Monday.com is one of the most popular resource and project management solutions in the market. However, it’s not the only software in the market that has the features to get the job done well. In many cases, other options are more pocket-friendly and have more powerful and customizable capabilities. Are you looking for an alternative? Or seeking one that is best built to be tailored to your situation?
Fear not! We’ve made things easy for you. Our team researched and filtered through all the apps available in the market and present our findings to you below. Compare each of the apps and find the best fit for your needs.
The resource and project management solutions we highlight below offer the best range of features and customizations for the best price. Depending on your business — a solopreneur, a small family business, or a professional services firm — the needs will help you decide which one is ideal for you. How much you’re willing to pay is also something that will drive your decision. We’ve all the details you need to start your research and make an informed decision.
Whether your business has simple or complex needs, eRS also known as eResource Scheduler, is the most affordable employee management app in the marketplace. This cloud-based resource allocation tool is suitable for enterprises and can easily be customized. eRS is a secure and safe way to manage office, remote, and hybrid teams across the globe.
eRS addresses common staff management pain points such as conflicting schedules, underutilization of resources, and the challenge of matching people to project requirements.
eRS offers three separate modules — scheduling, timesheets, and financial.
For $4 per month, per user, the scheduling module provides access to:
For an additional $2 per user, per month, the scheduling plus mode will provide access to GAP reporting (requested vs. scheduled roles), capacity forecasting reporting, and resource suggestions and matches.
The timesheet module captures how each and every resource spends their time and effort. This feature allows various managers to send in resource requests which will be accepted or rejected based on load and work urgency. Another neat feature of timesheets is that it provides insights into how much time was planned for an activity vs. how much time was actually taken. Such data will increase the planning accuracy for future projects.
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We’d recommend eRS for organizations of all types and sizes. It’s a user-friendly and powerful resource and project management software that will make work more efficient. Their robust customer support, which includes e-mail, chat, and phone support, along with easy access to training videos and guides, make onboarding and trouble-shooting bugs a breeze.
ClickUp is one of the easiest to use project management softwares around. They have a forever-free plan that can help you manage staff and projects, and drive collaboration. The app has a variety of features like mind mapping, Kanban boards, and custom views that will make work more productive.
Here are the features that set ClickUp apart from the rest.
Bird’s eye view of all tasks at every level of your organization
Ability to break tasks into Lists that provide clarity on hierarchy and prioritization of jobs
Create checklists to simplify complex projects
Recurring schedules to avoid mistakes
Customization that requires no coding knowledge
Automate work processes to save time and reduce errors
Access to 50+ project templates to track goals and check on status
Easy integration with over 1000 of your favorite tools like Google Drive, Dropbox, Slack, HubSpot, and Outlook
Time tracking
Automatic report creation for billable tasks
Two-way calendar sync that enhances real-time collaboration between employees
Shared whiteboards to brainstorm and leave project notes
As mentioned earlier, ClickUp does have a Free Forever plan that is ideal for a solopreneur. Small teams should benefit from signing up for the Unlimited plan that is priced at $7 per user, per month. Their most popular plan is the Business package which is $12 per user, per month. They recommend this for mid-sized teams. The Business plan includes unlimited GANTT Charts, custom exporting, advanced time tracking, time estimates, timeliness, and mind maps. ClickUp AI (Artificial Intelligence) can be added to any base plan for an additional $5 per user, per month.
ClickUp is an excellent choice for start-ups or larger organizations seeking many customizations.
nTask is another cloud-based project management system that helps individuals and small teams stay organized and on track. It can help managers or business owners plan and schedule resources and give them an overview of project status and deliverables.
nTask offers a lot of flexibility and some of the app's standout features are:
Identify and assign tasks to the right people
Set goals, deadlines, and milestones for projects
Visual timelines through Gantt Charts will help plan and manage progress
Identify critical paths in the entire workflow
Manage team’s budget using real-time financial summaries
Define work capacity for each resource
In-built chat feature to communicate and share project updates with individual members or the entire team
Centralized document storage and file sharing for easy flow of information
Ability to manage and control who has access to the team’s data
Create task checklists to keep track of work that’s been completed
Highest-rated customer support that is even there to help you through holidays, 24/7
You can get a first-hand experience of using nTask through its free 7-day trial. If the software works for you then you can decide between their two plans — Premium and Business. The Premium plan comes at $4 per user, per month, while the Business plan will cost you $12 per user, per month. You can get both plans at a lower rate if you opt to bill annually.
nTask is best for small to medium-sized businesses with under 50 employees who wish to improve collaboration and planning and deliver projects with success.
