Workflow Management Software: Top 10 for 2023 Compared

When it comes to managing projects efficiently, having the right workflow management software can make all the difference. Whether you need to streamline document workflows, coordinate tasks between teams, or automate workflow processes, choosing the right tool is essential. To help you make an informed decision, we’ve thoroughly researched the field to bring you our list of the top 10 best workflow management software tools available in 2023.

With these tools, project managers can effectively track, manage and automate workflows, while remote teams can collaborate seamlessly on complex projects. Read on and check out our top recommendations for tools to optimize your business operations and enhance productivity.

The 10 Best Project Management Workflow Software Ranked

Choosing the right project management workflow software is crucial for efficient project execution. Here, we present a shortlist of the 10 best solutions available.

1. Monday.com — The best project management workflow solution today. It streamlines processes, automates tasks, and provides real-time visibility into projects, as well as customizable workflows and pre-built templates for deep customization.
2. ClickUp — Smart pick for small businesses – enables planning, tracking, and collaboration. Features include task and time management, collaborative documents, and in-app video recording.
3. Wrike — Free account supports unlimited projects and subtasks, making it a great choice for novices. Versatile project management and collaborative work management tool for businesses with a user-friendly dashboard.
4. Smartsheet — This automated workflow software and collaboration tool uses a customizable interface for versatile project management, helping small teams hit above their weight. Comes with powerful analytics and reporting for valuable insights, formattable dynamic data, and conditional formatting options.
5. Resource Guru — Effective project scheduling and resource allocation makes it easy for managers to oversee their teams. Tracks people, equipment, and meeting rooms in one central location to solve resource management challenges.
6. Teamwork — Enhanced workflow management with tailored features for agency businesses. Integrates with popular tools like G-Suite and Microsoft Office and additional products like Teamwork Chat, Desk, and CRM.
7. Bonsai — Cloud-based time-tracking solution for project, contract, and accounting management. Ideal for freelancers and contractors with automated invoicing, providing pre-filled invoices and support for recurring invoices. Integrates with payment platforms like Stripe and PayPal.
8. Work Otter — Project, resource, and portfolio management software that’s customizable and supports various methodologies – making it great for large organizations with complex needs. Enables strategic planning, capacity and demand planning, and financial tracking.
9. ProWorkflow — A comprehensive online project management software product with a user-friendly interface. Acts as a centralized tool for organizing information, tracking activities, and facilitating communication. Strong project and task management capabilities with multiple views.
10. Oracle Netsuite — Great choice for large organizations. Provides custom process workflows, as well as integrated CRM features for contact management, sales, and marketing automation.

What is Workflow Management Software?

Workflow management software helps businesses streamline, automate, and monitor their processes. It provides a centralized platform for designing, executing, and tracking workflows, allowing organizations to optimize their operations and improve productivity.

With workflow management software, businesses can create visual representations of their processes, defining the sequence of tasks, dependencies, and conditions. This allows for a clear understanding of the workflow and enables easy modifications as needed. The software automates task assignment and routing, ensuring that each step is executed by the appropriate team or individual.

By automating tasks, the software eliminates manual and repetitive work, reducing errors and increasing efficiency. It also enables the tracking of task progress, providing real-time visibility into the status of workflows and allowing for better resource allocation and deadline management. Many of the best project management software solutions also incorporate workflow management.

The Top Workflow Management Solutions Reviewed

Efficient workflow management is essential for optimizing productivity and streamlining business operations. To help you select the best product for your organization, we’ve reviewed the top workflow management solutions based on factors such as ease of use, feature set, value for money, and support.

1. Monday.com — Our #1 Pick for Workflow Management Software

Monday Work Management is part of Monday’s s Work OS platform, which offers an all-in-one workflow management system, integrating CRM, sales, and work management. The Work Management product, in particular, focuses on streamlining processes, setting goals and strategies, and navigating projects.

Monday’s main selling point is that it offers powerful time-saving workflow automations, enabling you to automate repetitive tasks and streamline operations. Monday provides both pre-built templates and a platform where you can customize workflows to your specific needs.

Monday also has excellent dashboards, providing you with real-time visibility and insights into workflows.

Every aspect of your workflow can be entered into Monday, with no coding knowledge needed, thanks to a drag-and-drop interface that’ll let you set up basic automations within minutes and translate complex workflows into Monday’s management boards within hours.

