Your people are the heart of your business — without them, you don’t have a team! That’s why it’s so important to manage them well.
Whether you’re tracking their hours and time off, keeping them happy and organized, paying them correctly, or managing labor costs, you need to find a powerful and easy-to-use team management app to handle everything for you. Trying to juggle it manually is a recipe for chaos.
But comparing the apps available on the market, figuring out how they differ, and deciding whether they’re right for your business can be overwhelming and time-consuming. Especially when you’ve got, well, a business to run! That’s why we’ve made the comparison for you.
In this post, we cover:
- The key features to look for when considering team management apps
- How they compare when it comes to their main features and tools
- Our top pick out of the best six team management apps out there
We’ve also looked at the platforms’ key features, what they’re best for, and how they compare in terms of pricing, so you can make the best decision for your business.
Key features to look for in team management apps
- A wide range of staff management tools that interconnect — The best team management apps offer a variety of features, including those for team communication, time tracking, payroll, scheduling, employee happiness, and HR and compliance.
- A fully functional mobile app — Most team members are mobile nowadays, and you don’t want to rely on staff being in one place to let them know what’s happening. Check your platform of choice has a functional mobile app so you can manage everything on the go.
- Reminders and alerts — Keeping teams on track requires both regular and automated communications. Check your chosen app lets you set up reminders and alerts, both for employees and managers, so no one will ever miss a beat.
- Free or affordable plans — Price is always an important factor when considering a software tool. Many team management apps (like Homebase) have free plans or offer core tools at a low price. Keep this in mind when doing your research.
- Advanced messaging — Communication is central to a well-organized team. Check your chosen tool lets you chat with team members and send messages and notes to individuals, custom groups (such as everyone working that day), and your whole roster.
- Performance tracking — The best team management tools have the ability to track employee performance, as well as typical hourly team metrics like on-time arrivals and no-shows.
- A wide range of integrations — Team management apps are even more powerful when they integrate with your existing tools for extra functionality.
Comparison chart: Top 6 team management apps in 2023
| Software | Scheduling | Time tracking | Payroll | Alerts and team communication | HR and compliance | Staff perks and happiness | Mobile app | Free plan or trial? | Pricing |
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✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Plans range from free to $99.95 per location per month (plus 20% savings when you commit annually!) Homebase payroll costs $39 per month base fee plus $6 per month per employee. |
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✓ | ✓ | X | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ — app only | ✓ | Free for up to ten users. From $29 to $99 per month for 30 users. |
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✓ | ✓ — only the Pro plan | X | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
From $0 for two members, and $8 to $16 per user per month. Enterprise pricing on request. |
 |
X | X | X | ✓ | X | X | ✓ | ✓ |
Free for individuals or a smaller team. From $5 to $17.50 per user per month. |
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✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | X | From $1.25 to $4.50 per user per month. |
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✓ | ✓ | X | X | X | X | ✓ | ✓ | Free. |
Our top pick for team management apps in 2023 (+ the rest compared)
We may be a little biased, but we believe we’ve done everything to make Homebase the leading choice when it comes to team management. Not only do we have scheduling and communication features, but we also offer must-have tools like payroll and HR that work together seamlessly. We also offer many features completely free, so you’ll have everything you need to manage staff easily while sticking to your budget.
However, as a responsible business owner, you want to make sure you’ve done your due diligence and checked what other options are out there to be sure you’re making the best choice.
Consider these options:
- Homebase: Best all-in-one solution
- Connecteam: Best for on-the-go teams
- Monday.com: Best for project collaboration
- Trello: Best for visual task management
- Zoho: Best for larger teams
- Clockify: Best for companies on a budget
A breakdown of the 6 best team management apps
1. Best all-in-one solution: Homebase
Homebase is an all-in-one small business platform that puts team management at the heart of its wider suite of tools. Alongside staff scheduling and time tracking, it offers powerful onboarding features for seamless, digital hiring processes, plus advanced tools for team communication, HR and compliance, payroll processing, and employee happiness — all within the same, easy-to-use platform.
Top features
- Team organization, including secure document and employee data storage and certification alerts.
- Automated welcome packets for new hires.
- PTO and sick leave management, which makes it easy to oversee staff availability and working hours.
- Labor law and HR law compliance management.
- HR experts on call to help you review policies and get answers to specific questions.
- Employee performance analytics, like late arrivals and no-shows
- Team communication for groups and individuals
- Shoutouts, shift trading, and engagement tools to keep staff happy, independent, and appreciated.
- Manager logbook for better leadership practices, sales targets, and fast problem-solving.
- Time tracking and scheduling tools for easy shift coordination and at-a-glance hour management.
- Payroll processing with integrated timesheets for accurate pay, bonuses, and PTO calculations.
