below, we’ll look at seven great alternatives to Wrike that help businesses and teams streamline their workflows.
SEE: Hiring kit: Project manager (TechRepublic Premium)
Jump to:
- Top Wrike alternatives
- Why do you need an alternative to Wrike?
- Final thoughts on choosing a Wrike alternative
Top Wrike alternatives
Asana
Asana is one of the best-known project management solutions. With a huge user base and a ubiquitous online marketing campaign, it’s hard not to notice the software solution.
Asana was created with a desire to free teams from endless email chains, spreadsheets and other inefficient management tools. They succeeded in achieving their goal. Asana has an elegant design with an easy-to-understand workflow. It’s great for those looking for core project management functions without being burdened with a huge learning curve.
SEE: Asana vs Trello: Project management software comparison (TechRepublic)
The price of Asana’s Premium tier is $19.99 per month (per user, billed annually).
Key features of Asana
- Clean, uncluttered layout that is easy to navigate
- Robust communication functions tailored for project management
- Dashboard customizations to view project metrics at a glance
monday work management
monday work management takes a similar approach to Asana and focuses on simplicity over deep customization, but this doesn’t mean that monday work management lacks any key features.
The colorful and inviting layout is one of monday work management’s most noticeable features. This theme continues throughout the entire workflow when using monday work management.
monday work management is perfect for creative teams or marketing agencies as the workflow suits those teams slightly better than Wrike, which is more focused on complex inter-department communication and customization. monday work management really shines brightest in creative applications and workflows.
SEE: Deciding between monday.com and Jira for your business (TechRepublic)
The price of monday work management’s standard package is $30 per month ($10 each for three users, billed annually).
Key features of monday work management
- Easy to use with a very short learning curve for most teams
- Colorful, almost playful interface that is both enjoyable to use and functional
- Integrations with third-party apps for customization options
- More affordable when scaling for larger teams
ClickUp
ClickUp is very similar to Wrike in its layout and how it handles most core functions of project management. The key advantage here is that ClickUp has a very generous free tier. ClickUp is the choice for those who want something similar to Wrike at a more budget-friendly price.
This is especially true for smaller teams who simply don’t need more advanced functions like forecasting. For teams on a budget or with less demanding requirements, ClickUp is a powerful Wrike alternative.
ClickUp’s enterprise tier starts at $12 per month (per user).
Key features of ClickUp
- Very similar layout and workflow as Wrike
- Affordable paid version is lower priced than competitors
- Fully featured, similar to Wrike
- More utilitarian interface
Hive
For those who want a communication-focused project management solution, Hive may be a perfect choice. Hive has the most robust team communication options out of all the Wrike alternatives listed here.
Hive has all your normal task and project commenting functions, but it goes beyond with a system that is very similar to Slack. If your teams have used Slack in the past, they will instantly feel at home with Hive.
Hive also boasts strong email integration; messages from Gmail or Outlook are instantly viewable in Hive. There is also a chat feature, something not found in most Wrike alternatives.
Hive’s offering for teams is priced at $12 per month (per user).
Key features of Hive
- Clean layout, instantly recognizable to Slack users
- Unique and powerful email integrations for seamless connectivity
- Chat capabilities
- Features on par with other project management solutions
Smartsheet
Smartsheet deviates from the previous Wrike alternatives by being more spreadsheet-focused. For those who still enjoy the look and feel of spreadsheets for project management, this may be the solution for you.
Smartsheet isn’t just locked into a spreadsheet view. You can switch between common workflow views such as a Gantt chart view and others.
Smartsheet is lacking in communication tools compared to other project management offerings. This is one of the biggest drawbacks of Smartsheet, but for teams who don’t put a priority on such tools, it shouldn’t be a problem.
Unlike many other Wrike alternatives, Smartsheet doesn’t offer a free tier and only offers a free trial. Unpaid users can still view tasks and sheets but cannot create new ones.
Smartsheet’s business tier costs $25 per month (per user, billed annually).
Key features of Smartsheet
- Spreadsheet-style layout
- Strong reporting functions
- Detailed permissions to control access and editing
- Convert spreadsheets into Gantt charts easily for project overviews
nTask
When it comes to deep complexity, nTask is one of the project management solutions that most closely mirrors Wrike. It even goes a step beyond Wrike with certain functions aimed at streamlining meetings and documenting the results to their associated projects.
nTask also provides handy features to view projects to see what percentage of their tasks have been completed, something Wrike doesn’t offer.
SEE: Best agile project management software for 2022 (TechRepublic)
One place nTask does fall behind is in their dashboards. The dashboard view is not very customizable, and this may be a deal breaker for those who like to configure their project management tools to specifically show what information they feel is most important.
nTask’s most popular tier costs $8 per month (per user, billed annually).
Key features of nTask
- Very similar to Wrike’s deep features and customization
- Affordable pricing compared to Wrike
- Tools for meeting planning and recording minutes
- Product road-mapping features
Airtable
Airtable is another spreadsheet-based project management tool, similar to Smartsheet in some respects. Airtable blurs the line by adding a powerful database element. Because of this, Airtable excels in areas such as budgeting, where the table and database combination can be very effective. This also allows for deep custom chart options, which are great for visualizations or presentations. Wrike does not offer these capabilities.
Airtable does fall behind when it comes to some key features people have come to expect from project management tools. Things like a dashboard or activity managers are missing, and that may be a deal breaker for some.
Airtable’s most popular tier, Pro, is $20 per month (per user, billed annually).
Key features of Airtable
- Table and database combinations make for some creative use cases
- Powerful charting options set it apart from other Wrike alternatives
- Built-in chat functions
- Large library of third-party integrations
Why do you need an alternative to Wrike?
Wrike is a popular and very capable project management solution, but much of what sets Wrike apart from the competition is its goal to become fully integrated and remove the need for external apps. This can be a bit much for those who are looking for a more streamlined experience that focuses on core project management functions.
Final thoughts on choosing a Wrike alternative
All of the Wrike alternatives listed are very capable project management solutions. The key is choosing the one that shines in areas that are most important to your team and workflow.
Whether you need a more budget-friendly version of Wrike or want something scaled-down and easier to manage, this list of Wrike alternatives should have something to satisfy any team.
There are even alternatives to this article. Look at these recent choices with six free alternatives to Microsoft Word and six free alternatives to Microsoft Excel.
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