A virtual team – whether across the street or across the world – is a team whose members simultaneously work together to a common purpose, while physically apart. -Yael Zofi
How Many People Work Virtually?
Working from anywhere has never been easier thanks to WiFi, cloud computing, smartphones and online collaboration tools. Building relationships is also easier and faster due to social media.
Did you know that approximately 20-25% of the workforce teleworks1 at some frequency? Of course, these figures were pre-COVID-19. With a majority of people still working from home during the coronavirus crisis, online project management tools are more important than ever.
We Rock Your Web has been testing and using various tools throughout the years to keep our virtual team connected and productive from locations around the world.
What Are The Best Online Productivity Tools?
You have tons of options for your online collaboration needs. Some have overlapping features; however, each offers a different type of service. Some specialize in task management, while others are better for instant messaging.
You may find it best to use multiple collaboration tools (like we do at We Rock Your Web). For that reason, we’ve chosen a winner for each category rather than our typical top 3 picks. Read the reviews below to see what each company specializes in and how they can help your team.
Teams of any type (virtual or not) require you to use tools to manage tasks and projects of all sizes. The challenge is getting everyone on board with the same system. You want something that’s complex enough to give you options and flexibility yet not so complicated and overwhelming that you spend more time learning the system than getting work done.
At We Rock Your Web, we’re suckers for Basecamp (and many others are too), but from the recent research we’ve done, it seems more teams are migrating toward Teamwork Projects because it has more features than Basecamp. But we also review two project management tools that are growing in popularity, Todoist and Airtable.
Best For: Project and task management for more experienced users Ideal Team Size: All company sizes
Teamwork is super easy to use and intuitive. It’s similar to Basecamp except that it has a few more features, including the ability to give tasks priorities, create milestones and invoices, and track time. It also has a desktop timer you can download to your PC or Mac to track hours by project and task.
You can view what’s on your plate by checking out the calendar or see a list in an activity log format. It also shows workloads and a snapshot of tasks and milestones that are past due. You can customize Teamwork to fit your team’s specific needs.
Teamwork continually makes updates and improvements to their service. In 2018 they introduced advanced features like bulk-editing, historical information on changes for each task and the ability to exclude tags from searches. In 2019 and 2020 they added CRM, project time budgeting and other features to their growing list of capabilities.
If you like Teamwork for project management, it even has its own chat and help desk products so you can keep everything under one roof. This is an affordable option for those of you looking for a collaboration tool with basic yet functional project management.
Pros
Cons
Great customer service reviews
Unlimited users
Tons of features (time tracking, Gantt charts, subtasks, etc.)
Basecamp import tool in case you’re switching
Teamwork Desk (help desk) for added fee
Team Chat app (added fee)
Discounts for non-profits and educational institutions
Subscribers say it’s simple to use
The software is continually being updated and improved
Free forever option
Apps available on iOS, Android, Chrome, Web, Mac and Windows
Best For: Task management for everyday users Ideal Team Size: Small to mid-sized companies
Are you looking for a basic, easy-to-use and straightforward project management tool? Look no further than Basecamp. You can track projects and tasks via to-do lists, host written discussions, embed media files (images, videos) and more. Basecamp 3 is our primary project management tool at We Rock Your Web.
What’s great about Basecamp is its simplicity. There are few distractions to take you off task. Basecamp cuts down on email when you set up your notifications so you only receive alerts or email when a specific task or discussion is relevant to you.
It also keeps you organized by stringing discussions together in one organized task. You can tag people and assign the task to whoever’s court it’s in next (or multiple people). Basecamp 3, the newest version, gives you added control over these notifications.
Our Experience
Kimberly A., We Rock Your Web, has been using Basecamp since 2013, and here is her experience with it.
I’ve used a handful of various project management tools and I must say, Basecamp is one of my favorites. I found Teamwork to be a little overwhelming and Basecamp to be more straightforward. I like that Basecamp has a simple layout with nothing flashy to overcomplicate things. Teamwork, on the other hand, has more colors and distractions for me, so I was more confused when I used it. However, I know some people may like the color coding options that Teamwork offers.
Pros
Cons
Access Basecamp with Mac, PC, iOS, Android and email
When responding to a task, you can close your browser window and it automatically saves your draft
Easy to learn and use
No annual contracts, cancel anytime
Unlimited users
Can control access for each individual (admin, team member, client, visitor)
Back up data to Google Drive or Dropbox
Great Twitter support with fast replies and email responses
Can integrate with more than 100 apps and add-ons
Data is secure via HTTPS encryption and 2-factor authentication
Best For: Task management and project scheduling Ideal Team Size: Small to mid-sized teams
Looking for an easy-to-use, reasonably priced and simple task management tool? Todoist has become a go-to tool for over 100,000 teams. It bundles project scheduling, task management and document management together in one platform.
It doesn’t have all the bells and whistles that you’ll find with advanced tools like Asana, but its simplicity could be just what you’re looking for. The potential downside? If your team requires a large number of tasks, Todoist may not be the tool for you since they have caps on the number of projects with all plans (unlike Basecamp).
Best For: Project management (especially for marketing, advertising, creatives) Ideal Team Size: Small to mid-sized teams
Airtable is a visually appealing collaboration platform that combines the flexibility of a spreadsheet with rich features like Kanban card stacks, file attachments, calendars and reporting. In Airtable, you create a spreadsheet/database for each project. These “bases” have highly customizable tables and fields. It’s like Excel on steroids.
Powerful filtering, sorting and grouping features allow you to arrange and view your work projects in multiple ways. If you have the Pro or Enterprise plan, you can also add what they call blocks to your bases. Blocks are creative palettes of app-like functionality which allow you to add maps, video chat, multimedia and other content to boost your workflow.
