21st Feb, 2024
Here are the best project management apps for freelancers to help plan ahead, manage clients, send files and finished pieces and to also track their time efficiently, along with invoices and payments. Find any all kinds of apps for freelancers here.
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Are you a freelancer looking for a better way to manage everything?
Starting as a freelancer you can make it up as you go, but once you have clients, invoices, payments, and time to plan with, you need to bring in some helpful project management apps to better organize your workloads.
Nearly half of the workforce is now self-employed or freelancing, that's around 47.5% of those who work. This also means these individuals must have some apps or software in place to help them manage their business effectively and efficiently.
Without using software, apps, or tools, you'll probably find yourself hating life as a freelancer, and feeling super stressed.
That's why we have created a concentrated list of the best project management apps for freelancers to take control and manage their work better.
You don't need them, but it could be your competitive advantage.
Using project management apps can help freelancers take better control of their clients, payments, invoices, and their planning. By managing all of these areas of freelancing life better, you'll have a smoother and more successful experience of freelancing as a whole.
By using project management apps for tracking work, time, and clients you can create a better understanding of how much time you can spend on projects, which clients are taking priority, and develop a better work-life balance. We have an article on mindful productivity if you want to dive deeper into creating a work-life balance.
Overall, creating a system for better managing projects will increase your freelance productivity, help you get more done on time, and ensure your freelance business is under control. All of the apps listed here will help you plan your days, share client work seamlessly, track time, and manage your day.
Freelancers need a few things in the apps they use to make them useful and worth their while. However, we think there are three top priorities when it comes to working for yourself.
There are many more things freelancers may require depending on what they are freelancing, but as a whole, the three points are the most important. The apps in this list also cover these points and help freelancers overall manage their work and clients.
Here's our list of the best project management apps freelancers can use to gain more control over their time, payments, clients, and tasks.
Now you've seen the overview of apps, let's go a little deeper into how they can help freelancers manage tasks and projects.
Here are the freelance productivity apps for project management we like the best.
Basecamp is one of the OG productivity tools.
Basecamp is an interesting tool for freelancers to use when it comes to managing, tasks, projects, conversations, and clients. It creates an all-in-one space for everything right in front of your eyes, making it easy to manage and use.
Basecamp pretty much has everything you need to manage your freelance business, keep track of your tasks, and share finished work with clients. You get everything included when you subscribe after trying to app for free.
Let's run through some of the features freelancers will love to use in Basecamp. There are many more use cases for Basecamp, you can take a look at our review or their website to find out more. One-page dashboard where you can see everything, from projects to conversations, it's all there. You can then easily click into different boards to dive deeper, work on a project, or chat with a client.
You can also track your to-dos, create deadlines, and add notes to your tasks. Once a project is finished, you can then share it with your client and discuss if changes need to be made. Overall, Basecamp provides a great space for freelancers to manage everything within boards, to-do lists, timelines, and birds eye view. You can then easily share finished work and track progress.
ClickUp is an all-around project and task management tool that's great for teams but also great for solo use, perfect for freelancers to create a space for managing their projects, tasks, and clients and sharing work externally.
With ClickUp you can plan your days, organize your workload to help reduce overwhelm, track your progress, and even automate routines to help save time. You have probably heard of ClickUp before for being a great project management tool for teams.
ClickUp is great for providing a streamlined place for managing all personal tasks and projects. It has many features, especially for teams, but freelancers can use this app too.
First up is the planning and visualization of the app. You can create lists for tasks, view projects in board view or calendar, and make your workflow to suit your own needs, be as advanced or as simple as you want. By creating a timeline in ClickUp you can help keep track of tasks that need to be done first, to avoid slacking behind or not taking notice of priorities. You can organize everything with subtasks, checklists, due dates, and even flag tasks.
ClickUp overall helps freelancers create a seamless space for tracking projects, as advanced or as simple as you like. You can then externally share completed work with clients and use built-in AI to assist with automation and writing.
You can get started with ClickUp with our ClickUp Beginners Guide.
Notion is a well-known project management tool thanks to its flexible workspace, constant app updates, and new additions. You can use it as a hub for your freelancing to organize and manage docs, tasks, projects, ideas and much more because it is like lego building blocks, you can build whatever you like once you learn Notion.
The most recent launch is the Notion Calendar, which is also a great tool for freelancers to manage time inside Notion.
Notion also uses AI to help with creating content and asking questions. It's also a good home base for all documents and wikis freelancers may want to send to clients. Of course, you can also then manage projects alongside your calendar to stay on track and feel less overwhelmed with work.
Notion may take some time to get used to and learn, however, there are many Notion templates for productivity already created to help you get started. For now, here are a few ways to use Notion as a freelancer.
