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Skip the spreadsheet chaos. Compare six free project management tools side-by-side with honest limits, Gantt chart availability, and the exact moment you'll need to upgrade.
Elena Petrova03 June 202610 min read3,247 viewsTL;DR: Most free online project management tool roundups list every option and leave the actual decision to you. This one gives IT company owners a focused look at six tools worth considering, with honest free plan limits, Gantt chart availability, and a clear signal for when free stops covering what your team actually needs.
Most free online project management tools cover the same core ground: task creation, basic list or board views, due dates, and team comments. That's enough to replace a shared spreadsheet for a team of five managing a handful of active projects.
What free plans consistently gate is where expectations need calibrating. Gantt charts are almost always paid-only. Reporting dashboards, time tracking, recurring tasks, and guest access tend to sit behind a paywall too. Storage limits typically land between 100 MB and 5 GB on free tiers, and seat caps are common, several tools cap free workspaces at five members.
According to research, the majority of small teams under 20 people start on a free plan before upgrading, which means hitting those project management free plan limits is a near-universal experience, not an edge case.
The practical read: free plans work well for early-stage teams running one or two projects simultaneously. Once you're coordinating across three or more workstreams, or need visibility into timelines, the gaps show up fast.
If you're specifically evaluating free IT project management software or tools built for remote team coordination, the feature gaps above apply there too.
Here's a side-by-side look at six tools worth considering. Gantt chart availability is called out explicitly because most free-tier comparisons bury that detail.
Tool | Best for | Free plan limit | Gantt chart (free) | Standout feature |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Taro | IT teams needing task + time tracking in one place | Unlimited members, 5 active projects | Yes | Built-in time logging and AI-assisted deadline risk alerts |
Trello | Visual Kanban workflows | 10 boards per workspace | No | Power-Ups marketplace |
Asana | Cross-functional task tracking | 15 members, unlimited tasks | No (paid only) | Timeline view on Premium |
ClickUp | Feature-heavy free tier | 100MB storage | Yes (limited) | Docs + tasks in one view |
Notion | Documentation-heavy teams | 1,000 blocks | No | Flexible database structure |
Linear | Engineering sprint teams | Unlimited members, 250 issues | No | Cycle-based sprint automation |
A few patterns worth noting before you read the full tool breakdowns:
Only Taro and ClickUp include any Gantt-style view on the free tier, making them the practical options if online project management with Gantt charts free is a hard requirement
Asana and Trello both gate their most useful planning views behind paid plans
If your team is fully distributed, the seat limits matter more than storage, check the project management tools for remote teams breakdown before deciding
For a narrower cut focused on IT-specific workflows, the best free IT project management software guide covers that angle directly.
Each tool below gets the same treatment: what it does, what the free plan actually includes, where it hits a wall, and who it fits best. No padding, no vague "great for teams of all sizes" claims.
Taro by Worksbuddy is an AI-powered project management tool designed to help IT businesses organise tasks, manage sprints, track deadlines, and coordinate team activities from one workspace.
Unlike standalone task managers, Taro connects with the wider WorksBuddy ecosystem, including CRM and invoicing tools. This makes it particularly useful for IT service businesses where project delivery, client management, and billing are closely related.
Taro also uses AI to assist with task prioritisation and project execution, reducing the manual effort involved in monitoring progress.
Free plan: Up to 2 members, unlimited projects, core task management, and selected AI capabilities.
Key features:
Task management, Kanban boards, and sprint planning.
Time tracking and team collaboration.
AI-assisted task prioritisation and completion analysis.
Connected workflows with WorksBuddy's other business tools.
Pros: Combines project execution with AI assistance, supports unlimited projects on the free plan, and offers integration with wider business operations.
Cons: The free plan supports only two members, while advanced AI capabilities and broader team functionality require an upgrade.
Pricing: Free plan available. Paid Pro plans offer additional AI capabilities, automation, and team capacity.
Best for: Small IT teams and service businesses looking for project management that can grow into a connected operational system.
Trello is a visual project management tool built around boards, lists, and cards. Teams can create tasks, assign responsibilities, set deadlines, and move work through different stages.
Its biggest advantage is simplicity. A small team can set up a project board within minutes without learning complicated workflows.
However, Trello becomes less effective when projects require detailed scheduling, dependencies, or workload reporting.
