ClickUp’s fast factsPricing: Paid plans start at $5 per user per month, billed annually. Key features:
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ClickUp is project management software whose advanced features make it unique among its competitors. Its impressive free plan, the cost-effectiveness and flexibility of its premium plans and its high customizability make it all the more worthy of consideration. Further, ClickUp’s customized views and suitability for Agile management differentiate it from other alternatives.
If your organization either depends on Agile development or needs highly customizable views, then ClickUp may be the right option. However, we have highlighted a couple of alternatives if ClickUp is not a great fit.
SEE: See how ClickUp compares to our list of the best developer project management tools.
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ClickUp delivers one of the most impressive free plans for project management software. In addition to a free plan, ClickUp offers four premium plans: Unlimited, Business, Business Plus and Enterprise.
The Free plan has a variety of features that may satisfy the project management needs of individual users or small team leads. Unlike many of its alternatives, it does not provide a user limit. However, the Free plan is limited in terms of storage, workflows, organization and integration.
The Unlimited plan costs $7 per user per month if billed annually and $10 per user per month if billed monthly. This plan may provide the most value for small teams. However, teams that require more security features may have to consider the Business plan at the very least.
Interestingly, ClickUp offers a unique opportunity for prospective users to “make a deal,” inviting them to suggest how much they are willing to pay per user per month. This opportunity is available only on the Unlimited plan.
Targeting midsize teams, the Business plan costs $12 per user per month if billed annually and $19 per user per month if billed monthly. Business Plus is billed at $19 per user per month if billed annually and $29 per user per month if billed monthly.
The Business Plus plan was created with the management of multiple teams in mind. Its notable upgrades over the Business plan include more customization, security and support features.
ClickUp’s Enterprise plan targets many large teams; however, to obtain pricing information, you have to reach out to its sales team. For users who plan to use ClickUp over a lengthy period, it’s quite obvious that an annual subscription is preferable.
ClickUp’s Agile project and product management features set it apart from its competitors as these features enable teams to collaborate on sprints, roadmaps, backlogs and more. Users can automate their sprint workflows and streamline bug and issue tracking.
ClickUp delivers Agile Dashboards to ensure teams are aware of their progress through customizable dashboards and sprint widgets. Its views, including Kanban Board, Gantt and Box, are easily adaptable to Agile use cases.
ClickUp also offers an Agile project management template to sidestep the learning curve that beginners to this approach often encounter (Figure A).
Figure A
ClickUp delivers more than 15 views for its users to tackle their work from their desired perspectives. These views include the List (Figure B), Board, Box, Calendar, Gantt, Embed, Chat, Activity, Mind Maps, Timeline, Workload, Table, Map and Whiteboard views.
Figure B
The customization features of ClickUp require no use of code or add-ons, making their implementation intuitive for a variety of users. ClickUp shows its customization capabilities through Automations. The tool offers automation recipes that users can customize or utilize in the form of prebuilt recipes.
ClickUp also offers hundreds of templates for users to customize and empowers users to customize the relationships between tasks, documents and more while being integrable with over 1,000 tools.
Through a variety of collaboration features, such as its chat feature, ClickUp makes it simple for teams to collaborate on any kind of project. Its whiteboards provide a real-time visual canvas for teams to collaborate on workflows and ideas and convert them into trackable tasks.
Additionally, teams can not only send and respond to comments on any task within ClickUp but also proof and annotate all of their designs. Users can also communicate in real time using Chat or send and receive emails directly within ClickUp (Figure C).
Figure C
With ClickUp’s real-time reporting features, you can set goals, keep track of progress and increase the effectiveness of your resource management. The Dashboards feature helps users bring crucial project indicators into one place and enables them to add visual widgets for tasks, time tracking, sprints and more (Figure D).
Figure D
The Workload and Box views provide the ability to visualize a team’s day-to-day work capacity, while the Goals feature presents the tools to measure project goals. Users can also set milestones to show when a key project phase is complete. Further, the Pulse feature enables users to view automatic activity reports powered by machine learning to deliver insights on how time is being used.
While ClickUp’s ease of use can differ across its spectrum of functionality, its complexity arises from the rich set of features it provides. ClickUp is moderately easy to use — one can quickly learn its basic functions, such as creating task lists, tracking deadlines and assigning tasks to team members.
