The Top 16 Task Management Tools You Can Use in 2023

The more your business grows, the harder it is to stay organized.

Fortunately, the best task management tools help your whole team stay coordinated, even as priorities shift and new projects get added to the pile.

Good task management software makes a big difference.

Most employees (80%) spend half of their work time every week doing tasks over again. In other words, a 40 hour work week includes 20 hours of rework. That’s a huge waste of time and effort, and it’s caused by a simple problem — poor communication.

Team leaders feel the crunch. A whopping 46% of project leaders say that hitting deadlines is their greatest challenge.

Your software should help your team communicate better and get work done faster. Use it to plan effectively and make more money from your projects. Some tools even alert you when your team is at risk of falling behind or going over budget.

Project management software comes in many shapes and sizes. We rounded up this list of the best task management tools so you can find the perfect fit for your team.

What to look for when choosing a tool for task management

Different teams have different needs. Just because a project management software works great for another company, that doesn’t mean it’s a great fit for you.

Even within your company, different teams need different things.

Source: Capterra

For example, your website developers will probably find it easy to work with a standard agile workflow, but your marketing team might prefer something more like a checklist.

The first time you start shopping for task management software, you might not know what to look for. That’s okay. Use this article to get a feel for the types of features and formats you can choose from.

If you’re here because you have a task management tool that’s not quite working for you, start by listing the features you’re using now that you want to keep. Then, list the problems you want to solve when you upgrade. Keep those lists handy while you read the list of options below.

To help you figure out what you want, here’s a quick list of the most useful features you’ll find in a great task management tool.

• Subtasks and task dependencies – According to the SaasList State of Project Management Report for 2020, unmet or unclear task dependencies account for 12% of project failures. The most efficient way to tackle big projects is to divide them into tasks and subtasks. Task dependencies help your team stay organized when you need to complete work in a specific order. Look for these features so you know you can create the workflows you need for every project.
• Task checklists – Checklists are simple, but powerful. It’s so much easier to keep track of progress when you can see which items are done. Plus, checklists help your team do a thorough job on every task.
• Project timeline or Gantt chart – That SaasList report also reveals that 45% of team members say Gantt charts are their most used project management feature. A good tool gives you a visual timeline that helps you plan and adjust. This helps you spot roadblocks, rebalance workloads, and meet deadlines more easily.
• Time tracking – Time tracking is one of the most valuable features for a task management software. When you know how long tasks take, you know exactly how much you spend on labor costs. This data helps you make more accurate estimates and fix expensive workflow issues so you make more money.
• Customizable workflow – Every team has its own way of working. Look for a tool that can adapt to the way your team works and doesn’t force you to change your workflow just so you can use it.

Jot down the most important features you need to help your team operate at peak efficiency. When you’re ready, here’s the list of the best project management tools to consider in 2022.

16 best task management software tools in 2022

These 16 tools range from simple to-do list programs that help organize your day to robust workforce analytics software that provide valuable performance data.

We list their main features, app availability, and pricing to help you make the best choice for you.

1. Hubstaff Tasks

Hubstaff Tasks handles task management for Agile teams.

This easy-to-use software uses automated Kanban-style workflows to keep work organized. To move tasks through the flow, one click updates the status and assigns the appropriate team members. Work automatically goes to the right people at the right time.

It’s easy to customize your workflows using one of the built-in templates, or you can start from scratch.

Individual tasks include lots of features to keep your team organized and efficient.

Each task can include a checklist to further break down action items and keep track of progress, which makes this software particularly suitable for marketing projects.

Teams that focus on SEO, content, and social media often struggle to make task management software work for them.

Hubstaff Tasks works well for all areas of your business, from marketing and support to software development.

Due dates help your team manage priorities. The comments section is a great place to collaborate so you always have access to the history of the task, even if you’re newly assigned.

You can attach files to tasks or to comments. There’s also a count of total time worked so you can see how long a project takes from start to finish.

