Categories   >   Collaboration Software
Last Reviewed: November 26th, 2024

Best Collaboration Software Of 2024

What is Collaboration Software?

Collaboration Software represents a suite of tools designed to unify team communication and facilitate more efficient, seamless cooperation. Essentially, these platforms are devised to address the challenges of scattered communication, redundant processes, and misaligned team efforts. Core benefits include centralized communication, streamlined workflows, and improved project management. Emerging features comprise AI-driven analytics, integrated video conferencing, and cross-platform accessibility. Virtually all professional sectors stand to benefit, however, industries with geographically dispersed teams or those juggling multiple concurrent projects, such as IT, marketing, or event management, may find these tools particularly advantageous. Notable limitations include potential privacy concerns and adoption difficulties among less tech-savvy team members. To summarize, Collaboration Software's value proposition is its ability to bring teams together, no matter the physical distance, and streamline workflows, driving productivity, efficiency, and, ultimately, business success.

What Are The Key Benefits of Collaboration Software?

  • Centralizes team communication
  • Streamlines operational processes
  • Improves project management
  • Facilitates remote teamwork
  • Fosters innovative brainstorming
  • Save time on coordination
  • Allows real-time updates
  • Supports decision-making process
  • Enhances document sharing capabilities
  • Promotes team engagement
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Overall

Based on the latest available data collected by SelectHub for 115 solutions, we determined the following solutions are the best Collaboration Software overall:

Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams
Start Price
$4
Per User, Monthly
Company Size
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Deployment
Cloud On-Premise
Platform
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Why We Picked Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams is a chat-based platform that offers online meetings, document sharing, screen recording and chat and allows businesses to communicate effectively.

According to users who have tried this product, their alerts and notifications lack consistency. Slow speed and performance is another con witnessed by users. Most users appreciate user-friendliness. Screen sharing is another worthy function. In short, businesses scouting for a communication tool that is easy to learn can give it a try.

Pros & Cons

  • User-Friendly: The interface is easy to use and there is not much training required to navigate through the system, according to 84% of users.
  • Chat: According to 70% of users who reviewed this pro, the chat functionality is simple, it’s possible to view all chats simultaneously and the history remains forever.
  • Screen Sharing: About 79% of users who mentioned this pro said screen sharing functionality is quick to set up and works without lags.
  • File Sharing: Regarding this feature, approximately 75% of users said that it’s easy to share files during calls and various document sharing options are available.
  • Alerts/Notifications: Lack of reminders for meetings and inconsistent notifications, according to 70% of users who mentioned this aspect.
  • Speed And Performance: According to 69% of users who reviewed this con, the start time and overall speed is slow, there are sudden crashes, and the computer performance suffers.

Key Features

  • Secure Virtual Meetings: Send an invite to video chat with anyone, at any time simply by sending a link to an active email address, member or not. Collaborate in real time with up to 250 people in a single meeting space. 
  • Screen Recording: Record meetings in the cloud and share them with members later. 
  • Messenger: Send chats before, after and during meetings directly to one person or create group chats to keep multiple people in the loop. Send gifs, emojis and stickers to personalize messages. 
  • File Sharing: Access, share, edit, and co-author files and folders in real time securely from SharePoint, OneDrive and computers. Decide who has access to which files by granting permissions to specific groups, channels or individuals. 
  • Interactive Webinars: Connect with customers by hosting live events and webinars. Simply create a new marketing event, fill out details of the meeting and select attendees who will receive a link to the event. Use customer journey features to track attendees, utilizing the available information and continue to track customer interactions. 
  • Custom Backgrounds: Eliminate the need to hide background distractions by choosing from a myriad of screens to project while on a video call. 
Asana
Asana
Start Price
$10.99
Per User, Monthly
Company Size
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Deployment
Cloud On-Premise
Platform
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Why We Picked Asana

Asana is a work management platform designed to help users organize and streamline operations with a user-friendly, customizable interface, automation and AI. Key features include the ability to create custom fields, deadlines, and subtasks, utilize various project views like Kanban boards and timelines, and leverage AI for summarizing tasks and drafting workflows. During my test of the software, I liked how easy it was to create a task by email and create project and task summaries using their AI tool.

Customization was also a win. I built a task template for my Content Creation project with custom fields, relative due dates, assignees and a bulleted checklist. However, head’s up, adding task templates to existing tasks requires creating a new task with the template and merging it. Hands down, workflow management was one of my favorite parts of testing Asana. Adding in new sections (without having to go to the list view) and creating custom rules for transitions with a little help from their version of prompts was a breeze.

Collaboration is another plus, with in-card comments and mentions, an inbox, group and individual messaging in platform and guest accounts with custom permissions for external users.

On the downside, if you don’t have access to a free trial of the paid version (like I did), the free version may not be as effective. You won’t be able to access AI features, certain project views and resource management. The setup also isn’t exactly intuitive, and you may need training plus multiple visits to the help center to conceptualize your project and pick the right template.

Overall, Asana is a fantastic all-in-one project management solution for users looking for a flexible tool with AI assistance and don’t mind springing for one of the paid plans.

Pros & Cons

  • User Friendly: Reviewers appreciated that the system is easy to use and intuitive with a clean UI, even if you’re new to projects.
  • Overall Functionality: Workflows and automation, task management and collaboration are everything you’d look for in a project management system, according to users.
  • Customization: Users liked the customization options for unique team needs, projects and workflows.
  • >Cost: Users mentioned Asana’s paid plans were too expensive for smaller businesses making it difficult to upgrade from the limited free version.
  • Set-Up: Getting started can be overwhelming with so many customizations and task options. Users said you may need extra time to implement it effectively.
  • Advanced Features: Reviewers noted some features like AI, advanced project views, resource management and multiple task assignees require expensive plan upgrades.

Key Features

  • Task Management: Create tasks with custom fields, deadlines, tags, subtasks, dependencies and descriptions during setup, adding tasks to the section you want when you create your first project or forwarding an email to [email protected]. Save time by converting your custom tasks into a template you can apply to new tasks and using AI to summarize tasks and draft subtasks. Switch between list, board, timeline, calendar and Gantt views to optimize visualization and drag-and-drop tasks between sections.
  • Project Planning and Scheduling: Kick your projects off with a plethora of templates ranging from product rollouts to hiring pipelines, or import your project from a spreadsheet. Convert tasks into milestones on the card and add details about why it’s a milestone. Add tasks to multiple projects and organize strategic initiatives by creating a portfolio where you can track the updates of all your projects.
  • Resource Management: Keep track of what’s on everyone’s plate by switching to the workload view. Drag and drop tasks to manage timelines and assignees and assign custom values like hours or points to tasks to accurately factor in employee effort.
  • Sprint Management: Hit the ground running by applying the sprint template to a new project. Add custom fields, use the timeline tab to map out sprint tasks and deadlines and set start and finish dates in the project view.
  • Collaboration Features: Add updates, questions and notes into the description. Comment on cards with mentions, files, lists, code blocks and even AI assists. Send messages directly to individuals or teams using the inbox. Keep your clients in the loop by creating guest accounts and sharing specific tasks and projects with them.
  • Reports and Insights: Tap into a bird’s eye view of your project by clicking on the dashboard tab where you can monitor overdue, complete and incomplete tasks and burnup charts and create custom charts with their AI tool. Visit the reporting tab to view trends, progress, resourcing and work health.
  • Custom Automations and Workflows: Build a workflow that’s a perfect fit for your project in the workflow tab by adding sections for each step in the process with custom transitions and rules when tasks are moved. Add custom automations and rules from scratch, use the options provided as a starting point or get a helping hand from the AI studio. Check out the automations we built in depth below.
Jira
Jira
Start Price
$10
Per User, Monthly
Company Size
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Deployment
Cloud On-Premise
Platform
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Why We Picked Jira

Jira is an agile-based project management platform that caters to a vast range of industries thanks to its all-in-one functionality, customization and flexibility. It allows users to fully customize workflows, issue types, fields and automations.

After watching a few tutorials, I personally found it quite simple to create my own projects using the templates and modifying it to meet my needs. Although some of the automation actions and issues have some programming language involved, it’s not a huge roadblock and I created and tested multiple automations successfully.

Task (or issue) management was on point, with multiple views, custom workflows, task assignment, in-card collaboration and time tracking and custom fields. It offered comprehensive (but not overly advanced) reports and a helpful summary dashboard.

