Best Kanban Software Of 2024

ClickUp is one of the best Kanban software options because it provides a visual view of work progress of a project and it’s easy to use. There are workflow automations to help reduce tedious tasks, easy drag-and-drop functionality and color-coded statuses. These features are standard for most Kanban-style project management, but ClickUp goes a few steps further with swimlanes and time tracking.

The general features needed for good Kanban software are all included in all of ClickUp’s plans, including its free plan. Some of the features are limited, such as widgets on dashboards or uses of dashboards or reports, depending on the plan you choose. Paid plans start at $5 per user per month, which is very affordable compared to most project management software.

Learn more: Read our full ClickUp review.

Who should use it:

ClickUp is a great project management solution with an easy-to-understand Kanban board view. It’s a good pick for any size business that has advanced project management needs, such as product development teams or marketing departments.

One of the reasons monday.com is so popular is its attractive and simple interface. It’s easy to see the status, assignee, images and other attachments on monday.com’s Kanban board. In fact, the Kanban board and list views are available on all plans, including the free plan. The color coding helps you spot who’s doing what and when, but one of the downsides to monday.com is that it offers so many fields for each column and task viewable on the board that it could be so cluttered and overwhelming.

The free plan gives you a taste of what monday.com can do, but to realize its full potential you would probably do better with one of the paid plans. There is a three-user minimum though, so what would’ve been affordable at $8 per person per month (billed annually) for the Basic plan is a bit pricey for individual users and smaller businesses.

Learn more: Read our full monday.com review.

Who should use it:

If you want to see all the fields of each card at a glance of a Kanban board, monday.com would be a good pick for you.

Asana is one of the best project management software options on the market because of its collaboration tools and flexibility. It also offers one of the best Kanban boards thanks to easy workflow automation. There’s no need to code anything manually, you can easily set up automated actions based on a status change, a card addition, due dates approaching or almost any other custom trigger you want.

Asana’s cards and columns are easy to read and access. Plus, most features are unlimited and the basic features are available on the free plan. To get the automated workflows, you’ll have to choose a paid plan, which starts at $10.99 per person per month (billed annually). Asana is missing advanced Kanban board functionality, such as swimlanes and work-in-progress (WIP) limits, though.

Learn more: Read our full Asana review.

Who should use it:

If you’re looking for the best Kanban software that is easy to adapt to and set up workflow automations, Asana is a great choice.

It’s difficult to find a full-featured project management solution for less than $10 per user per month, but Zoho Projects manages it. If you pay annually, you can pay $9 per user per month for the high-tier plan, but there’s also a free plan and the Premium plan, which costs $4 per user per month (billed annually).

All plans get to view projects on an easy-to-read Kanban board and some advanced features, such as WIP limits and built-in time tracking. There are native automations you don’t have to set up; for example, when you change the status of a card, it automatically moves from one column to the next in line. Although the free plan is a bit limiting, the affordable entry-level plan allows you unlimited projects and all the basic features you need for a Kanban board. Some advanced features you might miss include workflow rules, custom fields and no read-only guest access.

Who should use it:

Zoho Projects offers one of the most affordable project management software plans around. So, if saving a few dollars per user per month would make a big difference for your budget, Zoho Projects may be a good choice for you.

Notion is a unique project management solution that can work well as Kanban software because of its flexibility. Its primary use is as a collaborative tool and knowledge sharing app. So, you can create and collaborate on documents, make checklists and turn them into tasks you can assign to others and set up projects with various views, including a Kanban view via a template.

It’s easy to navigate the main dashboard and create almost any kind of document or project on Notion. However, it may not have enough structure for some to feel comfortable using it, so it may seem overwhelming at first. Everything is customizable in Notion, so you can add fields you want in each card, such as status, date, tags and descriptions. Name your lists or columns whatever makes most sense for your team and workflows. You can also set up automations yourself or download community-made templates for easy workflow and task management.

Learn more: Read our full Notion review.

Who should use it:

Given its focus on content, Notion is a great choice for content teams that need to manage documentation and processes, but its flexibility makes it a good pick for almost any team.

Airtable is best known for its databases and being a souped-up version of Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel. At its core, it is a database creator that includes built-in scripts and formulas to make it easy for you to organize and manage your data. You can turn any base into a Kanban board, which gives you a look at that same data in a different way.

Customizing your Kanban view on Airtable is straightforward and it allows you to choose which fields should show and which should stay hidden. The cover field doubles down on the visual nature of a Kanban board, so you can see at a glance what each card represents.

Learn more: Read our full Airtable review.

Who should use it:

Airtable focuses on data management with its spreadsheet-like project management software. You can turn any database into a Kanban board, which is as customizable as Airtable’s bases.

Teamwork.com is one of the easiest project management platforms to use with native time tracking and built-in Kanban views, which makes it a great pick for agencies. With its slight learning curve, most users should pick it up quickly. The Kanban view is called a board view in Teamwork.com, but it works as you’d expect. You can easily track the status of work in progress and assign work to team members.

Agencies typically need time tracking, billing and invoicing features, all of which Teamwork.com provides. There’s also a client view available, so you can get approval easily on work as you go. Even better is that all these features are available on all plans, including the free version. Paid plans start at $5.99 per user per month (billed annually), but there’s a three-user minimum.

Learn more: Read our full Teamwork.com review.

Who should use it:

Agencies will find all the features they need to work with clients, team members and freelancers on Teamwork.com. The board view gives you a classic Kanban style of project management, which makes it easy to track work in progress.

Wrike is one of the best Kanban software options available because it makes team management easy with automatic syncing, built-in time tracking and an intuitive Kanban board. For project managers, you can easily check the board to see the status of work and as deadlines change on tasks, they change dynamically on the calendar. So Wrike provides different views as you need them.

The built-in time tracking makes it easy for team members to log time as they work on each task. The only downside is that Wrike only offers this feature on Business and higher plans. Wrike’s Kanban board is clean and easy to use with clear visibility. At a glance at a board, you can see user profile images to know who’s working on what, images on each card and the task name.

Learn more: Read our full Wrike review.

Who should use it:

Wrike is an ideal choice for large teams that need careful management of tasks and deadlines.

Jira is a unique option if you need Kanban-style project management software. It was designed with product teams in mind, so you get key features such as roadmapping and resource planning. The Kanban board takes a no-frills approach, so it’s easy to read and understand at a glance. Task IDs, assigned members and task name are on each card. Plus, you can set WIP limits to ensure your team doesn’t get overwhelmed.

Most of the best project management software offer a variety of views for different workflows, but Jira remains solidly in the Agile project management lane. You can swap your Kanban board for an Agile scrum board for easier breakdown of epics into stories and sprints.

Learn more: Read our full Jira review.

Who should use it:

Jira is best used by product and software development teams that need Agile and Kanban project management tools.

Trello makes most lists of the best Kanban software because it was built specifically for Kanban-style project management. The interface is instantly intuitive, even if you’ve never used project management software before. Drag and drop cards onto columns and move cards as you complete each stage to move along the work.

Setting up automations with Trello is also simple with its no-code Butler, an automation builder that’s available for all plans, even the free plan. To top it off, Trello’s paid plans are affordable, starting at $5 per user per month (billed annually). The trade-off with Trello is that it doesn’t offer more advanced features, such as WIP limits, time tracking or whiteboard without Power-Ups, Trello’s form of integration.

Learn more: Read our full Trello review.

Who should use it:

Trello is one of the easiest Kanban boards to learn to use, so it’s an excellent pick for teams that are new to the project management method.