Why settle for mundane spreadsheets when you can add a dash of excitement to task and project management? Lists get the job done, but have you ever tried a colorful graph or a dynamic flowchart to breathe life into your work? T
hey’re not just tools—they’re the keys to a more visual, collaborative, and engaging task management experience.
That’s where workflow design software steps in! It’s your trusty sidekick for crafting, organizing, and optimizing tasks and processes with finesse. How does it work, you ask? It uses visual representations to simplify complex tasks and automation processes to save you time and effort.
Still, choosing the perfect workflow design software is a journey in itself. Lucky for you, we’ve taken the research plunge. In this article, we’ll unveil the top 10 workflow design software with their pros, cons, and pricing. Let’s jump into it! ?
Work Smarter, Not Harder: 10 Best Workflow Design Software in 2024
Summarize this article for me pleaseWhat Is Workflow Design Software?
Workflow design software is a versatile tool that harnesses visual formats like flow diagrams or flowcharts to outline tasks and processes effectively. Users can construct workflows from the ground up by specifying detailed steps, assigned roles, and required approvals, providing a comprehensive method for workflow creation.
This software also streamlines and automates tasks, typically in a sequential manner, ensuring precise and orderly task execution. It meticulously tracks progress and offers an intuitive, clear workflow visualization.
The main benefits of using workflow design tools include:
- Transparency: Allows for easier progress monitoring, identifying bottlenecks, and making informed decisions for process improvements
- Accuracy: Automation and standardized processes minimize the potential for human error, leading to a reduction in costly mistakes, rework, and delays
- Productivity: Clear task and goal visualization helps teams work more efficiently, and with automated workflows, they can focus on more valuable tasks
How to choose the best workflow design software
When choosing workflow design software, consider the following essential features:
- Task assignments: The software should allow you to assign tasks easily, even in complex scenarios like manager approvals or formula-based assignments
- Different workflow types: Choose software that accommodates various workflow types like sequential and parallel
- Sub-workflows: The ability to create sub-workflows offers flexibility, simplifies processes, and enhances testing for identifying bottlenecks
- Sharing: Look for capabilities to copy, export, and share workflows so that you can replicate them or make them easily accessible to team members and stakeholders
- No-code builder: Ensure it offers a user-friendly, no-code interface with drag-and-drop capabilities for non-programmers
- Collaboration: Opt for a tool that supports input and collaboration from all involved parties to create comprehensive workflows
- Reminders and notifications: It should allow you to add custom reminders to ensure timely workflow execution
Summarize this article for me please10 Best Workflow Design Software
We’re about to explore the top contenders in the market to help you discover the perfect workflow design tool for your business. Let’s roll up our sleeves and dig in! ⛏️
1. ClickUp
Meet ClickUp—an all-in-one solution for all your workflow management and design needs! This powerful software lets you create workflows from scratch and offers handy templates to those who want to save time by relying on pre-designed frameworks. ?
ClickUp Whiteboards are your team’s creative haven. They allow for endless customization and flexibility, making them your go-to for:
- Collaborative brainstorming
- Facilitating idea-sharing among teams by embedding comments, sticky notes, documents, links, and media files
- Tackling challenges with the help of interactive charts, graphs, and shapes
Leverage ClickUp Mind Maps as your canvas for drawing connections, mapping out workflows, and making your ideas come to life with a simple drag and drop. Add, edit, or delete tasks right on your Mind Map. Create task-based maps by linking ClickUp Tasks on your map, or craft your visual masterpiece with node-based mind maps.
Whether you’re crafting a brand-new process or fine-tuning an existing one, the ClickUp Process Flow Whiteboard Template is here to help. It simplifies how you visualize your processes, covering stages like planning, development, execution, and evaluation. It features fully customizable color-coded shapes and a Legend for simple navigation, ensuring ease of use and efficient work.
Effortlessly collaborate in real time with ClickUp Docs. As you edit, you can tag team members in comments, assign action items, and even turn text into actionable tasks, keeping your work organized and efficient. ⚡
Plus, ClickUp Automations are here to make your life easier by optimizing workflows and handling routine tasks. Choose from pre-built Automations or tailor them to your needs, ensuring your team can concentrate on what truly matters.
