10 Best CRM Project Management Tools to Boost Efficiency in 2024

Without the right tools, your sales-oriented businesses may struggle to successfully track projects and manage customer relationships. This can reduce both your efficiency and your customers’ satisfaction, affecting the overall performance of your company.

That’s why many project management platforms also include customer relationship management (CRM) tools. With these, you get a centralized platform for managing interactions with customers, tracking sales pipelines, and monitoring project progress.

In my experience, you’ll want features like effective collaboration tools that help your different teams work together. Customizable workflows can adapt to your specific needs, while reporting features will help you analyze performance and improve efficiency over time.

After putting dozens of popular tools to the test, I made a list of the 10 best CRM project management platforms that offer the best of both worlds. Of these, monday.com is my overall winner – it helps you organize tasks and projects, and it also has a native CRM solution to boost your customer interactions. Read on to learn more about monday.com and my other top options.

What We Look For in the Best CRM Project Management Software

In addition to being easy to use, effective CRM project management software should have a good ratio of tools that streamline processes for client and project handling. Here’s what I focused on during my research.

• Task management. All CRM project management software on my list offers robust task management features that allow you to assign, track, and prioritize tasks efficiently.
• Collaboration tools. I only included platforms that offer features like real-time messaging, file sharing, and collaborative document editing, making it easier for team members to stay on the same page (literally).
• Client management. The ability to track client information, communication history, and project involvement in one place is crucial to help you provide better service.
• Reporting tools. Good CRM project management software should provide customizable reports that give you insights into your projects and client interactions, helping you make informed decisions and identify areas for improvement.
• Automations. Automations streamline repetitive tasks, allowing you to focus on more important aspects of your projects. I picked out CRM project management software that offer customizable automation options that help you run your business more smoothly.

1. monday.com: Best Mix of Project Management & CRM Tools1

monday.com’s flexible nature allows you to get very specific about your work. It lets you visualize your projects on a board, where you can add different types of columns (e.g. project status or budget), create items (individual tasks), and add as many sub-items as you like for a high-level overview of your assignments.

What makes monday.com so versatile (and sales-oriented) is its CRM software add-on you can easily install to your account. It allows you to manage contacts, monitor deal stages, and generate quotes and invoices. Also, both monday.com’s project management and CRM interfaces are incredibly intuitive, so you’ll be able to design your workflows even if you’re a beginner.

monday.com has a free plan, but it’s limited in terms of features, as you can only add up to two users and create up to three boards. The Standard plan1 offers great value – you get automations, integrations, and unlimited free viewers. The CRM software requires a separate subscription, but you get plenty of functionality even on the entry plan, such as unlimited pipelines and templates for contact and deal management.

All monday.com project management and CRM software plans offer a 14-day free trial to let you test the features risk-free.

Features

• AI templates. monday.com’s AI-generated templates can create project briefs, categorize support tickets, and analyze customer feedback.
• Centralized email communication. monday.com provides a two-way integration with Outlook and Gmail, allowing you to manage emails from a single location.
• Workflow automations. monday.com has a robust set of automation tools to help you save time on repetitive tasks. You can use these to assign leads to reps automatically, set reminders, and notify teams of important actions like when a lead replies to an email.
• Activity management. You can log and track activities related to emails, calls, meetings, and notes, which gives you an insight into your team’s capacity and performance.

Read our full monday.com review for more details.

2. ClickUp: CRM Templates and Diverse Collaboration Tools1

ClickUp offers a great selection of over 50 CRM templates1 to help you manage the entire lifecycle of a customer. You’ll find templates for customer onboarding, email and drip campaigns, daily sales reports, feedback forms, and more.

ClickUp also provides effective collaboration tools to help your team stay aligned. Thanks to the built-in ClickUp Chat and ClickUp Docs apps, you can communicate, share documents, and collaborate in real time across departments. You can also link your documents to tasks and update project statuses directly from the editor.

ClickUp offers a generous free plan that limits the number of times you can use certain tools. That said, ClickUp’s paid plans are quite affordable while giving you access to more functionality, such as email and timesheets.

Features

• Built-in time tracking. ClickUp lets you track time for individual tasks on all plans. Paid plans also let you set time estimates, add notes to your time entries, and mark entries as billable.
• Advanced sorting and filtering. ClickUp supports notes, labels, and tags for more advanced sorting and filtering, providing more context and making it easier to manage time entries and task organization.
• Email in ClickUp. ClickUp has native email functionality, enabling you to collaborate on deals, send project updates, and onboard customers, all from within the ClickUp environment.
• ClickUp Brain. This affordable AI-powered add-on streamlines your processes by creating project outlines and subtasks, summarizing content, and brainstorming A/B tests, among other things.

Read our in-depth ClickUp review for more information.

