Our Monday.com test shows you a lot. Whether you should choose this software or not, you will find out at the end of the article with a final evaluation. It makes sense to read until then – alternatively, the most important things are given in brief directly after the table of contents.
Intro
In this test and review you will find various questions about monday.com, which will give you a good overview of functionality as well as advantages and disadvantages. The main topics are as follows:
The most important in a nutshell
- monday.com* delivers more than task management software. In addition to project management, the mapping of business processes is also well possible.
- Extensions with external apps (GMail, Zoom, MS Teams, etc.) are possible.
- There is no free version. The cost is calculated per 5 users. There is no version for individuals.
- The basic version provides basics in task management. Those who pay more can use project planning with timeline, Gantt, resource forecast and more.
- The additional app has a similar structure as the browser application enables mobile working.
- According to its own statement, the software is DSGVO compliant, there is a data center in Germany
monday.com as a spin-off from Wix.com
The project management software monday.com was founded in 2012 by the then company Dapulse. The Israeli company is a spin-off from Wix.com, which offer cloud-based website creation. monday.com is now an internationally used cloud-based software. The focus is still on project management, but is also moving toward a holistic solution for representing work across the enterprise. In the review, the Pro version was used in a 14-day trial.
What features does monday.com offer in the test?
Basically it is possible to set up different boards. One can think of a board as a project or sub-project and work within the board as well as collaborate with the team.
A distinction is made between groups and lists. Groups are cross-cutting and are used for evaluation (“To Do” and “Done” in the default view).
On the Kanban Board there are lists like “ToDo”, Done” “InWork”. With an automation rule you can connect the lists in the board and the groups well.
Project planning in monday.com
If you want to use the basics of project planning, you can do so to a certain extent with monday.com. The planning of projects is well done with monday.com.
The core of monday.com, as in many such software solutions, is thetask management. Tasks can be created on a board, which can be stored with a lot of information:
- Status
- Priority
- Processor
- Comments
- Files
- Deadline
- Time frame
- Working hours
- Subtasks
- etc.
The management of general project data is limited by adding board descriptions. The provided field is only intended for short texts, but not for an extensive project profile. Nevertheless, the core information for new team members can be stored here.
The basis of project planning, the effort estimation, can thus be mapped via the tasks. Setting up a milestone plan would be the next step, classically speaking.
With a cloud-typical advancement, there is also an improved Gantt chart with milestones, dependencies and project phases. For example, a milestone plan can be well constructed by showing tasks on a timeline in conjunction with deadlines.
The Timeline is the simple visualization of work per employee while the Gantt Chart provides the more complex representation. This way, the project manager and the team can decide which view is the right one depending on the project. This clearly helps to keep track of the project and deadlines.
But:
The review shows: Completely classic project management methods are not (yet) supported by monday.com. If you want to access a work breakdown structure or network, for example, you have to turn to other providers. InLoox is a good alternative for the milestone plan and Factro also offers a work breakdown structure.
Communication and cooperation with monday.com
In the area of communication between project members, monday.com can shine. There are many different ways to get in contact with each other and the current status in the project is very clearly visible for the entire team through many visualizationsof a project board.
Various representations visualizations of the tasks
Just the presentation of the board are exceptional at monday.com. While a normal task management tool usually can’t offer more besides task list and kanban board, monday.com offers the following options:
- The simple tasks list
- The Kanban Board
- Display as timeline
- The Gantt Chart
- The calendar
- Evaluation diagram
- A world map function
- Files
- Workload
- The form
- And additional extensions for a good collaboration (e.g. whiteboard as brainstorming tool)
Documentation in the project with WorkDocs*
With an integrated solution, you can collaborate with your team in aDocumentation tool similar to GoogleDocs. In addition, it is possible to integrate evaluations and information from your projects into WorkDocs in order to prepare this information or to record it at specific points in time. There is also a presentation mode – e.g. for the project status meeting.
