20 best project collaboration tools for 2026

Project collaboration has come a long way, evolving from simple task lists and shared calendars to platforms that enable teams to connect and simultaneously share and review ideas, documents, wireframes, status updates, and more—from wherever anyone is located.

Of course, collaboration is only one part of project management, and tools today offer varying levels of both project management and collaboration features. It can sometimes be difficult to determine which solution is the right fit for your business or whether you need more than one. Ideally, your project collaboration tools can do more than track tasks—enabling you to use AI to orchestrate projects from end to end, with collaboration built in.

This guide reviews 20 leading project collaboration tools across different use cases, organization sizes, and budgets. Whether you need AI-powered automation, resource management, or simple task tracking, you'll find options and guidance about how to make the right choice for your needs.

Project collaboration tools comparison table

We evaluated tools based on their overall features and functionality, AI capabilities, primary use cases, integration ecosystems, ease of use, and fit for different team sizes and budgets.

Top 20 project management collaboration tools in review

1. Airtable – Best for AI-powered project collaboration and workflows

Airtable is an AI workflow platform that serves as a centralized hub for all the types of projects your teams collaborate on—from centralizing operations management to running marketing campaigns to managing product development across your product portfolio. Unlike traditional project management software with rigid structures, Airtable’s AI-native workflows connect your teams, adapt to your unique processes, and provide enterprise-grade automation and real-time visibility.

Teams use Airtable to collaborate on projects from intake through completion, with customizable workflows that connect strategy to execution. Users can rapidly build AI-enabled workflows without requiring coding capabilities, and AI capabilities extend well beyond basic automation: you can generate project plans, automatically prioritize work based on business impact, predict resource conflicts, and even create stakeholder-ready reports with the platform’s AI agent, Omni. Airtable scales from individual projects to portfolio-wide operations with a vast integration ecosystem.

Key features:

Integrations:

Starting price: Free plan available; paid plans from $20/user/month billed annually

2. Monday.com – Best for visual work management

Monday.com offers visual project boards with color-coded status columns and timeline views that make project progress immediately clear to stakeholders. The platform emphasizes ease of use with drag-and-drop functionality and pre-built templates for common workflows. The interface requires minimal training, though customization can become complex as workflows grow more sophisticated.

The platform includes automation capabilities for routine tasks and supports multiple project views that include Kanban boards, Gantt charts, and calendar formats. Monday.com works well for teams prioritizing visual clarity and straightforward task management, though it lacks the deeper data modeling and AI orchestration needed for complex operational systems.

Key features:

Integrations:

Starting price: Free plan available; paid plans from $12/user/month billed annually

3. Asana – Best for task-focused team collaboration

Asana provides structured task management with clear hierarchies—portfolios, projects, tasks, and subtasks—that help teams organize complex initiatives. The platform offers familiar project views and task tracking features that appeal to teams transitioning from basic to-do lists. Asana handles straightforward project management with features like task dependencies and milestone tracking.

While Asana excels at task-level organization, teams may find it more rigid than other tools, which can be challenging as operational needs evolve. The platform's data model is optimized for tasks rather than flexible workflows, which can limit its application across business use cases. AI capabilities are also more limited compared to platforms built with AI-native architecture.

Key features:

Integrations:

Starting price: Free plan available; paid plans from $10.99/user/month billed annually

4. ClickUp – Best for an all-in-one platform

ClickUp markets itself as “software that replaces all software,” offering a feature set that covers project management, documentation, goals, time tracking, and more. The platform offers customization options and numerous view types, and granular control over workflows and permissions. It may appeal to teams looking to consolidate tools, but teams should consider whether they need all features as part of their team collaboration tool.

However, ClickUp's breadth comes with complexity and a steeper learning curve, and the interface can feel overwhelming with numerous features competing for attention. Teams often spend significant time configuring the platform to match their needs, and the abundance of options can slow down decision-making about how to structure workflows.

