Managing workload effectively—while ensuring your team doesn’t end up overworked or twiddling their thumbs—is vastly easier when you can rely on software that does a lot of the heavy lifting for you. Workload management tools ensure your team has a balanced workload and is accountable to delivering projects on time.
So, if you’re in the market for effective workload management software, you’re in luck! We have put together a list of popular tools to help you evaluate and choose the best for you.
What do you need in a workload management tool?
The main goal of workload management is to plan and schedule work and assign it to the right people based on capacity and skillset. This is why tools that do workload management effectively most often overlap with resource management software, capacity planning tools, and (sometimes) project management software—all of which give a holistic experience of planning projects from beginning to end.
The tools in this list are evaluated based on essential features you need to manage your team’s workload.
Best workload management tools and software for 2024 (compared!)
Our tools in this list are divided into three categories:
- Built-for-purpose workload management and capacity planning tools: Float
- Project management tools: Jira, Zoho Projects, Basecamp, nTask, Asana, Wrike, and Monday.com
- Enterprise work management platforms: Smartsheet, ClickUp
The differences lie in the scope of each tool. For example, Float focuses on resource management and allocation so you can schedule work effectively, Asana focuses on task management with some workload management capabilities, while ClickUp is a robust enterprise platform including a CRM.
Each tool can do the job of workload management with varying degrees of success—it all depends on where you want to focus and how big a platform you want.
💡 Want a quick way to compare the tools?
Check out our comparison sheet where you can see how each tool stacks up against competitors.
1. Float
🏢 Founded in: 2011
🎯 Primary software category: Resource management
🏆 G2: 4.2 (1,200+ reviews); Capterra: 4.5 (1,580 reviews)
🧪 Free trial: Yes, 14 days.
Float is a resource management tool built specifically to make workload management easier when planning projects and capacity. It’s the go-to choice for 4,500+ happy teams and 2 million users and is especially effective for growing advertising and marketing agency teams of up to 1,000 people.
It has a visual interface that gives you a view of real team member capacity and helps you know who’s working on what. You can instantly see if someone’s workload is too much or too little, and make easy adjustments through a drag-and-drop functionality—and work keeps going!
Float also offers various other features that power up your project and resource utilization planning, such as setting budgets, tracking time off and hours worked, comparing estimates vs. actuals, and viewing multi-project timelines.
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<sme-author>Japie Stoppelenburg</sme-author>
<sme-position>Founder of marketing & advertising agency Truus</sme-position>
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“Ninety percent of our work is delivered on time because people know when they're supposed to do it.
There was no way for us to do this company with this amount of clients, with this amount of sort of big brands, and deliver all this work without the system.
There are so many projects happening at the same time that for a small agency like us, there is no way to handle that amount of little projects without having a visual planning tool.“
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Float features for workload management
👍 Visual and intuitive work schedule view. This allows you to easily see allocations to team members without having to sort through tasks or create reports.
👍 Capacity management (including time off management). Float warns you when you’re trying to schedule work on booked time off or non-working days, and flags overtime to keep workload realistic.
👍 Reports on estimates vs actual time worked and utilization reports to help you understand how your team’s time is spent. These can be broken down by roles too, to help you identify hiring needs (e.g. one specific role is constantly over capacity).
👍 Project planning capabilities. Set projects with phases, milestones, and task lists, and keep an eye on the budget.
👍 Time tracking, with pre-filled timesheets to reduce manual inputs and a built-in timer (also available as a Windows and Mac downloadable app).
Float limitations
- Float is ideal for teams up to 1,000 people, but, in our experience, larger teams require a set of specific enterprise features—if that's the case, you will probably find a better fit in some of the enterprise platforms we cover below.
- Some users mention the lack of advanced AI-driven task assignment and scheduling.
💰 Pricing
See the full pricing breakdown here.
1. Starter. $6 per person per month, billed annually. Every resource scheduling capability you need, with unlimited projects and powerful reporting. Best for teams of up to 30 people.
2. Pro. $10 per person per month, billed annually. Everything in Starter, plus built-in time tracking, single sign-on (SSO), and workflow features designed to scale. Best for growing teams of 30+ people.
3. Enterprise. A custom plan that includes everything in Pro and is designed for larger organizations with heavier compliance and support needs.
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Plan work with the best management tool
Plan work with confidence, see capacity at a glance, and get reports on projects and people to optimize how your team's time is spent.
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2. Jira
🏢 Founded in: 2002
🎯 Primary software category: Issue tracking
🏆 G2: 4.3 (5,600+ reviews); Capterra: 4.5 (13,900+ reviews)
🧪 Free trial: Yes, 7 days if you exceed the free plan’s limits (10 users).
