The flexible way to manage projects with clients
4.3/5 (231 reviews)A new level of project visibility
Podio makes deadlines, responsibilities and goals clear for everyone – and they’re always up to date. With transparent, organized projects, you’ll never need to slow your team down to get a status update. You’ll have the oversight you need to see if everything’s on track.
Incredible flexibility
You and your team define all the structure of your content, reports and overviews. So you can run projects your way, unhindered by workarounds imposed by rigid software. And your team will love how Podio reflects the way you already talk and think about your business.
Real time and your time
Whether you need an immediate answer from your team or just want to share some great resources and insights, Podio puts all your conversations in one place in the context of the work you’re doing. This enables you to tighten your communications without increasing everyone’s email load.
Podio grows with you
Want to do more than project management with Podio? Simply extend Podio to handle CRM, recruiting workflows or even your company intranet in minutes. Podio’s ability to connect teams and processes already helps thousands of companies run their entire operations in one place.
Pros
Fast to configure for team collaboration on a variety of tasks - from the simple to fully featured Agile project management.
Adding only the apps you need means you can have a flexible and bespoke approach to each project depending on the requirements.
Easy to share with external users.
Cons
The flexibility that can be a strength can also be a weakness. There needs to be strong leadership over configuration and apps included.
The number of apps that can be added and the configurable options can lead to unnecessary complexity in the hands of inexperienced users.
If you have complex security requirements, configuration can be a pain.
Pros
The level of customization is amazing, and really makes Podio an incredibly versatile tool. Even with the mid-level plus pricing plan, we've utilized custom workspaces for a large variety of use cases throughout our company. The team at Podio also releases updates fairly often, which is great to see. Almost every update has added value to how we use the application.
It's obvious that the Podio team has put a lot of work into what they have released thus far. The quality is great, and I can't think of anything that doesn't work properly or that feels messy. I'm confident that new features they release in the future will be just as well polished.
Cons
The number one limitation to Podio is the lackluster permission structure. On one hand, it has really forced us to create truly collaborative and transparent workspaces. However, it has also made it /impossible/ to use Podio for certain more sensitive applications. It is also incredibly annoying that there isn't an overall admin group for the total organization. We have multiple admins for our Podio organization (who help create and maintain workspaces), and each of us have to be added to every workspace as an admin in order to maintain the system. This means that our feeds get spammed with activity from every workspace, making it pretty useless for our own needs. It also bloats some of our workspaces, and makes it tricky to maintain stuff.
In the plus price level, reports are kind of a joke. I believe they get a lot better in the higher plans, but plus level reports are almost useless.
Podio is powerful, indeed. I ranked it a bit lower than most as my focus has always been around small businesses. And Podio might simply be too much for that sector. But it does offer an impressive array of features that perhaps small businesses with lots of development background need. It seems to wrap too many features into one product and many organizations simply do not work this way. But the concept of keeping all this functionality in one single place does make it appealing. Yet, there is much to be desired for regarding features in each category. Project Management, for example. It has features that are very common among competitors, but lacks features like milestones, issue tracking, defects, testing, epic and story hierarchies, etc. It simply does not provide the power one would expect from a solid project management functionality. Instead of ramping up these features, others are added, such as a CRM and financial features, etc. I would not entirely dismiss Podio, as it might be exactly what your organization's structure needs. Perhaps a quick test drive would do. I found it cumbersome for my small business, especially since I was already managing my clients using another CRM and my financials were being managed by another online application... keeping them all isolated and visible only to the required personnel.
Pros
Podio is feature rich and more aligned with larger companies with design and development teams. It offers a wide range of views to fit any and all your needs. Create and manage workspaces with ease. Podio is much more than just a project management tool. It offers the ability to track leads and clients with default or customizeable templates to display their details. Manage projects, portfolios and much more. With a focus on the creative (design) and development, Podio offers much more than one can ask for. It even offers an impressive library of APIs for customization and integrations. Track tasks with incredible details including time. Podio even gives you a place to track expenses. If your organization is looking for a product that keeps everything in one place, Podio might provide this for you.
Cons
Despite the rave reviews on the Pros, I believe that Podio is just too much for the average project management role. It feels as though it is trying to combine the features of a CRM, Financial System and Project Management product all in one place. Most organizations are simply not structured in a way that all these features should reside in one system. Perhaps it will work for some, which is why Podio does have a strong hold in the industry.
