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With remote work now being the norm, managing workflows and keeping teams aligned across different locations can be daunting. Tasks can fall through the cracks, communication breaks down, and productivity can take a hit. Workflow management software has become an indispensable tool, helping you stay organized, save time, and adapt as your business grows.
Whether you’re a seasoned professional or a novice stepping into the digital world, finding a software solution that balances power and simplicity can be time-consuming. And even when you finally find something reliable, the cost can be hard to justify.
That’s why I’ve tested the most popular workflow management tools available on the market. I compared features, evaluated pricing, and focused on real-world usability to help you find the best match for your team and budget.
monday.com consistently exceeded my expectations in terms of functionality, user-friendliness, and affordability. It offers flexible templates for various use cases and custom automations to streamline workflows and increase productivity.
What We Look For in the Best Workflow Management Software
While testing each workflow management software, I focused on features that help you and your team stay organized, collaborate effectively, and adapt as your business grows.
Automation features. Automation is essential for cutting out repetitive tasks and minimizing human error. I’ve prioritized platforms that include strong automation features to keep work moving without oversight.
Ease of use. A clean interface and simple navigation are key when you’re juggling tasks and deadlines. Many of my top picks feature built-in AI helpers to make managing workflows even easier.
Integrations. Your workflow management software should connect with the apps you already use. The platforms I chose support a wide range of integrations to help you keep everything in sync.
Collaboration tools. Teams get more done when everyone is on the same page. I made sure my top choices simplified sharing real-time updates, assigning tasks, and coordinating team members.
Affordability and free trials. You shouldn’t have to pay upfront just to see if something works for your team. Every option here offers either a free trial or a free plan, so you can test it out before spending a cent.
monday.com has a robust automation center with prebuilt and AI automations
I have to say, I was thoroughly impressed with monday.com’s ability to automate manual processes. The platform offers custom workflow automations to reduce time on repetitive tasks. You also get over 200 customizable templates you can reuse as needed. Plus, there are hundreds of third-party apps to streamline your processes, making monday.com truly stand out for boosting efficiency.
monday.com’s drag-and-drop functionality allows you to quickly organize tasks and assign them. You can also add custom columns and reorder them to suit your needs. Its intuitive interface is easy to grasp from the start – even if your team members aren’t tech-savvy.
In addition to standard work views like Gantt and Kanban, monday.com also offers Workload, Map, and Chart views. This way, your team members can tailor their workspace to their specific needs. While you’ll have to upgrade to a paid plan to unlock most of these views, monday.com’s affordable Standard plan includes up to 250 automations and 250 integrations per month.
Features
AI automation blocks. This feature lets you incorporate AI actions into your workflows. For instance, you can write and summarize text with AI, extract key information from documents, or automatically populate board columns with data such as assignee and status.
Updates section. While monday.com doesn’t have a built-in direct messaging feature, every task has a chat-like feed where you can post updates, tag teammates, and share files.
Shareable boards. Invite guests to your board with a shareable link or embedded code. You can make boards private or manage permissions so you’re always in control when it comes to who has access to your project details.
In-depth reporting. monday.com’s reporting tools help you manage budgets with advanced formulas and filters, visualize board data through charts, and leverage dashboards for insights. You can also add benchmarks and cumulative data for in-depth analysis.
Smartsheet makes it easy to manage and scale your workflow
A strong alternative to tools like Google Sheets and Excel, Smartsheet is a great option if you enjoy working with spreadsheets but need more powerful workflow features. It merges the familiar grid layout with advanced features like Gantt charts and task automation. With built-in workflow templates, you can set up workflows to request approvals, auto-send forms, and push real-time alerts to your Slack channel.
Smartsheet’s DataTable feature allows you to create huge data sets (think millions of rows). You can also combine information from multiple sources and even automate uploads. By adding date columns, you can transition to a Gantt chart or Calendar view for a comprehensive view of your project’s timeline.
