15 Best Monday.com Alternatives for Startups in 2024

Man looking at Monday alternatives.

Monday.com is a powerful tool for businesses of all sizes to manage, plan, and track projects. In fact, we rate it as the best project management software for startups. However, there are plenty of Monday alternatives out there that provide valuable project management tools for startups and their teams. 

If you’re not sure if Monday is the right software for you, look no further. These are the best Monday.com alternatives for startups.

Top Alternatives to Monday

A great project management software combines valuable features with ease of use and top-tier customer service. From Wrike to nTask, these tools help teams work collaboratively to reach their goals. 

1. Wrike

Used by over 20,000 organizations globally, including Lyft and Pfizer, Wrike is a platform geared towards streamlining workflows across all departments. The software offers an extensive number of features that make it ideal to deploy across multiple teams, including unlimited projects, tasks, and request forms. 

Wrike offers five different plans: 

  • Free ($0) for up to three users 
  • Team ($9.80/month/user) for three to 25 users 
  • Business ($24.80/month/user) for five to 200 users 
  • Enterprise (request a quote) for five to unlimited users 
  • Pinnacle (request a quote) for five to unlimited users

A few of Wrike’s stand-out features include AI content generation embedded into the platform (even for free users), high storage capacity for each user, booking features, and file and video proofing. 

Overall, Wrike is an ideal project management solution for large teams and enterprises looking for an effective platform for widespread, cross-team collaboration.

2. Zoho Projects

One of Zoho’s many trusted business tools, Zoho Projects makes it easy for teams to plan and track projects and collaborate to achieve their goals. The platform is rich with features from teams and management – both including timesheets to ensure work is being accounted for. 

Zoho Projects offers three plans: 

  • Free ($0) for up to three users 
  • Premium ($5/month/user) 
  • Enterprise ($10/month/user) 

Despite their low cost compared to some competitors, Zoho Projects doesn’t lack included features. Some of their most notable features include project budgeting, task automation, and comparison features of projects planned vs actualization. 

Zoho Projects is especially valuable for global teams looking for a low-cost option built to collaborate with teams from anywhere in the world. The platform includes several features in its Enterprise package created with globally distributed teams.

3. Smartsheet

Built for scale, Smartsheet is a project management software perfect for enterprises and large corporations. In fact, a few of their notable customers include Lego, Procter and Gamble, and Kaiser Permanente. Smartsheet is built to do more than just manage projects; though it does that well, it is also a platform for implementing multi-faceted, company-wide initiatives, keeping teams aligned. 

Smartsheet offers four packages: 

  • Free ($0) for one user, two editors 
  • Pro ($7/month/user) for up to 10 users 
  • Business ($25/month/user) with a minimum of three users, unlimited editors 
  • Enterprise (quote-based) for unlimited users, editors, and viewers 

Each of Smartsheet’s packages is full of valuable features. Some of the most notable features offered include on-demand training, forms with conditional logic, a document builder, and high storage capacity for every plan tier. 

This platform is built for scale and, therefore, is best suited for businesses with big teams and even bigger goals. High-level, scaled projects can be executed with precision on the platform, and businesses can rely on security features to keep their company’s work out of harm’s way.

4. ClickUp

Productivity and collaboration all on one app is the aim of ClickUp, a management platform that leverages AI to provide a high level of functionality to its users. With ClickUp, projects can be easily managed and tracked by teams or their managers. 

ClickUp offers four plans: 

  • Free Forever ($0) for personal use 
  • Unlimited ($7/month/user) for small teams 
  • Business ($12/month/user) for mid-sized teams 
  • Enterprise (request a quote) for many large teams 

ClickUp has many appealing features, including extensive integration and automation options, advanced time tracking, and a customizable platform. However, their most notable feature by far is ClickUp AI, which can be used to generate documents, move projects forward, and refine content. 

As a whole, ClickUp is ideal for solopreneurs or small teams looking for easy-to-use project management software to help meet their goals. However, it does offer features that can be valuable to slightly larger teams as well.

5. Asana

Asana is a popular project management software used by 80% of Fortune 100 companies, from Amazon to McKesson. The platform boasts use cases for various departments, including marketing, IT, operations, and project management teams. 

