Delivering projects can be hard work. There are many things that can go wrong and lead to deadlines being missed or budgets being overrun. A great way to help keep project teams focused and on track is to use a project management software tool!
Wrike is one of the most popular project management tools on the market, delivering an ‘all-in-one’ solution that works for many teams. But, with every project manager and project team having their own unique needs, maybe you’d be best off with a Wrike alternative?
In this article, we’re going to look at the 12 best Wrike alternatives, measuring them on their design, functionality and price as well as looking at why a Wrike alternative might be best for you!
Specifically, we’ll run through:
Let’s begin!
Why Consider a Wrike Alternative?
Whilst Wrike is a fairly comprehensive project management software tool, it doesn’t tick every box for every user. Here’s some of the stand out complaints real reviewers have of Wrike’s solution.
Design – We all know that alongside great features, the single most important part of a software tool is its design. Some reviewers find Wrike’s design style a significant drawback, making the experience confusing and causing difficulty when managing projects effectively.
Functionality – Some ‘all-in-one’ project management tools try to do many things but don’t do any of them perfectly. Some reviewers find that on the face of it Wrike offers what they need, but in practice the functionality doesn’t always deliver operationally.
Support & ease of use – Wrike is a big tool and as such it takes a lot of getting used to. Some reviewers have found this too much of a challenge to overcome, and struggled further due to receiving poor support from Wrike’s customer service team.
Price – Whilst Wrike has a free version, many reviewers find it limiting and need premium plans to get their work done. Their plans can be expensive, especially for teams that need the Business or Enterprise features.
Some of the above may concern you or maybe mirror your direct experience with Wrike. If so, let’s take a look at the 12 best Wrike alternatives on the market to see if there’s a better project management tool out there for you.
Top 12 Wrike Alternatives To Consider
Toggl Plan
Toggl Plan is among the simplest work management tools available today. Built for simplicity with easy drag-and-drop functionality and a clean user interface, it makes planning projects, getting tasks done, and managing team workloads a breeze.
What makes it a good Wrike alternative? – Easier to use, better for support & price
In a nutshell, Toggl Plan fixes a lot of the drawbacks we saw earlier on from Wrike. Its simple interface and clean design across timelines and boards make it easy for small teams to plan and deliver great projects. Great support and a cheaper price also make it a great alternative.
Additionally, Toggl Plan is excellent for capacity planning. The timeline makes it easy to see who will be available and when, so that you can plan according to your capacity on any given day, week, month or quarter.
Key Project Management Features
- Plan projects with timelines and milestones.
- Get a clear visual overview of who’s doing what, and when.
- Use timelines, boards, and custom task workflows. Adapt to your way of work.
- Collaborate with multiple team members. Share documents & files.
- Improve task completion quality with task checklists.
- Visualization of team workloads on a timeline
- Toggl Track integration for time management and tracking
Price
The free plan is great for up to 5 users and unlimited projects, complete with all the features for planning simple projects.
The Standard plan comes in at $9 per user, per month (or $8 when billed annually). The Business plan comes in at $15 per user per month (or $13.50 when billed annually).
You can find details and features for each plan here.
Asana
Like Wrike, Asana is an ‘all-in-one’ project management tool. By combining lists, timelines, and boards it helps teams get their projects planned and delivered. Asana are often commended for their wide range of integrations too, allowing you to connect in with the apps you already use, such as Zoom.
What makes it a good Wrike alternative? – Better for support
As an ‘all-in-one’ solution, it offers many of the same features. Asana are well-known for their great support and detailed knowledge base so you’ll have no trouble getting started.
Key Project Management Features
- Manage projects across lists, timelines and boards
- Detailed task management with features such as assignee and due date
- Resource and workload management features
- Free guests allow you to collaborate with internal and external stakeholders
- Scheduled status updates to align with your project reporting.
Pricing
The free plan will service project teams of up to 15 people. Paid plans start at $10.99 per user, per month and unlock access to timelines, dashboards, and powerful reporting integrations, such as PowerBI.
Trello
Whilst Trello can’t be classed as a complete project management software, it specialises itself in Kanban delivery. If it’s simplicity you’re after, and you’re already operating Kanban or scrum to deliver projects, Trello could be a great alternative to Wrike for you.
What Makes it a Wrike Alternative? – Better for Design & Price
Project teams love Trello because of its simplicity. Its streamlined Kanban board makes it easy to see the status of tasks and deliverables. Trello also offers great value, especially with its free offering.
Key Project Management Features
- Simple design and user interface make it easy for teams to use
- Visually manage tasks with Kanban boards and calendars
- Add rich information to tasks, including project documents
- Create custom fields and statuses to fit your project process
- Automate workloads to boost efficiency
Pricing
The free plan comes with up to 10 project team boards. Paid plans start at $12.50 per user, per month delivering unlimited boards, access for observers and integration for tools such as Slack.
