Still stuck using generic project or task management tools that weren’t built specifically for creative projects? Unfortunately, big-name project management tools feel misaligned when applied to creative work. They’re either:

• overloaded with features you’ll never use 
• or too stripped-down to handle the messy, client-facing side of agency life

To help, we’ve done the homework for you. After evaluating the top creative project management tools of 2025, we’re sharing our top nine so you can choose with confidence.

What makes creative project management different?

Before we dive into our list of the best project management tools for creative teams, we should first tackle what makes creative project management so different. Why isn’t it the same as generic project management?

Reason #1: Collaboration is client-facing, not just internal.

In many project management scenarios, collaboration primarily happens within the project team. Therefore, you can hide the mess. But with creative project management tools, clients are also pulled right into the process. They see the timelines you set, the way feedback gets handled, and the speed of your approvals. 

And yes—clients judge you by it.

Reason #2: Feedback loops often require visual review & annotation.

Words alone just don’t cut it when you’re reviewing creative work. Most of the time, explaining in text is virtually impossible without pointing directly at the layout. That’s why creative projects demand tools that let you literally mark up the work like drawing a box around the logo that’s too small or highlighting the copy that doesn't feel right. Without visual annotation, feedback gets vague or misunderstood. 

Reason #3: Agencies need service/productization features (not just tasks).

Most PM tools are built around tasks—assign, track, complete. But creative agencies sell repeatable, trackable, billable offerings. 

So, a good creative agency project management software needs to support service/productization features that make your services feel like packaged offerings clients can buy, track, and renew. The best project management tools for creative teams let you build service templates, client intake forms, and automate billing for monthly retainers or add-ons.

Reason #4: Simplicity > complexity (creative teams don’t want 20-step setups).

In creative agencies, time is money. Complex PM tools drain profit because the overhead (setup, admin, navigation) cuts directly into the hours you’re actually paid for. Your team members are paid to design, write, animate, shoot, edit—not to click through 10 menus to update a task. So, the more complicated the tool, the more billable creative time gets wasted.

The best creative project management tools in 2025

Now let’s look at the best project management tools for creative teams leading the way in 2025—the ones we already reviewed, so you don’t have to.

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1. ManyRequests

(best for streamlining a creative agency’s operations)

ManyRequests focuses on the needs of creative teams to simplify project management, client communication, and service requests. It provides you with a seamless platform to manage your agency from end to end—projects, clients, requests, payments, and more. One source of truth. One place where your clients actually know where to go.

Strengths:

• An all-in-one creative agency project management software that handles the whole client workflow. Projects, client requests, file sharing, billing, portals—everything under one roof.
• With ManyRequests, clients get their own branded portal—a home base where they can make requests, check progress, view files, and leave feedback.
• You can create invoices, set up subscriptions, process payments, and tie them directly to projects.

Limitations:

• Too niche if you’re managing non-creative projects.

Pricing: A 14-day FREE trial is available. The paid plan starts at $29 billed monthly, with pricing adjusted for team size and features.

2. Trello

(best for visual management of creative workflows)

Trello’s visual Kanban boards make managing creative projects feel less like hunting for lost tasks and more like instantly seeing where everything stands. That visibility helps teams spot bottlenecks, keep priorities straight, and move faster without endless check-ins. You get a big-picture view of the entire workflow in seconds.

Strengths:

• The whole experience is built around drag-and-drop and visual clarity.
• Each board can be extended with Power-Ups (calendar view, custom fields, integrations) so teams can keep it simple or layer in features as projects grow.
• Each card acts like a mini project hub—with attachments, checklists, comments, and due dates all in one place—so assets and feedback don’t get scattered.

Limitations:

• Too simple for really complex projects with intricate dependencies.
• Free users have limited attachment storage.

Pricing: Free for up to 10 collaborators per workspace; Paid  plan starts at $6 billed monthly

3. Notion

(best for creating interconnected databases)

For creative teams, interconnectedness is a superpower. With Notion, you can create relational databases where different data types—tasks, projects, documents, and assets—can seamlessly link to one another. You make updates in one place, and those updates show wherever that item is connected.

