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In this Guide
- Best Team Collaboration Software
- Intro and Our Criteria
- Our Reviews of the Top Vendors
- Benefits of Team Collaboration Software
- Mistakes to Avoid When Buying Team Collaboration Software
- Pricing Models of Team Collaboration Software
- Key Features of Team Collaboration Software
- Questions to Ask During Your Team Collaboration Software Demos
- Implementing Team Collaboration Software
- Team Collaboration Software FAQs
- Final Advice on Buying Team Collaboration Software
Let’s work together to find the best team collaboration software! Our top choices are Miro, ProofHub, and Trello, but the right collaboration software for your team may be one of our other top picks.
The complexities of collaboration tools are no match for our research methods. With our experience, expertise, and genuine excitement for HR tech, we’d love to walk you through our top choices. Read on to learn how we find the signal in the noise.
Hand picked by our HR Technology experts after product testing, user research, and much debate - enjoy!
Team collaboration tools have gained tremendous popularity in recent years. According to Gartner, nearly 80% of workers are using collaboration tools for work in 2021, up from just over half of workers in 2019.
The demand for powerful, best-in-class solutions in this space will continue to increase, especially as more companies embrace remote work. By facilitating task management, progress tracking, file sharing, communication, and more, collaboration tools promote transparency, increase productivity and ultimately improve your team’s output, no matter where they are located.
If you’re interested in acquiring a team collaboration solution but not sure where to start, you’ve come to the right place! We’ve put together this guide to break down everything you need to know about team collaboration software, including the best vendors, key features, pricing details, and more to help you make an informed decision.
Our Criteria: Here's how we chose who made the cut
We take research seriously. To make sure we’re offering our readers the very best solutions in a given software category, we are methodical, rigorous, and expansive in our research. We consult with HR professionals, vendors, and industry experts. We cut through the noise to bring you a carefully curated list of vendors, along with other essential information, to help you find the right software platform for your business.
Here’s how we chose who makes the cut:
Product: We believe in gaining a comprehensive understanding of a product before we recommend it, so we start by getting to know the software. Whenever possible, we meet with a senior executive (CEO or Head of Product) for a demo and Q&A. We also test the product ourselves to make sure it has a solid UI, intuitive workflows, and the features to make it a best-in-class offering.
User feedback: We go straight to the source and compile feedback on user experience. Real-world input supports our commitment to diligence in our software evaluation methods and the products we recommend. Keeping up with the everyday experience of HR pros also puts new vendors on our radar, and it keeps us close to our community so we can better connect the right products to the right people.
Financial metrics: We are certified finance nerds, so we use all the data we can get our hands on to make selections for our guides. We comb through data for concrete statistics like retention rates, growth, profitability, and scalability. We evaluate the bottom line of each product because we know making a software purchase can put your reputation on the line.
Best for a use case: Software is never a one-size-fits-all product. Sometimes the best solution is free or cheap. Other times it’s the one that is best for global companies or the one that’s sized right for early-stage startups. Keeping this in mind, we include solutions across the spectrum so our readers can find the best fit for their unique needs.
Here's more detail if you want to read more about how we research vendors. Our dedicated staff writers rely on hard data, impartial experts, and user feedback to ensure our reviews are helpful, truthful, and hopefully a pleasure to read!
Best Team Collaboration Software
It can be challenging for a buyer to find the right team collaboration software as the market is saturated with hundreds of them. To simplify the process, we’ve listed the best team collaboration software solutions for businesses of various sizes and industries according to our research and expert council as of 2021.
Why we love it
:
Podio offers a virtual space for teams of all sizes to collaborate on, build apps for and achieve all sorts of projects, regardless of their scope.
Podio
Review:
Citrix Podio is a cloud-based collaboration platform that enables teams to communicate, build low-code solutions and automate workflows. Within the platform, users can build apps for projects, campaigns, leads, deliverables, content calendars, and much more. Creating and editing apps is simple as Podio features a drag and drop mechanism, requiring little to no code.
Podio
Customers:
- Deloitte
- Volvo
- Sony
- NFL
- Time Warner Cable
- Deloitte
- Volvo
- Sony
- NFL
- Time Warner Cable
Podio
Pricing:
Podio has four plans. When billed annually, they cost as follows:
- Free: This plan is free of charge for up to five employees.
- Basic: The Basic plan costs $7.20 per employee per month and is ideal for companies that are just starting with team collaboration software.
- Plus: For $12.20 per employee per month, the Plus plan comes with everything in Basic, along with automated workflows and customizable permissions.
- Premium: For $19.20 per employee per month, the Premium plan provides access to everything Podio has to offer.
Podio has four plans. When billed annually, they cost as follows:
- Free: This plan is free of charge for up to five employees.
- Basic: The Basic plan costs $7.20 per employee per month and is ideal for companies that are just starting with team collaboration software.
- Plus: For $12.20 per employee per month, the Plus plan comes with everything in Basic, along with automated workflows and customizable permissions.
- Premium: For $19.20 per employee per month, the Premium plan provides access to everything Podio has to offer.
Best For
Podio’s features and pricing modules makes it appealing to different size companies.
Why we love it
:
For team collaboration, Flock stands out by offering a reminder feature that lets you set up reminders for meetings for yourself and others. It also lets you create and manage mailing lists within the software, which is great for announcements or invites to guests and collaborators..
- Flock’s free plan is fairly generous. There’s no limit to users, messages, or one-on-one video calls
- Not all chat programs offer video conferencing, but Flock’s platform allows for one-on-one video calls and group video chats.
- You can expect standard collaboration tools from Flock, such as direct messaging, channels for specific topic chats, and file sharing. Video calls and voice notes also help you collaborate with teammates. One of the more unique tools Flock offers is built-in polling for getting consensus on topics or issues.
- Another unique tool built into Flock is a reminder setting. You can create a reminder for yourself about anything, such as to make a call, send an email, or finish a project. Also, tag a colleague or employee in the same reminder for meetings or video conferences, for example.
- Some plans allow you to set authentication requirements, such as SSO, or you can create a whitelist. You can also automate data backup and set permissions for who can create channels, invite guests, or send messages.
- If you’re familiar with Flock’s more popular competitors, you may find Flock hard to use at first. The interface isn’t instantly intuitive, so it may take a while to get used to the layout of tools.
- The free plan only lets you search up to 10,000 messages, which seems generous, but messages add up quickly.
- Flock lets you customize, search messages, and set your notifications in a few different ways, but it misses the mark when it comes to more advanced features. You can’t customize notifications much and there aren’t advanced filters for searches.
Flock
Review:
Flock is mostly a remote office chat application with team collaboration tools. Send different types of messages, including one-on-one and group messages; create public and private channels; and set up minor projects in a channel. The to-do lists, polls, and reminders (that you can set up for yourself and others) combine to make Flock a great communication and work operating system.
Although Flock doesn’t include full-fledged project management features, it lets you store and share files with one or several people within the app. And like other collaboration software, Flock lets you integrate more than 50 other apps to add more functionality to the platform.
