12 Best Project Scheduling Software in 2024

Project scheduling can get tricky. As you manage competing deadlines and changing priorities, it’s easy for things to get lost in the shuffle without the best project scheduling software.

To plan new projects and get them on the schedule, you need to see how everything fits together. If you don’t know how your team uses their time, you don’t know what to move to make room for a new task.

But your strategy and planning are worthless if your team doesn’t know about it.

Each year, businesses lose millions because of poor communication. For small businesses, those losses add up to about $420,000 annually. Big companies with over 100,000 employees lose over $62 million because of communication issues.

As deadlines shift and new work gets added to the to-do list, everyone on your team should know what they need to do. It’s frustrating for everyone when you find out you’ve been working on opposite priorities.

Thankfully, modern project scheduling software makes planning, scheduling, and communicating much more accessible.

Maybe you’re looking at project scheduling tools for the first time. Perhaps you have a tool that you’re ready to upgrade. Either way, this article can help.

Let’s go over:

• Why project scheduling software is important
• How to choose the right solution for your team
• Our picks for the 12 best project scheduling software solutions in 2024

Already know what you’re looking for? Skip ahead to the number 1 project scheduling software.

Benefits of detailed project scheduling software

Project management software saves the average employee 498 hours per year.

Decide if it’s worthwhile before you add any new software to your toolkit.

• Does it save enough time for you to focus on more profitable work?
• Does it allow your team to do their jobs more effectively?
• Are the onboarding and training requirements reasonable compared to the benefits?

Project management software meets these criteria for most teams and companies.

Used wisely, it saves time and boosts productivity for you and your team. It’s easy to learn, and you can onboard a small team in just a few days.

Here are some things you should expect when you use a good tool for your project portfolio management.

Meet deadlines consistently

47% of companies that use a project management tool say that it makes their project cost estimates more accurate.

When you have real data showing how long things take, your project estimates are more realistic. Deadlines are more achievable from the start.

If things get off track, you’ll spot the problem much sooner. You can offer help or adjust expectations before the team misses essential milestones.

Improve team collaboration

Email is outdated. It contributes to burnout, too — 83% of employees say they feel more burnt out because of their email volume.

It’s hard to organize and quickly gets out of control. Chat platforms like Slack have the same weakness.

That’s where your project scheduling software comes in. Your team can share files, work together on living documents, comment on tasks, and share status updates right from the software.

It doesn’t take extra effort to stay organized because all those conversations and updates are attached to the task. It’s easier for your team to work together.

Allocate resources more effectively

With the right tool, you have the data you need to answer questions like these:

• Who has room for multiple projects or tasks?
• Who is overloaded and at risk of burnout?
• Which teams are ready for new projects?
• Based on available resources, which new projects should you pursue?
• Which tasks should be reassigned to keep projects moving?

The information is at your fingertips. Looking at the software is the most accurate way to find the best use of time and resources.

Delegate tasks more easily

How often have you asked someone to lead a project, only to realize a few weeks later that they never got started?

If you assign tasks from a centralized tool, that won’t happen anymore.

Each task includes details like the due date, the priority, and links to related projects. This helps you clarify your expectations and communicate them clearly.

Stay on top of project budgets

Imagine your team just finished a difficult client project.

You’re relieved to finally be able to deliver — you desperately need to get paid. But when the payment comes in, you realize you spent more to complete the job on time than you charged for the project. Instead of making a profit, this job cost you money.

Budget overruns can be devastating, especially for bootstrapped startups. You can’t afford to find out you’re over budget when it’s too late to do anything about it.

Project planning software helps you stay on top of this in multiple ways:

• You have better data to create more accurate project estimates from the start
• You can track project expenses in real time
• You can see a running total of hours worked by task or by project

Spot budget issues while you still have time to do something about it.

How to choose project scheduling software

To choose the best project scheduling software for your team, consider each of these categories. They should all fit your unique needs.

Key features

Separate features into two categories: must-haves and nice-to-haves. List out the features you need in both categories. Build your must-have list by considering your current process and the problems you must solve.