Sprints were intuitive and easy to execute, and I especially appreciated the drag-and-drop feature for planning. Some users mentioned a learning curve, and I would agree, as I relied on videos to guide me through some parts of the setup lest this test take weeks not days.

Overall, Jira is a match made in heaven for agile enthusiasts and users who want a flexible, customizable project management platform and don’t mind getting into the weeds with learning courses and tutorials.

Pros & Cons

  • Functionality: Users appreciated the ability to customize workflows, issue types and fields and the flexibility to navigate complex projects and problem-solve.
  • Collaborative: The system helps users collaborate with other teams, projects, and stakeholders and efficiently bridges gaps between remote teams, noted reviewers.
  • Integrations: Reviewers liked the extensive integrations with most third-party modules like Slack, Bitbucket and more to complete workflows and processes.

What Users Like

  • Customization: “We were able to tailor the workflow to fit our specific needs, which greatly enhanced our efficiency. For instance, we created custom issue types that aligned with our unique project phases, making it easier for team members to understand their tasks at a glance.” - Balázs Keszthelyi, Founder and CEO at TechnoLynx
  • Project Visualization: “[Jira’s robust roadmapping and dependency tracking capabilities are] invaluable for coordinating multiple product launches. Also, the premium version's Advanced Roadmaps feature lets us visualize our entire product pipeline so that's from sourcing to launch, but you've got to invest time in learning the system, and I think for smaller operations, it might be overkill.” - Dennis Sanders, Founder and CEO of Burning Daily
  • Task Management: “Jira has given us the structure to break down our complex workflows into clear, manageable steps, which was exactly what we needed as we expanded our customer base. With Jira, we can create specific 'boards' for each client’s SEO campaign, where every task is detailed and assigned to the right team member. Each board has phases, like keyword research, content writing, and on-page optimization, with clear deadlines. Having this setup has helped us catch any bottlenecks early. If the content team takes longer to deliver, for instance, we can adjust the timeline for the next steps right away instead of rushing it.” - Mushfiq Sarker, CEO of LaGrande Marketing
  • Lags: Reviewers noted that the system sometimes lags and takes time to load, especially for multiple projects and large data sets.
  • Learning Curve: Its UX can feel complex, and it takes time to set up, customize and use to its full ability. An internal Jira expert may be required, according to some users.
  • Administration: Users mentioned that the system is difficult to administer, and its back-end is hard to manage.

What Users Dislike

  • Slow Loading Time: “Its interface moves like molasses.” - Dennis Sanders, Founder and CEO of Burning Daily
  • Learning Curve: “We had some initial challenges with team members who were not familiar with the platform, which required additional training sessions to ensure everyone was on the same page. However, once they became accustomed to the interface, the benefits outweighed the initial hurdles.” - Balázs Keszthelyi, Founder and CEO at TechnoLynx

Key Features

  • Agile Boards: Manage your tasks, or issues using Scrum and Kanban boards with custom statuses, fields and transitions. Create new issues using the button below each status. You can view projects using a list, board or timeline view.
  • Reports and Insights: Get insights into where your team is at throughout every stage of the project by generating custom reports like the average age report, created vs. resolved issues report and sprint report. Manage workloads with the time tracking report, user workload report and version workload report. Use the summary view to monitor activity, status overview, priority breakdown and related projects.
  • Collaboration Features: Communicate with team members and assignees directly on the issue card with comments and mentions. Attach files, view card activity and add descriptions for additional instructions. Integrate with Outlook, Slack and other communication tools.
  • Custom Automations: Build custom automation rules by setting a trigger with the option to add an action, a condition or a branch. Get a helping hand by searching for triggers related to what you want to automate and selecting recommended actions and conditions.
  • Sprint Management: Use the Scrum option to run sprints. Fill in project details like name, duration and scope and add tasks and drag and drop them to your sprint using the backlog. Complete your sprints and auto-add pending tasks to the backlog or to a new sprint and run a sprint report for insights.
  • Task Management: Manage tasks by creating customizable issue cards under each status or by importing issues from CSV files. Add assignees, due dates, time tracking, comments, descriptions, teams, labels, status and priority to issues. Move tasks from status to status using transitions and workflow automation.
  • Customizable Workflows: Create custom workflows for your tasks and subtasks by going to project settings and clicking on issue types. Set statuses based on the type of task you’re completing or from the project template you select. Automate actions by setting rules for transitions from one status to another.
monday.com
monday.com
Start Price
$9
Per User, Monthly
Company Size
Small Medium Large
Deployment
Cloud On-Premise
Platform
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Why We Picked monday.com

monday.com is a cloud-based project management platform that caters to a wide range of industries thanks to its customization, user-friendly interface and templates. It allows users to build boards from templates or from scratch and view projects through multiple views like list, calendar, Ganntt and Kanban. During our test, we enjoyed using the platform's pre-built templates and drag-and-drop feature to set up projects and reorganize tasks.

Its task management features are stellar. We liked how easy it is to custom groups for tasks, assign them to specific team members, and leverage various communication tools like comments, mentions and board discussions. The updates feature means everyone is on the same page and the view option boosts accountability. On the automation front, we successfully used the built-in automation engine, which comes with both pre-made templates and no-code customization options, to build a custom automation for status changes with little to no difficulty.

On the flip side, monday.com may have a slight learning curve for users who aren’t familiar with project management tools. Additionally, some advanced features, such as custom notifications and time tracking, require upgrading to a higher pricing tier, which could become expensive for larger teams.

All in all, we thought monday’s intuitive interface, customization options and no-code automations make it a great option for users without a ton of technical expertise and a flexible budget.

Pros & Cons

  • Task Management: Users appreciated how easy it is to monitor tasks with customized views, an activity feed and task updates.
  • Collaboration: Instant messaging, integrations, board discussions and easy scheduling and planning were a plus for reviewers.
  • User-Friendly: Reviewers said it was simple to set up and use for less tech-savvy users, and liked the attractive, colorful interface with helpful templates.

What Users Like

  • Project Tracking: "The ability to customize columns and task dependencies lets us create a clear, tailored workflow." - Jeffery Zhou, CEO and Founder of Fig Loans
  • Interface: "The timeline and calendar views were particularly useful when we had multiple projects running alongside each other, helping everyone stay aligned without a lot of back-and-forth." - Rob Stevenson, Founder of BackupVault
  • Notifications: “The automation features were especially useful in notifying different people responsible at different steps of the journey while maintaining transparency and accountability with the rest of the team and building a frictionless and trust-based culture.” - Alok Jain, CEO of Reveal
  • Cost: Reviewers noted that advanced features like customized notifications or time tracking required a plan upgrade which could become expensive.
  • Learning Curve: It takes time to get used to the navigation and features according to users.
  • Mobile App: Some users said the mobile app doesn’t have all the features available.

What Users Dislike

  • Complexity: “[monday.com] lacked some flexibility in handling complex, multi-step tasks that needed a lot of customization, which sometimes left us manually tracking those details elsewhere.” - Rob Stevenson, Founder of BackupVault
  • Time-Based Automations: “Creating an automation to notify a user three days after a certain date, for example, was more complex than it needed to be. We had to set up custom date columns to drive these instead of just being able to calculate it as a part of automation.” - Alok Jain, CEO of Reveal

Key Features

  • Custom Dashboard: Build your own custom dashboard using built-in widgets and third-party integrations. Get a bird’s eye view of your boards and teams along with individual team member and board views. Monitor workload, timelines, feed activity and custom charts, like in-progress tasks, from a central location.
  • Multiple Views: Toggle between different views to track your projects using Gantt charts, Kanban boards, calendar views, project reports and custom filters like task owner, status and timeline.
  • Task Management: Create tasks under custom groups like To-Do, In-Progress, On-Hold, and Complete and add personalized fields, assignees, due dates, labels, statuses and priorities. Mention assignees, add comments, files, links and tables directly in the tasks using the Updates tab. Drag and drop tasks and groups to reorganize things.
  • Automations: Streamline workflows with no-code automations using templates or building custom automations from scratch using conditions and actions. Apply automations to specific boards and save your custom automations as a template to use on other boards.
  • Templates: Create boards suited to your project needs by accessing the template center and choosing from a range of templates, including marketing, project management, sales and CRM, design, software development, and HR.
  • Workflow Management: Organize your processes by creating custom workflows. Search for the trigger you’re looking for and add it as a starting block. Build on those blocks by choosing from several options: action, if or else or delay. Select the board where you want the action to happen, add conditions and edit blocks. View active workflows and pause or edit workflows as processes change.
Smartsheet
Smartsheet
Start Price
$9
Per User, Monthly
Company Size
Small Medium Large
Deployment
Cloud On-Premise
Platform
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Why We Picked Smartsheet

Smartsheet is a cloud-based work management platform that helps users streamline and organize processes with a spreadsheet-esque interface, flexible templates, multiple views and team collaboration. Apart from the grid view, you can visualize projects using a Gantt chart, Kanban board, calendar view, card view or timeline view. No-code automations are another note-worthy feature, where you can build from templates or scratch.