Hubstaff Tasks supports Agile sprints, allowing you to divide your team’s workload into more manageable chunks. All Agile teams love this feature, but this is one of the most wanted features for software teams.

The sprint view shows your team what they need to work on immediately and what tasks are coming down the pipeline next.

If you or some members of your team prefer something more like a to-do list, the My Stuff feature allows you to create detailed to-dos to plan your day. You can add checklist items from tasks or type them in. Remind yourself to respond to Mike’s question about budget and to get milk during your lunch break.

There’s also a project timeline feature that allows you to see what team members are working on at any given time. It allows you to spot overdue tasks more easily, as well as rebalance the team’s workload by reassigning tasks using the drag-and-drop interface.

The automated stand-ups feature is a game changer for remote and asynchronous teams. Get progress updates from team members and learn about any roadblocks without needing a daily meeting. You’ll save a ton of time and it’ll help you cut down on micromanagement.

Hubstaff Tasks is an excellent tool for growing teams. It’s simple and easy to set up, and the features are robust enough to grow with you. Hubstaff is a remote company, and their tools are especially powerful for remote teams.

Features

• Agile workflows
• Sprints and epics
• My Stuff to-dos
• Task checklists
• Automated stand-ups
• Project timelines
• Project templates

Pricing

Hubstaff Tasks is free for up to 5 users and 10 projects. The Premium plan costs $5/user/month and includes unlimited users and projects.

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2. Todoist

The idea behind Todoist is to get tasks out of your head and onto a to-do list.

Todoist simplifies this process by allowing you to manage your to-do list regardless of the device you’re using. It supports Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS.

Freelancers, entrepreneurs, developers, and businesses of all sizes use Todoist to manage their tasks and projects.

The app’s main task view provides you with all the information you might need on a task, including subtasks, comments, and due dates. There’s also a Boards view, which is essentially Todoist’s version of a Kanban board.

You can organize tasks as you see fit with the help of project folders, labels, and filters. There’s also a quick add feature that allows you to jot down a task or reminder quickly before you forget about it.

Managers can use Todoist to get an overview of what their team is working on through the activity stream feature. You can filter the activity stream by project or team member, as well as save custom views to keep an eye on priority tasks or projects.

There’s also a central admin dashboard you can use to manage team members and their user permissions.

Todoist can notify you when team members post comments or complete tasks, which helps you stay on top of everything more easily. There’s also the option of setting up reminders to get notified of upcoming tasks or due dates via email or a push notification.

One more interesting feature you can find in Todoist is Karma. It’s designed to motivate your team to complete tasks by awarding them points for each task completed, as well as giving them additional points for maintaining daily or weekly task completion streaks.

Features

• Task priority levels
• Kanban boards
• Project templates
• File sharing
• Project activity stream
• Custom project views

Pricing

Todoist offers a free plan that’s limited to 80 projects and 5 people per project. There’s also a single-user Premium plan ($4/month) and a Business plan ($6/user/month).

3. Any.Do

Any.Do combines your personal and business tasks in a single calendar view, making it a good option for those looking to manage both private and work tasks in one tool. It’s also a handy tool for freelancers who need to organize their to-dos for multiple clients.

It allows you to categorize tasks into projects and visualize your workflow using Kanban boards. You can share projects and assignments with your team easily, and then use the activity stream to track task progress.

Any.Do supports one-time, recurring, and location-based reminders. You can also use the home screen widget to display to-dos and calendar events on your smartphone’s screen at all times.

There’s also a very useful feature called Moment, which allows you to review your daily tasks and decide whether to work on them, reschedule, mark as done, or delete them from your to-do list completely.

Features

• To-do list
• Calendar
• Daily planner
• Kanban boards

Pricing

For a single user, Any.do offers both a free and a Premium plan ($5.99/month). Businesses can use the Teams plan, which costs $4.99/user/month.

4. Taskque

Taskque aims to help both individuals and teams manage their daily tasks.

