The 8 best Agile project management software tools in 2024

For most people, the word "agile" likely conjures dog shows, American Ninja Warrior, or a character they're working on in their favorite RPG. It's a lot less exciting for you, yes, but you still have something to look forward to: picking out your Agile project management software. (Just as good, right?)

To help you whittle down your choices, I sifted through dozens of software options and consulted SaaS industry experts who use Agile methodologies on the regular. All that helped me come up with what I think are the best uniquely Agile project management software options out there.

The 8 best Agile project management software tools

• Jira for general Agile project management

• Zoho Sprints for DevOps work management

• Aha! for product development

• Trello for task management

• Pivotal Tracker for free Agile project management

• Asana for small teams and individuals

• ClickUp for workflow customization

• Paymo for billing and time tracking

What makes the best Agile project management tool?

In some ways, what makes a great general project management tool also makes a great Agile one. No matter your methodology, you can benefit from staples like good user experience, a responsive interface, task assignments, custom dashboards, and the ability to change views.

But to drill these features down further into what's especially useful to Agile teams, I focused on tools that checked these boxes:

• Issue management: These tools should have the potential to manage all facets of issues, including backlog management, prioritization, resource management, knowledge base, status tracking, and user story management.

• Cross-functional collaboration: The best Agile software should also be able to help you work across teams, allowing you to do things like manage relationships between tasks, assign tasks, consolidate workflows across teams, and host or schedule standups.

• Manage Agile workflows: To facilitate distinctly Agile workflows, apps should have organizational features like customizable timelines, scrum boards, Kanban boards, Gantt/timeline views, sprint planning, and burndown charts.

• Reporting: All PM tools should be able to help with reporting, but these Agile software options should be able to specifically track task progress, log issues for reporting, export progress data, facilitate retrospectives, and define performance.

• Automation and AI: I gave bonus points for solid automation and AI capabilities for streamlining reporting, assigning/scheduling tasks, updating timelines, and generating text.

The best Agile project management software tools at a glance

Best Agile project management software overall

Jira (Web, iOS, Android)

Jira pros:

• Useful for applications across teams

• Simple, intuitive design with easy-to-learn advanced features

• Easy to connect assets like features, cards, automations, and issues for custom workflows

Jira cons:

• Requires premium plan for features other tools offer at basic levels, like managing dependencies across projects and AI

If you're looking for a hot-take roundup of Agile software that excludes Jira, you've come to the wrong list. As someone who appreciates contrarian takes, I'm sorry to say this tool that's basically the Agile poster child of an Agile software giant parent company wins for best overall Agile PM software. It's like SaaS nepotism.

It's hard to find much to fault Atlassian's issue management tool for. It packs a lot of useful features into an all-inclusive workspace that's flexible enough for teams of just about any project management methodology—all at a reasonable price point. 

At the Premium level, you'll also get the power of Atlassian Intelligence—the parent company's proprietary AI—to do things like auto-generate summaries, edit text, and build automations with natural language processing. And since it's connected to Atlassian's impressive roster of software and massive app marketplace, there's a ton of flexibility for working across apps. 

Want Kanban-style issue tracking with detailed cards and assignable child issues? Check. Want to switch to a Gantt-style timeline exportable in multiple formats? Check. Want to link up to source code from multiple providers to automate DevOps workflows? Check. Want to build out internal project pages, create issue-associated code repositories, incorporate retrospectives, preset assignable scope requirements, and keep a dedicated log of decision trees? Bucket of checks.

There's also a lot you can do with your views that lets you take useful actions right from the issue dashboard. You can get quick insights into priority issues, link issues across boards, share views with team members, and apply custom filters to stay organized. You can even create manually triggered automations for things like issue update notifications, new page creation, issue labeling, hashtag tagging, closing duplicate issues, and changing phases.

