Top 9 Tools for a Project Manager in 2021 (New Guide)

Project managers face a number of common issues in their daily routine. 

A project manager needs to fully understand the time, budget, and resource constraints they have and how to tackle them.

Wouldn’t be great if you had an easy to digest list of top 9 tools for a project manager in 2021 which you can easily follow and up your project management game?

The content team at SaasReviews understands that such a list would be greatly beneficial for project managers; so we’re floating the top tools for a project manager. 

We have divided the list of 9 tools for a project manager in three categories:

1. Project Management Tools Examples
2. Digital Communication Tools
3. Time Management Tools Free

Project Management Tools Examples

As a project manager, the first category of tools that need to be on the top of your list are project management tools. We have compiled a list of examples of the top three project management tools that will help you get work done.

You need to ensure you understand the top features of project management tools, pricing, and the differentiating factor for these project management tools.

We’re sure you can find a solution that is best suited for your business needs out of these project management tools examples.

Clickup

The first app on our list of top tools for a project manager in 2021 is none other than Clickup.

ClickUp’s tagline is “One app to replace them all” and they definitely are on their way to be the number one product in the project management tools category.

Built for a team of all sizes and sectors, ClickUp has a fully customizable feature set which makes it one of the best and must-have project management software for the agile category.

Top Features

• Custom Statuses
• Checklist Templates
• Task Dependencies
• Recurring Checklists
• Agile Board View
• Status Templates
• Scrum Points
• Reminders
• Automation
• Milestones
• Recurring Tasks
• MultiTask Toolbar
• Drag and Drop Reordering
• Subtasks
• Webhooks
• Mind Maps
• 2 Way Calendar Sync
• Native Time Tracking

Differentiating Factor: Clickup’s beautiful design and unprecedented UX reminds me of what Slack did to communication.

Pricing: Free for up to 100MBs, Premium for $5/user/month

Monday.com

Monday.com is a great combination of clever tools and accessible features.

If you’re looking for a project management tool that keeps things simple to use than Monday.com is the right option for you.

The things that really add value to the product are its attractive interface, useful visualization tools, and hundreds of integration with other apps.

Top Features

• Prioritizes People Management
• Intuitive User Interface
• Easily manage workload
• Effective Collaboration
• Reporting and Analytics
• Excellent Customer support
• 20 Gorgeous status colors
• Two Factor Authentication available on all plans
• Limited Board Permissions Mode
• Desktop App
• Activity Logging
• Due Date Tracking
• Time Tracking by project

Differentiating factor: Monday.com is not only great for project management but you can use it as a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) app, to manage ad campaigns and track bugs.

Pricing: Monday.com has four plans: Basic, Standard, Pro, and Enterprise. The pricing structure is tier-based with the basic plan starting at $8/sear/month for a team of 3.

Asana

There are many examples of project management tools that we could have featured at number as part of the round-up. 

But…

Asana is one app you just can’t ignore for such a listicle.

Top Features

• Defer tasks
• Declutter your inbox
• Organize your task and projects 
• Make it easy to find information
• Review and archive inbox notifications
• Mobile apps for iOS and Android
• Attachments
• Tasks in multiple projects
• Dependencies
• Templates
• Proofing
• Image Proofing
• Saved Advanced Searches
• Goals
• Milestones
• Dashboard
• Privacy Controls
• Admin Controls

Differentiating Factor: Asana is one of the easiest ways for teams to track and get results.

Pricing: Asana has four plans: Basic (US $0), Premium (US $10.99), Business (US $24.99), and Enterprise. 

Digital Communication Tools

Tools for a project manager need to cover the length and breadth of all requirements 

Digital Communication tools are software solutions that act as virtual meeting rooms for team members.

They facilitate the process of your team having conversations, update others on progress, exchange vital project information, share files, and work in a collaborative manner.

You will definitely find the following list useful for your project management needs

Slack

Slack is on the top of our apps for a project manager when it comes to digital communication tools.

Slack is a communication tool that is aimed at enabling messaging, tools and files. The best part is you can integrate all the other workplace tools with Slack.

There exist two methods of communication in Slack: direct messaging and channels (group chat).

So what’s really great about Slack?

Well, when Slack came along it didn’t really have any competition. Well there were other players who were working in this space but none of them really had the User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX) which Slack brought with it.

Unlike the traditional vendors like Microsoft, IBM and Apple; Slack gave teams a measure of control over who would have access to the chat and history through a dynamic and real time invitation system. 

Slack provides two things which are unique to the vendor in this niche: understanding it’s users needs and design.

Top Features:

• Ability to pin messages and reference the links to channels
• Shared channels across channels
• Tracking and managing documents
• Setting reminders
• RSS Feeds
• Streamlining the sidebar
• Advanced search modifiers
• Project friendly structure
• Integrations with other tools
• Task list management
• Collaborate with posts
• Custom shortcuts and slash commands

Differentiating factor: SImple and powerful UI/UX

Pricing: Free (for small teams), Standard ($6.67 USD/month – for small and medium businesses),  Plus ($12.5/month – for large businesses) and Enterprise Grid (for extra large businesses and those in regulated industries)

Microsoft Teams

Microsoft’s take on group messaging, collaboration and video continues to evolve. 

Microsoft Teams is a collaborative workspace within Office/Microsoft 365 that functions as a central hub for workplace conversations, video chats, collaborative teamwork and document sharing.

All of these options facilitate people working in professional work environments in achieving maximum productivity. 

Microsoft Teams was launched in 2017 as a rival to Slack…

The app saw historic sign ups during COVID-19 with over 75 million daily active users by April 2020.