You don’t have to be ultra-specific. For example, if you need to fix poor communication issues, you might include must-haves like these:

• Clear due dates
• Some kind of document storage
• Easy communication organized by task

If you’re unsure what you need, look at the feature pages for a few programs on this list for ideas. That will give you a better idea of what features are generally available.

Cost

A lot of good tools offer a feature-light version for free. That’s an attractive price tag, especially if you’re on a tight budget.

However, remember that free tools are meant to be a starting point. You might struggle to get results when you don’t have a professional-level tool.

The wisest choice is to determine how much a good solution would be worth to your business. If it saves hours, improves efficiency, and generates better results, you can put a dollar value on that.

Talk to your team about how much time they spend finding the correct documents or tracking down what has already happened in a project. 

How much would it be worth if you got all that time back?

For example, assume you have a team of 20 people. You expect this software will save each person about 30 minutes each week. Over a month, that’s 2 hours saved per person, which means you’re getting about 40 more productive work hours each month. If your average hourly rate is $20 per hour, that means your software is worth roughly $800 per month.

Of course, that doesn’t mean you should budget $800 per month. It’s just a benchmark to help you determine if your investment will likely pay off.

As you evaluate your choices, consider whether you’ll get the value you need to generate the return you expect. Choosing a cheaper option might actually cost more money as your team wastes time trying to work around its limitations.

Customization

There’s no point in changing your work just to start using a new software solution. You should be able to customize and adapt your scheduling tool to fit into your workflow.

Consider your business plans for the next five years. Do you expect your team to grow? Will you need more features to support a new line of business?

The right software works for your current needs and can grow with your business.

Ease of use

If you choose a solution your team members find difficult to use, you’ll need to spend time training them on how to use it. Keep this in mind when choosing your project scheduling tool.

Sometimes, you really do need an enterprise-level tool with layers of complexity. If that’s the case for your business, make sure that you choose a tool that includes the complete onboarding experience for your team.

Most companies are better off with a simpler solution. Consider your most technologically challenged team members when you pick a new tool.

The 12 best project scheduling software for 2024

With your must-have list in mind, here are the best tools you should consider.

1. Hubstaff Tasks

Hubstaff Tasks is simple enough for your whole team to use without a difficult onboarding phase. It’s also powerful enough to organize your whole business.

Project management is easy and efficient because Hubstaff Tasks does a lot of the tedious work for you. You can focus on more important things while the software takes care of the basics.

Automated workflows handle task delegation for every project and team. Work moves to the next step with just one click. It automatically appears on the right person’s to-do list, so nothing falls through the cracks.

Your team will appreciate the automated Stand-ups, too. Instead of eating up time every day for check-in meetings, each team member submits their updates at the end of the day. It only takes a couple of minutes for everyone to stay in the loop.

The time tracking features are helpful to both you and your team members.

By tracking time by task, you create a log that shows how work hours are used. That information shows how long certain tasks take and gives each team member an unbiased way to prove what they accomplished.

You can use that time tracking information to estimate a project timeline more accurately. It’s also a valuable tool to help you keep each person’s workload realistic.

In fact, time tracking is the second most requested feature for project management software.

With multiple ways to view complex projects and a powerful reporting tool, you always know what’s going on in your team. For example, the project timelines view shows you the progress of a specific project, and the sprint view tells you exactly what your team will work on this week.

The total visibility you get from Hubstaff Tasks enables you to make smarter business decisions.

Use that information to adjust priorities as needed. When you update the task or project, that update is automatically shared with the appropriate team members.

Hubstaff Tasks makes it easier for everyone on your team to get work done.

Organizing work into Sprints means everyone works on the right project tasks at the correct times. If you need to shift your focus, simply update the sprint as needed.

On top of project scheduling, Hubstaff Tasks can help you do all of these things:

• Improve your team’s communication
• Manage project budgets
• Maximize your entire team’s productivity

Pricing

Hubstaff Tasks is free for up to five users. Take as long as you want to get started and test it out for free. When you’re ready to add more users or projects, the paid plan is just $5 per user per month.

Tasks is also included in the price of most of our Hubstaff plans, where you also get time tracking, reporting, and other project support tools.

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2. Airtable

Are you a fan of spreadsheets and databases? You’ll probably like the Airtable interface.

