- Project Management Tool For Mac Free Online
- Apple Project Management Software
- Tools Used For Project Management
Project Plan 365 is a project management tool made for Apple devices (macOS and iOS) that can open, edit and save in.mpp (Microsoft’s native file format for MS Project plans). The tool is compatible with the latest version of the MPP file format, as well as several previous versions. Compare Project Management Software For Mac to find the right solution for your business. Free demos, price quotes and reviews of the best tools. Project Dune v.1.6.3 Project Dune is a software project management tool to manage your estimates, project information, issues, releases, scrum tasks, timesheets and test execution results. See the project site at projectdune.org for detailed. The 17 Best Task Management Software. Here are the 17 best tools for managing tasks efficiently: 1. ClickUp is the world’s highest-rated project management tool and is used by companies like Google, Webflow, and Airbnb. It’s got all the features you need to skyrocket your productivity and manage any task super-smoothly. NTask is a flexible and handyman project management tool that works on MAC & PC. From making checklists to managing projects, collaboration with project teams, scheduling meetings, file sharing, and offering state of the art Gantt Charts. NTask lets you do all of that and much more through one single project management tool.
With over 10,000 organizations using it, Microsoft Project is a popular desktop project management tool. However, an estimated 25 – 30% workforce is expected to work from home by the end of 2021. That’s why businesses and managers are looking at Microsoft Project alternatives.
In this article we’ll look at the following:
- Freemium Microsoft Project alternatives
- Open source MS Project alternatives
- And, Mac-based alternatives to MS Project
But, before that, let’s look at why you may want to look at alternative project management software.
Let’s start:
Why Look For Microsoft Project Alternatives?
MS Project is a powerful tool that comes with all the features for your project management needs. But, it’s not for everyone. Here are the three main reasons why you may look at its alternatives:
Project Management Tool For Mac Free Online
1. Distributed work
The 2020 pandemic has changed the way we work. Over 250% more people will work full-time from home, even after the pandemic.
Microsoft Project has traditionally been a desktop application. As a result, it does not adapt well to distributed teams. In addition, collaboration and task management are tough with desktop apps.
Microsoft Office 365 does solve this to some extent. But, it can quickly become expensive for small businesses.
2. Complexity
The features that make MS Project powerful also make it complex. It comes with all the features for:
- Project planning, budgeting & scheduling
- Resource management
- Portfolio management
- Collaboration & communication
- Reporting
However, not all these features are needed for every team member. As a result, while MS Project is great for senior managers, it’s not yet that relevant for the entire team.
3. Cost
Microsoft Project is available in three price plans.
First, the basic plan comes with project planning and execution features and costs $10 per user, per month.
Next, the second tier plan comes with all the features in the basic plan, plus resource management and reporting features. It costs $30 per user, per month.
Finally, the enterprise tier comes with additional enterprise and portfolio management features and costs $55 per user, per month.
In addition, you also have to pay for Office 365.
As a result, MS Project can quickly become expensive for small businesses.
Now that you know the reasons, let’s look at some MS Project alternatives.
Free MS Project Alternatives
Considering the above reasons, let’s look at a few free MS Project alternatives. However, in this section, we’ll only look at online tools that facilitate distributed work.
1. Toggl Plan
Toggl Plan is a beautifully simple project planning and execution tool. It’s built for remote teams that prefer results-driven management, transparency, and autonomy over micro-management.
It comes with the following features:
- Project plan timeline for project planning and scheduling
- Team plan timeline for visually managing your team’s workloads
- Comprehensive task management with customizable workflows and recurring tasks
- Assign multiple team members to a task
- Task collaboration and communication using attachments and comments
- Email notification reports
On the minus side, Toggl Plan does not come with portfolio management.
Pricing: Toggl Plan comes with a free plan for solo users. This lifetime free plan is good for unlimited projects. Team plans start at $9 per user, per month.
2. GanttPRO
GanttPRO is a Gantt chart based project management tool for teams of all sizes. It eliminates all that complexity of MS Project yet offers robust features:
- Gantt chart view, Board view, Calendar view, My tasks dashboard
- Powerful task management
- Comprehensive resource management and workload
- Team collaboration with comments, attachments, mentions, and notifications
- Time tracking including real-time logging
- Portfolio management
- Export to popular formats and Sharing via URL
As a downside, there is no free version, but it comes with a 14-day fully-featured trial.
Pricing: GanttPRO offers Team plans, and the cost depends on the number of users, $4.5 per user per month being the least expensive. The Individual plan costs $15 per user per month. All the plans come with unlimited functionality.
3. Asana
Asana is a comprehensive, online project management tool. And, it’s best suited for large teams and complex projects. It comes with multiple views to manage your projects and the following features:
- Timeline and calendar views for project planning
- Task management with custom task workflows and sub-tasks
- Task collaboration and communication
- Team workload management
- Portfolio management
But, most of the above features are available in the paid plans. And, the free plan is limited to Calendars, Boards, and a limited number of tasks.
Pricing: Asana’s lifetime free plan is good for teams of up to 15 members. However, you can only create a limited number of tasks in the free plan. And, you don’t get timelines or workload management in the free plan. Paid plans start at $13.49 per user, per month.