With Taskque, you can plan and create tasks in the calendar view to organize your team’s time more effectively.

One cool feature is that you can automatically assign tasks based on team member workloads. It balances work so your employees aren’t overworked or underutilized.

The app also allows you to create multiple workspaces to organize and manage different teams.

Teams can use Taskque to collaborate on tasks more easily with the Discussions feature, which allows you to discuss tasks and projects in a central location. You can also create discussion reports with a single click and review them easily.

The Insights feature, on the other hand, allows you to get a quick overview of a project’s status. You can also generate reports to review your team’s productivity and performance.

Taskque gives you the option of setting user permissions for each team member, allowing or preventing them from viewing specific tasks and projects. This is important if you deal with sensitive information.

There are also filters team members can use to find specific tasks more easily.

Features

• Automated task assignment
• Discussion board
• Team calendar
• Custom workflows

Pricing

Taskque offers a free plan that’s limited to 10 users. The Business plan costs $5/user/month.

There’s also a generous 60-day trial you can use to test out the software.

5. Flow

Flow supports task lists for both private and work tasks. You can sort and filter tasks by name, project, due date, team member, and priority.

The app allows you to create one-time and recurring tasks. For each task, you can add notes, tags, due dates, and files. You can even create tasks via email by emailing an @getflow.com email address.

Flow gives you dedicated views to review your own tasks and the task list of each team member.

The built-in workload view helps you see which team members might be overwhelmed with work and who has bandwidth to take on more.

You can reassign tasks using the app’s drag-and-drop interface, which allows you to rebalance your team’s workload with ease.

The app supports both public and private projects. There’s also the option to duplicate projects and their tasks.

Flow gathers all important notifications in the Updates feed, allowing you to stay on top of everything your team is doing. The feed includes your assigned and delegated tasks, updates on tasks you’re following, and any mentions in task comments.

Features

• Recurring tasks
• Project schedules
• File attachments
• Team calendar

Pricing

Flow offers a free 30-day trial. Paid plans include:

• Basic ($8/user/month)
• Plus ($12/user/month)
• Pro ($18/user/month)

6. Hitask

Hitask combines project and task management, time tracking, and document storage in a single app. It allows you to organize your team’s work into tasks, projects, and events.

You can then get an overview of your team’s workload using the shared calendar. There’s also the option of sharing tasks and projects with specific team members or with your entire team.

You can set tasks to repeat daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly.

Hitask also has a time tracking feature, allowing you to track the time your team spends on different tasks. The app also allows you to generate reports from team members’ time entries to analyze your team’s performance.

Another useful feature is offline mode, where you can make changes to tasks and projects even without an Internet connection.

Features

• Shared team calendar
• Time tracking
• Reports
• Team chat

Pricing

Hitask is free for up to five users. Paid plans include:

• Team Business ($5/user/month)
• Enterprise ($20/user/month)

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7. Trello

With Trello, you use Kanban boards to manage your team’s work. You’re free to organize your projects into multiple boards or keep them all in one place.

Teams use Trello for a wide variety of purposes, including software development, onboarding, and as a CRM tool.

Once you create a board in Trello, you can divide it into multiple columns (e.g., To-Do, Doing, and Done). The next step is to add individual tasks (cards) to columns.

You can drag and drop cards across different columns or move them up and down a column. This allows you to show progress and prioritize tasks more easily.

Each task can contain attachments, labels, due dates, checklists, and custom fields. There’s also a search function to help you locate specific cards.

Trello supports workflow automation through rule-based triggers, calendar commands, and due date commands. This allows you to automate repetitive tasks and save your team’s time.

The app can recognize actions your team members take frequently and suggest automations to simplify your workflow.

