Project Planning Software Buyers Guide
Last updated: September 23, 2023
In the project management (PM) space, ‘project planning software’ and ‘project management tools’ are largely considered synonymous in terms of work function. Good strategy, it comes as a given, is central to the success of any project planning process; which, in turn, leads to the required realization of an end individual or organizational goal.
Perhaps one area where a typical project planning platform might differ from a larger, all-purpose, PM application is in terms of intelligent, more nuanced, assistance for the project planning phase (as we discuss below).
In this guide, we’ll be covering such project planning tool securing concerns as:
Let’s get to it.
What is Project Planning Software?
Simply put, a project planning tool – standalone or larger-platform-integrated – is any ideation or strategizing utility designed to enable a project team to both visualize and define the project scope (also called the project management life cycle) from start to finish.
In today’s competitive space, it is a must-have team management resource for project manager personnel to get their work done timely with full stakeholder visibility.
Why would a project manager need a dedicated project planning aid?
The perks of subscribing to a project planning platform don’t just stop at project management streamlining and transparency facilitation. They also cover such benefits as:
- Project deliverables/objectives fulfillment
- Project sponsor inputs
- Risk management
- Project timeline ‘meeting’
- Resource management
- Evaluation of project constraints
among other corollary advantages.
Dealing with complexity is a defining feature of most, new-age, project management endeavors.
From becoming self-sustaining in the uber-competitive entrepreneurial space to scaling businesses to ‘conglomerate’ levels, project managers need minute assistance to keep task management on schedule.
A number of leading field vendors also offer free subscription options for nascent project management efforts, so there isn’t much reason – practically – not to consider a sign-up.
Common Features of Project Planning Platforms
While most industry-leading platforms offer their own set of caveats meant to enable multi-vertical project management pursuits, they generally share a common, core, skeletal structure. In this sense, learning to operate one PM tool in depth prepares the adroit, advanced, user to work well with potentially every other category suite.
Key Project Planning Tool Functions
* May be unavailable in some basic-subscription project planning suites; several tools offer turnkey product management features available upon request. |
This listing is by no means exhaustive.
Picking the Best Project Planning Application for your Workflow
When scouring the web for project management software, there’s an incredible wealth (or a confusing medley) of tool choices to consider. What you need, essentially, is an all-in-one project management planning software suite that neatly balances cost-affordability (a budgeting factor) with maximum functionality.
To this end, we’ve devised a simple, five-point, formula framework to make the shortlisting process easy.
If you’ve already jotted down a list of contending software that you’re interested in, simply weigh them – individually – against each of the assessment cues given. The platform with the most (satisfying) ticks wins the skirmish.
And if you’re completely new to the venture, skip ahead to the page section after next to consider our own top-five picks.
|
Project Planning Tool/Software Evaluation List
|
If you should come up with a tie between competing tools, visit their Software Finder profile pages using our dedicated search field given at the top of this page.
Here, be sure to click the ‘Watch Demo’ and ‘Get Pricing’ profile buttons to get an idea of what you can expect from each utility (so you know what you’d be getting into).
Typical Pricing Range for Project Planning Suites
As mentioned above, for basic project planning purposes, you can do well by opting for a free plan provision from one of a handful of software vendors.
But if you require a proper project management plan tool to cover the bulk of your PM bases over the long haul, go the paid subscription route. Here, you can expect to pay somewhere in the following range:
|
$5/month per member to upward of $300/month (for unlimited users) |
To get accurate, custom, plan pricing details and recommendations based on your exact company size and requirements, check out our Project Management Software Pricing Guide for 2023.
Project Planning Process Tools: Our Top 5 Picks!
Check out our list of the top project planning phase tools that should be on your radar – vetted in probing detail y our team of software experts.
Detailing in no order of preference:
- Asana
- Jira
- Monday
- ClickUp
- Aha!
Let’s explore each of these briefly.
