How we make this list: we compare pricing pages, product documentation and public user reviews. Ratings come from G2, Capterra or Trustpilot, with the date we checked them.
Key takeaways
- ClickUp Unlimited at $7 per user is the cheapest full featured entry tier among the big names.
- Trello Standard at $5 per user is the cheapest way to pay for boards with power features.
- Asana Starter at $13.49 per user is the mainstream benchmark price for timeline based planning.
- Basecamp breaks the per seat pattern at $15 per user or a flat $299 a month for unlimited users.
- Monday's real cost depends on seat tiers and a three seat minimum, so its entry says See website.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Best for | Starting price | Free plan |
|---|
 ClickUp | Lowest cost full feature tier | $7/month | Yes |
 Trello | Cheap paid boards for small teams | $5/month | Yes |
 Asana | Mainstream timeline planning | $13.49/month | Yes |
 Monday.com | Colourful work management at scale | See website | Yes |
 Notion | Docs and projects in one workspace | $10/month | Yes |
 Smartsheet | Spreadsheet style project control | $9/month | No |
 Wrike | Structured work for larger teams | $10/month | Yes |
 Basecamp | Flat rate pricing for whole companies | $15/month | No |
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The best project management software prices in 2026
#1ClickUp
Best for: Lowest cost full feature tier4.6/5 on
G2 (14,878 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit clickup.com
Starting price$7/month
Free planYes
ClickUp's pricing is its loudest argument. Unlimited, the tier most small teams land on, is $7 per user per month billed annually, and it includes the features rivals hold for mid tiers: custom fields, dashboards, and generous storage. The free plan underneath it is one of the strongest here, which makes the upgrade a choice rather than a ransom.
Read the ladder before you settle. Business tier pricing roughly doubles the seat cost for features such as advanced automation and workload views, and the AI add on is a separate per user charge. Even so, a ten person team on Unlimited pays about $70 a month, a figure Asana and Monday users will read twice.
What we like- Unlimited tier at $7 per user undercuts every rival suite, free plan is genuinely usable for a small team, tasks, docs, goals and dashboards share one subscription, guest and view only seats soften the per seat cost
Watch out for- Prices rise steeply to the Business tier for advanced features, add ons such as AI are charged on top of the seat price, busy interface means you pay in learning time what you save in cash
#2Trello
Best for: Cheap paid boards for small teams4.4/5 on
G2 (14,064 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit trello.com
Starting price$5/month
Free planYes
Trello prices the board, plainly. Free covers personal and tiny team use, Standard at $5 per user per month billed annually removes board limits and adds custom fields and saved searches, and Premium at $10 adds the views and admin features a growing team asks for. There are no seat minimums and no quote based tier until Enterprise.
The limit is the model, not the money. If your projects need dependencies, portfolios and resource views, no Trello tier sells them, and the honest comparison is with Asana or ClickUp rather than with a higher Trello plan. For visual task tracking, though, $5 a seat is the best value in paid project software.
What we like- Standard at $5 per user is the cheapest paid tier in this roundup, Premium at $10 adds calendar, timeline and admin controls, free plan covers small teams with up to ten boards per workspace, pricing is simple, with no seat minimums to trip over
Watch out for- Board model limits complex project reporting whatever you pay, advanced views and automations wait for Premium, per user pricing still applies to every collaborator on paid workspaces
#3Asana
Best for: Mainstream timeline planning4.4/5 on
G2 (13,930 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit asana.com
Starting price$13.49/month
Free planYes
Asana is the price most buyers compare everything else against. Starter, at $13.49 per user per month billed annually, covers the core planning toolkit for a team: timelines, dashboards, forms and basic reporting. Advanced, at roughly $30 per user, is the tier with portfolios, goals and workload views, which is where larger organisations end up.
Budget with the seat rules in view. Paid plans carry a small minimum, and adding people mid cycle bills in blocks on some contracts. The free Personal plan is fine for an individual, so the paid decision usually arrives when a team needs timelines and reporting rather than on day one.
