Workzone is less common than other project management tools, despite its popularity with thousands of businesses across a wide range of industries. If Trello or Asana is no longer cutting it for you but you aren’t quite ready for an enterprise-grade solution, Workzone is an excellent middle ground between the two. However, there are several other project management tools that hit the sweet spot between too simple and too complex. So, is Workzone the right choice for you and your team? Let’s find out!
Compare Workzone to the Best Project Management Software
Workzone covers more than just the basics. From collaboration tools, client management features, and time tracking to resource planning and advanced analytics, it checks off many of our boxes. However, it didn’t make its way onto our list of the best project management tools because of its hefty price tag. And because it’s overkill for most businesses. But don’t let that deter you—it’s a great choice if you’ve outgrown the PM tool you’re using today.
If you’re looking for something with less functionality and a more affordable price tag, we highly recommend checking out something else. Click here to see all of our top picks and our complete buyer’s guide.
Workzone: The Good and The Bad
Although Workzone didn’t land a spot in our top five, it’s a great tool for the right businesses. To help you decide if you’re the right business, we dove deep into our favorite and least favorite aspects of Workzone.
The Good
Versatile For Different Types of Teams: Workzone is versatile enough for product development teams, agencies, engineering teams, IT teams, marketing teams, advertising teams, and more. It’s also trusted by nonprofits and higher education organizations across the country. Its versatility makes it a great choice for companies that want to use it across multiple departments as well. Rather than using a different rigid project management tool for each department, you can centralize and streamline projects that span multiple departments. All plans include unlimited training sessions so you can leverage Workzone’s team of experts to configure your solution to match the needs of your entire organization without ever paying an extra cent.
Project Dashboard: Workzone’s project dashboard gives project managers, executives, and decision-makers a big-picture view of all projects across your entire business in one view. You can view projects based on department, campaign, or client to organize tasks in a way that makes sense for your business. And you can track compilation statuses across the board to ensure projects are always on track to finish on schedule. From keeping yourself in the loop to status updates and stakeholder meetings, Workzone makes it easy to see high-level progress at a glance. When you have hundreds of projects going on at once, the ability to see a bird’ eye view without diving into individual projects is key.
Time Tracking Functionality: Unlike other project management tools, every Workzone plan comes with time tracking and resource management out of the box. Some tools don’t even offer it all, relying solely on integrations with third-party time tracking tools. So, we love that it’s something you get regardless of the plan you’re on. Whether you want to keep track of billable hours for clients and project costing or keep an eye on where your team’s time goes, it’s easy to track time by user, task, and project. You can even create a variance report to compare estimated times to actual times in a few clicks.
Task Dependencies: Another area where many project management tools fall short is task dependencies—some don’t offer this at all, even on the highest tiers. However, Workzone makes it easy to link tasks to each other and prioritize tasks that have to be done first. You can even automatically set due dates for dependant tasks based on the status of the task that has to be done first. So, you don’t have to worry about shifting due dates manually. They automatically adjust themselves, regardless of how many dependencies there are. With this feature, you can save time and ensure tasks are done in the right order without ever needing to speak a word.
Custom Branding: Project management software is notorious for being bland, but Workzone allows you to add logos and custom colors to match your brand or your client’s brand. Furthermore, you can control the branding of each workspace, making it not only possible to brand each workspace to match your clients, but incredibly easy as well. While it may not seem like a big deal, that small extra touch could mean the difference between keeping a client for life or losing them to a competitor who goes the extra mile. Whether you use it to make clients feel valued or to give your team something aesthetically pleasing to look at, this small feature is one of our favorites.
Unlimited Support: As previously mentioned, Workzone is definitely a step above the “basic” project management tools on the market today. That’s why they offer unlimited support with all plans. The Workzone support team is available via phone and email Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern time. The technical emergency team is available 24/7. Workzone also has an extensive knowledge base, training webinars, video tutorials, FAQ database, and other self-help resources. The support even extends to your clients.
Team Collaboration Tools: Workzone has tons of collaboration features. The software supports secure file sharing, image markups, file versioning, and more. It’s easy to drag and drop files directly from your local device into the Workzone platform. Every project task and document has its own comment section. This is a simple way for your team to stay organized and discuss the specifics of a task. Workzone even supports automated workflows. Users can easily manage all of the workflow tools from the approvals dashboard.
The Bad
Learning Curve: Not every user will have an easy time getting used to Workzone on day one. There is definitely a bit of a learning curve with this platform. However, the software is more feature-rich than basic tools, so a steeper learning curve comes with the territory. Fortunately, the unlimited support, training, and self-help resources ease the learning experience a bit.
Visual Appeal: Compared to other solutions on the market today, Workzone’s dashboard feels a bit outdated. It’s not quite as modern and eye-catching as popular project management alternatives. While this doesn’t necessarily impact the software’s functionality, it feels slightly more rigid than it actually is.
Limited Search and Archiving: Some Workzone users complain about the ability to quickly locate a file or task. The software can sometimes be challenging to find what you’re looking for, especially for large projects and managing tasks at scale. Other users report that they have trouble locating tasks or information associated with old projects. So there’s room for improvement in the archiving category as well.
