Jumping between Slack for messages, Google Drive for files, and Zoom for calls creates a productivity paradox: the more apps we use, the more time we waste. The need to constantly switch apps drains focus and slows down progress.
To help keep your goals on track, this guide will examine the best task management tools in the market. We'll show you how the right task management software can unify your workflow, align team efforts, and improve project outcomes. We've tested a wide variety of tools, looking at their key features as well as pros and cons, to help you find one that fits your specific needs.
Our top picks for the best task management tools at a glance
Here’s a quick look at our top choices, what they do best, and their pricing information.
Reviews of the best task management software
Lark: Best for all-in-one team collaboration and productivity
Lark excels at task management by offering a suite of flexible tools tailored to different team needs and working styles. Whether your team thrives on visual kanban boards, needs the detailed planning of Gantt charts, or prefers the structure of a powerful database, Lark Base provides a customizable foundation to manage any project. For those who need a more straightforward approach, Lark Tasks offers a simple way to create, assign, and track daily to-dos, ensuring that both simple and complex projects are handled efficiently within the same ecosystem.
The platform's greatest strength is its unified architecture, where chat, video calls, documents, and tasks are not just integrated but built into a single, seamless platform. This approach eliminates the constant, draining context-switching that not only distracts team members from focusing but also inflates your software costs. For modern teams, especially those distributed globally, Lark provides a unified way to plan and manage tasks that keeps everyone aligned, productive, and engaged, no matter their location or time zone.
Key features
Lark Base for flexible project task management
At the heart of Lark's advanced task management capabilities is Lark Base. It's a highly versatile and customizable database that can be adapted to any workflow—no coding required. Teams can visualize their work using various views, including Kanban boards for agile flows, Gantt charts for project timeline planning, grid views for overviews, and galleries for creative assets. Automations are also easy to set up, allowing any team member to streamline repetitive tasks, such as sending notifications when a task status changes or assigning work based on form submissions.
Watch the video below to see what you can do with Base
Lark Tasks for streamlined to-do lists
For daily work and straightforward task assignments, Lark Tasks provides a simple and efficient solution. It allows team members to quickly create tasks, set deadlines, and assign them to the appropriate team member directly within their chat interface. This tool is perfect for managing individual to-do lists and breaking down larger projects into manageable steps, ensuring everyone know what they are responsible for without leaving their primary communication hub.
Lark Messenger as a centralized communication hub
Lark Messenger acts as the central hub that makes team communication seamless, connecting all of Lark's powerful features directly into your conversations. Instead of switching apps, critical notifications from Base, docs, tasks, and approvals are delivered right into your chat. You can also easily share documents, manage their access permissions, and even launch other key collaboration tools like video meetings or check a colleague's calendar without ever leaving the chat interface.
Customizable dashboards for reporting
Lark makes it easy to not only store and organize data, but to visualize and share as well, allowing teams to monitor progress and gain valuable insights into their workflows. The data in Lark Base can be used to create custom dashboards with charts and graphs with just a few clicks. You can visualize key metrics like task completion rates, team workload, and overall project health, which are updated in real time. This empowers team members to create intuitive reports without devoting hours on parsing the data while allowing managers to make decisions based on live data.
Natively integrated intelligence
Many platforms are now adding AI task management tools, but often as a costly add-on. In Lark, AI is woven into the core fabric of the platform and offered as a utility. Lark Minutes uses AI to generate meeting summaries and action items, saving hours of manual note-taking. Furthermore, its AI-powered enterprise search allows users to find information across all of Lark's applications—messages, files, emails, calendars, and docs—from a single search bar. This makes Lark's AI a practical, everyday tool for enhancing productivity rather than a premium feature.
Pros:
True all-in-one platform that combines chat, meetings, docs, and tasks, reducing the need for other software.
Generous free plan for up to 20 users, with project management features, file sharing, workflow automation, project templates, and more.
Paid plans offer great value for money, replacing multiple tools in your tech stack. For example, if your team of 100 replaces Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Trello with Lark, you could save $25,200 per year.
Robust collaboration tools, including real-time co-editing and AI-powered translation, make it ideal for remote and global teams.