You can use it for a variety of purposes, including:

• Project planning and scheduling
• Customer relationship management
• Task management
• Inventory management

In Airtable, projects are called bases. Each base can consist of multiple tables. Project teams can use the scheduling tool to create tasks and project plans, track progress, and get across the finish line.

You can add more functionality to a base through blocks. These are plug-ins that enable you to use:

• Time tracking
• Translation
• Maps and geocodes
• SMS notifications

Airtable supports several different project views, including:

• Calendar view
• Gallery view
• Kanban view

Users can easily switch between different views to find the one that best suits their needs. There’s also a shared team calendar you can use to see team members’ tasks at a glance.

Airtable is available on Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS devices.

Pros:

• A multitude of project views
• The free project scheduling software plan will be enough for most users
• Highly customizable

Cons:

• Comments are the only option for team communication
• It does not offer phone support
• Users note a tough learning curve

Pricing

Airtable has a free plan that’s limited to 1,000 records per base. Paid plans include:

• Team ($20/user/month)
• Business ($45/user/month)
• Enterprise (custom pricing)

3. ProjectManager.com

ProjectManager.com was launched in 2008 and has been redesigned a few times since then. If you used it a few years ago, it’s worth checking it out again to see what’s new.

It has all the usual project scheduling features like Gantt charts and Kanban boards. Standout project management features include customizable project dashboards and custom project reports.

It allows you to set task dependencies, as well. This is important for project managers and teams that have extremely structured workflows.

A feature also allows you to add audio notes to tasks. This can be useful for sharing quick updates with team members. Often, it’s easier for people to explain their thoughts verbally instead of typing them out.

You can also use ProjectManager.com to track time and manage timesheets.

Pros:

• Plenty of customer support options
• Easy to use
• Rich reporting features
• Responds to customer requests for features and things like removing the credit card requirement for its trial

Cons:

• Small file size limits make document sharing more difficult
• Reports take a long time to generate
• On the higher side of costs for features like project and user limits

Pricing

ProjectManager.com offers a free 30-day trial you can use to test out the software. Plans include:

• Team ($16/user/month)
• Business ($28/user/month)
• Enterprise (custom pricing)

4. monday.com

Our least favorite day of the week has its own project scheduling software: Monday.

One of monday.com’s standout features is customizable project boards. You can modify each board to better suit the needs of different teams and job functions. Like most great project scheduling software, you can start with a workflow template to make this easier.

You can organize project boards into folders. It’s even possible to share boards with people outside of your organization.

There are plenty of board views in monday.com. These include:

• Table view
• Calendar view
• Map view
• Kanban view
• Chart view
• Timeline view

The tool supports workflow automation and comes with pre-configured automation. You can use monday.com to automate notifications, status changes, and repetitive tasks. The free project tools offer easy resource management and project progress if you’re new to project management.

It’s also possible to set up custom automations.

Pros:

• Intuitive user interface
• Great customer support
• The company puts a great emphasis on keeping users’ data secure

Cons:

• No team chat without a third-party tool
• Users note limited support for task dependencies and some functionality
• Time tracking not available on all plans
• People report its Sprints have a learning curve

Pricing

Monday.com’s plans include:

• Free for up to two seats
• Basic ($12/user/month)
• Standard ($14/user/month)
• Pro ($24/user/month)
• Enterprise (custom pricing)

5. Asana

Asana simplifies workload and project management by helping managers redistribute work using a drag-and-drop interface.

Like most good project management tool options, it supports Gantt chart view, subtasks, and task dependencies. You can also sort views of these items based on lists, boards, and calendar requirements.

Asana provides project managers with an easy way to manage team workload. You can use it to see what tasks team members are working on and gauge their capacity.

One cool feature allows you to mark tasks with an estimate of how much work they take. This allows you to manage workloads at a glance. You can immediately tell who has room for another task and who might have too much on their plate.

Asana comes with built-in templates for a variety of different projects, including:

• Employee onboarding
• Event planning
• Product launches

It’s a popular software because the free version has a lot of great features. However, it’s a little difficult to use if you don’t have any project management experience.

