Using the appropriate collaboration tools is the most effective approach to improving teamwork, whether the team is based in an office or working remotely. Efficient collaboration is crucial for any team.
Following that, we present the top 33 online collaboration tools for businesses, categorized into the 8 types of essential online collaboration tools for effective teamwork. From content creation to online meeting scheduling, every aspect of the process is covered by various applications.
This article provides a list of tools that are considered the best for various purposes including project management, content creation and planning, calendar and file sharing, cloud storage, communication, real-time collaboration, video conferencing, and online whiteboards for brainstorming and team discussions.
Flextime and remote work are gaining popularity, leading many people to abandon the traditional 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. office hours. Some individuals are even willing to switch jobs solely to have the opportunity to work from home.
There are methods available to communicate, collaborate, and complete tasks efficiently even if you are not physically present with your team. Stanford University conducted a study which demonstrated that working from home enhances productivity by 13%. Additionally, a survey carried out by Connect Solutions supports this, revealing that 77% of individuals who work remotely on a regular basis experience increased productivity. Within this group, 30% accomplish more work in less time and 24% achieve more work within the same time frame.
The speed and quality of remote work are partly influenced by the availability of various online collaboration tools. These tools enable real-time organization and collaboration, simulating an in-person setting, while also providing the convenience of working from home or another comfortable environment. Consequently, travel expenses are reduced, and stress is alleviated. However, it is important to select effective online collaboration tools to avoid complicating the situation.
As a result, we selected several top-notch online collaboration tools to support each stage of the process.
Using different types of project and team management tools can be extremely beneficial in staying on top of various projects and processes that your team has to deal with. Furthermore, it is essential for your team to have a time tracking software solution in place to ensure that everyone is aware of who is working on which tasks and for how long.
By thinking step by step, you will enhance your ability to effectively schedule and plan, delegate tasks, and improve the productivity of your team.
29 Best online collaboration tools for teams
Best for time tracking – Clockify
Clockify is a software that allows teams to track their time for free. It enables users to track time on tasks in real-time, manually input time for previous activities, or record time spent on activities in a timesheet. Furthermore, it provides the ability to generate Visual and Weekly Reports based on the tracked time and analyze the efficiency of teams’ work.
Some notable features of Clockify are:
- Define projects and associate them with clients
- Define project-related tasks and then assign them to team members
- View what everyone is currently working on in the Team Dashboard
- Lock timesheets to mark them as approved
- Add expenses and create invoices
What are the reasons for using Clockify?
Clockify is an excellent resource for teams to monitor the duration they dedicate to tasks, clients, and internal projects. It enhances the efficiency and transparency of collaboration by providing insights on task allocation, expertise distribution, and time-consuming activities. Moreover, Clockify stands out from other time trackers as it offers the advantage of unlimited users at no cost.
This is available for Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android, Google Chrome, Firefox, and Edge.
“Best for tracking project progress – Trello
Trello is a project management tool that is based on the Kanban system. It assists teams in monitoring project progress. Projects are represented by boards, while tasks can be assigned to individuals through cards. Subsequently, individuals can indicate their task progress by moving cards/tasks across appropriately labeled columns, such as “To Do”, “In Progress”, and “Done”.
Trello features that are worth mentioning:
- Trello’s shared calendar
- Breaking card/tasks into checklists
- Adding file attachments
- Share cards/tasks with team members
- Add deadlines to tasks
What is the purpose of using Trello?
When your team is managing numerous tasks and projects concurrently, it can be challenging to track what needs to be addressed, what has already been completed, and what is presently in progress. Trello aids in maintaining organization and staying on top of your workload. It provides a clear and visual depiction of all tasks and their current status, along with indicating the individuals responsible for each one.
You can access it on iOS, Android, Windows, Mac, Google Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Safari.
Best for agile project management – Jira
Jira is a tool designed for agile project management and issue tracking, which can be used with any agile methodology. It provides the ability to plan, track, and manage software development projects and associated issues using Kanban and Scrum boards.
Some noteworthy features of Jira are:
- Business development Project Templates
- Roadmaps
- Agile reporting options
- Custom fields for creating customizable workflows
- Sprints
What is the reason for using Jira?
Jira may be a suitable choice for fans of agile project management as it offers flexibility, transparency, and serves as an effective organizational tool. It allows for issue categorization through labeling, estimation of project budgets, and the creation of a customized workflow tailored to the team’s needs.
