ClickUp is a cloud-based, project management software that’s primarily used to manage workplace interactions and engagements. Its one-stop-shop nature makes it stand out among the rest: it has all the tools needed to create impactful projects rolled into one easy-to-use and accessible platform.
You heard it! ClickUp is a workplace app that has specific uses and can be used to meet certain needs. ClickUp, however, aims to combine all these functions into one system with the primary goal to increase team productivity. But how true to the word is its claim? What is its performance when it comes to workflow management? These and other questions will be answered in our complete review.
Also, in this article, we’ll tackle other important factors you might want to consider before getting it, including the pricing levels, system support, and the pros and cons that could either make or break ClickUp. Let’s begin!
For those of you who prefer a more visual experience, here is a video review from Kurt on his YouTube channel Kurt Knows. To get a comprehensive overview of ClickUp, you may still want to check out our article below.
What is ClickUp? A Handy Overview ClickUp User Groups
ClickUp was founded in 2017 as one the most promising tech startups of the moment. The team behind ClickUp understood their goal: to make ClickUp the best place for teams and businesses to work more productively. They realized that the current productivity system could be all over.
There are a lot of project management tools out there that may be hard to keep direct track of – for instance, if you’re looking for a place to deal with project-related tasks, look closer to Monday.com or Asana. Time tracking management? Go for Hubstaff or ActiveCollab. Want to create documents and presentations for the rest of your team to see and share? Maybe MS Office or Google’s suite of tools could help you with that.
Teams from all walks of the spectrum have to deal not only with project management. Communication also comes into play – while a select few platforms have a chat feature integrated within, most of them are downloaded separately. Think of Slack, MS Teams, and even Discord!
With that in mind, there are way too many productivity-based apps for teammates to keep up with, creating an oversupply of separate ecosystems. Some may find it more difficult to finish certain projects or achieve specific goals due to the increased number of apps. The guys behind ClickUp understand the growing need for a platform that not just provides all workplace solutions in one place but also helps improve productivity rates by 20%, so that explains why they took it upon themselves and created it in the first place.
ClickUp was founded over a decade ago. It has since grown to include more than 200,000 small and medium-sized businesses and companies. These teams use ClickUp because of its cost-saving features. This helps them save time and money. Some of ClickUp’s notable tools include real-time collabs with fellow team members, shared task-setting, convenient productivity reporting, ready-made templates, and other handy customization assets, all on top of the usual tools such as task management, communication, and time tracking.
Another thing that makes ClickUp a solid pick for workplace activities is the flexible price range, including its free forever plan, which is among complete free packages as far as productivity platforms are concerned. ClickUp makes sure that every member of the team can access all of its most important features, unlike other apps which hide their best features behind paywalls. This makes it highly ideal for short-on-budget teams who work remotely. ClickUp User Groups
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Who Are the Ideal Teams for ClickUp?
ClickUp is a great tool for small and large teams. Its overall design makes it an ideal choice for anyone.
- ClickUp can be used by remote or home-based teams. This is great news for companies that have many different teams.
- ClickUp has excellent tools for human resources departments. ClickUp includes reporting and storage tools. ClickUp also offers a performance tracker which is a must-have for any HR department.
- ClickUp provides seamless collaboration and communication features such as chat and comment sharing for design and advertising teams.
- Marketing and finance-focused businesses – Teams who specialize in marketing and finance may have a ball with ClickUp’s tracking and reporting features and other notable aspects such as goal-setting, account management, and collaboration within the team and with clients.
- Teams who work in healthcare – Healthcare companies, no matter if they work remotely or not, must abide by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). ClickUp, thankfully, offers this compliance; however, it’s only limited to the enterprise plan.
ClickUp: What’s good and what’s not
From simple and convenient offerings to jam-packed pricing plans, it’s no wonder why ClickUp has become one of the top choices for the best productivity software on the internet, and a fan favorite, too! But, from the looks of it, this statement may be too good to be true, so keep reading if you want to check if ClickUp still has what it takes to stand on its own two legs.