Pros
Cons
Highly customizable
Calendar, Kanban, grid and gallery views
Custom time tracking
Can link records between tables and spreadsheets
Data is secure via encryption and two-factor authentication
Integrates with Google Drive, Dropbox, Basecamp, Slack, Zapier and many other third-party apps
Robust API
Client access
On the pricey side
Learning curve to figure out how to utilize all its features
Limited user permissions compared to many other platforms
Doesn’t have instant messaging feature (but does have comments)
Pricing
You can save 17% off the following pricing if you pay annually. All plans, including the free version, include unlimited bases.
Free version: 1,200 records per database, 2GB attachment space per base
Plus: $12/user/month for 5,000 records per database, 5GB attachment space per base
Pro: $24/user/month for 50,000 records per database, 20GB attachment space per base, advanced calendar features, custom branded forms, user permissions
Enterprise: must contact for pricing, includes unlimited records per database, 1TB attachment space per base, dedicated customer service, individualized onboarding and training
Coupon
Use this link to get the best deal we can offer from AirTable.
Best For Virtual Team Communications
When you have a virtual team, good team communication is critical to collaboration, but sometimes an important text can be disruptive and scheduling a phone call can be impossible. Luckily, there are more options than ever before. Virtual team communication tools give you a dedicated platform to make up for the lack of a shared physical environment.
Best For: Virtual team online chat communications Ideal Team Size: Small to mid-sized companies
Slack is a souped-up chat platform created by one of the Flickr founders. Our team started using Slack in early 2015, and we’re big fans. Its desktop (and web-browser) app is intuitive and straightforward yet useful.
It has all the same features as other chat platforms that you know and love but creates a virtual hub to put all your communications in one place. Drag and drop a file into a chat window. Host an impromptu virtual meeting with one of its many integrations. Search conversations.
You can also search chat history and star important messages. It has a user-friendly interface, and you barely need any training to start communicating and collaborating with your team. You can @mention people (similar to Twitter) to call things to their attention in a private message or on one of the “channels.”
We use Slack for quick questions to help eliminate unnecessary emails and texts. It’s also a good tool to use to chat about non-work-related things and have some fun with your team (including custom emojis). Lastly, it has a strict privacy policy that makes us a lot more comfortable sharing sensitive information than on some competing platforms.
Our Experience
Kimberly A., We Rock Your Web, has been using Slack since 2015, and here is her experience with it.
Slack is one of my favorite tools we use on our team. It’s great for quick questions and it’s a fun place to catch up with coworkers too. I appreciate the different Channels our team has created so we are easily able to organize discussions around specific subjects like editorial changes, tech issues and more.
Pros
Cons
Use via web browser or desktop app
File sharing
Integrations with 3rd party apps like Google Hangout, Dropbox, Salesforce, etc.
Standard: $8/user/month (billed monthly) or $6.67/user/month (billed annually) for unlimited searchable message archive and unlimited apps and service integrations (sign up using link above for $100 in free credits)
Plus: $15/user/month (billed monthly) or $12.50/user/month (billed annually) for SAML-based single sign-on and 99.99% guaranteed uptime SLA
Enterprise: must contact for pricing (includes unlimited workspaces, HIPAA-compliant messaging and more
Best For: Companies who already use Microsoft products and programs Ideal Team Size: Small to mid-sized teams (Teams), Large companies (Yammer)
Dubbed the “hub for teamwork in Office 365,” Microsoft Teams is perfect for those who already use Microsoft products and services like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, SharePoint, etc.
The Teams platform puts all of Microsoft’s online collaboration tools under one roof, including chat, conference calling, customized dashboards and more. It’s geared toward small team collaboration within an organization. For example, your marketing department could use Teams to work on specific projects.
Yammer is meant for larger, company-wide communications, including announcements, town halls, training, cross-departmental meetings and more. However, you can create private groups in Yammer. Many companies use both Teams and Yammer since they serve different communication purposes.
Pros
Cons
All communication tools under one roof
Integrates with Adobe, SurveyMonkey, Smartsheet, etc.
Enterprise-level security and compliance
Mobile apps and connect on multiple devices (Teams: iOS & Android; Yammer: iOS & Android)
Active community of help and support
Compatible with Windows and Mac
Desktop app requires updates
Must have/use Microsoft 365 products
Pricing
Teams and Yammer are free services, but you must have Microsoft 365 to use them. Microsoft 365 has 4 pricing options:
Essentials: $5/month per user (with annual contract)
Business Standard: $12.50/month per user (with annual contract)
Business Premium: $20/month per user (with annual contract)
Apps only: $8.25/month per user (with annual contract)
Team collaboration platforms combine communications, task management, project tools and more all under one roof. Instead of doing one specific task exceptionally well, team collaboration tools do a lot of things pretty well.
You might sacrifice certain features, but you get the benefit of having an all-in-one product that consolidates everything into one place versus logging in and out of multiple platforms. We chose Asana as the clear winner for the best team collaboration category.
Best For: Team collaboration Ideal Team Size: Small to mid-sized companies
Asana claims to be “teamwork without email,” and it is just that. It looks and acts like an email inbox but groups projects with the ability to add due dates and “likes” and stars for essential items in one place. It integrates with several third-party sites, including Google Drive and Slack. Many well-known organizations like Salesforce, Meals on Wheels and Deloitte use Asana.
However, it does take some getting used to if you’re not very tech-savvy. There are several bells and whistles users can take advantage of, including the ability to create custom themes and shortcuts.
Pros
Cons
View progress reports
Color code/highlight key tasks
Boards feature that allows teams to organize and manage tasks efficiently
Web-based, so there’s no software to install
Integrates with Microsoft Office, Zapier, Google Drive, Salesforce, etc.
Premium: $13.49/user/month (billed monthly) or $10.99/user/month (billed annually)
Business: $30.49/user/month (billed monthly) or $24.99/user/month (billed annually)
Enterprise: contact Asana for pricing
Coupon
Use this link to get the best deal we can offer from Asana.