User-friendly interface that integrates multiple powerful tools into a single, easy-to-navigate experience.
Cons:
New users who are accustomed to simpler, single-purpose tools may need time to learn how to make use of the vast array of features.
Starter plan: Free forever plan that includes 11 powerful tools for up to 20 users. It also comes with 100GB of storage, 1000 automation runs, AI translations, and more.
Pro plan: $12/user/month (billed annually) for up to 500 users. It includes everything in Starter plus group calling for up to 500 attendees, 15TB of storage, 50,000 automation runs, and more.
Enterprise plan: Contact sales for custom pricing. Supports unlimited users and includes even more automation runs and advanced security, compliance, and management features.
Trello: Best for visual task management with Kanban boards
Image source: trello.com
Trello is the tool that brought Kanban boards to the masses. Its core strength is its simplicity and highly visual nature. The platform is built around a system of boards (projects), lists (stages), and cards (tasks) that you can drag and drop to track progress. This intuitive approach makes it easy for teams and individuals to get started with online task management tools without a steep learning curve. It's perfect for managing straightforward workflows, content calendars, or personal to-do lists where a visual overview is crucial.
Key features
Drag-and-drop Kanban boards: Trello's signature feature for visual task management.
Butler automation: A no-code tool to automate repetitive tasks and streamline workflows.
Power-ups: Integrations that add functionality like calendars, voting, and connections to other apps, enhancing team collaboration.
AI features: Includes an AI-powered analyst to provide valuable insights from your boards and AI-assisted text generation within cards.
Pros:
Extremely intuitive and easy to use, with virtually no onboarding required.
The visual Kanban interface provides an excellent at-a-glance overview of project status.
A generous free plan that includes unlimited cards and Power-Ups, making it accessible for small teams.
Cons:
Lacks the advanced features needed for complex project management, such as native Gantt charts, dependency management, and detailed reporting.
Boards with many lists and cards can quickly become cluttered and difficult to manage.
Pricing
Free: $0 for up to 10 collaborators per workspace. Includes unlimited cards and up to 10 boards.
Standard: $5 per user/month (billed annually). Includes unlimited boards, advanced checklists, and custom fields.
Premium: $10 per user/month (billed annually). Adds multiple views like Calendar and Timeline, plus advanced admin features.
Enterprise: $17.50 per user/month (billed annually). Includes organization-wide permissions and enhanced security.
For more details, see Trello Pricing: Plans, Features, and Tips to Find Your Perfect Fit.
Asana: Best for growing teams and cross-functional project planning
Image source: asana.com
Asana is a powerful and flexible platform designed to help teams orchestrate their work, from daily tasks to strategic initiatives. It offers a more structured environment than Trello, providing multiple ways to visualize and manage projects, including lists, timelines, and boards. This versatility makes it an excellent choice for growing teams and organizations that need to coordinate complex, cross-functional projects and maintain clarity on who is responsible for what, and by when.
Key features
Multiple project views: Visualize project tasks in various formats, including lists, timelines (Gantt charts), kanban boards, and calendars to suit different project workflows.
Portfolio management: Get a high-level overview of all complex projects to monitor progress and ensure alignment with strategic goals.
Workload management: Helps project managers balance team assignments and prevent burnout by providing visibility into each team member's capacity.
Asana AI: An integrated AI task management tool that provides smart summaries, generates custom fields, and helps identify project risks to improve outcomes.
Pros:
Highly flexible, with multiple project views to suit different workflows and team preferences.
Powerful features for managing task dependencies, setting goals, and tracking workloads.
The free plan is quite capable, offering unlimited tasks and projects for up to 10 team members.
Cons:
It comes with a higher price tag than many of its competitors, which can be a barrier for smaller teams.
The extensive feature set can have a significant learning curve to master fully.
Pricing
Personal: $0 for up to 10 teammates, including unlimited tasks, projects, and storage (100MB per file).
Starter: $10.99 per user/month (billed annually). Adds Timeline view, a workflow builder, and project dashboards.
Advanced: $24.99 per user/month (billed annually). Unlocks Portfolios, Workload management, and Goals.
Enterprise: Custom pricing for advanced security, compliance, and dedicated support.
