14 ClickUp Alternatives You Should Try in 2024
ClickUp is a project management and productivity tool for agencies for improved project collaboration, but it’s not without problems, including bugs and performance issues.
In our list of the best alternatives, we’ll explore ClickUp alternatives that approach agency projects from a different angle, whether its features, design, or affordability.
List of the Best ClickUp Alternatives
- Productive — best all-in-one ClickUp alternative
- Trello — best for small teams
- Asana — best for basic project management
- Jira — best for software development teams
- Wrike — best for resource scheduling
- Monday.com — best for work management
- Hive — best for task management
- Bitrix24 — best for CRM features
- Notion — best for knowledge management
- Smartsheet — best for spreadsheet fans
- Airtable — best for flexible workflows
- Todoist — best for team productivity
- Infinity — best for data organization
- Smartsuite — best for customization features
1. Productive – The Best All-in-One Software Alternative to ClickUp
Productive is an all-in-one agency management software solution for agencies of all shapes and sizes.
While ClickUp is focused mostly on project management features, Productive targets overall agency operations:
Clickup was similar to other flexible-tasks allocation management system and does not offer the overall suite of features that Productive does.
Source: Capterra
Specifically, Productive offers more in terms of budgeting, billing, and overall agency financial insights and forecasting.
The best thing about an all-in-one tool is that you can stop working in silos by centralizing your management on one platform, which can improve efficiency, data accuracy, reduce tech stack costs.
Let’s check out Productive’s features in more detail.
Try Productive as your ClickUp alternative
Project Management
Productive provides key project and task-tracking capabilities with its Project Management feature. This includes:
- Six potential project views, including Gantt, Kanban-style boards, calendars, and more
- All of the essential features you would expect from a task management tool, including to-do lists, dependencies, and milestones
- Various ways to help your teams track their time, including an in-built timer that can be triggered from tasks, as well as manual entry
- Creating documentation in real-time, sharing it, and creating tasks directly from pages with Docs
EXECUTE YOUR PROJECT PLAN SUCCESSFULLY
Something that reviewers underline about ClickUp is the notification feature, both in terms of the system not being robust enough, sending excessive notifications, and not integrating with Slack, and more:
At times, notifications are popping up too late or multiple times for no reason, which is very annoying if you are dealing with many projects whose status changes several times a day.
Source: Capterra
In comparison, Productive lets you customize where and when you want to receive your notifications, depending on the activity type (tag, comment, task update, etc.).
Additionally, the Slack integration lets you receive Productive notifications in designated channels.
Overall, when compared to ClickUp, Productive performs just as well in terms of task and project management.
Budgeting
The first of Productive’s truly notable features is Budgeting. With Productive, you can build and manage your project budgets from the platform, which lets you gain invaluable insights into your project and overall agency performance.
CUSTOMIZE YOUR DATA AND GET VALUABLE AGENCY reports ACROSS PROJECTS
As your employees track time against billable services, you can set up automatic warnings for the percentage of time spent to prepare yourself for cases of overruns.
Productive also supports various budget types, such as fixed-price, hourly, recurring, and mixed, so you can benefit from it no matter which type of project you’re running.
Billing
Productive also provides client Billing, which is noted as a notable downside of ClickUp:
I would like to be able to generate an invoice directly from the system. I can’t do that. Only thing I would like to see changed.
Source: Capterra
With Productive, you can easily generate brand-friendly invoices and keep track of your payments from one platform.
And if you’re already using specific accounting tools such as QuickBooks Online, Xero, or Exact, Productive integrates with these solutions as well – simply copy your invoice and carry on working from the other platform.
Resource Planning
ClickUp offers very rudimentary resource planning capabilities with the workload view, which lets you visualize team capacity and manage your resources. Productive goes a couple of steps further with its fully-fledged Resource Planning feature.
Create a reactive resource schedule by booking your team’s time with hours per day or percentages of billable or available hours. Editing is simple – simply drag and drop, duplicate, and rearrange schedules to make changes.
GET THE MOST OUT OF YOUR RESOURCES WITH PRODUCTIVE’S REAL-TIME RESOURCE SCHEDULING APP
With Productive, you can forecast key agency metrics, such as budgets, profit margins, and team utilization. Simply create bookings, and then view your forecasted budget spend and profitability until the project deadline. Any changes you make will automatically update these views.
