10 Best Workflow Management Software Of 2025

I have to say that there are no better platforms than ClickUp for workflow management. I have used ClickUp extensively to manage content production workflows, and I have never been let down by the tools it offers. I’ll be honest and say that the interface isn’t the prettiest, but it’s very functional and works flawlessly.

ClickUp provides users with numerous task management views, including lists.

The collaboration, automation and integration tools are user-friendly, and the task, resource, budget and time management views, such as lists, are slick. On top of its diverse feature set, ClickUp is also affordable, making it a great pick for small businesses. The generous free plan supports unlimited users and most tools with use limitations, and paid plans start at $10 per user per month (billed monthly). Due to the free plan, I recommend ClickUp for small businesses using Agile or traditional frameworks and methodologies.

Features

ClickUp is packed with workflow management tools. You’ll find Kanban boards, Gantt charts, calendars, lists, customizable dashboards, reports, time tracking and budgeting tools and resource management features.

Creating automated workflows in ClickUp is easy, thanks to the available templates.

In addition, users can use an automation builder and integrate ClickUp with over 1,000 tools. There’s also an instant messenger, and you can collaborate on documents, whiteboards and mind maps in real time.

Pricing

ClickUp’s Free Forever is ideal for small teams, as it includes most features. However, it does attach restrictions to some tools. When billed monthly, the Unlimited plan costs $10 per user per month and is suitable for smaller teams working on complex projects. The Business plan costs $19 per user per month (billed monthly) and is better for larger teams needing advanced security and privacy options. You must contact sales for an Enterprise plan quote.

Customer Service

ClickUp’s customer service is very good. However, beware that its claims of 24/7 support are a little misleading, as this only refers to support from the AI chatbot and access to the knowledge base. There’s no phone support, while email support only covers billing and technical support questions. Paying members can use the service’s live chat feature to get help instantly.

I contacted ClickUp through email and live chat. If the chatbot determines you need human help, you’re connected to an agent. Responses are fast, and the agents are polite and knowledgeable. Help through email, while excellent, is much slower. After firing off an email, I received a response in roughly eight hours.

Reputation

Users on real-world review sites such as Capterra and G2 praise the platform for its ease of use, feature set and workflow management views. General complaints focus on unreliable notifications, the drab user interface and advanced tools that aren’t always intuitive. There are positive reviews on Trustpilot where users praise the platform for the same things, but many are angry with how pushy reps are regarding upselling.

I researched to see if ClickUp has been breached in the past. The platform has a clean record. However, a vulnerability was discovered in the desktop application, but it was patched. Overall, your data should be safe with ClickUp.

Learn more: Read our full ClickUp review.

I know monday.com like the back of my hand. The Work OS is ideal for startups and new teams due to its user-friendly interface, project templates, and automations and workflow management tools.

The automation builder on monday.com lets you create automations from scratch or templates.

There’s nothing complex about monday.com. The tools are intuitive; it’s easy to navigate and painless to create work automations and integrations. A downside is the cost. When billed monthly, plans start at $12 per user and there’s a three-user minimum.

Features

As an all-in-one tool, monday.com offers a little of everything. The usual suspects for task management are here (Kanban boards, Gantt charts, calendars, lists and boards). Users can track time, budgets and resources, create customizable report dashboards, integrate and create workflows with dozens of platforms, and develop automations with an intuitive automation builder. Real-time collaborative documents and whiteboards are also present.

Gantt charts are ideal for those using traditional project management methodologies.

Pricing

Unfortunately, monday.com imposes minimum user restrictions on all of its plans—a practice I’m not a fan of. The free plan and the Basic plan ($12 per user per month, billed monthly) should just be avoided. Even small teams would struggle to get work done with these plans.

When billed monthly, the $14 and $24 per user Standard and Pro plans provide much better value. They’re ideal for teams of all sizes. If you want everything monday.com has to offer, the Enterprise plan would be best. For a 25-member team, the Enterprise plan costs between $16,000 to $19,000 annually.

Customer Service

You’ll fall head over heels for monday.com if excellent customer service tops your list of needs. As with many platforms, you’ll find an AI chatbot that can direct you to superb knowledge base guides and, if needed, live agents. There’s also a monday.com academy that can help you improve your skills.