Flock
Customers:
There are several big companies that use Flock for remote collaboration, including McDonald’s, Namecheap, Web.com, and Britannia.
There are several big companies that use Flock for remote collaboration, including McDonald’s, Namecheap, Web.com, and Britannia.
Flock
Pricing:
There are three plans available from Flock:
- Free: The free plan from Flock is suitable for a small team that needs a simple chat app. You get unlimited one-on-one and group chats, 10 public channels, and one-on-one video calls. Storage is limited to 5 GB overall, and you can only search up to 10,000 messages.
- Pro: When your business grows (20+ people) or you need more resources, you may want to upgrade to this plan that costs $4.50 per user, per month. Storage is increased to 10 GB per user and you get group video calls. Plus, there are no limits on your searchable messages.
- Enterprise: If your company is much larger, you may want to consider Flock’s Enterprise plan. All users get 20 GB of storage, single sign-on (SSO) is available, and you’ll get dedicated support. Contact Flock for a custom quote.
There are three plans available from Flock:
- Free: The free plan from Flock is suitable for a small team that needs a simple chat app. You get unlimited one-on-one and group chats, 10 public channels, and one-on-one video calls. Storage is limited to 5 GB overall, and you can only search up to 10,000 messages.
- Pro: When your business grows (20+ people) or you need more resources, you may want to upgrade to this plan that costs $4.50 per user, per month. Storage is increased to 10 GB per user and you get group video calls. Plus, there are no limits on your searchable messages.
- Enterprise: If your company is much larger, you may want to consider Flock’s Enterprise plan. All users get 20 GB of storage, single sign-on (SSO) is available, and you’ll get dedicated support. Contact Flock for a custom quote.
Best For
Flock is a good pick for any size business that needs a remote team collaboration and communication tool.
Why we love it
:
Miro’s online collaboration tool that lets you start with a whiteboard and build your custom flowchart or mind maps with prebuilt shapes, sticky notes, markers, and other tools with all of your remote teammates. Then you can save those boards.
- No matter which plan you use, Miro allows you to invite an unlimited number of collaborators. High-tier plans let you invite guests to boards for viewing or approval.
- In addition to offering a free plan, Miro offers a range of paid plans that cost $8 to $16 per person, per month (billed annually).
- Miro is fairly intuitive to use, but if you have issues there are multiple guides to help you. The drag-and-drop interface is easy to navigate, and the sidebar has easy to understand icons.
- All boards are editable, so you can create a board, save it, and revisit it later. All paid plans get an unlimited number of boards, too.
- Miro lets every user leave comments on elements of boards. Additionally there are video chat options and “smart meetings” that let you set up breakout brainstorming sessions and timers to keep everyone on task.
- When several people use Miro at once, the system can get bogged down and laggy. This can create confusion among users when they’re all trying to click, add shapes, move, and create together.
- Although Miro makes it clear who commented, it isn’t always clear who created what or when. This could be problematic when revisiting a flow chart or diagram in the future.
- You get basic shapes on the low-tier plans, which works for creating simple designs. For developers and more complex diagramming, you’ll need to upgrade to a high tier plan to unlock specialized shapes.
- Despite Miro offering a free plan, the paid plans are a bit expensive especially for a small business on a tight budget.
Miro
Review:
What makes Miro unique to other team collaboration software is its interactive whiteboard. It replaces the in-person brainstorming sessions you may have had before when working in an office. Team up with all of your coworkers remotely for real-time ideation. You can all work on the same board simultaneously using prebuilt templates, shapes, and frames to suit your project or map.
You can use the included video chat to connect with teammates as needed, run a “smart meeting” for collaborative brainstorming, or integrate other communication apps to share boards through software you already use.
Miro
Customers:
Some of the biggest businesses use Miro for collaboration, including WalMart, Deloitte, Okta, Volvo, and Cisco.
Some of the biggest businesses use Miro for collaboration, including WalMart, Deloitte, Okta, Volvo, and Cisco.
Miro
Pricing:
Miro has four plans, including:
Free: Miro’s free plan gives you one workspace with three boards and access to more than 1,000 templates for flowcharts, workflows, agendas, and projects. It’s a good plan for freelancers or very small teams that don’t need advanced collaboration tools or support.
Starter: The Starter plan costs $8 per user, per month (billed annually) and includes more tools for remote team management and collaboration with outside users. It’s a great solution for small businesses and agencies that want built-in tools to help track project progress and meet with teammates via video.
Business: This is the plan you may want if you’re looking to run engaging and interactive meetings, build diagrams using prebuilt shapes, and get single sign-on access for all users for a more secure login process. This plan costs $16 per user, per month (billed annually).
Enterprise: The Enterprise plan from Miro gives you more security features, 24/7 support, and more admin management tools. There’s no pricing available publicly, so you should contact Miro directly for a custom quote.
Miro has four plans, including:
Free: Miro’s free plan gives you one workspace with three boards and access to more than 1,000 templates for flowcharts, workflows, agendas, and projects. It’s a good plan for freelancers or very small teams that don’t need advanced collaboration tools or support.
Starter: The Starter plan costs $8 per user, per month (billed annually) and includes more tools for remote team management and collaboration with outside users. It’s a great solution for small businesses and agencies that want built-in tools to help track project progress and meet with teammates via video.
Business: This is the plan you may want if you’re looking to run engaging and interactive meetings, build diagrams using prebuilt shapes, and get single sign-on access for all users for a more secure login process. This plan costs $16 per user, per month (billed annually).
Enterprise: The Enterprise plan from Miro gives you more security features, 24/7 support, and more admin management tools. There’s no pricing available publicly, so you should contact Miro directly for a custom quote.
Best For
Remote teams and companies of any size that need cloud-based whiteboard software to collaborate on projects would do well with Miro.
Why we love it
:
Slack sets itself apart from other team collaboration software by being fun to use with emojis and gifs in messages and channels, and it integrates with almost any business software. Its accessible features make it easier to use for those with different visual or audio abilities.
- Slack offers a lot for a free plan, including unlimited users and messages. You get 10 integrations on the free plan, which may be enough for freelancers or small businesses.
- Of all the team collaboration software options available, Slack is one of the easiest to learn and use. The interface is immediately familiar for anyone who’s used a chat room. You can easily access channels, direct messages, and figure out how to use all the tools because of the simple interface.
- On paid plans, you can customize your sidebar to include only what you want to see. You can customize your notifications and set up a notification schedule to minimize disruption.
- Slack makes it easy to find a specific message, file, or comment in a channel with advanced search filters. Rather than scroll through endless results pages, you can narrow your search focus to pinpoint what you need.
- Audio clips are a convenient way to get a message to someone, but Slack made sure to include automatic transcribing for better accessibility. There’s also a dark mode to make it easier to read text and you can adjust text size with a zoom function.