Free plan: Up to 10 collaborators, 10 boards per workspace, unlimited cards, and 10MB attachments per file.
Key features:
Drag-and-drop Kanban boards.
Task assignments, checklists, and deadlines.
Basic workflow automation.
Integrations through Power-Ups.
Pros: Easy to learn, quick to implement, and suitable for simple team workflows.
Cons: No native Gantt or Timeline view on the free plan, limited reporting, and no comprehensive built-in time tracking.
Pricing: Free plan available. Standard starts at $5/user/month, billed annually. Premium, which includes Timeline, starts at $10/user/month annually.
Best for: Small teams managing straightforward tasks without complex project dependencies.
Asana helps teams organise projects through task lists, boards, calendars, and clearly assigned responsibilities. It is useful for keeping project deliverables organised and ensuring everyone knows what they need to complete.
For IT teams managing multiple deliverables, Asana provides a structured way to track ownership and deadlines. However, more advanced scheduling and automation capabilities require a paid subscription.
Free plan: Up to 2 users, unlimited tasks and projects, and list, board, and calendar views.
Key features:
Task assignments and deadline management.
Project boards and calendars.
Subtasks and project collaboration.
Advanced dependencies and timeline planning on paid plans.
Pros: Clean interface, structured task organisation, and unlimited projects on the free tier.
Cons: The two-user free limit restricts team collaboration, while Gantt charts, advanced reporting, and automation require paid plans.
Pricing: Free plan available. Starter begins at $10.99/user/month, billed annually.
Best for: Freelancers and small partnerships that need structured project tracking and clear task accountability.
ClickUp combines task management, documents, sprint planning, and collaboration within a highly customisable workspace.
Teams can organise work using lists, boards, calendars, and other views, making it useful for businesses with different project management requirements.
The platform offers considerable flexibility, although its interface can feel overwhelming for teams that only need basic task tracking.
Free plan: Unlimited users and tasks, 60MB storage, and limited Gantt functionality.
Key features:
Multiple task and project views.
Sprint and agile project management.
Collaborative documents.
Custom fields and dashboards.
Pros: Unlimited free users, flexible workflows, and multiple project management options.
Cons: Limited free storage, restrictions on advanced features, and a steeper learning curve.
Pricing: Free plan available. Unlimited starts at $7/user/month, billed annually.
Best for: Teams that need customisable workflows and different ways to visualise project progress.
Notion combines documentation, databases, and task management in one workspace. Rather than functioning as a traditional project management system, it allows teams to build their own project dashboards and workflows.
For IT businesses, Notion works particularly well for managing technical documentation, project requirements, meeting notes, and simple task lists.
However, teams needing advanced sprint planning, workload tracking, or automated deadline management may find it less suitable.
Free plan: Unlimited pages and blocks for individuals, basic database views, and 5MB file uploads.
Key features:
Custom project databases.
Task boards, calendars, and timeline views.
Documentation and knowledge management.
Reusable project templates.
Pros: Highly flexible, combines project information and documentation, and supports custom workflows.
Cons: Requires manual setup, has limited built-in project automation, and lacks comprehensive native time tracking.
Pricing: Free plan available. Plus starts at $10/member/month, billed annually.
Best for: Individuals and small teams that prioritise documentation alongside basic project tracking.
Linear is a project and issue management tool built specifically for software development teams. It focuses on organising development cycles, tracking bugs, managing feature requests, and keeping engineering work moving.
Its streamlined interface makes it a practical alternative to heavier issue-tracking platforms for smaller development teams.
However, Linear is primarily designed for engineering workflows rather than broader business operations such as client billing or resource management.
Free plan: Unlimited members, up to 2 teams, and 250 active issues.
Key features:
Bug and issue tracking.
Sprint and cycle management.
Project planning and prioritisation.
GitHub and development tool integrations.
Pros: Fast interface, structured development workflows, and unlimited users on the free tier.
Cons: The 250-active-issue limit can restrict growing teams, and broader project operations may require additional software.
Pricing: Free plan available. Basic starts at $10/user/month, billed annually.
Best for: Software engineering teams that need focused issue tracking and sprint management without unnecessary administrative complexity.
