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Best Plan Alternatives: 12 Compared, With Free Options (2026)

Explore 12 alternatives to Plan, vetted by our editors with real user reviews, pricing, and feature comparisons.

Plan alternatives: our 12 top picks at a glance

Quick answer

The best free project management software tools to replace Plan are Podio, Paymo and Celoxis. Podio sits at number one with a SpotScore of 9.1 and 4.16★ from reviewers. Compare all 12 on score, rating, and pricing below.

Price, missing features, or a steep learning curve will make any team rethink Plan. These 12 project management software free alternatives are the ones we'd put in the running. We rank by SpotScore (real-user satisfaction and market presence), then ratings and pricing. Editors review every entry. Glance at the table, then read on.

ProductSpotScoreRatingPricingBest for
PodioStreamline your team's workflow with Podio.9.1★★★★☆ 4.16(197)FreeFree Trial · Freemium · Subscriptionsmall & mid-size businesses
PaymoEffortless project management at your fingertips.9★★★★★ 4.67(289)Freefrom $4.95 /User/Monthteams of all sizes
CeloxisStreamline your projects with Celoxis.8.9★★★★☆ 4.43(100)Freefrom $25/moteams of all sizes
Kanban ToolStreamline Your Workflow with Visual Task Organization.8.8★★★★★ 4.78(44)Freefrom $5 /User/Monthteams of all sizes
KrosswallStreamline your project management with Krosswall.8.3★☆☆☆☆ 1(3)Freefrom $2 /User/Monthteams of all sizes
StreamtimeStreamline your team's projects with ease.8.3★★★★★ 5(3)Freefrom $40 Pay As You Goteams of all sizes
AgileanEfficiently manage all aspects of your projects.8.2★★★★★ 4.5(3)FreeFree Trial · Subscriptionteams of all sizes
Mission ControlEffortlessly manage and monitor your Salesforce projects.8.2★★★★☆ 4.45(115)FreeFree Trial · Subscription · Quotation Basedteams of all sizes
QuickbaseStreamline Projects, Boost Productivity9.8Not yet ratedFreeFreemium · Free Trial · Subscriptionteams of all sizes
SmartsheetStreamline your projects with Smartsheet's powerful tools.9.8★★★★★ 4.56(2444)FreeFree Trial · Subscription · Quotation Basedteams of all sizes
ClickUpEffortlessly streamline your projects with ClickUp9.8★★★★★ 4.87(2889)FreeFree Trial · Freemium · Subscription · Quotation Basedteams of all sizes
monday Work ManagementA Complete Solution for Streamlined Team Collaboration and Execution—Not yet ratedFreeFree Trial · Subscription · Quotation Basedteams of all sizes

9.1

SpotScore

Podio

Podio

Streamline your team's workflow with Podio.

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market

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What is Podio?

Podio is project management software that's designed to make you and your team more collaborative and efficient. It doesn't matter how many people you have or what industry you're in, Podio helps all kinds of organizations plan and organize their work. You can quickly create a workspace that ...

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Free TrialTry Free →

9.0

SpotScore

Paymo - Project Management Software

Paymo

Effortless project management at your fingertips.

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market · Enterprise

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What is Paymo?

Paymo is a cloud-based project management software that helps manage projects of all sizes. This easy to use software can be used by companies of all sizes and individuals working on their own projects at home. Using the intuitive interface users can create projects and tasks, track time, ...

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Free Trial

8.9

SpotScore

Celoxis - Project Management Software

Celoxis

Streamline your projects with Celoxis.

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market · Enterprise

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What is Celoxis?

Celoxis is a project management software that connects your team and simplifies your day-to-day work on shared projects. Its revolutionary time-tracking system automatically logs start and end times to every task, while useful Gantt charts visualize dependencies, milestones and progress. It ...

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8.8

SpotScore

Kanban Tool - Project Management Software

Kanban Tool

Streamline Your Workflow with Visual Task Organization.

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market · Enterprise

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What is Kanban Tool?

Kanban Tool is a lean project management solution that maximizes performance through visual task organization. Utilize real-time collaborative features to share tasks, information and comments anytime, anywhere. With Kanban metrics and analytics, teams can easily identify and resolves ...

