Project management software for small teams: seven tools and what five people pay

Seven project management tools small teams can price today

This guide compares seven project management tools that publish prices a small team can check: Trello, ClickUp, Nifty, Teamwork.com, Wrike, Asana and Basecamp. Which one depends on whether you need simple boards, a full feature set, or room for clients. All prices below are the annual-billing rates shown on each vendor's own US dollar pricing page, as read on 3 October 2026. Basecamp shows one flat monthly figure, quoted as listed. Prices can change.

What the same five seats cost on monthly billing

Annual billing hides a real gap. Paying month to month, the listed per-seat rates are $6 for Trello Standard, $10 for ClickUp Unlimited, $13.49 for Asana Starter and $16 for Nifty Pro. For five people that is $30, $50, $67.45 and $80 a month. Nifty has the largest step between the two billing cycles of these four, so commit to a year only after a trial has gone well.

Basecamp works differently. Its page lists flat prices with no per-user fee: Freelancer at $25 a month for up to 20 users and 3 active projects, and Studio at $59 a month for unlimited users and 10 active projects. Wrike states that its listed amounts are billed annually per user and that seats are sold in groups of five on small accounts. Our plan cost worksheet helps you repeat this math with your own headcount.

What each tool is best at, and one limit to know

• Trello: the cheapest way to run boards. Calendar, Timeline, Table and Dashboard views only arrive on Premium at $10 per user.
• ClickUp: the widest feature list at the entry price, including Gantt charts, native time tracking and unlimited storage. Guest seats on Unlimited are capped: 5 for the first paid user and 2 for each extra one.
• Nifty: tasks, milestones, docs, discussions and team chat in one place, with time tracking, budget tracking and file proofing on Pro. The free plan stops at 2 active projects.
• Teamwork.com: built for client work, with billable time tracking on Basics. Client invoices from logged time need Accelerate at $24.99 per user.
• Wrike: Gantt charts and shareable dashboards on Team. The Team plan covers 2 to 15 users only.
• Asana: timeline, forms, automations and unlimited free guests on Starter. It is the most expensive per seat here, and the free plan is limited to 2 users.
• Basecamp: one flat bill and the same toolset in every project. Time tracking is not included below the Pro plan at $99 a month.

Where Nifty fits a small team and where it does not

Nifty Pro at $10 per member is mid-priced for five people. It costs twice what Trello Standard does and $15 a month more than ClickUp Unlimited. What you get for that is a bundle that other tools split across tiers: time tracking and reporting, budget tracking, workflow automations, file proofing, 250 GB of storage, 100 active projects and 5 guests per paid seat, which is 25 guests for a team of five.

Nifty also switches to flat pricing as you grow. Its page says per-member billing is cheaper below seven people. From seven to ten, flat Pro is $79 a month on annual billing for up to 10 members with unlimited guests. See Nifty pricing in detail for every tier.

Nifty is the wrong pick if your team only needs a board, where Trello is cheaper, or if you need goals, workload views or custom roles, which sit on Nifty Business at $16 per member. A side by side is in Nifty vs ClickUp.

Which tool to choose by type of small team

• Two or three people on a tight budget: Trello Free or Standard.
• A team that wants every feature for the lowest seat price: ClickUp Unlimited.
• A team that works with clients and tracks hours: Nifty Pro or Teamwork.com Basics.
• A team with many occasional contributors: Basecamp Studio, because the bill does not grow with headcount.
• A team that needs intake forms and outside reviewers: Asana Starter.

Before paying for any of them, check whether a spreadsheet or board would do the job. Our guide to choosing between a sheet, a board and a project tool walks through that decision.