It streamlines project creation with templates suited to different industries and end goals, so you have a jumping-off point instead of going in blind. Team collaboration is another area where Smartsheet shines, with comments, conversations and file and sheet sharing (even with people outside your organization). It also offers a customizable dashboard view, although I did find some of the chart widgets a little tricky to work, without training.

Highlights for me were definitely the familiarity of spreadsheet formatting (but with more views and automations), robust collaboration capabilities and guided explainers throughout the setup. However, user reviews noted limited filters and integrations, lags and expensive add-ons as downsides.

Overall, Smartsheet is a great option for teams familiar with spreadsheets but are on the lookout for more visualization and collaboration, along with the budget to spend on advanced features.

Pros & Cons

  • Automation: Reviewers appreciated the no-code automation and said that it helps to eliminate productivity killers and saves time.
  • Collaboration: Users liked the sharing option with level-based permissions that allow collaboration with non-users and help coworkers and external stakeholders stay up-to-date on projects and processes.
  • Ease of Use: A user-friendly interface and templates make it easy to set up, customize and access multiple views, according to reviewers.

What Users Like

  • Customization: “We can customize it to fit various projects, whether we’re tracking client cases, managing document revisions, or planning team tasks. For instance, I created a project tracker for a major client contract negotiation. The ability to set deadlines, assign tasks, and update statuses in real time has streamlined our communication and kept everyone on the same page.” - Russ Johnson, Founder of Linx Legal
  • Collaboration: “We had this one job in a high-rise condo that put Smartsheet to the test. The sliding door system was an older model with custom-sized panels that aren’t easy to source, and it needed specific adjustments due to the unique structure of the frame. Typically, coordinating the right parts, tools, and technician experience for something like this would require several phone calls and a lot of back-and-forth. With Smartsheet, we were able to set up the job details to track not only the special parts needed but also assign a technician who was experienced with that model. When the parts came in, the technician was notified directly through Smartsheet, so he knew the moment everything was ready. It saved us from potential delays and kept the customer fully updated on when the work could be done.” - Gal Cohen, Business Development Leader and Field Area Manager JDM Sliding Doors
  • System Integration: Limited integrations and complex configurations were an issue for reviewers.
  • Premium Add-Ons: Reviewers noted that advanced features come with a price tag that can be prohibitive for some businesses.
  • Slow Loading Time: Users reported it takes time to display screens export formats occasionally.

What Users Dislike

  • Integration: “Despite its many benefits, integrating Smartsheet with other systems posed some challenges. Initially, we experienced issues with data syncing between Smartsheet and our CRM software, leading to discrepancies in our financial reporting. Recognizing this, I allocated specific time for thorough testing before our full implementation, allowing us to identify and resolve any integration issues early on.” - Austin Rulfs, Founder of Zanda Wealth Mortgage Brokers
  • Learning Curve: “While Smartsheet is powerful, it can feel a bit overwhelming at first. I found that investing time in training sessions helped bridge that gap, making it easier for everyone to adapt and use the tool effectively.” - Russ Johnson, Founder of Linx Legal

Key Features

  • Dashboards and Reports: Customize your dashboard by adding widgets like reports, project-specific charts, shortcuts, images and text. Consolidate data from multiple sheets into a summary view using system reports. Track sheet changes using bi-directional functionality. Send reports via collaborative tools and change statuses to recur.
  • Multiple Views: View your tasks using the grid view, akin to a spreadsheet, a Gantt view as an add-on to your grid view, a Kanban board where you can drag and drop tasks and group them by assignee or status, a timeline view, a card view with customizable lanes and a calendar view that displays your tasks across its duration or by start dates only.
  • Task Management: Add your tasks and subtasks into each cell and use the indent and outdent buttons to divide tasks into groups that can be minimized to provide a project overview. Create or modify custom fields with your own text, dropdown lists and symbols to show status, assignees, priority, dates and latest comment. Attach files and proofs, write comments and mention users and set reminders for tasks.
  • Automations and Workflows: Save time with custom processes and workflows you can build by modifying templates for reminders and alerts, document generation, row changes, sheet changes and updates, and approval requests. Build your own workflow automations from scratch by choosing your trigger, setting conditions and adding actions. Manage automations by deactivating, deleting, duplicating or unsubscribing.
  • Templates: Use pre-built templates ranging from event management to HR workflows and marketing to streamline project creation. View complexity, task management and process before you apply a template. Build and save your own templates by customizing pre-built templates or creating them from scratch.
  • Integrations: Drive productivity with integrations like Office 365, Dropbox, DocuSign and Google Workspace and use iCal or Google Calendar to track project statuses.
  • Team Collaboration: Communicate with team members by commenting and mentioning users in individual tasks, adding files for additional information and chatting via the conversations tool where everyone with access to the sheet can see your comments. Integrate with Slack or Microsoft Teams to receive updates about your sheet and send messages to channels.
Microsoft Project
Microsoft Project
Start Price
$10
Per User, Monthly
Company Size
Small Medium Large
Deployment
Cloud On-Premise
Platform
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Why We Picked Microsoft Project

Microsoft Project remains a robust project management software, praised for its intuitive interface and comprehensive feature set. Users appreciate its Gantt charts, resource management capabilities, and integration with other Microsoft products. However, some find its advanced features overwhelming and its reporting capabilities limited compared to specialized project management tools.

Project differentiates itself with its ease of use and integration with the Microsoft ecosystem. Its intuitive interface makes it accessible to users of all skill levels, while its integration with tools like Microsoft Teams and SharePoint streamlines collaboration. These strengths make it an excellent choice for teams heavily reliant on Microsoft products.

Microsoft Project is best suited for small to medium-sized businesses and teams that prioritize ease of use and Microsoft integration. Its intuitive interface and comprehensive feature set make it a valuable tool for managing projects effectively, while its integration with other Microsoft products enhances collaboration and productivity.

Pros & Cons

  • User Friendly: The platform’s functionalities are intuitive and easy to use, as noted by approximately 80% of users who mention the system’s usability.
  • Project Scheduling: Approximately 81% of the users find its project scheduling capabilities helpful.
  • Feature-Rich: Approximately 81% of the users who mentioned features said the system provides everything required for proper project handling. It can handle complex projects, create Gantt charts, project timelines and reports.
  • Customization: Nearly 61% of users who mentioned customization said its customization options were helpful. It integrates with ClearQuest seamlessly and 67% of users find its integrations helpful.
  • Support: Support is responsive, knowledgeable and helpful, as reported by 100% of reviewers who mention support.
  • Templates: Approximately 80% of users who mentioned templates find them to be helpful as they display data in an organized manner.
  • Learning Curve: Nearly 96% of the users that mentioned accessibility think that the software has a steep learning curve.
  • Efficiency: About 72% of users that mentioned efficiency said the software improved their process optimization.
  • Collaboration: Close to 83% of the users who mention collaboration said that Project does not facilitate collaborative processes well.
  • Cost: Approximately 94% of the users who mention cost think that its price is prohibitive and that the software is very expensive for the features it offers.

Key Features

  • Resource Management: Set up teams for success by requesting resources. Heat maps help identify overworked or underused resources. Lets managers project usage, monitor progress and address issues using analytics.  
  • Portfolio Optimization: Models different scenarios using tools like analysis scatter charts. Weigh project proposals against strategic business drivers with organizational cost and resource constraints in mind. 
  • Reports: Offers a number of reports that include a dashboard, progress and cost that provide insight into project metrics. Individual reports include burndowns, project overviews, critical tasks, cash flow, earned value, late tasks and more. Create a customized report from four template types: blank, chart, table and comparison.  
  • BI Capability: Connect with business intelligence apps like Power BI Pro to gain visibility across portfolios. Supports data aggregation to gain comprehensive insights. 
  • Proposal Evaluation: Gather project ideas, use standardized processes to evaluate them and funnel project charters and business cases to management for review and approval.
OpenAir
OpenAir
Start Price
$399
Per User, Monthly
Company Size
Small Medium Large
Deployment
Cloud On-Premise
Platform
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Why We Picked OpenAir

OpenAir, a project management software solution, has received positive feedback from users for its ability to streamline project management processes. Users appreciate its user-friendly interface, flexibility, and comprehensive features that enhance efficiency and organization. The software's task management, resource management, collaboration tools, and reporting capabilities have significantly improved project outcomes for many businesses.

