Best Marketing Automation Software

Marketing automation software helps businesses streamline marketing processes.

By automating marketing tasks, it’s much easier to generate leads, build customer relationships, and drive conversions at scale. As your business grows, it’s impossible to manage every single lead and customer manually. But marketing automation software moves customers through your sales funnel with ease.

Marketing automation software provides leads with a consistent experience across multiple digital marketing channels.

By leveraging marketing automation software, you can personalize the customer experience by providing the most accurate information and promotions to customers with different needs.

While the terms are often used interchangeably, it’s important to understand that marketing automation software is not the same as email marketing software or CRM software.

Marketing automation is a component of customer relationship management, and email can be a component of marketing automation—but the three are not one in the same.

The Top 6 Best Marketing Automation Software

• HubSpot
• ActiveCampaign
• GetResponse
• OptinMonster
• Salesforce Pardot
• ConvertKit

After conducting extensive research, I’ve narrowed down the top marketing automation solutions on the market today. Here’s an in-depth review of each one on our list:

#1 – HubSpot — Best Overall Marketing Automation Software

Visit HubSpot

• Visual automations editor
• Starts at $50 per month
• $800 for full automation features
• Up to 90% off for startups
• Request a free demo

HubSpot is one of the most well-known names in the marketing world. This inbound marketing software has everything you need to automate dozens of tasks at scale.

With HubSpot, you’re able to customize sophisticated and highly targeted workflows using a visual editor. You can use this tool for simple follow-up messages or even complex campaigns with multiple touch-points throughout the customer journey.

HubSpot makes it easy for you to automate your emails with drip campaigns. Just choose from dozens of pre-set triggers, conditions, or customer actions.

The HubSpot Marketing Hub starts at $50 per month. However, that package doesn’t give you the full automation benefits.

Pricing for marketing automation features from HubSpot starts at $800 per month, billed annually.

It’s a bit pricey, especially for smaller businesses with lower budgets. But when you buy a product from HubSpot, you’re getting more than just software. You’ll also benefit from HubSpot’s exceptional customer support team.

If you’re a startup, you might be eligible for up to 90% off through the HubSpot for Startups Program. Contact the HubSpot sales team to request a free demo.

#2 – ActiveCampaign — Best For Small Business

Visit ActiveCampaign

• Starts at $49 per month
• Trusted by 90,000+ businesses
• Easy to use
• 14 day free trial
• Start for free

More than 90,000 businesses trust ActiveCampaign for marketing automation. It’s arguably the best visual automation builder with drag-and-drop functionality on the market today.

ActiveCampaign makes it easy for anyone, regardless of technical skill level, to set up both simple and complex marketing automations.

From site tracking to event tracking, attribution, split actions, and automation goals, ActiveCampaign has it all.

ActiveCampaign takes a complex subject and simplifies it with an easy to use dashboard and management tools, which is why it’s our top pick for small businesses.

Pricing for ActiveCampaign Plus with CRM and sales automation starts at $49 per month. The price is based on the number of contacts in your list.

This subscription comes with email marketing, lead scoring, ecommerce integrations, and more.

If you want advanced features such as customer attribution, path to purchase, split automations, and machine learning capabilities like predictive sending, predictive content, and win probably, you’ll need to upgrade to ActiveCampaign Professional. This package starts at $129 per month.

At both of these price points, ActiveCampaign is an affordable option for small businesses. Try it free for 14 days.

#3 – GetResponse — Best Features For Marketing Automation

Visit GetResponse

• Starts at $15 per month
• $49 for advanced automations
• Lots of features
• 30 day free trial
• Get started for free

GetResponse is a powerful and affordable marketing automation solution that’s used by small businesses and large organizations alike. Over 350,000 businesses across the globe use this software to automate marketing processes.

From capturing new leads to generating sales, recovering abandoned carts, and driving engagement from your site traffic, GetResponse has tools to meet your needs.

It’s easy to set up an automated customer journey by applying conditions, actions, and filters that will automatically trigger users through a pre-defined journey based on their behavior.

You’ll benefit from advanced segmentation and lead scoring, which will ultimately improve the effectiveness of your campaigns.

GetResponse is a top choice for ecommerce sites. It helps you understand your customers’ buying habits, browsing behavior, targets abandoned shopping carts and automatically recommends relevant products.

Pricing for GetResponse starts at $15 per month. This comes with basic automation features like welcome emails, drip campaigns, click and open followups, and contact tagging.

To get the most out of GetResponse marketing automation, you’ll need to sign up for the Plus package, starting at $49 per month. The upgrade gives you custom workflows, the automation builder tool, lead scoring, abandoned cart recovery, site tracking, event tracking, and automated segmentation. However, you’ll be limited to just five custom workflows at this rate.

For those of you who need more than five workflows, you’ll have to upgrade to GetResponse Professional, which starts at $99 per month.

It’s worth noting that the feature-rich automation software from GetResponse can be a bit difficult to navigate through. For anyone who is just looking for simple automation tools, you might find GetResponse to be a little overwhelming.

But if you’re looking for as many automation features as possible at an affordable price point, look no further than GetResponse. Try it free for 30 days.

#4 – OptinMonster — Best For Landing Page Lead Generation

Visit OptinMonster

• Starts at $9 per month
• Best for lead generation
• Automated landing page campaigns
• 14 day money back guarantee
• Try it risk-free

OptinMonster is a bit different compared to some of the other options on our list. This software is not really a full-service or all-inclusive marketing automation solution.

It’s a lead generation and customer acquisition tool for your website that leverages marketing automation to grow your email list, reduce cart abandonment, and increase sales. More than one million websites use OptinMonster, making it one of the most popular solutions on the market today.

OptinMonster has tools to help you design high-converting landing pages, popups, and website campaigns designed to generate leads.

