Trello, Notion, Asana, Nifty or Clickup? As Bronia Sobotka says:
It doesn’t matter what tool you use, as long as it helps you complete your work.
So unless you’re happy with what you’re using, this article probably won’t help you much. Nor do I recommend reading it in any way.
But you may not be satisfied:
- you don’t know who is in charge of what on the team,
- you don’t manage the work well,
- you don’t know how much time things take,
- you don’t have time…
In such a situation, I believe project management tools can help you tremendously. Indeed. Most are simple and intuitive, so before you know it, using them will be a breeze.
But there are many, how do you choose the right one?
I don’t know, but in this article I will introduce some of the most popular ones.
I have personally used or am using all of them – some for a week, some for years. So the review is subjective, and while Notion runs through my veins, I’ve seen Asana basically on speed dial.
So I hope the article inspires you, but in the end you’ll still have to try the tool and see what works for you.
Summary table of tools and their overall rating
Notion
Notion, as you might guess, is my very favorite tool that I use for almost everything (ironically, everything except notes).➕ Main advantages
- Free version (however not for teams)
- Intuitiveness
- Easy to share documents with outsiders (people can see the document without having to register)
- Very powerful database feature
➖Main disadvantages
- Lack of integrated timekeeping (although the online version already has Toggl integration)
- Due to the “openness of the tool” (everything is compiled from individual documents), it is relatively easy to get lost in it
- If one is unfamiliar with Notion, one may not think of ways to take advantage of its main and advanced features
So how do I rate Notion overall?
Overall Rating
Intuitiveness of use 95/100
Features 85/100
User friendliness 85/100
Price 70/100
Nifty
Nifty my colleague and I have been using it for project management for several months. Nifty is definitely one of the more complex tools, but that also makes it well suited for project management.
Personally, I wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about the tool, however many people have the exact opposite opinion – on G2, Nifty even earned a 4.5/5.
➕ Main advantages
- Free version (however not for teams)
- Ability to track time over tasks
- Internet chat
- Project templates and many integrations
➖ Major drawbacks
- Unintuitiveness
- Nothing much UI
- Poor working with time reports
- Opaque (but maybe I’m just spoiled by Notion )
So how do I rate the Nifty overall?
Overall Rating
Intuitiveness of use 65/100
Features 90/100
Price 90/100
Asana
Asana is another very mature project management tool. It may even be the most well-known one.
I’ve used Asana relatively briefly and primarily in a collaborative role (I didn’t “direct” the work myself), so I’m probably the least familiar with it of all the tools.
However, having spent some time in it after all, I figured it shouldn’t be missing from here.
➕ Main benefits
- Free version (superior to competitors)
- Rules, milestones, templates
- Lots of integrations and addons
➖ Major drawbacks
- More expensive than competitors for large teams
- It takes a while to find your way around Asana
- You’ll appreciate having someone set it up for you to start with (maybe just my feeling)
So how do I rate Asana overall?
Overall Rating
Intuitiveness of use 80/100
Features 95/100
Price 70/100
Clickup
ClickUp has been a dark horse in the work tools industry for the past few years. It tries to combine the best of all tools, and when taken at the right end, it’s hard to fault ClickUp.
➕ Main benefits
- The ability for the team to track time directly on individual tasks (for example, a copywriter, editor, graphic designer, and developer can track time on an article), and you can see exactly how much the article “cost” – in time and money.
- Width of features
- Competitive pricing – ClickUp is one of the cheapest tools, and the free version is similarly powerful to Notion – maybe even more so
➖ Major drawbacks
- You may feel overwhelmed with features and options at first
So how did ClickUp fare overall?
Overall Rating
Intuitiveness of use 80/100
Features 97/100
Price 95/100
Word in Conclusion
In the future, I will expand this article to include other tools that I have also come across in the past: Freelo, Trello, Plutio and others…
However, I still find it important to keep in mind the credo mentioned at the beginning of the article:
It’s not the tools that matter, it’s whether you are productive and finish the work on time.
A good tool is one that helps you, not one that has the most stars.
So don’t be unnecessarily tempted by “another shiny thing” and instead of trying out tools, focus on what’s really important – your work.
Taking yourself in a loop of perpetual picking is no art. On the contrary, it’s extremely easy – the tools themselves and articles like this one do the best they can…
So don’t be tempted, and if you only need paper and pencil… stay cheerfully with them. However, if you are choosing a project management tool, I hope this article has been an inspiration, and maybe even helped you with your choice.
Let me know in the comments – how do you feel about tools and online (co)working?
