Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Top Project Management Plugins for WordPress

WordPress is the most popular, open-source content management system (CMS) in the world, easily powering a third of all websites on the Internet. Its closest competitors – Drupal, Shopify, and Wix – don’t even come close. One of the reasons WordPress is so popular is its ease of use and low learning curve. Don’t let that fool you, however. WordPress might be simple to administer and set up, but it is also extremely powerful. Part of that power comes from the vast array of free and paid-for plugins that add functionality and extend the capabilities of the websites powered by the CMS.

Today, we are going to delve into the best project management plugins for WordPress. The WordPress CMS plugins we include below are not listed in any specific order. Nor is this list a complete list. However, the plugins below are some of the best for website and web developer project managers and are certain to become part of your favorite PM tools.

You might also want to check out our list of best WordPress Plugins for Security and Best WordPress Plugins for Developers for more of the top WordPress plugins.

Benefits of WordPress Project Management Plugins

The beauty of using a project management plugin for WordPress is the fact that most organizations likely use WordPress for the website and Content Management System (CMS). This means you already have a central repository with a built-in media library and a system that is already hosted and configured, which can be accessed remotely with little to no additional configuration. Here are some other benefits of using project management and task management plugins for WordPress if you are a project manager or developer:

  • Built-in file management and media repository library for easy sharing of project documents, files, and images.
  • Task management system within a WordPress Dashboard.
  • Third-party integration for other PM tools and extended website functionality.
  • Other benefits associated with project management tools and PM software, all extensively added to your WP install.

Best WordPress Project Management Plugins

Here is our list of the top WordPress Project Management plugins.

WP Project Manager Pro Project Management Plugin

Made by WordPress theme and plugin creator, WeDevs, WP Project Manager Pro is an all-in-one project management tool that gives you all of the functionality of other project management software but backed by the power of WordPress. Track deadlines, milestones, tasks and subtasks, and activities all from within the WordPress dashboard.

The WP Project Manager Pro plugin offers the following benefits for project managers:

  • Calendar and time tracking functionality.
  • Kanban boards.
  • Gantt charts.
  • Tasklist and task tracking.
  • File management and file sharing.

You can also add extensions to WP Project Manager Pro that allow you to integrate with BuddyPress, WooCommerce, and Stripe Gateway. Other extensions are available as well.

Cost: A limited, free version of WP Project Manager Pro is available. The full version has the following pricing structure:

  • Personal: $79 for one domain annually
  • Professional: $149 for five domains annually
  • Business: $249 for ten domains annually

Learn more about the WP Project Manager Pro plugin for WordPress.

Upstream WordPress Project Management Plugin

Upstream is a free project management plugin for WordPress that is extensible through a series of extensions created by the Upstream development team. In its basic form, Upstream lets project managers and dev teams track tasks and bugs. Upgrading to the premium version of the PM plugin gets you a host of other project management tools, including calendar views and front-end editing.

The Upstream project management plugin offers the following benefits for project managers:

  • Project timelines and calendar views.
  • Track milestones.
  • Client views and client management tools that let your clients assign tasks and report bugs.
  • Custom fields.
  • Commenting and discussion straight through the WordPress interface.
  • Time tracking and budgeting.
  • Reporting and Gannt charts.

Cost: A limited, free version of Upstream Project Management is available. The full version has the following pricing structure:

  • Lite: $79 annually for one website
  • Professional: $179 annually for one website
  • Agency: $279 annually for ten websites
  • Enterprise: $479 annually for ten websites

Learn more about the Upstream project management plugin for WordPress.

WP-Client WordPress Plugin for Project Managers

Project Management involves more than just managing a team of software developers, web developers, or Internet Marketers. It also means managing clients as well. WP-Client makes the list for this very reason. While WP-Client is not a project management plugin at first glance, we include it on this list for two reasons: its solid client management features that integrate perfectly with your WordPress CMS installation. The second reason is that WP-Client does have an extension – named aptly, Project Management – that adds all of the common project management functionality you would expect in a piece of PM software.

The WP-Client project management plugin offers the following benefits for project managers once the Project Management extension is added:

  • Client management.
  • File sharing and file management.
  • Messaging and collaboration tools for clients and team members.
  • Project and task assignment and management.
  • Invoicing.
  • Roles and role assignment.
  • White label version available for custom branding.

Cost: A pretty limited, free version of WP-Client is available. The full version has the following pricing structure:

  • Basic: $59
  • Plus: $119
  • Developer: $199
  • White Label: $349

View the Project Management Extension pricing page for separate pricing:

Learn more about the WP-Client project management plugin for WordPress.

Kanban Boards Plugin for WordPress

Kanban Boards is very similar to the task management software Trello. Integrating the Kanban Boards for WordPress plugin gives developers and project managers an overview of the progress of their projects in a clean, simple board format. Further, users can assign tasks and task timelines, as well as view task progress, filter tasks, and search through tasks. A premium upgrade grants users even more features.

The Kanban Boards task management plugin offers the following benefits for project managers and developers once they upgrade to premium:

  • Color-label tasks for priority categorization.
  • User notification upon any changes that are made.
  • Tasks have a comment feature for better communication and collaboration on specific tasks.
  • Multiple boards per project, meaning that every user can have their own board.

Cost: A limited, free version of the Kanban Boards WP plugin is available. KanBanPro has two pricing options, including an annual subscription of $149 or a lifetime edition for $499.

Learn more about Kanban Boards plugin for WordPress.

Software Issue Manager WordPress Plugin for Bug and Issue Tracking

The Software Issue Manager WordPress plugin is a great project management tool that is especially useful for DevOps project managers and software development teams. As the name suggests, this plugin is more than just a regular piece of PM software. It lets you track bugs, issues, tasks, and products related to the software development lifecycle – all from within the WordPress Dashboard.

Cost:

  • Free Edition: Limited, but free.
  • Pro: $149
  • Enterprise: $999

Learn more about the Software Issue Manager Bug and Issue Tracking Plugin for WordPress.

James Payne
James Payne
James Payne is the editor for Developer.com, HTMLGoodies.com, Devx.com, CodeGuru.com, and JGuru.com. He was previously the Editor-in-Chief of the Developer Shed communities – a network consisting of 14 websites and forums dedicated to programming, web design, hardware, software, web hosting technology, social media, and search engine optimization (SEO). He has also published three books on Python: Python for Teenagers, Beginning Python: Using Python 2.6 and 3.1, and "Python for the Absolute Beginner".

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