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Fifty-eight percent of those who made tech investments for their business over the last 12-18 months report having buyer’s remorse.
Choosing the best project management tools for your agency is critical to your success. Unfortunately, as the survey cited above shows, investing in the wrong software is a common (and expensive) problem.
Projects that stall, fall apart, or lack proper execution and accountability suck resources from your agency. Over-budget or late deliverables can frustrate your client and send them running to your competition.
Project management is a delicate balance of several elements. Along with talented team members and forward-thinking leaders, project management tools are must-haves for staying on top of projects.
And, while you might have heard of Kantata, it might not be the best platform for your agency’s project management success.
Why you should consider Kantata alternatives
Is Kantata the end-all, be-all of project management?
Signs point to “no.”
Its complex user interface is one of its most negative points. It can be complicated to navigate, causing particular frustration for beginners.
The project management platform is also pricey. There are options with more functionality for a fraction of the cost of Kantata.
Another drawback is its lack of collaboration. The platform’s dashboard doesn’t offer features that help team members chat, problem-solve, or brainstorm new ideas. Since collaboration is a vital building block of projects, this shortcoming can cause serious issues with team members.
It doesn’t take long to see that Kantata isn’t perfect. Agencies should consider some of the Kantata alternatives on today’s market to get more features, foster better collaboration, and find a more cost-effective solution. Here are some of the ones we like best.
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1) Teamwork.com
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Teamwork.com tops the list as the superior Kantata alternative for project management software.
The user-friendly platform offers a range of critical tools for agency teams and those that deliver client work, including native time tracking, financial management, robust reporting, and free access for client users.
“Every once in a while you discover a product or service that changes everything you do at your company. Teamwork.com was that product for us,” says one reviewer.
“Teamwork.com took us from a struggling agency that didn't understand its investment of time in our project work and that had no processes to speak of to a company that runs like clockwork. We couldn't be the company we are without it.”
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Resource planning and budget management for a fraction of the cost
Kantata’s least expensive packages are feature-bare, forcing teams that need additional functionality to fork over more money for these steeper plans. Teamwork.com has all the specific features, including short term capacity planning, long term resource scheduling, and budget and expense tracking (planned vs. estimated) across projects, all for a fraction of what Kantata costs.
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Tailored for client work
Teamwork.com was founded by agency owners, making them uniquely qualified to build a platform that helps agencies manage the entire lifecycle of client work. Agencies can easily plan and execute complex, multi-faceted projects, automate repetitive work, take advantage of pre-built project templates, track project budgets and profitability, achieve peak utilization rate, and use time-tracking to bill every possible minute.
Designed to grow with you
Putting the tools in place early that can scale with your agency creates a strong foundation you'll appreciate later. Teamwork.com is built to scale and grow with users. Numerous reports and dashboards keep managers informed throughout the entire project, and budget tracking helps with resource management and profitability.
Additional features
Track project profitability to understand how profitable a project is (or isn’t).
Set permissions for your users to control what, when, and how notifications are sent.
Handle invoicing by using your team’s billable time logs.
Use filters to build customized views of project information.
Communicate with your team in context with Teamwork.com's Chat product, then group conversations into categories.
Track all the time spent on a project for greater visibility of where your time is going and better future planning.
Unlimited access for your clients so they can easily view and collaborate on projects.
Pricing
Teamwork.com offers a Free Forever plan and three paid pricing plans, including the Deliver plan for $9.99 per user per month, and the Grow (most popular) for $19.99 per user per month. The Scale Plan is priced on a case-by-case basis.
2) monday.com
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Credit: monday.com
monday.com is another great alternative to Kantata. Its ability to streamline processes, promote team collaboration, and automate time-consuming, repetitive tasks increase project visibility and makes it easier for team members to stay on track with their workloads.
monday.com is perfect for small and medium-sized teams to manage their projects with finesse.
Standout features
Provides integrations with many of the most popular productivity apps like Slack
Uses a colorful, visually appealing design to simplify the user experience
Translates important metrics into easy-to-absorb visual graphs
Offers a board feature that streamlines resource scheduling and tracking results
Pricing
monday.com is more cost-effective than Kantata and offers five pricing plans to fit most budgets. The Individual plan is free forever (and doesn’t even require a credit card). The Basic plan is $8 per seat per month, the most popular plan is the Standard, costing $10 per seat per month, and the Pro plan is $16 per seat per month. The top-tier plan, Enterprise, is priced based on an agency’s specific needs.
3) Wrike
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Credit: Wrike
Wrike is one of the best Kantata alternatives because of its rich feature list and resource management solution. Add in its key performance indicator (KPI) monitoring and helpful, in-depth reporting capabilities, and this project management software is a clear winner, especially for small agencies and startups.
Standout features
Free plan provides plenty of useful features to its users
Dashboard for smoother project workflow management
Time tracking to help agencies bill every minute possible (increasing profitability)
Mobile app, browser version, and desktop application for convenient usability
Pricing
Wrike’s Free plan focuses on centralized task management. The next plan up, Team, costs $9.80 per user per month. The most popular plan, Business, costs $24.80 per user per month. The top two plan levels, Enterprise and Pinnacle, offer customized pricing tailored to each client’s needs.
