I tested over a dozen tools to find the best workflow app of 2025

Let’s be honest, modern work has a tax. It’s the constant tab-switching, the black hole of searching for that one document, and the slow, grinding repetition of tasks you swear you just did yesterday. We’ve all tried to wrangle the chaos with project management tools. And they’re great for one thing: showing you just how big the mountain of work is. They help you track the work, but they don’t actually do any of it for you.

The best workflow apps today are making a big shift from just tracking work to actually helping you get it done through smart automation. Instead of just letting you assign a task, these tools can now help you complete it. This guide cuts through the noise and looks at the top 10 workflow apps, from classic project managers to newer AI platforms, so you can find the right fit to not just manage your work, but actually make it easier.

What is the best workflow app?

First things first, what are we even talking about? A "workflow" is just a fancy term for a set of repeatable steps you follow to get something done. Think about onboarding a new hire, closing a customer support ticket, or getting an invoice approved. A "workflow app" is the software you use to lay out, manage, and hopefully, improve those processes.

These apps have changed a lot over the years. You can pretty much break it down into three stages:

1. Stage 1: Tracking. This is where it all began. Simple checklists and visual Kanban boards, like Trello, let you see the different steps of a process. It was a huge leap from messy spreadsheets and gave everyone a clear, visual way to see what was going on.

2. Stage 2: Management. Then came more muscular project management platforms like monday.com or Asana. They added timelines, dependencies, and reporting, which are brilliant for handling big projects with a lot of moving parts. You could manage the workflow from a high level, but the actual work was still 100% on you and your team.

3. Stage 3: Automation. This is where we are now. Modern, AI-driven tools like eesel AI don’t just watch your workflow from the sidelines; they jump in and participate. These tools can handle communications, sort tasks, pull answers from scattered documents, and even complete steps for you. They’re less like a map of the work and more like an extra set of hands.

How we picked the best workflow app for this list

To find the best workflow app, we ignored the flashy feature lists and focused on what really matters: saving you time and cutting down on tedious work. We weren’t just looking for another app to organize your to-do list; we wanted tools that genuinely free up your team to focus on things that require a human brain.

We basically asked ourselves a few simple questions:

• Can it actually do stuff for you? We looked for tools that could do more than just ping you with a notification. Can it perform actions, draft responses, and make simple decisions based on the rules and knowledge you provide?

• Does it play nice with other tools? How easily does it connect with the software you already use every day, like your help desk, chat platform, and document repositories? We gave extra points to tools that improve your current setup, not force you to start from scratch.

• Is it easy to use? Can someone on your team who isn’t a coder set it up and keep it running? We looked for no-code interfaces and a setup process that doesn’t feel like a second job.

A comparison to find the best workflow app in 2025

Here’s a quick side-by-side look at our top picks and where they shine.

Tool	Best For	Starting Price	Key Feature
eesel AI	AI-powered support & IT workflows	$239/month	Automates replies & tasks in your help desk
monday.com	Visual project management	$8/user/month	Customizable dashboards & views
ClickUp	All-in-one productivity	$7/user/month	Combines tasks, docs, & whiteboards
Jira	Agile software development	$7.53/user/month	Sprint planning & issue tracking
Asana	Team task coordination	$10.99/user/month	Intuitive task & project tracking
Zapier	Connecting different apps	$19.99/month	No-code integration builder
Notion	Flexible knowledge management	$10/user/month	Integrated docs, wikis, & databases
Wrike	Enterprise project management	$10/user/month	Advanced security & resource planning
Trello	Simple Kanban-style tasks	$5/user/month	Visual, card-based boards
Process Street	Standard operating procedures (SOPs)	$100/month	Checklist-based process management

10 options for the best workflow app to use in 2025

Picking the right tool boils down to one question: are you trying to manage your workflow, or do you want to automate it? Here are the top platforms that really stand out.

1. eesel AI: The best workflow app for AI-powered support and internal workflows

Why we picked it: eesel AI is a different breed of workflow app. Instead of helping you track tasks, it uses AI to actually do them. It connects directly to your existing help desk like Zendesk, Freshdesk, or Intercom and hooks into all your company knowledge, whether it’s buried in Confluence, Google Docs, or past support tickets. This lets it handle frontline support, help agents draft replies, and give instant answers to your team’s questions in Slack or Microsoft Teams.

How it works: Let’s say a customer support ticket lands in your inbox. Another app might just log it and notify someone. eesel AI reads the ticket, figures out what the customer needs, finds the answer in your knowledge base, and either resolves it on the spot or drafts a perfect, on-brand reply for your agent to quickly review and send. It’s like giving an expert assistant to everyone on your team.

• Pros: Automates the actual work, not just the tracking of it; works with your current tools so there’s no messy migration; you can get it set up incredibly fast without writing any code.

• Cons: It’s not a traditional project management tool for tracking large projects; it’s focused specifically on customer service, ITSM, and internal knowledge workflows.

• Pricing: Starts at $239/month for the Team plan.