The interface of Monday Work Management is user-friendly, and existing Monday project management users will find it familiar and easy to navigate. However, new users may require some initial training and guidance due to the platform’s extensive feature set.

Support provided by Monday.com includes self-help articles, online forums, 24/7 support for paying customers, and regular webinars to assist users in maximizing their use of the software. It offers a wide range of integrations with popular third-party apps, enhancing its functionality and allowing for seamless collaboration. You won’t be surprised Monday also tops our list of the best project management software available.

Pricing

Monday offers a range of pricing options to cater to different needs. The Free plan is perfect for individuals and includes up to two seats, three boards, templates, unlimited docs, and basic mobile apps. The Basic plan, priced at $8 per seat per month, allows for unlimited viewers and items and offers 5 GB of file storage.

The Enterprise plan offers tailored solutions with advanced security, governance, and premium support and the ability to create a dashboard combining up to 50 boards.

2. ClickUp — Powerfully Centralized Workflow Management

ClickUp is a project management software suite that offers a wide range of features to help you efficiently plan, track, and collaborate on projects. It serves as a centralized hub where teams can manage tasks, store documents, and communicate in real-time, as well as setting goals and reviewing progress with informative dashboards.

The platform stands out for its rich feature set, versatility, and features for individuals, small teams, and large companies. It’s also among the best free task management software for teams due to its generous free plan, which includes unlimited tasks.

The free plan includes numerous valuable features, such as collaborative documents, whiteboards, Kanban boards, unlimited tasks, and sprint management. ClickUp’s paid plans enhance customization options and are geared towards larger teams or teams working in collaboration.

ClickUp’s core workflow management features encompass task management, time management, and collaboration tools. Users can choose from various project tracking views, such as list, board, calendar, or Gantt views (Gantt charts illustrating work completed over time against planned time), and customize their workspaces with different colors, themes, and descriptions.

Time management capabilities include creating schedules, organizing calendars, managing capacity, and tracking time. It’s also easy to facilitate collaboration across departments with features like commenting on tasks and documents, real-time chat, and file sharing.

An unusual feature is ClickUp’s in-app video recording, which is available on all plans. This allows your team members to send screen recordings as messages, eliminating the need for lengthy email chains or in-person meetings and enabling clear instructions for upcoming tasks.

However, there are drawbacks, such as a glitchy Android app and the absence of a project message board. While ClickUp’s wide range of features is a strength, it can also be daunting for new users, with a steeper learning curve due to the sheer number of available features.

Pricing

ClickUp offers pricing plans for a variety of user needs. The Free Forever plan provides essential features such as unlimited tasks, 100MB storage, collaborative docs, Kanban boards, real-time chat, and 24/7 support. This is a great way to get used to ClickUp for a smaller team.

The Enterprise plan provides advanced features like white labeling, enterprise API, single sign-on, dedicated support, and access to managed services. Pricing details for the Enterprise plan are available from the sales team.

3. Wrike — Unlimited Free Projects

Wrike is a versatile project and collaborative work management tool, suitable for businesses of all sizes. It offers a range of features and customization options to streamline workflows and enhance productivity. The user-friendly dashboard and enterprise-grade tools make it easy to manage both one-time projects and ongoing tasks.

The software offers various views, including Kanban, Calendar, and Table views, allowing users to choose the most suitable visualization for their projects. It also provides customization options specifically tailored for marketing and creative teams and professional services. Wrike also supports multiple languages.

Wrike stands out with its Work Intelligence suite, powered by machine learning. This suite enables proactive project risk management, automatic task creation, streamlined collaboration, digital asset management, and efficient communication through automated response suggestions. These features enhance productivity and improve overall project management efficiency.

Wrike integrates with over 400 productivity apps and tools, expanding its capabilities and allowing users to connect their working technology stack. It also offers add-on features such as Wrike Marketing Insights and Wrike Integrate to enhance functionality and improve collaboration with other platforms.

However, there are a few limitations to consider. The Gantt chart view, a popular feature for visualizing project timelines and dependencies, is only available in paid plans. Additionally, the in-app timer for time tracking is only accessible in the Business plan or higher, which may be a drawback for users on lower-tier plans.