What we like- Starter at $13.49 per user is the reference price in this category, timeline, list, board and calendar views included from Starter, Advanced tier adds portfolios, goals and workload management, free Personal plan covers individuals and very small teams
Watch out for- Advanced at about $30 per user is where reporting depth lives, two seat minimum on paid plans billed in seat packs as you grow, AI features are bundled into tiers rather than sold separately
#4Monday.com
Best for: Colourful work management at scale4.7/5 on
G2 (17,182 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit monday.com
Starting priceSee website
Free planYes
Monday is the entry where this article refuses to print a number, and the refusal is the information. Its pricing is per seat across several product lines, paid plans start at three seats whether you have three people or not, and promotional pricing moves the entry figure between checks. Two sources quoting two different Monday starting prices can both be reading the real page on different weeks.
What can be said plainly: expect to budget in the low to mid teens per seat per month for the tiers small teams use, confirm whether your quote is for the work management product or a specialist line, and multiply by three seats minimum. Then compare that true total against ClickUp and Asana above.
What we like- Free plan covers two seats for light use, tier structure scales from boards to full work management, automations and integrations are metered generously on higher tiers, frequent promotions change the real entry price
Watch out for- Three seat minimum on paid plans regardless of team size, prices are quoted per seat in tiers that vary by product line, the figure you need depends on which Monday product you buy
#5Notion
Best for: Docs and projects in one workspace4.6/5 on
G2 (13,834 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit notion.so
Starting price$10/month
Free planYes
Notion's price makes sense when it replaces two tools. Plus at $10 per user per month billed annually buys the project databases, timelines and calendars most small teams need, inside the same workspace as their documents and meeting notes. A team cancelling a separate wiki or docs subscription can treat Notion as close to free by comparison.
Judge the ceiling before you migrate. Notion will not match Asana on portfolio reporting or ClickUp on workload management at any tier, and its AI features sit in the Business plan at $20 per user. For documentation led teams the trade is right. For delivery led teams the $7 ClickUp tier is the sharper purchase.
What we like- Plus at $10 per user covers projects, docs and wikis in one tool, free plan is generous for individuals and small teams, you may cancel a separate docs subscription when you adopt it, Business tier adds advanced permissions and AI features
Watch out for- Project management depth trails the dedicated suites at any price, AI is bundled into the Business tier rather than a cheap add on now, per member pricing counts every workspace member
#6Smartsheet
Best for: Spreadsheet style project control4.4/5 on
G2 (22,767 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit smartsheet.com
Starting price$9/month
Free planNo
Smartsheet sells project management in the shape its buyers already know: a grid that behaves like a spreadsheet and grows Gantt charts, dependencies and rollups. Pro at $9 per user per month billed annually is priced to tempt, and Business at about $19 per user adds the resource and control features larger programmes need.
The caution is who counts as a user. Smartsheet revised its model so that people who edit or contribute may need paid seats where viewers once sufficed, and that change decides the real invoice for teams with many occasional contributors. Model your actual headcount, editors included, before you compare its $9 headline with rivals.
What we like- Pro at $9 per user is keenly priced for its depth, grid, Gantt and card views suit spreadsheet trained teams, Business tier adds resource management and stronger controls, reporting rolls many projects into portfolio views
Watch out for- No free plan, only a trial, viewer and commenter rules changed under its newer pricing model, costs climb when occasional contributors need paid access
#7Wrike
Best for: Structured work for larger teams4.2/5 on
G2 (4,540 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit wrike.com
Starting price$10/month
Free planYes
Wrike prices like a tool that expects to grow with you. The free plan handles simple lists, Team at $10 per user per month billed annually covers shared planning for a department, and the serious machinery, resource management, advanced reporting and proofing, is priced into Business and Enterprise tiers quoted per account.
That makes Wrike hard to price from a headline. A creative or professional services team should request the Business quote with its real seat count and compare the total, add ons included, against Asana Advanced. Judged purely on entry price it looks mid pack; judged on a full deployment it competes with Smartsheet for structured work at scale.