Best Tool For Document Collaboration
When you have a document that needs editing and feedback, it can be a challenge to go back and forth between versions and confusing to know which is the latest copy. Also, files attached to emails can go unnoticed in email chains and weigh down your email server space. Enter: Google Drive.
Google Drive (formerly Google Docs) is widely used by many virtual teams, government agencies, non-profits and businesses of all sizes. When you have your document hosted on a cloud-based editing platform like Google Drive, you have only one copy of a document, yet you can go back to restore previous versions if needed.
Best For: Document collaboration Ideal Team Size: All sizes
Google Drive’s functionality is similar to Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint. What’s different is that you and your team can collaborate on a project together in real-time via the cloud. Team members can edit, view and comment simultaneously without worrying about version control. You can also share folders and restrict user access through Google Drive and access your documents on the go using its laptop and mobile apps.
There is 2-step authentication to ensure your documents’ security. It’s important to know that Google offers its tools at no cost, but you’re giving them the ability to see and use your data for their R&D purposes. So in a way, you’re paying with your privacy.
Be sure to check your documents’ access levels and be especially careful with sensitive data. We use Google Drive for active documents and archive older documents to a safer, more private location.
Our Experience
Kimberly A., We Rock Your Web, has been using Google Drive since it first launched in 2012, and here is her experience with it.
I’m a huge fan of Google Drive. I use it for work as well as personal things. I planned my wedding thanks to Google Drive and I keep my research organized for work-related tasks stored here too. It’s super simple to use and easy to teach others how to use as well.
Pros
Cons
Free to use with lots of free storage
Integration with other Google products like Gmail, Hangouts, Chat, etc.
User access permissions available to control who can edit and view documents and folders
Best Tool For Cross-Platform Project Collaboration
Change can be difficult, and it can be a challenge to get everyone on board with a new way of doing things, so the last thing you want to do is cause tension in your team.
So why not take your existing software and systems and integrate them to work together? Thanks to SharePoint‘s cross-platform project collaboration you can do just that.
Best For: Cross-platform project collaboration Ideal Team Size: Mid to large-sized companies
SharePoint is great for companies that use Windows since it’s part of the Microsoft Office suite. You can connect with other employees using Microsoft’s technologies like Word, Excel and Powerpoint. Large companies commonly use Sharepoint to integrate with existing Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools and applications like DocuSign.
Another option is SharePoint Server OneDrive for Business, which syncs files and folders (similar to Dropbox).
Pros
Cons
Microsoft brand recognition, support and easy MS Office integration
First established in 2001
Integration with Yammer for inter-office social networking
Brainstorming can be a challenge when you’re not all sitting in a conference room together or chatting over coffee. That’s where collaborative brainstorming tools like Trello and Kanban Tool come in. They allow you to share ideas, manage to-do tasks and more, visually. It’s like using a giant virtual whiteboard to post sticky notes, tape ideas and assign tasks.
Best For: Collaborative brainstorming Ideal Team Size: Small to mid-sized companies
Trello is a very basic to-do list service you can use to collaborate with team members. There are minimal options to assign tasks, but you can tag “cards,” create alerts and add photos to “boards.” Think of Trello as an online whiteboard with a bunch of high-tech sticky notes.
The free version provides most of the features as the gold/upgraded version, and the functionality is more or less the same. Trello is great for anyone looking for a visual way to virtually brainstorm ideas and display your thoughts in a stream.
Pros
Cons
Easy to sign up; no credit card required for free version
Clean, simple layout with easy to understand instructions
Share links to boards, and invite outside members to view or collaborate
Easily print your boards to PDFs
Drag-and-drop functionality and stickers to enhance boards
Integrates with Google Drive, Dropbox, Zapier, Salesforce and more
Some security vulnerabilities, but they do have two-factor authentication
Pricing
Free for (up to 10MB per file attachment and 10 team boards)
Business Class: $9.99/user/month when paid annually (up to 250 MB per file attachment and unlimited boards)
Enterprise: $20.83/user/month (or less) when paid annually (up to 250 MB and unlimited boards, additional features)
Coupon
Use this link to get the best deal we can offer from Trello.
Should I Use More Than One Collaboration Tool?
Probably yes. Think about how you’ll be using your online collaboration tool. All these products offer various benefits, and you may find that using a combination of these services will work best for you. For example, we use Google Drive, Slack and Basecamp on a regular basis.
Finding the optimal combination of these products to meet your team’s needs is key. Below are some additional online collaboration tools that you may want to consider for your team:
Whether you’re a company or individual, your data is at risk of being hacked or lost. It’s important to take advantage of the security and back-up features these online collaboration tools offer.
Some have built-in security features while others require configurations (read their privacy policies carefully to learn who has access to your data and what’s being done with it).
No matter what, make sure you aren’t at risk for hacks or server crashes (read our article on website security and optimization on ways to protect yourself). Make sure the data you’re passing between platforms is secure and that your data is being backed up.
Sadie has over 15 years of experience in digital marketing, graphic and web design, social media strategy, email marketing and more. She is a 4th generation small business owner and has worked with a wide range of brands from fortune 500 companies to startups and entrepreneurs.
Sadie is a self-proclaimed Apple/Mac guru and keeps up with all the latest tech trends at conferences including South by Southwest. Sadie has a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Texas at Austin's Moody School of Communications and a concentration in Business from the Red McCombs School of Business.
Her expertise has appeared in many notable media outlets, including The New York Times, Forbes, People, Reader's Digest, Apartment Therapy, and other regional news organizations.
Disclaimer: This website contains reviews, opinions and information regarding products and services manufactured or provided by third parties. We are not responsible in any way for such products and services, and nothing contained here should be construed as a guarantee of the functionality, utility, safety or reliability of any product or services reviewed or discussed. Please follow the directions provided by the manufacturer or service provider when using any product or service reviewed or discussed on this website.