Pricing

Wrike supports unlimited projects and subtasks in its free account. While Wrike’s pricing starts at $9.80 per user per month with a two-user minimum, its comprehensive features and ability to support both project management and collaborative work make it a valuable investment.

The free plan is missing many enterprise-level tools but can be extremely useful for a new team trialing the workflow management tools.

4. Smartsheet — Simple and Efficient Design

Smartsheet is an automated workflow software solution and collaboration tool. While its interface resembles a spreadsheet, it offers much more functionality and versatility. It allows users to tailor the app to their needs, making it suitable for a wide range of projects and industries.

Smartsheet offers powerful analytics and reporting tools, enabling users to gain valuable insights and track project progress effectively. The platform also boasts strong data protection and compliance measures, ensuring the security and privacy of sensitive information.

It’s a highly flexible and customizable platform. You can create sheets with various formatting options, such as drop-down menus, contact lists, dates, checkboxes, and symbols, making data more dynamic and accessible.

The conditional formatting tool allows for easy highlighting of important information. Smartsheet also supports automations, web form input, proofing, and approvals, which enhance workflow efficiency.

However, some users may find the spreadsheet-like interface challenging to navigate, so it may not be suitable for everyone. Nevertheless, for those willing to invest time in learning the app, Smartsheet can be used for workflow management and various other purposes, including task tracking, CRM, and online collaboration.

Our biggest problem with Smartsheet is that it doesn’t update pages in real time. This can be a limitation for teams requiring immediate collaboration and synchronization, particularly those working on tight schedules.

Pricing

Smartsheet offers a range of pricing plans, including a free forever plan and affordable paid plans starting at $9 per month. The free plan provides a basic introduction to the platform’s features, while the paid plans unlock additional capabilities such as critical path analysis, portfolio management, and resource management.

5. Resource Guru — Resource Management at Every Level

Resource Guru is a workflow management tool that offers a range of features to help teams schedule and manage projects effectively, with an intuitive user interface and the ability to easily assign work and create balanced schedules. It also offers integration with other calendars, allowing teams to stay up-to-date with personal dashboards and daily scheduled emails.

The platform is particularly strong for managing people, equipment, and meeting rooms in one central location. This helps streamline the resource allocation process and ensures efficient utilization of available resources.

The platform also provides insightful reports, allowing project managers and team leads to analyze utilization rates across projects and clients for more accurate forecasting. With real-time tracking of team availability and time off, it can help you avoid overloading team members with unrealistic workloads.

The flexibility and customization options offered by Resource Guru allow you to track tasks, allocate resources, and gain visibility into team members’ availability and roles quickly and easily. The color-coding feature enables your teams to visually organize and differentiate between projects and clients, making it easy to track progress and identify potential bottlenecks.

The drag-and-drop functionality allows for quick and seamless scheduling adjustments, ensuring that teams can adapt to changing project requirements on the fly.

The main issue with Resource Guru is the lack of mobile apps, which is unusual for a workflow management system.

Pricing

Resource Guru has three different pricing plans, which are reasonably priced compared to other platforms on our list. The Grasshopper Plan costs $4.16 per person per month, with non-human resources (like meeting rooms, vehicles, and conference call lines) priced at $2.08 each.

It includes unlimited projects, unlimited clients, a project view, multi-resource bookings, personalized dashboards, clash management, custom fields and filters, flexible user permissions, and more.

6. Teamwork — Cloud-Based Workflow Management

Teamwork is a cloud-based project management tool that offers a range of features and capabilities to enhance workflow management. It combines traditional project management with time tracking and financial functionalities, making it a powerful option for businesses, particularly those following an agency or client services model.

The platform caters to agencies, and users can tailor their workflows and client permission settings according to their needs. The platform also offers easy-to-use automations, simplifying task management and ensuring smooth progress.

Additionally, the platform includes built-in time tracking, budgeting, invoicing, and expense tracking capabilities, providing a comprehensive overview of project financials.

Teamwork’s interface is colorful and user-friendly, offering Kanban, Gantt, and List views, allowing users to organize tasks and projects according to their preferences. The platform’s simplicity doesn’t compromise its breadth of features, though, making it suitable for both technical and non-technical users.