Asana offers five packages in total:

  • Free ($0) for up to 10 users 
  • Starter ($10.99/month/user) for up to 500 users 
  • Advanced ($24.99/month/user) for up to 500 users
  • Enterprise (request a quote) for unlimited users 
  • Enterprise+ (request a quote) for unlimited users 

Asana is home to a number of impressive task management features, including portfolio management tools, time tracking, and Asana Intelligence, their work optimization features powered by AI. 

With their robust features and high functionality, Asana can be used for most business types and sizes. However, they are ideal for nonprofit organizations as the company offers these organizations specialized pricing up to 50% off.

6. Trello

Trello is an Atlassian product that combines boards, lists, and cards to create a user-friendly workflow management system that tackles projects, meetings, onboarding, tasks, and more. Praised often for its ease of use, Trello also boasts competitive pricing, with its highest-cost package offering steep volume discounts. 

Here are the four packages Trello offers: 

  • Free ($0) for individuals and small teams 
  • Standard ($5/month/user) for small teams 
  • Premium ($10/month/user) for medium-sized teams 
  • Enterprise (starts at $17.50/month/user) for large organizations 

Even with its competitive pricing, Trello doesn’t skimp on included features. The platform offers all plans unlimited cards, storage, and activity logs. Plus, on the higher tier plans, notable features include several view options as well as advanced permissions settings. 

Overall, Trello is likely best for solopreneurs and small teams. Their platform is super simple, making it perfect for beginners and those with basic project management needs.

7. Airtable

Airtable is a project management software for app building. With AI features and valuable integrations, Airtable streamlines product building from end to end. And while the software is geared primarily towards app-building, there are also solutions for marketing, operations, HR, sales, and finance. 

There are four plans available through Airtable: 

  • Free ($0) for up to five editors 
  • Team ($20/month/user) for unlimited editors 
  • Business ($45/month/user) for unlimited editors 
  • Enterprise Scale (request a quote) for unlimited editors 

Airtable’s platform boasts a myriad of tech-forward features, including an interface designer, pre-built extensions, and advanced customizability options. However, the platform also includes standard project management features as well. 

This project management software is going to be best suited for businesses that are looking to build apps or conduct other technical projects. While the platform does over basic project management tools, the additional features could create a steeper learning curve for businesses looking for something more standard.

8. Notion

Notion is a popular project management tool used by a myriad of big brands like Nike and Uber. While Notion does offer a range of valuable features, it is one of the easier project management tools to learn and use regardless of experience level. 

Notion offers five plans: 

  • Free ($0) for up to 10 guests 
  • Plus ($8/month/user) for up to 100 guests 
  • Business ($15/month/user) for up to 250 guests 
  • Enterprise (request a quote) for up to 250 guests 

Notion doesn’t offer as many advanced features as some competitors, but the features they do offer make project management on the platform a breeze. A few of their most notable features include real-time collaboration, over 50 templates, wiki-building tools, and drag-and-drop customization. 

All of this considered, Notion is likely the best choice for solopreneurs and single-person teams. Their free version especially offers a good number of features necessary for planning and managing projects effectively, making it perfect for single-person use.

9. Jira

Jira is a project management tool built for Agile teams to track, manage, and troubleshoot projects quickly and easily. Created by Atlassian, Jira presents a dedicated platform for developers to collaborate and execute tasks with ease. 

There are three Jira plans available: 

  • Free ($0) for up to 10 users 
  • Standard ($5/month/user) for up to 35,000 users 
  • Premium ($10/month/user) for up to 35,000 users 

There are quite a few features included on the Jira platform, even for their free plan. Some of their more notable features include smart links, customizable workflows, session duration management, and several security features. 

Jira is a great choice for developers and tech teams who will benefit from their niched feature sets and high level of security and compliance features. While Jira can be used by a litany of different teams and businesses, it may pose a learning curve for non-technical users.

10. Basecamp

Basecamp is a project management software built for small teams. The platform is super user-friendly and provides small startups with the functionality they need to get things done. Plus, Basecamp includes features for several use cases beyond project management, including billing, onboarding, and expense management. 

There are two plans offered by Basecamp: 

  • Basecamp ($15/month/user) 
  • Basecamp Pro Unlimited ($299/month) 

In both plans, Basecamp packs in a lot of features, such as up to 5 TB of storage, unlimited projects, scheduling, chat, and file management. 

As mentioned above, Basecamp is built for small teams. Therefore, small teams will likely get the most use and functionality out of this platform compared to larger companies and teams.

