Best Kanban Tools

Best-known kanban tools are kanbanize, asana, forecast, and productboard, which assist in managing product development. It also has a range of modules to ensure timely project delivery and resource allocation.

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List of 20 Best Kanban Tools

Showing 1 - 20 of 36 products

Turn possibilities into plans

FigJam empowers teams to build better products, together. Define ideas, align on decisions, and move work forward—all in one place. Whether you’re breaking the ice or planning a project, FigJam has all of the integrations, widgets, and plugins your team needs. Learn more about FigJam

Outcomes at Scale through Tailored Agile Solutions

Businessmap is one of the best Kanban board software for managing projects, products, and portfolios. It facilitates the ongoing optimization of delivery operations and gives visibility across all teams, connecting strategy with execution. Businessmap uses flow analytics, automation, and Kanban boards to help teams produce on time and increase visibility. Workflow visualization and optimization are made possible by Kanban boards. Read Businessmap Reviews

ProofHub helps you to manage projects of all sizes

ProofHub is a Kanban tool that serves as a central hub for all project-related requirements, including tasks, teams, and communication. It helps teams concentrate on their goals by giving them control over how their work is done. ProofHub provides teams with all the essential tools required to manage projects and collaborate in a convenient manner. Read ProofHub Reviews

Tools by Trello Inc

Trello is an online Kanban project management software. The visual tool enables teams to monitor and evaluate daily progress. Lists on Trello boards correspond to the phases of a project's completion. The board is straightforward to design to fit your workflow and usable from anywhere, even if your team works entirely or in part remotely. Read Trello Reviews

Tools by Atlassian

Jira offers useful Kanban tools that aid in project visibility, daily project management, and transparency. By empowering teams and streamlining procedures, the Kanban board from Jira ensures that every project launches on schedule by identifying bottlenecks before they occur. Team members can use Jira's Kanban board to visualize workflow and spot bottlenecks before they occur. Read Jira Reviews

Most Reviewed

Emergents | 2024

Tools by Mango Technologies

ClickUp is renowned Kanban software that can assist users in taking charge of their team's workflow. ClickUp's Kanban view greatly simplifies the process by allowing users to include Custom Task Statuses in their Kanban workflow. They can follow a project's progress in any way they like in this method. Users can keep track of the progress of each step in the process and create tasks with customized statuses. Read ClickUp Reviews

Emergents | 2024

Increase team performance with a visual project ma

Kanban Tool is a Kanban platform that aids users in visualizing and planning their workflow. It provides real-time team collaboration tools and aids in managing project tasks, keeping track of deadlines, and allocating resources for organizations. It is an effective application that is used to manage tasks and projects using the Kanban approach. Learn more about Kanban Tool

Emergents | 2024

Enterprise Solution for Scrum and Kanban

By letting team members simply move cards on the board, SwiftKanban's robust Kanban program makes task execution incredibly simple. It also ensures that the policies have been explicitly stated and adhered to. SwiftKanban is powerful and user-friendly Kanban software that makes it possible to visualize work, whether a complicated procedure or a high-value, high-impact project. Learn more about SwiftKanban

Emergents | 2024

Real-time team collaboration is made possible via the Kanban board tool KanbanFlow, which is hosted in the cloud. The tool utilizes Kanban boards to visualize the work and enhance productivity and communication. Businesses can employ Kanban boards to help increase communication and overall effectiveness while giving a general perspective of the current working environment. Learn more about KanbanFlow

Free Project Management Tool

Asana is one of the best Kanban project management software that assists teams in planning and monitoring projects by using Kanban boards. Users may see the tasks they have to do and their due dates using the Kanban board view, a visual tool. Asana can swiftly switch between a Kanban board view and a list, Gantt chart timeline, or calendar view. Read Asana Reviews

Tools by Smartsheet Inc.

