India has revised its unexpected decision to restrict PC and tablet imports without a license, now offering companies a three-month window to obtain the necessary documents. The licensing mandate is set to take effect from November 1, reports Bloomberg. This move comes after large PC makers halted imports due to the surprising directive.
The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) clarified late last week that companies could continue their electronic imports, including laptops and tablets, without a license until October 31. To facilitate this transition, the government is streamlining the licensing application process, with the possibility of approvals within just a day. This move is not just about regulation but is part of a broader initiative to boost local manufacturing and position India as a global tech manufacturing hub.
There is a problem with local manufacturing of PCs. While major electronic manufacturing service companies like Foxconn have established their presence in India, companies like Apple cannot really make their PCs at those factories since they require advanced tools and a lot of engineering.
India’s government seems to understand that it is difficult to transfer production of state-of-the-art PCs to the country as major EMS companies do not have advanced factories in India. That’s why they are rolling out a financial incentive worth $2.1 billion that aims to attract global tech manufacturers to India. The initiative may make sense, though, as many companies are looking to diversify their supply chains away from China.
The initial decision caught the tech industry by surprise, especially with significant events like India’s Diwali shopping season and the back-to-school phase on the horizon. Major players like Apple, HP, and Samsung paused their imports of their desktops, laptops, and tablets to India following the abrupt order. The industry was left in a lurch, trying to navigate the sudden change and its implications for their operations in the country.
But now that PC makers have three months to obtain import license, they can continue business as usual. Furthermore, chipmaker Intel expects limited impact on its sales in the country, partly because if a global player reduces shipments of Intel-based PCs to India, a local player will pick up the baton and will get CPUs from the blue company.
“The legal and regulatory landscape for the semiconductor industry is constantly evolving, and Intel respects the relevant regulations of the jurisdictions in which it operates,” an Intel spokesperson told Tom’s Hardware. “We continue to examine the new requirements issued by India’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry and expect limited impact to Intel and our customers.”
Right now at Newegg, you can find the WD_Black SN770 2TB SSD for one of its lowest prices to date. It’s currently marked down to $109 as part of a Shell Shocker deal but using promo code SSCU3A89 will take the price down even further to $88.
We reviewed the WD_Black SN770 SSD when it first debuted late last year and regarded it as a quality SSD. It stood out with fast performance speeds and was already set at a good price making today’s deal that much more worth it. The offer is scheduled to expire by the end of today.
The WD_Black SN770 SSD comes in a range of capacities starting at 250GB, going up to 500GB and 1TB. Today’s discount applies only to the 2TB model, however. All of the drives in this line have an M.2 2280 form factor and connect using a PCIe 4.0 x4 interface. They use a WD NVMe Architecture controller and Kioxia BiCS5 112L TLC memory. The 2TB edition can reach speeds as high as 5150 / 4850 Mbps.
The purchase is supported by a limited 5-year manufacturer’s warranty from Western Digital that voids should the drive reach 1200TBW. This limit changes depending on the drive capacity. Users also have a 30-day return policy through Newegg they can take advantage of.
Visit the WD_Black SN770 2TB SSD product page at Newegg for purchase options and don’t forget to use promo code SSCU3A89 at checkout.
A parodical open letter addressing the scientific community was published before the weekend. Taking its tone from the quite alarmist Pause Giant AI Experiments paper, which was published in March and included signatories such as Elon Musk, the new open letter asks humanity to Pause Random Superconductor Experiments.
The parody letter gets off to a galloping start with its subheading calling on “all labs and kitchens to immediately pause for at least 6 months the making of conductors with lower resistance than copper.” Then the letter quickly establishes its case for caution, pausing superconductor experiments that could cause astonishing challenges. It asserts that the worlds of physics and technology could be changed forever, and this is backed by “top scientific institutions and Russian anime cat girls.”
(Image credit: Future)
Our last quote from the opening paragraph, as you must go and enjoy this ‘open letter’ fully for yourself, delivers a barb to famous names like Mr Musk. It echoes the Pause Giant AI Experiments letter by fretting that the level of planning and management is falling short. Thus scientists may be unleashing “ever more potent superconducting materials that no one – not even the crypto bros turned AI bros turned superconductor bros themselves – can fully comprehend, predict, or reliably control and hype.” Should we say Ooof?
We have left you a lot more of the Pause Random Superconductor Experiments letter to read and enjoy, including a warning about “unelected scientists.” However, we were particularly delighted by some incidental flourishes from the creators of this parody.
For example, the new open letter is hosted at FutureofLiff.org, while its inspiration is to be found on the Future of Life Institute’s campaign site for steering transformative technology (FutureofLife.org). The Future of Liff clearly takes its inspiration from The Meaning of Liff (1983), a witty dictionary of toponymy and etymology written by Douglas Adams and John Lloyd.
We also feel compelled to point out that the “number of signatories” to the parody is 293K, which hasn’t changed since we saw this humorous post yesterday. This is certainly due to 293K being equivalent to room temperature in Kelvin.
For some readers, the cherry on the parody cake will be the delicious selection of signatories. Of the ten individuals, who are unquestionably leaders in their fields of expertise, we would most like to know more about: Sir Percival Ferroflux, Magnet Magnate; Countess Valentina Quenchfield, Inheritor Emerald and Copper Mines Company; and Baron Reginald Cryogenius, Executive Director of Superconducting Infrastructure and Cryoplumbing Development.
For more serious semiconductor coverage, please check out our recent articles on the Messy LK-99 Superconductor Creation Process and our updated piece on how recent independent demonstrations have shown Superconductors Levitating At Room Temperature.
When it comes to revitalizing old hardware, no SBC is quite as versatile as the Raspberry Pi. You can cram a Pi into anything from an old typewriter to a Commodore 64 with some exciting results depending on how far you want to take it. Today, we’re sharing another cool project that revitalizes old hardware with new tech created by Saugat Gamuwa with Maker Sci over at YouTube. In his latest video, Gamuwa shows us how he managed to transform an old CRT TV into a smart TV.
It doesn’t take any special PCB or niche hardware to pull off this project. All you need is a Raspberry Pi capable of streaming video so anything from a Pi 4 to a Pi Zero will suffice and the right adapter to output said video to the CRT. In this case, he’s got an AV to HDMI adapter on hand which is more than capable of giving us the compatibility we need.
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(Image credit: Saugat Gamuwa, Maker Sci)
(Image credit: Saugat Gamuwa, Maker Sci)
There are several different ways you can take advantage of a project like this and it mostly boils down to the software you decide to implement on the Pi. For example, while Gamuwa is using a Pi to make a smart TV, you could easily turn this into a gaming project by setting up an emulator for retro consoles using something like RetroPie or Lakka.
Gamuwa provided a full list of hardware used in this project. Most of it is necessary but some of it is specific to his project because of the model of Pi chosen. Gamuwa is using a Raspberry Pi Zero W which has a mini HDMI port. Because of this, he is using a mini HDMI to HDMI converter to connect the Pi Zero W to an AV to an HDMI adapter. This adapter connects the Pi to the CRT.
For the operating system, Gamuwa is using a tool called OSMC. This is an open-source tool that stands for Open Source Media Center. It provides the smart TV functions we need that let you play videos not just locally on the Pi but from streaming apps and more. OSMC has an app store so you can customize your setup any way you like.
If you want to get a closer look at this Raspberry Pi project, check out the full video shared on YouTube. It’s a relatively simple idea but the results are too cool to ignore if you’re a fan of retro hardware.
Intel will detail its upcoming codenamed Meteor Lake processors for client PCs, Emerald Rapids processors for data centers, and its client PC roadmap at its Innovation event on September 19th and 20th, 2023, at the San Jose Convention Center in San Jose, California, as the agenda of the event reveals (h/t VideoCardz).
Intel plans to reveal in-depth details about its ‘latest client hardware platforms, including the highly anticipated Intel Core Ultra processors’ codenamed Meteor Lake, and give attendees a glimpse of its future roadmap at the ‘Intel Client Hardware Roadmap and the Rise of AI’ session. The company also plans to present its ‘bold vision for AI’ at the event, so expect the company to talk about software.
It is unclear whether Intel will present its actual Meteor Lake CPU lineup for desktops and laptops with specifications at the show, but it is reasonable to expect the company to reveal some more details about the performance of its future processors for client PCs compared to existing offerings. The launch timeline for Meteor Lake isn’t too surprising, as Intel said in its last earnings call that the new chips are due this quarter.
In another session, Intel plans to talk about how its 4th and 5th Generation Xeon Scalable processors, codenamed Sapphire Rapids and Emerald Rapids, solve business and operational challenges. The session is dedicated to ‘highlight optimized solutions and instances available for customers today, as well as the wide set of software tools and supporting resources’ to assist software developers to take advantage of features of the latest Intel Xeon processors.
While we do not expect Intel to reveal the specifications of its Emerald Rapids processors, which are due in 2024, it will be logical for the company to give attendees a taste of what is coming.
Apart from core count and microarchitectural innovations, Intel considers its Advanced Matrix Extensions as well as built-in Data Streaming Accelerator (DSA), In-Memory Analytics Accelerator (IAA), and QuickAssist Technology (QAT) as key features of its Sapphire Rapids and Emerald Rapids CPUs. That said, it is more than likely that Intel will focus on these innovations at the presentation.
America didn’t get around to really addressing child labor until the late ’30s when Roosevelts New Deal took hold and the Public Contracts Act raised the minimum age to 16. Before then, kids could often look forward to spending the majorities of their days doing some of the most dangerous and delicate work required on the factory floor. It’s something today’s kids can look forward to as well.
In Hands of Time: A Watchmaker’s History, venerated watchmaker Rebecca Struthers explores how the practice and technology of timekeeping has shaped and molded the modern world through her examination of history’s most acclaimed timepieces. In the excerpt below, however, we take a look at 18th- and 19th-century Britain where timekeeping was used as a means of social coercion in keeping both adult and child workers pliant and productive.
Although Puritanism had disappeared from the mainstream in Europe by the time of the Industrial Revolution, industrialists, too, preached redemption through hard work — lest the Devil find work for idle hands to do. Now, though, the goal was productivity as much as redemption, although the two were often conveniently conflated. To those used to working by the clock, the provincial workers’ way of time appeared lazy and disorganized and became increasingly associated with unchristian, slovenly ways. Instead ‘time thrift’ was promoted as a virtue, and even as a source of health. In 1757, the Irish statesman Edmund Burke argued that it was ‘excessive rest and relaxation [that] can be fatal producing melancholy, dejection, despair, and often self-murder’ while hard work was ‘necessary to health of body and mind’.
Historian E.P. Thompson, in his famous essay ‘Time, Work-Discipline and Industrial Capitalism’, poetically described the role of the watch in eighteenth-century Britain as ‘the small instrument which now regulated the rhythms of industrial life’. It’s a description that, as a watchmaker, I particularly enjoy, as I’m often ‘regulating’ the watches I work on — adjusting the active hairspring length to get the watch running at the right rate — so they can regulate us in our daily lives. For the managerial classes, however, their watches dictated not just their own lives but also those of their employees.
In 1850 James Myles, a factory worker from Dundee, wrote a detailed account of his life working in a spinning mill. James had lived in the countryside before relocating to Dundee with his mother and siblings after his father was sentenced to seven years’ transportation to the colonies for murder. James was just seven years old when he managed to get a factory job, a great relief to his mother as the family were already starving. He describes stepping into ‘the dust, the din, the work, the hissing and roaring of one person to another’. At a nearby mill the working day ran for seventeen to nineteen hours and mealtimes were almost dispensed with in order to eke the very most out of their workers’ productivity, ‘Women were employed to boil potatoes and carry them in baskets to the different flats; and the children had to swallow a potato hastily … On dinners cooked and eaten as I have described, they had to subsist till half past nine, and frequently ten at night.’ In order to get workers to the factory on time, foremen sent men round to wake them up. Myles describes how ‘balmy sleep had scarcely closed their urchin eyelids, and steeped their infant souls in blessed forgetfulness, when the thumping of the watchmen’s staff on the door would rouse them from repose, and the words “Get up; it’s four o’clock,” reminded them they were factory children, the unprotected victims of monotonous slavery.’
Human alarm clocks, or ‘knocker-uppers’, became a common sight in industrial cities.* If you weren’t in possession of a clock with an alarm (an expensive complication at the time), you could pay your neighborhood knocker-upper a small fee to tap on your bedroom windows with a long stick, or even a pea shooter, at the agreed time. Knocker-uppers tried to concentrate as many clients within a short walking distance as they could, but were also careful not to knock too hard in case they woke up their customer’s neighbors for free. Their services became more in demand as factories increasingly relied on shift work, expecting people to work irregular hours.
Once in the workplace, access to time was often deliberately restricted and could be manipulated by the employer. By removing all visible clocks other than those controlled by the factory, the only person who knew what time the workers had started and how long they’d been going was the factory master. Shaving time off lunch and designated breaks and extending the working day for a few minutes here and there was easily done. As watches started to become more affordable, those who were able to buy them posed an unwelcome challenge to the factory master’s authority.
An account from a mill worker in the mid-nineteenth century describes how: ‘We worked as long as we could see in the summer time, and I could not say what hour it was when we stopped. There was nobody but the master and the master’s son who had a watch, and we did not know the time. There was one man who had a watch … It was taken from him and given into the master’s custody because he had told the men the time of day …’
James Myles tells a similar story: ‘In reality there were no regular hours: masters and managers did with us as they liked. The clocks at factories were often put forward in the morning and back at night, and instead of being instruments for the measurement of time, they were used as cloaks for cheatery and oppression. Though it is known among the hands, all were afraid to speak, and a workman then was afraid to carry a watch, as it was no uncommon event to dismiss anyone who presumed to know too much about the science of Horology.’
Time was a form of social control. Making people start work at the crack of dawn, or even earlier, was seen as an effective way to prevent working-class misbehavior and help them to become productive members of society. As one industrialist explained, ‘The necessity of early rising would reduce the poor to a necessity of going to Bed bedtime; and thereby prevent the Danger of Midnight revels.’ And getting the poor used to temporal control couldn’t start soon enough. Even children’s anarchic sense of the present should be tamed and fitted to schedule. In 1770 English cleric William Temple had advocated that all poor children should be sent from the age of four to workhouses, where they would also receive two hours of schooling a day. He believed that there was:
considerable use in their being, somehow or other, constantly employed for at least twelve hours a day, whether [these four-year-olds] earn their living or not; for by these means, we hope that the rising generation will be so habituated to constant employment that it would at length prove agreeable and entertaining to them …
Because we all know how entertaining most four-year-olds would find ten hours of hard labor followed by another two of schooling. In 1772, in an essay distributed as a pamphlet entitled A View of Real Grievances, an anonymous author added that this training in the ‘habit of industry’ would ensure that, by the time a child was just six or seven, they would be ‘habituated, not to say naturalized to Labour and Fatigue.’ For those readers with young children looking for further tips, the author offered examples of the work most suited to children of ‘their age and strength’, chief being agriculture or service at sea. Appropriate tasks to occupy them include digging, plowing, hedging, chopping wood and carrying heavy things. What could go wrong with giving a six-year-old an ax or sending them off to join the navy?
The watch industry had its own branch of exploitative child labour in the form of what is known as the Christchurch Fusee Chain Gang. When the Napoleonic Wars caused problems with the supply of fusee chains, most of which came from Switzerland, an entrepreneurial clockmaker from the south coast of England, called Robert Harvey Cox, saw an opportunity. Making fusee chains isn’t complicated, but it is exceedingly fiddly. The chains, similar in design to a bicycle chain, are not much thicker than a horse’s hair, and are made up of links that are each stamped by hand and then riveted together. To make a section of chain the length of a fingertip requires seventy-fi ve or more individual links and rivets; a complete fusee chain can be the length of your hand. One book on watchmaking calls it ‘the worst job in the world’. Cox, however, saw it as perfect labor for the little hands of children and, when the Christchurch and Bournemouth Union Workhouse opened in 1764 down the road from him to provide accommodation for the town’s poor, he knew where to go looking. At its peak, Cox’s factory employed around forty to fifty children, some as young as nine, under the pretext of preventing them from being a financial burden. Their wages, sometimes less than a shilling a week (around £3 today), were paid directly to their workhouse. Days were long and, although they appear to have had some kind of magnification to use, the work could cause headaches and permanent damage to their eyesight. Cox’s factory was followed by others, and Christchurch, this otherwise obscure market town on the south coast, would go on to become Britain’s leading manufacturer of fusee chains right up until the outbreak of the First World War in 1914.
The damage industrial working attitudes to time caused to poor working communities was very real. The combination of long hours of hard labor, in often dangerous and heavily polluted environments, with disease and malnutrition caused by abject poverty, was toxic. Life expectancy in some of the most intensive manufacturing areas of Britain was incredibly low. An 1841 census of the Black Country parish of Dudley in the West Midlands found that the average was just sixteen years and seven months.
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Alienware is a name synonymous with gaming hardware, and this year the company is upgrading its laptops with the Legion 3.0 design language. The newly released x14 and x16 feature magnesium alloy chassis designs and aluminum lids. Our review unit is a nicely equipped x16 with an Intel Core i9-13900HK processor, 32GB of LPDDR5-6000 memory, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 GPU and a 1TB SSD.
Other features include a 16-inch QHD+ display (2560×1600) and something that I’ve never encountered before on a laptop: an RGB touchpad. While Alienware has offered this feature in the past, the x16 offers more customizable settings. Alienware packs all these features into a relatively thin and lightweight laptop, but is it enough to place it among the best gaming laptops on the market?
2x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C, 1x Thunderbolt 4, 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x mini DisplayPort, 1x 3.5 mm jack, 1x microSD slot
Camera
1080p with Windows Hello
Battery
90 WHr
Power Adapter
330W
Operating System
Windows 11 Home
Dimensions (WxDxH)
(367.74 x 289.81 x 18.54 mm)
Weight
5.67 pounds (2.52 kg)
Price (as Configured)
$3,349
Design of the Alienware x16
You won’t mistake the x16 for anything other than an Alienware laptop, and that’s a good thing for fans of the brand. The lid is made of aluminum and features a prominent alien head logo, while a large “X” is positioned in the lower right of the lid. The hinge area of the x16 is finished in a light gray plastic, which to my eyes, clashes with the aluminum finish. Alienware should have either finished the hinge in aluminum like the lid or at least painted the plastic to match. As it stands, it just looks oddly unfinished.
The x16’s bottom chassis plate is also made from aluminum, while a rounded, rectangular ring serves as the “feet” for the laptop, allowing airflow for the numerous honeycomb-style vents. The rectangular ring is a lighter shade of grey plastic.
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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The left and right sides of the x16 don’t have any ports,but feature vents to aid cooling. All the x16’s external ports are on the back panel. There you’ll find a 3.5 mm headphone jack, a microSD slot, one USB 3.2 Type-C port, one Thunderbolt 4 port, an HDMI 2.1 port, two USB 3.2 Type-A ports, a mini DisplayPort and a proprietary barrel-style power port.
