List of the Best Project Management Software With CRM Features

Lucija Bakić

October 10, 2024

A screenshot of a project management software with CRM, showing a detailed task list for a "Marketing and website" project. The tasks are organized into categories like "Planning" and "Design," each with statuses such as "Doing" and "To do." Task details include start and due dates, assignees, last activity, and priority levels. The interface provides options for sorting, filtering, and viewing tasks, with user assignments visible. The project management system is integrated with CRM features for seamless workflow and team collaboration.

Project management software with CRM are integrated solutions for managing client relationships and project timelines.

In this article, we’ll explore both all-in-one solutions, as well as popular business applications that can be integrated for unified workflows.

List of Project Management Software With CRM

  • Productive — best all-in-one project management CRM software
  • Hubspot — software for CRM-heavy needs for marketing and sales teams
  • Flowlu — lesser known option for unified task management and CRM
  • Nimble — good option for more robust CRM and light PM
  • Scoro — solid Productive alternative for comprehensive agency management
  • Teamwork — modules for customer service teams, project managers, and sales
  • Zoho — robust solution for various business operations
  • Monday — another modular platform for integrating CRM with project management
  • Bitrix24 — integrated Russian-based client relationship management project software
  • Trello — user-friendly option for smaller teams with CRM workarounds

1. Productive – Best for Unified CRM Project Management

Productive is one of the best integrated options for project tracking and CRM in professional services companies.

It’s designed specifically to support project work, teams, clients, and overall agency workflows — including budgeting and resource planning.

The biggest benefit of using Productive is being able to manage all key operations in one platform, which supports efficiency and provides more reliable data.

With Productive, I got the information I needed; I can now see tasks, utilization, and our sales pipeline, and I can react more quickly.

Rick Donohoe,
Operation Director at Reading Room

Let’s explore Productive’s key features in more detail:

Sales CRM

Productive’s Sales CRM feature combines multiple useful functionalities for sales teams.

A screenshot of a project management software with CRM displaying a "Deals" dashboard. The screen shows different stages of deals: Lead, Prospect, and Proposal. Under Lead, there’s a "Website Rebranding" project worth $2,800 at 40% progress. Under Prospect, "Coordination" is valued at $6,000 (15% progress), and "Business Development & Strategy" at $10,000 (60% progress). Under Proposal, "Copywriting Services" is valued at $5,500 (80% progress) and "Mobile App Development" at $40,000 (90% progress). The software integrates deal tracking with project management.


Support your sales management teams with comprehensive features

This includes:

  • Customizable pipeline stages and a Kanban-board interface for tracking deals
  • Collaboration on each individual deal, including tasks, assignees, and deadlines
  • Forwarding emails to a sales inbox in Productive and assigning them to specific deals to keep communication in one place
  • Creating and sending quotes/proposals by using your agency rate card data
  • Sales team scheduling for a high-level overview of availability
  • Viewing reports on sales revenue, performance by sales rep, and more
  • Converting won deals into projects and monitoring progress

Project Management

Once you’ve won a deal, you can start managing your project from start to finish with the Project Management feature.

For an overview of your project, you can switch between multiple project views. Productive includes Kanban boards, Gantt chart, Calendar, List, Workload view, and more.

A screenshot of a project management software with CRM showing a timeline of tasks for a blog post project. The tasks, such as visual direction, exploring concepts, and creating moodboards, are color-coded and linked with timelines, displayed over two weeks. CRM integration allows tracking and managing project stages, with tasks like branding assets and presentation linked to the overall project plan.


Switch between multiple project views

Each individual task can also be expanded with subtasks, to-dos, and dependencies. You can set priorities, assign team members, estimate completion time and deadlines, and add other custom fields for more project details.

With the Client Portal, you can also invite and collaborate with clients in the platform.

A screenshot of a project management software with CRM showing a task named "Motion graphics" under the "Blog posts" project. The task is marked as "Working" and assigned to Carmen Williamson. The task board is listed as "Design - Animation" with a due date of May 5, 2024. There are two to-do items: "Visual direction" and "Draft release." A timer in the upper-right corner tracks work time. This interface integrates project task management with CRM functionality.