For more details, see Asana Pricing Explained: Which Plan Is Right for You?
ClickUp: Best for highly customizable project management
Image source: clickup.com
ClickUp markets itself as the "one app to replace them all," and it lives up to this claim with an astonishingly comprehensive feature set. The platform is built on the principle of extreme flexibility, allowing teams to customize nearly every aspect of their workspace to fit their unique processes. With over 15 different views and a hierarchical structure of Spaces, Folders, and Lists, ClickUp can be configured for virtually any type of work, from simple task lists to complex agile development sprints.
Key features
15+ customizable views: Offers a wide array of views like List, Board, Gantt, and Calendar, allowing teams to visualize project tasks in the way that works best for them.
Customizable task management: Create tasks with custom fields, priorities, and task dependencies for granular control over project tasks.
All-in-one tools: Includes native Docs, Whiteboards, real-time Chat, and Goals, reducing the need to switch between different management software.
ClickUp Brain: A powerful AI assistant integrated throughout the platform to help with writing, summarizing information, and generating essential tasks.
Pros:
An incredibly comprehensive feature set that can replace multiple other applications.
A very generous free plan that includes unlimited members and tasks.
Affordable paid plans that offer significant value for the number of features included.
Cons:
The sheer number of features and customization options can be overwhelming for new users, leading to a steep learning curve.
Some users report occasional performance lag, especially in workspaces with a large volume of tasks.
Pricing
Free Forever: $0 for unlimited members and tasks, with 60MB of storage and limited uses of certain features.
Unlimited: $7 per user/month (billed annually). Includes unlimited storage, integrations, and Gantt charts.
Business: $12 per user/month (billed annually). Adds advanced automations, workload management, and Google SSO.
Enterprise: Custom pricing. Includes custom roles, advanced permissions, and a dedicated success manager.
For more details, see ClickUp Pricing: Plans, Features, and Value for Your Team.
monday.com: Best for visual workflows and team collaboration
Image source: monday.com
monday.com is a Work Operating System (Work OS) celebrated for its bright, colorful, and highly intuitive user interface. It makes managing work feel less like a chore and more like an engaging activity. The platform is built around highly customizable boards that can be adapted to manage almost any type of workflow, from marketing campaigns and sales pipelines to project tracking and IT requests. Its visual nature and ease of use make it a favorite among teams that value transparency and collaboration.
Key features
Versatile boards and views: The platform's core is its highly customizable boards, which can be adapted to visualize project tasks using kanban boards, calendars, timelines, and Gantt charts.
Workflow automation: A powerful, code-free automation builder helps streamline workflows by handling repetitive tasks, sending notifications, and integrating with other tools.
Customizable dashboards: Provides real-time, high-level valuable insights into project progress and team performance, helping project managers monitor progress effectively.
AI features: monday.com has integrated AI to help create tasks, summarize updates, and predict potential bottlenecks, enhancing overall team communication and efficiency.
Pros:
A beautiful, modern, and highly intuitive user interface that is easy for teams to adopt.
Extremely customizable, allowing teams to build workflows that perfectly match their processes.
Strong features for team collaboration and visual data reporting.
Cons:
The pricing model requires a minimum of three seats for all paid plans, which can be costly for very small teams.
The free plan is quite limited, with a cap of two users and three boards, making it difficult to use for team-based work.
Pricing
Free: $0 for up to 2 users and 3 boards.
Basic: $9 per user/month (billed annually, 3-seat minimum). Includes unlimited items and 5GB of storage.
Standard: $12 per user/month (billed annually, 3-seat minimum). Adds Timeline & Gantt views, automations, and integrations.
Pro: $19 per user/month (billed annually, 3-seat minimum). Unlocks private boards, time tracking, and more automation actions.
Enterprise: Custom pricing. Includes enterprise-grade security, advanced analytics, and premium support.
For more details, see Monday Pricing: Comprehensive Guide to the Latest Plans in 2025.
Wrike: Best for enterprise-level project and portfolio management
Image source: wrike.com
Wrike is a powerful and highly secure work management platform built for the demands of larger teams and enterprise organizations. It excels in managing complex projects and providing portfolio-level visibility for managers and executives. With features designed for granular control, advanced reporting, and cross-departmental collaboration, Wrike is a top choice for Project Management Offices (PMOs), marketing departments, and professional services teams that need a scalable and robust solution.