The software’s workflows, triggered by cell values, are superior to standard spreadsheet functions due to their scope across multiple sheets (projects). But this also means that there’s a steeper learning curve if you’re not familiar with spreadsheet workflows.
Features
Multilingual support. Smartsheet supports eight different languages (including English, Spanish, French, German, and Japanese), making it accessible to diverse teams across the world.
Forms for automatic data collection. Built-in forms let you distribute forms and automatically populate columns with collected data. Form submissions don’t require an account, so you have the option to gather feedback outside of your team.
Power BI integration. You can embed Power BI reports directly into your Smartsheet dashboard using the Web Content Widget. This allows for more advanced data visualization.
Mobile app. The mobile app offers almost every functionality of the web app. Plus, dashboards adapt to your screen size automatically.
Teamwork’s clean interface makes the software easy to navigateTeamwork offers a high level of granularity and customization for tasks. This allows your team to tailor the tool to your specific workflow needs. Plus, Teamwork guides you through creating your first project, so you can quickly identify and use the features most important for your team.
Its suite of client tools saves time while keeping your clients in the loop. Teamwork lets you add collaborators outside of your organization for free. They can comment on tasks and log time, depending on the permissions you set. Also, they can log into their own portal to view project details, files, and updates.
The forever free plan supports up to five users, but you’re limited to five active projects at a time. I recommend upgrading to the Deliver plan for the best value. This gets you access to automations and the ability to create up to 300 projects.
Features
Smart shortcuts. Teamwork’s interface is intuitive and customizable, with shortcuts like the Jump To feature for quick access to your projects. You can add your company’s branding and custom logos to each individual project, too.
Built-in time tracker. This feature enables you to accurately monitor time spent on tasks directly within the platform, eliminating the need to toggle between apps. Tracking billable hours also guarantees accurate invoicing.
Extensive native integrations. The Teamwork ecosystem includes Teamwork Spaces, Teamwork Chat, Teamwork Desk, and Teamwork CRM. They all integrate seamlessly, but if your workflow relies on other tools, Teamwork also connects with apps from Google and Microsoft, Slack, Zapier, and Dropbox.
Portfolio management. Portfolio management lets you manage multiple projects from a single dashboard. You can quickly identify which projects need urgent attention and avoid overloading your team to ensure a smooth workflow.
Zoho Projects makes it easy to integrate apps from its suite of toolsZoho Projects is part of a larger suite of free and paid apps, which makes it a good choice if you’re looking to streamline your workflow under one ecosystem. If you’re using other Zoho software, you can integrate Zoho Flow to trigger actions in one app when something happens in another. For example, when you create a new lead in Zoho CRM, you can send a Slack message and create a task in Zoho Projects.
It also includes solid reporting tools. You can use the Critical Path feature to view the longest sequence of dependent tasks on a Gantt chart, with critical tasks colored in red. Then you can use the Strict Project feature to stay on track. It locks deadlines and tasks so your team won’t be able to create new tasks or move milestones beyond the initial deadlines of your project.
Although it’s not as user-friendly as monday.com, Zoho Projects can help you boost efficiency, especially if you’re on a budget. Even the cheapest plan gives you access to features like blueprints and time tracking. You can try out all paid plans with a 10-day free trial.
Features
Custom workflows. You can craft custom fields for project-specific issues, design tailored email templates, and establish personalized workflows with unique statuses.
Issue tracking automation. Zoho Projects allows you to set up automated alerts to keep relevant parties informed about issues or updates. You can also automate updates and custom rules to trigger events.
Blueprints. Regardless of your task processes’ complexity, you can easily design workflows with the visual blueprint editor. There’s a drag-and-drop function to set task statuses, assign team members for each stage, and ensure consistency for processes.
Zoho Analytics. Zoho has its own BI tool for advanced data analysis across platforms. For instance, you can create sales dashboards combining Zoho CRM and Google Analytics, or financial reports that pull data from Zoho Books and Stripe.
