Nifty is a new-wave project management tool that reduces project development cycles and improves team productivity by combining all of the important features of project management into one software. The end result is milestone-driven progress that keep teams inspired, insuring organizational goals remain on schedule.
Struggling to keep your head above water? Manage your deadlines, deliverables, and resources more effectively by utilizing the best project management software for your needs.
Over the years, project management has morphed into an umbrella term, comprising of a wide array of solutions from comprehensive portfolio management tools to personal work management solutions. Some of it comes with a steep price, but others won’t cost you a dime.
If you’re willing to sacrifice a few premium features, the best free project management software might make a good fit for your needs. Below, you’ll find our top six favorites for Mac computers.
Free Project Management Tool For Mac Computers
- Best free project management software for visually managing projects. Trello (Web, macOS, Windows, iOS, Android) Trello is a simple way to organize your projects with Kanban boards. And with a free plan that allows for unlimited boards and users, it's a tool that anyone can use.
- Jul 13, 2021 ClickUp is a project management software and productivity tool that offers a very generous free version. Many of the free features in ClickUp are only available in paid plans of other project management software so it’s our choice as the best free alternative to Microsoft Project on Mac.
Best Project Management Software for Mac
A quick search on Google will lead to an overwhelming amount of options and information on the best project management tools today. So you don’t have to test every single one of them, we’ve made a list of our top six favorites, specifically for Mac devices.
1. Monday
Easily one of the best project management software for Mac, Monday.com is celebrated for its simple, user-friendly interface. From there, you can keep tabs on all your activities, your employees, and your deadlines.
You can also assign tasks to team members and track their progress from a single dashboard. With a highly-intuitive design, you can plan ahead and identify potential bottlenecks.
Monday.com is ideal for large teams as it has the capability to make task tracking a much simpler endeavor.
It also includes helpful integrations to link Slack, Zapier, Jira, Mailchimp, Shopify, Bitbucket, Google Calendar, and other your favorite tools. With this software, cross-functional teams can keep track of each other’s works consequently empowering them to achieve their goals and have fun while getting things done.
✅ PROS:
- Simple, user-friendly, and highly-customizable dashboards
- Integrates with your favorite tools
- Automates workflow
⛔️ CONS:
- Doesn’t have a free version
2. Wrike
Wrike might be a cloud-hosted free project management software, but it’s available on Mac platforms as well. This award-winning tool is used by thousands of businesses, from startups to big corporations. It gives teams the flexibility to juggle multiple projects and activities simultaneously, empowering them to collaborate effectively towards the same goal.
Perhaps the best perk of using Wrike on your Mac is that the desktop app gets updated regularly. Every now and then, you can enjoy new features and functionality that will help you take your business to the next level.
Since Wrike is designed for professionals, it might take beginners a little time and effort to get used to the software.
✅ PROS:
- Robust collaboration tools
- Enterprise-class security
- Automates workflow
⛔️ CONS:
- Steep learning curve
UPDATE: Wrike was acquired by Citrix on January 19, 2021
3. Zoho Projects
A powerful free project management software, Zoho Projects has mobile and desktop versions. It is ideal for small business teams. As it comes with essential collaboration tools, team members can communicate effectively and get more things done on time. Not only that, its collaboration tools can extend to clients, vendors, and consultants.
Of course, Zoho Projects also has the right project management features that allow its users to plan, monitor, and assess their outcomes without hassle.
Perhaps the best thing about Zoho Projects is integration. Other than the Zoho apps, it integrates with Google Apps, Gmail, MS Office, QuickBooks, MailChimp, and a few social media platforms.
✅ PROS:
- Supports seamless team collaboration
- Delivers in-depth insights
- Integrates with Zoho and third-party apps
⛔️ CONS:
- Free version has limited features
4. Jira
If you are looking for more serious project management software for Mac, Jira may be your best bet. It is the #1 tool used by agile teams using Scrum, Kanban, & hybrid models for workflow and project management.
Using Jira, you can create multiple projects and check in on them via the roadmap to see where every task and user stands. The ticketing component makes it easy to ping a colleague regarding an open task. You can even attach large files (zipped, images, documents, and videos). Jira makes it easy to track every tiny aspect of a project in seamless detail.
✅ PROS:
- Reasonably priced
- Gantt, Kanban, and portfolio views
- Milestone tracking
- Powerful features
- Helpful messaging and collaboration tools built-in
⛔️ CONS:
- Confusing interface and hard to learn
- The cloud-based version is slow
- No timestamp on changes (hard to track)
- No in-person training available
5. Asana
In keeping with our theme of the best project management software for Mac, Asana stands out as an impressive project management tool. Although the interface may at first be confusing for some, it quickly starts to make sense. The Kanban view makes it easy to organize and move through a complex workflow with your team.