Key features:

Integrations:

Starting price: Free plan available; paid plans from $7/user/month billed annually

5. Trello – Best for simple Kanban-style boards

Trello, an Atlassian product, pioneered the visual Kanban board interface for project management with its simple cards-and-lists approach, and the platform remains popular among teams and small businesses seeking straightforward task visualization. Trello's strength is its simplicity—teams can start organizing work immediately with minimal setup or training.

The simplicity that makes Trello accessible also limits its capabilities for complex project needs. As projects grow, teams often struggle with limited reporting, basic automation (power-ups add functionality), and lack of advanced features like resource management or portfolio views. Trello works well for small teams with simpler workflows, but doesn't scale to enterprise operations.

Key features:

Integrations:

Starting price: Free plan available; paid plans from $5/user/month billed annually

6. Slack – Best for real-time team collaboration

Slack, a Salesforce product, has become a standard for workplace messaging, providing channels for team conversations, direct messages, and threaded discussions. While primarily a communication tool rather than project management software, Slack serves as a collaboration hub where project updates flow through channels and integrations bring work context and documents into conversations. Teams use Slack to reduce email volume and accelerate collaboration through 1:1 and group instant messaging.

Project management in Slack requires heavy integration with dedicated tools for project orchestration. Slack itself doesn't provide task tracking, timelines, or resource management. The platform excels at communication, but conversations can become overwhelming in large channels, and important decisions risk getting buried in message histories.

Key features:

Integrations:

Starting price: Free plan available; paid plans from $7.25/user/month billed annually

7. Microsoft Teams – Best for Microsoft 365 integration

Microsoft Teams combines workplace chat, video conferencing, and collaboration features with deep integration across Microsoft 365 apps. Teams that already use Outlook, SharePoint, and Office apps benefit from seamless file sharing and co-editing within Teams. The platform serves as a digital workspace where communication, files, and meetings converge.

Like Slack, Teams is fundamentally a communication platform rather than dedicated project management software. Project tracking requires integration with Microsoft Planner, Project, or third-party tools. The extensive Microsoft ecosystem is both a strength and limitation—Teams works well within Microsoft's suite, but can be more challenging to integrate with tools outside the ecosystem.

Key features:

Integrations:

Starting price: Free plan available; included with Microsoft 365 subscriptions or from $4/user/month billed annually for business Essentials

8. Jira – Best for software development teams

Jira, by Atlassian, offers a widely adopted software development solution with features purpose-built for managing engineering workflows. These include sprint planning, detailed issue tracking, backlog management, and release planning. The tool supports agile methodology, integrates deeply with developer tools, as well as other project management collaboration tools, like Airtable, that excel at supporting agile workflows.

Jira's strength in engineering workflows means that it is a complex tool for non-technical teams. The interface assumes familiarity with agile concepts, and configuration requires understanding Jira's specific terminology and data model. While powerful for developers, Jira is often too rigid and technical for cross-functional collaboration or non-engineering project management needs.

Key features:

Integrations:

Starting price: Free plan available; paid plans from $7.91/user/month

9. Notion – Best for knowledge management and collaboration

Notion blends docs, wikis, databases, and project boards into a workspace where teams can organize knowledge and coordinate work. The platform is versatile—teams can create documentation, build project dashboards, and maintain wikis all within one tool. Notion appeals to teams prioritizing both knowledge management and project tracking.

Although the tool is not purpose-built for project management, it can adapt to project needs and provide visibility through database views. That said, complex workflows can become difficult to maintain, and the flexibility that enables customization also means teams can spend significant time structuring their workspace.

Key features:

Integrations:

Starting price: Free plan available; paid plans from $10/user/month billed annually

10. Smartsheet – Best for spreadsheet-based project management

Smartsheet provides project management functionality built on a familiar spreadsheet interface, making it accessible to teams transitioning from Excel or Google Sheets. The platform combines the flexibility of spreadsheets with project-specific features like Gantt charts, card views, and automation.