Smartsheet is a Kanban online tool that uses the SaaS solution. In addition to grid, calendar, and Gantt views, Smartsheet provides a Kanban card view. Each item in a sprint can be given its own Kanban card, which users can then assign to one of five swimlanes or columns. The Kanban board software from Smartsheet blends collaborative file sharing, visual timeline management, and spreadsheet usability. Read Smartsheet Reviews

Tools by Flow-e

Flow-e offers Kanban tools that make use of a Kanban-style workflow. It converts Outlook inbox into a Kanban board, which makes it easier for users to efficiently handle emails and tasks. Users may develop even more sophisticated personal Kanban boards using Flow-e. Using Flow-e, users may create and track projects, manage emails and tasks, delegate duties, and keep tabs on work-in-progress. Learn more about Flow-e

A project management software you'll enjoy using

Monday.com is an easy-to-use Kanban board software for managing any business project. It is strongly advised to set up workflows and effectively manage work chronologies on the basis of the Gantt chart.  It is a practical project management method that seeks to control workload by allocating activities according to importance and balancing needs with capability. Read monday.com Reviews

Emergents | 2024

Planview is one of the best Kanban software that aids teams and organizations in tracking and managing work from delivery to strategy. It makes use of Kanban boards and visual management tools that make it simpler to understand how work is advancing. Team members receive workspaces to complete assignments, joint projects, and continuous team activities with collaborative work management. Learn more about Planview

Emergents | 2024

Your Project Management Toolbox!

Eylean Board is one of the best Kanban project management tools. It employs Kanban boards to assist teams in visualizing and tracking their work. The Kanban board provides a comprehensive overview of a project's status at a glance. Each team member's performance, development, and current workload are visible to managers. They can monitor the passage of time and determine which tasks have been completed. Learn more about Eylean Board

Powerful collaboration tool for teams of all sizes

Wrike is one of the best Kanban tools, which provides a selection of templates that were specifically designed to use online Kanban boards to streamline routine, everyday chores. Users can easily simplify their requests, handle projects more quickly, and make HR tasks clearer. Wrike provides customized software with preloaded templates for tasks, workflows, and communication for industries. Read Wrike Reviews

Emergents | 2024

Improve performance by being in the Kanban Zone.

Kanban Zone is a reliable cloud-based Kanban software using which users can easily manage activities and projects. Users can prioritize and keep track of work tasks using the card-based UI. Simple Kanban to-do lists and advanced job management tools are balanced in the Kanban Zone. This solution enables users to create many boards and connect them so that users can more easily visualize work throughout their firm. Learn more about Kanban Zone

Notion is a customizable Kanban tool. It makes use of the Kanban approach to assist with task organization, progress monitoring, and team collaboration. Users can quickly create and manage tasks with Notion's robust task management system. Users can delegate tasks to other team members, establish due dates, and monitor the status of each work. Read Notion Reviews

Tools by Toggl

Users can plan, monitor, and deliver projects on schedule with the aid of Toggl Plan, a Kanban platform. It makes work management smooth. The cards on the Kanban board represent the work items. Each card transitions easily into the next workflow cycle. Users can swiftly move jobs between statuses in the Toggl Plan and can add color-coded tags to help see each sort of activity. Learn more about Toggl

Tools by MeisterLabs

MeisterTask offers reliable Kanban software tools. Users have to create their tasks and then group them into the resizable sections on the Kanban board in order to generate a visual overview of the entire project. Users can also set WIP restrictions to increase team output and guarantee that they will never again miss a deadline. Read MeisterTask Reviews

kanban-tools-guide

A good Kanban tool helps a project manager take complete control of the work management with enhanced visualization of work and team collaboration and adapt to the changing requirements effectively.

This guide will provide you with an in-depth understanding of Kanban tools and assist you in selecting the best one for your business.

What are Kanban Tools?

A Kanban tool is a workflow visualization software that uses a Kanban board to manage work. It focuses on visualizing the entire project on a Kanban board to increase project transparency and enhance collaboration between team members.

A Kanban Board consists of columns, lists, and cards. ‘Columns’ represent the various stages of a workflow. Under each column, there is a ‘list’ that represents the number of tasks in a particular stage of a workflow. And each task in a list is represented as a ‘card.’ Each card represents one task.

A basic workflow to complete a task in the Kanban board includes three stages: To Do,” “In Progress,” and “Complete.” However, a workflow can be more complex.

