Best Project Management Software for Architects — Top 10 for 2024

In every profession, doing your job well involves overcoming challenges and hurdles. Technology has significantly impacted architecture, and although it can help, it cannot replace architects. It can help them manage projects more efficiently and no longer rely on outdated project management approaches like spreadsheets. The best project management software for architects can simplify their work and ensure accuracy.

In addition to keeping track of construction and design projects, the right project management tool can assist architects in tracking company-wide processes, performance, and employee workflows. However, the point is to find a solution that will match your business needs.

With so many great software platforms on the market, how do you choose one that is right for you and fits your business model? We have got you covered as our guide explores the 10 best project management software solutions for architectural firms. 

Project Management Software for Architects: Top 10 for 2024

Listed below are the 10 best project management software tools for architects. Let’s take a closer look at these programs and discover what they offer.

1. monday.com — Overall best project management software for architects
2. ClickUp — Excellent PM app for architects to keep project workflows in one place
3. Hive — Best project management software for collaboration 
4. Monograph — Best project management software for architects with small teams and businesses
5. Newforma — Top project management platform for automation 
6. Deltek Ajera — Excellent software for architecture and engineering firms
7. Asana — Outstanding platform for visual project plans
8. ArchiSnapper — Great app as a mobile-first solution to field reporting  
9. Mosaic — Must-have planning app for architecture firms
10. Taimer — Best project management software for architects for CRM capabilities

Best Project Management Software for Architects Reviewed

The following article offers a detailed comparison of features, pricing, pros & cons, and evaluation criteria for architects looking for the best project management apps.

1. monday.com — Overall Best Project Management Software for Architects

monday.com is an outstanding tool for architects because it offers proposal, document, and client management features. Its task management functionalities and easy-to-use interface make it a more user-friendly project management platform than many other tools. The biggest benefit of this software is its simplicity and comprehensive set of features, including time tracking and budget management.

In addition, it works well with tools such as Google Drive, Dropbox, and Excel. monday.com’s mobile platform is highly rated among architects because it mirrors the desktop experience almost perfectly, making it convenient on the go.

Key Features: 

• Realistic project planning enables users to create a realistic schedule, budget, and plan by analyzing the environment and conditions.
• The highly customizable app sports many features, including ready-made templates, columns, boards, documents, dashboards, and more for creating a digital workspace.
• Collaboration tools allow the entire team to collaborate by sharing updates, viewing performance, and commenting on a project.
• Reporting and analytic features deliver insights and reports through dashboards, Gantt charts, and more to support data-driven decision-making.

Pricing: 

• Individual — Free forever
• Basic — $8/user/month
• Standard — $10/user/month
• Pro — $16/user/month

Pros:

• Numerous ready-made templates
• 24/7 customer support
• Easily accessible and easy-to-navigate
• Mobile app
• Robust automation and collaboration features
• Dashboards and charts
• 14-days free trial

Cons:

• Absence of features in the basic plan

2. ClickUp — Excellent PM App for Architects to Keep Project Workflows in One Place

Aside from boasting a robust platform and being affordable, ClickUp is one of the best project management software for architects. It’s packed with advanced capabilities, ranging from workflow automations and task management to integrations. The platform lets you organize your work in different areas, so you can have spaces for projects, teams, and types of work. Additionally, each area within the app can be customized. 

Task management is the fundamental feature of this software, as it allows you to assign, prioritize, or divide them into sub-tasks. Plus, task dependencies will provide a complete overview of operations among them. Additionally, ClickUp includes collaboration tools that teams of any size can use.

Key Features: 

• This highly flexible and customizable solution can fit any scenario.
• The powerful task management software can be tailored to fit the specific needs of your development team.
• Via the Goals feature, your development team has a better chance of meeting its targets.
• The platform makes collaboration easier by bringing your work and docs together.
• ClickUp integrates with over 1,000 apps, allowing you to boost your productivity and efficiency. 

Pricing: 

• Free forever plan

• Unlimited — $5
• Business — $12
• Business Plus — $19
• Enterprise — Upon request

Pros:

• Intuitive user interface
• Over 1,000 integrations
• Detailed options for viewing, modifying, and analyzing project data
• Five different plans
• Reasonably priced
• Real-time reports
• Highly customizable

Cons:

• Training and onboarding required for business plans

3. Hive — Best Project Management Software for Collaboration 

Hive is a cloud-based project management tool for managing teams, collaborating, assigning tasks, and automating workflow processes. The solution is affordable, feature-rich, and secure, providing everything you need to manage your business. With Hive, architecture and engineering companies can enhance communication across teams and departments, streamline project governance, create a more transparent work process, and take full advantage of powerful decision-making tools.