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Best for customizing your workflow — ClickUp
ClickUp is a versatile tool for enhancing productivity that is utilized by teams in various industries. It provides a comprehensive work management solution that can be tailored to individual needs and delivers a transparent and feature-packed experience. With ClickUp, you can efficiently handle your workload, stay up to date with project advancements, and collaborate seamlessly with your team, regardless of your preferred project management style.
Notable features of ClickUp:
- Over 15 views including Chat view
- Threaded comments that you can assign and edit
- Multiple assignees and watchers in tasks
- Real-time editing in ClickUp Docs and Whiteboards
- Team insights and real-time reporting
What is the advantage of using ClickUp?
At the heart of every ClickUp feature is collaboration, with a wide range of tools to keep teams updated and aligned on goals. To ensure that everyone in your Workspace can efficiently comment, edit, and work together without overlap, there are features available to connect your hybrid, remote, and in-office teams. Additionally, ClickUp can be integrated with over 1000 other work tools, allowing you to sync all your work and streamline your team’s workflow.
The available platforms for the application include Web, macOS, Windows, iOS, mobile app, and Android.
Best project management tool with shared calendar – Asana
Asana offers a to-do list layout and a Kanban-based layout for your team to manage tasks and projects. You can add tasks to the Kanban board to monitor their progress or add tasks to the to-do list board and mark them as completed once finished.
Some notable features of Asana include:
- Asana’s shared custom calendar
- Adding comments, assignees, and attachments to tasks
- Adding due dates to tasks
- Tracking tasks on a timeline
- Creating and using recurring tasks in multiple projects
What are the reasons for utilizing Asana?
Whether you are in the same office or in a different country, Asana allows you to stay connected with your team. With this software, you can effectively organize tasks and specify the different stages of work to identify priorities and areas of delay. Additionally, you can engage in discussions with your team members and provide comments on tasks within the program.
The following platforms are supported: iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, Google Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Safari.
Best for third-party collaboration – Wrike
Wrike, a project management tool, enables communication with both your team and external individuals, making it an excellent choice for outsourcing tasks to third parties or arranging consultations with clients.
Some notable features of Wrike are:
- Share images or videos and then highlight important information
- Collaborative, simultaneous editing
- Visual timelines to help with scheduling
- Customizable workflows
- Transparent workloads and project resources
What is the reason for using Wrike?
With Wrike, you can collaborate in real-time with all members of your organization. By receiving live updates and identifying potential obstacles in advance, you will always be ready for upcoming tasks. Furthermore, integrating Wrike with the tools you already utilize is made easy due to its extensive list of app integrations.
This app is accessible for iOS, Android, Windows, and Mac devices.
Best for task management – Monday.com
Monday is an app meant for work management and productivity. Its purpose is to enhance operational efficiency within teams and organizations by monitoring projects and workflows, presenting data visually, and promoting team collaboration. With numerous features for project management and collaboration, it aids teams in customizing workflows, adapting to evolving requirements, fostering transparency, fostering collaborative connections, and eliminating the need for manual laborious tasks.
Monday features that are worth mentioning include:
- Milestone and status tracking
- Time and expense tracking
- Project planning
- Project templates
- Task, content, and document management
What is the reason for using Monday?
By using Monday, you have the ability to handle all tasks in a single workspace, hence saving time through automation setups that enhance productivity. Furthermore, you have the option to select the preferred format of data visualization, whether as a map, calendar, kanban, or timeline, based on what inspires you the most to accomplish tasks.
You can access it on iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, Google Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Safari.
Best for presenting designs – InVision
InVision is an app that caters to digital product design, workflow, and collaboration. Created by designers for designers, it offers a simple way to generate interactive mockups for your designs. It also provides design tools and educational resources to support teams throughout the entire process of product design, from generating ideas to development.
Some noteworthy features of InVision include:
- Design sharing and presentation
- User Testing and Research
- Real-Time Design Meetings and Whiteboarding
- Design Feedback and Commenting
- Integrations with popular apps such as Slack, Adobe Photoshop, Dropbox, Trello, and Jira
What is the reason for using InVision?
If you need to present your new design to the team, create interactive prototypes, or discuss the new visual identity for your brand, InVision can be useful. It simplifies the communication of thoughts and ideas and facilitates collaboration in order to achieve the optimal design.
This software is accessible for Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android devices.
