Best Learning Management Systems

Best Learning Management Systems

Jan 14, 2021 | Online Marketing

Disclosure: This content is reader-supported, which means if you click on some of our links that we may earn a commission.

What happens when people aren’t engaged in their education?

Very little, unfortunately.

It’s a stubborn problem that confronts HR staff and elementary school teachers alike.

Top talent gets bored and moves on. Students lose interest and tune out.

All the preparation and dedication it takes to develop a good course means nothing if people aren’t buying in.

This problem doesn’t get easier when learners and instructors are meeting online instead of in a classroom or on site.

Creating a digital environment where people can really learn is challenging, even in ideal circumstances. Having the right learning management system (LMS) software in place makes this task much more manageable for everyone involved.

Administrators have a clear view of what’s happening, instructors have the freedom to create courses that matter, and learners get a relevant, unique experience that meets them where they are.

LMS software will not replace the hard work and perseverance that goes into creating lessons and educating people. The right one, however, will let everyone focus on their work instead of fighting with a frustrating system.

The Top 6 Options for LMS Software

  1. Schoology – Best for K-12 education
  2. D2L Brightspace – Best for higher education
  3. Tovuti – Best for selling online courses
  4. Looop – Best for SMB employee training
  5. Docebo – Best for enterprise learning
  6. Sensei – Best LMS plugin for WordPress

The Different Types of LMS Software

Deciding on the type of LMS software is not going to be too difficult for most people.

Some of the vendors on this list offer products that span different categories, but for the most part, the different types of LMS software are aimed at specific educational settings:

  • Educational LMS Software
  • Corporate LMS Software
  • Ecommerce LMS Software

Deciding on the particular product within these three categories is where you are going to spend most of your time.

Let’s break these three types down a little further.

Educational LMS Software

These products are designed with school students in mind. They are built to help different types of educational organizations comply with government standards and meet the needs of their varied student populations.

Educational LMS Software can be broken down into two subtypes.

K-12 LMS Software is for towns, school districts, and private institutions that want to get every student on the same platform. They are built to scale appropriately, and track a student’s journey as they advance grades.

These types of platforms also accommodate the needs of parents, who are able to view grades and communicate with teachers.

Higher Education LMS Software is for colleges and universities. These platforms are designed to give students a much more independent experience, accommodating their unique set of courses and trajectory through undergrad, graduate, or postgraduate education.

Corporate LMS Software

These products are designed with adult learners in mind, particularly for businesses who need to train employees, customers, or partners.

These platforms help administrators create and deliver courses about company content and best practices. It works much better than throwing “the manual” at new members of your business.

Courses and company resources on a corporate LMS help with:

  • Onboarding: educating new employees, customers, or partners.
  • Training: providing basic knowledge to learners for a position, role, or skill.
  • Development: providing advanced knowledge to upskill or specialize a learner.
  • Enablement: provides educational resources to help skilled learners improve.

Some platforms will work across the organization to meet all of these needs for both external and internal uses.

Others may specialize in a particular area, like employee training, sales enablement, or customer onboarding.

Ecommerce LMS Software

These products are designed for individuals and institutions that want to sell online courses and other digital learning content.

Instead of a heavy-duty platform designed for a school district or enterprise organization, ecommerce LMS software is sleek and oriented around self-service.

Instructors can build out exactly the content they need, and have control over the costs via subscriptions or per-course fees.

Learners can find the courses they are looking for at a price that makes sense.

Many of these platforms have less expensive options that let you do everything but charge for courses. These non-monetized plans can work well for tutors, non-profits, and other individuals who need to organize and distribute educational content.

How to Choose the Best LMS Software for You

There are hundreds of vendors who make LMS software. To make your search easier, let’s focus on the people LMS software serves:

  • Learners
  • Instructors
  • Administrators

What do they want? What do they need? Really think about how each LMS is going to perform for each role.

In the end, how these different types of users feel about the product is going to determine whether it sinks or sets sail.

Let’s go in depth on considerations for each role. This is going to help you think through your specific situation and zero in on the product that checks all your boxes.

We’ll close this section with a look at some of the technical considerations that really matter when picking LMS software

Learner Experience

Much of the learner experience will depend on the type of LMS software you choose. Some platforms are going to be aimed at students, others at adult employees.

At the same time, many of the essential considerations are going to be the same regardless of the type you choose. Likely, you are going to want support for one or more of the following types of learning environments:

  • Distance learning: Using online teaching to reach learners who are separated by great physical distance.
  • Remote learning: Using online teaching to reach learners during situations where people cannot meet in a physical classroom.
  • Blended learning: Using a mix of in-person and remote learning.
  • Mobile learning: Letting learners interact with phones and tablets, and on-the-go.
  • Social learning: Allowing learners to interact and teach each other.
  • Virtual classroom: An online space where learners and instructors can interact in real time, talking, sharing materials, and working in groups.

These environments are interrelated. Instructors leading a training session may make use of both mobile learning and a virtual classroom, for example.

What’s important to your search is selecting a platform that supports the learning environments necessary for all of the students, teams, or departments who use it.

Additionally, you’ll want to consider the learning styles supported. Depending on your organization, you may want to have some or all of these options for learning available:

  • Synchronous: Learners and instructors are in the same place at the same time, even if it’s a digital “place.” Everyone goes through the learning path together.
  • Asynchronous: Learners can complete their work at different times and may progress through the course at their own pace. It is sometimes called “self-paced” learning.
  • On-Demand: Learners have anytime access to courses and learning resources. In some cases, learners can select their own courses of study.
  • Accessible: Learners with special circumstances are supported by features like closed-captions, text-to-speech, and translation.

Instructor Freedom

There’s no lesson that’s going to work for every learner every time. Instructors need the ability to experiment, to blend the tried-and-true methods with new tactics.

If a platform doesn’t have the features or functions an instructor needs, they’re going to be spending time finding workarounds.

Find something that centralizes all the tools instructors need to accomplish their goals, and lets them build exactly what they need. This is going to be different for each department or branch of a business.

Pay particular attention to course management features and how they are going to help your instructors create an effective learning experience. These include:

  • Quizzes and graded assignments
  • Learner profiles and rosters
  • Learner reports and analytics
  • Discussion boards and chats
  • Content library
  • Multimedia uploads

With the exception of brand-new instructors, most will be approaching the new LMS with existing resources they’d like to continue using. I’m thinking of content from past courses as well as services like plagiarism detectors.

It shouldn’t be impossible for them to transfer their current course content (from paper or a previous LMS) to the new platform. Scanning with handwriting/optical character recognition will allow them to upload and use any type of document can be really helpful.

Here, it’s important to consider the platform’s ease-of-use. Not every instructor is going to want to become an expert in the intricacies of LMS software. Many want something that gets out of the way and just lets them teach, so to speak.

