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As a product manager, your workload is no joke—so you need serious product management tools to keep up. Between the never-ending backlog of tasks and the constant need to update stakeholders, your software must be reliable, versatile, and smart enough to work seamlessly in the background.

Using these criteria, along with my own experience as a product manager, I've tested and ranked the absolute best product management software on the market right now.

Why Trust Our Product Management Software Reviews

We’ve been testing and reviewing product management software since 2021. As product managers ourselves, we know how critical, and difficult it is to make the right decision when selecting software.

We invest in deep research to help our audience make better software purchasing decisions. We’ve tested more than 2,000 tools for different product management use cases and written over 1,000 comprehensive software reviews. Learn how we stay transparent & our product management software review methodology.

The Best Product Management Tools Comparison Chart

What Is Product Management Software?

Product management tools a specialized tool or suite of applications that help businesses and product teams effectively plan, develop, and manage their products throughout their lifecycle. It provides functionalities that aid in tasks such as idea generation, product planning, collaboration, communication, and tracking the progress of product development. It also serves as a central hub for product managers, designers, developers, and other stakeholders to collaborate, streamline workflows, and make informed decisions.

Product management software often includes features for roadmap planning, task management, documentation, team collaboration, and integration with other tools to streamline the overall product management process. However, software cannot replace the full skillset of a product manager. To hone your craft as a PM, I suggest browsing our list of resources for product managers, which rounds up some of our favorite books, videos, podcasts, newsletters, and more.

Here is a table where you can compare the tools we just covered in the overviews.

Tool Best For Trial Info Price
1
monday dev

monday dev's Gantt chart feature provides visibility into product schedules, tasks, roadmaps, and other aspects of product management.

Best for agile product management

Free trial available

From $8/user/month Website
2
Craft.io

Craft.io is an end-to-end product management solution to effectively manage the entire lifecycle of their digital products, from feedback collection and feature definition to portfolio management.

Best for built-in industry-leading best practices

14-day free trial

From $19/editor/month Website
3
ProdPad

Design product-specific goals organized by current (urgent) and future (roadmap) planning.

Best for end-to-end product management

7-30 day free trial

From $25/user/month Website
4
Wrike

Wrike's Gantt charts allow users to organize complex tasks into hierarchical structures with various dependencies, timelines, and resources.

Best product management analytics

Freemium version available

From $10/user/month (min of 2 seats) Website
5
Confluence

Create anything from project plans and incident communications to product requirements, using an extensive selection of templates.

Best for its wide variety of product collaboration templates

Free trial + free plan available

From $5/user/month (billed annually) Website
6
Jira

Users can create, update, and troubleshoot issues by leveraging an efficient and highly intuitive web interface with convenient keyboard shortcuts.

Best for digital product development like apps & SaaS tools

7-day free trial + free plan available

From $7.16/user/month (billed annually, min 5 seats) Website
7
airfocus

airfocus lets you share lean roadmaps that update in real-time as the product development progresses.

Best for managing multiple products and teams

14-day free trial

From $59/editor/month Website
8
Miro

Miro has stunning visual tools to take an idea from start to completion.

Best for flexible collaboration and visualization for product management

30-day free trial + free plan available

From $8/user/month (billed annually) Website
9
FigJam

FigJam by Figma's tools allow for the the creation of diagrams with predefined shapes and connectors that can be easily manipulated to represent processes and relationships.

Best for team collaboration and brainstorming

Free plan available

From $15/seat/month (billed annually) Website
10
Reveall

Reveall’s in-app notifications can inform vendors and customers of product updates, promotional activities, and new releases.

Best product management software for product discovery

14-day free trial

From $24/month Website

What Is Product Management Software?

Product management tools are specialized tools or suites of applications that help businesses and product teams effectively plan, develop, and manage their products throughout their lifecycle. It provides functionalities that aid in tasks such as idea generation, product planning, collaboration, communication, and tracking the progress of product development. It also serves as a central hub for product managers, designers, developers, and other stakeholders to collaborate, streamline workflows, and make informed decisions.

Product management software often includes features for design and prototyping, product development, roadmap planning, task management, documentation, team collaboration, and integration with other tools to streamline the overall product management process.

P.S. Even the best software cannot replace the full skillset of a product manager. To hone your craft as a PM, I suggest browsing our list of resources for product managers, which rounds up some of our favorite books, videos, podcasts, newsletters, and more.

Best Product Management Software Reviews

Read more detailed information on each tool, what their standout features are and initial pricing information.

Best for agile product management

  • Free trial available
  • From $8/user/month
Visit Website
Rating: 4.6/5

monday dev is a versatile product management tool that aids product and development teams in planning, building, and launching new products.