Then you can create automated and campaigns for website visitors based on their behavior and actions.

For example, you can create campaigns for new vs. returning visitors. Trigger a popup or offer based on the amount of time that visitor has spent on the site or the number of pages they’ve viewed.

You’ll also be able to automatically trigger landing page campaigns based on user behavior, such as exit intent.

OptinMonster is undoubtedly one of the best lead generation tools on the web. But it lacks in other areas of marketing automation. You’ll need to integrate OptinMonster with your email or CRM software—it does not offer these features.

But with prices starting as low as $9 per month, it’s a cheap add-on to your existing solution.

Try OptinMonster risk-free 14 days. If you’re unhappy for any reason, you’ll get a 100% refund; no questions asked.

#5 – Salesforce Pardot — Best For B2B Marketing

Visit Salesforce Pardot

• Starts at $1,250 per month
• Best for B2Bs
• ROI reporting
• Advanced automations
• Request a free demo

Salesforce is one of the most reputable and well known CRM solutions on the market today. So it’s no surprise to see Salesforce Pardot rank so high on our list of the best marketing automation software.

With that said, Salesforce Pardot is not for everyone. This software is made specifically for B2B organizations.

Top features include streamlined lead management, smart lead generation, email marketing, and sales integration. Salesforce Pardot leverages the power of AI to improve your marketing efforts and sales strategy. You’ll also benefit from insightful ROI reporting to determine what campaigns are working and which ones need improvement.

Here’s a quick look at the Salesforce Pardot pricing options:

With plans starting at $1,250 per month, this software obviously isn’t the cheapest option on our list. But with that said, this type of pricing is expected for a B2B solution of this caliber.

Pardot makes it easy for you to create data-driven campaigns with a powerful and flexible visual builder. Simply map out each touchpoint in your funnel to improve the customer experience and identify gaps in the process.

Salesforce Pardot gives you detailed reports and analytics so you can improve automation campaigns based on real results as opposed to guesswork.

For B2B organizations seeking marketing automation software, Salesforce Pardot is second to none. The biggest drawback is the price, especially considering that you need to commit to a one-year contract. But you won’t have to worry about performance. Salesforce Pardot has everything you could possibly need and more in terms of software in this category.

Contact the Salesforce Pardot sales team to request a free demo.

#6 – ConvertKit — Best Marketing Automation Software For Beginners

Visit ConvertKit

• Starts at $29 per month
• Simple visual editor
• Pre-built automation templates
• 14 day free trial
• Start for free

ConvertKit is one of the simplest marketing automation solutions that you’ll find. For those of you who are new to using marketing automation tools, this choice should be toward the top of your list.

ConvertKit is branded as an email marketing software, but its marketing automation features are much more advanced than just basic email functionality.

This tool makes it easy for you to create powerful automation funnels based on a subscriber’s action. It ensures that you send targeted content to the right audience at the perfect time.

Unlike other marketing automation tools on our list, ConvertKit is simple. You can set up basic automation rules that trigger a specific campaign, without having to go through complex workflows and settings. The visual editor is easy for anyone to use, even if you have zero experience with marketing automation.

Whether you’re running a content site, ecommerce business, or selling SaaS, ConvertKit has the marketing automation tools that you need to succeed.

One of the best parts about ConvertKit is the pre-built automations, so you don’t have to start from scratch. For example, they have automations for hosting a webinar, launching a new product, and surveying your subscribers.

For new businesses, ConvertKit does a free forever plan for up to 500 subscribers. But that doesn’t come with any of the visual automation funnels.

To access all of the features and benefits of ConvertKit, paid plans start at just $29 per month. You can get two months for free if you sign up for an annual contract. Try it free for 14 days.

How to Find the Best Marketing Automation Software For Your Business

For the most part, there is no “best for everyone” solution. The best marketing automation software for you will depend on your specific needs.

Finding the right marketing automation software for your business can be challenging if you don’t know where to look. Here’s an overview of the methodology I used to pick the options on our list. Take these factors into consideration when evaluating the needs of your business.

Business Size and Type

Most marketing automation software is geared toward specific businesses. SMBs and enterprises will have very different needs.

Smaller businesses and beginners should lean toward ActiveCampaign or ConvertKit, whereas a solution like HubSpot is better for mid to large-sized organizations.

If you’re in the B2B space, Salesforce Pardot is the best option for your situation.

For those of you who are running an ecommerce business, make sure that the solution you’re considering has ecommerce features and automations for sales built-in. The tool should also integrate with whatever ecommerce platform you’re using to power your website.

Automation Setup

Your marketing campaigns will only be as good as the initial setup.

Regardless of the platform you’re using, you’ll have to create rules that will trigger a specific campaign or sequence. These are based on user actions, such as opening an email, subscribing on a certain landing page, returning to your website, or abandoning their shopping cart.

The best marketing automation tools allow you to set up advanced automations for multiple actions throughout the customer journey. Visual automation editors make this easy for you to set up.

But with that said, some of those editors are definitely easier to use than others. The best way to figure out how easy it is to set up an automation sequence is by starting a free trial or requesting a free demo.

CRM and Email

Not every marketing automation software is an all-inclusive marketing solution. You need to determine if the tool you’re considering is a one-stop-shop for your needs.

Lots of the options on our list as double CRM software and email marketing software. So you can handle everything from a single dashboard. However, other solutions won’t be as advanced.

For example, OptinMonster is perfect for generating leads on landing pages using marketing automation. But you can’t use that platform to send emails or manage subscribers. You’ll need to integrate it with your existing email marketing software or CRM software.

Features

Choose email automation software based on features that align with your goals.

Exactly what are you trying to accomplish? Is it lead generation? Sales? Conversions? Is the software advanced enough to scale with you as your needs change?