Jira lets you create custom automation rules or use templates
Contrary to popular belief, Jira’s Agile methodology isn’t just for large IT teams with complex workflows – it also caters to a wide range of industries, including marketing, design, and finance. If your projects involve numerous tasks, dependencies, and stages, Jira’s schemes can help streamline complicated workflows by associating them with different types of issues. You can save time by applying the same workflow scheme to multiple projects.
One of Jira’s standout features is its extensive automation library. It allows you to automate niche and complex processes using its extensive set of rules. This includes the ability to create customizable workflows tailored to your unique needs, as well as use its rich APIs to build apps and integrations.
Given its seamless integration with the collaboration platform Confluence, teams can enhance cross-department collaboration and information sharing. On the other hand, Jira does rely on third-party add-ons to form a comprehensive project management suite, which could add to your budget and workflow complexity.
Features
Great IT templates to get you started. Jira’s templates make it easy to start managing your workflow as soon as possible. Choose from tried-and-tested templates for bug tracking, web design, and marketing, just to name a few.
Workflow components. Jira allows you to segment any project’s tasks into sections to align with your workflows. This functionality helps to differentiate types of work, ensuring a clean, well-ordered project environment.
Different visualization tools. You can view your projects in basic or advanced mode, depending on the level of detail you want. Unlike basic mode with general filters, advanced views use Jira Query Language (JQL) for more complex queries. You can also use the two agile boards available: Scrum and Kanban.
Solid free plan for small teams. Jira’s free plan lets you add up to 10 users, and it includes custom automations and up to 100 monthly emails. It’s a good option for small businesses or startups.
ClickUp’s Whiteboard lets you use ready-made templates or create one from scratchClickUp emphasizes straightforward team communication with dashboards and Chat widgets. This ensures that all messages related to a task are in one place. Additionally, the Whiteboards tool makes it easy to virtually brainstorm with your team, allowing everyone to share ideas and collaborate effectively.
Creating custom automations tailored to your needs is as simple as choosing an action from a list of selections. You have the flexibility to automate actions, set conditions, and initiate processes using any kind of event as a trigger, such as creating a new task or adding a specific assignee. If you prefer a quick solution, you can opt for any of the 100+ pre-built automations available.
The number of automations available will depend on your plan, but even the free plan comes with up to 50 active automations and 100 actions per month, which is a solid offer. Unfortunately, you’ll have to sign up for the Business plan or higher to have access to unlimited and private whiteboards. This plan does unlock unlimited storage and teams, which might not be a bad deal if you manage a large department.
Features
Easy file sharing. ClickUp features an integrated Docs app that allows real-time edits and commenting. You can also upload all types of files, from images and PDFs to videos.
Bulk action toolbar. Make your workflow even more efficient by bulk editing several tasks and subtasks – or even documents – at the same time. With this feature, you can quickly merge tasks, update statuses, and change deadlines.
Complex checklist creation. Checklists aren’t just your average to-do lists here – they’re an essential tool for project management. You can create detailed task breakdowns that you can assign and monitor or load a checklist template from the Project Checklist library.
Layout customization. ClickUp offers customizable layouts for tailored navigation and workspace organization. You can also personalize color themes for your workspace or activate Dark Mode for night-time work for an enhanced user experience.
HubSpot lets you create dashboards from templates to save timeHubSpot is a great option for marketing automation. It lets you set automation triggers based on customer behavior, which works well for collecting leads and managing customer lifecycles. Also, its CRM capabilities make it easy to automate workflows across marketing, sales, and customer service departments.
That said, HubSpot can get quite costly depending on the size of your team and the features you need. It’s a worthy investment for large teams, but the price may be too hefty if you don’t plan to use all its tools.
You can add various widgets to your Striven dashboards for a comprehensive data overviewStriven offers a comprehensive, all-in-one platform with CRM, accounting, and HR functions, among others. This is ideal if you want to customize automations to streamline processes across departments.
Striven has somewhat limited reporting tools (for example, there’s no critical path feature), and it offers few integrations with third-party apps, which may be challenging for businesses with specific needs. I’d recommend Striven if you’re looking for a straightforward workflow management platform and don’t need the bells and whistles.
