Between a bevy of clients, vendors, and internal specialists, making branded merchandise involves managing many moving parts. “It’s a constant balancing act to manage the different parts of your organization,” Chloe Sapienza, founder of the corporate gift design firm Telescope Studio, says on the Shopify Masters podcast. “We use project management tools to keep everything square.”
With the help of these tools, Telescope’s productivity has increased significantly across the business, from marketing to resource allocation. Companies that have reached a certain degree of maturity might pay for this software; however, if you’re just starting out, consider free project management tools designed to help you scale your project tracking as your business grows.
Learn about the eight best free project management software options that can help you with everything from personal tasks to team collaboration.
What are project management tools?
Project management tools are specialized software applications designed to help individuals and teams plan initiatives, execute work, and track project progress from start to finish. These tools make managing projects easier by consolidating tasks, timelines, responsibilities, and project data in one centralized place.
In the world of ecommerce, where speed and efficiency are critical, project management tools simplify task management and help project managers enforce critical deadlines. Large ecommerce businesses may use an enterprise-level project management system, with paid plans. Asana, Trello, Notion, Microsoft Teams, and monday.com are among the industry leaders in this space, while also providing starter and business plans for smaller teams.
Startups and small businesses with limited budgets can leverage free project management apps to track important tasks and projects. The best free project management tools have many of the same core features as enterprise software—albeit with a more limited scope designed for individuals and small teams.
Pros and cons of using free project management tools
Some of the most successful businesses in the world use free tools to support project management and operations coordination. However, using a free tool or the free version of a paid tool comes with trade-offs:
Advantages of free project management tools
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Cost-effective. Free tools require no subscription fees, making them ideal for startups or small ecommerce businesses watching budgets.
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Simple onboarding. Many free project management solutions are easy to set up and intuitive to use, letting you start organizing tasks and projects with minimal setup.
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Streamlined collaboration. Many free tools provide basic collaboration features like shared boards, checklists, and comments, helping your team track tasks and stay aligned.
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Accessible from anywhere. Most free project management tools are cloud-based, letting your team members access project information on the go, whether during project planning, fulfillment, marketing campaigns, or product launches.
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Encourages consistent workflows. Even a simple project management app can help enforce standard processes and reduce the risk of missed tasks.
Disadvantages of free project management tools
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Feature limitations. Free tools may only perform one function (basic task lists, for example), and the free version of paid software may lack advanced features like workflow automation, Gantt charts, time tracking, or reporting capabilities.
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User or storage caps. A free plan may limit the number of users or projects you can manage at a single time. It may also provide minimal file storage, which can become a bottleneck as your ecommerce business expands.
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Limited integrations. Free tools may not connect with key systems that power your ecommerce platform, including customer relationship management (CRM), and accounting software.
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Less support and fewer updates. Free tiers often provide limited customer support, forcing you to rely on user forums and FAQ pages to troubleshoot on your own.
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Potential for future migration. As your business grows and your needs become more complex, you may outgrow a free tool and face a disruptive switch to a paid solution.
What to look for in free project management tools
Free tools can be a boon to a business owner, but only if they provide real utility. Consider how these tools will assist you in keeping track of projects and breaking down new tasks into actionable to-do lists. When looking for a free project management tool, you want to see:
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User-friendly interface and onboarding. Choose a tool that’s intuitive and easy for your team to adopt, so you can start managing tasks and deadlines without steep learning curves.
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Valuable feature set. Look for core capabilities like task assignments, due dates, checklists, visual boards (e.g, a Kanban board, Gantt charts), and basic reporting that support your workflows without needing constant workarounds. Make sure these features are included in a free tool and not just offered as part of free trials of paid tools.
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Integration with your ecommerce ecosystem. To save time and work more efficiently, look for tools that connect with your ecommerce site builder, email apps, calendars, or other project management software. Shopify merchants may choose to start in the Shopify App Store, which is dedicated to software that integrates seamlessly with the Shopify ecommerce platform.
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Mobile access and cross-device support. Offering mobile project management tools ensures you and your team can update tasks and view progress from anywhere.
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Collaboration and communication capabilities. Collaboration features like comments, file attachments, notifications, and shared boards help teams stay aligned without jumping between apps.
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Options to upgrade. If you plan to scale one day, choose a free tool with options to gradually upgrade to increasingly advanced features (automation, time tracking, integrations) as your business evolves. Many leading platforms have scaled down free plans aimed at startups and sole proprietors, with paid tiers for larger companies.
8 free project management tools
From entirely free tools that can help manage projects to the free tiers of paid platforms, you have a lot of choices when it comes to project management on a budget. Here are some free project management tools worth exploring:
1. Shopify Flow
Shopify Flow is a workflow automation tool built for Shopify merchants. It automates tasks across apps, triggers, and actions within your store. Unlike traditional project management platforms, it runs automated workflows in the background rather than providing a visual task board, making it most effective when paired with another tool like Trello or Asana. Shopify store owners use it to automate repetitive tasks that gum up their daily to-dos (e.g., tagging orders or sending notifications to team members).