4) Asana
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Credit: Asana
With its highly-regarded reputation based on a product that provides rich functionality, built-in communication tools, and a long list of integrations, Asana is another project management solution that gives Mavenlink a run for its money.
It can be a simple solution for small businesses or handle large, complex projects for large agencies without a hiccup. Easily create tasks, break them into sub-tasks and assign them, and monitor progress with this transparent, easy-to-use project management solution.
Standout features
Collaboration features that make it easy for all team members to stay in the loop
Real-time reporting that lets managers search with advanced filters, save reports, and increase team management efficiency
Multiple views like the calendar, list, and Kanban board that allow users to customize how they view information
Highly skilled, friendly customer support
Native mobile applications for Android and iOS devices
Pricing
Asana offers four pricing options, including a Basic free forever plan. The paid plans are Premium, which costs $10.99 per user per month, Business, which costs $24.99 per user per month, and the top-tier plan, Asana Enterprise, a customized-pricing option for large operations.
5) Scoro
If organizations put a high priority on being able to track their KPIs with their project management software, Scoro gives them that ability and then some. The project management features show managers the team’s capacity, allow them to adapt quickly to changes and delays, and compare budgets to real results.
Scoro functions well for agencies and professional service firms in client-facing scenarios.
Standout features
Gantt charts to track progress, tasks, and dependencies
Pre-set project templates and task bundles that automate time-consuming tasks
Customized dashboards to track individual and team performance
Drag-and-drop task board for simple grouping, filtering, and task management
Pain-free onboarding process that flattens the learning curve
Pricing
Scoro offers four pricing plans, including the Essential plan for $26 per user per month, the Standard plan for $37 per user per month, and the Pro plan for $65 per user per month. The top-level plan, Ultimate, is priced by quote only.
6) Jira
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Credit: Jira
Mastering efficiency is one of the biggest expectations of project management software, which is why Jira made our shortlist of Kantata alternatives. The project management platform absolutely rocks team collaboration, task management, and time tracking. Its features fit well with both small teams and large projects.
Standout features
Custom workflows to help managers avoid a one-size-fits-all issue when building a workable project
Multiple boards (like Scrum and Kanban boards) to increase productivity
Advanced permissions that give managers more control over who sees what and when
Powerful issue tracking that aids in proactive problem solving (to help avoid bottlenecks and costly downtime)
Pricing
Four flexible pricing options work for just about any budget, including a Free plan for 10 users. Paid plans start at $7.75 per user per month for the Standard plan, $15.25 per user per month for the Premium plan, and the Enterprise plan is priced on a case-by-case basis.
7) Parallax
An intuitive, cloud-based project management tool with robust analytics reporting is what you get with Parallax. Project managers who want to measure their success from a bird's-eye view or dig into the granular task details can have both with this software.
Parallax works best with small and medium-sized digital agencies and development firms.
Standout features
Automation features that create more efficient workflows and increase productivity
Robust integration list, including top CRMs, timesheets, and project management platforms for more cohesive visibility
Real-time project performance insights that make it easy to pinpoint bottlenecks
Pricing
Pricing is only available via quote.
8) Basecamp
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Credit: Basecamp
Basecamp is simple and streamlined, with a short list of impactful project management features. Small teams and simple projects benefit from the straightforward simplicity of the platform when compared to Kantata’s complex, sometimes overwhelming bells and whistles.
Standout features
To-do list makes it easy to create and share tasks with team members
Docs and files feature lets users upload and share information within the platform
Scheduling features let users keep up with milestones and deadlines at a glance
Campfire chat encourages collaboration through real-time chatting within each project
Pricing
Basecamp has two simple pricing packages. The first, Basecamp, is $15 per user per month. The other, Basecamp Pro Unlimited, costs $299 per month for unlimited users.
(Looking for Basecamp alternatives? Check these out.)
9) ProofHub
Small teams that want a simple but powerful way to manage their work may find everything they need (and nothing they don’t) in ProofHub. Plan, organize, and execute projects of all sizes within the platform’s intuitive interface.
Standout features
Detailed activity logs that guide managers in planning workload and understanding each team member’s capacity
Kanban boards and Gantt charts that forge excellent task management
Custom fields that provide flexibility in project workflows
Time tracking features that let managers add timesheets, set time estimates, and use timers
Pricing
ProofHub’s pricing is structured around two flat-rate options. The first, Essential, is $45 per month. The second, Ultimate Control, costs $89 per month.
Achieve project success with ease using Teamwork.com
Project management software providers vary, and the right choice for your agency depends on your team, project, and specific goals. Don’t automatically lean toward Kantata because you’ve heard of it before. Do your research, look at some of the options on this list, and make a decision that will serve your client work firm well.
Are you looking for a cost-effective way to manage your project and make your workspace more productive? Teamwork.com is created specifically for agencies, by agency owners. It has a broad range of features to help your team plan, collaborate, review, and analyze client projects, always while monitoring team utilization, budget burn-down, and profitability rates.
Manage your work, streamline your workflow, and create higher-quality deliverables with Teamwork. Get started now.
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