You can also take advantage of power-ups, apps that extend Trello’s built-in functionality. Here are a few features you can enable using power-ups:

• A countdown for your tasks’ due date
• Daily update prompts for team members to state what they’re working on and what they’re going to do next
• Time tracking for each task
• The option to archive cards until a certain date

Features

• Kanban boards
• Workflow automation
• Task checklists
• Custom fields

Pricing

Trello offers a free plan that’s limited to ten boards. Paid plans include:

• Business Class ($12.50/user/month)
• Enterprise ($17.50/user/month for 20 users, with discounts for bigger teams)

8. nTask

nTask supports task dependencies, project milestones, and time estimates for tasks. It also allows you to create to-do lists in the form of checklists.

You can set start and end dates for tasks and assign one or multiple team members to tasks. nTask allows you to set up task notifications and reminders to avoid missing a deadline.

The app also has features that help you schedule and prioritize tasks.

You can define project risks and how likely they are to occur and associate those risks with specific tasks. This allows you to create a risk matrix to see what might potentially prevent your team from completing a project on time.

There’s also a place for documenting your risk mitigation plan and an option to appoint risk owners.

nTask has a time tracking feature you can use to learn how much time it takes team members to complete tasks. You have the option to generate timesheets automatically using time entries.

You can then approve or reject timesheets, print them, or share them. Team members can withdraw timesheets to correct any errors.

nTask is also great at helping you manage meetings. You can create meeting agendas within the app, note discussion points, and create follow-up actions. You can set associate meetings with tasks. Recurring meetings are an option.

Features

• Subtasks
• Task dependencies
• Team chat
• Time tracking

Pricing

nTask has a free plan that’s limited to five members per team. Paid plans include:

• Premium ($3.99)
• Business ($11.99)
• Enterprise (custom pricing)

9. MeisterTask

If you’re already using task management software, MeisterTask makes it very easy for you to make the switch. Its built-in importing feature simplifies the process of importing tasks and projects from popular tools like Asana and Trello.

MeisterTask supports recurring tasks and task dependencies. It allows you to filter tasks by tag, team member, due date, and status.

The app comes with a predefined Kanban-style workflow. You can create a custom one that suits your team’s needs. Plus, you can set limits for how many work-in-progress tasks your team can have — a very useful feature for Kanban teams.

Each team member has a personal board in MeisterTask (called Agenda) where they can pin tasks from any project and organize the board how they like. This helps your employees organize their work more easily.

MeisterTask supports workflow automation. You can automate tasks such as:

• Assigning tasks to specific team members
• Adding checklists to tasks
• Updating task status and due date

Features

• Task automation
• Time tracking
• Kanban boards
• Custom fields

Pricing

MeisterTask’s Basic plan is free, but limited to three projects. Paid plans include:

• Pro ($5.10/user/month)
• Business ($12.65/user/month)
• Enterprise (custom pricing)

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10. Toodledo

Toodledo is a set of tools designed to simplify task management and help teams get more done.

It supports subtasks and recurring tasks. You can set these to repeat daily, weekly, or monthly. Toodledo allows you to set up tasks to reschedule automatically, even if they’re not completed.

Each task has a priority. Sort tasks by these priorities or filter based on due date or assignee.

Toodledo allows you to organize tasks and notes into folders to keep track of different projects. Folders can be private or public. This feature is important for teams that deal with sensitive information or licensing requirements.

Another very useful feature is the Scheduler. Tell Toodledo how much free time you have and the tool will analyze your tasks to determine the best use of your time.

Toodledo supports location-based reminders. Simply mark the location where you need to complete a certain task, and you’ll get an alert reminding you of the task as soon as you get there.

Features

• Location-based task reminders
• Subtasks
• Recurring tasks
• Team calendar

Pricing

Toodledo is free to use.

11. Asana

Started by two former Facebook engineers, Asana is a tool that grew out of the founders’ frustration with how much time they were spending searching for information, sending emails, and attending meetings.

They built Asana to help teams spend more time on tasks that actually move tasks and projects forward.

Asana comes with the usual task management features like task dependencies, due dates, and attachments. However, it also boasts plenty of features that help teams manage their workload more easily.