It’s about making enough online learning resources available without overwhelming instructors. If it’s annoying or constricting to use certain features, they won’t.

Administrator Control

A lot of the best LMS software is cloud-based, which means organizations aren’t responsible for maintaining the backend IT infrastructure.

Even so, administrators play a leading role in the success or failure of any platform. What you are looking for is something that gives these all-important users the visibility and control they need.

An LMS that integrates and syncs with your student information system or identity provider is going to make this task a lot easier.

Additionally, admins need to be able to pull reports quickly. This could be for an individual student, class, or entire school district, depending on your use case. How hard is it going to be for administrators to get big picture and granular insight?

Technical Considerations

The LMS you choose has to fit into your environment. It’s going to be one of a number of tools that people are using throughout their day, and if it doesn’t play nice with others, there’s trouble ahead.

This is true of any software, but with an LMS, you have to be extra careful to consider every aspect of this issue before signing on to a particular platform.

Integrations are going to be important. Will it work with your identity provider, student information system, plagiarism detector, or cloud storage services?

Look for direct integrations, as those will be the easiest to use. With LMS software, however, you should also be aware that many come with APIs that can be used to build custom solutions. These can work well, but you want to make sure these methods aren’t going to break at scale.

The other thing to pay attention to is content compliance. This includes standards like SCORM, LTI, AICC, and others. If a platform is SCORM compliant, for example, that means instructors will be able to import any content that meets those standards.

Unless you want to build everything instructors are using from scratch, it will be really helpful to find a platform that is compliant with the content you already depend on.

#1 – Schoology — Best for K-12 Blended Learning

Schoology has proven itself to be one of the most nimble LMS providers in a time where adapting to new learning environments really matters.

The platform connects everyone involved: students, teachers, parents, coaches, and administrators. It can accommodate virtually any type of learning environment, from in-person, to blended, to fully remote.

With Schoology, instructors can continue to “use what they know” because it has direct integrations with more than 200 popular tools, like Turnitin and Khan Academy, as well as compliance with SCORM, LTI, QTI and Common Cartridge.

Whether the schools are open or closed, teachers can use the lessons they trust without having to reinvent the wheel. They can manage everything from assessments to attendance within a single dashboard, and share all of their content with students on their class homepage.

Students can find the information they need quickly and a space to reach out if they need help. It has the feel of a social media platform, in terms of user-friendliness and student approachability.

Within this simple framework, instructors have a ton of freedom to create unique content for their students, design meaningful assessments, and a rich set of tools for tracking progress.

They can figure out what’s working quickly, and have the ability to personalize content for individualized instruction.

This is really important in blended learning environments where students don’t necessarily have equal access to technology. Schoology makes it easier for teachers to create different types of assessments that let students go at their own pace or access resources offline, even on the mobile app.

That’s the beauty of Schoology. It doesn’t change what teachers teach, it just gives them the tools to do it in any setting, with features like:

  • Course & lesson designers
  • Grading tools
  • Commenting and video feedback
  • Student tracking
  • Online discussions

On the administrator side, Schoology syncs with student information systems, which cuts down on busy work and keeps information consistent.

It will work especially well for districts that are already using Powerschool as their student information system, as Schoology is now part of the same company.

Students, instructors, parents and advisors can create a free Schoology account, but institutions will have to get in touch with Schoology for pricing.

The strength of the product for K-12 schools is that it integrates with tools that teachers already use, in a format that’s comfortable for students.

#2 – D2L Brightspace — Best for Higher Education

D2L, which stands for Desire 2 Learn, makes LMS software for higher education that is used by some of the biggest universities in the country. It’s become a lifesaver for many institutions that are trying to adjust to remote learning.

For as powerful and customizable as it is, D2L’s Brightspace for Higher Education feels extremely light. It’s easy to navigate for students, giving them the ability to monitor grades, assignments, classes, and announcements from a single dashboard.

The truth is that each professor only needs a fraction of the capabilities available to create and manage their courses. D2L can be customized to meet the needs of different departments and pedagogical approaches.

In Brightspace, the interface is easy for professors to use, no matter how they want to build their course and track assessment. They’re not having to shoehorn their lectures into a mold or trying to develop work arounds to include the content they want.

On the student side, the experience remains minimalist, regardless of which features their professors using. One class may use a ton of collaborative and social tools, like discussion boards. Another might be all videos and interactive labs.

Either way, the student gets a single, clean, cohesive experience since D2L’s mobile app is responsive and works well on any screen size.

In short, students have one place for all their academic needs and can access the platform from wherever they are.

Whether students are going to be on campus, engaging in remote learning, or some mix of the two, D2L Brightspace comes with everything an institution needs to continue operating, including:

  • Virtual classrooms
  • Video assignments
  • Student/Class progress dashboards
  • Single sign-on (SSO)
  • Disaster recovery

All of these features come with Brightspace Core. Additional reporting and tracking features are available with Performance Plus, which can be helpful for identifying at-risk students before problems become unsolvable.

Engagement Plus, another Brightspace add-on, comes with additional features to further enhance digital learning environments. Instructors will be able to deliver fully-searchable video content, which is great for lectures, and enable gamification in their courses.

You’ll have to get in touch with D2L for pricing. Call them today and see why so many public and private institutions are choosing to go with Brightspace over the competition.

#3 – Tovuti — Best for Selling Online Courses

Tovuti is a super-flexible LMS software option. I like it best for individuals and institutions that are looking to sell courses online, though it could be a favorable option as a lightweight corporate LMS.

Tovuti provides a strong blend of ecommerce LMS functionality with course management features that help instructors make sure that learners are getting the most bang for their buck.

Unlike other similar platforms, course authoring tools are included. Within the platform you can create more than 40 different types of content, like interactive videos, quizzes, and memory games.

Once you’ve built your courses, Tovuti makes it easy to manage, track, and grow your enrollment. There’s a built-in content management system, blog, and web designer, as well as plenty of features to help you create an experience that aligns with your brand.

Create extended learning paths with multiple courses or deliver your content in a microlearning format where learners are free to choose from individual PDFs and videos in your content library.

By enabling feedback (which is optional), you can let learners rate and review your courses. This puts them on the radar of learners with similar goals.

All the marketing, ecommerce, and content creation capabilities an instructor needs are centralized in one intuitive platform.

Some of the other highlights include:

  • Virtual classroom
  • Personalized learner portals
  • Mobile learning
  • Single sign-on (SSO)
  • SCORM compliance
  • PowerPoint importer
  • Gamification

To use Tovuti as an ecommerce LMS, you’ll need to get the Pro plan. This is going to be more expensive than the Core plan, but that doesn’t let you charge for courses.