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8.3

SpotScore

Krosswall - Project Management Software

Krosswall

Streamline your project management with Krosswall.

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market · Enterprise

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What is Krosswall?

Krosswall is a cross-platform web based project management software that enables you to manage all aspects of your project from a single platform. Krosswall provides powerful capabilities for managing and tracking projects, including Gantt charts, task lists, calendar views, file sharing, ...

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8.3

SpotScore

Streamtime - Project Management Software

Streamtime

Streamline your team's projects with ease.

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market · Enterprise

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What is Streamtime?

Streamtime is project management software for your team. It helps keep track of the day to day project tasks, what's complete and what's left, as well as overall progress towards your goals. With a fully featured Gantt chart, task dependencies, and powerful search it is simple to use, easy to ...

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Streamtime offers custom pricing plan

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8.2

SpotScore

Agilean

Agilean

Efficiently manage all aspects of your projects.

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market · Enterprise

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What is Agilean?

Agilean is a web based Project Management software that offers project management features like Resource management, Time management, Portfolio management, Collaboration, Email integration and reporting. A project is not a task or just a collection of tasks. A project has many dimensions that ...

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Free Trial

8.2

SpotScore

Mission Control - Project Management Software

Mission Control

Effortlessly manage and monitor your Salesforce projects.

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market · Enterprise

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What is Mission Control?

Mission Control is a Salesforce Project Management Command Center that enables companies to effortlessly observe the uptime, status, and performance of their applications. It enables easier logging of errors while providing notifications with regards to server performance such as CPU usage, ...

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Free TrialTry Free →·

Mission Control offers custom pricing plan

9.8

SpotScore

quickbase project management

Quickbase

RECOMMENDED

Streamline Projects, Boost Productivity

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market · Enterprise

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watch-demo

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What is Quickbase?

Quickbase is a no-code project management platform that empowers teams to build, automate, and optimize workflows without complex coding. Designed for businesses of all sizes, it enables users to create custom applications tailored to their unique project needs, ensuring efficient collaboration ...

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Free TrialTry Free →·

Starts from $35/user/month when yearly, also offers free forever plan

9.8

SpotScore

Smartsheet - Project Management Software

Smartsheet

RECOMMENDED

Streamline your projects with Smartsheet's powerful tools.

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market · Enterprise

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watch-demo

Watch Demo

What is Smartsheet?

Smartsheet is a dynamic project management tool that simplifies tracking and planning for teams of all sizes. Offering a user-friendly interface, it’s designed to adapt to your unique workflows, whether you're managing simple checklists or complex project plans. Smartsheet’s intuitive platform ...

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Free TrialTry Free →·

Starts from $9/month when yearly

9.8

SpotScore

ClickUp - Collaboration Software

ClickUp

RECOMMENDED

Effortlessly streamline your projects with ClickUp

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market · Enterprise

Add to compare

watch-demo

Watch Demo

What is ClickUp?

ClickUp is a versatile cloud-based project management platform designed to cater to both individual project needs and the complex demands of enterprise-level teams. Offering a customizable planning experience, it allows users to toggle between two distinct views, providing flexibility based on ...

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Free TrialTry Free →·

Starts from $7/User/Month when yearly, also offers free forever plan

Logo

monday Work Management

Recommended

A Complete Solution for Streamlined Team Collaboration and Execution

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market · Enterprise

Add to compare

watch-demo

Watch Demo

What is monday Work Management?

Monday Work Management is an all-encompassing platform designed to streamline team collaboration, task execution, and project management. With its user-friendly interface and highly customizable workflows, Monday empowers teams to manage and track their work efficiently, ensuring seamless ...

Read more about monday Work Management
Free TrialTry Free →·

Starts from $9/seat/month when yearly

The main Plan competitors

Across Project Management Software, 12 products compete directly with Plan. The strongest overlap is with Podio, Paymo and Celoxis. Each is compared against Plan on rating, pricing and feature coverage below.

Tools similar to Plan

Searches for "sites like Plan" and "apps like Plan" land on the same set of options as "Plan alternatives" — the 12 options below cover both, whether you want a like-for-like replacement or something lighter.