Teams can function even as an alternative to email communication entirely but it can perform more broadly as well by connecting people and their apps.

MS Teams is available as a desktop app, mobile app and via web browsers as well.

Top Features:

• MS Teams is fully integrated with Office 365
• It has conversation channels
• Direct access to Skype, email and Onedrive
• Real time collaboration
• Access Teams across any device
• Internal and External collaboration
• Fast Search Option
• Easily organize email related to the topic
• Integrate third party applications quickly 
• Secure
• Slash commands to quick get work done
• Grid VIew
• Private or standard channels
• Bots Gallery
• Management of your app catalogue
• Recording storage
• App Pinning Option

Differentiating Factor: Productivity gains and enriched communication with integrations within one space

Pricing: MS Teams Free Plan, Microsoft 365 Business Basic: $5/user/month, Microsoft 365 Business Standard: $12.5/user/month, Office 365 E3: $20/user/month

Google Chat

Google does have it’s own team chat app even though it’s not really commonly used in the business sphere.

Google Chat breaks down conversations into rooms, similar to channels in Slack.

Your company can create as many rooms as it requires and users can easily join and leave the respective rooms.

The main differentiating factor of Google Chat is the integration capacity with apps in the Google ecosystem.

The main weakness of Google chat as a tool for a project manager in 2021 is definitely the polish. Simple tasks like browsing a list of public rooms to join are buried behind multiple clicks. 

If you decide to go ahead with Google Chat, essentially you can turn chat app into a work hub. 

Top Features:

• Conversations
• Notifications
• Integrations with other G Suite apps
• Hidden Features
• Do more with Google Chat

Differentiating Factor: Google Chat provides integration capacity with apps in the Google ecosystem.

Pricing: Free Plan, Google Workplace Essentials: $8 per active user/month, Google Workspace Enterprise: Contact Sales

Time Management Tools Free

Over the past two decades there has been a sprout of over hundreds and thousands of apps.

These apps really assist the work flow including in time management.

If your’re not taking advantage of these time management apps then you’re definitely missing a trick in achieving maximum productivity. 

Hubstaff

Hubstaff is one of the top free time management apps in the market. 

It allows you to track time for all projects and tasks that you are working on. In addition, you can decide which task to track time for and which task not to track.

Hubstaff is feature-rich, easy to administer, and has a focus on productivity which makes it worth considering for distributed teams and remote teams.

For senior management who require a birds-eye view of all their department leads, Hubstaff provides the capability to track websites, screenshots and apps.

Overall, we would say Hubstaff is a great time tracking app for small and medium businesses and it can even scale for larger businesses with its options for customizations. 

Top Features

• Screenshot and keystroke capture and monitoring
• Job site and geolocation features
• Productivity tracking features
• Easy to setup schedule shifts for employees
• Reporting: Better budget, estimation, and tracking of projects
• No more manual invoices
• Offline Time tracking
• Timesheet approvals

Differentiating Factor:

Hubstaff differentiates itself from its main competitors as it provides advanced feature sets including screenshots, website monitoring and app monitoring. 

Pricing

• Hubstaff provides a 14 day trial with no credit card requirement
• Solo Lite accounts are free
• Basic Plan: $5/month
• Premium Plan: $9/month
• If you opt for an annual plan you’ll get 2 months free

RescueTime

Rescue Time is a monitoring app which supports teams to track website and applications employees use during work.

The tool works around Peter Drucker’s maxim; “what gets measured, gets measured”

For managers the app provides a dashboard through which they can measure metrics for the entire team and their productivity.

It even measures how much your team members are spending on productive websites like Wikipedia, company websites, Google Docs etc.

RescueTime also measures how much your employees are spending on less productive tasks like surfing on social media networks like Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat etc.

But our advice would be that before you implement a time tracking app like RescueTime within your organization; you need to educate them beforehand so that they know how they will be 

held accountable. 

Top Features

• Website usage categorization
• Customization of Goals
• Capability to block distracting websites
• Track Offline Time
• Weekly Productivity Report
• All-in-one dashboard
• Track Mobile Usage
• Automatic time tracking
• Detailed Reports, Trends, and Insights
• One-Click Offline Time Tracking
• Set Smart Goals and Real-Time Alerts
• Integrations with top apps like Slack, Calendar and many more

Differentiating Factor:

Provides intelligent insights into how you and your team spend your day.

Pricing

• Offers two tiers of service
• Lite (Free)
• Premium ($9 per month or $72 per year)

TimeCamp

TimeCamp is a time management app which allows you to track time for tasks in multiple ways. 

In addition, it provides a variety of reporting, invoicing and budgeting features. It is a great app for those small, medium and large business setups which struggle with tracking time programs, inaccurate reports and client bills. 

Holistically speaking, TimeCamp offers three types of services: Timesheets, mobile time tracking and desktop time tracking.

To be more precise, TimeCamp will allow you to track time while following project, task or employee rates per assignment. 

Top Features

• Time Entry Time-to-Time
• Time Entry Notes
• Automatic time tracking with rules and keywords
• Filtering
• Sharing
• Online Payments
• Custom Taxes
• Budgeting
• To-Dos
• Desktop and Mobile App
• Active Directory Integration
• Customer Support
• Offline Access
• API
• Integrations
• Tracking Open
• Invoicing Synchronization

Differentiating Factor

Thanks to TimeCamp, the profitability of investments can be measured by calculating labor costs and comparing them with the flow of revenue coming into the business.

Pricing

• Free Trial
• Solo: Free
• Basic: $7/user/month
• Pro: $10/user/month