Best Free Project Management Software UK Sole Traders 2026
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Introduction: You Don’t Need to Pay for Project Management (Yet)
If you’re running a one-person business in the UK, paying a monthly subscription just to keep your tasks organised probably feels unnecessary. You’re right to question it. Most project management tools were built with teams in mind and priced accordingly — but their free tiers can be genuinely excellent for a sole trader who knows what to look for.
The problem is that free plans vary wildly, and the caps that catch people out aren’t the obvious ones. It’s rarely the task count. It’s the user limit that stops you adding a freelancer, the automation allowance, the file size ceiling, or a task cap buried three clicks into the pricing page.
This guide compares the most capable free options available to UK sole traders in 2026, and tells you which figures we’ve verified directly and which you should check yourself before committing.
What Sole Traders Actually Need
Per-user pricing is less punishing than it looks. You’re one person, so a plan at £8 per user per month costs you £8. That changes the maths considerably compared with a team of fifteen.
But free-tier user caps still matter. The moment you bring in a freelancer or a VA, a two-user free plan becomes a paid plan. That’s the limit most likely to bite a growing sole trader, and it’s the one least likely to be mentioned in a roundup.
What else matters:
- Task and project limits — do they cap how much work you can track?
- File storage and attachment sizes
- Automation allowances, so repetitive work handles itself
- Integration with tools you already use — email, Drive, invoicing software
- Mobile app quality for working on the go
- A simple interface, because you don’t need HR workflows
Check Two Things Before You Sign Up for Anything
The billing currency. This is the single most common error in software comparisons, and it costs UK sole traders real money through conversion and foreign transaction fees. Of the tools here, Asana and Todoist bill in pounds. Wrike prices in US dollars. Plaky’s sister products at CAKE.com — Clockify and Pumble — both price in euros, so assume Plaky does too until you’ve checked the toggle yourself. Trello, ClickUp and Notion all need checking directly.
The free tier’s current limits. Free plans get quietly tightened, and reviews take months to catch up. Clockify’s free plan was capped at five users during 2026 and a great deal of published guidance still describes it as unlimited. If a free tier’s generosity is your reason for choosing a tool, verify it on the vendor’s own pricing page rather than in any comparison article, including this one.
The Best Free Project Management Tools for UK Sole Traders in 2026
1. Todoist — Best for Sole Traders Who Just Need Tasks Done
Not a full project management suite, and that’s the point. For a one-person business, a genuinely excellent task manager often beats a project management tool you’ll use 20% of.
Free (Beginner) includes: 5 personal projects · task reminders · Smart Quick Add · flexible list and board layouts · 3 filter views · 1 week activity history · email and calendar integrations.
Worth correcting a claim you’ll see widely: task reminders are on the free plan. Many reviews say otherwise. What you pay for is custom reminders.
Where it falls short on free: the 5-project cap fills quickly — client work, admin, marketing, finances, personal is already five. The 1-week activity history means you can’t review what you completed last month.
Pricing: Pro £5 per user per month billed yearly (£60 a year) or £7 monthly. Business £8 yearly (£96) or £10 monthly, plus local tax. Billed in pounds.
Best for: Sole traders who want deadlines, reminders and a reliable list across every device, without building a system first.
2. Plaky — Potentially the Most Generous Free Plan
Plaky’s free plan is widely described as having unlimited projects, unlimited tasks and unlimited users, with board, list and table views and no time limit. If that holds, it’s the most generous free tier on this list by some distance, and an obvious pick for a sole trader juggling multiple clients.
Verify that before you build around it. Plaky is made by CAKE.com, and CAKE.com capped Clockify’s free tier at five users during 2026 while most published guidance still called it unlimited. We’re not claiming Plaky has changed — we’re saying the “unlimited” claim is exactly the sort that goes stale, and it’s a two-minute check on their pricing page.
Where it falls short on free: no automation, no Gantt view, fewer native integrations than Trello or ClickUp, and limited reporting.
Pricing: paid tiers exist — confirm current figures and the billing currency directly, since both CAKE.com sister products bill in euros.
Best for: Sole traders tracking a lot of client work across many projects who don’t need automation, assuming the free limits check out.
3. Trello — Best for Simplicity and Quick Setup
Trello introduced millions of small business owners to Kanban boards, and it remains one of the cleanest, most intuitive options available. You can be productive within ten minutes of signing up, which is not true of everything on this list.
Its free plan includes unlimited cards, a board allowance per workspace, a monthly automation allowance through Butler, and a per-file attachment limit. Those three numbers are the ones that decide whether Trello works for you, and all three have been revised over the years — check the current figures rather than trusting a table.
Where it falls short on free: view options are restricted compared with paid tiers, the per-file attachment limit is tight if you share large documents, and the Power-Up allowance limits how integrated a workflow you can build.
Best for: Sole traders who want visual, drag-and-drop task management with the least possible setup.
4. Asana — Capable Free Plan With One Cap That Matters
Asana has a reputation as a team tool, but its free plan is more capable than many realise — with one limitation that catches sole traders out at exactly the wrong moment.
The free Personal plan covers up to two users. Not ten, as is frequently reported. For a solo operator that’s fine. The moment you bring in a freelancer, a VA or a business partner, you’re on a paid plan.
What you get free: list and board views, task and project tracking, basic workflows and forms, integrations with Google Drive, Slack and Microsoft 365, and a genuinely good mobile app.
What’s behind the paywall: timeline and Gantt view, custom fields, reporting dashboards, automation and task dependencies. If your projects run in sequences where one task blocks another, the free plan won’t show you that.
Pricing: Starter is £9.49 per user per month on annual billing, currently £8.49 promotional, or £11.59 monthly. Advanced is £20.99 (£16.99 promotional) or £25. AI features are included on all paid plans. Billed in pounds.