Utilization can be tracked by skills, teams, seniority, and more, and will give you insights into where your resource gaps are so you can define your hiring strategy in terms of new potential projects. Users state the following:
We’ve always known, on a monthly basis, how we’re doing as a company. But knowing on a per-project level, in real time—we never really had that visibility. You guys do a good job of providing that. If you look at it on a yearly basis, it does give us the ability to look, per client and per project where we really stand.
Additionally, Productive offers Time Off Management for full visibility into employee availability. HRIS integrations include Breathe, BambooHr, SAP, and many more.
Reporting
Productive’s Reporting offers 50+ agency-focused reporting templates that you can use to generate data on all your platform activities.
You can also build reports from scratch and input specific parameters with custom fields.
MAKE TIMELY DECISIONS BASED ON ACCURATE DATA
Though ClickUp does offer some project insights, these mostly concern team performance, such as tasks cleared and time tracked.
However, financial considerations are not included and users comment that “the reporting area [of the tool] needs some further development” (Source: G2).
In comparison, Productive’s reporting can deliver various financial reports, including on current and forecasted profitability, revenue, utilization, paid and unpaid invoices, and so much more.
You can create dashboards that can be shared with all project stakeholders, and even schedule reports to be sent to your or external email addresses with Productive’s Pulse.
Sales
Finally, Productive also offers a lightweight CRM in the form of an integrated Sales Pipeline. Get simple client and lead tracking capabilities, such as:
- Working on leads in one place
- Managing reasons for lost deals
- Sending quotes directly from Productive
- Scheduling sales teams
- Forecasting sales revenue
Productive also offers a HubSpot integration for syncing your deals, companies, and contacts with Productive.
ELIMINATE YOUR NEED FOR EXTRA TOOLS WITH A LIGHTWEIGHT CRM SOLUTION
Additional features include: Client Portal, Automations, Productive AI, Purchase Orders, Revenue Recognition, Permission Builder
Integrations
Productive offers various integrations with HR, accounting, and collaboration tools.
Integrations include Slack, Google Calendar, and Outlook for scheduling and updates; Xero and QuickBooks for accounting; BambooHR, Breathe, and SAP for HRM; Memtime for time tracking; and more.
Pricing
- Plans start with the Essential plan at $9 per user per month, which includes essential features such as budgeting, project & task management, docs, time tracking, expense management, reporting, and time off management.
- The Professional plan includes custom fields, recurring budgets, advanced reports, billable time approvals, and many more for $24 per user per month.
- The Ultimate plan has everything that the Essential plan and Professional plan offer, along with the HubSpot integration, advanced forecasting, advanced custom fields, overhead calculations, and more for $32 per user per month.
Productive offers a 14-day free trial, so you can decide if it’s the right ClickUp alternative for your agency.
Choose the Best ClickUp Alternative
Unlock your agency’s potential with an all-in-one tool that supports your key daily processes.
2. Trello – A Simple Tool for Smaller Teams
Trello is a simple, board-based tool for easy team collaboration and task management. Users frequently report that they enjoy Trello because of its highly visual and intuitive interface, which helps teams get organized.
Key features:
- Different views for project visibility
- Project-specific data visualizations
- Official and community-based templates
- Various integrations and powerups
SOURCE: TRELLO
Consider if: You’re looking for a solution with task management features that are more simplified and beginner-friendly in comparison to ClickUp (for more reviews, see Trello vs Wrike vs Productive). Trello can be an especially good choice for smaller projects and teams with visual thinkers, such as creative agencies or project management for marketing agencies.
3. Asana – Simple Work Management Option
Asana is a real-time collaboration tool that is tailored to a variety of agency teams. Asana helps teams and their project managers organize and execute project work more efficiently.
Key features:
- Time tracking and various project views
- Templates library for projects and tasks
- Essential workload management
- Reporting dashboards with data visualization
SOURCE: ASANA
Consider if: You’re looking for a comparable, but still distinct ClickUp alternative. Despite there being differences between the two tools, Asana and ClickUp share many of the same project management features, and users provide similar comments both when it comes to downsides and benefits. This makes Asana a suitable option for those who are looking for a similar approach in somewhat different packaging.
You can also check out comparison between Wrike vs Asana to find some more options.
4. Jira – Good Alternative for Software Development Teams
Jira is an issue and project tracking software tailored to agile teams working in software development. The software supports project managers and their teams in planning, tracking, and managing releases.