The best marketing automation solutions have advanced features for things like lead scoring, event tracking, sales integration, and more.

It’s worth noting that lots of solutions will advertise lots of features, but don’t actually offer all of those features with every plan. So look carefully at the plan you’re interested in. Don’t assume that it comes with every feature advertised on the software’s homepage.

If you’re looking for something simple, sometimes too many features can be overwhelming. It’s not worth paying extra for advanced features that you’ll never use.

Price

In most cases, the price for marketing automation software is based on the number of customers, subscribers, or leads in your contact list.

But with that said, there is a wide range of price points in this space.

Basic entry-level plans typically start around $30-$100+ per month. Prices on the lower end of that range might not come with all of the advanced marketing automation features that you’re looking for.

Top of the line marketing automation software for mid to large-sized businesses and B2B organizations starts around $800-$1,200+ per month.

In some instances, you can save money by committing to an annual contract. In other cases, an annual contract will be your only option. Month-to-month pricing isn’t available for every solution.

Conclusion

Marketing automation software can dramatically improve your marketing processes as your business scales.

What’s the best marketing automation software for your company? It depends on what you’re looking for.

We ranked HubSpot as the best overall because of its powerful features and benefits. But its high price point is definitely aimed at mid to large-sized organizations and businesses with substantial marketing budgets. However, startups can get up to 90% a HubSpot plan.

Smaller businesses and beginners should lean towards options like ActiveCampaign, GetResponse, or ConvertKit. Salesforce Pardot is the best choice for B2B companies. Any business can consider using OptinMonster as an add-on for landing page lead generation.

Regardless of your business size, type, or needs, you can use this guide to find the best marketing automation software.

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The Best Project Management Software For Your Business

Project management software helps teams stay organized and productive when collaborating on different projects. These tools are especially useful when multiple projects are in progress simultaneously.

A project management solution ensures that projects are completed on time while holding individual team members responsible for specific tasks.

These real-time workspace tools are much more effective than long email chains, writing things down manually, or having to rely on human memory.

While it may sound redundant, it’s important to understand that project management software is made for projects—not ongoing work. Projects have start dates, end dates, and deliverables along the way. For example, creating a website is a project. But maintaining a website post-launch doesn’t have a clear start date or end date.

Not every project management tool is the same. Some solutions are intended for large teams with complex projects, others are ideal for small teams and simple projects, and the rest fall somewhere in between.

No matter what type of projects you’re managing, this guide will help you find the best project management software for your needs.

The Top 7 Best Project Management Software

• Zoho Projects
• Trello
• Wrike
• LiquidPlanner
• Teamwork
• Celoxis
• TeamGantt

After some first-hand experience using these tools and hours of extensive research, I’ve narrowed down the top seven options in this category. Here’s an in-depth review of each one:

#1 – Zoho Projects — Best Overall Project Management Software

Try Zoho Projects

• Starts at $3 per month
• Free forever plan available
• Great for simple and complex projects
• 10-day free trial
• Start for free!

Zoho has a full suite of various productivity tools and SaaS for businesses. So not surprising to see its project management software, Zoho Projects, ranked first overall on our list.

Zoho Projects is a cloud-based project management solution that accommodates the needs for a wide range of businesses, projects, and use cases.

From simple to complex projects, this tool has everything you need to manage various workflows. You can even automate some routine tasks to save time. Use the drag-and-drop interface as a visual way to set up new automations and deploy projects. Collaborate on the go using the Zoho Projects mobile app.

Zoho Projects is affordable, with pricing based on the number of people on your team.

As you can see, your plan will also affect things like storage and project templates. You’ll be limited to just ten projects per month with the entry-level Standard plan; the rest are unlimited.

Zoho Projects does offer a free forever plan for up three users and two projects, which is fine for individual use or a one-off task.

Another reason to like Zoho Projects is its timesheet module. You can easily track both billable and non-billable hours for tasks. Zoho Projects also integrates with popular apps you’re already using like Slack, Zapier, G Suite, Dropbox, and other apps in the Zoho suite.

Sign up for Zoho Projects and get a 10-day free trial; no credit card required.

#2 – Trello — Best Free Project Management Software

Visit Trello

• Free for unlimited users
• Paid plans start at $9.99
• Trusted by millions
• Best for simple projects
• Start for free!

Millions of users trust Trello to manage various projects. For small teams and simple projects, the free project management software from Trello will be perfect for accommodating your needs.

People use Trello for work, side projects, and even for managing individual projects, like organizing a family vacation.

Trello shines in terms of simplicity, which is one of the reasons why I use it to manage team tasks on my websites. Everything is organized with boards, cards, and lists.

Each card represents a task or small project. Those tasks can be assigned to specific team members for collaboration. Cards have subtasks that can be managed and completed in real-time to show progress towards completion. Assigning due dates, uploading files, and adding comments on a Trello card is about as simple as it gets.

You can move cards to different lists such as “in progress” or “complete” so everyone can see the status of a task at a glance. Trello has an exceptional mobile app for project management as well.

In most instances, Trello is better for simple projects. If you’re managing complex projects with large teams, you’ll run into some restrictions with this platform.

The best part of Trello? It’s free. Every user gets unlimited boards, cards, and lists at no cost.

Paid plans start at $9.99 per month per user. This gives you access to advanced features like app integrations, calendar view, map view, advanced users, automations, and more.

#3 – Wrike — Best For Marketing and Creative Teams

Visit Wrike

• Starting at $9.80 per month
• Free for up to 5 users
• Perfect for marketing teams
• 6 month free trial
• Get started for free!

More than 20,000 businesses use Wrike for project management. It’s trusted by large organizations like Verizon and Airbnb.

Wrike makes it easy for you to view real-time reports and statuses for all of your team projects. You can enable and centralize your communication hub for everyone collaborating on a project.