Compared to similar products, OpenAir stands out due to its ease of use and adaptability to various project types and sizes. Users have highlighted its intuitive design, which allows for quick adoption and minimal training time. Additionally, OpenAir's flexibility enables businesses to customize workflows, dashboards, and reports to align with their specific needs. This adaptability is crucial for organizations with diverse project requirements and evolving processes.

OpenAir is well-suited for businesses of all sizes seeking to enhance their project management practices. Its scalability and comprehensive features make it an ideal choice for small teams, large enterprises, and everything in between. The software's ability to centralize project information, facilitate collaboration, and provide real-time insights empowers teams to make informed decisions, optimize resource allocation, and deliver projects on time and within budget.

Pros & Cons

  • User Friendly: The system is easy to use and intuitive, as noted by approximately 86% of users who mention the system’s usability.
  • Time Tracking and Expense Reports: Approximately 90% of the users reviewed think this feature increases their productivity and effectiveness.
  • Customization: Nearly 75% of the users reviewed find this feature to be quite robust.
  • Reporting: About 57% of the users reviewed find its reporting capabilities to be helpful and informative.
  • Support: Nearly 67% of the users reviewed think the support offered by OpenAir is helpful.
  • Cost: Nearly 100% of users who mentioned cost reported that OpenAir’s offerings were too expensive for smaller businesses or prohibitive.
  • Implementation: The physical implementation process misses the mark, and can be difficult according to 70% of reviewers who mention implementation.
  • Intuitive Interface: Nearly 65% of the users reviewed think that the interface is not intuitive and that administrative tools are limited.
  • Bugs: Approximately 100% of users that mentioned bugs or slowdowns think that the system is clunky and disrupts work.
  • Integration: Nearly 60% of the users who mention integration think that integration between OpenAir and NetSuite is not seamless. Also, Microsoft Projects importing is not smooth.

Key Features

  • Time Tracking: Customizes timesheet approvals by client and project, supports multi-level and project-based approvals and lets users track leave and vacation time. View who is in or out of the office to schedule meetings and appointments. Add notes and descriptions to each input, and sort time by billable and non-billable hours.  
  • Project Management: Users can view the complete status of a project to keep tasks on-track and reduce the potential for errors or incomplete deliverables. Develop “what if” project planning scenarios to adjust margins, billing rates, pricing and staffing. Also supports Gantt charts, project status summaries and exceptions reports.  
  • Reporting/Dashboard: Dashboards reflect KPIs on initial login. Present profit margins, resource utilization and projected vs. actual budgets as graphs to make development of actionable insights faster and easier. Build reports using drag-and-drop tools. 
  • Resource Management: View labor resource allocation and deploy staff members to different projects based on experience, skills, availability and more. using the resource management tool. Deploy labor resources from across the globe, attribute work back to the correct project teams and bill labor resources in the appropriate currency.  
  • Expense Tracking: Integrates with workflows like project accounting and invoicing to expedite the expense management cycle, including expense submission, approval and reporting. Expenses are tied directly to projects, eliminating confusion regarding where an expense came from and who should be billed.  
  • Invoicing: Supports multi-currency and multi-taxation requirements such as PST, VAT and GST. Manages finances from the time a bid is prepared to the time an internal charge-back is issued. Project profitability is tracked on a case-by-case basis due to the complexity of measuring ROI for diverse projects. Revenue recognition is conducted separately from project billing. 
Trello
Trello
Start Price
$5
Per User, Monthly
Company Size
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Deployment
Cloud On-Premise
Platform
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Why We Picked Trello

Trello includes robust workflow management and organizational capabilities for users to efficiently manage a project lifecycle. Its intuitive UI and clean dashboards simplify task delegation and monitoring, along with streamlining workflows. Its collaborative tools foster team communication and information sharing, while flexible integration capabilities help complete workflows. However, it lacks enterprise-grade project management abilities and is not suitable to handle large projects that require bulk movements. Additionally, the system provides limited features in its basic plan, and its mobile application lacks several functionalities offered by the desktop version.

Pros & Cons

  • Functionality: Trello offers robust organizational tools that simplify task delegation and streamline workflows, as reported by nearly 88% of the users who mention the product’s functionality.
  • Easy to Use: The system is intuitive, user friendly and doesn’t require a steep learning curve to understand its features, as noted by approximately 82% of users who referred to its usability.
  • Collaborative: Approximately 79% of users who talked about collaboration noted that project collaborations are a breeze with Trello as it shares information with team members and clients in an organized manner while adding specific members to project cards.
  • Customizable: The system is highly customizable with numerous display choices and features to adapt to users’ requirements, as reported by nearly 74% of reviewers who referred to customization.
  • Scalability: Nearly 75% of reviewers who mention scalability note that it is cumbersome to scale the system to a company’s growing needs and cannot manage complex projects.
  • Cost: Trello offers limited functional and storage capabilities in its basic version, and advanced version requires per-user licensing, making it expensive for large teams, reported nearly 83% of users who mentioned cost.
  • Mobile Application: The system doesn’t perform well on mobile platforms, and its mobile application cannot perform all the functions of the desktop version, as reported by nearly 71% of users who mentioned mobile accessibility.
  • Installation: Trello is challenging to install and can overwhelm new users with its host of features, as reported by nearly 69% of users who talked about product set-up.

Key Features

  • Boards: Create multiple boards for different projects, workflows or other needs. Keep all related information organized in a single location. 
  • Cards: Build processes, follow progress and manage all aspects of a project. Foster collaboration and organization within teams. 
  • Task Management: Represent tasks on each card and move them through the workflow. Set up and manage task dependencies by creating checklists and linking associated cards to one another. 
  • Templates: Create real-world boards from the inspiration section for teams. Use pre-built or custom templates to create boards, lists or cards. 
  • Power-Ups: Integrate it with apps like Slack, Zapier, Google Drive, MailChimp, Salesforce, Dropbox, SurveyMonkey and Zendesk to complete workflows. Choose from over 130 modules for file management, reporting, automation and developer tools.
  • Mobile Apps: Access it through iOS and Android devices, including smartphones, iPads, smart watches and Kindle fire tablets. 
Zoho Projects
Zoho Projects
Start Price
$4
Per User, Monthly
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Why We Picked Zoho Projects

Zoho Projects offers comprehensive solutions for its customers to tackle multiple business needs with ease. Users have full control of their projects as they can manage every stage of project progress, allocate resources, manage tasks, record timesheets and automate workflow processes for standardization. It offers an extensive knowledge base and fosters team collaboration for efficient project completion. However, its UI is clunky and difficult to use, it requires a steep learning curve to make optimal use of its full capabilities, comes with limited features in its basic version and offers sluggish customer support.

Pros & Cons

  • Functionality: Zoho Projects offers robust tools to manage multiple business needs, including project management, resource allocation, efficient collaboration and timesheets, as reported by approximately 90% of the users who mention the product’s functionality.
  • Flexible: The system is highly flexible and can be configured for different purposes like marketing and other business requirements, noted nearly 85% of customers who talked about its flexibility.
  • Integrations: Approximately 75% of the reviewers who mentioned integrations observed that the solution offers multiple APIs and seamless integration with other Zoho suite products and popular external modules for project planning and implementation.
  • Centralized Communication: The system centralizes all project communication between teams, which makes it easy to search and fix issues, noted nearly 72% of the users who talked about its communication capabilities.
  • Not Intuitive: The system is not user-friendly with a clunky and unintuitive UI compared to its competitors, reported 88% of reviewers who mentioned the system’s usability.
  • Cost: Nearly 92% of the users who mentioned cost remarked that Zoho Projects is expensive for small teams looking for more features on a limited budget, doesn’t offer options to customize functionality and its package price is a costly investment for bigger teams with more users.
  • Data and Reporting: Data generated by the system is difficult to comprehend, and it doesn’t allow report customization using different fields and visuals, observed by about 86% of customers who mentioned reporting.
  • Support: Customer support is slow and doesn’t offer enough support documentation or tutorial videos to exploit the system’s capabilities fully, noted 80% of reviewers who talked about support.

