Stress is a major productivity killer. 💀
When internalized pressure builds beyond our control, it’s harder to focus, reach our goals, or even finish simple tasks. It happens to the best of us! Even members of your team.
In fact, stressed employees exhibit 60% higher absenteeism and are significantly less effective when they’re at work.
When there’s too much on our plates, we feel scattered, unprepared, and like there’s just not enough time in the day to get things done. This increases the margin for errors, missed deadlines, and yes, absenteeism—AKA the pattern of avoiding difficult obligations.
As a project manager, it’s hard to toe the line between overwhelming your team with work and giving them too few tasks, to the point that the project slows down or falls dangerously behind.
Workload management tools are an effective solution for project managers looking to remedy this problem. Luckily, there are a ton of software to choose from, but this software is an investment! Each tool has specific features to fill different use cases, but which one will be best for your team?
In this article, we’ll delve into everything you need to know about effective workload management and break down 15 of the top workload management tools to help your team get things done without any tears.
This Article Contains:
Summarize this article for me pleaseWhat are Workload Management Tools?
Workload management is the process of identifying, monitoring, and managing the work you and your team are responsible for. This is where your project manager’s skills can really shine—through processes that are tailored to your team size, industry, use case, and project style.
The overarching goal of effective workload management is for everyone to feel satisfied with and accountable for their task lists. It can also help members feel more engaged in their work which leads to higher-quality project results!
Workload management tools are is designed to help you build, introduce, and uphold these processes along with your team. All software has its own unique set of benefits, but across the board, there are some key features to look out for to create functional and organized workload management systems:
- Progress tracking
- Task prioritization
- Task management
- Reporting and insights
- Due dates and deadlines
- Task Dependencies
- In-app chat
- Multiple integrations
There are also tons of benefits that come from using workload management tools that span far beyond a standard feature list including improved collaboration, time management, clearer project organization, and more!
Summarize this article for me pleaseBest 15 Workload Management Tools
The best way to implement a productive workload management process for your team is with the help of powerful software to guide the transition. Here are 15 of the best workload management tools for organizing tasks, teams, and projects:
1. ClickUp
ClickUp is the ultimate productivity platform for teams across industries to manage projects, centralize their work, and streamline daily processes in a collaborative and customizable workspace. It is the ideal workload management solution for teams of any size or use case for its diverse list of powerful features including digital whiteboards, a dynamic document editor, over 15 unique ClickUp views, in-app Chat, and more.
Among ClickUp’s many unique ways to visualize your team’s task list is Workload view. Designed to meet and exceed all of your workload management needs, Workload view lets project managers set and track work capacities for the team to quickly see who’s overbooked.
And if you’re new to workload management or ClickUp—no problem! Lean on one of ClickUp’s pre-built and customizable templates like this Employee Workload Template by ClickUp. Manage your team’s workload and delegate tasks for new projects with time estimates, sprint points, Custom Fields, and more!
But there is still so much more that ClickUp can do for the entire team! Here’s a deeper dive into the features, pros, cons, and pricing ClickUp has to offer. ⬇️
ClickUp key features
- A flexible Hierarchy to organize complex projects down to the last subtask
- Collaborative ClickUp Whiteboards to capture your ideas and instantly turn them into tasks
- ClickUp Docs to create everything from simple notes to beautifully formatted wikis with real-time editing and nested pages
- Multiple Assignees and watchers on tasks for full transparency into task statuses and progress
- Threaded comments with @mentions to quickly turn thoughts into action items you can delegate to the team
- Task priorities to set a clear order of operations in your daily workload
- Task automations to eliminate the busy work involved in repetitive tasks and keep processes moving forward at all times
- Instant insights and custom reporting with Dashboards in ClickUp
ClickUp pros
- Tons of features and functionality in every pricing plan, even Free Forever
- User-friendly drag-and-drop interface
- Fully customizable features and transparent user experience
- Hundreds of free and pre-built templates for any use case in ClickUp’s template library
- Over 1,000 integrations with other work tools to make workload management even easier
- Custom privacy and permissions options to share your work in ClickUp via a simple link
ClickUp cons
- Can be a bit of a learning curve adjusting to so many features—checkout ClickUp’s 24/7 customer support and Help Docs
- Not all ClickUp views are available on the mobile app…yet!
