ClickUp is a cloud-based, project management software that’s primarily used to manage workplace interactions and engagements. Its unique one-stop-shop design makes it stand out from the rest. ClickUp has all the tools you need to create meaningful projects in one easy-to use and accessible platform.
Yep, you heard it right! 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. How true is the claim? How well can it deliver when it comes to handling workflow? 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 vs Trello vs Jira
Established in 2017 as one of the many up-and-coming tech startups at the time, the team behind ClickUp knew their aim: for the platform to be the ultimate go-to place for businesses and teams to work more productively. They realized that the current productivity system could be all over.
There are many project management tools available that can be difficult to track. For instance, Monday.com and Asana may be a better place to manage project-related tasks. Time tracking management? Hubstaff and ActiveCollab are good options. Do you want to share documents and presentations with your team? Microsoft Office and Google’s suites of tools might help.
Teams from all walks of the spectrum have to deal not only with project management. Communication is also important. While a few platforms include a chat function, many of them can be downloaded separately. You can think of Slack and MS Teams or 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. For some, the increasing number of those may require more work to complete certain projects and achieve certain goals efficiently. 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. While certain apps put their best features behind layers of paywalls, ClickUp ensures that all important tools are available for every teammate to use free of charge. ClickUp is ideal for remote teams with limited budgets. ClickUp vs Trello vs Jira
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Who Are the Ideal Teams for ClickUp?
ClickUp is a great tool for small and large teams. But, its overall nature has made it an especially ideal choice for
- ClickUp can be used by remote or home-based teams. This is great news for companies that have many different teams.
- Human resources departments – ClickUp is equipped with excellent management, reporting, and storage tools, including a performance tracker, which any company’s HR department must have.
- Design and advertising teams – Feedback is an important aspect when it comes to working with teammates in the design and applied arts field, so ClickUp delivers that with seamless collaboration and communication features like chat and comment sharing.
- ClickUp is a great tool for marketing and finance-focused companies. ClickUp’s reporting and tracking features are great for teams that specialize in marketing or finance.
- Teams working in healthcare – Healthcare companies must adhere to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. ClickUp, thankfully, offers this compliance; however, it’s only limited to the enterprise plan.
What’s Good and What’s Not with ClickUp
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! This statement might seem too good to be true. Keep reading to see if ClickUp can still stand on its own.
The pros
- ClickUp is among a select few platforms with a fully functioning free plan, which includes some vital workflow features that may require access beyond the paywall for other productivity systems.
- The system comes with many elite customization options that are suited to different industries. You can customize dashboards to your personal preferences using 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.
- Its tools are easy to use, simple and convenient. This reduces the stress of trying to manage multiple productivity apps at once.
- 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.
- ClickUp offers desktop access as well as a mobile app for iOS and Android that allows inter-team collaborations to take place while on the move.
The Cons
- ClickUp is full of easy-to use features but it can be difficult for new colleagues to learn how to use them.
- ClickUp is not the best in UI design. Some parts of ClickUp’s font and text sizes might be difficult to read for some users. The color layouts may be of great concern as well.
- 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 vs Trello vs Jira
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Breaking Down ClickUp’s Pricing Plans
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.
Forever Free
Among the platform’s greatest highlights, there’s no question needed as to why ClickUp’s Free Forever plan is placed in the category of the best free plans offered by any productivity software. Though an entry-level tier, you get access to unlimited tasks and add an unlimited number of team members to your workspace with no fuss. You’ll also explore ClickUp’s jam-packed core features, such as real-time chat, whiteboards, time-tracking, and native video recording.
While the lineup of offerings appears to be convincing, you have to keep in mind that some limitations have been put into place, like the allowance of only 100 automations per month and 100MB worth of storage. Nonetheless, the Free Forever plan is a solid pick for solopreneurs, project management newbies, and small-scale teams needing more budget.