This software is perfect for marketers and creative teams. Wrike has specific project management tools for campaign management where teams can collaborate on tasks, track progress, and review the results of each campaign.

Wrike also has project management templates designed for content creation. This pre-set workflow process includes everything from a creative brief to final delivery and reporting.

Wrike has a free forever plan for simple projects. But most of you will benefit from the Professional or Business plans, starting at $9.90 and $24.80 per user per month, respectively.

Once you select your base plan, you can add-on premium features depending on what types of projects you’ll be using Wrike to manage. It’s kind of a bummer that not every feature is all-inclusive. But it’s nice that you can pick and choose whatever you need.

Wrike offers product bundles for marketing and creative teams. For example, Wrike for Marketers comes with Wrike Proof and Wrike Publish add-ons. It also comes with a Wrike extension for Adobe Creative Cloud.

Contact the Wrike sales team for a quote on a project management plan for your marketing team.

For a limited time, you can get a 6-month trial of Write Professional. You can try the other plans free for 14 days.

#4 – LiquidPlanner — Best For Complex Projects

Visit LiquidPlanner

• Best for complex projects
• Used by 20,000+ businesses
• iOS and Android mobile app
• 14-day free trial
• Start for free!

LiquidPlanner is a top solution for engineering teams, software teams, IT teams, and professional services. It’s made for managing complex projects at scale with lots of contributors.

This project management tool helps you manage uncertainty with best-case and worst-case scenarios for the outcome. LiquidPlanner automatically adapts to change during a project, which is inevitable for projects with a high level of complexity.

LiquidPlanner gives you quick insight into the tasks, progress, risks, and budgets for every project that’s in progress. You’ll even be able to share the most relevant information with whoever needs to stay informed.

LiquidPlanner offers an iOS and Android mobile app, time tracking, advanced analytics, API access, unlimited internal dashboards, and integrations with cloud storage services.

You need at least five team members to be eligible for a LiquidPlanner subscription.

Unfortunately, pricing is unavailable online. You’ll need to contact their sales team to request a quote, regardless of your company size. LiquidPlanner has plans that can accommodate the needs of smaller businesses and enterprises with multiple departments managing hundreds of projects.

If you’re looking for a project management solution for something simple, like managing website content, LiquidPlanner is not for you.

But for those of you with complex needs, you can try LiquidPlanner at no cost with a 14-day free trial; no credit card required.

#5 – Teamwork — Best For Remote Teams and Agencies

Visit Teamwork

• Starts at $9 per month
• Free forever plan available
• Great for remote teams
• 30-day free trial
• Try it for free!

More than 20,000 businesses use Teamwork for project management. It’s trusted by big brands like Spotify, Disney, Panasonic, PayPal, and Netflix.

Teamwork makes it easy for businesses with remote workers to collaborate on projects. It’s easy for everyone to communicate, stay connected, and have clear visibility over the progress of a project, no matter where people are located.

This software management tool has built-in chat, simple project boards, and custom templates. Teamwork allows you to balance your team’s workloads by viewing everyone’s real-time capacity at a glance.

Here’s a quick overview of the plans and pricing for Teamwork project management software:

With a free forever plan for small teams and paid plans starting at just $9 per month, Teamwork is an affordable solution.

Teamwork also has specific team management software for marketing agencies. This tool makes it easy for your team to manage their own projects in addition to client work. You can even add clients and third-party collaborators to your boards for improved visibility and communication. Take advantage of built-in time tracking tools to manage invoices and billable hours as well.

Pricing for agency software is not available online. You’ll need to contact the Teamwork sales team for a quote.

In addition to the free forever plan, you can try any Teamwork paid solution free for 30 days.

#6 – Celoxis — Best For Enterprises and Large Businesses

Visit Celoxis

• Starts at $25 per month
• Enterprise-grade software
• Fully customizable
• 30-day free trial
• Get started for free!

Celoxis is another top option for managing complex projects. But this software is not for everyone. Celoxis is an all-in-one project management software geared towards enterprises and large organizations.

It’s used by companies like Adobe, LG, Tesla, Lufthansa, and Rolex.

Celoxis helps you manage your teams based on skills, availability, and demand. You’ll benefit from automated cost and revenue estimates for every project in real-time.

This software also makes it easy for you to share files and collaborate with both team members and clients. It even has a fully customizable client portal that you can take advantage of.

Celoxis is a bit more expensive than some of the other options on our list, but it’s actually more affordable than other enterprise-grade software solutions on the market today.

The cloud-based solution starts at $25 per month per user (with a five-user minimum). You can save some money if you commit to an annual or two-year contract.

Alternatively, you can install Celoxis directly on your servers for $450 per user. This option is also a five-user minimum, but it’s just a one-time charge as opposed to an ongoing subscription.

Celoxis really stands out in terms of the reports and data that it provides. You can easily send visual reports to your CEO or other decision-makers for specific projects.

Try Celoxis free for 30 days by taking advantage of a free trial.

#7 – TeamGantt — Best For Beginners

Visit TeamGantt

• Free forever plan available
• Starts at $24.95
• Discounts based on team size
• 14-day free trial
• Start for free!

Gantt charts are more than one hundred years old. At the time, these revolutionary charts changed the way that tasks were performed. They are the foundation for many project management solutions.

As the name implies, TeamGantt is a project management software that leverages Gantt charts.

So for those of you who are just getting started and learning about project management, TeamGantt is a top option to consider.

More than one million users across the world trust TeamGantt for project management.

TeamGantt has a free forever plan for up to three users managing a single project. Paid plans start at $24.95 per month for one user.

That’s a bit pricey, especially for simple software. However, you’ll get a better rate per user with a larger team. For example, a team of ten starts at $114.50 per month, which is less than half of the per-user rate of a single person. That number drops all the way to $91 per month with an annual contract.

