Just like a painter needs brushes or a musician needs her instrument, creative teams need the right tools to turn their ideas into reality.
But it can be hard to find the perfect fit. Creative project management software has to tick a lot of different boxes: speeding up communication, enabling collaboration, tracking roles and deadlines, and more.
And while the right app can streamline your workflow and help the team achieve more than ever, the wrong choice will just slow you down.
To get you started, we’ll explore the main features to look for in project management software — plus the top eight options available right now.
What we'll cover
Table of contents
Features to look for in project management software for creative agencies
Each creative agency and creative team is unique, so you'll have your own shopping list for project management software. But there are some key features that apply to pretty much every team.
The best creative management software has collaboration tools that help teams communicate more efficiently. It comes equipped to manage tasks, deadlines, and resources. Crucially, it can also work with creative briefs and client approvals — the alpha and omega of creative projects. And it includes integrations with other essential software and apps.
Let's take a closer look at each of those features.
Task and workflow management
One of the things that makes creative projects unique is how they iterate. Ideas change and develop over the course of the project, and thousands of tiny changes from different team members add up to a complete transformation.
The best project management software can keep up with this dynamic process through customizable workflows and flexible project tracking.
Around 20% of marketing agencies say that time constraints are the biggest challenge they face, so don’t forget about tools to handle project planning, time tracking, and due dates. While some pressure can stimulate your creativity, too many time crunches and rush jobs will have the opposite effect.
Collaboration capabilities
Your creative team's collaboration is its greatest strength. While each individual on the team might be talented, when they work together, they combine into an even more powerful force.
That's why team collaboration is a key functionality for any software that you use. You need tools to brainstorm together, share real-time feedback, and collect contributions from team members, clients, and other stakeholders.
Resource management
Another worry that's high on the list for creative agencies is managing workloads and resources. Most creative teams are running multiple projects at once. Each team member has different but intersecting responsibilities, and somehow, there are never quite enough resources to go around.
So look for project management systems that have tools for both resource planning and resource allocation. Figuring out how to balance your team and resources in advance can be tricky, but you'll reap the rewards of less stress and increased team productivity.
Client review and approval
Client approval can make or break a creative project. If you've kept clients in the loop from the start, with clearly defined roles and opportunities for feedback, then chances are you'll sail through reviews and approval.
But if clients can't give feedback effectively, it leads to mismatched expectations and wasted time and effort. Slow processes, unclear roles, and poor communication within a creative team can bring the approval process to a total halt.
The best creative approval software makes it easy for clients to view and comment on work — with clear stages, notifications, and progress updates.
Creative briefs and project templates
Creative teams do their best work when they have a clear brief and a project plan to follow. Project management software is especially useful here to standardize and automate workflows.
For example, you can set up pre-built brief templates for client projects. Once the client has filled in the template, you have a detailed, focused brief that's ready to go. Next, you can use workflow automation to generate project tasks and project timelines from the brief — freeing up your team to focus on the actual execution.
Integrations with creative tools
Your creative team will have its own preferred tech and specific needs for integrations. But whatever software you're using, those integrations should be intuitive and seamless.
When all your tools work together effortlessly, you can record project updates, collect feedback, and share files for review with minimal effort. You'll save time and avoid endlessly converting file formats and chasing down emails.
The 8 top project management software for creative agencies
With all those features in mind, here are the top eight project management tools for creative agencies — along with their product features, strengths, and weaknesses.
monday.com
monday.com bills itself as “the work management tool that can do anything,” from IT support to marketing and creative projects. For creative teams, it includes some handy tools for digital asset management and juggling multiple clients.
A lot of people like monday.com because of its clear, colorful interface. It makes task management simple and lets you see project status at a glance, and you can even set up automations for regular workflows.
However, some teams say that monday.com lacks specific functionalities that they need for creative work. Plus, some features are only available in the desktop app, not on mobile — which can be tricky for teams that work remotely or present to clients on the go.
Asana
Asana is another big name in project management that's often used by large corporations. Advanced features like separate portfolios, goal tracking, and reporting on project progress can help you juggle multiple clients at once. The platform also offers over 300 integrations and an AI helper.
The only thing that's missing? Asana doesn't really have specialized tools for creative agencies. It's excellent for managing workflows, but it isn't tailor-made for the creative process. And its pricing might be out of reach for smaller agencies on a budget.
ClickUp
ClickUp calls itself "the everything app": a single project management platform for every aspect of your business, including creative projects. Its tools for resource management and workflow automations are ideal for creative agencies.
Bear in mind that ClickUp does have a learning curve. The dashboard can be frustratingly complex at first, and some users report slow load times for updates and notifications. Once you've mastered it, though, ClickUp's visual reporting can help you track progress at a glance.