Key features:
- Scrum and Kanban boards
- Interactive timelines with epics and dependencies
- Essential project and workflow-related reports
- Robust GitHub integration
SOURCE: JIRA
Consider if: You’re working in a development-dominant industry or agency, such as a website development company. Jira’s integration with GitHub, as well as features that support agile management, make it a good option for developers and product managers. For other teams, such as marketing or sales, Jira might not be as suitable.
5. Wrike – Good Option for Essential Resource Management
Wrike is a project management tool with essential resource management features. Wrike aims to help agencies get the most out of their resources and improve their work efficiency.
Key features:
- Task and time management
- Customizable workspaces and project templates
- Resource scheduling and workload charts
- Essential invoicing features
SOURCE: WRIKE
Consider if: You’re looking for a tool that combines project and essential resource management in one platform. Wrike is a tool that balances both capabilities while keeping the features lightweight enough for inexperienced teams or smaller agencies.
However, if you’re looking for an alternative with extensive resource management features, such as utilization forecasting, you might want to look elsewhere (find out more about agency management apps like Productive).
6. Monday.com – Project Management Tool for Team Collaboration
Monday.com is a project management tool that helps teams handle individual tasks and reach project goals. Users state that Monday “saves our team time and streamlines some processes” (Source: G2).
Key features:
- Kanban and Gantt project tracking
- Real-time document collaboration
- Real-time insights and project dashboards
- Integrations with multiple productivity-based tools
SOURCE: MONDAY.COM
Consider if: You’re looking for a tool that provides similar functionalities as ClickUp, but offers more options when it comes to pricing points. Both Monday.com and ClickUp match up evenly when it comes to project management, but for more robust features, consider looking for an all-in-one agency management tool.
Another popular alternative to both ClickUp and Monday is Plutio. Check out our list of Plutio reviews and top competitors to learn more.
7. Hive – Simple Software Solution for Task Management
Hive is a simple project management solution with a user-friendly interface and affordable pricing options.
Key features:
- Time tracking
- Project management
- Goals management and resourcing
- Proofing and approvals
Consider if: You’re looking for a simplified alternative to ClickUp. Due to its proofing and approval features, Hive is also suitable to creative agency workflows. However, due to a lack of more advanced features, it’s not great as an all-in-one solution for agency management — you can check out some alternatives to Hive to learn. more.
8. Bitrix24 – ClickUp Alternative With CRM Capabilities
Bitrix24 is an online platform that combines task, employee, and lead management. Users mostly praise the tool for its CRM capabilities, which help agencies connect with potential clients.
Key features:
- Task management and templates
- Time tracking and absence management
- Document management and editing
- CRM and lead management
SOURCE: BITRIX24
Consider if: You’re looking for a comprehensive solution for project and customer management, but you’re ready to compromise on user experience. Although Bitrix24 is quite a robust tool, multiple users comment that the user interface can be confusing and somewhat unappealing in comparison to other Bitrix24 alternatives.
9. Notion – Visual Work Management Tool
Notion is a task management and collaboration software that can be used both by agencies and individuals.
The tool is known as a highly visual, aesthetic approach to planning and organization, and it’s comprehensively explored in our Notion vs. Obsidian comparison.
Key features:
- Integrated documentation
- Project timelines, calendar, and tables
- Template gallery for personal & project uses
- Integrations with various tools
SOURCE: NOTION
Consider if: You’re looking for a solution for managing documentation. Reporting is not emphasized in Notion, so it can be a good option if you’re looking for a more streamlined alternative to ClickUp.
For more advanced agency management features, however, consider some of the other alternatives on this list or dive deeper into the comparison of Wrike vs Notion to find the perfect fit for your project’s unique requirements.
10. Smartsheet – Good Option for Spreadsheet-Savvy Managers
Smartsheet is an enterprise work management platform for project planning, resource management, and work reporting.
Key features:
- Simple resource allocation and timesheets
- Customizable notifications
- Reporting dashboards with widgets
- Invite clients with permissions
SOURCE: SMARTSHEET
Consider if: You’re looking for a ClickUp alternative with advanced features, and you’re a fan of spreadsheet-based solutions. Smartsheet can be a good option for teams that are savvy with Excel. However, users who are looking for a more modernized approach to managing enterprise resource planning or ERP in the service industry might not be fully satisfied.
11. Airtable – Alternative With Customizable Workflows
Airtable is a low-code database and spreadsheet platform that enables teams to create custom workflows, no matter how technically savvy they are.