The live chat support is some of the best around. Representatives respond quickly and are personable and well-informed. Email support is also super. I sent an email and received a response in just over an hour, which is fantastic! If you need help, monday.com has you covered.

 Reputation

The reputation of monday.com remains strong despite incidents involving threat actors. In 2021, hackers accessed the platform’s source code by exploiting another platform. However, no customer data was compromised. In 2024, threat actors abused a “share update” feature to launch a phishing attack. This affected some customers, but monday.com refused to disclose how many. The feature was quickly removed.

On review sites such as Trustpilot, G2 and Capterra, monday.com generally receives a lot of love. Users praise the fluid tools, the numerous templates that simplify project creation and the no-code automations and integrations. Complaints range from billing issues, slow customer service and few reports to lackluster financial tools. I haven’t experienced poor customer service, but I agree that the financial tools could use a makeover.

Learn more: Read our full monday.com review.

Before switching to ClickUp, I used Trello. I managed everything from content plans to events and personal tasks. The Kanban boards on offer are hard to beat, thanks to their ease of use and customization. You can upload files to cards and quickly see tasks. It’s also easy to track employee workloads and identify bottlenecks. Thanks to Trello’s unlimited integrations, businesses can build powerful automated workflows that span many platforms.

Trello’s automation Butler isn’t pretty, but the no-code tool is easy to use.

The free plan is great for small teams (10 or fewer), but you must spring for the affordable paid plans, starting at $6 per user per month (billed monthly), to add unlimited team members and increase the automation quota. If you manage projects on the simpler side of things and don’t want to break the bank, I highly recommend Trello.

Features

There aren’t many tools, but the ones on offer are top-quality. You won’t find better Kanban boards anywhere. The Premium plan adds timelines, calendars, tables and dashboards. Trello offers a fantastic automation builder called Butler, and the unlimited integrations make it easy to build powerful automated workflows. Trello also seamlessly integrates with Confluence, making it easy to collaborate with team members on documents.

You won’t find better Kanban boards than those in Trello.

Pricing

Trello’s free plan is ideal for small Agile teams (10 or fewer) working on simple projects that need workflow management software. Larger teams needing customizations and more automations should spring for the $6 per user per month (billed monthly) Standard plan.

Large teams requiring all task views and more monthly automations should consider the $12.50 per user per month (billed monthly) Premium plan. There’s an Enterprise plan that works on a sliding scale. The plan is billed annually and requires at least 50 members. The cost for a team of 50 is $17.50 per user per month. Adding team members (up to 5,000) decreases the cost per user.

Customer Service

Customer service is Trello’s (and all Atlassian services’) Achilles heel. Free members only gain access to Trello’s knowledge base and the community forum where you can ask for help. Standard and Premium members can ask for help through an email ticketing system, while Enterprise customers can get help over the phone.

Your mileage will vary when posting questions in the forum. Sometimes, you may receive an answer quickly, but other times, it can take days. Email support isn’t much better. I sent an email to customer support. Unfortunately, it took nearly two full working days to receive a reply. Trello’s customer support is light years behind ClickUp and monday.com’s offerings.

Reputation

Atlassian, Trello’s owner, doesn’t have the best history regarding data breaches. However, Trello seems to be doing okay in this regard. There were reports of a breach in January 2024 that led to 15 million user email addresses being dumped later in July 2024. Still, Atlassian proved that Trello was not breached and that the threat actor tried to sell publicly available data after using email addresses obtained from another source.

On review sites, such as Trustpilot, G2 and Capterra, Trello has a solid reputation. Users appreciate Trello’s customization, drag-and-drop interface and workflow automation features. Common complaints include Trello’s lack of native collaboration features, slow customer service and weak reporting and time-tracking tools. I agree with all of these points. While Trello can integrate with many platforms, it would be nice to see more native tools.

Learn more: Read our full Trello review.

Asana is a robust platform for workflow automation and is ideal for teams working on complex projects due to the sheer amount of tools and features on offer. I’m a fan of Asana’s interface, its many integrations and its automation—and workflow-building tools make it easy to create simple and complex workflows.

Asana can integrate with hundreds of third-party platforms.