Unlimited Plan
You like the free tier, but you don’t want to follow the rules that could impede your workflow. You may be glad that ClickUp’s Unlimited Plan offers plenty of welcoming upgrades and extra features at affordable rates. Other productivity platforms offer similar plans, but at a higher price. ClickUp vs Trello vs Jira
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. Ideal for small-sized teams with an expanded client base and increasing resources, upgrading this plan from Free Forever requires a little money, making it valuable.
Business Plan
ClickUp’s Business Plan is for teams that have grown beyond their small spaces and are prepared to tackle new challenges. ClickUp’s Business Plan includes a host of features to meet the increasing demands of 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. The Goal Folders feature allows you to compile and organize your project goals into separate folders, making it easy for safekeeping. The Business plan costs as low as $12 per user per month (if paid yearly).
Business Plus Upgrade
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. You will also get additional automations allowances.
ClickUp’s team-sharing and KPI tracking features, as well as custom role creation, will be explored. As a bonus, you’re given priority support, so whenever you have inquiries and requests, ClickUp’s customer helpline will step in as quickly as possible.
Enterprise Plan
The Enterprise Plan is ClickUp’s most complete tier yet, packed with additional enterprise-grade features apart from all the combined tools covered by all the previous 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. You can also use multiple apps to sign on, including Google. There are also custom onboarding training available for new colleagues and a dedicated success manager who will ensure a positive and productive workplace. ClickUp vs Trello vs Jira
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ClickUp’s Features: A Closer Look
Before we go ahead and check out the rest of what ClickUp has to offer, it’s important to first look at its hierarchal 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.
Teams, in ClickUp terms, refer to the company or organization that handles all the tasks and assigns them to the employees or teammates. Teams are usually created by companies from different fields. However, there are rare instances when large groups manage multiple teams simultaneously. 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. All these, under the Spaces essentially, consist of subprojects that make up the grand scheme of the full 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. You will find the same functions you would expect from an e-mail platform such as Yahoo Mail or Gmail: the ability to mark and select as read, delete, and the ability to delete. It is a wonderful feature for managers and solo power users who have to handle a lot of tasks.
Just like you would any e-mail service, ClickUp’s multitask toolbar allows you to do a variety of things with your chosen tasks. 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 made this process much easier. Instead of spending nearly an hour writing down your tasks and inputting them into your team calendar and goals, you can simply type the task you are interested in and wait for ClickUp to incorporate the data into your workspace.
ClickUp offers many options for how you see your tasks laid out. It currently houses over 15 powerful views, from the calendar and boards to the more advanced views like the Gantt chart, mind map, map view, and workload. This will give you a full overview of the team’s performance and help you to set realistic goals.
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. For instance, if you wish to change the deadline to a later period and day, you may simply drag one of your existing tasks further right or left in the Calendar section.
However, customization goes beyond the simple drag-and-drop and multitask toolbar tools with ClickUp. ClickApps is a section that gives the Workspace a more personal feel. It provides time-saving tools like automations, dependencies and sprints. These can all be integrated into your 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 vs Trello vs Jira
Collaboration and communication tools
Communication is key to a successful work project, and ClickUp provides you and your team with in-house features that deliver the aspect right on the spot. You can chat with your colleagues and catch up on tasks. However, as good as these features may seem, it’s important to note that they shouldn’t be heavily relied on as there are some issues with the interface and that it’s better to have some comms backups on the ready in case something goes awry.
That aside, apart from the integrated communications tools, ClickUp’s also packed with smooth collaboration features up its sleeves. Like Google’s work suite, you can see whatever your teammates are working on in real-time from the Whiteboard to the Documents. Do you have any feedback? You can proof your files or your teammates’ tasks, assign comments for suggestions, and even share them with others so they can see what’s going on.
Documents
Having an outlet where you can lay out the ideas and goals of your project is an excellent idea until you realize you would have to access it on separate applications. ClickUp addresses this problem by integrating its version of Documents to the platform. This allows you and your team members to work together without having to go 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. ClickUp Docs also offers other useful features such as Focus Mode, which allows you to focus on the part you are working on without distractions and allowing you to look at page details including word count, approximate reading time, and estimated reading time.