Pros:

• Feature-rich free version
• A large number of integrations
• Keyboard shortcuts speed up workflow
• Automation is easy to start and use

Cons:

• Initial setup can be difficult
• Lack of advanced reporting capabilities
• More expensive for higher tiers
• User reviews are mixed on its customer service

Pricing

Asana has a free plan that’s limited to 15 users. Paid plans include:

• Personal (free for small teams)
• Starter ($13.49/user/month)
• Advanced ($30.49/user/month)
• Enterprise and Enterprise+ (custom pricing)

6. Hive

Hive calls itself a productivity platform instead of a project scheduling tool. However, its main features center on project scheduling and management. The company has increased its push into projects with templates for a variety of teams and work types.

It supports:

• Multiple project views
• Proofing and approval workflows
• Workflow automation
• Manage tasks across multiple options

Its main standout feature is called Hive Analytics. It uses machine learning to identify inefficiencies in your workflow. Then, it suggests changes you can implement to boost productivity. Unfortunately, analytics require its highest project management tier or as a per-user add-on.

You can also get real-time notifications alerting you about team productivity drops.

Pros:

• Robust project management templates and views
• Advanced productivity analytics and integrations
• Users rate its notes and meeting tools very highly
• Added a free plan for up to 10 users

Cons:

• Users say menus can be difficult to navigate and access
• Limited mobile app functionality
• Lacks some data collection features like exports
• Requires higher tier plans for some required project features
• Add-ons may be required to get the functionality you need

Pricing

Hive changed its pricing structure to offer:

• Free plan for up to 10 years
• Starter ($7/user/month)
• Teams ($18/user/month)
• Enterprise (custom)

Hive also prices a variety of its add-ons, available to companies using the Teams plan:

• Proofing and approvals ($5/user/month)
• Goals ($5/user/month)
• Timesheets ($5/user/month)
• Team resources ($5/user/month)
• Analytics ($5/user/month)
• Automations ($5/user/month)
• External users ($5/user/month)
• SSO and enterprise security ($5/user/month)

7. Hub Planner

Hub Planner allows managers to schedule projects and resources using a drag-and-drop interface. You can use it to utilize resources more effectively and avoid scheduling conflicts.

Team members can request vacation days through the app and see how much vacation time they have left. A manager can then approve or reject their request directly from the software. It has an interesting option to create skill sets and custom teams within the system, then sort by these to make assignments easier.

Project managers can also use Hub Planner to generate dynamic reports. It has lots of report templates to get you up and running quickly.

Hub Planner supports time tracking and automated timesheets. Time tracking is also available through the platform’s mobile app. That makes it a powerful project scheduling tool when you need to track projects on the go.

The solution also allows you to create custom fields for projects and to allocate resources. This enables you to adapt Hub Planner to your workflow.

Pros:

• Generous trial period for all project management tools
• Dynamic reports are easy to navigate
• Cost-effective compared to some other plans for its feature set
• Many positive user reviews for ease of use and support

Cons:

• Formatting issues with exported reports
• Somewhat outdated user interface
• Users express issues with time tracking and difficulty in time management

Pricing

Hub Planner offers a free 60-day trial. Paid plans include:

• Plug & Play ($7/user/month)
• Premium ($18/user/month)
• Enterprise (custom pricing)

The company only lists costs based on annual pricing, so any month-to-month contracts will likely be higher than the prices we listed above.

8. Paymo

Paymo is a Romania-based resource and work management and time tracking solution. It’s aimed at remote teams and touches on all aspects of projects, including invoicing, billing, and profitability analytics.

You can use it to plan your team’s work and see everyone’s availability at a glance. It’s an intelligent fit for small and mid-sized teams that run project-based operations.

Paymo’s standout planning and scheduling features include:

• Project templates
• Project milestones and task management
• Gantt chart and Kanban board views
• Invoicing and client payments

It supports automated time tracking and has both desktop and mobile apps. Use those time tracking insights to make informed decisions about new projects based on the way your team works.

Project managers can also use Paymo to track expenses, create invoices, and accept online payments. It’s a good choice for people who do client work. You can gather data, make decisions, and manage your team and clients all in one place.

It’s available in 20 languages, a huge advantage for international teams. Each team member can interact with the software in their native language.