First up you can create an entire workflow to suit your needs along with your business needs and clients. You can also view your tasks in multiple ways such as board, table, and timeline. For tasks and tables, you can create your tags, due dates, sub-tasks and so much more. With the new Notion Calendar, freelancers can now organize their time inside the app too. This is great for creating a schedule and a plan for their work, and client conversations and to make sure they fit everything in.
Overall, Notion is a great tool for freelancers especially thanks to its customization and workflow abilities. Many freelancers end up creating a workspace that suits their needs and optimizes their productivity.
Paymo helps freelancers with managing projects and payments in one space. With Paymo you can keep track of time, tasks, and invoice clients all in one workspace, making it easier to manage your work and your time.
Paymo has many time tracking features, task management abilities, scheduling, invoicing, online payments, and much more for freelancers to create a workspace that suits all their needs, from planning to sending work and invoices to clients.
Paymo has quite a few features great for freelancers, for now, let's take a look at their tools for time tracking, task management, and invoicing.
Time tracking with Paymo helps you track your billable hours whilst working on projects for clients, it also helps you understand where you spend time and how to improve your time management. You can then view your weeks spent in a timesheet view. Task management in Paymo is easy. You can create an organized and streamlined space for managing tasks and todos, view tasks in multiple views, set priorities, and add files to tasks. Once tasks are done and sent to clients, you can attach invoices generated straight inside Paymo.
Overall, Paymo combines two important needs for freelancers. Organizing their time and tasks, along with sending invoices and tracking payments.
Toggl Plan is a handy planning tool for freelancers to use to help track their projects, tasks, and time in one space. You can use Toggl Plan with Toggl Track, one of our great productivity management apps, to manage time and make sure you accurately invoice clients.
Toggl Plan is a great space for project planning, task management, and resource planning. This tool often works best with small teams, so if you want to expand in the future to having a group of people work together, Toggl Plan is a good choice.
Toggl Plan is used for planning projects, and you can then use Toggl Track alongside to go in with time tracking and invoicing. For now, let's look at how project management works with the Toggl Plan.
You can plan and schedule projects with assigned milestones by simply dragging and dropping into your timeline, this creates a great view of all your tasks and when to do them. Add color coding to milestones and add due dates to stay on track.
You can then link your project planning to the mobile app for working on the go with clients. Toggl Plan gives you an easy space to schedule in long-term work alongside goals, this helps with retainer clients and longer projects.
Overall, Toggl Plan and Toggl Track used in combination is a great way for freelancers to plan tasks, and manage time together.
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Teamwork.com gives freelancers a space to organize everything they need and to work with their clients. You can manage any kind of project here, in one space, for a pretty good monthly fee.
With Teamwork, you can make sure to deliver finished work or projects on time to clients, track your progress inside the app to boost productivity and streamline your work with clients. You can also make sure you stay within your budget, use the money you make wisely, and grow your freelance business.
Teamwork.com is an all-around project management tool, meaning there are tons of features to help you from start to finish. From planning and scheduling your time, completing projects, sending projects, and managing finances.
You can use time tracking to see where you are spending the most time. This is helpful when it comes to creating invoices but also for improving the way you spend time to be more productive. Templates are another useful feature here to help you run projects and track progress quickly and efficiently, making the learning curve for this app smaller, and easier to use. You can even create a whole client onboarding system with Teamwork.com
Overall Teamwork.com will help you be more productive with completing projects and delivering to clients. You can also set yourself goals to enhance productive motivation.
Trello has been around for a long time, and it has had many updates and refreshes within this time too. However, Trello is still a super simple and easy-to-use project management tool that mostly uses a board view and drag-and-drop system to self-organize tasks.
With Trello you can link in your clients to see progress and share work, you can also create as many workspaces and boards as you like to suit your freelancing workflow. Overall, it's so easy and great for freelance beginners.
Trello is a simple app, so let's run through all its features and abilities that make it a great start for freelancers.
First up is the views. You can view your tasks and projects in different ways such as calendar, timeload, dashboard, map, and more. This does require you to subscribe, or you can use the traditional board view of Trello. You can also use automation to make managing tasks and workflows easier with the Butler automation. Maybe something to help save time when working on tasks. To also help with timing, use templates from the community to suit your freelance needs.
Overall, Trello is a traditional, super easy task management tool for freelancers to get started with. You can also integrate other apps and tools to enhance your workflow.
Still not sure which app to go for? Here's a breakdown to help you decide.
Dozens of apps. One subscription. Only $9.99.
With a single monthly subscription at $9.99, you get 240+ apps for your Mac.
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