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101 Comments
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Mark Ramos
June 10, 2020 2:26 pm
Hi, Sandie.
What, in your own opinion, is the best project management + communication + collaboration tool for a conglomerate of manufacturing companies?
Mark, it really depends on your company size, the other systems and services you already use to integrate with, etc. I haven’t personally used SharePoint but if your using PCs (vs Macs) that might be a good option for larger companies. Most of these services have free-trials so you can see which might be a good fit for your situation.
Kevin Sandy
February 4, 2020 12:10 pm
Hi Sadie, can you tell me which categories does the other tools belong to?
Microsoft Teams
Kanban Tool
Glip
Sococo
Wrike
Projects.ly by 500apps is the versatile online project management solution from 500apps. It is a cloud-based project management software for employees, projects, and teams. It’s fully automated and adjustable to plan projects, collaborate with teams, gain insights from powerful reporting and more. Do try their 30 days of free trial!
Betsy
July 29, 2019 4:31 pm
We are thinking about signing up for Teamwork to better manage our projects. As more team member are working off-site more often, things are getting lost. Would this be a good way to use Teamwork?
Yes, the more complex the project, the more your team will benefit from using a better project management tool like Teamwork. You can also try it out for 30 days for free (you don’t even have to enter in your credit card info!), so there’s really no reason not to give it a shot to see how you like it.
Sarah
February 11, 2019 6:27 pm
I really like kanbantool, I’m glad you mentioned it in the article. Thanks to the app, I always know what other people in my team are working at the moment, it makes it easier to be up to date with the progress of projects and keep the deadlines. Very useful tool.
James
February 9, 2019 11:47 pm
I live in Asia and search for an app that serve a purpose who won’t spent most of the time indoor, Microsoft Kaizala appears to be available to selected countries and easy to use as it was specially use in India, how does it compare?
steph
October 25, 2018 12:04 pm
None of them really worked for me. What I needed most was a secure IM that is suitable for business use,that has many features included and a good affordable price. I have tested the majority of these and ended up with Brosix. I t looks that I have found what I needed now.
Mark
January 19, 2018 6:50 pm
My team started using Slack about two months ago. I don’t know how we ever managed without it. Also, I wasn’t aware that there were so many online collaboration tools. I’m going to look into adding one or two of these to our repertoire. Thanks for all the information.
Bruce B
January 16, 2018 6:32 pm
My small work team has been using Excel to manage our projects for years. We already have that tool so why do we need to pay for something else? I keep hearing how great Basecamp is but I am having a hard time convincing my boss that it is worth paying more for. Plus, you guys say Teamwork is better than Basecamp so I am not sure what argument to make or if it’s even worth it at all. Can anyone help?
Ha ha! My team used to use Excel and Word to manage our projects too but now that we use Teamwork, I cannot even begin to imagine how we kept things running and didn’t lose track of the details and timelines! I think you can try Teamwork for free for a few weeks to see how you like it. It has A LOT of functionality… almost so much that it overwhelmed us at first! But, now that I have been using it for a few months, I would never dream of going back. The initial pain of converting over and the cost was 1000% worth it to create the amount of efficiency and growth that we now experience as a result of our team’s better communication, time and detail management and productivity. We can do more now with the same number of people because everyone is finally on the same page.
Marc Guevin from the Nutcache Team
September 19, 2017 11:43 am
Product update – Nutcache now provides teams of all sizes with a business-oriented Agile/Scrum solution for managing the entire project delivery lifecycle in a collaborative workspace; from the initial estimate to the final billing. And Nutcache offers a mobile app to track time outside of the app too.
Hi Marc, feel free to reach out to us through our contact form and we’d be happy to make any updates. Thanks for reaching out to us!
Divya
August 28, 2017 8:33 am
Great list. I’d like to add ProofHub in your list. It is an online collaboration tool that comes with integrated Group chat, quick Discussions on projects, Workflows and boards, Project reports, proofing tool and many more powerful features. Helping teams to Plan, Collaborate, Organize and Deliver projects on time, and within budget, ProofHub comes across as the complete project management tool!
Hi Kimberly! i’d like to share that I work for the same company but yes I have self-used this tool and in-fact I’m using it currently for my own projects and tasks. It works really well. It would be great if you can include it in your list while updating.
Therese
August 18, 2017 10:20 am
Hey there,
Just wanted to inform you that Teamwork Projects now offers two-factor authentication, so you may need to update the piece.
Therese
Thanks, Therese, we will be sure to update our article.
Kevink
June 28, 2017 4:33 pm
I used to use Basecamp for project and document management, but it just was not detail oriented enough to cover tasks and subtasks. Switched to Teamwork last year and really like it. It does lack some of the better formatting tools for tasks and has some integrations I’d like to see, but overall a nice tool. All of them could use better import and export tools…my one gripe.
Hey Kevink, since you’ve used both, what kind of teams would you say Basecamp is better for versus the teams that would benefit from using Teamwork?
Sara L
June 19, 2017 3:05 pm
What’s involved in the Basecamp 2 to 3 upgrade? We’re currently on Basecamp 2 and are worried that we will lose some of our content if we sign up for Basecamp 3. Also, in regards to Basecamp pricing, is it correct that Basecamp 3 cost $50 a month more than Basecamp 2? This is all very confusing, since from what I can tell they are still fully supporting both versions.
We just updated the article with details on the Basecamp migration process. Essentially, there is now an upgrade option available that will migrate your data from Basecamp 2 to Basecamp 3. Our team accomplished this successfully just the other month. It’s also true that version 3 is slightly more expensive, but given the new features and the fact that the 37signals team is now exclusively focusing on Basecamp 3 development, we felt it was the right time to upgrade. Good luck and let us know what you decide!