The upside is that the Pro plan comes with a ton of features that are all exceptionally deep. For example, their virtual classroom allows for breakout rooms. Smaller groups can split up, talk about the discussion and rejoin the larger meeting seamlessly.

Get in touch with Tovuti today and supercharge your e-learning business for tomorrow.

#4 – Looop — Best for SMB Employee Training and Development

Looop helps small businesses bring new hires up to speed quickly and keep top talent engaged. At the heart of Looop’s strategy for delivering a meaningful LMS is their understanding of how employees actually learn.

Most people’s instinct is to use search engines to find the information they need rather than in-house resources. But you can’t ensure the information they get from Google has the context, depth, and relevance to be applied properly to your company.

Looop lets you turn company content into the on-demand resource employees crave. Quickly build engaging training modules and other resources, or integrate existing SCORM and xAPI content into your platform.

One of the standout features of Looop is that administrators can use automated campaigns to deliver content directly to the inboxes or Slack channels of employees who need it. Similar to marketing automation, these campaigns can be personalized to meet the needs of the learner.

Admins can then track which messages have been opened, which trainings have been completed, and automatically send the next training module when they’re ready.

Plus, it’s all mobile-responsive, so employees can access these resources whenever and wherever they need them.

There are also built-in survey tools that allow learners to provide feedback and dashboards for instructors and admins to keep tabs on overall progress. Continually optimize content based on how learners are responding.

Some of the other standout features that come with Loop include:

  • Instructor-led training
  • Unlimited content creation
  • Video and screencast uploads
  • Flexible roles and permissions
  • Pre-created content libraries
  • Automatic content backups

Companies of any size can benefit from Looop’s transparent, predictable pricing. There are four tiers, which are based on the number of users:

  • Small Businesses: $299/month, up to 50 users
  • Mid Size Businesses: $699/month, up to 250 users
  • Enterprise: $1,199/month, up to 500 users
  • Enterprise Plus: Contact sales for more than 500 users

Keeping the price down is not hard with Looop. You can archive users, which means you can keep their record without their seat counting toward your limit.

And if your user size falls somewhere between the tiers, they’re happy to work with you to find a fitting price.

I like it for SMBs because it’s something they can stick with as they grow and it’s not nearly as expensive as other corporate LMS software.

For small and midmarket organizations that are focused on training employees, Looop is a solid choice. Learners get the resources they need at their fingertips, and administrators can monitor progress with very little legwork.

You can try Looop free for seven days, which comes with a live demo to get you started on the right foot. The demo is only about 20-30 minutes long, which gives you an idea of how easy it is to use.

#5 – Docebo — Best LMS software for Enterprise Learning

Docebo is a corporate LMS built from the ground up to serve medium to large enterprises. Learning and development administrators will love how easy the platform is to use, manage, and evolve as new challenges emerge.

First things first, Docebo is pronounced doh-chay-bo. It’s Latin for “I will teach.” Even their name is educational.

It’s best for companies that need to train 300 or more people each month. These could be courses for employees, customers, and partners.

High-growth companies—especially if they are on the verge of outgrowing their existing LMS—will find that Docebo provides the tools they need to scale their learning programs.

Easy content creation, flexible teaching environments, and excellent reporting features allow companies to upskill everyone inside and outside the company. The most common use cases include:

  • Compliance training
  • Customer training
  • Employee development
  • Employee onboarding
  • Partner training
  • Sales enablement

It’s built to ensure that admins and instructors can securely share the information learners need and keep track of their ongoing education. Managers can quickly see how each member of their team is progressing and who may need a little extra help.

In Docebo, managers and admins get the freedom not just to create content, but to customize the user experience for their learners. With the Pages feature, managers can quickly create a unique space for learners that matches the needs of their specific audience and organizes all the relevant resources.

Using the simple drag-and-drop interface, managers can add widgets like calendars, activity feeds, reports, and other features to keep everyone on the same page.

Some of the other features that make Docebo such a good out-of-the-box solution for an enterprise LMS include:

  • Unlimited cloud storage
  • SSO & integration with IdPs
  • 40+ languages supported
  • ROI dashboards
  • Ecommerce LMS functionality
  • Compliance with SCORM, AICC, and xAPI

For those who need it, being able to manage multiple languages on the platform will be critical. Docebo comes with a localization tool that helps you ensure that translations capture your intended meaning.

You’ll have to get in touch with Docebo for pricing, but it’s most certainly geared towards the needs of larger organizations that are growing quickly.

If you need a one-and-done onboarding course, Docebo will be overkill. It works well for extended or ongoing learning programs.

There are no pricing tiers for less than 300 learners a month, so it can be difficult for an SMB to justify the cost of Docebo, regardless of how good it is.

It’s also not intended for K-12 or higher education. The company states this clearly on their website.

If you need corporate LMS software that is going to work at scale, Docebo is the best choice available. Companies like Bose, Amazon Web Services, and WalMart have made it their LMS for a reason.

Get in touch with Docebo today and impress the sales team with your Latin pronunciation.

#6 – Sensei — Best LMS Plugin for WordPress

Sensei is a premium plugin made by WooCommerce that lets people design and sell courses within their WordPress site.

It takes just a few clicks to ingrate Sensei. Now, instead of a blog, you have a classroom with lessons, quizzes, grading, and learner management features.

If you are just interested in sharing your knowledge within an LMS rather than a blog, Sensei has you covered.

Should you want to monetize that venture, just add the WooCommerce Paid Course extension. A few more clicks and now your teaching has become a source of income.

Piano teachers, tutors, professors, even humble bloggers such as myself can build out courses within the WordPress platform as if they’re making a new page or post.

It’s as easy as you think it is. Why? Because Sensei is made by Automattic, the same people who power WordPress, WooCommerce, and other sites that continuously deliver best-in-breed products to their users.

Like their other products, Sensei is an intuitive balance of power and simplicity. There’s a lot you can do in terms of customizing courses, but it’s not overwhelming.

The ease-of-use is passed on to the students, who enjoy a welcoming interface and clear roadmap of what they need to get done. Choosing courses is as easy as shopping on WooCommerce and navigating your site is as easy as clicking around your blog.

The features are not as deep as they are with some of the more robust corporate LMS software, but it has everything an individual needs to get started selling courses, including:

  • Lesson, course, and quiz builder
  • Image and video uploads
  • Integration with WordPress themes
  • Grading
  • Learner management and analytics
  • Private messaging

Looking at all-in pricing to use Sensei, it breaks down like this:

  • SenseiLMS: Free
  • WooCommerce Paid Courses: $129/year
  • WordPress hosting: starting at $2.95/month with Bluehost

The price of WordPress hosting is going to vary. I recommend going with Bluehost, because it’s affordable and dependable.