Best for real-time collaboration – Figma
Figma is a collaborative interface design tool that operates on the web and enables real-time collaboration. It facilitates connection among all individuals involved in the design process, thereby allowing teams to swiftly deliver improved products.
Some noteworthy features of Figma are:
- Intuitive prototyping
- Built-in commenting
- Real-time collaboration
- Real-time updating of the project
- Share collections of components across projects
What is the reason for using Figma?
When it comes to creating something great, it is important to recognize that it cannot be achieved single-handedly. Figma seamlessly integrates design and collaboration, allowing the entire team to collectively generate and execute ideas, resulting in the delivery of an exceptional product.
This software is compatible with Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android operating systems.
Best for brainstorming sessions – Visme
Visme is an online software solution for presentations and infographics. Its primary goal is to assist your team in visualizing ideas using numerous reusable templates and infographics. It is particularly effective in visually presenting and analyzing data pertaining to your company’s progress.
Some noteworthy features of Visme include:
- Flowcharts
- Diagramming options
- Easy text to chart conversion
- The option to map up the brainstorming process
- Work offline
What is the reason for using Visme?
With Visme, both beginners and professional designers can easily create visually appealing presentations and infographics. This intuitive tool also facilitates the enhancement of your social media feed quickly and easily.
This tool can be used on both Windows and Mac operating systems.
Best for social media collaboration projects – Planable
Planable is a platform designed for social media collaboration, aiming to provide the capability to preview your Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook posts prior to their publication. Subsequently, you, your team, and your clients are able to engage in discussions regarding the posts and make necessary adjustments to optimize your campaign.
The noteworthy features of Planable are:
- Automatic post publishing
- Post scheduling
- Create and adapt posts for multiple pages
- Create posts by dragging & dropping items
- Add and read feedback right next to the mock-up post
What is the reason for using Planable?
A survey by Sprout Social reveals that 78% of consumers are inclined to purchase from a company if they have a positive encounter with them on social media. Additionally, 55% of consumers discover new brands on social media. This makes it clear that dedicating effort to your social media campaign is crucial, and Planable can assist by generating a flawless feed.
This is accessible for both iOS and Android devices.
Best simple calendar for time blocking – Google Calendar
Google Calendar is a user-friendly calendar platform that permits you to generate, modify, and receive notifications for events and due dates. It enables you to arrange team meetings and events in a manner that accommodates everyone’s availability using the “find a time” and “suggested time” functions. The straightforward user interface of this tool is ideal for individuals who appreciate time blocking.
Some notable features of Google Calendar include:
- Google shared family calendar and other special calendars
- Events mentioned in Gmail emails get automatically added to your Google calendar
- Define a goal and have the tool automatically schedule goal-related activities at optimal times in the calendar
- Enable world clock option to keep track of the time zones of your remote team members
- Define individual work schedules to let everyone know when anyone from the team is available for contact
What is the reason for using Google Calendar?
If you are looking for a calendar with an uncomplicated and user-friendly design, but also packed with numerous helpful functions, then Google Calendar is the perfect tool for you. It effortlessly connects with most of the applications you currently utilize, allowing you to have all your tasks and activities well-coordinated.
The app is compatible with iOS, Android, Google Chrome, Firefox, and Edge.
Best shared calendar for sales teams – Calendly
Calendly is a software solution designed to assist teams in saving time, boosting sales, and enhancing customer service. It offers seamless integration with Google Calendar, Office 365, and Outlook, enabling users to avoid scheduling conflicts even if team members have different calendars. It is an ideal tool for arranging group activities like seminars, webinars, and training workshops.
Some prominent features of Calendly are as follows:
- Set buffer time between meetings to avoid last-minute arrangements
- View team availability on one page
- Embed the tool to your own website, for better convenience
- Automatically assign meetings to available team members
- Track and analyze the types of events team members are most likely to engage in
What is the reason for using Calendly?
If you attend many meetings, you should consider trying Calendly. It allows you to schedule meetings in a professional and efficient manner, saving you from the inconvenience of exchanging multiple emails and enabling you to focus on your work.
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Best mobile calendar – Any.do
Any.do is a calendar for mobile devices that is optimized for planning your workday and receiving reminders for the tasks you add to your to-do lists. It allows you to share your tasks and lists with others, as well as add notes, sub-tasks, and files.