Opening the lid puts the 16-inch QHD+ display front and center. The bezels are minimal along the sides and top. A larger bezel resides below the display and carries Alienware branding. Despite the large 16-inch frame, the x16 forgoes a dedicated number pad and instead features fan intake grills on either side of the RGB keyboard. A relatively small touchpad sits below the keyboard, featuring RGB lighting (more on that later). The keyboard deck is dark gray, with a shimmering “moon dust” effect that is primarily noticeable under direct light.
The x16 measures 14.36 x 11.41 x 0.73 inches and weighs 5.67 pounds. The MSI Raider GE78 HX measures 14.97 x 11.73 x 1.13 inches, making it quite a bit thicker than the x16, and it weighs 6.83 pounds. The Gigabyte Aorus 15X measures 14.1 x 10.8 x 0.78 inches and weighs 5.79 pounds, while the Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 tips the scales at 6.83 pounds with dimensions of 15.71 x 11.57 x 1.21 inches.
Gaming and Graphics Performance on the Alienware x16
The x16 uses a Core i9-13900HK processor, 32GB of DDR5-6000 memory and a GeForce RTX 4080 GPU. That’s a potent punch for this 16-inch display with a 2560 x 1600 resolution. However, we should note that the Core i9-13900HK in the x16 is at a disadvantage to the “HX” processors in this grouping due to fewer performance and efficiency cores (and a lower TDP), which can affect gaming performance.
However, the x16 had no trouble handling Cyberpunk 2077 in my hands-on testing, averaging around 78 frames per second at native resolution (2560 x 1600) with Ultra settings, ray tracing enabled and DLSS set to Quality. Turning off ray tracing saw the framerateincrease to 90 fps, but who would do that in a game this gorgeous?
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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
We pitted the x16 against the MSI Raider GE78 HX (i9-13950HX, RTX 4080, 1600p), Gigabyte Aorus 15X (i9-13900HX, RTX 4070, 1440p) and the Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 (i9-13980HX, RTX 4090, 1600p) in all our tests.
In Shadow of the Tomb Raider (Highest), the x16 ranked behind the similarly-specced Raider GE78 HX at 137 frames per second versus 177 fps at 1080p. However, the difference was much smaller at 1600p, with the x16 hitting 101 fps versus 107 fps for the Raider GE78 HX. Not surprisingly, the ROG Strix Scar 18 was the top performer, with 181 fps at 1080p and 124 fps at 1600p.
Grand Theft Auto V (Very High) saw the RTX 4080- and RTX 4090-equipped systems clustered close together at 1080p resolution; the x16, Raider GE78 HX and ROG Strix Scar 18 were all within a few fps of each other. However, the ROG Strix Scar 18 flexed its muscle at 1600p, where its RTX 4090 allowed it to score roughly 50 percent higher fps than its closest rivals at 132 fps.
In Far Cry 6 (Ultra), the Raider GE78 HX zoomed to the top, hitting 121 fps at 1080p and 104 fps at 1600p. The x16 was well behind, achieving 97 fps and 86 fps, respectively. The ROG Strix Scar 18 wound up in a head-scratching second place with 107 fps at 1080p and 94 fps at 1600p.
Red Dead Redemption 2 (Medium) saw a return to form for the ROG Strix Scar 18, which topped all competitors with 123 fps at 1080p and 85 fps at 1600p. The Raider GE78 HX and x16 settled into their respective second and third positions, with the latter touching 100 fps at 1080p and 63 fps at 1600p.
It was more of the same with Borderlands 3 (Badass), with the ROG Strix Scar 18 leading the field with 165 fps/112 fps (1080p/1600p). The Raider GE78 HX again took second, with 153 fps/100 fps (1080p/1600p). The x16 took third with 137 fps at 1080p and 93 fps at 1600p.
On the Metro Exodus benchmark, the x16 averaged 87.14 fps throughout 15 runs at 2560 x 1600 with the RTX preset. During our benchmark testing, the Core i9-13900HK performance and efficiency cores averaged 3.61GHz and 2.43GHz, respectively, with a package temperature of 88.16 degrees Celsius (190.7 Fahrenheit). The GPU clocked in at 2.1GHz at 81.67 C (179 F).
Productivity Performance on the Alienware x16
The Alienware x16 comes equipped with an Intel Core i9-13900HK processor, 32GB of DDR5-6000 memory and a 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD.
Starting with Geekbench 5, the Core i9-13900HK immediately has a disadvantage due to its “HK” processor. That used to be the top end, but now that’s been ceded to the newer “HX” chips. The Core i9-13950HX in the Raider GE78 HX has eight performance cores and 16 efficiency cores compared to the six performance cores and eight efficiency cores in the x16’s Core i9-13900HK. This is reflected in the x16 performing worse than its “HX” peers with a 14,919 multi-core score (1,929 single-core). For comparison, the Aorus 15X hit 2,007 for single-core and 18,129 for multi-core, while the Raider GE78 HX led all contenders with scores of 2,121 and 21,063, respectively.
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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
However, the x16 eked out a win in our 25GB file transfer test, hitting 1,913.59 MBps versus 1,885.81 MBps for the second-place ROG Strix Scar 18 and 1,721.37 MBps for the Aorus 15X.
The x16’s core disadvantage once again reared its head in our Handbrake benchmark, which involves transcoding a 4K video to 1080p. Here, the x16 finished in four minutes and 50 seconds compared to four minutes and eight seconds for the Raider GE78 HX. However, the ROG Strix Scar 18’s took just two minutes and 49 seconds to perform the same task.
Display on the Alienware x16
The x16 uses a 16-inch IPS panel with a 2560 x 1600 (QHD+) resolution and a 240 Hz refresh rate. Alienware uses an anti-reflective coating on the display to reduce unsightly reflections outdoors or indoors under bright lights.
At 300 nits as measured by our lightmeter the x16’s display wasn’t as bright as the Raider GE78 HX (412 nits) and the ROG Strix Scar 18 (402 nits). That’s not to say I had a subpar experience with the display. It was quite the contrary, as I had no trouble enjoying the display indoors with copious overhead LED lighting or outside on my front porch with mid-day sunlight beaming down.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
According to our colorimeter, the x16 covers 75.3 percent of DCI-P3 and 106 percent of the sRGB color gamut. These figures closely mirrored the Aorus 15X and ROG Strix Scar 18. However, the Raider GE78 HX surpassed those, reaching 115.4 percent for DCI-P3 and 163 percent for sRGB.
To test out the display, I queued up Throttle House’s comparison test of the BMW M2 versus the Porsche Cayman GTS and Volkswagen Golf R. My eyes were immediately drawn to the Cayman GTS, which was painted in Python Green. I had previously watched the video on my desktop Dell S3221QS 4K monitor, but the x16’s display breathed new life into the color.
While the green looked somewhat duller and flatter on my Dell monitor, the x16 gave it a deeper, more rich green that is truer to what it looks like in real life (yes, I’ve seen Porsche’s Viper Green up close and in person on more than one occasion, usually on 911s). Little details stood out clearly and accurately, like the bright red stitching along the interior doors and the GTS stitching on the seat headrests.
I also spent plenty of time playing Cyberpunk 2077 and Overwatch 2. I spent most of my time in the bright and airy Colosseo map while playing Overwatch 2 and hanging around the dark, desolate despair of Vista Del Rey in Cyberpunk 2077. Both games looked good on the x16 in just about every possible situation.
Keyboard and Touchpad on the Alienware x16
Our review unit came equipped with an AlienFX mechanical keyboard with per-key RGB backlighting. The clicky keys and the sound they generate is like music to my ears. It reminds me of my younger days using classic IBM Model M keyboards in middle and high school.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Despite the 16-inch form factor of the x16, Alienware opted not to include a number pad. Instead, you’ll see nicely spaced-out keys and vents on either side of the keyboard covering one of the system’s four cooling fans.
Using my go-to typing speed website, keyhero.com, I achieved 90.51 words per minute with 98.81 percent accuracy. For comparison, I mustered just 75 wpm and 90.61 percent accuracy with the similarly sized Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Ultra and 67.81 wpm and 97.1 percent accuracy with the Asus ROG Strix G16.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
While RGB keyboards are nothing new, the RGB touchpad was something that I haven’t yet encountered on a laptop. The edge-lit RGBs add a colorful touch to an otherwise mundane touchpad. I opted for the Rainbow Wave effect, which lasts roughly 10 seconds after you last used the touchpad before it turns off on the High duration setting. The touchpad measures just 4.4 x 2.6 inches, which is a bit small to me for a 16-inch laptop. While you’re better off using one of the best gaming mice for play time, it’s nice to have a full-sized touchpad for actual work.
Audio on the Alienware x16
The Alienware x16 has no shortage of speakers. There are two 2-watt tweeters located towards the back of the chassis and four 3-watt speakers right up front under the palm rest. These speakers can get very loud, easily filling my upstairs home office. Even with the sound cranked to 100%, distortion is not discernable, although my ears begged for mercy at that volume.
Gunfire and ambient noises were clear and crisp in Cyberpunk 2077, with gunshots reverberating throughout my office. It was a similar experience in Red Dead Redemption 2, with the clear sound of horseshoes hitting the pavement and flesh being torn apart when shooting an enemy in the chest at close range.
I also pulled up one of my favorite tracks from Keane, “Black Burning Heart.” Tom Chaplin’s voice soars on the track, and you can even make out the subtle gasps of air he takes before each verse starts. It’s something that I’ve always noticed with Tom’s vocals (across multiple albums) while listening to tracks with headphones on, but it’s one of the few times that I could make out that peculiarity from laptop speakers.
Upgradeability of the Alienware x16
The x16’s bottom panel is held in place by six Philips head screws and detaches easily. Once removed, the battery and dual M.2 SSD slots are easily accessible (one of which is occupied by the system’s 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD). The Wi-Fi/Bluetooth combo card is also within reach to the left of the M.2 slots.
Image 1 of 3
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Unfortunately, the memory is soldered onto the motherboard, so there are no future upgrades in store once you’ve selected your memory configuration at purchase time.
Battery Life on the Alienware x16
The x16 uses a 90-kWh battery, leading to good battery life versus the competition. The x16 managed to endure for five hours and 37 minutes on our battery test, which included browsing the web, streaming videos and running OpenGL tests with the screen to 150 nits.
The Aorus 15X was the next-closest competitor at five hours and 20 minutes, while the Raider GE78 HX lasted just two hours and 32 minutes during the test.
Heat on the Alienware x16
We can only assume that Alienware went with the fewer cores of the Core i9-13900HK to cut down on the heat output in this thin chassis. However, the heat levels are still high, even with four cooling fans exhausting air from the chassis. While gaming, my legs got uncomfortably hot from the heat being transferred to the aluminum bottom panel. Heat also poured out from the area above the keyboard where the two rear fans are located.
Our testing showed that temperatures measured 96.1F (35.6 C) between the G and H keys while running the Metro Exodus benchmark. The touchpad measured 78.4 F (25.8 C), while the bottom aluminum panel measured 116.8 F (47.1 C). However, the hottest points measured were on the underside near the rear exhaust vents at 129.7 F (54.3 C).
Webcam on the Alienware x16
The x16 features a 1080p RGB+IR webcam with Windows Hello support, and overall image quality was excellent. It’s a clear step up from the shoddy 720p webcams we’ve been subject to over the years. In this case, the camera has remarkably low noise levels, even in low-light conditions. Details were easily picked up by the camera, and colors were well represented. At first, my skin color was skewing slightly red, and there were some weird halos around my overhead lights – then I realized that a thin piece of protective tape was still in place over the sensor. With that removed, the crisis was averted.
As I peered closer into the webcam, I clearly noticed that it was time to get my electric shaver out to tackle this balding head. The x16 doesn’t have a physical privacy shutter or keyboard shortcut to turn off the webcam, but a white LED does come on when the camera is active.
Software and Warranty on the Alienware x16
The x16 is loaded with four Alienware-specific apps: Alienware Command Center, Alienware Customer Connect, Alienware Digital Delivery and Alienware Update. Alienware Customer Connect and Alienware Update are pretty much self-explanatory. Alienware Digital Delivery is where you’ll find the software you purchased with your system.
However, most of your time will be spent in Alienware Command Center. This is where you can monitor system performance/vitals, set power profiles, and control AlienFX lighting (among other things).
Other installed apps included Dolby Access for adjusting Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision settings along with the Killer Intelligence Center for monitoring the Wi-Fi 6E card and network traffic. There are also several installed shortcuts for things like WhatsApp, ESPN, Instagram and Spotify.
The Alienware x16 comes with a one-year manufacturer warranty.
Configurations of the Alienware x16
The x16 is available with a Core i7-13620H, i7-13700H or i9-13900HK processor paired with 16GB or 32GB of DDR5-6000 memory. The full range of Nvidia Lovelace GPUs are available, ranging from the GeForce RTX 4050 to the RTX 4090. Likewise, customers can choose from 512GB to 4TB of internal storage and 165Hz or 240Hz refresh rate options for the 16-inch QHD+ display.
A base system with a Core i7-13620H processor, 16GB of DDR5, 512GB SSD, RTX 4050 and 120Hz QHD+ panel costs $1,999. A fully decked out system with a Core i9-13900HK, 32GB DDR5, 4TB (2x 2TB in RAID-O), RTX 4090, 240Hz QHD+ display and an AlienFX mechanical keyboard costs $4,149.
Our review unit is specced with a Core i9-13900HK, 32GB of DDR5, 1TB SSD, RTX 4080, 240Hz QHD+ display and the AlienFX mechanical keyboard. It’s priced at $3,349.
Bottom Line
The Alienware x16 is a bit of a mixed bag when it comes to performance, and that’s due to the choice of the Core i9-13900HK processor versus the “HX” offerings in the competing laptops that we tested. This processor selection allows the x16 to come in at just 5.67 pounds with a frame that is just 0.73 inches thick.
Compared to the MSI Raider GE78 HX with a Core i9-13950HX and RTX 4080 at the same resolution, the x16 came up with the short end of the stick nearly every time. In addition, the chassis of the x16 gets uncomfortably hot in your lap while gaming and even the top portion of the keyboard deck gets noticeably hot. The Raider GE78 HX’s advantage in performance comes at the cost of a thicker chassis that weighs roughly a pound more.
But the biggest detractor is the price, which as tested, came in at $3,349. You can get the much faster but admittedly heavier Raider GE78 HX for $2,999. You’ll have to decide if the slightly slimmer profile and lower weight of the x16 are worth having the RTX 4080 handicapped by its processor.
Data is one of any organization’s most valuable resources. And while data has its benefits, such as enabling businesses to better understand their customers and financial health, it’s also a complicated science.
It isn’t enough to simply capture your data. You must clean, process, analyze and visualize it to glean any insights. This is where data science tools and software make all the difference.
SEE: Save on Python training with this deal from TechRepublic Academy.
As a result of the amount of data collected each day (quintillions of bytes), the data science software market has exploded. There are thousands of tools out there for every stage of data science, from analysis to visualization. Selecting the tools that are best for your organization will require some digging.
Jump to:
Top data science tools comparison
Software
Best for
Data visualization
Advanced analytics
Machine learning capabilities
Automations
Starting price
Apache Spark
Fast, large-scale data processing
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Free
Jupyter Notebook
Collaborating on and visualizing data
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Free
RapidMiner
The entire data analytics process
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
$0.80 per hour
Apache Hadoop
Distributed data processing
Connects with external business intelligence tools to perform data visualizations
Yes
Yes
Yes
Free
Alteryx
Offering data analytics access to all
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
$80 per user per month with an annual contract
Python
Every stage of data science
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Free to use
KNIME
Designing custom data workflows
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Starts from $285 per month
Microsoft Power BI
Visualizations and business intelligence
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
$10 per user per month
TIBCO
Unifying data sources
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Starts from $400 per month, billed annually
Apache Spark: Best for fast, large-scale data processing
Image: Apache Spark
Apache Spark is an open-source, multi-language engine used for data engineering and data science. It’s known for its speed when handling large amounts of data. The software is capable of analyzing petabytes of data all at once.
Batching is a key feature of Apache Spark, which is compatible with various programming languages, including Python, SQL and R. Many organizations use Apache Spark to process real-time, streaming data due to its speed and agility. Apache Spark is great on its own or it can be used in conjunction with Apache Hadoop.
Pricing
Apache Spark is an open-source tool available at no cost. However, if you are sourcing the tool from third-party vendors, they may charge you a certain fee.
Apache Spark features
Has capability for batch/streaming data.
Includes SQL analytics.
Enables users to perform Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA) on petabyte-scale data without downsampling.
Has the ability to train machine learning algorithms on a laptop.
Integrates with several third-party services, including TensorFlow, Pandas, Power BI and more.
Pros
Has over 2,000 contributors.
Works with both structured and unstructured data.
Includes advanced analytics.
Boasts fast processing speed.
Cons
Has limited real-time processing.
Users report that they experience small file issues.
Jupyter Notebook: Best for collaborating on and visualizing data
Image: Jupyter Notebook
Jupyter Notebook is an open-source browser application made for sharing code and data visualizations with others. It’s also used by data scientists to visualize, test and edit their computations. Users can simply input their code using blocks and execute it. This is helpful for quickly finding mistakes or making edits.
Jupyter Notebook supports over 40 programming languages, including Python, and enables code to produce everything from images to custom HTML.
Pricing
Jupyter Notebook is a free open-source tool.
Jupyter Notebook features
Supports over 40 languages, including Python, R, Julia and Scala.
Enables users to configure and arrange workflows in data science, machine learning, scientific computing and computational journalism.
Users can share Notebooks with others using email, Dropbox, GitHub and the Jupyter Notebook Viewer.
Supports centralized deployment — it can be deployed to users across your organization on centralized infrastructure on- or off-site.
Pros
Includes big data integration.
Supports containers such as Docker and Kubernetes.
Boasts ease-of-use for visualization and code presentation.
Users praise the tool for its adaptability capability.
Cons
Some users report that the software infrequently lags when working with large datasets or carrying out complex calculations.
Users report difficulty in managing the version control of large projects.
RapidMiner: Best for the entire data analytics process
Image: RapidMiner
RapidMiner is a robust data science platform, enabling organizations to take control over the entire data analytics process. RapidMiner starts by offering data engineering, which provides tools for acquiring and preparing data for analysis. The platform also offers tools specifically for model building and data visualization.
RapidMiner delivers a no-code AI app-building feature to help data scientists quickly visualize data on behalf of stakeholders. RapidMiner states that, thanks to the platform’s integration with JupyterLab and other key features, it’s the perfect solution for both novices and data science experts.
Pricing
RapidMiner doesn’t advertise pricing on its website. They encourage users to request for quotes by filling out a form on their pricing page. Publicly available data shows that RapidMiner AI Hub’s pay-as-you-go plan starts from $0.80 per hour and may cost significantly more depending on your instance type.
RapidMiner features
Visual workflow designer.
Automated data science.
Data visualization and exploration.
Code-based data science that enables data scientists to create custom solutions.