All in, the total price is still well below many other LMS software options, most of which would take a lot more effort to set up. And, if you are already paying for WordPress hosting, you simply need to make more than $11 bucks off courses each month to turn a profit.

And if you don’t want to make money sharing your knowledge, you can just use Sensei for free.

Whether you want to make money with what you know or not, Sensei will help you turn your blog into an educational environment. We all love the comment section, but what kind of commitment from your readers will you build by offering interactive courses?

Sensei can help you find out, and may turn into a source of passive income if you can find an audience.

Summary

Teaching is hard. Instructors, coaches, mentors and business leaders will all admit that with pride.

How long is a new hire’s honeymoon period where they’re really willing to learn? Or a student, for that matter? How long do you want to wait for that manager to get trained up?

Creating the conditions for learning is always going to be a challenge, but using the right LMS software is going to take a ton of the legwork out.

Everyone can focus on their work instead of fighting with a frustrating system.

K-12 teachers have enough on their plate without having to reinvent the way they instruct. Using Schoology LMS, teachers can stick with what they know and utilize the best-in-class platform to deliver their lessons.

For higher education, D2L Brightspace is going to make student, faculty, and administrator lives much easier. Professors have the flexibility to design the exact online learning experience their courses need without overwhelming students. Administrators get the visibility and control they need to manage a constantly changing environment.

Looking at the corporate LMS software, Looop should be the choice for small business and Docebo for enterprise.

Looop is lighter but still very powerful, and it comes in at a reasonable price point for SMBs who don’t need to train hundreds of people each month.

Docebo, on the other hand, is built to scale with enterprise growth. Learners inside and outside the company are well supported by the platform.

In terms of selling online courses, Tovuti is the complete package. People monetize and deliver engaging content, and the platform is packed with marketing features designed to grow their audience.

For people who are using WordPress to grow their business (something I endorse wholeheartedly), SenseiLMS will let them turn their blog into a classroom. A couple clicks, a little planning, and now their WordPress site is paying for itself.

The Best Project Management Software (In-Depth Review)

The Best Project Management Software (In-Depth Review)

Dec 30, 2020 | Online Marketing

Disclosure: This content is reader-supported, which means if you click on some of our links that we may earn a commission.

I’ve managed countless projects, hundreds of teams, and used many different types of management software over the years.

And you want to know a secret? It doesn’t matter which project management tool you use as long as you pick something people like using.

It sounds simple, but project management software is what you make it. Show me a nifty notification feature and I’ll show you an employee who can ignore it.

Getting the team or organization to buy in and trust the software is critical. The best way to make that happen is by choosing a product that actually makes their lives easier.

Let’s go through the factors you should evaluate to determine what project management software is going to help your teams with the challenges they face.

The Top 6 Options for Project Management Software

  1. Zoho Projects – Best for versatility
  2. Wrike – Best for marketing teams
  3. Teamwork – Best for remote teams
  4. Asana – Best for small teams
  5. Smartsheet – Best for large teams
  6. Trello – Best free project management software

How to Choose the Project Management Software for You

The best project management software for you depends on your projects’ complexity, the size of your team, and the features you need.

Every option on my list is a fantastic product, but only one is going to be the best fit for you.

So before we dive into my top recommendations, let’s talk about what to look for as you go through the process of finding the right software.

Number of Users

Most project management software is charged on a per user per month basis. So, it’s crucial to understand how many seats you need and your budget.

If you have a large team with hundreds of users, you’re better off choosing an enterprise plan with custom pricing to get the most bang for your buck.

However, if you have less than 15 people, Asana is an excellent choice (free for up to 15 users).

And if you have fewer than three users, you can use Zoho Projects for free as well.

Collaboration Tools

Collaborating through email or phone is handy, but it can be hard to keep track of conversations and responsibilities.

The best project management software comes with built-in tools that allow users to collaborate directly within a task, project, or team. This can include flagging tasks with statuses, discussion boards, comment threads, and @mentioning other users to draw someone’s attention.

Another aid to collaboration is project management software that integrates with the tools your teams are already using. G Suite or Microsoft integration is going to make simple tasks like sharing and editing content that much easier.

Project Complexity

For simple and straightforward projects, basic project management software is all you need.

And you can probably get by using a free forever plan with Trello, Asana, or Zoho Projects.

However, as your projects get more complex, you need more robust features. So, you may need to upgrade to a paid plan if you go with a basic project management software.

On the other hand, tools like Wrike and Smartsheet offer more advanced and industry-specific capabilities. But they come with a higher price tag.

Task Management

Task management is one of the most important features to pay attention to.

While most project management software includes basic task management, it’s important to consider the advanced capabilities you need.

Do you need to create task dependencies? Maybe you need to create recurring tasks on a daily, monthly, or yearly basis. Or perhaps you want to assign multiple people to the same task.

This also includes things like:

  • Checklists and due dates
  • File attachments
  • Task archiving/deleting
  • Task prioritization
  • Automation
  • Subtasks

So, carefully consider how you plan to manage projects and the task management features you need before making any decisions.

Customization

Every project and team is different.

So it’s important that your project management software can adapt to meet your needs. Whether that’s a fully branded dashboard, the flexibility to scale, or improved functionality with the right integrations.

Furthermore, think about how you want to view and share project progress. Different software offers different project views, reporting, and analytics.

Start by creating a complete list of required features and integrations.

Lastly, consider everything you need your software to do and speak to a sales team to make sure their tool can handle your top priorities within your budget.

The Different Types of Project Management Software

There are various different types of project management software. Some are much better than others while some are reserved specifically for developers or enterprises with a large budget.

Let’s walk through them together.

Cloud-Based

All of my top recommendations are cloud-based software. This means that the software lives on a cloud server and you can access it from any web browser on any device.

This is the preferred type for most users because it’s easy to use, doesn’t require any infrastructure on your part, and you can access everything regardless of where you are.

You typically pay for this type of software on a per user per month basis.

Industry-Specific

Different types of projects may require industry-specific solutions.

These make your life easier with pre-made templates, automated workflows, and more features specific to the types of projects you’re managing.

Most of the software on this list offer solutions for industries like:

  • Digital marketing
  • Manufacturing
  • Education
  • Real estate
  • Construction
  • Software development
  • Remote teams

With that said, these companies also offer standard subscriptions at reasonable prices that don’t include industry-specific tools.

So you don’t have to use these higher-priced solutions unless you want to.

Most of these solutions come with custom pricing based on your specific needs. So they may be outside your budget, especially if you’re a small company or a brand new business.

On-Premise

On-premise project management software lives on your servers, rather than on the cloud. And while it’s more secure, you can only access the software from devices on your network.

