Choosing a project management tool can seem daunting because there are so many out there to choose from.
There’s a good chance you’re considering either ClickUp or monday.com — two of the biggest names on the market. Both platforms have carved out significant niches in the project management software arena, offering distinct features that fit different types of users and situations.
This article will compare the features and capabilities of these two leading platforms to help you decide which is best for your team.
ClickUp vs. monday.com compared
ClickUp and monday.com are two leading project management tools offering unique strengths and features. Here’s a quick introduction to what each has to offer.
ClickUp provides extensive customization options and powerful automation capabilities, making it ideal for teams with complex workflows who need deep insights into their projects. It offers a wide range of integrations and advanced reporting features.
monday.com, on the other hand, offers a simpler approach to project management. Its user-friendly interface makes it easy to use and quick to set up. monday.com has various board views and straightforward automation features, making it a good choice for teams looking for an intuitive and visually appealing tool.
Both platforms are suitable for diverse work environments, including remote, in-office, and hybrid teams, and both have standard security features to protect user data.
When deciding between the two, you’ll need to consider the specific requirements of your team, such as:
How much customization will you need?
How important is ease of use?
Which integrations are most critical to your workflow?
Which has the best features?
Layout, user interface, and board views
ClickUp provides many different board views, including List, Board, Calendar, Mind Map, and Gantt, and plenty of customization options within each view.
monday.com also offers many board views, including Kanban, Calendar, Workload, Timeline, and Charts, but not as many as ClickUp. It also lets you customize views but isn’t as flexible as ClickUp.
Regarding layout, ClickUp is more customizable and, therefore, more complex, while monday.com is simpler and more user-friendly.
AI features
ClickUp’s AI assistant, ClickUp Brain, is fully functional and provides more AI features than monday.com. It can be used to:
Generate content
Create emails
Summarize text
Brainstorm ideas
Create project briefs
Create meeting agendas
Ask questions and get answers from your docs, tasks, and projects
monday.com’s AI features are currently in Beta, so they aren’t yet available to most users, but they are starting to be rolled out. monday.com uses Azure OpenAI as its large language model (LLM) provider and can be used to:
Generate content
Write emails
Summarize topics
Craft complex formulas
monday.com also offers an open platform so developers can build custom applications, including AI tools, to extend the app's functionality.
Exporting
ClickUp provides extensive exporting options for documents (including HTML, PDF, Markdown, and others) and data. You can export task attachments, specific List or Table views, or your workspace data as a CSV file.
monday.com provides straightforward exporting of board data and files. You can export a document via a link or as a PDF file and export all your account data as a zip file.
Reporting
Both ClickUp and monday.com report capabilities focus on tracking project progress and team performance.
ClickUp provides:
Customizable dashboards for tracking metrics and KPIs
Built-in time tracking
Advanced analytics for project performance, including insights from time-tracking data
Goal tracking to set up and measure progress towards your targets
monday.com provides:
Dashboards that combine data from multiple boards, where you’re able to visualize tasks, timelines, and workloads
Some built-in time tracking reports show task completion rates and individual contributions
Simple project tracking with timeline and calendar views for deadlines and milestones
monday.com doesn’t provide native advanced analytics but offers integration options for more detailed reporting.
So, regarding reporting features, ClickUp is better for teams that need deep insights and customizable analytics, while monday.com is more suited to teams that prefer simple visualization of data and basic performance metrics.
Customization
ClickUp has extensive customization options for teams that need a lot of flexibility. It provides:
Custom fields for data tracking
Flexible status customization
Adjustable layouts
monday.com offers many customization options, but not as many as ClickUp. The customization options it provides include:
A variety of column types for different data (e.g., text, numbers, dates, files)
Customizable status labels for project phases (e.g., 'To Do,' 'In Progress,' 'Completed')
Easy-to-use templates for quick setup
Available platforms
Both ClickUp and monday.com are available as mobile apps, desktop apps, and Chrome extensions, and both are available for Android and iOS.
Which is better for collaboration?
Both ClickUp and monday.com support a variety of work environments, including remote, in-office, and hybrid, and both provide tools that make teamwork and collaboration easier. Each has unique strengths in communication and project visibility.
ClickUp’s strengths include:
Real-time document collaboration, allowing you to edit and share documents directly within ClickUp
Shared whiteboards for brainstorming and mapping out ideas.
Chat and comments for quick communication
Task assignment and notifications to keep everyone updated.
monday.com’s strengths include:
Messaging directly within monday.com
Visual boards and dashboards that make it easy to view and share project progress with other team members
Automation features that reduce the need for constant check-ins
It’s also worth noting that Lark Suite has significant collaboration and communication strengths, such as:
Built-in chat
Video conferencing tools
Collaborative drafting in Lark Mail
Which has better automation?