Pros and cons
Homebase users “like how easy it is” to schedule and shout out team members, enjoy that “communication between employees is really convenient,” and “love that everything is in one place.” However, if you’re looking for a platform that only offers simple HR or task management, our platform may offer more tools than you need.
Pricing
- Basic. Free for one business location and up to 20 employees. Includes basic scheduling, time tracking, and employee management tools.
- Essentials. $24.95 per month per location. Everything in Free, plus advanced scheduling and time tracking tools, as well as team communication.
- Plus. $59.95 per month per location. Everything in Essentials, plus hiring, personal time off (PTO) controls, and departments and permissions.
- All-in-one. $99.95 per month per location. Everything in Plus, as well as new hire onboarding, labor cost management, and HR and compliance.
Homebase payroll is available as a separate add-on for a $39/month base fee, plus $6/month per active employee. You can also save 20% on all paid plans when you opt for annual billing.
2. Connecteam: Best for on-the-go teams
Connecteam is a mobile app-based platform designed to make managing a “non-desk workforce” simple and streamlined. Its Operations hub lets you oversee everything from time tracking to task management and staff scheduling. In addition, its HR & Skills hub lets you onboard people easily, manage documents, and coordinate time off, as well as boost staff happiness, skills, and engagement.
Top features
- Employee document management, with easy onboarding and mobile-friendly uploading.
- Digital document and data storage for secure and up-to-date record-keeping.
- Simple onboarding for smoother hiring and engaged staff.
- Task management for automated processes, job assignments, and digital checklists.
- Team reminders and alerts for daily workflow management and at-a-glance status updates.
- Team communication with task-specific chats, comments, and notifications.
Pros and cons
Connecteam users like the “intuitiveness” and “great functionality” that “make life easier.”
However, Connecteam only has a smartphone app, so the platform won’t be the best choice if you want to manage your team with a laptop or desktop computer. Plus, you may need to sign up for both the Operations and HR hubs to access the full suite of team management tools. You might even need the Communications hub for advanced team messaging.
Pricing
These are the paid plans for the Operations hub, which includes scheduling, time tracking, and task management features:
- Small Business: Free for up to 10 users.
- Basic: $29 per month for up to 30 users. Extra users are $0.50 per month.
- Advanced: $49 per month for 30 users. Extra users are $1.50 per month. Everything in Basic, plus extra features like time tracking tasks.
- Expert: $99 per month for 30 users. Extra users are $3 per month. Everything in Advanced, plus GPS features and automation.
Connecteam also has other “hub” packages: Communications and HR & Skills. Signing up to the Operations hub offers what it calls “Limited Plan access” to other features in the other hubs, including chat, documents, and time off.
3. Monday.com: Best for project collaboration
Monday.com is designed to help teams work on projects and tasks as seamlessly as possible. Its features are workflow-based and help to ensure that everyone is focused on a common goal and working at the right capacity. It simplifies team communication and makes sharing processes easy. It also has HR features for team member development, hiring, and employee engagement.
Top features
- Applicant tracker for easy hiring and onboarding.
- Attendance tracker to manage hours, sick days, and PTO on a visual, color-coded calendar.
- Employee well-being tool to retain staff and create yearly plans for team happiness.
- Project management features to let you manage and collaborate on tasks and oversee progress from a single place.
- Workload management tools to manage team capacity effectively.
- Operations processes to ensure workflows are streamlined and supply chains are seamless.
- Client projects to balance team capacity on collaborative projects.
- Goals and OKRs to define company-wide goals and individual team objectives.
Pros and cons
Users like how “customizable” the platform is and how it “streamlines multiple processes.”
However, Monday.com is less a management tool for individual team members and more a tool that’s designed to support staff with their workload. So, it may not be the best option if you need more of an HR, time tracking, or people management-centric platform.
Pricing
- Individual: Free for up to two team members. Up to three boards, 200+ templates, mobile app.
- Basic: From $8 per team member per month. Everything in Individual, plus unlimited boards and documents.
- Standard: From $10 per team member per month. Everything in Basic, plus more storage, 250 integrations per month, and 250 automations per month.
- Pro: From $16 per team member per month. Everything in Standard, plus 25,000 automations and integrations per month, private boards, and time tracking.
- Enterprise: Price on request. Everything in Pro, plus 250,000 automations and integrations per month, advanced reporting, 1000 GB storage, premium support, and tailored onboarding.
Monday.com also offers a free trial.
4. Trello: Best for visual task management
Trello is a visual team and task planner that uses boards, lists, and task cards to keep track of projects and ensure everyone is (literally) on the same page. It works especially well for project management and troubleshooting, with automations for tasks like adding team members and displaying to-dos as boards, timelines, or in a calendar view. It’s also designed to make hiring and onboarding easier and keep everyone organized for a happier and more engaged workforce.
Top features
- Boards to group all tasks and to-dos together in one place, visible at a glance.