Key Features: 

• Provides a diverse list of visualization tools (Kanban and Gantt charts, personal to-do lists, portfolio views, and more)
• Automates processes intuitively and provides useful templates, allowing employees and managers to concentrate on more important things
• Time tracking feature improves time management
• Resource management feature improves scheduling and cost management by predicting future successes and failures

Pricing: 

• Solo — Free forever
• Teams — $12/user/month
• Enterprise — Upon request

Pros:

• Powerful analytics suite with budgeting
• Many integrations
• Easy-to-use communication and collaboration tools
• Ability to track time within a task
• Guest views available

Cons:

• Limited free version

4. Monograph — Best Project Management Software for Architects With Small Teams and Businesses

Monograph is a PM software exclusively designed for architects by architects. It is also a time tracking software primarily used by architecture companies and engineers. Additionally, this cloud-based software tool simplifies project and cost management for architects. Using Monograph, building and design firms can manage their activities and representatives across each project stage through intuitive Gantt outlines, dashboards, and reports. Furthermore, the software is incredibly easy-to-use and navigate and is one of the best project management software for small teams. 

Key Features: 

• It manages the entire project lifecycle, from budget development to resource planning to task tracking and expense management in real-time for engineers, architects, interior designers, and landscape designers.
• It establishes a simple and synchronized workflow that maximizes productivity and efficiency while minimizing costs.
• Supervisors can set up project schedules, budgets, and resources through a centralized dashboard.
• With filters on projects, users, and activities, users can build different types of reports and download them for future use.

Pricing: 

• $45/user/month
• $480/user/year

Pros:

• Easy-to-use and implement
• Customizable dashboard
• Excellent customer service
• Frequent new updates
• Project schedule and forecasting

Cons:

• Lack of integrations

5. Newforma — Top Project Management Platform for Automation

Since Newforma is specifically designed for architects and engineers, it works seamlessly with AutoCAD and Revit. It is rated highly for tracking submittals, RFIs, and drawings by many firms. It is the best tool for managing records and documents, so clients or consultants can easily access those files. Since architects deal with so much information daily, Newforma software makes managing their data easier. Moreover, the system oversees tasks from start to finish.

Key Features: 

• It is fully integrated with your existing infrastructure, including your email tool and document management system, and your existing network file system.
• It brings together all your disparate project data, allowing you to see all your project details in one place.
• All team members can access the most current project information anytime and anywhere without restrictions
• The system includes ASIs, bulletins, and pay apps that enable project teams to securely access documents related to design packages, design development, and construction phases.

Pricing: 

• N/A

Pros:

• Simple email filing
• Single pane view of your projects
• No hardware installation required

Cons:

• Confusing for non-tech-savvy people

6. Deltek Ajera — Excellent Software for Architecture and Engineering Firms

With Deltek Ajera, architecture and engineering resource management becomes easier than ever. Being a project management system and an accounting tool, Deltek Ajera offers a two-in-one solution for businesses seeking to replace both Excel and their current accounting software with a fully integrated solution. 

In addition to time tracking and invoicing, this software can also be used for long-term strategic planning, as it integrates fully with your firm’s financial information. Plus, the software enables project architects to manage timesheets and expenses on the job sites via their smartphones, making it an easily accessible and easy-to-use tool.

Key Features: 

• Boosts ROI indicators and project profitability, reduces overheads, and optimizes employee utilization
• Provides simple solutions to everyday tasks such as project reporting, invoicing, and timesheet collection
• Features real-time scheduling tools over the web, updated in real-time

Pricing: 

• N/A

Pros:

• Mobile app
• Payroll services
• User-friendly interface
• Integration of accounting with project management
• Dashboards, widgets, and inquiries

Cons:

• Unavailable review/approve employee expense report option 

7. Asana — Outstanding Platform for Visual Project Plans

Asana, a project management tool with a portfolio and workload reporting, helps architects create project plans for complex visual projects. By combining highly effective administration tools with top-notch communication and collaboration features, users can easily save time and meet project deadlines. The system includes all the features required to keep projects on track, including task and subtask management, approvals, deadlines, dependencies, and templates.

Key Features: 

• The mobile-based application keeps you connected to work and allows you to organize on the go.
• With Asana’s collaborative workspace, team members can share information about a project.
• The task management tool facilitates sharing information, posting notes and comments, keeping track of deadlines, and monitoring your progress.
• With reporting features, you can manage project updates efficiently and send update reminders as needed to your team.

Pricing: 

• Basic — $0
• Premium — $10.99
• Business — $24.99

Pros:

• Feature-rich free plan
• Multiple project views
• Process management automation
• Timeline facilitates managing dependencies
• Flexible and modern design
• Mobile app

Cons:

• Not ideal for graphics-intensive work

8. ArchiSnapper — Great App as a Mobile-First Solution to Field Reporting  

The Archisnapper PM tool is an undisputed leader in time-saving and is used by thousands of architects worldwide. It is specifically designed for construction and architectural projects. This app reduces the time spent creating field maps and enables users to take notes and observations and generate reports effortlessly. Additionally, this PM tool securely uploads all user data to the cloud and enables collaborative feedback sharing in an organized way. 