Key features:
- Custom views and templates
- Document storage
- Task management and tracking
- Formulas and automation
SOURCE: AIRTABLE
Consider if: You’re working on complex projects with out-of-the-ordinary workflows. Airtable’s customizability can help you tailor your platform to your business needs.
However, keep in mind that the software is spreadsheet-based, so it might not be the best choice for teams that are looking to move away from Excel to more modern software (you can check out our comparison of Airtable alternatives to learn more).
12. Todoist – Efficient Tool for Better Team Productivity
Todoist is a task management app that supports personal and team productivity with simple overviews and delegation.
Key features:
- Personalized task list views
- Prioritization and reminders
- Delegation with activity notifications
- Progress visualization
SOURCE: TODOIST
Consider if: You’re looking for an affordable, streamlined tool to boost productivity and task management. Because of its simplicity, Todoist might not be the best tool for complex projects within larger teams, but it can be a good choice for personal management or small agencies.
13. Infinity – Affordable Option for Flexible Workflows
Infinity is a knowledge management software for flexible workflows and organized data.
Key features:
- Multiple project views
- Custom data attributes
- Workflow automation
- Real-time documentation
SOURCE: INFINITY
Consider if: You’re looking for a similar solution to Notion, Airtable, or Trello, but more suitable to small business needs.
I like that this tool is more flexible than Trello for our particular needs. It is also a lot cheaper than Trello for a lifetime license, with no risk of price increases that make it unusable for us.
Source: Capterra
14. Smartsuite – Customizable Tool for Businesses
Smartsuite is a template-based work management software with various customization options.
Key features:
- Data visualization
- Reporting dashboards
- Workflow automation
- User permissions
SOURCE: SMARTSUITE
Consider if: You want a software solution with customizable features, but simpler than Airtable.
SmartSuite is a good cross between Clickup and Airtable. Most of the task management features plus the flexibility of a database. We’ve had a few clients who migrated from Clickup to SmartSuite.
Source: Reddit
Why Consider ClickUp’s Alternatives?
ClickUp is described as a single platform used to improve team collaboration, enhance project visibility, and automate work. It offers a free plan with unlimited projects for agencies on a budget.
Despite mostly positive reviews on G2 and Capterra, no single solution is perfect. ClickUp’s most frequently mentioned downsides include:
- The reporting and analytics features could be more robust
- The interface takes some practice to get used to and can get confusing for multi-project management
- Some users would appreciate more guidance in setting up and using the tool
- The platform performance can be sub-optimal, with long loading times for larger projects and frequent bugs — and the 3.0 version didn’t fix most of these issues
Overall, according to user feedback, ClickUp is a good tool for task planning and management with good customization features, but not a fully robust end-to-end project management option.
For more information about ClickUp, check out our comprehensive comparison of ClickUp vs Trello vs Asana Vs Monday.
How to Choose Your Best Option
Your ClickUp alternative will depend largely on your specific circumstances, such as team and agency size, industry, budget, and any other distinguishing factors. However, there are three main considerations that we can consider universal.
These are:
1. User interface
Even if you’re working with a team that is experienced in project management software, choosing an option that underlines intuitive design will go a long way towards ensuring you get the most out of your solution. It can also make the implementation and onboarding period much more efficient.
Determine this by:
- Checking customer reviews on reputable websites
- Checking out software trials (if available)
- Viewing video onboarding materials.
2. Scalability
Even if your project management software needs are limited at the moment, consider investing in a tool that can support your agency’s growth with more advanced features. This is, for example, financial management. At a certain point, you’ll need support with these crucial agency concerns. Avoiding a scenario where you have to migrate your data at a critical junction for your business is always preferable.
Determine this by:
- Checking how dedicated a vendor is to upgrading their tool with new features
- Tool roadmaps or product updates are a good way to gauge activity
- For example: Productive’s Roadmap and What’s New pages
3. Comprehensiveness
Finally, consider tools that can bridge the gap between multiple teams and offer capabilities with agency-wide support. The merit of such an approach can be more standardized workflows, better data accuracy, and cutting down on repetitive tasks such as transferring progress between various tools.
Determine this by:
- Checking which features a tool can offer, and how it presents itself
- Usually, tools with a comprehensive approach will be called all-in-one tools, or agency management software
- Some features you can expect include project, financial, resource, and client management.
Switching to Another Project Management Software
According to Deloitte, the most frequent barriers to implementing software for project status and project stage tracking are: resistance to change (82%), inadequate sponsorship (72%), and unrealistic expectations (65%).
