2019 Reviews of Agile Software Platforms

Agile is a flexible, streamlined project management approach. Due to this flexibility, numerous Agile software solutions have emerged, each one ideal for a different type of business or team structure.

At Project Management Academy, we’re often asked which Agile software we recommend to the Agile certified practitioners we train. While there’s no single software that fits everyone’s project management needs, there are plenty of options, each with their own benefits and unique designs. Here are six Agile software platforms our project managers love.

JIRA for Agile

“From medicine and space travel, to disaster response and pizza deliveries, our products help teams all over the planet advance humanity through the power of software.” – Atlassian

Even if you’re new to the Agile software world, Jira by Atlassian, is probably a tool with which you’re already familiar. Jira is one of the most popular Agile software platforms on the market. Enabling flexible approaches to task management, Jira allows teams to use numerous approaches to Agile, including Kanban and Scrum.

One of the greatest benefits of Jira is the number of integrations it can support. Jira can be integrated into additional software tools like HipChat and Confluence, providing a seamless, convenient work experience.

Using Jira, you can:

• Plan your sprints and distribute tasks

• Track your progress with visibility into project status

• Release and deploy your completed tasks

• Report on your team’s performance, ensuring you yield the best results

Jira is also relatively affordable, with prices ranging from $7 to $10 per user, per month.

Accelo for Agile

“While other industries have been reshaped and made dramatically more efficient by technology in the last 30 years, the professional services sector has been left to make do with little more than manual and error-prone tools like spreadsheets, time-sheets and network drives. Until now.” – Accelo

Accelo was designed to centralize the management of all your client work. Instead of investing in multiple solutions, all with different functionalities, you can invest in a single solution for your Agile project management tasks. Accelo is a ServOps (Service Operations) management solution, allowing you to manage, automate, and optimize the following aspects of your business:

• Sales

• Projects

• Service

• Retainers

Ideal for businesses that provide services for clients and bill for time worked on projects, Accelo enables you to easily assign work, track project progress, and manage budgets, all in real-time. This enhanced and transparent overview of your company enables you to make better decisions to increase profitability.

Accelo is a comparatively more expensive option, with two pricing plans from $39 per user per month ($34 if you pay annually), and $79 per user per month ($69 if you pay annually).

ClickUp for Agile

“We tried every project management tool in the world hoping to find one that had perfected the things that mattered to us – something that would get out of our way and let us focus on building lovable software.

But every time we tried one, we were left feeling the same way: Project management platforms are either way too simple or far too complex. You have to use more than one platform to get things done; Current solutions are horribly designed, slow, and frustrating to use. ClickUp allows all teams to collaborate in one beautiful platform that is completely customizable based on each project.” – ClickUp

ClickUp is a regularly used and well-established productivity platform. Providing more than just project management capabilities, ClickUp also enables teams to create notes, reminders, goals, calendars, and schedules. Team members can even have an inbox. This Agile software is agile in the truest sense as it is full customizable, meeting the needs of any team that uses it.

For teams that adopt ClickUp, they have access to features that can improve processes in a few key areas of your business:

• Process Management

• Task Management

• Time Management

• Integrations

• Complete Customization

• Collaboration and Reporting

• Apps and Devices

• And More

ClickUp has both a free version and an upgraded version for $5 per user, per month.

Airtable for Agile

“Airtable was founded on the belief that software shouldn’t dictate how you work—you should dictate how it works. Our mission is to democratize software creation by enabling anyone to build the tools that meet their needs. Creators and creatives around the world use Airtable to do everything from cattle tracking to filmmaking, and they have great things to say.” – Airtable

Airtable, which describes itself as “part spreadsheet, part database”, is an intuitive and user-friendly Agile software solution to provide a streamlined planning experience for almost any team. Instead of using outdated project planning spreadsheets, you can instead use a more flexible option for organizing your work.

You can plan projects in five different formats:

• Grid

• Calendar

• Kanban

• Gallery

• Form

Each of these formats works well for different team and project structures. Facilitating greater collaboration and real-time Agile project management, Airtable is an easy-to-use solution for any team.

Airtable has three pricing options: free, $12 per user per month ($10 if you pay annually), and $24 per user per month ($20 if you pay annually). They also offer an enterprise option if you need to plan projects on an organization-wide scale.

Asana for Agile

“At Asana, we’re building a place where everything from the most immediate details to the big picture are organized. With Asana, each person knows what they should be doing and why. This clarity, transparency, and focus allows teams to collaborate with less friction and produce great results.

We believe coordination should be as effortless between people as it is between our own brains and bodies, that people should be appreciated, and love what they do.” – Asana

Asana enables better collaboration through increased clarity and transparency, allowing teams to plan projects down to the smallest detail. This Agile software also centralizes your project management tasks, helping you avoid massive email chains and miscommunications. Everyone on your team will know exactly what they’re working on, and you can track the progress of each completed task. You can also turn processes you use each day into templates, allowing you to save time and cut down on tedious work.

Asana offers four pricing structures that could work for your team, a Basic version that’s free, a Premium version that is $11.99 per user per month ($9.99 if you pay annually), a Business version that is $23.99 per user per month ($19.99 if you pay annually), and an Enterprise version with a pricing structure dependent on your needs.

For Agile Certified Practitioners, choosing the right Agile software is a big decision. You need to ensure that the option you select is the best solution for your team. While all of the above Agile software solutions are popular, they each serve different roles. Be sure to research your options carefully before making your selection. With the right software and the Agile Methodology, you can empower your team to do great things.

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