The short answer. OmniPlan is the only real project planner in this pool: tasks with durations, dependencies, resources and a Gantt chart that moves when something slips. The rest are boards and workspaces — Trello and Focalboard are columns of cards, ProBoard is one board for everything, Teambition attaches tasks and schedules to a team workspace, and Taskade puts the plan inside a collaborative document. The dividing question is whether the work has dependencies, because a board can show that something is blocked and only a planner can tell you what that does to the date. Most teams discover the difference at the first slip.
This guide covers 6 project management apps for macOS. Every fact below is drawn from the same verified records that back each app’s own page. The recommendations are our editorial judgment, not payment.
Quick comparison
| App | What it is | Pricing | Licence | Version |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Focalboard | Mac utility | Open source | not published | 8.0.0 |
| OmniPlan | Mac utility | not published | not published | 4.11 |
| ProBoard | Mac utility | not published | not published | 1.6.0 |
| Taskade | Mac utility | not published | not published | 4.7.0 |
| Teambition | productivity app | Free | not published | 2.0.3 |
| Trello | Mac utility | Free | not published | 2.16.7 |
What actually decides this
- Dependencies or columns. A board models state: to do, doing, done. A planner models order: this cannot start until that finishes. If a delay on one card changes the date of another, you need the second and a board will silently hide the consequence.
- Whether resources are modelled. Assigning a person to a task is a label. Modelling that the person is only available three days a week, and that two tasks compete for them, is capacity planning. Only one tool here does it, and it is the reason people buy it.
- What the timeline view is. A Gantt chart that updates from the data is a planning instrument. A calendar view of due dates is a reminder. Both look like a timeline in a screenshot and behave completely differently when a date moves.
- Where the plan is hosted. A self-hosted board is a server you run. A hosted one is a subscription. For a plan that a client or an auditor will ask about, the export path matters as much as the hosting.
- Whether it fits the team that will use it. A planner requires everyone to estimate durations, which most teams do badly. A board requires everyone to move cards, which most teams do. The better tool for the method you will actually follow is the one that gets used.
Our picks
- OmniPlan — Its record describes visualising, maintaining and simplifying projects, which is the planning case. Choose it when the work has dependencies and a date that can slip.
- Focalboard — Its record describes an open-source, self-hosted alternative to Trello, Notion and Asana, which is the self-hosted case. Choose it when you want a self-hosted board that also holds documents.
- Trello — Its record describes organising projects into Kanban boards, which is the board case. Choose it when the process is simple and everyone already knows the tool.
- Teambition — Its record describes team collaboration across tasks, schedules, files and discussions, which is the workspace case. Choose it when tasks, schedules and files belong to one team workspace.
- Taskade — Its record describes a real-time collaborative editor for teams, which is the document case. Choose it when the plan lives inside a document the team edits.
The apps
Focalboard
Focalboard is a Mac utility for macOS. Open source, self-hosted alternative to Trello, Notion, and Asana. It is open source.
What it does. Focalboard is an open source, self-hosted alternative to Trello, Notion, and Asana. - mattermost-community/focalboard.
Focalboard is listed with current version 8.0.0.
Full profile and verified facts for Focalboard →
OmniPlan
OmniPlan is a Mac utility for macOS. The best way to visualize, maintain, and simplify your projects. Project Management made easy. Its pricing is not published.
What it does. Project management software for professionals that helps people plan complex projects.
OmniPlan is listed with current version 4.11.
Full profile and verified facts for OmniPlan →
ProBoard
ProBoard is a Mac utility for macOS. Use one board to manage all your project information efficiently. Its pricing is not published.
ProBoard is listed with current version 1.6.0.
Full profile and verified facts for ProBoard →
Taskade
Taskade is a Mac utility for macOS. Real-time collaborative editor for teams. Its pricing is not published.
What it does. Turn business processes into live apps. Build and run CRMs, dashboards, and client portals that use AI agents and automated workflows, all with Taskade Genesis.
Taskade is listed with current version 4.7.0.
Full profile and verified facts for Taskade →
Teambition
Teambition is a productivity app for macOS. Team collaboration tool for tasks, schedules, files, and discussions. It is free.
Teambition is listed with current version 2.0.3.
Full profile and verified facts for Teambition →
Trello
Trello is a Mac utility for macOS. A collaboration tool that organizes your projects into Kanban boards. It is free.
What it does. Make the impossible, possible with Trello. The ultimate tool to boost your productivity. Escape the clutter and chaos—stay efficient with Inbox, Boards, and Planner from anywhere, even on mobile.
Trello is listed with current version 2.16.7.
Full profile and verified facts for Trello →
How to choose
- Free of charge. Teambition and Trello — no payment is required.
- No licence fee, source available. Focalboard — the source can be read and, under the terms of each licence, reused.
- Pricing not published in our data. OmniPlan, ProBoard and Taskade — check the developer’s own site before assuming anything about cost.
Open source: Focalboard (1 of 6).
Common mistakes
- Using a board for work with hard dependencies and discovering the slip at the deadline.
- Building a Gantt chart nobody updates after week two.
- Modelling resources in a tool the team does not open.
- Treating a due-date calendar as a plan. It shows when things end, not what has to happen first.
How this guide was put together
Each app’s facts come from its own record: the developer’s own pages and repository, the App Store listing where one exists, and the documentation, each with a source grade and an access date. Where a fact rests on the developer’s own statement rather than on something we verified independently, the sentence says so. Where our data has no value for something, the guide says “not published” instead of guessing.
A price appears here only where the record carries one from a stated source; the guide never estimates one, and it records the pricing model alongside so the two can be read together. Prices change and vary by region, so each app links to its own page for the current detail.
The facts and the recommendations are kept apart on purpose. Everything in the app entries, the comparison table and the answers above is composed from the records. The short answer, the criteria and the picks are our editorial judgment: they reflect what we would choose and why, and they are not paid for. Where we make a recommendation we name the condition it applies under, because we do not call anything “the best” without explaining the criteria.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I choose between these project management apps?
There is no single answer — it depends on what you need. This guide covers 6 project management apps: Focalboard, OmniPlan, ProBoard, Taskade, Teambition and Trello. They differ mainly in pricing model, licence and the trade-offs each one carries. Pick by the trade-off you care about rather than by rank.
Are these project management apps free?
Pricing across this group: open source (Focalboard), not published (OmniPlan, ProBoard and Taskade) and free (Teambition and Trello). Where we list pricing as not published, the developer does not state a model we could verify — check their own site before assuming anything about cost. We quote a price only where the record carries one from a stated source, and we never estimate one. Prices change and vary by region and by store, so always check the developer’s own page for the current figure.
Which of these project management apps are open source?
Focalboard (not published) is open source.
Do these project management apps support Apple Silicon?
Our data does not carry an explicit Apple Silicon statement for any app in this group, so we do not claim one. The absence of a statement is not the same as the absence of support.
How do I choose between them?
Start with how you pay: the guide groups these apps by pricing model, because the budget is the constraint most people actually have. Then check the trade-offs listed for each app: the limitations are the part that decides most people’s choice, because they describe what the app will not do for you.