Key features
Advanced reporting and dashboards: Offers customizable dashboards and deep data analytics for a comprehensive view of project status and performance across the entire portfolio.
Resource management: Includes robust tools for resource and capacity planning, helping to assign tasks effectively and manage team workloads for complex projects.
Proofing and approvals: A standout feature for creative and marketing teams, allowing for direct feedback and approvals on digital assets, which streamlines the review process.
Work intelligence (AI): Integrates AI features like Wrike Copilot to generate content, predict project risks, and provide valuable insights, making it a powerful AI task management tool.
Pros:
Highly scalable platform that can support the needs of large, complex organizations.
Powerful features for resource management, reporting, and workflow automation.
Enterprise-grade security features provide granular control over data and access.
Cons:
The user interface can feel dated and less intuitive compared to more modern competitors.
There is a steep learning curve, and unlocking its full potential often requires training.
Key features like time tracking are only available on higher-priced plans.
Pricing
Free: $0 for an unlimited number of users, but limited to 200 active tasks and basic features.
Team: $10 per user/month (billed annually). For 2-15 users, adds Gantt charts and 50 automation actions per user/month.
Business: $25 per user/month (billed annually). For 5-200 users, includes resource planning, time tracking, and proofing.
Enterprise: Custom pricing. For large teams needing advanced security and admin controls.
Pinnacle: Custom pricing. For teams with complex needs, including advanced reporting and budgeting tools.
For more details, see Unlocking Wrike Pricing: A Comprehensive Guide to Plans and Features.
Smartsheet: Best for teams that love spreadsheet-style project management
Image source: smartsheet.com
Smartsheet brilliantly combines the familiar, grid-based interface of a spreadsheet with powerful project management capabilities. This unique approach makes it an ideal tool for teams that are deeply accustomed to working in Excel or Google Sheets but need more advanced features like automation, reporting, and different project views. It's a highly versatile platform that can be used to manage everything from project plans and budgets to complex operational workflows.
Key features
Multiple views: While built on a familiar spreadsheet-style grid, it also supports Gantt, Card (kanban boards), and Calendar views to visualize project tasks in multiple formats.
Automation engine: A key strength is its ability to streamline workflows by automating repetitive tasks like sending alerts, requesting updates, and moving data between sheets.
Dashboards and reporting: Features customizable dashboards that provide real-time reporting on project progress, making it easy to share valuable insights with stakeholders.
AI tools: Recently introduced AI capabilities help users generate formulas, summarize sheet data, and analyze trends, making data analysis more accessible.
Pros:
The spreadsheet-like interface is familiar and powerful for users with an Excel background.
Extensive customization and automation capabilities allow for the creation of sophisticated workflows.
Strong reporting and dashboard features provide excellent visibility for stakeholders.
Cons:
The interface can be less intuitive and visually engaging for teams not accustomed to spreadsheets.
It lacks a consistent real-time autosave feature, which can be jarring for users accustomed to modern cloud apps.
The pricing can become expensive, and many advanced features are only available on the higher-tier plans.
Pricing
Pro: $9 per user/month (billed annually). For up to 10 users, includes unlimited sheets and 250 automations per month.
Business: $19 per user/month (billed annually). Requires a minimum of 3 users and includes unlimited automations, dashboards with unlimited widgets, and Brandfolder integration.
Enterprise: Custom pricing. Includes enterprise-grade security, AI tools, and access to premium apps and support.
For more details, see Smartsheet Pricing 2025: Plans, Features, and Tips to Find Your Perfect Fit.
Todoist: Best for individual productivity and simple to-do lists
Image source: todoist.com
Todoist has earned its reputation as one of the best personal productivity and to-do list apps on the market. Its design philosophy is centered on simplicity, speed, and clarity. It helps users declutter their minds by providing a clean and efficient way to capture, organize, and complete tasks. While it supports team collaboration, its core strength lies in empowering individuals to manage their personal and professional responsibilities without the complexity of a full-blown project management system.