The maximum number of tasks in a list under each column is defined by the ‘work-in-progress (WIP) limits.’ For example, a column with a WIP limit of 5 cannot have more than five tasks.

The Kanban board is designed based on the principles of Kanban methodology. It uses a pull system to manage work in order to maximize efficiency and reduce waste.

Tasks are pulled from the project backlog based on priority and matched to the team capacity using WIP limits. Tasks in the workflow move from the leftmost corner of ‘project backlog’ to the right till ‘completion’ through various stages such as ‘to-do,’ ‘in progress,’ and ‘hold.’

A Kanban project management tool is optimized to implement agile project management frameworks like Kanban and Scrum for work management.

Who Uses Kanban Tool?

Kanban tool can be used in any work setting across industries for both IT and non-IT applications due to its simplicity and adaptability. It can easily fit any workflow as soon as you have one and help optimize it to the maximum efficiency. Have a look at the common uses of Kanban board tools.

users-of-kanban-tool

  1. Software Development Teams

    A Kanban system is primarily used by IT teams for agile software development. It provides the required flexibility and agility to the software development team to have more control with regard to tasks and timing.

  2. Project Manager

    Project managers across industries use the Kanban program for effective work planning and management. One can plan work as per the team’s capacity and organize, monitor, manage, & analyze tasks and workflows using the Kanban board.

  3. Agile Teams

    Agile teams across industries use Kanban to improve work efficiency and adaptability. Kanban is based on the principle of continuous improvement. Thus, tasks can be reprioritized, reassigned, or updated until the team reaches maximum work efficiency.

Benefits of the Best Kanban Software

The best Kanban software provides you with the right tools to maximize output and minimize waste with effective project planning, work management, team collaboration, and project reporting & analysis.

advantages-of-kanban-software

  1. Efficient Task Management

    A Kanban board provides a visual representation of all the tasks of a project at a centralized place. This bird’s eye view of tasks helps you clearly see the progress of each task, identify bottlenecks by knowing the number of tasks in each stage, and re-prioritize tasks to avoid delays. Apart from that, Kanban provides advanced analytics and reporting for data-driven decision-making that helps in efficient task management.

  2. Improved Collaboration

    Kanban method focuses on making a team work as a system with maximum efficiency rather than individuals working in silos. Every team member can see the progress of tasks and collaborate accordingly for improved teamwork and reducing the cycle time of a task.

  3. Reduces Employee Overworking

    A Kanban board tool helps you in effective work planning as per your team’s capacity using WIP limits. You can decide the maximum number of tasks for a team member or team in a phase based on their capacity. If somehow a team member gets overworked or underworked, you can make changes to the WIP limit for an individual or stage.

  4. Increases Transparency and Accountability

    All the work in the project scope and details of the roles and responsibilities of each team member are visible on Kanban boards. This creates a centralized and transparent source of information for everyone in the organization. It helps increase accountability as each team member can clearly see how their work impacts the overall progress.

  5. Makes Tasks and Projects Flexible

    Kanban workflow has a high level of agility in tasks and workflows to meet changing requirements. For example, you have spotted a bottleneck in the later stage of a workflow. You can either limit the work in progress earlier in the flow, or you can re-distribute the resources to meet the new requirements to eliminate bottlenecks.

  6. Increased Levels of Security

    The best Kanban board software adheres to industry security standards to provide a secure platform for work management. Remote teams can collaborate on tasks from anywhere to work together effectively.

Common Features of Kanban Tools

There are some core features that make a Kanban tool capable and useful for practicing the principle of the Kanban project management methodology. You should look for the following Kanban features when buying Kanban project management software:

key-features-of-kanban-tools

  1. Kanban Boards

    Without Kanban boards, there is no Kanban project management software. The software should have an intuitive Kanban board to allow you to visualize your workflow and all the tasks at a glance in one centralized place. The most popular feature of a Kanban board is the ability to drag and drop a card from one stage to another. It saves a lot of time and makes it easy to change the stage of a task.