Support for organizations to access, load and analyze structured and unstructured data.
Pros
Has over a million global users.
Enables analytics teams to access, load and evaluate different data types, such as texts, images and audio tracks.
Includes extensive learning materials which are available online.
Cons
Steep learning curve for new and inexperienced users.
Performance and speed issues; some users report the platform slows down when processing complex datasets.
Apache Hadoop: Best for distributed data processing
Image: Apache Hadoop
Although we’ve already mentioned one Apache solution, Hadoop also deserves a spot on our list. Apache Hadoop, an open-source platform, includes several modules such as Apache Spark and simplifies the process of storing and processing large amounts of data.
Apache Hadoop breaks large datasets into smaller workloads across various nodes and then processes these workloads at the same time, improving processing speed. The various nodes make up what is known as a Hadoop cluster.
Pricing
Apache Hadoop is an open-source tool available for free. If you are sourcing the tool from third-party vendors, they may charge you a certain fee.
Apache Hadoop features
Offers machine learning capabilities.
Provides fault tolerance.
Includes data replication capabilities.
Integrates with other tools like Apache Spark, Apache Flink and Apache Storm.
Pros
High availability.
Faster data processing.
Highly scalable.
Cons
Users report the tool is slower than other querying engines.
Steep learning curve.
Alteryx: Best for offering data analytics access to all
Image: Alteryx
Everyone within an organization should have access to the data insights they need to make informed decisions. Alteryx is an automated analytics platform that enables all members of an organization self-service access to data insights.
Alteryx offers various tools for all stages of the data science process, including data transformation, analysis and visualization. The platform comes with hundreds of code-free automation components organizations can use to build their own data analytics workflow.
For more information, read our in-depth Alteryx review.
Pricing
Alteryx prices vary based on the product you choose, the number of users in your team and the length of your contract.
Designer Cloud
Starter: $80 per user per month with an annual contract. No minimum license count.
Professional: $4,950 per user per year. Minimum three user licenses.
Enterprise: Custom quotes. Minimum seven user licenses.
Designer Desktop: Costs about $5,195.
According to information on the AWS marketplace, Alteryx Designer/Server, which bundles one Designer user license and one Server, costs $84,170 for 12 months and $252,510 for 36 months.
Alteryx features
Drag and drop UI.
Support for Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC).
Orchestration of data pipelines.
Role-based access control.
Active data profiling and adaptive data quality.
Pros
30-day free trial.
Excellent support from Alteryx.
Easy to setup.
Cons
Users report the integration capability can be improved.
Data visualization capability can be improved.
Python: Best for every stage of data science
Image: Python
Python is one of the most popular programming languages used for data analytics. It’s simple to learn and widely accepted by many data analytics platforms available on the market today. Python is used for a wide range of tasks throughout the data science lifecycle. For example, it can be used in data mining, processing and visualization.
Python is far from the only programming language out there. Other options include SQL, R, Scala, Julia and C. However, Python is often chosen by data scientists for its flexibility as well as the size of its online community. And being an open-source tool, this is critical.
Pricing
Python is a free, open-source programming language; you can download it and its frameworks and libraries at no charge.
Python features
Cross-platform language.
Large standard library.
Dynamic memory allocation.
Object-oriented and procedure-oriented.
Support for GUI.
Pros
Extensive library.
Large community.
High-level language, making it easy for beginners to understand.
Cons
Can be slower than other languages like Java and C when running computation-heavy tasks.
Heavy memory usage.
KNIME: Best for designing custom data workflows
Image: KNIME
The KNIME Analytics Platform is an open-source solution that provides everything from data integration to data visualization. One feature that’s worth highlighting is KNIME’s ability to be customized to fit your specific needs. Using visual programming, the platform can be customized through drag-and-drop functionality without the need for code.
KNIME also features access to a wide range of extensions to further customize the platform. For example, users can benefit from network mining, text processing and productivity tools.
Pricing
Personal plan: Free of charge.
Team plan: Starts at $285 per month.
Basic, standard and enterprise plan pricings are available on request.
KNIME features
Ability for users to share and collaborate on workflows and components.
Workflow automation.
Integration authentication with corporate LDAP / Active Directory setups and Single Sign-On (SSO) via OAuth / OIDC / SAML.
User credential management.
Pros
Collaboration on workflows in public spaces.
Community support.
Excellent user interface.
Cons
Team plan storage is limited to 30GB.
Users report slow performance when using the tool.
Microsoft Power BI: Best for visualizations and business intelligence
Image: Microsoft Power BI
Microsoft Power BI is a powerhouse tool for visualizing and sharing data insights. It’s a self-service tool, which means anyone within an organization can have easy access to the data. The platform enables organizations to compile all of their data in one place and develop simple, intuitive visuals.
Users of Microsoft Power BI can also ask questions in plain language about their data to receive instant insights. This is a great feature for those with very little data science know-how.
As a bonus, Microsoft Power BI is also highly collaborative, making it a great choice for larger organizations. For example, users can collaborate on data reports and use other Microsoft Office tools for sharing and editing.
Pricing
Power BI Pro: $10 per user per month.
Power BI Premium: $20 per user per month.
Power BI Premium: Starts at $4,995 per capacity per month.
Autoscale add-on: $85 per vCore/24 hours
Microsoft Power BI features
Up 100TB storage capacity.
Multi-geo deployment management.
Dataflows (direct query, linked and computed entities, enhanced compute engine).
Advanced AI (text analytics, image detection, automated machine learning).
Pros
Up to 400GB memory size limit.
Useful for performing complex tasks.
Self-service capability.
Cons
User interface which can be improved.
Infrequently lags.
TIBCO: Best for unifying data sources
Image: TIBCO
As an industry-leading data solution, TIBCO offers a collection of products as part of its Connected Intelligence platform. Through this platform, TIBCO helps organizations connect their data sources, unify that data and visualize real-time insights efficiently.
TIBCO first enables users to connect all of their devices, apps and data sources into one centralized location. Then, through robust data management tools, users can manage their data, improve its quality, eliminate redundancy and so much more. Finally, TIBCO delivers real-time data insights via visual and streaming analytics.
Pricing
TIBCO Cloud Integration
Basic: Starts from $400 per month, billed annually.
Premium: Starts from $1,500 per month, billed annually.
Hybrid Plan: Custom quote.
TIBCO Spotfire pricing is available on request.
TIBCO features
Deployable on-premise, cloud or hybrid environment.
Visual analytics.
Embedded Data Science and Interactive AI capabilities.
GeoAnalytics capabilities
Pros
Easy to learn and use.
Highly customizable.
Extensive visualization options.
Cons
Knowledge base can be improved.
Data filters can be improved.
Frequently asked questions about data science
What is data science?
In its simplest form, data science refers to the gleaning of actionable insights from business data. These insights help businesses make educated decisions about everything from marketing to budgeting to risk management.
Data science features a unique process with various steps. Data is first captured in its raw form from various sources such as customer interactions, daily transactions, your company’s CRM and even social media. This data is then cleaned and prepared for mining and modeling. Finally, the data is ready to analyze and visualize.
SEE: Discover 5 things you need to know about data science.
Each step in the data science process will require specific tools and software. For example, during the data capture and preparation steps, both structured and unstructured data must be captured, cleaned and converted into a usable format. This is a process that will require the help of specialized software.
What is the importance of data science?
For every industry, the use of data to inform business decisions is no longer optional. Businesses must turn to data to simply stay competitive. Global tech leaders such as Apple and Microsoft use data to inform all of their critical decisions, highlighting the success that awaits the data-driven. And by 2025, data will be embedded in every decision, interaction and process according to McKinsey.
In other words, organizations that are not yet using their data will soon be far behind in just a few years. And in the here and now, these businesses are missing out on the many benefits of data science.
Real-world data science applications
There isn’t an industry that can’t benefit from data science and analytics. For example, in healthcare, data science can be used to uncover trends in patient health to improve treatment for all.
SEE: Explore everything you need to know to become a data scientist.
In manufacturing, data science can support supply and demand predictions to ensure products are developed accordingly. And in retail, data science can be used to scour social media likes and mentions regarding popular products, informing companies which products to promote next. Of course, these examples are just scratching the surface of data’s capabilities.
What are the tools used in data science?
There’s a wide range of tools out there to cover each step in the data science lifecycle. Data scientists and organizations typically use multiple tools to uncover the right insights. The following are the basic steps involved in the data science process as well as examples of the common tools used for each.
Data extraction tools: The data extraction step requires organizations to use tools such as Hadoop, Oracle Data Integrator and Azure Data Factory to pull data from available sources such as databases and other tools like Excel.
Data warehousing tools: The data warehouse is an environment where all data from disparate sources resides. Various data warehousing tools exist on the market, including Google BigQuery, Amazon Redshift and Snowflake.
Data preparation tools: Tools such as Python are used to scrub data. However, other tools are available that simplify data preparation such as Alteryx.
Data analysis tools: Data science tools such as RapidMiner and Apache Spark are suitable options for the analysis step.
Data visualization tools: Data visualization makes it easy to glean insights from otherwise complex datasets. Some examples of powerful data visualization tools include Google Charts, Domo and Microsoft Power BI.
SEE: Here’s what you need to know before choosing a data warehouse service.
Benefits of data science tools and software
Better serve your customers
Analyzing customer behavior data can help you better understand their needs and desires. As a result, you can provide better experiences across your entire organization.
Improve your productivity
Data can highlight areas of your internal processes that are draining your productivity. You can then make the changes necessary to improve operational efficiency.
Prevent future risks
Through data science methods such as predictive analysis, you can use your data to highlight areas of potential risk. By taking action on those risks, you can protect your organization, employees and customers.
Make educated decisions in real-time
Decisions must be made daily that can either make or break your business. Through data science, you have access to real-time analytics about the state of your company. Any decision will then be based on the most up-to-date data.
Optimize your resources
Analyzing company data can help you pinpoint processes and tasks that are draining your financial and human resources. You can then make the necessary changes to protect your bottom line and your employees’ sanity.
Increase your data security
Protecting your data is critical, especially as more of it is created and more devices are used to access it. Data science tools such as machine learning can help you detect potential security flaws and fix them before your data is compromised.
How do I choose the best data science software for my business?
The best data science software for you depends on your business needs, data expert capabilities and data complexity. In order to select the best tool for your use cases, there are several factors to consider, including the technical knowledge of your team, your data science goals, the complexity of your data and your budget.
SEE: Explore ways you can use data science tools without hiring a data scientist.
Additionally, review at least three different data science software that aligns with your business needs, test run them by signing up for a free trial or request for a product demo, then select the one that best serves your business purposes.
Review methodology
We collected primary data about each tool from the vendor’s website, including features, use cases and pricing information. We also reviewed user experience feedback from independent websites like Gartner to learn about each data science software’s usability, ease of use and customer satisfaction.
Employers looking for quality talent expand their options when they open positions to international workers. However, global talent sourcing can be complex and costly, and the complications don’t stop after hiring: Employers must then manage payroll for their international employees, which can be challenging due to different tax laws and currency exchange rates.
International payroll services can simplify global payroll by calculating and paying taxes, managing compliance and distributing payments on your company’s behalf. Using these tools can make hiring internationally more worth an employer’s time and money, allowing you to access top talent without letting complex tax regulations monopolize your time.
Keep reading to see the top eight international payroll services for global organizations in 2023.
SEE: Feature comparison: Time tracking software and systems (TechRepublic Premium)
Jump to:
Top international payroll solutions: Feature comparison table
The best global payroll systems offer full-service automatic payroll runs with tax administration (if applicable). For the most part, they also offer employee payments in local currencies. Otherwise, each international payroll service offers a slightly different payroll solution with features tailored to different sizes and types of business.
Software
Number of countries served
Employee and contractor payroll
Global onboarding tools
Global employee benefits
Starting monthly price
Papaya Global
160+
Both
Yes
Yes
Custom quote only
Rippling
140+
Both
Yes
Yes
Custom quote only
Oyster HR
180+
Both
Yes
Yes
$599 per employee
Remote
170+
Both
Yes
Yes
$599 per employee
Gusto
120+
Contractors only
Yes
No
$6 per contractor
ADP GlobalView Payroll
40
Both
Yes
No
Custom quote only
Plane
100+
Both
Yes
Yes
$39 per contractor
Multiplier
150+
Both
Yes
Yes
$300 per month
Papaya Global: Best for global employee benefits
Image: Papaya Global
Papaya Global is a professional employer organization that offers international payroll services in 160+ countries. It benefits organizations by syncing payroll information from employees across the globe in one unified software system. As an all-in-one payroll and payments program, Papaya Global’s fintech solution deposits employee pay for you in 160 global currencies with payments attributed to your company rather than a third-party bank.
Papaya’s international payroll solution contains features that support businesses in gaining insights from their payroll data. For instance, its reporting and analytics tools allow workforce leaders to track their payroll and human resources data in real time for faster analysis that shortens the time it takes to arrive at actionable insights.
Along with its international payroll processing tools and data and analytics feature, Papaya Global helps you find location-specific employee benefits. The payroll software also gives you valuable insights into how your company’s compensation stacks up globally so you can make informed choices about how to compete in today’s job market.
Finally, Papaya Global’s focus on compliance ensures you can hire the best candidate for the job by helping you understand immigration processes, upload the correct documents and track the right information.
Pricing
Papaya’s global PEO plans are fully customizable to each customer. The ultimate cost depends on which of Papaya’s services you choose to incorporate onto its unified platform:
Full-Service Payroll: Starts at $12 per month per employee.
Payroll Platform License: Starts at $3 per month per employee. (Integrates your existing payroll and payments software with Papaya Global’s operating system.)
Data and Insights Platform License: Starts at $150 per month per business location.
Employer of Record Service: Starts at $770 per month per employee.
Contractor management: $25 per month per global contractor paid.
Features
Automatic document review to ensure compliance with international regulations.
Multi-language support.
In-house payments solution guarantees worker payments are deposited within 72 hours.
Mobile app and employee self-service portal.
Pros
Operates in more countries than most other international payroll solutions.
Comprehensive platform bundles employee benefits, payroll tax and thorough HR features in one operating system.
Transparent online pricing.
Affordable integration with business’s existing payroll software to enable multi-country payroll.
Cons
Plans can get expensive quickly depending on which services you need.
Dashboard could be more user-friendly.
Learn more about Papaya Global on our complete Papaya software review.
Rippling: Best time-saving automations
Image: Rippling
Rippling offers global payroll management technology so businesses can hire remote employees, manage their payroll and HR processes, and generate worldwide employee data reports in a single centralized system. Additionally, Rippling makes onboarding international workers easy, as the system sets up employees and contractors with their training and devices quickly so they can get to work in no time.
Rippling easily automates and syncs data for payroll operations, enabling organizations to develop custom workflows that keep their teams on track. For example, automated notifications keep staff members informed about payroll adjustments. Rippling’s software also automatically categorizes and syncs payroll and finance data to users’ general ledger, saving them time on reconciliation.
The payroll company also automates global compliance processes, providing support for global minimum wage enforcement, overtime enforcement and leave enforcement. It supports many integrations with HR, IT and finance systems, including Slack, Zoom, Google Workspace and multiple accounting solutions.
Pricing
Pricing for Rippling’s full-service global payroll processing starts at $8 per month per user plus a monthly fee for using Rippling’s unified software platform, Rippling Unity. Rippling allows buyers to choose exactly which services they prefer to receive, which is why its plans require users to get a custom quote.
Features
Extensive tech management features, including remote device management.
Self-service onboarding and offboarding tools.
Built-in financial tools, including expense tracking and corporate card access.
Employee reimbursement in 100+ local currencies.
Optional international PEO and global Employer of Record services.
Pros
HR, IT, payroll, finance and inventory management on one software system.
Generally high ratings from users on third-party review sites.
Customizable features and pricing.
Intuitive dashboard creates a solid user experience.
Cons
Limited transparent pricing information online.
Expensive plans.
To learn more, read our comprehensive Rippling software review.
Oyster: Best for international hiring
Image: Oyster
Oyster is an international payroll provider available in 180+ countries, making it an optimal choice for businesses with distributed workforces.
The software’s global employment tools are designed to help with international staff onboarding and payroll management. Users can access vetted resources, including global employment templates and checklists. The software also comes with a Time Zone Crossover Calculator for determining optimal talent sourcing locations. Its Global Employment Cost Calculator helps you instantly calculate your employment costs for workers worldwide.
Oyster also provides services for simplifying global talent sourcing with end-to-end employee management for international hiring. Its features help employers ensure hiring and payroll compliance through onboarding paperwork and consolidated in-platform communication. These streamlined tools speed up the process of hiring full-time employees in 130+ countries or contractors in 180+ countries.
Oyster has three main international payroll and HR plans:
The Contractor plan starts at $29 a month and is suited for businesses that hire only international contractors in 180+ countries.
The Employee plan is Oyster’s global employer of record solution. It starts at $499 per employee per month when billed annually or $599 billed monthly and can operate in 130+ countries.
The Scale plan is ideal for growing global enterprises. It requires you to request a custom quote.
Features
Country-specific global employment guidance tools.
Financial management tools, including expense tracking, employee allowances and benefits.
Global employee benefits options.
Bulk hiring tools and dedicated global employment support (Scale plan only).
Pros
Comparatively affordable employer of record service.
Localized benefits attract top talent.
Contractor payments in 120+ currencies.
Free account access/trial period.
Cons
Less customizable packages than some competitors.
Fewer third-party business software integrations than most competitors.
Remote: Best employee relocation assistance
Image: Remote.com
Remote’s employer of record service can hire employees globally on your organization’s behalf while managing payroll for contractors. It’s a particularly good choice for businesses that are breaking into the global market for the very first time. As an EOR service, Remote will handle every aspect of employee hiring and onboarding, assuming liability while dealing with the tricky legal tangle of bringing global employees on board.
Most notably, the company also helps businesses figure out how to assist employees with international relocation. Along with offering legal assistance as you figure out visa sponsorships, Remote offers cross-cultural training to help employees adjust to a new country. It also offers general moving assistance and country-specific insurance guides.
Pricing
Remote’s pricing and plans are fairly similar to Oyster’s:
Contractor management starts at $29 per active contractor per month.
Employer of record services start at $599 per employee billed annually or $699 billed monthly.
Remote has two other customizable payroll solutions with tailored quotes available by request:
Global Payroll is a non-EOR payroll service for companies with entities in multiple countries.
Remote Enterprise is Remote’s enterprise-level international payroll solution.
Features
Fully customizable contracts for global employees.
Intellectual property and international invention rights protections.
Employee benefits packages.
Integration with third-party applicant tracking systems, payroll and accounting software.
Remote API for custom integrations.
Pros
Easy onboarding and payroll processes.
Useful country-specific guides to employment around the world.
No exchange-rate fees for international contractor payments.
Pricing available in local currency (not limited to U.S.-based companies).
Cons
Waitlist for Global Payroll plan.