So while the initial price might look steep at first, it’s really not that bad upon further inspection.

For those of you looking for basic Gantt charts, I’d definitely recommend TeamGantt. If you have a complex project, TeamGantt will have restrictions. They do have an advanced plan with time tracking and hourly estimates, but it doesn’t go much deeper than that.

Try a paid TeamGantt plan for free with a 14-day trial.

How to Find the Best Project Management Software For Your Business

With so many project management solutions on the market today, it can be tough to choose the best option for your business.

This is the methodology that I used to pick the winners in this guide. Generally speaking, there is no “best for everyone” project management software. It all depends on your specific situation. I’ll break down the evaluation factors that you should be looking for in greater detail below.

Project Complexity

The first thing you need to figure out is what you’ll be using your project management software for. Basic project management tools won’t always have the features required to manage complex projects at scale.

On the flip side, if you’re just doing something simple like managing website content or need a tool for a one-off project, you won’t need software with tons of advanced features.

Trello and TeamGantt are both excellent choices for simple projects and smaller teams. If you need advanced features for complex projects, LiquidPlanner and Celoxis would be better for you. Zoho Projects (as our top overall pick) meets that middle ground between simple and complicated projects.

Team Size

The next thing you’ll need to look at is the size of your team. Is everyone on your team going to be working on the same project? Or will everyone be working on multiple projects simultaneously?

If you’re working on a simple project with just a few people, you might even be able to use a free project management solution. Lots of options on our list offer a free forever plan for two or three users.

Managing larger teams is obviously a greater challenge. The best project management software shows the real-time capacity of each team member at a glance. This feature allows you to properly allocate tasks, responsibilities, and resources, without overwhelming people who have a full workload.

Some project management software requires a minimum for the number of team members associated with a subscription. This usually starts around five users but varies from one platform to another.

Ease of Use

Simplicity is key when it comes to project management software.

From the initial setup to onboarding team members and managing tasks on an ongoing basis, you want to make sure that your solution actually makes your life easier. The only real way to determine how easy it is to use project management software is by trying it out.

Every option on our list offers some type of free forever plan or free trial. I strongly advise trying those out so you can get a feel for what works best for your purposes.

Features

Some project management software will offer more advanced features and tools than others. But depending on your situation, you may not need anything too fancy.

Common features that you’ll see for various project management software include storage limits, mobile apps, third-party integrations, built-in communication tools, advanced reporting, and user permissions. You’ll find some solutions with agency features, time-tracking tools, automation, and tools for managing your budget.

It’s important to figure out what tools you’ll actually need as you’re evaluating potential project management solutions.

Price

Pricing for project managing software is usually based on how many users you have on your team. Some solutions require you to pay for a minimum number of users to get started.

Plans are typically billed per month or on an annual basis.

The actual cost varies drastically, depending on your needs. Most tools have a free plan for basic needs and a handful of users. Paid plans start somewhere in the $3 to $25 per month per user range.

Some solutions, like Wrike, charge you extra for add-ons as you essentially start with a basic plan and customize it based on your needs. Advanced solutions, like Celoxis, charge a one-time fee of $450 per user to install the software on your servers.

With such a wide range of prices to consider, it’s important for you to choose something that fits within your budget. Project management software doesn’t need to cost a fortune.

Conclusion

Zoho Projects is the best overall project management software on the market today. It’s affordable and checks off all of the boxes that we look for when evaluating prospective options.

But with that said, this software isn’t for everyone.

If you have complex projects or large teams, you’ll be much better off with LiquidPlanner or Celoxis. Smaller teams, beginners, and simple projects would benefit from Trello or TeamGantt.

There are even use case-specific solutions, like Wrike for creative teams or Teamwork for remote teams and agencies.

Regardless of your team size, project complexity, and business type, you can find the perfect project management software to meet your needs using this guide.

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The Best Virtual Private Servers (VPS Hosting)

Want to jump straight to the answer? The best VPS host for most people is definitely Bluehost.

When most people launch a new website, they use a shared hosting service to meet their web hosting needs. That’s because shared hosting is the most basic and cost-effective way to host a beginner website.

But as your site scales, its hosting needs are going to change. That’s when it’s time to start looking for a virtual private server—better known as VPS hosting.

Not sure whether VPS hosting makes sense for your business? Scroll to the bottom of this post for more on how VPS works and how it compares to other hosting options.

Finding the best VPS hosting plan can be intimidating. There are so many hosting providers out there offering VPS options. Taking the time to research all of them would take days.

Fortunately for you, I’ve already taken the time to do all of the research. I’ve gone through dozens of VPS hosting plans and narrowed down the top options for you to consider.

Here are my 7 top picks for the best virtual private server providers in 2020.

Top 7 best VPS hosting providers:

• Bluehost
• InMotion
• HostGator
• LiquidWeb
• HostPapa
• iPage
• A2 Hosting

Read on for detailed reviews of the VPS hosts above. I highlighted their plans and pricing while explaining what makes each one a top VPS hosting option. You’ll also learn about some of the potential downsides or weaknesses of these providers as well. Let’s begin.

Virtual Private Server Reviews

Bluehost VPS

Visit BlueHost

Normally $29.99/month
Free domain and SSL certificate
Free SSD for extreme speed
30-day money back guarantee
Get a 36% discount

Bluehost is an industry leader in the web hosting space. Their VPS plans offer a wide range of hosting options, to accommodate the needs of nearly every website.

The reason why Bluehost stands out as a top choice to consider is because their virtual private servers offer both power and flexibility. They allow multi-server management, meaning you can add more space to your plan at any given time.

This is ideal for websites that need the ability to scale at a moment’s notice, without any delays or downtime. You’ll be able to accomplish this without any assistance from a Bluehost administrator, directly from your advanced cPanel.