Verus
February 7, 2017 3:47 pm
Hi Sadie. Have you come across Brightpod app – a kanban style project management app designed for digital marketing teams. If you ever do an article on marketing tools do let me know. I’ll set you up with a free trial version. You’ll love it 🙂
Verus, I haven’t heard of Brightpod but will add to our list for consideration of reviewing during our next audit! Sounds like a great tool and we appreciate you sharing.
Jessica
November 21, 2016 11:21 pm
Hi Sadie and thank you so much for your article! You have some really great feedback and comparisons about features. It is difficult to find a one size fits all solution on the market, but it does actually exist 🙂 I would love to introduce you to Taskworld. Named as one of the top task/project management & communication software tools by software review giant, Capterra, recommended in Tech Crunch, Huffington Post and Forbes, Taskworld is offers an all-in-one platform with robust project and task management, collaboration, communication/chat and overview and analytics tools, with intuitive design and easy onboarding – all on one platform. It doesn’t require any integrations but rather is a full stand alone team management tool – it’s got all of the features missing on your cons list 😉 Think of it as all the best on your list rolled into one.
Would love the opportunity to chat with you a bit more about it and see how we might make it into this blog or a future one 🙂 We’ve had so many teams come to us from Trello, Slack, Basecamp, etc. saying they’d wished they had known about Taskworld sooner, and that there was an all in one platform without having to deal with integrations and paying for multiple subscriptions. Thank you again for your time and hard work! 🙂 Feel free to get in touch with me via email.
Jessica, thanks for letting us know about Taskworld, sounds like a great solution and glad to hear you’ve had so many successful users. Will check it out and definitely consider it for our next update of this article as we are always looking to include the latest and greatest products on the market. In the meantime I’ve got your contact info should we have any questions. Thanks again for reading and taking the time to share!
Hi Sadie, I really appreciate you taking the time to reply, thank you so much for your consideration and kind words. Do kindly let me know if you do an update or need any info, I am more than happy to offer any insight or help I can as our team has also done a lot of research about the PM software market to try and come up with the best solutions for teams – even recommending other software if it’s a better fit. Thank you again and Happy Holidays!
bytesandbeans
September 26, 2016 10:35 pm
I have a small company but we do a ton of enterprise projects, so we have a very fast paced environment. We have been using a group of apps, that luckily we have been able to sync to work together thanks to their programming interfaces (API). We use Trello as our Project Managent tool, we have it linked to slack so different team members get notified when their projects are changing. We use Slack for all our communications, since we are a bunch of engineers we are always on the go we need that mobility and being able to track all our conversations is a huge plus. We also use Google Docs, because even though Slack is great as a document collaboration tool, all our final projects are stored in Google Apps so we can all access them and edit them. Lastly, we use Cushion to Manage projects from a time/cost point of view. Cushion is a new player. Cushion is originally designed to help freelancers manage projects and how much time/money they vest on them. For us it was a godsend. With Cushion we can see our schedule, and we can plan tasks and projects that are meant to happen some time from now, ahead but still within the budget. It helps us track out expenses so we know how much we are putting on a project or a client and manage our time so that when an engineer has done X amount of work (including weekends) that person can know when they can take a break and rotate their time. It’s a pretty amazing tool. It’s cheap too at $96/yr. One thing that is missing is team access, for us it works because our project manager uses the tool the most, but the developer has told us that Teams is already a feature that is coming up. The developer is the nicest guy possible, and incredibly reachable at all times. The combined cost of using all these web/cloud based apps is a lot cheaper for us than using other solutions. For us we use whatever works. But I think you should check out Cushion. It’s worth a look.
Gilbert, thanks for the details about how you use project management tools for your company and for sharing Cushion! We are always on the hunt for the latest and greatest tools out there so appreciate your recommendation. We will check them out and add them to our list to perhaps feature in the future. Thanks again for reading and sharing your experience with us!
Jess
September 22, 2016 5:30 pm
This is a very useful thread and I hope it’s still active. We are currently looking at revamping our Intranet with SharePoint and are considering using it for enhanced collaboration, however I’ve been using Basecamp with our development supplier and find it really easy to use and it helped our project communications immensely. Our organization has chosen Asana as the team collaboration tool, so I am trying that out before deciding on which one to adopt. I don’t like the way Asana has limited formatting with conversation threads. I also don’t like the way Asana doesn’t have other lists except for task lists, or at least I cant figure out how to use it to that effect. In Basecamp we could create a list and give it a name, so it was much more flexible. I think an amalgamation of the tools will be ideal, but then you lose the benefit of having one place to go. Any advice?
Jess, thanks for sharing your experiences and we definitely feel your struggle with finding a one size fits all solution. Our team uses Basecamp for project management and documentation but Slack for day to day communications (although Basecamp does have a Campfire chat feature). What tools you use really depends on your organization’s size, culture and needs so it’s difficult to recommend something specific to your situation. However, I can tell you from our experience Basecamp has been our go-to solution for awhile. The only downside is when they upgrade to newer versions the archives don’t transfer over so we can’t take advantage of the enhanced features (since we’d be unable to access our older files). Hope that helps!
Tim
September 8, 2016 8:32 pm
You guys should add Avaza to this comparison.
It has the functionality equivalent of Trello + Asana + Harvest + Freshbooks, integrated in one product, at a price less than any one of them.
Thanks Tim, we’ll look into adding the company in our next audit for this article!
