best-product-management-software

This article is about the seven best product management software. Most people think product and project management are the same. Though they come from the same family, they have distinct needs and features.

First, we must understand product management, its stages, and how product management software is helpful. Then we can get onto the seven best programs available. 

Product management is everything from ideation of a product, crafting roadmaps, building the product, writing product requirements documents, and backlogging the work. 

A product manager is responsible for creating, building, launching a product, and addressing issues after the product is launched. Their responsibility ends when the product is off the market.

Product management is basically a 5+1 stage process. 

The stages are: 

  1. Innovation, where ideas are created.
  2. Analysis, when you study the market to know the needs of customers, what competition is doing, and understand other factors.
  3. Development, where the product is built following the roadmaps.
  4. Beta stage, where companies test the product in the market.
  5. The launch is the stage where the product is made available to its target audience.
  6. And the final stage is where the customers no longer require the product and it is off the market.

Product managers are also called mini CEOs of what they are building, responsible for overseeing and managing every stage of product development.

How does product management software help product managers?

It helps the product management team get it all together: it keeps them on the same page, provides easy access to files, documents, and media, tracks the status of tasks, identifies loopholes and impediments in the process, assists in the removal of hindrances, and allows the team to get the work going by following roadmaps.

You can also use project management software to manage your teams, so some of these programs will be included in today’s list.

Now that we have a basic understanding of product management, let’s jump to today’s topic.

The 7 Best Product Management Software

The followings are the 7 best product management software:

  1. monday.com
  2. nTask
  3. ProductPlan
  4. ProductBoard
  5. Airfocus
  6. Roadmunk
  7. Prodpad

#1. monday.com

monday.com

monday.com is popular product management software. This platform fits the needs of project and product management and has been available since 2012. It is useful for any organization, from small business to enterprise level. 

Features

My Work: When your team joins the platform, they will notice this panel where all of their assignments are displayed. As the manager, you can create and assign tasks to team members, which is similar to creating roadmaps.

Notifications and Search: You will get a notification whenever someone from the team mentions you. With a single click, the “search everything” option can find information about people, tasks, and projects.

Multiple Views: All product-related tasks and product data can be seen in various ways. You get a table, Gantt chart, kanban, chart, calendar, timeline, and a newly added card view. Apart from that, you can also look at what each individual has to do via the workload view.

Integration: monday.com gives you a handful of third-party applications to connect to your platform and align your processes. Examples include Slack, Dropbox, Zapier, and CRM software like Salesforce, Zendesk, and Twilio. 

Automations: This feature helps you automate your repetitive tasks. For example, you can have an email automatically sent to a team member whenever they’re assigned a task, or whenever a due date is approaching, you can notify the team manager and schedule a team meeting. You can automate all that.

Templates: You have access to over 200 templates to get you started quickly. You can even choose automation templates.

Reports: You can view a detailed report of project status and progress.

Ratings

monday.com-rating-oct21

monday.com has a great score on Capterra. As you can see, it has received 4.6 stars out of 5 ratings by 2,416 users. 

monday.com has a user base of over 125,000 teams. Some big brands that are a part of its user base are Loreal Paris, Cocacola, Hulu, Adobe, and BBC Studio.

Pros and Cons

Pros
  • Good ratings
  • Forever-free plan
  • 14-day trial
  • Useful keyboard shortcuts
  • Mobile-friendly
  • Help center consists of videos, webinars, articles, and a community forum, all for one purpose just to help you
  • Status page to keep an eye on the software operations
Cons
  • It is expensive since it has a per-user base pricing structure.

Pricing

monday.com pricing oct21

monday.com has five plans, including a free one.

The pricing structure in the paid plan is per user basis, like most product and project management software. Also, on monday.com, you must pay for a minimum of three users per month.

Besides the five plans, there are two types of subscriptions: monthly and annually. The yearly rates are 18% less, as compared to monthly, to reward your commitment. The above rates are for a yearly subscription. 