Thanks to intuitive tools, task and resource management is also a breeze. However, with monthly plans starting at $13.49 per user, Asana may be out of reach for some.

Features

In Asana, you’ll find calendars, Kanban boards, Gantt charts and lists to help you track tasks and resources. There are templates to help you build project workflows and automations, such as recurring tasks, and there are forms and proofing tools and an intuitive messaging system. Asana supports file sharing, offers over 100 integrations and provides users with a hassle-free workflow builder. Asana also excels at reporting.

Asana’s workflow builder can help you create custom workflows in minutes.

Pricing

Asana has an impressive feature set, but you’ll pay for it. The free plan is suitable for teams of 10 but omits some views and the workflow builder. Asana doesn’t clearly state on its website that the paid plans have a minimum user requirement of two, so just keep this in mind. When billed monthly, the cheapest plan, Starter, which is ideal for small teams who only need 250 monthly automations, costs $13.49 per user per month.

The Advanced plan, which is suitable for larger teams, includes 25,000 monthly automations, but the price soars to $30.49 per user per month. Asana also offers Enterprise and Enterprise+ plans, which are ideal for scaled teams. However, you must contact Asana for a quote.

Customer Service

Unfortunately, Asana’s customer service isn’t great. There is 24/7 support, but only to Enterprise and Enterprise+ customers. Everyone else gets access to the AI chatbot, which can direct you to guides and submit a help ticket, the help center, the forum and the Asana Academy. The help center is very good. You’ll find plenty of articles and videos to help you learn the platform and solve problems.

I submitted a help request ticket to see how long it would take to receive help and to examine the quality of help. It took just under 20 hours to receive a pleasant and helpful response. If you need help, you’ll have to find it yourself or sit back and wait awhile.

Reputation

My research shows that Asana has an exemplary security record and that no breaches have occurred. Real-world user review sites—Capterra, G2 and Trustpilot—show that Asana is well-received overall. There are complaints about billing issues, stories of poor customer service and the high cost of using the platform. However, users appreciate the collaboration tools, task management features and ease of building workflows.

Learn more: Read our full Asana review.

Airtable is a customizable platform that allows users to build and connect workspaces and create workflows without any coding knowledge. I’ll be the first to tell you that Airtable isn’t the most intuitive software. Still, once you learn how to use it, you’ll find it mighty powerful and ideal for complex projects, especially if you’re friends with relational spreadsheets. However, the plans start at $24 per seat (billed monthly), which may scare many SMBs.

Airtable’s automation builder is bland but functional.

Features

Airtable has more than enough features for most teams. The usual gamut of project views (sheets, Kanban boards, lists, Gantt charts, calendars and grids) is present, allowing you to plan and track tasks efficiently. Airtable also offers a page designer, AI, advanced reporting tools, dashboards, software integrations, an automation builder, an interface designer that lets you create custom workspaces and a marketplace with additional tools.

The marketplace allows you to expand Airtable’s capabilities, meaning you can build better workflows.

Pricing

Airtable’s free plan is okay (for five users), but the limitations will hinder you quickly. Airtable’s paid plans could put the platform out of reach for many small businesses. The Standard plan is $24 per seat (billed monthly), Business is $54 per seat (billed monthly), and Enterprise Scale is $70 per seat monthly or $21,000 annually for a team of 25. However, it is worth noting that read-only collaborators are free on the Team and Business plans.

Customer Service

Airtable customers have limited options regarding customer service. There’s a decent help center that offers guides to many common problems, and there’s an AI chatbot that can answer questions and provide resources. Email support is available, but only to members of the Business and Enterprise Scale plans. There’s no phone support.

During my trial period, I was able to interact with customer service through email. While it took close to a full day to receive a response to my question, the help was excellent. The agent shared many resources and gave detailed, easy-to-follow advice.

Reputation

My research shows that Airtable has never been breached. User review sites Capterra and G2 show that users like Airtable. Many praise the platform’s ability to link data across tables, its ability to be customized and the work visualization tools. Many users dislike the learning curve and customer service turnaround times. User reviews on Trustpilot are far less favorable, with many members reporting billing and customer service issues.

Learn more: Read our full Airtable review.