Why I picked monday dev: I like that monday dev provides a comprehensive suite of tools that support agile methodologies. Its user-friendly interface facilitates detailed, interactive roadmaps, making it easy to track the entire product development lifecycle. The platform's drag-and-drop functionality also simplifies task organization and prioritization, milestone setting, and progress tracking, ensuring that teams can maintain full visibility and alignment throughout their projects.

monday dev also has robust visualization capabilities, including Gantt charts and Kanban boards. These tools offer multiple ways for teams to manage their work effectively, whether it's backlog and feature management or sprint planning and execution. The platform also excels in real-time collaboration and communication, enabling team members to comment on tasks, share updates, and attach relevant files directly within the interface.

monday dev Standout Features & Integrations

Features include burndown charts, automation of repetitive tasks and workflows, custom dashboards, task scheduling and tracking, resource management, and budgeting.

Integrations include Zoom, Google Drive, GitHub, Jira, Microsoft Teams, Slack, Trello, Dropbox, Asana, and more.

monday dev Pricing & Plans

Pricing starts from $8/user/month with a free trial available.

Best for built-in industry-leading best practices

  • 14-day free trial
  • From $19/editor/month
Visit Website
Rating: 4.8/5

Craft.io is an end-to-end product management platform with best practices built in. It provides product professionals with an all-in-one solution to effectively manage the entire lifecycle of their digital products, from feedback collection and feature definition to prioritization, capacity planning, road mapping, and portfolio management. 

Product teams can use this tool to create a single source of truth where they can slice & dice their data to create tailored, always up-to-date roadmaps that seamlessly connect strategy to features and tell a compelling product story.

Why I Picked Craft.io: The platform is built to enable product professionals with best practices built into every step of the way. The platform can help even seasoned Product Managers create, view, update, adjust, and share the right product data more quickly and efficiently with the Guru layer. For example, pre-built templates for product epics, user personas, and prioritization frameworks can help an experienced Product Manager develop these assets in minutes—as opposed to spending hours building them manually in static files.

Craft.io Standout Features & Integrations

Features include OKRs, progress dashboards, portfolio management, roadmapping, Guru views, data visualization, product management, prioritization, customer management, Gantt charts, workflow management/tracking, and capacity planning.

Integrations include Jira, Azure DevOps, GitLab, GitHub, Targetprocess, Okta, Google Workspace, Active Directory, SAML, Confluence, PingIdentity, and thousands of additional applications via a paid account with Zapier.

Craft.io Pricing & Plans

Craft.io starts at $19 per editor per month when billed annually. A 14-day free trial is also available.

Best for end-to-end product management

  • 7-30 day free trial
  • From $25/user/month
Visit Website
Rating: 4.3/5

ProdPad is a lean product roadmap tool that keeps everyone on your team informed and aligned. Product management gurus will appreciate features such as product spec templates, annotated designs and versioning, and realistic user personas.

Some users might struggle with ProdPad’s browsing and search capabilities, which are not nearly as streamlined as they could be (good luck hunting for that “one” important item in your ideas bank). Regular clean-up and internal naming conventions can ease this pain.

Why I Picked ProdPad: ProdPad spends considerable effort on ensuring their planning, ideas, and roadmaps solutions are strong; they meet and exceed what I am looking for when I list idea capturing as a must-have in any product management tools review criteria.

ProdPad Standout Features & Integrations

Features include roadmapping, project management, task scheduling/tracking, customer management, prioritization, and notifications.

Integration include Slack, Trello, Jira, Active Directory, Azure DevOps, Confluence, Doorbell.io, Dropbox, GitHub, Google Apps, Pivotal Tracker, Rally, TFS, UserVoice, and over 1000 more options with a connection through Zapier.

ProdPad Pricing & Plans

ProdPad costs from $25/user/month and has a free 7-30 day free trial (see: their “free trial” rewards system).

Best product management analytics

  • Freemium version available
  • From $10/user/month (min of 2 seats)
Visit Website
Rating: 4.2/5

Wrike is a cloud-based work management platform that helps product managers and their teams stay organized and on the same page. This comprehensive tool allows product managers to take control of their entire workflow—from planning to execution—in one place. Wrike offers a range of features to help users stay organized and efficient throughout the development process. These include task tracking, project timelines, resource allocation, and budget tracking. With these features, users can easily manage multiple projects simultaneously and ensure tasks are completed on time and within budget. Additionally, team members can collaborate by sharing files in real time using Wrike's collaboration tools.