The pros
- ClickUp is one of a few platforms that offers a fully functional free plan. This includes vital workflow features that are not available through the paywall.
- It comes equipped with a wide range of elite customization options, each suited for teams from various industries. This includes customizing dashboards according to personal preference and the “Custom Fields” tool.
- ClickUp provides a wide range of tools for work management that can be used to improve communication and engagement in the workplace. You can find everything from great real-time reporting to seamless collaboration options.
- Most of its tools are simple, convenient, and easy to explore, lessening the burden of juggling many productivity apps in one sitting.
- ClickUp’s plans are not as limited as those from other platforms, so if you’re looking to accommodate as many team members as possible or integrate with numerous third-party apps and services, you can do so no matter what plan you’re subscribed to.
- Besides desktop access, ClickUp also offers a mobile app available on iOS and Android devices for inter-team collaborations and works on the go.
The Cons
- ClickUp is full of easy-to use features but it can be difficult for new colleagues to learn how to use them.
- As far as UI is concerned, ClickUp falls short in the field as some parts’ font and text sizes may be too small for some to read. Color layouts can also be a concern.
- ClickUp may have already been blessed with an abundance of productivity features, but it sure does lack a few other important ones, such as post-project feedback. Some of its integrated tools are also not as intuitive as the platform’s counterparts. ClickUp User Groups
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ClickUp’s pricing plans broken down
ClickUp offers four pricing plans to its users, with a sub-plan and upgrade tier for each. Each plan is suitable for different types of teams, depending on their size, manpower and availability of resources. Let’s now take a closer look at ClickUp’s plans.
Free Forever
ClickUp’s Free Forever Plan is one of the most outstanding features on the platform. Even though it’s an entry-level plan, you have unlimited access to tasks and can add unlimited team members to your workspace. You’ll also explore ClickUp’s jam-packed core features, such as real-time chat, whiteboards, time-tracking, and native video recording.
Although the offerings seem appealing, there are limitations. For example, the monthly allowance of 100 automations and 100MB storage. The Free Forever plan is a good choice for solopreneurs and project managers who are just starting out.
Unlimited Plan
Like the free tier but don’t like the set guidelines that may impede your workflow? You may be glad that ClickUp’s Unlimited Plan offers plenty of welcoming upgrades and extra features at affordable rates. At the same time, other productivity platforms have plans similar to this but at higher price ranges. ClickUp User Groups
For $5 per user per year (if you pay annually), you get all the core features of the Free Forever plan plus unlimited storage and app integrations. Unlimited dashboard creations are also possible. Advanced reporting tools and Goals & Portfolio are also available for a low price. This plan is ideal for small teams with a larger client base and more resources. However, upgrading from Free Forever will cost you a little extra, making it very valuable.
Business Plan
For teams who have expanded beyond the confines of a small space and are ready to take on new challenges, ClickUp’s Business Plan comes with a slew of features that deliver their increasing need for effective workplace resources. For instance, it has extra security features for teammates, such as two-factor authentication and single sign-on integrations with Google on top of the features from the two previous tiers combined.
Additionally, the Business Plan has seen worthy upgrades for some of ClickUp’s core features, including advanced dashboard customizations, next-level automation, and upgraded public sharing. Also included is the Goal Folders feature, which lets you compile and organize project goals into separate folders for easy safekeeping. The Business plan costs as low as $12 per user per month (if paid yearly).
Upgrade to Business Plus
Explore more with the Business Plan The Business Plus upgrade is priced at $19 per member per year (annually), and unlocks all the features of the tier to maximize productivity within your team. Not only will you get an additional allowance for automations.
You’ll also explore ClickUp’s efficient KPI tracking tools, team-sharing features, and custom role creation. ClickUp offers priority support. If you have any questions or requests, ClickUp will assist you as soon as possible.