Key Features

  • Task Management: Control important task details, add important information such as priority or duration with tasks and subtasks. Link tasks to create dependencies. Highlight each project phase with milestones. Organize tasks using drag-and-drop Kanban boards and custom layouts. 
  • Social Project Management: Communicate and collaborate for effective project management. Create public or private chat rooms, pages for team knowledge base and forums to engage in discussion. Centralize project updates with feeds. Create new posts while adding comments to existing posts. 
  • Charts and Reports: View project details and metrics using a variety of charts. Get a high-level view of project tasks and dependencies through Gantt charts while resource utilization charts break down each team member’s workload by day. Gain insights into project performance across a wide range of KPIs with over 50 out-of-the-box reports and dashboards. 
  • Time Tracking: Let employees log their hours on a timesheet automatically or manually while allowing managers to view reports based on personnel, time or project. Transform a timesheet to an invoice with a few simple steps. Compare the expected task duration with the actual time spent on a task. Track each member’s availability, issues and milestones using calendar views. 
  • Issue Tracking: Report issues with all the relevant details and assign them for attention. Importing issues in bulk keeps them all in one place, and you can then export them as an XLS or CSV file. Track all issues according to criteria using filtered views. View committed changes with all changeset details included. 

COMPARE THE BEST Collaboration Software

Select up to 2 Products from the list below to compare

 
Product
Score
i
SelectHub’s Analyst Rating is based on data from our 400+ point analysis of Collaboration Software, user reviews, and our own crowd-sourced data from our free software selection platform. Scores are periodically updated via ongoing selection projects and user activity within our platform.
Start Price
Free Trial
Company Size
Deployment
Platform
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Microsoft Teams
$4
Per User, Monthly
Yes
Small Medium Large
Cloud On-Premise
Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android
Microsoft Teams
Asana
$10.99
Per User, Monthly
Yes
Small Medium Large
Cloud On-Premise
Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android
Asana
Jira
$10
Per User, Monthly
Yes
Small Medium Large
Cloud On-Premise
Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android
Jira
monday.com
$9
Per User, Monthly
Yes
Small Medium Large
Cloud On-Premise
Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android
monday.com
Smartsheet
$9
Per User, Monthly
Yes
Small Medium Large
Cloud On-Premise
Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android
Smartsheet
Microsoft Project
$10
Per User, Monthly
Yes
Small Medium Large
Cloud On-Premise
Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android
Microsoft Project
OpenAir
$399
Per User, Monthly
No
Small Medium Large
Cloud On-Premise
Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android
OpenAir
Trello
$5
Per User, Monthly
Yes
Small Medium Large
Cloud On-Premise
Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android
Trello
Zoho Projects
$4
Per User, Monthly
Yes
Small Medium Large
Cloud On-Premise
Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android
Zoho Projects
Mavenlink
$45
Per User, Monthly
Yes
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Cloud On-Premise
Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android
Mavenlink

All Collaboration Software (115 found)

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Targetprocess

by Targetprocess
Targetprocess
Targetprocess is an online visual solution that helps users scale with agility across the enterprise. Organizations can customize their structure and management processes and connect products, portfolios and teams. Its robust inclusions provide data visualization at every level of a company. Organizations can flag projects using visual encoding and automatically prioritize incoming work. Businesses can adopt agile methods and visualize value flows with LeSS, SAFe, Scrum of Scrums and other frameworks. Its timeline mode lets users set milestones and track progress.
User Sentiment User satisfaction level icon: great
Cost Breakdown
$10 or less
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Blinkbid

by Blinkbid Software
Blinkbid
Blinkbid is a popular software platform that ranks 220 among all Accounting Software according to our research analysts and 27 crowd-sourced reviews from 1 source. Starting from $20, Blinkbid is priced less than most others, has offered a free trial in the past and is most applicable for small-to-mid-sized companies. Blinkbid can be deployed in the cloud. Similar alternatives to Blinkbid include Qvalia, Express Invoicing and EzzyBooks.
User Sentiment User satisfaction level icon: excellent
Cost Breakdown
$10 - $100
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Xoxoday

by Xoxoday
Xoxoday
Xoxoday is a rising solution that ranks 87 among all Collaboration Software according to our research analysts and 234 crowd-sourced reviews from 2 sources. Starting from $3, Xoxoday is priced within reason, commonly offers a free trial and is most suitable for any business. Xoxoday can be deployed online and on-premise. Similar alternatives to Xoxoday include MindGenius, Nrby and Givitas.
User Sentiment User satisfaction level icon: great
Cost Breakdown
$10 or less
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Mosaic App

by Mosaic
Mosaic App
Mosaic is a web-based resource management software that automates project management and teamwork. Create a single custom hub to simplify budgeting, billing, hiring, workload management and profit plans. Use AI to make suggestions and forecast productivity.
User Sentiment User satisfaction level icon: excellent
Cost Breakdown
$10 - $100
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GrowthZone

by MicroNet, Inc.
GrowthZone
GrowthZone (formerly known as MemberZone) is an association management software that has marketing automation and prospecting built in for greater functionality. It also has productivity modules to help users with day-to-day tasks.It assists businesses with growth in a risk-free manner and drives efficiency by eliminating unnecessary processes. It also facilitates the elimination of duplicate data, report accuracy, dashboard customization, and real-time communication and updates.
User Sentiment User satisfaction level icon: great
Cost Breakdown
$10 - $100
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Huddle App

by Edify
Huddle App
Huddle App is a sophisticated task management and collaboration software designed to streamline team workflows and enhance productivity. It offers a comprehensive suite of tools for document sharing, project tracking, and real-time communication, making it ideal for businesses that require seamless collaboration across various departments. The platform is particularly well-suited for medium to large enterprises due to its robust features and scalability. Key benefits of Huddle App include improved project visibility, efficient task delegation, and enhanced team coordination. Popular features encompass secure file storage, version control, and integrated messaging, which collectively foster a collaborative work environment. Users often highlight its intuitive interface and reliable performance as standout qualities. Compared to similar products, Huddle App is praised for its user-friendly design and comprehensive functionality. Pricing details are typically customized based on organizational needs, so it is advisable to contact SelectHub for a tailored quote. This ensures that users receive a pricing plan that aligns with their specific requirements.
User Sentiment User satisfaction level icon: great
Cost Breakdown
$10 or less
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Cardsmith

by Cardsmith
Cardsmith
Cardsmith is a versatile software designed to enhance project collaboration through visual task management. It is particularly well-suited for creative teams, startups, and industries that thrive on brainstorming and agile methodologies. Users appreciate its intuitive interface, which allows for seamless organization of ideas and tasks using virtual cards and boards. This flexibility fosters a dynamic environment for project planning and execution. Unique features include customizable templates and real-time collaboration, enabling teams to adapt workflows to their specific needs. Compared to similar products, Cardsmith stands out for its simplicity and visual appeal, making it a favorite among users who value creativity and flexibility. Pricing details are not explicitly provided, so potential users are encouraged to contact SelectHub for a tailored quote. Overall, Cardsmith offers a compelling solution for teams seeking an innovative approach to project management and collaboration.
Cost Breakdown
$10 - $100
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Axero

by Axero Solutions
Axero
Axero is a dynamic software solution designed to streamline internal communication and collaboration through its comprehensive intranet capabilities. It is particularly well-suited for organizations across various industries, including healthcare, education, and corporate sectors, where efficient information sharing and task management are crucial. Axero offers unique benefits such as enhanced employee engagement, centralized document management, and customizable workflows, which contribute to improved productivity. Its powerful features include social networking tools, knowledge management, and robust analytics, allowing businesses to tailor the platform to their specific needs. Users often praise its intuitive interface and seamless integration with existing systems, setting it apart from similar products. While specific pricing details are not publicly available, potential users are encouraged to contact SelectHub for a personalized quote. Axero's adaptability and user-friendly design make it a valuable asset for any organization seeking to optimize their internal operations.
User Sentiment User satisfaction level icon: great
Cost Breakdown
$10 or less
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Wekan

by Wekan
Wekan
Wekan is a promising software platform that ranks 94 among all Collaboration Software according to our research analysts and 16 crowd-sourced reviews from 1 source. Wekan is most advisable for any company. Wekan can be deployed on-premise and is accessible from a fewer number of platforms including Windows devices. Similar alternatives to Wekan include FinAlyzer, Preview Team and Krock.
User Sentiment User satisfaction level icon: great
Cost Breakdown
Still gathering data
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Nozbe