For example, the aptly named Workload feature allows you to get an overview of your team’s capacity and understand who’s overworked and who’s overwhelmed.

You can assign values (points) to tasks so you can quickly estimate how much time and effort they require. Set your team’s total capacity in points to prevent burnout.

Asana supports workflow automation and comes with more than 70 pre-built automation rules that can save your team’s time. You can create your own custom rules if those don’t fit.

The app allows you to rebalance and reorganize work easily. All you need to do is rearrange the tasks using the drag-and-drop interface.

The Portfolio feature allows you to monitor all your team’s initiatives from a single location. You can use it to get an overview of the progress of all your projects. There’s also the option of sharing the Portfolio link with stakeholders.

Asana also has a useful proofing feature. You can add feedback to team members’ deliverables, then turn this feedback into a task automatically. Leave feedback and access your tasks on the go from the mobile app.

Features

• Task automations
• Multiple project views
• Milestones
• Project timeline and portfolio

Pricing

Asana offers a free plan that’s limited to 15 users. Paid plans include:

• Premium ($10.99/user/month)
• Business ($24.99/user/month)
• Enterprise (custom pricing)

12. TeamWork

TeamWork is simple to use, yet packed with powerful features.

It shows you an overview of each team members’ capacity and helps you understand who’s underutilized or overwhelmed. If your priorities or deadlines shift, easily reassign work using the drag-and-drop interface.

There’s also a project portfolio feature that gives you a birds-eye view of all your projects and allows you to identify bottlenecks more easily.

TeamWork supports task and project templates and milestones.

Team members can create project-specific notebooks. With notebooks, they can share notes and other information on a project or keep track of their own work. There’s an in-app messaging system to discuss tasks and projects.

TeamWork has personalized report dashboards that show key project metrics and the project’s activity timeline. These are very useful for analyzing team performance and providing project updates to stakeholders and clients.

The app includes a team calendar where you can track your team’s deadlines, meetings, and holidays in one place. Use it to keep everyone on the same page and help your team members plan their week.

You can incorporate more features into TeamWork by using the company’s add-ons, such as TeamWork Chat, Desk, CRM, and Spaces.

Features

• Task list templates
• Milestones
• Team calendar
• Kanban boards
• Project portfolio
• Gantt chart

Pricing

TeamWork offers a free plan that’s limited to five users. Paid plans include:

• Pro ($12.50/user/month)
• Premium ($22.50/user/month)
• Enterprise (custom pricing)

13. Basecamp

Basecamp calls itself an “all-in-one toolkit for working remotely.” It almost lives up to that.

You can use it to create and assign tasks, set due dates, add notes, and comment on tasks. The app includes a shared calendar where for important dates for tasks and projects.

Basecamp’s Activity view gives you an overview of everything that’s going on with your team’s tasks and projects. Among other things, you can use it to see overdue tasks, deadlines, and upcoming milestones.

Project-specific message boards give team members a place to post ideas, announcements, and progress updates.

The group chat feature allows team members to ask and answer questions in real-time. It includes a separate chat room for every project so other employees aren’t distracted by chatter they don’t need. You can send direct messages to team members to have private, one-on-one conversations.

Basecamp supports automated check-in questions. This simplifies the process of getting project and status updates from team members.

The app offers an interesting alternative to Gantt charts called Hill Charts. The main idea behind Hill Charts is that all work is divided into an uphill phase (figuring things out) and a downhill phase (execution).

Hill Charts help you visualize this process to get a better understanding of your project’s status and potential bottlenecks.

Features

• To-do list
• Message board
• Team schedule
• Group chat
• Automatic check-ins

Pricing

Basecamp’s free plan is limited to 3 projects and 20 users. It also lacks a lot of the features available in the paid Business plan, which costs $99/month.

14. Wrike

Wrike is designed for Agile teams. It’s highly customizable and supports custom dashboards, workflows, and entire workspaces.