ClickUp pricing
- Free Forever Plan: Unlimited projects and users, tons of project views, Docs, Whiteboards, 100MB of storage, and more
- Unlimited Plan ($7 per user, per month): Unlimited storage, integrations, and Dashboards, more advanced views, Goals, and more
- Business Plan ($12 per user, per month): Unlimited teams, advanced sharing, advanced workload management features, and more
- Enterprise Plan (contact for custom pricing): White labeling, enterprise APE, MSA and HIPPA, SSO, and more
ClickUp customer ratings
- G2: 4.7/5 (6,000+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.7/5 (3,600+ reviews)
2. Trello
Trello is a simple and well-known project management software for viewing your workflow, creating tasks, jotting down notes, and more. Popular for its Kanban board approach to project management, Trello also has many workload management tools for team collaboration and overseeing progress.
Learn about the best Trello alternatives in our complete guide!
Trello key features
- Automate workflows with Trello’s butler bot
- Kanban boards and checklists for easy workload management
- Offers templates for workload management, team management, and general productivity
- Mobile app available for Android and iOS devices
Trello pros
- Reasonably priced for features provided
- Intuitive interface to view projects or task progress
- Several third-party integrations to extend its functionality
Trello cons
- Not as flexible for larger teams or projects
- Limited storage and free plan
- Limited time-tracking features
Trello pricing
- Free
- Standard: $5 per user, per month
- Premium: $10 per user, per month
- Enterprise: Starting at $17.50 per user, per month, and up. Contact Trello for additional pricing options
Trello customer ratings
- G2: 4.4/5 (12,800+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (21,600+ reviews)
3. Monday.com
Monday.com is another workload management tool with features that help it double as a convenient workload management solution. With the ability to quickly create and assign tasks, Monday is a popular alternative for HR, Sales and Marketing, and Media departments, but lacks some of the complexity for multi-step processes, complicated projects, and goal setting.
Read more about the top Monday alternatives.
Monday key features
- A workload tracking tool to see your team’s current tasks
- Built-in time tracking
- Automate workflows to cut down on repetitive tasks
- Over 200 templates to get started
Monday pros
- Promotes transparency into the team’s workload
- It is a scalable platform, great for growing teams
- Integrates with over 40 other apps like Hubspot, Spotify, and Google Drive
Monday cons
- Difficult to set up task dependencies
- Limited reporting features
Monday pricing
- Individual: Free
- Basic plan: $8 per user, per month
- Standard: $10 per user, per month
- Pro: $16 per user, per month
- Enterprise: Contact for pricing
Monday customer ratings
- G2: 4.7 (6,200+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (2,800+ reviews)
4. Teamwork
Teamwork is a project and workload management software that can also help you manage your team’s workload through the creation and allocation of tasks, projects, and resources.
Teamwork key features
- Gantt charts and Kanban boards to view your work
- Quickly assign tasks to set teams and sub-teams
- Followers to oversee task progress
- Automations to streamline your processes
- Built-in time tracking
Teamwork pros
- Multiple add-ons to extend its functionality
- Resource management to stay on top of your team’s day-to-day capacities
- Tons of features for managers to see into their team’s tasks
Teamwork cons
- Limited template designs
- Adjustment period for new users learning so many new features
Teamwork pricing
- Free Forever: Up to five users per plan
- Deliver: $9.99 per user, per month
- Grow: $17.99 per user, per month
- Scale: Contact Teamwork for more pricing information
Teamwork customer ratings
- G2: 4.4 (1,010+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5 (730+ reviews)
Check out these Teamwork alternatives!
5. Wrike
Like many of the tools on this list, Wrike is a project management software that can help small and large teams plan projects, delegate tasks, and manage workloads. However, Wrike is primarily targeted at enterprise-level users. When it comes to workload management, Wrike’s analytics and intuitive charts are key assets!
Learn about the top Wrike alternatives in our detailed comparison guide.
