PlanGauge

Independent PM software comparison

Find the project tool that fits your team — and your budget

Per-seat pricing is designed to confuse. We compare monday, ClickUp, Asana, Teamwork, Notion and Wrike on what you'll actually pay — real per-user prices, seat minimums and free-tier limits — and match one to your team. No fake hands-on reviews.

Affiliate disclosure: Some links here are affiliate links: if you sign up through them PlanGauge may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes your price or our rankings. Full disclosure.

Match a tool to your team

Best match · 86/100ClickUpfrom $7/user
  • A strong fit for small team
  • Paid entry ($7/user/mo) is within your $12/user budget
Try ClickUp Read our ClickUp review

Also worth a look

81/100Notion$10/user

A strong fit for small team

Try Notion
80/100monday.com (Work Management)$9/user

A strong fit for small team

Try monday.com (Work Management)

Affiliate disclosure: Some links here are affiliate links: if you sign up through them PlanGauge may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes your price or our rankings. Full disclosure.

All six, side by side

Free tier, real per-user pricing and seat minimums — verified 2026-06-18.

  • monday.com (Work Management)

    Free plan

    $9/user/mo

    3-seat minimum

    Visual, fast-to-learn boards with strong automations — but a 3-seat minimum.

    • Small team
    • Agency / client work
    Try monday.com (Work Management)

  • ClickUp

    Free plan

    $7/user/mo

    No seat minimum

    Enormous feature set at the lowest paid price, plus a generous free tier — steeper to learn.

    • Best free plan
    • Small team
    Try ClickUp

  • Asana

    Free plan

    $10.99/user/mo

    No seat minimum

    Clean, well-structured workflows that scale — its paid entry costs a little more.

    • Small team
    • All-round
    Try Asana

  • Teamwork.com

    Free plan

    $9.99/user/mo

    No seat minimum

    Built for client work — billing, time tracking and capacity for agencies.

    • Agency / client work
    Try Teamwork.com

  • Notion

    Free plan

    $10/user/mo

    No seat minimum

    Docs-plus-databases flexibility with a generous free plan — lighter on hard PM features.

    • Best free plan
    • Small team
    Try Notion

  • Wrike

    Free plan

    $10/user/mo

    No seat minimum

    Structured, scalable work management with a free tier for unlimited users.

    • Agency / client work
    • All-round
    Try Wrike

What the sticker price hides

Per-user, per-month pricing is designed to confuse. Every figure below is from each vendor's published plans, cited and dated — not from reviews we didn't run. Here's what actually moves your bill.

Seat minimums

monday.com3-seat floor — a 2-person team still pays for 3.
ClickUp · NotionNo seat minimum at all.
Check the floor before you price a small team.

Free-tier traps

What's gatedDashboards, automations and integrations are usually the first paid upgrades.
Unlimited membersClickUp, Notion and Wrike free plans don't cap users; monday caps at 2.

Monthly vs annual

The annual gapMonthly billing runs materially higher — we show both.
Work out your real costOpen the calculator →

Read how we compare — published pricing, sources cited, last verified.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best project management software in 2026?
It depends on your team. ClickUp packs the most features for the lowest paid price and a strong free plan; monday.com is the most visual and easiest to learn; Asana keeps large workflows clean; Teamwork is built for agencies billing clients; Notion is the flexible docs-plus-database option; Wrike scales with a free tier for unlimited users. The selector above matches a tool to your use case, team size and budget.
Which PM tool has the best free plan?
For a real team, ClickUp, Notion and Wrike stand out — all offer free plans with unlimited members or users, where monday.com caps its free plan at 2 seats. The right pick depends on what the free plan gates: dashboards, automations and integrations are usually the first paid upgrades.
How does PlanGauge make money?
We earn affiliate commissions when you sign up with some tools through our links, at no extra cost to you. Commissions never change our rankings, which are set on published pricing, seat minimums, free-tier limits and features. See our full affiliate disclosure.
Do you test these tools hands-on?
No, and we say so plainly. We do not publish "we used it for a month" reviews. Our comparison is built from each vendor's published plans, per-user pricing and features, with sources cited and a last-verified date. Untangling confusing per-seat pricing is the value we add.