To me, the highlight of Jira is its deceptive simplicity. I've tested a lot of complex tools, and many of them have a tendency toward user overwhelm. Jira offers just about every feature you need to connect teams across sales/marketing, IT, design, UX, DevOps, customer service, and operations into a consolidated workflow, and it still feels like a small tool. Instead of a tangled web of dashboards, dropdowns, and duplicated locations, it just gets deeper the more you dig into the features that actually matter to you.

And you can do even more with Jira's Zapier integration, connecting Jira to all the other apps your team uses. Learn more about how to automate Jira, or get started with one of these pre-made templates.

Jira pricing: Free plan available; Standard ($7.16/user/month); Premium ($12.48/user/month); Enterprise (by request)

Best Agile project management software for DevOps work management

Zoho Sprints (Web, iOS, Android)

Zoho Sprints pros:

• Distinctly designed for Agile teams

• Extremely convenient, dynamic task management structure

• Affordably priced

Zoho Sprints cons:

• Not very versatile beyond Agile dev teams

• Not as feature-rich as more comprehensive tools

I've spent a good amount of time testing Zoho apps (see: vs. Salesforce and vs. HubSpot), and my main criticism is usually about the unevenness of its somewhat lo-fi interface. Not the case with Zoho Sprints, which is almost uncomfortably responsive. This distinctly Agile PM tool has a luxe but clean interface with flashy dynamic actions.

Zoho Sprints has the richest, most dynamic task management capabilities of any Agile app I explored. The dashboard centers on work item listings, where users can sort their tasks and then clock right into them as they go, then open them individually to change status, review activity timelines in multiple views, leave comments, tag other team members, attach files, add new subitems or link existing ones, create checklists… basically anything you could ever think to do with a work item. 

Contrary to some of the other tools on this list, Zoho Sprints is tailor-made for Agile dev teams. To broaden out from work items, you can change up your views to sprints, epics, releases, timesheets, and meetings. You can also head to a Kanban-style board that automatically updates as you work in other modules. The report module includes auto-generated visualizations by points like velocity, burndown, burnup, latency, and process time.

Similar to Jira, Zoho Sprints benefits from the capabilities of a broader software company. Zoho has a diverse range of modular applications for everything from mail to analytics to helpdesk and CRM, so Sprints can easily fit into more comprehensive workflows if you're into the Zoho suite.

Zoho Sprints even lets you import your data directly from Jira (as well as Zoho Projects or from a file). DevOps users will also appreciate integrations with CI/CD tools like GitLab, Jenkins, and Azure to add even more automation, AI, and accessibility perks across dev tasks. Plus, Zapier has a Zoho Sprints integration that helps you automate tasks across third-party apps like these.

Zoho Sprints pricing: Starter ($1/user/month, annual only); Elite ($3/user/month); Premier ($6/user/month)

Best Agile project management software for product development

Aha! (Web, iOS, Android)

Aha! pros:

• Tailor-made for Agile product development teams

• Rich AI for product ideation use cases

• Distinct dashboards for multiple facets of the product life cycle

Aha! cons:

• Use case is fairly limited to product dev

• Pricing is by product and fairly steep

Here's another admittedly tepid take: Aha! is the best tool I found for product management. As the gold standard for product strategy tailored to Agile teams, it's a clear winner here.

You don't get the same flashy interface and multiple views you'll get from less pigeonholed apps, but if Agile product dev is your jam, this is the bread you'll want to spread it on. Projects break down into releases and features to track rollout processes across assignees and deadlines. You can drill down into features to edit basic elements like phases, set goals, assign initiatives, apply tags, and note values, or access additional tabs for requirements, comments, tasks, and related records.

And unique to Aha!, there are additional dashboards for creating listings for ideas, strategies, knowledge bases, and roadmaps. I don't have the space to really expand on all of them here, but suffice it to say this is the one app that lets you set values and make assignable assets out of every facet of the product development life cycle. The Ideas portal is particularly rich, functioning like a mini-CRM to house product concepts, contacts, audience segmentation, feedback, and consumer research.

