Project management software describes a range of solutions that allows individuals and teams to track the progress of projects, from conception to completion.

Currently, there are hundreds of these solutions on the market, ranging from basic free online task trackers to highly complex project management tools that allow users to manage every aspect of a project, from business case creation to final payment.

We’ve created a buyers guide to help improve your understanding of software features and buying decisions that need to be considered for project management software.

Here's what we'll cover:

• What Is Project Management Software?

• A Comparison of Top Project Management Software

• Common Features of Project Management Software

• What Type of Buyer Are You?

• Key considerations when purchasing project management software

What Is Project Management Software?

Project management software is a software tool designed to track the lifecycle of projects that take weeks, months, or years to complete, providing project managers and other team members a single platform for real-time updates on the project's status. Most software solutions available on the market include, but are not limited to, the following capabilities:

• Planning

• Budgeting

• Invoicing

• Inventory management

• Gantt charts

• Resource management

• Task management (including to-do lists, task lists, subtasks)

• File sharing

• Collaboration

The primary goal is to increase company efficiency by making the entire project lifecycle visible to all team members. Team members are each given a unique login, allowing them to customize their view, report progress, track time, and monitor the progress of others.

Most project teams find themselves to be more efficient in an intuitive and user-friendly project management platform. It allows people to identify problems before or as they arise, view due dates, and eliminate questions about the current status of any outstanding project tasks. It also provides team members with a collaboration tool to share task progress, set up Kanban boards, and manage to-do lists.

Project status view in Workfront

Industries that commonly use project management software include construction, large-scale manufacturing (e.g., aerospace), software development, high tech, marketing, research, and consulting or professional services. Help desk, quality control, and time tracking are additional uses for certain types of project management software.

A Comparison of Top Project Management Software

There are many popular project management software solutions on the market, and it can be hard to know what distinguishes one product from another and which is right for you. To help you better understand how the top project management systems stack up against one another, we created a series of side-by-side product comparison pages that break down the details of what each solution offers in terms of pricing, applications, ease of use, customer support, and more:

Common Features of Project Management Software

What Type of Buyer Are You?

Individuals. Since project management for an individual tends to be a far simpler endeavor, there are a number of low-cost solutions that provide basic project management capabilities such as scheduling, task management, Gantt charts, and file sharing.

Small businesses. Companies with more than a couple of employees will want a system that allows for team collaboration, but usually don’t want the added expense of advanced budgeting, invoicing, resource management, or advanced portfolio management features.

Development-oriented companies. This includes any business for which a single project, once complete, results in multiple sales (e.g., software) as distinct from single-project-single-sale businesses (e.g., construction). These companies will want strong collaborative capabilities—including robust document sharing, version control, and bug reports—possibly with resource allocation as well. These companies typically will not want invoicing, customer management, or other advanced features.

Large or specialty buyers. Construction is the best example of an industry that uses highly specialized project management systems, incorporating budgeting, inventory management, and many other features to manage the lifecycle of an entire project, from lead generation all the way through to final payment. Similar needs extend to other industries (e.g., custom IT solutions, large-scale manufacturing), each of which will have highly specialized solutions specific to that industry. Companies that manage concurrent, complex projects may want to explore project portfolio management (PPM) suites.

Key considerations when purchasing project management software

Project management software can be a useful tool for boosting team collaboration and tracking tasks effectively. However, its usefulness depends on how well it suits your business requirements. Below are some top considerations to keep in mind to avoid purchasing the wrong tool.

• Collaboration for remote teams: The need for remote work is on the rise, and to effectively manage a remote workforce, you need a project management solution that supports remote team collaboration. Many project management tools come with built-in collaboration features, such as an interactive Kanban dashboard with task commenting and team chat channels with file sharing. Whether you have a small team managing a few projects remotely or a large team handling multiple projects, you need a project management tool that supports online team collaboration.

• On-premise vs. cloud-based project management solution: A cloud-based project management tool typically comes with subscription-based pricing, and the vendor takes care of software maintenance and hosting. An on-premise solution, on the other hand, requires you to make a one-time software purchase. You then install the software on your computer and manage maintenance and updates on your own. If you have a low budget and few IT staff, a cloud-based tool could be your better choice. For an in-depth review of cloud-based systems, review our buyers guide for online project management software.

• Availability of mobile applications: Many employees need access to their software in the field as well as the office. With a project management app, you can assign tasks to your team members, view the status of individual tasks, and track the overall project progress, even when you’re on the go.

Make sure to take your mobile needs and the availability of a mobile app into consideration when evaluating different systems. For information on products particularly suited to Mac devices, check out our Mac project management software guide.

Note: The application selected in this article is an example to show a feature in context and is not intended as an endorsement or recommendation. It was obtained from sources believed to be reliable at the time of publication.