On my search to find the best task management tools, I tried Redbooth, Trello, Basecamp, Wunderlist and finally DaPulse.
All of these tools make work (and home) life easier, but which one is really the best task management tool out there? *Clue: I may have saved the best to last
Below is a lowdown on the winners and losers.
Redbooth
I was a Redbooth user for the best part of 3 years. Overall, it’s a great tool for getting sh*t done.
What I like about Redbooth?
- Easy to set up and use
- Simple task management
- Very good for team collaboration and delegating tasks
- Subtasks which you can add to parent tasks
- Segmented workspaces for each project
- Dashboard overview ordered by due date
- Integrations with the likes of Slack
What I don’t like about Redbooth?
- Too many clicks to set up a task
- Not massively visual design
- My colleagues didn’t adopt it easily
I definitely recommend giving Redbooth a go, however. For many people looking for a quick and easy solution which is instantly easy to understand, this could be one of the best task management tools. It’s constantly evolving and will only get better.
Web Vibes score: 7/10
Watch the Redbooth video
You might also like: Five Web Tools to Increase Productivity
Trello
Many design agencies and some dev companies I know seem to prefer using Trello as their task, and project management tool.
What I like about Trello?
- The Kanban board layout using cards for tasks
- Being able to move cards from conception to done in multiple stages of a process
- The in-depth possibility to add notes, files and comments to each card
- Tagging colleagues in the cards when something needs to be actioned by them
What I don’t like about Trello?
- Lack of a streamline overview on specific tasks (it’s good for project management more than little tasks)
- The design doesn’t blow me away
If your ‘tasks’ require a lot of collaboration and take a long time to tick off, Trello could be a good solution for you due to the amount of depth each card goes into with regards to adding files, notes and comments.
Web Vibes score: 6.5/10
Watch the Trello video
Basecamp
When you’re starting to climb a big project, it’s always good to start at Basecamp.
What I like about Basecamp?
- Email notifications when someone adds a note to a project
- Easy file uploading
- Tagging colleagues to notify them of changes
- In-depth text formatting as you’d find in a Word doc or such like
What I don’t like about Basecamp?
It’s not really specific things I don’t like about Basecamp, but after using it lightly for around three months, I could see this tool was not for me. I personally wanted something with a more visual overview and didn’t find Basecamp was an absolute joy to use.
That said, out of all the task management tools listed here, Basecamp is perhaps one I have spent the least amount of time on. So give it a go and see for yourself, it might work well for you.
Web Vibes score: 6/10
Watch the Basecamp video
Wunderlist
Whilst Wunderlist can be used for businesses too, I prefer to use it as my personal task management tool, to “keep my life in sync”.
What I like about Wunderlist?
- Super easy to set up and use
- Simple interface and design
- Customisable themes
- List categorisation
- Sharing certain lists with other people
- Notifications when someone adds something, or ticks something off on shared lists
- The satisfying ping you hear when you tick off a task
- Email or print list functionality
What I don’t like about Wunderlist?
- I don’t think it has everything I want for managing large projects (it’s not extensive enough for project management)
- Limitations for larger organisations
I highly rate Wunderlist and I do use it continuously for my personal life.
Web Vibes score: 8/10
Watch the Wunderlist video
DaPulse
DaPulse is the outright winner! This software is hands down the best task management tool I’ve ever used.
What I LOVE about DaPulse?
- Excellent visual design
- Kanban board style project management
- Customisable columns with colour coding to instantly understand the status
- Adding notes, files and even Q&A sections to tasks
- Syncing due dates with Google calendar
- Ultimate team collaboration
- Sharing boards externally
What I don’t like about DaPulse
- No subtask functionality (at the moment)
- Not as easy as Redbooth to see your daily task overview in the actual tool (however calendar integration solves that in a way I find even more helpful than Redbooth provided)
If you want to keep your finger on the pulse of your projects and collaborations with colleagues or even clients, DaPulse is (in my humble opinion), the best project management tool on the web.
Web Vibes score: 9/10
Watch the DaPulse video
PS: there are other task management web tools available. Asana for example is also worth testing.