Best collaboration software

Without being co-located in the office, remote workers need an alternative to face-to-face communication to help them in their daily tasks. Some collaborative software specializes in providing communication solutions that are affordable as well as having good quality to be effective.

They include tools such as instant messaging whether for one-to-one or for group chat. Others include voice calls, call conferencing, and video conferencing over the internet. Aside from two-way communication, some applications provide a shared whiteboard where participants can provide input or annotations.

Here are some of the top collaboration software and tools that can provide task management, file sharing, or internal communications, and other features. These tools are highly rated across multiple review sites, take significant market share, and provide updates and ongoing support.

G Suite is the collaboration software suite from Google. It provides the tools to manage content and share them securely. Google Keep allows users to create to-do lists for task management. Microsoft is the new name of Office It includes Office apps for viewing and editing documents, cloud storage, email, and calendar tools with Outlook and Exchange. It also include Teams for chat, calls, and online meetings.

Trello is a free collaboration tool that uses a visual system of boards, lists, and cards. It is ideal for creating workflows, prioritizing work, and tracking progress. It handles day-to-day task management well and is user-friendly with a drag-and-drop interface.

Zoho Projects is an online project management software from the Zoho suite of products. It includes task management, document management, and collaboration tools for employees, clients, vendors, and consultants. It is a highly accessible but secure application that lets users share folders that contain Office documents across all your Microsoft apps such as Teams or SharePoint.

Content is synced while retaining existing security policies. It is accessible across devices. Dropbox Business includes a huge storage that starts at 3 terabytes. Users can create documents using Dropbox Paper, and can store and share cloud content of local files as well as from online apps such as Google Apps and Microsoft Office files. It provides a collaborative working environment along with other online tools that users can access across devices.

Box is a secure content management, workflow, and collaboration software. It has several plans including business plans ideal for teams. They provide features such as boards, task assignments, planning, scheduling, task prioritization, and file management. These features work in unison to make collaboration more effective and transparent. Zoho Projects enables to track project progress with ease. This inarguably, is the most holistic collaboration software designed to simplify end-to-end workflow management.

The solutions provide tools to foster better teamwork and task management. Besides allowing team members to connect on a personal level, they make it easy to coordinate tasks and activities. Put simply, coordination software tools simplify end-to-end workflow management.

Collaboration software systems are, without a doubt, indispensable tools for successful workplaces. As you have seen, these tools provide multiple benefits and contribute immensely towards business progress and success. They help overcome impediments like poor planning, inadequate tracking, and ineffective communication.

This means the collaboration software should have all the right features. Here are the features you want in a collaboration software to be sure it will deliver the desired results. Poor communication is a major contributor to project failure. In other words, if teams are not communicating effectively, multiple problems will emerge, especially during the execution phase.

Because of this, you must ensure your ideal software has a robust communication system. Ideally, the solution should facilitate the three key areas of project communication, namely, internal information exchange, information management, and project marketing.

The platform needs to have tools like instant messaging, email, voice conferencing, and video conferencing. Moreover, it should provide tools that enable teams to retrieve and review discussions and communication. Like communication, file sharing is indispensable for successful project management.

Teams share documents, data, files, and other forms of digital media to keep the project on track. Because of this, a collaboration tool should feature a robust document management system to aid sharing, viewing, and retrieving of project files.

Sharing files is as easy as attaching them to your Slack message. The content creation capability is important if you have an internal project marketing team. With technological advancement, you can easily find all-in-one collaboration software that offers content creation tools. These tools streamline inbound marketing activities and enable teams to create and publish content for internal and external audiences.

Teams exchange volumes of files and documents during the course of each project. Often, you will be required to find old files, conversations, or blog posts.

If you are managing one project, finding files can be a walk in the park. However, when managing various projects, finding a single file can be a tedious and time-consuming task. The collaboration software should provide a robust search feature to help you find files with speed and ease.

Features such as search filters and tags are not nice-to-haves; they are essential to project management. Lastly, you need calendars to keep track of meetings, task schedules, and other important events that demand your attention but are easy to forget. Good collaboration software will provide a group calendar feature to help keep members in the loop.