Trello is a Kanban-style project management tool developed by software giant Atlassian in 2014. It’s one of the most well-recognized web-based project management tools in the market. What Trello does best is that it provides you with a clear, efficient, and visual way to manage projects. Basically, anyone can hop onto the software and get an understanding of what the project is about and know the status without pinging or calling anyone else. Companies of all sizes use Trello. Their most prominent customers include VISA, Google, and John Deere.
Some of Trello’s best-reviewed features are:
Easy-to-use and customizable dashboard
Visual kanban cards that are easy to read and analyze
Multiple views to understand the project: dashboard, timeline, map, workspace, and calendar
Drag-and-drop capabilities
No-code automation through “Butler” that saves time and reduces administrative burden
Seamless integration with popular apps like JIRA, Slack, Google Drive, and InVision
Ready-made templates that serve as blueprints for projects
Color-coded due dates that highlight upcoming deadlines
A single, web-based platform that fosters collaboration and planning between different teams
Trello offers three tiers of subscriptions Trello Standard, Premium, and Enterprise:
Trello Standard charges $5 per month for one user and they get access to 3 additional Power-Ups and custom board backgrounds.
Premium Class charges $10 per month, per user and comes with every feature of the free version along with unlimited workspace commands and dashboard and timeline views.
Enterprise starts at $17.50 per user, per month and comes with the top features, additional security, personalized onboarding and support, and more.
Don’t forget, they also have a lifetime free plan that is best suited for individuals. But this free version only provides access to 10 boards a month.
If you have a larger team or deal with more complex projects, you might want to look at another project management app. Trello is generally more suited for smaller teams and simpler tasks.
Are you using Excel to manage projects and resources and want a more powerful and collaborative database? Airtable is a cloud-based Monday.com alternative to consider. Airtable was launched in 2012; over the past 12+ years has partnered with over 450,000 organizations and has 300,000 active users. Many companies have adopted Airtable because it can be customized to suit any business, industry, or requirement.
Other impressive features and services of the tool are:
The software’s free plan supports up to 1200 records. For small businesses, the Pro Plan, priced at $10 per user, per month plan is the recommended package. The Pro Plan has more features than the free plan.
Airtable is best for advanced users who are used to working with complex systems that require formulas and codes. If you are dealing with complex projects like launching a new product or building a sales pipeline, look no further than Airtable. You can test how it works via their 14-day free trial.
There are many companies offering project management solutions in the market. It can be confusing to find the right one. Basecamp is one excellent choice to try.
Basecamp is a real-time collaboration tool that will allow you to create projects, manage tasks, and monitor progress. Thousands of companies, including The North Face, University of California Berkeley and Cornell University, use Basecamp to make progress in an efficient manner. Basecamp started as 37 Signals in 1999 but was rebranded in 2014.
Some of Basecamp’s coolest features are:
Private chats to facilitate communication between team members
A straightforward, one-page dashboard that gives an overview of pending and overdue tasks
Easy integration with top apps like Slack, MailChimp, Microsoft Office, and SalesForce
Gantt charts that present a clear overview of your team’s projects
Real-time activity reports that show everything a resource is doing or working on
Organized storage to share files and other important documentation
A centralized message board that helps everyone brainstorm and resolve issues
“Line-Up” provides a bird’s eye view of projects in play, from start to end-date
Customizable access that protects data
Basecamp’s pricing is slightly different from the other monday.com alternatives we have covered. They don’t charge per number of users. Instead, they charge a flat monthly rate. The Personal Plan is $0, forever. The Business plan is $99 per month. Basecamp’s Pro Unlimited plan, which includes everything the app has to offer, is given at a flat rate monthly subscription plan of $299 (if billed annually).
NOTION is one of the best monday.com alternatives. It is a simple project management tool that’s ideal for small, uncomplicated projects. It offers all the features you need to get the job done. How does it work?