Jira is a powerhouse for those using the Scrum framework. However, those unfamiliar with Scrum will struggle with Jira’s complex terminology. I find Jira’s interface spartan but functional, which shouldn’t put anyone off using it. Because Jira integrates with over 3,000 platforms, Scrum masters and product owners can create complex workflows effortlessly, while the whole team can enjoy global project views, thanks to the drag-and-drop boards.

Jira’s interface is bland but highly functional and easy to navigate.

Jira offers a decent free plan that supports 10 users. The paid plans aren’t too shabby, either. When billed monthly, you’ll pay $8.60 per user on the Standard plan. However, pick your plan wisely, as each offering provides a limited number of monthly automations.

Features

Jira is a simple platform that offers the tools that Scrum and Kanban teams need. You’ll find customizable Kanban and Scrum boards and cards that support file sharing and commenting, backlogs, many integrations and project templates.

Jira’s automation tool uses a simple if-this-then-that system to create recurring tasks and workflows.

Additionally, there are customizable dashboards and intuitive automation and workflow builders. Jira also works seamlessly with Confluence, meaning teams can create project documents in real time.

Pricing

Jira’s free plan is fine for teams of up to 10 who only need a limited number of automations (100 per month per site). Jira’s pricing works on a sliding scale. When billed monthly, teams of up to 100 will cost businesses $8.60 per user. The Premium plan costs $17 per user based on the same number of team members and monthly billing.

The price per member on each plan starts to decrease past 100 members, which is great for large teams, but means smaller teams get stuck paying more per user. Jira also offers a scalable Enterprise plan, but you must contact sales for a quote.

Customer Service

Regarding customer service, you had better get used to waiting unless you’re a Premium or Enterprise plan member. All Jira users can use the self-service help center to find guides to common problems and other learning materials. However, free users can only get help through the community forum, while members of the Standard plan can get email help during local business hours. Premium and Enterprise customers receive 24/7 support.

I messaged customer service, hoping they would impress me with the sheer speed of their response, but it wasn’t to be. While Jira’s response was helpful, it took a little over 30 hours to receive. If you’re a free or Standard plan member and need help due to a critical issue, you’re out of luck.

Reputation

Unfortunately, my research shows that Jira has been breached multiple times, with the last event happening in late 2023. Still, by looking at review sites such as Capterra and G2, I can see that Jira is still well-received by Agile practitioners. Jira users appreciate the Agile boards, the countless integration options and adaptable workflows. Users dislike the slow customer support, Jira’s learning curve and slow notifications.

Learn more: Read our full Jira review.

Ideal for teams working on complex projects spanning multiple departments, Smartsheet, with its ability to link data from multiple sheets, offers users an easy-to-use automation builder, a workflow generator and sheets that accept rich formulas. While many flock to Smartsheet for the spreadsheets, it has a little of something for those using traditional methodologies and Agile frameworks, including Gantt charts and Kanban boards.

Users can create custom workflows or use templates to help them achieve workflow zen.

Smartsheet’s most affordable (and feature-sparse) paid plan, Pro, costs $12 per user per month (billed monthly). Prices then increase sharply. Overall, Smartsheet is a powerful platform used by many companies, including NASA JPL, Uber and Alaska Airlines. Still, your wallet will feel it, and you’ll need to learn the software, as Smartsheet has a steep learning curve.

Features

In Smartsheet, you’ll find powerful automation and workflow builders that enable you to create recurring tasks and workflows from scratch or templates, and there are over 100 supported integrations. You can also share files and proof documents and use AI to uncover project insights. Managers can track tasks through customizable spreadsheets, Gantt charts, boards and grids. Also available are reports, dashboards and a conversation tool.

There are plenty of automation templates to choose from in Smartsheet.

Pricing

Smartsheet’s free plan is limited and only supports two editors, 100 automation runs and two sheets. When billed monthly, the Pro plan, which only allows 10 members and 250 monthly automations, costs $12 per member. The Business plan jumps to $24 per member per month (billed monthly) but supports unlimited automations. Smartsheet offers Enterprise and Advanced Work Management plans, but you must contact sales for a quote.

Smartsheet may look affordable, but many features, such as Standard and Premium customer support, resource management tools and data tables, are paid add-ons. If you need these tools, your monthly expenditure will increase dramatically.

