Project collaboration tools help your team flourish — they keep everyone on the same page and working cohesively.
Better preparation, streamlined communication, and effective collaboration. More deadlines are met, more projects are successful, and there are fewer fires to put out.
Best of all, they help balance workloads, reduce overtime, and maintain weekends.
Sounds nice, doesn't it?
This post reviews the top project collaboration tools for 2024. These tools enhance productivity by streamlining project planning, communication, file-sharing, collaboration, and workflow.
Without beating around the bush and eating up your precious time, let's dive right into our top picks.
How to choose the best project collaboration tool
When choosing a project collaboration tool, several key criteria can help you find the best fit for your team:
Collaboration Features
Look for tools that offer features like real-time messaging, file sharing, task assignment, and project timelines. These features help foster teamwork and improve productivity by keeping everyone on the same page. This is especially important for remote teams.
Customization
Choose a tool tailored to your team's specific needs and workflows. Customization options include creating workflows, adding custom fields, or integrating with other tools.
Integrations
Ensure the collaboration tool integrates seamlessly with the tools you already use. This can include project management software, file storage solutions, communication tools, and more. Integrations help streamline workflows and improve efficiency.
Usability
Your team collaboration software should be easy to use, navigate, and onboard new team members. A user-friendly interface ensures team members can quickly adopt the tool and use it effectively.
Pricing
Consider the tool's pricing structure and whether it fits within your budget. Look for tools that offer scalable pricing plans to accommodate your team's growth. A free trial or plan can allow you to try out the tool before committing to a paid plan.
Customer Reviews
Read reviews from other customers to understand their experiences with the tool. Look for feedback on usability, customer support, and overall satisfaction to help inform your decision.
Top 8 project collaboration tools
Our top eight picks for the best online collaboration tools are the following tools.
1. Motion: Best for visual project planning and task management
Motion is an AI-powered planner that automatically schedules and prioritizes tasks and calendar events.
It removes the worry and time burden of determining what your team needs to get done and in what order. It sends you and team members customized daily schedules, so everyone needs only to follow them.
This Smart Planner also accounts for last-minute additions, late work, and other project plan changes by shuffling tasks and balancing workloads.
Notifications remind you of due dates, alert you when you’re on track to miss an upcoming deadline, and tell you when you’re stretching yourself thin.
Motion saves time and ensures deadlines are met while avoiding burnout.
Key Features
- AI-powered daily and weekly planner for you and every member of your project team
- Task creation and management in-platform, from email (Gmail and Outlook Mail), and via Siri integration
- Individual and group schedule views
- Board and list project views
- Project template and workspace creation
- Syncing external calendars via Google Calendar, Outlook Calendar, and iCalendar integration to create one master calendar
- Meeting scheduling and joining via Google Meet, Teams, and Zoom integration
- Notes, attachments, labels, and comments tied to each project and task
Pros
- Effortless automated schedule and workload management
- Combines and syncs all your calendars to show personal and work calendars simultaneously
Cons
- Can automatically reshuffle tasks but not meetings or group calendar events
- Few native integrations, although Zapier integration opens up support for thousands of connections
Rating
Capterra: 4.3 out of 5
G2: 4.2 out of 5
Pricing (billed annually)
Individual: $19 per month
Team: $12 per user per month
Motion offers a 7-day free trial.
2. Slack: Best for real-time team communication
Slack is a project management collaboration tool that offers various communication options for your team, from chat to private messages (DMs) to live video calls to audio and video messages.
All communication threads, shared digital assets, workflows, and collaborative tools are organized into their related Slack Channels, so each project has its own dedicated workspace.
If you’re involved with or oversee multiple projects, you can easily switch gears and gain a complete overview of each one without confusion. External clients and partners can even be invited in securely to collaborate without having access to the full channel.
Key Features
- Public and private Slack Channels — organized, customizable group workspaces
- Slack Connect — securely communicate and collaborate with parties outside of your organization
- Real-time team chat
- Huddles
- Canvas
- DMs
- File, audio clip, and video clip sharing
- Workflow builder
- Search function and filters for locating files, people, or conversations across the platform
- Slack AI — powers conversation summaries, enhanced search, and daily recap of missed messages
Pros
- A wide range of collaboration and communication options for in-house teams as well as with external stakeholders
- Over 2,600 app integrations
Cons
- Slack AI is only available as an add-on to paid plans
- The amount of notifications can become bothersome
Rating
Capterra: 4.7 out of 5
G2: 4.5 out of 5
Pricing (billed annually)
Free
Pro: $7.25 per user per month
Business+: $12.50 per user per month
Entertainment Grid: Contact for pricing
Slack offers free trials of its Pro and Business+ plans to Workspace Owners and Admins upon request.
3. Teamwork: Best for client work
Teamwork’s all-in-one project management platform is designed to help you manage every aspect of your client services business.
Teamwork also streamlines collaboration and enhances productivity within teams. A wide range of features facilitate project planning, task management, communication, and progress tracking.
Key Features
- Research and workload management
- Task management
- Project milestones
- Various project views
- Customizable intake forms
- Unlimited client users with customizable access and permissions settings
- Time tracking, budgeting, and billing features
- Content sharing, organization, and collaboration
- Proofs
- Messages and in-task comments
- Reports
- Integrated help desk, chat, and knowledge base software
Pros
- Collaborate and communicate with unlimited client users while tailoring access and permissions
- Client operations features
Cons
- May be too comprehensive for smaller teams
- A learning curve for new users due to its complexity
Rating
Capterra: 4.5 out of 5
G2: 4.4 out of 5
Pricing (billed annually)
Free
Deliver: $9.99 per user per month
Grow: $19.99 per user per month
Scale: Contact for pricing
Teamwork offers a full-featured 30-day free trial, no credit card required.
