The life of a freelancer is like a juggler’s.

Your freelance projects are the balls, and your job is toco ensure none of them drops down the floor.

This usually means you have to take on many things at a time that traditional employees don’t have to. “Many things” from managing multiple projects to meeting all the deadlines to tracking budgets to generating client invoices, etc.22

And, of course, it’s not easy to balance these all alone.

You need tools. The right tools.

In this article, we will talk about the seven best tools for project management for freelancers.

What we look for

✅ Clean and easy-to-use interface

A clunky and messy interface renders even the most powerful project management tool useless. That’s why we prioritize those options that have a clean and easy-to-use UI.

✅ Affordable pricing

You don’t need to invest a lot in a project management tool.

In fact, you can get started at no cost because there are a lot of project management software solutions for freelancers that offer free plans.

Our picks in this article are not only free to start but also offer multiple paid options, starting at very low (no higher than $10/month per user). So, they won’t break the bank if you want to upgrade your account.

✅ Collaboration

Collaboration is key to the project’s success.

Even when you’re a solo freelancer, you still need to collaborate with your clients.

Collaboration is a must-have functionality in your project management software. The more seamless the collaboration, the faster the work gets done.

7 Best Tools for Project Management for Freelancers in 2024

1. Upbase

The best software for project management for freelancers and small teams.

Upbase is a unique project management tool built for freelancers, solopreneurs, and small teams.

Unique how?

Compared to other project management apps, Upbase stands out for two things:

It’s intuitive and feature-rich at the same time, with the keyword being “at the same time”.

In fact, Upbase is an all-in-one project management solution that supports multiple functionalities. Such as task management, file-sharing, real-time communication, collaboration, messages, etc.

It allows you to lay out, organize, and manage all your projects, tasks, subtasks, and anything related to work–in one place. It replaces multiple apps and reduces multiple log-ins, which helps you stay organized more effectively.

But what’s worth saying is, Upbase is also very intuitive at the same time.

Its deep hierarchy and simplified UI design keep the app easy to navigate and user-friendly.

If ever used other feature-rich project management apps, you’ll perceive most of them are a mess and clicky to navigate.

Another problem is some apps, despite the label “feature-rich,” are as good as useless for freelancers. It feels like someone just throws random fancy features in these apps and calls it a day.

And that’s where Upbase once again shines bright.

All of its features are carefully picked for freelancers.

So let’s see what it has.

Upbase’s key features

A. Deep-and-flexible hierarchy

Upbase’s project hierarchy has six levels:

Workspaces -> Folders -> Project Lists -> Tasks -> Sections -> Subtasks

(with folders and subtasks being optional levels.)

Unlike other apps, Upbase offers both power and flexibility so you can create the perfect infrastructure to scale with each project’s needs, from simple to more complex projects.

B. Tasks module

Each project list has six modules: Tasks, Docs, Files, Calendar, Messages, and Chat.

project management for freelancers: Upbase

Start with the Tasks module, let’s see what’s cool in it.

– Multiple views: The Board view and the List view.

The view as seen in the above image is the Board view, while this is the List view:

– “Group by” category, including group by due date, priority, section, and assignee.

(By the way, the “All tasks” button is for sorting tasks by member in the project list.)

– Task tags, another way to categorize tasks, include:

A task tag manager panel on the left sidebar (it’s where you add and edit tags, organize them into folders, and delete unused ones.)

A filter system that’s accessible through this button.

Upbase is one of a handful of PM software that offers task tags, and also the only one that allows users to filter tasks that contain multiple tags.

Moreover, it allows users to filter tasks by tag at the workspace level.

– Various task details, so you can add as many contexts to a task as you want.

I.e. due dates, multiple assignees, color-code priorities, descriptions, attachments, comments with @mention and emoji stickers, watchers, task log activities, and subtasks.

And yes, you can allow your clients to access a desired task by clicking on the “Guests” button.

Some Easter eggs:

+Task descriptions support multiple types of content. Type “/” to insert.

+Subtasks have all the details that tasks have, except that you can’t create nested subtasks.

+Choose to “show a task as sidepanel” or as popup. Click on the “…” button at the top right corner, and select this option.

+Aside from due dates, you can set start dates, plus start and due time, or set recurrence for a task/subtask. Just click on “Due date”.

C. Docs module

(You can slide in/out the left-hand sidebar and the right-hand comments bar.)

– Folders and five levels of subfolders, to keep your documents organized.

– Embed Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides. The embedded document will be seen by members only when you share it with them.

– “Guests”. If there’s a document you want to share with your clients, turn on the Guests button, and vice versa.

Or, you can share a public link with external users.

D. Files module

This is where you can upload, store, and share files for collaboration with teams/clients.

Here are notable features in the Files module:

– Folders.

– Two views: List and Grid.

