Fifty-eight percent of those who made tech investments for their business over the last 12-18 months report having buyer’s remorse. 

Choosing the best project management tools for your agency is critical to your success. Unfortunately, as the survey cited above shows, investing in the wrong software is a common (and expensive) problem. 

Projects that stall, fall apart, or lack proper execution and accountability suck resources from your agency. Over-budget or late deliverables can frustrate your client and send them running to your competition.

Project management is a delicate balance of several elements. Along with talented team members and forward-thinking leaders, project management tools are must-haves for staying on top of projects.

And, while you might have heard of Kantata, it might not be the best platform for your agency’s project management success.

Is Kantata the end-all, be-all of project management?

Signs point to “no.”

Its complex user interface is one of its most negative points. It can be complicated to navigate, causing particular frustration for beginners.

The project management platform is also pricey. There are options with more functionality for a fraction of the cost of Kantata.

Another drawback is its lack of collaboration. The platform’s dashboard doesn’t offer features that help team members chat, problem-solve, or brainstorm new ideas. Since collaboration is a vital building block of projects, this shortcoming can cause serious issues with team members.

It doesn’t take long to see that Kantata isn’t perfect. Agencies should consider some of the Kantata alternatives on today’s market to get more features, foster better collaboration, and find a more cost-effective solution. Here are some of the ones we like best.

Teamwork.com is built for agencies

Teamwork.com is built for agencies

Looking for a smarter way to keep your team’s tasks organized? See how Teamwork.com is designed to help agencies like yours better serve your clients.

Learn more
undefined

Teamwork tops the list as the superior Kantata alternative for project management software.

The user-friendly platform offers a range of critical tools for agency teams, including time tracking, financial management, robust reporting, and free access for clients.

“Every once in a while you discover a product or service that changes everything you do at your company. Teamwork was that product for us,”  says one reviewer.

“Teamwork took us from a struggling agency that didn't understand its investment of time in our project work and that had no processes to speak of to a company that runs like clockwork. We couldn't be the company we are without it.”

Teamwork: The Kantata alternative designed for agencies

Teamwork: The Kantata alternative designed for agencies

Learn more about how Teamwork is the Kantata alternative designed with client work in mind.

Click here

Kantata’s least expensive packages are feature-bare, forcing teams that need additional functionality to fork over more money for these steeper plans. Teamwork has all the specific features, including capacity planning, resource scheduling, and budget and expense tracking (planned vs. estimated) across projects, all for a fraction of what Kantata costs.

undefined

Teamwork was founded by agency owners, making them uniquely qualified to build a platform that helps agencies manage the entire lifecycle of a client from quote to cash.. Agencies can easily plan and execute complex, multi-faceted projects, automate repetitive work, take advantage of pre-built project templates, track project budgets and profitability, and use the time-tracking tool to bill every possible minute.

Putting the tools in place early that can scale with your agency creates a strong foundation you'll appreciate later. Teamwork is built to scale and grow with their users. The dashboard and reporting features keep managers informed of the entire project, and budget-setting helps with resource management and budget efficiency.

  • Track project profitability to understand how profitable a project is (or isn’t).

  • Set permissions for your users to control what, when, and how notifications are sent.

  • Handle invoicing by using your team’s billable time logs.

  • Use filters to build customized views of project information.

  • Communicate with your team in context with the messaging feature, then group conversations into categories.

  • Track all the time spent on a project for greater visibility of where your time is going 

  • Unlimited access for your clients so they can easily view and collaborate on projects

Teamwork offers a Free Forever plan and four paid pricing plans, including the Starter for $5.99 per user, per month, followed by the Deliver for $9.99 per user per month, and the Grow (most popular) for $17.99 per user per month. The Scale Plan is priced on a case-by-case basis.

Credit: monday.com

monday.com is another great alternative to Kantata. Its ability to streamline processes, promote team collaboration, and automate time-consuming, repetitive tasks increase project visibility and makes it easier for team members to stay on track with their workloads.

monday.com is perfect for small and medium-sized teams to manage their projects with finesse.

  • Provides integrations with many of the most popular productivity apps like Slack

  • Uses a colorful, visually appealing design to simplify the user experience

  • Translates important metrics into easy-to-absorb visual graphs

  • Offers a board feature that streamlines resource scheduling and tracking results

monday.com is more cost-effective than Kantata and offers five pricing plans to fit most budgets. The Individual plan is free forever (and doesn’t even require a credit card). The Basic plan is $8 per seat per month, the most popular plan is the Standard, costing $10 per seat per month, and the Pro plan is $16 per seat per month. The top-tier plan, Enterprise, is priced based on an agency’s specific needs.

Credit: Wrike

Wrike is one of the best Kantata alternatives because of its rich feature list and resource management solution. Add in its key performance indicator (KPI) monitoring and helpful, in-depth reporting capabilities, and this project management software is a clear winner, especially for small agencies and startups.