Get a visual representation of your project progress

Productive also includes a Time Tracking feature, so you can run a timer directly from your tasks, or create your entries manually.

Other useful features include Automations for automated workflows and the Permission Builder for defining user roles and permissions.

Resource Planning

With Productive’s Resource Planning, you can get a high-level overview of your project progress by focusing on your employees.

A screenshot of a project management software with CRM showing a resource allocation timeline for team members Lucy Wu and Luke Peters in June 2023. The timeline includes project tasks like "Pink Flamingos Rebranding &..." and "ADB Bank website" for Lucy, with personal bookings for vacation and personal time. Luke Peters is booked for tasks on the "BestTrips.com landing page" project and vacation. The chart displays daily hours assigned to each task, with color-coded bars indicating task durations and workload across multiple weeks.


Get a360-degree viewinto theentire team

Create bookings for team members based on their working hours, holidays, time off, and previous bookings.

Optimize resource allocation on ongoing projects by getting a quick overview of who can be scheduled for more work, and who is overburdened.

You can also create bookings for unconfirmed projects with tentative bookings. This can be useful if you think you’re winning a sales deal, and you want to get ahead of your planning.

A screenshot of a project management software with CRM displaying a detailed report of billable and worked hours by department and person. The table shows departments such as Development, Project Management, Leadership, and Design. For each person, their billable and worked hours are listed, along with the percentage of billable versus worked time. For example, Bessie Kane and Peyton Place in Development have both billed 16:00 hours and worked 15:00 hours, resulting in a 106.67% billable ratio, while Charles Blake in Leadership has a 56.52% ratio.


Visualize and forecast utilization for strategic decision-making

Budgeting

Alongside your projects and sales processes, Productive also supports financial management.

With Budgeting, you can define employee billable rates and bundle your services into agency rate cards.

This data is then used to create proposals for potential clients, and later for building and managing project budgets.

Productive supports budgets of various types, including fixed-price, T&M, retainer, and hybrid. You can also manage your Billing from the platform, or use the Xero or QuickBooks integrations and manage invoices from there.

A screenshot of a project management software with CRM showcasing a "Rebranding Campaign" report. The graph displays budget and time tracking for weeks 23 to 27, showing both financial progress and hours worked. Below the graph, the "Time" section highlights a total of 60 hours allocated, with 40 hours worked and 20 hours remaining. The "Budget" section shows a total budget of $30,000, with $10,000 already invoiced and $20,000 still to be invoiced. The "Invoicing" section indicates that 50% ($15,000) has been invoiced, with $15,000 remaining for invoicing.


Visualize and monitor financial data inreal time

Budgeting is also integrated with Resource Planning, which means that you can monitor and forecast your key financial metrics: revenue, profit, and budget burn.

Forecasting works by using your resource scheduling to predict how your project will perform in real time. When you update your resource planner, you can immediately view the impact of your changes.

Reporting

Finally, as an all-in-one platform, Productive uses data from various activities to create visual reports. This includes bugeting, time tracking, sales, resource management, etc.

With Reporting, you can create your report by using one of the 50+ agency-focused templates, or create your own from scratch.

Productive offers various advanced features for customizing your reports: you can filter and group data, add custom fields, and even create custom formulas.

When you’re ready to share your report, you can create dashboards and add elements with widgets, or use Productive’s Pulse to automate your sending at specific time periods.

A screenshot of a project management software with CRM displaying "New budgets insights" grouped by company. The dropdown menu shows options to group by "Company," with the ability to add another group or view only totals. The chart compares revenue and margin for projects, including "ABC Company," "Cupcake Project," and "Website Redesign," with revenue represented in yellow and margin in red. The data provides visual insight into project financial performance.


Create customizable reports on various key agency metrics

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; Jira and 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 Is the Best CRM Project Management Tool

Switch from multiple tools and spreadsheets to a single all-in-one platform for customer relationships and project management.

Book a demo

2. Hubspot – Best for Complex Needs

HubSpot is a popular CRM software solution, but isn’t intended to be used as a project management tool.

It’s best integrated or combined with another project management platform.

