Our ClickUp review will discuss in detail everything you need to know about this value-packed project management platform. It’s been around since 2017 and has amassed over 10 million users. However, its popularity doesn’t mean it’s the perfect solution for everyone. Read on as we dig deep into ClickUp’s pricing, features, and pros & cons, and see how it compares to top rivals.
ClickUp Pricing
ClickUp offers 4 plans, including a free forever plan. Let’s look at what each plan has to offer:
Free Forever | Unlimited | Business | Enterprise | |
Starting Price | Free | $7/user/month | $12/user/month | On-demand pricing |
User Limit | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
Free Version | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
Task/Project Limit | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Time Tracking | 60 uses | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
Project Views | 9, including List, Board, Calendar | 11, including Team, Map, Mind Map, Gantt, List, Board | 11, including Team, Map, Mind Map, Gantt, List, Board | 11, including Team, Map, Mind Map, Gantt, List, Board |
Automation | 50 Active Rules + 100 Automation executions | 500 Active Rules + 1,000 Automation executions | Unlimited Active Rules + 10,000 Automation executions | Unlimited Active Rules + 250,000 Automation executions |
Custom Fields | Basic | Basic | Basic | Basic & Advanced |
Approvals | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
Templates | 1,000+ | 1,000+ | 1,000+ | 1,000+ |
Security | Two-factor authentication | Two-factor authentication | Two-factor authentication and Google SSO | Two-factor authentication, HIPAA compliance, Microsoft SSO, Custom SAML SSO. |
Integrations | 50+ (1,000+ including Zapier’s) | 50+ (1,000+ including Zapier’s) | 50+ (1,000+ including Zapier’s) | 50+ (1,000+ including Zapier’s) |
ClickUp Features
ClickUp offers a host of useful features, making it one of the best project management solutions around. We got hands-on with it for this ClickUp review; here’s what we found:
Automations
ClickUp is one of the best automation-oriented project management platforms, as it comes with 50+ pre-built automations—even on the free plan.
For example, whenever the status of a task changes, it can automatically be assigned to a specific employee, or when a task’s due date approaches, the task can automatically be moved up the list.
Automations in ClickUp work in three ways—you can either:
- Build custom automations
- Use an integration template to automate tasks
- Choose automations from its extensive library of Triggers and Actions
For example, you can create a new task in ClickUp based on the events planned in Calendly. Other integration automations include GitHub, HubSpot, Twilio, and loads more.
Whiteboards
ClickUp whiteboard is your go-to place for meaningful collaboration and brainstorming. It’s a blank slate where you can add tons of elements such as shapes, sticky notes, tasks, lists, and images.
What’s special about this is that instead of creating a task and then adding it to the whiteboard, you can directly create and delete tasks on the whiteboard itself.
Apart from this, ClickUp offers several ready-made whiteboard templates, including project roadmaps to help define project milestones, assign responsibility to employees, and set due dates.
Or you can use the Work Plan whiteboard, where you can assign tasks, leave comments, and track project progress. That said, what we loved the most about ClickUp is its mind maps feature.
A mind map helps you establish and discover relationships between various elements on the whiteboard, helping your team break complex projects down into various sub-parts.
Time Tracking
ClickUp provides native time tracking features on every plan. To enable time tracking, click on ClickApps, search for time tracking, and toggle to activate it.
Every task in a specific workspace can be time-tracked with various modes, including:
- Timer – The timer will run until you stop it. You can notes and tags or mark the hours as billable or non-billable
- Manual – If you don’t do live tracking, team members can also add the hours worked manually, even for past dates
- Range – Enter the time slot, and ClickUp will automatically calculate the number of hours worked
Apart from this, ClickUp also offers various time-tracking integrations like Clockify, Everhour, Timely, and Timeneye. When compared to some rivals, ClickUp stands out in this respect.
For example, as we found in our review of Notion, many (including Notion) don’t offer time tracking, even on their paid plans, never mind their free versions.
Customization
ClickUp’s award-winning software is unsurprisingly popular. While most project planning tools boast 6-9 project views, ClickUp offers a whopping 15. This translates to insane customization capabilities.