Project communication on a task basis
If you look at the task level in the Kanban board in monday.com, it takes a bit of getting used to for someone coming from the world of the usual task management tools. Normally, tasks can be opened and you can see all the information at a glance. We initially miss this view in the monday.com* review. For this, you can display different columns and comments, information or activity logs can be found in a sidebar. You have to know that, and then it’s good – but not usually.
The dashboard
In addition to the board view, each user can set up an individual dashboard. Individual at monday.com means that you can drag and drop widgets onto your dashboard. The widgets range from a timeline of progress in the project to displaying charts of various kinds.
Filter function
In monday.com there is a possibility to filter the tasks in the task list so that only the most important tasks are visible. This enables the processing of larger projects.
Roles and permissions
As an administrator, you can distinguish between team member and administrator. With this, there are different permissions. In addition, owners of boards can be hired. If you want to edit a very extensive matrix of user rights, you have to go for the Enterprise model.
General team communication
Those who have new information based on tasks can attach it to the task via comments or info texts. In addition, there is the possibility to approach the respective members of the team directly via zoom integration (video telephony). Those who prefer Microsoft Teams can also integrate monday.com here. With the automation function it is also possible to send emails and notifications, e.g. as soon as a task has been solved or commented on. here are diverse and very individual possibilities.
Requirements management
An extra requirements management is not integrated in monday.com*. However, with the scope of integrated functions, you can build a simple management. Automation in conjunction with a new board and certain rules for notification can contribute to this, for example. The internal documentation tool WorkDocs* helps to keep track of requirements.
Resource planning
Good to know, monday.com has integrated its own resource scheduling widget. Here you can see per employee for which time he is scheduled and how many tasks are to be done per day/week. Tasks and their workload can also be distributed among multiple resources. Again, only those who diligently maintain the tasks and values will be able to do anything with this overview.
Project controlling
On a task basis, you can add a time tracking feature. This makes it possible to view the effort per task and in the whole project via the diagram.
Document Management
Documents and files can be attached to tasks in monday.com*. Moreover, you can open the additional view “Files” on board level and see all files in one board. A nice feature is the file preview, which also works for videos or audio files.
Multi-project management
There is no extra area for managing all projects. There is the possibility to set up a separate board and a kind of project portfolio via the timeline. In this case, you have to enter the project data manually and cannot access the data of the different project boards. Nevertheless, this solution is sufficient for many companies.
Rating of monday.com among the most important criteria at pm-tools
Features and functionality
The status of a simple task management software has been left behind by monday.com. Currently, the software brings a good scope of features to form a basis of planning and collaboration in the field of project management.
It is also nice that monday.com offers many templates, which makes the creativity and possibilities of use clear. There are e.g. templates of normal project plans, of application processes as well as the management of leads in the sales area.
Management is likely to be difficult only for large projects that require a well thought-out structure with a network plan.
Other criteria for evaluation
- The language can be set to 9 different variants, which allows international editing in the project. However, it was noticeable in the test that not everything was translated. For example, some of the online help is only available in English.
- There is no free plan, but you can use thePro version for 14 days as a test. This corresponds to our test version and helps one to get the overview of the software and make the decision.
User interface and ease of use
Especially the start with monday.com* should be facilitated by many helps and tutorials. Immediately after signing up, you create your first project in tutorial form and get suggestions for different videos that make it easier to get started.
The entire interface is user-friendly and almost all functions are self-evident. The only thing that was confusing in the test was the affiliation of tasks and additional information to them. Unlike usual, the information is not concentrated in a task overview, but divided between additional columns in the list view and a sidebar. You have to get used to this kind of presentation.
Despite the ease of use, it’s not quick like simple task management software when you’re new to it. Since monday.com has a decent range of functions, you have to look up the help once in a while to find your way around. Nevertheless, you can consider the start as uncomplicated and you are already productive after a few days of use.