The monthly subscription rates are as follows:

  • Basic: Increases from 8 to 10 USD per user per month.
  • Standard: Increases from 10 to 12 USD per user per month.
  • Pro: Increases from 16 to 20 USD per user per month.

The free plan comes with a handful of features with some limitations. It also only allows two users. You can get hands-on experience with the paid plan with a 14-day free trial with no credit card requirement.

Visit monday.com

Read my monday.com review.


#2. nTask

ntask home oct21

nTask is famous for its rich project management software but can also be used for your product management needs.

Features

nTask can help you with:

  • Project Management
  • Task Management
  • Team Management
  • Meeting Management
  • Risk Management
  • Timesheets
  • Time Tracking
  • Issue Tracking 

However, unlike your typical product management software like ProductPlan, Productboard, and airfocus, you do not get a roadmap feature, but that does not mean you cannot streamline your product-related tasks.

Boards: This feature can work as a roadmap. You can create tasks and assign them to your team members, set priorities, and do much more. In addition, there is a template library to get started with.

Multiple Views: From the list, you can switch to a grid, a board, a timeline, a Gantt chart, a kanban board, and so on.

Integrations: The number of applications you can connect with nTask is more than most product management software combined. It is over one thousand integrations.

Ratings

ntask rating oct21

nTask has a decent 4 out of 5 stars given by 17 users. It has a user base of over 250,000, including some notable brands like Google, Paypal, Walmart, HP, and many others.

Pros and Cons

Pros:
  • Free plan
  • Free trial
  • Affordable rates
  • Mobile friendly
Cons:
  • Learning curve

Pricing

ntask pricing oct21

Most project management software offers a free plan. nTask is no exception. It offers a free plan along with three paid plans.

nTask’s pricing structure is based on a per user per month basis. The above rates are for annual subscriptions. For the monthly subscription, the per user per month rate is 3.99 USD for the premium plan and 11.99 USD for the business plan.

These rates are quite affordable as compared to most of the software we discussed in this post.

Apart from the free plan, you get to try both the premium and business plans for free for 14 days. To know the pricing details of the enterprise plan, please get in touch with nTask’s sales team.

Visit nTask.

Read my nTask review.


#3. ProductPlan

productplan home oct21

Next on the list is ProductPlan, which is typically for exactly what the title indicates. This software is trusted by famous brands like Microsoft, Spotify, Dell, Adobe, and Sony. ProductPlan is basically a roadmap platform, and we all know how important these tools are for our product development.

Features

Roadmaps: As mentioned above, ProductPlan helps you create roadmaps. It is, in fact, the #1 roadmap platform available on the market. You can create unlimited roadmaps and share them with anyone through a private link.

You can filter your roadmap so only specific team members can see it. You can create from scratch or choose a template from the library to get started. 

You can switch between the timeline and list view to see your roadmap. Also, remember that it has a drag-and-drop interface, which is quite easy to use.

There are multiple colors to coordinate your roadmaps and milestones.

Integrations: You get a handful of third-party applications like Slack, Github, Trello, Jira, Confluence, Azure, Pivotal Tracker, Zapier, and Microsoft Teams. Note that only these mentioned are compatible with ProductPlan.

Prioritization: There is a separate section for this. It is like a spreadsheet where you can list tasks as per the roadmaps. You can set prioritization on each roadmap to let your team know what is most important.

Portfolio View: You can create and separate unlimited roadmaps, but if you wish to see them all together, you can use the portfolio view. This lets you consolidate all your roadmaps. 

Other Functionalities: You can easily share your roadmap with your team or anyone else with secure links. A ProductPlan account is not required to view the roadmap you have created. You can download it as a pdf, png, or sheet. 

You can collaborate with your team on all tasks created in the roadmap. Everyone can comment on tasks and read the feedback.

Ratings

product plan rating oct21

ProductPlan has a good score of 4.5 stars out of 5.