Some noteworthy features of Any.do include:
- Visually organize tasks, based on their priority levels and categories
- Create recurring tasks
- Define reminders for one-time events
- Define reminders for missed calls
- Set reminders to follow up on important decisions after meetings
What is the reason for using Any.do?
Any.do is a combination of a to-do list and a calendar that allows you to track your progress and set intelligent reminders to ensure that meetings and events are never forgotten. By syncing your tasks across devices, you can access them from anywhere.
iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, and Google Chrome are all compatible options for this.
SCORO
Scoro is a thorough solution that integrates all the necessary features for effectively managing your business. These features include projects and tasks, contact management, quotes, team collaboration, billing, and reporting. With Scoro, all your crucial information is conveniently stored in a centralized location, enabling seamless team management whether you are working remotely or on-the-go.
Features at the top:
- Work & meeting scheduling, shared team calendar
- Task & project management with unlimited number of projects
- Communication & file sharing
- Real-time customizable KPI dashboards
- Contact database and management
- Time tracking and billing for work
- Detailed reports on every aspect of your work – from project progress to finances
- Quoting and invoicing with pre-set templates
Scoro is a tool that offers the advantage of streamlining your entire work progress, eliminating the need for multiple tools for various tasks. It is likely to exceed your expectations by providing a comprehensive range of functions, ultimately helping you overcome more challenges than anticipated.
SLACK
If your team requires constant communication, Slack is the ideal tool for team collaboration. By establishing Slack channels and configuring notifications, you will increase your team’s productivity and gain a more comprehensive understanding of your tasks and projects.
Key features:
- Team communication and chat
- Integrate with Google Drive, Box or Dropbox to share files
- Set up reminders
- Highlight words to be notified as they appear in conversations
- Use @everyone tag to send a message to the entire team
- Use Slack bots
Slack offers more than just chatting features; it also provides various shortcuts and hacks to enhance your team collaboration productivity.
ZOHO WORKPLACE
Zoho Workplace offers a complete suite of integrated apps that enables you to create, collaborate, and communicate with your teams effectively, providing all the necessary tools you will ever require.
Features that are considered the best:
- One place to create and save all your work, upload from email or your desktop, and share
- Get the best of both email and social right in your inbox
- Manage files in the cloud from your phone or tablet
The special feature of this tool is its ability to integrate with other Zoho bundles like CRM, Finance, and Recruit. This enables you to manage nearly all aspects of your team within a single system.
PODIO
Podio is an online hub for work and team communication that is highly customizable and flexible.
Here are the main features:
- Assign tasks, attach files and discuss details within the solution
- Share encrypted & large files
- Automate the sales pipelines, project budget tracking, and more
- Get an overview of the company with visual dashboards
- Automate your workflows
The special feature of this tool is that Podio’s workflows allow you to incorporate if-then logic into your Podio apps. For instance, you can set up your app to generate a task or comment whenever an item is created or when a specific update is made to an item.
BITRIX24
Bitrix24 provides a comprehensive range of tools for social collaboration, communication, and management purposes, catering to the needs of your team.
Listed below are the foremost characteristics:
- Social intranet for internal communication
- Gantt charts
- Employee workload management
- Customer relationship management
- Telephone integration
Bitrix24 stands out due to its extensive range of features, which encompass conventional project management as well as a comprehensive integrated telephone and HR system, along with an internal email system.
NEETRIX
Neetrix provides a comprehensive summary of all the tasks, jobs, events, and actions that have been or are being carried out by your entire team, which includes outsourced contractors.
Key features:
- Assign tasks to other staff members and get a notification when they are done
- Tasks can be created against different contacts, jobs, invoices or almost anything else in Neetrix in order to allocate them appropriately
- Build templates for your jobs, predefining all the common tasks and resources required when starting a new job
This tool has a special feature of generating accurate invoices by utilizing staff and equipment time-sheets, along with the ability to track billed and unbilled items.
PROWORKFLOW
ProWorkflow simplifies the process of assigning staff, tracking time, or rescheduling projects.
Key features:
- Dashboard for an overview of your workload
- Allocate tasks
- View workload across teams
- Manage contacts
- Share files
- Manage invoices and quotes
What makes this tool unique is its convenient mobile application that allows you to track time, communicate, and accomplish tasks while on the go.
REPLICON
Whether you want to effectively manage your workforce, ensure client satisfaction, or enhance your business operations, Replicon can collaborate with you to propel your company towards success.