What earned each one a spot

Podio9.1Best for small & mid-size businesses

Highly customizable — users can create workflows, dashboards, and applications tailored to their operations.

Watch for: Extensive customization options create a steep learning curve, especially for beginners or older users.

Paymo9Best for teams of all sizes

Easy-to-use interface simplifies project management, time tracking, and invoicing, catering to diverse user needs.

Watch for: Lacks advanced features like AI-based project insights or deep integrations with other software ecosystems.

Celoxis8.9Best for teams of all sizes

Configurable to fit diverse team and project requirements with role-based resource management.

Watch for: Administrator settings are complex, with a steep learning curve due to the volume of advanced features.

Kanban Tool8.8Best for teams of all sizes

User-friendly interface with easy setup and minimal learning curve.

Watch for: Monthly subscription model with no one-time payment option, which some users find inconvenient.

Krosswall8.3Best for teams of all sizes

Cross-platform accessibility

Watch for: Steep learning curve

Streamtime8.3Best for teams of all sizes

Comprehensive task tracking

Watch for: May lack advanced features

Agilean8.2Best for teams of all sizes

Comprehensive project management features

Watch for: Can be complex for new users

Mission Control8.2Best for teams of all sizes

Customer support provides quick, expert responses backed by a knowledge base for self-service resolution.

Watch for: Some users find the wealth of features overwhelming and less intuitive without proper training or admin assistance.

Quickbase9.8Best for teams of all sizes

Eliminates manual processes with workflow automation.

Watch for: Needs improvement for better usability and functionality.

Smartsheet9.8Best for teams of all sizes

Customizable and user-friendly interface, making it accessible for both beginners and experienced professionals.

Watch for: Advanced features may require a learning curve, making onboarding somewhat challenging for new users.

ClickUp9.8Best for teams of all sizes

Versatile platform with constant updates and amazing customer support that prioritizes user feedback promptly.

Watch for: Steep learning curve initially, which may be challenging for newcomers without a technical background.

monday Work ManagementBest for teams of all sizes

Why teams look for a Plan alternative

When teams go looking for a Plan alternative, it's often because of issues like these:

  • Plan lacks some advanced collaboration tools that other project management software offer, such as integrated messaging or team discussions.
  • While easy to use, the software may not offer enough customization for teams with specific project management needs or workflows.

What to look for in a Plan alternative

Here's what the data says about these 12 project management software free alternatives: 12 offer a free tier; paid plans run $2–$40, with Krosswall the cheapest entry point; and Streamtime is the highest rated at 5★ across 3 reviews.

Behind the ranking.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Stuck on something? We're here to help with all the questions and answers in one place.

The top-rated alternatives to Plan are Streamtime (5.0★), ClickUp (4.9★), Kanban Tool (4.8★). Compare all 12 alternatives side-by-side above.

When evaluating alternatives to Plan, prioritize: Timeline View, Project Templates, Idea Management, Kanban Board, Time & Expense Tracking, transparent pricing, free trial availability, and integrations with your existing tools. Use the filters above to compare by feature, budget, and team size.

Plan starts from $4 /User/Month. Many alternatives offer similar functionality at different price points — some with free tiers, others with more flexible per-seat pricing. Use the filters above to narrow by budget.

Migration difficulty depends on how deeply Plan is integrated into your workflows. Most alternatives offer data export/import tools and dedicated onboarding support. We recommend narrowing to 2–3 options, running a free trial, and checking each vendor's migration guides before committing.

Which Plan alternative fits your needs?

  • On a budget / just exploring: start with a free tier — Podio, Paymo and Celoxis let you evaluate without paying upfront.
  • If real-user ratings matter most: Streamtime has the strongest star rating (5★) among the options with verified reviews.
  • Want the safest pick: Podio has the highest Spotsaas Score (9.1) in this list — a strong default if you're unsure.

Leaving Plan behind

Planning your exit from Plan? Pull your data out first and confirm the replacement imports it without loss. Make sure the workflows you depend on are covered, run a short trial before committing, and keep Plan live as a fallback until you're settled. Many tools here offer a free path to test.

Disclaimer: This research has been collated from a variety of authoritative sources. We welcome your feedback at [email protected].