Real-time reporting and goal tracking
It is crucial to track the progress of projects and determine if any steps have been taken to achieve their goals. 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. Aside from easily digestible visual graphs, the platform houses automatic reporting tools such as the Pulse section, where you get to view how many of your teammates are online at a specific time, Time Estimates, Team Points, and reports on how many tasks a teammate was able to complete in the day, month, or year.
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 global timer allows teammates to enter their work hours, link their task and take notes. It doesn’t matter what device you use – ClickUp’s Chrome extension is free and you can record your time on your computer, your mobile phone or your laptop. 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. You’ll also explore the core tools that come with general time-tracking management, like time billing, editing, timesheets, and reporting. Have you used a separate time-tracking app before, and do you want to transfer data from there to ClickUp? Simply sync information between the two platforms. ClickUp vs Trello vs Jira
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The ClickUp Support System Bonus
In need of assistance? ClickUp has almost everything you need to assist you! ClickUp is not only packed with useful tools for managing work, but it also excels at providing excellent customer support and learning materials.
On the one hand, its 24/7 customer service section can be accessed at any time regardless if you’re signed to a paid or free plan. It’s great that there are many support teams available. For instance, if you have a question regarding the Enterprise plan, the Sales section is the place to be. Likewise, if you want help setting up your Workspace, there’s a dedicated team for that.
Conversely, ClickUp lets you explore a vast library of learning content to guide you on how to use the platform, from the on-demand video tutorials in the Demo package to the information-rich documents found in its Help Center. Plus, if you and your team wish to upgrade your collective work skills to the next level, you can check out the courses and webinars offered by ClickUp University. ClickUp vs Trello vs Jira
ClickUp: What customers have to say about it
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. The platform’s endless customization options and time-saving features have been praised by many team leaders. 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.
ClickUp has many features. It’s no surprise that learning can be difficult, especially for people not familiar with remote project management. ClickUp users may need to take more time to become familiar with its internal workings. The service has a lot of onboarding and learning material. ClickUp is also subject to criticism for its mobile app and web interfaces that can sometimes be glitchy, but most users don’t see any problems with the service as a whole. ClickUp vs Trello vs Jira
Alternatives to ClickUp
ClickUp is a well-known productivity software that has earned a reputation for being the best. ClickUp’s recognition has been equaled by the following other work platforms. Each of these has competitive features and aspects that make it unique; however, some things aren’t always on par with what ClickUp offers.
- 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. Apart from the usual features you may expect from any PM software, and some great solutions can be used individually. Though it may not have everything ClickUp has, Teamwork does offer a full suite of dedicated products for seamless productivity. ClickUp vs Trello vs Jira
- Asana – Some PM platforms, like ClickUp, may be inundated with too many features, and others may need to be more basic. They may be considered pointless. 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? How does it handle workflow?
Firstly, from how it executes its premise by being a one-stop platform for all project management needs, there’s no doubt that ClickUp has the potential to improve workflow among teammates, even while remote. But having a lot of tools can have downsides, such as the feeling of information overload. Second, depending on how you see it, the software does its best to tackle multiple tasks, even though a few of its aspects require improvement.
ClickUp is ClickUp worth the effort based on what we have learned so far. Although the final decision is up to you, we believe it’s worth a try in this instance. 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 vs Trello vs Jira
How many devices is ClickUp currently available to download on?
Apart from the mobile app for Android and iOS, which we’ve tackled early on, ClickUp has a desktop version that you can download on Windows, Mac, and Linux computers. You can also download the Chrome browser extension from Google Chrome.
Is ClickUp ideal for personal or solo use?
Although ClickUp is not the best platform for freelancers working with clients on their own, it has enough tools to be useful 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! ClickUp does offer an Offline Mode option for teammates who want to work even without the presence of 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).