by Nozbe Personal
Nozbe
Nozbe Personal is a sophisticated task management software designed to enhance productivity by organizing tasks, projects, and deadlines efficiently. It is particularly well-suited for individuals and small teams across various industries such as marketing, consulting, and education, where task coordination and time management are crucial. The platform offers unique benefits like seamless collaboration, intuitive interface, and cross-platform accessibility, making it a powerful tool for boosting productivity. Users appreciate features like project sharing, task delegation, and integration with popular apps, which streamline workflow and communication. Compared to similar products, Nozbe Personal is praised for its user-friendly design and robust functionality. Pricing details are not explicitly available, so potential users are encouraged to contact SelectHub for a tailored quote. Overall, Nozbe Personal stands out for its ability to simplify complex task management, making it an invaluable asset for those seeking to optimize their productivity.
User Sentiment User satisfaction level icon: excellent
Cost Breakdown
$10 or less
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Deployment
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Moovila

by Moovila Inc.
Moovila
Moovila is an AI-supported work management solution that identifies, rectifies and monitors project risks. It monitors multiple risk factors associated with a project, including hidden resource interdependencies in real time. Companies can use resulting and scoring visualizations to conduct critical operations with predictability, accuracy and consistency. Its real-life capacity management and AI, IoT and machine learning integration helps companies adhere to project costs and timelines. Organizations improve operational efficiency through accurate timeline forecasts, in-depth training and user adoption.
User Sentiment User satisfaction level icon: excellent
Cost Breakdown
$10 - $100
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Givitas

by Givitas
Givitas
Givitas is a sophisticated collaboration tool designed to streamline task management and enhance teamwork. It is particularly well-suited for industries that thrive on knowledge sharing and collective problem-solving, such as technology, healthcare, and education. The platform's unique benefits include fostering a culture of generosity and reciprocity, which can lead to increased employee engagement and productivity. Notable features include its user-friendly interface, seamless integration with existing systems, and robust analytics that provide insights into collaboration patterns. Users often praise Givitas for its ability to simplify the process of asking for and offering help within an organization, setting it apart from similar products. While specific pricing details are not readily available, potential users are encouraged to contact SelectHub for a tailored quote. Givitas stands out in the collaboration software market by emphasizing the power of community and connection in achieving organizational goals.
User Sentiment User satisfaction level icon: excellent
Cost Breakdown
$1,000 or more
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Cerri

by Cerri.com
Cerri
Cerri is a notable software solution that ranks 219 among all Project Management Software according to our research analysts and 2 crowd-sourced reviews from 1 source. Starting from $20, Cerri is priced more economically, has offered a free trial in the past and is most advisable for any sized business. Cerri can be deployed online. Similar alternatives to Cerri include Allex.ai, Essembi and Preview Team.
User Sentiment User satisfaction level icon: excellent
Cost Breakdown
$10 - $100
Company Size
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Deployment
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Dropbox Enterprise

by Dropbox
Dropbox Enterprise
Dropbox Enterprise is a sophisticated cloud storage solution designed to streamline file management and collaboration for large organizations. It is particularly well-suited for industries such as technology, media, and finance, where secure and efficient data handling is crucial. The platform offers robust features like advanced security controls, seamless integration with existing IT systems, and comprehensive admin tools that enhance productivity. Users appreciate its intuitive interface and the ability to access files from any device, which fosters a flexible work environment. Compared to similar products, Dropbox Enterprise is praised for its reliability and ease of use. Pricing details are typically customized based on organizational needs, so it's advisable to contact SelectHub for a tailored quote. The platform's unique blend of security, accessibility, and user-friendly design makes it a compelling choice for enterprises seeking a dependable cloud storage solution.
User Sentiment User satisfaction level icon: great
Cost Breakdown
$10 - $100
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Wellsite

by Wellsite Report
Wellsite
Wellsite is a unique software system that ranks 329 among all Business Intelligence Tools according to our research analysts and 33 crowd-sourced reviews from 1 source. Starting from $3, Wellsite is priced economically, offers a free trial on occasion and is most fitting for companies large and small. Wellsite can be deployed online and on-premise and is accessible from a limited number of platforms including Windows and Linux devices. Similar alternatives to Wellsite include Altair Monarch, OpenHR and Retail Advantage.
User Sentiment User satisfaction level icon: great
Cost Breakdown
$10 or less
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ECOUNT

by ECOUNT Inc.
ECOUNT
ECOUNT is a unique application that ranks 126 among all ERP Software according to our research analysts and 35 crowd-sourced reviews from 1 source. Starting from $55, ECOUNT is priced less than most others, offers a free trial on occasion and is most applicable for small or medium sized businesses. ECOUNT can be deployed in the cloud and on-premise and is accessible from a fewer number of platforms including Windows devices. Similar alternatives to ECOUNT include OptiPro ERP, aACE and OmegaCube.
User Sentiment User satisfaction level icon: great
Cost Breakdown
$10 - $100
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Planbox

by Planbox
Planbox
Planbox is a promising software platform that ranks 102 among all Collaboration Software according to our research analysts and 31 crowd-sourced reviews from 1 source. Starting from $19, Planbox is priced more competitively, commonly offers a free trial and is most suitable for companies large and small. Planbox can be deployed in the cloud and is accessible from a fewer number of platforms including Windows and Linux devices. Similar alternatives to Planbox include Preview Team, GroupOffice and Coreworx.
User Sentiment User satisfaction level icon: excellent
Cost Breakdown
$10 - $100
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AceProject

by Websystems, Inc.
AceProject
AceProject is a notable platform that ranks 245 among all Project Management Software according to our research analysts and 13 crowd-sourced reviews from 1 source. Starting from $19, AceProject is priced a notch under most others, commonly offers a free trial and is most advisable for business of all sizes. AceProject can be deployed in the cloud and on-premise and is accessible from a handful of platforms including Windows devices. Similar alternatives to AceProject include Allex.ai, Essembi and Preview Team.
User Sentiment User satisfaction level icon: great
Cost Breakdown
$10 - $100
Company Size
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KeyedIn

by KeyedIn Solutions
KeyedIn
KeyedIn Projects is an enterprise-level solution that offers a suite of features including program management and professional services automation. It combines powerful resources management with a simple interface to overcome any capacity management challenges. It tracks multiple complex projects simultaneously and helps businesses take charge of the entire project lifecycle — from ideation to delivery. It lets managers prioritize projects based on company resources, project planning and more. It facilitates easy communication exchange between managers and team members to make smart decisions on resource and time allocation. It assesses the distribution of resources and assets and alerts managers if a modification in one project can affect others. Its project hierarchies offer a peek into all ongoing projects and ensures they meet their deadlines. It automates prioritization, supports what-if scenario planning, sends push notifications and offers REST API to integrate with third-party additions. It can be deployed on-premise or hosted on the cloud.
User Sentiment User satisfaction level icon: great
Cost Breakdown
$10 - $100
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Webex Suite

by Cisco Systems, Inc.
Webex Suite
Webex Suite is a comprehensive software solution designed to facilitate seamless collaboration and communication. It integrates video conferencing, messaging, file sharing, and task management into a unified platform. This suite is particularly well-suited for businesses of all sizes, educational institutions, and remote teams, as it enhances productivity through real-time interaction and efficient workflow management. Key benefits include high-definition video and audio quality, robust security features, and compatibility with various devices and operating systems. Popular features encompass virtual meeting rooms, screen sharing, whiteboarding, and AI-driven transcription services. Users appreciate its intuitive interface and reliable performance, which often surpasses similar products in terms of user satisfaction and ease of use. Pricing for Webex Suite varies based on the number of users and specific features required. For detailed pricing information tailored to individual needs, it is recommended to contact SelectHub for a personalized quote.
User Sentiment User satisfaction level icon: great
Cost Breakdown
$10 - $100
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Buyer's Guide

The Best Collaboration Software Is All About Improving Teamwork To Boost Profits 

By Pragya Singh, Technical Writer and Market Analyst at SelectHub

Collaboration Software BG Intro

Workplace collaboration is the new norm. It’s a concept where employees or teams get together to efficiently complete work faster. Collaboration software tools or full-fledged project management software get things done while boosting team collaboration.

Teams face unique challenges while working together depending on the structure, size and geographical distribution. Collaboration tools address these challenges while fostering communication. This guide will acquaint you with collaboration software’s unique capabilities and benefits.

Executive Summary

  • Top collaboration software tools improve team collaboration and communication while simplifying resource sharing.
  • These programs share and manage projects, tasks and updates in real time.
  • Team collaboration apps provide easy access to information and assets to complete tasks on time.
  • When choosing an application, you need to compare individual product offerings.
  • Vendor evaluation comprises asking questions to understand the program’s functionalities.
  • Software adoption will involve a learning curve; you must prepare your team accordingly.
What This Guide Covers:

What Is Collaboration Software?

