16 Best Podio alternatives & competitors for project management & collaboration

Introduction

Podio is a versatile project management solution known for its customized workspaces and features that facilitate collaboration and task management. However, there are many Podio alternatives that offer more advanced and specialized tools at a much lower price.

 In this article, we will explore the top alternatives to Podio that are best suited for project management and collaboration.

Limitations of Podio

Here are a few common limitations of Podio:

• The pricing structure of Podio can become expensive as the number of users increases, making it less cost-effective for larger teams.
• Podio can be too complex for smaller teams or simpler projects that need a more straightforward, user-friendly interface.
• Limited customization capabilities for businesses with highly specific or unique workflow requirements.
• User Experience: The interface can be less intuitive and visually appealing compared to other project management tools.
• Podio might not offer the seamless integrations needed for businesses relying on a diverse set of tools.
• Customer support and resources might not be as comprehensive or responsive.

Top Podio alternatives for project management

1. ProofHub

ProofHub is a cloud-based project management software for team collaboration and project management. With the right tools for better project planning, the teams are growing day by day by using ProofHub.  It helps you simplify project management by putting all the pieces of your project’s puzzle in the right place. Popular names like NASA, Taco Bell, Disney, Netflix, and other 85000+ small groups are using ProofHub to end their project management woes.

ProofHub features

• Suitable for businesses who want to operate on a global level
• Collaborate and communicate over organizational matters from one place
• Open API to connect it to virtually any third-party system
• Online proofing software streamlines the proofing and approval process to save you time and effort
• Keep all your stuff secure and neatly organized in folders and subfolders
• Online time tracking software to record every hour spent
• Protect privacy and secrecy over confidential issues
• Integration with Dropbox, Slack, Google Drive, Freshbooks, QuickBooks, Google Calendar and more
• Available on Android and iOS.

Pricing

ProofHub offers two plans:

• The Essential plan, starting at a flat $45/month, allows unlimited users to manage up to forty projects
• The Ultimate Control plan, priced at a Flat $89/month, allows unlimited users to manage unlimited projects.

For monthly billing, the plans cost $50/month and $99/month, respectively.

2. Monday.com

Formerly known as Dapulse, monday.com is one of the market’s leading collaboration and communication apps. It syncs all information in a single hub and empowers teams to make important decisions. This is a tool your team will enjoy using. 350,000 people, from 76 countries, in 40,000 teams manage their work with monday.com.

Monday.com features

• Eliminate noise: get updates based on relevance
• Zero emails and meetings overhead
• Keep everyone on the same page
• Highly customizable interface
• Easily work with third parties
• An Execution Board – with a big screen display
• Knowledge base – auto-generated, completely searchable, full documentation

Pricing

• The Basic plan is priced at $9 per seat per month, billed annually, and $12 per seat per month, billed monthly.
• The Standard plan is priced at $12 per seat per month, billed annually, and $14 per seat per month, billed monthly.
• The Pro plan is priced at $19 per seat per month, billed annually, and $24 per seat per month, billed monthly.
• The Enterprise plan for larger organizations with specific requirements, an Enterprise plan is available.

Frustrated with Monday.com? Check out the best alternatives to monday.com

3. Celoxis

An excellent alternative to Podio, Celoxis is a comprehensive web-based project management solution that is easy to use and affordable. It is an integrated solution you can use to manage your project portfolios,  create modules for resource management, budgeting, time and expense tracking, reporting and team collaboration, workflows, expenses, time sheets, and resources.

Celoxis features

• Improve client and team collaboration
• Plan and curate multiple project portfolios
• Connect with a project plan and actual work
• Get meaningful data in order to make informed decisions
• Resource management with off-time scheduling

Pricing

Celoxis has 2 tiered pricing structure:

• The Cloud Version costs $25 for the Manager role and $15 per user/month when billed annually. (Minimum 5 users)
• The On-Premise Version one-time license fee of $450 per user, with a minimum of 5 users required.

4. Planio

Planio is one of the best Podio alternatives, it makes project management and team collaboration more efficient than Podio. Major features include: milestones, collaborative file management, a ticket system, automatically generated Gantt charts and roadmaps, a news system, and wikis and forums.

Planio features

• Visualize the current status of every initiative, down to single tasks and hours tracked
• Project and customer management
• Run Agile projects with Scrum or Kanban boards
• Host unlimited SVN or GIT repositories

Pricing

Planio offers four pricing plans with varying features and storage capacities:

• The Silver Plan costs $25/month for 3 active projects, 5 active users, and 5 GB of storage
• The Gold Plan costs $49/month for 7 active projects, 10 active users, and 20 GB storage
• The Diamond Plan costs $99/month for 15 active projects, 20 active users, and 40 GB of storage
• The Platinum Plan costs $199/month for 40 active projects, 45 active users, 80 GB storage

5. OfficeTimer

OfficeTimer is a web-based office management software designed to track employee productivity. It is important to define timelines for a project and employees, OfficeTimer makes sure everyone is on the same page with clearly defined timelines. OfficeTimer makes a more viable, realistic, and clear framework to set up deadlines and appoint fixed approval bids.