Wrike includes several productivity features that help keep teams focused on their goals. With the Kanban board feature, users can visually track projects through different completion phases without switching between multiple views or screens. This gives them an at-a-glance view of each project's standing at any given time. Users can set up automated reminders so that tasks are noticed in the hustle and bustle of day-to-day operations. Wrike's workload view gives users a bird’s-eye view of how much work each person in the project has taken on, how the tasks are divided, and who's responsible for what. You can see upcoming due dates and project timelines at a glance, drag-and-drop tasks from one individual to another, and easily view task progress as it relates to overall workloads.

Why I Picked Wrike: Wrike provides analytics tools that give product managers full visibility of how their teams perform over time. With custom reports, users can track key performance indicators such as task completion rate, average duration per task, and resource utilization rate, allowing them to make data-driven decisions about optimizing their processes for maximum efficiency and effectiveness. Wrike also supports integration with third-party analytics platforms such as Google Analytics and Salesforce so that users can gain even more insights into their data when needed.

Wrike Standout Features & Integrations

Features include project management, task scheduling/tracking, resource management, expense tracking, API, budgeting, Gantt charts, marketing automations, collaboration support, and reporting.

Integrations include 400+ pre-built native integrations, including integrations with the most popular file management software from Microsoft, Google, and Dropbox, along with sales and marketing software from Salesforce and Marketo.

Best for its wide variety of product collaboration templates

  • Free trial + free plan available
  • From $5/user/month (billed annually)
Visit Website
Rating: 4.1/5

Confluence is a remote-friendly team workspace, project management, software development, product management, and marketing & sales management solution all rolled into one. It enables teams to create, organize, and collaborate on work in a single place, regardless of their location.

Powered by Atlassian, Confluence integrates seamlessly with Jira software and is a versatile virtual workspace that provides many features for project collaboration and knowledge management. It can serve as a single platform for product development teams and other personnel within an organization by allowing users to create a robust knowledge base for product requirements and documentation. The tool comes with advanced search and page tree functions, as well as best practice templates.

The platform’s product management module lets you keep track of everything related to your products from conception to the final launch, all in one place. With the built-in product management template, you can define, track, and scope the requirements for various products and/or features. You can also work together to capture the entire team’s high-level product roadmap, as well as prepare a product launch, document the launch strategy, and plan the launch activities.

There is also a product management template that is tailored for premortem activities. This template can be used to run a premortem session with the entire team to evaluate, identify, and plan for potential risks.

Confluence may also serve as a communication and collaboration tool for project planning and product management. Users are able to create, collaborate, and comment on different pages, project plans, and product requirements. Multiple team members and collaborators can comment on and edit project plans, product roadmaps, and requirements in real time.

Confluence is always free for up to 10 users. An Enterprise package is also available with quote-based pricing.

Best for digital product development like apps & SaaS tools

  • 7-day free trial + free plan available
  • From $7.16/user/month (billed annually, min 5 seats)
Visit Website
Rating: 4.2/5

Jira Software is a SaaS project and product management platform that is a major part of the Atlassian family of products and software development tools. It is a project management solution for medium to large-sized teams in the software development sector.

Why I Picked Jira: Jira Software can incorporate a wide variety of tools on top of its built-in features, offering them to users within a unified platform. This helps executives and agile product owners manage and oversee their ongoing projects and keep track of their development teams throughout the entire product development lifecycle.

Product managers and teams use Jira to conduct Q&As, plan build sprints, create stories, and track issue resolutions in real time. Jira can be easily optimized for more efficient ticketing and issue resolution. It can even function as a business intelligence tool.

Moreover, Jira Software can serve as a single source of truth for project and product teams. With user stories, issues, and tasks, Jira can help product managers break bigger concepts and ideas so they are more manageable across all teams and team members. Users can also discuss and prioritize allocated tasks within context by having complete visibility at every stage of the product development process.

Jira Software provides product managers with real-time visual data. With no-code automation, users can keep their team members focused on their tasks, streamline workflows, and save a lot of time and effort.

Jira Standout Features & Integrations

Features include product management, project management, issue tracking, collaboration, customizable workflows, reporting & analytics, mobile support, permission & access management, time tracking, custom data fields, and third-party integrations/add-ons.

Integrations include Confluence, Slack, Trello, Google Drive, Bitbucket, GitHub, Salesforce, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams.

Jira Pricing & Plans

A free plan is also available for up to 10 users. Pricing for Jira Software starts at $7.75/user/month with the Standard plan, which includes a 7-day free trial.

Best for managing multiple products and teams

  • 14-day free trial
  • From $59/editor/month
Visit Website
Rating: 4.4/5

airfocus is the market’s first and only modular product management platform, specifically tailored for product teams to manage market-facing products, internal products, IT portfolios, and more. The flexible platform helps product teams manage strategy, understand user needs, prioritize, and align their teams around clear roadmaps.

airfocus users can set up their roadmaps quickly with the intuitive drag-and-drop interface and use the library of fully adjustable templates built on proven product management and roadmapping methods.