The product offers integrations with popular tools like G-Suite, Microsoft Office, and Zapier, enhancing its versatility. The platform also provides additional products like Teamwork Chat, Teamwork Desk, and Teamwork CRM, which seamlessly integrate with the core project management features.

Teamwork is also pretty easy to set up. Their support team offers email and live chat assistance during business hours, supplemented by a comprehensive library of tutorial videos, webinars, and knowledge-base articles.

Pricing

Teamwork offers a free forever plan and affordable paid plans starting at $5.99 per month. The paid plans require a minimum of three users, and several advanced features are only available with the Deliver plan or above.

7. Bonsai — Great For Freelancers

Bonsai is a cloud-based time-tracking solution that offers a range of features to help businesses manage their projects, contracts, proposals, accounting processes, and more. It’s very easy to get started with Bonsai compared to some other workflow management tools.

The platform takes only minutes to set up and offers a straightforward user experience, making it easy for freelancers and contractors to create and send invoices to their clients. Bonsai’s invoicing and accounting tools are also particularly useful for helping independent workers keep their small businesses financially organized.

Bonsai’s range of tools are tailored for freelancers and contractors, including time tracking, contracts, proposals, and task tracking. Task management in Bonsai is relatively simple, allowing users to create tasks with descriptions, due dates, and assignments.

Additionally, Bonsai automates the invoicing process, generating pre-filled invoices based on client and project information. It also supports recurring invoices and integrates with payment platforms like Stripe and PayPal.

However, Bonsai’s collaboration features are limited, making it more suitable for one-person teams or coordinating with subcontractors and clients. It lacks advanced project management functionality and integrations and is only available in English.

Pricing

Bonsai offers three pricing plans: Starter, Professional, and Business. The Starter plan is priced at $17 per month and is ideal for freelancers and contractors starting out.

It includes features such as unlimited clients and projects, invoicing, proposals and contracts, scheduling, time tracking, expense tracking, and more. Bonsai also offers add-ons such as Collaborators for limited access, Partners for full account access, and a Tax Assistant for expense tracking and tax estimation.

8. Work Otter — Scalable Project Management

WorkOtter is a cloud-based project, resource, and portfolio management software product. It supports different methodologies and best practices while allowing customization to fit the specific needs of organizations. With interactive Gantt charts, your users can build plans and schedules, track tasks, time, budgets, costs, and risks, and gain broad visibility and control over groups of projects and programs.

The software also excels in portfolio management, allowing your users to manage multiple projects and program groupings. It facilitates strategic planning with an interactive workflow map, filters, and a what-if analysis tool. Capacity and demand planning tools provide top-down and bottom-up visibility and financial tools to track time, expenses, and budgets and provide financial reporting.

WorkOtter’s best features lie in its project management and scheduling capabilities. It provides an HTML5 Gantt chart with a drag-and-drop interface, critical path analysis, and support for different planning methodologies such as agile, Scrum, MSP, and waterfall.

Project logs help manage issues, risks, change, support, and actions, and schedules can be published for enhanced visibility with automatic alerts and email notifications.

WorkOtter also offers additional features like built-in messaging, document sharing, dashboards, charts, and reports. It supports integrations with MS Project, Jira, Excel, and ProjectLibre, enabling seamless collaboration and data exchange with other tools commonly used in project management.

While WorkOtter is a great workflow management system, it currently only supports English, and international currency support is lacking.

Pricing

WorkOtter has a very basic free plan which allows you to access reports, but to get the most out of it, you’ll want to try one of the paid plans. The Member License is the cheapest at $10 per month and is suitable for consultants, executives, and team members. It includes functionality such as dashboards, time tracking, approvals, JIRA sync, and more.

9. ProWorkflow — Easy Resource Management

ProWorkflow is an online project management software tool that provides effective workflow management capabilities for companies as they expand. With its comprehensive features and user-friendly interface, it serves as a centralized tool for organizing information, tracking activities, and facilitating seamless communication with stakeholders.

The platform has strong project and task management capabilities. The software offers a single page for centralized access to important project information, including a Project Board view for an overview of projects and their progress. Users can easily add tasks, attach documents, track time, set dependencies, create subtasks, and classify tasks using tags.

The Gantt view visualizes availability, workload, and task dependencies, while the Kanban board view offers a quick switch between different task views. The configurable user permissions ensure controlled access to tasks.

