What Is Project Management Software? Definition, Features and Examples

Definition

Project management software is an application that helps a person or team plan, organize and track work toward a goal. Instead of spreading tasks across email, chat and spreadsheets, everyone works from one shared system that shows who is doing what, by when.

Core features

Most project management tools include:

• Tasks with owners, due dates, priorities and comments
• Views such as lists, Kanban boards, calendars and Gantt timelines
• Collaboration through comments, mentions, file attachments and notifications
• Progress tracking with statuses, dashboards and reports
• Integrations with chat, calendar, file storage and other tools

More advanced tools add task dependencies, workload planning, time tracking, automations and portfolio reporting.

Main types of project management software

Type	What it is	Examples
Kanban boards	Simple visual boards with cards moving through columns	Trello
Structured work management	Projects, timelines, owners and reporting	Asana, monday.com
All-in-one workspaces	Tasks plus docs, goals, time tracking and dashboards	ClickUp
Docs-first workspaces	Documents and databases that can track light projects	Notion

Who uses it

Freelancers use it to manage clients and deadlines. Agencies use it to standardize delivery. Small businesses use it to replace scattered spreadsheets. Larger organizations use it to coordinate many teams and report on progress.

Benefits

• One source of truth for what needs to happen
• Clear ownership, so fewer tasks fall through the cracks
• Visibility for managers and clients without status meetings
• Reusable templates for repeat work

How to pick one

Start with the job you need done, match the tool's complexity to your team, and run a one-week trial on a real project. Our guide on how to choose project management software walks through it, and the best project management software list compares the leading options. You can also get a recommendation in four questions with Find Tools.

Project management software versus spreadsheets

Spreadsheets are flexible and familiar, but they struggle with ownership, notifications, history and multiple people editing at once. Project management software adds assignees, due dates, reminders, comments and views on top of the same information, so work is less likely to fall through the cracks.

Cloud-based versus on-premise

Almost all modern project management tools are cloud-based, which means they run in the browser and mobile apps without installation, and update automatically. On-premise tools still exist for organizations with strict data requirements, but they are now the exception.

How much does project management software cost?

Most tools offer a free plan and charge per user per month for paid plans. Entry-level paid plans for the tools we review range from about $5 to $11 per user/month on annual billing, with enterprise plans priced on request. Some tools, such as Basecamp, use flat pricing instead of per-user fees.