This is a republished copy of our review. The original, with all 25 screenshots, the full pass/fail checklist and pricing, lives at benchtested.app/apps/clickup.
Verdict: 7.4/10, Recommended. Best for small teams that want lists, boards, Gantt charts, automations and AI in one free workspace and do not mind a busy, heavy app. Ranked #1 of 5 project management tools we have tested.
ClickUp passed every step of our project-management test on the free plan: all the views, a working automation, dependencies, recurring tasks, a 500-row import and an AI that got the facts right and asked before changing anything. It is heavy, though: the Windows app needs about 14 seconds and up to 2 GB of memory, and the import and setup make you do more by hand than they should.
How we tested
Windows 11 Pro in a clean virtual machine (4 vCPU, 8 GB RAM, 1920×1080), ClickUp desktop app 3.5.402 for Windows, a new account on Free Forever and a second test account for permissions. Eight steps, the same for every project management tool:
| Step | Task | Result |
|---|---|---|
| P1 | Build a 40-task product launch project from a written brief | Pass, ≈ 200 actions |
| P2 | Show it as list, board, calendar and Gantt | Pass, ≈ 2 min |
| P3 | Status automation, dependency, weekly recurring task | Pass, ≈ 7 min |
| P4 | Import a 200-row CSV with tricky characters | Partial, ≈ 12 min |
| P5 | Import 500 rows, open a 500-task board | Pass, import < 2 min |
| P6 | Invite a second user, then restrict them | Pass, ≈ 5 min |
| P7 | AI: summarise, write subtasks, "what is overdue?" | Pass, ≈ 1–1.5 min each |
| P8 | Export everything, delete the workspace, uninstall | Partial, ≈ 7 min |
What works
- Every view we needed is free: list, board, calendar and Gantt, with no upgrade prompt
- Automation, dependency and recurring task all worked on the free plan
- Pasting a multi-line list creates one task per line
- 500-row CSV import in under two minutes, and the 500-task board opened in under a second (0.7 s)
- Brain² summarised our project accurately, answered "what is overdue?" correctly and asked before adding subtasks
- Full CSV export in under a minute: all 771 tasks, with comments and subtasks
- Removing someone's access took effect immediately
What falls short
- Heavy: about 14 seconds from launch to a usable list and 1.7–2.2 GB of memory
- The CSV import matched none of our seven columns automatically and needed status values mapped by hand
- The import offers to invite everyone whose email is in the file
- Starts with Windows by default and leaves about 275 MB and a broken startup entry after uninstalling
- Free AI chat is a one-off trial that does not reset
- The export drops dependencies and recurrence settings
- Busy setup: nine onboarding screens, a phone-number request, an invite nudge and an AI pop-up for every new list
Scores
| Category | Score | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Ease of use | 6.5 | Bulk paste and typed dates are quick; busy setup, an easy-to-misuse priority menu and manual CSV mapping |
| Views & flexibility | 9.0 | List, board, calendar and Gantt all free, more a click away |
| Speed | 6.5 | Fast imports and a 0.7 s board; ~14 s to become usable, up to 2 GB |
| Automation & AI | 7.5 | Rules worked and the AI was accurate and asked first; 100 automation actions/month, non-resetting AI trial |
| Integrations | 7.0 | Importers for a dozen tools and a complete CSV export; app integrations not tested |
| Value for money | 8.0 | The free plan covered the whole test; paid from $9/user/month billed yearly |
Pricing (checked Oct 29, 2026)
- Free Forever $0: unlimited tasks and members, 60 MB storage, 5 Spaces, 100 automation actions a month, an AI trial with 500 credits
- Core $9/user/month billed yearly
- Business $17/user/month billed yearly; premium AI models from Anthropic, OpenAI and Google start here
- Enterprise custom
Verdict
ClickUp did everything our test asked on the free plan: four free views, rules that work, a large import that kept every character, a fast 500-task board, and an AI that was right and asked before acting. The costs are weight and friction: a slow start, up to 2 GB of memory, a startup entry added without asking and left behind after uninstalling, and a CSV import that makes you do the matching.
If your team wants one free tool with lists, boards, Gantt charts and automation, ClickUp is a strong choice. If you only need a simple task list, it is more app than you need. See how it compares with Notion, Asana, Linear and Trello in our project management ranking.
BenchTested tests software on a clean Windows PC with the same script for every app. We may earn a commission through some links on the site; it never changes a score. Tested on Oct 29, 2026; each step was run once. We did not test integrations, docs, whiteboards, chat, time tracking, the mobile and Mac apps or paid plans.
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