Review of the monday.com App
Als typische Cloud-Software wird monday.com über den Browser genutzt. Additionally, there are desktop applications for macOS and Windows. A mobile app can also make it even easier to work on the go. Here is a brief introduction to the monday.com app on iOS:
The main view represents the view of all boards in a list. Individual boards can be seen and edited in the simple list view.
Unfortunately, this can get very confusing since the information is stored in many columns and you cannot see them in their entirety due to the smaller display. Alternatively, the overview in Timeline and Kanban is also possible.
Further menu navigation is done via a “burger menu” and a sidebar on the left. This way you can view notifications, inbox, search and your own tasks for the week. The app can thus cover large parts of the browser version.
Data protection, hosting and service
Data protection – Where is the data located and where are the servers?
As a cloud-based software solution, the area of security and data protection is an important pillar at monday.com*. The security model and controls are based on international protocols and standards as well as industry best practices such as:
- ISO / IEC 27001, the standard for information security management systems (ISMS)
- ISO / IEC 27018, Security techniques – Code of conduct for the protection of individuals identifiable information.
In addition, monday.com is subject to evaluation in the form of a SOC 2 audit. More information on the topic is available directly on the provider’s website.*
The topic of GDPR compliance should be pleasing for European companies. Here, the software provider explains in detail why the software can be used without any problems.* In addition, since March 2021, there is also the option to choose a data center in Germany (more on this in our news on monday.com).
Accessibility and stability of the project management software
Important to know:
monday.com is not available as a self-hosted server installation but only as a cloud version (SaaS).
Performance issues did not occur during use, but you can read about problems in various reviews from time to time. But the team around the software is doing well and solving the problems with regular updates. One example is a performance problem that is described here.
The current availability status is shown here* and is over 99.9% on all systems. These are good values, but they are not guaranteed outside the Enterprise model.
Support from the manufacturer (customer service) in case of problems
Support from monday.com* is very extensive when it comes to problems with the software. There is a pronounced amount of content to provide quick support through online help and videos.
If that doesn’t work, you can make a contact request quite easily and it will be answered quite quickly. Moreover, as a user of the platform, you can also set the speed of the response yourselfand increase the priority. Initially, no telephone contact is planned.
With the Enterprise model, you also get a service contract that guarantees 99.9% availability. This then also includes a direct contact, for support cases.
By the way
In the test of monday.com, three different support forms alone were found. This is confusing, but it shows the importance of the topic to the provider. Those who need more help for monday.com can also seek external advice. Here is an overview of the experts on monday.com.
Costs when using monday.com
monday.com is available in four different cost models, which differ in scope. There is no free version. The costs are calculated per 5 users and can be paid per month or per year. For starters, there is the variant for only 3 users.Thus, monday.com* is not always the cheapest software in terms of price level.
monday.com in comparison with other providers: An overview of the costs for project management software.
Basic
The basic version includes the core scope of the software, which enables easy collaboration. The equipment resembles a normal task management software. You can use unlimited boards in list view and Kanban visualization. You can work normally with the mobile app. Support is available via contact request, as for all models.
The data storage is limited to 5 GB and the activity log to 1 week. Furthermore, you can only display the data from one board on the dashboard, so that comprehensive evaluations are not possible.
Standard
With the increase to standard, you already get a much more comprehensive software. Project scheduling is now improved with calendar, timeline and Gantt. The automation function and integration of external services (e.g. Gmail) make significant customization of the software possible and facilitate the work in the project.
Other extensions:
- 50 GB for file storage and unlimited activity log
- Automation and integration of external service providers limited to 250 actions/month each
Pro
The Pro variant* includes almost the entire portfolio of monday.com. The additional points such as time recording and diagrams for evaluation should be particularly interesting here. The dashboard can now contain the information of 10 projects.
