How to choose project management software for a small team

We compare ten project management tools on what each company publishes about its entry plan: the cheapest paid plan that allows five users. This guide explains what we weigh and why, the prices you will see, and the traps our research found. Every company page was read on Oct 1, 2026.

What we weigh, and why

• Cost for five users (35%). Most of these tools charge per user, so a team of five pays five times the headline. We use the regular price, annual prepay included. $20 a month or less for five scores full marks; $150 or more scores nothing.
• What the entry plan includes (25%). Five things: kanban boards, a timeline or Gantt view, automation, guest or client access, and a mobile app.
• A free plan (15%) lets you start before you pay. A free trial scores less.
• Support (15%). Phone and chat, or 24/7 chat, scores highest. Email or a help centre only scores 3 of 10.
• Storage for five users (10%). Unlimited or 100 GB or more scores highest.

The full formulas are in how we score project management software.

The prices you will see

Billed annually, entry plans run from $4 a user a month (Zoho Projects Premium) to $10.99 (Asana Starter). For five users that is $20 to $54.95 a month. Billed monthly, the same plans run from $5 a user to $13.99 (Teamwork.com Basics). Two tools price differently. Basecamp Freelancer is a flat $25 a month for up to 20 users, billed monthly only. Wrike Team is $10 a user and publishes no monthly-billing price at all.

Traps our research found

Entry plans that miss the basics.

• monday.com Work Management Basic: timeline and Gantt views, automations and guest access all start at Standard.
• Trello Standard: the Timeline view starts at Premium, $10 a user billed annually.
• Basecamp: no workflow automation is named, and The Lineup is a timeline of projects, not a task-level Gantt chart.
• Smartsheet Pro has a Gantt view, but its separate Timeline view starts at Business.
• ClickUp Unlimited has unlimited Gantt charts, but its separate Timeline view and its proofing are only a "Trial".

Seat minimums and bundles.

• Teamwork.com Basics needs at least 3 users.
• monday.com plans "start from 3 users" and are sold in seat bundles.
• Wrike sells accounts of up to 30 seats "in groups of five", billed annually.

User and project caps.

• Smartsheet Pro is for 1 to 10 members.
• Wrike Team is for 2 to 15 users.
• Basecamp Freelancer allows 3 active projects and 20 users, and clients count toward the 20.
• Notion says "Plans may not be available for every workspace". Without Plus, a team starts at Business, $20 a member billed yearly.

Guests who cost money. How clients join, and what they cost, varies a lot:

• Free: Asana Starter's "Unlimited free guests", Notion Plus guests (page by page), Teamwork.com client users, Wrike viewers and Smartsheet Contributors. Wrike viewers and Smartsheet Contributors can view and comment, not edit.
• Limited: Trello single-board guests are free, but a guest on two or more boards is billed at the member rate. ClickUp view-only guests are free; Unlimited has 5 permission-controlled guest seats plus 2 per member invited.
• Paid: Zoho Projects client users cost $4 a month billed annually, or $5 monthly, each. monday.com Standard bills "4 guests billed as 1 seat".

Renewal and refund terms.

• Smartsheet: request cancellation "at least 30 days before your renewal date", and there are no pro-rated or full refunds.
• Wrike: renews "at Wrike’s then-current rates" unless you give written notice, with no refunds for unused periods.
• Asana: "We do not offer refunds."
• Teamwork.com: annual plans "are prepaid and run for the full term".
• ClickUp: the 30-day full refund covers your first paid subscription only, by the stricter of its two pages.
• Notion: a full refund only within three days of signing up for monthly billing, or 30 days for annual.

Pages that disagree. Where a company's own pages conflict, we use the worse reading for the buyer, and so should you until the company confirms:

• Zoho Projects Premium automation: 5,000 executions a month on the plan card, 500 in the full comparison.
• Asana: Timesheets and Budgets is an Enterprise add-on on its card, but sits in the Starter column of the table.
• Basecamp: the pricing FAQ prorates a cancelled annual package; the 37signals cancellation policy doesn't prorate automatically.
• Smartsheet: the same help page says you can cancel "immediately or at the end of your billing cycle" and asks for 30 days' notice.

Support

Only Zoho Projects states a phone line included with its entry plan: toll-free phone and live chat, 8 hours a day, Monday to Friday. ClickUp, monday.com and Smartsheet offer 24/7 chat that reaches a person. Teamwork.com has live chat and email, Monday to Friday with limited weekend cover. Wrike has live chat, with phone only in paid support packages. Trello Standard gets support in local business hours. Asana opens a case through a chatbot, Basecamp answers a web form by email, and Notion takes in-app messages and email.

Storage

Storage is unlimited on ClickUp Unlimited, Trello Standard (250MB per file), Notion Plus and Asana Starter (100MB per file). Zoho Projects Premium and Teamwork.com Basics give 100 GB. Smartsheet Pro has 20 GB, Wrike Team 2 GB per user, and Basecamp Freelancer and monday.com Basic 5 GB.

Free plans

Nine of the ten have a free plan, but not all of them fit a team. Asana Personal is for up to 2 users and monday.com Free for up to 2 seats. Notion limits blocks once a workspace has 2 or more members. ClickUp Free Forever allows unlimited members with 60MB of storage, Trello up to 10 collaborators per Workspace, Wrike unlimited users, Zoho Projects up to 5 users and 3 projects, Teamwork.com up to 5 users and 5 projects, and Basecamp one project. Smartsheet has no free plan, only a 30-day trial.

A checklist before you buy

1. Multiply the per-user price by your team size, at the billing you will actually use, and check for a seat minimum or bundle.
2. Confirm the entry plan has the view you plan in: boards, a timeline or a Gantt chart.
3. Check the automation allowance, not just the tick.
4. Decide how clients will join and what each one costs.
5. If you bill by the hour, check for built-in time tracking on the plan you will buy. ClickUp, Zoho Projects and Teamwork.com state it on their entry plans.
6. Check the caps on users, active projects and storage.
7. Check support channels and hours on that plan, not the top plan.
8. Read the cancellation and refund terms before paying for a year.

Where to go next

See all ten in our project management ranking. Agencies and studios can start with our list for agencies and client work.