7 Best Wrike Alternatives for Project Management

Choosing the right project management software is crucial when it comes to running an efficient business. The software must integrate with your team’s workflows and the needs of your specific business in a way that allows team members to focus on tasks rather than managing those tasks.

While some teams use Wrike very effectively, others may want something different. Below we look at some great alternatives to Wrike that are helping businesses and teams streamline their workflows.

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The best Wrike alternatives

asana

Asana is one of the most popular project management solutions. With a massive user base and a pervasive online marketing campaign, it’s hard not to notice Asana’s place in the market.

Asana was built with a desire to free teams from endless chains of email, spreadsheets, and other inefficient management tools. Without a doubt, they succeeded in achieving their goal.

Asana is an elegant design with an easy-to-follow workflow. It’s great for those looking for core project management features without being burdened with a huge learning curve.

Key features of Asana

• Clean, uncluttered layout that’s easy to navigate.
• Robust communication features tailored for project management.
• Dashboard customizations to view project metrics at a glance.

monday.com working operating system

monday.com Work OS takes a similar approach to Asana, focusing on simplicity rather than deep customization, but that doesn’t mean monday.com Work OS is missing any key features.

The colorful and welcoming layout is one of the most striking features of monday.com Work OS. This theme continues throughout the workflow when using monday.com Work OS.

monday.com Work OS is perfect for creative teams or marketing agencies as the workflow suits these teams a little better than Wrike, which is more focused on complex communication and customization between departments. monday.com Work OS really shines the brightest in creative applications and workflows.

Key Features of monday.com Work OS

• Easy to Use: Very short learning curve for most teams.
• Colorful, almost playful user interface that is both pleasant to use and functional.
• Integrations with third party apps for customization options.
• Cheaper when scaling for larger teams.

ClickUp

ClickUp is very similar to Wrike in layout and also handles most of the core project management features. The main benefit here is that ClickUp has a very generous free tier. ClickUp is the choice for those who want to be very similar to Wrike but at a budget-friendly price.

This is especially true for smaller teams that simply don’t need advanced features like forecasting. For teams on a budget or those with less demanding needs, ClickUp is a powerful Wrike alternative.

Key Features of ClickUp

• Very similar layout and workflow to Wrike.
• Generous Free Tier: The affordable paid version is cheaper than the competition.
• Fully featured, similar to Wrike.
• More useful and no-frills UI that will appeal to some.

beehive

For those looking for a communication-focused project management solution, Hive might be the perfect choice. Hive offers the most robust team communication options of all the Wrike alternatives listed here.

Hive still has all of your normal task and project commenting features, but Hive goes beyond that with a system that’s very similar to Slack. If your teams have used Slack in the past, they’ll feel right at home with Hive.

Hive also offers strong email integration, so messages from Gmail or Outlook can be viewed instantly in Hive. There’s also a chat feature, something not found in most Wrike alternatives.

Key Features of Hive

• Clean layout, instantly recognizable to Slack users.
• Unique and powerful email integrations for seamless connectivity.
• chat function.
• Full range of functions on par with other project management solutions.

smartsheet

Smartsheet departs from previous Wrike alternatives by being more spreadsheet-centric. For those who still like the look and feel of project management spreadsheets, this might be the solution for you.

But Smartsheet isn’t just tied into a spreadsheet view. You can switch between common workflow views like a Gantt chart view and others.

Smartsheet lacks communication tools compared to other project management offerings. This is one of Smartsheet’s biggest drawbacks, but it shouldn’t be a problem for teams that don’t prioritize such tools.

Unlike many other Wrike alternatives, Smartsheet doesn’t offer a free tier, only a free trial. Unpaid users can still view tasks and sheets, but can’t create new ones.

Key Features of Smartsheet

• Layout in table format.
• Strong reporting capabilities.
• Granular permissions to control access and editing.
• Easily convert spreadsheets into Gantt charts for project overviews.

nTask

When it comes to deep complexity, nTask is one of the project management solutions that most closely resembles Wrike. It even goes a step further than Wrike with certain features aimed at streamlining meetings and documenting the results for the associated projects.

nTask also offers handy features for viewing projects to see what percentage of their tasks are complete, something Wrike doesn’t offer.

One place where nTask falls behind is in their dashboards. The dashboard view isn’t very customizable, and this can be a deal breaker for those who want to configure their project management tools to specifically show what information they think is most important.

Key features of nTask

• Very similar to Wrike’s extensive features and customization options.
• Affordable pricing compared to Wrike.
• Tools for meeting planning and minutes-taking.
• Product roadmapping capabilities.

air table

Airtable is another spreadsheet-based project management tool that’s somewhat similar to Smartsheet, but Airtable blurs the line by adding a powerful database element. Because of this, Airtable excels in areas like budgeting where the combination of spreadsheet and database can be very effective. This also allows for extensive custom chart options, which are great for visualizations or presentations. Wrike does not offer these features.

Airtable lags behind when it comes to some key features that people expect from project management tools. Things like a dashboard or activity manager are missing, and that may be a deal breaker for some.

Key features of Airtable

• Table and database combinations make for some creative use cases.
• Powerful charting options set it apart from other Wrike alternatives.
• Built-in chat functions.
• Large library of third-party integrations.

Why do you need an alternative to Wrike?

Wrike is a popular and very powerful project management solution, but a lot that sets Wrike apart from the competition is its goal to be fully integrated and eliminate the need for external apps. This can be a bit much for those looking for a streamlined experience that focuses on core project management features.

Final Thoughts on Choosing a Wrike Alternative

All of the Wrike alternatives listed are very powerful project management solutions. The key is to choose the one that shines in areas that matter most to your team and workflow.

Whether you need a more budget-friendly version of Wrike or want something slimmed down and easier to manage, this list of Wrike alternatives should offer something for every team.