  2. Customizable Workflows

    Each organization has its own workflow. A good Kanban platform provides you the freedom to create a customized workflow tailored to the specific needs of your business processes. You should be able to add as many stages as you want in your workflow to better streamline business processes for maximum efficiency and highest quality.

    The ability to add custom fields such as descriptions, attachments, due dates, and priorities to Kanban cards is one of the most cherished features of a dedicated Kanban tool as it allows you to customize the information you want to visualize at a glance.

  3. Collaboration Tools

    As one of the core principles of Kanban project management is continuous improvement and team collaboration, a Kanban board software should provide you with the ability to connect with team members from the Kanban board. You should be able to add comments and tag team members on cards, attach files to the cards to collaborate, and share card links for effective collaboration.

    Integration with a chat-based app or in-built chat is a must-have feature for effortless communication.

  4. Work-in-Progress Limits

    WIP limit is the basis of agile work management in Kanban. It helps you in effective resource and work planning, identifying bottlenecks, and re-strategizing work. You should be able to set a custom WIP limit for each column.

  5. Cumulative Flow Diagrams (CFDs)

    Cumulative flow diagrams are one of the most important work management features of Kanban that help you analyze workflow stability, anticipate bottlenecks, and make changes accordingly. A Kanban tool should provide you with CFD analytics to help you reduce your average cycle time, manage your WIP limit, and increase your team’s throughput.

  6. Lead and Cycle Time Diagrams

    Lead and cycle time diagrams provide you with in-depth visual analysis to help track the time it takes for work items to move through different stages of a workflow. The Kanban tool should provide you with powerful lead and cycle time diagrams so that you can make continuous improvements and optimize workflow to improve work efficiency.

How to Choose the Right Kanban Board Software?

Choosing the right Kanban board software is very important because it directly influences how easily and efficiently your team can use it for work. A wide range of Kanban board software options are available in the SAAS market. Here are a few important tips that can help you choose the best Kanban tool -

how-to-select-the-right-kanban-board-software

  1. Identify Your Requirements

    The first step is to know what you need help with. Clearly define what matters most to you and the purpose you want to solve using the software. For example, it can be the ease of use of the software, highly advanced Kanban board, document sharing, advanced reporting, security, or the ability to support large numbers of projects and users at one time seamlessly.

  2. Understand Your Workflow

    Every Kanban software provides you with a Kanban board. The differentiating point is the specific features that solve your business needs. For example, if you have a fixed workflow that repeats, it is advised to look for Kanban board software with advanced workflow automation capabilities. On the other hand, if you have an agile workflow and you need to quickly respond to changing requirements, choose Kanban software with advanced customization capabilities.

  3. Consider Usability

    Kanban software should be easy to use and have a minimal learning curve. Because if it is not easy to use, your team will be less likely to use it. Run a free trial to get the real feel of the user interface of the software, how easy it is to use, and find out whether or not your team will be able to use it efficiently with minimal frustration.

  4. Integrations

    It is very important to find a Kanban project management software that supports a decent range of integration with most daily-use apps. Because it extends the power of your software and makes it easy for your team to work without switching between apps. Look for integration capabilities with time tracking, budgeting, CRM, and other daily-use tools.

Top 5 Kanban Tools Comparison

Name
Free Trial
Demo
Pricing

Kanbanize

14 Days

Yes

$179/month (15 users)

Jira Software

7 Days

Yes

$7.75/user/month

Trello

14 Days

Yes

$5/user/month

ProofHub

14 Days

Yes

$45/month (unlimited users)

ClickUp

14 Days

Yes

$7/member/month

Here is the in-depth comparison of the top 5 best Kanban project management tools based on the research on various factors, including ease of use, features, user interface, pricing, & security, and first-hand experience of real users. Compare the Kanban tools based on their features, pros & cons, and pricing.

1. Kanbanize

kanbanize-dashboard

Kanbanize is a powerful Kanban-based project management software that helps you visualize all projects, initiatives, and entire portfolios in a single place. It helps you track project progress and automatically forecasts progress with in-depth project reports. Detailed analytics helps you make data-driven decisions to make improvements in the workflow.