Pros:

• Intuitive interface
• Integrated invoicing and billing
• Plenty of reporting options
• Simplified time tracking to tasks

Cons:

• Fairly limited free plan
• The interface isn’t as intuitive as some other tools
• Invoicing features aren’t very flexible
• Users say the mobile app is difficult to use

Pricing

Paymo offers a free version for freelancers with up to five clients and a 10-project limit. The Free trial does have unlimited users and invoices, which makes it a standout among free options.

Paymo’s paid plans include:

• Starter ($9.90/user/month)
• Small Office ($15.90/user/month)
• Business ($23.90/user/month)

9. FunctionFox

FunctionFox is on our list because of its focus on timesheets and project tracking. You get a stopwatch and timer on every plan, unlimited clients, and tracking for advanced billing features like retainers.

It supports an interactive Gantt chart and project calendar view. You can also use FunctionFox to see your team members’ availability. That’s a great feature if you struggle to manage your team’s workload effectively.

Other features include:

• To-do lists with email alerts
• Project expense tracking
• Time tracking
• Customizable job intake forms

FunctionFox offers 3 versions: Classic, Premier, and In-House. The Premier version is the best choice if you need a great tool to help with project scheduling. You’ll likely need it for the actionable to-do list features and resource forecasting based on past projects and templates.

Pros:

• Highly customizable
• Automated project budget alerts
• Great customer support

Cons:

• Minimal support for subtasks or task dependencies
• Lacks integrations compared to others
• There’s no built-in accounting function, which makes it harder to manage project budgets
• Some limits in reports and advanced features like carrying over retainer hours

Pricing

FunctionFox’s plans include:

• Classic ($10/user/month)
• Premier ($15/user/month)
• In-House (custom pricing)

10. Kantata (formerly Mavenlink)

MavenLink has joined forces with Kimble to create Kantata, a project management tool focused on professional services. It’s a good choice if you already use a program to schedule projects and you’re ready to move to something more robust.

It has a drag-and-drop interface that’s fairly easy to use. The platform’s main dashboard is highly customizable. It allows project managers to see the status of all your projects at once. There’s also an activity feed that allows you to see the exact work done on each specific project.

Its website does not have a mobile app listed, and its features do not seem like a strong fit for small businesses.

For larger companies, you’ll have useful options, including:

• Project forecasting
• Job costing
• Expense tracking
• Automated reports
• Lots of built-in integrations

In addition to project management, Kantata has tools for resource management, accounting, and business intelligence. You’ll get more out of it if you invest the time to learn how to use all of the different pieces.

Pros:

• Packed with features
• Supports real-time document collaboration
• API is highly rated by users
• Advanced views and features beyond Gantt chart options

Cons:

• Expensive for small teams
• Mobile app limited in functionality
• Lack of built-in chat
• It can be too complex for some teams
• Users report some difficulty in determining assignment responsibility when multiple people are tagged in a project

Pricing

Kantata provides each customer with custom pricing based on their specific needs. As an enterprise-focused tool, pricing is handled like most enterprise-level tools.

Third-party review websites note that it is $45 per user per month and that there is no free plan available.

Unfortunately, the updated Kantata website’s pricing forms did not let us submit information or opt out of marketing messaging. So, we could not verify any pricing information found elsewhere on review sites.

11. Teamwork

Previously known as Teamwork Projects, Teamwork.com gives you a simple way to understand team members’ availability. 

The focus is on delivering projects, tracking budgets, and simplifying client demands to make profitability easy to measure. You’ve got a number of options for integrations and add-ons to bring in the helpdesk, support teams, and more customer success tools that typically sit outside project management software.

The project scheduling features are pretty standard and include recurring tasks, subtasks, and task dependencies. It supports Gantt charts, task lists, and Kanban board views.

There’s a built-in messaging feature that allows your team to communicate one-on-one without leaving the software. Project managers can also configure email and SMS notifications for project updates.

Teamwork places a strong emphasis on making projects more manageable for the people on your team. It’s easy to see due dates and break tasks into simple steps.