One great use for Shopify Flow is inventory replenishment. You can set up a trigger so that when the stock of a SKU falls beneath 10 units, Flow will automatically create a new procurement task in your Asana board and assign it to your operations manager. It will also send a preformatted email to your vendor requesting a quote for a restock of 100 units.
Paid plan details: Shopify Flow comes included with Shopify’s Basic, Grow, Advanced, and Plus plans.
2. Trello
Trello is a Kanban board system built around cards and lists. It’s ideal for visual task tracking and simple project management. Trello stands out for its ease of use and features included in its free tier, such as “quick capture” of to-dos from your email and calendars, and no-code automations. It also integrates with Shopify Flow, meaning you can create Trello tasks from Shopify workflows.
Paid plan details: Trello’s free tier supports up to 10 users. Some of Trello’s AI features are included only in paid plans, which start at $6 per user per month.
3. Asana
Asana is a flexible project and task manager with lists, boards, calendars, and multiple viewing options.
“We use Asana, and I really love it. We just did a website update, and it helped out so immensely to have those tasks all lined up,” Lindsay Rubin, former vice president at v-dog, says on Shopify Masters. Brig Taylor, founder of SlideBelts, also decided to stick with Asana after trying other project management tools. “For project management, we’ve tried a bunch of different things, including Basecamp, and ultimately we stuck with Asana,” she says on Shopify Masters.
A board view makes it function a bit like Trello, while the timeline view and calendar view can offer a chronological look at project updates and deadlines. Asana’s free plan includes unlimited projects, multiple boards, and integrations. Like Trello, it seamlessly integrates with Shopify Flow.
Paid plan details: Asana’s free plan is designed for one or two people. Paid plans, which eliminate the user limit, start at $13.49 per user per month.
4. Google tools
Google offers a collection of tools that many teams can use to support basic project management, including Google Calendar, Google Drive, Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, Google Meet, and Google Voice. Google Tasks, a simple reminder app, and Google Keep, a notetaking app, are built into the Gmail sidebar. Ecommerce businesses can use these free Google tools to manage projects—even if contractors are signed in via personal accounts.
Paid plan details: Google has also created advanced iterations of these tools in the Google Workspace suite of applications. The primary differences between free Google apps and paid Google Workspace plans involve custom email domains, AI features (powered by Google Gemini), and the storage space available to your team. Paid plans start at $8.40 per user per month.
5. ClickUp
ClickUp is a productivity platform with task lists, boards, docs, and real-time collaboration. Its free plan offers unlimited task lists, Kanban boards, custom fields for project information, and collaborative docs to serve as knowledge bases. Your teams could create recurring tasks for subscription shipments, use dashboards to track launch timelines, and plan new social media campaigns with the calendar views.
Paid plan details: Paid ClickUp subscriptions begin at $10 per user per month and unlock user groups, unlimited storage space, time tracking, and more.
6. Freedcamp
While many project management apps put user limits on their free plans, target=”_blank”Freedcamp does not have limits on team size. It supports unlimited users and projects. The free tier lets you track time, create Gantt charts, share calendars, and store files in the cloud. When you upgrade, you unlock functionality for tracking issues, a template creator, and invoicing capabilities.
Paid plan details: Paid plans start at $2.49 per user per month, which unlocks integration with email addresses, Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive, bulk editing features, and more.
7. Notion
Notion’s free plan is somewhat limited compared to other project management platforms. However, users may opt for Notion on account of its highly customizable databases that let you designate subtasks, dependencies, and custom fields (e.g., production cost, expected revenue, etc). The platform also features Notion Mail (an email tool) and Notion Calendar (a calendar tool) that sync with your Google accounts.
Paid plan details: To unlock more features, such as the Notion AI tool and premium integrations with other software, you can upgrade to Notion’s paid plans, starting at $12 per user per month.
8. Jira by Atlassian
Jira by Atlassian stands out for its embrace of Agile methodologies, which are project management approaches that emphasize cross-team collaboration, continuous feedback, and rapid adaptation to change. This makes Jira a strong choice for ecommerce stores that have an in-house development team or manage complex technical business operations. Its free tier covers up to 10 users and offers many project views, including board, calendar, timeline, and summary. However, it offers only 25 gigabytes of shared storage and no customer support, which drives many users to paid plans.
Paid plan details: A paid Jira plan starts at $9.05 per user per month, which unlocks customer support and 250 gigabytes of shared storage. Higher-paid tiers offer unlimited storage.
Free project management tools FAQ
What is the best free tool for project management?
The best free tool for project management depends on your work style and business needs. Consider Freedcamp’s free tier, which doesn’t have user limits, Asana, which offers some of the broadest functionality among free tools, or Shopify Flow, built for Shopify merchants.
Does Google have a free project management tool?
Google doesn’t specifically offer a free project management tool, but many businesses use its suite of free applications—including Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Drive—for project management.
Is there a free alternative to Microsoft Project?
Yes, free alternatives to Microsoft Project include tools like Trello, Asana, and ClickUp, which offer basic project management features at no cost.
What is the simplest project management software?
The simplest project management software is a free option that includes checklists and project views with calendar options. Both Trello and Notion emphasize ease of use in promoting their project management solutions.