Aha! also gets big points for AI functionality. Other apps might have integrated generative AI, which is cool but not that unique these days. Aha!'s AI Ideas feature instead applies AI to assist specifically with the Ideas portal to do things like create idea forms, translate copy across the portal, optimize data synchronization with linked CRMs, enrich contact lists, and (maybe most interestingly) find patterns in customer feedback to apply to feature updates.

Aha! is probably the tool on this list with the most specialized use case—it's definitely not for every Agile team, but it's definitely for every Agile product development team. And with Zapier's Aha! integrations, you can take advantage of automated workflows across some of your team's favorite apps. Here are a few examples to get you started.

Aha! pricing: Pricing by product

Best Agile project management software for task management

Trello (Web, iOS, Android, Windows, Mac)

Trello pros:

• Highly customizable workspaces and cards

• Rich card- and workspace-based automations

• Additional features with integrations

Trello cons:

• Pricing is steep compared to more comprehensive tools

• Really just a task board

As one of the most popular board-based task organizers out there, Trello is staple software for many Agile teams and versatile enough for people who don't capitalize the "a." 

Trello isn't an Agile tool per se, but with its general Kanban-esque card structure, it maps pretty readily to Agile and Agile-esque workflows. You can even start your board with a Agile template to give dev teams a more familiar structure as they move from their backlog through testing.

The main appeal of Trello is that, as a focused card-and-board platform, it combines simplicity with customization. As you set up your workspaces, Trello gives you total freedom over workflow structure, naming conventions, and even aesthetics if you're into things like custom backgrounds and color-coding. 

The cards themselves have a ton of features beyond the usual descriptions, attachments, and sharing. You can add members, make labels, templatize a card, apply dates, create custom fields, and even add locations, all of which update the reporting tab so you can track progress and activity with a single click.

The things that make Trello really stand out as a standalone board app are automations and Power-Ups. Just click Add button on any card to bring up a list of common automation templates for things like moving cards, adding labels, closing tasks, and sorting lists. You can also create custom automations on the fly on both the card and workspace levels to apply automated actions en masse. There's even a handy suggestions feature within the automation widget that recommends useful sequences based on account activity.

By adding a Power-Up to your card, you also get access to both native and integration-backed features like Placker reports, Teams notifications, Google Drive syncing, Slack collaboration, and voting. Zapier also integrates with Trello to link it up with the rest of your favorite apps and turn multi-step actions into automated workflows. Learn more about how to automate Trello, or try one of these pre-built workflows.

Trello pricing: Free plan available; Standard ($6/user/month); Premium ($12.50/user/month); Enterprise ($17.50/user/month)

Best free Agile project management software

Pivotal Tracker (Web)

Pivotal Tracker pros:

• Full features available at free level

• Built for Agile dev teams

Pivotal Tracker cons:

• Free plan limits to five total projects

• Fairly lo-fi interface

• No notable native AI or automations (as of this writing)

Let's be honest: most "free" project management tools are usually "free" with a pretty big asterisk explaining all the perks you don't get for the free plan. Pivotal Tracker is a distinctly Agile project manager that's actually free* (with a small asterisk).

Pivotal Tracker is a functional, unfussy app for managing stories, tasks, and epics across projects and workspaces. Unlike other tools, the dashboard changes in real time, adding columns to your board view as you click through the side panel options for your backlog, icebox, completed stories, blockers, epics, and labels.

Unlike more generic Kanban apps, stories in Pivotal Tracker have features for designating key traits like point values, story types (features, bugs, chores, and releases), followers, and requesters. You can also set blockers like individual users or specific stories and even associate code links, add task lists, review activity, and leave messages within stories for added transparency.

As of now, Pivotal Tracker doesn't offer much (read: any) native AI or automation functionality. But to expand on its utility, Pivotal Tracker integrates natively with a handful of tools like Bitbucket, Jenkins, GitHub, Jira, and Zendesk. You can also create custom integrations—or just use Zapier's Pivotal Tracker integrations to automate workflows like these across even more apps.