By automating certain aspects of construction site management, subcontractors can also provide feedback on the assigned items, centralizing communication in one place. In addition, Archisnapper allows integrations with the most common PM platforms for architecture and construction. 

Key Features: 

• Simple and easy-to-use interface
• Helps with drafting field reports efficiently during and after site visits
• Allows architects to take pictures, add text, leave comments, and make annotations
• Allows taking photographs directly on the worksite, sketching, annotating, and assigning tasks using smart devices
• Seamlessly synchronizes all projects and report data in the cloud
• Enables you to create checklists and blueprints based on previously created reports to further simplify the project management process 

Pricing: 

• $29/user/month (billed annually)
• $34/user/month (billed monthly)

Pros:

• Processing large amounts of data in real-time
• Mobile app
• Excellent customer service
• Ability to create professional-looking reports from sites quickly
• Customizable reports
• Ability to draw and write directly on pictures

Cons:

• Limited drawing/editing functions on PC

9. Mosaic — Must-Have Planning App for Architecture Firms

Mosaic is an AI-driven project management tool designed to help architects and designers manage teams, projects, and businesses collaboratively. It has been specifically designed for architecture and engineering companies. It is perfect for businesses with ten or more people.

With Mosaic, you can have complete visibility into your projects and people based on your budget, timesheet, and planning data. It can even forecast workload. Utilizing the tools such as visual reports, budget analysis, org charts, project staffing, and dashboards, you can boost productivity and utilization rates and maximize profitability. 

Key Features: 

• Robust project and resource planning features for architecture and engineering companies
• Forecasting capabilities that enable data-driven hiring decisions and powerful project reporting capabilities
• Built-in collaboration features
• Automatic data gathering to show who is working on what and when by integrating with existing tools
• Use of automation enhances the productivity of an entire organization.
• Roles and teams Identification and allocation to ensure everyone is appropriately busy

Pricing: 

• Team plan — $9.99/user/month
• Business plan — $14.99/user/month
• Enterprise plan — Upon request

Pros:

• 30-day free trial
• Visually pleasing workload manager
• Straightforward interface
• Great timesheet functionality
• Clean and intuitive interface
• Mobile app

Cons:

• Occasional loading issues

10. Taimer — Best Project Management Software for Architects for CRM Capabilities

Taimer is an excellent project management tool with all the features most architects need. Aside from being a project management platform, Taimer combines seven more business functions in one app that will help your team save time, increase productivity, and close deals more quickly. Its service is available anywhere and anytime, and it is suited to businesses of all sizes. 

Using Taimer, you can plan projects according to the project requirements, team members, and available resources. As you move into the execution phase, you can manage resources and time, track costs, collaborate on tasks, etc. Furthermore, you can manage your pipeline in a customizable way to deliver projects on time.

Key Features: 

• Architecture-relevant features, including document management, task management, and resource scheduling and management to accelerate your project performance
• Integrated with Google Calendar, Office 365, Google Drive, Outlook, Sales Automation, and more 
• Time tracking and logging feature keeps track of you, your team, and your resources and automatically invoices your customers 
• Simple and easy-to-navigate interface
• Customizable project management tool for defining, executing, and measuring architectural projects

Pricing: 

• Free — $0
• Growth — $9/user/month 
• Business — $19/user/month
• Enterprise — $29/user/month

Pros:

• Free plan
• Affordable subscription plans
• 24/7 knowledge-base and community
• Services available globally
• 14 days free trial
• Dozens of pre-made templates

Cons:

• Some features aren’t relevant to architects

Best Project Management Software for Architects — Comparison Table

There is a variety of project management software available on the market, each with its features and benefits. The following are a few of their most popular options:

What Is Project Management Software for Architects?

Managing a project involves applying knowledge, skills, and processes and combining experience to achieve the project’s objectives. The ultimate goal of project management is to meet deadlines and budgets while producing the final result.

Architectural firms need to focus on operations and projects to manage projects effectively. A typical project management process at an operational level (employee time-tracking, scheduling, capacity, and utilization) is similar to that of any other organization. 

However, architectural projects will have different stages, processes, and techniques for managing each. The architecture project management software helps architects and engineers manage their projects from start to finish. It also helps them manage all projects from one location, keep track of project progress, and facilitate collaboration with team members. 

Why Do I Need Project Management Software for Architects?