You also may need to install new infrastructure or hire an in-house maintenance team to update and maintain the software for you.

This is why none of the recommendations on this list are on-premise solutions.

#1 – Zoho Projects Review — Best for Versatility

For most users, Zoho Projects is my top recommendation.

They offer a free forever plan, and paid plans start at just $3 per user per month. So, it’s incredibly affordable for small businesses and can scale as your business grows.

Whether you’re managing simple or complex projects, Zoho has everything you need, including powerful features like:

  • Hosted file storage
  • Task dependencies
  • Recurring tasks
  • Visual workflow builder
  • Time tracking
  • Task assignments and prioritization
  • Chats, forums, and feeds
  • Reporting and analytics

The drag-and-drop interface makes it easy to create workflows and track project progress quickly. Plus, you can view projects using Kanban, Gantt, or calendar views.

Furthermore, their internal communication tools (chat, forum, and feed) streamline team collaboration where it matters most.

You can also take advantage of more than 100+ built-in integrations with business tools you’re already using to run and manage your business.

These integrations include Slack, Zapier, DropBox, and more.

Zoho’s plans include:

  • Free — up to 3 users, two projects, and 10 MB of storage
  • Standard — $3/user per month and up to 10 projects (between 6 and 10 users)
  • Express — $4/user per month + unlimited projects (between 12 and 50 users)
  • Premium — $5/user per month + unlimited projects (between 15 and 100 users)
  • Enterprise — $6/user per month + unlimited projects (for 20+ users)

Start your 10-day free trial to take Zoho for a test drive today.

#2 – Wrike Review — Best for Marketing Teams

Over 20,000+ businesses, including Google, Airbnb, and Dell, use Wrike to manage marketing and sales projects worldwide.

With Wrike, your project management software adapts to meet your needs, rather than the other way around. And features like custom workflows and dashboards, automation, and real-time communication make this an excellent choice for dynamic marketing teams of all sizes.

You also get end-to-end visualization so you can hone in on problem areas while maintaining constant forward movement with each project as a whole.

Furthermore, Wrike includes powerful marketing-specific templates including

  • Campaign management
  • Product launching
  • Marketing operations
  • Content creation
  • Event management

And you can combine those with standard project management features like task management, proofing and approvals, communication tools, and real-time progress visibility.

Project views include board, spreadsheet, Gantt, calendar, and custom views.

Wrike also includes seamless integrations with 400+ business tools, like Salesforce, G Mail, and Google Drive. So, you don’t have to worry about software incompatibility issues or anything like that.

You can start on their free forever plan for up to five users, but you may find it limiting. Paid plans include:

  • Professional — $9.80/user per month (5 – 15 users)
  • Business — $24.80/user per month (5 – 200 users)
  • Enterprise — Custom (5 – unlimited users)

They also offer tailored plans for marketing teams, but you have to contact them for a custom quote. However, it includes specialty templates, Wrike Proof, and more.

Start your 14-day free trial or sign up for a free forever plan to get started today.

#3 – Teamwork Review — Best for Remote Teams

If you’re managing a remote team (or a soon-to-be remote team), Teamwork is an excellent choice. Their remote work module is specifically for distributed teams who need a flexible way to keep work moving forward.

20,000+ teams plus big names, including Disney, Netflix, and Spotify, rely on Teamwork for their remote project management needs — and for a good reason.

The software makes collaboration, task management, and project visibility a breeze regardless of where your team lives (and works). And as Teamwork says, “Just because you’re not in the same room doesn’t mean you can’t be on the same page.”

This remote project management software includes excellent features like:

  • Internal chat software
  • Centralized workspaces
  • Board views
  • Custom project templates
  • Workload balancing
  • Time tracking
  • Gantt charts

Furthermore, you can pick and choose which software you need. Or, you can save 49% by bundling all of Teamwork’s software together.

At $35/mo per user (minimum of five users), it’s more suitable for businesses with a decent budget. But, their project management module alone is much more affordable, starting at $10/mo per user.

Alternatively, you can start with a free forever plan for up to five users and two projects. This is an excellent choice for small teams or fast-growth companies.

Sign up for a 30-day free trial to try Teamwork’s remote project management solution today.

#4 – Asana Review — Best for Small Teams

Asana is an excellent choice for teams of up to 15 people.

And with millions of users spanning 190+ countries worldwide, you can rest assured you’re in good hands.

Their free forever plan includes 15 seats, unlimited tasks and projects, assignees, due dates, and everything you need (aside from a few advanced features) to manage projects of all sizes efficiently.

With Asana, you can map out even the smallest steps of every project to ensure forward movement and track your team’s progress along the way.

Furthermore, you can enjoy features like:

  • Drag-and-drop board views
  • Timeline views
  • Automated workflows
  • Work requests and forms
  • Calendar view
  • Portfolio overviews
  • Workload balance
  • Custom fields
  • Reusable templates

Not only that, but the entire interface is beautiful and easy to navigate.

You can choose between pre-made industry templates or create your own to get your team on track in no time.

And with 100+ integrations including Adobe, Slack, Gmail, Chrome, Drive, and more, you can rest easy knowing Asana plays well with the tools you’re already using.

Plus, you can share files, communicate, and share feedback all in one place.

With a free price tag (for up to 15 users), Asana’s hard to beat. However, if you outgrow the free plan, you can upgrade to one of their paid plans, including:

  • Premium — $10.99 per user per month
  • Business — $24.99 per user per month
  • Enterprise — custom pricing only

Sign up for a free forever plan to get started with Asana today!

#5 – Smartsheet Review — Best for Large Teams

Smartsheet is a dynamic project management software built for enterprises and large teams. However, the solution is flexible enough to suit businesses and projects of all sizes.

They specialize in rapid-movement projects with a ton of moving parts. So, you can trust Smartsheet for even the most complicated projects.

With Smartsheet, you can gain end-to-end project visibility with grid, card, Gantt, and calendar views. Furthermore, you can gather data from forms, automated workflows, and recurring tasks to see what you need to see, and when.

However, the software goes beyond essential project management. It’s an award-winning work execution platform that’s easy to implement, manage, and maintain.

Plus, 75% of fortune 500 companies use Smartsheet to get things done.

So, you’re in good company.

All plans also include on-demand customer support, continuous education materials, training + certification programs, and consulting services to help you make the most of your new project management software.

And you also get collaboration tools, all four project views, and extensive mobile apps/integrations with every plan.

While Smartsheet is overkill for most small businesses, it’s an excellent choice for large companies and enterprises looking to streamline their business processes.

Their paid plans include:

  • Individual — $14 per month
  • Business — $25 per user per month (minimum of three users)
  • Enterprise — custom (enterprise-grade features and tools)
  • Premier — custom (enterprise + premium features and tools)

Sign up for a 30-day free trial to try Smartsheets risk-free with no credit card required.

