If you’re exploring Monday.com alternatives for PMOs, you’re probably in one of two camps:
Either you’ve been trying to make Monday.com work for your PMO and are starting to hit a wall, or you’re weighing it up and wondering if there’s a better fit for the kind of complex projects and strategic planning your team actually needs to deliver.
Either way, this guide is here to help you cut through the noise and find the project management software that can support your real-world workflows — not just the slickest UI.
Monday.com is a flexible project management tool with strong appeal for individual teams and small businesses. It’s visual, easy to pick up, and handles task management, file sharing, and collaboration tools well.
But once you zoom out to the scale of a PMO — with cross-functional teams, parallel initiatives, and a responsibility to drive portfolio-wide performance — things start to unravel.
Visuals are nice, but for real project performance you need more than pretty
boards. PMO365 emphasises that Monday.com lacks features required to manage
complex projects, including risk management, milestone forecasting, and earned
value tracking. A Reddit user in the r/mondaydotcom community summed it up well:
So yes — the interface is clean, the experience is smooth, and the adoption curve is gentle.
But if you’re running a PMO with accountability for strategic planning, resource utilisation, or multi-stream delivery, Monday.com may not be the right fit long term.
Monday can be a great starter tool, but it’s not built to handle the weight of a PMO’s responsibilities.
The good news? You’ve got options.
At the PMO level, the game changes. You’re not just trying to track projects — you’re aligning them to business goals, managing dependencies, and keeping multiple plates spinning across distributed teams.
With that in mind, let’s break down the top Monday.com alternatives worth considering if you’re running or advising a PMO.
These tools cover a range of needs — from full-blown enterprise platforms to specialist tools built specifically for PMOs. The key is picking the one that fits your current reality and where you’re heading.
If you’re a PMO that needs structure, governance, and results — not just tasks in a list — Bestoutcome’s PM3 is one of the strongest monday.com alternatives to look at first.
Unlike generic project management tools, PM3 is purpose-built for PMOs managing high-stakes portfolios in complex environments (think healthcare, government, finance). It’s designed to align delivery with outcomes, not just outputs.
If you’ve ever felt like your current platform is good at managing tasks but terrible at managing business goals, PM3 might be your next move.
Smartsheet is one of the most popular monday.com alternatives for PMOs that want a middle ground between spreadsheets and formal project management solutions. It’s built around a familiar grid layout, but with strong PMO features under the hood.
For PMOs with Excel-loving teams or those just starting to standardise processes, Smartsheet is a comfortable step up — and a strong choice for anyone comparing monday.com alternatives.
Wrike is another leading monday.com alternative, standing out for its real-time capabilities and ease of use across departments. It handles team collaboration, document workflows, and project visibility well.
It’s a good pick for fast-moving teams that still need oversight and control.
ClickUp makes the list of top monday.com alternatives thanks to its flexibility — it can be whatever you want it to be, but that’s also its risk if your PMO doesn’t have time to tinker.
While not as modern as some monday.com alternatives, Microsoft Project remains a go-to for many PMOs thanks to its depth and integration with the Microsoft ecosystem.
Microsoft Project isn’t flashy — but it’s powerful. Especially when integrated with Power BI or Teams.
It’s not the most modern interface, but it’s still a heavyweight for PMOs that need rigorous planning and resource control.
For large-scale operations, Planview is one of the more enterprise-grade monday.com alternatives, built for PMOs overseeing big portfolios with many moving parts.
Planview’s learning curve is real — but so are the benefits if you’re operating at scale.
Asana might seem like a lighter tool, but its clean design and ease of use make it a smart choice for PMOs overseeing marketing or operations teams.
Not ideal for heavy-duty planning, but great for visibility across cross functional teams.
Workfront is made for large, creative-led organisations. If your PMO supports marketing, comms, or product teams, it’s a serious contender.
It’s especially good for managing repetitive tasks at scale and standardising delivery across campaign teams.
Airtable might not have the same name recognition as other monday.com alternatives, but its spreadsheet-database hybrid approach makes it a fast, visual, and capable option for PMOs who need to move fast and keep things flexible.
It’s not built for enterprise portfolio management, but it can be a powerful enabler for delivery teams under your PMO umbrella.
If your PMO supports software delivery or agile transformation, Jira paired with Advanced Roadmaps is a developer-focused pick in the world of monday.com alternatives, offering agile-friendly features and deep integration for software delivery teams.
Just be prepared for configuration overhead — and to bring in additional tools for portfolio-level reporting.
It depends.
Want something purpose-built for PMOs? That’s what Bestoutcome’s PM3 is for.
The main thing is this: if you’ve outgrown Monday.com or you’re not convinced it’s right for serious project portfolio management, don’t settle.
Tools exist that were made to help you track projects, optimise resource utilisation, and align delivery with real business goals — not just check off to-do lists.
If you’re tired of stretching general-purpose tools past their limits, Bestoutcome’s PM3 gives you a better way to manage portfolios, projects, and resources — all in one place.
Book a demo or grab a free trial to see how PM3 stacks up against Monday.com — and every other tool on this list.
1. Acuity PPM – “Can You Do Project Portfolio Management in Monday.com?”
2. BigTime Software – “Top Monday Alternatives for 2024”
3. PMO365 – “Monday.com vs Microsoft Project”
4. ProjectManager.com – “How to Use Monday.com Dashboards”
5. The Digital Project Manager – “monday.com Review”
6. Monday.com Community Forum – Portfolio Management Feature
Discussions
7. Reddit – “Monday.com Review – My Honest Thoughts After Using for a Year”
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