Best project management tools for a team of 5: start with Zoho Projects
Start here: Zoho Projects
Small to medium businesses and startups wanting a low-cost full-featured tool
Three that fit most small teams
- Checked 2026-10-14
- 13 sources
Sorted by best fit, which comes from the data below. How we score tools. What we earn is not part of it.
Rank 1
Zoho Projects
Small to medium businesses and startups wanting a low-cost full-featured tool
Our score89.7 / 100Five years for a team of 5: $900
Rank 2
ClickUp
Teams of all sizes from startups to enterprises
Our score87.3 / 100Five years for a team of 5: $2,100
Rank 3
Trello
Teams and individuals wanting a lightweight visual Kanban tool
Our score86.6 / 100Five years for a team of 5: $1,500
Show all 10 Project management tools
Rank 4
Asana
Medium-to-large teams running multiple cross-functional projects
Our score86.4 / 100Five years for a team of 5: $3,297
Rank 5
Wrike
Marketing teams, creative agencies, IT and product development teams
Our score85.6 / 100Five years for a team of 5: $3,000
Rank 6
Teamwork.com
Agencies and service teams that manage client work
Our score83.8 / 100Five years for a team of 5: $2,997
Rank 7
monday.com
Non-technical teams wanting easy visual setup without IT help
Our score78.4 / 100Five years for a team of 5: $2,700
Rank 8
Notion
Individuals wanting one workspace for notes, tasks, projects and databases
Our score73.6 / 100Five years for a team of 5: $3,000
Rank 9
Smartsheet
Operations, marketing and PMO teams managing complex cross-functional projects
Our score67.1 / 100Five years for a team of 5: $2,700
Rank 10
Basecamp
Freelancers, startups and small teams with simple to-do based projects
Our score50.4 / 100Five years for a team of 5: $1,500
Who each pick is for, and who it is not
Zoho Projects: who it fits and who it does not
- Good for
- Small to medium businesses and startups wanting a low-cost full-featured tool
- Teams of roughly 5-50 people
- Businesses already using Zoho products or Zoho One
- Not for
- Large enterprises with complex, high-budget projects
- Teams wanting a modern, highly intuitive interface
- Industries needing niche features such as crew management
- The catch
- Affordable and strong inside the Zoho ecosystem, but the interface feels dated and has a learning curve.
Data last verified: 2026-10-14
ClickUp: who it fits and who it does not
- Good for
- Teams of all sizes from startups to enterprises
- Agencies and consultants needing client management and automation
- Product teams using sprint planning and backlogs
- Remote teams wanting chat, docs and tasks in one place
- Not for
- Small teams that find a big feature set overwhelming
- New users who want a gentle learning curve
- Users needing strong offline functionality
- The catch
- Extremely feature-rich all-in-one tool, but with a steep learning curve and occasional slowness on large projects.
Data last verified: 2026-10-14
Trello: who it fits and who it does not
- Good for
- Teams and individuals wanting a lightweight visual Kanban tool
- Beginners who want an easy interface without training
- Not for
- Users needing built-in reporting or time tracking
- Teams needing the broader feature set of full project management apps
- The catch
- Simple and easy Kanban boards, but lacks built-in reporting and time tracking; extras rely on Power-Ups (limited on free).
Data last verified: 2026-10-14
What our first pick costs over five years
Five years for a team of 5, paid yearly: $900
On the Premium plan, at today's price. We do not assume a rise.
- Paid monthly, one year
- $240
- Paid yearly, one year
- $180
Paying yearly saves $60 a year (25%).
Change the number to see your own total. Nothing is sent anywhere.
Vendor pricing page · checked 2026-10-18Five-year cost for your team
Every tool above, priced for your team size, cheapest first. How we work it out.
Lowest 5-year cost for a team of 5
Zoho Projects
$1,200 · $20 a month
- Asana, the dearest here, costs $2,847 more over 5 years.
- Paying Zoho Projects yearly saves $300 over 5 years.
Cheapest first. Team of 5, billed monthly. Totals are for the whole team.
-
Zoho Projects
Premium$1,200 over 5 years
- Per month, whole team
- $20
- Per month, per user
- $4
What this assumes
- Cheapest plan we could price: Premium, charged per user.
- Billed monthly.
- Today's price holds for 5 years. No rise, discount, tax or setup fee is included.
Vendor pricing page · Data last verified: 2026-10-18
-
Basecamp
Freelancer$1,500 over 5 years
- Per month, whole team
- $25
- Per month, per user
- $5
What this assumes
- Cheapest plan we could price: Freelancer, one price for the whole team, priced for up to 20 people.
- Billed monthly.
- Today's price holds for 5 years. No rise, discount, tax or setup fee is included.
- 1 other plan not compared: a price is not verified.
Vendor pricing page · Data last verified: 2026-10-18
-
Trello
Standard$1,800 over 5 years
- Per month, whole team
- $30
- Per month, per user
- $6
What this assumes
- Cheapest plan we could price: Standard, charged per user.
- Billed monthly.
- Today's price holds for 5 years. No rise, discount, tax or setup fee is included.
- 1 other plan not compared: a price is not verified.
Vendor pricing page · Data last verified: 2026-10-18
-
ClickUp
Unlimited$3,000 over 5 years
- Per month, whole team
- $50
- Per month, per user
- $10
What this assumes
- Cheapest plan we could price: Unlimited, charged per user.
- Billed monthly.
- Today's price holds for 5 years. No rise, discount, tax or setup fee is included.
Vendor pricing page · Data last verified: 2026-10-18
-
Notion
Plus$3,600 over 5 years
- Per month, whole team
- $60
- Per month, per user
- $12
What this assumes
- Cheapest plan we could price: Plus, charged per user.
- Billed monthly.
- Today's price holds for 5 years. No rise, discount, tax or setup fee is included.
Vendor pricing page · Data last verified: 2026-10-18
-
Smartsheet
Pro$3,600 over 5 years
- Per month, whole team
- $60
- Per month, per user
- $12
What this assumes
- Cheapest plan we could price: Pro, charged per user.
- Billed monthly.
- Today's price holds for 5 years. No rise, discount, tax or setup fee is included.
Vendor pricing page · Data last verified: 2026-10-18
-
monday.com
Basic$3,600 over 5 years
- Per month, whole team
- $60
- Per month, per user
- $12
What this assumes
- Cheapest plan we could price: Basic, charged per user.
- Billed monthly.
- Today's price holds for 5 years. No rise, discount, tax or setup fee is included.
Vendor pricing page · Data last verified: 2026-10-18
-
Asana
Starter$4,047 over 5 years
- Per month, whole team
- $67.45
- Per month, per user
- $13.49
What this assumes
- Cheapest plan we could price: Starter, charged per user.
- Billed monthly.
- Today's price holds for 5 years. No rise, discount, tax or setup fee is included.
Vendor pricing page · Data last verified: 2026-10-18
2 we couldn’t price, and why
- Teamwork.com: "Basics" has no verified monthly price (1 other plan also left out).
- Wrike: "Team" has no verified monthly price (1 other plan also left out).
Worked out in your browser. Nothing you type is sent anywhere.
What to do next
- Work out the cost for your own team size
- Compare the runner-up, ClickUp
- See how we score, so you can check our work
You can leave now. Nothing here expires.
Data last verified: 2026-10-14