Customer Service

Fortunately, Smartsheet’s knowledge base and community forum are good because the customer service options are atrocious. Pro, Business and Enterprise customers can submit a help ticket. Phone support is included in the Enterprise plan but is a paid add-on for the Business plan. Live chat is included in the Advanced Work Management plan, but you need to pay for an add-on if you’re a Business or Enterprise member.

During my trial, I was able to submit a help ticket. I received an email asking for additional information and a few tips on how to solve my issue in roughly 22 hours. If you want faster customer service, you must pay extra to be worthy of it.

Reputation

Smartsheet is generally secure but was involved in the Cloudflare fiasco in early 2024. Threat actors reportedly obtained internal documents and source code, but it appears no customers were affected.

On review sites such as Capterra and G2, Smartsheet is well-liked. Customers like the work visualization tools, automation features and reports. Common dislikes include the learning curve, performance issues with large datasets and data filtering. Smartsheet’s reputation on Trustpilot is poor, with most users deriding the poor customer service. Other complaints mention the number of sales emails sent (trust me, it’s a lot) and billing issues.

Learn more: Read our full Smartsheet review.

Hive is a user-friendly platform that teams using a variety of project management methodologies will appreciate. It has a colorful interface and most of the tools and views needed to create efficient workflows. The free plan is ideal for small teams, and when billed monthly, the paid plans start at $7 per user. I found Hive easy to use and enjoyed my time with the software’s Kanban boards and Gantt charts.

A simple “if this, then that” system lets you build automated workflows rapidly.

However, there’s a big downside. Hive forces teams with more than 10 members into the $18 per user per month (billed monthly) Teams plans and then nickels and dimes you for some important tools such as timesheets, approval workflows, analytics, resource management tools and proofing features. If you can swallow that bitter pill, you’ll enjoy using Hive. However, those sensitive to their bottom line being attacked should consider another platform.

Features

Hive offers many workflow creation tools, including an intuitive automation builder, Kanban boards, Gantt charts, lists, fantastic dashboards, calendars that support dependencies and a time-tracking tool. While Hive doesn’t offer many native integrations, the platform can integrate with Zapier.

Hive offers many first-party apps but few native integrations. However, Hive can connect to Zapier.

I like that when Google Drive, Dropbox, Box or OneDrive is connected, you can access files directly in Hive, and when you connect your email account, you can access emails in Hive and turn actionable emails into tasks. In addition, you’ll find proofing tools, collaborative notes, file sharing and storage, templates, forms, dashboards and instant messaging.

Pricing

Hive’s free plan is for a team of 10 that doesn’t need many automation runs (200 monthly) or active workflows (100 monthly). The Starter plan, which costs $7 per user per month when billed monthly, supports 10 members, 1,000 active workflows and 2,000 automation runs.

The Teams plan leaps to $18 per user per month (billed monthly) and includes unlimited workflows and 20,000 automation runs monthly. It’s worth noting that if you have the funds, you can save 33% by signing up for yearly plans. Also, keep in mind that some tools cost extra.

Customer Service

Hive gets customer service right. Every plan, including the free option, gets access to the knowledge base, YouTube videos, weekly webinars, email support and live chat between 3 a.m. and 6 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday. In true Hive fashion, you can add additional professional services if needed. I tested Hive’s support by sending an email and using live chat.

With live chat, you submit a message to an AI bot. If you don’t get the help you need, you can request to chat with an agent. Replies to chats aren’t instant. Still, I received a response from a friendly agent in 10 minutes and a helpful answer to an email in under three hours. If you need help, you’ll get it quickly.

Reputation

Hive has a squeaky-clean security history and receives praise on popular review sites such as G2 and Capterra. Users appreciate the instant messaging feature, work organization tools and ease of use. On the other end of the spectrum, users dislike that there are few integrations, poor mobile applications and, at times, late notifications.

Striven is a true business management platform that lets you create workflows from beginning to end. Whether you’re managing an HR department, marketing and sales teams, or controlling inventory, Striven can handle it. While the interface is outdated and not intuitive, there’s no denying how powerful the platform is. Being able to plan, organize, manage, analyze work from dashboards and accept payments in one platform is fantastic.