Enterprise Plan
ClickUp’s Enterprise Plan is the most comprehensive tier, offering more enterprise-grade features than all other plans. Marketed towards very large-scale teams and established businesses and corporations, it has no fixed plan – this means you will need to link up with ClickUp’s sales department first to forge a deal on how much you may need to pay.
The Enterprise tier offers advanced solutions like white labeling, unlimited custom role, advanced permissions and customized contract agreements with legal support. It also includes HIPAA compliance for healthcare team members. Other noteworthy deals include the ability to do single sign-on using multiple apps aside from Google, custom onboarding training for new teammates, and a dedicated success manager to ensure a highly productive and positive workplace. ClickUp User Groups
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ClickUp’s Features: A Closer Look
Before we can explore the rest of ClickUp, let’s first examine its hierarchical structure. A typical productivity system is composed of two things: a company or its projects. ClickUp takes it up a notch with a few structural adjustments, resulting in the creation of its distinct hierarchy of, in this order, Teams, Workspaces, Spaces (Projects), Folders, Lists, and Tasks.
ClickUp defines a team as a company or organization that manages all tasks and assigns them the employees or their teammates. Usually, Teams are created by companies of various fields as just one entity, though there are rare cases in which some big groups handle multiple teams at once. The Workspaces are also known as departments within the company.
The Workspaces are followed by a variety of Spaces, or work projects. These are assigned by departments within the Team. Each Space branches out to the Folders, which then branch out to the Lists. These Spaces are essentially subprojects of the larger plan. The much-anticipated Tasks from the Lists section are finally here, each one assigned to a different member of the team.
Let’s now get to the point.
Multitask Toolbar
The multitask toolbar appears when you click on one of the tasks in the ClickUp user interface. It has the same old functions that you could expect from, say, a taskbar from any e-mail platform like Yahoo Mail or Gmail, such as the ability to select and mark as read, delete, etc. Needless to say, it makes for a great feature for solo power users and managers who often handle a hefty load of tasks.
ClickUp’s multitask bar allows you to do many things with your tasks, just like any other e-mail service. To make it easier, you can modify their status, add or remove assignees, change due dates and convert some tasks into subtasks.
A Simplified Approach to Managing and Viewing Tasks
On nearly most productivity apps, you would be expected to bear the weight of manually writing in your tasks and inputting them into your team calendar and goals everywhere you go. ClickUp has simplified the process to a huge extent – instead of taking up nearly an hour or more of your time, you need to type in whatever task you have in mind and wait for the platform to integrate the data into your workspace very shortly.
Regarding how you view your laid-out tasks, ClickUp has given you plenty of options to explore. ClickUp currently offers more than 15 views. These include the calendar, boards, mindmap, map view and workload. That way, you’ll get a complete scope of how the rest of your team is doing, plus the assurance that your goals may be reached efficiently.
Customization range
To continue where we left off from task viewing options, it’s worth noting that ClickUp knows a thing or two about making task management supremely convenient and less of a hassle to deal with. The useful drag-and drop feature makes organizing tasks a breeze. You can drag and drop tasks to move the deadline to a later date or period.
ClickUp allows customization beyond drag-and-drop functionality and multitask bar tools. Its ClickApps section, on the one hand, helps give the Workspace experience more life by supplying you with time-saving tools such as automations, dependencies, sprints, and more, all of which you can incorporate into your team’s space. On the other, you can have the option to create pre-made templates for your checklists, documents, folders, and the like that you may put into good use in the future, and, for a powered-up work environment, you can also integrate with over 1,000 apps and services – all made possible through Zapier. ClickUp User Groups
Collaboration and communication tools
ClickUp makes it easy to communicate with your team and provides them with in-house tools that make it simple. You can chat with your colleagues and catch up on tasks. These features are great, but they should not be relied upon. There are issues with the interface, and it is better to have backup comms in case of an emergency.