Key features
Natural language input: Allows users to create tasks quickly by typing due dates and recurring schedules in plain English, such as "every Friday at 4pm".
Task organization: Provides robust tools to organize tasks, including priority levels, labels, and custom filters, making it a powerful personal task manager.
Productivity gamification: The Karma system tracks your task progress and awards points for completing tasks and maintaining streaks, adding a motivational element to managing tasks.
AI assistant: A feature on paid plans that helps break down complex projects into smaller, more manageable sub-tasks, improving task prioritization.
Pros:
A clean, minimal, and highly efficient user interface that makes task management a breeze.
Excellent cross-platform support with seamless and reliable syncing across all devices.
Powerful features for personal productivity, including natural language input and customizable filters.
Cons:
Not designed for managing complex, multi-stakeholder projects and lacks features like Gantt charts or advanced reporting.
Many key features, such as reminders and unlimited activity history, are locked behind a paid subscription.
Pricing
Beginner: $0 for individuals. Includes up to 5 personal projects and 5 collaborators per project.
Pro: $4 per user/month (billed annually). Unlocks up to 300 projects, custom reminders, unlimited activity history, and the AI Assistant.
Business: $6 per user/month (billed annually). Adds a team workspace, team billing, and admin roles.
Airtable: Best for building custom workflows with a database-style approach
Image source: airtable.com
Airtable is a uniquely flexible platform that blends the simplicity of a spreadsheet with the power of a relational database. This allows teams to build highly customized applications and workflows to manage almost any kind of information, from project tasks and content calendars to complex CRMs and inventory trackers. Its ability to link records between different tables creates a network of connected data that goes far beyond a simple to-do list. This makes it one of the best task management tools for virtual assistants, who can use it to build custom client portals and bespoke management systems.
Key features
Relational database functionality: Its core strength is the ability to link records between different tables, creating a network of connected data that goes far beyond a simple to-do list.
Multiple views: Offers various ways to visualize information, including Grid, Calendar, kanban boards, and Gallery, making it adaptable for different project workflows.
Interface Designer: A no-code tool that allows teams to build custom, interactive dashboards and applications, creating a tailored user friendly interface for their specific needs.
Airtable AI (Omni): An agentic AI assistant that can help build apps, analyze data, and generate valuable insights conversationally, positioning it as a leading AI task management tool.
Pros:
Incredibly flexible and customizable, allowing you to build almost any workflow you can imagine.
Powerful relational database features enable sophisticated data organization.
The Interface Designer is a powerful tool for creating custom, user-friendly applications for your team.
Cons:
There is a significant learning curve to master its advanced database and formula features.
Pricing can become expensive as you scale, with costs tied to both user seats and record limits.
The free plan has strict limitations on records, storage, and automation runs, which can be quickly outgrown.
Pricing
Free: $0 for up to 5 editors. Limited to 1,000 records and 1GB of attachments per base.
Team: $20 per user/month (billed annually). Increases limits to 50,000 records per base and adds extensions and Gantt/timeline views.
Business: $45 per user/month (billed annually). Increases limits to 125,000 records and adds an admin panel, SSO, and advanced sync integrations.
Enterprise Scale: Custom pricing. Offers up to 500,000 records per base, enhanced security, and enterprise-level governance.
For more details, see Airtable Pricing 2025: Which Plan Is Right for Your Team?
Jira: Best for agile software development teams
Image source: atlassian.com
Jira is a favourite among software development teams that practice agile methodologies like Scrum and Kanban. It is a purpose-built tool designed to manage the entire development lifecycle, from planning sprints and creating backlogs to tracking bugs and managing releases. Its deep integration with developer tools and its highly customizable workflows make it an indispensable part of the tech stack for thousands of engineering teams.
Key features
Agile boards: Purpose-built Scrum and Kanban help software development teams plan sprints, manage backlogs, and visualize project tasks according to agile methodologies.
Roadmaps: Provides tools for long-term strategic planning and visualization, helping teams connect their day-to-day work to larger project timelines.
Advanced reporting: Includes agile-specific reports like burndown charts, velocity charts, and cumulative flow diagrams to help teams monitor progress and continuously improve their processes.