This includes popular ones like Gantt charts, Kanban boards, workload, and box views to ensure you’re managing your human resources efficiently, as well as an “everything view”.
This gives managers an overview of all your team’s spaces and lists into one. That said, everything with ClickUp is customizable – with custom fields, notifications, roles, statuses, filters, and tags.
You can make ClickUp your own. This is why many use this software for HR (think consolidating onboarding, tracking candidates in your pipeline, etc.), as well as:
- Engineering project management needs
- Interior design projects
- Marketing and advertising content management
- IT/software development sprints
ClickUp’s use cases are limitless.
ClickUp Integrations
ClickUp offers a whopping 1,000+ integrations, including popular apps like Slack, GitLab, Google Drive, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams. You can also build your own integrations with its Public API.
Plus, you have the option to connect to more apps through Zapier. In comparison, rivals like Asana also offer 1,000+ integrations; however, many (including Asana) are more expensive.
Plus, Asana (and several others), some integrations are reserved for higher-tier plans—ClickUp offers unlimited integrations right from its first paid plan.
ClickUp Customer Reviews
ClickUp has garnered some excellent customer reviews on several review websites. It has 4.7 stars on G2 from 9,300+ reviews, with a whopping 83% of the reviewers giving it 5 stars.
On TrustRadius, it’s rated 8.5/10, 86% of which are scores in the range of 9-10. Not only that, but ClickUp has also won 7 TrustRadius awards in 2023.
This includes awards for the Best Value for Price, Best Relationship, and Best Feature Set, which is unsurprising. Users love ClickUp for its ability to:
- Enhance communication and collaboration across teams, especially remote employees
- To help project managers visualize deadlines and view real-time bottlenecks.
- Offer an insane level of customization with unlimited custom fields and several task views
However, several users have complained about navigation issues and difficulty in finding certain features. However, in our experience, this isn’t necessarily a negative.
ClickUp offers a lot of functionality, so naturally, it’ll take new users some time to get used to it and learn how to use it to its full potential.
Need help? Here’s a beginner’s guide on how to use ClickUp.
What is ClickUp Good for?
Plus, you get a pre-built Action and Trigger library, where you can choose from several commonly used automations so that you don’t have to build one from scratch.
ClickUp is also a match made in heaven for those on a budget, as it offers phenomenal value for money and proves cheaper than even the most affordable options like Monday.
However, if you’re looking for an out-and-out AI-backed project manager, you can consider tools like Asana, as it comes with AI features from its first paid plan.
With ClickUp, though, you’ll have to purchase AI settings separately at $5/user/month, which, to its credit, is still cheaper than Notion AI. So, while AI’s certainly there, it’s not as budget-friendly as Asana.
ClickUp vs Top Competitors
ClickUp has a rich array of features for businesses of all sizes. That said, it isn’t your only option. Here’s how it compares to some of the market’s best ClickUp alternatives:
Project Management | ClickUp | Monday | Wrike | Smartsheet | Teamwork | Awork |
Best For | Automations | Any-sized businesses | Marketing-oriented businesses | Classic table-like project management | Time and project tracking | Large teams |
Starting Price | $7/user/month | $9/user/month | $9.80/user/month | $7/user/month | $5.99/user/month | $10/user/month |
Free Version | Free plan | Free plan | Free plan | Free plan | Free plan | 14-day free trial |
Compatibility | Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android, browsers | Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, browsers | Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, browsers | Mac, Windows, Linux, ChromeOS, iOS, Android, browsers | Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, browsers | Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, browsers |
Top 3 Features | Collaborative docs, sprint management, advanced time tracking | Unlimited boards and docs, whiteboard collaboration, pivot analysis & reports | Unlimited projects, tasks & subtasks, interactive Gantt charts, project blueprints | Conditional form logic, unlimited sheets, forms, and reports, custom welcome & help screens | Estimated time management, project budget expenses, task list templates | List, board & timeline view, project recovery, autopilot |
Asana vs ClickUp
If you need a simplistic project manager with minimum bugs and glitches, Asana is a better pick. However, if you’re on a budget, there’s none better than ClickUp.
Its Unlimited and Business plans cost $7 and $12 per user per month, respectively. Asana, on the other hand, costs $10.99 for the Starter plan and a whopping $24.99 for the Advanced plan.