  • Free plan provides plenty of useful features to its users

  • Dashboard for smoother project workflow management

  • Time tracking to help agencies bill every minute possible (increasing profitability)

  • Mobile app, browser version, and desktop application for convenient usability 

Wrike’s Free plan focuses on centralized task management. The next plan up, Team, costs $9.80 per user per month. The most popular plan, Business, costs $24.80 per user per month. The top two plan levels, Enterprise and Pinnacle, offer customized pricing tailored to each client’s needs.

Credit: Asana

With its highly-regarded reputation based on a product that provides rich functionality, built-in communication tools, and a long list of integrations, Asana is another project management solution that gives Mavenlink a run for its money.

It can be a simple solution for small businesses or handle large, complex projects for large agencies without a hiccup. Easily create tasks, break them into sub-tasks and assign them, and monitor progress with this transparent, easy-to-use project management solution.

  • Collaboration features that make it easy for all team members to stay in the loop

  • Real-time reporting that lets managers search with advanced filters, save reports, and increase team management efficiency

  • Multiple views like the calendar, list, and Kanban board that allow users to customize how they view information

  • Highly skilled, friendly customer support 

  • Native mobile applications for Android and iOS devices

Asana offers four pricing options, including a Basic free forever plan. The paid plans are Premium, which costs $10.99 per user per month, Business, which costs $24.99 per user per month, and the top-tier plan, Asana Enterprise, a customized-pricing option for large operations.

If organizations put a high priority on being able to track their KPIs with their project management software, Scoro gives them that ability and then some. The project management features show managers the team’s capacity, allow them to adapt quickly to changes and delays, and compare budgets to real results.

Scoro functions well for agencies and professional service firms in client-facing scenarios.

  • Gantt charts to track progress, tasks, and dependencies

  • Pre-set project templates and task bundles that automate time-consuming tasks

  • Customized dashboards to track individual and team performance

  • Drag-and-drop task board for simple grouping, filtering, and task management

  • Pain-free onboarding process that flattens the learning curve

Scoro offers four pricing plans, including the Essential plan for $26 per user per month, the Standard plan for $37 per user per month, and the Pro plan for $65 per user per month. The top-level plan, Ultimate, is priced by quote only.

Credit: Jira

Mastering efficiency is one of the biggest expectations of project management software, which is why Jira made our shortlist of Kantata alternatives. The project management platform absolutely rocks team collaboration, task management, and time tracking. Its features fit well with both small teams and large projects.

  • Custom workflows to help managers avoid a one-size-fits-all issue when building a workable project

  • Multiple boards (like Scrum and Kanban boards) to increase productivity

  • Advanced permissions that give managers more control over who sees what and when

  • Powerful issue tracking that aids in proactive problem solving (to help avoid bottlenecks and costly downtime)

Four flexible pricing options work for just about any budget, including a Free plan for 10 users. Paid plans start at $7.75 per user per month for the Standard plan, $15.25 per user per month for the Premium plan, and the Enterprise plan is priced on a case-by-case basis.

An intuitive, cloud-based project management tool with robust analytics reporting is what you get with Parallax. Project managers who want to measure their success from a bird's-eye view or dig into the granular task details can have both with this software.

Parallax works best with small and medium-sized digital agencies and development firms.

  • Automation features that create more efficient workflows and increase productivity

  • Robust integration list, including top CRMs, timesheets, and project management platforms for more cohesive visibility

  • Real-time project performance insights that make it easy to pinpoint bottlenecks

Pricing is only available via quote.

Credit: Basecamp

Basecamp is simple and streamlined, with a short list of impactful project management features. Small teams and simple projects benefit from the straightforward simplicity of the platform when compared to Kantata’s complex, sometimes overwhelming bells and whistles.

  • To-do list makes it easy to create and share tasks with team members

  • Docs and files feature lets users upload and share information within the platform

  • Scheduling features let users keep up with milestones and deadlines at a glance

  • Campfire chat encourages collaboration through real-time chatting within each project

Basecamp has two simple pricing packages. The first, Basecamp, is $15 per user per month. The other, Basecamp Pro Unlimited, costs $299 per month for unlimited users.

(Looking for Basecamp alternatives? Check these out.)

Small teams that want a simple but powerful way to manage their work may find everything they need (and nothing they don’t) in ProofHub. Plan, organize, and execute projects of all sizes within the platform’s intuitive interface.

  • Detailed activity logs that guide managers in planning workload and understanding each team member’s capacity

  • Kanban boards and Gantt charts that forge excellent task management

  • Custom fields that provide flexibility in project workflows

  • Time tracking features that let managers add timesheets, set time estimates, and use timers

ProofHub’s pricing is structured around two flat-rate options. The first, Essential, is $45 per month. The second, Ultimate Control, costs $89 per month.

Project management software providers vary, and the right choice for your agency depends on your team, project, and specific goals. Don’t automatically lean toward Kantata because you’ve heard of it before. Do your research, look at some of the options on this list, and make a decision that will serve your agency well.

Are you looking for a cost-effective way to manage your project and make your workspace more productive? Teamwork is the project management platform created specifically for agencies. It has a broad range of features to help your team plan, organize, collaborate, review, and analyze your project, its tasks, budget, and profitability. 

Manage your work, streamline your workflow, and create higher-quality deliverables with Teamwork. Get started now.