OfficeTimer features

• Makes time management more efficient with a clean and easy-to-understand interface
• Fully optimized for mobile platforms
• Make smarter business decisions

Pricing

• OfficeTimer offers a free plan to get started with limited features
• The Premium plan costs $3.99 per user/month when billed annually

6. SmartTask

Another Podio alternative that is famous amongst teams is SmartTask. SmartTask is an online project management and collaboration tool designed to streamline work processes. SmartTask is a product of Skillweb used by teams for employee scheduling, mobile workforce, and item-tracking apps. It brings task management, file sharing, CRM, location tracking, and instant messaging to one platform.

SmartTask features

• Payroll and invoicing
• Captures time of attendance of employees
• Collaborate on shared projects
• Stay connected with immediate notifications

Pricing

SmartTask offers 3 paid plans

• The Premium plan costs $7.99 per user/month when billed annually and $11.99 on monthly billing
• The Premium plan costs $10.99 per user/month when billed annually and $15.99 on monthly billing
• For Enterprise plan pricing you have to contact the sales team

7. Zoho projects

Zoho Projects is a part of the Zoho business suite. On this platform, users can keep track of progress, communicate easily, and discuss ideas. This cloud-based system is highly accessible and intended to help Agile teams manage their projects. Zoho Projects offers a wide range of features to help teams plan, track, and collaborate on projects effectively

Zoho projects features

• Help managers resolve errors in the project tasks
• Enables members to log their hours, both billable and non-billable
• The built-in integration automatically generates invoices from timesheets
• Built-in Gantt charts for milestones and dependencies
• Work together on documents, presentations, and spreadsheets

Pricing

Zoho Projects offers various pricing plans in the USA:

• Zoho offers a Free Plan that Includes 2 projects, subtasks, and 5GB of storage space for up to 3 users
• The Premium plan costs $4 per user/month when billed annually and includes features like read-only users, custom fields & status, and custom roles & profiles
• The Enterprise plan costs $12 per user month on annual billing and offers premium features

Also read: Zoho alternatives – Best tools your team will love

8. Stackfield

With Stackfield, you can manage the tasks and projects of your team. It enables the user to easily and intuitively create an individual and self-contained stack for every challenge. Stackfield enables the user to easily and intuitively create an individual stack for every challenge.

Stackfield features

• Work with your team on tasks, documents, and files in a secure way
• Stores and encrypts data using AES and RSA algorithms
• Communicate over secure data rooms with your partners
• Discussing multiple topics in a large team
• Create custom workflows and processes

Pricing

Stackfield offers 3 pricing plans

• The Business plan costs €11 per user/month when billed annually and €13.20 per user on monthly billing
• The Premium plan costs €16 per user/month when billed annually and €19.20 per user on monthly billing
• The Enterprise plan costs €24 per user/month when billed annually and €28.80 per user on monthly billing

9. ActiveCollab

ActiveCollab runs in the cloud like most other project management software. It lets you know who works on what, when work is due, who has too much work on their plate, and how deadlines are overlapping across projects. With ActiveCollab, you can spend less time on busy work and spend more time doing what matters.

ActiveCollab features

• Convenient email and in-line notification integration
• Streamline your internal communication by sharing files, delegating tasks, and much more
• Collaborate more closely
• Automatic reminders when payment is due

Pricing

ActiveCollab offers 3 pricing plans designed to meet the diverse needs of different teams and organizations:

• The Plus plan for smaller teams costs $9.5 per month for 3 members, billed annually, or $11 per month for 3 members, billed monthly.
• The Pro plan for teams and companies costs $8 per member/month, billed annually, or $9 per member per month, billed monthly.
• The Pro+Get paid plan costs $11.75 per member/month, billed annually, or $14 per member/month, billed monthly.

10. ProWorkflow

ProWorkflow gives the team clear visibility and accountability on projects, tasks, billing, and reporting. It focuses on visibility to collaborate with teams easily. Stay on top of deadlines always with ProWorkflow. It is a productive tool providing a comprehensive set of features that are easy to use by all team members.

ProWorkflow features

• Customize templates for reports and forms
• Keep all project information in one organized page
• View and manage your workload in different ways
• Time tracking and budgeting tools to streamline your project and task processes
• Robust reporting tools to identify and measure metrics

Pricing

Proworkflow pricing plans:

• The Professional Plan costs $18 per user/month (Billed Annually) or $20 per user per month (Billed Monthly)
• The Advanced Plan costs $27 per user/month (Billed Annually) or $30 per user per month (Billed Monthly)
• The Enterprise Plan pricing information is available by contacting the sales team

11. Avaza

Avaza is an integrated cloud solution for professional services. The team can run projects with support for resource management. Avaza’s all-in-one business management software with clients allows users to drag and drop tasks and files as required. Keep your clients happy using online project collaboration.