*Now for the (maybe-not-so) small asterisk. All this fully featured Agile productivity goodness is free for up to five projects with no upgrade option as Pivotal Tracker transitions to Broadcom VMware. According to a recent blog post, services will be uninterrupted until at least April 30, 2025, when all accounts will have projects archived in a read-only state. By that time, their new product should be available for transition.

In the meantime, Pivotal Tracker is a perfect tool for Agile dev teams to track projects, and I imagine their new launch will be even better. The one real downside is that you'll have to transition to new software at some point, though you'll still have access to all past projects and invoices when that time comes.

Pivotal Tracker pricing: Free

Best Agile project management software for small teams and individuals

Asana (Web, iOS, Android, Windows, Mac)

Asana pros:

• Great free plan

• Integrated AI with natural language assistant

• Versatile and customizable

• Workflow automation builder incorporates automations into workflow templates

Asana cons:

• Not specifically designed for Agile teams

• Premium plans get expensive (and AI requires a paid plan)

I personally love Asana. It doesn't necessarily do a ton of things other tools don't do, but I think it effectively blends both necessary features and premium features into an attractive, intuitive interface. For smaller teams, solopreneurs, and freelancers who don't quite need a full small-business-level CRM, it's a great middle-ground of simplicity and complexity that can scale up.

On the surface, Asana is like a lot of other modular PM tools, with a Kanban board that allows you to group cards, drag and drop tasks, change due dates, add dependencies, and alter fields for status and priority. You can switch to a bunch of different views like calendars and Gantt charts, and create distinct workspaces to keep multiple projects organized.

Asana also has some of the more powerful AI and automation tools out there. At any time, you can click Ask AI to load instant prompts for next steps on your workspace into the NLP sidekick, where you can also pose your own questions and commands like "help me set up automations, please." (Always be kind to your AI bots.) 

Over in the Workflow dashboard, you can build custom workflows that weave automation right in. Start with triggers like form submissions, templates of pre-made workflows, or even apps to integrate other tools, then assign actions like notifications, assignee changes, custom field creation, and integrated app launches. 

To build this out even further, Zapier's Asana integration lets you automate even more processes across all the apps you use. Learn more about how to automate Asana, or start with one of these workflows.

Asana isn't exactly an Agile tool, but it maps pretty readily to most Agile workflows. You can set goals in a dedicated module to track progress toward priority KPIs across teams. You can set up individual portfolios to track and monitor team member progress and utilization across projects. You can check out a high-level task log that approximates a backlog. You can also organize your board in a true Kanban structure, but in the end, it's not perfectly designed for specific Agile applications like some of the other apps on this list.

Asana pricing: Free plan available; Starter ($13.49/user/month); Advanced ($30.49/user/month)

Best Agile project management software for workflow customization

ClickUp (Web, iOS, Android, Windows, Mac)

ClickUp pros:

• Useful integrated AI with natural language prompts

• Freedom to create and customize lists, tasks, spaces, and dashboards

• Native Agile templates

• Free Forever plan could be enough for individuals and small teams

ClickUp cons:

• The number of options can be a little overwhelming

It's hard for me to describe ClickUp as anything more specific than a "tool." 

In reality, it's a highly modular project management app designed to help users keep track of everything from docs to timesheets to to-do lists to workflows. It's kind of a PM Swiss Army Knife.

Unlike other PM tools, ClickUp gives you pretty wide-ranging control over how you organize and hierarchize (can't believe that's a word) your projects. You can create a Team Space to house all the projects you create, which can then contain individual lists of tasks containing cards that drill down into even finer details. Then you can create more spaces and start the fun all over again, or head to the Everything tab for a global backlog-type view of literally everything you logged. 