Both ClickUp and monday.com have automation features to streamline project management and reduce manual work, but they differ in their approach. As in most other capacities, ClickUp’s strength is depth and customization, while monday.com’s strength is simplicity and user-friendliness. The choice depends on your team's automation needs and technical comfort level.
ClickUp offers extensive automation features with custom triggers and actions. It allows you to automate tasks based on triggers such as task status changes, due dates, and custom field values. These triggers start an action, like assigning a task, sending a notification, updating fields, or moving items between lists.
This level of control lets you build complex automation, making ClickUp ideal for teams needing powerful custom automation.
monday.com provides a library of pre-built automation recipes that cover common project management tasks. For example, it can automatically send notifications when a task is overdue, assign tasks to specific team members, or move items between boards when their status changes. These pre-built options are easy to implement and get you started quickly with automation. monday.com also allows some customization of these recipes to fit your needs.
Overall, monday.com is great for teams looking for ease of use and simplicity in automation.
Which has the best pricing?
ClickUp provides four tiers of subscription — Free, Unlimited, Business, and Enterprise, while monday.com provides five tiers of subscription — Free, Basic, Standard, Pro, and Enterprise.
Free plans
Both ClickUp and monday.com provide a free plan with lots of features.
ClickUp’s free plan provides:
Unlimited members and guests (but workspaces are limited to five)
Unlimited tasks
100 MB storage
Multiple views, including List, Board, and Calendar
Automation for simple workflows with limited actions
monday.com’s free plan provides:
Up to two users — collaboration is limited to you and one other person.
Limited items (1,000) — this includes tasks, boards, files, and other elements
500 MB storage
Limited Views: Kanban and calendar view only
No automation features are available on monday.com’s free plan.
ClickUp's free plan provides more flexibility, especially for larger teams. monday.com's free plan is more suited for personal use or simple collaboration between two people.
Paid plans
ClickUp's paid plans cost less than monday.com's when offering similar features. Both offer savings for annual payments. With ClickUp, you can save up to 37% by paying annually, and with monday.com you can save 18% by paying annually.
Members: Both services allow unlimited team members on paid plans.
Storage: All ClickUp's paid plans provide unlimited storage, while monday.com offers increasing storage capacity with higher tiers.
Automation: ClickUp is more generous in its provision of automation. Their basic paid plan includes 1,000 monthly automations, whereas monday.com offers none at that level. This gap continues in the mid-tier plans, with ClickUp providing a much higher limit (10,000) than monday.com's 250 automations. Both platforms provide advanced automation on higher-priced plans.
AI assistant: For paid plans, ClickUp lets you purchase AI features for an extra payment of $5 a month. Presently, monday.com’s AI features are in beta and not universally available.
While ClickUp and monday.com offer some great features, Lark is a powerful and cost-effective alternative. It can save you subscription costs by eliminating the need to pay for many separate apps to provide the same functionality.
Which is easier to use?
Initial setup and learning curve
ClickUp offers extensive features and customization options, inevitably making it more complex to set up and use. There may be a steep learning curve initially, especially for those unfamiliar with advanced project management tools. This means training might be necessary, and ClickUp does provide lots of free training, including tutorial videos and other educational resources. Additionally, ClickUp University offers in-depth training for those who want to get to grips with all its advanced features.
monday.com provides fewer features and customization options, making it easier to learn. Initial setup and a grasp of its core functionalities shouldn’t take too long for most users. That said, there's plenty to learn to use its full potential, and monday.com also provides tutorials and training for certifications.
Integration friendliness
ClickUp offers a wider range of integrations (over 1,000), but some may need technical knowledge to set it up. This is because ClickUp allows for more customization within integrations.
monday.com offers a smaller range of integrations (around 200) but focuses on user-friendliness. Their integrations are typically pre-built with clear instructions, making setup easier for non-technical users.
Dashboard/home screen navigation
ClickUp provides more information on the home screen, which could be overwhelming for new users. Additionally, the variety of customization options means you may have to put in more time and effort to get the layout exactly as you want.
monday.com has a clean and customizable dashboard with widgets for quick access to important project information. It’s less complex than ClickUp, so it’s easy to personalize the layout.
Migration from existing platforms
Both ClickUp and monday.com offer tools to migrate data from other project management platforms. The complexity of migration will depend mainly on the source platform and the amount of data being transferred.
Overall
monday.com’s intuitive interface and streamlined setup make it a good choice for teams looking for a user-friendly project management solution. ClickUp's customization options may be more appealing to experienced users.
For ease of use, monday.com is the clear winner.
Which is more secure?
ClickUp and monday.com provide strong security features like two-factor authentication and data encryption but have a few key differences.
In general, ClickUp gives you more granular control. For example, it lets you set rules for how strong passwords need to be and tracks user activity so you know who accessed what information and when. ClickUp also offers compliance certifications for specific industries, such as HIPAA for healthcare data privacy.
monday.com keeps things simple when it comes to its security features. Like ClickUp, it offers two-step verification and data encryption, but on lower-tiered plans, you can't set specific requirements for how strong passwords must be. However, monday.com’s stand-out security feature is hourly backups, so you can recover your data quickly if something goes wrong.
