Best Free Online Tools for Agile Project Management

When it comes to managing a project successfully, Project Managers (PMs) need to be skilled in managing the project’s flow as much as in managing people. These days, however, projects are conducted digitally, so this means that in order to manage projects and people remotely, you’ll need some sort of online platform to do it successfully.

While there may be many different options to choose from, the following list of online tools for Project Management is made with the “bargain hunter” in mind. And what’s more “bargain” than free?

Let’s jump right into the ‘Best Free Online Tools for Agile Project Management’ (displayed in alphabetical order), then we’ll see also a quick guide for choosing the right platform for your projects.

Asana – A To-Do List on Steroids

If you’re familiar with To-Do lists, then Asana will be a natural choice for you. In essence, it’s an expanded to do List that is naturally suited for working with teams remotely.

Break down projects into sub-lists and tasks, and take a look at the dashboard to see how much of your project has been completed and how much is still pending. With the ability to collaborate with up to 15 people under the free plan, Asana is one of the best platforms to use when you need a task management-oriented solution for your projects but don’t have the extra cash in the budget.

Moreover, it can integrate with Zapier (and thus with other programs that work with Zapier), so you can automate many aspects of the platform if you know how to do it.

ClickUp

It doesn’t matter which style of project management do you use, Clickup gives you eight different options to choose from, including mindmaps, roadmaps, task lists, and more.

While this is a great option for any PM looking for a free solution to their project management woes, the downside is that it’s a bit more complex to use and navigate than other more accessible tools such as Trello (see later).

This isn’t to say that this platform should be ignored, it has a lot of powerful and simple features that, once mastered, can be a highly effective tool in the right hands.

The free plan includes already a robust set of assets to choose from, if you want to upgrade to the “unlimited functionality” plan it’s about 5€ a month per user, which is a very reasonable price.

Monday.com

Monday.com is quite a robust project management system. It contains many different features such as reporting, creating calendars, setting deadlines, reminders, assigning specific tasks to specific users, creating work groups and much more.

Here I’m cheating a bit: There isn’t a completely ‘free’ version of Monday.com. You can try it for free for 14 days, but then you have to pay. For a three-team member team, the basic version is 8€ per seat each month. While it’s not necessarily an expensive option for those who are working on large scale projects, it can be pricey for startups.

Nonetheless, it’s a powerful PM tool to help push your project across the finish line.

Trello

Trello has a longstanding reputation as a team task management tool. With unlimited users and ten project boards for zero money, it’s one of the platforms that provide a significant amount of value for free.

The UI is very intuitive, built around the Kanban workflow management method (it’s as easy as putting your tasks in the “To Do” column, move them in the “Doing” column while you’re working at them and finally put them in the “Done” column) with many features available, such as assigning users, checklists, and power-ups, it’s definitely a solid choice for any PM. And if you need more boards or features, well… it’s time to switch to the paid plan!

Trello has been an aid to PMs everywhere, whether we’re talking about the free-version or the paid one.

Mindiply Timeline

As you can see, this is out of the alphabetical order because I’m cheating again. Yes, Mindiply Timeline has been developed by us, so it’s a bit of self-promotion here, and maybe it’s not yet one of the best PM online tools. But we really believe it can be very useful for the PM looking for a smart solution for planning, tracking, and reporting his/her projects.

We have developed it following best PM practices and theories on one hand, and all the needs, pains and feedbacks we’ve captured from many, many interviews with expert PMs on the other hand.

Mindiply Timeline comes with a handy dashboard with all the metrics and alerts you need to understand the health of your projects at a glance. It means that you'll be able to discover problems before they create permanent damage. Moreover, it can automatically create beautiful status progress reports that you can customise with all the information you want, so communication with clients and stakeholders won't be a pain anymore.

So, where can you find it? Go to https://mindiply.com/ and click on Book a Demo, we’ll be happy to show you how it works!

How to Choose the Right Platform for my Project

To be fair, most of these platforms have overlapping features and benefits. We’re currently living in a world where “choice” is plenty and this is true al well within the world of PM online tools. Nonetheless, below there are some guiding principles to consider before committing to one of these platforms.

1. What features are critical to your project? - The first thing you’ll want to consider is what exactly do you need? If you don’t need resource management and only need Gantt Charts, then pick the platform with the features that solve most of your needs.

2. Is it scalable? – The second thing to consider is whether or not this software will serve your purposes over time. The “Free solution” is fine for a while, but when you’re managing multiple projects at once, or your team and project start to expand, does the platform give you an affordable option to upgrade?

3. Is it suited to your PM style? – The right tool will fit your PM style like a glove. If you ever feel that you have to adapt your way of working to the tool, well… try another one. This is the big benefits of free versions and trials: you don’t have to commit to one tool just because you’ve already paid a yearly subscription. So try different options and then stick to the one that’s better suited for you.