Our main tips to promote successful implementation of task management software are:
1. Get buy-in from your teams
Make sure that your teams understand the potential benefits or perks of implementing the new software solution. Make sure to involve key team members in demos of the tool, and provide an open space for feedback and criticism. This will go a long way towards establishing the new tool as a solution to make everyone’s life easier, and not simply management’s.
2. Choose a software champion
Make sure to delegate a point of contact between the vendor and your team. Ideally, this person should be savvy when it comes to similar project and task management software, as well as a good educator. This ensures better communication with the vendor, as well as easier onboarding, as your team will know who to turn to for help or feedback.
3. Be realistic about benefits
While it’s important to set some expectations, avoid being too stringent in checking success metrics, such as ROI. Getting accurate data can take a while, and many of the benefits of new software solutions can be difficult to quantify, such as team or client satisfaction. Despite this, they are no less important for your agency’s success.
Takeaway
In this article, we looked at why users of ClickUp, or those considering it as their task management tool, might want to consider alternative solutions for their agency.
As a final note, it’s important to understand that project management platforms are rarely objectively bad solutions unless they are extremely buggy, cause data loss, or are almost unusable due to complexity. Such cases are rare, especially among the more popular solutions on the market.
Despite your software choice being dependent on your particular needs, consider choosing a comprehensive solution that can help you centralize your workflows on one platform. This can help standardize your data and improve productivity and efficiency.
If you’re interested in finding a software solution to support your daily processes, consider booking a demo with Productive.
FAQ
What are the best project management tools besides ClickUp?
Some of the best project management platforms that our good alternatives to ClickUp are Productive, the all-in-one agency tool, as well as Asana, Trello, and Monday.com.
What are the most affordable ClickUp alternatives?
Some of the most affordable alternatives to ClickUp that have free versions are Trello, Notion, and Todoist. Keep in mind that these tools can help you with task prioritization and simple organization, but might not be able to support all crucial agency processes.
What are the best ClickUp alternatives for small businesses?
Suitable solutions for small businesses focus mostly on individual project management, rather than supporting complex workflows and multiple project management. Some examples of suitable tools for startups and smaller businesses are Productive, Asana, and Trello.
What are the best ClickUp alternatives for remote teams?
Solutions that support team collaboration with easy task management, project visibility, and automatic notifications can help support business with remote teams. Examples of such tools are Productive, Asana, and Wrike.
What are the best ClickUp alternatives for creative teams?
Creative teams often enjoy simple, visual solutions with a modern user interface. Some examples of suitable project planning options for creative project teams are Productive, Notion, and Trello.
What are the best ClickUp alternatives for software development teams?
For software development teams, tools that have capabilities to track bug reports and organize sprints for agile project management can be especially useful. For this, consider a ClickUp alternative such as Productive or Jira.
What are the best ClickUp alternatives for Agile teams?
Some alternatives to ClickUp for agile teams are Productive, Asana, and Jira. All of these tools offer customizable project views, including Kanban-style boards, that support the creation of backlogs, and roadmaps, and managing project progress through milestones or epics and task dependencies.
What are the best ClickUp alternatives for Kanban teams?
Some good alternatives to ClickUp for Kanban teams are Productive, Wrike, and Monday.com. All of these software solutions include Kanban-style board views, with drag-and-drop functionalities for tracking task progress.
What are the best ClickUp alternatives for Gantt chart users?
An example of popular productivity apps and alternatives to ClickUp that provide Gantt chart views are Productive and Monday.com.
Is ClickUp too complicated?
Some users on G2 and Capterra comment that ClickUp can be confusing to learn initially. Additionally, some have difficulties with portfolio management and handling many different tasks on the platform. Other users comment that the tool might be difficult to get used to at first, but that these issues are resolved after onboarding.
Why is ClickUp so popular?
ClickUp is a popular tool for efficient team collaboration and supporting employee productivity thanks to its essential task management and tracking features. Certain users also enjoy ClickUp due to the fact that it offers a fully free plan that can be suitable for startups and small agency teams.
What is the limitation of ClickUp?
While ClickUp is a good tool for task tracking, it might not be the best option for more robust project and agency management. Some notable downsides are the lack of robust budgeting and billing features, as well as more in-depth financial considerations and KPI forecasting. An example of a tool that combines project management with additional budgeting and resource planning features is Productive.
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