Asana
Asana is a powerful project management interface designed to help managers stay organized and on track. With the subscription, users can easily streamline tasks, projects, and coworkers with one-touch simplicity. Asana also offers features such as AI-based prediction tools to help make better decisions, collaborative intelligence for enterprise customers, and work intelligence tools to improve productivity.
Pricing
- Basic: Free Plan
- Premium: $10.99*/user/mo.
- Business: $24.99*/user/mo.
- Enterprise: Contact Our Helpline to Confirm Pricing (number above)
* Ballpark figures; go to our Asana Software Profile Page and click ‘Get Pricing’ to obtain updated, custom pricing figures narrowly suited to your project effort.
Key Features
Asana's powerful project management features include:
-
Work Tracking & Project Management: Asana has features built for your projects, workflows, goals, and team. You can get a real-time overview of how busy project teams really are across projects, allowing you to adjust assignments and tasks as needed.
- Communication: With the tool, you can easily communicate with your team by creating conversations around tasks or projects. This helps keep everyone executively consistent and ensures that nothing falls through the cracks.
- Views: Asana offers several different views so you can quickly find what you need without having to search through multiple menus or tabs. You can also customize your view to show only the most important information for each task or project; without having to deal with loops of complex processes to get the required scoop.
Pros/Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Easy-to-use interface | Limited reporting features |
| Automation capabilities | |
| Integrations with other apps |
Project Dashboard View
Jira
.png)
Atlassian, an Australian software company, has developed Jira, a robust project management software. Jira enables teams to manage projects, track issues, and automate workflows to optimize business operations. The platform, further, fosters improved collaboration from the initial concept to the end customer. With a suite of agile work management solutions, Jira assists managers in achieving their best performance.
Pricing
- Free
- Standard: $7.75*/user/mo.
- Premium: $15.25*/user/mo.
- Enterprise: Contact Our Helpline to Confirm Pricing (number above)
* Ballpark figures; go to our Jira Software Profile Page and click ‘Get Pricing’ to obtain updated, custom pricing figures narrowly suited to your workflows.
Key Features
The project management tool’s top three development-oriented features include:
-
Agile Project Management: Jira provides an intuitive platform for agile project management. It includes customizable Scrum and Kanban boards, which allow teams to easily visualize their progress and prioritize tasks. Additionally, it has built-in reports and dashboards to help teams track progress and make informed decisions quickly.
- Visual Planning, Tracking, & Releasing: The platform's visual planning tools make it easy to plan out projects in detail and clear product backlog. Teams can use its timeline view to create Gantt charts that show the progress of each task in real-time. This makes it easier to identify potential issues early on so they can be addressed quickly. Additionally, its tracking capabilities allow teams to monitor progress throughout the entire project lifecycle – a great help for busy managers.
- Business Project & Work Management: Jira Software provides a comprehensive suite of tools for managing business projects and workflows. It includes customizable templates that can be tailored to fit any organization's needs, as well as rich APIs for integrating with other applications or services. Additionally, it offers anonymous access so users can collaborate securely without compromising data security or privacy.
Pros/Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Highly Customizable/ Flexible Interface |
Steep Learning Curve |
| Agile Support for Project Managers |
|
| Turnkey Product |
Project Dashboard View
Monday
Monday project management software pretty much checks all – or, at least, most of – the workflow planning/execution boxes for practically every industry vertical. The platform’s user interface, for one, coupled with extreme ‘performing power’, makes it a force to reckon with in just about any workspace.
Pricing
- Free (starter-friendly)
- Basic: $8*/seat/mo.
- Standard: $10*/seat/mo.
- Pro: $16*/seat/mo.
- Enterprise: Contact Our Helpline to Confirm Pricing (number above)
* Ballpark figures; go to our Monday.com Software Profile Page and click ‘Get Pricing’ to obtain updated, custom pricing figures narrowly suited to your planning firm.
Features
Monday.com project management software comes with an enviable range of workflow streamlining perks including –
-
Uniform Projects/Tasks Management (enables managers to oversee workflows/resource management from one dashboard view; complete with file-sharing, time-tracking, and project roadmap tracking)
- Client Collaborations (ensure that team workers and project workflows are all aligned with changing client expectations – a vital service function designed to empower teams)
- Worker/Client Requests Management (allows a planning manager to receive and resolve team/client requisitions in record time!)