Reliable communication with the team through the chat function. Good personal tas management and also knowledge management. Even though we stored or files in a cloud service, we 'indexed' and sorted our knowledge through Podio.
Pros
This app felt like a blank canvas. You can create a lot of workspaces, each with differentes apps that have different functionality, such as "Expenses" and "People". For each app, you can create items, that you can call whatever you like, e.g. "Payment" and "Person", respectively. Within them, you have many field options and you can customize quite a bit, even automatically creating tasks. I also appreciated that the calendar, your tasks and your contacts have their separated site. Each works automatically, adding events that you interacted with automatically to your calendar, the same with tasks that were delegated to you. In summary of the good stuff, lots of possibilites. Also, formulars where quite helpful.
Cons
As much as it has pros, there is for me and the organization where we used it, one big Con, that goes throughout the whole app: too much flexibility and little restraint/focus. The tool is a blank canvas, and I am sure you can create a good workflow for different needs. The problem is, that you (at least we did) need a single person that first, understands how it all works second, takes the time to create each app and the item-configurations (altough there is a marketplace where you can use other people's templates) and third, explain it to everybody else. The problem comes, when you realize there was an unknown feature or a simpler way of doing things. There is so much that is possible that you might end up complicating your workflow to much.
I'm using the free version, so for me it's a free project management tool that can be customized to track any type of project or process. I can assign and schedule tasks for any user in the workspace.
Pros
It can do anything! There are pre-developed apps and packages of apps that you can add to your workspace to get started quickly. Those modules can be modified to meet your needs. OR, you can create your own apps to serve your own purposes. I've created my own apps for a variety of workspaces and have found it can do almost anything! So far we've used it for lead development, website development/QA, order tracking, and customer feedback handling. Love that we can assigne and schedule tasks for any user in the workspace. We're a small team, so the free version has been able to meet our needs as well.
Cons
It can be time consuming to figure out how build your own applications. The pre-built apps are great to start with, but then you have to visualize how to modify them to meet you unique needs. Not bad, just a learning curve. Also, the per user per month expenses can add up quickly if you need the more advanced features.
Unlimited free use for up to five people.
Basic: $9/employee/month (billed monthly) or $7.20/employee/month (billed annually).
Plus: $14/employee/month (billed monthly) or $11.20/employee/month (billed annually).
Premium: $24/employee/month (billed monthly) or $19.20/employee/month (billed annually).
Custom plans are also available for larger teams.
The increased transparency and structure made possible by Podio will save your team hours on organization and status meetings, so you can focus on the task at hand. Interfacing with clients on Podio makes feedback loops simpler – helping everyone get better results and build stronger relationships.
Why should a project management platform dictate the way your team works? Podio is an online platform that lets its users stay in control over how they get work done. The web-based solution empowers groups to create their own collaboration and project management tools with no technical or IT skills necessary.
Used by teams, companies, and organizations from around the globe, Podio users are encouraged to select from more than 700 free apps available in the Podio App Market. These apps encompass everything from project management to CRM, IT support, recruiting, and HR, and they can be customized to better fit the needs of a specific user’s organization.
A cloud-based work platform that changes the way groups work in professional environments, Podio has developed a way to let its users manage their own workflows and processes using its customizable tools. These tools are known as apps, and they are designed to add structure to workflows or projects. In most cases, apps connect to social activity streams, which teams can use for sharing files and discussing relevant issues privately.
Apps make up a major part of the Podio solution. Apps can be built by users with no technical skill or IT knowledge. Or, for users who’d prefer not designing their own purpose-built work apps from scratch, pre-made apps can be selected from the Podio App Market.
Podio users are encouraged to structure their projects, teams, and workflows into workspaces, which are shared only with the most relevant colleagues. The platform also provides core features like activity streams, task management, document sharing, contact management, reporting, webforms, and calendars.
Businesses are encouraged to create their own apps within Podio. App templates are useful for constructing apps that meet the individual needs of unique users, from streamlining deliverables to structuring sales leads.
Use Podio’s drag-and-drop tools to build your own app that can be added to any workspace, and accessed across all your devices, or select an app that’s already been designed by a fellow user in the Podio community. More than 700 apps are already available in the App Market, managing everything from HR and employee recruitment, to project management and CRM.
Workspaces are virtual areas where groups of people or teams can work together to meet specific goals. For example, a sales team might create a workspace in order to manage an upcoming project. Anyone can be added to a workspace, regardless of whether that person is an employee of the specific organization.
