6 Project Management Tools For Freelancers On A Budget

Working as a freelancer comes with a lot of obvious benefits. You’re the master of your own time. You get to decide when and with whom you want to work. You don’t need to worry about monotony because you can work on multiple projects for multiple clients simultaneously.

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However, staying organized and on top of everything can get to be a handful. For example, you will need to make sure you stick to the delivery timelines that you’ve committed to, even when you have your fingers in multiple proverbial pies.

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You will need to manage your time to make sure that you complete your daily tasks, and your tasks themselves will need to be organized according to priority. Fortunately, you can choose a productivity management tool to help you do all of this. 

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We understand that you may not want to spend a ton investing in productivity management software.  That is why we’re going to take you through our list of 6 productivity management tools for freelancers on a budget.

What to look for in a project management tool?

A common misconception is that tools like productivity management software are expensive and better suited for large corporate teams. In fact, a lot of them are perfect for freelancers and are surprisingly affordable. 

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Here are some of the things you ought to look for in a freelance project management software.

Affordability

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Let’s begin by addressing the elephant in the room. We understand that as a freelancer, you do not want to spend a lot on a project management tool. Therefore, you’d want to use something that is affordable. 

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We’re going to take that a whole step further and ask you to look at freelancer project management software that are free and have paid upgrades.

Ease of use

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The freelance project management tool you choose ought to be easy to use, and provide you with either a reliable knowledge bank for troubleshooting or great customer service. After all, you are looking for a tool to make your life less complicated. 

Features

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Be sure to pick a tool that has the features you’re looking for. For example, some freelancers want a project management tool that allows them to collaborate with others. Some people prefer Kanban views, while others prefer checklists. 

6 budget-friendly freelancer project management tools

Here’s our pick of the 6 best freelancer project management tools for you to choose from. We’re going to be looking at their unique features and the costs involved. 

1. Trello

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• Trello is famous for its Kanban view lists and is an easy-to-use, visually appealing management tool.
• The tool makes it easy to organize tasks, move them around the board depending on their completion status and keep an eye on the progress of other contributors as well.
• Trello is ideal for freelancers with 10 or fewer clients that they serve at any given time.

Pricing

There are four versions of Trello. The basic version is free, while Trello Standard is $5 a month, Trello Premium is $10 a month, and Trello Enterprise is $17.50 per month.

2. Asana

• Asana is great for freelancers who work on collaborative projects.
• It makes it easy to split a project into different jobs and assigns these tasks to different resources.
• You also get multiple views, from calendar views and lists to Kanban. 
• Other impressive features improve reporting capabilities and integrations with third-party apps and task boards.

Pricing

Asana has a free version for freelancers, while the Premium version costs $10.99 per month and the Business version is $24.99 a month.

3. ClickUp

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• ClickUp is another project management tool that has easy-to-use task creation functions.
• You can make a custom dashboard to track your projects using ClickUp’s widgets.
• You can use it on your smartphone as well, and ClickUp will send you reminders of approaching deadlines.
• ClickUp also has customizable views to suit your individual preferences.
• You get time-tracking capabilities and 100 MB of storage space.
• ClickUp has a 24 hours customer service help desk.

Pricing

• ClickUp’s Free Forever plan is, well, free forever.
• The Unlimited plan is an affordable $5 every month.
• The Business plans vary between $12 and $19 per month. 

4. BaseCamp

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• Basecamp is great for freelancers who work alone and for collaborative projects.
• They offer users 500 MB of storage space.
• You can use Basecamp for unlimited projects and to service unlimited clients.
• It allows for real-time collaborations and editing.

Pricing

The Basecamp version for freelancers and small teams is $15 a month, while their Pro Unlimited package for larger businesses is $249 a month.

5. Todoist

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• Originally made for individuals, this is a great freelancer task management tool.
• Use Todoist to make checklists of projects or tasks, and check them off as you complete them.
• You also receive reminders when deadlines are approaching or when you’ve overshot timelines. 

Pricing

The free version of Todoist is great for freelancers who have just started off. Their paid Pro package is $4 a month, while the Business package costs $6 a month.

Why you should choose Prio

We promised you six tools, and we saved ourselves for last. Here are some of the compelling reasons why you ought to choose Prio.

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• Our time tracker is easy to use and even allows you to fix your hourly rates and overtime rates.
• You can add the time spent on projects to your invoices, exporting it either as a PDF or a CSV file.
• Use our invoice generator to automate making invoices for your regular clients by creating templates and setting a schedule. This will help you track pending payments and to calculate what taxes you need to pay.

Pricing

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Prio’s time tracker and invoice generator are both free for freelancers, irrespective of the number of clients you use them for. 

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Sign up for Prio today and make your life working as a freelancer easier.

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