While the spreadsheet foundation eases adoption, it also limits flexibility—complex workflows become difficult to manage in the tool’s more rigid structure. And while Smartsheet adds project management features, it lacks the true database architecture and AI capabilities of platforms built specifically for operational orchestration.

Key features:

Integrations:

Starting price: Free trial available; paid plans from $9/user/month billed annually

11. Wrike – Best for traditional project management

Wrike provides a range of teams, including marketing orgs and creative agencies, with project management, resource allocation, and cross-functional collaboration features. Teams can ideate and kick off projects within the tool, collaborate in a visual collaboration platform (powered by Klaxoon), and build custom AI-powered workflows. Built-in proofing and approval workflows help streamline the review process for content, allowing reviewers to mark up creative files directly within the platform, along with version tracking and approval workflows.

Wrike provides executive-level visibility across multiple initiatives, and teams can control permissions and generate detailed reports. Resource management features show team capacity across projects, and Gantt charts automatically adjust when dependencies change. The tool offers a lot of functionality, but it may be overkill for teams needing agile collaboration and more advanced AI, or who don’t require the creative approvals or resource management.

Key features:

Integrations:

Starting price: Free plan available; paid plans from $10/user/month

12. Basecamp – Best for simple project communication

Basecamp takes a minimalist approach to project collaboration, emphasizing simplicity over feature depth. The platform organizes projects into message boards, to-do lists, schedules, docs, and file storage—providing essential collaboration tools without overwhelming options. Basecamp also keeps its pricing simple, offering a free plan, a limited monthly subscription per user, or a flat rate billed annually for unlimited users.

The tool’s interface is straightforward and requires little training, but it also has limited capabilities for complex projects. The platform lacks advanced features like Gantt charts, resource management, custom workflows, and automation. Basecamp works well for small teams who don’t need the operational sophistication that larger organizations require.

Key features:

Integrations:

Starting price: Free plan available; $15/user/month

13. Miro – Best for visual collaboration and brainstorming

Miro provides an infinite digital whiteboard where distributed teams collaborate visually through diagrams, sticky notes, wireframes, and freeform drawing. The platform excels at brainstorming sessions, workshops, and visual planning—making it popular for design thinking and agile ceremonies. Remote teams use Miro to replicate the collaborative energy of in-person whiteboarding.

While excellent for visual collaboration, Miro isn't purpose-built project management software. The platform lacks structured task tracking, timelines, resource management, and reporting features. Teams typically use Miro alongside dedicated project management tools for collaborative ideation and planning.

Key features:

Integrations:

Starting price: Free plan available; paid plans from $8/user/month

14. Zoho Projects – Best for Zoho ecosystem users

Zoho Projects delivers project management functionality at competitive pricing, especially for teams already using Zoho's broader suite of business applications. The platform provides task management, Gantt charts, time tracking, and issue tracking—covering essential project management needs. Integration across Zoho products (CRM, Books, Desk) creates value for Zoho ecosystem users.

While affordable, Zoho Projects doesn't provide the advanced automation, AI capabilities, or flexibility that complex operations require.

Key features:

Integrations:

Starting price: Free plan available; paid plans from $4/user/month billed annually

15. Teamwork – Best for client work and agencies

Teamwork offers AI-powered project and resource management software for agencies and professional services firms. The platform is purpose-built to support client work and includes client-specific features like billable hours tracking, budget management, and client portals for visibility into project progress. Agencies can manage multiple client accounts with separate permissions and billing.

While Teamwork serves agency needs well, it’s less flexible for non-client-service workflows. The platform is optimized for client projects with budgets and deliverables rather than internal operations or product development.

