The best replacement for an all-in-one project workspace depends on which part your team uses daily: tasks, docs, chat or automation. Teams that rely on chat should look at chat-led tools, teams that want control should look at open-source or self-hosted ones, and teams billing clients should look at all-in-one platforms.
Four things live inside Nifty: tasks, docs, chat and automation, all in one workspace. That's handy until you notice your team only leans on one or two of them, or wants more control over where its data lives. Here are nine alternatives, in no particular order, grouped by approach.
Advice before you switch: what do you use every day?
Before you switch, write down which of those four you open every day, and which you rarely touch. Most teams lean on one or two, and that answer points straight at the right group below.
If chat is the glue that holds your team together, look at tools that keep conversation and projects in one place. If you'd rather own your data or run the software on your own servers, the open-source tools are where to start. If you need clients, time and invoices tied to the work, an all-in-one platform will save you a second app.
Don't swap one bundle for another just because it's a bundle. If you only ever used tasks and docs, a focused project tool and the chat app you already have may serve you better than anything that tries to do it all.
For more options, see my guide to project management software and my list of Zoho Projects alternatives.
Nine project tools at a glance
| Tool | Approach | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Avaza | Projects, time and invoices | Projects, scheduling, time and invoicing together |
| Flowlu | Projects plus CRM | Linking client deals to project delivery |
| Freedcamp | Free-start project management | Project management and collaboration in one place |
| Leantime | Open-source project management | Open-source planning built with neurodivergence in mind |
| OpenProject | Open-source project management | Classic, agile or hybrid work with Gantt charts |
| Plane | AI-native project management | Projects, wiki and AI on cloud or self-hosted |
| Rock | Team chat plus projects | Chat and projects for agencies and remote teams |
| Taiga | Open-source agile project management | Self-hosted agile project management |
| Zenkit | Multi-project management | Running several projects with mixed methods |
Open source, chat-led or all-in-one
Open source and self-hosted. Plane, Leantime, OpenProject and Taiga are built around projects and offer open-source or self-hosted routes, according to their own sites. The first adds a wiki and AI and supports air-gapped setups. The second is open source and designed for people who aren't project managers, with ADHD and neurodivergence in mind. The third handles classic, agile or hybrid work with Gantt charts and boards. The fourth is an agile tool you can host yourself.
Chat plus projects. Rock keeps team chat and project management in one workspace, built for agencies and remote teams who work with clients. It's the closest to the chat side of the workspace you're leaving.
All-in-one work platforms. Flowlu connects project management with CRM, from first call to final invoice. Avaza covers projects, chat, resource scheduling, time tracking, expenses and invoicing for professional service teams. Freedcamp gathers project management and collaboration tools in one place and leads with its free plan. Zenkit is built for running many projects at once, with agile, traditional or mixed methods.
Self-hosting brings its own work. You'll be the one handling updates, backups and security, so only choose that route if someone on your team is happy to own it.
The nine alternatives
Alphabetical, one line on each.
Avaza
Best for: Professional service teams wanting projects, chat, resource scheduling, time tracking, expenses and invoicing in what the vendor calls unified work management.
Flowlu
Best for: Agencies and service firms that want project management and CRM working together, from the first call to the final invoice.
Freedcamp
Best for: Small teams wanting project management and collaboration tools in one place, with the vendor claiming one of the strongest free plans out there.
Leantime
Best for: People who don't think of themselves as project managers; the vendor says it was built with ADHD and neurodivergence in mind.
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OpenProject
Best for: Teams running classic, agile or hybrid projects with Gantt charts and boards, who want open source and, in the vendor's words, data ownership.
Plane
Best for: Teams that want projects, a wiki and AI for people and agents, on cloud, self-hosted or air-gapped setups.
Rock
Best for: Agencies and remote teams that want chat and project management in one workspace, with clients brought in too, as the vendor describes it.
Taiga
Best for: Agile teams wanting a free and open-source tool they can host themselves.
Zenkit
Best for: Managers juggling several projects with agile, traditional or mixed methods, who want workflows they can change without training anyone.
Moving one live project, documents and all
- Pick a project that's active now, with real deadlines and at least one shared document.
- Move its tasks, files and documents into each trial, not just the task list.
- Recreate one automation you rely on, such as a status change that notifies someone.
- Ask one colleague and, if you work with clients, one client to use it for a week.
- Note what you had to rebuild by hand. That's your real switching effort.
Docs are where most switches go wrong, because tasks export neatly and documents often don't. Check that early.
Do you make a project management tool? Tool makers can ask to be considered for a featured place on this list.
Want your tool on this list? Featured spots and reviews here are paid partnerships. Here's how to partner with me.
Frequently asked questions
Is open-source project management software free?
The software can often be downloaded and self-hosted without a licence fee, but you'll need to run and maintain the server. Many open-source tools also offer hosted plans, so check each vendor's own site.
What does self-hosted mean?
It means you run the software on your own server or cloud account instead of the vendor's. You get more control over data, and more responsibility for updates, backups and security.
Do I need chat inside my project tool?
Not if your team already lives in a separate chat app and links tasks from it. Built-in chat helps when conversations about work keep getting lost between tools.
Can I import projects from my current tool?
Many tools import tasks from a spreadsheet or from popular project apps. Documents, comments and automations rarely move cleanly, so plan to rebuild those.
What's an air-gapped setup?
It's a deployment on a network with no connection to the internet, used where data must stay fully isolated. Only some self-hosted tools support it.