3. Smartsheet: Efficient Reporting Tools for Complex CRM Projects1

Smartsheet’s dynamic grid view1 allows you to organize your projects in a spreadsheet format, which can help you digest large chunks of data quickly. You can add columns for dates, contact lists, and even attach files to individual rows. I’m not a fan of Excel-type interfaces, so I like that Smartsheet also lets you visualize your projects in Kanban, Gantt, Calendar, and Timeline views.

Smartsheet’s customizable dashboards make it easy to track progress by providing a high-level overview of key metrics and project statuses. You can drag and drop widgets for charts and images, or add rich text formatting to emphasize updates. Additionally, with Smartsheet’s roll-up reporting, you can summarize progress across projects to ensure better coordination among team members.

Smartsheet’s free plan comes with templates, forms, and automations, but you only get two sheets. The Pro plan offers plenty of functionality with unlimited sheets, forms, and reports, but if you want access to features like Timeline view and workload management, you’ll need a Business plan subscription.

Features

• Baselines. With this feature, you can define the start, finish, and variance of dates for individual tasks, allowing you to compare your planned and actual work schedules.
• Automations. Smartsheet’s set of automations includes sending reminders, assigning items, approving requests, and more. You can access automations on all plans.
• Customizable forms. Smartsheet’s built-in form builder simplifies data collection, making it easy to gather and manage project inputs from team members and stakeholders. You can personalize your forms’ design by adding your logo and images.
• Powerful mobile app. Smartsheet’s mobile app gives you access to pretty much every function found on the web version. You can directly import data from your phone’s calendar to your sheets, making it easy to stay productive on the go.

Learn more in our expert Smartsheet review.

4. HubSpot: Fully Featured CRM Software with Project Management Tools1

HubSpot excels in marketing and sales tools, and its CRM capabilities, such as contact management and sales pipeline tracking are highly intuitive and help keep all customer interactions in one place. I found its user-friendly interface particularly helpful for maintaining clear communication and organization.

Project management features in HubSpot include task management, project tracking, and calendar views. While it’s not as comprehensive as dedicated project management software, these tools might be enough for smaller projects or teams. Also, if you need more advanced project management functionality, you can easily integrate platforms like Asana or Trello.

HubSpot’s free plan includes basic project management features, such as the ability to assign tasks and attach tasks to a specific marketing or sales campaign. The Professional plan unlocks more functionality, but the price may go up significantly depending on your team’s size. Still, you can use HubSpot’s 14-day free trial to see if it’s right for you without committing.

Features

• AI tools. HubSpot’s AI-powered tools, like the AI Email Writer and predictive sales forecasts, help you create engaging content and target high-potential prospects effectively.
• HubSpot demos. After creating your HubSpot account, you get a series of step-by-step visual demos introducing you to your plan’s features to help you get started.
• Dashboard templates. HubSpot’s dashboard templates provide customizable reporting options to visualize your marketing, sales, and service data. You can create tailored dashboards for different teams, ensuring everyone has access to relevant metrics.
• Chatflows and Shared Inbox. These tools consolidate communications across multiple channels, enhancing team collaboration and customer support. Integrating live chat, Facebook Messenger, and email enables real-time engagement with customers and efficient management of inquiries.

Our in-depth HubSpot review has more on the platform’s features.

5. Teamwork: Easy CRM Project Management for Beginners1

As soon as you sign up for Teamwork, the platform guides you through creating your first project. It assists you in adding tasks, creating task lists, and choosing a task view, so you can quickly get projects off the ground, even if you lack experience.

In addition to project management, Teamwork’s suite of products includes Teamwork CRM, an app that helps you track your sales processes, customer interactions, and deal pipelines. Teamwork CRM requires a separate fee, but you can try it out for free with your Teamwork account.

Teamwork’s free plan offers unlimited task list templates and time tracking but limits you to two active projects. Upgrading to the budget-friendly Deliver plan allows you to manage up to 300 projects and unlocks features such as 20 project templates and project status reports.

Features

• Client features. Teamwork lets you create custom budgets for individual projects and track expenses to prevent overspending. Also, with the Clients view, you can see all projects linked to a specific client.
• Easy invoicing. Teamwork lets you convert tracked time and expenses into professional invoices. You can customize them with various currencies and billing methods, making it easier to manage finances across different projects.
• Free collaborator seats. If you’re working with additional people on a project, you can add free collaborator seats and set user permissions.
• Resource management. Teamwork’s resource management tools allow you to easily allocate both human and material resources. You can track capacity, reassign tasks, and avoid bottlenecks.

For a more in-depth look, check out our full Teamwork review.

6. Jira: CRM Project Management for Agile Teams1

Jira specializes in agile project management, which involves sprints, and set periods of time during which specific work has to be completed. In Jira, tasks are referred to as ‘issues,’ which can be categorized, prioritized, and assigned to team members. This detailed task management helps keep customer-related tasks organized and ensures timely follow-ups.

Despite Jira’s focus on agile teams, it has solid features for standard project management, too. For instance, Jira’s Project Management template helps you organize your projects and tasks, giving you five project views, dashboards, reports, and automation tools.