Key features:

Integrations:

Starting price: Free plan available; paid plans from $10.99/user/month billed annually

16. Confluence – Best for team documentation and wikis

Confluence serves as Atlassian's knowledge management and collaboration platform, providing a structured wiki where teams create, organize, and discuss documentation. The platform integrates tightly with Jira, making it popular with software teams documenting technical projects. Confluence's strength is organizing team knowledge, meeting notes, and project documentation in a searchable, collaborative space.

As a documentation tool rather than project management software, Confluence requires integration with Jira or other tools for actual task tracking and project orchestration. The platform works well for information organization, but doesn't provide the workflow automation, resource management, or portfolio visibility that project managers need.

Key features:

Integrations:

Starting price: Free plan available; paid plans from $5.42/user/month

17. Figma – Best for design collaboration

Figma revolutionized design collaboration with cloud-based interface design and real-time multiplayer editing. Design teams use Figma to create, prototype, and review digital products collaboratively. Built-in prompting allows users to code with AI and the platform enables visual designers to work simultaneously on files while stakeholders provide feedback directly on designs—eliminating the version control chaos of traditional design tools.

Figma excels at design collaboration and approvals but isn't dedicated project management software. The platform lacks task management, timelines, resource allocation, and reporting features. Design teams typically use Figma alongside dedicated project management tools to coordinate the broader workflow around design deliverables.

Key features:

Integrations:

Starting price: Free plan available; paid plans from $16/user/month (for Figma Professional full access) billed annually

18. Google Workspace – Best for document collaboration

Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) provides cloud-based productivity apps—Gmail, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Calendar, Meet, and more—that enable real-time document collaboration. Teams use Google Workspace as a collaboration foundation, with shared files, simultaneous editing, and commenting. Teams can create a single living doc that everyone can work on and view, with version history showing how the document changed over time. Tools like Meet also offer video conferencing capabilities.

While many organizations use Google Workspace, it lacks dedicated project management features. Teams often supplement Google Workspace with purpose-built project tools for task tracking, workflows, and resource management. Project coordination happens through shared drives and docs rather than structured project management functionality.

Key features:

Integrations:

Starting price: Business Starter from $7/user/month billed annually

19. Dropbox – Best for file-sharing collaboration

Dropbox provides cloud file storage and sharing with collaboration features like file requests, shared folders, and commenting. Teams use Dropbox to centralize files and ensure everyone accesses current versions. The platform includes Dropbox Paper for collaborative documents and integrations with productivity apps to streamline file-based workflows.

As primarily a file storage platform, Dropbox lacks project management capabilities—no task tracking, workflows, resource management, or reporting. Teams need complementary tools for actual project orchestration.

Key features:

Integrations:

Starting price: Free plan available; paid plans from $9.99/user/month billed annually

20. Zoom – Best for video conferencing collaboration

Zoom became a household name in video conferencing tool during the rise of remote work, providing reliable video calls, screen sharing, and webinar capabilities. While primarily a communication tool, Zoom enables real-time collaboration through features like breakout rooms, whiteboarding, and recording. Distributed teams rely on Zoom for synchronous collaboration.

Zoom facilitates real-time communication on projects, but isn't dedicated project management software. The platform lacks task tracking, workflows, document management, and project visibility features. It does offer workvivo, however, an employee experience platform to help drive internal communication and engagement. Typically, teams use Zoom for meetings and collaboration sessions but need dedicated tools to execute on and track projects.

Key features:

Integrations:

Starting price: Free plan available; paid plans from $13.33/user/month billed annually

What are project collaboration tools?

Project collaboration tools are software platforms that enable teams to coordinate work, communicate effectively, execute tasks, and understand the status of a project.

Purpose-built, AI-native project collaboration tools are designed to be flexible across use cases and workflows, user-friendly (often low- or no-code platforms with intuitive interfaces), and to provide real-time visibility across initiatives and teams. These tools connect projects to overarching business goals and provide the reporting and insights that enable leaders to make strategic decisions mid-flight. Effective, AI-enabled project management platforms aren’t just another point solution—they’re a core part of your operations, connected to all critical business tools and data sources, so that everyone works from the same real-time information.