Wrike key features
- Task creation out of form submissions and survey requests
- Intuitive infographics to track your team’s performance statistics
- Oversee tracked time for tasks and member workloads
- Coordinate projects using organized folders and tags
- Access ready-made project layout templates
Wrike pros
- Enterprise-grade workload management features
- Multiple views including Kanban board and Gantt chart
- Powerful integration with apps like Google Drive and Dropbox
Wrike cons
- Non-intuitive user interface
- Limited free plan and costly paid options for advanced features
- Difficult onboarding process
- Limited functionality in the mobile app
Wrike pricing
- Free
- Professional Plan: $9.80 per user, per month
- Business Plan: $24.80 per user, per month
- Enterprise: Contact Wrike for pricing
Wrike customer ratings
- G2: 4.2/5 (3,200+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.3 (1,800+ reviews)
6. Asana
Asana is one of the most widely known project management tools for its intelligent and automated functionality that pack a ton of workload management benefits.
Check out more of the best Asana alternatives!
Asana key features
- Delegate tasks based on roles, skills, workloads, and more
- Create recurring projects with customizable workflow templates
- Integrates with over 100 other tools like Excel, Dropbox, and Google Calendar
- Create to-do lists to prioritize your project tasks
Asana pros
- Easy to visualize your project progress using Kanban boards, Calendar view, and more
- Real-time chat and collaboration features for every task
- Quick to pick up with a simple and intuitive UI
Asana cons
- No native time-tracking feature
- Can’t assign multiple people to the same task
- Doesn’t offer advanced customization options
Asana pricing
- Basic: Free
- Premium: $10.99 per user, user per month
- Business: $24.99 per user, per month
- Enterprise: Contact Asana for pricing
Asana customer ratings
- G2: 4.3/5 (8,900+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (11,400+ reviews)
7. Jira
Originally focused on bug tracking, Jira is now a massive project management software for planning, tracking, and managing workloads. This tool is primarily aimed at Agile software development teams, but if you are juggling multiple large projects at a time, Jira has the capacity to handle all of that data!
Looking for a reason to switch away from Jira? We’ve got five!
Jira key features
- Ready-to-use project templates
- Monitor projects with real-time project reports
- Ramp up transparency with detailed workflows
- Its timeline view can be used to map task dependencies
Jira pros
- Prioritize your backlog to get the important work done first
- Sync your work across devices to manage projects on the go
- Over 3,000 integrations including Google Sheets, Slack, and Evernote
Jira cons
- Steep learning curve and requires a full-time admin to set up and maintain
- Isn’t well suited for non-technical teams or use cases
- Difficult to customize
- Slow to load
- Lacks in-built collaboration features
- Expensive to access essential workload management features
Jira pricing
- Free: Includes three agents
- Standard: Estimated $21 per agent, per month
- Premium: Estimated $47 per agent, per month
- Enterprise: Contact Jira for pricing
Jira customer ratings
- G2: 4.2/5 (4,800+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.4/5 (12,300+ reviews)
8. MS Project
Microsoft Project is a project planning product by Microsoft 365 with workload management tools for teams to plan, schedule, and summarize their tasks. If your preferred project management style involves Excel or if you have a working knowledge of Microsoft products in general, MS Project may stick for you! But it’s not for everyone.
Microsoft Project is great for project planning and scheduling. You can create summary tasks, and subtasks, assign resources, balance workloads, and use its project portfolio management (Microsoft PPM) to keep things on track.
MS Project key features
- A range of pre-built templates
- Its timeline view helps you see the overall progress
- Monitor how much work has been completed through reports
- Work on multiple projects simultaneously with Master Project Plan
- Organize your work with visual dashboards
MS Project pros
- Remote and offline-friendly
- Seamlessly aligns with other Microsoft tools
- Offers integrations for team communication like Skype, Yammer, and Outlook
MS Project cons
- Not intuitive to learn and overwhelming for beginners
- Collaboration features are dependent on integrations
- Not compatible with many PCs
- Confusing pricing plans and structures
- No free plans and expensive paid plans
MS Project pricing
Cloud-based solutions:
- Project Plan 1: $10 per user per month
- Project Plan 3: $30 per user per month
- Project Plan 5: $55 per user per month
On-premise solutions:
- Project Standard 2021: One-time payment of $679.99
- Project Professional 2021: One-time payment of $1,129.99
- Project Server: Contact Microsoft for details
Note: Each license covers one PC.