Gusto: Best for affordable international contractor payments
Image: Gusto
Gusto is one of the top payroll software choices for companies of all sizes. While it doesn’t support international employee hiring, it enables businesses to perform payroll processing for contractors in 95 countries, including India, the Philippines, the United Kingdom and Canada. Gusto’s automatic payroll runs, time and attendance tracking and basic reporting and analytics features, it’s a popular pick for employers based in the United States.
International contractor payments are supported in Gusto’s contractor-only plan. Employers can add international contractors to their payroll dashboard and pay them in local currencies. With customizable onboarding checklists for international contractors, self-onboarding features and the ability to add international contractors to a recurring payment schedule, Gusto’s software simplifies payroll so workers can begin their jobs fast.
Pricing
Gusto’s international contractor payment service is an add-on feature that doesn’t come built-in with any of its plans. Pricing for the international contractor service isn’t listed online, though Gusto clarifies that pricing varies based on exchange rate.
However, Gusto does list pricing for most of its other plans and services online. Here is the baseline price you can expect to pay for one of Gusto’s plans before adding its international contractor service:
Gusto Simple: $39 per month plus $6 per employee per month.
Gusto Plus: $80 per month plus $12 per employee per month.
Gusto Premium: Custom quotes only.
Gusto also has a contractor-only plan that costs just $6 per contractor paid per month with no base fee for the first six months. After the six-month period ends, the plan costs $35 per month plus $6 per contractor.
Features
Multilingual support.
Mobile time tracking and geolocation tools.
Unlimited monthly payroll runs.
Built-in time and attendance tracking.
Pros
Syncs with more third-party apps than nearly any other standalone payroll software.
Generally transparent online price information.
Employee self-onboarding portal with lifetime access to paystubs.
Cons
No international employee hiring or payments.
Limited HR features and support.
Compliance alerts with most expensive plan only.
To learn more about Gusto, read our comprehensive Gusto Payroll review.
ADP GlobalView Payroll: Best payroll-specific solution
Image: ADP
ADP provides international payroll and HR services in 40 countries through ADP GlobalView Payroll. ADP’s global payroll solution consolidates multi-country payrolls on one platform and standardizes the workflows needed to quickly process international payroll. Built-in time and attendance tracking tools automatically calculate wages, and the payroll software can make paycheck deductions and submit tax payments on a pre-set schedule.
Along with streamlining and simplifying global payroll, ADP GlobalView Payroll enables organizations to refine onboarding processes, create employee records and upload payroll documents to the system. Users in any country can access their payroll data via ADP’s mobile payroll app, which is fully localized to each area’s unique laws and regulations.
ADP GlobalView Payroll is geared toward companies with at least 500 employees located in one country. If you have up to 1,000 employees in at least three countries, ADP’s enterprise-level global payroll solution. ADP Celergo, could be a better fit for you. You can also add ADP Celergo to your ADP GlobalView Payroll plan if you operate in countries outside the 40 countries GlobalView Payroll applies to.
No matter which product you choose, you’ll need to add ADP WorkForce Now (or your preferred human capital management solution) if you want to integrate payroll processes with your overall HR system. Much like Gusto, neither global payroll solution includes HR features beyond time and attendance tracking and employee self-service access.
Pricing
Although pricing for ADP’s international payroll solution is not provided online, curious readers may call ADP’s sales team to receive a customized demo and cost information.
Features
Single system of record for all employee payroll data.
Integration with ADP Celergo expands payroll access to 140+ countries and 51 currencies.
Tools for global data management, data security and privacy law compliance.
Integration with QuickBooks Online, Xero, BambooHR, Workday, Slack and more.
Pros
Employee self-service access to payroll data, paychecks and pay stubs.
Detailed payroll data and real-time analytics.
Integration with the most popular HCM solutions to boost your HR features, including ADP Workforce Now.
Access to 3,000+ international compliance experts.
Cons
Expensive pricing.
Most HR features — including employee benefits — available only through the ADP Workforce Now add-on (additional fee).
Payroll limited to 40 countries without ADP Celergo add-on (additional fee).
To learn more about ADP, read our full ADP review.
Plane: Best employee and contractor benefit options
Image: Plane
Plane (previously known as Pilot) lets employers provide automated payments to their international contractors. In addition, the payroll service supports built-in payments without requiring transaction fees or exchange rate markups, making it an economical choice for businesses with global contractors.
Plane helps employers pay international contractors quickly and equitably, and it acts as an employer of record to hire and pay employees in 100+ countries without having to set up local entities. The service also comes with optional workers benefits in 175+ countries (including optional benefits for contractors), expense management tools and local contract compliance oversight.
The centralized payroll platform lets employers submit automated payments to their domestic and international contractors and employees in as little as 1-2 business days. In addition, the contractor self-service platform allows freelance workers to submit expense reports and payments, and overseas contractors won’t need to handle any transaction fees to get paid for their hard work.
Pricing
Plane has three main payroll plans and price points:
Plane’s Contractor plan costs a flat fee of $39 per contractor paid per month.
Plane’s U.S. Employees plan costs a flat fee of $19 per employee per month.
Plane’s International Employees plan starts at $499 per employee per month.
Features
Employee and contractor hiring in 100+ countries.
Optional international employee and contractor benefits in 175+ countries.
Global customer service assistance for employers and employees in all countries.
Built-in expense management.
Pros
Unique contractor benefit option helps companies stand out and attract talent.
No e-wallet required for contractors to receive payments.
No payment transaction fees.
No setup, onboarding or cancellation fees.
Cons
No mobile payroll app.
Limited third-party integrations.
Expensive per-employee fee for international payroll.
Multiplier: Best for risk-free international onboarding
Image: Multiplier
Multiplier is a platform that helps employers perform their international payroll with features for managing taxes, social contributions and local insurance policies. The all-in-one system takes care of many different areas involved in the employment, onboarding and payment of international employees.
Multiplier takes “risk-free” to the next level by providing employment contracts that ensure compliance with local laws. The solution lets employers onboard, pay and provide benefits with reliability and security to global teams. It has local business entities in over 150 countries across Europe, Asia and the Americas.
Pricing
Multiplier has several international payroll plans with relatively clear pricing:
The Hire Employees plan starts at $300 per month.
The Pay Freelancers plan starts at $40 per month.
The Run Global Payroll plan starts at $20 per month.
The Provide Employee Insurance plan starts at $20 per month.
Note that unlike its competitors, Multiplier’s prices are listed per month, not per employee. Depending on the number of employees you have and with payroll features you need, this pricing structure could save you a fair amount of money compared to other international payroll solutions.
Features
Employee and contractor hiring in 150+ countries.
Local currency payments (120+ currencies).
Benefits administration.
Compliant pensions and social contributions.
Country-specific, customized insurance policies.
Pros
GDPR-compliant and enterprise-class data protection policies.
Onsite legal and tax experts.
Transparent online pricing.
Cons
Relatively new software company (founded in 2020) means features may be limited compared to competitors.
Key features of the best international payroll services
The exact international payroll features your team needs will vary depending on the countries you operate in, whether you work with more employees or freelancers and what your financial constraints are. However, with that in mind, most international companies need some combination of the following global payroll features.
Full-service payroll
Global companies don’t have the time to process payroll on an individual basis. Instead, they need time-saving automations like pre-scheduled payroll runs and automatic general ledger updates. Ideally, your payroll software also automates paycheck calculations by syncing with time and attendance software. It should automatically calculate wage garnishments, healthcare premiums and tax deductions, then file those deductions with the right country-specific agency.
Bear in mind that while self-service payroll software is cheaper than full-service, it requires too much time and hands-on oversight and data entry to be feasible for international companies of any type. That includes global enterprises that employ hundreds of people worldwide as well as small U.S.-based businesses that work with international contractors only.
Comprehensive compliance
Each country has a radically different set of tax laws, employment regulations and data security guidelines. The best international payroll services provide comprehensive compliance oversight and give you immediate access to local compliance experts who can offer trustworthy, top-notch insight into global employment concerns.
International employee and contractor payroll
Are you planning to add full-time employees in countries around the world, or are you planning to only work with freelancers, contractors and self-employed individuals as you expand your company? Even if you’re working with contractors for now, are you hoping to eventually add full-time international employees?
While most global payroll companies that support employee payments also support contractor payments, contractor-only services like Gusto don’t — and likely won’t — support employee payments. Consider your company’s future plans for expansion before signing up for a payroll service that locks you into paying just one type of worker over another.
When you’re considering what your global workforce will look like in the future, don’t overlook the number of countries your payroll software operates in and which local currencies it’s able to process. Migrating to a payroll provider only to learn it doesn’t support hiring in a country you have in mind creates a lot of unnecessary paperwork, hassle and wasted money.
Employee benefits
With the exception of contractor-specific payroll software like Gusto, most international payroll services either integrate with third-party employee benefits brokers or partner with global benefits providers so you can find the right benefits for your unique workforce.
Some global payroll providers restrict benefits to healthcare options only while others offer workers’ compensation insurance and country- or culture-specific benefits. Still others offer optional contractor benefits, which is a unique perk that could help you draw more workers to your company and retain top talent long after the hiring process is complete.
Global onboarding tools with employee self-service features
When you’re managing a global workforce, it’s crucial to ensure your employees can get on the same page quickly and stay there throughout their employment. For the most part, the best international payroll products have employee self-service portals with in-depth onboarding tools. Some providers, such as Rippling, include global IT services that let you manage devices remotely and ensure company data security while virtually guiding employees through onboarding.
Additionally, depending on your company’s needs and onboarding requirements, look for international payroll products that either include or integrate with learning management systems. These systems should have an international course library with customizable templates and country-specific compliance training.
Methodology
To choose, evaluate and rank the best payroll software for international companies, we looked at top payroll brands that offered, at minimum, global contractor payments in at least a dozen countries. From there, we prioritized payroll services that offered both employee and contractor payments in at least 40 countries with at least 50 types of global currencies.
We then thoroughly reviewed each software provider’s websites, demos and user reviews on third-party sites like TrustPilot, Garner Insights, Apple’s App Store and Google Play. We assessed each global payroll service in the following categories:
Pricing: Transparent online pricing, add-on fees and number of features offered for price.
Scalability: Number of plans, number of countries served and global customer support options.
International payroll features: Full-service payroll, automatic paycheck deductions and customizable payroll reports.
Third-party integrations: Specifically accounting, HCM, HR and human resources information system integrations.
Customer satisfaction: Verified user reviews on third-party sites, registered complaints with the Better Business Bureau, customer service reputation and 24/7 customer support.
How do I choose the best international payroll service for my business?
Apart from analyzing features, assessing pros and cons and considering costs, the best way to find the right international payroll outsourcing service for your business is to get hands-on experience with multiple products before making a final choice. Most global payroll services don’t offer free trials, though some notably allow you to create a free account and explore the software on your own before paying a fee.
For the most part, global payroll companies require you to set up a customized demo where a sales representative will walk you through the program’s dashboard and offer you a tailored quote. The payroll system you choose will have a massive impact on your company’s bottom line, your employees’ experience with your company and the amount of time you have to spend dealing with paychecks and tax regulations — so make sure to ask questions like the following during your demo before committing to a global payroll provider:
What does your ideal customer look like in terms of sizing and industry?
What are your customers’ most frequent pain points and how do you plan to address those in the future?
Which features do your customers appreciate the most? Which features are you planning to add in the future?
Can I access a trial version of your software before committing to a plan?
Do you offer white-glove setup and data migration assistance for new customers?
What is the ideal use case for your payroll software?
Does your software integrate with the specific personnel, HR and financial tools our business currently uses?
Feel free to consult our guide to choosing and setting up a payroll system as you sort through your payroll options to find the best global payroll service for your business.
Soldering is one of, if not the most important maker skill and using the best soldering iron is the smart way to produce your best projects. There is no facet of technology that the heat of a soldering iron has not touched. The best GPUs, CPUs and even 3D printers have components soldered to printed circuit boards (PCBs). Whether you are seasoned pro, or new to soldering, you need the right iron for the task at hand, be it robotics, data science projects or arcade cabinets. But what is the best soldering iron?
Just like an artist has their favorite brush, pencil etc, makers have their favorite type of soldering iron. Some prefer a full station with precise temperature control, hot-air rework and a built-in stand, some prefer a smart soldering iron, others just want a cheap soldering iron that gets the job done. There are some who require a soldering gun for bulk use on large joints. We’ve tested more than a dozen different soldering irons, measuring both their ease-of-use and the time it takes for them to get to an acceptable working temperature. Below, we’ve listed the best soldering irons, along with a guide to help you choose the right kind of your needs.
If you’ve never soldered before, we recommend getting started by soldering the pins onto a simple microcontroller. See our article on how to solder pins to the Raspberry Pi Pico, a $4 board. If you can find some old circuit boards then you have a ready supply of practice boards and a great way to harvest spare parts using a soldering iron and hot air rework station. Just remember to use a little flux to ease the process.
The Best Soldering Irons
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Pinecil V2 smart soldering iron (Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
1. Pinecil V2
Best Smart Soldering Iron
Specifications
Temperature: Max 450 degrees Celsius
Power: USB C PD and QC 3.0 12-20 Volts at 3 Amps
Wattage: Variable based on power supply
Dimensions: 155 x 12.8 x 16.2 mm (Body and tip)
Reasons to buy
+
Low cost
+
Easy to use
+
High temperatures
+
Fast heat up
Reasons to avoid
–
Not much different from V1
$26 isn’t a lot of money in the world of best soldering irons. It can buy you a cheap kit, loaded with accessories to sweeten the deal. Or it can buy you what is probably the most useful soldering iron a maker could have. We loved the Pinceil v2 so much we gave it an Innovation Award.
Pinecil V2, is a refinement of V1, and brings a fully temperature controlled soldering station into the palm of your hand. No really! Don’t let its size fool you. This is a capable iron that can be used for delicate soldering tasks, or for larger jobs such as speaker cables and other connections with a large thermal mass. Just change the tip (it is compatible with TS-100, TS-101 tips) and you can solder connections both small and large.
Pinecil V2 is quick to heat up. Using the included conical tip and connected to a 20V USB-C power source, Pinecil went from 35 degrees Celsius to 350 degrees Celsius in 20 seconds. This is great for those of us that need to solder something quickly.
The “smart” aspect of Pinecil v2 is the OS. Yes we have an OS on a soldering iron, and with it we can tweak the iron to our needs. Setting a custom temperature profile for specific tasks is just a few clicks away. Customizing the UI for left or right handed users, setting sleep times to keep the iron hot while waiting for the user, then reacting to movement and ramping the iron to your preferred working temperature.
The downside of Pinecil v2 is that it doesn’t come with a stand. The overall shape of the iron means that it does not roll around your bench. If you need a stand, they can be purchased for just a few more dollars.
Given the size of Pinecil v2 it is the ideal soldering iron for younger or inexperienced makers. It feels more like a pencil than a soldering iron and the quick heat up and cooldown times mean there is less chance of injury. That said, always supervise learners when using any new tool.
Hakko FX-888D soldering station (Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
2. Hakko FX-888D
Best Soldering Station
Specifications
Temperature: Max 480 degrees Celsius
Power: Main Voltage
Wattage: Variable based on power supply: 70W
Dimensions: Station: 100 x 120 x 120 mm. Soldering Iron: 217 mm. Cord: 1.2 Meters
Reasons to buy
+
Pleasure to use
+
Excellent thermal properties
+
Great build quality
Reasons to avoid
–
Expensive compared to others
–
Looks a little “Fisher Price”
Hakko are the Rolls-Royce of the best soldering irons. Its color-scheme may look a little Fisher-Price, but this soldering iron is a professional piece of kit. The Hakko FX-888D is a soldering station that offers excellent thermal performance, with a soldering iron that can reach 480 degrees Celsius. Tips can be easily sourced and changed, enabling precision or heavy duty soldering.
The soldering station control unit has only two buttons but from there we can change the temperature and create presets for quickly moving from one type of job to another. The soldering iron has a great feel, with a non-slip coating and a flexible silicone cord to reduce accidental melting.
We soldered up a Velleman kit (PIC experiment board K8048) and the Hakko worked rather well. The default 350 degrees Celsius felt a little too low for the rather thick PCB so we upped the temperature to 400 and the lead solder flowed perfectly.
This is a pro level soldering station and with that it commands a pro level price. If you are going to solder a lot, or for professional use then this should be on your wish list.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
3. Miniware TS101
Best All Rounder
Specifications
Temperature: Max 400 degrees Celsius
Power: USB C PD and QC 3.0 9-20 Volts (9-45W) DC 9-24 Volts (9-65W)
Wattage: Variable based on power supply: 9-65W
Dimensions: 170 mm (Handle to tip)
Reasons to buy
+
Easy-to-use, digital UI
+
Interchangeable soldering tips
+
Great temperature range
+
Two power options
Reasons to avoid
–
Twice the price of leading competitor
The TS101 continues the greatness of its progenitor, the TS100 but provides a greater choice of power supply options. The iron is precise, quick to heat and easy to use. Compatibility with TS100 soldering tips is a great feature, and opens up a world of choice.
In our review we loved how the TS101 felt in the hand, the button placement is perfect and the tip compatibility with the plethora of Pinecil and TS100 tips means that it caters to every user. Younger or inexperienced makers will find the TS101 slightly larger than say Pinecil v2, but the button placement and balance make this an ideal alternative for makers learning to solder.
The $50 price tag is double that of Pinecil V2 and there isn’t much difference between them. They both support the same power options and soldering iron tips. What does separate them is comfort. If we were soldering all-day long, then the TS101 would be our choice.
Tabiger soldering iron kit comes in bespoke case (Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
4. Tabiger Soldering Iron Kit
Best Soldering Iron for Beginners
Specifications
Temperature: Max 450 degrees Celsius
Power: Main Voltage
Wattage: Variable based on power supply: 60W
Dimensions: Soldering Iron: 190mm, Cord: 1 Meter
Reasons to buy
+
Very cheap kit
+
Choice of tips
+
Great case
+
Stand included
Reasons to avoid
–
Exudes cheapness
–
Tip burns out
A cheap soldering iron kit is how many of us start our soldering journey. It is how I started way back in the 1980s. Sometimes a cheap kit will put us off, other times it offers a low cost point of entry for a new skill. The Tabinger solder iron kit is low cost, under $20 and comes with plenty of extras. This is normally a warning on the quality, in this case the iron is rather good despite our first impression.
In the kit we get lead free solder, spare tips and a folding stand (which works but isn’t the nicest). Sure all of these aren’t the best quality, but if we are starting out they will do a good job until we move onwards.
The iron is light in the hand and features a dial to set your temperature. Tips can be easily changed, and the kit comes with a selection of precision and chunky tips. Changing a tip involves unscrewing the collar and sliding the cold tip off, reversing the process to secure your choice in place.
Tabinger’s soldering iron melts solder well; just increase the temperature on the dial to be a little over your ideal choice. We normally solder at 350 degrees Celsius, but the solder was a little tacky with this iron, so we went to 400 and all was well. We did notice that the tip became “scorched” rather quickly. In our experience cheaper soldering irons can burn out quite quickly, so bear that in mind. Replacements can be easily sourced from Amazon or Aliexpress.