- Slack is known for providing a fun atmosphere for work through a variety of emojis and gifs (just paste a link into a channel or message). You can even create custom emojis for your Slack workspace.
- Slack has a bad reputation for being distracting. There is a way to minimize the number of notifications you get, but even without active notifications, it can still be a distraction from work.
- Paid plan users don’t have to worry about decaying message history, but if you’re on the free plan, messages and files disappear after 90 days.
- Slack sometimes gets laggy or even freezes before restarting. Notifications aren’t all that reliable at times, too.
- Collaboration in Slack comes down to messaging, specific channel group chats, video conferencing, and file sharing. There is no way to work on documents or files with others in real time.
Slack
Review:
Slack works well as team collaboration software because of its extensive integration list and easy communication tools. Most software offers a handful of apps you can connect to a messaging tool, but Slack supports more than 2,500 apps. Use storage management apps, like Box and Dropbox; add work management tools, such as Google Suite; connect customer relationship management (CRM) software including Salesforce.
You can send private messages, create group chats, and communicate via channels that are specific to teams, topics, or whatever else you want to categorize. Slack makes it easy to share files, announcements, and huddle in audio or video calls when text isn’t enough.
Slack
Customers:
Slack is well known among most of the corporate world, so it’s no surprise that it’s used by companies such as Uber, Target, Netflix, Expedia, and the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs.
Slack is well known among most of the corporate world, so it’s no surprise that it’s used by companies such as Uber, Target, Netflix, Expedia, and the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs.
Slack
Pricing:
Slack offers four pricing plans:
- Free: Slack’s free plan is generous in that it doesn’t limit your number of users, so it’s suitable for any size business. You are limited to the types of messages and video chats you can do (one-on-one only). You’re also limited to 10 integrations.
- Pro: The low-priced plan from Slack costs $7.50 per person, per month (billed annually). It’s at this level that you get unlimited access to message history and integrations.
- Business+: Slack offers a plan to which you can scale if the limitations on the Free and Pro plans are too restricting. It costs $12.50 per user, per month (billed annually) and includes single sign-on, channel posting permissions for all channels, and 24/7 support.
- Enterprise Grid: The Enterprise plan is only for those companies that need priority support and HIPAA compliance. Plus, you can create unlimited workspaces (all other plans only allow one), so it’s a good choice for multiple brands. There is no public pricing, so you’ll need to contact Slack for a custom quote.
Slack offers four pricing plans:
- Free: Slack’s free plan is generous in that it doesn’t limit your number of users, so it’s suitable for any size business. You are limited to the types of messages and video chats you can do (one-on-one only). You’re also limited to 10 integrations.
- Pro: The low-priced plan from Slack costs $7.50 per person, per month (billed annually). It’s at this level that you get unlimited access to message history and integrations.
- Business+: Slack offers a plan to which you can scale if the limitations on the Free and Pro plans are too restricting. It costs $12.50 per user, per month (billed annually) and includes single sign-on, channel posting permissions for all channels, and 24/7 support.
- Enterprise Grid: The Enterprise plan is only for those companies that need priority support and HIPAA compliance. Plus, you can create unlimited workspaces (all other plans only allow one), so it’s a good choice for multiple brands. There is no public pricing, so you’ll need to contact Slack for a custom quote.
Best For
Slack is a great collaboration tool for any size business, and it offers enough plans for scaling up as you need more support, storage, or features.
We use it every single day for communicating. Our development team uses it for an async daily standup, which has replaced jumping on a video call at a particular time each day. It helps with time zone differences and keeps things easy.
The Ops team uses it for onboarding, and engagement, we have some key activities we do as a team when someone new joins, and also play games together if we want to socialize. Our company uses it for important announcements, and to link any new policies so they are easy to find and search within Slack.
- Love the easy-to-use interface - it’s pretty clear how to use it, not a steep learning curve which we like a lot.
- Love the emoji use - gif use - it makes it more fun and accessible. You can add on many different apps to make things more custom and add integrations for tools that you use.
- Love the multiple channels - you can create as many channels as you like and then archive them when you like. We use them for retreats, and then we archive them once the event is over, to reduce clutter.
- That it can get noisy - you really have to minimize notifications or you may be inundated with pings and emails. You’re able to mute certain channels and also specify times that you’d like to be notified, and not.
- With an org larger than 500, it could get really bloated, and would be more challenging to cut through the noise. You may have to change the way you use Slack, we found it really hard to manage channels with a lot of people, vs smaller groups.
- It can be expensive! The more people you add the higher the price, so you have to look at your budget, and perhaps consider some other affordable options.
As a remote company, we wanted to effectively communicate in one place. We were finding that there were signs of isolation, and we didn't want that to increase. We loved that Slack has the ability to integrate with our tools and we can add as many relevant channels as we like whether it’s related to work or water cooler talk.
It’s also been really helpful during onboarding, it’s a great tool to help integrate a new team member while also keeping them in the know of any company announcements. I've been using it for over seven years at various companies that I’ve worked with.
Easy to use, easy to integrate, well known. It helps when a lot of people know how to use it, or have used it previously.
Price, size of org, needs of org, remote/hybrid. I would consider what the company is using now, and also what are the current habits of communicating internally. I would also budget and create some guidelines about how you might want to communicate and what features are important to the organization before purchasing any tool.
Yes, they've added many more integrations and features to support more functions. They really listen to user feedback - for example, to create reminders, there was a more manual process to change it, you had to delete it entirely and create a new one, and now you’re able to edit a reminder very easily with a button.
Anyone!
Can't think of any.
Why we love it
:
Wrike was named a Forrester leader for a reason; their solution is robust and comprehensive enough to be used by large enterprises, and their pricing is reasonable enough for small and medium-sized businesses to use and derive value.
- Can manage both projects and ongoing work.
- Option to view projects and tasks through different views like Kanban.
- A very efficient tool for team communication and work management.
- Doesn’t offer integrated live chat.
- Time tracking cannot be used for invoicing.
- The free plan offers very limited features.
Wrike
Review:
Wrike is a powerful project management and collaboration platform suitable for businesses of all sizes. With interactive Gantt charts, shared Kanban boards, intelligent risk prediction, customizable dashboards, workflows, forms, and much more, Wrike has everything you need to execute projects efficiently while maximizing productivity and collaboration both within and across different departments in your company.
Wrike
Customers:
- Dell
- Ogilvy
- Okta
- Airbnb
- Siemens
- Dell
- Ogilvy
- Okta
- Airbnb
- Siemens
Wrike
Pricing:
Wrike has four plans that are priced as follows:
- Free: Though limitations on the number of active tasks apply, this plan is free of charge and is ideal for small teams looking to get started with a project management tool.
- Professional: The Professional plan packs full project planning and collaboration features and costs $9.80 per user per month.
- Business: The Business plan costs $24.80 per user per month and includes everything in the Free and Professional plans, along with customization and exec reporting features.