Customizable workflows and integrations: Offers highly customizable project workflows to match any team's process and provides seamless integration with a vast ecosystem of developer tools like Bitbucket and GitHub.
Pros:
Powerful and specialized features that are great for agile software projects.
Extensive customization options for workflows, issue types, and fields.
Robust integration with a wide range of developer tools and other Atlassian products.
Cons:
The interface is complex and can be overwhelming and unintuitive for non-technical or non-agile teams.
Requires significant time and expertise to configure and manage effectively.
Pricing
Free: $0 for up to 10 users. Includes 2GB of file storage and community support.
Standard: Approximately $7.53 per user/month. For up to 100,000 users, includes 250GB of storage and user roles/permissions.
Premium: Approximately $13.53 per user/month. Includes unlimited storage, advanced roadmaps, and a 99.9% uptime SLA.
Enterprise: Custom pricing (billed annually). Includes multiple sites, centralized security controls, and a 99.95% uptime SLA.
How to choose the right task management tool for your team
With so many great options, making the final decision can be tough. The best approach is to reflect on your team's fundamental needs. The market for team task management tools has naturally segmented into distinct categories, and understanding where your team fits can quickly narrow your choices.
Start by asking these key questions:
What is your primary goal?
Are you simply trying to organize tasks for a small team (Todoist, Trello)? Do you need to manage complex, cross-functional projects with dependencies and timelines (Asana, Wrike)? Or is your main objective to consolidate your entire tech stack and reduce the number of apps your team uses (Lark, ClickUp)? Identifying your core purpose will point you toward the right task management software.
How does your team work?
Consider your team's preferred style. If your workflow is highly visual and process-driven, tools with strong Kanban boards like Trello and monday.com are excellent choices. If your team lives and breathes spreadsheets, the grid-based power of Smartsheet will feel like a natural upgrade. For software teams operating in two-week sprints, nothing beats the specialized agile features of Jira.
What is your budget and team size?
The free task management tools offered by many platforms are a great way to start, but be mindful of their limitations. Plans from Trello, Asana, and Jira limit you to 10 users, while monday.com's free plan is capped at just two. Lark offer the most generous free tier for larger teams, supporting up to 20 users with 100GB of storage.
Also, pay attention to pricing models; for instance, monday.com's requirement of a three-seat minimum for paid plans can significantly impact the total cost for a small team of one or two people.
How important is AI to your workflow?
Most modern tools now offer AI features, but their integration varies. Are you looking for AI as a helpful assistant for writing and summarizing (Asana, ClickUp)? Or do you envision a future where AI is deeply embedded in every aspect of your work, from translating messages in real time to automatically transcribing meetings? This deeper, more native integration is where a platform like Lark truly stands out.
Conclusion
The central challenge of modern work isn't a lack of tools; it's the fragmentation and complexity they create. While many excellent, specialized task management tools exist, the most significant gains in productivity often come from simplifying your tech stack and unifying your team's workflow in a single, cohesive space. The future of work is integrated, reducing the time we waste switching between apps and increasing the time we spend on meaningful, collaborative work.
Stop juggling apps and start unifying your work. Give your team the clarity and focus they deserve. Try Lark today and experience the power of an all-in-one workspace.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best tool to manage tasks?
The best tool depends on your team's specific needs. For teams looking to reduce app switching and improve efficiency, an all-in-one platform like Lark is ideal because it combines chat, tasks, documents, and meetings in a single place.
What are the four types of task management?
There are several ways to categorize task management, but four common styles include Matrices, Lists, Boards, and Timelines. Matrices, like the Eisenhower Matrix, help prioritize tasks by urgency and importance, while lists are simple to-do formats. Boards use a visual, card-based system like Kanban, and timelines or Gantt charts are best for tracking tasks with dependencies over a set period.
What are task management tools?
Task management tools are digital platforms designed to help individuals and teams organize, track, and collaborate on work or projects. They allow you to create and assign tasks, set deadlines, monitor progress, and share files, all within a centralized system. This helps improve productivity, accountability, and team communication.
Are there any free task management software?
Yes, many of the task management tools mentioned in this blog offer free plans. For example, Lark provides a generous free task management software plan for up to 20 users with access to its full suite of integrated tools.