Monday
Monday.com is one of the most popular all-round project management tools on the market. In many ways, Monday are very similar to Wrike in that they offer a range of functionality for tracking projects on timelines, lists or boards.
What makes it a good Wrike alternative? – Better for functionality
As a complete project management package, Monday is very powerful with many features for automation and reporting. If you find Wrike limiting, Monday is a great alternative.
Key Project Management Features
- Functionality across lists, timelines and boards for project management
- Slot Monday into your project processes with custom fields and statuses
- Collaborate on tasks with stakeholders through comments, chat and email
- Automate project updates and team notifications
- Wide range of reporting options to track overall progress or delays
Pricing
There’s no free plan with Monday, with their ‘Basic’ subscriptions starting at $8 per user, month with a 3 user minimum. ‘Standard’ and ‘Pro’ packages add additional features for an increased per user price.
ClickUp
ClickUp is another all-in-one tool for delivering great projects. It combines features such as timeline planning and task management alongside tools to help manage budget and regular project reporting.
What makes it a good Wrike alternative? – Better for design and price
ClickUp’s clean user interface makes it easy to use, especially over a long period. From a price perspective, the free plan offers great features to get started, whilst the ‘Unlimited’ and ‘Business’ packages are very cost-effective.
Key Project Management Features
- Plan projects in multiple ways, including with timelines and boards
- Integrated task management to keep the teams on track
- Milestone and dependency tracking to ensure projects deliver on time
- Collaborate instantly with baked in Docs and team chat
- Time tracking keeps budget management under control
Pricing
The free plan comes with unlimited users and unlimited tasks. Paid plans start at $5 per user, per month and offer a range of additional features to manage portfolios and complex reporting.
Samepage
Samepage aims to simplify the project process with clean design and great features . Through their unique ‘one page’ collaboration, Samepage combines task and board management with intuitive document collaboration. If you want to improve project communication, this is the tool for you!
What makes it a Wrike alternative? – Better for design and support
Samepage is all about collaboration. The clean, one page design makes it easy to get on started, with the Samepage team offering great support in line with their collaborative ethos.
Key Project Management Features
- Keep actions on track with one-page task management
- Plan ahead and identify blockers with board management
- In-app document creation and editing make for beautiful project artefacts
- Build in communication tools, including video conferencing
- Fantastic support accessed directly within the Samepage system
Pricing
The free plan is perfect for small teams. Paid plans start at $7.50 per user, per month and include features that help with task management, event management, and team communication.
Mavenlink
Mavenlink offers one of the most flexible and detailed project management software tools on the market. This is the tool if you’re dealing with complex, enterprise-level projects or programmes. It has many ways to track tasks, milestones and dependencies with features also available for areas such as business intelligence.
What makes it a good Wrike alternative? – Better for design and functionality
Mavenlink is one of the most feature rich project management tools on the market. But, they also do a great job of keeping things simple with a clean design style that’s perfect for day-to-day use.
Key Project Management Features
- See the bigger picture with project and programme timelines
- Manage the detail of tasks with boards and lists
- Balance team workloads with integrated resource management
- Manage project controls such as risk and budget directly within Mavenlink
- Automatically generate and schedule beautiful reports
Pricing
Pricing is available upon request with four different tiers available: Teams, Professional, Premier, and Enterprise.
Zoho Projects
If you’re looking for a business-wide platform that includes a project management component, try Zoho Projects. Built within the Zoho suite, Zoho Projects lets you plan timelines, track workloads and create complex automations.
What makes it a good Wrike alternative? – Better for functionality and price
Zoho’s wider functionality makes it a great enterprise solution, especially when optimising systems across large businesses. All of the Zoho Projects packages offer great value for money, especially when scaled to large teams.
Key Project Management Features
- Track critical and dependent tasks through the Gantt Timeline
- Automate task and delivery updates to save time
- Deliver on the go with the Zoho Projects app
- Track project costs with integrated time tracking
- Integrate into the wider Zoho suite as well as external apps such as Slack
Pricing
The free plan allows up to three users and two projects. Paid plans start at $2.50 per user, per month delivering additional features such as automation, dependency tracking and project budgeting.
Jira
If you’re delivering agile software projects, you will have probably already heard of, or used, Jira. It’s a great tool for managing the delivery of software, with functionality for tracking tasks, releases, bugs and requirements all included.
What makes it a good Wrike alternative? – Better for functionality and price
Jira is a great alternative to Wrike if you’re looking for functionality to deliver software projects. Price wise, it’s also very cost-effective for larger development teams.