Note the plan names, because Asana renamed its tiers — the plan many reviews still call “Premium” is now Starter.
Best for: Solo traders who want a structured, deadline-focused tool and already use Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 — provided you stay under two users.
5. Wrike — Unlimited Users Free, But Watch the Task Cap
Wrike is worth knowing precisely because its free plan inverts the usual trade-off: unlimited users, but a 200-task cap.
That’s an unusual shape. Most free tiers restrict people and let you create as much work as you like. Wrike does the opposite. For a sole trader who occasionally collaborates with freelancers, unlimited users is genuinely useful — but 200 tasks is not many if you track granular to-dos across several clients, and you’ll hit it faster than you expect.
Pricing: Team is $10 per user per month, Business $25, with Pinnacle and Apex priced on application. Priced in US dollars, so factor in conversion and any foreign transaction fee.
Best for: Sole traders who work with collaborators but keep task counts high-level rather than granular.
6. ClickUp — Most Features, Steepest Learning Curve
ClickUp is arguably the most feature-rich free plan available, sometimes to a fault. It throws everything at you — tasks, docs, whiteboards, multiple views, automation — which can feel overwhelming before it feels powerful.
The free plan’s binding constraints are total file storage and the monthly automation allowance, both of which are tighter than the “unlimited tasks” headline suggests. “Unlimited tasks” is also slightly misleading, since certain features within tasks, such as custom fields, are capped on free.
Where it falls short: the storage ceiling fills quickly if you attach files regularly, and the interface takes real time to configure.
Best for: Sole traders who want maximum flexibility and will invest time setting it up properly. Confirm current storage and automation limits before committing, as ClickUp revises these.
7. Notion — Best for Combined Notes and Project Tracking
Notion blurs the line between project management and knowledge base. For sole traders who want one place for client notes, project tracking, business processes and templates, it’s compelling.
The free plan covers unlimited pages and blocks with a per-file upload limit and a restricted version history window. Both are worth checking, as the file limit in particular is low enough to matter if you attach client documents.
Notion’s strength is also its challenge: you can make it do almost anything, but you build the structure yourself. Brilliant if you enjoy that. Frustrating if you want something ready to go.
Best for: Sole traders working heavily with written content, client notes and SOPs who want project tracking in the same workspace.
Quick Comparison: What We’ve Verified
| Tool | Free tier | Paid from | Currency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Todoist | 5 projects, task reminders, 3 filter views, 1 week history | £5/user/month yearly | GBP |
| Asana | 2 users, list and board views | £9.49/user/month yearly (£8.49 promo) | GBP |
| Wrike | Unlimited users, 200-task cap | $10/user/month | USD |
| Plaky | Described as unlimited — verify | Check current | Likely EUR — verify |
| Trello | Board, automation and file caps — verify | Check current | Verify |
| ClickUp | Storage and automation caps — verify | Check current | Verify |
| Notion | Per-file and version history caps — verify | Check current | Verify |
We’ve listed confirmed figures only. Where a cell says verify, it’s because the numbers circulating in comparison articles didn’t come from the vendor and we won’t repeat them.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which free plan has the fewest restrictions for a sole trader?
On confirmed figures, it depends what you’re optimising for. Wrike gives unlimited users but caps you at 200 tasks. Asana gives generous task allowances but only two users. Todoist gives task reminders and integrations free but caps you at five projects. There’s no free tier here without a meaningful ceiling — the trick is choosing the one whose ceiling you won’t hit.
Is free project management software reliable enough for a real business?
Yes, in most cases. These are genuine products used by millions of businesses, not crippled demos. The main risk is hitting a cap as your workload grows and having to migrate, which is why it’s worth understanding each tool’s specific limit before you invest time building in it.
Do I need to connect my project management tool to HMRC or Making Tax Digital?
No. Project management software tracks work and deadlines, not tax. For MTD compliance you need compatible accounting software such as FreeAgent, QuickBooks or Xero. Some sole traders track invoices informally in Notion or ClickUp alongside their accounting software, but that doesn’t satisfy MTD on its own.
What happens if I outgrow the free plan?
You’ll usually get prompts as you approach a limit, and most tools make upgrading straightforward without data loss. As a sole trader you’re only paying for one seat, so even a £10 a month plan is manageable if the features justify it — Todoist Pro at £5 and Asana Starter at £9.49 are both single-seat costs for you.
Is my data secure on a free plan?
These platforms use standard encryption and secure data centres. Check each provider’s data processing terms if you store client data, given UK GDPR obligations. Most offer a Data Processing Agreement you can request or download.
Conclusion: Which One Should You Choose?
If you want something working today with confirmed pricing, start with Todoist. The free tier includes task reminders and integrations, five projects covers a lot of solo work, and Pro at £5 a month billed in pounds is the cheapest confirmed upgrade path here.
If you collaborate with freelancers, check the user cap first. Asana’s free plan stops at two users, which is the trap in an otherwise strong free tier. Wrike allows unlimited users free but caps you at 200 tasks. Those are opposite constraints and only one of them will suit you.
If Plaky’s free plan is as generous as advertised, it’s the strongest option on this list — unlimited projects, tasks and users would remove every constraint above. Verify it on their pricing page first, and check the billing currency while you’re there.
Trello remains the fastest to get started with, and ClickUp and Notion both reward the time you put into them. All three need their current free limits checked directly.
Start free, understand which ceiling applies to you, and upgrade only when you hit it. For most sole traders, that won’t be for a while.
Pricing and features correct at time of writing. Plans and capabilities are subject to change — always confirm current details on the provider’s website before purchasing.