#6 – Trello Review — Best Free Project Management Software

If you’re on a tight budget, Trello is an excellent free project management software.

Plus, millions of users, including Pinterest, Peloton, Fender, and Costco, rely on it to map out and manage projects of all shapes and sizes.

It’s an excellent tool for basic visual project management for any type of project, from home improvement and side hustles to marketing campaigns and full-blown business operations as well.

Trello uses boards, cards, and lists to organize projects, making it a familiar and comfortable platform. You can drag and drop cards, move cards to new boards, and cross tasks off as you go along.

Furthermore, you can create automatic workflows with rule-based triggers, calendar commands, and more.

Plus, the free forever plan includes intuitive features like:

  • Unlimited personal boards
  • Unlimited cards and lists
  • 10 MB file attachments
  • Up to 10 team boards
  • Basic automation
  • And two-factor authentication

It’s an excellent solution for teams of all sizes since everyone can join for free. However, you need to upgrade to a paid plan if you need more than ten team boards.

And if you outgrow the free plan, you can upgrade to an affordable paid plan for more advanced features. Trello’s paid plans include:

  • Business Class — $9.99/user per month
  • Enterprise — $17.50/user per month

Sign up for a free forever plan to get started with Trello today.

Summary

Zoho Projects is my #1 recommendation for most users, starting at just $3 per user per month with an extensive free forever plan as well.

However, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all project management solution.

So, make sure you understand your needs and requirements before making any decisions. And don’t forget to use the criteria we talked about as you go through the process.

What’s your go-to project management software?

Best Business Process Management Software

Best Business Process Management Software

Dec 18, 2020 | Online Marketing

Disclosure: This content is reader-supported, which means if you click on some of our links that we may earn a commission.

There’s a constant war between growing a business and keeping an operation lean, mean, and agile.

How does a company stay efficient, even as they are trying new things and bringing on employees?

It’s actually quite simple: business process management (BPM) software. Rarely are answers this easy.

BPM software helps organizations of all sizes streamline operations and minimize waste.

Visualize every process from end to end. Find opportunities for efficiency and automation. Get more done with fewer mistakes.

If optimizing your business processes sounds like a good idea, this post will tell you everything you need to know about how to find the perfect BPM software for you.

The Top 5 Options for Business Process Management Software

  1. Orchestly – Best for simple workflow automation
  2. Pipefy – Best BPM software for Kanban
  3. Creatio Studio – Best low-code solution
  4. Tallyfy – Best for automating recurring processes
  5. Zoho Creator – Best for customizable workflows

How to Choose the Best Business Process Management Software for You

These tools are supposed to make life easier, right?

Yes. 100 percent.

And not just you, but your employees, customers, and potential clients, too.

Any organization can benefit from implementing BPM software. Because of their broad usefulness, these products come in a lot of shapes and sizes.

Thankfully, you can break your search down into three essential goals.

You are looking for BPM software that will help you:

  1. Clearly visualize business processes
  2. Automate more business processes
  3. Monitor and improve business processes

Design. Run. Automate. Improve. Repeat.

Once you get set up, it will be that simple.

Figure out which features you need by considering each product in light of how it will help you visualize, automate, and monitor the daily work of your business.

Process Visualization

The first responsibility of BPM software is to help companies define and document their business processes.

These platforms have a visual workflow builder that lets you map out every step of every process from start to finish.

Missing steps and redundancies are plain as day. If there’s a breakdown in the billing process, for example, it will be easy to understand and address with BPM software. There’s a clear picture of how the paperwork is moving (or not) from start to finish.

This is way better than finding out there’s an issue from a confused or angry customer. By providing a full, end-to-end visualization of the process, BPM software is really helpful for diagnosing and treating common symptoms of business inefficiency.

What’s really nice is that you can quickly modify workflows without writing code.

Check out the drag-and-drop workflow builder in Orchestly, where you can see how each stage and transition can be easily defined:

Each product does it a little differently. It’s a good idea to watch their videos to see what the UI is like. This will give you a base-level sense of how each BPM software thinks about process management.

If you are a fan of the flow chart style, Orchestly is going to work well. Tallyfy wants to get away from flow charts and works off what they call a blueprint. Pipefy is designed to work best in board-based and Kanban settings.

Which one looks like it’s swimming in your current?

Process Automation

As elegant and useful as the visualization aspects of BPM software are, the process automation is where you’re going to see the major impact on your operations.

With workflows represented in a clear fashion, you can identify different points and transitions where you can add automation.

In the Pipefy workflow builder, for example, you can make it so one action triggers another. There’s no code to write, just select the option that pushes the workflow along.

This can take an incredible amount of busywork out of people’s day-to-day. A sales rep completes their proposal and it’s automatically routed to the right manager for review and approval.

Not only is that rep moving on to their next task, the pending approval is queued up exactly where it needs to be for the manager.

Nothing gets missed or held up.

BPM software is great at automating routine and recurring processes like:

  • Requests for approval
  • Inventory updates
  • Time-off requests
  • Promotions
  • Customer onboarding
  • Training new hires

There’s really no limit to the applications. You can implement uniform policies, keep everyone informed, and ensure that every last lowercase j is dotted.

With regards to automation, you want to choose BPM software that strikes an appropriate balance in your workspace. Something sophisticated enough to handle the job that is still within your IT wheelhouse.

The big edge that the code-heavy platforms have is that they can be 100% customized to fit your situation.

The upshot to the no-code platforms is that non-technical users are going to be up and running in no time. They won’t need help to build out and adjust workflows. This kind of independence is really important, and shouldn’t be sacrificed lightly in favor of a more comprehensive tool.

Process Monitoring

What if you never had to send another “Hey, how’s it going?” email?

With BPM software, you can monitor your processes in real-time without ever having to bug someone again. No one does.

Users see exactly where they are on all their tasks. Dates and deadlines are clear, and everything they need to do is laid out in front of them.

Supervisors have total visibility of all projects and jobs. With workflows feeding information into dashboards, managers have a clear view of KPIs and bottlenecks can be seen—and avoided—well in advance.

Leadership can leverage your BPM platform to track tons of useful data for measuring productivity, forecasting costs, and further refining processes.

Another nice feature of good BPM software are the collaborative tools that help teams stay on track.

These aren’t monitoring tools per se, but the ability to comment, @mention, or flag tasks may serve as a critical early warning system.

The Different Types of Business Process Management Software

BPM Software can do a whole lot on its own or it can act as a guide.The type of BPM software you need depends on your goals—visualization, monitoring, and automation—and how complex your desired workflows are.