Key features:

  • Marketing, sales, and CS use cases
  • Workflow automation
  • Pipeline management
  • Content creation
  • Integrations with various productivity-based tools
A screenshot of a project management software with CRM showing a bar graph titled "Contacts created," with various contact creation activities displayed in orange bars. On the right, additional metrics are highlighted: "New contacts by source" showing 444 from an offline source and "Blog post total views" with 50,812 views, reflecting a 1.17% increase. The dashboard provides insights into customer interactions and content performance.


SOurce: hubspot

Pros: HubSpot is a staple tool among marketing and sales teams in mid-sized to larger businesses. It offers a range of features for supporting marketing automation and sales processes.

Cons: HubSpot may not be worth for smaller teams and businesses that don’t need its comprehensive CRM features. Additionally, you’ll need to use a separate collaboration tool for project management— Productive offers a handy HubSpot integration you can check out.

The reason why I use HubSpot is because it’s all-in-one platform: CRM, email newsletter, sign up forms, social media management, email automations etc. If you use only one feature like CRM, probably, not worth it.

Source: Reddit

3. Flowlu – Best for Integrated Client Work

Flowlu is a good CRM with project management, but it lacks resource planning functionalities and is led by a small team, which can impact development speed.

Key features:

  • Project management
  • Collaboration tools
  • Online CRM
  • Document builder
  • Financial management and invoicing
Screenshot of a project management with CRM software solution that depicts a visualization of a sales pipeline in the style of a Kanban board.


Source: flowlu

Pros: You can get a range of features for customer relationships and project progress management at a fair price.

Cons: Since it’s developed by a smaller team based in Russia, its potential to scale and speed of development is likely slower than with more well-known solutions with 100+ developer teams.

4. Nimble – Best for Lightweight PM Needs

Nimble is a great pick if you’re looking for a CRM-focused solution with lightweight project management capabilities, but it’s not a fully fledged project management application.

Key features:

  • Customer relationship management
  • Email sequences
  • Sales pipelines and reporting
  • Workflow automation
A screenshot of a project management software with CRM displaying an "Interactions" tab. It shows an overdue task related to a property at "616 4th Street, Santa Monica" with a deal value of $1,927,500 at 60% completion. Below, the "Upcoming Activities" section lists events like a "Weekly Marketing Meeting" scheduled for today and a "Trials/Trial-Paid Conversion Improvement" meeting on March 30, both including participant details. The interface is designed to track tasks, meetings, and deal progress efficiently.


source: nimble

Pros: Users report that Nimble is a great option for data enrichment and contact management.

Cons: It offers a single pricing tier, which might be pricy for certain teams. On the other hand, it’s not as suitable as a CRM for larger companies, as HubSpot or Salesforce offer more comprehensive features.

Most users use this software for the sales and marketing because it does not have the ability to handle our projects. So, I would love if this software makes improvements in project management features.

Source: Paraphrased from G2

5. Scoro – Best for Agency Management

Scoro is a solid all-in-one project management solution with CRM features, but its task management features can be unintuitive for some teams.

Key features:

  • Project management
  • Sales and quotes management
  • Resource planning and utilization
  • Reporting dashboards
A screenshot of a project management software with CRM displaying a weekly calendar view with various tasks and meetings scheduled, including graphic design, copywriting, and analysis. The left sidebar shows the user's profile with task completion progress and hours worked.


source: scoro

Pros: As one of the top Productive alternatives, Scoro has a fairly exhaustive list of features for agency management.

Cons: Some users have difficulties with how Scoro treats project tasks — there’s a task bundle feature for creating a task with dependencies, but it can be unintuitive.

The task creations/Gantt chart view, for example, is quite difficult. Dependencies are ineffective. There appear to be some bugs to be worked out there.

Source: G2

For team collaboration, you can consider some Scoro alternatives, or check our comparison of Scoro vs Accelo vs Productive.

6. Teamwork – Best for Integrating Apps

Teamwork is a good choice for managing your business processes, but its CRM and Desk products are separate tools.