Apart from that, you can use the business rules to automate your repetitive business processes for higher work efficiency.

Features
  • Multi-layered Kanban boards 
  • Limiting work in progress 
  • Dependency management 
  • Timelines 
  • OKRs
  • Dashboards & reporting 
  • Workflow management
  • Workflow analytics
  • Project forecasting  
  • Business rules
Pros
  • Kanbanize has colorful themes and a user-friendly interface that makes the user experience easy
  • Integrates with most of your daily use tools such as Zapier, Dropbox, GitHub, and Power BI
  • Support team is very knowledgeable and quick to respond to issues
Cons
  • Kanbanize has an intimidating learning curve due to its amount of options and customization
  • Limited customization features of cards that sometimes frustrate you
  • Time tracking is not easy unlike other Kanban tools
  • There is no suitable plan for a solopreneur or an individual user

Pricing   

  • Kanbanize plan starts from $179/month for 15 users.

2. Jira Software

jira-software-kanban-dashboard

Jira is the most popular agile project management tool used by agile teams for software development. It helps you manage your work with powerful, agile boards. You can create customizable workflows that fit any style of work.

Jira offers advanced reporting capabilities for critical insights within the context of your work for success. Apart from that, you get ready-made templates (Scrum, Kanban, and DevOps) and workflow automation to give you a head start.

Features
  • Scrum boards
  • Kanban boards 
  • Bug tracking 
  • Issues management
  • Customizable workflow 
  • Drag and drop automation 
  • Reports and insights
  • 3000+ apps integrations
Pros
  • The user interface is great. Issues & story creation are very easy using this tool
  • Project tracking is very easy and well-defined. Bug and Issue tracker tracks the progress and provides information needed to the management
  • A customizable dashboard makes it easy to analyze vast amounts of data
Cons
  • Roadmaps can be improved
  • Performance issues with third-party integrations

Pricing

  • Free- $0 per user
  • Standard- $7.75 per user
  • Premium- $15.25
  • Enterprise- Custom Pricing

3. Trello

trello-kanban-dashboard

Trello is one of the most intuitive Kanban-based visual project management tools that helps you bring all your tasks, teammates, and tools together. It allows you to create workflow, visualize progress, and create reports to manage work from a single place.

Trello seamlessly integrates with a vast number of SAAS tools to provide you with all the project management features you need. You can use the built-in templates to create workflows for almost every business function.

Features
  • Kanban board 
  • Templates
  • Trello views 
  • Butler automation
  • Power-Ups
  • Integrations
Pros
  • It is very easy to create workflows, cards, and lists
  • Ability to fully customize cards, board background, and theme & colors
  • Easy to plan projects, sprints, and resources with a timeline view
Cons
  • The notifications feature has issues, users sometimes miss the updates
  • Trello has limited inbuilt features. It does not do anything beyond basic project management

Pricing 

  • Free: $0 for the whole team with limited features
  • Standard: $5 per user/month - billed annually
  • Premium: $10 per user/month - billed annually
  • Enterprise: $17.50 per user/month - billed annually

4. ProofHub

proofhub-kanban-dashboard

ProofHub is a feature-rich Kanban software solution that brings all your projects and teamwork into one place. You can create, delegate, track, and manage tasks from a centralized Kanban board.

ProofHub allows you to create a custom workflow to fulfill your project needs and streamline your workflow. You can manage the access of each team member for better control. With ProofHub’s built-in chat and centralized file sharing, team members can effortlessly collaborate in real-time and work together efficiently.

Features
Pros
  • ProofHub has a user-friendly interface and is easy to set up with a minimal learning curve
  • ProofHub’s multiple views are a great way to visualize the progress of all your tasks across all projects
  • Flat pricing with unlimited users on all packages for better
  • Eliminates the need to invest in multiple apps by offering an all-in-one solution
Cons
  • ProofHub has limited third-party app integrations as compared to other tools
  • Consistent notifications can overwhelm users

Pricing

  • Essential: $45/month for unlimited users (when billed annually)
  • Ultimate Control: $89/month for unlimited users and unlimited projects  (when billed annually)
  • Get a 14-day free trial

5. ClickUp

clickup-kanban-dashboard

ClickUp is another popular Kanban work management software that provides a plethora of features under one roof. It is a complete work management solution that helps you visualize and plan projects, track progress, and collaborate with the team in real-time.

