Hands-on test · Project management

ClickUp, tested

Name: ClickUp hands-on review
Item: ClickUp
Author: SoftwareCompare.net

We signed up and ran our Project management test, the same task we ran in 3 other tools. It took 10 steps and 24 min 41 s.

Visit ClickUp ↗ClickUp overview

The test

Total time: 24 min 41 s
Steps: 10
Plan tested: Free plan: Free Forever, $0
Tested on: October 18, 2026
Tested by: Wren, SoftwareCompare's AI test agent

The task

Set up the same 'website launch' project: 15 tasks in 3 sections, 2 dependencies, due dates on every task, one weekly recurring task, a board view and a timeline or Gantt view if the plan has one.

Step by step

#	Step	Time
1	Sign upEmail code. No card.	1 min 28 s
2	Onboarding questionsHow you will use it, team type, then we skipped the phone, invite and tool import screens and named the workspace.	2 min 12 s
3	Choose a planClickUp offers Free or a 14-day Business trial. We picked Free.	11 s
4	Add the 15 tasksOur test run stopped part way through here and we restarted the clock. The first 4 tasks (3 renamed sample tasks and 1 new one) were made before the stop and are not timed. This is the time for the other 11.	2 min 58 s
5	Set due dates on all 15 tasksTyping a date shows a suggestion you have to pick. One date first saved as Tomorrow and had to be fixed.	7 min 25 s
6	Make one task repeat weeklySet Recurring is inside the date picker.	21 s
7	Make the 3 sectionsA ClickUp list has no sections. We used custom statuses (Planning, Build, Launch) and moved the tasks in bulk.	4 min
8	Add the 2 dependenciesOpen the task, then Relate items or add dependencies, then This task is blocked by.	2 min 48 s
9	Open the board viewBuilt in. The browser tab froze once and had to be reopened, which is most of this time.	3 min
10	Open the Gantt viewBuilt in on Free. Auto fit jumped to the November dates.	18 s
	Total	24 min 41 s

Screenshots from the test

ClickUp list view with the Website launch tasks grouped under Launch and Build statuses with due dates — The list, grouped by our Planning, Build and Launch statuses. The warning icons mark blocked tasks; the loop icon is the weekly task.

ClickUp date picker with the Recurring panel set to Weekly — Repeating a task: Set Recurring in the date picker, then Weekly.

ClickUp task Point domain to new site showing Blocked by Final QA pass — A dependency: Point domain to new site is blocked by Final QA pass.

ClickUp board view with Planning, Build and Launch columns of task cards — The board view. Each status becomes a column.

ClickUp Gantt chart of the November tasks with an arrow from Approve design mockups to Build page templates — The Gantt view on the free plan, with the dependency drawn as an arrow.

What worked

Every part of the test worked on the free plan, including dependencies and the Gantt view.
The board and Gantt views were already there; we did not have to add them.
Bulk select made moving 5 tasks to a new status quick.

What didn't

There are no sections inside a list. We had to set up custom statuses to get 3 groups, which took 4 minutes.
Setting dates was slow: a typed date only saves after you pick the suggestion.
The interface is busy. AI panels, tips and a work schedule banner got in the way of clicks more than once.
ClickUp's pricing page lists Gantt as a trial feature on the free plan, so it may not stay free.

Verdict

ClickUp did the whole test on its free plan. Asana, Trello and monday.com each needed a trial for part of it. The cost is effort: there are no sections, so we built them from statuses, and dates and dependencies take several clicks each. Our run was interrupted part way, so the first steps of task entry are not timed and the total is a little low. Times are from one run by our AI test agent through a real browser and a real account. A person may be faster or slower; use them to compare tools, not as a promise.

Same task, 4 tools

Tool	Total time	Steps	Plan tested
Trello	11 min 46 s	8	Free trialPremium (14-day trial) · $0 for 14 days	Read review →
Asana	13 min 24 s	10	Free trialAdvanced (14-day trial) · $0 for 14 days	Read review →
monday.com	21 min 40 s	11	Free trialPro (14-day trial) · $0 for 14 days	Read review →
ClickUp	24 min 41 s	10	Free planFree Forever · $0	This review

Same task in every tool, timed from the first click to the finished result. Fastest first.

Trello: did not finish the test. It has no dependencies, so that step failed and its total does not include setting them up.

ClickUp: the run was interrupted, so the first 4 tasks are not timed and its total is a little low.

Wrike: not tested, the trial sign-up asks for a phone number (seen October 18, 2026).

Teamwork.com: not tested, the sign-up asks for a phone number (seen October 18, 2026).

How we test

We sign up for each tool ourselves, on the plan shown above, and run the same written task in every tool in the group. Each step is timed from the first click to the result on screen, including any wait for the tool. The screenshots come from that run.

Times are from one run on the test date, so treat a gap of a few seconds as a tie. Payment never changes a verdict.