Jira is one of tech giant Atlassian’s most well-known tools, especially among customer service and software development teams. Its Jira Work Management tool—a collaboration tool—helps teams plan and organize work, and see it via various types of views, such as lists, calendars, timelines, and boards. Jira is especially effective in tracking requests and giving an easy overview of projects and issues to help monitor progress.
As a tool, it’s not meant for extensive workload and resource management—but, if you get a lot of stakeholder requests, it’s an excellent tool to ensure that your team always knows what they need to do and keeps track of work done.
Jira features
👍 Project and issue tracking
👍 Multiple views, like timeline and Kanban boards
👍 Ability to organize issues by backlog to support agile methods
👍 Automation workflows (easy drag-and-drop method)
Jira limitations
- Two different users on G2 and Capterra mentioned that the over-customization abilities of Jira may be a challenge as they make the tool more complex and maintaining consistency harder.
- Jira doesn’t have built-in resource planning capabilities, though it’s a great tool to track requests and tasks.
💰 Pricing
1. Free. For up to 10 users.
2. Standard. $8.15 per user per month, for up to 35,000 users.
3. Premium. $16 per user per month, everything in Standard plus advanced roadmaps, 24/7 support, and their “Atlassian Intelligence (AI).”
4. Enterprise. Available for more than 801 users, and includes multiple sites and advanced security.
3. Zoho Projects
🏢 Founded in: 1996
🎯 Primary software category: Project management
🏆 G2: 4.3 (380+ reviews); Capterra: 4.3 (450+ reviews)
🧪 Free trial: Yes, 10 days.
Zoho Projects is a suite of tools that include a CRM and helpdesk software. According to their website, Zoho Projects has over 100 million users, making it one of the most used tools on this list.
Its project management solution checks the most essential workload management boxes: easy task management and allocation, adding milestones, task lists, subtasks, and dependencies. Their resource utilization chart also helps you ensure that workload is distributed correctly among team members and see availability quickly. The tool even offers a heatmap to visualize actual schedules compared to normal available hours.
With a visual chart, you can easily determine which team member is available to take on new work, much like Float’s Schedule view.
Zoho Projects features
👍 Task management and automation
👍 Resource utilization chart
👍 Team collaboration features (e.g. chat and forums)
👍 Time tracking
👍 Document sharing
Zoho Projects limitations
- The suite of tools can be hard to learn and overwhelming at the beginning.
- Some reviews report performance issues and sometimes slower loading speed.
💰 Pricing
1. Free. Up to three users.
2. Premium. $5 per user per month, for unlimited projects with resource utilization, Gantt charts, and subtasks.
3. Enterprise. $10 per user per month, including portfolio dashboard, baselines, and inter-project dependencies.
4. Basecamp
🏢 Founded in: 1999
🎯 Primary software category: Project management and team collaboration
🏆 G2: 4.1 (5,200+ reviews); Capterra: 4.3 (14,300+ reviews)
🧪 Free trial: Yes, 30 days.
The most seasoned tool in this list (founded almost 25 years ago as 37 Signals), Basecamp combines task scheduling, chat, to-do lists, file storage, and team collaboration into one platform. As they mention on their site, the tool aims for each project to only exist on one single page. Basecamp also has their own project management methodology, called Shape Up.
It’s excellent as a hub for collaboration because it helps you keep all project communications in one place and use real-time chats, message boards, and forums. Basecamp is effective for keeping work going and teams accountable thanks to its slick task management functions. But apart from that, it has no ability to further analyze workload or capacity. If optimizing resources is your only focus, then the other workload management tools in this list are better options.
Basecamp features
👍 Powerful collaboration features
👍 File storage and document management
👍 Project schedules and calendars
Basecamp limitations
- It lacks capacity planning features as well as some useful project management features like task dependencies and subtasks.
- Reports are basic (e.g. you can’t go deep into utilization or progress) and functions like time tracking can only be done through integrations.
💰 Pricing
1. Basecamp. $15 per user per month, best for freelancers, startups, or smaller teams.
2. Basecamp Pro Unlimited. Fixed price at $349 per month billed monthly or $299 per month billed annually. No additional per-user charges. This plan has many additional solutions like 24/7 support, advanced permission control, and 5TB of document storage.
5. nTask
🏢 Founded in: 2017
🎯 Primary software category: Project management
🏆 G2: 4.4 (17 reviews); Capterra: 4.2 (105 reviews)
🧪 Free trial: 7 days.
nTask is an all-in-one project management software with strong collaboration features like managing meetings (e.g. agendas and schedules) and real-time chat. You can define a work schedule and then assess the capacity of each team member, and also keep a view of unassigned and unscheduled tasks.