MS Project customer ratings
- G2: 4/5 (1,500+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.4/5 (1,400+ reviews)
9. Toggl
Toggl is a workload management tool with three separate products for tracking time, planning work, and hiring new members. When it comes to workload management, Toggl Plan is your best bet. It lets you balance team workload by providing a bird’s eye view of resource allocation in real-time.
Tired of toggling between tasks? Check out these Toggl alternatives!
Toggl key features
- Simple and intuitive UI
- Create color-coded Gantt charts
- Drag and drop functionality for re-scheduling tasks and allocating resources
Toggl pros
- Better for smaller teams
- Automate repetitive action items with recurring tasks
- Streamline communication with comments and shared project timelines
Toggl cons
- Doesn’t provide a smooth mobile app experience
- Limited customization options
- Lacks advanced workload management features
- Not suitable for mid-to-larger-sized teams
- Can be costly for a basic set of features
Toggl pricing
Toggl has separate pricing plans for its three products. For Toggl Plan, there are two tiers:
- Team: $9 per user per month
- Business: $15 per user per month
Toggl customer ratings
- G2: 4.6/5 (1,500+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.7/5 (1,800+ reviews)
10. Zoho Projects
Zoho Projects is a project management software with workload features for collaborating with the team, working with stakeholders, and tracking project issues. It is also one of the leading workload management tools for its resource utilization charts and Gantt charts for tracking milestones, resource allocation, critical path calculation, and more.
Zoho Projects features
- Different task views for planning various projects
- Dependencies between related tasks
- Project dashboards for insights into your budget, tasks, team status, and overdue work
- Resource management tools to distribute work evenly among the team
Zoho Projects pros
- Several administrative tools to assist with workload management
- Multiple ways to visualize your workload including views and flowcharts
- Several Zoho products seamlessly extend your functionality without relying on third-party integrations
Zoho Projects cons
- You will have to invest in multiple Zoho apps to gain the same workload management features that many other tools offer in one software
- Limited integrations with non-Zoho work tools
- Lacking sprint management features
- Limited free version
Zoho Projects pricing
- Free
- Premium: $5 per user per month
- Enterprise: $10 per user per month
Zoho Projects customer ratings
- G2: 4.3/5 (290+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.2/5 (260+ reviews)
11. nTask
As one of the leading workload management tools today, nTask is ideal for collaboration, planning, and management of everyday tasks. With nTask, you can set task milestones, track project progress in real time, and prioritize tasks to get things done on time.
nTask key features
- Organize projects into tasks and separate workspaces
- Set subtasks and task dependencies
- Time tracking for insights into a team activity
nTask pros
- Multiple views, including Gantt charts and Kanban boards
- Bulk team invites to save time
nTask cons
- Lacks advanced reporting features for a larger team
- Kanban boards are a paid feature
- Can be hard to configure for beginners
nTask pricing
- Basic: Free
- Premium: $3 per user per month
- Business: $8 per user per month
- Enterprise: Contact nTask for pricing
nTask customer ratings
- G2: 4.4/5 (15+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.1/5 (90+ reviews)
12. Slack
Slack is a popular workload management tool for text-based communication. The collaboration tool lets you easily communicate with team members, share project files, and host phone and video calls.
Plus, Slack’s range of emoji and gif-like reactions to comments and messages is truly unmatched. While this isn’t necessarily related to workload management, it definitely makes work more fun on a daily basis.
Slack key features
- Powerful search capabilities
- Create project- and team-specific channels for focused discussions
- Collaborate over pictures, notes, and project files
- Easy, automated reminders to keep track of your daily workload
Slack pros
- Data within the platform is always protected thanks to great security
- Channels can be public, private, shared, or multi-workspace—you choose what suits your team best
- Easy to share and collaborate with anyone in real-time
- Tons of Slack integrations
Slack cons
- Limited file storage
- It can be distracting
- Slack is a great messaging tool, but it’s lacking in convenient workload management features
- Conversations get deleted after 14 days
Slack pricing
- Free
- Pro: $7.25 per user per month
- Business: $12.50 per user per month
- Enterprise Grid: Contact Slack for pricing
Slack customer ratings
- G2: 4.5/5 (30,400+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.7/5 (22,000+ reviews)
13. ProofHub
ProofHub is another workload management tool to plan, collaborate, and finish projects on time.