Besides, it will offer a personal calendar to help project managers keep track of all important activities. Online collaboration software enables teams to work together in complete unison, thus, enhancing collaboration. As you know, collaboration gives an organization the impetus it needs to reach optimal productivity. From this, we can deduce that picking and implementing a collaboration solution is a critical business decision.

Your choice of software can have a compelling impact on business results. For this reason, you have to weigh your options based on a predetermined set of factors and requirements. Some of the factors to keep in mind when picking a collaboration software include:. With technology offering an overabundance of options, the market is awash with collaboration software that can spruce up your project management. But even so, the solutions are designed with different users in mind.

For this reason, you have to weigh your specific business needs to find the perfect solution. Find answers to the following questions:. What features matter most? The answer to this question will depend on your needs profile.

Why do you want to install a collaboration software? For small teams, a set of basic features such as chat, Instant Messaging, and conferencing tools might effectively boost productivity.

On the other hand, teams working on complex projects may need advanced features to get things done. All in all, the features, basic or advanced, should be easy to use but robust enough to serve the purpose. Fortunately, most vendors offer free trials to give you a firsthand experience on how effective and responsive features are.

You can also mine additional information online from authentic customer feedback and comments. Moreover, find some credible sites and read reviews by industry experts. Manage every aspect of your team and project in a single dashboard. There is no doubt, the cost of implementing a collaboration tool is a major consideration.

How much are you willing to spend? Keep in mind that the cost entails things like subscription, setup and maintenance, and hardware upgrade fees. Therefore, examine the long-term value of the product and make sure, all factors considered, that the investment is justifiable.

A simple collaboration tool may be effective today, but will it sustain the same level of efficiency in five months? Generally, every business harbors the potential to expand, and yours is no exception. Because of this, you have to look ahead and prepare for the time when your business grows. Does the solution give you the capacity to handle increased tasks, data loads, and employees? Put simply, are the solutions scalable?

A scalable collaboration tool will futureproof your business and prepare you for long-term growth and challenges. Technical hitches can surface right from the start. Some problems will be easy to solve on your own, but others might be difficult to comprehend and solve. You need the vendor to lend a hand when system issues arise. Ideally, the vendor should provide tutorials, training, and knowledge center. In this way, it will be easy to install the solution and resolve minor issues on your own.

Besides, the technical support staff should be easy to reach when you need help. Most importantly, check to see if the vendor offers regular system updates and improvements. Like every other piece of software, the price of collaboration software varies widely from vendor to vendor. The price is usually based on the features set and the number of collaborators or the size of the team.

Other factors that impact pricing include customization, integration, and branding options. Disclosure: This content is reader-supported, which means if you click on some of our links that we may earn a commission.

Modern collaboration takes many forms, from working together in real-time on a project to easy communication via voice, video, or chat. You can cover all those bases with RingCentral , our pick as the best collaboration software for most users.

Effective communication is the core of collaboration, and this free solution includes everything you need. Get video conferencing with up to participants and a hour meeting duration limit, unlimited internal messaging, file sharing, and basic task management features in one package with RingCentral Video without paying a penny.

Instantly improve teamwork starting with RingCentral. Need instant messaging and video conferencing that gets the job done? You can use it as a complete and risk-free communications platform. Collaboration software is accessible for businesses of all sizes, even solopreneurs and freelancers because of the free and affordable options out there. But considering the preponderance of remote work these days, the common need for connecting in-house teams with outside contractors, and that fact that most collaborative projects happen in the cloud now, collaboration software is a must for just about everyone.

The best part is that most of you can get internal messaging, video conferencing, basic task management, and file-sharing capabilities for free with RingCentral Video. On the free plan, you get unlimited video calls with up to participants. The max meeting duration is 24 hours, which is significantly more than other video conferencing tools offer for free.

To put that in perspective, you only get up to 40 minutes with Zoom. Anyone on the call can easily share their screen and participants can collaborate further using the built-in chat feature without disrupting the flow of the call. With the free plan, you get unlimited messages and you can chat with anyone inside or outside of your organization.