- Lists to show the stages of a task and ensure everyone can see the status easily.
- Cards to display tasks and ideas, which are moved along lists within boards to keep track of everything visually.
- Templates that make creating useful boards easier and mean you never have to start from scratch.
- Automations to keep workflows moving, such as tagging the next owner or setting deadlines.
Pros and cons
Users say they appreciate Trello’s “flexibility” and “simple interface,” plus how it helps “team member collaboration.”
However, Trello is more a project and task management tool than a team management system, so it doesn’t have a lot of features that HR or team coordination platforms may have, like payroll management, time tracking, or staff happiness tools.
Pricing
- Free: Free for individuals or a smaller team. Includes unlimited cards, up to 10 boards, an unlimited activity log, a mobile app, and unlimited storage.
- Standard: From $5 per user per month. For small teams. Everything in Free, plus unlimited boards, advanced checklists, and custom fields.
- Premium: From $10 per user per month. For larger teams that want to visualize larger projects. Everything in Standard, plus multiple views (like calendar or map), admin and security features, and simple data exports.
- Enterprise: From $17.50 per user per month. Intended for teams of 50+ people. Everything in Premium, plus public board management and organization-wide permissions and boards.
5. Zoho: Best for larger teams
Zoho encompasses a powerful suite of products that are designed to help companies to manage HR, project management, collaboration, messaging, legal compliance, and security. Its HR tool, Zoho People, includes core tools like time attendance tracking, shift scheduling, automated timesheets, goal-setting, and employee performance tools.
Top features
- Employee management with secure data storage and visibility.
- Leave, attendance, and shift management tracking, for simple time and availability coordination.
- Recruitment and onboarding tools for seamless hiring and engagement.
- HR analytics to show workforce trends, track performance, log time, and track project status.
Pros and cons
Users praise how Zoho “saves a lot of time and money” and how “easy it is to use for people management.”
However, its wide suite of tools means you may need to sign up for several platforms, such as Zoho People and Zoho Projects at the Professional level or higher, to get the full functionality of all its HR and project management tools, like time management and staff feedback.
Pricing
Zoho People, the brand’s team management platform, has the following pricing scheme:
- Essential HR: $1.25 per user per month. Includes onboarding, HR files, time off, and workflow management.
- Professional: $2 per user per month. Includes everything in Essential HR, plus biometric integration, shift scheduling, time tracking, timesheets, and overtime management.
- Premium: $3 per user per month. Includes everything in Professional, plus performance appraisals, feedback, and advanced HR analytics.
- Enterprise: $4.50 per user per month. Includes everything in Premium, plus assessments, course management, and course feedback.
- People Plus: $4.50 per user per month. Includes everything in Enterprise, plus Zoho Recruit, Payroll, Expense, Connect, Cliq (collaboration software), and Vault (password management).
6. Clockify: Best for companies on a budget
As its name suggests, Clockify is primarily a time tracker for hourly teams. It lets you record hours across projects and multiple staff members and create automatic timesheets to export for accurate payroll processing. Yet, Clockify also has a visual calendar view, a scheduling tool, and reporting and analytics.
Top features
- A time tracker to record hours spent on different projects.
- Timesheets to let managers and employees keep track of digital hours and work.
- A calendar to visually block out and oversee time spent on work.
- An auto-tracker to keep time across apps and websites automatically.
- A kiosk for clocking in on shared devices at certain sites.
- Reports and forecasting to make data-based decisions.
- Scheduling for hours, assignments, tasks, and shifts.
- Time off and approval, which connects with timesheets for accurate hour calculation.
- Invoicing and expenses to keep track of budget and billable hours.
Pros and cons
Users like how Clockify offers reports for team members and how “simple and easy” it is to use. Also, it’s free for all users, features, and projects.
However, Clockify is mainly designed for tracking time and hours and doesn’t have many other team management features that you may be looking for, including tools for staff happiness or engagement, HR and compliance, onboarding, or advanced team communication.
Pricing
Free for unlimited users and projects.
Team management: The heart of your business
Any of these apps could work for your business, depending on the features you’re looking for and your budget. Whether you want to prioritize task management, HR and onboarding, or client collaboration, each tool offers a slightly different focus and price point.
However, we truly believe that Homebase is the best all-in-one choice available now because it not only offers team management but also puts these tools at the heart of its wider suite of features. You can manage your team as well as your budget, tasks, scheduling, hours, and onboarding — all within the same dashboard, for a reasonable cost.
So you can manage your team, projects, and costs — and get back to business.
**The information above is based on our research on team management apps. All user feedback referenced in the text has been sourced from independent software review platforms, such as G2 and Capterra, in March 2023.
Remember: This is not legal advice. If you have questions about your particular situation, please consult a lawyer, CPA, or other appropriate professional advisor or agency.