- Enterprise: Through this plan, Wrike offers enterprises a comprehensive project management solution with advanced security and controls. Contact Wrike’s sales team to get a price quote for the Enterprise plan.
Note: The prices shown above are billed on an annual basis. User licenses are sold in groups of 5.
Wrike has four plans that are priced as follows:
- Free: Though limitations on the number of active tasks apply, this plan is free of charge and is ideal for small teams looking to get started with a project management tool.
- Professional: The Professional plan packs full project planning and collaboration features and costs $9.80 per user per month.
- Business: The Business plan costs $24.80 per user per month and includes everything in the Free and Professional plans, along with customization and exec reporting features.
- Enterprise: Through this plan, Wrike offers enterprises a comprehensive project management solution with advanced security and controls. Contact Wrike's sales team to get a price quote for the Enterprise plan.
Note: The prices shown above are billed on an annual basis. User licenses are sold in groups of 5.
Best For
Wrike has plans for companies of all sizes.
Why we love it
:
Trello makes it easy for you to collaborate with team members on tasks and projects. Its drag-and-drop interface is intuitive and you can leave comments on each card for full visibility on boards.
- Offers a feature-packed free plan and paid plans are affordable
- Scalable for small teams to large enterprises
- Easy-to-use visual boards (Kanban)
- Multiple views allowed at higher price points
- Excellent for personal projects
- No-code automation included on all plans (including the free plan)
- Two-factor authentication (2FA) on every plan for top-notch security
- Mobile app available for iOS and Android
- Limited customization options (custom fields only; available for paid users)
- Difficult to see subtasks (checklists) at a glance
- Power-Ups (integrations) often include added cost to use
- No visual dependency option to connect one card to another
- Cannot assign subtasks (checklists) to different users on free plan
- Only five to six lists are viewable without having to scroll your board
Trello
Review:
Teams that use Trello for project management can get a bird’s-eye view of each project by glancing at each board available to them. You can click on cards, which are tasks, to see a description, who’s working on it, a checklist of subtasks, and attachments. You can also leave comments on each card to keep conversations relevant to each task.
Paid plan users can assign subtasks and tasks to any member on a board, which makes it easy to collaborate on projects.
Trello
Customers:
Trello is used by millions and trusted by companies such as, Google, Coinbase, John Deere, Zoom, Visa, and Grand Hyatt.
Trello is used by millions and trusted by companies such as, Google, Coinbase, John Deere, Zoom, Visa, and Grand Hyatt.
Trello
Pricing:
Trello offers four plans:
- Free: This plan is a forever-free plan and allows you to create unlimited cards, but only up to 10 boards. It’s a good solution for individuals who need to track personal projects or for freelancers who want to track client projects.
- Standard: The Standard plan from Trello costs $5 per month, per user (billed annually) and removes limitations on boards and you can upload files up to 250 MB per file. It’s at this level you can invite guests to your board, so it’s a good pick for small teams that need client approval.
- Premium: Trello offers a Premium plan for $10 per month, per user (billed annually) and it turns Trello into more of a traditional project management program with more views, including calendar, dashboard, timeline, and map. You also get access to priority support, an important offer for businesses with multiple users that may need more help than what they can find in the knowledge base.
- Enterprise: For larger companies, Trello has an Enterprise plan that starts for $17.50 per user, per month (billed annually) with a minimum of 50 users required. You get everything that Trello offers at this level, including more security and permissions for better organization of data and users
Trello offers four plans:
- Free: This plan is a forever-free plan and allows you to create unlimited cards, but only up to 10 boards. It’s a good solution for individuals who need to track personal projects or for freelancers who want to track client projects.
- Standard: The Standard plan from Trello costs $5 per month, per user (billed annually) and removes limitations on boards and you can upload files up to 250 MB per file. It’s at this level you can invite guests to your board, so it’s a good pick for small teams that need client approval.
- Premium: Trello offers a Premium plan for $10 per month, per user (billed annually) and it turns Trello into more of a traditional project management program with more views, including calendar, dashboard, timeline, and map. You also get access to priority support, an important offer for businesses with multiple users that may need more help than what they can find in the knowledge base.
- Enterprise: For larger companies, Trello has an Enterprise plan that starts for $17.50 per user, per month (billed annually) with a minimum of 50 users required. You get everything that Trello offers at this level, including more security and permissions for better organization of data and users.
Best For
Trello is simple project management software meant for anyone. From individuals managing personal projects to PM managers organizing work for a small team or multiple teams, Trello can be helpful.
Why we love it
:
Asana offers cross-team collaboration tools for tasks, projects, and conversations. Using it, you can get a clear view of who’s doing what and by when, which helps when you all have to work on the same tasks, projects, or goals.
- Feature-packed free plan with few limitations
- Excellent tools for cross-team collaboration on projects, tasks, and goals
- No limits on file storage (except file sizes)
- Conversations, assets remain centralized to project and tasks
- Drag-and-drop functionality makes it easy to build projects
- Workflow automation helps reduce manual tasks (available on paid plans)
- Real-time reporting makes it easy for managers to see 50,000-foot views of data with the ability to drill down to more granular views
- No built-in time tracking (must use time tracking app integration)
- Overwhelming amount of features for those not used to project management software
- Tasks and subtasks cannot be assigned to more than one user
Asana
Review:
Project management software like Asana is a great pick when you need strong team collaboration tools. The timeline view shows what each person on every team is working on, along with dependencies (if there are any), which helps employees, managers, and stakeholders.
The messaging and commenting features keep all conversations relevant to each task or project, so you can collaborate easily (and without having to sift through email chains or call a meeting). Use the form builder to communicate between teams and find out what’s needed — the completed form can be easily turned into a project.
Asana
Customers:
Amazon, Google, The New Yorker, AT&T, PayPal, Slack, Spotify all use Asana.
Amazon, Google, The New Yorker, AT&T, PayPal, Slack, Spotify all use Asana.
Asana
Pricing:
Asana has four plans:
- Basic: This is a forever-free plan. There are no limits to tasks, projects, messages, or file storage (100MB per file limit). Collaboration is limited to 15 members, so it’s a good choice for new small businesses and solopreneurs.
- Premium: For $10.99 per user, per month (billed annually) you can get everything in the free plan plus timeline view, a workflow builder, forms, automated rules, and milestones. You can also invite an unlimited number of guests (good for client approval on projects).
- Business: This plan costs $24.99 per user, per month (billed annually) and includes everything from the two lower-tier plans. There are more advanced features at this level, such as goals, custom rules builder, and integrations with programs like Salesforce and Tableau, making it a great pick for larger businesses and agencies.
- Enterprise: The Enterprise plan requires a custom quote from Asana. You get all the same features as the Business plan, but you also unlock custom branding, data export, and 24/7 support. It’s best for large companies that want to add their brand to the Asana platform for a more professional look and require access to customer support at all hours of the day and night.
Asana has four plans:
- Basic: This is a forever-free plan. There are no limits to tasks, projects, messages, or file storage (100MB per file limit). Collaboration is limited to 15 members, so it’s a good choice for new small businesses and solopreneurs.