Teamwork.com
Teamwork.com is a project management solution with one big selling point: it works on any device. You can follow tasks and track time across iOS, Android, and desktop. Many other project management tools have limited functionality on mobile, so if your creative agency often works on the go, this feature can make all the difference.
It also offers the resource management, automation, and integrations that you'd expect from a platform for creative agencies. However, some users say it lacks the reporting features they need for a large client base.
Jira
Jira is a project management tool that's beloved by agile tech teams. But it can work for marketing teams and creative agencies too.
One popular feature of Jira is that you can link every task to an overarching goal so everyone on the team can see the importance and urgency of their work. The platform is also highly flexible — you can set up custom workflows and view projects as lists, Kanban boards, by overdue tasks, and more.
However, Jira is best known for its ability to identify problems and bottlenecks, then optimize around them. That can be valuable for some teams, but others will prefer a more well-rounded agency project management software.
Basecamp
Basecamp has the simplest interface of all the project management software we’ve reviewed. Each project gets a single page that houses all the tasks, file sharing, and messaging related to the project. It even has tools to handle onboarding and invoicing within the workflow.
This kind of extreme simplicity is really popular with some creative teams. However, because there's less built-in structure, you'll have to take the initiative to build your own processes in the app. And, although Basecamp has plenty of integrations, it offers less customization than many other platforms.
Productive
Productive is a project management tool that's specifically pitched for agencies. It handles everything from resource planning to timesheets, billing, reporting, collaboration, and CRM integrations.
Its project management tools are highly rated by users. In addition to setting up tasks and project dates, you can also mark key milestones within projects that get extra attention. And the platform is still adding new features, such as Gantt charts.
Trello
Trello is one of the best-known project management apps. It uses a mix of boards, lists, and cards to track project elements from planning to execution.
For creative teams, it has some valuable project templates, such as design sprints and project research. The platform also has a long list of integrations and automations on offer.
A lot of people like Trello because you can review tasks and progress at a glance. However, the drag-and-drop card system for tracking tasks can be fiddly or buggy at times.
Why creative agencies must integrate collaborative proofing + project management software
For many of the tools listed above, integrations are a key selling point. That's because project management tools only save time if they work effectively with your other tech.
One of the most important integrations to get right is your proofing and approval software. Creative review and approval is a bottleneck for most creative teams. With so many stakeholders, comments, and file versions to manage, it's easy for work to get bogged down.
But an effective project management solution, combined with powerful proofing software like Ziflow, means that you can speed up the approval process like never before.
Accelerated review and approval processes
Review and approval cycles are often slow simply because they're chaotic. Are you sharing feedback over email, chat, or directly on files? Is that the latest file version or an earlier draft? Who's got the latest draft? Whose approval do we even need?
Ziflow’s proofing software centralizes that entire process. There's one file version — the version in the cloud — which everyone can view, edit, and comment on in real time. And with a project management integration, you can keep track of the review process and identify any sticking points.
Increasing collaboration and communication
When you can communicate faster, you can collaborate better. Ziflow lets you make comments in real time, discuss changes, assign tasks, and more — all right there in the proofing software.
When you link it up with your project management tool, everyone can see the review process play out, and your whole team can stay up to date on project changes.
Enhanced client involvement
Another way to streamline approvals is to reduce the risk that clients won't be happy with the work. If you involve clients and stakeholders from the start and keep them engaged in the process, the end result will be better aligned with their expectations.
That’s why Ziflow’s collaborative proofing software lets you assign different roles. For example, an external client could watch your brainstorming process in action — but only comment when it becomes useful for the team. You can also use project management tools to track when and how clients should get involved.
Delivering consistent results to clients
Consistency is essential to great creative work. Flashes of inspiration aren't enough — you need an efficient team that works to the same standard across every project.
Task management software can help you standardize workflows and allocate resources. But you can make even more improvements by integrating collaborative proofing software to standardize the review process.
Elevate your agency’s creative workflow with Ziflow
There's a wealth of project management software for creative agencies out there. While every creative team has unique needs, most platforms can support you with task management, resource planning, collaboration, automations, integrations, and review and approval processes.
Integrations are especially important for the review stage, where projects can get lost in a fog of multiple file versions, chaotic feedback, and missed deadlines. When you match up task management with powerful proofing software, you can handle feedback and edits effortlessly.
Ziflow is the only collaborative proofing software that's designed for enterprise-level creative agencies. It can integrate with whatever project management tool you choose, from Asana to Trello — plus all the other creative apps you use.
It’s the ideal solution for creative teams to turn their approval processes from slow and tedious to streamlined and efficient.
