Best Scrum Software 2024: Reviewing 11 Tools

Scrum is all about achieving impressive results through incremental steps. With dedicated Scrum tools, anyone can adopt and use this approach — but which ones are the best?

We've rounded up some of our favorite Scrum tools, and will let you know their pros and cons.

Scrum is an agile project management framework. In Scrum, teams complete projects in Sprints, which are iterative cycles optimized every few weeks. Each Sprint, in turn, culminates in a completed and functional product or deliverable that provides customers with added value.

Scrum is used in many fields, but it's particularly popular in software development — because it allows developers to break down large projects into smaller, manageable pieces and respond quickly to changes or customer requirements.

To learn more about the components and applications of Scrum, check out our Scrum guide here:

Scrum tools are software solutions that help teams effectively implement the Scrum framework. Typically, we're talking about comprehensive project management platforms that support multiple methodologies, Scrum being just one of them.

These digital platforms are used to plan Sprints, manage tasks, monitor progress, and communicate with stakeholders. They are designed to promote transparency and collaboration within teams, facilitating communication between members and managers.

While every Scrum tool is different, there are a few basic features that any platform should offer. These include:

A good Scrum tool will offer these features (and more) in a user-friendly interface that helps optimize your agile work processes and team productivity. But which one is the best?

We extensively tested 11 popular project management platforms that offer Scrum features. Here are our favorites:

monday.com* is a versatile project management tool designed for teams and businesses to keep a bird's-eye view over their projects through clear and intuitive dashboards.

It boasts plenty of features and flexible customization options beyond its user-friendly interface, making it an excellent choice for various approaches and frameworks, including Scrum.

monday.com offers tons of features and flexible task and project management options in an appealing package.

The colorful, Lego-like interface is well-structured, making things easy for newbies. It offers quick access to different boards, views, forms, columns, automations, and extensive configuration options.

monday.com allows you to visualize project and task data in various ways, such as Kanban boards, calendars, or table views. Teams can organize projects, plan Sprints, define project milestones, and analyze insights through reports and statistic dashboards.

Additionally, monday.com includes advanced features like resource management and native time tracking. It also offers numerous integrations to supplement the platform with any missing features.

monday.com lacks dedicated communication options that are not task-related, such as private messages and group chats. Additionally, the platform has more paywalls than some competitors, and certain standard features and views (e.g., Gantt charts or calendars) are only available in higher-priced plans.

ClickUp* is a maximalist, not a generalist. The self-proclaimed “One app to replace them all” aims to offer so many project management and productivity functions that teams will no longer need any other software in this area. Not surprisingly, ClickUp also supports Scrum.

In terms of features, ClickUp doesn't promise too much: the platform is indeed packed with useful tools. Most features, interfaces, and settings are customizable, which makes it easy to tailor ClickUp to your individual needs.

In addition, ClickUp covers all critical views and project management functions, offers comprehensive task management with a wide variety of custom fields, and includes useful collaboration tools.

ClickUp offers extensive customization options and features that support agile teams and Scrum processes. The platform enables flexible task management, Sprint planning, backlog management, and workflow visualization through various views like Kanban boards and Gantt charts.

Additionally, ClickUp enhances project planning with built-in time tracking, automated workflows, and robust reporting tools. Teams can also use ClickUp for communication, thanks to group chats and real-time document collaboration.

The vast range of features means ClickUp has a steeper learning curve than other platforms. Some teams might prefer a more streamlined, focused Scrum tool rather than an all-in-one solution.

Additionally, ClickUp's dashboard can feel clunky and slow compared to the sleek interfaces of monday.com or Asana, and occasional performance issues can exacerbate this.

Asana* is a project management software developed by former Facebook employees to help teams organize their work. Asana's goal is to reduce the “work about work”, allowing team members to spend as much time as possible on their essential tasks.

Asana's biggest strength is its fast, intuitive, and process-oriented interface, which brings a level of dynamism to project management that few task management tools can match. It makes Asana a productivity hub that users might even enjoy visiting, free from distractions and interruptions, allowing efficient task viewing and management.

Embedded within this sleek interface is a flexible and feature-rich project management tool that covers all essential task features and views. We particularly appreciate Asana's automation tools, which make creating automatic rules and workflows instinctively easy.

While Asana wasn’t primarily designed for Scrum, it is well-suited for core Scrum processes like Sprint planning, Daily Scrums, and Sprint reviews because it provides a clear overview and tracking of tasks.

With board views, teams can plan projects and track progress, easily organizing and prioritizing tasks within Sprints. Setting up project timelines, essential for planning Sprint periods, is straightforward in Asana, and there are extensive options for visualizing project progress.

Compared to solutions like ClickUp, Asana can be somewhat inflexible. Tasks aren't as cutomizable, and the selection of custom field types is limited.

Teamwork.com* is primarily targeted at a specific audience: teams working on client projects, such as agencies.

Teamwork.com's focus on client projects is reflected in its features: budget and resource management tools are more robust compared to many other project management tools, complementing its powerful task management features.

You can create budgets for each project, track billable and non-billable hours with the built-in time tracking feature, and even seamlessly convert the work done into invoices.

With board views for Sprints, easy task assignment, and comprehensive reporting features, Teamwork.com provides a solid foundation for Scrum work.

When it comes to teamwork and managing client projects, Teamwork.com is a few steps ahead of its competitors. It offers a wide range of collaboration tools, including chats, message boards, and a wiki function, and excels with its budget and invoicing tools.

If you don't need all the extra features or prefer to use separate solutions for invoicing, time tracking, and communication, Teamwork.com might feel unnecessarily complex and bloated for your needs.

Additionally, its task management isn't as flexible as monday.com or ClickUp, and the selection of custom fields is limited.

Notion* is more than just a Scrum or project management tool. It combines documentation, data management, and project management into one powerful, customizable workspace that supports various work styles and methods.

Every project management tool is what you make of it, but this is especially true for Notion. Its wiki-like document structure allows you to configure each page with content blocks for different purposes, which makes Notion incredibly versatile. It can serve as a company wiki, CRM, task management platform, and Scrum tool all in one — or just one of these functions, depending on your needs.

Plus, Notion offers great value for money with affordable plans that don't require a minimum number of users.

Notion provides customizable templates for agile workflows, enabling teams to organize Sprints and manage projects efficiently. The platform supports central documentation of project details, transparent task distribution, and information sharing, all of which are crucial for Scrum.

By combining project management features with flexible databases and documentation tools, Notion promotes effective collaboration and ensures teams are always up-to-date with important developments.

Notion is not a dedicated Scrum tool — it's not even a typical project management tool. Scrum is just one of many methods supported within its wide array of features. If you're looking for a focused, dedicated Scrum tool, other solutions might be a better fit.

Of course, our Top 5 is just a small selection of the available Scrum and project management tools on the market. Here's our full ranking of the 11 platforms we've tested, with links to detailed reviews here:

Scrum provides teams with the structure needed to tackle complex projects successfully. A good Scrum tool can facilitate the implementation of Scrum principles by serving as a centralized platform for task management, team communication, and managing backlogs and Sprints.

Of course, a Scrum tool shouldn't create more work than it saves. That's why it's crucial to find a solution that perfectly fits your team's individual needs. We've thoroughly reviewed 11 project management platforms to help make your decision a bit easier.