4. TeamGantt
TeamGantt as the name suggests is a project planning and execution tool. It’s an online tool that comes with features similar to MS Project.
Features include:
- Project planning with Gantt charts
- Workload forecasting
- Task management with dependant tasks and estimates
- Team collaboration with conversations and attachments
- Time tracking
Now on to the negatives. The free plan is limited to a single project and up to 3 team members.
Pricing: TeamGantt’s free plan is limited to one project, one timeline, and up to 3 members. Paid plans start at $24.95 per user, per month.
5. Wrike
Wrike is an all-round project management tool. It comes with planning, task management, and reporting features. Primarily meant for creative and marketing teams, Wrike also comes with proofing and approval features.
Major features in Wrike include:
- Project planning with Gantt charts and Calendars
- Task management with boards, custom fields, and sub-tasks
- Proofing, task, and project approvals
- Reporting with time-tracking
- User access controls
On the minus side, the free plan does not come with any of the advanced features.
Pricing: Wrike’s free plan comes with task management features. Also, it’s limited to 5 user teams. Paid plans start at $9.80 per user, per month.
6. Clickup
Clickup is a complete work management tool. It also offers project planning, task management, resource management, and time tracking features. Unlike other tools in this list, it also comes with an internal chat tool that teams can use to collaborate on projects.
Here are Clickup’s important features:
- Task management using lists, boards, and calendars
- Work planning using timeline charts
- Reports and custom dashboards with time tracking
- Enterprise-level security and HIPAA compliance
It’s important to note that all the above features are only available in paid plans.
Pricing: Clickup’s free plan comes with unlimited users and tasks. However, only the list view is available in the free plan. Boards and calendars are available in the Unlimited plan, which costs $9 per user, per month. Timelines and time-tracking are available in the Business plan, which starts at $19 per user, per month.
Open Source Alternatives To Microsoft Project
In addition to the freemium tools above, there are a lot of open source project management alternatives to MS Project. Let’s look at three of the most popular tools.
7. OpenProject
OpenProject is an open-source project management tool. It’s an online tool that comes with planning, task management, and bug management features.
Primarily for software development teams, OpenProject comes with the following features:
- Project planning and scheduling with Gantt charts
- Task management with Kanban boards
- Time tracking, and cost reporting
- Bug tracking and release planning
On the minus side, the tool is fairly complex to use and may need quite some time for your team to get used to.
Pricing: Like most open-source tools, OpenProject comes with a self-hosted, community version, that completely free. The paid plans start at $6 per user, per month. However, all paid plans require a minimum commitment of 1 year.
8. ProjectLibre
ProjectLibre is a desktop-based, open-source MS Project alternative. It matches most closely to MS Project’s desktop version. A cloud-based version of this project management tool is in the works.
ProjectLibre’s main features include:
- Desktop app for Linux, Mac, and Windows PCs
- Works with Microsoft Project files
- Project planning, task management, and resource management features
However, because it’s a desktop application, it comes with all the drawbacks of MS Project.
Pricing: The open-source, community version is free for life.
Microsoft Project Alternatives For Mac
Most online tools and open-source software applications work well for Mac devices. But, Apple users prefer native apps over these. In this section, we’ll look at the top, native MS Project alternatives for Mac devices.
9. OmniPlan
OmniPlan is a native Mac app for project management. It comes with project planning and scheduling, effort tracking, and resource management features.
Features that come with OmniPlan are:
- Project planning with Gantt charts
- Resource management with leveling and sharing
- Task management with dependencies
- Critical path planning
- Cost/effort estimation and tracking
OmniPlan has the same cons as that of MS Project.
Pricing: OmniPlan comes with a 14-day free trial. The monthly subscription costs $19.99 and works on both Mac and iOS. The lifetime Mac version costs $399.99.
10. QuickPlan
QuickPlan is another popular project management tool for Mac. And, it comes with similar features to MS Project.
Notable features include:
- Task planning with Gantt charts
- Task management with dependencies
- Keyboard shortcuts and mouse gestures to improved usability
- Integrations with MS Project, Excel, iCal, and Mind map
However, QuickPlan suffers from the same drawbacks as any desktop application.
Pricing: A free trial is available for QuickPlan. The premium version costs $47.99 and is available on the Mac
How To Choose From These Microsoft Project Alternatives?
So far we’ve looked at nine different Microsoft Project alternatives. Each of the above-mentioned tools has its own pros and cons.
So how do you choose the right PM tool for your needs?
Here’s how:
- If you are a team of one with very little need for team collaboration, you can go ahead with the open-source and free ProjectLibre. Or, if you prefer Apple devices, the premium Mac apps like OmniPlan or QuickPlan are a great choice.
- On the other hand, if team collaboration is important to you, choose from the freemium MS Project alternatives mentioned above. For software development teams, OpenProject is a great free and open-source alternative.
Keep in mind the maintenance of open-source software. Often, it’s self-hosted and support is almost non-existent.
Consider Toggl Plan for simple project management needs
For simple, collaborative project planning and execution, you may want to look at Toggl Plan. It’s come with all the project planning, task management, and workload management features that small teams need. Plus, it’s very affordable.
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.
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:
- No time-tracking
- A bit pricey, especially at the enterprise-level
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.
Apple Project Management Software
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.
Tools Used For Project Management
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.