Plus, ClickUp offers more features than Asana despite being cheaper, and although this can mean a higher learning curve, many find it well worth it.
Read More: Our Full Asana Review
ClickUp vs Monday
ClickUp is easily one of the best free project management software solutions. You get unlimited tasks (just 1,000 tasks on Monday) and automations right from the free plan itself.
If you want automation with Monday, you’ll need the Standard plan ($12/month). The storage is less on ClickUp’s free version (100MB), though, but it offers more than Monday from the first paid plan.
Overall, free or paid, many could argue that ClickUp offers more value for money. However, as we found in our Monday.com review, Monday is by far the best if you’re after a clutter-free dashboard.
Unlike ClickUp, it’s learning curve is tiny whilst still offering ample customization capabilities. ClickUp does, however, offer more customization. The choice ultimately comes down to your specific needs and budget.
Recommended Read: A Comprehensive Monday Review
ClickUp vs Notion
Notion is perfect if you’re looking for personal organization and an easy-to-use interface. The best thing about it is its library of 10,000+ templates, neatly organized into various segments.
There are 1,200+ project management templates alone that’ll help you get started in a jiffy. However, if you’re looking to automate tasks in your project management process, ClickUp is best.
It comes with 50+ pre-built automation triggers, along with an advanced custom automation option. Plus, if you have a large team, ClickUp should be your go-to choice.
Both offer a free plan. However, ClickUp offers 100MB of storage compared to Notion’s 5MB. Plus, we found ClickUp’s whiteboard easier to use compared to Notion’s Blank page.
In Notion, you have to use the command “/” and then select from a drop-down menu. In ClickUp, you get a handy toolbar on the left which you can use to drag and drop elements as you like.
To sum it up, If you’re looking for an easy brainstorming and collaboration platform, get ClickUp.
Read More: A Complete Notion Review for 2024
How We Test Project Management Tools
Our experienced team of experts has been testing tech products and software, including project management tools, for over a decade.
We’ve evaluated dozens, so we know how to look beyond the marketing blurb and find out whether a platform is really worth our readers’ time and money.
We put every single tool through 2-3 weeks of in-house evaluations where our experts try out its features first-hand to determine if they work as they should.
Next, we check if the platform offers compatible apps for various devices and whether the apps are easy to use. In addition to detailed competitor analyses, we also read user feedback on reputable sites.
All of this combined ensures we’re able to offer our readers comprehensive reviews that offer accurate insight into the usability of the platforms, where they shine, and where they fall short.
How to Choose the Best Project Management Solution
Keep these factors in mind while picking the best enterprise project management software for your individual/business needs:
Needless to say, your budget is a major factor—zero in on how much you’re willing and able to spend on a project management tool. Remember, it shouldn’t break the bank. Typically a solid entry-level plan will cost you $5-10/month.
There are several free options as well, and, of course, advanced features are locked behind the paywalls of higher-end plans.
Make a list of project/task management features you’re looking for. This will help you find a plan that provides these within the budget you’ve set. The key is to strike an ideal feature-price combination—so you don’t overspend or compromise on features.
The provider you choose must be scalable, i.e. there must be enough higher-tier, more feature-packed plans to switch to as and when your business grows. You’ll want to take this into consideration as well as the cost of scaling.
The project management tool you choose must be easy to install, set up, and use. Complex learning curves hinder productivity, to put it lightly. We recommend taking advantage of any free plans or trials on offer and double-checking the providers’ online documentation.
Check the number of integrations offered by the platform. There must be support for tools you already use, such as Slack or Google Drive, for example.
Remember, some integrations are reserved for higher-tier plans. Make sure you know which integrations are most important for your business and that you don’t have to subscribe to a super expensive plan just for those integrations.
You can always run into an issue when using tech software, so make sure the provider you choose has a responsive customer support wing. Pay attention to the support timings and methods, too.
Is there live chat, email, and/or phone support? Also, the support agents should be able to quickly get back to you with an accurate answer to your query.
FAQs
Is ClickUp free?
Is ClickUp really that good?
Why not to use ClickUp?
References
- Summary of the HIPAA Security Rule (HHS)
- Mind Mapping (University of Adelaide)