What we like- Team tier at $10 per user starts below Asana Starter, Professional and Business tiers add proofing, resource and cross team tools, free plan covers a small group's basic task lists, request forms and intake workflows suit service teams
Watch out for- The features that justify Wrike sit in Business and above, add ons for proofing and integrations can stack onto seat prices, interface density makes onboarding slower than Trello or Asana
#8Basecamp
Best for: Flat rate pricing for whole companies4.1/5 on
G2 (5,488 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit basecamp.com
Starting price$15/month
Free planNo
Basecamp is the pricing protest vote. Individuals and small teams pay $15 per user per month, with everything included, and companies can take Pro Unlimited at a flat $299 a month billed annually for unlimited users and projects. No tiers, no AI add on, no per feature ransom: the invoice is the easiest in this article to predict a year ahead.
The maths decides who should care. Below twenty users, per seat rivals are cheaper. Past that point the flat rate pulls away, and at one hundred users Basecamp costs what Asana charges for about twenty two seats. The tool itself is opinionated and simpler than the suites, so the saving buys a calmer product, not a deeper one.
What we like- Per user plan at $15 a month with every feature included, Pro Unlimited is a flat $299 a month for the entire company, no tiers, add ons or feature gates to budget around, pricing has stayed stable while rivals restructured theirs
Watch out for- No free plan, only a trial period, the flat rate only wins once headcount passes about twenty, toolset is deliberately simpler than the suites
How we chose
Tools were selected as the project management products a US buyer most commonly prices against each other in 2026, and every figure was checked against vendor pricing pages and current comparisons in October 2026. Prices are per user per month billed annually unless the entry says otherwise. Where a vendor's own published figures conflicted between sources or moved under promotions, the entry says See website and explains why, rather than printing a confident number that may be wrong. Free plan status reflects a continuing free tier, not a time limited trial.
How to compare these prices without being misled
Rebuild every quote at your real size. A $7 seat and a $13.49 seat differ by $78 a year for one user and $7,800 for a hundred, before minimums. Add the seats you will have in twelve months, not the seats you have today, and include the occasional contributors each vendor counts as paid, because Smartsheet and Monday in particular draw that line differently from ClickUp.
Find the tier that holds your must have feature. Portfolio views, workload management, proofing and AI are placed deliberately one tier above the advert in most of these products. List the three features your team will use weekly, locate the cheapest tier at each vendor that includes all three, and compare those prices. That table, not the entry table, is your real shortlist.
Finally, check the renewal, not the introduction. Promotions, first year discounts and annual billing all flatter the first invoice. Ask what the same basket costs in year two on monthly billing, and get the answer from the pricing page or the quote in writing. Software this central is painful to migrate, and vendors price with that pain in mind.
Frequently asked questions
Why do vendors quote prices billed annually?
Because the annual figure is lower and anchors your comparison. Most tools here cost 15 to 25 percent more on monthly billing. When you compare, fix one basis, either annual or monthly, for every tool, and remember that annual billing trades a discount for a year of commitment to a tool your team may outgrow.
Which project management tool is cheapest overall?
On entry tiers, Trello Standard at $5 per user and ClickUp Unlimited at $7 per user are the cheapest paid options from major vendors, and both sit above usable free plans. For a company past twenty users, Basecamp's flat $299 a month undercuts every per seat rival. The cheapest tool that fits your workflow still beats the cheapest tool.
Do free plans really cover a small team?
For ClickUp, Trello, Asana, Notion and Wrike, yes, within limits that vary by vendor: project counts, storage, automation runs or guest rules. Free plans are best treated as a long trial with real work. The moment a limit blocks a weekly habit, price the paid tier against the hours the blockage costs.
What hidden costs should I watch for?
Seat minimums at Monday and Asana, paid contributor rules at Smartsheet, AI add ons at ClickUp, and the tier jump for reporting features almost everywhere. Implementation time is the other quiet cost: a dense suite such as Wrike or ClickUp takes weeks of team habit building that never appears on the invoice.
How often do these prices change?
Often enough that this article dates its checks. Major vendors have restructured tiers, renamed plans or moved features between tiers roughly every one to two years recently, and promotions shift entry prices between quarters. Treat any printed price, including these, as a starting point to verify at checkout.
Sources we checked (0)
Is your product missing or out of date?
We review this list regularly. Vendors can request a listing, send updated pricing or ask about featured placement.
Shihab Mia · Founder, Rankite
Shihab has 5+ years in B2B and SaaS SEO. He writes Rankite's software buying guides from pricing pages, documentation and public user reviews. More about Shihab.