Why I Picked airfocus: airfocus stands out in its ability to rate and rank each initiative and feature of your product based on customizable scoring criteria that users can input themselves. This capability will uniquely service product management teams who struggle with stable priority rankings.

airfocus Standout Features & Integrations

Features include roadmapping, project management, task scheduling/tracking, customer feedback management, prioritization, and notifications.

Integrations include Slack, Zendesk, Jira, Trello, Asana, Azure DevOps, Shortcut, Microsoft Planner, GitHub, Intercom, Google Chrome, and hundreds more through Zapier.

airfocus Pricing & Plans

airfocus starts from $19/month and offers a 14-day free trial.

Best for flexible collaboration and visualization for product management

  • 30-day free trial + free plan available
  • From $8/user/month (billed annually)
Visit Website
Rating: 4.8/5

Miro is a collaborative online whiteboard platform that's designed to help teams work more effectively together. It's like having a flexible, interactive canvas where you can brainstorm, plan, visualize, and manage projects.

Why I picked Miro: Miro is incredibly flexible and versatile. You can use it for everything from creating user story maps and product roadmaps to running sprint retrospectives and design sprints. Plus, it's fairly easy to use. You don't need to be a tech whiz to get the hang of it.

There are a few standout features that I really love about Miro. With an infinite canvas, you can zoom in, zoom out, and move around as you like. Miro's Planner Tool provides a structured method for scheduling and task distribution, contributing to smoother project execution. Additionally, Miro supports asynchronous collaboration, allowing team members to interact through comments and reactions, thus maintaining team continuity across different time zones or schedules.

Miro Standout Features & Integrations

Features include mind mapping, task tracking, user story mapping, PI planning, online workshops, Miro Assist AI, quick diagram tools, TrackTalk, which allows user to record process explanation videos, brainwriting, timebox sessions, digital sticky notes, a dependencies app to visualize dependencies, video conferencing, webinars, asset sharing, data visualization, customizable templates, and employee photos.

Integrations include Google Drive, Microsoft Excel, Slack, Trello, Google Workspace, DropBox Business, Zoom, Survey Monkey, Notion, Asana, Confluence, Monday.com, Adobe Creative Cloud, and GitHub.

Miro Pricing & Plans

Pricing starts at $10/user/month and they offer a free plan.

Best for team collaboration and brainstorming

  • Free plan available
  • From $15/seat/month (billed annually)
Visit Website
Rating: 4.7/5

FigJam by Figma is an online collaborative whiteboarding tool that enables teams to work together in a digital space for brainstorming, planning, and designing. With over 300 templates available, FigJam aims to empower teams in the product development process, helping them to visualize possibilities and formulate actionable plans.

Why I Picked FigJam by Figma: FigJam by Figma is an online collaboration tool designed for teams to brainstorm, develop, and organize ideas. It can be employed for brainstorming sessions, visualizing product roadmaps, conducting retrospectives, and facilitating weekly team meetings. Users can create decision trees, diagrams, mind maps, run critiques, collect ideas, note feedback, organize research, and plan or run interactive sessions, all in one place.

The tool offers templates like the Product Vision Board and the Crazy 8's framework to aid in ideation, as well as structured processes for roadmap construction and retrospectives on product execution and market strategies. The platform additionally allows for real-time interaction with audio and live chat, commenting and voting features, and the ability to invite external contributors for temporary access, making it significantly easier for remote teams to effectively collaborate and brainstorm.

FigJam by Figma Standout Features & Integrations:

Features include various whiteboard editing tools, such as sticky notes, shapes and lines, emojis and reactions, and drawing tools, that can be used for diagramming and strategy planning. Other features include interactive meetings and workshops facilitation tools, Agile workflow planning capabilities, and AI features that can generate custom templates and visuals based on user input.

Integrations include GitLab, Slack, Notion, Asana, Dropbox, Jira, Confluence, MixPanel, Sprig, and Google Workspace.

FigJam by Figma Pricing and Plans

Pricing for FigJam starts from $3/user/month. A free plan is also available.

Best product management software for product discovery

  • 14-day free trial
  • From $24/month
Visit Website
Rating: 3.5/5

Reveall is an enterprise-grade product management tool that helps businesses and organizations develop and manage their products from conception to launch.

Users can create detailed roadmaps for their products, assign tasks, collaborate with colleagues, measure customer feedback, and gain valuable insights into customer behavior. The tool offers automated alerts when changes occur in your product’s performance or user feedback and automated reports that provide an up-to-date overview of your progress toward goals.