However, as you delve into the advanced features of the platform, things can get somewhat more complex. The same versatility and customization options that make ClickUp appealing can also add layers of complexity to the experience. As you use ClickUp’s advanced features, you’ll need to invest additional time to figure out how to best configure them to serve your team’s specific needs.
All ClickUp users, from Free to Enterprise plans, have access to 24/7 customer support. Free plan users have access to ClickUp API, ClickUp University, webinars and ClickUp templates, while paid plan users have the added benefit of live chat support. Business Plus and Enterprise plan users also have access to priority support and admin training webinars. In addition, ClickUp provides enterprise users with a dedicated customer success manager, an onboarding training workshop and access to managed services.
ClickUp is an excellent project management solution for organizations that require a highly customizable and feature-rich platform. Its diverse range of features and views make it well-suited for businesses of various sizes and industries, and its strong Agile capabilities make it ideal for teams following Agile methodologies.
ClickUp is a great choice for:
However, organizations that prefer a more straightforward interface or have a smaller team with less need for customization might want to explore alternative project management solutions. If you’re not sure whether ClickUp is right for you but appreciate its functionality, you can check out these other top project management software options highlighted later on in this article.
ClickUp’s seamless integrations with various popular tools and apps enable users to create efficient and centralized workflows, boosting productivity and enhancing collaboration. Here are some of the top ClickUp integrations and why teams typically integrate these products:
While ClickUp offers an impressive suite of features and customization, it might not be the perfect fit for all teams. Some organizations may find the learning curve too steep or require more specialized tools tailored to their specific industry or use case.
In these situations, exploring alternative project management solutions could be beneficial. The chart below compares ClickUp with a few notable alternatives.
| ClickUp | monday work management | Trello | Jira | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Task management | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Time tracking | Yes | Yes | No | Limited |
| Collaboration and communication | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| File sharing and storage | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Customizable workflows | Highly customizable | Yes | Yes | Highly customizable |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Starting price for paid plans per month | $7 per user, billed annually | $8 per user, billed annually | $5 per user, billed annually | $7.75 per user, billed monthly |
monday work management is a project management tool that delivers an all-in-one management solution for teams. Its strengths lie in its versatility, flexibility and highly visual nature.
Teams might choose monday work management over ClickUp due to its intuitive interface, which simplifies the process of managing projects and workflows, especially for non-technical users.
For a closer look, check out our in-depth comparison of ClickUp and monday work management.
Perhaps you seek a project management tool that is easy to use and user-friendly but also powerful. Trello fits this criterion, with its Kanban boards being arguably the best among its competitors. Trello further excels as a Kanban board tool through its built-in automation features.
For teams that prioritize simplicity and ease of use over advanced customization, Trello can be a better choice than ClickUp.
For a closer look, check out our in-depth comparison of ClickUp and Trello.
Jira is a project management tool specifically designed for software development teams, offering robust Agile project management, issue tracking and customizable workflows.
Organizations focused on software development and seeking a specialized project management tool tailored to their needs might prefer Jira over ClickUp.
For a closer look, check out our in-depth comparison of ClickUp and Jira.
ClickUp uses the Scrum methodology within the Agile workflow system. It offers features such as sprint planning, backlogs and burndown charts, which are essential for managing a Scrum project.
Yes, ClickUp’s Free Forever plan is feature-rich, and it may be sufficient for individuals or small teams. It includes unlimited tasks and users and 100MB of file storage. You can also use the core features of task management, dependencies, multiple assignees, time tracking, customizable statuses, Android and iOS apps, list views, board views and more.
ClickUp offers various security features to protect user data, beginning with the ability to restrict public sharing so sensitive information stays confidential. Regarding data privacy in healthcare-related sectors, ClickUp is HIPAA-compliant, ensuring the secure handling of sensitive patient health information. ClickUp also ensures users’ security by requiring two-factor authentication, thus presenting an additional hurdle for malicious actors.
Our evaluation process for ClickUp involved in-depth research and hands-on exploration to understand and assess the software from various perspectives. We delved into the official product documentation provided by the vendor. This included user guides, product descriptions and instructional materials that explain the key features and functions of the software.
Customer reviews are always a valuable source of information about a product’s real-world performance, so we checked reviews on independent software review platforms like Gartner Peer Insights. We also signed up for the free version of ClickUp to get firsthand experience of its usability. This was necessary for understanding the overall user interface, design, navigation ease and the software’s learning curve.
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