NOTION provides small teams to work on documents, notes, tasks, and ideas in one place. It also has a range of reporting features. According to a recent market survey, over 95000 companies use NOTION as a reporting tool.
NOTION Features:
Timelines provide a bird’s eye view of projects
Ability to track all the specific items in a table
Create, share, and update task checklists
Shared and automatically synchronized calendars allow everyone to see all deadlines
Every team can make their own workflows and prioritize tasks
Automation that streamlines task flows, bug reports, database entries, doc outlines and more
Break projects into simpler tasks and assign them to the right candidates
Multiple formats which help understand task dependencies and bottlenecks
NOTION is free for personal use and you can invite up to 10 guests. The most popular plan is their PLUS plan which is priced at $8 per user, per month. The BUSINESS plan costs $12 per user, per month. They don’t offer a free trial like most softwares but their team will happily take you through a product demo.
Confluence might be the last project management and collaboration tool on our list, but that doesn’t mean it’s any less. Confluence, a product of Atlassian, prides itself on helping project managers stay well-informed on all project details.
At first glance, many assume Confluence is just a note-taking tool. But software does so much more. Confluence is a feature-rich tool with lots of functionality and automation. Some of their most loved features are:
Confluence Whiteboards that help brainstorm, visualize, and list ideas
Page that allows members to document progress from a centralized location
Third-party app integration
Seamless integration with other Atlassian products like JIRA and HipChat
A variety of project templates in the library — from marketing project templates to product requirement templates
Task management and automatic notification when jobs are assigned, rescheduled, and completed
Advanced admin controls that help protect sensitive information
Smart links that embed content from other tools and keep all information in a single place
Advanced search that helps filter through and locate the right pages immediately
Industry experts recommend Confluence for enterprises and those dealing with complex projects. It’s the complete project management solution for large-scale businesses.
From a pricing standpoint, Confluence also bills per the number of users. The Standard plan for more than 10 users is $6.05 per user, per month. The Premium plan jumps to $11.55 per user, per month. Contact their sales team to get rates for the Enterprise plan.
Both eRS and monday.com provide work management solutions for companies. In their similarities, both are easy-to-use and customizable platforms that have a heavy list of features. So what are the differences?
It comes down to the pricing and modules. eRS has a more attractive price point that starts at just $4 per user, per month compared to monday.com’s $9. eRS also offers insightful reports for forecasting and creating project budgets. The reports also provide data on variations that occur (time estimated vs. time taken and estimated cost vs. actual cost).
Monday.com has customer relationship management (CRM) capabilities that eRS doesn’t have. However, that doesn’t make eRS any less.
The following table provides a glance at how these two powerhouse platforms match up.
| Features | eRS | Monday.com |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | $4 per user, per month | $9 per user, per month |
| Free Trial | Yes, 14-days | Yes, 14-days |
| Drag n Drop | Yes | Yes |
| Multiple Scheduling Views | Yes | Yes |
| Integrations | Yes | Yes |
| Customizable AccessTime Tracking | Yes | Yes |
| Time Tracking | Yes | Yes, but needs to be up manually |
| Resource Utilization Reports | Yes | Yes |
| Timeline and Gantt View | Yes | Yes, but at the standard plan that starts at $12 per user, per month |
As you dive down the journey of finding the best monday.com alternative, here are the factors to consider. Look at the costs and features. Evaluate the pros and cons of each tool and compare how they stack up against each other. If possible, even take the free trial, it’s like test-driving a car before buying it.
Need more help? Read our guide on the 10 questions to ask before deciding to invest in a resource and project management software.
Yes, there are many options in the market and it can be confusing. But be patient — there is the right resource and project management software for you.
If you’re interested in learning more about project and resource management tools, be sure to check out eRS. eRS provides end-to-end project and resource allocation features at a great price. It’s an excellent and value-for-money choice for small to medium-sized businesses looking for an easy-to-use, intuitive, and feature-heavy platform to manage their work from anywhere in the world.
Also read:
eRs cloud for professional services - what is it and how does it work?
Difference between resource allocation and resource utilization
What do you need to know about construction resource management?
Staff allocation software to streamline workforce management
How to do resource gap analysis - a detailed guide