High Entry-Level Pricing: Workzone’s plans and prices definitely start at a higher tier compared to other project management tools on the market today. With that said, you’re getting more features and functions compared to some of those tools. But if you’re just comparing the base rates side-by-side, you’ll see that Workzone feels a bit pricey. We’ll talk about the exact plans and rates in greater detail below.
Workzone Pricing and Options
Workzone Pricing
Workzone has three different packages to choose from—Team, Professional, and Enterprise. Here’s a quick overview of the different starting rates for each plan.
It’s worth noting that the rates listed above are based on teams of 15 users. The price may vary if your team is significantly larger or smaller. With that said, Workzone can support teams of all sizes. Whether you have five users, 500 users, or fall somewhere in the middle, Workzone can accommodate your needs.
Starting at $24 per user per month, Workzone falls on the higher end of the spectrum when compared to other similar project management tools on the market.
We’ve reviewed other tools that start at less than $10 per user per month. Other solutions don’t get above $20 per user until reaching the enterprise level. The $43 per user per month Enterprise plan offered by Workzone is one of the most expensive packages on the market.
Perhaps due to its price, Workzone is robust and feature-rich. Some of those lower-cost tools just offer basic task lists and Gantt charts. Workzone has lots of functionality in the entry-level plan not offered by its competitors. Examples of those features include time tracking and resource management. All Workzone packages come with unlimited project and task management as well. You won’t get that from every project management tool on the market.
Overall, Workzone is a solid option. Is it a bit more expensive than alternatives? Sure. But the added features make the price justifiable.
Workzone does not offer traditional free trials. Instead, you can contact the sales team for a custom demo based on your needs. But if you think a free trial would help you make a more informed decision, you can always request one from the consultant you’re working with.
Workzone Team
Workzone Team is the entry-level solution from this provider. Starting at $24 per user per month, it’s designed for teams of at least five people.
For an entry-level solution, Workzone Team is loaded with features. One unique standout of this plan is the time tracking functionality.
Not many tools on the market offer this feature at all. It’s even rarer to see this with an entry-level package. This helps explain the higher price point of Workzone compared to other tools in this category.
Workzone Team comes with other features like Gantt charts, project templates, filing sharing, image mark-ups, and 100 GB of storage. You’ll also benefit from advanced reporting and unlimited support. These are two additional features that are rarely included with an entry-level package as well.
Overall, Workzone Team is excellent—if you’re actually going to use these advanced entry-level features. Otherwise, you can save some money with a simpler project management solution.
Workzone Professional
Workzone Professional is the most popular package. Starting at $34 per user per month, it’s ideal for teams that want a bit more resources to get things accomplished for projects.
With that said, there’s really not a huge difference between the Team and Professional plans.
Storage jumps to 150 GB compared to 100 GB. You’ll also get API access for Workzone. But beyond that, the only other additional feature you’ll get with a Workzone Professional subscription is custom project intake forms.
These custom forms allow other people to request projects. Workzone will automate the intake process by capturing the details specified in the form. All of the appropriate users will be notified, and the status of the request can be seen from a centralized dashboard.
If your team takes project requests from internal or external parties, this feature is a must-have.
Otherwise, there isn’t a tremendous value in the Workzone Professional plan. It’s probably not worth the extra $10 just for API access and an additional 50 GB of storage. So, you’ll likely be torn between Workzone Team and Workzone Enterprise if you’re not interested in the custom intake forms.
Workzone Enterprise
Workzone Enterprise is the top-of-the-line product offering from this provider. Starting at $43 per user per month, it has everything you could possibly need in a project management tool. This package is designed for larger organizations that want complete customization and extra frills.
All Enterprise packages start with 200 GB of storage, at a minimum. You can also enable public access forms, meaning anybody can request a project, even if they’re not a Workzone user.
Another really cool feature of Workzone Enterprise is the ability to create task dependencies between tasks in different projects.
While task dependencies are offered with every plan, only the Enterprise package allows for cross-project dependencies. So it’s an ideal tool for managing extensive and more complex projects at scale between teams and departments. For example, a marketing team might need to wait on starting a task related to new campaigns until the product team completes an update. Even though these projects are managed separately, the dependencies can automatically connect the two tasks.
The Enterprise plan also comes with tools for custom reporting, custom fields, SSO, and workspace groups.
It’s a viable option for larger organizations that need to connect multiple projects between departments and teams at scale. If you’re interested in the Enterprise plan, contact the Workzone sales team for a consultation and more information.
Comparing The Best Project Management Software
Check out our top picks of the best project management tools to see some popular Workzone alternatives:
- ClickUp – Best project management software for most
- Asana – Best balance of power and simplicity
- Trello – Lowest cost for setting up your PM software today
- Teamwork – Best for client and service-based businesses
- Monday.com – Best for partnering sales with project management
- Smartsheet – Best for turning spreadsheets into project management gold
Overall, Workzone is a step above the “basic” project management software category. It’s robust and loaded with features out-of-the-box. Compared to alternatives on the market, Workzone definitely has some extended capabilities. There’s a bit of a learning curve, and the price is higher than what we’re used to seeing. However, the powerful features offered by Workzone make the price justifiable. Request a demo to get started.