ProWorkflow offers additional features to enhance workflow management. It includes contact management functionality, serving as a lightweight CRM and enabling users to view past and current projects and tasks associated with each contact. The software provides various views, such as workload, timeline, and staff activity, to ensure operational efficiency.

It also allows users to manage staff, clients, and contractors as resources, with comprehensive permission settings and availability checking for efficient task assignment. ProWorkFlow makes it easy to monitor these resources thanks to its built-in messaging, discussion forums, email integration, and notification alerts.

ProWorkflow is known for its user-friendly interface, requiring minimal training for users to get started. The software also offers responsive customer support to assist users in implementing the tool effectively. Its flexibility and modern features make it suitable for diverse teams and companies.

On the downside, we found that ProWorkflow’s mobile apps have slightly limited functionality, with a cut-down contacts list.

Pricing

ProWorkflow offers two plans: the Professional plan and the Advanced plan. The Professional plan is priced at $18 per user per month and includes comprehensive project, task, and time management features. The Advanced plan, priced at $27 per user per month, upgrades ProWorkflow by adding additional hierarchical control, custom fields, project templates, and admin tools.

10. Oracle Netsuite — Comprehensive Employee Analytics

Oracle NetSuite is a cloud-based business management suite with strong workflow management capabilities. It offers solid customer relationship management features and broad enterprise resource planning functionality that can be easily expanded through additional cloud-based modules.

The system provides excellent drill-down capabilities and simple reporting, making it user-friendly and intuitive.

NetSuite’s SuiteFlow Workflow Manager is a standout feature. It allows users to create customized flowcharts for their key business processes, making it easy to navigate through various tasks and streamline operations. Whether entering data, generating reports, or following specific workflows, the system offers flexibility and adaptability.

The platform’s hierarchical dashboards are easily navigable and provide a comprehensive overview of the system’s functionalities. The dashboards are customizable, allowing users to tailor them to their specific needs and preferences. The inclusion of portlets, or widgets, enhances your working experience by providing quick access to relevant information and data.

Oracle NetSuite also offers integrated CRM features throughout the platform. It covers contact and lead management, sales orders and fulfillments, and marketing automation.

While the CRM capabilities may not be as advanced as dedicated CRM platforms like Salesforce or Zoho CRM, they provide solid core features and seamless integration with other business functions, such as its document workflow management software. You can check out our recommendations for the best CRM tools to get an idea of how NetSuite stacks up against the competition.

NetSuite can be overwhelming initially, as the UI is a little outdated. The interface contains a lot of information, and the higher the permission level, the more complex it may appear. The help system could be improved, as the natural language search capability sometimes falls short in providing accurate results.

Pricing

Oracle Netsuite’s price is not advertised openly. Instead, you’ll need to contact Oracle’s sales department to discuss your specific needs. However, Oracle’s tools are generally quite expensive compared to the other providers on our list, with a starting price of $99 per month per user, before taking into account the actual workflow management software.

Comparison of the Best Workflow Tools for Businesses

Why Every Business Needs a Workflow Management Tool

Every business can benefit from implementing a workflow management tool for several important reasons:

Increased Efficiency

Good workflow management tools automate manual and repetitive tasks, reducing the need for manual intervention and saving time. By streamlining processes and eliminating bottlenecks, businesses can significantly increase efficiency and productivity.

Tasks are assigned, tracked, and completed in a systematic and optimized manner, leading to faster turnaround times and improved overall performance.

Improved Collaboration and Communication

Remote teams are a fact of modern life, but they can be hard to manage. Workflow management tools also provide a centralized platform for teams to collaborate, communicate, and share information. They facilitate seamless team collaboration by allowing users to assign tasks, provide updates, and share files within the tool itself.

This eliminates the need for scattered communications through emails or messaging apps, ensuring everyone involved is on the same page and reducing miscommunication.

Consistency and Standardization

Consistency is vital across many different industries. Workflow management tools enable businesses to define and enforce standard processes and workflows. This helps maintain consistency across different projects and teams, especially in complex multi-step workflows.

By following predefined workflows, businesses can ensure that tasks are performed consistently and that quality standards are met. Standardization also facilitates easier onboarding of new employees and reduces errors caused by ad-hoc approaches.