ClickUp best features
- Visual collaboration simplified with customizable Whiteboard templates
- Integrates with over 1,000 platforms like Trello, Miro, and Slack
- Real-time communication and editing
- Mind map templates
- Automated workflows that boost productivity
- Easy time tracking and workflow building with the project management feature
- 15+ ClickUp views to oversee workflows your way
- Timelines and Gantt charts to visualize project goals and dependencies
- Process improvement tools
- Great for cross-functional team collaboration
ClickUp limitations
- The mobile app could benefit from more features
- Beginners may experience a steep learning curve
ClickUp pricing
- Free Forever
- Unlimited: $7/month per user
- Business: $12/month per user
- Enterprise: Contact for pricing
- ClickUp AI is available on all paid plans for $5 per Workspace member per month
*All listed prices refer to the yearly billing model
ClickUp ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.7/5 (8,000+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.7/5 (3,000+ reviews)
2. Trello
Trello serves as a dynamic digital pinboard that brings your tasks to life! This visual project management tool lets you organize and oversee your work however you want, using multiple project views, automation, and templates.
You will see tasks in Trello as digital sticky notes or Cards on a Kanban board that you can easily rearrange with a drag-and-drop. It also offers diverse layouts, from classic boards to project management timelines, calendars, tables, and maps, catering to your unique project requirements. ?
With Butler, Trello’s built-in automation assistant, you can create rules, buttons, and commands to tackle repetitive tasks effortlessly. The workflow management software even understands natural language rules and suggests automation solutions with a single click.
Trello best features
- 100+ templates
- Multiple project views
- Integrates with software like Jira, Slack, and Miro
- No-code task automation assistant
Trello limitations
- Users might benefit from additional built-in reports and analytics
- Best suited for smaller tasks involving 3–5 people
Trello pricing
- Free
- Standard: $5/month per user
- Premium: $10/month per user
- Enterprise: $17.50/month per user
*All listed prices refer to the yearly billing model
Trello ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.4/5 (13,000+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (22,000+ reviews)
3. Monday.com
Elevate your team’s alignment, efficiency, and productivity with monday.com, the platform that tailors itself to your needs. It’s an all-in-one hub for project schedules, team progress tracking, and comprehensive project management.
Choose from various project views like the Gantt chart, Kanban boards, and Timeline views to manage project deliverables. ⏳
Zoom out with customizable dashboards for a high-level overview of your organization. It helps you make decisions and effortlessly scale workflows as your needs evolve.
The workflow management tools’ automation features handle time-consuming tasks like email reminders and project approval requests, freeing up more of your day. Plus, there are numerous free customizable templates, including marketing campaigns, editorial calendars, event planning, and CRM charts.
monday.com best features
- Adaptable dashboards
- Numerous templates
- Scalable project views
- Integrates with tools like Trello and Google Drive
- Task automation for a simple workflow management system
monday.com limitations
- Setting it up may take some time compared to other workflow management tools
- Improving the main screen customization flexibility would be beneficial
monday.com pricing
- Free
- Basic $8/month per user
- Standard: $10/month per user
- Pro: $16/month per user
- Enterprise: Contact for pricing
*All listed prices refer to the yearly billing model
monday.com ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.7/5 (8,000+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (4,000+ reviews)
4. ProcessMaker
ProcessMaker is a software solution for Business Process Automation (BPA) and workflow management. The workflow automation software empowers you to design, execute, track, and enhance your business processes efficiently.
You can connect popular apps through pre-configured options or build your workflows with APIs.
Process Templates are your handy tool for speeding up process creation. Save your custom processes as templates to use as a starting point for future projects. Modify and share them easily. Business users can design refined forms and screens for workflow integration.
ProcessMaker takes automation up a notch by combining it with AI. This allows your team to concentrate on strategic tasks, increasing productivity. ?