The Tabinger 60W Soldering Iron is a decent iron to get you started. The low cost makes it ideal for dipping your toe into soldering.
Yihua 995D+ soldering station provides a hot air rework and soldering iron. (Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Wattage: Variable based on power supply: 180W (Claimed)
Dimensions: Soldering Iron: 220mm, Cord: 1 Meter, Hot Air: 230mm, Cord: 1 Meter
Reasons to buy
+
Solid performance
+
Great build quality
+
Easy to use
Reasons to avoid
–
User interface not intuitive
The best soldering station with a hot air rework is a dream purchase for most makers. You can buy brand names for hundreds of dollars, but the Yihua 995D+ offers brand name performance for a fraction of the price.
We’ll start with the soldering iron: a rather generic iron which uses the collar system to retain a tip over a heating element. In this case being generic is a good thing. Replacement tips can be easily sourced (even Haako tips will work). The iron feels good in the hand and the silicone cable never gets in the way thanks to its own weight keeping it fixed to the bench.
The hot air gun also feels good in the hand and has a similar cable. Controlling the iron and hot air is a little tricky at first, requiring the correct controls to be selected (on the left are the hot air controls, on the right the soldering iron) before using the central knob to set the temperature and air flow.
The tall, thin design keeps your bench space clear – the included soldering iron stand takes a little more space but that’s ok. The included stand is solidly built, doesn’t slip around the bench and has the choice of brass or sponge to clean the tip. The Yihua 995D+ is an excellent soldering station for beginners and pros alike. It gets the job done, looks good and keeps more cash in your pocket.
Weller’s 140W soldering gun is best used for large soldering jobs. (Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
6. Weller 140W Soldering Gun
Best Soldering Gun
Specifications
Temperature: Max 480 degrees Celsius
Power: Main Voltage
Wattage: Variable based on power supply: 140W
Dimensions: 230mm from tip to rear
Reasons to buy
+
Solid performance
+
Great build quality
+
Easy to use
+
Heats up to 480 degrees Celsius in six seconds!
Reasons to avoid
–
A blunt instrument, not for precision jobs
–
Heavy
–
LED light is annoying
Weller is a known brand in the world of soldering irons. They produce good quality irons and this 140W soldering gun represents another quality product.
Soldering guns come in many forms, some feed solder to the tip, others, like this require us to manually feed the solder with a spare hand. The Weller 140W soldering gun is a beast, and lays down a surprising amount of heat in six seconds. From ambient to 480 degrees Celsius in six seconds, you can solder heavy, big joints. If you need to solder some speaker cables, large power connections on a robot or vehicle, then this gun will make the job so much easier.
Slightly pressing the trigger unleashes 140W of power to the tip of the iron. Talking of tips, it comes with a selection for precise and blunt tips for different soldering scenarios. This isn’t a general purpose soldering iron, but when you need raw power, for a large surface area, then this will do the job just fine.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Best Travel Soldering Iron
Specifications
Temperature: 420 degrees Celsius
Power: USB-C
Wattage: Variable based on power supply: 65W
Dimensions: 184mm from tip to rear
Reasons to buy
+
Low cost
+
Easy to use
+
High temperatures
+
Fast heat up
Reasons to avoid
–
Slightly larger than most smart soldering irons
–
Only support USB C power
–
Not compatible with TS100/TS101/Pinecil tips
Fnirsi’s HS-01 smart soldering iron is a challenger for Pinecil’s crown. It shares the same price-point, around $30 and it uses USB C power. But the HS-01 is a much better travel companion.
First of all is the cap. Instead of a stand we get a cap which firmly covers the hot tip of the soldering iron. Sure the cap will get hot if you put it on right after soldering, but the iron cools down quick, and heats up even quicker! The screw collet, designed to hold the tip in place, means that we do not need a screwdriver to replace tips, just wait for the iron to cool and you can swap the tip for a compatible replacement. TS100 / TS101 / Pinecil tip compatibility would be the ideal, but a set of Hs-01 compatible tips is around $15.
Soldering with the HS-01 is a joy. The included tip is a good all-rounder and for our review it performed great on solder joints big and small. For $30, if the Pinecil V2 is out of stock, or you need a soldering iron for your traveling maker kit, buy this instead!
Read: Fnirsi HS-01 Review
Picking The Best Soldering Iron For You
Finding the best soldering iron for you is important. You need to be comfortable with the soldering iron in order to concentrate on the task at hand. But which type of soldering iron is for you?
Basic Soldering irons: If you are just trying your hand with soldering then perhaps an advanced soldering setup is not for you, yet. A simple soldering iron heats up to a set temperature, giving you the confidence to start soldering without having to tweak the settings.
Smart Soldering Irons: If space is at a premium, but you need a temperature controlled soldering station, then smart soldering irons are for you. Typically powered using USB C or DC power supplies, these irons provide precise temperature control without dominating the bench.
Soldering Station: If you need a soldering iron with precise temperature control, along with the best thermal balance, then a soldering station is for you. Stations have an external control unit which contains the power circuitry necessary to deliver precise thermal output. The soldering iron is typically housed in a separate stand giving the user flexibility on the bench.
Hot Air Soldering Station: These stations offer a temperature controlled soldering iron, along with a hot air gun that is used for surface mount soldering, reflowing circuits and desoldering components from boards.
Soldering Gun: A soldering gun is a brute force tool, used for larger solder joints. If you are soldering heavy duty cables, speakers or terminals, then a soldering gun has the power you need. For finer, detailed work they are clumsy and awkward, so you will still probably want a soldering iron to go with your gun.
Other Soldering Irons We Tested
The Miniware TS80P is a solid smart soldering iron. (Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Miniware TS80P
How did this iron not make the list? It looks great, feels great and it has a spring loaded tip ejection system. What let it down was the price, $95 is a lot for an iron. It can put down heat, but you need to change the included precision tip for something more general purpose in order to get it into a board. We love the iron’s user interface and it works really well, but so does Pinecil V2, which retails for a third of the price.
Weller WLSK3023G soldering station is a decent and cost effective soldering solution. (Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Weller WLSK3023G Soldering Station
Coming from the Weller pedigree we had high hopes for this soldering station. Alas it wasn’t meant to be. The LED light ring is annoying, the iron felt imprecise, and the hot tip of the iron pointing out from the stand felt counter-intuitive. It isn’t a bad iron, but compared to others, it just wasn’t worth the $70 asking price.
YIHUA 938BD+ soldering station comes with hot air rework and soldering iron. (Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
YIHUA 938BD+ Soldering Station
It was a tough call between the 938BD+ and the 995D+. The 938BD+ has a wider footprint, but the user interface felt a little less cumbersome. The call was tough, and if the 938BD+ is offered at a reduced price to the 995D+, then jump on it.
Preciva 8786D hot air gun rework station (Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Preciva 8786D Hot Air Gun Rework Station
It may look a little dated, but this is a solid, low-cost soldering station. So why didn’t it make the list? The hot air rework gun felt weak, we had to ramp the temperature to the max in order to melt the solder on a heavy joint. The soldering iron felt fine, much like the Yihua stations (Preciva and Yihua are one and the same) but it lacked a silicone cord, instead using PVC. PVC cords are fine, but they are prone to creeping along your bench, getting in the way.
New Acalox soldering gun (Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
New Acalox Soldering Gun
This gun was the antithesis of the Weller. It took a while to heat up and required solder to be fed via a ratchet system, through the gun. It felt cheap, and the easily removable plastic cover exposed mains voltage connections. If you need a soldering gun, spend the extra money and get the Weller. This cheaper version is not safe for general use.
How We Test The Best Soldering Irons
Each soldering iron was tested with a Velleman PCB kit, chosen for its mixture of small through-hole components and large soldering joints (mechanical joints to anchor components to the board). We used the same solder, lead based 60 / 40 with tin and rosin flux core across all tests, to ensure that our results were consistent.
From Cold to Hot: Getting to A Working Temperature
The slowest iron to reach a working soldering temp was the Antex XS25. The fastest soldering iron was Pinecil V2 and the fastest soldering gun was from Weller. (Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
For each soldering iron / station / gun we tested how long it would take to get to a working temperature from cold. What is a working temperature? Well that is a personal choice. Some prefer to solder at 350 degrees Celsius, others much higher. Rather than set a temperature target, we chose to pick the moment where solder instantly melts on the tip of the iron. In the case of the hot air rework stations we chose the moment that a heavy solder joint would fully melt. All times are measured in seconds, and a lower time is better.
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Name
Type
Time (Seconds)
Hot Air Time (Seconds)
Tabiger 60W
Basic Iron
42
Antex XS25
Basic Iron
116
YIHUA 995D+
Hot Air Soldering Station
24
92
Preciva 8786D
Hot Air Soldering Station
43
92
YIHUA 938BD+
Hot Air Soldering Station
33
112
Pinecil v2
Smart Soldering Iron
10
Miniware TS100
Smart Soldering Iron
15
Miniware TS80P
Smart Soldering Iron
15
Weller 9400PKS 120V
Soldering Gun
6
New Acalox Soldering Gun
Soldering Gun
26
Hakko FX888D
Soldering Station
25
Weller WLSK3023G
Soldering Station
76
Row 11 – Cell 3
Basic Soldering Iron Times
The Tabiger 60W soldering iron reached a working temperature in 42 seconds, impressive for such a cheap soldering iron. (Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
These basic irons are there for “plug and play” soldering and the Tabiger 60W iron gets to a solder melting temperature much quicker (42 seconds) than the venerable Antex XS25 (116 seconds). The Tabiger has basic temperature control, and almost three times the power of the Antex iron. That said, Antex is a respected brand and offers superb performance.
Hot Air Rework Station Times
The Yihua 995D+ heated up the fastest, hot air working temperature is the same between the 995D+ and 8786D. (Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
These stations all feature a soldering iron and a hot air gun. The irons all heated up fast with the Yihua 995D taking first place in 24 seconds. The Yihua 938BD+ claimed second place at 33 seconds. For hot air, the 938BD+ was way slower than the others, 112 seconds versus a joint 92 seconds for the 995D and Preciva 8786D.
Smart Soldering Iron Times
Pinecil V2 heats up the fastest of smart soldering irons and it also comes in as the cheapest. (Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Smart soldering irons are the F1 cars of the soldering world. They get hot, fast! Pinecil v2 took first place with a time of 10 seconds, joint second were Miniware’s TS100 and TS80P. Any of these smart soldering irons would be a great addition to a maker’s toolbox. But for under $30, Pinecil v2 is hard to resist.
Soldering Gun Times
Weller’s soldering gun is an impressive, if scary beast. It dumps a ton of power in a short amount of time. Use this soldering gun if you need to solder large joints. (Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
If you absolutely have to solder large solder joints, then a soldering gun is for you. These things get hot, and have the thermal mass to dump solder onto the target. Weller’s soldering gun is impressive. It heats up within six seconds, and can sustain large solder joints for a considerable amount of time. The Acalox soldering gun is slow to heat up (26 seconds) and it feels rather cheaply made. Avoid it and pay the extra for Weller.
Soldering Station Times
Hakko’s FX888D is the superior soldering station and that is reflected in the time it takes to heat up being a third of the Weller. But this quality does not come cheap. (Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Weller may have won the soldering gun round, but it loses out to Hakko’s FX888D. Heating up in 25 seconds, versus Weller’s 76 seconds, the Hakko FX888D is a sublime soldering experience, but we expect that given its price. If you are going to be soldering professionally it is always best to have the right tool for the job (as Star Trek’s Scotty can attest.)
Managing human resource and payroll tasks can be complicated and time-consuming for businesses, especially ones that employ workers on a global scale. Oyster’s software solutions for HR and global payroll have become a popular choice for these organizations, as they offer a way to streamline international workforce management processes.
SEE: Head to the best. Check out our comprehensive list of the top payroll solutions of 2023.
Still, alternative software solutions to Oyster HR are available, with different features that may be more aligned with your organization’s unique needs. In this article, we will explore the top competitors and alternatives to Oyster HR software, analyzing their features, pricing, pros and cons to help you make an informed decision on the best tool for your business.
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Top Oyster HR competitors and alternatives: Comparison table
Take a look at this representation of how Oyster HR’s alternatives compare, based on their approach to several key global payroll and HR features.
Payroll for international employees
Payroll for international contractors
Built-in time tracking tools
Global onboarding features
Pricing
Oyster HR
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plans starting at $29 per contractor/month
Papaya Global
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plans starting from $3 per month per employee
Plane
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Plans starting from $29 per month per contractor
Rippling
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Pricing starts at $8 per month per user
Blue Marble
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Shoppers receive a customized quote based on individual requirements
Remote
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Plans start at $29 per month per contractor
Deel
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Plans start at $49
Top Oyster HR competitors
The following software providers offer comparable solutions to Oyster’s products. Take a look at the options below for a breakdown of their features, pros, cons and prices.
Papaya Global: Best for data analytics and monitoring
Image: Papaya Global
Papaya Global is a global professional employer organization and provider of integrated global systems for payroll and HR processes. The company’s software uses automated technology to help businesses pay and manage their team members across 160+ countries.
Papaya Global’s standout software features include its real-time reporting and analytics tools, which enable organizational leaders to reach insights and make informed decisions through their payroll and HR data. In addition, each of the software plans comes with strong AI-based automation tools to streamline payroll and compliance processes.
Features
160+ countries supported.
Automated direct payments in local currency.
Third party tax payments.
Customized user permissions and approval chains.
Reporting for payroll, HR, payments, billing and admin data.
EOR & payroll contract management and compliance management for GDPR requests and with SOC2 requirements.
Pros
The solution provides a BI analytics suite and people reports on key datasets like payroll costs and HR workforce data and comes with data monitoring, so organizations can identify important trends in real-time.
The software comes with Papaya Personal, a self-service platform for employees, workers and contractors that is available in multiple languages and accessible both on desktop and on mobile devices.
The HRIS system offers a high level of customization, so users can personalize their tools according to the business’s unique HR and organizational needs.
Cons
Papaya Global does not own EOR subsidiaries or legal entities in the countries it services.
The solution lacks HR features commonly offered in other HR and team management solutions, like performance monitoring and training features.
Pricing
Papaya Global provides its software through seven plans:
Full-Service Payroll plan starting from $12/month per employee.
Payroll Platform License plan starting from $3/month per employee.
Data and Insights Platform License plan starting from $150/month per location.
Payments-as-a-Service plan starting from $3/month per employee.
Employer of Record plan starting from $770/month per employee.
Contractor Management plan starting from $25/month per employee.
Global Expertise Services plan starting from $250/month per employee.
Customers can also contact the company sales team or go online to get a customized price quote based on their business needs.
Read our full review of Papaya Global for more details.
Plane: Best for fast international payroll
Image: Plane
Plane is another software provider that acts as an employer of record for the businesses that use it. (Note that Plane is a recent name change for the company previously known as Pilot. We’re working on getting updated brand and logo information for Plane ASAP.)
Plane’s software enables employers to pay international contractors in 240+ countries and acts as an employer of record for organizations that hire and pay employees in 100+ countries. The solution provides features for processes including payroll, benefits administration, expense management and localized contracts.
This provider takes the cake for fast international payroll processes, as its payroll platform allows businesses to submit automated payments to domestic and international contractors and employees in as little as 1-2 business days. With local currency payments and bank transfers in 70+ countries with no currency markups, international contractors can have payments deposited directly into their bank accounts.
Features
Contractor payments in 240+ countries, employee payments in 100+ countries and multi-state W2 payroll.
Guided hiring and onboarding workflow.
W-8, W-9 tax form collection and 1099 filing.
Expense reimbursements.
Locally compliant contracts.
Health insurance and other benefits available.
Pros
Self-service features for employees are available through the contractor self-service platform, which allows users to submit expense reports and view payments.
Allows businesses with global contractors to make built-in payments without requiring transaction fees or exchange rate markups.
Through the built-in expense management features, organizations can approve expenses submitted by global employees and quickly process expense reimbursements.
Cons
Several advanced features and services are only available through the Plus plan.
Pricing for the International Employees Plus plan is determined based on the price tier, with all countries aside from Canada costing more.
Pricing
Plane’s services are provided through the following pricing plans:
Contractors plan priced at $29 per contractor/month.
US Employees plan priced at $29 per employee/month.
International Employees plan starting at $299 per employee/month for Tier A (Canada included) or $549 per employee/month for Tier B (100+ other countries included).
Employees Plus plan starting at $459 per employee for Tier A (Canada included) and $749 per employee for Tier B (100+ other countries included).
Rippling: Best for employee onboarding and offboarding
Image: Rippling
Rippling offers an all-in-one HR Cloud software that helps businesses run their global workforces, regardless of the location of their teams. The global HR platform makes it easy for organizations to manage their workers through each stage of their employment lifecycle, from onboarding through to offboarding.
Rippling provides global payroll services for employees and contractors with a 100% accuracy guarantee, and lets employers generate worldwide employee data reports in a single centralized system. Organizations can start setting up international teams with the software, as the system streamlines training for employees and contractors. Businesses can even develop custom workflows for their teams thanks to Rippling’s automation technology.
Features
Time and attendance tool for workers to clock in and out.
Learning management to streamline employee training.
Talent management and tools for onboarding and offboarding.
Professional employer organization services for accessing health insurance, HR support, automated state unemployment tax registration and more.
Pulse employee surveys to analyze worker feedback.
Headcount planning for global teams.
Pros
Automates global compliance processes to comply with local laws.
The built-in time and attendance tool automatically calculates payroll for worked hours, including overtime.
Workers can easily be onboarded, offboarded and have their employment changes managed through the Rippling HR system.
The software supports many integrations with popular third-party HR, IT and finance systems.
Cons
Comes with a steep learning curve for users who are unfamiliar with the technology.
Rippling does not offer a free trial of its software.
Pricing
Pricing for Rippling software starts at $8/month per user. Customers can choose the services they want and receive a custom quote.
Read our full review of Rippling for more details.
Blue Marble: Best for reporting
Image: Blue Marble
Blue Marble Payroll supports international payroll processes in 135+ countries and provides services that help businesses expand their operations globally. Through the cloud-based global payroll platform WebGlobe, users can manage their international payroll operations and access monthly aggregated reporting on cost data among all countries and currencies. The solution allows organizations to run reports on aggregated employee and payroll data, too, so they can reach valuable insights.
Blue Marble also provides users with customized monthly reporting, equipping them with access to international payroll data and helping them maintain compliance in their operations. The customized reporting gives businesses a consolidated view of their payroll costs across all countries, in one location. Furthermore, the payroll software can be integrated with features for accounting, taxes, finance and HR processes.
Features
Global payroll compliance guaranteed.
Multinational payroll calendar.
Treasury management and currency conversion services.
Advanced controls.
Aggregated reporting for international payroll.
Pros
Blue Marble Payroll’s platform is a full-service outsourcing solution for global payroll management with a global network of payroll service partners, simplifying payroll processes for businesses.