You can create detailed project reports and use a customizable dashboard for project analysis in order to make informed decisions. You can set goals and attach them to your workflow to achieve your project objectives.

Features
  • Project views
  • Goals 
  • Dashboards
  • Mind maps 
  • Native time tracking 
  • Whiteboard
  • Chat
  • Doc
  • Automation
  • Integrations
  • Templates
Pros
  • ClickUp is easy to use, user-friendly and no-code solution
  • Maximum customization. You can create custom workflows, set up automated rules, and more
  • Feature-rich tool with decent scaling capabilities
Cons
  • The tool has too many bugs, glitches, and issues with some features
  • Poor customer support makes it difficult to find solutions to even basic problems

Pricing

  • Free: For personal use
  • Unlimited: $7 per member per month
  • Business: $12 per member per month
  • Enterprise: Custom pricing

Latest Trends in Kanban Project Management Software

The global Kanban software market is expected to reach USD 647.8 million by 2027 at a CAGR of 18.4% from 2022 to 2027, as per the report by Business Research Insights. The report has analyzed a few trends that fuel the growth of Kanban software in the market.

market-trends-in-kanban-software

  1. Agile and DevOps Integration

    The increasing adoption of the DevOps framework by software development teams has resulted in increasing demand for the Kanban software. This is because the Kanban board is designed and optimized to implement agile frameworks. It can easily integrate agile frameworks such as Scrum, Kanban, and DevOps into the workflow.

  2. Hybrid Work Adaptation

    The widespread adoption of work-from-home results in need for software where project managers can easily track the progress of each team member in real time and collaborate with team members. This results in increasing demand for the Kanban tool that can offer a transparent platform for enhanced visualization of tasks and workflow to track work progress in real-time and effective collaboration with remote teams.

  3. AI-Driven Insights

    Just within a year, AI has revolutionized the way we work. Increasing implementation of AI in the data analytics domain makes it easy for project managers to create AI-driven data insights using Kanban dashboards. The use of AI in Kanban software is trending. Companies are looking for Kanban software powered with AI capabilities.

  4. Scaling Kanban

    Kanban has been traditionally used by software development teams for IT applications, but now it has been widely accepted in non-IT applications due to its agility. This led to the increasing use of Kanban across industries such as marketing, HR, and support services. Organizations are exploring various frameworks that can be effectively implemented using a Kanban tool organization-wide.

Conclusion

The Kanban tool helps make an organization's workflow adaptive to changing requirements with enhanced visualization of all the tasks in real time and efficient collaboration among team members.

With a powerful Kanban tool in place, you can plan projects better, identify bottlenecks early on, take active measures to manage risks, boost cross-collaboration within teams, and analyze the performance better with in-depth reports.

Choosing the best Kanban tool for your organization helps you work more efficiently, reduce waste, maximize operational efficiency, and boost effective team collaboration.

FAQs

Kanban software ranges from free to very expensive. It can cost you anywhere from $0 per user to $100 per user. The cost of the software depends on features, the number of users, the level of customer support, vendor reputation, on-site or cloud, and geographical factors.

It is hard to say Kanban is better than Scrum or vice versa. The best choice of methodology depends on the project's needs. For example, for complex and iterative work like software development, Scrum is better than Kanban. For continuous flow and defined work like customer support, Kanban is a better framework than Scrum.

Yes. Kanban is designed and highly optimized to implement agile frameworks like Scrum, Kanban, and DevOps. It provides enhanced visibility into tasks and follows the process of continuous improvement to adapt to the changing requirements.

You can integrate any software with the Kanban tool depending on the capabilities of the tool. You can integrate the following commonly used software with your Kanban tool such as chat, time tracking, budgeting, project reporting, workflow automation, CRM, and document management.

Last Updated: January 02, 2024