You can integrate with customer feedback tools to gather meaningful data about customer needs and preferences, which can inform product decisions. The main dashboard lets users view project timelines and tasks and update their status in real-time. Gantt charts provide an interactive timeline view of all tasks within each project so that users can easily track progress over time. The tool offers sophisticated analytics solutions that enable users to visualize their product data with interactive graphs and gain insights into the performance of products.

The tool offers a roadmap management module allowing users to plan their product roadmaps in detail and collaborate with teams. This feature helps teams stay organized by providing an uncomplicated way to track project progress, create detailed release plans, and establish timelines for development tasks. The requirements-tracking module makes it easier for teams to track all the tasks needed for successful product development—from setting objectives and conducting user research to designing user interfaces and testing prototypes.

Other Product Management Software

Here are a few more product management software that didn’t make the top list. I encourage you to experiment with these great options as well!

  1. ClickUp

    Modular product management software

  2. UserGuiding

    For managing product adoption

  3. QA Wolf

    For companies where web-applications are their main product

  4. Productive

    For project management throughout the product lifecycle

  5. Bonsai Agency Software

    For product and business management

  6. Peoplebox.ai

    For collaboration

  7. Sprig

    For capturing and analyzing user feedback and behavior at scale with AI

  8. Shortcut

    For teams using agile methodologies

  9. dragonboat

    For connecting product development to OKRs

  10. Zeda.io

    Product discovery tool offering AI-powered insights

  11. Planview

    Product management roadmap tool for enterprise organizations

  12. Ignition

    For full go-to-market functionality

  13. Walling

    For visually organizing project ideas and tasks

  14. Visor

    For project management collaboration

  15. PathPro

    For feature voting and prioritization

  16. Aha

    Product management software for road mapping

  17. ProductPlan

    Product development software for its beautiful UI

  18. Productboard

    Product development software for customer research

  19. Creately

    Visual workspace for team collaboration used to draw flowcharts, diagrams, and mindmaps

  20. Figma

    For collaborative design and prototyping

If you still haven't found what you're looking for here, check out these tools closely related to product management software that we've tested and evaluated:

Selection Criteria For Product Management Software

Wondering how I selected the best product management tools for this list? To build this top 10 list, I evaluated and compared a wide range of product development software with positive user ratings. I then further honed my list using the selection criteria below to see how each platform stacked up against the next one. I also looked at some of the common challenges in product management to pinpoint the features that add plenty of value.

Overall, selecting the right product management software requires an in-depth understanding of the software's capabilities and how they align with specific use cases.

Here’s a summary of my evaluation criteria: 

Product Management Software Core Features (20% of final scoring): We test core features to see how well the software can perform the core functions and jobs to be done, required for a tool of its type. This allows us to discount and discard tools that advertise for a specific use case but don't have the functionality to back it up.

To be considered for inclusion on my list of the best product management software, the solution had to support the ability to fulfill common use cases, including:

  • Roadmapping - Creating roadmaps designed to manage the entire product lifecycle.
  • Design and prototyping- Visualize ideas, create interactive prototypes, and refine concepts to ensure alignment with stakeholders.
  • Collaboration - Coordinating team collaboration and facilitating communication across departments.
  • Idea Management - capturing and integrating customer feedback into product planning.
  • Reporting and Analytics - Providing actionable insights through comprehensive analytics.
  • Task Management - Streamlining task management and workflow automation.

Additional Standout Features (20% of final scoring): We evaluate uncommon, standout features that go above and beyond the core features defined, and typically found in the category. Standout feature examples might include AI integration, advanced user analytics, or unique collaboration capabilities. A high score reflects standout features that will make work faster, more efficient, or offer additional value.

In identifying unique features and functionality, I particularly focused on:

  • Advanced Integration with CRM and Sales Tools: Prioritizing seamless integration with CRM systems like Salesforce by evaluating their capability to sync product management and sales data and how the integration impacted sales metrics.
  • Customizable User Interface (UI): Ensuring that tools allow modifications to layouts and views for specific team needs, and assessed user feedback on customization's impact on workflow.
  • In-Depth User Behavior Analytics: Seeking out tools with comprehensive user analytics and assessing their ability to provide granular insights into user behavior to inform data-driven product decisions.
  • AI-Enabled User Feedback Analysis: Investigating software that uses AI to process and analyze user feedback and exploring the effectiveness of these insights in driving product strategy and feature prioritization.
  • Predictive Analytics and Forecasting: Looking for tools that provide advanced predictive models to forecast product success by analyzing historical data and market trends, validating their precision against actual outcomes.

How to Choose Product Management Software

With so many different product management solutions available, it can be challenging to make decisions on what product management software is going to be the best fit for your needs.