Strengths:

• Relational databases to connect tasks, projects, clients, and assets so everything’s linked together—update it once, and the changes show up everywhere it’s connected.
• Teams can manage projects while also building wikis, SOPs, or content libraries in the same space.
• You can flip the information you and your team store in Notion into a Kanban board, table, gallery, or calendar, depending on how your team thinks best.

Limitations:

• Can be empowering for power users but overwhelming for beginners.
• When teams build huge interconnected databases, Notion can lag.

Pricing: Free for basic individual usage; Paid plan starts at $10 per member/month.

4. ClickUp

(best for replacing multiple creative tools)

ClickUp is the “everything app” that can replace half the tools cluttering your agency’s stack. It centralizes project planning, task management, docs, chat, whiteboards, client forms, time tracking, and file sharing—eliminating the need to juggle separate apps. That all-in-one setup makes it a powerhouse for creative agencies running multi-channel campaigns.

Strengths:

• You don’t have to juggle six apps to manage one campaign—thanks to its all-in-one workspace.
• ClickUp Brain automatically generates project plans, task lists from briefs, status updates, and progress summaries.
• Native whiteboards and mind maps for moodboarding, ideation, and mapping campaign flows before they become tasks.

Limitations:

• Can feel overwhelming because it offers so many features.
• There’s a steep learning curve coming from ClickUp’s flexibility.

Pricing: Free forever plan available; The paid plan starts at $10, billed monthly.

5. Airtable

(best for structuring and linking diverse business data)

Airtable is built for teams that don’t want silos. It’s a highly flexible and scalable platform to manage complex project management workflows while connecting data across departments. Yes, it combines project and task management with a powerful, customizable database. It structures and links diverse business data like creative assets, campaign content, product roadmaps, and client feedback, all in one place.

Strengths:

• Airtable structures and links diverse business data to ensure all project-related information stays connected.
• Has AI-powered features that help categorize, segment, and prioritize project data to enhance team productivity and project visibility.
• Lets you switch between grid (spreadsheet), calendar, Kanban, gallery, and even Gantt-style timeline views—all based on the same data.

Limitations:

• Too many features are locked behind paid plans.
• Not very affordable

Pricing: Start free; Paid plan starts at $24 billed monthly.

6. Workamajig

(best for larger or growth-stage creative agencies)

Workamajig offers end-to-end agency management, integrating CRM, project management, finance, accounting, resource allocation, and reporting. For a small agency, this might feel like overkill. But for a growing or established agency, Workamajig’s end-to-end coverage is what keeps things from slipping through the cracks. Leads become clients. Clients become projects. Projects get delivered profitably. And you see the whole story.

Strengths:

• Since Workamajig is agency-specific, the workflows actually match how agencies work.
• Beyond basic project management, it can handle the full scope of their business operations—track time for billing, manage vendor relationships, forecast revenue, and run complex financial reports.
• Visual scheduling shows who’s slammed, who’s free, and where you’re overbooked through its dedicated staff scheduling dashboard and resource management tools.

Limitations:

• Onboarding can be time-consuming.
• The interface is less intuitive than some competitors.

Pricing: Starts at $39/user/mo. Get one month free with an annual payment.

7. FunctionFox

(best for managing tight deadlines and overlapping campaigns)

FunctionFox’s time tracking is a central feature—and it's built to be fast and straightforward. It’s built for agencies juggling too many clients, too many campaigns, and never enough time. Its accurate time tracking is a core foundation for managing tight deadlines effectively in FunctionFox. When teams log exactly how long specific tasks take, that data is captured and available for future project planning. 

Strengths:

• FunctionFox gives you the insight to plan smarter, bill accurately, and deliver on deadline without burning out your team.
• Interactive to-do lists, Gantt charts, board views, and project calendars enable agencies to visualize timelines, deadlines, and task progress seamlessly.
• Lets you see in real time how hours translate into costs and profitability across projects and clients.

Limitations:

• Limited customization options.
• Not easy to navigate.

Pricing: Starts at $12 / user, billed monthly.

8. Nifty

(best for automated progress tracking)

Nifty uses smart automation to keep project status updates accurate and timely with minimal manual input. Instead of relying on your team to constantly update tasks and report progress, Nifty does the heavy lifting in the background. It’s automation built not just for efficiency—but for the messy, deadline-driven reality of agency life.

