monday.com fast factsOur rating: 5/5
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monday.com is comprehensive project management software that offers extensive customization options, intuitive interfaces, and a range of pricing tiers. In my experience, it’s been uncommon to find a project management tool that’s flexible, feature-rich, and also offers a free plan—monday can do all of that, and more.
In this monday.com review, I’ll walk you through its pros, cons, standout features, and pricing. I also highlight a few project management software alternatives and share my review methodology.
What is monday.com?
monday.com is a cloud-based, all-in-one, work and project management platform that helps businesses streamline their operations, fuel collaboration among teams, and manage both simple and complex tasks.
Whether you’re after project management, CRM, marketing, product management, or sales tools, monday.com offers customizable solutions that you can adapt to your workflows. The software is loaded with features, including kanban boards, agile roadmaps, sprint planning, tables and Gantt charts.
monday.com score summary
After taking monday.com for a spin, my hands-on testing experience was positive. The interface has clear labels, built-in tutorials, interactive hover text, and an adjustable theme from light to dark. While there are many features and drop-down menus to go through, it gets easier to navigate with extended use.
| Criteria | Score (out of 5) |
|---|---|
| Features | 4.9 |
| Pricing | 4.3 |
| Ease of use | 5 |
| Service and support | 5 |
monday.com pricing
Score: 4.3/5
| Pricing plan | Cost per user per month (billed monthly) | Cost per user per month (billed annually) |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 |
| Basic | $12 | $9 |
| Standard | $14 | $12 |
| Pro | $24 | $19 |
| Enterprise | Custom pricing | Custom pricing |
Free
In this plan, teams have up to two seats, three boards, and unlimited docs. They can use over 200 templates and eight column types. To get started, download the mobile app.
Basic
This plan offers a fair upgrade even though there is a three-user minimum for all paid plans. In Basic, you have everything in the Free plan, plus unlimited free viewers, 5 GB of storage, and 20 column types. Aside from extra benefits, it’s pretty close to Free in functionality, so definitely take your time considering it.
Standard
In Standard, your account has 20 GB of storage, timeline and Gantt chart views, and dashboards that can combine five boards. Teams can also access automation and integrations.
Pro
For Pro plan users, you can view projects by chart and workload, expand with 100 GB of storage, and combine 10 boards in one dashboard. The plan also offers time tracking, private boards, and one year of activity logs.
Enterprise
With the Enterprise plan, you get tailored onboarding, premium support, advanced reporting features, more customization and security. This is the only monday.com plan tier that requires contacting a sales representative for pricing information.
monday.com standout features
Score: 4.9/5
monday.com is a tool that has a wealth of features, which is impressive if you need them but may feel overwhelming if you don’t. From work visualizations to team collaboration, monday.com has a lot to explore.
Customization
monday.com offers users a Main Table feature for storing all data with a handful of additional views for different visual workers or enhancing visibility and productivity. You can customize the dashboard according to your preferences. This means adding or removing columns, changing group colors, adding new status labels or changing display themes.
Collaboration
All of the top project management software solutions include a handful of options for viewing and interacting with project data, such as spreadsheets, kanban boards and Gantt charts. monday.com features these and more to provide different ways to enhance visual collaboration.
SEE: Learn how to use a kanban board to improve workflow management.
Data import
The monday.com platform is capable of uploading and integrating Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel data through the data import feature. This means if you are transitioning from another project management software, you don’t have to manually re-enter all of the data into monday.
Once the data is in the right format, the entire import process should take less than 10 minutes, depending on the data size.
Automation
From the Automation Center, users have access to a long list of pre-built automations for processes such as notifying stakeholders, changing task statuses, or creating and moving items. You can customize the trigger, condition, and action for each automation.
Security
monday.com offers several features for the security and privacy of data. All data transmission in monday work management is 256-bit encrypted and sent through TLS 1.2.
The cloud data is hosted in multiple data centers of Amazon Web Services across the country for maximum security. In addition, critical data is backed up every five minutes for an added layer of security.
In the Enterprise plan, teams can take advantage of more security features for their data, including HIPAA compliance and private workspaces.
monday.com ease of use
Score: 5/5
When it comes to initial setup and resources, monday.com is easy for teams to implement. Its user interface includes built-in tutorials to assist with common questions and roadblocks. Onboarding for teams is generally easy, but it gets more difficult if you’re trying to use advanced features. It has a mobile app as well, so teams can use it on the go.
monday.com customer service and support
Score: 5/5
On the overall scale, monday.com has highly-rated customer support and fairly equal access in all subscriptions, which isn’t the norm among project management software.
Free resources
In monday.com, all users can benefit from the platform’s free self-service options. It has a knowledge base, a community forum, a learning academy, and frequent live webinars. The software is intuitive to learn, but if your team manages any complex projects, you should take the time to explore these resources and incorporate them into training.
Customer support
Customer support ratings are very good for paid plans and higher tiers. Access to support is available across all tiers—24/7 support is offered in Free, Basic, Standard, and Pro. The Enterprise plan has the added benefit of a dedicated customer success manager.
Customer reviews
Reviews for monday.com are mostly positive. People enjoy the features, the interface, and the different work views. It’s also easy to modify and duplicate tasks, which are features lacking in some other software.
The main downside mentioned by customers is the cost, in particular the escalating cost of adding additional members to some plans. The software is also dense, which means you need to budget time to learn. The more complex projects you have the more you need to practice using the software’s range of tools.
monday.com pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Clean and intuitive user interface. | Advanced features have a steep learning curve. |
| Robust customization options. | Time tracking is only available in the Pro account. |
| Powerful automation tools. | Automation, work views, and integrations are limited across plan tiers. |
| An extensive list of integrations. |
monday.com integrations
monday.com integrates with 200+ third-party applications across various categories. For communication, it connects with tools like Gmail, Slack, and Microsoft Teams, allowing users to stay connected and collaborate efficiently. Additionally, monday.com integrates with popular third-party tools such as Zoom for virtual meetings and Google Calendar for scheduling and time management.
