AlternativeDays of the Week: 11 Notable Options Gaining Popularity
You've been scouring the web for the ultimate project management tool to manage your projects, tasks, and team effectively? Tried a couple, but they're just not cutting it? Well, you've stumbled upon Monday.com, and it looks promising. But, what if it doesn't quite fit your needs or wallet? Don't worry, my friend! I've got your back. Here's a lowdown on Monday.com's key features, why it might not be the best fit for everyone, and the finest alternatives to rule the project management world.
What is Monday?
Monday.com, named after the first day of the week (kinda hilarious, no?), is a popular project management software with over 100,000 businesses under its belt. It provides individuals and teams with the tools they need to run their businesses, manage their projects, and track their progress on its online platform. Since it was founded in 2012 in Tel Aviv, it has become a powerful alternative to more traditional management tools, with the goal of boosting team productivity, alignment, and management.
Monday's Main Features
Monday offers a wide range of features, but they can be primarily categorized into dashboards, automations, board views, files and docs, and integrations.
- Dashboards: Monday lets you create dashboards for your team, where you can see at a glance different aspects of your projects, such as team members' workloads, task progress, work calendars, charts, files gallery, etc. You can set up your own management dashboards using different widgets, which act like blocks and shortcuts to different areas of your workspace.
- Automations: One of Monday's most powerful features is automations. This isn't a unique feature because most alternatives offer it too. However, the platform can boast about having one of the most extensive ranges of automations in a project management tool. With these automations, you can easily and automatically assign team members to tasks, copy tasks to different boards, notify members when a task's status changes, move an item to a different group when its status changes, and more.
- Board Views: Not everyone is comfortable working with the same views, nor does every view work for every project or business purpose. Monday provides varying main views: table, chart, Kanban, Gantt, cards, and more. The most common way to organize tasks in Monday.com is likely the table view, which you might be familiar with if you've tried the tool yourself.
- Files and Docs: In any project, there will inevitably be files that different team members need to have access to. Monday lets you upload virtually any file format and has different edit and view possibilities depending on the format chosen. Some of them even let you make annotations for your colleagues to see, or access file versioning, which can be handy in case your team needs to backtrack a few steps in a project deliverable. However, file management isn't perfect in this platform, so if your project core is based on managing files and creating documentation, Monday might not be the best fit.
- Integrations: One of the most sought-after features in project management tools like Monday or its alternatives is integrations. Monday integrates with big names like Zapier, LinkedIn, Adobe Creative Cloud, Dropbox, Trello, and more.
Why do People Use Monday?
In essence, Monday is a fully packed platform to create and manage projects with its flexibility, automations and integrations, speed and reliability, 24/7 support, adaptability, versatility, granular control of user permissions, task comments with user tagging, and more.
Main Monday Drawbacks and Why You Need a Monday.com Alternative
Despite its wide range of features and possibilities, Monday isn't the best fit for everyone, and here are reasons why you might need a Monday alternative:
- It gets pretty pricey real quick. The lowest-paid plan, and for 3 users only, works out to be $288/year. If you have a 6-person team, you'll be paying $576/year and you won't even get automations, integrations, or guests. If you want those, you'll be paying at least $720/year for a 6-person team. If your company is struggling, every penny counts, so shelling out over seven hundred bucks for a project management tool is out of the question.
- It can be overwhelming. Too many features can be a good thing, but Monday does too much. Many teams will not need over half of the features Monday offers, so why make your staff go through all that when they can find something simpler?
- No white label. If you don't want your clients to know what tool you're using, Monday is not the right choice. You cannot set it up on your own domain, nor can you brand it to your liking.
- Integrations. While Monday integrates with quite a few big names, many teams might not use these platforms, and Monday doesn't seem interested in expanding this list with smaller names. So if you want to integrate Monday with a lesser-known app, your best bet is to use a third-party integration platform like Zapier, which can cost a pretty penny too.
- Jack of one trade. Monday helps organize projects, tasks, and teams well, but it doesn't do much else. Many businesses would benefit from tools that go beyond project management, like video conferencing or team communication.
- Tables aren't for everyone. Monday's table view might be innovative, but not everyone likes organizing projects using tables. And, honestly, if you won't be using it much, you might as well find an alternative that does table views well, because Monday isn't the best.
- Your voice. Salesforce and Zoom are investing in Monday, so your voice as a customer when it comes to feature requests and bug fixes might be far less relevant than it would be for a smaller alternative.
- Techiness. Monday isn't the easiest tool to learn how to use, even though it isn't the hardest out there. If you're working with clients who aren't tech-savvy, using Monday might be overwhelming and stressful for them.
- No real-time communication. Instant communication is essential for team coordination and success, and Monday doesn't offer an internal messaging or chat solution. So you have to rely on external solutions like Slack, MS Teams, or Google Chat. That means having another app to deal with, which can be a hassle.
How to Choose the Right Monday Competitor
When seeking the perfect Monday alternative, it's crucial to ask yourself questions like:
- What are your exact business project management needs?
- What features do you need to be looking for in an alternative because Monday falls short?
Only when you've identified your project management requirements and how Monday doesn't satisfy your needs can you begin to choose the perfect Monday alternative. Here are some things you need to consider:
- What's the budget assigned to your project management tool?
- How many users do you need in your alternative tool?
- Do you need to share your work with your clients?
- Do you mind your clients knowing what tool you're using?
- What type of projects will you be managing: marketing campaigns, content-based projects, web development, etc.?
- What project view suits your workflow best: Kanban, table, Gantt, list, or board?
- Will you need to contact support often?
- Are your staff and clients tech-savvy?
- What kind of user interface suits you best?
Apart from these questions, jot down any other concerns or requirements you have regarding what task management tool to choose. That will help you decide and pick the best Monday alternative to work towards achieving your business project goals.
Top Monday Competitors
Here is a list of the best Monday alternatives to suit your needs:
- Asana
- ClickUp
- Trello
- Wrike
- Slack & Microsoft Teams
- Smartsheet
- Basecamp
- G Suite (Google Workspace) and Microsoft Office 365
- Todoist
Selecting the Best Monday Alternative for You
In essence, the best Monday alternatives will provide you with the right balance of affordability, features, ease of use, and customization capabilities to fit your business project management needs. It's essential to evaluate each of these Monday alternatives by trying out their free trials, reading user reviews, and comparing their features and pricing. Happy hunting!
- Despite Monday's wide range of features, it might not be the best choice for businesses that require a content management system, as file management isn't perfect in this platform, and it doesn't offer a client portal for sharing work with clients.
- For those seeking a more affordable project management tool with file management and client portal capabilities, alternatives like Smartsheet, Wrike, and Basecamp could be potential options. These tools offer comprehensive features, including file management, client portal, and pricing structures that may be more budget-friendly compared to Monday's offerings.
