ClickUp Goals and OKRs: Targets, Folders and Tasks

ClickUp Goals and OKRs keep a quarter from turning into a slide that nobody opens. A Goal is the outcome. Targets are the numbers, checkboxes or tasks that prove it is moving. ClickUp also documents a second pattern: one task per objective, with key results as subtasks, sitting in the same Workspace as the work that moves the number.

Goals are on every plan. Free Forever includes 100 uses. Unlimited and above include unlimited access. If you are setting the next quarter now, start with one Goal and a few Targets, or one List of objectives. You do not need a separate OKR product to do that.

The ClickUp hub links the feature guides. ClickUp for startups is the closer fit if the whole company is still in one Workspace.

What are ClickUp Goals?

ClickUp Help defines Goals as high-level objectives made of smaller, measurable Targets. Finish the Targets and you finish the Goal. The same page lists OKRs, sprints and weekly scorecards as things people track this way.

Open Goals from the global navigation. If it is hidden, click More, select Goals, and pin it if you want it to stay visible. Create a Goal with + New Goal, fill in the details, then add Targets. When a task is attached to a Target, the task shows a badge with the Goal's name.

Each Goal can have its own color. Hover the Goal and use the ellipsis, or open the Goal and use the ellipsis next to the name, then Change color. Rename or delete a Target from the ellipsis next to the Target name.

Guests can use Goals. Permissions can be unique to Goals and Goal Folders. Edit permission can create, edit, move, delete and share Goals, including with guests. View only cannot change them. On Free Forever, people who join the Workspace have full access to create and edit. Specific permission levels are a paid-plan option.

Which target types does ClickUp offer?

There are four Target types. The Goal's progress percentage updates as you update them.

Click the Target name to update it. A Currency target takes an amount. A Number target takes the new value in the range. A Task target moves when the linked work is completed, which is the one type you should not have to edit by hand.

A Goal with four Targets is enough for a quarterly objective. Ten Targets usually means the Goal is a project plan in disguise. Put the project tasks in a List and attach that List, or the few tasks that actually define "done."

How many ClickUp Goals are on each plan?

ClickUp Help is specific about access and vague about the unit. The create-a-Goal article says Free Forever plans have 100 uses, and Unlimited and above have unlimited access. The sharing article says Free Forever Workspaces can use Goals 100 times. Neither page defines a use the way custom fields do (a value set on a task). Treat 100 as a ceiling for trying the feature. If the team will update Goals in a weekly review, plan on Unlimited so you are not counting clicks.

Goal Folders group Goals on the Goals page. They start on Business. Guests see a folder only if they are invited to view or edit it. You create one from the folder-plus icon, name it, then drag a Goal in or use Move to Folder. On Free Forever and Unlimited, you can still have many Goals. You just cannot file them into folders. A naming pattern such as "Q4 pipeline" is enough until the list is hard to scan.

Goals cards are available on all plans. A card shows a donut with the progress percentage, the number of Targets, the owner and the last update. You can filter by owner and sort by name, updated, due date, start date or progress. Dashboard uses are a separate limit, explained in ClickUp dashboards. On Free Forever, do not spend the dashboard trial only on a Goals card if you still need it to learn the other cards.

How do you set up OKRs in ClickUp?

ClickUp documents two layers. Use Goals when you want a scorecard with Targets. Use the Hierarchy when you want the objective and the key results to live next to the tasks that do the work. Many teams use both: a Goal for the number leadership asks about, and tasks for the work.

ClickUp's hierarchy guidance for goals and OKRs recommends:

• One Space for goals and OKRs, so ownership and dates are in one place.
• Folders for company, department, quarter or region. A quarterly Folder with a List per team is a simple version.
• One task per goal or OKR.
• For OKRs, the objective is the task and the key results are subtasks.
• Relationships between a team OKR and the company OKR it supports.
• An assignee, a due date and custom fields for the extra facts.

ClickUp's marketing OKR article recommends a dedicated List and these fields, which you create yourself. They are not built-in OKR columns.

Custom fields have their own limit: 60 uses on Free Forever, unlimited uses on Unlimited and above. The counting rules are in ClickUp custom fields. If you are still on Free Forever, a Task target on a Goal may be cheaper than a stack of number fields you update by hand.

Link each key result to the tasks that move it, using a relationship or a dependency. A content key result should point at the calendar tasks. A product key result should point at the sprint tasks. ClickUp for marketing teams is the campaign side of that link. ClickUp task dependencies covers the difference between a link and a real block.

ClickUp recommends List view and Gantt view for this Space. List views can be grouped or filtered by department or team. Gantt shows dependencies, milestones and dates across the objectives. A Dashboard can add a Table of the OKR List and a Task List of key results marked at risk, so the review starts with what is behind.

What should you review each week?

Update Current Value, or the Target, on a set day. A Goal that moves only at the end of the quarter is a recap, not a management tool. ClickUp's marketing guidance says to update the current number weekly. That is a habit, not a product setting.

Keep the objective qualitative and the key results measurable. "Improve activation" is an objective. "Raise week-one activation from 20% to 30%" is a key result. ClickUp's marketing article describes a well formed OKR as one objective and two to four key results. More than that and the review becomes a status meeting about tasks you already track elsewhere.

Asana also has goals for teams that want a more polished, less configurable tool. ClickUp fits when the scorecard and the tasks should be the same subscription, which is the usual startup and small-team case. Docs for the narrative behind a number can live in ClickUp Docs. Notion is the stronger choice if the OKR system is mostly a document and the task list is secondary.

Start on Free Forever if you are testing one or two Goals. Move to Unlimited at $7 per user/month billed annually when Goals are part of the weekly review or you need unlimited custom field uses for current and target numbers. Move to Business at $12 billed annually when you want Goal Folders and the sprint or dashboard charts that sit next to the OKRs.

Name the objective, add two to four Targets or key results, and attach the tasks that actually change the number.