Striven’s dashboards contain tons of data.

I won’t lie; Striven’s learning curve is off the charts. You have to put the time in to appreciate what it can do. Another downside is the cost. The cheapest plan starts at $35 per user per month, with stiff penalties if your team has fewer than five members. Definitely take advantage of the seven-day trial before making any purchasing decisions.

Features

Striven is an end-to-end business solution with advanced reporting and analytical features, a workflow builder, robust accounting and inventory management tools, and CRM and project management capabilities.

While not the best looking, Striven’s Kanban boards are at least functional.

You’ll find dashboards galore, Kanban boards, lists, Gantt charts, a commenting system, support for file sharing, time-tracking tools and client portals. Everything needed to manage a business, including a few integrations, is here.

Pricing

You need to sit down before reading this section. Striven offers two plans: Standard and Enterprise. The Standard plan costs $35 per user per month. The Enterprise plan costs $70 per user per month. If you have less than five team members on either plan, you must add $25 per user.

Portals for clients also have fees. There’s a free portal for up to 100 customers, vendors and applicants. There’s a $99 per month portal for 500 customers, vendors and applicants, and a $499 per month portal for unlimited customers, vendors and applicants.

Customer Service

No matter your plan, you’ll have access to phone, live chat and email support. There’s also a well-designed knowledge base. I tested all three methods of communication during my trial. Phone support was excellent. The agent was polite, listened well and solved my problem.

Then things turned south. I was quickly connected to a live chat agent and started receiving responses to my questions. However, the more questions I asked, the longer it took to get a reply. Then, after asking the agent to clarify a question about pricing, I was told they could not share any further information. Ticket support was fine; my question received a friendly response in one hour.

Reputation

Striven has not suffered any breaches and scores very well on G2 and Capterra. Real-world users appreciate the number of features on offer, the end-to-end workflows and the accounting tools. Regarding complaints, users dislike the learning curve, the interface that opens different sections of Striven in new browser tabs and slow load times.

Basecamp is a project management platform that champions communication. While you’ll find simple task-tracking tools, automation and platform integrations, Basecamp focuses more on real-time communication features such as chat and wikis. You can also create and share documents. It is easy to use and ideal for simple projects. Additionally, each user gets access to almost every feature Basecamp offers for $15 per user per month (billed monthly).

Basecamp’s instant messenger is one of the best you’ll use.

Features

In Basecamp, you’ll find dashboards, calendars, timesheets, Gantt charts, Kanban boards, to-do lists and hill charts to help you plan, organize and manage your projects. Basecamp can natively integrate with a few platforms, but users with a Zapier membership can integrate with over 750 integrations, meaning you’ll be able to create cross-platform workflows with ease.

You can integrate Basecamp with many platforms, enabling you to create cross-platform automations.

Basecamp also offers client access, file-sharing and storage, document creators, wiki builders, live chat, and direct and group messaging. Basecamp is not the most feature-dense platform, but the tools it offers are high-quality.

 Pricing

Basecamp has a simple pricing structure. For $15 per user per month (billed monthly), you can access every Basecamp feature (apart from timesheets and the Admin Pro Pack, which are add-ons) and 500GB of file storage. This plan is ideal for small teams and startups. Basecamp Pro Unlimited, which is suitable for large teams, costs $349 per month (billed monthly). This plan also includes timesheets and the Admin Pro Pack.

Customer Service

If you get stuck, help is close. Basecamp offers a knowledge base, and you can request assistance through a ticketing system or request a callback. Basecamp offers 24/7/365 support; however, the 24/7 claim is a little off.

I contacted Basecamp’s support team, and while I did receive a response in just five minutes, which is excellent, I was informed that weekend customer support is light and 24-hour coverage cannot be offered. Still, the help I received was superb, and the customer service agents were very prompt and polite.

Reputation

While Basecamp was the subject of a DDoS attack in 2024, no user information was compromised. Overall, Basecamp has a positive reputation. Basecamp is well-received on user review sites, such as Capterra, G2 and Trustpilot. Users appreciate the easy-to-use tools, simple layout and communication tools. However, users dislike the lack of dedicated resource management tools, the removal of the free plan and limited native integrations.

Learn more: Read our full Basecamp review.