- Premium: For $10.99 per user, per month (billed annually) you can get everything in the free plan plus timeline view, a workflow builder, forms, automated rules, and milestones. You can also invite an unlimited number of guests (good for client approval on projects).
- Business: This plan costs $24.99 per user, per month (billed annually) and includes everything from the two lower-tier plans. There are more advanced features at this level, such as goals, custom rules builder, and integrations with programs like Salesforce and Tableau, making it a great pick for larger businesses and agencies.
- Enterprise: The Enterprise plan requires a custom quote from Asana. You get all the same features as the Business plan, but you also unlock custom branding, data export, and 24/7 support. It’s best for large companies that want to add their brand to the Asana platform for a more professional look and require access to customer support at all hours of the day and night.
Best For
Whether you’re running a solo operation or a corporation, Asana offers a plan to fit all business sizes. Most industries can use Asana, including content creators, software developers, and product development.
We use Asana every day, for multiple projects, across all of our teams. It’s especially useful for Onboarding/Hiring and off-site planning within the Ops department. Our marketing team uses it to track launches and social calendars. Asana has a recurring feature, which is really helpful for our Finance team, they can have duplicate tasks based on their workflows each week/month/quarter, and year.
- Easy to use - the user interface is fairly intuitive, and it’s really easy to get started. Although there are many features, the basic ones are straightforward and Asana has many great tutorials to help you learn the rest.
- Integrates with Google / Slack - this is a great reason to use Asana because you can create tasks from Slack, and then keep track of things that are said/need follow-up.
- Easy collaboration - You can create teams in Asana so that each project can be customized as to who needs visibility and access. It’s a great way to be able to work together in real-time, or even async, which is really important to us.
- That you can't assign one task to more than one person - sometimes a task needs to be completed by more than one person, it would be great to assign one task to more than one person - currently, you have to duplicate the task.
- There's no time tracking - for contractors it would be great to have a feature that could time track each task, and then support them with their invoices to monitor how much time they spent in total
- Can get too complex - there are many views / additional features that can get overwhelming, but once you learn how to use Asana to its full extent, this does get easier to navigate.
We were losing track of tasks that needed collaboration, and due dates were being missed. Asana helps us keep track of multiple projects within different departments and allows for better collaboration. We are now able to stay on top of projects and know who is accountable for each task. I have personally used it for over seven years and could not imagine not using this tool for work and personal use.
I've used ClickUp and really dislike it - it's quite bloated and not as intuitive or easy to use. I prefer Asana because it’s a cleaner user interface. I’ve also used Trello, and while it can do a lot of what Asana does, I think I still prefer Asana.
How big/small your team is, how proficient people are with technology, how comfortable they are with using a tool like this - it should support tasks, not take up more of your time.
Yes, there have been more integrations and also dependent tasks and prioritization features.
Well-versed in technology, project management, operations.
Non-profit, people who aren't well versed in tech.
Why we love it
:
The Teamwork devs seem to understand that client-based businesses require tools to make team collaboration easier. All plans get collaborative document management, built-in team chat, and shared dashboards.
- Free plan with more than standard project management features, such as team chat, time tracking, and unlimited client views
- Proofing tools are included for all paid plans, so you can review files before handing off to clients
- Create custom tags for projects and tasks
- Built-in time tracking and invoicing means you save money because there’s less dependency on integrations
- Intuitive interface makes it easy for anyone to learn how to use, so there’s less downtime for your team
- Switching between project views is simple
- Subtasks nest under main tasks in list and table views for clear bird’s-eye view of projects
- Affordable, scalable plans make this a viable project management solution for any size of business
- Built-in chat makes it easy to communicate with colleagues without needing to integrate another app.
- Storage is limited on every plan, from 100 MB on free plan up to 250 GB on Grow plan
- Two-factor authentication (2FA) only on high-tier plans
- User minimums required on all paid plans
- Interface is a bit cluttered with small fonts, which makes it hard to read all the info you see
- No markup tools for attachments
Teamwork
Review:
Teamwork is project management software that many teams rely on for collaboration, especially for client-oriented projects. Tools to help with collaboration include built-in direct messaging, collaborative document storage, and commenting on projects.
It’s an ideal pick for small agencies that have remote teams working together on client-based projects because of advanced tools. For example, you get built-in time tracking and unlimited client views on your projects, plus invoicing.
Teamwork
Customers:
Teamwork serves several types of businesses, including ValPak, Cox Media Group, Salted Stone, Northwestern Mutual, and Infosys.
Teamwork serves several types of businesses, including ValPak, Cox Media Group, Salted Stone, Northwestern Mutual, and Infosys.
Teamwork
Pricing:
Teamwork has 4 pricing plans:
- Free Forever: This plan is free of charge for up to 5 users and is ideal for individuals and small teams getting started with project management.
- Deliver: This plan is ideal for teams that want to manage multiple projects and costs $10 per user per month, billed annually.
- Grow: This plan is ideal for larger teams that need to work more efficiently. When billed annually, this plan costs $18 per user per month.
- Enterprise: This plan is designed for enterprises that require advanced security and extra speed. Contact a Teamwork sales representative for a price quote.
Teamwork offers five plans:
- Free Forever: The Free Forever plan allows you to have up to five members on it and it’s completely free. This plan includes all project views, including list, table, board, and Gantt, plus unlimited task templates, up to two custom fields and project templates, and up to 100 automation actions per month.
- Starter: In this plan, you get everything in the free plan, but limits are less restricting. You get up to 10 project templates and 500 automation actions per month. The Starter plan costs $5.99 per user, per month (billed annually; three-user minimum)
- Deliver: For $9.99 per user, per month (billed annually; three-user minimum) you get everything in the Starter plan and some new features, such as intake forms and team management. Also, your automation actions limit goes up to 1,000 per month and 20 project templates.
- Grow: Teamwork’s most popular tier costs $17.99 per user, per month (billed annually; five-user minimum). You get everything in the Deliver plan, but it’s at this level that you unlock project budget expenses, tasklist budgets, and retainer management features.
- Scale: The Scale plan is meant for larger businesses that require more customization and permissions. Pricing for this plan is by custom quote, so booking a demo is recommended.
Best For
Teamwork’s client-minded features, like built-in time tracking and invoicing, it’s best for agencies and freelancers with clients. Although it’s scalable, it’s better for smaller teams, but cross-team collaboration tools could change that.
Why we love it
:
It’s easy to collaborate with teams via Jira’s visual boards. Create cards with multiple subtasks and set up task dependencies for collaboration on projects. All users can leave comments on each task to keep conversations relevant to each issue.
- The no-code workflow automation builder is accessible for all users, so you don’t have to be a programmer or developer to create easy solutions.
- Jira’s Kanban board is specifically designed for Agile style project management, but they’re flexible enough to work for any department.