That aside, apart from the integrated communications tools, ClickUp’s also packed with smooth collaboration features up its sleeves. You can see what your colleagues are doing in real time from the Whiteboard to Documents, just like Google’s work space. Have any feedback in mind? You can review your files and your team’s tasks, make suggestions, and even share them to others.
Documents
It is a great idea to have a place where you can share your ideas and goals. However, you will need to access them on different applications. ClickUp solves this by incorporating its version of Documents into the platform, enabling you and your team to hash out your plans together in one place without going elsewhere.
ClickUp Docs allows you to create and edit files using a few fonts, sizes and photos. You can also link your files with Workspace tasks through widgets. You don’t need to update your workflow in different tabs. Instead, you can do it all within the editor. Not only does this feature save you time but also your effort – this is especially important if you have a lot of tasks in mind and don’t like to clutter up your productive routine.
When your docs are ready, you have the option to share them either privately between your teammates or publicly with an automatically generated copy-paste link. Additionally, with ClickUp Docs, you can explore other useful features, such as turning on Focus Mode to let you focus on your part with no distractions and looking at the page’s details, including the word count and approximate reading time.
Real-time Reporting and Goal Tracking
When handling projects, it’s crucial to keep track of their progress and see if anything is done to get close to their desired goal. ClickUp’s customizable dashboard allows you to view all types of project indicators from one place. You have all the tools you need to know if your projects are on track for success, from the status of sprints and goals to the real-time graph showing how many tasks were completed by the team.
ClickUp’s reporting section makes it easy to report on how your workspace is doing. Apart from visually appealing graphs, ClickUp also offers automatic reporting tools like the Pulse section. Here you can see how many of your team members are online at any given time, Time Estimates and Team Points. You can also view reports about how many tasks each member completed in a particular period of time.
Time Management
The increasing trend of remote work has resulted in an increasing need for time management apps to help track how long team members work in a day, week, or month, despite staying in different locations. There have been other platforms that offer time management, but ClickUp already offers them as part of its comprehensive package. Its time tracking and reporting functions are just like the rest of ClickUp’s tools.
The software’s global timer enables teammates to input their work hours, link their tasks, and add notes regardless of the type of device being used – you may record your time from your laptop, mobile phone, or from ClickUp’s free Chrome browser extension. ClickUp allows you to set the timer to start when you are done with your tasks. Or you can manually enter how many hours you will work each day. The core tools for general time tracking management such as time billing, editing and timesheets will be covered. Do you have a different time-tracking app and would you like to transfer your data to ClickUp? Simply sync information between the two platforms. ClickUp User Groups
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The ClickUp Support System Bonus
In need of assistance? ClickUp has nearly everything you may need to help you with them! ClickUp is not only packed with useful tools for managing work, but it also excels at providing excellent customer support and learning materials.
It offers 24/7 customer support, which is available to all subscribers regardless of whether they are on a paid or unpaid plan. What’s nice about it is that you get plenty of support teams to choose from. For instance, if you have a question regarding the Enterprise plan, the Sales section is the place to be. A dedicated team can help you set up your Workspace.
ClickUp allows you to explore a wide range of learning content that will help you use the platform. This includes the Demo package’s on-demand video tutorials and the Help Center’s rich documentation. ClickUp University offers courses and webinars that can help you and your team improve your work skills. ClickUp User Groups
What Customers Have to Say About ClickUp
ClickUp’s impressive list of project management tools has given it a cutting edge over the rest, although the number of those may be too overwhelming for some users who may just want to keep their fellow team members on track. It has a large following in the general public.
ClickUp has been a popular tool for team leaders. They have generally been positive about the process of using it. They have lauded the platform for its limitless customization possibilities and how time-saving most of its interface and features are. They’ve also appreciated how fully functional its free entry-level plan is compared to other productivity software and how worth the upgrades to higher tiers can get considering the valuable price range.