As you're evaluating trialing and shortlisting product management software, consider:

  • What problem are you trying to solve?: Start by identifying the product management feature gap you're trying to fill to clarify the features and functionality the product management software needs to provide.
  • Who will need to use it?: To evaluate cost and requirements, look at who'll be using the software and how many licenses or seats you’ll need. You'll also want to assess if the tool will be solely for product managers, or if more departments on your team will require access. Factor in how important ease of use, or speed of getting up and running is for your product management software users.
  • What other tools does it need to work with?: Determine what tools you're replacing, which tools are staying, and any existing tools you'll need to integrate with, such as communications, CRM, customer support, development or sales software. Decide if your existing tools need to integrate with your new product management tool or, alternatively, if you can replace multiple options with one consolidated product management tool.
  • What outcomes are important?: Factor in the result that the software needs to deliver to be considered a success. Consider what capability you want to gain or what you want to improve and how you will be measuring success. For example, an outcome could be the ability to get greater visibility into feature delivery timing or overall team performance. Keep the outcomes you want in mind as you’re evaluating different options to prioritize the maximum impact for your team.
  • How would it work within your organization?: Account for your existing workflows and delivery methodology. Be clear on what's working well and the areas that are causing issues that need to be addressed. Remember, every team is different, so don’t assume that because a product management tool is popular, it'll be a fit for your organization.

Evaluation Methodology for Product Management Software

To evaluate product management software, I developed a comprehensive methodology that involved testing various tools across different use cases. Each software was assessed against a rubric covering seven critical aspects, with each criterion given a weighted score. These scores were then tallied to arrive at a final star rating for each product.

  1. Core Product Management Software Functionality (20% of final scoring):
    • This criterion focused on essential features like roadmap planning, task management, and collaboration tools.
    • I tested each software's ability to handle these core functionalities in various scenarios, from small teams to large-scale product launches.
  2. Additional Standout Features (20% of final scoring):
    • Here, I looked for innovative features such as AI integration, advanced user analytics, or unique collaboration capabilities.
    • I evaluated how these features contributed to the overall effectiveness and differentiation of the software.
  3. Ease of Use (10% of final scoring):
    • The focus was on the user interface and overall user experience.
    • I assessed how intuitive and easy it was to navigate the software, including the complexity of its features and the learning curve involved.
  4. Onboarding (10% of final scoring):
    • I evaluated the onboarding process, including the availability and quality of training materials, templates, and interactive tours.
    • The ease with which new users could start using the software effectively was a key consideration.
  5. Integrations (10% of final scoring):
    • The ease with which new users could start using the software effectively was a key consideration.
  6. Customer Support (10% of final scoring):
    • This involved assessing the responsiveness, availability, and helpfulness of the customer support team.
    • I also looked at the variety of support channels offered, such as live chat, email, and phone support.
  7. Value for Money (10% of final scoring):
    • I compared the pricing of the software against its feature set and performance.
    • This involved considering whether the software offered a good return on investment, particularly for small to medium-sized businesses.
  8. Customer Reviews (10% of final scoring):
    • Customer feedback from various review platforms was analyzed.
    • I focused on overall satisfaction, specific praises, and common criticisms to gauge real-world user experiences.

Each software's scores in these categories were calculated based on their performance, weighted according to the importance of each criterion, and then summed to provide an overall star rating. This methodical approach ensured a balanced and comprehensive evaluation, providing clear insights into the strengths and weaknesses of each product management tool.

In 2025, product management software is evolving rapidly, introducing new features that are reshaping how product managers plan, develop, and market products. These trends reflect the industry's response to the changing needs of product managers, especially focusing on customer-centric development and operational efficiency.

AI Integration

AI-powered tools, like Zeda.io, are providing insightful customer feedback and guiding product development decisions. This trend is pivotal for creating revenue-driving product roadmaps based on customer insights and product intelligence.

Focus on Cybersecurity

With the rise of data breaches, product managers are increasingly responsible for ensuring the cybersecurity of their products throughout their lifecycle. This trend reflects the growing concern for data security in product management.

Emotional Intelligence in Product Management

The importance of emotional intelligence in product management is rising, focusing on empathy, team collaboration, and stakeholder management. Product management software with features like collaborative tools and feedback analysis can help foster a deeper understanding of customer and team emotions.

Greater Emphasis on Remote Collaboration

With the rise of remote work, there's an increasing demand for features that support remote collaboration. This includes tools for virtual brainstorming, remote sprint planning, and online feedback collection, enabling teams to work effectively regardless of their location.

Increased Focus on Sustainability

Product management tools are also starting to include features that help in planning and tracking a product's environmental impact. This trend is driven by the increasing importance of corporate responsibility and sustainability in product development.

As product management continues to evolve, these trends are not just shaping the tools and software used, but also the way people approach product development and management. Product managers must adapt to these changes by leveraging new technologies and methodologies to stay competitive and effective.