Tom
September 7, 2016 5:03 pm
Hello, Sadie! I’m testing diffent services for my project management and team collaboration needs and this article was a good read. I use Google Drive and Telegram for most of my collaboration needs. I tried Asana in the past for project management but it didn’t work off-line at the time and that was a deal-breaker to me, but now that it supports off-line mode I will give it a try again combined with Trello – this one exclusively for brainstorming. Talking about Telegram Messenger, I think you missed it in your article, it is a great tool that has been helping me quite a lot! Naturally, I would place it in the Virtual Team Communication category, but I consider it to be more than that: since Telegram’s chats are cloud-based and it is a very fast app, I also use Telegram for writing notes with hashtags, to exchange files between my PC and my smartphone – by sending messages to myself – and recently I’ve been using Evernote less and less by replacing some Evernote notebooks by private Telegram channels. Currently, I’m even writing a Telegram Bot to be my virtual personal assistant. You should really take a look at Telegram if you still didn’t! 🙂
Hey Tom, thanks for reading and glad to hear you found this article useful! And thanks for sharing how you use various tools for your company, since there’s no one size fits all approach in using these services, always curious to hear how others make the most of the various collaboration and virtual team tools. Haven’t heard for Telegram Messenger but will definitely check it out and we’ll consider adding it to our article when we do our regular audits. Either way, hopefully some other readers can take advantage of it using the tips you mentioned in the meantime. Thanks again and happy collaborating!
tref81
July 22, 2016 10:56 am
Good roundup! How robust/useful would you say these tools are for SMEs in construction, where at enterprise scale there’s traditionally a lot of emphasis on proprietary tools like Oracle Primavera (scheduling) or ARM (risk management)? The pricing plans here seem typically much less than several tools that aren’t mentioned, such as Wrike or Clarizen. Also one gets the feeling the projects envisaged here are product launches, app development, etc. rather than multi-disciplinary construction work. Any thoughts?
Tre, yes the products we reviewed are focused on communications and collaboration amongst small and medium enterprises which is why these tools are more affordable than traditional project management tools. And luckily most of these services have free trials too so you can give them a try before committing to anything. We reviewed both Clarizen and Wrike in our review of the best project management tools review article which might have more of what you are looking for in terms of finding a solution for managing construction projects. Hope that helps!
Another one to add to the list would be Favro from the guys from Hansoft. In my opinion it takes all the good things from trell, slack and google drive and puts it all together in a comprehensive great looking package. Packed with enterprise level features for a less than 8 bucks, as well as a free version, this would be my top choice.
CatLover35
June 10, 2016 1:51 am
Wouldn’t it be easier to user Bitrix24, which is free and is just like having Slack+Asana+Google Drive in one?
Ashley Jessen
May 17, 2016 9:39 am
Not quite in the same league but a brilliant tool for agencies is Toggl. Loving it at the moment. So easy to record where your time is spent and it links with Asana and Trello and others too.
Anne Watkins
February 17, 2016 2:46 pm
Hello Sadie, Just wanted to let you know I will be bringing this comparison to our organization as we prepare for a major project. We are reviewing project management software as a preliminary step. When I got the to bottom of the comparison, I was delighted to see that it is Sadie Cornelius who is married to my neighbor’s son. Small world. Anne Watkins
Anne, what a small world indeed! So glad you found our online collaborations tools article useful and please let me know if you have any specific questions. We use a variety of products/services mentioned above including Slack, Basecamp and Google Docs but it really depends on your business needs. Feel free to reference back and best wishes to your organization in making a decision!
Sadie, I’d love to know what you think of Zapty. For me, it is the only tool that has all the features: structured conversations (like Slack) PLUS allows teams, task assignment, approvals and polls. Only trouble is, it’s still new and a bit buggy.
Sue, thanks for sharing your thoughts and have not heard for Zapty but will look into it and add to our list to consider for our next article update (perhaps after it gets the kinks out!) Appreciate you passing along this tool and thanks so much for reading!
Hi, Sandie.
What, in your own opinion, is the best project management + communication + collaboration tool for a conglomerate of manufacturing companies?
Mark, it really depends on your company size, the other systems and services you already use to integrate with, etc. I haven’t personally used SharePoint but if your using PCs (vs Macs) that might be a good option for larger companies. Most of these services have free-trials so you can see which might be a good fit for your situation.
Hi Sadie, can you tell me which categories does the other tools belong to?
Microsoft Teams
Kanban Tool
Glip
Sococo
Wrike
Thanks
Kevin, those did not make it into a specific category, the review of others can be found in our overflow page for best project management tools.
Projects.ly by 500apps is the versatile online project management solution from 500apps. It is a cloud-based project management software for employees, projects, and teams. It’s fully automated and adjustable to plan projects, collaborate with teams, gain insights from powerful reporting and more. Do try their 30 days of free trial!
We are thinking about signing up for Teamwork to better manage our projects. As more team member are working off-site more often, things are getting lost. Would this be a good way to use Teamwork?
Yes, the more complex the project, the more your team will benefit from using a better project management tool like Teamwork. You can also try it out for 30 days for free (you don’t even have to enter in your credit card info!), so there’s really no reason not to give it a shot to see how you like it.
I really like kanbantool, I’m glad you mentioned it in the article. Thanks to the app, I always know what other people in my team are working at the moment, it makes it easier to be up to date with the progress of projects and keep the deadlines. Very useful tool.
I live in Asia and search for an app that serve a purpose who won’t spent most of the time indoor, Microsoft Kaizala appears to be available to selected countries and easy to use as it was specially use in India, how does it compare?
None of them really worked for me. What I needed most was a secure IM that is suitable for business use,that has many features included and a good affordable price. I have tested the majority of these and ended up with Brosix. I t looks that I have found what I needed now.
My team started using Slack about two months ago. I don’t know how we ever managed without it. Also, I wasn’t aware that there were so many online collaboration tools. I’m going to look into adding one or two of these to our repertoire. Thanks for all the information.
My small work team has been using Excel to manage our projects for years. We already have that tool so why do we need to pay for something else? I keep hearing how great Basecamp is but I am having a hard time convincing my boss that it is worth paying more for. Plus, you guys say Teamwork is better than Basecamp so I am not sure what argument to make or if it’s even worth it at all. Can anyone help?
