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Quick Verdict
If you're short on time, here's my bottom line after using Monday.com daily for over two years in a global operations role: Monday.com is one of the best project management platforms for teams that need visual workflows, cross-department collaboration, and flexible automations. It's not the cheapest option, and it's not ideal for solo users or very small teams on a tight budget. But for teams of 5 or more who need structure without rigidity, it's hard to beat.
My Rating: 8.5/10
| Category | Score |
|---|---|
| Ease of Use | 9/10 |
| Features & Flexibility | 9/10 |
| Pricing & Value | 7/10 |
| Automations | 8.5/10 |
| Integrations | 8/10 |
| Customer Support | 8/10 |
| Mobile App | 7.5/10 |
Why I Started Using Monday.com
I want to be upfront about something: this isn't a review written by someone who tested Monday.com for a week and wrote about it. I've been using Monday.com as a core part of my daily workflow for over two years, managing operations across multiple teams at a global technology company.
Before Monday.com, my team was drowning in spreadsheets. We had Google Sheets for tracking projects, Slack threads for updates, email chains for approvals, and a shared drive full of documents nobody could find. Sound familiar?
The breaking point came when we missed a critical deadline because the status update was buried in a Slack thread that three team members never saw. That's when I started evaluating project management tools seriously — and Monday.com won.
What Monday.com Does Well
Visual Workflow Management
The first thing that struck me about Monday.com was how visual everything is. As someone who spent years working with data across multiple industries, I appreciate tools that make complex information immediately understandable. Monday.com does this exceptionally well.
Every project lives on a "board" that you can view in multiple ways: as a table, a Kanban board, a timeline (Gantt chart), a calendar, or even a map. This flexibility matters because different stakeholders think differently. My operations team prefers the table view for detailed tracking, while leadership wants the timeline view for high-level progress. Monday.com lets everyone see the same data in their preferred format without any extra work.
Automations That Actually Save Time
This is where Monday.com really shines for operations teams. The automation builder lets you create "if this, then that" rules without writing a single line of code. Here are some automations I use daily:
- When a task status changes to "Done" → automatically notify the next person in the workflow
- When a deadline is 3 days away → send a reminder to the task owner
- When a new item is created in Board A → create a mirror item in Board B
- Every Monday at 9 AM → create a recurring task for the weekly team standup
These automations have saved my team approximately 5-7 hours per week. That's not a marketing claim — I actually tracked it over a three-month period. Before automations, we spent that time manually updating statuses, sending follow-up messages, and creating recurring tasks.
Cross-Department Collaboration
In my role managing portfolio strategy, I work with engineering, marketing, finance, and customer success teams simultaneously. Monday.com handles this beautifully through its "workspace" structure. Each department has its own workspace with relevant boards, but I can create cross-functional boards that pull data from multiple workspaces.
For example, I have a "Product Launch Tracker" board that connects to the engineering sprint board, the marketing campaign board, and the finance budget board. When engineering marks a feature as complete, it automatically updates the launch tracker. When marketing schedules a campaign, the date appears on the shared timeline. This level of cross-functional visibility was impossible with our previous spreadsheet system.
Dashboard and Reporting
Monday.com's dashboard feature is underrated. You can create custom dashboards that pull data from multiple boards and display it as charts, numbers, or tables. I built a dashboard that shows:
- Total active projects by status (pie chart)
- Team workload distribution (bar chart)
- Upcoming deadlines this week (list)
- Budget utilization across departments (number widgets)
This dashboard replaced a weekly report that used to take me 2 hours to compile manually. Now it updates in real-time.
Where Monday.com Falls Short
No tool is perfect, and I want to be honest about Monday.com's weaknesses. These are issues I've encountered in my daily use.
Pricing Can Add Up Quickly
Monday.com's pricing is per-seat, and it starts at $9/seat/month for the Basic plan (billed annually). But here's the catch: the Basic plan is quite limited. You'll likely need the Standard plan ($12/seat/month) for timeline views and automations, or the Pro plan ($19/seat/month) for advanced reporting and time tracking.
For a team of 20 people on the Pro plan, you're looking at $380/month or $4,560/year. That's not unreasonable for a mid-size company, but it's a significant investment for a startup or small business. And if you need the Enterprise plan for advanced security and governance features, you'll need to contact sales for custom pricing.
| Plan | Price/Seat/Month | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 (up to 2 seats) | Individual use, testing |
| Basic | $9 | Simple project tracking |
| Standard | $12 | Teams needing automations |
| Pro | $19 | Advanced reporting & integrations |
| Enterprise | Custom | Large organizations |
The Learning Curve Is Real
While Monday.com is more intuitive than tools like Jira, it still has a learning curve. The sheer number of features and customization options can be overwhelming for new users. When I onboarded my team, it took about 2-3 weeks before everyone was comfortable with the platform.
I'd recommend starting with a simple board structure and gradually adding complexity. Don't try to set up automations, integrations, and custom dashboards all at once. Build your workflows incrementally.
Mobile App Needs Improvement
The Monday.com mobile app works, but it's not great. Complex boards with many columns become difficult to navigate on a small screen. Editing items on mobile can be frustrating, especially when you need to update multiple fields. I primarily use Monday.com on desktop and only check the mobile app for quick status updates or approvals.