Global payroll compliance is guaranteed through Blue Marble Payroll’s dedicated compliance resources and advanced technology, so users can avoid risk of fines, fees and penalties.
Standardizes data provided by disparate firms worldwide, for easy aggregated international payroll reporting.
Uses a network of carefully vetted global consultants to help with various tasks, including registering companies abroad, providing local benefits, automating time keeping, calculating foreign accruals, recruiting and onboarding global talent, establishing banking abroad, managing employee performance and other global HRIS processes.
Cons
Blue Marble does charge exchange rates, however the treasury management and currency conversion services can give users access to lower rates.
Blue Marble does not offer a free trial of its software.
Pricing
Blue Marble is not transparent about its pricing, instead offering shoppers a customized quote based on individual requirements.
Remote: Best for EOR services
Image: Remote.com
Remote provides global payroll for distributed teams and acts as an employer of record for businesses. This means that employers can use Remote to source workers internationally, and Remote will hire the employees on the organization’s behalf, as well as manage payments for contractors.
Remote’s software includes features and capabilities to help businesses manage their global payroll, compliance operations, taxes and benefits processes through its platform. Organizations can choose between hiring international employees through Remote, or using the software to manage and pay international contractors.
Features
Employer of record services for payroll administration and contractor management.
Country-specific benefits packages.
Compliance with local tax and labor laws.
24/7 support from Remote’s network of local HR, legal and finance experts.
International employee and contractor onboarding services.
Expense management.
Pros
As an employer of record, Remote assumes employer liability, handles all tax payments and enables businesses to avoid corporation taxes where they don’t have local entities.
Provides hiring features including the ability for businesses to generate customized employment contracts.
In addition to payroll and tax processes, Remote provides expense management and time off management features for teams to help streamline operations.
Cons
The Remote Enterprise option is the only package that provides access to a dedicated support team. Otherwise, customer support is only accessible via email.
Remote’s software lacks time tracking capabilities.
Pricing
Remote’s services are provided through the following pricing plans:
Employer of Record plan, starting at $599/month per employee charged annually, or $699/month per employee charged monthly.
Contractor Management plan starting at $29/month per contractor.
Businesses can contact the company for Global Payroll plan quotes, or to receive custom pricing for the Remote Enterprise plan.
Deel: Best for employee relocation services
Image: Deel
Deel calls itself the future of global HR, providing features to help users hire and pay local employees and international workers. Thanks to Deel’s worldwide infrastructure, employers can source talent worldwide by hiring contractors and EOR employees globally without opening legal entities.
Deel provides payroll and HR services for contractors, EOR and employees. Its worldwide infrastructure has 100+ entities and provides visa support, making it possible to build, onboard and pay teams of global workers. Additionally, with built-in compliance, automated contractor invoicing, tax support and 15+ global payment options, businesses can streamline their global team management in one unified system.
Features
Hire and pay contractors compliantly in 150+ countries, EOR employees through Deel owned entities in 90+ countries, or direct employees in 90 countries.
Localized agreements for milestone, hourly or fixed work structures.
Government declarations.
Document collection and management.
People directories, profiles and organizational charts.
Customized permissions.
Pros
Deel HR is customizable to fit with the payroll and HR management needs for every worker to ensure compliance within their country.
Lets users manage their equity, working visas and equipment.
Provides faster onboarding and offers users a holistic view of data regarding employer costs, headcount and churn.
Enables businesses to pay contractors, EORs and direct employees through its automatic payroll features, and offers payment through 15+ global payment options.
Cons
Certain features, like contractor misclassification protection and government declarations, are only available on higher-tier plans.
The dedicated CSM is not offered to small businesses and is only available to enterprises.
Pricing
Deel’s services are provided through three pricing plans:
Contractors plan starting at $49.
EOR Employees plan starting at $599.
Direct Employees plan priced at a custom rate based on the organization’s needs.
Is Oyster HR worth it?
Oyster HR offers international payroll and HR services for global contractors in 180+ countries and full-time employees in 130+ countries through its software. Oyster HR can act as a global employer of record for businesses, allowing them to compliantly hire, onboard, pay and manage full-time global employees. Alternatively, businesses can use the employee management solution to compliantly source, manage and set up payments for international contractors.
Oyster HR’s wide global support isn’t the only reason businesses use it for their international workforces. The software solution simplifies international business operations and offers users peace of mind through its global employment guidance tools.
SEE: Use our buyer’s guide to review the best solutions for international payroll.
These features allow businesses to make smart decisions when hiring internationally. For instance, organizations can use the Time Zone Crossover Calculator to optimize talent sourcing locations for their needs. They can also instantly calculate all employment costs for their workers worldwide using Oyster’s Global Employment Cost Calculator, so they can stay within their workforce hiring budgets.
Oyster HR provides plenty of features to help businesses ensure compliance with their global employment and payroll processes, making it a beneficial end-to-end employee management option for hiring, paying and managing international workers.
Oyster HR pros and cons
If you’re still on the fence about Oyster HR, consider the following pros and cons of its software, as well as the price of Oyster’s solutions.
Oyster HR pros
Oyster HR supports integrations with many popular ERP, ATS, expense management and HRIS tools, including third-party programs like QuickBooks Online, Oracle NetSuite and Xero.
Employers can use Oyster’s Employee Misclassification Analyzer to determine their risk of employee misclassification when hiring internationally.
Oyster HR can process invoices and pay contractors in 120+ currencies, or process payroll for full-time employees as an EOR in 130+ countries.
Oyster HR users can hire confidently with the Contractor vs Full-Time Employee Analyzer tool, which allows them to assess potential risks and costs associated with each option.
Oyster HR cons
Oyster HR lacks some features that are commonly found among global payroll solutions, including advanced analytics, offboarding and employee training management.
Oyster HR does not offer salary guidelines tailored to specific roles.
Small businesses may find the pricing for full-time employees to be high compared to its competitors.
Oyster HR pricing
Oyster HR’s services are provided through three pricing options:
Contractor plan starting at $29 per contractor/month.
Employee plan starting at $499 per employee/month billed annually, or $599 per employee/month billed monthly.
Scale plan, which is priced through custom rates based on the buyer’s needs.
Do you need an alternative to Oyster?
While Oyster HR is a popular payroll and HR solution, there are several reasons why organizations may wish to explore an alternative product. Oyster HR can be beneficial for various global payroll needs, but it lacks some HR functionalities that businesses may require, such as employee performance management tools.
Regarding payroll, Oyster HR does not offer advanced analytics or robust reporting. This means it may not be suitable for users that require features to help them identify trends or patterns in employee compensation or financing. Finally, some small businesses may find Oyster HR’s pricing too high for their limited budget, especially those looking to hire full-time global employees.
Oyster HR will be suitable for many businesses’ payroll and HR requirements. Still, its limitations may make it necessary for others to consider alternative products that offer more comprehensive features for tasks like time tracking, employee performance management and in-depth analytics. Therefore, some global teams may need to seek additional options to meet their payroll needs. Fortunately, our payroll services comparison tool can help organizations determine which payroll and HR features are necessary for their ideal software system.
Methodology
This is a technical review using compiled literature researched from relevant databases. The information provided within this article is gathered from vendor websites or based on an aggregate of user feedback.
Extract, transform and load tools are designed to help organizations extract data from disparate sources and consolidate the extracted data into actionable information and insights. With ETL tools, organizations can significantly improve data quality and simplify data management. They can work in either cloud or on-premises IT environments; they also come in either proprietary or open-source software. Here are some of the most popular ETL tools in those categories.
SEE: Explore the difference between ETL and ELT.
Jump to:
Top ETL tools comparison
Here is how the best ETL tools compare in terms of core features.
AWS Glue: Best for fully managed ETL service
Image: AWS Glue
AWS Glue is a nice fit for companies that use SQL databases, AWS and Amazon S3 storage services. AWS Glue enables users to clean, validate, organize and load data from disparate static or streaming data sources into a data warehouse or a data lake. It can also process semi-structured data such as clickstream (e.g., website hyperlinks) and process logs.
AWS Glue’s strength is in its ability to work with SQL, which many companies have competence in. On the programming side, AWS Glue executes jobs using either Scala or Python code.
Pricing
Pricing is free for the first million accesses and objects stored and is billed monthly based upon usage thereafter.
Features
Schedule ETL jobs based on a schedule or an event, or set up trigger jobs as soon as data becomes available.
Drag-and-drop editor for ETL job development.
Automatically scales to accommodate the processing and storage resources needed to provide visibility of runtime metrics while it processes data.
APIs for third-party JDBC (JAVA)-accessible databases like DB2, MySQL, Oracle, Sybase, Apache Kafka and MongoDB.
AWS offers free online courses. It also provides certification programs.
Pros
Flexible operations with easy scalability.
No need for a server.
Automated data scheme identification.
Cons
User interface feels outdated.
Technical support needs improvement.
Steep learning curve.
Azure Data Factory: Best for Azure users
Image: Azure Data Factory
Azure Data Factory is a pay-as-you-go cloud-based ETL tool that automatically scales processing and storage to meet your data and processing demands. Its strength is that it can be used by both IT professionals and end users. This is because the tool has both a no-code graphical user interface for end users and a code-based interface for IT. Both code and no-code interfaces feature data pulls from more than 90 connectors. Among these connectors are AWS, DB2, MongoDB, Oracle, MySQL, SQL, Sybase, Salesforce and SAP.
Pricing
Pricing is based on usage.
Features
Free online training.
Certification for Azure Data Factory.
24/7 technical support via phone and email.
Pros
Outstanding technical support.
High visual interface.
Excellent integration capabilities.
Cons
Steep learning curve.
Limited data transformation features.
Google Cloud Dataflow: Best for scalability
Image: Google Cloud Dataflow
Google Cloud Dataflow is part of the Google Cloud platform and is well integrated with other Google services. Dataflow uses the Apache Beam open-source technology to orchestrate the data pipelines that are used in DataFlow’s ETL operations. Google Cloud Dataflow requires IT expertise in SQL databases and Java and Python programming languages.
This software can be deployed for both batch and real-time processing and in either a scheduled or real-time on-demand mode. Because Google Cloud Dataflow is cloud-based, it can automatically scale to accommodate the processing and storage that you need for any ETL job. Google Cloud Dataflow is ideal for shops that heavily use the Google Cloud platform.
Pricing
Pricing is based on usage. Through its Cloud Academy, Google offers a free online tutorial on Dataflow, hands-on training at $34/month and a Google certification program at $39/month.
Features
Automated management of processing resources.
Real-time AI capabilities.
Horizon auto-scaling to maximize resource utilization.
Fully managed data processing service.
Pros
Serverless architecture.
Deep integration with Google Cloud services.
Programming models allow for high developer productivity.
Cons
Reliant on Google Cloud infrastructure.
Complex debugging.
IBM DataStage: Best for large enterprises
Image: IBM InfoSphere DataStage
DataStage is part of the IBM Information Server Platform. It’s a robust ETL solution that uses a client/server design where jobs are created and administered via a Windows client against a central repository on a server. This tool is designed for IT professionals who have a sound understanding of SQL and knowledge of the BASIC programming language, which InfoSphere DataStage uses.
Regardless of the platform, the IBM DataStage ETL software can integrate data on demand across multiple, high volumes of data sources and can target applications using a high-performance parallel framework. DataStage also facilitates extended metadata management and enterprise connectivity.
Pricing
Pricing is available upon request.
Features
Support for a variety of connectors, including AWS, Azure Google, Sybase, Hive, JSON, Kafka, Oracle, Salesforce, Snowflake, Teradata and others.
24/7 technical support packages.
Pre-build connectors to help integrate with different types of systems.
Pay-for online and classroom training and certifications for DataStage.
Pros
Ability to manage complex data workflows.
Extensive integration capabilities.
Large user community that offers extensive support resources.
Cons
Not ideal for cloud-native architecture.
Clutter user interface.
Oracle Data Integrator: Best for systems that rely on Oracle technologies
Image: Oracle Data Integrator
Oracle Data Integrator is a strong platform for larger enterprises that run other Oracle applications that supports data integration for both structured and unstructured data. ODI is designed to move data from point to point across an entire company’s business functions. Like Oracle ERP, it can support integrated workflows across entire organizations.
ODI can process data integration requests that range from high-volume batch loads to service-oriented architecture data services that enable software components to be called and reused in new processes.
ODI also supports relational databases and has a library of application programming interfaces for third-party data and applications. It supports Spark Streaming, Hive, Kafka, Cassandra, HBase, Sqoop and Pig.
Pricing
Customized pricing.
Features
Supports parallel task execution for faster data processing.
Built-in integrations with other Oracle tools, such as Oracle GoldenGate and Oracle Warehouse Builder.
Prebuilt templates and code snippets for various data sources.
Real-time and batch-oriented data integration.
Pros
Seamless integration with other Oracle products.
Extensive prebuilt knowledge modules.
ETL architecture for high performance.
Cons
Requires IT expertise and experience in Java programming.
Limited capabilities for non-Oracle targets or data sources.
Check how Oracle Data Integrator compares with SAP Data services.
Informatica Mapping Designer: Best for advanced users
Image: Informatica PowerCenter Mapping Designer
Informatica PowerCenter is an enterprise-strength ETL tool that is best utilized by large organizations that need to move data across many different business functions. PowerCenter extracts, transforms and loads data from a variety of different structured and unstructured data sources that span internal and external (cloud-based) enterprise applications. PowerCenter has many APIs for a variety of different third-party applications and data.
Common data formats that PowerCenter works with include JSON, XML, PDF and Internet of Things machine data. PowerCenter can work with many different third-party databases, such as SQL and Oracle databases. PowerCenter will transform data based on the transformation rules that are defined by IT.
Pricing
Pricing is based on usage.
Features
Although PowerCenter is a proprietary ETL tool, it can work in both cloud and on-premises environments.
Advanced data validation and profiling tools.
Includes PowerCenter online training subscriptions and provides learning paths for developers, administrators and data integrators through its Informatica University.
Powerful metadata management and impact analysis features.
Pros
Highly scalable.
Drag-and-drop functionality for data mapping.
Broad range of connectors.
Cons
Initial setup can be complicated.
GUI is not user-friendly.
Limited support for specialized data sources.
Talend: Best for small or simple projects
Image: Talend
Talend is open-source software that can quickly build data pipelines for ETL operations. It is a tool best utilized by IT because it requires changes to code every time you need to change a job. That being said, Talend is a highly user-friendly tool for IT professionals that uses a graphical user interface to effect connections to data and applications.
Talend Open Studio can pull both structured and unstructured data from relational databases, software applications and files. It can be used with on-premises, cloud and multi-cloud platforms, so Talend is a good fit for companies that operate in a hybrid computing mode that includes both in-house and on-cloud systems and data.
Pricing
A basic version of Talend is available for free. The enhanced version of Talend is priced on a per-user basis.
Features
Talend comes with more than 900 different connectors to commercial and open-source data sources and applications.
GUI enables you to point and click on connections to commonly used corporate data sources, such as Excel, Dropbox, Oracle, Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics and others.
The Talend Academy is available by subscription and offers a variety of online and instructor-led courses. Talend certification programs are also available.
Talend technical support provides access to a wide user community, an online library and a one-stop customer portal.
Pros
Impressive free version.
Intuitive user interface.
Broad connectivity.
Cons
Limited ability to handle large data.
Limited cloud-native capabilities.
Lack of user community and training documentation.
For more information, read the full Talend review.
Pentaho Data Integration: Best for small and midsize businesses
Image: Pentaho Data Integration
Pentaho Data Integration is an open-source ETL tool that provides data mining, reports and information dashboards. It works with either structured or unstructured data. As an in-house ETL resource, Pentaho can be hosted on either Intel or Apple servers. It uses JDBC to connect to a variety of relational databases, such as SQL, but it can also connect to proprietary enterprise databases like DB2. Pentaho captures, cleans and loads standard and unstructured systems data, and it works equally well processing incoming IoT data from the field or factory floors.
Pentaho’s strength is its ability to be used by citizen developers, such as business end users, via no-code capabilities. This makes it a good fit for small and midsize businesses that may not have the IT expertise onboard to run ETLs. Users can use a drag-and-drop GUI to get their jobs done.
Pricing
The Community edition of Pentaho is free of charge, and the Enterprise edition is priced on a per-subscription basis. Pentaho offers online, self-paced learning and instructor-led education for a fee.
Features
Metadata-driven approach to allow users more control over how they want to extract and transform data.
Ability to blend traditional data with big data by pulling data from a variety of sources.
Wide connectivity to a variety of data sources that include structured, semi-structured and unstructured data.
Data migration between different applications and databases.
Pros
Easy learning curve.
Intuitive and highly visual interface.
Ability to handle large data volume.
Cons
Limited real-time data integration.
Required a high level of hardware resources for optimal performance.
Frequently asked questions about ETL tools
What is an ETL tool?
ETL tools transform and consolidate raw data from disparate sources to prepare it for target systems. Today, they play a major role in corporate decision-making. This is because data is culled from a variety of sources and then assembled in a single data repository that corporate decision-makers can access, providing a 360-degree view to make more informed decisions.
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ETL tools provide a level of comprehensive analysis and visibility that was difficult to achieve even a decade ago. Corporate departments were using their own systems and data, and this data stayed in data silos that weren’t always shared with others with a need to know. With more modernized approaches to preparing and sharing data, a more complete picture of what is going on throughout the company is available to corporate decision-makers.
How do ETL tools work?
ETL software obtains data from one or more sources, transforms the data into a form that is acceptable for another source and then moves the data to the new target source. ETL software is an automated software tool that automates this process. This saves time and effort and helps prevent manual errors.
When an ETL tool extracts data, the data can be extracted from any internal or external data source, whether it is a file or a database.
Once the ETL tool has the data, it transforms the data into a form that is compatible with the target data repository. This data transformation is based on predefined data conversion rules, which then perform the data transformation automatically.
As a final step, the ETL software takes the transformed data and moves it into the target data repository.
How do you use an ETL tool?
ETL tools automate the movement of data between systems, whether on-premises or in the cloud. These tools can be run for both batch and real-time data processing.
However, ETL tools are only as good as the set of business and operational rules that IT provides them. For instance, an organization will have a set of data governance and data cleaning standards. While ETL tools can automate these rules and standards, IT still must define the rules of operation and data quality and governance.
It is also up to IT to continuously monitor the ETL process in the same way IT monitors the performance of any other piece of software. This way, if there is a problem, IT can intervene and solve it.
How do you evaluate an ETL tool?
While ETL tools now automate much of manual processes data migration via APIs that automatically connect to many popular databases and applications, there are several factors companies should consider before purchasing an ETL solution:
What do you need the ETL for? Consider the different sources your data resides in as well as the types of data you have and whether you need to move it to an on-premises, a cloud or a hybrid infrastructure.
How do you want to prepare your data? Is the generic formatting (system to system or database to database) your ETL tool comes pre-packaged with going to meet your data cleaning and formatting needs, or do you need to add extra edit rules to the data?
How well can you support and leverage your ETL tool? Consider the size of your company and the number of skilled personnel you have who are trained in ETL as well as whether non-IT business users also need to use the ETL software.
