The best project management tools for freelancers

By Darko Bačić, founder of App Tube · 9 October 2026 · Facts checked 9 October 2026

Pick devBoard if you bill by the hour and want a board and a timer for each client. Pick Trello for a free, simple board, Todoist for your own to-do list, and Basecamp if clients want messages and files in one place. Pick Asana for timelines, Notion if your notes matter most, and ClickUp if you want it all in one tool. We make devBoard, so keep that in mind. It is on the list, and we say where the others are better.

We wrote this for someone like Ana. She is a freelancer with three clients: a bakery app, a hotel site and a clinic booking app. She needs a place per client, a timer, and a way to show each client how it is going.

At a glance

devBoard

Pick it if

You bill by the hour. Ana gives each client its own workspace, as in our workspace per client guide. She presses Start on the task she is doing, and the time lands on it. If she forgets, she logs the minutes by hand, and they count for today. More on time tracking.

Each client is a guest in their workspace. A guest can see the workspace but cannot change anything or comment. At the end of the week, Ana asks her AI assistant for a timesheet per workspace. Her errands sit in a private to-do list with reminders, which follows her across workspaces.

The catch

The client needs the app to look, since there is no web version. My Work shows one workspace at a time. devBoard does not make invoices. There is no importer, no docs or chat, and no automations. The Windows and Linux apps are not out yet.

Trello

Pick it if

You want one simple board per client. The free plan lets clients join your Workspace, up to its limit. Butler rules run on every plan.

The catch

There is no built-in time tracking. Add-ons such as Everhour, Harvest or Toggl fill the gap. A card holds a checklist, but not subtasks, the small steps inside a task. More in devBoard vs Trello.

Todoist

Pick it if

You want your own to-do list, fast. Tasks can repeat, and there is a board layout. It runs on Mac, Windows, Linux, phones and even watches.

The catch

There is no time tracking. A task's duration is a plan, not a record. Todoist's help says its Toggl Track link works in the web app only. The free plan holds just a few projects. See Todoist alternatives.

Basecamp

Pick it if

You want clients in the loop. A project has a message board, to-dos, docs and files, and a group chat called Campfire. You pay per account, not per person, so inviting a client's team adds no fee per head.

The catch

Time tracking is only on Pro and Unlimited, not on the Freelancer plan. You type the hours in, and we found no stopwatch. A design review from September 2026 calls the onboarding long and finds two menus that overlap. See Basecamp alternatives.

Asana

Pick it if

Your client wants a plan they can read, like a timeline or a Gantt chart. Those come with Starter. The free plan has list, board and calendar views.

The catch

The free plan stops at two users. Built-in time tracking starts on Advanced, and timesheets are a paid add-on. Capterra reviewers say the phone app can be slow. More in devBoard vs Asana.

Notion

Pick it if

Your notes matter most. You want docs, a wiki for each client and simple task lists in one place. A task list can show as a board, a table, a calendar or a timeline.

The catch

There is no timer. A browser add-on, such as Harvest's, adds one. You build your own task setup. The free plan limits blocks once a second member joins. More in devBoard vs Notion.

ClickUp

Pick it if

You want it all in one tool: tasks, docs, chat and time tracking. Time can be marked billable, with hourly rates. Timesheets come on the higher plans. It runs in the browser, on Mac, Windows and Linux, and on phones.

The catch

There is a lot to set up. One freelancer wrote that she spent more time keeping her workspace up than working, and moved to Notion. On the free plan, time tracking is a trial, and guests can edit everything. More in devBoard vs ClickUp.

How we chose

We make devBoard, so we put it first. That is a bias. We looked for Ana's three needs: a place per client, time tracking and a way to show progress. We read each pricing page on 9 October 2026. We left out pure time trackers like Harvest and Toggl, since they are not boards. Our post on time tracking for developers covers those. There are more fair lists on our blog.