4. Basecamp: Best for simple, intuitive project management and communication
Basecamp is a team collaboration and project management software known for its simplicity and ease of use. It offers a range of features designed to help teams organize their work, communicate effectively, and stay on top of deadlines.
Key Features
- Message threads organized by topic, real-time group chat, and direct messaging
- To-do list task management
- File storage and collaboration
- Wide range of project progress tracking features
- Kanban-style card table
- Customizable automatic check-in polls
- Dozens of integrations
- Connection with over a dozen cloud storage and file management apps
- All-access for projects via a shareable link
- Platform-wide reports with filters
- “My Stuff” menu listing your assignments, due dates, schedule, drafts, bookmarks, and activity
- Customizable notifications
- Menu of aggregated notifications
Pros
- User-friendly interface makes for easy navigation, use, and onboarding
- Centralized hub for communication and collaboration
Cons
- Not suitable for larger businesses or complex projects due to limited features
- Limited customization and integrations compared to other project management tools
Rating
Capterra: 4.4 out of 5
G2: 4.1 out of 5
Pricing
Basecamp: $15 per user per month
Basecamp Pro Unlimited: $299 per month, billed annually
Basecamp offers a 30-day free trial of each plan.
5. Trello: Best for Kanban-style collaboration and organization
Trello is best known for its visual approach to task management. Boards, lists, and cards help teams organize and prioritize their work.
Key Features
- Board, calendar, timeline, dashboard, table, and map project views
- Customizable workspace project views
- Task and workflow automation
- Task management
- Hundreds of integrations and power-ups
- Pre-built templates
- Unlimited storage
Pros
- Flexible and customizable
- Accessible to teams of all sizes and budgets
Cons
- Lacks native time tracking tools, reporting features, and other advanced features
- Not well suited to accommodate complex project needs
Rating
Capterra: 4.6 out of 5
G2: 4.4 out of 5
Pricing (billed annually)
Free
Standard: $5 per user per month
Premium: $10 per user per month
Enterprise: $17.50 per user per month
Trello offers a 14-day free trial of its Premium plan.
6. Miro: Best for visual brainstorming and collaborative whiteboarding
Miro is an online collaborative whiteboard platform enabling teams to collaborate visually and creatively. It's often used by teams for brainstorming, idea mapping, and project planning.
Key Features
- Customizable project cards
- Diagramming and process mapping
- Product development workflows
- Video insights
- Live dashboards
- Private board sharing and board exports
- Interactive Presentation Mode
- In-board video chat
- Talktracks video or audio walkthroughs
- Over 130 apps and integrations
- Over 2,500 pre-built templates
- Miro Assist AI assistant (in beta)
Pros
- Visual platform with a wide range of real-time collaboration features that spark creativity and encourage engagement
- Intuitive interface
Cons
- Some users have experienced performance issues on larger boards and more complex diagrams
- Limited offline functionality
Rating
Capterra: 4.7 out of 5
G2: 4.8 out of 5
Pricing (billed annually)
Free
Starter: $8 per user per month
Business: $16 per user per month
Enterprise: Contact for pricing
Miro offers a 14-day free trial of its Business plan.
7. Podio: Best for customizable collaboration and workflows
Podio is a flexible work management platform that allows teams to organize their work, communicate effectively, and collaborate in one place.
It allows you to create custom apps, workflows, and dashboards, making it suitable for various use cases and industries.
Key Features
- Open, private, and employee workspaces
- Workspace activity feeds
- In-workspace communications, including comments, chat, DMs, posts, and audio and video calls
- File sharing
- Task management
- Customizable calendars
- Customizable drag-and-drop app creation
- Integrations and extensions
Pros
- Wide array of communication options for teams
- Collaborative and customizable for teams of all sizes and projects of different complexity levels
Cons
- Limited integrations
- Can be difficult to set up and configure and has a steep learning curve
Rating
Capterra: 4.3 out of 5
G2: 4.2 out of 5
Pricing (billed annually)
Free
Plus: $11.20 per user per month
Premium: $19.20 per user per month
8. Smartsheet: Best for spreadsheets and databases
Smartsheet is a versatile project management and collaboration tool. It combines the functionality of a spreadsheet with a wide range of project management features.
Key Features
- Timeline, grid, Gantt, card, and calendar project views
- Widget-based dashboards with live data updated in real time
- Formulas and functions
- Reporting and insights
- Workload tracking
- No-code workflow automation and custom document creation
- Smartsheet AI
- Team collaboration tools
- Dashboards and reporting
- Proofing
- Account administration
- Over 100 integrations
- Digital asset management
- Resource management
- Portfolio management
- Secure request management
Pros
- Familiar and intuitive interface for users familiar with Excel or Google spreadsheets
- Robust suite of features
Cons
- Steep learning curve
- Can be complex to navigate and use
Rating
Capterra: 4.5 out of 5
G2: 4.4 out of 5
Pricing (billed annually)
Free
Pro: $7 per user per month
Business: $25 per user per month
Enterprise: Contact for pricing
Smartsheet offers a 30-day free trial of its Business plan.
Select the best project collaboration tools for your business
Project collaboration tools are indispensable for modern teams. They keep everyone aligned and working together smoothly. Improved preparation and communication boost efficiency, increase project success rates, and minimize last-minute crises.
Consider what your team needs most to improve its project collaboration efforts then choose a few tools listed above that match your needs to test.
For instance, Motion offers a 7-day free trial. Use that trial week to balance workloads, boost productivity, reduce overtime, and preserve the weekend.
You'll be surprised at how quickly Motion helps foster a healthier work-life balance and a more sustainable approach to work.