How much do you want to pay for an ETL tool? Your budget should consider the cost of usage and data center storage, as well as the cost of training and support.
Key features of ETL tools
Cloud-native support
Cloud-native support in ETL tools refers to the ability of the solution to use cloud computing to process data. This is different from the traditional on-premises infrastructure. The major benefits of cloud-native support are that it is scalable and has greater flexibility as it allows organizations to be more agile.
Pre-built connectors
Pre-built connections are ready-to-use interfaces in ETL tools. This allows for quick and easy integration with different data sources and targets. A key advantage of pre-built connectors is that they minimize the need for custom coding, allowing for better productivity. They also help promote more streamlined data integration workflows.
Data integration
With data integration, ETL tools are able to move and transform raw data from disparate sources. This allows for a unified view of business data. Centralized data management helps improve efficiency in processing data. It also allows access to real-time data for better decision-making.
Visual interface
A visual interface for ETL tools helps simplify the process, helping boost productivity and enhance ease of use. For example, interface features such as drag-and-drop allow users to easily create integration workflows. The visual interface also helps with better visualization of data flow to help identify sources of errors or bottlenecks in the data flow.
Benefits of ETL tools
ETL tools offer a variety of benefits to organizations as they provide a structured approach to extracting data from different sources and transforming it into a more usable format. Here are some of the top benefits of ETL tools:
Improve data quality by removing data inconsistencies. This helps improve the reliability of decision-making.
Reduce the likelihood of human errors by automating several recurring or repetitive steps to data extraction and transformation.
Increase business agility by offering organizations the information required to respond quickly to changing business needs.
Boost operational residence by reducing reliance on the IT team for data processing.
How do I choose the best ETL tool for my business?
Data integration is one of the most persistent challenges for IT teams. What ETL tools bring to the table is a simplified way of moving data from system to system and from data repository to data repository.
ETL tools come in a wide variety that can meet the needs of enterprises with complex data and system integration needs in hybrid environments, as well as smaller companies that lack IT expertise and must watch their budgets. The ETL tool your business chooses will depend on its specific use cases and budget.
Review methodology
The best ETL tools were chosen based on different factors, including ease of use, features, connectivity and scalability. We also looked at the type of support and user community available for each tool.
While Raspberry Pi boards have been around since 2012, they have historically been powered by Broadcom SoCs. All of this changed in January 2021 when we saw the first Raspberry Pi silicon, the RP2040 arrive. In a short space of time the RP2040 has become a major SoC in the maker community. With two Arm Cortex M0+ cores running at 133 MHz, 264KB of RAM and up to 16MB of Flash (stored external to the RP2040), these chips open up a new range of microcontrollers that compete more closely with traditional Arduino boards than a Raspberry Pi 4. Raspberry Pi used the RP2040 in its Lego compatible Build HAT in place of the STM32 that Lego uses in its control bricks.
The Raspberry Pi Pico, and the Raspberry Pi Pico W are both great boards, but there are many more to choose from. There are now around 100, third-party boards that offer improvements ranging from smaller boards to built-in Wi-Fi, more storage or may more additional outputs. There are even RP2040-powered keypads and digital displays. All of these boards share the same $1 RP2040 chip, but offer much more than the stock model.
With Raspberry Pi still being hard to come by (it is getting better, with 1 million units per month now) we’ve compiled the best RP2040 boards to get your projects up and running. These boards can be used for everything from general learning to building Wi-Fi connected robots to implementing basic A.I.
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What size / pins do you need? Smaller RP2040 boards like Pimoroni’s Tiny RP2040, SparkFun’s Pro Micro RP2040 and Adafruit’s QT Py RP2040 have fewer than the standard 40 pins, but can fit in smaller projects.
Do you need wireless? With the introduction of the Pico W , we now have a low cost and easy to use means to get our projects online. Before that the RP2040 required add on boards such as Adafruit’s Airlift board or Pimoroni’s Pico Wireless Pack. There is also Arduino’s Nano RP2040 Connect, which comes with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth built-in, but this board costs over three times that of the Pico W.
Choose your ecosystem: The pinouts of different RP2040 boards may align with different add-ons. For example, Adafruit’s Feather RP2040 is compatible with around two dozen different FeatherWing, including those which offer wireless connectivity while the Pico itself connects directly to Pimroni’s “packs.”
Specialist connectors such as Stemma QT, Qwiic and Grove are desirable extra features for those that want simple and neat electronics projects. The Pico doesn’t come with any of these, but many third-party boards do. The simplicity of these connections belies the choice of sensors and components offered.
Best Raspberry Pi RP2040 Boards You Can Buy Today
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
$6 Dual core Arm microcontroller
Reasons to buy
+
Solid hardware
+
Backwards compatibility
+
Wi-Fi connects effortlessly
The original and least expensive RP2040 board, the Raspberry Pi PIco costs just $4, and while it provided a solid base for projects it lacked Wi-Fi. The $6 Raspberry Pi Pico W introduced Wi-Fi to the Pico, while retaining the exact same pinout as its predecessor. This smart move means that the plethora of RP2040 accessories are available to the Pico W.
Getting online with the Raspberry Pi Pico W is a breeze. Just five lines of MicroPython is all it takes to connect, and from there we have a multitude of options at our disposal. We now have a $6 data collection device, a web controlled robot, or Internet connected information gathering platform.
The Raspberry Pi Pico W adds to the Pico ecosystem. It provides us with a lower power option to the Raspberry Pi Zero W 2 and keeps the Raspberry Pi product range ticking while the global supply chain recovers.
Read:Raspberry Pi Pico W Review
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The Gold Standard of ‘Pi Silicon’
Reasons to buy
+
Great form factor
+
STEMMA QT easy to use
+
FeatherWing add-ons
+
Onboard battery connection and charging
+
Pin labelling on both sides of the board
Reasons to avoid
–
No pull up resistors on I2C pins
–
No battery monitoring
Adafruit, partners in the RP2040 project have released many great RP2040 boards in a short space of time. The company has its own ecosystem of form factors and its largest, the Feather, is where we saw their first RP2040 system. Designed to take advantage of an expansive range of add-ons called “FeatherWings”, the Feather RP2040 has fewer pins than a typical Raspberry Pi Pico, but the choice of pins is curated to give us the best that the RP2040 can offer.
What we lose in GPIO pins we gain in onboard LiPo / Li-Ion battery charging, great pin labeling and Stemma QT, Adafruit’s connector of choice for components that connect using I2C. With Stemma QT we have none of the messy wiring and polarity issues, enabling us to focus on the project and not our wiring.
If you’re looking for the most versatile RP2040 board on the market, look no further. Sure, we pay a premium over the Raspberry Pi Pico, but the Adafruit Feather RP2040 is a refined product that is ready to drop into your next project.
Read: Adafruit Feather RP2040 Review
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The ideal way to build your Raspberry Pi Pico projects
Reasons to buy
+
Low cost
+
Easy to use
+
Lots of extra features
+
Inline LEDs
+
Grove connectors
Reasons to avoid
–
ESP-01 needs extra work
The Raspberry Pi Pico is a fun and inexpensive way to get into coding and electronics. After buying a Pico, we need to also buy extra components to expand its scope and this can become costly and complicated. The Maker Pi Pico crams a lot of extra functions into a small package all for less than $10, including a pre-soldered Raspberry Pi Pico.
For $10, the sheer amount of features is amazing. We have a micro SD card reader, buzzer / 3.6mm audio jack, NeoPixel, all of the GPIO pins broken out for use and we have six Grove connectors for use with compatible components. Each of the GPIO pins has a useful LED that can be used to quickly debug an issue. The included ESP-01 header enables basic Wi-Fi access and, since we wrote our review, Cytron has released an updated guide on how to get the Maker Pi Pico connected to wireless. For $10 this board is hard to beat!
Read: Cytron Maker Pi Pico Review
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
A tiny board for great projects
Reasons to buy
+
Small size
+
Stemma QT Port
+
USB-C
Adafruit’s QT Py RP2040 is similar to Pimoroni’s Tiny 2040. We have the RP2040 squeezed into the smallest package and we have a curated selection of GPIO pins for our projects. Adafruit’s QTPy RP2040 has castellated edges, designed to surface mount the board into a project and it features a Stemma QT / Qwiic connector which breaks out an additional I2C connection for use with Stemma QT / Qwiic compatible components, a useful and tidy solution for rapid prototyping.
The low cost and ease of use afforded by the QTPy RP2040 is amplified by Adafruit’s MicroPython fork, CircuitPython, which has many libraries of code for use with Stemma QT / Qwiic components. Even if you already own a Raspberry Pi Pico, the QTPy RP2040 should still be part of your project box.
Read: Adafruit QT Py RP2040 Review
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
5. RP2040 Stamp
Distilling the Raspberry Pi Pico experience into a one inch square board
Reasons to buy
+
Small form factor
+
GPIO selection is excellent
+
PCB Design footprints
+
Ease of use
Solder Party’s RP2040 Stamp is a $12, one-inch square board resembles a postage stamp but emblazoned on the center is the familiar RP2040 SoC, along with 8MB of flash storage and a full complement of GPIO pins forming a perimeter of castellations around the board.
RP2040 Stamp is designed for use in your own PCBs. The castellations and onboard LiPo charging system means that most of the hard work is done for us. This is a smartly designed board which we can see being used in a plethora of new projects.
Read: Solder Party RP2040 Stamp Review
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Pico Pinout with Plenty of Extras
Reasons to buy
+
Identical Pico pinout
+
Battery charging
+
Stemma QT / Qwiic connector
+
Large flash memory
+
USB C
Reasons to avoid
–
Costs much more than a Pico
Many of the Raspberry Pi Pico alternatives have one thing in common, they lack the full set of GPIO pins found on the Pico. Pimoroni’s Pico LiPo is a drop-in replacement for the Raspberry Pi Pico that provides all of the GPIO pins found on a Pico, with added bonus of onboard LiPo / Li-Ion charging and a Stemma QT / Qwiic connector.
Pico LiPo does cost more than three times the price of a standard Pico, but with these extra features in the same form factor we can justify spending the extra money. If you are planning to build embedded / mobile projects or wish to try out the Stemma QT / Qwiic components ecosystem, then Pico LiPo is a serious contender for your attention.
Read: Pimoroni Pico LiPo Review
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The Spark of Invention
Reasons to buy
+
Lots of features
+
Compact form factor
+
Simple MicroPython module
+
Compatible with other MicroPython firmware
Reasons to avoid
–
Bespoke motor connections
–
Lack of GPIO pins
For the Raspberry Pi, the Explorer HAT series of boards were the first step for many roboteers. Mixing easy to use software with great hardware was a winning combination. For the Raspberry Pi Pico W we see Inventor 2040 W following this fine tradition. When we say it just works, we really do mean it.
In our review we loved the simplicity of the board. It afforded us the confidence to invent and create ideas. From motorized contraptions, servos, sensors, a rather cute light show and a sea shanty. You can do it all with this board.
At the heart of the board is the Raspberry Pi Pico W and this brings Wi-Fi to the mix. This board has all the features you could need, and it can replace the Raspberry Pi Zero for many maker projects. In the classroom, makerspace or the home, this board is the one to reach for.
Read: Pimoroni Inventor 2040 W Review
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Cheaper than a Big Mac meal and much more nourishing
Reasons to buy
+
Small form factor
+
USB C
+
Castellated Edges
+
Low cost
Reasons to avoid
–
Documentation needs a little work
–
Onboard NeoPixel doesn’t work with CircuitPython
Seeed’s $5 XIAO RP2040 is an upgrade on its previous SAMD21 model for no extra money. It shares the same pinout as Adafruit’s QT Py RP2040 but lacks the Stemma QT port. If you really need that port then pay the extra $5 for the QT Py, but for most uses Seeed’s XIAO RP2040 is more than up to the job.
The tiny board is made for dropping into an embedded project, and the castellated edges mean we can easily surface mount solder this board to a PCB. The cost per board means that we can embed and forget a project without hurting our wallets.
Read: Seeed XIAO RP2040
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Wearable
Reasons to buy
+
Great size
+
Connectivity
+
Clear screen
Reasons to avoid
–
Reasons to
–
Avoid No reset button
–
CircuitPython support
A bright and clear 2.4 inch IPS LCD that you can wear around your neck, or keep on your desk. Powered by the RP2040, Tufty 2040 is all about the display. Front and center this is a great display with good viewing angles and rich colors. Designed to be worn as a conference badge, Tufty 2040 is much more than a vanity project.
Around the back we see connections for Qw/ST (StemmaQT / Qwiic) sensors, which means we can easily use Tufty 2040 as a desktop data station for air quality and temperature data. Power can come from one of three sources. USB C, AAA batteries or LiPo. The AAA batteries and LiPo options connect via a dedicated JST-PH connector, but note that there is no builtin charging circuit so your batteries will need to be charged externally.
The small size, easy to use MicroPython library and Qw/ST connector elevate Tufty 2040 from being “just a badge” into a great data visualization tool. Sure we would love to see Wi-Fi as an option, Tufty 2040 came out just before the Raspberry Pi Pico W, so the overlap is unfortunate. That said, Tufty 2040 is still a great purchase.
Read: Pimoroni Tufty 2040 Review
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Programmable Keyboard with Pi Silicon Inside
Reasons to buy
+
Ease of use
+
Compact size
+
Clicky Keys
Reasons to avoid
–
Pricey
–
Lacks MicroPython support
Pimoroni’s Keybow 2040 is something special in the RP2040 range: a programmable 16-key keypad, powered by the RP2040. This isn’t a board that you use to build a project, rather it is something that we integrate into a project. With 16 mechanical keys, each with an addressable NeoPixel LED we can build the Keybow 2040 into our daily workflow.
The board ships with Pimoroni’s fork of MicroPython with modules to use Keybow 2040, but you will only get the best from this board via Adafruit’s CircuitPython and its USB HID module. Using this we can assign keypresses, media keys and mouse movements to any of the keys, making short work of tedious tasks.
Read:Pimoroni Keybow 2040 Review
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
All the features you need without wasting a millimeter
Reasons to buy
+
Qwiic connector
+
Great choice of GPIO
+
Small size
+
Castellated edges
The $10 SparkFun Pro Micro RP2040 is the cheapest model in SparkFun’s range and follows a classic design that resembles an Arduino Nano board layout which is at home in a breadboard and embedded into your projects. We have fewer GPIO pins than a Pico, but more than Adafruit’s QTPy RP2040 while retaining a small layout.
SparkFun’s Qwiic connector, compatible with Adafruit’s Stemma QT, enables us to use many of the compatible components such as sensors and displays with the Pro Micro and for $10 this is a Swiss Army Knife of a board that provides a cost effective and multi-purpose means to explore the RP2040 ecosystem.
Read:SparkFun Pro Micro RP2040 Review
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Simple Citizen Science
Reasons to buy
+
Setup wizard is smooth
+
Software is easy to use
+
Small size
+
Ease of use
Reasons to avoid
–
Only QW/ST breakout, no GPIO
The Raspberry Pi Pico W unleashed a low-cost, easy to use entrypoint for education and citizen science projects. For just $6 we now have a Wi-Fi connected device that can stream data over a network. Pimoroni’s Enviro Indoor uses the Pico W as the brains of an Internet of Things appliance that comes with its own temperature, humidity, air pressure, light and air quality sensors, packaged in a small board. The included setup script elevates Enviro Indoor from being “just another” sensor, into an accessible appliance designed to get results with minimal effort.
Basecamp is a well-known project management tool that is favored by many teams for its ability to enhance collaboration and streamline workflows. It provides a suite of features, including task management, message boards, schedules and document storage, all within a user-friendly interface. However, it may not cater to everyone’s needs, as some teams might require more advanced features like Gantt charts or workload views, which Basecamp lacks. Others might prefer a per-user pricing model or a tool tailored to their industry. As a result, we’ve come up with a list of six top Basecamp alternatives.
Jump to:
Top Basecamp competitors and alternatives: Comparison
Before we delve into the comparison table, it’s worth noting that all the project management tools listed here, including Basecamp, offer essential features such as task management, advanced reporting and file sharing. These are fundamental parts of all the Basecamp alternatives we’re discussing.
Software
Native time tracking
Customizable workflows
Gantt charts
Built-in automation
Starting price (per user)
Basecamp
No
No
No
No
$15/month
Monday.com
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
$8/month
Jira
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
$7.75/month
ClickUp
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
$5/month
Wrike
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
$9.80/month
Teamwork
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
$5.99/month
Asana
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
$10.99/month
monday: Best for visual project management
Image: monday.com
monday.com is a versatile project management platform that stands out for its highly visual and intuitive interface. It offers a variety of views, including Kanban, Gantt and timeline views, making it a flexible tool for different types of project management. This adaptability, coupled with a robust set of features, makes monday.com a great alternative to Basecamp, especially for teams that value visual project management.
Figure A: Time-tracking dashboard on monday.com
Features
Customizable workflows that adapt to your team’s needs.
Time tracking (Figure A) to keep tabs on productivity.
Automation and integrations to streamline processes and ensure your different tools work together seamlessly.
Advanced reporting for data-driven decision-making.
Pros
Highly visual and intuitive, making project management more engaging.
Versatile, with different views to suit various project management styles.
Strong integration capabilities to connect with other tools your team uses.
Cons
Can be overwhelming for new users due to the wide array of features.
Higher price point compared to some alternatives, which might be a consideration for budget-conscious teams.
Pricing
In addition to its free plan, monday.com offers four pricing tiers: Basic, Standard, Pro and Enterprise. The Basic plan starts at $8 per user per month, while the Standard and Pro plans cost $10 and $16 per user per month when billed annually, respectively. Contact monday for Enterprise pricing information.
For more information, read the full monday review.
Jira: Best for software development teams
Image: Jira
Jira by Atlassian is a project management tool specifically designed with software development teams in mind. It offers agile functionality, including Scrum and Kanban boards and deep integration with other Atlassian products. Software teams in particular will find Jira an attractive alternative to Basecamp, especially due to its robust feature set and standout agile features.
Figure B: Scrum board in Jira for an Agile project
Features
Agile development features to support Scrum (Figure B) and Kanban methodologies.
Customizable workflows to fit your team’s development process.
Deep integration with developer tools like Bitbucket, Confluence and CI/CD tools like Jenkins.
Advanced reporting and analytics to track progress and performance.
Pros
Robust features for software development, catering specifically to developers’ needs.
Deep integration capabilities with other Atlassian products for a unified toolset.
Scalable for large teams, making it suitable for growing organizations.
Cons
Steeper learning curve due to its focus on software development.
Can be overkill for non-software projects, making it less suitable for general project management.
Pricing
Jira provides a free plan for up to 10 users. For larger teams, when billed monthly, the Standard plan costs $7.75 per user per month, and the Premium plan is $15.25 per user per month. It also offers an Enterprise plan that’s billed annually, and pricing is available on request.
For more information, read the full Jira review.