Pros and Cons

Pros
  • Free trial period
  • Template, unlimited roadmaps, and portfolio view
  • Super smooth interface
Cons
  • The number of applications for integrations is pretty low
  • It is expensive if you want to have multiple editors

Pricing

product plan pricing oct21

ProductPlan is a three-tier plan where the latter two require you to get in touch with the company. Only the basic plan’s price is available for us to review. And that is 39 USD per month. This is an annual subscription rate. The monthly rate of the plan is 49 USD per editor per month.

ProductPlan does not offer a free plan, but you get a 14-day with no credit card compulsion. 

Visit ProductPlan


#4. Productboard

productboard home oct21

Productboard is another product management-specific software. This one is the best fit for your customer-centric needs. Productboard has been available since 2014. 

Features

Customer Insights: This lets you know about your customer’s feedback and what features they want from your product. You can view the insights from different sources on the insight page and include them in your roadmap. Additional feature requests can be listed on the “features board” in a list format, and you can click on the feature to see comments.

Product Portal: This provides a way to collect comments and votes from customers and your colleagues. Any feedback they share through the portal will automatically be listed on the features board.

Roadmaps: Like ProductPlan, you can create roadmaps and share roadmaps with people here through Productboard. They are not in the timeline view but in the kanban view, and you can easily drag and drop task cards on the roadmap. 

Integrations: You get 18 third-party applications to connect with. Some of them to mention here are Jira, Salesforce, Slack, Teams, and Zapier.

Ratings

productboard rating oct21

Brands like Zoom, Zendesk, Axon are included in the 4,000+ user base of Productboard. On Capterra, the ratings are quite good as 125 users have given it 4.7 stars out of 5.

Pros and Cons

Pros
  • Free trial
  • Uptime status page
  • One-stop support center
  • Features include prioritization 
Cons
  • A fewer number of third-party applications
  • Expensive

Pricing

productboard pricing oct21 1

Let us talk about what we are getting for free. There is no free plan for Productboard, but they offer a 15-day free trial without a credit card.

As you can see above, Productboard is a four-tier plan: Essential, Pro, Scale, and Enterprise.

The pricing structure is on a per-maker basis. A maker has access to edit, update, and add.

The rates that you can see above are for annual subscriptions. The price per maker increases from 20 to 25 USD per maker per month in the Essential plan and 50 to 60 USD per maker per month in the Pro plan.

The Scale plan is available only as an annual subscription. Enterprise plans have custom rates. Please contact the customer team.

Visit Productboard


#5. airfocus

airfocus home oct21

Airfocus is another great software available for your product management needs.

Features

Roadmap: Airfocus’ roadmap builder is an easy drag-and-drop interface. You can create roadmaps, give them a prioritized score, assign them to teammates, and get the work moving in no time. You can consolidate different roadmaps, similar to ProductPlan, and share them with team members.

Feedback: This feature collects customer feedback, works on it, and informs the customer when it has been worked on or added to the product’s features. This collects customer feedback from many channels and puts them all together. The customer feedback feature is incredibly helpful.

Integrations: Airfocus works well with several applications. You can connect with Trello, Asana, Jira, Clubhouse, Zapier, and many others.

Ratings

airfocus rating oct21

Airfocus has an average of 4.5 stars out of 5 rated by 95 users, a decent score. This platform is trusted by brands like eBay, IBM, Shopify, and Viacom.

Pros and Cons

Pros
  • Free trial
  • Roadmaps
  • Customer feedback
  • Effort/Impact visualization
  • Simple interface
Cons
  • It gets costly with more editors

Pricing

airfocus pricing oct21

Airfocus does not have a free plan, but it has a 14-day free trial. We get four paid plans: Essential, Advanced, Pro, and Enterprise. The rates are per editor per month.

There are two subscription types: monthly and annual. The rates that you can see above are the annual rates. From left to right, monthly prices for each plan are 19, 59, and 109 USD per editor per month.

Visit airfocus


#6. Roadmunk

roadmunk home oct21

At #6, we have Roadmunk. Microsoft, Hulu, McDonald, Visa, and many other highlighted brands are some of its prime users.

Features

Roadmaps: This is one of the main factors for most product management software. In Roadmunk, you can create, edit, and share your roadmaps with your people. You get timeline and swimlane views as well. 