Collaboration software is a suite of applications that brings together people to share information and ideas. It supports interaction between participants while maximizing teamwork effectiveness, including remote work.

It offers a central platform for employees to share data, files, images, knowledge materials and documents to complete projects while solving specific business problems.

Online collaboration tools foster team interaction on the cloud, sparking meaningful brainstorming sessions to boost organizational growth. They address common challenges like miscommunication, chaotic workflows and disparate information, simplifying decision-making.

Collaboration Software Categories

These systems reduce approval and feedback bottlenecks while improving real-time communication. They offer clarity on project goals and objectives, bring transparency and solve problems within approved workflows. In short, collaboration software:

  • Solves complex problems while generating innovative ideas.
  • Simplifies working together on professional projects.
  • Manages daily tasks, documents and information while offering ease of access.
  • Fosters real-time communication, manages projects and tasks and streamlines document and file-sharing.
  • Assigns tasks, tracks progress and customizes notifications for on-time implementation.
  • Improves team productivity and efficiency.

Deployment Methods

Collaboration apps that integrate with organizational workflows are in demand due to growing project management complexities. Businesses usually go for standalone or integrated deployment strategies.

Standalone

The standalone deployment strategy works for businesses that want to complement their unified communications portfolio with modern applications like Slack. Here, companies have the flexibility to choose modules that meet their collaboration requirements.

However, it becomes difficult to manage multiple applications in the long run.

Integrated

Companies prioritizing team collaboration opt for an integrated model. They deploy a single solution like Microsoft Teams that integrates with existing unified communications.

This strategy unifies team collaboration while offering centralized deployment and information exchange control. However, an enterprise-wide deployment method may lack some capabilities like wikis, blogs and social media analytics.

Primary Benefits

Benefits of Collaboration Software

Implementing collaboration software streamlines file sharing and management. The following are some primary benefits:

Boost Employee Productivity

Scattered information and the inability to find the right data at the right time adversely impact employee productivity. Crucial data often gets lost in multiple inboxes and fragmented communication environments.

Collaboration software streamlines organizational data by breaking down information silos. It unifies all information in a centralized location while reducing lost hours and improving ROI.

Improve Customer Relationships

Team collaboration tools build closer and more profitable relationships with clients and customers. Account managers can swiftly respond to client update requests by tracking employee work progress.

Managers can monitor work progress across geographical locations while keeping remote employees accountable. Clients have easy access to project updates and requisite data.

Additionally, you can access future tasks and work schedules to give clients fair ideas about project milestones and deadlines.

Simplify Project Tracking

Online collaboration tools track project progress from initiation to completion. You can track how many changes your team made to a file and how it looked before those modifications.

Project managers can use centralized platforms to communicate and find the necessary information in real time without relying on back-and-forth email exchanges.

Manage Tasks

These applications assign and organize tasks over the web while allowing teams to access the latest updates using a device. Employees get regular updates about work progress from anywhere while communicating hassle-free with colleagues.

Collaboration software improves communication while minimizing errors by offering messaging channels. Employees can send messages that reach everyone while finding old messages to enhance client interactions.

Enhance Consistency and Compliance

Collaboration solutions reduce online document sharing and maintaining risks by condensing everything in a convenient location. Businesses can set safeguards to monitor centralized environments while producing manuals that guide employees to stay productive.

They simplify activity tracking to generate thorough and help businesses adhere to local norms by tracking recent laws.

Go Paperless

Modern workplaces are beyond paper-based processes and systems. The contemporary approach is to manage information and files through web-based solutions that simplify finding relevant data.

It’s impossible to collaborate efficiently with geographically distributed teams using traditional approaches. Going paperless also supports environmental causes while making your workplace smart and proactive.

Implementation Goals

Here are some implementation goals to keep in mind before you begin looking for software.

Goal 1

Fast Track Activities

Software evaluates files without setting up meetings or making phone calls. You can upload files into the system while alerting reviewers to make necessary adjustments.

Managers can customize workflows while providing employees with the capabilities they need for project advancements.

Goal 2

Conduct Web Meetings and Conferences

With remote work a reality in the post-pandemic era, you no longer have to pay for employees to attend team meetings. Modern solutions facilitate web-based voice and video conferences.

You can conduct daily or weekly stand-ups, review meets and brainstorming sessions by sharing your screen.

These systems also help you schedule training and learning sessions virtually.

Goal 3

Boost Team Efficiency

These systems avoid duplicate work while tracking task deadlines. They send periodic reminders to keep employees in the loop.

They store all project data in a secure central location to avoid data and time loss. Employees have easy access to all relevant information to meet deadlines without hassles.

Goal 4

Unite Employees

Collaboration software brings together employees in an increasingly dispersed work environment. With teams distributed across geographical locations, people don’t have to be present in a physical workplace to complete tasks.

Online collaboration tools facilitate communication and collaboration within teams that hardly meet face-to-face without privacy or productivity concerns.

Organizations can offer employees the flexibility to contribute to high-performing teams from any location without compromising on outcomes.

Goal 5

Hire Global Talent

Collaboration apps make working from anywhere possible, so you don’t have to pay for employee relocation or travel expenses.

You can hire qualified people from any location without worrying about work productivity and information access. Employees can access the central database while contributing effectively to project progress.

Goal 6

Improve Corporate Alignment

Employees can lose sight of the company’s mission and values amid the daily grind. Collaboration apps send regular updates on internal changes, company progress and industry news.

Employees can use this information while performing everyday tasks and stay aligned to the corporate goals.

Key Features & Functionality

Below are some crucial features to look for in your chosen solution.

Document Management

Collaboration apps manage documents on the cloud. This feature is fundamental. Employees can draft or edit documents collectively while sharing personal files on social media feeds.

They reduce toggling between multiple applications by centralizing document storage. This module simplifies information search while reducing time wastage.
Social Networking

Modern solutions categorize internal communications into channels by topic. Employees can focus on what matters to provide feedback, send approvals and request revisions while sifting through irrelevant discussions.

Built-in messaging stores project-related discussions in one place, saving you the hassle of retrieving information through multiple emails and other forms of communication.
Search Engine

Finding siloed data is challenging for problem-solving and effective project management. These systems offer a wiki search to access documents or conversations instantly.
Task Management

The best collaboration software expedites projects by managing crucial tasks and providing resolutions. It monitors project progress to keep goals on track.

Managers can break down projects into smaller tasks or to-do checklists. They can also create subtasks to prevent crucial details from slipping through the cracks.
Interface

Sophisticated systems are easy-to-use on all devices. They enhance task flow visualization while offering details into project workflows.

You can customize the user experience by personalizing dashboards and accompanying datasets.
Notifications

These platforms alert managers and employees on project modifications, deadlines and overdue tasks. You can personalize notifications while tracking essential tasks.
Authentication and Security

Top online collaboration tools offer robust security capabilities and encryptions to avoid data breaches. They provide flexible permissions to control data access at every level.

Some systems include multi-factor authentications and security protocols to prevent password thefts and secure confidential business data.

Advanced Features & Functionality

While most applications offer core functionalities, you will get some advanced capabilities depending on the platform you choose.

API and Integrations

Sophisticated programs offer flexibility to integrate with popular PPM, resource management, workflow, ERP, CRM, payroll and accounting applications.

Many platforms offer advanced integration modules through open APIs and back-end development processes.
Mobility

Collaboration tools offer mobile-friendly design to function on all devices. Employees have the flexibility to work from multiple devices simultaneously and at any location.

Mobile compatibility provides data access on-the-go while ensuring unhindered work progress.

Upcoming Trends

Organizations that promote collaborative work environments gain a competitive advantage in the changing business landscape. New age employees opt for companies encouraging workplace collaboration to learn and grow. Below are some workplace collaboration trends to watch.

Collaboration Software Trends

Non-parallel Collaboration

For teams distributed across geographical locations, syncing meetings and parallel collaboration is a mammoth task. Navigating different time zones becomes a struggle for employees while contributing to ongoing projects.

Modern businesses tackle such challenges by posting videos or interactive whiteboards where team members can share their thoughts on their own time. Once the process is complete, employees get notifications about the updates.

Such ideation processes conclude with meetings to discuss final decisions while incorporating everyone’s comments and reactions. Non-parallel collaboration processes focus on making decisions around ideas exchanged on whiteboards or videos.