11. Hive

Offering a hybrid schedule can be a smart tactic to acquire and retain talent, but having the tools to ensure success is crucial. That’s where Hive comes in. Hive is a project management tool built specifically for hybrid workplaces and used by Google, Starbucks, and Comcast. 

With Hive, you can choose from three plans: 

  • Free ($0) for up to 10 members 
  • Teams ($12/month/user) for unlimited members 
  • Enterprise (request a quote) for unlimited members 

Features included in Hive’s plans include email within the platform, native chat messaging, time tracking, and shareable forms. Plus, users can choose to purchase one of their several add-on features for $5 per month per user. 

Overall, Hive is a great choice for businesses prioritizing hybrid or remote work to ensure teams are able to effectively collaborate and execute tasks and projects from anywhere.

12. Teamwork

Teamwork is a platform built for businesses to manage client work. With Teamwork, businesses can use the platform to streamline processes to deliver the best client experience possible. 

Teamwork offers five plans: 

  • Free Forever ($0) for up to five users 
  • Starter ($5.99/month/user) with a three-user minimum 
  • Deliver ($9.99/month/user) with a three-user minimum 
  • Grow ($19.99/month/user) with a five-user minimum 
  • Scale (request a demo) 

All of Teamwork’s plans offer integrations and project management essentials. Their paid packages include notable features such as project status reports, advanced budgeting, and resource scheduling. 

Teamwork is an ideal project management platform for businesses that work directly with clients due to the types of features included to ensure teams are able to provide a top-tier customer experience.

13. Microsoft Project

Microsoft Project is a product in the company’s suite of business applications created to assist teams in managing their projects, especially those familiar with Waterfall and Agile. This is one of the older project management tools and comes with a bit of a learning curve. However, there are a myriad of features built into the platform that make it an effective resource for project managers and teams. 

Microsoft Project offers three plans: 

  • Project Plan 1 ($10/month/user) 
  • Project Plan 3 ($30/month/user)
  • Project Plan 5 ($55/month/user)

Features included in all plans on the platform include a centralized project home, several view options, timesheet submission, and project planning and scheduling. 

Microsoft Project is an ideal project management resource for businesses and teams that are already utilizing Microsoft products such as Teams, Excel, and Word. 

14. Nifty

Nifty is a project management app used by L’Oréal, Verizon, and IBM. The goal of the platform is to create a space for businesses to house all of their project information, eliminating the need for an extensive project management tech stack. Nifty can be used by a variety of teams, including engineers, sales, marketing, product, client management, and IT. 

There are five plans available through Nifty: 

  • Free ($0) for up to two projects 
  • Starter ($5/month/user) for up to 40 projects 
  • Pro ($10/month/user) for up to 100 projects 
  • Business ($16/month/user) for unlimited projects 
  • Enterprise (request a quote) for unlimited projects

All of Nifty’s plans offer unlimited users and extensive features. A few of their more notable features include time tracking and reporting, milestone and task dependencies, portfolios, and team chat. 

Nifty is a great tool for a variety of industries, business sizes, and types. The potentially best use case for the platform is teams with limited projects or longer-term projects as project numbers can be limited on the platform unless you opt for a higher-cost plan.

15. nTask

nTask is a task management platform built to increase efficiency and collaboration to deploy projects and manage teams. nTask is an easy-to-use platform, and while they don’t offer a free plan like some competitors, they do offer cost-effective plans with essential features for project management. 

nTask has three plans to choose from: 

  • Premium ($3/month/user) 
  • Business ($8/month/user) 
  • Enterprise (request a quote) 

Each plan offers unlimited workspaces, tasks, and to-do lists. Plus, valuable features such as meeting management, time sheets, time tracking, issue tracking, and real-time team collaboration. 

nTask offers the essentials for task management, plus a few extra features that add value to the platform. Overall, the tool is best used for small businesses and startups that are looking for a budget-friendly project management solution.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Monday.com used for?

Monday.com is a project management software that helps businesses and their teams to track, manage, and complete projects through a myriad of management and collaboration tools. 

How much is Monday.com?

Monday.com offers five plan options for their services: Free, Basic ($8/month/user), Standard ($10/month/user), Pro ($16/month/user), and Enterprise, which requires contacting the service to obtain pricing. 

Who owns Monday.com?

Monday.com is a publicly-traded company founded and owned by Roy Mann and Eran Zinman.