In some ways, you can think of these four different types of BPM software as a stack that grows increasingly robust:

  1. Business Process Modeling Software: visualization
  2. Workflow Monitoring Software: visualization + monitoring
  3. Workflow Automation Software: visualization + monitoring + automation
  4. Low-Code Application Development: visualization + monitoring + advanced automation

Let’s go in-depth on each type to build a firm sense of how these capabilities help companies respond to different challenges.

Business Process Modeling Software

When you see business process modeling software, think of it as a BPM solution that helps with the visualization side of process management.

These tools produce clear documentation, SOPs, and visual representations of workflows that can easily be shared throughout the company.

This is crucial for maintaining consistency of business operations and a boon to new hires who can understand exactly where they fit in.

Workflow Management Software

The next step up in functionality is workflow management software. With this type of BPM software, individuals and teams can interact with the workflows.

They can mark assignments as done, ask questions about specific tasks, and get all the information they need in one centralized location.

Workflow management solutions have a blend of visualization and monitoring capabilities that are really great for keeping everyone on track.

Workflow Automation Software

BPM software that fits in this category will let you automate repetitive tasks within workflows. Set rules that automatically route tasks, files, data to the right person or team.

Say a customer fills out a form, for instance. This could trigger a welcome email series and automatically route their contact info to the appropriate rep.

That’s a simple example, and you can set rules that automate as many steps as you like throughout the customer lifecycle.

These tools tend to connect to a variety of data sources and work well across the organization. Often they come with pre-built workflows and templates for HR, accounting, sales, and so on.

Scope out the solutions on the vendor website to see examples of who’s having success with each product. Are these markets and use-cases that apply to your business?

In terms of automation capabilities, the simpler, lighter workflow automation tools can do a lot. The more expensive premium tools can do a lot more.

I know that’s an oversimplification, but in the end, the “power” of BPM software lies in how well a team can use it. The heavyweight automation features included with premium products are amazing, no doubt, but they take some time to master.

Low-Code Application Development

Low-code application development platforms weren’t built for BPM, but they are growing in popularity as a solution.

Low-code application development platforms allow novice developers the ability to whip up custom applications that meet unique business needs. Really, anyone who puts the time in can figure out how to use these intuitive platforms with little to no coding.

Why is this important for BPM?.

The thing is, at a certain point, super-complex workflows can get unmanageable. There’s no one straw that breaks the camel’s back, but if your average user is having to reach out to IT to sort out problems with their daily work, there’s probably an issue.

Low-code application development comes at the problem from a different angle. Instead of deploying a system and trying to fit it to your needs, why not build a system that’s specific to your organization?

These tools connect with third-party SaaS apps, so you can build out really rich workflows that leverage information from the tools you already use.

It’s a different approach to the same problem as traditional BPM software. If your teams are comfortable with a low-code solution, I’d go for it. They’re really affordable and have few hard limits in terms of what you can do.

#1 – Orchestly — Best for Simple Workflow Automation

Orchestly is built to optimize your everyday business processes.

Say you want to hire a new worker, file an expense report, or request new content. Maybe the marketing department wants a killer post about the best business process management software.

In each case, there are several steps of validation and review that need to be baked into each process. With Orchestly’s visual workflow editor, literally anyone can build out the exact steps required.

Here’s an example of an onboarding workflow in Orchestly.

Each step in the series of tasks is clearly defined in a series of stages (white boxes), connected by transitions (turquoise boxes), and parallel transitions (orange boxes). Drill down into each stage to the set of conditions that need to be followed before, during, and after any transition.

This is a super easy interface to master.

There are tons of pre-built templates and, once users want to fine-tune their own scenarios, all of the visualization and basic automation is managed with an intuitive drag-and-drop editor.

Another really nice thing about Orchestly are the monitoring features. There are a host of ready-made report types that give you deep insight into your processes.

You can drill down into transitions to discover how many requests are at a particular stage, the ratio of approvals to rejections, and other metrics. Plus, you can filter search results to get a real time picture of specific employees, projects, or customers.

Orchestly comes with other features that help you extend BPM functionality throughout your organization:

  • Role-based access control
  • Request manager
  • Form designer
  • Audit log
  • Email templates
  • APIs, extensions, and webhooks

Orchestly offers a free version that is limited to five users and three orchestrations (their word for workflow). The paid version, Orchestly Business, is $7/month per user with an annual subscription.

You can try Orchestly Business free for 15 days. If you have never given BPM software a shot, this is a great, low-risk option to start out.

#2 – Pipefy — Best BPM Software for Kanban

Pipefy is winning over a lot of people because of its approachable style. For companies that are already managing processes within a Kanban framework, Pipefy is going to fit like a missing puzzle piece.

This platform has the feel and flexibility of an agile project management tool, yet you’ve got the power of BPM software.

Switch between calendar, list, and Kanban views. Yes it looks like Trello, but in Pipefy you can use the drag-and-drop editor to add rules, custom fields, and ensure that everyone assigned to the process knows exactly what’s necessary to keep things moving.

Build out completely custom workflows with Pipefy’s easy editor. There are hundreds of plug-and-play process templates available in its free gallery.

What’s really helpful for marketing and sales is that you can design these workflows to kick off as soon as someone fills out a form, or reaches out by phone, email or SMS.

They’ve really made it as easy as possible for people to configure their workflows without writing a line of code.

Intuitive doesn’t even begin to describe how helpful Pipefy is for first-time users. It’s always suggesting the next step.

Plus, your customers and clients can create and track requests without being a Pipefy user, which is great for collaboration with clients and other stakeholders.

Other helpful features include:

  • Reporting dashboards
  • Native integration with Slack and GitHub
  • API access
  • Self-service portals and forms
  • SLA and deadline tracking

Pipefy offers a free trial of their paid plans and a free version for up to five people. To really take advantage of this awesome tool, I recommend one of the paid plans:

  • Business: $18/month per user
  • Enterprise: $30/month per user
  • Unlimited: contact sales

If you like the idea of moving cards through a pipeline, this is a great product. You can start small and gradually automate every one of your processes with Pipefy.

Easy to build, easy to adjust, Pipefy is perfect for the continuously improving agile workflow. If your teams are happy running Kanban, look no further than Pipefy.

#3 – Creatio Studio — Best Low-Code Solution

Creatio Studio gives you the best of both worlds in terms of power and learning curve. Non-technical users will find the platform just about as easy to use as any popular BPM software, but there’s no ceiling to what they can do if they are willing to learn.

The free version of Creatio Studio works for business process modeling, allowing teams to diagram workflows in a collaborative setting. View, comment, and edit the designs in real time, and save everything to a process library for easy access.

To manage, monitor, and automate processes, you’ll need the Creatio Studio Enterprise. With it, you can design workflows and business applications of any complexity.