- Agile teams can use Jira scrum templates to quickly set up sprints, saving you time from having to set them up manually. Simply fill in an epic with a user story and cards with your tasks.
- Advanced security features (SSO, 2FA, permissions, roles) make Jira one of the safest project management apps.
- Roadmaps give clear visibility on projects and task dependency for 50,000-foot views. They’re ideal for product development and management.
- While all project management apps typically offer integrations with popular software, Jira has more than 3,000 integrations (more than industry standard) to make it easy to extend the functionality of the platform.
- May be difficult to master the advanced features (roadmapping, dependencies, automation), especially for new users.
- You won’t find as many project views as other top-rated project management software, so don’t count on Gantt, calendar, or timeline views.
- Jira has much more expensive paid plans than other leading project management apps.
- Users report Jira isn’t the most intuitive platform at the beginning. Finding tags, fields, etc. can be difficult.
Jira
Review:
The visual boards in the Jira platform are excellent for team collaboration because it’s easy to see who’s working on each task. You can click into any card to see subtasks, comments, and files attached to that one main task. Beyond the commenting system though, Jira isn’t set up for natural team collaboration.
To get a more seamless environment for team collaboration on Jira projects, you may find it necessary to integrate other apps, such as Slack or Confluence.
Jira
Customers:
Some top-tier customers prefer Jira for product and project development, including Square, eBay, Pfizer, Cisco, and Visa.
Some top-tier customers prefer Jira for product and project development, including Square, eBay, Pfizer, Cisco, and Visa
Jira
Pricing:
Jira offers four plans:
Free: Jira’s free plan allows up to 10 users and includes most features. File storage is limited to 2 GB. It’s a great pick for a small team or a freelancer.
Standard: The low-tier Standard plan from Jira costs $77.50 per month and the user limit is set to 35,000, which is much higher than industry average. Most features are the same as the free plan, but you also get access to user permissions and project roles. File storage limit increases to 250 GB. It’s the best plan for small to midsize businesses.
Premium: For $152.50 per month, Jira’s Premium plan unlocks more advanced features and fewer limits. User limit stays at 35,000, so it can work for any size business. You can create automations for multiple projects and you get advanced roadmap and task dependency features. You also get more security features, admin controls, 24/7 priority support, and unlimited file storage.
Enterprise: The Enterprise plan includes everything Jira has to offer, including a subscription to Atlassian Access, which gives you single sign-on and enforced two-factor authentication (2FA). It also lets you set up multiple sites, which is best for businesses with many brands that need separate workspaces.
Jira offers four plans:
- Free: Jira’s free plan allows up to 10 users and includes most features. File storage is limited to 2 GB. It’s a great pick for a small team or a freelancer.
- Standard: The low-tier Standard plan from Jira costs $77.50 per month and the user limit is set to 35,000, which is much higher than industry average. Most features are the same as the free plan, but you also get access to user permissions and project roles. File storage limit increases to 250 GB. It’s the best plan for small to midsize businesses.
- Premium: For $152.50 per month, Jira’s Premium plan unlocks more advanced features and fewer limits. User limit stays at 35,000, so it can work for any size business. You can create automations for multiple projects and you get advanced roadmap and task dependency features. You also get more security features, admin controls, 24/7 priority support, and unlimited file storage.
- Enterprise: The Enterprise plan includes everything Jira has to offer, including a subscription to Atlassian Access, which gives you single sign-on and enforced two-factor authentication (2FA). It also lets you set up multiple sites, which is best for businesses with many brands that need separate workspaces.
Best For
Jira is ideal for software development teams that prefer to use the Agile method of project management. Its plans work well for any size team given its high user limit.
Why we love it
:
ProofHub offers numerous features, enough for growing teams to collaborate, but not so many that it's overwhelming and leads to disengagement. Their fix-price (unlimited users) is also a bonus.
- Works well for design-related projects.
- Easy to use and set up.
- In-app messaging.
- White labeling personalization and customization.
- Available in 11 languages.
- Flat rate paid plan allows unlimited users.
- Provides guest access.
- Has a free trial. Free versions are available on request.
- This product allows you to store and manage files within the platform. It has a capacity of up to 100GB of storage.
- In-app messaging capabilities
- White labeling personalization and customization
- Multi-lingual (available in 11 languages)
- Limited integration options.
- API access and report features are for the top-tier plan only.
- Lacks resource management and budgeting capabilities.
- No employee monitoring features
- This product has limited integration options. You can only integrate with about five tools which do not include the likes of Jira, Notion, and Zapier.
- No project tracking and budgeting capabilities
ProofHub
Review:
ProofHub has all the essential features of a team collaboration product, such as Gantt charts for planning and adjusting schedules and Kanban boards for visualizing and tracking task progress. Teams can also track their time on each task with ProofHub’s built-in time-tracking tool.
There are also some unexpected features, like ProofHub Discussions. This feature helps users create structure around discussions, whether entirely internal or including external stakeholders.
It also lets users add comments directly via email (no logging into the platform) and look up previous discussion topics easily with advanced search.
The in-built proofing tool enables users to preview, review, proof, and share feedback on a shared file. This is especially useful for creative and visual product teams.
Unlike Asana, which only allows one assignee per project, ProofHub users can assign tasks to one or multiple team members. Plus, users can mark a task as private if the card contains sensitive information that specific people should only see.
ProofHub contains a great set of features for distributed teams to collaborate. Admins can add users with attributes like access type, title, language, and timezone information to maintain orderly and engaged collaboration.
ProofHub
Customers:
ProofHub is used by 85,000+ businesses worldwide, including Google, Netflix, Nike, TripAdvisor, Nasam, and Pinterest.
Disney, Nike, Bosch, Netflix, Google, Pinterest, Tripadvisor
ProofHub
Pricing:
ProofHub has two pricing plans:
- Essential: For $45 a month (billed annually), this plan comes with 40 projects, unlimited users, and 15 GB of storage.
- Ultimate Control: For $89 a month (billed annually), this plan comes with an unlimited number of projects, users, and 100 GB of storage.
ProofHub offers two per-month based pricing plans. The plans are as follows:
- Essential: This plan costs $50 per month ($45 when billed annually). This plan comes with 40 projects for unlimited users, 15 GB of storage and ProofHub’s core features. Core features include project and task management, Gantt charts, time tracking, chats and discussions, notes, and other scheduling features. Sadly, this plan does not include reports.
- Ultimate control: This plan costs $99 per month ($89 when billed annually). This plan comes with unlimited projects for unlimited users and 100 GB of storage. You also get more features in addition to those in the Essential plan such as reports, white labeling services, API integration, and you also get priority support.
A good thing about ProofHub’s price model is that it is on a per-month basis instead of the more common per user per month basis. Which is a good deal for a larger team.
Best For
Distributed, remote, office-based businesses and agencies in marketing, and creative/design industries.
Why we love it
:
Not many project management apps offer functionality for so many types of businesses, ease of use, and affordability like monday.com does. It also offers gamification for users, such as visual celebrations for completing a task, which makes it fun and motivating for everyone in your department or company to use.