2. monday.com: The best workflow app for visual project workflows

Why we picked it: If you need to visualize a complicated project, monday.com is a beast. Its colorful, drag-and-drop dashboards, Gantt charts, and Kanban boards make it super easy for teams to see who’s doing what and when. It just makes tangled projects feel a lot clearer.

Where it falls short: It’s brilliant for seeing the progress of a workflow, but doing each step is still all manual. You can create and track a "customer follow-up" task, but an agent still has to open their email, type out the message, and hit send. To get that part of the job done automatically, you’d need to plug in a tool like eesel AI’s AI Agent.

• Pros: Extremely visual and customizable; has tons of templates to get you started fast; easy to set up basic automations for things like notifications.

• Cons: Its automation is limited to actions that happen inside monday.com; it can get pricey with the minimum user count on paid plans.

• Pricing: Starts at $8 per user/month (billed annually, with a 3-user minimum).

3. ClickUp: The best workflow app for all-in-one productivity hubs

Why we picked it: ClickUp has a big goal: to be the one app that replaces everything else. It pulls together tasks, documents, whiteboards, spreadsheets, and chat into one place. If your team is trying to simplify its tech stack and cut down on subscriptions, it’s a very compelling pitch.

Where it falls short: While its built-in AI can summarize a document or generate a task list inside ClickUp, it can’t run workflows that involve your other important systems. For instance, it can’t read a support ticket in Gorgias and use your Shopify product catalog to answer a question about an order. That’s where a tool like eesel AI shines, because it’s built to work across all your different apps.

• Pros: Being an all-in-one platform means fewer tools to juggle; the free plan is quite generous with unlimited tasks; has simple automations built-in.

• Cons: Can feel a bit bloated and slow, especially for new users; the mobile app is a bit behind the desktop version in terms of features.

• Pricing: Free plan available. Paid plans start at $7 per user/month (billed annually).

4. Jira: The best workflow app for agile development workflows

Why we picked it: For software teams, Jira is pretty much the default choice. Its powerful tools for sprint planning, bug tracking, and managing a crowded backlog make it a core part of how agile teams work. It’s clearly made by developers, for developers.

How to make it better: A lot of support and IT teams also use Jira Service Management for handling tickets. That workflow gets a lot smoother when you add an AI layer on top. For example, eesel AI’s ITSM solution can act as the first line of defense, handling common IT requests like password resets automatically. It then creates detailed, properly tagged Jira tickets for anything that needs a human to step in.

• Pros: It’s the industry standard for agile software development; you can customize almost everything, from workflows to fields; provides powerful reporting for sprints.

• Cons: Has a steep learning curve for anyone not in a technical role; the interface can feel pretty busy and complicated.

• Pricing: Free plan for up to 10 users. Standard plan starts at $7.53 per user/month.

5. Asana: The best workflow app for team collaboration and task management

Why we picked it: Asana has a clean, breezy interface that makes it really simple to plan projects and see who’s working on what. Its timeline and workload views are great for making sure projects stay on schedule and nobody on the team is drowning in tasks.

Where it falls short: Asana is fantastic for managing a process, like a marketing campaign. But if that campaign requires people to constantly jump out of Asana to look up brand guidelines in a Google Doc or check stats in a spreadsheet, things grind to a halt. An integrated tool like eesel AI’s Internal Chat can answer questions right in Slack by pulling info from your company docs, so the work keeps moving forward without all the context switching.

• Pros: Very user-friendly and intuitive design; great features for team collaboration; has a workflow builder on its paid plans.

• Cons: Can be more expensive than some of its competitors; time tracking is only available through other app integrations.

• Pricing: Free plan available. Paid plans start at $10.99 per user/month (billed annually).

6. Zapier: The best workflow app for connecting apps without code

Why we picked it: Zapier is like a universal adapter for the internet. It lets you create simple "if this happens, then do that" automations (called Zaps) that connect thousands of different apps. It’s a must-have for moving data between systems automatically.

Where it falls short: Zapier is amazing for simple, trigger-based tasks. For example, "when a new email comes in, create a Trello card." But it doesn’t have the smarts to understand the meaning of that data. It can’t read a complicated customer question and write a genuinely helpful, multi-step answer using your knowledge base. For that kind of intelligent action, you need a conversational AI platform like eesel AI.

• Pros: Connects with over 5,000 apps; the interface is simple and requires no code; very reliable for basic data-moving automations.

• Cons: Doesn’t understand context or intent; can get expensive if you run a lot of tasks; not built for complex, conversational workflows.

• Pricing: Free plan available. Paid plans start at $19.99/month.

7. Notion: The best workflow app for building custom internal wikis and workflows

Why we picked it: Notion is like a box of digital LEGOs for your work. You can build almost anything, from a simple to-do list to a sprawling, interconnected company wiki and project management system. Its real strength is how adaptable it is.

How to make it better: Notion is a great place to store all your internal knowledge. You can really unlock its power by hooking it up to eesel AI. This lets your team ask questions in Slack or Microsoft Teams and get instant, accurate answers pulled directly from your Notion pages. It turns your static wiki into an interactive assistant that’s always on.