With it, you can create dedicated threads for particular projects, teams, or topics. Users can also chat or send messages to the entire team. For example, you could host a call for a particular project and start a group chat in one click with everyone that was on the call to continue the discussion. The feature also works the other way, too. You can start a meeting that auto-invites everyone in a group chat in just a few seconds. Users can add notes, file attachments, and images to each task.

Plus, you get most of the essential task management features like task assignments, due dates, color coordination, and recurring tasks. Alternatively, you can use one of its built-in integrations with other task and project management tools to automatically pull in notifications and reminders right into the messaging platform. If you need to upgrade for more functionality, you have a few options.

RingCentral Office is a better choice if you need a business phone system. Create a free account to take RingCentral for a test drive today! Get the same intuitive Kanban-style task management features of Trello PLUS numerous project views, built-in chat, a time tracker, a visual automation builder, wiki creation, and a company-wide forum in one package.

Trello is a simple, intuitive, and incredibly popular task management tool that most people are familiar with. However, it may start to feel too limiting once you begin tackling larger projects with more moving parts.

You can click on a bard to open it up and view more details such as notes, attachments, due dates, and assignees. And customizing your boards is exactly the same. The similarity between the two tools helps reduce the learning curve for end-users and makes initial setup a breeze for managers and administrators. However, Zoho offers more advanced capabilities. For example, you can link related tasks, set task dependencies, set an automatic lag between dependent tasks, establish priorities, and assign subtasks to different people with independent due dates.

This is an excellent feature for client projects or if you have freelancers who get paid by the hour. You can rest easy knowing your invoices are accurate without having to guess or track down team members to see how much time they spent on any given task. Another standout feature is the workflow automation builder. With it, you can plan, visualize, and design even the most complex automations across departments and with various team members.

For example, you can use it to automatically assign a specific team member once a task reaches a certain status. You can also assign transition owners that have to approve tasks before they can move down the pipeline.

The automation builder is very robust and customizable. Plus, it ensures everyone follows the process step-by-step and helps reduce delays due to poorly managed tasks. Aside from task management, everyone will enjoy a social media-like feed for project updates, announcements, and company-wide conversations.

You can organize them into folders and tag team members to bring them into the loop. Users can customize their forum experience by following or unfollowing specific topics if they want to stop getting notifications for them. If you need basic document collaboration capabilities, Zoho comes with essential wiki creation tools plus file storage so you and your team can collaborate on documents without leaving the platform. You can save a buck per month on each of the paid plans by opting annually up front instead of month-to-month.

Despite having more features, Zoho Projects is actually more affordable than Trello. Not only do you get an upgraded experience with more functionality, but you save a bit of money too.

Say goodbye to miscommunications and hello to streamlined project management across your entire business today! Businesses with multiple departments working on different projects face unique challenges when it comes to collaboration software.

Every department tracks projects in its own way, and each department may use different tools to do so. It can be even more complicated for project managers handling projects across different teams since they have to jump from one tool to another, never actually getting a clear picture of everything in one place. When everyone uses the same tool, you get a single source of truth company-wide.

The reason Wrike works so well is that it comes with advanced user access controls that let administrators and managers assign team members to specific workspaces. Each workspace is configurable separate from the others. So, every department can create its own workflows and project tracking systems in a way that makes sense for them. However, the workspaces can talk to each other as well. You can pass tasks from one workspace to the next while retaining its historical info so the next assignee gets all the context they need to keep the project moving forward.

Alternatively, you can set up a new workspace for projects that require input from different teams and only add the appropriate team members. Within a workspace, you can set up separate projects and break things down even further into folders.

For example, your marketing team can use the campaign management, marketing operations, editorial calendar, and go-to-market templates rather than configuring everything from scratch. The campaign management template creates a task-driven workspace where users can assign action items and due dates across every marketing channel from email and new blog posts to social media and print campaigns.