Features of Product Management Software

Here's a look at some of the key features of product management software. Each of these features plays a pivotal role in the successful management and execution of product-related tasks and strategies:

  1. Product Lifecycle Management (PLM): Manages the entire lifecycle of a product from inception to retirement. PLM features are crucial for maintaining a comprehensive view of the product's development and ensuring consistent progress through each stage.
  2. AI-Powered Task Automation: Automates routine tasks like insight identification, trend analysis, and summarization. This feature boosts efficiency, enabling teams to focus on strategy and innovation while working faster and smarter.
  3. Idea Management: Captures and organizes ideas for product features or improvements. This feature is important for fostering innovation, enabling teams to brainstorm and prioritize ideas effectively.
  4. Design and Prototyping: Although this doesn't necessarily need to be a function of this software, your design software or process should be integrated well with your product management software to ensure alignment with stakeholders, streamline developper handoff and communication, and free up workflows.
  5. Budgeting and Financial Tools: Track and manage the financial aspects of product development. Effective budget management is key to ensuring that product launches and updates stay within financial constraints and resources are allocated efficiently.
  6. Compliance and Regulation Tracking: Ensures product compliance with industry standards and regulations. This feature is essential, especially in highly regulated industries, for mitigating risks and ensuring legal compliance.
  7. Feedback Management: Collects and organizes customer and stakeholder feedback. This feature helps in prioritizing product features and improvements based on direct user input, making the product more market-fit.

These features enhance the capabilities of product management software, ensuring that product managers have a comprehensive suite of tools to effectively plan, develop, and monitor their products.

Benefits of Product Management Software

Product management software offers a range of benefits that can help users manage a product's lifecycle both efficiently and effectively. Understanding these benefits is key to making an informed decision about which tool will be the best fit for your needs. These benefits include:

  1. Enhanced Collaboration: This software facilitates better teamwork and ensures that everyone is aligned with the product goals, leading to more cohesive product development.
  2. Data-Driven Insights: By analyzing product performance and market data, businesses can make strategic decisions that align with customer needs and market trends.
  3. Increased Productivity: Product management software reduces manual workloads, allowing teams to focus on more critical aspects of product development and innovation.
  4. Risk Management: Early identification of risks allows for proactive mitigation, reducing the likelihood of product delays or budget overruns.
  5. Customer-Centric Development: Integrating customer feedback directly into the development process ensures that the end product meets market demands and customer expectations.
  6. Optimized Integration: Enhance the functionality of your existing software ecosystem by syncing seamlessly with design, data, and other collaboration platforms. These integrations ensure smooth handoffs, centralized data insights, and cohesive workflows, helping product managers bridge gaps between tools and departments.

Product management software is a great tool that not only streamlines various aspects of product development but also ensures that products are developed in line with market needs and customer expectations. These benefits collectively contribute to the creation of successful products and the overall growth of an organization.

Costs & Pricing for Product Management Software

Choosing the right plan and pricing for product management software is all about finding that 'Goldilocks zone' between getting the features your product team needs at the right price point. Here's a breakdown of typical product management software plan options and the features you can typically expect from each tier:

Plan Comparison Table for Product Management Software

Plan TypeAverage PriceBest ForCommon Features
Starter/Basic$0 - $15 per monthEarly-stage startups working toward product-market fit- Basic product management features
- Limited projects and users
- Essential collaboration tools
Professional$15 - $50 per monthGrowth-stage startups- Advanced features like roadmapping
- Unlimited projects
- Enhanced collaboration tools, basic integrations
Business$50 - $100 per monthMature organizations, companies expanding their product portfolio- Full feature access
- Advanced analytics
- Comprehensive integrations
- Higher security levels
EnterpriseCustom PricingEnterprise organizations- Custom features
- Dedicated support
- Advanced security
- Scalability options
Free$0Founders building their first MVPs- Limited feature access
- Suitable for small teams or individual use

Each plan typically caters to different business needs, with more advanced features and customization options available at higher pricing tiers. Free options, while limited in functionality, usually offer a good starting point for small teams or individuals just dipping their toes into the pool of product management software options.

When considering these plans, I recommend evaluating your specific needs, such as your team size, the complexity of your products, and the integrations you'll need. Balancing these factors with your budget considerations will help you select the most appropriate plan.

Product Management Software Frequently Asked Questions

Find answers to common questions other people ask about this topic.

Why is product management important?

Product management is important because without it, there are many challenges that can kill your product and make your efforts obsolete. Examples of these challenges are:

  • Struggling to keep up with technological changes
  • Fierce competition
  • Your industry’s boundaries keep changing
  • New entrants in your market
  • Outliving the novelty factor

Learn more about why product management is important and how your role as a product manager is a crucial piece to the product’s success.

