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Task management - comparison of the 7 best tools

Task management - comparison of the 7 best tools
21
October 2021

Finally, no more Post-Its! Modern task management tools give you the perfect overview of all your to-dos, help you work efficiently, and save you valuable time for creative or strategic progress.

But finding the right solution for you and your team can be a challenge: task management tools are a dime a dozen. Which solution is right for you? This article will help you choose the right software as we take a look at the best task management tools and compare their pros and cons. Let's start with our three favorites:

Overview of the top tools for task management:

awork: Smart work management for productive teams!

With its friendly, intuitive design, awork not only inspires creative teams but also makes task management a breeze.

Pros: 

  • Calendar integration enables turning appointments into tracked times with a click.
  • awork is a GDPR-compliant tool with its server located in Germany. 
  • As a SaaS service (Software as a Service), it offers a smart solution for the work organization of teams that want to work more productively and collaboratively.
  • Whether product management, HR, event management, or project management - awork is made for teams of any industry and size
  • The tool is also available as a mobile and desktop app.

Cons:

  • awork is not free to use

Not surprisingly, we believe that our own product awork is one of the best MS Project alternatives on the market. Couldn't anyone say that? That's true, but don't take our word for it; check out our ecstatic customer testimonials.

monday: effective and productive organization

With the American tool, teams of any size can manage everything in one workspace - provided they don't have to use GDPR-compliant tools.

Pros: 

  • monday is a visual and intuitive task management tool with smooth usability.
  • It offers over 200 ready-to-use templates and is customizable to shape your workflow the way you want.
  • Even more, teams can get started right away without much introduction.

Cons: 

  • As the American market leader, monday's servers are not located in Germany.  
  • There is no fully German-language version and no time tracking option.

Asana: Automated task management

Asana is particularly suitable for teams that like to work with classic PM tools such as task lists or boards.

Pros: 

  • Thanks to its intuitive functions, this digital helper enables teams to organize tasks optimally and keep them in view at all times - regardless of whether it's a single task or a large project.
  • Asana offers more classic tools like task lists, calendars, or boards. 
  • You can choose from different project views and work with the tool from anywhere.

Cons:

  • Some features (e.g., milestones or certain integrations) you can only fully access in larger, higher-priced packages. 

Meistertask: Planning tool with a practical overview

A simple tool with the most important functions for teams with simple requirements and no need for e.g. capacity planning or budget management.

Pros: 

  • The Kanban view of the tool with tasks in the calendar view and practical automation options simplify your daily task management. 

Cons:

  • Meistertask focuses on projects and tasks. It does not offer budget management, capacity planning, or project templates. 
  • Also, the communication within the tool is not optimal due to the missing chat function for collaboration.

Trello 

Trello is especially suitable for beginners with few projects and tasks, as it only focuses on the most important functions in the area of task management.

Pros: 

  • Trello convinces with its simple functionality of boards and cards and the web-based environment.
  • You can open your Trello account in just 10 seconds and get started right away. 

Cons: 

  • Trello only has the Kanban mode for the task views. 
  • So geht die Übersicht manchmal verloren, wenn du viele komplexe Aufgaben gleichzeitig bearbeitest. 

factro: Practical task management for simple projects

factro is a good choice for individuals or small teams, as basic functions are covered. Nevertheless, teams that don't want to use external chat tools should look for alternatives due to the missing team chat feature.

Pros: 

  • The tool features a simple user interface and displays notifications in real-time. 
  • With the option for different display types as well as project templates, it helps with task planning and distribution.
  • factro has a German server location and also offers an open rest API for developers.

Cons: 

  • factro does not offer a team chat function or external integrations.
  • The time tracking function and Gantt charts are only available in a higher-priced package.

Todoist: Project based to-do list

Todoist is a handy and simple way to organize all of your tasks, but it only covers the area of to-do lists. If you're looking for a tool that goes beyond that, check out the other task management options in this article.

Pros: 

  • The simple interface creates space for to-dos and everyday tasks.
  • At the same time, Todoist offers a wealth of different features like filters, priorities, reminders, and more.
  • You can integrate Todoist with other programs, such as Outlook, Chrome, and more.

Cons: Only in the premium version can you add your notes to the tool.

Evernote: Digital notebook 

Evernote is suitable for simple projects and orga topics, as it offers space for digital notes. It can be useful support for complex task management in a team, but it quickly becomes confusing when planning a wide variety of projects and offers little storage space.

Pros: 

  • Optimal for creating notes
  • Evernote is absolutely sufficient for a simple organization and planning of tasks.
  • The tool offers templates for your notes, and you can also scan and upload documents. 
  • Cross-device synchronization is possible. 

Cons: 

  • Not suitable for extensive, complex projects. 
  • Offers relatively little storage space in contrast to the task management tools listed above. 

Task management, task planning, to-do list - what is the difference?

  • Task management tools are versatile: whether you are working on a complex project or want to keep track of a single task, they support you in your daily work. The goal of task management is to find your tasks bundled in one place and to be able to access and edit them at any time.
  • The classic to-do lists are considered the holy grail of self-organization and contain personal lists with all the items that need to be processed. Even with these lists - on paper, a flipchart, or in an app - you find your tasks in one commonplace. 
  • The difference between to-do lists and task management is that they are limited to the most important functions: To-do lists are super simple and usually have only basic features, whereas task management includes more diverse options (prioritizations, work steps, tags, etc.). 
  • If you're aiming for long-term planning and management of your tasks, a to-do list is probably not enough - here you need a practical task management tool from the selection above. With this tool you unite all company-internal tasks in one central tool and can plan even complex work steps. 
  • A suitable software - such as awork - helps you to coordinate your tasks and to make the meeting of important deadlines visible. In addition, with task management, you can delegate possible subtasks to your colleagues and work more productively with your team. 

Even more sophisticated: This is how task management works in a team

The challenge of task management in your team is to ensure that all team members have access to the same data pool and that communication through the tool is seamless.

Therefore, if you are looking for an optimal solution for your team, pay attention to the following features for team task management

  • A chat feature within the tool - it helps your team communicate on tasks, projects, and tag users.
  • The ability to prioritize - so each team member knows which tasks need to be completed first.
  • Assigning tasks - a basic but extremely important feature is to be able to delegate tasks to your team members.
  • Real-time smart notifications - always be informed about the status of your to-dos.

A software like awork is specifically designed for collaboration in teams of any size and covers all the above requirements. Our features are designed for smart team collaboration - we want to help you become more productive together.

Conclusion

Task management and scheduling is no longer about flying notes and bulky flip-charts. Today, you're spoiled for choice with a wide range of high-performance tools. Not only do they help you properly organize your to-dos, but they also provide space for creative ideas, facilitate collaboration, and remind you of your deadlines.

The right tool will instantly become an essential part of your daily work life that you won't want to give up - we at the awork team speak from experience on that! ;)

With this guide to the best task management tools, we give you a clue to find your individual favorite among many popular apps.

If you have any questions about awork, please feel free to contact our support

Dorte
Talent Acquisition Lead
The bear-strong Panda update is here, bringing one of the most frequently requested features to life: a new task level, or more precisely, real subtasks.
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