ProcessMaker best features
- Intelligent Document Processing (IDP)
- Natural Language Search powered by AI
- End-to-end process automation
- Form integrations like JotForm, Formstack, and Typeform
ProcessMaker limitations
- Designing complex workflows can cause occasional lagging
- Newer workflow management functions require online access
ProcessMaker pricing
- Platform: $1475/month for unlimited users
- Pro: Contact for pricing
- Enterprise: Contact for pricing
*All listed prices refer to the yearly billing model
ProcessMaker ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.3/5 (250+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (150+ reviews)
5. Lucidchart
Lucidchart is a visual workspace, a dynamic hub merging diagramming, data visualization, and collaboration. This cloud-based workflow design tool is your ally for crafting business process flows and sharing process maps with your team. ?️
Its template library spans categories like content marketing workflows, support processes, and management workflows. Tailor your template diagrams effortlessly with user-friendly customization options, including lines, shapes, fonts, and the handy addition of swimlanes for task or phase designation.
The platform is great for building organizational charts, flowcharts, wireframes, and network diagrams. Plus, its real time collaboration feature allows multiple users to work together on the same document seamlessly.
Lucidchart best features
- Add-ons for Google Sheets, Google Docs, and Google Slides
- Numerous templates for unique business processes and work management solutions
- Real-time collaboration
- ChatGPT plugin and AI Prompt Flow to build diagrams automatically
- Easy business process map creation
Lucidchart limitations
- Users may experience loading issues within the app
- Learning how to use some features can be time-consuming vs. other workflow automation software options on this list
Lucidchart pricing
- Free
- Individual: $7.95/month per user
- Team: $9/month per user
- Enterprise: Contact for pricing
*All listed prices refer to the yearly billing model
Lucidchart ratings and reviews
- GetApp: 4.5/5 (1,500+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (1,500+ reviews)
6. Smartsheet
Smartsheet takes inspiration from traditional spreadsheets and helps users organize tasks, processes, and schedules through various views, reports, and dashboards.
Within this platform, you’ll find a user-friendly, low-code interface for creating workflows tailored to your business processes. These workflows can be set in motion by events or schedules, with the flexibility to incorporate task blocks. ?
Smartsheet allows you to centralize, arrange, and present data on a fully customizable canvas. Personalize dashboards to reflect your style or align with your brand identity. Use widgets to showcase sheets, reports, charts, forms, and content from external sources such as Google Docs and Tableau.
A handy feature to note is Smartsheet’s Bridge workflows, which introduce automation to eliminate manual tasks, ensuring efficient operations at a larger scale.
Smartsheet best features
- Low-code workflow automation
- Cross-sheet data sharing
- Integrates with Google Drive, Jira, Slack, etc.
- Progress visualization through Gantt charts
- Numerous widgets
Smartsheet limitations
- Has a steep learning curve
- The workflow automation software and features are somewhat limited
Smartsheet pricing
- Free
- Pro: $6/month per user
- Business: $22/month per user
- Enterprise: Contact for pricing
*All listed prices refer to the yearly billing model
Smartsheet ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.4/5 (14,500+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (3,000+ reviews)
7. Creately
Creately’s infinite whiteboard is a canvas where brainstorming, project visualization, planning, and strategizing come to life. ?
Creately lets you craft diagrams, flowcharts, and mind maps in a single location. It features 70 diagramming standards and over 1,000 shapes and connectors for quick diagram creation.
It simplifies the illustration and annotation process through freehand drawing and text formatting using markdown shortcuts. Easily link shapes to build navigational structures within and across workspaces.
Collaborate with numerous participants in real time, crafting and organizing structures that align with your vision. Drag and drop shapes or datasets, integrate external content, and create a centralized task management hub within a single workspace.
Creately best features
- 8,000+ professional templates
- Keyboard shortcuts with the PlusCreate feature
- Infinite canvas
- Numerous diagrams and shapes
- A great alternative to Lucidchart
Creately limitations
- Mobile app interface may feel outdated to some users
- Occasional lags and slow loading are possible across workflow management tool
Creately pricing
- Free
- Personal: $5/month per user
- Business: $89/month per user
- Enterprise: Contact for pricing
*All listed prices refer to the yearly billing model
Creately ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.4/5 (1,000+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.3/5 (150+ reviews)
8. Cflow
Cflow offers a user-friendly interface that allows you to effortlessly map out important business workflows, whether simple or complex. ?
Automate time-consuming, repetitive processes that slow you down with its flow-chart-based Visual Workflow Builder. It leverages visual cues and flows to assist in project management.