Here is what the List view looks like:

– Embed Google Drive Folder. Again, other members access the embedded folders only with your permission.

With each file, you can allow guests to access, leave comments, add watchers, download the file, upload new versions, share a public link, etc.

Just click on the file you want to take one of these actions.

E. Calendar module

This is considered the third view in Upbase.

It offers three time-frame options:

Weekly Planner, which is a Kanban-board weekly planner.
Weekly Calendar, with timeboxing.
Monthly Calendar, with timeboxing.

You also can set it to show/hide weekends, drag a task onto the day you want to schedule it, and filter tasks by member.

F. Messages module

This tool will be especially effective if you are a team of freelancers working together on projects.

Put in here all your team discussions, announcements, project ideas, etc., and forget about those long, messy email threads. You also can pin the important messages, add a category to a message for quick search later, and filter messages by sender.

On each message, you can leave comments, emoji stickers, attach files, allow guest access, etc.

G. Chat module

Yes, this is a real-time chat tool that supports group chats (channels) and 1-to-1 messaging (direct messages).

Group chats are divided into two types:

List chats, which are automatically created according to the project lists
Custom group chats, which are irrelevant to project lists. These group chats are created manually, and you can handpick the members to join the group chat.

They are distinguished by the color of their “#”. List chats are colored based on their list colors, while custom group chats are in gray.

Now, what’s special about Chat? Three things:

1) You have the option to hide Chat off a workspace.

2) Chat is accessible from anywhere in Upbase (by clicking on the lightning icon at the top right corner or by clicking on “Chat” at the top of the left-hand sidebar.)

3) Each chat has a hub for quick access to all the sent links and files.

H. Also-great features for freelancers

– “Schedule”, where you can plan, schedule, and view tasks from all project lists in a workspace.

It’s at the top of the left-hand sidebar.

You’ve got four time-frame options to choose from:

Daily Planner
Weekly Planner
Weekly Calendar
Monthly Calendar

The three last options are similar to those in the Calendar module.

In the Daily Planner, there are many productivity-tracking features like:

+A daily to-do list.

+Daily calendar with timeboxing.

+Notepad, a private tool with slash commands features, is for taking quick notes

+Focus timers, inspired by the Pomodoro Technique but more customizable, are built to help keep you focused on a task, avoid multitasking, and ensure you enjoy breaks reasonably.

+Daily Notes, which acts like a private daily journal tool, with a customizable template and slash commands.

You also can view all notes, side by side, with the completed tasks in the day.

– Bookmarks, which acts like an online bookmarking and bookmark manager app.

You can save any link, including links outside of Upbase, as a bookmark. Rename it in the most memorable way. Customize the bookmark icon and color to your liking.

You also can categorize bookmarks into folders.

– Dark mode, to make it feel easier on the eyes during nighttime.

Upbase’s Pros and Cons

Upbase pros

In summary, here are the most significant advantages of Upbase:

Generous free plan
Intuitive and feature-rich at the same time
Quick and easy to set up in a few clicks
Give you complete control of project and task management
You can flexibly use the software alone or with a team without feeling awkward
Save you time on multiple log-ins every day
Keep you more focused and less distracted
Help track and improve your productivity

Upbase cons

While this all-in-one project management tool is robust and helpful, it’s not without its flaws. At the current time, Upbase doesn’t have task reminders as well as features for billing and invoicing.

Pricing

Upbase’s free plan offers unlimited users and tasks.

If you want unlimited access to all the advanced features, you can go with the Premium plan for just $5/month per user (billed annually) or $8/month per user (billed monthly).

2. TickTick

Best project management software for new freelancers.

TickTick is one of the simplest project management tools out there.

To help you get an idea about how simple the tool is, this is the table of feature differences between TickTick Free and Premium:

Source: TickTick

As you can see, this to-do list app offers everything with a limited number. Plus, it has a very shallow hierarchy.

With these two signs, TickTick is clearly unready to tackle complex projects or long-term tasks.

However, if you are a low-tech beginner or new freelancer who needs to handle a few simple projects, then TickTick is a great fit.

All the features are helpful, especially for this customer group. Such as the powerful search function for quick finding of information when in need. Or the integrations with Google apps to enhance the app’s capabilities.

TickTick also offers many customization options, like setting reminders and task durations, to let users personalize their experience the way they want.

Anyway, its interface design is objectively clean and simple.

The app is also easy for one to learn the app.

Key features

Web, Android, and iOS mobile apps, & macOS and Windows desktop apps
Tasks & Lists.
Dark Mode.
Notifications & Reminders.
Calendar, with five view options in its Calendar: List, Month, Day, 3-Day, and Week.
AI-Powered Suggestions, which provides automated recommendations and advice to help users stay on top of their tasks.
Integrations with a range of third-party tools, like Google Calendar, Evernote, Dropbox, etc.