ClickUp vs Nifty: Which Is Better?
Project management platforms with client portal access compared.
Tom Bradley
2026-02-27
ClickUp and Nifty both aim to consolidate project management into a single platform, but they target different users: ClickUp is a sprawling, highly customizable system built for teams that want to replace most of their software stack, while Nifty takes a more focused approach centered on milestone-driven project delivery and client collaboration.
| ClickUp | Nifty | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free; paid from $7/user/month | Free; paid from $7/user/month |
| Free plan limits | 60MB storage, unlimited members | 2 projects, 100MB storage, unlimited members |
| Best for | Large teams needing deep customization | Agencies and client-facing teams |
| Milestone tracking | Via Goals and Gantt charts | First-class feature, central to the UI |
| AI features | Extensive (Brain, Super Agents, Notetaker) | Basic |
| Client guest access | Paid add-on with permissions | Included from Personal plan (2/paid seat) |
| Views | 15+ (List, Board, Gantt, Calendar, Map, etc.) | Standard (Board, List, Timeline, Calendar) |
| Budget tracking | Not included | Business plan and above |
ClickUp
ClickUp positions itself as "The Everything App" — and that's not pure marketing. It offers over 100 product features spanning task management, docs, whiteboards, chat, time tracking, sprint management, Gantt charts, mind maps, dashboards, forms, and more. The hierarchy system (Workspace → Spaces → Folders → Lists → Tasks → Subtasks, up to 7 levels deep) scales from a solo freelancer to a 10,000-person enterprise.
The views system is particularly strong. Teams can switch between 15+ layouts — Kanban, Gantt, Calendar, Table, Timeline, Workload, Map, Mind Map, Canvas, and Portfolio views — all pulling from the same underlying task data. Custom task statuses, types, and fields let teams model almost any workflow.
ClickUp's AI layer, ClickUp Brain, is now central to the product. It lives inside your workspace, understands your tasks and docs, and can answer questions about ongoing projects. More advanced AI features are gated behind add-on pricing: Brain AI costs $9/user/month on top of your plan subscription, and the comprehensive "Everything AI" tier runs $28/user/month, adding ambient answers, AI Notetaker for meeting transcription, Talk to Text, unlimited image generation, and AI-driven automation.
Pricing: - Free Forever — 60MB storage, unlimited tasks, unlimited members, 1 form, basic features - Unlimited — $7/user/month (yearly) — unlimited storage, integrations, Gantt charts, custom fields, guest permissions, native time tracking - Business — $12/user/month (yearly) — adds Google SSO, unlimited dashboards and whiteboards, sprint reporting, workload management - Enterprise — custom — adds white labeling, HIPAA, SCIM, SSO, custom roles, dedicated success manager
The main downside to ClickUp is its complexity. The feature set is enormous, and new users routinely report a steep onboarding curve. Teams that don't invest in setup often end up with a messy workspace that creates more friction than it solves.
Nifty
Nifty takes a tighter scope. Its distinguishing feature is milestone-based project tracking: milestones sit at the center of project views, with tasks and dependencies rolling up into progress automatically. This makes Nifty particularly well-suited for agencies and service teams that manage client projects against defined deliverables rather than continuous backlogs.
The feature set covers the essentials competently — task management with dependencies, recurring tasks, team chat, docs, file storage, time tracking, portfolio views, and workflow automations — without trying to be everything. Nifty also includes budget tracking on its Business plan, which is notably absent from ClickUp's standard plans. File proofing (annotation and approval on uploaded files) is another useful feature for creative and client-facing work.
Guest and client access works well here: the Personal plan includes 2 guest seats per paid member, and the Business plan removes all limits. Nifty's reviews consistently praise its clean interface and ease of adoption — teams report that colleagues who resist other project management tools actually use Nifty.
Pricing: - Free — unlimited members, 2 projects, 100MB storage - Personal — $7/user/month (yearly) — 40 projects, 100GB storage, 2 guests per paid seat, all core features - Business — $16/user/month (yearly) — unlimited projects and guests, budget tracking, file proofing, team workloads, custom roles, Google and Microsoft SSO, custom domain - Enterprise — custom — adds white labeling, IP restriction, custom SAML, dedicated success manager
The free plan's 2-project cap is a real limitation — it's barely usable for anything beyond a quick trial. And at $16/user/month for the Business plan, Nifty is more expensive than ClickUp's Business tier ($12) for teams that need advanced features.
When to choose ClickUp
ClickUp makes sense for teams that need extensive customization and plan to consolidate multiple tools. If your team is currently paying for separate project management, docs, chat, and time tracking tools, ClickUp can plausibly replace most of them at a lower combined cost. It's also the better choice for software development teams that need sprint management, Gantt views, and complex task hierarchies, as well as for larger organizations that require enterprise security (HIPAA, SCIM, data residency). The AI features, while expensive as add-ons, are genuinely more developed than what Nifty offers.
When to choose Nifty
Nifty is the better fit for agencies, consultancies, and client service teams where project milestones and client visibility matter more than internal workflow complexity. Budget tracking and file proofing come built-in rather than as integrations, and the guest access model is simpler to manage. If your team has bounced off ClickUp's complexity before, Nifty's more constrained feature set tends to drive higher actual adoption. It's also a reasonable choice for small to mid-sized teams that want a polished, approachable tool without a lengthy configuration phase.
Bottom line
ClickUp is the more powerful platform with a broader feature set, more view types, deeper customization, and significantly more developed AI capabilities — but that power comes with complexity that many teams never fully harness. Nifty is leaner and more opinionated, which makes it easier to get running quickly and keeps teams engaged over time. On price, they're comparable at the entry tier ($7/user/month each), but Nifty's Business plan at $16/user/month is pricier than ClickUp's $12 equivalent for teams that need advanced features. For most agencies managing client projects, Nifty's milestone-first design and built-in client access is a genuine advantage. For larger teams or those with complex internal workflows, ClickUp's depth justifies the learning investment.