Get your clients, contractors, and even vendors involved in the project management process by inviting them to participate in relevant workspaces. As a Podio user, you also have the option to create private workspaces that are only known to people in your organization who’ve been invited to take part. Or, you can create open workspaces that are listed for all employees of your organizations to view and join.
Podio’s task management features provide users with a way to break down large projects into smaller sets of individual tasks, which can then be assigned to employees or other responsible parties. Podio links tasks to the work that they’re a part of, which provides relevance and context for users.
To take advantage of Podio’s task management tools, start by creating a list of all the tasks that must be completed before a specific project will be ready to go. Set deadlines for these tasks, write brief descriptions, and assign them to specific people. You can also set reminders to yourself to go back and see if a task has been completed on time, even if that task was not assigned to you.
A lightweight CRM solution enables Podio users to manage their relationships with customers and track sales opportunities throughout the pipeline. The CRM solution can be customized as a Podio app to make those processes easier to achieve.
To use Podio as a CRM tool, install the CRM app pack and customize the provided template based on how your team works. You can use filters and reports to get important sales information into your CRM app, and you can use the Excel importing feature to import historical CRM data, as well.
Podio offers free mobile applications for the iPhone, iPad, and Android. These mobile apps give users a complete work experience from their tablets and smartphone devices. Users can collaborate with their organizations and access workspaces, activity streams, tasks, files, calendars and contacts through the mobile apps. Many Podio users say they actually use the mobile apps just as often, if not more often, then they use Podio on their desktop computers.
Podio is considered a completely open work platform because it offers so many integrations with other popular business applications. Podio offers more than 15 integrations with apps, including YouSendIt, ShareFile, Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, SkyDrive, SugarSync, Zendesk, Campaign Monitor, Google Apps Mail, GoToMeeting, Freshbooks, Evernote, and Google Docs.
Pricing for Podio is based on the number of users within an organization, along with the specific features that an organization needs. The most inexpensive solution is Podio Lite, which is free for teams with up to five employees. Podio Teams is $9 per employee, per month. The Podio Business plan is available with custom pricing for larger teams.
Designed to facilitate collaboration across multiple groups
Customizable project management and task organization features
More than 700 free apps available in the Podio App Market
Empowers groups to create their own work tools
Increases transparency and boosts knowledge sharing
Below are some frequently asked questions for Podio.
Podio offers the following pricing plans:
Starting from: US$9,00/month
Pricing model: Free, Subscription
Free Trial: Available
Unlimited free use for up to five people.
Basic: $9/employee/month (billed monthly) or $7.20/employee/month (billed annually).
Plus: $14/employee/month (billed monthly) or $11.20/employee/month (billed annually).
Premium: $24/employee/month (billed monthly) or $19.20/employee/month (billed annually).
Custom plans are also available for larger teams.
Podio offers the following features:
Podio has the following typical customers:
Freelancers, Mid Size Business, Small Business
Podio supports the following languages:
Chinese (Simplified), Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish
Podio has the following pricing plans:
Free, Subscription
Podio supports the following devices:
Android, iPhone, iPad
Podio integrates with the following applications:
Bitium, Campaign Monitor, Constant Contact, Cronforce, GlobiFlow for Podio, GlobiMail for Podio, PieSync, Resource Guru, WebMerge, Zendesk
Podio offers the following support options:
FAQs, Forum, Knowledge Base, Online Support, Phone Support, Video Tutorials
It's difficult to describe Podio in a few sentences as it's flexibility and extensibility through the addition of apps from the library or creating your own means that it can be used for many different things.
We've used it for project management and as a simple space to hold and share information when several external parties are involved. It means everyone can see what needs to be shared and current status with compromising internal systems and worrying about correct security settings for various parties.
Podio isn't always first choice for team collaboration as there may already be solutions in place that clients prefer (for example, Microsoft Teams), but it is a quick way to pull disparate people and data together and get working quickly.
As with all collaboration tools, it needs a bit of planning to configure it best for the type of project you want to use it for, but once you have used it a couple of times setup should be quick. For 'standard' users who have a degree of competence with collaboration software, the interface is intuitive and they should get up to speed pretty quickly.
If you work in an Agile environment, all the tools are there to configure an Agile project and get started quickly.
Some people love Podio immediately, others don't get it. Try out with a couple of small projects to get familiar with it; keep it as simple as possible - Podio's greatest strength is that you don't need to add more features/apps than are suited to the job.