Key features:
- Remote workforce
- Visibility into work
- Budgeting & labor costs
- Shared services management
- Labor cost capitalization
This tool is remarkable because Replicon places a strong emphasis on time management, or as they put it, time intelligence. They are committed to increasing the significance of time tracking in all aspects of business operations.
HARVEST
Harvest is a well-known tool for timesheets in the market. It is easy to log work time and track expenses accurately with Harvest due to its simple interface and minimal features. This also enables fast invoicing.
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- Time tracking from any browser, Mac, iPhone, or Android
- Creating estimates and invoices based on the time worked
- Real-time reports on time spent
- Integrations for tracking time across all your favorite project management tools
What makes this tool interesting is that Harvest is specifically designed for time tracking and not for team management. It is dedicated to excelling at one particular task.
TOGGL
Toggl is a user-friendly software for tracking time and employee timesheets, which can be easily integrated with various project management systems. It serves as an excellent supplement to your current tools, enabling you to have precise knowledge of how your time has been utilized.
Key features:
- Work timer
- Unlimited projects and subprojects for accurate time tracking
- Reports featuring team progress
- Online & offline time tracking
One aspect that is worth mentioning about this tool is the seamless integration it offers with popular productivity tools like Trello Time Tracking Tool, Scoro, or Asana.
TEAMWORK
By working together as a team, you can assess the amount of time you anticipate it will take to finish tasks and subsequently record the actual time it took. Eventually, you will develop a high level of precision in your estimations and gain insight into the precise duration required to complete specific tasks.
The key features are:
- Estimating and tracking time spent on a project
- Custom time reports with export options
- Tracking time on the go
- Sending invoices based on the time worked
The tool of interest allows for more than just keeping track of time, as it additionally enables project management and is currently undergoing beta testing for team collaboration features like Teamwork Chat.
HUBSTAFF
Hubstaff is a user-friendly online tool for automatically tracking employee work and facilitating easy payment. With more than 30 integrations available, it seamlessly integrates with your existing tools.
These are the main features:
- Automatic and manual time tracking
- Activity view with optional screenshot-taking
- Customizable reports
- Timesheets and payments
- The option to integrate Hubstaff with numerous other apps
Hubstaff is an intriguing tool for monitoring remote employees, as it enables you to capture screenshots and assess activity levels. Additionally, the mobile app allows you to keep track of working hours or driving time, and it offers GPS-based location tracking for employees or fleet management. Numerous companies utilize Hubstaff to supervise their remote workers and determine payment based on their working hours.
ACTIVECOLLAB
ActiveCollab makes planning and tracking creative projects easier by combining time billing with project management. Additionally, this tool includes features for team collaboration and real-time communication.
Key features:
- Creating tasks with multiple users and deadlines
- Filtering tasks by users, dates, and labels
- Commenting on tasks and mentioning colleagues
- Gantt-like timeline for planning
- A shared team calendar for collaboration
- Time tracking and sending invoices
This tool has an interesting feature that enhances collaboration within the team and adds a fun element to it. Each user has the ability to personalize their platform by setting a custom theme for quick personalization.
FLEEP
If you are tired of spending hours conducting numerous email conversations, you should consider giving Fleep a try. Fleep is a next generation messenger designed for ultimate project collaboration, allowing users to chat with team members and schedule lightweight tasks.
Key features:
- Chatting with team members and partners
- Email compatibility – non-users receive ordinary emails
- Pin important messages to the side of each conversation
- Sharing files and integration with Google Hangouts
- Integration with Google Hangouts
The uniqueness of this tool lies in Fleep’s ability to provide a seamless collaboration channel, encompassing its own platform, email, and Google Hangouts. Consequently, there is no necessity to exit the tool in order to communicate with others.
NOTION
If you want a fresh team management experience, give Notion a try. It allows you to plan and discuss projects, share everything with the team, and keep track of ideas. Moreover, if you are a fan of Slack, you can seamlessly integrate it with Notion for faster and more efficient communication.
Here are the primary features:
- To-do lists
- Weekly planner
- Taking notes + sharing files
- Commenting on anything
- Planning projects
- Personal weekly checklist
- Serves as a shared whiteboard
According to Ivan Zhao, one of the co-founders of Notion, the remarkable aspect of this tool is that it is similar to a LEGO set or Minecraft for collaboration software. It allows you to create workflows that are most suitable for your team, just as effortlessly as using a text editor.