It also includes a dynamic Gantt view to track progress and detailed analytic reports to monitor campaign results and overall ROI at a granular level. Your IT team can use the IT service management template to centralize incoming requests, streamline issue resolutions, plan and track progress on long-term projects, and prioritize tasks in a way that makes everyone happy. It comes pre-built with three separate folders: active projects, a project backlog, and service requests. Your HR team will appreciate the job candidate tracker and employee onboarding template to streamline recruitment and new-hire processes.

And your creative team can streamline the request, proofing, and approval process with a creative brief template, a custom form for requests, an attached dashboard to manage those requests, and a creative operations workflow template for tracking contextual feedback. They also come with a full set of step-by-step instructions on how to use and customize them to match your needs.

There are also seven different add-on packages if you need even more functionality from your collaboration software. Teamwork started as an agency doing client-based work, so you can rest easy knowing this collaboration software was built with you and your clients in mind.

From the basics like unlimited client access, centralized communication, and time tracking to more advanced capabilities like resource workload management and agency tools for client work at scale, the software delivers everything you need.

Professional service providers, marketing agencies, independent real estate agents, and maintenance teams are just a few examples of loyal Teamwork customers.

One of the many reasons we love Teamwork is that all clients and third-party collaborators are absolutely free. Other collaboration tools charge for this.

You also get very granular access controls so you can hide sensitive information and ensure clients only see what they need to.

You can also start with the base template and customize it to match your processes. Then, you can reuse the template any time to give every client the same VIP treatment.

The base template includes everything from setting up a new project within the platform to inviting your client to join you to setting up meeting and invoice schedules going forward. It gives you, your team, and your client a centralized place for conversations, questions, feedback, file sharing, and monitoring project progress. Your new private client portal is fully customizable with the ability to add your own branding, logo, and domain name for a white-glove client experience.

Doing so means collaborators can log into the platform and pull the data they want to see without hassling you or taking up your time to do it for them. If you work on different types of projects, you can create as many reusable templates as you need. You may have one for content marketing clients, one for social media marketing, and a separate template for web design.

Once you have your templates ready to go, using them takes just a few clicks and saves tons of time while ensuring nothing falls through the cracks. In one click, you can start and end the timer to ensure your invoices are always accurate and projects stay under budget. Say you do maintenance for 10 different apartment complexes.

When paired with the ability to compare estimated hours vs. Deeper insights like these help you get the most out of your billable hours, which is great news for both you and your clients. Since Teamwork started out as an agency, they seriously thought of everything. Despite being one of the only tools on our list that limits the number of projects you can have on paid plans, you get everything you need to collaborate with clients in one place.

Sign up for a free day trial to take Teamwork for a test drive today! If project management solutions feel overwhelming or are too expensive, Todoist is the way to go.

If you need to track to-do lists and tasks but find project management software too complex or expensive, Todoist is an excellent lightweight alternative. Like with project management tools, you can sort tasks and to-do lists by project. The free plan allows up to 80 different projects, which is more than enough if you just need a place to track ongoing work and basic to-do lists.

For example, you may have a landing page project with a separate section for brainstorming, copywriting, graphics, page layout, and uploading. You can create tasks under sections or directly under a project. If a task has more than one step, you can drill down one more level into subtasks as well. If you have fewer than five people working on any given project, you can add everyone to the free plan. The ability to add users to specific projects is great because you can add clients to their specific projects without them seeing your other work.

You can also add tags, due dates, and priority levels just as easily. Under tasks, users can leave threaded comments with attachments to keep important discussions, files, and feedback in one place. And if you have recurring tasks, setting them up is a breeze.

Maybe they want to know when someone posts a comment on one of their tasks or get an email a few hours before a task is due. It gives you more granular control and visibility as you track tasks through the pipeline. Overall, the interface is very clean and easy to use on every device. They can also hop into different projects to see the progress of others and toggle between Kanban or list style depending on what they prefer.

To boost team engagement and collaboration, the software comes with built-in gamification that awards points as users complete tasks and hit new streaks. It also keeps a record of how many tasks each user has completed so they can see their lifetime contributions to the team.