Process automation is just as important in the architecture sector as it is in any other business. It is always difficult for firms to deliver noteworthy results that attract more customers, regardless of their market size. An architect typically has to coordinate a lot when it comes to managing an in-house team, devising construction contracts, budgeting, client negotiations, monitoring and tracking projects, and coordinating with civil servants and consultants involved in the project.

Regarding large architectural firms, multiple people handle multiple functions, but in smaller firms, only one person is responsible for everything. As a result, in both cases,  project management software for architects is necessary to automate the coordination process. Below are a few critical goals the best project management software for architects needs to meet to facilitate their work.

Time Management

Architects, without a doubt, are creative individuals, so achieving the desired result may take a lot of time and effort. Therefore, an automated system is necessary for tracking the time spent on each task. A project’s timely delivery would depend on scheduling, conducting communication audits, and measuring task performance.

Meanwhile, architects use project tracking capabilities to ensure superior quality of work by monitoring progress during each stage of construction. Investment in good online project management software is the only way to accomplish multiple business process automation goals under the same umbrella. 

On-Time Project Delivery

Lack of communication during the design stage and poor budget and resource forecasting requirements can impact a project’s delivery timeline. Delays can happen for various reasons in architecture and cannot be foreseen. Therefore, it is necessary to use effective project management software that gathers all possible information about resource availability and global project visibility to plan and execute the project effectively.

Adherence to the Budget

Creative aspects of architecture often prevent the architectural team from adhering strictly to the budget that has been predetermined. Plus, it is nearly impossible and very error-prone to manually keep track of all expenses during all stages of a project, especially where spending exceeds the budget. Thus, implementing project tracking software at the project’s inception is essential to ensuring better cost estimates and managing billable hours.

Management of Various Documents

It is necessary to keep track of innumerable documents and invoices, from the project proposal to multiple project approvals, to be able to refer to them readily. A manual approach can slow down productive work and be quite challenging. Therefore, employee project management software must be implemented to create a repository of business-critical files in readable formats with varying levels of access control.

Delay and Change Reduction

Among the common causes of construction work delays are the building permit’s sanction, the inability of skilled resources to perform certain specific tasks, and client approval. A project management software workflow mechanism makes it possible to assign work as soon as approval is received to available resources.

How to Choose Project Management Software for Architects? Factors to Consider

Architecture projects are often complicated, time-consuming, and involve multiple stakeholders. The issue is that many project management systems lack the functionality to support these procedures and streamline them efficiently. When choosing your new project management system, look out for a few features listed below.

Budget and Resource Planning Features

Budget planning should be flexible and efficient. Workstage probability factors and templates should be integrated into the software for rapid planning. A detailed plan-by-grade option ensures that you can determine which project’s parts are speculative and secure them if you work in phases.

On the flip side, the resource planner should provide a greater level of detail by assigning staff members to each work stage. Project management systems should present profit or loss alongside resource planning to ensure that resource planning is not isolated from cost calculation. Additionally, the resource grid is a convenient feature that notifies you when team members are on leave or have existing commitments, so you can plan accordingly.

Contact Management 

Businesses must have access to the key contact information that is easily readable and accessible, with an intelligent contact lifecycle that keeps track of company history. To avoid duplicate data and make your communications easier to find on both platforms, you should integrate your contact management system with Outlook. Using mobile and Outlook plugins for business development tasks can save you a lot of time, so be sure to look for these features. When considering CRM, GDPR compliance is paramount, so it’s vital to ask about GDPR aspects.

Mobile Optimization

Mobile optimization is crucial in an environment where architects are frequently on the go, whether to client offices, job sites, or meetings with various stakeholders. Whether you use a standalone app or log into the platform via a mobile browser, ensure all features you need can be accessed from mobile devices. Therefore, architects can take business notes, manage expenses and timesheets, and search for contacts, projects, and staff, all with a few clicks on their mobile devices. However, you should know that mobile versions often offer fewer features than desktop versions.

Timesheets

No matter how big or small your architecture firm is, timesheets are necessary to keep projects on track and invoice your clients accurately. The interface should be intuitive and intelligent to make managing timesheets as simple and quick as possible. And to save your architecture firm time and resources and contribute to accurate data, you should look for software with pre-population and auto-approval options. Furthermore, timesheets and resource planners should be connected to ensure data consistency.

Conclusion: What Is the Best Project Management Software for Architects?

After conducting thorough research and comparing the top ten best project marketing software for architects, monday.com comes out on top. It is an outstanding platform for managing architectural projects. Aside from streamlining your communication, it allows you to collaborate with everyone on the platform, offers customization capabilities, helps you manage your resources more effectively, and allows you to share files and images with other team members. 

monday.com offers all your architectural company needs in one place. However, since each business is different, you can examine the other nine project management solutions from our list, and you will undoubtedly find the one that closely matches your business model. 

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