Data Insights and Analytics

Process management software tools often offer reporting and analytics capabilities. Businesses can gain valuable insights into workflow performance, identify areas for improvement, and make data-driven decisions. These insights help in optimizing workflows, reallocating resources, and improving overall operational efficiency.

Compliance and Audit Trail

Many industries have strict compliance requirements. Workflow management tools can enforce compliance by ensuring processes and tasks follow predefined rules and regulations. They also maintain an audit trail of activities, providing a historical record of who did what and when. This audit trail is useful during audits, regulatory inspections, and legal disputes.

What’s the Best Free Workflow Software?

Check out our quick list of the best free workflow software options below:

While free tools can provide basic functionality and serve the needs of small or simple workflows, they often have limitations in terms of features, scalability, and support. Paid workflow management tools typically offer more robust capabilities, advanced features, and better support options.

They are designed to handle complex workflows, provide integrations with other systems, offer customization options, and ensure reliable performance and security. Paid tools also often have dedicated customer support teams to assist users and address any issues promptly.

It’s best to use a free plan to evaluate your chosen provider before picking a paid package. You should check out our list of free CRM tools if you’re interested in finding the best one.

Factors to Consider When Choosing the Best Workflow Solution for Your Business

There are a few vital factors to consider when choosing the best workflow solution for your business, as no two workflow management tools are built alike. We’ve outlined some of the major ones below.

Workflow Complexity

You should have some idea of the complexity of your business workflows. You may only need a workflow system that can handle simple linear workflows for a single shop or a workflow app that supports more complex workflows with conditional branching, loops, parallel processes, and error handling. Either way, you’ll have to ensure the solution can accommodate the intricacies of your workflows.

Ease of Use

Consider the user-friendliness of the workflow solutions you’re evaluating and look for intuitive interfaces, drag-and-drop functionality, and visual representations that simplify workflow design and management. A user-friendly solution will reduce the learning curve for your team and enable them to easily navigate and interact with the software.

The best tools will allow you to easily tailor workflows to match your specific business processes. This way, you’ll easily be able to define rules, conditions, and permissions and adapt workflows as your business needs evolve.

Integration Capabilities

Many workflow tracking tools have integration options with other business applications, including process automation software. Determine if the workflow solution can seamlessly integrate with your existing systems, such as CRM software, automation tools, or document management tools.

By integrating all of your workflow management software into your network, you can enable smooth data exchange and eliminate data silos.

Collaboration Features

Collaboration features are a key part of business process automation software. When picking your workflow management platform, look for features such as real-time collaboration, task assignment, notifications, and comments. These features enhance teamwork, communication, and visibility into the progress of workflows.

Scalability and Performance

You’ll also need to consider the scalability of the workflow management solution. Will it be able to handle increasing workflow volumes and growing business needs, as well as display workflow tracking at scale in a clear way?

Can it adequately support your workflows after you’ve performed workflow capture? You can use a free trial to test its performance under pressure, including response times, handling large data sets, and concurrent users.

Support and Documentation

You should consider factors such as the availability of customer support, knowledge bases, tutorials, and community forums, as well as how much access you’ll get at different pricing levels – with phone support being a premium feature in some cases.

Responsive support and comprehensive documentation will be valuable during tasks like implementing software automation for workflow optimization.

Conclusion – What’s the Best Workflow Management Software for Businesses in 2023?

After testing out a multitude of different tools, we’ve come to the conclusion that Monday.com is the best workflow management software for businesses in 2023 based on its huge range of features and potential for customization. It excels at streamlining processes, goal setting, and project navigation, and it does all of this with automations that can save time on repetitive tasks.

The customizable platform and pre-built templates also allow you to tailor your workflows to your specific needs, while the exceptional dashboard capabilities provide real-time visibility and insights into your processes.

It also offers integrations with a wide range of third-party apps, which further enhances its potential for collaboration. The software’s multiple pricing plans accommodate businesses of all sizes and include a free tier for small businesses and startups.

Workflow Software FAQs

Sam Dawson

Sam Dawson

Sam is a cybersecurity researcher working in the field of hardware security and AI-driven penetration testing. He has spent the last few years contemplating some of the ways in which computers have been built wrong, and how we can possibly detect those flaws. When not stressing out over arcane details of computer hardware, Sam can be found advocating for data privacy in his spare time.

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