According to Capterra, the majority of small teams under 20 people start on a free project management plan before upgrading, which means the free plan limits above aren't hypothetical, they're the actual experience most teams have for their first 6 to 12 months. For IT-specific workflows and remote team setups, the gap between tools widens further once you factor in integrations and reporting. A broader comparison of free IT project management options is worth reviewing if your team's work is heavily client-facing.
The gap between free and paid project management software usually comes down to three things: automation, reporting, and seat limits.
On free plans, automation is either absent or capped at a handful of triggers per month. Asana's free tier has no automation at all. ClickUp's free plan allows 100 automation runs per month, which a five-person team burns through quickly. Reporting is similarly restricted: most free tiers give you a basic task list view and nothing else. Gantt charts, workload views, and custom dashboards are almost universally paid features.
Project management free plan limits on seats are the other common wall. Trello's free plan caps you at 10 boards per workspace. Notion's free plan limits version history to 7 days. Linear's free tier tops out at 250 issues.
The honest signal for when to upgrade: if your team needs to track time, generate client-ready reports, or run recurring automations, free plans will slow you down within a few weeks. Taro is one option that includes time logging and sprint reporting without requiring an immediate upgrade.
For a deeper comparison of free vs paid project management software across IT-specific workflows, that breakdown covers the edge cases worth knowing before you commit.
Team size is the fastest filter to apply when evaluating free project management tools for small teams.
Under 5 people: Most free tiers cover you fully. Trello's free plan handles unlimited cards across 10 boards. Taro's free plan adds AI-assisted task prediction, which matters when one person is wearing three hats.
5 to 15 people: Seat caps and project limits start biting. Asana's free tier caps at 10 seats with no timeline view. At this size, check whether the tool locks Gantt charts behind a paid tier, most do.
15 to 25 people: You're likely hitting storage ceilings and needing cross-project reporting. This is where free vs paid project management software comparisons become worth your time.
For IT teams specifically, the best free IT project management software options differ from general-purpose picks because sprint tracking and bug workflows need to be native, not bolted on.
Taro's free plan is worth checking if your team is between 5 and 20 people and already feeling the limits of a basic Kanban board.
Most free online project management tools added an "AI" label in 2025 and called it done. What that usually means: a chatbot that summarizes your task list, or an auto-fill field that saves you 30 seconds. Useful, but not the shift buyers are actually asking about.
The real change is predictive work management. Instead of showing you what's overdue, the tool flags what's about to slip, based on sprint velocity, team capacity, and historical task completion rates. That's a different category of problem-solving.
Taro is built this way from the ground up. The AI doesn't sit on top of your tasks as a plugin, it runs through sprint planning, time logging, and deadline tracking as a single system. If you want a broader look at which tools are genuinely AI-native versus AI-adjacent, this breakdown of the best AI project management tools in 2026 is worth reading before you commit to a free tier.
The moment free plans stop working for growing IT teams is predictable: you're juggling three projects instead of two, your team is manually updating status because there's no automation, and nobody flags a deadline slip until it's already late. That's when you realize a free tool was never the constraint, it was the lack of visibility and AI-assisted risk detection that cost you.
Taro's free plan lets you test whether AI-native project management changes that math. Five users, unlimited tasks, three active projects, and Gantt charts included. No credit card required. Start there, and you'll know exactly when (or if) you need to upgrade.
Taro, Trello, Asana, ClickUp, Notion, and Linear all offer free tiers. Taro and ClickUp are the only two that include Gantt charts on the free tier. Choose based on your workflow type: Kanban (Trello), structured tasks (Asana), view flexibility (ClickUp), or sprints (Linear).
Not reliably. Free plans hit walls fast on large projects: seat caps, storage limits, missing Gantt views, and no automation. They work for early-stage work, but multi-phase projects with 10+ team members need paid plans or tools designed for scale.
Free tiers cover basic task creation, due dates, and comments. Paid plans unlock Gantt charts, reporting dashboards, time tracking, automation, and higher seat limits. The gap widens as your team grows or project complexity increases.
Task creation, list or board views, due dates, team comments, and basic file storage. Most gate Gantt charts, reporting, time tracking, recurring tasks, and guest access behind paywalls. Seat limits range from 5 to 15 members on free plans.
Yes. Taro and ClickUp both include Gantt-style views on their free tiers. Taro supports up to 3 active projects; ClickUp offers limited date filtering. All other tools on this list gate Gantt charts to paid plans.
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