Think of building with blocks rather than writing code. Creatio compares it to building with LEGO—you don’t have to make the parts so much as select what you want and snap it together.

There are hundreds of ready-to-use templates in the Creatio marketplace to help you get started. As you design and refine processes within the visual design builder, Creatio automatically generates the corresponding business logic.

It’s a great product that straddles the divide between technical and non-technical users. Creatio is constantly suggesting actions and helping users double-check their work.

In addition to helping people design exactly what they need, Creatio Studio comes with:

  • Role-based access control
  • Interactive dashboards
  • API access
  • No-code data migration
  • One-click pdf documentation
  • AI and machine learning tools

Creatio Studio is free for an unlimited number of users and Creatio Studio Enterprise starts at $25/month per user.

Shortlist the free version of Creatio if you are just starting to think about business process management. It will help you get off on the right foot at no cost.

If, on the other hand, you are hitting the limits of your current BPM software, Creatio Studio Enterprise is one of the most capable, affordable options available.

Although many low-code platforms are built for general use, Creatio was originally founded as bpm’online in 2011. Every aspect of the design has BPM in mind, which lowers the learning curve tremendously for non-IT users.

#4 – Tallyfy — Best for Automating Recurring Processes

Tallyfy gets away from the idea of flowcharts. Instead of shapes and arrows to guide your design process, Tallyfy keeps everything in something they call a blueprint.

There are pre-made blueprints you can use for marketing, finance, sales, HR, and more. Once you have designed a blueprint, you can use it over and over again.

In the example below, you can see a blueprint that captures the entire onboarding journey.

Blueprints are easy to customize without code. Point and click to add new tasks to blueprints. Within tasks, you can set required fields and add drop down menus that will pull the names of employees, customers, and projects from connected databases.

When you go to launch these blueprints, end-users love how easy it is to complete each task.

Managers can view progress at a glance or drill down into specific tasks. Clients who need to approve a request or sign off at a particular step will just see that.

Working off blueprints, it’s incredibly easy to set up and automate recurring processes. Quickly create a library of blueprints that suit your needs, and continuously improve each step. Turn all of your recurring processes into error-free workflows that save time and eliminate stress.

After launching your automated processes, Tallyfy’s process monitoring capabilities help you keep track of all your flows in real time. Some of the highlights include:

  • Powerful search and filtering
  • Custom process views
  • Role-based access control
  • Audit trails
  • Commenting
  • Issue flagging

Having commenting and issue flagging as separate features is so important for surfacing problems quickly.

How many times does a red alert get buried for a few hours among the constant flow of @mentions and comments? With easy opportunities to flag problems, companies never let an employee, client, or goal fall through the cracks again.

You get two months of Tallyfy free if you sign an annual contract for any of their three pricing tiers:

  • Tallyfy Docs: starting at $42/month, includes 10 members
  • Tallyfy Basic: starting at $100/month, includes 8 members
  • Tallyfy Pro: starting at $100/month, includes 4 members

The way their tiers break down is really easy, though it looks a little unusual at first. Docs lets you create read-only blueprints, Basic lets you launch blueprints as a process, and Pro lets you add automation.

If you need additional users, the added cost increases at each tier, from $4/user with Docs, to $12.50 with Basic, and $25 with Pro.

They offer a free 14-day trial, if you want to see what Tallyfy is all about. I really recommend the blueprint-style BPM software to any business that has repetitive tasks they need to get right every time.

#5 – Zoho Creator — Best for Customizable Workflows

Zoho Creator is a low-code application development platform that can be used to create a wide range of customizable business process workflows.

Unlike Creatio Studio, Zoho Creator wasn’t born as a BPM tool. Think of it as a blank slate with an intuitive toolkit that allows companies to create everything from serverless apps to full-blown, totally specialized ERP software.

The reason companies are finding success with Zoho Creator in the BPM space is that it comes loaded with tools to build out customized workflows.

Between the templates and the drag-and-drop platform, everyone with a few weeks of Zoho Creator under their belt will think they’re a developer.

There’s nothing dazzling about the UI, but it’s easily navigable and you can build out really sophisticated apps to automate your business processes.

Zoho is really great at guiding users through each step, whether they are trying to set up a simple payment process, or design a mobile app for their office.

To really handle the complex tasks, users will have to familiarize themselves with Zoho’s proprietary language, Deluge, which is short for Data Enriched Language for the Universal Grid Environment.

It’s a mouthful to say, but in terms of building out custom scripts quickly, Deluge is a huge step in the right direction.An HR manager with no code experience will be able to automate a recruitment application. A sales rep can build a system to track leads automatically using Deluge.

With other platforms, end-users are at the mercy of their automated workflows and have little ability to make changes to the system. With Zoho, they can keep control and ensure that their workflows are designed according to best practices and current challenges.

For their part, technically gifted users will love Zoho Creator because they can add logic and function to their applications without having to wrestle with conventional tools.

Some of the other features that help you get off the ground quickly include:

  • 50 ready-to-use apps
  • Schema builder
  • Developer sandbox
  • Payment gateway integration
  • Audit trail
  • Automated application backup

Pricing is remarkable, considering how powerful the platform is.

  • Basic: $10/month per user
  • Premium: $20/month per user
  • Ultimate: $35/month per user

The Basic tier is quite robust, though you are limited to building 3 apps. You get more apps and greater functionality at the Premium and Ultimate tiers.

You can certainly manage simple workflows with Zoho Creator, but I wouldn’t make this your first pick for that reason. It’s just too powerful to justify using when you have Orchestly and Pipefy available.

Choose Zoho Creator if lighter tools aren’t meeting your BPM needs.

Summary

There is no reason to fly blind. Get immediate insight and oversight of all your business processes with an appropriate BPM solution.

If you are just starting out, I really recommend Orchestly for and Tallyfy.

If you have simple automation and workflow goals, go with Orchestly and see how far it gets you. For many companies, it’s going to be enough to better manage all of their operations.

Tallyfy is going to knock out repetitive tasks really quickly with the workflow automation tools. Blueprint your processes and then manage them with little oversight.

For agile teams, especially those working within a Kanban or Scrum process framework, I would definitely check out Pipefy. It’s built for agility. Make adjustments on the fly and monitor performance to continually evolve better processes.

Between Creatio Studio and Zoho Creator, the two low-code options on this list of best BPM software, the choice ultimately comes down to what your users like.

Judging from reviews, lots of new users are falling in love with Zoho’s Deluge scripting language. If that’s the case, you may want to consider implementing Creator and other products from Zoho, like their CRM, which also rely on Deluge.

If someone is looking for a more traditional take on highly-customizable BPM software, I’d point you to Creatio Studio.