The 80/20 of Project management
Tools for tracking work across a team. Heavy enterprise tilt — most teams need 10% of what these ship.
The project management category has been over-engineered for a decade. The leading tools are priced for enterprise buyers — Jira’s real cost starts at $8.15/user/month and compounds fast once you add the plugins that make it functional — but the default feature set is aimed at teams of 200, not 12. Most small teams end up using 10% of what they pay for.
Use a lightweight tracker if your team is under 20 people and your projects don’t require compliance audit trails. The heavy platforms earn their complexity only when you need cross-team dependencies, resource forecasting, or Salesforce integration. If you’re not sure which applies to you, you’re in the lightweight camp.
Core picks
Common questions
What are the best project management tools?
Our top picks are Linear. See the full list below for our 80/20 verdict on each.
How do you pick the best project management tool?
We sort every tool into core (use unless you have a reason not to), situational (great for a specific use case), or skip. The choice usually comes down to your team size, collaboration model, and existing toolchain. See our methodology page for the full evaluation criteria.
Are there free project management tools?
Yes. Linear have a free tier or are open-source.