ClickUp and monday.com offer permission controls on all their paid plans but with a few differences. With ClickUp, you can set permissions for individual items within projects (tasks, lists, etc.) and even entire workspaces on the Enterprise plan. monday.com focuses on board-level permissions, letting you control access for the entire board, not individual items.
So, if you need to manage access down to the task level and control who can see different workspaces, ClickUp offers a stronger solution, particularly with its Enterprise plan. But if you just want to grant access to entire project boards, monday.com would probably fit the bill.
In summary, ClickUp is best for users who need high control and compliance with data security regulations. At the same time, monday.com offers simpler solutions and is better for ease of use.
Lark, too, offers strong security features, including two-step verification and data encryption to keep your projects safe, and has internationally recognized certifications in security and privacy.
What are other users saying?
ClickUp
ClickUp scored 4.7 out of 5 on the software review website G2 and 4.7 out of 5 on Capterra.
Some of the things users said they like about ClickUp include:
The wealth of features
Its flexibility
The ability to customize and switch features on and off
Its range of integrations
The ease of collaboration
The simplicity of importing data from other tools
The ease of setting up automations
Its reporting and analytics capabilities
Its good customer support
Some of the things users said they don’t like include:
The user interface can be intimidating for new users, especially those not used to project management software
The mobile app is clunky and lacks features
On the user interface, the text is too small, and colors are too faint
Its incompatibility with Excel data
It can be slow to load
Some advanced features are reserved for paid plans, which can be expensive for small businesses
monday.com
monday.com scored 4.7 out of 5 on the software review website G2 and 4.6 out of 5 on Capterra.
Some of the things users said they like about monday.com include:
It’s great for communication and collaboration
Its customizability
Being able to design your own workflows
Good customer support
Extensive integrations
The visual clarity of the interface
There were mixed reviews about ease of setup — some users found it quick and simple to set up, while others said there was a fairly steep learning curve for initial setup.
Some of the things users said they don’t like include:
The learning curve involved in initial use
It uses a significant amount of data, which can cause it to be slow
monday.com requires a team to have a minimum of three, so even if you have a two-person team, you have to pay for three seats.
The app for desktop lacks some of the features of the webpage
Some people said they had experienced technical issues
Which one should you choose?
The best choice for your team depends on your situation, needs, and preferences. You should consider factors such as the size of your team, the complexity of your projects, your desired level of automation, and your budget. Here’s a quick recap of the benefits and features of each.
ClickUp
ClickUp might be a better fit for businesses needing a flexible, all-in-one project management solution. Here's why:
It’s highly customizable with many features and views, so you can tailor the platform to your workflow.
Advanced automation features let you build complex workflows.
You can manage projects, tasks, documents, communication, and whiteboards — all within ClickUp's unified platform.
ClickUp can scale with your business. The higher-tiered plans, with their provision of more powerful features like custom fields and advanced automation make it a good long-term solution.
The free plan with generous features makes it a good option for startups or teams on a budget.
monday.com
monday.com is a great choice for small teams, startups, and businesses that prefer a clear visual representation of their project management. Here’s why:
The user-friendly interface and intuitive features make it a good choice for those getting started with project management and for teams of all tech levels.
Color-coded boards, timelines, and many different project views offer a clear visual understanding of projects.
Communication and file sharing are integrated into tasks, making collaboration easy and seamless.
The wide range of ready-to-use templates helps teams start quickly with different projects and workflows.
Alternative: Lark Suite
If neither ClickUp nor monday.com quite fits the bill, Lark Suite could be an even better choice. Here’s why:
Lark provides an extensive suite of tools for:
Project management
Document creation and editing
Video conferencing
Email functionality
All these tools are provided within a single platform, eliminating the need to toggle between apps
They’re all included in one subscription, saving you subscription fees for multiple apps.
Lark’s tools make it easy to communicate and collaborate
Lark provides powerful AI features such as:
Real-time translation of documents
Automatically generated transcription of meetings
Automatic generation of meeting summaries
AI-generated content suggestions
AI-powered analytics
AI-powered search capabilities across chats, documents, and other data
Lark Suite combines the best features of ClickUp and monday.com — a selection of flexible, advanced tools, which users on the software review websites G2 and Capterra said they found easy to set up and use.
Conclusion
To summarize, ClickUp is a good choice for teams that need lots of flexibility and advanced features and are willing to put in the required effort to learn how to use it. On the other hand, monday.com is a better choice for teams who want a simpler solution that's easier to set up and use.
But if you want flexibility, advanced features, and a platform that doesn’t need in-depth training to get up and running, Lark could be the perfect choice.