One of my favorite ClickUp functionalities is the custom dashboard. Start from scratch to load up with cards/widgets of your choosing, like sprints, task lists, reports, calculations, tasks, chat boxes, or a portfolio. Or build off a template for common use cases like reporting, client portals, time tracking, and PM.

Similar to Asana, ClickUp isn't an outright Agile tool, but it does have a suite of over 60 native engineering and product templates tailor-made for Agile teams. Set up sprint plans, load a team roadmap, kick off an app development plan, or dig into a pre-made assumption grid decision matrix.

New users might find the available customizations a little overwhelming, but the interface is clean enough that it doesn't take much exploration to figure out. And whether you operate with bespoke project structures or standard Agile workflows, you can really make ClickUp serve just about any PM need.

With Zapier, you can connect ClickUp to thousands of other apps to automate your Agile workflows. Learn more about how to automate ClickUp, or get started with one of these pre-made workflows. 

ClickUp pricing: Free plan available; Unlimited ($10/user/month); Business ($19/user/month); Enterprise (by request)

Best Agile project management software for billing and time tracking

Paymo (Web, iOS, Android)

Paymo pros:

• Richly integrated time logging, scheduling, and billing features

• Clean interface that makes invoicing and project scoping easy

• Billing parameters are built into projects from the outset

Paymo cons:

• Project tracking features aren't as robust as other tools

• No notable AI features (as of this writing)

Do other tools on this list have time-tracking features? Yes. But do they have the robust time-tracking of dedicated billing management tools? Not like Paymo.

Paymo is sort of the inverse of other project management tools in that regard, which are generally good task managers with some generalized time management features. As the name suggests, Paymo is really built for this use case. The omnipresent timer is set to your current task, which is a deceptively smart perk. Projects start with fields for client assignments, workflow templates, project IDs, and billing details so they can map readily to expense reporting from the outset.

Paymo also has a unique suite of accounting dashboards for invoices, payments, estimates, recurring invoices, and expenses. Each of these dashboards lets you easily build assets that connect across the app to your tasks, clients, and projects, cutting the need to retroactively assign hours to clients or projects to team members. I also like that there are dedicated timesheet and team scheduling dashboards, which make team utilization tracking a breeze. 

Paymo's ability to manage Agile tasks themselves is a bit lacking compared to other tools, but it's sufficient. To set up your workspace for Agile workflows, you can kick it off with a development template to preload with a backlog of sample tasks like bug fixing. It's not quite as richly Agile as other templates out there, but it's firm footing to start on. There are a handful of views you can toggle, and card/task functionality is pretty standard.

If your main concern with Agile PM software is easy billing and streamlined team utilization, Paymo is an easy winner. It does enough as an organizational tool, but if you're mainly interested in managing projects and have other billing processes or software, Paymo's probably not for you. 

Regardless of how you use it, you can also do more with Zapier's Paymo integrations that help fill in the functionality gaps by automating workflows with thousands of other apps. Here are a few examples.

Paymo pricing: Free plan available; Starter ($9.90/user/month); Small Office ($15.90/user/month); Business ($23.90/user/month)

How to pick the best Agile project management software

You may have noticed that these software options break down into two core camps: distinctly Agile products and more general products that can still be distinctly useful for Agile teams. 

It's worth considering whether you need a tool ready-made for your Agile workflows or if retrofitting with a decent template should be sufficient. You'll also need to know your flexibility requirements—your product development team will love Aha!, but your quasi-Agile sales team will get a lot more run out of Asana and ClickUp. Meanwhile, distinctly enterprise-level PM tools will be overkill for startup teams, who may rather stick with a simple task tracker like Trello or consolidate billing into Paymo.

No matter which Agile project management tool you use, Zapier's automated workflows will help it do more for your nimble teams by automating tasks across thousands of other apps.

Related reading:

• Asana vs. Jira: Which is best?

• Kanban vs. Scrum Agile methodology: Which is better?

• How to apply process optimization to your business

• How to prioritize tasks

• Story points in Agile: What they are and how to use them