You can also equip your meeting rooms with modern solutions like 360-degree video cameras, intelligent scheduling and virtual assistants. Using IoT, you can connect these devices to the rest of your systems and relay information faster.

Corporate Social Networking

Using social media for corporate networking is in vogue. While LinkedIn changed how individuals and companies interact with each other at a professional level, apps like Workplace by Meta are driving up corporate engagements.

Employees can share work-related information such as posting status updates, setting up group or individual chats and sharing documents and photos. Implementing these apps for internal communications turns collaboration into an enjoyable social media activity with peers.

Online Communication

Businesses prefer cloud-hosted communication solutions with growing demand for operational agility and workplace flexibility. These applications simplify uploading and retrieving files while sending real-time updates.

They centralize all internal communications between remote, in-house and on-field employees through mobile and desktop devices. Online collaboration systems are also popular among organizations with distributed teams due to increased flexibility and accessibility.

Workplace Technology Usage Changes

As per a Gartner survey, approximately 80% of employees used collaboration tools in 2021, compared to 55% in 2019, a 44% increase since the COVID-19 outbreak. The use of storage/sharing and real-time messaging apps also increased significantly.

The report notes that collaboration tools became essential to ensure workplace productivity as organizations had to switch to work-from-home models due to the pandemic-enforced restrictions.

“As many organizations shift to a long-term hybrid workforce model, cloud-based, personal and team productivity technologies, along with collaboration tools, will form the core of a series of new work hubs that meet the requirements of various remote and hybrid workers,” says Christopher Trueman, principal research analyst at Gartner.

AI and Machine Learning

Adopting AI and machine learning for collaboration is on the rise. Organizations use voice assistants for specific job functions, predictive notification filtering systems and CoBots that can collaborate with people to improve operations.

These technologies automate repetitive tasks while enhancing productive hours by identifying collaboration opportunities and streamlining appointment scheduling. They also shift the team’s focus from managing back-office tasks to brainstorming.

However, these technologies leverage data and can expose you to cyberattacks. So you need to arm your company infrastructure with foolproof IT security systems.

AR and VR Adoption

Modern technologies like augmented and virtual reality reinforce organizational collaboration strategies. They facilitate immersive web collaborations while creating virtual spaces to visualize ideas.

You can use applications like 3D imagining for greater accuracy in robotics projects. However, you should select hardware that’s not too bulky, isn’t prone to technical glitches and enhances your experience.

Software Comparison

Selecting a product that aligns with your corporate strategy can be overwhelming. SelectHub’s exhaustive project management software matrix offers a handy comparison of top products in the market to assist your decision-making.

Cost & Pricing Considerations

Since collaboration software overlaps with multiple other systems like community platforms, cloud storage, online office suites, web conferencing, and VoIP, its implementation will depend on the strategy you want to adopt.

Some companies invest in a few independent applications, depending on business needs, while others opt for a single solution that offers best-of-breed capabilities while integrating with existing modules.

Your collaboration tool’s final cost will depend on the model you choose. Most applications in the market are available on monthly subscription plans, where pricing depends on the number of users and can cost over $16.

Enterprise plans and premium products will cost higher and can include additional capabilities like advanced user management tools, integrations and customizations, unlimited storage space and priority support plans.

Most Popular Collaboration Software

The global unified communications and collaboration market size, which was $47.26 billion in 2021, will grow to $113.81 billion in 2028, at a CAGR of 13.4%. Increased remote work and the growing adoption of cloud services drive this growth.

Choosing an application from a rapidly expanding and vast market can be overwhelming. SelectHub analysts regularly curate a list of the most popular market products to simplify your software search.

ClickUp

ClickUp is an end-to-end cloud-based workforce management platform that offers customizable workflows, task settings, goals, documents and an inbox. Custom statuses, multiple views, assigned comments and Gantt chart capabilities track and manage projects efficiently.

Its built-in dashboards visualize and organize project data automatically while generating reports to track Agile team metrics.

ClickUp

ClickUp’s dashboards manage Agile workflows while reporting on crucial business metrics.

Wrike

Wrike is a cloud-hosted platform that tracks tasks, plans projects and monitors deadlines while collaborating with stakeholders. It offers capabilities like Gantt charts, task management, a real-time newsfeed and integration with popular third-party modules.

It offers advanced functionalities for marketing, software development and professional teams. It streamlines resource planning, anticipates demand, and optimizes team workload.

Wrike

Wrike generates accurate timesheets by tracking time spent on each task.

Teamwork

Teamwork is a Kanban-based work management system that offers advanced reporting with a drag-and-drop interface. It manages projects, teams, tasks, clients and resources from one place while tracking time and budgets.

It offers top-down views of initiatives, including project planning, milestones, time tracking and budgeting. Its real-time collaboration modules keep clients, stakeholders, employees and project planners on the same page.

Teamwork

Teamwork simplifies collaboration by tracking key metrics, centralizing work and streamlining team communication.

Monday.com

Monday.com is an online task management solution that offers a visually appealing and flexible interface. You can design projects using templates while customizing boards and views. Its collaboration modules provide visibility into all projects and automate repetitive tasks.

It centralizes all processes, tasks and files while updating documents in real time. Its robust security features keep organizational data and communications secure.

Monday.com

Monday.com offers HR templates to manage recruitment, workload and time.

Jira

Jira is a comprehensive work management solution for Agile teams that streamlines workflows and monitors task activity. Organizations can sketch project roadmaps to see the big picture and communicate plans with clients and stakeholders while keeping employees on the same page.

Businesses can create, track and manage tasks across the portfolio of initiatives while integrating with popular third-party applications.

Jira

Jira’s roadmaps help visualize the big picture while communicating plans with stakeholders.

 

 

Questions To Ask Yourself

Collaboration Software Key Questions To Ask

Selecting the right collaboration software is a long-term business decision, which involves asking the following questions internally:

  • How does my team collaborate currently?
  • What kinds of projects do we take up?
  • How many people work on each project?
  • Do I need a single application?
  • What is my budget?

Questions To Ask Vendors

Use the following questions to have honest discussions with vendors:

About the Software

  • Should I opt for an integrated or a standalone model?
  • Will it integrate with my current applications?
  • Does it offer customizations?
  • Will it support my future collaboration needs?
  • Is it mobile-friendly?

About the Vendor

  • What support and training packages do you offer? Do you offer priority support?
  • What are your pricing plans?
  • Can I save integration data in my preferred system?
  • How frequently do you update your security architecture?

In Conclusion

Businesses must move beyond cohesive communication strategies to survive the competition. With the recent rise in remote work, organizations need to invest in collaboration software that promotes real-time teamwork while streamlining workflows and resource sharing.

Team collaboration tools help you execute projects faster, optimize resources, bring transparency and promote better teamwork. Use this guide as a starting point in your software selection endeavor.

Additional Resources

About The Contributors

The following expert team members are responsible for creating, reviewing, and fact checking the accuracy of this content.

Kriti
By Kriti Sahay
Technical Content Writer
Kriti Sahay is a Technical Content Writer at SelectHub, writing content for Help Desk and Call Center Software. Kriti is based out of New Delhi, India. When she's not handling Buyer's Guides and other informational articles, she can be found experimenting in her kitchen, street shopping, or painting!
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Joan
Technical Research By Joan Akash
Senior Analyst
Joan Akash, a Senior Research Analyst at SelectHub, holds a Post-Graduate Diploma in Management with a specialization in Marketing. Her expertise as a researcher and reviewer spans diverse software categories, including Project Management, Customer Relationship Management, Live Chat, and Help Desk. Beyond her professional pursuits, Joan is spiritually driven, with a passion for teaching children and a penchant for reading biblical blogs and crafting poetry.
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Manan
Technical Review By Manan Roy
Principal Analyst
Manan is a native of Tezpur, Assam (India), who currently lives in Kolkata, West Bengal (India). At SelectHub, he works on categories like CRM, HR, PPM, BI, and EHR. He has a Bachelor of Technology in CSE from The Gandhi Institute of Engineering and Technology, a Master of Technology from The Institute of Engineering and Management IT, and an MBA in Finance from St. Xavier's College. He's published two research papers, one in a conference and the other in a journal, during his Master of Technology.
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Dianna
Edited By Dianna Dragonetti
Content Editor
As an editor, Dianna Dragonetti leads a team of five writers in writing about a variety of software, with an emphasis on how these tools empower businesses. Categories include accounting, learning management systems, content management systems, supply chain management, and electronic data interchange.
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