File sharing and document management are made easy with integrations like Google Drive, enabling users to store, access, and share files directly from their monday.com workspace.
monday.com CRM platform
In addition to its work OS tool for project management, monday.com offers a cloud-based, no-code sales platform that enables businesses of all sizes to track leads, manage customer relationships, and automate the sales process. monday.com CRM allows you to organize all your team’s leads, contacts and deals while also providing insights into your entire sales cycle and forecasting.
SEE: Read our comprehensive monday.com CRM review to learn more about this tool.
Best uses for monday.com
With monday.com, you get outstanding versatility, which means it’s suitable for different types of users. Any businesses looking for a customizable project management solution that offers an extensive range of features should find monday to be a good fit for their organization.
General users
The most common end users of monday.com are business teams, freelancers, nonprofits, schools, and individual users. Startups, students, nonprofits, and individuals can benefit from using the free plan to manage projects. Larger and established teams will enjoy the abundance of features such as automation and reporting in higher tiers.
Marketing and sales
While monday.com is a great project management tool, it’s especially suited for marketing, advertising, and sales projects. You can manage campaigns, events, leads, contacts, and even customer onboarding.
Project management
Teams can use the application for advanced project management. It offers powerful features such as resource management, risk management, interactive Gantt charts, and task dependencies.
monday.com alternatives and competitors
| Free plan | Starting price for paid plans, billed annually | Starting price for paid plans, billed monthly | Native time tracking | Built-in messaging | Storage | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| monday.com | Yes (2 seats) | $9 per seat | $12 per seat | Yes (Limited to pro and enterprise plans) | Yes | 500 MB to 1000 GB |
| ClickUp | Yes (Unlimited users) | $7 per user | $10 per user | Yes | Yes | Unlimited |
| Notion | Yes (Unlimited for individuals, limited block trial for 2+ members) | $10 per seat | $12 per seat | No | Yes | 5 MB to unlimited |
| Wrike | Yes (Unlimited users) | $10 per user | N/A | Yes (Limited) | Yes | 2 GB per account to 15 GB per user |
| Smartsheet | Yes (1 user, up to two editors, and viewers) | $9 per user | $12 per user | No | No | 20GB to unlimited |
ClickUp
Overall rating: 5/5
ClickUp and monday work management have a comparable set of features and excellent user reviews. Some users have found ClickUp’s user interface to be cleaner and better organized. You also get some unique features with ClickUp, including in-app video recording and email features.
For a closer look, check out this in-depth comparison of monday.com and ClickUp.
Notion
Overall rating: 4.5/5
If a high level of customization is on the top of your feature list for project management software, Notion is a good fit. It combines task management, note-taking, Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) creation, and database capabilities, allowing you to customize it to suit your needs.
monday.com is also customizable, but it’s more structured compared to Notion, which can limit the extent of flexibility for users who prefer to tweak every aspect of their workspace. While Notion offers a more open-ended approach, allowing users to build their workflows from scratch, monday.com provides a more guided experience.
For a closer look, read this in-depth comparison of monday.com and Notion.
Wrike
Overall rating: 4.6/5
I picked Wrike as one of the top monday.com alternatives, because of its robust portfolio management capabilities, making it excellent for teams juggling multiple projects or complex workflows. Unlike the two-user limit for monday.com’s free plan, Wrike’s free plan allows for unlimited user access, allowing small teams with simple project management workflows to collaborate without additional costs.
For a closer look, check out this in-depth comparison of monday.com and Wrike.
Smartsheet
Overall rating: 3.8/5
Smartsheet is spreadsheet-centric, which makes it great for teams who are familiar with Excel or Google Sheets and want more control over their data organization. It’s excellent for handling complex workflows, especially in industries like construction and manufacturing, where a grid-based approach is often preferred.
For a closer look, check out this in-depth comparison of monday.com and Smartsheet.
Methodology
While monday.com offers several different products for varying use cases, this review primarily focused on the monday.com project management platform. I based my evaluation of this solution on a combination of hands-on use of the software, product specifications, and customer testimonials on third-party sites.
Several parameters were considered for this analysis, including the usability of the software, pricing, advantages, disadvantages, core features, and advanced tools. I also looked at product specifications and documents from the vendor’s website to better understand what the solution has to offer.
If you’re not sure if monday work management is the right fit for your project team, check out these other monday.com alternatives.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
Is monday.com suitable for all types of teams and industries?
monday.com is designed to be flexible and customizable, making it suitable for a wide range of use cases. It can be used by small teams or large organizations in sectors like marketing, project management, software development, sales, and more.
Can I try monday.com for free?
Yes, monday.com offers a 14-day free trial period for new users to test out the platform’s advanced features and see if it meets their team’s needs. The company also offers a forever free plan for budget-conscious users.
What integrations does monday.com offer?
monday.com integrates with over 200 third-party applications, including Slack, Google Drive, HubSpot, GitLab, and Zoom. These integrations allow teams to connect their existing tools and consolidate their work processes within monday.com.
What are the disadvantages of monday.com?
- The free plan only supports two users.
- Steep learning curve, especially when working on complex projects.
- No free plan for CRM and product development plans.
- Limited time tracking feature.
- Some users complain that the mobile app doesn’t perform well.
Is monday.com better than Excel?
Monday.com is better than Excel for project management and team collaboration, offering real-time updates, automation, and integration with other tools. However, Excel stands out for complex data analysis and data management.