It has a well-organized view of who’s working on what task and what projects are ongoing.
nTask is one of the most affordable tools, as it has a free plan for up to five users and its premium plan is only $3 per user per month (with annual billing).
nTask features
👍 Task management and issue tracking
👍 Capacity monitoring
👍 Collaboration features (e.g. meeting management and chat)
nTask limitations
- Limited customization options for your dashboards or workflows.
- Its mobile app has been reported as unreliable by a 2023 review.
💰 Pricing
1. Basic. Free forever, with unlimited workspaces and task lists.
2. Premium. 3$ per user per month for individuals and small teams with unlimited projects.
3. Business. 8$ per user per month for all project management features and priority support.
4. Enterprise. Custom for teams with higher compliance, security, and support requirements.
6. Asana
🏢 Founded in: 2008
🎯 Primary software category: Project management
🏆 G2: 4.3 (9,500+ reviews); Capterra: 4.5 (12,300+ reviews)
🧪 Free trial: Yes, 30 days.
Asana is the project management tool of choice for over 139,00 paying customers. It’s one of the most effective software options for scheduling projects and task lists.
For workload management, Asana offers the aptly named “Workload” add-on on its higher-tier pricing plans. Workload works as a resource management solution, enabling you to measure the effort required for each task (in hours or points) and visualize workloads over time.
While its workload management is more advanced than other project management tools, it still falls short compared to dedicated resource management software. As Nick Patterson, Co-CEO of video production company STORM+SHELTER, says: “It was really difficult for us to get a big picture, look at how busy we were, who was being scheduled on what, especially if multiple tasks were going on in one day. The diary view in Asana wouldn't be able to give you a good idea of what was happening.”
Asana features
👍 Easy to see multi-project timelines
👍 Task allocation and ability to track capacity
👍 Various views, including Kanban, Gantt charts, and timelines
Asana limitations
- Limited features for resource management and capacity planning.
- Can get pretty expensive if you have a large team and need the Workload add-on or advanced features like time tracking and approval workflows.
💰 Pricing
1. Personal. Free. Project management for individuals or teams just getting started. Doesn’t include resource management.
2. Starter. $10.99 per user per month. This plan includes multiple project views, project dashboards, and automations.
3. Advanced. $24.99 per user per month. For companies that need to manage portfolios and work across multiple departments. This plan includes the "Workload" add-on.
4. Enterprise and Enterprise +, custom pricing for companies with complex workflows and strict compliance requirements.
7. Wrike
🏢 Founded in: 2006
🎯 Primary software category: Project management
🏆 G2: 4.2 (3,500+ reviews); Capterra: 4.3 (2,500+ reviews)
🧪 Free trial: Yes, two weeks
Wrike is a popular project management tool with 2.3 million customers from around the world. It was acquired by Citrix in 2021 but gained back its autonomy in late 2022 to operate as its own company.
It has all the functionalities necessary for scheduling projects and tasks, including a useful live proofing tool available from the Business plan and higher. Also, from the Business plan, Wrike offers a workload view to help you see individual capacity and identify availability for new tasks.
Wrike features
👍 Multiple project views, such as Gantt charts and Kanban
👍 Shared dashboards for better collaboration
👍 A view to visualize team availability and individual capacity
👍 Workload automations
👍 Robust reports on team performance and project progress
Wrike limitations
- Resource and workload management are available only on the Business plan and higher, which can get pretty expensive.
- Users report some missing features like converting tasks to projects and automatically updating statuses.
💰 Pricing
1. Free. For small teams that want task management.
2. Team. $9.80 per user per month. For growing teams with unlimited projects, tasks, and subtasks
3. Business. $24.80 per user per month. Organization-wide setup, with automations, resource management, and time tracking features. This plan with resource management is limited to 200 users, after which you’ll need to speak to their Sales team about an enterprise plan.
4. Enterprise & Pinnacle. Plans for large teams for unlimited users and enhanced governance needs.
8. Monday.com
🏢 Founded in: 2012
🎯 Primary software category: Project management
🏆 G2: 4.7 (9,900+ reviews); Capterra: 4.6 (4,500+ reviews)
🧪 Free trial: Yes, 14 days.
Monday.com’s work management software is loved by many teams for its visual, colorful interface and its extensive task management capabilities. You can plan projects, add due dates, milestones, and files, and easily track the status of each task. The customizable boards help you set up your task lists the exact way you want them.
When it comes to workload management, Monday.com offers the Workload widget that allows you to pull data to measure capacity and “effort”.
While this may help you get insights on workload, it’s harder to set up and read than the tool’s standard project management settings and may also require the use of formulas.
Also, resource management functions (that provide the ability to manage workload) aren’t in Monday’s most recent roadmap, which makes it unlikely that these capabilities will be developed further.