Here’s an overview of Bluehost’s plans and pricing:

Standard VPS

• Starting at $19.99 per month
• 2 CPU cores
• 30 GB of SSD
• 2 GB of RAM
• 1 TB of bandwidth

Enhanced VPS

• Starting at $29.99 per month
• 2 CPU cores
• 60 GB of SSD
• 4 GB of RAM
• 2 TB of bandwidth

Premium VPS

• Starting at $49.99 per month
• 3 CPU cores
• 90 GB of SSD
• 6 GB of RAM
• 2 TB of bandwidth

Ultimate VPS

• Starting at $59.99 per month
• 4 CPU cores
• 120 GB of SDD
• 8 GB of RAM
• 3 TB of bandwidth

As you can see, Bluehost offers pricing and resources for websites of all shapes and sizes.

I found in my complete review of BlueHost hosting that even if you’re looking for an entry-level VPS plan, I’d still recommend starting with the Enhanced VPS as opposed to the Standard. For just $10 more per month, you’ll get double the SSD, RAM, and bandwidth.

Although it’s worth noting that the prices listed above are promotional rates only. You’ll end up paying $29.99, $59.99, $89.99, and $119.99, respectively, when your plan renews.

All Bluehost virtual private server plans include 24/7 support and a 30-day money-back guarantee. For a fair price, you’ll benefit from plenty of resources, support, and uptime compared to other options on the market.

InMotion VPS

Visit InMotion

Normally $64.99/month
Free domain and SSL certificate
Free and unlimited email
90-day money back guarantee
Get a 64% discount

Unlike other web hosting providers that are best-known for shared hosting or dedicated servers, InMotion specializes in VPS hosting.

It’s a top choice to consider whether you’re upgrading from an existing plan or looking to host a brand new website.

One of the biggest differentiators of InMotion is that they offer traditional managed VPS hosting as well as Cloud VPS hosting. Altogether, they have six VPS plans (three for each category).

Let’s take a look at each one to see what’s best for your website.

InMotion Managed VPS Hosting

The managed plans are ideal for business owners, agencies, and resellers. Each plan offers free server management, updates, and free site migrations.

You’ll also benefit from a resource monitoring dashboard, unlimited domains, unlimited email accounts, and unlimited MySQL databases.

• VPS-1000HA-S — Starting at $22.99 per month
• VPS-2000HA-S — Starting at $34.99 per month
• VPS-3000HA-S — Starting at $54.99 per month

To get these low introductory rates, you’ll need to sign up for a 2-year plan.

All plans are ecommerce optimized and come with optional root access for those of you who want more advanced control over your settings.

InMotion Cloud VPS

The cloud hosting account plans offered by InMotion are best for developers and system administrators. That’s because each plan comes with full root access, including SSH keys, which gives you total control over customization.

As a developer, you’ll essentially get a blank-slate to customize a VPS to meet the exact needs for your website. You can also code in the language of your preference, like Java, Ruby, and other population choices.

InMotion Cloud VPS provides enterprise-level hardware, with SSD servers that are 20x faster than the competition.

• cVPS-1 — Starting at $5 per month
• cVPS-2 — Starting at $10 per month
• cVPS-3 — Starting at $15 per month
• cVPS-4 — Starting at $20 per month
• cVPS-6 — Starting at $30 per month
• cVPS-8 — Starting at $50 per month
• cVPS-16 — Starting at $80 per month
• cVPS-32 — Starting at $160 per month

 

In my review of InMotion hosting I found that in order to get the best introductory rates for cloud VPS, you need to commit for one year, as opposed to two years with the managed plans.

As you can see, the pricing for the managed plans and cloud hosting plans are very similar. So the biggest difference between the two is basically how much control you want over the server.

Unless you’re a developer, I think that the majority of you should lean toward the managed plans, just based on the simplicity.

HostGator VPS

Visit HostGator

Normally $89.95/month
Flexible Software Options
Advanced Server Features
45-day money back guarantee
Get a 75% discount

HostGator is another popular name in the world of web hosting. While they are best known for their low-cost shared hosting plans, they also have virtual private servers that are worth considering.

HostGator offers competitive VPS pricing, although their plans aren’t the lowest that we’ve seen.

Snappy 2000

• Starting at $29.95 per month
• 2 GB of RAM
• 2 CPU cores
• 120 GB of disk space
• 1.5 TB of bandwidth

Snappy 4000

• Starting at $39.95 per month
• 4 GB of RAM
• 2 CPU cores
• 165 GB of disk space
• 2 TB of bandwidth

Snappy 8000

• Starting at $49.95 per month
• 8 GB of RAM
• 4 CPU cores
• 240 GB of disk space
• 3 TB of bandwidth

The prices are fair for the resources. But like most hosting providers, these introductory rates will increase when your plan renews.

However, HostGator gives you the option to lock in these low rates for the longest time compared to other options we’ve seen so far. You can pay these intro rates for 36 months.

But with that said, the price increases are the most significant compared to other providers as well. The introductory rates are all roughly 75% cheaper than the actual rates.

HostGator stands out with its reliable and multi-layer security network. This enhanced protection paired with the ability to easily scale your resources is what makes HostGator a top VPS choice on our list.

They also offer good cloud hosting plans as I found in my review of HostGator cloud hosting. Just keep in mind that their customer service and support falls a bit short compared to other providers.

LiquidWeb VPS

Visit LiquidWeb

Normally $59.99/month
Fully managed services
Enhanced SSD servers
59 second support guarantee
Get a 66% discount

LiquidWeb isn’t one of the most well-known hosting providers on the market, but they still offer excellent hosting solutions.

All LiquidWeb VPS plans are fully managed. They manage your hardware and the network. Their administrators also handle all security updates and patches as well as support for the operating system and all software.