How to choose collaboration project management tools

It’s important to do your due diligence when choosing a project management tool. To be effective, it must work well with your technology stack and be flexible enough to meet your needs—which may also include the varying needs of several different teams. Here are some things to consider:

1. Define your collaboration requirements beyond task tracking. Start by identifying the types of projects you'll manage. Some teams need creative project management, while others are managing complex multi-team initiatives like integrated marketing campaigns or product development processes. Meanwhile, others are managing client deliverables or creating operational workflows. Consider whether you need resource management, budget tracking, time tracking, or portfolio-level visibility.

2. Evaluate how the tool adapts to your team's workflow. The best collaboration tools conform to how your team works rather. Look for platforms that allow custom fields, flexible views (Kanban boards, Gantt charts, calendars, dashboards), and workflow automation tailored to your processes. Consider whether teams can configure the tool themselves, without waiting for development support.

3. Assess integration with your existing tech stack. Project management doesn't happen in isolation. Your tool should connect seamlessly with communication platforms, file storage solutions, time tracking, CRM systems, and other business-critical apps. Consider whether vendors offer native integrations with two-way data flow, or if you’ll need third-party or custom API work.

4. Consider AI capabilities and automation depth. AI for project management transforms collaboration from reactive coordination to proactive orchestration. Evaluate whether the platform offers AI that analyzes project data to surface insights, automates routine tasks beyond simple triggers, generates intelligent recommendations for resource allocation, and automatically creates status summaries. Consider the differences that AI-native platforms can offer, rather than solutions with AI features bolted on.

5. Examine scalability and enterprise readiness. Teams often outgrow tools that work well initially but hit limits as operations expand. Assess whether the platform can handle your growth requirements, whether that’s the volume of projects, users, and data you’ll need in the future. Enterprise teams require robust permissions, audit trails, SSO, compliance certifications (SOC 2 Type II), and responsive customer support.

6. Evaluate the cost beyond the subscription price. Compare pricing structures carefully—per-user costs multiply quickly as teams grow, and many platforms charge extra for features like advanced reporting, automation, or integrations. Factor in the time it will take to implement, training requirements, and ongoing administration.

7. Test with your team using real workflows. Most platforms offer free trials or plans—use them to test with actual projects, not hypothetical scenarios. Involve team members who will use the tool daily, not just decision-makers evaluating features. Assess whether the interface feels intuitive, whether automation truly reduces coordination time, and whether the tool surfaces the insights you need.

Features of collaborative tools for project management

Considering the sophistication of modern platforms, many of these features are more table stakes than nice-to-haves:

Real-time visibility across projects and portfolios

Everyone should be able to access the current status of any project at any time—without chasing updates or waiting for a meeting. Platforms should provide dashboards with live data, customizable views, access permissions, and notifications to help prompt updates. Portfolio views give leadership visibility across initiatives while teams focus on specific projects, all built on the same underlying data.

Flexible workflow automation that adapts to your processes

The best platforms automate routine coordination—assigning tasks based on criteria, routing approvals through stakeholders, sending notifications when deadlines approach, and updating status when conditions change. Automation should be configurable by people close to the workflows, rather than by outside resources. This becomes even more powerful when you can set up AI-powered automation using a no-code interface.

Built-in collaboration and communication features

Rather than forcing discussions into separate tools, effective platforms integrate communication where work happens. Teams can comment on tasks, mention colleagues for questions or input, share files in context, and maintain threaded discussions tied to specific work items. Contextual communication makes it easy to see task and project status and to understand why decisions were made.

Multiple views for different stakeholder needs

Project teams need Kanban boards for workflow visualization, executives need portfolio dashboards showing status across initiatives, resource managers need workload views, and finance needs budget tracking. Top platforms provide customizable views, all using the same data, where users can concurrently view the information they need most, in the view that makes sense for their role.