Pros/Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Easy, crisp, interface; excellent for non-techies/busy planning teams to hit the ground running; stellar time-tracking |
Steep Learning Curve |
| Calendar integrations – ensure timely workflow processing |
|
| Cost-Competitive; Affordable |
Project Dashboard View
ClickUp
For planning managers, ClickUp is probably one of the best options for organizing a firm’s document management, time-tracking, resource, and workflow-related concerns in one place.
Pricing
- Free Plan (for beginners)
- Unlimited: $5*/mo.
- Business: $12*/mo.
- Business Plus: $19*/mo.
- Enterprise: Contact Our Helpline to Confirm Pricing (number above)
* Ballpark figures; go to our ClickUp Software profile page and click ‘Get Pricing’ to obtain updated, custom pricing figures narrowly suited to your project planning endeavors.
Features
This web-/cloud-based SaaS powerhouse provides –
- Customizable templates (with editable fields/project templates for budget, dollars spent, remaining budget, and more)
- State-of-the-art Gantt Charts (allow teams to track time and monitor their project progress with a bird’s eye view of each process; ensure executions against planned roadmaps)
- Task management functions (equipped with automatic data population and real-time updates; enable managers to create quick to-do lists)
Pros/Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Highly customizable project management templates |
Limited integration options with third-party services; user-onboarding can be a little challenging |
| Intuitive, user-friendly interface (suited for multiple project management) | |
| One-page, centralized document storage & sharing (for uniform, concurrent firm workflows; makes for a unified project management platform) |
Project Dashboard View
Aha!
Aha! makes for a lightweight, cloud-based, project management software offer. It continues to rank well in ‘best in class’ PM tool lists on various review platforms – including this one.
Pricing
- Premium: $59*/user/mo.
- Enterprise: $99*/user/mo.
- Enterprise+: $149*/user/mo.
* Ballpark figures; go to our Aha! Software Profile Page and click ‘Get Pricing’ to obtain updated, custom pricing figures narrowly suited to your project planning orientation.
Features
Aha! project management software features include –
-
Start-to-Finish Project Tracking (allows senior PMs to monitor their complete firm workflows and budget spending; for addressing any weak links)
- Real-Time Team/Stakeholder Collaboration (to address team and client feedback/reviews instantly – with integration support for different tools)
- Powerful Reporting (for constant project KPIs/metrics monitoring)
Pros/Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Engaging/Interactive Project Roadmap Views | May be expensive for smaller firms |
| Stellar Customizations (‘rich customer experience’) | |
| Easy Onboarding; Decent Time-Tracking |
Project Dashboard View
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q. What is the best tool for project planning?
The best tool for project planning includes features dedicated for project ideation, visualization, and process monitoring (key components of pretty much every project management software).
Q. What is meant by project planning?
Project planning entails just about any active effort where an objective-based task is visualized from start to finish – complete with actionable details of how each stage in the chain is to be accomplished.
Q. What are the 5 stages of project planning?
The five stages of good project planning include:
Brainstorming/Ideation, Process Outlining, Resource Allocation, ‘Time Benching’, and End-Appraisal/Feedback.
Q. What are the top five project management software?
In our estimation, the top five project management software currently operational in the ‘planning’ space are:
Asana, Jira, Monday, ClickUp, and Aha! (please refer to the appropriate page section above for more details).
Q. Does Office 365 have a project planner?
Yes - Office 365 comes integrated with the Microsoft Planner interface.
Final Words
As a busy planning manager, we know that sifting through all the software options available in the online marketplace can be endlessly challenging and confusing.
That’s ok (normal) – and we’re here to help.
Just get in touch with our friendly helpline executives for quick, free, and painless project planning software recommendations for your practice at (661) 384-7070.
We’ll take care of everything – get you subscribed to your perfect software fit in no time!