Unlike some of the other hosting providers we’ve seen so far, LiquidWeb doesn’t have any special or fancy names for their plans. You’re essentially paying for your resources, starting with RAM.

• 2 GB RAM — $29 per month
• 4 GB RAM — $49 per month
• 8 GB RAM — $69 per month
• 16 GB RAM — $129 per month

All of these prices are based on annual contracts. You’ll pay significantly more if you choose to go month-to-month.

LiquidWeb has 2-year plans available upon request. But you’ll need to talk to their customer service team to find out those special rates for your website.

Speaking of customer service, the support offered by the LiquidWeb team is exceptional. They are available 24/7 via phone, email, and live chat.

All LiquidWeb virtual private servers have 10 TB of bandwidth, which is the most we’ve seen so far. The 16 GB of RAM plan has up to 200 GB of SSD disk space, which is also the highest we’ve seen so far.

Most VPS providers don’t offer a 16 GB plan. I can’t imagine most of you will need it, but for those of you who do, this is where I recommend getting it.

To put that into perspective for you, 16 GB of RAM is double the amount of the highest plans offered by both Bluehost and InMotion.

Click here and use coupon code QUICKSPROUT to get 40% off 2 months of any Liquid Web hosting plan.

HostPapa VPS

Visit HostPapa

Normally $49.99/month
Free SSL certificate
Enhanced SSD servers
30-day money back guarantee
Get a 60% discount

If you’re looking for an enterprise-grade virtual private server, HostPapa needs to be toward the top of your list.

With up to 12 CPU cores, 24 GB of RAM, and 1 TB of SDD, HostPapa’s capacity is unmatched.

Here’s a closer look at all of their plans and pricing.

So for those of you who want as many resources as possible, you’ll have to pay top dollar to get it. The Extreme VPS plan starts at $249.99 per month and renews at $299.999 per month.

It’s safe to say that’s a huge jump from their lowest price-point, starting at just $19.99 per month.

For those of you who are developers or more advanced, you’ll have root access to make customized changes.

Another top benefit of HostPapa is that you can increase your power and resources at any time. They also give you the option to manage multiple servers simultaneously. Regardless of your plan, you can always add an extra server directly from the HostPapa dashboard.

So for those of you who are planning to scale significantly, you won’t have to worry about outgrowing your VPS.

All HostPapa VPS plans are ecommerce optimized and provide enhanced security for online stores.

HostPapa is a top choice for companies who want to build a web-based app as well.

For technology and features that are so advanced, the cPanel interface offered by HostPapa is extremely easy to use. You can monitor all of your resources, and make any adjustments in real-time with just one click.

If you’re currently using another hosting provider, HostPapa offers a free domain transfer and free VPS migration. They also have outstanding 24/7 support.

With all of this in mind, I’d only consider using HostPapa if you need a plan with the most possible resources. Otherwise, you can get comparable plans at a better rate elsewhere.

iPage VPS

Visit iPage

Normally $24.99/month
Free domain and SSL certificate
FREE drag and drop site builder
30-day money back guarantee
Get a 20% discount

If you’re looking for a low-cost VPS plan, look no further than iPage. With plans starting as low as $19.99 per month, iPage offers a quality service at an affordable rate.

iPage has been around for more than 20 years. Over 1 million sites are using this platform for web hosting. So if you decide to go with one of their VPS plans, you know that you’re getting it from a reputable provider.

Let’s take a closer look at their plans.

Basic VPS

• Starting at $19.99 per month (renews at $24.99)
• 1 CPU core
• 1 GB of RAM
• 40 GB of disk space
• 1 TB of bandwidth

Business VPS

• Starting at $47.99 per month (renews at $59.49)
• 2 CPU cores
• 4 GB of RAM
• 90 GB of disk space
• 3 TB of bandwidth

Optimum VPS

• Starting at $79.99 per month (renews at $99.99)
• 4 CPU cores
• 8 GB of RAM
• 120 GB of disk space
• 4 TB of bandwidth

As you can see, these are the lowest prices that we’ve seen so far, even after the full-price renewal rates kick in.

iPage also specializes in web design and other services that I discovered in my in depth review of iPage hosting. So for those of you who are building a new website from scratch and want to start with a cheap VPS hosting plan, iPage is a top choice.

Even with these low rates, you’ll still benefit from quality 24/7 support. You just won’t get the capacity and resources offered by some higher-tier providers.

A2 Hosting VPS

Visit A2 Hosting

Managed starts at $49.99/month
Unmanaged starting at $5/month
Free SSD with root access
30-day money back guarantee
Get a 50% discount

A2 Hosting stands out because they offer both managed and unmanaged VPS plans.

Typically, unmanaged VPS plans with root access and custom features come at a higher price point. But not with A2 Hosting.

Experienced developers can get an unmanaged virtual private server for as low as $5 per month. Although with just 20 GB of storage and 512 MB of RAM, this entry-level plan likely won’t meet your needs.

Here’s a closer look at A2’s VPS plans:

Unmanaged VPS Plans

• Entry — Starting at $5 per month
• Mid — Starting at $10 per month
• Elite — Starting at $15 per month

With the unmanaged plans, you can configure your server preferences for disk space, CPU, memory, and bandwidth. Obviously, any adjustments will impact the price.

Managed VPS Plans and Core VPS Plans

• Power — Starting at $25 per month
• Prestige — Starting at $35 per month
• Pinnacle — Starting at $50 per month

The only difference between the Managed plans and Core plans is that the core plans come with root access. However, you won’t be able to configure your server the same way you would if you select an unmanaged plan.

Overall, A2 is a great choice for developers who want complete control and customization over their VPS at an affordable rate. For traditional managed hosting, I’d probably look elsewhere.