Ha ha! My team used to use Excel and Word to manage our projects too but now that we use Teamwork, I cannot even begin to imagine how we kept things running and didn’t lose track of the details and timelines! I think you can try Teamwork for free for a few weeks to see how you like it. It has A LOT of functionality… almost so much that it overwhelmed us at first! But, now that I have been using it for a few months, I would never dream of going back. The initial pain of converting over and the cost was 1000% worth it to create the amount of efficiency and growth that we now experience as a result of our team’s better communication, time and detail management and productivity. We can do more now with the same number of people because everyone is finally on the same page.
Product update – Nutcache now provides teams of all sizes with a business-oriented Agile/Scrum solution for managing the entire project delivery lifecycle in a collaborative workspace; from the initial estimate to the final billing. And Nutcache offers a mobile app to track time outside of the app too.
Hi Marc, feel free to reach out to us through our contact form and we’d be happy to make any updates. Thanks for reaching out to us!
Great list. I’d like to add ProofHub in your list. It is an online collaboration tool that comes with integrated Group chat, quick Discussions on projects, Workflows and boards, Project reports, proofing tool and many more powerful features. Helping teams to Plan, Collaborate, Organize and Deliver projects on time, and within budget, ProofHub comes across as the complete project management tool!
Hi Divya, we are actually in the process of updating this article to include ProofHub. Do you currently use ProofHub or do you work for the company?
Hi Kimberly! i’d like to share that I work for the same company but yes I have self-used this tool and in-fact I’m using it currently for my own projects and tasks. It works really well. It would be great if you can include it in your list while updating.
Hey there,
Just wanted to inform you that Teamwork Projects now offers two-factor authentication, so you may need to update the piece.
Therese
Thanks, Therese, we will be sure to update our article.
I used to use Basecamp for project and document management, but it just was not detail oriented enough to cover tasks and subtasks. Switched to Teamwork last year and really like it. It does lack some of the better formatting tools for tasks and has some integrations I’d like to see, but overall a nice tool. All of them could use better import and export tools…my one gripe.
Hey Kevink, since you’ve used both, what kind of teams would you say Basecamp is better for versus the teams that would benefit from using Teamwork?
What’s involved in the Basecamp 2 to 3 upgrade? We’re currently on Basecamp 2 and are worried that we will lose some of our content if we sign up for Basecamp 3. Also, in regards to Basecamp pricing, is it correct that Basecamp 3 cost $50 a month more than Basecamp 2? This is all very confusing, since from what I can tell they are still fully supporting both versions.
Hi Sara,
We just updated the article with details on the Basecamp migration process. Essentially, there is now an upgrade option available that will migrate your data from Basecamp 2 to Basecamp 3. Our team accomplished this successfully just the other month. It’s also true that version 3 is slightly more expensive, but given the new features and the fact that the 37signals team is now exclusively focusing on Basecamp 3 development, we felt it was the right time to upgrade. Good luck and let us know what you decide!
Hi Sadie. Have you come across Brightpod app – a kanban style project management app designed for digital marketing teams. If you ever do an article on marketing tools do let me know. I’ll set you up with a free trial version. You’ll love it 🙂
Verus, I haven’t heard of Brightpod but will add to our list for consideration of reviewing during our next audit! Sounds like a great tool and we appreciate you sharing.
Hi Sadie and thank you so much for your article! You have some really great feedback and comparisons about features. It is difficult to find a one size fits all solution on the market, but it does actually exist 🙂 I would love to introduce you to Taskworld. Named as one of the top task/project management & communication software tools by software review giant, Capterra, recommended in Tech Crunch, Huffington Post and Forbes, Taskworld is offers an all-in-one platform with robust project and task management, collaboration, communication/chat and overview and analytics tools, with intuitive design and easy onboarding – all on one platform. It doesn’t require any integrations but rather is a full stand alone team management tool – it’s got all of the features missing on your cons list 😉 Think of it as all the best on your list rolled into one.
Would love the opportunity to chat with you a bit more about it and see how we might make it into this blog or a future one 🙂 We’ve had so many teams come to us from Trello, Slack, Basecamp, etc. saying they’d wished they had known about Taskworld sooner, and that there was an all in one platform without having to deal with integrations and paying for multiple subscriptions. Thank you again for your time and hard work! 🙂 Feel free to get in touch with me via email.
Jessica, thanks for letting us know about Taskworld, sounds like a great solution and glad to hear you’ve had so many successful users. Will check it out and definitely consider it for our next update of this article as we are always looking to include the latest and greatest products on the market. In the meantime I’ve got your contact info should we have any questions. Thanks again for reading and taking the time to share!
Hi Sadie, I really appreciate you taking the time to reply, thank you so much for your consideration and kind words. Do kindly let me know if you do an update or need any info, I am more than happy to offer any insight or help I can as our team has also done a lot of research about the PM software market to try and come up with the best solutions for teams – even recommending other software if it’s a better fit. Thank you again and Happy Holidays!
I have a small company but we do a ton of enterprise projects, so we have a very fast paced environment. We have been using a group of apps, that luckily we have been able to sync to work together thanks to their programming interfaces (API). We use Trello as our Project Managent tool, we have it linked to slack so different team members get notified when their projects are changing. We use Slack for all our communications, since we are a bunch of engineers we are always on the go we need that mobility and being able to track all our conversations is a huge plus. We also use Google Docs, because even though Slack is great as a document collaboration tool, all our final projects are stored in Google Apps so we can all access them and edit them. Lastly, we use Cushion to Manage projects from a time/cost point of view. Cushion is a new player. Cushion is originally designed to help freelancers manage projects and how much time/money they vest on them. For us it was a godsend. With Cushion we can see our schedule, and we can plan tasks and projects that are meant to happen some time from now, ahead but still within the budget. It helps us track out expenses so we know how much we are putting on a project or a client and manage our time so that when an engineer has done X amount of work (including weekends) that person can know when they can take a break and rotate their time. It’s a pretty amazing tool. It’s cheap too at $96/yr. One thing that is missing is team access, for us it works because our project manager uses the tool the most, but the developer has told us that Teams is already a feature that is coming up. The developer is the nicest guy possible, and incredibly reachable at all times. The combined cost of using all these web/cloud based apps is a lot cheaper for us than using other solutions. For us we use whatever works. But I think you should check out Cushion. It’s worth a look.