ProofHub key features
- Multiple project views including Kanban boards, Gantt charts, tables, and calendar views
- Custom fields for your tasks
- Templates to simply project planning and implementation
- Daily agenda for a shared team project
ProofHub pros
- White labeling
- Robust admin and permission control
- Multiple features for workload management
- Work from wherever with ProHub’s mobile app
- Connect with tools like Google Drive, Outlook, and Dropbox
ProofHub cons
- Steep learning curve
- Lacks the capability to automate recurring tasks
ProofHub pricing
ProofHub offers two pricing options:
- Essential: $45 per month
- Ultimate Control: $89 per month
ProofHub customer ratings
- G2: 4.2/5 (60+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (60+ reviews)
14. Basecamp
Basecamp is nothing new—in fact, it’s been around for over 15 years.
This software has a ton of workload management tools packed into it to help you organize and distribute projects amongst the team without overloading any of your members. Basecamp is well known for its ability to create tasks within your to-do lists but it still lacks some major functionality that leaves its users to seek out Basecamp alternatives.
Basecamp features
- To-do lists with notifications, due dates, and reminders to follow up
- In-app chat platform for fast communication
- Reports and insights into in-progress to-do lists
- Visual Hill Charts to track progress
Basecamp pros
- Better suited for smaller or simpler projects
- Easy to organize and search for tasks within the platform
- Integrations to extend its functionality
Basecamp cons
- Limited project views to manage workloads
- Lacking task priorities to structure member’s task lists
- Reporting and progress-tracking features are very basic
- Difficult to oversee larger projects or teams
Basecamp pricing
Basecamp offers a free year-long trial for up to three users. Beyond that, Basecamp costs $11 per user, per month.
Basecamp customer ratings
- G2: 4.1/5 (5,080+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.3/5 (13,770+ reviews)
15. Bitrix24
Bitrix24 is a business service software with different workload management tools to collaborate on projects, automate HR processes, and oversee your CRM.
Bitrix24 features
- Automatic task time tracking
- Observers and multiple participants in tasks
- Task delegation and task planner feature
Bitrix24 pros
- Multiple ways to view your projects and task dependencies
- Tons of features for HR and department heads to view individual team member’s progress
- Separate project chats
Bitrix24 cons
- Dated and non-intuitive UI
- Lacking advanced workload management features
- You’re relying on multiple tools within the Bitrix24 ecosystem so it’s difficult to access the features you need without increasing your pricing plan
Bitrix24 pricing
- Free
- Basic: $49 per month for five users
- Standard: $99 per month for up to 50 users
- Professional: $199 per month for up to 100 users
- Enterprise: $399 per user for up to 250 users (price increases per number of users)
Bitrix24 customer ratings
- G2: 4.1/5 (480+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.1/5 (540+ reviews)
Check out these Bitrix24 Alternatives!
Summarize this article for me pleaseClickUp: The Ultimate Workload Management Tool
Each of these workload management tools will take your team farther without unnecessary stress, excessive overtime hours, or nagging.
But if you’re looking to invest in software designed to boost productivity, engage the team, improve collaboration, and consolidate all of your work, there’s only one option on the table—ClickUp!
ClickUp is the ideal workload management software with over 15 ways to organize projects, workflow Automations, a built-in document editor, digital whiteboards, customizable tasks, and hundreds of other features to take your workload management system to new heights.
Plus, ClickUp’s unique Workload view was built to fill this exact use case! Customize your team member’s capacities, manage time spent on tasks, view progress, and gather insights without micromanaging or having to send a single message.
Sign up for ClickUp for free today to jumpstart and streamline your workload management processes!
Questions? Comments? Visit our Help Center for support.