Key features:

  • Multiple project views
  • Time tracking
  • Project collaboration
  • Budgeting and invoicing
A screenshot of a project management software with CRM displaying a kanban board divided into three sections: "To Do," "In Progress," and "Code Review." Tasks include engaging partners like "Jupiter Express" and "Saturn Shuttle Lines" under the "Space Travel Partners" label, as well as tasks for the "Local Mars Office" such as creating plans for departments and registering with the Mars Ministry of Revenue. Each task card shows details like task IDs, priority indicators, and assignee avatars, demonstrating efficient task tracking and collaboration.


source: teamwork

Pros: Teamwork is a well-known software for project planning and collaboration, and project teams looking for these functionalities won’t be disappointed.

Cons: Teamwork’s CRM and customer support tool are separate products that need to be purchased additionally, so it’s not a true all-in-one integrated option.

To learn more about Teamwork, check out our in-depth comparison of Teamwork vs Wrike vs Productive.

7. Zoho – Best for Process Automation

Zoho offers a suite of products for customer relationships, sales processes, and project status management, but can be overwhelming or unnecessary for certain businesses.

Key features:

  • Task management and automation
  • Sales and marketing CRM
  • Financial and billing modules
  • BI and analytics
A screenshot of a project management software with CRM showing a Gantt chart with tasks like "Floor finishes," "Adhesive application," and "Caulk and Air seal" displayed along a timeline from October 2019 to April 2020. Each task is represented by color-coded bars indicating progress percentages, with some tasks fully completed while others are in progress. The chart provides a visual overview of project scheduling and task dependencies, helping manage timelines and track completion rates.


source: zoho

Pros: Zoho offers a very wide range of features and can serve as a single source of truth for various business operations.

Cons: While Zoho One integrates multiple applications for business owners, the pricing can be inaccessible, and certain teams might not need all the project management apps included. It can also be difficult to learn to use to its full potential.

I was looking into Zoho at one point as well, and it does indeed do EVERYTHING, which is also kind of the problem. It’s so hard to figure out exactly which app to use for what and how

Source: Reddit

8. Monday – Best for Work Organization

Like Teamwork, Monday offers a separate CRM solution that can be integrated with Monday work management, which can be more expensive and less user friendly than a unified platform.

Key features:

  • Modules for product, service, CRM, and work management
  • Real-time customizable dashboards
  • Sales cycle management
  • Client communications
  • Agile project management
A screenshot of a project management software with CRM showing a task list for the month. The tasks include "Finalize kickoff materials" (marked as Done), "Refine objectives" and "Test plan" (both marked as Working on it), and "Resources" (marked as Stuck). Each task has an assigned owner with corresponding profile images, and status indicators use color codes: green for Done, orange for Working on it, and red for Stuck. This layout provides a clear view of task progress and ownership.


source: monday

Pros: Monday has a lot of use cases and can be used effectively across a variety of industries and business types and sizes — it’s a very solid work management tool.

Cons: Similarly to other modular solutions like Teamwork, it can be difficult and time-consuming to make two different products work together, even when they belong to the same vendor.

A screenshot of a project management software with CRM query on a forum discussing how to integrate CRM and work management tools. The user seeks advice on linking tasks from the work management tool to client details in the CRM and automating actions such as mass emails. They are struggling to create this integration in Monday.com and need assistance before proposing a proof of concept to their COO.


Source: Reddit

Find out more about how Monday work OS compares to similar project management apps: Monday vs Trello vs Asana vs ClickUp.

9. Bitrix24 – Best for Complex Projects

Bitrix24 is a single platform for CRM and project management, but it has overall low user rating on Capterra, mainly due to user experience and performance issues.

Key features:

  • Sales management and enablement
  • Project and task tracking
  • Workflow automation
  • Employee management
  • AI assistant
A screenshot of a project management software with CRM featuring a kanban board displaying deals in various stages, including "New," "Waiting for details," "Invoice," "In progress," and "Final invoice." Each deal card includes details such as the client name, deal amount, and relevant activities. The deals range from cake orders to large-scale projects with different clients. The software integrates project and CRM features to track the progress of each deal.


source: bitrix24

Pros: Bitrix24 fits the bill as a unified platform that can handle client work and the end-to-end sales process.

Cons: Users report mutiple issues with the software on Capterra, including a cluttered interface, slow loading times, and lacking reporting options.

Bitrix24 is not very user-friendly to use and for us, we needed some training in the initial stages so as to learn how we can make the best use of its features.