Automations Have Limits
While the automation builder is powerful, it has monthly action limits based on your plan. The Standard plan gives you 250 automations per month, the Pro plan gives you 25,000, and the Enterprise plan is unlimited. For a large team with many automated workflows, you might hit the Standard plan limit quickly.
Who Monday.com Is Best For
Based on my experience, Monday.com is the ideal choice for:
Operations teams who need to manage complex, cross-functional workflows with multiple stakeholders. The visual boards, automations, and dashboard features are perfectly suited for operations management.
Marketing teams who need to manage campaigns, content calendars, and creative workflows. Monday.com's templates for marketing are excellent, and the timeline view is perfect for campaign planning.
Mid-size companies (10-200 employees) who have outgrown spreadsheets but don't need the complexity of enterprise tools like Jira or ServiceNow.
Remote and hybrid teams who need a central source of truth that everyone can access from anywhere.
Who Should Consider Alternatives
Monday.com might not be the best fit if you're:
- A solo freelancer or very small team (1-3 people): The free plan is limited to 2 seats, and the paid plans are expensive for individual use. Consider Notion or Trello instead.
- A software development team: While Monday.com has a "Dev" product, dedicated tools like Jira or Linear are better suited for sprint planning and code-level project management.
- On a very tight budget: If cost is your primary concern, ClickUp offers a more generous free plan and lower per-seat pricing. Read my ClickUp vs Monday.com comparison for a detailed breakdown.
- Looking for a simple to-do list: Monday.com is designed for team collaboration. If you just need a personal task manager, tools like Todoist or TickTick are simpler and cheaper.
Monday.com vs. The Competition
Here's a quick comparison with the main alternatives I've tested:
| Feature | Monday.com | ClickUp | Asana | Notion |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starting Price | $9/seat/mo | $7/seat/mo | $10.99/seat/mo | $8/seat/mo |
| Free Plan | 2 seats | Unlimited | 10 seats | 1 seat |
| Visual Boards | Excellent | Good | Good | Good |
| Automations | Excellent | Excellent | Good | Limited |
| Reporting | Excellent | Good | Good | Basic |
| Learning Curve | Moderate | Steep | Easy | Moderate |
| Mobile App | Good | Good | Excellent | Good |
| Best For | Operations | Power Users | Simple Teams | Knowledge Mgmt |
For detailed comparisons, check out:
- ClickUp vs Monday.com: Which Is Better for Small Teams?
- Asana vs Monday.com: Complete Pricing & Features Comparison (coming soon)
- Notion vs Monday.com: Different Tools for Different Needs (coming soon)
My Setup: How I Use Monday.com Daily
Here's a peek at my actual Monday.com setup to give you practical ideas:
Board 1: Portfolio Tracker — Tracks all active projects across the organization. Columns include: Project Name, Owner, Department, Status, Priority, Start Date, Deadline, Budget, and Progress %.
Board 2: Weekly Operations — A recurring board that resets every Monday. Contains all operational tasks for the week, assigned to team members, with automations that send reminders for overdue items.
Board 3: Cross-Functional Launches — Connected to multiple department boards via mirror columns. Gives me a single view of every product launch and its dependencies.
Dashboard: Operations Command Center — Pulls data from all three boards to show real-time status of everything I'm responsible for. This is the first thing I check every morning.
Final Verdict
Monday.com has genuinely transformed how I manage operations. The combination of visual workflows, powerful automations, and cross-functional collaboration tools makes it the best project management platform I've used — and I've tried most of them.
Is it perfect? No. The pricing is on the higher end, the mobile app needs work, and the learning curve can be frustrating for new users. But for teams that need a robust, flexible, and visually intuitive project management tool, Monday.com delivers.
My recommendation: Start with the 14-day free trial on the Pro plan to experience the full feature set. If you decide it's right for your team, the Standard plan ($12/seat/month) offers the best value for most teams. Only upgrade to Pro if you need advanced reporting, time tracking, or more automations.
Start Your Free Monday.com Trial →
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Monday.com free?
Monday.com offers a free plan for up to 2 seats with limited features. It's suitable for individual use or testing, but most teams will need a paid plan. The paid plans start at $9/seat/month (billed annually).
Is Monday.com better than Asana?
It depends on your needs. Monday.com is better for visual workflows, automations, and cross-department collaboration. Asana is simpler to learn and has a more generous free plan (10 seats). I recommend Monday.com for operations and marketing teams, and Asana for teams that prioritize simplicity.
Can Monday.com replace Excel/Google Sheets?
For project management and team collaboration, absolutely. Monday.com's board structure is far superior to spreadsheets for tracking tasks, deadlines, and responsibilities. However, for pure data analysis and complex calculations, you'll still need a spreadsheet tool.
How long does it take to set up Monday.com?
A basic setup can be done in a few hours. However, building a comprehensive system with automations, integrations, and dashboards takes 2-4 weeks of iterative refinement. I recommend starting simple and adding complexity over time.
Does Monday.com integrate with other tools?
Yes, Monday.com integrates with 200+ tools including Slack, Google Workspace, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Salesforce, HubSpot, Jira, GitHub, and many more. The integration setup is straightforward and doesn't require technical knowledge.
Wendel Santos is an Operations Manager at a leading global tech company. He holds executive education credentials from Ohio University and specializes in operations management, data-driven decision making, and team productivity. Connect with him on LinkedIn.