You can use it to streamline your team’s processes thanks to Wrike’s automation features. The app uses AI to predict project risks and create smart automations for your team.

Wrike has extensive proofing capabilities. It allows your team to get feedback on their deliverables quickly. This shortens your team’s feedback loop.

The proofing feature supports visual markup and version control. You can even set up automated approval workflows. If you need to, you can invite external reviewers (e.g., clients) to provide feedback on deliverables.

Wrike also offers add-ons that you can use to extend its capabilities:

• Wrike Analyze – Allows you to run advanced reports and create analytics dashboards.
• Wrike Resource – Provides visibility into your team’s workload and allows you to reallocate resources more effectively.
• Wrike Integrate – Gives you the ability to use app integrations and create custom automations.

Features

• Customizable dashboards and workflows
• Reports
• Project risk prediction
• Gantt charts
• Kanban boards
• Visual proofing

Pricing

Wrike has a free plan that offers limited features and supports up to five users. Paid plans include:

• Professional ($9.80/user/month)
• Business ($24.80/user/month)
• Enterprise (custom pricing)

15. ClickUp

ClickUp guarantees to save you one day for every week you use it. Use it to set and track goals, objectives, and targets.

If you’re into to-do lists, Clickup has a checklist feature that will work great for you. It also supports sprints, making it a great tool for Agile teams. Other useful features include task checklists, time estimates for tasks and projects, and custom project views.

ClickUp has a workload chart that shows you what team members are working on and which tasks they’ve completed. It’s a quick overview of your team’s activity.

Use the app to create docs and internal knowledge bases or collaborate on spreadsheets. ClickUp’s mind map feature allows you to visually plan and organize projects. Use it to map out your workflow more effectively.

The screenshot and screen recording features can help you understand how your team works. Use this feature to build more trust in your team.

If you’re looking to make the switch from Trello or Asana to ClickUp, the import feature makes the transition effortless.

Features

• Task dependencies
• Checklist templates
• Recurring checklists
• Workload chart
• Automations
• Reminders

Pricing

ClickUp offers a free plan with limited features. The paid plan costs $9/user/month.

16. Paymo

Paymo is a great choice for those that want a single app to manage their work, track expenses, and invoice clients.

It supports recurring tasks, task templates and budgets, and task alerts. Priority status for each task helps prioritize your team’s work.

Paymo has multiple task views and filters so you can find what you’re looking for.

Use this app to create estimates, send invoices, and accept online payments. Invoices can be recurring, and the app sends automatic reminders.

You can track project expenses and add those costs to your invoices.

Customize your invoices to fit your brand’s look. If you use a separate accounting software, invoice and payment information can be easily exported.

The app features a built-in leave planner to manage employees’ time-off requests more easily. It allows you to review the remaining days off for each employee, create different leave types, and set company wide-public holidays.

Features

• Task dependencies
• Task templates
• Kanban boards
• Project templates
• Milestones
• Gantt charts

Pricing

Paymo offers a free 15-day trial. Paid plans include:

• Small Office ($11.95/month)
• Business ($18.95/month)

Next steps

You’ve done your research. Now it’s time to take action. Here’s what you need to do:

• Narrow down your choice – Pick one or two tools from the list that look like the best fit for your needs. Compare these tools to the list of features you made earlier.
• Take advantage of free trials – Most tools on our list offer a free trial. Take advantage of these trial offers to try out the tool that looks best.
• Test out all the features – Make sure to test all the features during your trial and make notes about what you like and don’t like. You can also contact support for help with onboarding to get an idea of how good their service is.
• Decide on a tool – If it’s a good fit, great! Start training your team. If not, come back to this list and try a different option. Bookmark this post so you can find it again.

Looking for a different type of software? Check out the following blog posts:

The 11 Best Project Scheduling Tools

12 of the Best Remote Work Software Options

The Best Time Tracking Apps for Windows

This post was originally published in September 2019. It was updated in September 2023.