What is a product roadmap used for?

Product management software is used by product teams for any or all of these product-related tasks: prototyping, defining a product roadmap, user journey mapping, user behavior research, product road mapping, feature prioritization, managing sprints, analyzing product data, process mapping, and managing product releases.

Product management software is also critical for remote product management teams who need a central place to develop and manage their products.

Product Management Software vs Project Management Software

There’s a lot of overlap in project management software and product management applications. For example, many of the best tools on this list offer modules to help with both the project management and product management process.

This means in many cases you won’t use different software—you’ll use a single tool where you’ll find project management features like resourcing, scheduling, and reporting alongside product management features like road mapping, product boards, and product diagrams. In this case, you get team management applications, project management applications, and product lifecycle management tools bundled together, or, alternatively as separate modules that you can activate as you need them.

Related Read: How To Use User Story Mapping To Improve Agile Backlog Prioritization

Can these software solutions support agile and waterfall methodologies?

Absolutely, there are tools that cater more to agile or waterfall workflows, but many modern product management software solutions are designed to be versatile enough to support both. This flexibility allows teams to choose the approach that best fits their project needs and organizational culture.

To support agile product management methodologies, tools might offer sprint planning, backlog management, and Kanban boards. These features enhance iterative development, continuous feedback, and adaptability. Meanwhile, for waterfall methodology teams, these tools offer Gantt charts, milestone tracking, and detailed project planning. This ensures projects stay on track from start to finish, regardless of the methodology used.

What is feature flagging in product management?

Feature flagging, also known as feature toggling or feature flags, is a software development and product management technique used to enable or disable certain features or functionality within a software application or product. It allows product teams to control the release and visibility of specific features to different user segments or under different conditions. This approach is particularly valuable in agile development and continuous deployment environments.

Feature flagging software provides product managers with the functionality required to control projects and de-risk feature releases.

 

How do these tools manage product lifecycle from ideation to retirement?

Many product management software platforms offer features that support every stage of the product lifecycle. Some might focus on one or a selection of the stages, but here are some of the tools that can be useful at each stage:

  • Ideation Stage: Idea boards and prioritization matrices help organize and prioritize ideas.
  • Development Stage: Task assignments and timeline tracking tools keep projects on schedule.
  • Launch Stage: Integrated marketing tools and launch planners ensure a smooth rollout.
  • Maturity Stage: Analytics dashboards and user feedback tools facilitate ongoing improvements.
  • Retirement Stage: Workflow management systems aid in the efficient sunsetting of products.

These targeted features empower teams to navigate each phase effectively, ensuring products evolve in response to market demands and internal goals.

Can these tools help with market analysis and competitor research?

Certainly, some product management tools offer integrations with data analytics platforms and web research tools. Others have feedback collection and analytics tools built in. This means you can gather, analyze, and track market trends, customer preferences, and competitor activities directly within your product management software. By leveraging these tools, product managers can make more informed decisions, identify market opportunities, and develop strategies that are responsive to the competitive landscape.

Are there different types of product management software?

Some product management software are all-in-one suites, like several of the suites listed above. But there are also a number of great specialized tools that zero in on a particular niche within product planning, research, development, or strategy.

Here is a list of a few types of product management tools for developing, prioritizing, designing, and planning products:

What Is Product Management Software?

Product management tools a specialized tool or suite of applications that help businesses and product teams effectively plan, develop, and manage their products throughout their lifecycle. It provides functionalities that aid in tasks such as idea generation, product planning, collaboration, communication, and tracking the progress of product development. It also serves as a central hub for product managers, designers, developers, and other stakeholders to collaborate, streamline workflows, and make informed decisions.

Product management software often includes features for roadmap planning, task management, documentation, team collaboration, and integration with other tools to streamline the overall product management process. However, software cannot replace the full skillset of a product manager. To hone your craft as a PM, I suggest browsing our list of resources for product managers, which rounds up some of our favorite books, videos, podcasts, newsletters, and more.

What's Next?

What do you think is the best product development software, and why? How do you use user stories for product focus and feature prioritization? Do you think it’s better to use an all-in-one tool, or do you prefer a collection of product development software? 

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Hannah Clark
By Hannah Clark

Hannah Clark is the Editor of The Product Manager. Following six years of experience in the tech industry, she pivoted into the content marketing space. She’s spent the better part of the past decade working in marketing agencies and offering freelance branding and content development services. Today, she’s a digital publisher who is privileged to work with some of the most brilliant voices in the product world. Driven by insatiable curiosity and a love of bringing people together, her mission is to foster a fun, vibrant, and inspiring community of product people.