- Free plan available, and affordable, scalable plans for small to midsize businesses
- Easy to learn and use
- Customizable dashboard
- Collaborative document creation with the ability to turn content in docs into tasks in projects with a few clicks
- Gamified progress tracking with visual celebrations for users
- Workflow automation for repetitive tasks
- Built-in communication tools reduce reliance on email
- Customized forms for in-house or client use that can be easily turned into projects
- 3+ users are required to get on any of the paid plans
- Limited storage on the Basic plan
- Could be too complex for simple project management needs
- No phone customer support
- Tracking different conversations can be difficult because of all the clutter
Monday.com
Review:
Monday.com is an easy-to-use cloud-based project management system. The gamified progress tracking (colorful celebrations with each task you check off) makes work fun, and the collaborative and dynamic documents feature makes it easy to create projects from lists.
Depending on the plan you subscribe to, you have more than 10 different views of projects. Monday.com also lets you customize your dashboard, so you can see the data or projects most important to you. The drag-and-drop interface is intuitive and you can add or remove specific widgets for your needs.
Monday.com
Customers:
More than 110,000 companies use monday.com, including Hulu, Uber, and Coca-Cola. :
More than 110,000 companies use monday.com, including Hulu, Uber, and Coca-Cola. :
Monday.com
Pricing:
Pricing for monday.com ranges from free to $22 per user, per month, billed annually, with a three-user minimum.
- Individual: $0 (up to 2 users). Users on this plan get a maximum of three boards, no limitations on document creation, and more than 200 templates to use.
- Basic: $10 per user, per month (billed annually; 3-user min.). This plan lets you share boards with an unlimited number of viewers, ups your storage limit from 500 MB to 5 GB, and removes limitations on board creation.
- Standard: $13 per user, per month (billed annually; 3-user min.). The Standard plan is monday.com’s most popular because it gives you everything in the Basic plan plus more storage (20 GB) and unlocks workflow automations and integrations, though these are limited to 250 actions per month each.
- Pro: $22 per user, per month (billed annually; 3-user min.). At this level, your storage increases to 100 GB and you get up to 25,000 actions per month each for workflow automations and integrations. You also get built-in time tracking, chart views, and workload views, which is helpful for team leads.
- Enterprise: Custom pricing. This plan ups your storage to 1 TB and your actions increase to 250,000 per month for automations and integrations. Features only found on the Enterprise plan include a dedicated account manager and a 99.9% uptime guarantee. You’ll also get single sign-on (SSO) for your whole company, IP restrictions, and HIPAA compliance level security.
Pricing for monday.com ranges from free to $22 per user, per month, billed annually, with a three-user minimum.
- Individual: $0 (up to 2 users). Users on this plan get a maximum of three boards, no limitations on document creation, and more than 200 templates to use.
- Basic: $10 per user, per month (billed annually; 3-user min.). This plan lets you share boards with an unlimited number of viewers, ups your storage limit from 500 MB to 5 GB, and removes limitations on board creation.
- Standard: $13 per user, per month (billed annually; 3-user min.). The Standard plan is monday.com’s most popular because it gives you everything in the Basic plan plus more storage (20 GB) and unlocks workflow automations and integrations, though these are limited to 250 actions per month each.
- Pro: $22 per user, per month (billed annually; 3-user min.). At this level, your storage increases to 100 GB and you get up to 25,000 actions per month each for workflow automations and integrations. You also get built-in time tracking, chart views, and workload views, which is helpful for team leads.
- Enterprise: Custom pricing. This plan ups your storage to 1 TB and your actions increase to 250,000 per month for automations and integrations. Features only found on the Enterprise plan include a dedicated account manager and a 99.9% uptime guarantee. You’ll also get single sign-on (SSO) for your whole company, IP restrictions, and HIPAA compliance level security.
Best For
We think monday.com is suitable for almost any type of business that needs to track projects or collaborate on work. It's a highly scalable solution, making it an ideal solution for all sizes of businesses.
Benefits of Team Collaboration Software
Using team collaboration software allows companies to:
- Increase speed and efficiency: Collaboration software acts as a shared virtual space where team members can instantly access information, share feedback, find and store different types of files, and much more. It particularly comes in handy for cross-functional and remote team collaboration where the members involved are scattered across different offices, if not different countries.
- Improve internal communication: Collaboration tools provide teams with a channel to instantly and informally communicate. Team members can privately message one another, comment on shared content as well as chat 1:1 or in groups over audio/video calls. Depending on the platform you use, you may get to permanently store the communication history and search it as needed.
- Manage projects better: Though they don’t completely replace project management software, collaboration software features like boards, to-do lists, shared calendars, etc can facilitate basic project management. Managers can assign responsibilities, request status updates, and check on their team to ensure they have everything they need and aren’t facing blockers.
- Improve employee satisfaction: When your employees are limited to outdated and formal communication and collaboration channels, it is easy for them to get frustrated and dissatisfied with your company which in turn, will have a negative impact on your projects’ development. Investing in a good collaboration software streamlines how your employees work together and complete tasks, which will not only boost their satisfaction but in the long run, foster a work culture where everyone is encouraged to reach out, share knowledge and help one another.
Mistakes to Avoid When Buying Team Collaboration Software
With so many products on the market, meticulous research and evaluation are required to make sure you don’t buy the wrong one. Here are some of the most common mistakes businesses make:
- Getting into a long-term commitment with a vendor before thoroughly testing their product: Most software vendors will offer you a discount if you sign an annual contract. Some will even try to tempt you to get into a 2-year commitment. While such deals are cost-effective in the long run, you should only commit to a vendor after thoroughly testing their product and verifying that it works for you. This is to save you from the hassle of going back and forth with the vendor regarding their refund policy and incurring cancellation fees.
- Buying advanced team collaboration features when all you need is a whiteboard-like software: Team collaboration solutions can pack advanced and flashy features such as scrum boards, change management, and risk management. Those features are fantastic for teams that use them, such as software development teams. If your team doesn’t have a use for those features, don’t buy them.
- Choosing a team collaboration system that isn’t scalable: Your company may grow rapidly in a matter of months. It may also experience financial struggles, requiring you to shrink your team. No matter what the future holds, you’ll definitely need your team collaboration software to grow or shrink accordingly, without needing to switch to different providers every time you scale.
Pricing Models of Team Collaboration Software
As with many software products, the pricing of team collaboration software is usually broken into tiers, often between 2 to 5. The pricing of those tiers can either be a flat subscription fee ranging between $45 and $100 a month for an unlimited number of employees or follow a per-employee-per-month model, which could cost anywhere between $4.50 and $40 per employee per month.
Do note that in all cases, additional fees may still apply for on-demand services such as product implementation, training, customization, dedicated account management, and cancellation. Consult your chosen team collaboration software vendor on the exact breakdown of all their fees, both recurring and non-recurring.