Avaza features

• Toggle instantly between Kanban, Gantt & List views of tasks
• Flexible billing methods
• Manage team time utilization confidently
• Turn your estimates into invoices and project tasks
• Download PDF copies of invoices to simplify tax season

Pricing

Avaza offers 3 pricing plans for businesses:

• The Startup plan costs $11.95 for 2 users and $7 per month for each additional user
• The Basic plan costs $23.95 for 5 users and $7 per month for each additional user
• The Business plan costs $47.95 for 10 Users and $7 per month for each additional user

Also, you can pay separately for the additional features like Timesheet/ Expense, Resource Scheduling, and Chat as there is a limit of users in each plan.

12. LiquidPlanner

LiquidPlanner is all about helping prioritize tasks. One of the best Podio alternatives, LiquidPlanner helps organize project information to help users make clear-cut decisions on the basis of actual data. It has mobile apps for iOS and Android devices.

LiquidPlanner features

• Write the tasks, projects, or anything else on individual lines
• See quickly how much work each team member has
• Quantify workload over a specific timeframe
• Assign work and load balance in real-time

Pricing

• The Essentials plan starts at $15/user/month with annual billing
• The Professional plan costs $28/user/month with annual billing
• The Ultimate plan starts at $42 /user/month with annual billing

13. Insightly

Insightly is a customer relationship management (CRM) app and lead management market that’s aimed specifically at small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs). It shows who has the strongest relationship with any customer and discovers hidden connections through relationship maps. Insightly has a whole pack of features aimed at task management.

Insightly features

• Organize contacts–customers, partners, vendors and suppliers
• Mass email contacts with MailChimp integration
• Detect automatically email addresses, Twitter, and LinkedIn profiles
• Manage opportunities in the Kanban view

Pricing

Insightly offers 3 CRM plans:

• The Plus plan costs $29 per user/month
• The Professional plan costs $49 per user/per month
• The Enterprise plan costs $99 per user/month

14. Wrike

Wrike is a work management software for high-performance teams and is suitable for both enterprise and SMBs. It’s an all-in-one project management and collaboration software. Wrike functions flawlessly with Jira, Dropbox, MS Project, Zapier, Salesforce, and many other apps.

Wrike features

• One hub for all of your work
• Track and monitor progress from your mobile phones anytime, anywhere
• Create reports with powerful Wrike analytics
• The dependencies and duration of the task
• Time tracking at the click of a button

Pricing

Wrike offers 3 paid plans:

• The Team Plan is priced at $9.80 per user/month when billed annually
• The Business Plan is available at $24.80 per user, per month
• The Enterprise Plan and Pinnacle Plan are designed for larger organizations with specific needs, you have to contact their team for pricing.

Further reading:10 Best Wrike alternatives to try for successful work management

15. Kantata

Kantata (formerly Mavenlink) is a great platform for organizations looking to streamline various aspects of their operations. It offers a comprehensive suite of features such as project management, resource allocation, financial tracking, and team collaboration. Kantata stores, organizes, and shares all files in one place. It lets teams manage all projects in a reasonable time and plan tasks more effectively.

Kantata features

• Teams can collaborate within a single workspace
• Easily post, share, or receive project updates in real-time
• Messaging and conversations
• Quickbooks integration
• Real-time visibility into both projects and the resource pool

Pricing

• Pricing information is not available on the website, you have to fill out the form to get the pricing plans.

16. Slack

A place where teams can collaborate. Slack is a messaging application that brings all your communication together. Mainly, because of its unique features, it is one good Podio alternative. Slack also has unique features such as webhooks and an open API, support for both Google and Apple emoji styles, and sync with the desktop, iPhone/iPad, and Android devices.

Slack features

• Conversations in Slack are searchable by everyone
• Allows users to customize their notifications and reduce their scope
• Bring all the right people into the same room
• Get feedback on your work
• Create an archive of your progress

Pricing

• Slack offers a free plan with basic functions and 10 app integrations.
• The Pro Plan costs $7.25 per active user/month when billed annually with upgraded features including screen sharing, unlimited app integrations, group video calls (up to 15 people), and 10GB storage per user.
• The Business+ Plan costs $12.50 per active user/month when billed annually with advanced features including identity management, compliance requirements, 99.99% uptime guarantee, and 24/7 support.
• The Enterprise Grid plan pricing is available by contacting the sales team.

Conclusion

Which Podio alternative is right for you? Choose a project management and collaboration tool like ProofHub that will help you manage your team and streamline your project. Hopefully, the above list helps you to find the right one. Pick a tool that will make your life easier, not harder.