Strengths:

• As tasks are completed, milestones automatically reflect the progress made, and portfolio dashboards roll everything up into a real-time view of project health.
• Nifty has custom forms to capture data seamlessly and automate task or message creation.
• Its Orbit AI spots workload risks and predicts deadline slippage.

Limitations:

• Reporting and integrations are areas where the platform is still catching up.
• May lack advanced features for large agencies.

Pricing: Free forever plan available; Starter plan is at $49/month, billed monthly.

9. Miro

(best for the initial, unstructured phases of a creative project—mapping out ideas, workflows, and project plans)

If you prioritize ideation, brainstorming, and real-time collaboration, Miro is the creative agency project management software to go with. Instead of juggling multiple apps or trying to explain processes in text-heavy documents, teams can map out ideas, plan projects, and collaborate in real time on the same visual workspace. Everyone sees the same board, can comment, move pieces around, and update plans instantly.

Strengths:

• It's a digital whiteboard platform, offering a limitless canvas that lets teams sketch ideas, create wireframes, build interactive prototypes, run design workshops, and develop project plans in a freeform, dynamic environment.
• Offers a huge library of templates, so agencies can standardize creative workflows, speed up project setup, and scale processes without reinventing the wheel each time.
• Enhances collaboration by integrating chat, live calls, and interactive tools like polls and voting directly into the workspace

Limitations:

• Sometimes it’s tricky to find the feature needed.
• Robust feature set can create a steep learning curve for new users

Pricing: Free to start; Paid plan begins at $10/member/month.

How to choose the right tool for your creative agency

Here, let’s get practical. To narrow down your options and pick the tool that’ll actually work for your agency, answer a few key questions before you even start a free trial.

How big is your team (and budget)?

Of course, the size of your team and your budget will heavily influence your choice of tool. You choose a creative agency project management software that matches your reality today and has headroom for where you’re going next.

Do you prioritize collaboration vs. operations?

If you’re collaboration-focused, features like real-time communication are a priority. If you’re operations-focused, features like resource management appeal more. Most agencies want both. The trick is timing. Early on, prioritize client-facing collaboration so projects run smoothly. As you scale, operational features like resource management and reporting become essential. Your choice depends on where you are in that journey.

Do you need a client portal?

Yes, this question is a fit. Since a client portal significantly impacts the client experience, your projects are inherently client-facing, meaning clients will frequently request updates, approvals, and files. If they don’t have a clean, branded client portal, they’ll revert to email correspondence.

Do you want built-in invoicing/payments?

This question matters because billing is also part of your fulfillment. Consider a tool that goes beyond task management to handle invoicing/payments. So, there’s no need for anyone to manually match “what got delivered” with “what got billed.”

Choose tools built for creatives

Creative agencies work differently. Feedback is subjective. Deliverables are visual. Clients, not just teammates, are part of the process. Therefore, you can’t thrive in a generic project management tool that wasn’t built around them. You need one designed around those realities.

Enter ManyRequests: the all-in-one solution made for creative teams. Client portals, proofing, invoicing, requests, approvals—it’s everything you’re juggling across different tools, finally under one creative project management tool. Start your free trial today!

FAQs

What’s the best project management tool for creative agencies?

The “best project management tool” for creative teams depends on your agency’s size and needs. Tools like ManyRequests combine client collaboration AND operations in one platform.

Is creative project management software worth it for a small agency?

Yes—having one hub saves time, reduces errors, and keeps clients happy, even for teams of 2–3.

Can I use Asana, Monday, or ClickUp for creative project management?

You can—but you’ll need extra tools for feedback, client requests, or invoicing. These platforms were built for generic workflows (or even software teams), not the unique needs of creative agencies.

Why do creative agencies need specialized project management software?

Because creative work is different. Specialized creative agency project management software support proofing, annotations, client portals, and approvals—all the things generic PM tools fall short on.

How do I choose the right creative project management tool for my agency?

Focus on what matters most and pick a tool that matches. If you're looking for an all-in-one solution tailored to creative agencies, ManyRequests offers a comprehensive platform that covers client portals, proofing, invoicing, and approvals in one place.

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Originally Posted: November 14, 2023