You can add colors and edit the layout to give the visual impression you desire. You can create sub-items under tasks as well as filter them before sharing them with anyone. There are a lot of such customization options available in Roadmunk.

Feedback Inbox: This works the same as the feature board in Productboard. You can capture your customer’s insights in one place.

Feedback Portal: This collects feedback from your users, stakeholders, and team members. You can even connect with other feedback portals.

Integrations: Like most software, not just product and project management software, you get to connect with your favorite tools.

Ratings

roadmunk rating oct21

Roadmunk has a decent 4.4 stars out of 5, rated by 78 users.

Pros and Cons

Pros
  • Free trial
  • ISO/IEC 27001:2013 compliance means your data is secure
  • Feedback Portal
  • Roadmaps functionality
  • Templates support
  • Prioritization functionality
  • Learning center for your help
Cons
  • Expensive

Pricing

roadmunk pricing oct21

This is a four-tier pricing structure. Though Roadmunk does not offer a free plan, you get a 14-day free trial.

The pricing structure is on a per-user basis. The Starter plan is for a single roadmapper. The above prices are for yearly plans; monthly plans are a little higher. Monthly subscriptions are not available for the Starter plan.

The other two plans, Business, and Professional, stand at 65 and 129 USD per user per month in the monthly subscription. Enterprise rates are not disclosed, and it is a custom rate based on your requirements.

Visit roadmunk


#7. ProdPad

prodpad home oct21

The last product management software on this list is ProdPad. It is powerful and capable.

Features

Product Canvas: This is a section where you can give details about your product. For example, your product vision, its description, the strategy, and the definition of product success. This will keep your entire team on the same page.

Product Roadmaps: These paths are precisely extracted from the main strategy. It has been divided into five fields: completed, now, next, later, and candidates. 

ProdPad roadmaps have special titles and descriptions for your tasks, their impact, effort, and objective. I liked this program’s functionality more than any of the earlier entries.

Idea Management: Here, you can manage all your sorted and unsorted ideas. You can give them statuses like new or assessed. 

Customer Feedback: This feature allows you to receive comments from customers and teams. You can collect feedback through connected applications or by creating a feedback form on your sites. Anything submitted will be recorded and can be linked to your idea management section. 

Integrations: ProdPad can connect with 1,000+ applications for a seamless user experience.

Ratings

prodpad rating oct21

ProdPad has received 3.8 stars out of 5 by 11 users. The low number of reviews does not do the service justice.

Pros and Cons

Pros
  • Free trial
  • Rich features
  • Integrations
Cons
  • Expensive

Pricing

prodpad pricing oct21

ProdPad has four plans. The pricing order starts from Essential, Advanced, Performance, and Enterprise. These costs are higher than other product management software discussed in this post.

  • In the Essential plan, the rate is 149 USD per month with three admins or editors.
  • In the Advanced plan, the rate is 449 USD per month with ten admins or editors.
  • In the Professional plan, the rate is 1,299 USD per month with 50 admins or editors.

You will have to pay 49 USD per month for every additional admin or editor for all three plans.

These are all annual subscription rates. Monthly subscription rates are 219, 649, and 1,899 USD per month.

ProdPad has a free trial for seven, and they will extend the trial based on usage. The more you use the platform, the longer your trial period will be.

Visit ProdPad


Conclusion

Before subscribing to any product management software, I recommend you use the trial period to test it. If it fulfills your requirements, you can upgrade to a paid plan. 

Which product management software have you selected for your business? Please share through the comments section.

Disclosure: Some of the links above are affiliate links, and I will earn a commission if you purchase after clicking. Please understand that I recommend these resources because they are useful, not because of the commissions I make. Please do not purchase unless you feel that the materials will help you achieve your goals. Thank you for your support.

Fahad Usmani, PMP

I am Mohammad Fahad Usmani, B.E. PMP, PMI-RMP. I have been blogging on project management topics since 2011. To date, thousands of professionals have passed the PMP exam using my resources.