One more thing to look out for is whether or not the vendor has a minimum price commitment policy. Vendors with such policy won’t let you subscribe to certain plans (often their best-value plans) unless your total monthly or annual bill exceeds a predefined amount.
For more information and to learn about our software pricing best practices, check out our ebook on getting the best pricing in HR tech.
Key Features of Team Collaboration Software
- Task management: Team collaboration solutions allow you to create and assign tasks. They should also allow you to order tasks in terms of importance, and—if someone on your team is away for any reason—reassign their tasks to other individuals with the capacity to take them on.
- Boards and Lists: Another common feature of team collaboration products is the ability to create boards and lists to stay organized, have important tasks/elements in one place, and easily visualize all pending/completed items.
- Customizable workflows: One size never fits all in team collaboration, which is why most software tools in this space allow you to customize workflows and continuously finetune them to boost your team’s productivity and achieve the best outcomes.
- Reminders and notifications: Team collaboration software ensures you never miss important updates through in-app, email, and mobile push notifications. You can also customize what you get notified for and set reminders for when certain deadlines are approaching or when certain milestones are completed.
- Docs and file management: A good team collaboration solution should allow you to share documents and other types of files easily and quickly with a large number of people. It should also offer extensible cloud storage so you can save all of those documents and files long term.
- User administration: Projects often bring together collaborators at different levels. These include but aren’t limited to managers, employees, freelancers, third-party vendors, and clients. As the person in charge, you may want to give all of those people access to your project but customize that access to keep certain information on a need-to-know basis. With the help of team collaboration software, you can create user groups with different access levels. When done, all that’s left to do is just add people to the correct user group, and they’ll automatically receive the access level that comes with it.
- Third-party integrations: The majority of team collaboration tools offer integration options with your existing business tools, such as those for recruiting, payroll, enterprise resource planning (ERP), team communication, and more, to extend the functionality of your software, have your data synchronize automatically, and eliminate duplicated effort.
- Mobile access: Mobile accessibility is essential to collaboration tech. Nobody wants to limit themselves to laptops or desktops, which is why most collaboration solutions offer iOS and Android apps that teams can use to send/receive updates instantly, view progress, keep track of deadlines, and more on the go.
- Additional features: In addition to the above, some team collaboration software solutions may also carry features for time tracking, invoicing, expense tracking, asset management, issue tracking, and risk management.
Questions to Ask During Your Team Collaboration Software Demos
As you’re vetting different team collaboration software products, we always recommend that you schedule demo sessions with the top vendors on your list to make sure their solution is right for you. Here are a few questions you can ask team collaboration software vendors:
- Can you show me what employees see through their accounts?
- Does your software leverage any artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning for process automation?
- Can team members video chat with one another through your platform?
- Is your software easy to implement, and would I be able to set it up myself?
- What business apps does your product integrate with?
- What metrics have you used to prove the effectiveness of your software?
- What data protection laws is your software compliant with?
- How much does your product cost for my team size and needs?
- How will the current pricing change as our team grows or shrinks?
- Do you assign businesses a dedicated account manager?
- What are your service level agreements (SLAs)?
- Do you have a knowledge base with articles/guides for self-service?
Implementing Team Collaboration Software
The majority of products in this space are cloud-based, delivered through a software-as-a-service (SaaS) infrastructure. Getting started with cloud-based software is fairly easy. Once you’ve selected a vendor that meets your needs and purchased a subscription, you can create an account and start configuring it right away (e.g. import your employee data, invite your employees to sign up, start communicating, sharing files, and more).
Though not many, there are some team collaboration software solutions that are self-hosted (on-premise). Self-hosted solutions generally take longer to set up compared to their cloud-based counterparts. If you choose to go with a self-hosted product, make sure you consult the vendor regarding their product’s compatibility with your current company hardware. You may even be able to have them install the product on your behalf, which is always recommended as they know best and can get you up and running in no time.
Note: Most of the software vendors we’ve listed in this guide provide step-by-step video tutorials and help docs that assist customers in implementing the product. For more information, you can reach out to your assigned account manager or a customer support representative.
Team Collaboration Software FAQs
What is team collaboration?
Team collaboration is when team members work together to achieve shared business objectives. It involves equal participation, planning, strategic task assignment, and a lot of communication to ensure everyone is on the same page.
How to improve team collaboration?
Collaboration improves when teams are constantly aligned to a shared set of objectives and are provided with good tools to communicate and work more efficiently.
What is cross-team collaboration?
Cross-functional team collaboration is when employees from different departments (e.g. sales, marketing, IT, etc.) join forces to work on a common project.
What is team collaboration software?
Collaboration software acts as a shared virtual space where team members can instantly access information, communicate with another, share feedback, files, and much more. It is particularly useful for cross-functional and remote team collaboration where the members involved are scattered across different offices if not different countries.
What are the features of team collaboration software?
Team collaboration software commonly offers features for:
- Messaging and video conferencing
- File sharing and management
- Editable boards, cards, or lists
- Reminders and notifications
- User administration
- Analytics and reporting
What are the benefits of team collaboration software?
Collaboration software enables teams to communicate better and work more efficiently.
What should I look for in team collaboration software?
Besides ensuring a team collaboration solution covers the features you need, make sure it is also easy to use, scalable, can integrate with the rest of your tech stack, and has a mobile app for on-the-go access.
What is the best free team collaboration software?
The best free team collaboration software solutions are:
- Podio: Has a plan that is free of charge for up to five employees
- Flock: Has a plan that is free of charge for up to 20 users
- Miro: Has a plan that is free of charge without limitation on the number of users
- Slack: Has a free plan with limitations on message history access
- Wrike: Has a free version with limitations on the number of active tasks
- Trello: Has a free version with an unlimited number of users, cards, and up to 10 Trello boards
- Asana: Has a free version that’s great for teams getting started with team collaboration
- Zoho Projects: Has a plan that’s free of charge for up to 3 users
- Teamwork: Has a plan that’s free of charge for up to 5 users
- Jira: Has a free plan that’s limited to 10 users
- Monday.com: Has a free plan that’s limited to 2 users
- Redtooth: Has a free plan for up to 2 users, 2 workspaces, and 2GB of storage
- Airtable: Has a free plan with unlimited bases (1200 records and 2GB attachments limit per base)
Final Advice on Buying Team Collaboration Software
All companies, including yours, can benefit from the right team collaboration software to boost productivity, promote teamwork and improve output. Before choosing a product, make sure you:
- Align with your managers and key stakeholders regarding their needs and expectations before selecting a product.
- Carefully consider those needs, as well as your budget, and choose a product that meets them.
- Request a trial account to test the platform’s features first hand.
- Schedule demo sessions with different vendors in this space to get all of your questions answered.
Thanks for reading our guide on team collaboration software. If you’re interested in similar software solutions that boost team productivity and drive up engagement, check out our guides on Project Management Software, and Objectives and Key Results Software.
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