With that said, A2 Hosting has one of the best customer support teams on the market. So if that’s something that you prioritize, it’s worth taking a closer look at their plans. Check out my full review of A2 hosting for more about the company.

How to Find the Best VPS Host For You

Now that you’ve had a chance to look at some specific VPS plans, it’s time to determine the best possible choice for you and your website.

To make things easier, your decision should be based on two main factors.

1. What resources do you need?
2. How much are you willing to spend?

In most cases, price and features will go hand-in-hand. If you need the highest possible RAM, disk space, and storage, then you should expect to pay higher prices.

Aside from that, you could lean toward one provider or plan over another based on other features like customer support, security, and the ability to scale.

Some of you might be wondering what qualifications and standards we used to determine which VPS services are the best. All of the plans on our list scored high based on the following considerations:

Uptime Rates

Uptime is arguably the most important factor to consider in web hosting. Every VPS plan on this guide performed well in our uptime tests.

Most providers guarantee a 99.9% uptime rate and they’ll credit your bill if they fail to meet those standards. However, you’d like to avoid this scenario altogether. Getting a few extra bucks back isn’t worth your site being down.

So if you’re evaluating VPS plans from an uptime perspective, you can rest easy knowing that every provider on our list is a safe option.

Speed

The main reason why VPS hosting is so appealing is because it can drastically increase your website’s performance. Your website will experience a major speed boost now that it’s not sharing resources with other sites.

Site speed is important for all websites, but it’s especially crucial for those of you who plan to experience high volumes of traffic. You want to make sure that you find a plan that can accommodate your traffic without sacrificing speed.

Resources

The amount of resources required to effectively host a website will vary from site to site. Your needs will depend on the type of website you have and the size of your website.

These are the primary resources that you need to look at when selecting a VPS plan:

• CPUs — Computer processing unit cores within a server for computing information.
• RAM —  Amount of working memory that can be accessed by your CPUs.
• Storage — Space available for things like images, videos, content, web pages, etc.
• Bandwidth — Amount of data flowing between your server and website.

The amount of resources you’ll get will be determined by the plan you choose. It all depends on what you need and how much you’re willing to spend.

For example, we’ve seen RAM as low as 512 MB (A2 Entry Unmanaged VPS) and as high as 24 GB (HostPapa Extreme VPS).

Root Access

To be clear, not every VPS plan on our list comes with root access. But not everyone needs it.

Root access is only necessary for those of you who are developers, technically advanced or want to make custom changes to your virtual server. The vast majority of you will be better off choosing a fully managed VPS plan.

With that said, there are some fully managed plans that come with optional root access as well. So just make sure you know ahead of time whether you want to have root access or not, before choosing a plan.

Support

Don’t underestimate the importance of web hosting. If you select one of the providers on the list above, there’s a good chance you won’t run into any issues.

However, things happen. When something goes wrong, you want to make sure you have a web host that is easy to get in touch with.

I’d recommend a VPS plan that comes with 24/7 phone and live chat support. Some of the choices on our list stand out for their support more than others. I made sure to point that out in the reviews.

Add-ons and Freebies

While this shouldn’t be a deal-breaker, add-ons and freebies could sway you in one direction if you’re torn between two web hosts.

For example, if you’re creating a new website from scratch then you probably don’t care about free site migrations. But for those of you who are looking to transfer from another provider, a free migration and free domain transfer could save you a couple of hundred dollars.

What is VPS Hosting?

VPS hosting is a step above shared web hosting. With a virtual private server, you’ll still be sharing a single server, but you’ll be sharing it with fewer websites.

Here’s how it works.

Basically, a virtual private server is one server that’s divided into separate virtual machines. Each virtual server can be run with custom configurations and separate operating systems.

VPS hosting comes with dedicated server resources as well. So even though you’re sharing a single server with other websites, your RAM and CPU are independent of those sites.

A virtual private server is best for those of you who want the benefits of a dedicated server, but don’t want to pay the high costs associated with dedicated hosting.

Here’s a visual representation that shows the difference between shared hosting, VPS hosting, and dedicated servers.

Most of you probably don’t need a dedicated server. But you’ll eventually outgrow your shared hosting plan.

Upgrading from a shared plan to a virtual private server will improve the speed and performance of your website. Since you won’t be sharing resources, your site will be more responsive on the user-end. VPS hosting is more equipped to handle traffic spikes as well.

For more information on how VPS stacks up against other hosting options, check out my guide on the best web hosting providers.

Virtual Servers Compared to Other Hosting Options

Before you finalize your decision on a VPS hosting plan, you need to make sure that a virtual private server is your best option.

If you’re creating a new website from scratch and don’t plan on having too much traffic for a long time, then shared hosting will be your best bet.

For those of you who want complete customization over your server and expect 100,000+ visitors each month, then you might want to consider a dedicated server. You can refer to my guide on the best dedicated hosting plans for more information on this.

VPS hosting is for everyone else who falls in the middle.

So if you’ve outgrown your shared plan but don’t need the resources offered on a dedicated server, then a virtual private server will be perfect for your website.

Summary: The Best VPS Hosting for 2020

With all of that in mind, I’ve put each VPS provider above into a “best for” category. Use can use list this as guidance to steer you in the right direction. As you can see, each review on our list stands out for a different reason. So I’m sure the needs of you and your website will fit somewhere into the categories below.

• Bluehost – Best for power and flexibility at a reasonable price.
• InMotion – Best cloud VPS plans.
• HostGator – Best for locking in low introductory pricing rates.
• LiquidWeb – Best fully managed VPS with high memory and storage plans.
• HostPapa – Best enterprise-level VPS plans.
  
• iPage – Best cheap VPS plans.
• A2 Hosting – Best low-cost unmanaged plans for developers.

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