Source: Capterra

Check out some Bitrix24 alternatives to find a more modern solution.

10. Trello – Best for Team Communication

Trello isn’t a CRM platform in any shape or form, but it’s a user-friendly option that can be used for sales team collaboration with the right templates and powerups.

Key features:

  • Kanban boards and other project views
  • Team collaboration
  • Official and community-created templates
  • Variety of powerups and integrations
A screenshot of a project management software with CRM displaying a monthly calendar view for March. The calendar shows tasks and events on specific dates, with color-coded task progress bars. Two user avatars are visible on one of the tasks, indicating collaboration. The software integrates CRM features to manage tasks and track team activities within the calendar format.


source: trello

Pros: Users of all levels of experience enjoy using Trello due to its simplicity and visual design.

Cons: It’s the most lightweight solution on the list, and the customer service and relationship features it has are workarounds, rather than a fully fledged functionality.

Learn how Trello compares to other visual project management software: Trello or Asana or Jira.

CRM vs. Project Management Software: Key Differences

CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is focused on on managing customer relationships.

CRM for agencies mainly include sales pipeline management, creating and sending proposals, contact management, sales team scheduling, collaboration, and performance management.

There are also marketing CRM tools, which offer email marketing, automation, marketing campaign management, lead capturing, and more — learn more about software for marketing.

Project management software is focused on supporting the end-to-end project management process.

It includes collaboration features, task management, visualizing project progress, financial management and invoicing, reporting, and other features that support project teams and clients.

Both of these tools are important for professional services companies.

What Is CRM Software With Projects Tracking Feature

CRMs with project management are hybrid tools that combine the functionalities of both systems. We can distinguish them as tools that primarily offer CRM features with lightweight project management capabilities, and vice versa.

Additionally, there are options that provide a unified platform with a seamless integration of these features into one. An example of this type of tool is Productive.

Alternatively, some vendors offer them as distinct products that can be purchased separately but work with each other to certain degrees. An example of this type of tool is HubSpot or Monday.com.

Benefits of CRM Project Management Software

Some benefits of using CRM for project management solutions include:

  • Centralizing business operations within one platform, which reduces work silos and reduces the need for switching between multiple tools
  • It can also reduce the size of your tech stack, which can help you save up on overhead costs
  • You can also benefit from having more reliable data, since all of your key processes and metrics will be standardized
  • Ultimately, all of this leads to better team collaboration, improved operational efficiency, and better decision-making processes

How to Choose the Best Option

To summarize, here are some things you should consider when finding your CRM forproject management:

  • Do you need more robust CRM, or more powerful project management features?
  • How does the platform integrate with your current tools? Can it replace certain software in your stack?
  • Are you able to invest in a more expensive or time-intensive solution?
  • What do user reviews say about the software? Is it user-friendly?

If you’re looking for a tool with robust project management functionalities and lightweight CRM features in one platform, modern design and out-of-the-box functionalities, Productive is a great choice.

Book a demo today to learn more.

FAQ

How are CRMs and project management CRMs different?

Standard CRMs focus on managing customer relationships, sales processes, and marketing automation, whereas project management CRMs offer additional features to handle project workflows like task assignments, timelines, and team collaboration.

What are some best CRM software options?

Some top CRM software options include HubSpot, Salesforce, Freshsales, and Pipedrive. For businesses interested in integrated sales funnel and team collaboration tool, Productive is a great option.

Can you integrate CRM software with project management tools?


Yes, some project management solutions and CRM software offer one or two-way integrations. For example, Productive offers a HubSpot integration for syncing deals, companies, and contacts from HubSpot to Productive.

Which businesses benefit most from project management CRM tools?

Project management CRM tools support both customer-centric and project-heavy workflows. This usually includes different types of agencies that prospect new clients and deliver projects, such as marketing and digital agencies, consulting firms, production companies, and software development companies.

What features to look for in CRM project management?

Some key features of CRM project management software include sales pipeline management, sales team collaboration and scheduling, contact management, task and project tracking, time management, and advanced reporting.

What are free CRM project management software examples?

Some free project management software with integrated customer relationship management features include Bitrix24, Flowlu, and Trello.

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Lucija Bakić

Content Specialist

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