- File storage unlimited usable
- Automation and integration of external service providers limited to 25,000 actions/month each
- Boards are unlimited shareable with guests
Enterprise
The Enterprise model gives one few functional extensions in the use of the software. Improved control of data and access to the software is important. So there is anaudit log and a session overview for the administrators. Also, you can get faster support through the service account and have a guaranteed availability of 99.9%.
Cost comparison
| Monday.com | 1 User | 5 User | 25 User | 75 User |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic* | 288€ | 468€ | 2.388€ | 7.164€ |
| Standard* | 360€ | 600€ | 3.000€ | 9.000€ |
| Pro* | 576€ | 948€ | 4.788€ | 14.364€ |
Pro tip
There are discounts for non-profit organizations and students. To do this, you need to fill out a form and contact monday.com.
Our evaluation of monday.com as a project management tool
The advantages
Project planning is good to do with timeline, Gantt chart and calendar function.
The software can be used in many ways, not only for project planning and communication. Many templates show that the use is possible in all business areas.
Project controlling is possible in the expensive versions via time recording and the resource overview
GDPR compliance will please European companies in particular. monday.com also pays attention to security in other respects.
Automations and rules are very easy to integrate. Even external services can be integrated (e.g. Gmail)
The cons
Not for beginners: There is no free version and the entry price for Basic is about 24€/month at the time of testing(you have to choose at least 3 users).
The scope makes the software a bit confusing – at least in the Pro version. After setup, however, you can get used to it.
Completely capturing the overview for individual tasks is not always easy. Here, an overall representation as an additional view would be desirable.
Translations are incomplete and mixed. Some texts like the help is only available in English.
For whom is monday.com worthwhile?
There is no free version and the entry to Basic starts only with the package for 3 users. Thus, the software is only conditionally suitable for private users, self-employed or freelancers. A more favorable entry option would be desirable here. Nevertheless, 24€ for Basic per month would be manageable for most freelancers, if they have a good order situation.
The Basic version is a simple version of a task management software, but it can also be customized. The target group here is likely to be smaller agencieslooking for an initial tool for collaboration on projects.
monday.com*, starting from the standard version, represents a comprehensive solution that can be suitable for many projects. This means that the main focus is clearly on the field of medium-sized to larger companies. This is also shown by the functions and templates, which bring a significant relief for the daily work in everyday business processes. For large companies, monday.com can provide a comprehensive end-to-end solution.
Especially the timeline and resource overview functions provide a good overview for classic project management. This means that monday.com itself can get a foot in the door here.
monday.com Alternatives
Are you looking for a pure task management software or lean alternative to monday.com? These 3 solutions have a different focus and should be able to help you:
- A comparable alternative for the Basic version is given by Meistertask.
- Those looking for a comparison for the Pro version can turn to the slim solution aworkas a monday.com alternative.
- With Stackfield, you have the choice for a tool with special attention to privacy and security.
How to find the software for your project or company, you can see here in the guide.
Change history of the review
| Date | Updates |
|---|---|
| 19.12.2021 | – New integration of the internal documentation solution Workdocs into the text at Communication – Subtasks as an addition at the task details |
| 09.03.2021 | New and relevant for German companies: Monday.com now uses a data center in Frankfurt am Main in Germany |
| 04.02.2021 | – improved Gantt chart with milestones, dependencies and project phases |
| 02.12.2020 | – For small teams there is the innovation that the minimum size has been reduced from 5 users to 3 users – Audio preview for files |
| 02.11.2020 | – Milestone also in list view – Video preview for files – New app marketplace for integrations (Miro to Unito) |
| 08.10.2020 | – new “Undo” function: after deletion, users now have 10 seconds to undo the action |
| 02.09.2021 | – Display of subtasks in table view and in workload |
| 03.08.2020 | – Integration to Microsoft Teams – Sharing the workload of a task among different team members is possible |
| 06.07.2020 | – Improved desktop app for macOS and Windows |
* = Commission link
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