Key Project Management Features
- Manage project to-do lists with task management
- Visualise feature or requirement backlogs with boards
- Customise fields and statuses to match your project process
- Automate global and multi-project tasks
- Detailed reports to identify bottlenecks and delivery status
Pricing
The free plan allows up to 10 users to access features such as Scrum and Kanban boards, backlogs, and agile reporting. Paid plans can be paid on a per user, per month basis or a flat annual rate for user number bands.
Basecamp
Basecamp puts everything you need in one place and brands itself as “the all-in-one toolkit for working remotely”. Basecamp has always appealed to client-facing project teams, with its functionality allowing external stakeholders into the system to work collaboratively as one team.
What makes it a good Wrike alternative? – Better for design and price
Basecamp’s unique design is easy to use for those delivering web and digital agency projects. The flat monthly fee for unlimited users is very cost effective for larger teams.
Key Project Management Features
- Manage project deliverables with intuitive task management
- Schedule project meetings which sync out to other calendars
- Collaborate through message boards and group chat
- Automate project check ins, reporting, and updates
Pricing
Basecamp offers a free plan in the form of Basecamp personal, which is limited to 20 users across three projects. There is one paid-for option; a $99 flat fee gets you unlimited users, unlimited projects, and unlimited clients.
LiquidPlanner
LiquidPlanner’s predictive project management engine helps automate the entire project process. Automatically manage your tasks and deliverables with intuitive re-prioritisation and resource re-allocation based on configured rules.
What makes it a good Wrike alternative? – Better for functionality
That automation makes LiquidPlanner a powerful tool for delivering projects and programmes. This sort of functionality is unique in the market and will be especially useful at enterprise scale.
Key Project Management Features
- Task management helps keep projects ticking over
- Manage team demand with workload management
- Automated scheduling and prioritisation make portfolio management simple
- Customise and export beautiful reports quickly and easily
- Enterprise risk, issue and dependency management features
Pricing
Whilst there’s no free plan for LiquidPlanner, you can opt in for a free trial before progressing to a paid plan. These paid plans start at $45 per user, per month.
Microsoft Project
We finish up with Microsoft Project. Whilst it aligns itself with more old school project management tools, it’s hard to leave it out of any roundup. Users can harness the power of dependency tracking, resource management, and forecasting to map out each and every step of their project journey.
What makes it a good Wrike alternative? – Better for functionality
If you’re a seasoned project manager, managing large scale projects in a corporate environment, MS Project will feel familiar and will integrate seamlessly with the rest of the Microsoft suite.
Key Project Management Features
- Create a holistic project view with timeline planning
- Task management allows you to keep teams member to schedule
- Manage workload and project budgets with timesheet tracking
- Integrates into Teams for collaboration and PowerBI for reporting
Pricing
There’s no free plan with Microsoft Project. Paid plans start at $10 per user, per month with Enterprise features such as timesheeting and demand management available on the top-tier plans.
How to Choose The Best Wrike Alternative For You?
Now that you’re up to speed with some of the best Wrike alternatives, it’s time to understand the next steps in selecting the tool that’s best for you. Here are three key things you need to do before making the switch!
Step #1: Understand Your Requirements vs Wrike
Whether you’re currently using Wrike or not, the first step to choosing the right tool for you is to fully understand your requirements. We’ve seen tools that deliver project management via timelines, boards and lists as well as additional features for automation and reporting, so start by understanding what you need.
Remember that your requirements aren’t just about functionality, also consider what you and your team need in terms of system design and customer support. If you’re already using Wrike, also consider the things it doesn’t provide you or features you’d like to be improved upon in another tool.
Step #2: Create a Shortlist of Potential Tools
Once you have your requirements list sorted, it’s time to shortlist the tools which tick all the boxes. Make sure your research is thorough. Look at customer reviews, supplier resource packs and tutorial videos to ensure each tool provides what you need.
Whilst you do this, it’s also worth having a top-level budget in mind. Some of the tools we’ve featured can be pricey, especially for bigger teams, so ensure you’re only considering those that fit within your budget.
At the end of this step, you should be down to around 3 contenders!
Step #3: Test Them Out
Now it’s time to get hands on! Many of the alternatives we’ve featured today will offer a free trial, so take advantage! Work with the team to simulate a project or two in the new tool to ensure it not only ticks the boxes but actually performs on-the-job as well.
Now you’ll be ready to make your decision. Pick the tool that meets all of your requirements and gear up to start delivering some great results!
Wrapping Up
That’s it for our look at the best Wrike alternatives. Project management software is a key component to delivering great project results, and whilst Wrike is a leader in the market, it may not be for everyone.
Like many other people, Zach McDaniel gained his knowledge of management and project management through research and necessity. He believes that the most interesting thing about project management, management, and productivity is that there are so many different strategies, so there’s always something new to learn and share.