Monday.com features
👍 Widget and work schedule to help manage capacity and estimated workload
👍 Drag-and-drop functionality for easy schedule updates
👍 Visual interface and calendar view to enable easier project monitoring
👍 Extensive customization on the boards to accommodate unique project needs
Monday.com limitations
- The workload management functionalities are harder to set up and learn than the project management capabilities.
- Sometimes reported as having a bit of a learning curve for new users and being a “heavier” tool that may require a really good internet connection to work well.
💰 Pricing
The pricing below is billed yearly:
1. Free. Up to two seats for individuals to keep track of work.
2. Basic. $8 per seat per month. A plan that helps you manage your team’s work with everything in Free, plus unlimited items and 5GB storage.
3. Standard. $10 per seat per month. Everything in Basic, along with timelines and Gantt charts, calendar views, and automations.
4. Pro. $16 per seat per month. Everything in Standard, plus time tracking and a greater number of available automations.
5. Enterprise. Advanced reporting and analytics and multi-level permissions.
9. Smartsheet
🏢 Founded in: 2005
🎯 Primary software category: Enterprise work management
🏆 G2: 4.4 (15,000+ reviews); Capterra: 4.5 (3,100+ reviews)
🧪 Free trial: Yes, 14 days
Smartsheet is a robust work management platform that offers the ability to manage workload and resources through its resource management solution. It helps you visualize team capacity across your portfolio with a dedicated capacity view.
The tool offers useful high-level views and functions, including percentage-based planning. Enterprise-sized teams choose Smartsheet for its project management capabilities and for centralizing the finances and other data of large project work.
Smartsheet features
👍 Project planning and resource allocation capabilities
👍 Digital assets management
👍 Team collaboration (e.g. sharing work internally and externally)
👍 Ability to see conflicts in schedules
Smartsheet limitations
- While it’s a very reliable tool with lots of solutions built-in, it requires a lot of manual work and time to make updates.
- Despite having improved its user-friendliness through some key updates, it’s still reported by some users as “complicated” and “not intuitive.”
💰 Pricing
Plans offered (with a yearly billing):
1. Free. For one user and up to two editors, suited for getting started on task management.
2. Pro. $7 per user per month. Track, share, and manage projects with unlimited sheets and up to 10 editors.
3. Business. $25 per user per month. This plan includes their resource management features.
4. Enterprise. For organizations that need enterprise-level security and controls.
10. ClickUp
🏢 Founded in: 2017
🎯 Primary software category: Enterprise work management
🏆 G2: 4.7 (9,200+ reviews); Capterra: 4.7 (3,900+ reviews)
🧪 Free trial: No, but free plan.
ClickUp is an all-in-one enterprise platform that brings a variety of business solutions into one place. Its visually intuitive and user-friendly interface allows you to manage projects and tasks with ease.
Much like other tools on the list, ClickUp has a “Workload” view where you can visualize the amount of work assigned to each person. This function does the job but requires several inputs and manual work.
ClickUp is still a great option if your goal is to centralize solutions together and eliminate the need for integrations and multiple logins.
ClickUp features
👍 Workload view
👍 Task scheduling and project timelines
👍 Collaboration features (e.g. chat, whiteboards)
👍 Time tracking
ClickUp limitations
- Use of the workload view is capped at the lower-tier plans (e.g. only 100 uses of the view are available in the Unlimited plan).
- It falls short on resource management as a whole, including in people reports (e.g. no resource utilization report). Its workload view is also not readily available, but needs a lot of inputs to set up and read.
💰 Pricing
The below plans are billed yearly:
1. Free. A plan for personal use, with collaborative docs and Kanban view.
2. Unlimited. $7 per member per month. A plan for small teams with unlimited storage, Gantt charts, and native time tracking.
3. Business. $12 per member per month. A plan for mid-sized teams that includes everything in Unlimited, along with SSO, advanced automations, and workload management.
4. Enterprise. You need to contact ClickUp for a custom price. This is a plan for large teams.
Wait, aren’t spreadsheets an option, too?
Sure, spreadsheets are the resident jacks of all trades of business operations. But, they’re not the most effective for workload management! “Excel is great, but it can only do so much,” says Comfort Agemo, Senior Capacity and Freelance Manager at Scholz and Friends—a marketing agency that switched to Float after they outgrew the spreadsheet.
It makes sense: spreadsheets take far longer to set up than any tool built to streamline work planning. And when changes need to be made? If you’ve ever seen a formula break, you know the horror.
So, while spreadsheets can do the job for a while, they’re not a scalable or reliable long-term solution. As your team grows, and workload grows accordingly, you need a workload management tool to ensure you can plan work based on real capacity and even forecast resources for the future.
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The right team workload tracker
Rated #1 for resource management on G2, Float gives you the most accurate view of workload and capacity to plan your projects with confidence.
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