Hive isn't for everybody. If you've given it a try but it doesn't suit your business, you might want to try one of these stellar Hive alternatives.
Finding the right software to help you manage projects as efficiently as possible can be a challenge.
When it entered the market in 2015, Hive aimed to become one of the leading project management tools for small to large hybrid teams, priding itself on being designed with its users in mind. It has an interface packed with features that support users in collaborating and completing projects without ever leaving the platform.
However, Hive isn't the right project management tool for every team, whether because of the team's size, collaboration needs, budget, or industry. If you've given Hive a go and it's not working out, the prospect of searching for other tools might be giving you a headache.
If that sounds like you, you're in the right place. In this article, we'll review the seven best project management tool alternatives to Hive, highlighting their features and pricing so it's easy for you to choose the best tools for your company's needs.
While some project managers find Hive to be the perfect fit for their needs, others may want to consider alternatives based on feature requirements, their team's size, or their budget.
For starters, if your team involves more than two people, you'll need to move to the paid version of Hive. Not only that, but the pricing quickly gets expensive when you consider that many of the important features you might need – such as analytics, timesheets, and resource management – are considered add-ons and come at an additional premium.
Another common complaint about Hive is its limited functionality. From unreliable email integration, to a lack of version history, and some complex task management features that are tricky to navigate, there are a number of former Hive users who've made the change to something else.
If you're looking for new project management tools, it's useful to start with some screening questions to see whether the candidate fits your needs. Here are some ideas to start you off.
Does it have features that will enable you to manage the tasks of a hybrid workplace? Will it allow your team to collaborate when working on a project? Can you integrate external tools and the best software you're using to expand the performance of the platform?
Is it easy to implement and navigate? Will it make everyone's experience at work better?
Does the software quality ensure maximum and consistent performance with a low probability of failure and errors?
Do they prioritize customer service in all aspects of using the platform? Can you easily reach them for support? Do they look for ways to improve their services?
Based on your current and future team size, and the features you'd need to access, can you afford it?
Whether you're just exploring your options or thinking of replacing Hive, here are the top alternatives available on the market today:
Runn is a real-time resource scheduling software that allows you to efficiently allocate your workforce, budget, and time to complete your projects.
Its comprehensive resource management features give you absolute clarity over the availability of your team members, and what their workload is looking like in the weeks and months ahead. Using skills and team tags, you can easily find the right person to assign to a project, no matter how big your resource pool.
If you are used to doing (and struggling with) capacity planning in Excel, Runn is your ticket out of there. You can forecast your team's capacity into the future and conduct what/if scenario planning using Runn's tentative projects feature. Want to know exactly when you will be able to take on new projects, whether there's a skills gap in your team, or whether it makes financial sense to start hiring? Runn can answer those questions.
With straightforward drag-and-drop elements, clear visual cues, and intuitive reporting dashboards, it's no wonder that Runn users say that it's an easy-to-use tool that saves them heaps of time.
Runn is free for small teams, but even the paid version will still cost you less than Hive. There's no extra charge for additional features either, making it a cost-effective solution to your project management needs.
Basecamp aims to simplify project management by integrating important collaboration features, so everyone is on the same page.
Basecamp's dashboard gives project managers a general overview of everything the team is working on, such as projects, recently visited chat groups or teams, and a checklist of assignments which can be prioritized or reprioritized based on urgency.
Its "All-Access" feature allows everyone who works together on a project to participate in discussions and share files, documents, and to-do lists, so all is updated with any changes. Another feature called "Card Table" is their version of Kanban boards which alerts a team member involved in a task to streamline communication and improve your team's focus.
Basecamp also has resource management features, with individual and team activity reports, work schedules, upcoming assignments, and progress charts for simple and complex projects.
Rodeo gives event planners a venue to plan, execute, monitor progress, take care of funds, and tackle the never-ending challenges of organizing events.
It enables users to break the event budget into phases based on the specific milestones, and bill contractors only on actual expenses incurred. The planner can be used to query data and sort results based on events, member skillset, and availability, allowing users to immediately respond to changes and based on a variety of data sources and reports. Rodeo adopts the straightforward drag-and-drop method when making changes to the schedule, activities, tasks, stages, and resources.
Rodeo's time tracker, planning, budgeting, and invoicing capabilities also work for the project management of creative agencies, consulting firms, video production studios, architecture firms, and freelancers.
Pricing:
Kanbanize is an Agile project management software that uses Kanban to create and manage team workflows efficiently.
Its best features include customizable Kanban boards, progress trackers for individual tasks, and teamwork projects with cross-functional team collaborations, data-based forecasts, team messaging, and task notes. These portfolio management capabilities promote transparency across the organization, so every person, task, and corresponding result or output is accounted for.
Kanbanize also offers workspaces that support an agile work environment to facilitate communication, where everyone can continuously share ideas, learn, improve, and adapt to changes when working on a project.
Pricing:
Ravetree is a project management software with features to help managers, teams, and executives boost their productivity.
Managers can use the available project templates and set up customizable auto approvals to speed up repetitive processes and improve accountability within the organization. Teams can simplify and organize notifications, automate monotonous tasks, assign tasks, and track projects. Executives have a capacity planning tool that they can use to view available resources alongside projected costs and actual return. The platform provides good documentation and monitoring capacity, especially when handling in-house and outsourced services.
Ravetree also features a built-in CRM system, so project managers can take control of the client base and support better client engagement. It also has a client portal to help the company build a better relationship with its clients by giving them access to important information such as project updates, invoices, and timelines.
Pricing:
Accelo is a cloud-based client work and project management platform for service-based teams and businesses. It was initially built for a digital marketing agency as an all-in-one solution, allowing users to automate company workflows, insights, and reports.
Accelo's centralized sales and billing system, scheduling management, progress report, budget and time tracking, and customer support automation bring a lot of useful agency tools into one platform. Accelo also uses Gantt charts to give a view of the team's overall performance, which is especially useful for large companies.
These solutions are also used and implemented by professional services by organizations across several industries looking for an all-in-one platform to manage their projects and simplify their operations.
Pricing:
Smartsheet, a work management platform, supports companies plan projects, manage teams, use Gantt charts to track task dependencies, measure progress, automate repetitive tasks, accumulate data, and generate reports and forecasts.
Smartsheet is ideal if for teams spread across multiple office suites and tech stacks. Its large library of integrations allows users to integrate with popular productivity suites and messaging apps. It is designed for small businesses and organizations in multiple industries whose teams are handling small or large-scale projects that require cross-departmental collaboration.
If you're looking at the possibility of using one of these top Hive alternatives for your agency but aren't sure if it's the right one, the great news is they all offer a free trial for you to explore their features. Runn also provides a free version for small teams beyond the free trial period, so that you can continue to benefit from its premium resource management functions in the long term.