Another handy feature is the Visual Workflow Designer—a web-based tool that simplifies the modeling and visualization of workflows. It allows you to drag and drop different process stages, automatically create rules, and easily implement any process.
The flexibility of Cflow extends to its pre-designed templates, covering a wide range of processes. Create custom workflow templates in minutes without coding with the visual drag-and-drop form builder.
Cflow best features
- Visual workflow builder and designer
- Drag-and-drop interface
- No-code workflow design
- Easy integration with tools like Office 354 and G Suite
- Pre-made templates for work automation
Cflow limitations
- The platform may slow down in case of heavier workload
- The features tend to overwhelm new users
Cflow pricing
- Happy: $7/month per user
- Joy: $11/month per user
- Bliss: $16/month per user
*All listed prices refer to the yearly billing model
Cflow ratings and reviews
- G2: 5/5 (50+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.9/5 (10+ reviews)
9. SmartDraw
SmartDraw unifies diagramming, whiteboarding, and data into one user-friendly enterprise tool. It lets your team create diverse visuals, from flowcharts and organizational charts to detailed computer-aided design (CAD) drawings. ✍
For the best workflow design tools, this platform simplifies the diagram-building process with built-in automation. When you add, delete, or move shapes, your diagram adapts and maintains its connections automatically. You can also apply a coordinated color scheme with a single click, ensuring a professional look.
Engage in seamless collaboration with your team using the Whiteboarding AI feature. It adapts automatically, expanding and reformatting as you input your ideas. This platform combines free-form brainstorming with structured diagrams, such as flowcharts and roadmaps, directly imported from blueprints.
Additionally, SmartDraw houses templates for various diagram types like floor plans, UML, and network diagrams.
SmartDraw best features
- User-friendly whiteboards
- Diagram building
- Integrates with Google Workspace, Microsoft Teams, etc.
- Real-time collaboration
- Space and floor plan tools for architects
SmartDraw limitations
- Remote collaboration is unavailable
- Selecting and moving multiple objects around may be challenging
SmartDraw pricing
- Individual: $9.95/month per user
- Team: $8.25/month per user (3 users minimum)
- Site: $2,995/year
*All listed prices refer to the yearly billing model
SmartDraw ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.6/5 (200+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.1/5 (100+ reviews)
10. Gliffy
Gliffy is the original diagramming app designed for Confluence, serving as software for crafting flowcharts and diagrams. Work within the Confluence and Jira environment or dive into the standalone diagramming tool, Gliffy Online.
In Confluence, Gliffy shines as an exceptional tool for crafting interactive diagrams. It allows viewers to toggle diagram layers, unveiling varying levels of detail, making it ideal for visualizing complex structures and processes.
The platform allows you to effortlessly create professional-looking UML diagrams, flowcharts, and entity-relationship diagrams with a simple drag-and-drop. Use templates for brainstorming mind or concept maps and seamlessly embed editable organizational charts into your team’s tools. ?️
Gliffy also empowers teams to collaboratively produce precise visuals in Confluence, complete with whiteboarding capabilities, a pixel-perfect level of detail, and an intuitive interface.
Gliffy best features
- Real-time collaboration in Confluence cloud
- Designed for Confluence and Jira
- Gliffy’s Atlassian apps for building better documentation
- Drag-and-drop interface
- Integrates with apps like Slack, Trello, and monday.com
Gliffy limitations
- The user interface could use improvement
- New users may experience a learning curve
Gliffy Online pricing
- Professional (1-9 users): $8/month per user
- Professional (10-50 users): $6/month per user
- Enterprise: Contact for pricing
*All listed prices refer to the yearly billing model
Gliffy ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.4/5 (200+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.3/5 (50+ reviews)
Summarize this article for me pleasePower Your Productivity with Top-Notch Workflow Design Software
Teams are at their peak when they can work together seamlessly, customize workflows to their liking, and bid farewell to boring, repetitive chores. These top-tier workflow design software solutions are your secret weapons for skyrocketing your team’s productivity and making project management a breeze.
If you’re not in the mood for decision-making, give ClickUp a try for free. Brace yourself for a joyride filled with inspiring whiteboards, real-time collaboration tools, and a vault of templates ready to transform your work life. ✨
Everything you need to stay organized and get work done.