Since ClickUp is loaded with many features, it’s already a given that the learning curve can be steep, especially for those not fully familiar with how remote project management works. With that in mind, they may need to allow themselves more time to get used to its inner workings, which the service thankfully catches up with a vast range of learning and onboarding material. In addition, ClickUp, like the rest, is not fully immune to criticism in terms of having a sometimes buggy web and mobile app interface, but other than that, most users do not see any concerning issues with it as a whole. ClickUp User Groups
Alternatives to ClickUp
ClickUp has made its mark as one of the best productivity software out there, and its level of recognition today has now equaled the following alternative work platforms below. Each one has its own unique features and competitive aspects, but some aren’t as good as ClickUp.
- Monday.com – From the looks of it alone, it’s no wonder that Monday.com is considered by many to be among the closest competition to ClickUp in terms of workload features, range of customization, integrations, and providing teammates with learning and onboarding resources. It makes up for what it lacks with its free plan and large range of tools.
- Smartsheet – Smartsheet provides teams with the same quality project management tools that ClickUp offers, including a reliable mobile app and multiple task-viewing options. They also have the ability to share tasks with colleagues in real-time. Smartsheet shines best when it comes to creating spreadsheet-adjacent project plans, making it a much better choice for detail-oriented teams that deal with a huge load of data and only sometimes for small-scale groups and freelancers.
- Teamwork – While ClickUp and the rest are collectively best for team projects, Teamwork has a slew of tools geared toward client- and service-based interactions. You can also use some of the great features that you would expect from any PM program, as well as many other useful tools. Although it doesn’t have all the features ClickUp offers, Teamwork has a complete suite of products that can be used to enhance productivity. ClickUp User Groups
- Asana – Some PM platforms, like ClickUp, may be inundated with too many features, and others may need to be more basic. They might be considered useless. Asana strikes the perfect balance between power and simplicity making it an excellent choice for small to large teams. With a cohesive mix of tools from task management to communication, Asana, on a base level, is great for beginners. Some aspects, such as full customization, require that you pay extra.
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ClickUp: The Final Verdict
As we reach the end of our ClickUp review, let’s go full circle to the beginning and answer these questions: 1) How accurate is its claim to increase productivity rates? And 2) how well does it deliver when it comes to handling workflow?
ClickUp is a platform that provides a single-stop solution for project management. This makes ClickUp a great tool to help improve collaboration among colleagues, even if they are far away. But having a lot of tools can have downsides, such as the feeling of information overload. Second, it depends on your perspective, the software will do its best to handle multiple tasks, even if some aspects need improvement.
Based on everything we know so far, is ClickUp worth a try as the go-to software for you and your employers? The final answer may be up to you, but it’s a yes for us in this case! If you’re especially a small start-up team or simply ready to transition to remote work, you may be glad to know that ClickUp has nearly all the tools you need to help achieve your future goals.
FAQ ClickUp User Groups
How many devices is ClickUp currently available to download on?
ClickUp offers a desktop version, as well as an app for Android and iOS that we have already developed. It can be downloaded on Windows, Mac and Linux. It also has a Chrome browser extension currently available on the Google Chrome web store, as well as availability through voice command services, namely Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa.
Is ClickUp ideal for personal or solo use?
Though not the de-facto best platform for freelancers who deal with clients independently, ClickUp has enough tools that can be maximized even for personal use. Those who work solo for a living may enjoy ClickUp’s range of excellent project management tools the same way as small- or medium-sized companies do.
Is ClickUp available offline?
Yes! Yes! ClickUp offers an offline mode for coworkers who don’t have an internet connection. It allows you to view and create tasks, remind you of important dates, and look at your notes. However, some tools may not work if you aren’t connected online.
ClickUp’s Offline Mode feature can be found on the platform’s website, desktop program, or mobile app (Legacy2.0).