Gilbert, thanks for the details about how you use project management tools for your company and for sharing Cushion! We are always on the hunt for the latest and greatest tools out there so appreciate your recommendation. We will check them out and add them to our list to perhaps feature in the future. Thanks again for reading and sharing your experience with us!
This is a very useful thread and I hope it’s still active. We are currently looking at revamping our Intranet with SharePoint and are considering using it for enhanced collaboration, however I’ve been using Basecamp with our development supplier and find it really easy to use and it helped our project communications immensely. Our organization has chosen Asana as the team collaboration tool, so I am trying that out before deciding on which one to adopt. I don’t like the way Asana has limited formatting with conversation threads. I also don’t like the way Asana doesn’t have other lists except for task lists, or at least I cant figure out how to use it to that effect. In Basecamp we could create a list and give it a name, so it was much more flexible. I think an amalgamation of the tools will be ideal, but then you lose the benefit of having one place to go. Any advice?
Jess, thanks for sharing your experiences and we definitely feel your struggle with finding a one size fits all solution. Our team uses Basecamp for project management and documentation but Slack for day to day communications (although Basecamp does have a Campfire chat feature). What tools you use really depends on your organization’s size, culture and needs so it’s difficult to recommend something specific to your situation. However, I can tell you from our experience Basecamp has been our go-to solution for awhile. The only downside is when they upgrade to newer versions the archives don’t transfer over so we can’t take advantage of the enhanced features (since we’d be unable to access our older files). Hope that helps!
You guys should add Avaza to this comparison.
It has the functionality equivalent of Trello + Asana + Harvest + Freshbooks, integrated in one product, at a price less than any one of them.
Wrinkle is my favorite.
Thanks Tim, we’ll look into adding the company in our next audit for this article!
Hello, Sadie! I’m testing diffent services for my project management and team collaboration needs and this article was a good read. I use Google Drive and Telegram for most of my collaboration needs. I tried Asana in the past for project management but it didn’t work off-line at the time and that was a deal-breaker to me, but now that it supports off-line mode I will give it a try again combined with Trello – this one exclusively for brainstorming. Talking about Telegram Messenger, I think you missed it in your article, it is a great tool that has been helping me quite a lot! Naturally, I would place it in the Virtual Team Communication category, but I consider it to be more than that: since Telegram’s chats are cloud-based and it is a very fast app, I also use Telegram for writing notes with hashtags, to exchange files between my PC and my smartphone – by sending messages to myself – and recently I’ve been using Evernote less and less by replacing some Evernote notebooks by private Telegram channels. Currently, I’m even writing a Telegram Bot to be my virtual personal assistant. You should really take a look at Telegram if you still didn’t! 🙂
Hey Tom, thanks for reading and glad to hear you found this article useful! And thanks for sharing how you use various tools for your company, since there’s no one size fits all approach in using these services, always curious to hear how others make the most of the various collaboration and virtual team tools. Haven’t heard for Telegram Messenger but will definitely check it out and we’ll consider adding it to our article when we do our regular audits. Either way, hopefully some other readers can take advantage of it using the tips you mentioned in the meantime. Thanks again and happy collaborating!
Good roundup! How robust/useful would you say these tools are for SMEs in construction, where at enterprise scale there’s traditionally a lot of emphasis on proprietary tools like Oracle Primavera (scheduling) or ARM (risk management)? The pricing plans here seem typically much less than several tools that aren’t mentioned, such as Wrike or Clarizen. Also one gets the feeling the projects envisaged here are product launches, app development, etc. rather than multi-disciplinary construction work. Any thoughts?
Tre, yes the products we reviewed are focused on communications and collaboration amongst small and medium enterprises which is why these tools are more affordable than traditional project management tools. And luckily most of these services have free trials too so you can give them a try before committing to anything. We reviewed both Clarizen and Wrike in our review of the best project management tools review article which might have more of what you are looking for in terms of finding a solution for managing construction projects. Hope that helps!
PS: Oh my goodness, the Teamwork Projects promo video…! 😯
Thank you Sadie 🙂
Another one to add to the list would be Favro from the guys from Hansoft. In my opinion it takes all the good things from trell, slack and google drive and puts it all together in a comprehensive great looking package. Packed with enterprise level features for a less than 8 bucks, as well as a free version, this would be my top choice.
Wouldn’t it be easier to user Bitrix24, which is free and is just like having Slack+Asana+Google Drive in one?
Not quite in the same league but a brilliant tool for agencies is Toggl. Loving it at the moment. So easy to record where your time is spent and it links with Asana and Trello and others too.
Hello Sadie, Just wanted to let you know I will be bringing this comparison to our organization as we prepare for a major project. We are reviewing project management software as a preliminary step. When I got the to bottom of the comparison, I was delighted to see that it is Sadie Cornelius who is married to my neighbor’s son. Small world. Anne Watkins
Anne, what a small world indeed! So glad you found our online collaborations tools article useful and please let me know if you have any specific questions. We use a variety of products/services mentioned above including Slack, Basecamp and Google Docs but it really depends on your business needs. Feel free to reference back and best wishes to your organization in making a decision!
Sadie, I’d love to know what you think of Zapty. For me, it is the only tool that has all the features: structured conversations (like Slack) PLUS allows teams, task assignment, approvals and polls. Only trouble is, it’s still new and a bit buggy.
Sue, thanks for sharing your thoughts and have not heard for Zapty but will look into it and add to our list to consider for our next article update (perhaps after it gets the kinks out!) Appreciate you passing along this tool and thanks so much for reading!