• Pros: Super flexible and customizable; perfect for documentation and knowledge management; has easy-to-use collaboration features.

• Cons: Can feel a bit too much like a blank slate for teams that need strict processes; its own automation and integration options are limited.

• Pricing: Free plan available. Paid plans start at $10 per user/month (billed annually).

8. Wrike: The best workflow app for enterprise teams with complex needs

Why we picked it: Wrike is designed for large companies that need tight control, advanced security, and heavy-duty resource management. It’s a favorite in the enterprise world because it can handle complex projects that span multiple departments and provide detailed reports for management.

Where it falls short: Wrike gives managers a great bird’s-eye view for planning big projects. But to make things more efficient on the ground, like automating Tier 1 IT support tickets, you need a more specialized tool. An AI solution like eesel AI for ITSM can handle the flood of common requests, freeing up your IT specialists to focus on bigger infrastructure problems instead of endless password resets.

• Pros: Strong security and admin features; advanced tools for managing resources and workloads; has some AI-assisted features for creating tasks.

• Cons: The interface can be overkill for simpler projects; it’s on the expensive side compared to other workflow apps.

• Pricing: Free plan available. Paid plans start at $10 per user/month.

9. Trello: The best workflow app for simple, visual task tracking

Why we picked it: Trello is the definition of simple and visual. Its card-based Kanban board is so intuitive that almost anyone can pick it up in minutes. It’s the perfect starting point for individuals and small teams who just need to get organized without a big learning curve.

Where it falls short: Trello is great for seeing where a task is in a process. But as things get more complex and involve communication or data entry, Trello just sits there as a passive tracker. Real workflow automation tools actually jump in and do some of the work, helping you move a card from "To Do" to "Done" with fewer manual steps.

• Pros: Ridulously easy to learn and use; has a solid free plan; includes a built-in automation tool called Butler.

• Cons: Doesn’t have advanced views like Gantt charts or timelines; a lot of its functionality depends on third-party integrations (Power-Ups).

• Pricing: Free plan available. Paid plans start at $5 per user/month (billed annually).

10. Process Street: The best workflow app for checklist-based standard operating procedures (SOPs)

Why we picked it: For any process that needs to be followed to the letter, like client onboarding, new hire paperwork, or quality control checks, Process Street is a fantastic choice. It turns your boring SOP documents into interactive checklists that make sure nothing gets forgotten.

Where it falls short: Process Street is excellent at making sure people follow the right steps. An AI automation platform like eesel AI takes that idea further by having an AI agent follow the steps for you, like automatically tagging and routing a new support ticket based on the rules you’ve laid out in your SOPs.

• Pros: Great for standardizing repetitive tasks; you can use conditional logic to create dynamic checklists; it’s easy to create and share templates.

• Cons: It’s more about process compliance than project management; the pricing can be a bit steep for small teams.

• Pricing: Starts at $100/month (billed annually).

How to choose the best workflow app for your team

Feeling a little overwhelmed? Don’t sweat it. You can cut through the options by focusing on what your team actually needs. Just ask yourself these three questions:

1. Do you need to manage work or automate it?

This is the biggest fork in the road. If your main problem is organizing tasks, hitting deadlines, and seeing what everyone is working on, then a project management app like monday.com, Asana, or Jira is what you’re looking for. They give you visibility. But if your goal is to reduce the amount of repetitive, manual work your team does, you need an automation platform like eesel AI or Zapier. They give you efficiency.

2. Does it need to work with the tools you already have?

Some platforms want you to move your entire operation into their system. That’s a huge pain, it’s expensive, and your team will probably resist it. Look for tools like eesel AI that are built from the ground up to connect with your current help desk, chat tools, and knowledge bases with simple setups. This approach adds powerful new abilities without forcing you to ditch the tools everyone already knows how to use.

3. How smart does your workflow need to be?

For straightforward, trigger-based workflows ("when this happens, do that"), a tool like Zapier works great. But for more complicated workflows that require understanding human language, context, and your specific company knowledge, like solving a tricky customer support problem, you need a specialized AI platform. These tools can figure out what a person is asking and give them a genuinely useful answer, not just shuttle data from A to B.

Pro Tip: Think about the single most annoying, time-wasting, repetitive task your team deals with. Is it password resets? Answering "where is my order?" questions? Fielding the same five questions over and over in Slack? Find a tool that solves that specific problem first.

Get started with the best workflow app for true workflow automation

The best workflow app isn’t just a prettier to-do list; it’s a partner that actively helps your team get more done. While traditional project management tools give you a clearer view of the mountain you have to climb, modern AI platforms give you the tools to actually start moving it.

By plugging directly into the systems you already rely on, eesel AI turns your company’s existing knowledge into a team of autonomous agents. They can handle frontline support tickets, answer internal questions, and sort tasks 24/7, freeing up your team to focus on the strategic, interesting work that actually pushes the business forward.

Ready to stop just tracking tasks and start automating them? Sign up for a free trial of eesel AI and see how much time you can get back.