Asana’s pricing is tiered with added features as you go up a level. You can use Asana online or via the PC, Mac, and iOS apps. If you want full-fledged, fun collaboration for your teams, you can’t go wrong with Asana.
✅ PROS:
- Flexible and feature-rich for the higher tiers
- Timeline and Kanban views
- Administrative controls
- Create private teams and projects
- Priority support
- Integrates with other services and apps
- Automation
⛔️ CONS:
Project Management Software
- No time-tracking
- A bit pricey, especially at the enterprise-level
Project Management App Mac
6. Basecamp
Another contender in our lineup of the best project management software for Mac is Basecamp. This one allows you to upload files, share assets, discuss project details, and schedule and assign tasks.
This workhorse has been around since 2004, and although it has been updated, it still feels antiquated and does not include the rich, powerful features of some of the other project management options we have discussed. Essentially Basecamp is more of a collaboration tool than project management software.
✅ PROS:
- Flexible software for collaborating with teams
- Easy setup and online tutorials
- Automated scheduling notifications via email
- Group chat and messaging boards
- Calendar view
⛔️ CONS:
- Confusing interface that appears unfinished
- No Gantt charts or resource management tools
- Very pricey, especially for small teams
- Navigation is inflexible
Why do I need to Use Project Management Software for Managing my Team?
Large companies are constantly working on numerous projects. There’re big teams of people and few leaders responsible for making each project a successful endeavor. As more people become involved in project management not using a software program can be quite challenging to accomplish a project – there are many things that have to be performed in a well-organized manner.
Listed below are some reasons why you should start relying on project management tools if you want to attain your project’s deadlines.
Easy Planning
The project planning process takes a lot of time as you have to map-out all the important steps. A project management software provides you the ability to easily establish a hierarchy of tasks for effective and efficient completion. It also lets you indicate which steps are sequential and which tasks are dependent on one another. In turn, this makes it easier for the team to do their work. This is a time-saver because when the team leader knows which steps are the most important, he/she then knows which tasks to assign to whom.
Efficient Task Management
Every project out there consists of numerous tasks that you, or your team, must complete. Writing notes about what your team members are doing is sometimes impossible, especially when it comes to ongoing projects that take a lot of time to complete. This is where project management software is very useful: assign all of the important tasks to employees and monitor how they are performing. Project management becomes much easier as you have access to this data and can follow who has which tasks. Through better task management, teams work in unity. Hence, achieving incredible results and benefiting the company.
Seamless Team Workflow
Getting the whole team to work as one is often very hard to achieve, but project management software can make it much easier. Using this software solution gives a team leader a chance to always be able to see the tasks that his team is working on and which team members are involved in the task.
Furthermore, there are tasks which require more people. This is where a team leader can include several different people to collectively work on bigger tasks – while other members do smaller tasks simultaneously. Creating a seamless team workflow is something very important to attain as it contributes to a company’s sustainable future, as well as creating cohesion within a team.
Shared Documents, Calendars and Contacts
Consider that project management tools are useful as they support the storage and organization of a variety of documents. This is extremely important as a majority of projects have a high number of documents. By creating a centralized document storage plan, every team member can easily, and more quickly, edit and contribute. This feature is very important in cases where the work is outsourced to a person or a team. It is much easier to perform all the necessary tasks without sending thousands of emails with attached documents where, sooner or later, things become convoluted.
As well, having access to calendars of other team members is convenient because sooner or later, a meeting between team members has to be organized. So, having access to people’s calendar makes coordinating much easier. Make sure to share a document containing every team members’ contact information. This ensures remote team members can communicate with one another.
Precise Project Tracking
Tracking the time spent on every task is of great value. It allows you to collect data about team members, to know their work pace. This will make planning future projects much easier. The team leader can then make much more precise time estimations. For example, a team leader can give different types of tasks to team members throughout a project to determine their strengths. This creates better performance and faster results.
These are some of the most important reasons why you want to rely on project management tools in your company. Utilizing the latest technologies currently available maximizes the performance of project teams.
Every business needs to be armed with scalable tools that will help them overcome their growing pains. However, it doesn’t have to cost you a fortune to acquire the tools you need.
Equipped with the best project management software, you can keep all your files organized and centralized in a single platform. More importantly, you motivate your team to work together toward the same goal.
The whole workflow becomes improved, as people are capable of collaborating on a variety of tasks. This leads to a significant improvement in productivity, which leads to higher profits in the business world. High quality in a short time-frame, that’s what businesses want to achieve. Rely on project management software to get this done.