Pros:

• User-friendly interface
• Free plan available
• iOS and Android apps for managing projects on the go
• Plenty of integrations

Cons:

• Budgets, scheduling, retainers, and other core features not available on all paid plans
• Mobile app has some limited functionality
• It can be difficult to customize if you have bespoke business needs
• Some users find the interface confusing

Pricing

Teamwork offers a free plan that’s limited to five team members and two projects. Paid plans include:

• Free
• Deliver ($13.99/user/month)
• Grow ($25.99/user/month)
• Scale (custom enterprise pricing)

We recommend contacting Teamwork to finalize plans and verify that the functionality you need is on the plan you pick. For example, Free is listed both as not having automation support and as having limited automation capabilities on different parts of the site.

12. ClickUp

ClickUp is a productivity platform to help teams manage complex projects and pursue profitability. It offers a variety of customizations and views with native Google Calendar integration. The remote-first tool is typical for distributed teams.

The platform supports more than 1,000 integrations and robust reporting and dashboards. You can use 15 customizable project views, and it provides real-time collaboration within its Docs.

Project goals are easy to set and track, supporting assigned and threaded comments. There are clear options for start and due dates, time requirements, milestones, and other estimation features.

Pros:

• Many unlimited projects and features, such as Gantt charts
• Real-time chat and reliable collaboration
• Feature-rich free plan

Cons:

• Users report some issues with mobile apps
• Project messaging can be tricky
• Users report some difficulty in onboarding and learning
• Support has mixed reviews
• Universal search is limited to higher-cost tiers

Pricing

ClickUp offers a few core pricing options:

• Free
• Unlimited ($10/user/month)
• Business ($19/user/month)
• Enterprise (custom pricing)

Types of project scheduling tools in 2024 

One way for companies to sort through project scheduling tools is to look at categories and features. That way, you’re picking an option that meets your core needs.

Here are some common ways that project scheduling tools are sorted as of 2024:

Task lists

Your more basic software options will pair scheduling with to-do and task lists. These are typically free or very low-cost and have limited functionality. Every team member will need to navigate to the source for updates and information, but it can be a good way to handle small and recurring project tasks.

Agile management

Agile project management tools follow the iterative process, a hallmark of Agile methodology. These tools will be designed to move across boards after breaking projects down into small sets.

It will natively prompt you to create sprints, which are short timeframes to complete smaller task lists. There’s an emphasis on collaboration and team management. Here, you’ll want a system that is rated well for collaboration and communication, with updates and the ability to adjust goals at any time.

Gantt charts

The Gantt chart is a typical way for companies to review some projects and tasks. This methodology is one of the most used project scheduling and management options available.

Tools that focus on Gantt support will make it easy to set dependencies, project timelines, task lists, and project status. They should also have native features for listing bottlenecks and collaborating around roadblocks.

If this is your team’s preference, ensure that Gantt visuals and the necessary data are available on the tier you choose from a vendor.

Mathematical models

Mathematical modeling is a process that tries to break down tasks, functions, and requirements into math concepts. It’s more common in science and engineering spaces. Many people say it helps with creating scope and project boundaries.

The CPM, or critical path method, is one of the most used mathematical models. This adds up expected times for project steps and helps companies streamline to get down to as tight of a turnaround time as possible.

Program evaluation and review technique (PERT) is another common technique. Here, you’ll estimate the shortest and longest time it takes to complete a task and then build out optional development timelines and project requirements from there.

Kanban boards

Kanban is a subset of Agile that prioritizes visualization and workflows. It aims to control waste and increase efficiency for multiple projects. Kanban’s name means “visual board” and has evolved past its lean manufacturing roots to reach across industries.

One core difference here is that Kanban boards do not rely on Sprints but offers flexible roles, timeframes, and production elements. It is more of a process that moves through significant phases than one of tight, set deadlines.

Next Steps

Ready to choose a project scheduling software? Here’s what you should do now:

1. Make your must-have and nice-to-have list
2. Choose a tool to try. We recommend Hubstaff Tasks
3. Check the features list for your tool of choice to make sure your must-haves are covered
4. If available, start a free trial to test the software in your business
5. If it works out, onboard your team! The tool’s customer support team will usually help with that.

Good luck with your decision, and reach out to Hubstaff’s support team to see if we can make your project scheduling software journey easier. Remember to look for something that supports team collaboration as you manage resources, handle assigned tasks, and get the whole team involved with tracking project progress.

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