Choosing the right project management software is critical when it comes to running an efficient business. The software needs to integrate with your team’s workflows and the needs of your specific business in a way that allows team members to focus on tasks, not managing those tasks.

SEE: Hiring kit: Project manager (TechRepublic Premium)

While some teams are using Wrike very effectively, others may find themselves wanting something different. Below, we’ll look at some great alternatives to Wrike that help businesses and teams streamline their workflows.

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Top Wrike alternatives

Asana

Asana is one of the best-known project management solutions. With a huge user base and a ubiquitous online marketing campaign, it’s hard not to notice Asana’s place in the market.

Asana was created with a desire to free teams from endless email chains, spreadsheets and other inefficient management tools. Without a doubt, they succeeded in achieving their goal.

Asana is an elegant design with an easy-to-understand workflow. It’s great for those looking for core project management functions without being burdened with a huge learning curve.

Key features of Asana

• Clean, uncluttered layout that is easy to navigate.
• Robust communication functions tailored for project management.
• Dashboard customizations to view project metrics at a glance.

monday.com

monday.com takes a similar approach as Asana and focuses on simplicity over deep customization, but this doesn’t mean that monday.com lacks any key features.

The colorful and inviting layout is one of monday.com’s most noticeable features. This theme continues throughout the entire workflow when using monday.

monday is perfect for creative teams or marketing agencies as the workflow suits those teams slightly better than Wrike, which is more focused on complex inter-department communication and customization. monday really shines brightest in creative applications and workflows.

Key features of monday.com

• Easy to use: Very short learning curve for most teams.
• Colorful, almost playful interface that is both enjoyable to use and functional.
• Integrations with third-party apps for customization options.
• More affordable when scaling for larger teams.

ClickUp

ClickUp is very similar to Wrike in layout and also how it handles most core functions of project management. The key advantage here is that ClickUp has a very generous free tier. ClickUp is the choice for those who want something very similar to Wrike but at a budget-friendly price.

This is especially true for smaller teams who simply don’t need more advanced functions like forecasting. For teams on a budget or those with less demanding requirements, ClickUp is a powerful Wrike alternative.

Key features of ClickUp

• Very similar layout and workflow as Wrike.
• Generous free tier: Affordable paid version is lower priced than competitors.
• Fully featured, similar to Wrike.
• More utilitarian and no-frills interface, which is appealing to some.

Hive

For those who want a communication-focused project management solution, Hive may be a perfect choice. Hive has the most robust team communication options out of all the Wrike alternatives listed here.

Hive still has all your normal task and project commenting functions, but Hive goes beyond with a system that is very similar to Slack. If your teams have used Slack in the past, they will instantly feel at home with Hive.

Hive also boasts strong email integration so that messages from Gmail or Outlook are instantly viewable in Hive. There is also a chat feature, something not found in most Wrike alternatives.

Key features of Hive

• Clean layout, instantly recognizable to Slack users.
• Unique and powerful email integrations for seamless connectivity.
• Chat feature.
• Full feature set on par with other project management solutions.

Smartsheet

Smartsheet deviates from the previous Wrike alternatives by being more spreadsheet-focused. For those who still enjoy the look and feel of spreadsheets for project management, this may be the solution for you.

But Smartsheet isn’t just locked into a spreadsheet view. You can switch between common workflow views such as a Gantt chart view and others.

Smartsheet is lacking in communication tools compared to other project management offerings. This is one of the biggest drawbacks of Smartsheet, but for teams who don’t put a priority on such tools, it shouldn’t be a problem.

Unlike many other Wrike alternatives, Smartsheet doesn’t offer a free tier and only offers a free trial. Unpaid users can still view tasks and sheets but cannot create new ones.

Key features of Smartsheet

• Spreadsheet style layout.
• Strong reporting functions.
• Detailed permissions to control access and editing.
• Convert spreadsheets into Gantt charts easily for project overviews.

nTask

When it comes to deep complexity, nTask is one of the project management solutions that most closely mirrors Wrike. It even goes a step beyond Wrike with certain functions aimed at streamlining meetings and documenting the results to their associated projects.

nTask also provides handy features to view projects to see what percentage of their tasks have been completed, something Wrike doesn’t offer.

One place nTask does fall behind is in their dashboards. The dashboard view is not very customizable, and this may be a deal breaker for those who like to configure their project management tools to specifically show what information they feel is most important.

Key features of nTask

• Very similar to Wrike’s deep features and customization.
• Affordable pricing compared to Wrike.
• Tools for meeting planning and recording minutes.
• Product road-mapping features.

Airtable

Airtable is another spreadsheet-based project management tool, similar to Smartsheet in some ways, but Airtable blurs the line by adding a powerful database element. Because of this, Airtable excels in areas such as budgeting, where the table and database combination can be very effective. This also allows for deep custom chart options, which are great for visualizations or presentations. Wrike does not offer these capabilities.

Airtable does fall behind when it comes to some key features people have come to expect from project management tools. Things like a dashboard or activity managers are missing, and that may be a deal breaker for some.

Key features of Airtable

• Table and database combinations make for some creative use cases.
• Powerful charting options set it apart from other Wrike alternatives.
• Built-in chat functions.
• Large library of third-party integrations.

Why do you need an alternative to Wrike?

Wrike is a popular and very capable project management solution, but much of what sets Wrike apart from the competition is its goal to become fully integrated and remove the need for external apps. This can be a bit much for those who are looking for a more streamlined experience that focuses on core project management functions.

Final thoughts on choosing a Wrike alternative

All of the Wrike alternatives listed are very capable project management solutions. The key is choosing the one that shines in areas that are most important to your team and workflow.

Whether you need a more budget-friendly version of Wrike or want something scaled-down and easier to manage, this list of Wrike alternatives should have something to satisfy any team.