Jira’s free plan is ideal for small teams of up to 10 users with unlimited projects, tasks, and forms. For larger teams, the Standard plan offers more advanced features like user permissions and increased automation actions. Additionally, if your team exceeds 100 users, Jira provides a discounted per-user rate.

Features

• Rich app marketplace. Jira offers over 1,000 integrations, including CRM tools like Salesforce and Atlas CRM to ensure data flows smoothly between systems.
• Kanban and Scrum boards. Jira lets you switch between methodologies based on project requirements. Scrum boards involve sprints (more suitable for products), while Kanban (shows your tasks as cards) boards focus on tracking progress.
• User roles and permissions. If you’re starting a new project, you can set permissions for team members, allowing them to edit or comment. Additionally, you can assign roles like administrator or end-user, giving you greater control over project data access.
• Anonymous access. With this feature, users outside of your company can create issues without logging in. For example, your customers can use it to submit feature requests, which is particularly beneficial for software development.

See our expert Jira review for more features.

Other Notable CRM Project Management Software

If you’re still undecided about which CRM project management software has the right tools for you, I’ve put together a few more examples that might fit your needs.

7. Zoho Projects1

Zoho Projects’s strongest feature is its ability to sync with other Zoho apps, creating an interconnected work ecosystem. This includes Zoho CRM, which allows you to work on projects directly from your CRM dashboard. You can also add Zoho Books for budgeting and invoicing, Zoho Desk for issue tracking, and Zoho Mail for managing project communications directly from your inbox.

Zoho Projects has no shortage of features, but the somewhat unintuitive interface can make them difficult to use. So that’s my warning to you! The platform comes with a slight learning curve that might be frustrating if you want to get your projects up and running quickly. Once you’re set up though, it’s a powerful tool.

8. Striven1

Striven is a fully featured business management platform with a range of tools for managing employees, customers, and finances. It also offers a solid set of project management features, such as project templates, task tracking, and diverse collaboration tools.

Striven makes it easy to manage multiple projects simultaneously, allocate resources, and track project costs. That said, the abundance of functionality doesn’t come cheap, but you can use Striven’s 7-day free trial to test the platform without committing.

9. Bonsai1

Bonsai was built for freelancers and small agencies. It simplifies administrative tasks, such as invoicing, contracts, and client management, so you can focus on delivering your services. Bonsai can handle all your business management. Its ready-made contract templates are legally applicable in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia too.

I like how Bonsai lets you create folders to organize your projects and manage tasks with a checklist-style task queue. Though its project management tools are quite limited, Bonsai is worth considering if you want help with your admin tasks.

10. Wrike1

Wrike’s variety of prebuilt templates, automation workflows, and communication tools make it a good choice for handling customer-related projects. Plus, it’s easy to navigate, offering in-app tutorials to help you get started.

However, the minimum user requirement and many features that are charged extra make Wrike’s pricing hard to pin down, and the cost may be too high for small businesses.

Improve Overall Efficiency with The Best CRM Project Management Software

All the platforms on this list offer a combination of project management and CRM tools to help you enhance productivity and team collaboration. That said, the best CRM project management software for you will depend on your needs and preferences.

If you want a well-balanced set of project management and CRM features, monday.com is my top recommendation1. Its granular structure makes it easy to handle all kinds of projects, and you can integrate its proprietary CRM tool to manage leads, contacts, and deals.

On the other hand, if team collaboration is your top priority, ClickUp has what you need1. The built-in chat and document apps allow teams to stay connected at all times, plus you get a wide selection of CRM templates to help you set up projects quickly.

Or, if you want a simple solution to handle complex CRM projects, Smartsheet is a great option1. Its grid interface helps you manage large volumes of information quickly, and you get a fully functional mobile app to stay productive on the go.

FAQ

What is CRM in project management?

Customer relationship management (CRM) tools help project managers keep detailed records of customer communications, preferences, and feedback, ensuring that projects align with client needs and expectations. Platforms like monday.com offer an integrated CRM solution to simplify contact and deal management.

Do I need a CRM and project management software?

By integrating CRM into project management, you can improve client satisfaction, enhance communication, and streamline processes, which ultimately leads to more successful project outcomes. Using software such as ClickUp gives you a unified solution for managing projects and customers, with CRM templates and useful built-in tools such as time tracking and document creation.

How much does CRM project management software cost?

CRM project management platforms offer a range of pricing plans suitable for various needs. For instance, Smartsheet has a generous free plan for small teams and paid plans that offer great value for larger companies, such as a discounted rate for teams with over 100 users.

What are the best CRM project management tools?

It depends on your needs. For example, HubSpot offers plenty of functionality for sales and marketing teams, while Teamwork is a budget-friendly choice for smaller businesses. Check out our list of the best project management software in 2024 to review other feature-rich options.