TeamGantt lets you leave notes and comments on tasks for easier communicationTeamGantt’s standout feature is the interactive Gantt chart, which lets you easily create and adjust project timelines with a drag-and-drop editor. You get list, calendar, and Kanban work views, and you can integrate apps like Slack, Trello, and Dropbox to streamline workflows across platforms.
That said, TeamGantt lacks advanced features such as resource management, budgeting, and invoicing tools, which are invaluable for efficient workflows. Also, its limited reporting tools may not be sufficient for teams that need more powerful data analysis.
Bonsai offers invoice templates in various formats to save you time
Bonsai offers a built-in contract builder and proposal templates, making it a good option for freelancers who want to streamline administrative workflows. It also includes automated invoicing and a client portal, which saves time and enhances transparency in client communication.
While Bonsai is well-suited for solo professionals, it has limited third-party integrations. Also, its advanced reporting tools are only available on the more expensive plans, which lack value compared to other similarly priced workflow management options like monday.com.
Choose The Best Workflow Management Software for Your Team
The right workflow management software can be a game-changer for your project efficiency and team collaboration. However, the best solution for you will depend on the specific needs of you and your team.
If you’re looking for ease of use and flexibility, monday.com is my top recommendation. It offers an intuitive interface and extensive custom automations, which are perfect for teams that want to streamline workflows without a steep learning curve.
On the other hand, if you’re used to spreadsheets but need a more advanced alternative, consider Smartsheet. It provides you with a familiar spreadsheet interface but supercharges it with workflow automation and collaboration tools.
Or, if your work is mainly client-focused, go with Teamwork. It lets you add free collaborators, and it comes with built-in time tracking and invoice tools to ensure a smooth client experience.
Here’s a summary of my top workflow management software recommendations:
Free Plan
Best Feature
Best For
Starting Price
monday.com
✔
Great automation templates and full customization at affordable prices
Most types of teams looking for a versatile workflow management tool
Monday.com stands out as the best workflow management platform. With its user-friendly interface, comprehensive features, and scalability, monday.com caters to businesses of all sizes and offers intuitive AI tools to manage workflows.
What is the top tool for workflow automation?
Smartsheet is a top option for workflow automation as it streamlines workflows across projects. Also, Smartsheet’s workflow templates let you request approvals and send messages through chat apps, simplifying communication between team members.
Is there a free workflow management tool?
Platforms like Jira and ClickUp offer free plans that include basic tools and automations, which works well for smaller teams. But even if you’re on a budget, you can still get access to advanced tools for cheap. For instance, Teamwork’s affordable Deliver plan comes with a 30-day free trial and includes time tracking and invoicing tools, in addition to automations
Is Jira a workflow management tool?
Yes, Jira is a workflow management tool that’s primarily popular among software development teams for issue and project tracking – though it’s also a great tool for any type of team following the Agile methodology. Jira offers customizable workflows to help teams manage, streamline, and troubleshoot their processes effectively.
How do I choose a good workflow management software?
To choose a good workflow management software, you need to evaluate the ease of use, range of features, integration capabilities, scalability, and pricing. It’s also wise to read user reviews and consider trying out free trials or demos to see if the software meets your specific needs. If you still have questions, you can learn more from our list of the best project management software in 2025.
Ana specializes in writing about web building platforms, project management software, and other digital tools. She has been a freelance writer for 7 years, and has published countless product reviews and comparisons in that time. Ana has a passion for language and all things tech, and she combines the two to provide accessible and insightful resources for anyone interested in building websites or managing projects.
Maggy Di Costanzo is an editor at Website Planet, specializing in reviews of e-commerce platforms, website builders, and web hosting services. With experience as a freelance AI content specialist, editor, and writer, she brings a versatile skill set from industries like marketing and real estate. When she’s not editing or staying updated on SEO trends, Maggy enjoys going on hikes with her dog, planning dinner parties, and tracking the stock market.
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