Resource and capacity management capabilities.

The most effective tools provide workload views showing team capacity, enable resource allocation across projects, and ideally use AI to predict conflicts and recommend assignments based on skills and availability. Automation can also help with dependencies between teams, automatically updating timelines.

Seamless integration with your tech stack

Project management is most effective when it’s well-connected to the systems and tools your teams use most. Without smooth connectivity and fast bi-directional data updates, your project management tool becomes a fancier version of the siloed, more basic tools or spreadsheets you’re trying to leave behind. Even if a vendor doesn’t offer native integration, APIs help with custom integrations for specialized tools.

AI that works across your operations, not just within features

AI can help with project orchestration when it understands context across operations, rather than helping with individual tasks. Look for platforms where AI analyzes project data to surface risks, generates status summaries, recommends resource allocation, predicts timeline impacts, and continuously optimizes workflows.

Audit trails and permissions for enterprise control

As projects scale, governance becomes critical. Enterprise-ready platforms provide granular permissions controlling who views or edits what, complete audit trails showing who changed what and when, and compliance certifications (SOC 2 Type II, GDPR). Teams maintain agility while IT maintains control, security, and compliance.

Mobile access for anytime collaboration

Mobile apps enable team members to update task status, respond to approvals, access project information, and stay connected from anywhere.

Core benefits of project management and collaboration tools

Project management and collaboration tools provide structure for teams to understand what needs to be done, by whom, and what’s at stake. They’re key for alignment, and modern cloud-based platforms make it easy to see what’s been delivered and where attention is still needed.

Eliminate time-consuming coordination

Automation goes a long way in helping operational teams set up projects, streamline workflows, assign tasks, and prompt for updates. This means projects can go online faster and stay on track because dependencies are known and challenges are identified early. AI-powered collaboration tools help organizations scale to handle more projects and more complex projects by removing some of the most time-consuming administrative work.

Improve cross-functional alignment

Most teams try their best to streamline workflows, but often marketing, sales, product, engineering, and operations teams work in separate tools and build their own processes. Yet flexible, adaptable project management solutions remove this conflict of interest. Unified project collaboration platforms allow you to customize across teams, connect to the same data sources, and give everyone access to the priorities, dependencies, and status of important initiatives—in the view they prefer. Project management tools also close the mileage gap for distributed and remote teams working in different time zones, so that no one needs to wait for an update.

Maintain knowledge and accelerate decision-making

Real-time visibility means that leadership and stakeholders can always see project status, resource allocation, and potential risks—without having to wait for scheduled meetings and updates. This is especially important because there are so many moving parts within any given project that leaders can’t necessarily account for—information that lives in someone’s head, or in tools they don’t have access to. Institutional knowledge also becomes difficult to capture during periods of transition between outgoing and incoming employees. But collaboration platforms capture decisions, context, and processes in searchable, structured formats.

Demonstrate measurable business impact

Modern platforms connect operational work to business outcomes—showing which projects drive revenue, where resources deliver the highest return on investment, and how team efficiency improves over time. This data transforms project management from a cost center into a strategic function. Part of this is also through the risk management that modern platforms provide—a project can go off the rails for any variety of reasons and fail to deliver the expected impact. Yet tools that analyze project data to predict risks help leaders address issues and give projects the best chance at success.

Why Airtable is the best project collaboration software

Airtable transforms project collaboration through AI that orchestrates work continuously rather than simply tracking it. While other platforms add AI features onto old architecture, Airtable’s AI-native workflows enable automation and intelligence that change how teams operate and collaborate.

Airtable adapts to how your team works and provides flexible project views that suit both individual and cross-functional teams. Even better, as a no-code platform, teams can build and improve workflows themselves using Omni's conversational AI, describing what they need and building apps in real-time.

If you’re ready to see how AI-powered project collaboration transforms your operations, explore Airtable's project management solutions or book a demo to see the platform in action.