ClickUp: Best for all-in-one project management
Image: ClickUp
ClickUp aims to be a one-stop solution for all project management needs. It offers a wide range of features, including task management, time tracking, goal setting and even docs and notes functionality. If your team would be well-suited to an all-in-one project management solution, then ClickUp’s comprehensive approach would make it a strong alternative to Basecamp.
Figure C: ClickUp list view, one of many views offered
Features
Comprehensive task management to keep all your tasks in one place.
Time tracking and goal setting to keep your team focused and productive.
Docs and notes functionality to centralize your team’s knowledge.
Multiple customizable views (Figure C) to adapt to your team’s workflow.
Pros
All-in-one solution, reducing the need for multiple tools.
Customizable for different needs, making it adaptable to various workflows.
Competitive pricing, offering a balance between cost and features.
Cons
Can be overwhelming with so many features, which might require some time to fully explore.
Interface can be cluttered due to the vast array of features, which might affect usability.
Pricing
ClickUp offers a free plan with 100 MB of storage. For more storage and features, its Unlimited plan is available at $5 per user per month, Business plan at $12 per user per month and Business Plus at $19 per user per month, all billed annually. Its Enterprise plan’s pricing is available on request.
For more information, read the full ClickUp review.
Wrike: Best for enterprise teams
Image: Wrike
Wrike is a comprehensive project management tool designed with large teams and enterprises in mind. It offers robust features, including Gantt charts, workload view and custom dashboards. Wrike’s focus on enterprise-level project management, coupled with its scalability and strong security measures, makes it a compelling alternative to Basecamp for larger organizations.
Figure D: Gantt chart in Wrike
Features
Gantt charts (Figure D) and workload view to visualize project timelines and resources.
Custom dashboards and reports for personalized data visualization and insights.
Time tracking to monitor team productivity.
Advanced integration capabilities to connect with your existing software ecosystem.
Pros
Robust features for large teams, catering to complex project management needs.
Scalable for large enterprises, making it suitable for growing organizations.
Strong security measures to protect your project data.
Cons
Can be complex to set up due to its extensive feature set.
Higher price point, which might be a consideration for budget-conscious teams.
Pricing
In addition to a free plan, Wrike’s paid plans include the Team plan at $9.80 per user per month, billed annually, a Business plan at $24.80 per user per month, billed annually and an Enterprise plan with pricing available on request.
For more information, read the full Wrike review.
Teamwork: Best for client project management
Image: Teamwork
Teamwork is a project management tool that shines when it comes to client project management. It offers features like client permissions, invoicing and a client portal. This focus on client work, coupled with its user-friendly interface and strong customer support, makes Teamwork a worthy alternative to Basecamp for teams that frequently collaborate with clients.
Figure E: Time-tracking in Teamwork
Features
Client permissions and portal to facilitate client collaboration.
Offers invoicing features to streamline billing processes.
Task management and time tracking (Figure E) to keep your team on track.
Delivers Gantt charts for visual project planning.
Pros
Strong features for client work, enhancing client collaboration.
User-friendly interface, making it easy for your team and clients to use.
Its feature set makes it more than suitable for remote teams.
Cons
Limited integration capabilities, which might require workarounds for some workflows.
Some features are only available in the higher-tier plans, which might limit functionality for teams on a budget.
Pricing
Aside from a free plan, Teamwork offers the Starter plan at $5.99 per user per month, followed by the Deliver plan at $10 per user per month and the Grow plan at $18 per user per month, all billed annually. The Scale plan, however, requires you to request pricing information from Teamwork.
For more information, read the full Teamwork review.
Asana: Best for task management
Image: Asana
Asana is a project management tool that stands out for its comprehensive task management. It offers a simple, user-friendly interface and a wide range of task management features. This focus on task management, combined with its user-friendly interface and good free plan, makes Asana a strong alternative to Basecamp for teams that prioritize task management.
Figure F: Kanban board view in Asana
Features
Comprehensive task management to keep all your tasks organized.
Multiple views such as board (Figure F), timeline and calendar views to visualize your project from multiple perspectives.
Automation and integrations to streamline your workflows.
Advanced reporting for data-driven decision-making.
Pros
It is easy to manage and track tasks thanks to its standout task management features.
User-friendly interface, making it easy for your team to use.
Good free plan, making it accessible for teams on a budget.
Cons
Limited features in the free plan, which might require an upgrade for more functionality.
Can get expensive for larger teams, which might be unideal for budget-conscious organizations.
Pricing
Asana provides a free Basic plan for individuals and very small teams. For more features, the Premium plan is $10.99 per user per month if billed annually. It also offers a Business plan at $24.99 per user per month if billed annually and an Enterprise plan with advanced features and controls, with pricing available on request.
For more information, read the full Asana review.
Is Basecamp worth it?
Yes! I found value in Basecamp as a project management tool, though it’s worth noting that it was for a simple project management use case. Its strength lies in its simplicity and ease of use. It offers a clean, intuitive interface that made it easy for me to get started without a steep learning curve. The tool’s core features, such as task management, message boards and schedules, among others, are straightforward and effective, making it a solid choice for teams looking to streamline their workflow and enhance collaboration.
However, it’s also important to consider what Basecamp doesn’t offer. While its simplicity is a strength, it can also be a limitation for teams that require more advanced features. For instance, Basecamp does not offer Gantt charts, a feature that many project managers rely on for visualizing project timelines. It also lacks certain customization options that some teams might find necessary.
In terms of pricing, Basecamp’s flat rate pricing makes it clear and predictable and having only two tiers of $15 and $99 per user per month makes pricing quite straightforward. But it’s worth noting that the $15 tier is slightly higher than most of the lowest pricing tiers of the alternatives covered.
Basecamp pros and cons
Basecamp offers a balance between simplicity and functionality. It’s a tool that is easy to use and offers a range of features designed to improve team collaboration and project management. However, like any tool, it has its strengths and weaknesses and what works well for one team might not be as effective for another. Here’s a summary of the main pros and cons of Basecamp:
Pros
User-friendly interface makes it easy for teams to get started and intuitively use it.
Flat pricing model can be cost-effective for individuals, freelancers and larger teams.
Strong collaboration features like message boards and document storage.
Cons
Lacks certain advanced features like Gantt charts.
Flat rate might be limiting for users seeking more flexible pricing.
Limited customization options compared to some alternatives.
Basecamp pricing
Basecamp offers two pricing tiers: Basecamp and Basecamp Pro Unlimited.
Basecamp
This tier is perfect for freelancers, startups and small teams. It provides 500 GB of file and document storage and operates on a monthly, pay-as-you-go basis. The cost is $15 per user per month. Since Basecamp only bills its subscribers for employees, you can invite guests for free.
Basecamp Pro Unlimited
Larger teams and teams looking to scale will find this tier to be more attractive than the previous tier as it offers additional features like 5 TB of file and document storage, round-the-clock priority support and the Admin Pro Pack for much more control of access and permissions. It costs a flat rate of $299/month if billed annually and does not charge per user. This means your whole team can use Basecamp Pro Unlimited for a single set price. However, should you want to subscribe to the month-to-month plan, it will cost you $349 every month.
Do you need a Basecamp alternative?
Whether you need an alternative to Basecamp depends on your specific needs and circumstances. If you’re looking for more advanced features, more customization options or a pricing model that appeals to you more, then one of the alternatives listed above may be a better fit for you.
For instance, if you’re a software development team, you might prefer Jira for its robust agile development features. If you’re a freelancer or a small team on a budget, you might find ClickUp or Asana’s free plans more appealing. If you’re a larger enterprise with complex project management needs, Wrike’s robust features and scalability might be more suitable.
Methodology
To deliver an unbiased comparison of the tools listed above, we created a shortlist of tools that cater to different types of teams and then compared their features, strengths and weaknesses. We then used verified user reviews and a hands-on feel for most of the tools to augment our findings and gauge user feedback for the products.
Featured partners
1
Wrike
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Tackle complex projects with Wrike’s award-winning project management software. Break projects into simple steps, assign tasks to team members, and visualize progress with Gantt charts, Kanban boards, and calendars. Manage resource allocation and forecasting with software that’s easy to launch. Automation and AI features strip away time-consuming admin tasks so you can do the best work of your life. Streamline your practices, align your team, and ensure you hit deadlines and stay on budget.
Learn more about Wrike
2
monday.com
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monday.com Work OS is the project management software that helps you and your team plan, execute, and track projects and workflows in one collaborative space. Manage everything from simple to complex projects more efficiently with the help of visual boards, 200+ ready-made templates, clever no-code automations, and easy integrations. In addition, custom dashboards simplify reporting, so you can evaluate your progress and make data-driven decisions.
Learn more about monday.com
3
Smartsheet
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Smartsheet is an online work execution platform empowering organizations of all sizes to plan, manage, automate, and report on work. Over 80,000 brands rely on Smartsheet for project and work management.
As organizations worldwide continue to adapt to an increasingly competitive landscape and a rapidly evolving business environment, the demand for effective project management solutions has never been greater. Companies of all sizes are recognizing the need to streamline workflows, enhance collaboration and boost overall productivity. Implementing the right project management software can help businesses stay ahead of the curve by ensuring projects are completed on time, within budget and with optimal resource allocation.
Jump to:
Top project management software comparison
Alongside pricing, here are some of the most important features that set apart the best project management software on the market. The table below illustrates which of the top 10 project management tools include these key features.
Software
Pricing
Native time tracking
Multiple view types
Customizable templates
Task management
Free plan
monday work management
$8 per user per month
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Smartsheet
$7 per user per month
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
ClickUp
$5 per user per month
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Teamwork
$5.99 per user per month
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Wrike
$9.80 per user per month
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Asana
$10.99 per user per month
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Trello
5 per user per month
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Zoho Projects
$4 per user per month
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Confluence
$5.75 per user per month
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Jira
$7.75 per user per month
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
monday work management: Best for teams of all technical levels
Image: monday.com
monday work management is a reputable project management brand with a flexible platform for teams of all flavors. While initially intimidating, the monday work management interface is packed with features and offers extensive configuration management capabilities. While other solutions lean into a few views of project data, monday work management gives users the most flexibility in adding and configuring valuable visualizations.
Though I ran into hiccups using monday work management, the project management software excels in configurability, giving teams the expected control to optimize workflows.
Pricing
Individual: $0 for up to two seats.
Basic: $8 per seat per month billed annually, or $10 per seat per month billed monthly. A free trial is available.
Standard: $10 per seat per month billed annually, or $12 per seat per month billed monthly. A free trial is available.
Pro: $16 per seat per month billed annually, or $20 per seat per month billed monthly. A free trial is available.
Enterprise: Quotes are available upon request.
Features
Visualize project data through multiple tables (Figure A), kanban and dashboard views.
Personalize colorful interfaces that bring project data to life.
Customize and share surveys for data collection via the WorkForms tool.
Access integrations for developers, marketing, CRM and project management.
Utilize pre-built automations and a long list of options for creating automation rules.
Figure A
Image: monday.com. In monday work management, users can optimize their teams’ workflows.
Top integrations
Jira
GitHub
Slack
Dropbox
Pros
Clean user interface not bogged down by the platform’s extensive features.
Robust configurations for setting the workspace and tools to team specifications.
Designed for a multitude of use cases across industries and functions.
Cons
An evident learning curve for new users and implementing advanced features.
Import engine failed to pull most existing data into the platform.
Manually inputting data to reconcile imports was the biggest pain point.
Why we chose monday work management
We choose monday work management for its outstanding versatility as project management software. It’s a powerful tool for a variety of project management use cases and offers robust features for team collaboration tools, automation features and customization.
For more information, read the full monday work management review.
Smartsheet: Best for spreadsheet lovers
Image: Smartsheet
Launched in 2005, Smartsheet’s project and work management platform is one of the safest bets in the project management software market. From onboarding to using the platform, I was impressed by the interface’s user-friendliness and the features’ extensibility. Smartsheet offers an upgrade from traditional tools by adding accessible user experience features, needed integrations, robust configurability and no-code capabilities to a spreadsheet interface.
Smartsheet pricing is among the highest on the market, and there is no unlimited free plan. Still, I believe the platform’s benefits more than justify consideration for small teams up to enterprise organizations.
Pricing
Pro: $7 per user per month billed annually, or $9 per user per month billed monthly. A free trial is available.
Business: $25 per user per month billed annually, or $32 per user per month billed monthly. A free trial is available.
Enterprise: Quotes are available upon request.
Features
Ability to create, import and manage project data on a central cloud-based platform.
Ability to visualize project data through the Grid (Figure B), Gantt, Card and Calendar views.
Flexible options for setting and adjusting project field data.
Access to WorkApps, the platform’s no-code tool for building web and mobile apps.
Activity log for tracking change management with filters to identify actions.
Figure B
Image: Smartsheet. Add comments, attachments and proofs to rows, or expand and condense tasks to view project details in Smartsheet’s Grid view.
Top integrations
Microsoft Teams
Slack
Salesforce
Zapier
Pros
Friendly user interface for moving from legacy spreadsheet tools.
Extensive documentation and access to onboarding assistance.
Prebuilt project and automation templates to get to work fast.
Cons
Several tools are add-ons, requiring an additional purchase.
Security features are limited to the Enterprise subscription.
Premium support is only available for higher-tier plans.
Why we chose Smartsheet
While Smartsheet is ideally suited for users who prefer a spreadsheet-style interface, it offers several advanced project management features that help streamline processes and save time. The clean and simple layout makes for an easy learning curve, and for users who don’t want to start from scratch, they can use the customizable templates from the library.
SEE: Read our Smartsheet review, or check out how Smartsheet compares to monday work management and Asana.
ClickUp: Best for teams on a tight budget
Image: ClickUp
The fastest mover in the project management software space is ClickUp. Only five years after its founding, the San Diego-based startup has grown into one of the top project management solution providers. ClickUp far exceeded my expectations with a stack of project views and tools to enable productivity and collaboration for a wide variety of functional teams.
Add in ClickUp’s handful of affordable subscriptions for different team sizes, and it’s difficult not to consider this budding project management software.
Pricing
Free Forever: $0; best for personal use.
Unlimited: $5 per user per month billed annually, or $9 per user per month billed monthly.
Business: $12 per user per month billed annually, or $19 per user per month billed monthly.
Business Plus: $19 per user per month billed annually, or $29 per user per month billed monthly.
Enterprise: Quotes are available upon request.
Features
Visualize project data through the List (Figure C), Board, Gantt, Calendar, Workload and Map views.
Create and modify tasks or bulk edit tasks from a list of potential operations.
Manage granular configurations of platform features and security.
Track and visualize project data through the Dashboards view.
Import data from monday, Asana, Trello, Jira, Wrike, Basecamp and Todoist.
Figure C
Image: ClickUp. The List view in ClickUp allows users to bulk edit multiple tasks.
Top integrations
Pros
Widest and most affordable range of plans to meet different-sized team needs.
Robust configurability for customizing and managing platform workflows.
Access to over 1,000 integrations for developers, business suites, storage and more.
Cons
Slight variance between the imported file and platform results.
Some platform actions are less intuitive and require additional troubleshooting.
Occasional lagging between moving pages and lingering platform notices.
Why we chose ClickUp
We picked ClickUp as one of the best project management software for its affordable pricing plans, comprehensive features and customizable workflows. In addition, the friendly user interface makes it a top choice for users of all technical levels.
SEE: Read our ClickUp review, or see how ClickUp compares to Notion, Trello and Asana.
Teamwork: Best for time tracking and budgeting
Image: Teamwork
As the name implies, Teamwork is project management software that enables team and workload management. The Ireland-based platform offers a similar range to other top project management solutions but excels in time tracking, budgeting and stakeholder management. Whether it’s personnel or a third-party contractor, Teamwork is fit for optimizing the globally distributed workflows of tomorrow.
While a few actions during my experience with Teamwork didn’t seem as intuitive as other platforms, the platform and its potential to organize team projects are impressive.
Pricing
Free Forever: $0 per month for up to five users.
Starter: $5.99 per user per month billed annually, or $8.99 per user per month billed monthly. A free trial is available.
Deliver: $9.99 per user per month billed annually, or $13.99 per user per month billed monthly. A free trial is available.
Grow: $19.99 per user per month billed annually, or $25.99 per user per month billed monthly. A free trial is available.
Scale: Quotes are available upon request.
Features
Visualize project data through the Gantt, kanban, dashboard (Figure H), calendar and table views.
Build and generate reports of project data to share via CSV, Excel or PDF.
Create project templates, dashboards, risks and project-level tags for re-use.
Integrate with Zapier, Google Drive, Box, Slack, Microsoft, HubSpot and more.
Access built-in Teamwork apps for collaborative spaces, IT help desks, customer relationship management and web chats.
Figure D
Image: Teamwork. The dashboard view in Teamwork automatically breaks down project data and metrics.
Top Integrations
Slack
Google Drive
Microsoft Teams
Usersnap
Pros
Strongest time tracking and workload management capabilities of the products I reviewed.
Deep range of features emulating the best in the project management software market.
Free 30-day trial, an unlimited free plan and affordable annual subscriptions.
Cons
Basic Agile support and burndown reports are only available with higher plans.
Configure notification settings, or get ready for a full inbox.
Modifications sometimes took several seconds to load.
Why we chose Teamwork
Teamwork offers excellent tools for time tracking and budgeting and has the capacity to handle projects of all sizes. The extensive range of features, including multiple project views, team collaboration tools and integrated file sharing, earns Teamwork a spot on this list.
SEE: For more information, check out our full Teamwork review, or see how Teamwork compares to monday work management.
Wrike: Best for portfolio management
Image: Wrike
The newest subsidiary of Citrix, Wrike was already one of the biggest names in project management software even before its backing by the cloud computing giant. With the capacity to manage entire project portfolios, Wrike’s feature set includes custom request forms, risk predictions, invoicing software and enterprise-grade security. I found the platform incredibly powerful, with clear use cases for small businesses, enterprise organizations and various team functions.
Upon first glance, the user interface is busy, and Wrike’s learning curve is likely the steepest in the project management software space. That said, few vendors offer the same extent of enterprise capabilities.
Pricing
A free trial is available for each of the following plans:
Free: $0 per user per month.
Team: $9.80 per user per month.
Business: $24.80 per user per month.
Enterprise: Quotes are available upon request.
Pinnacle: Quotes are available upon request.
Features
Visualize project data through the table, list, board, Gantt, timelog and analytics views (Figure E).
Add and edit task duration, approvals, time entries, subtasks, files and dependencies.
Access project templates for Agile, creative, IT operations and project management office teams.
Utilize customer-managed encryption keys and external encryption key storage via AWS.
Access to over 400 app integrations and two-way sync with almost 30 other apps.
Figure E
Image: Wrike. No matter the view, users can open task details to view, edit or attach data for team visibility.
Top integrations
Power BI
Salesforce
Zoom
Google Drive
Pros
Plans for teams managing complex workloads, marketing and professional services.
Extensive interoperability and workflow capabilities with business-critical applications.
Enterprise-ready with premium security and data privacy controls.
Cons
More expensive than most project management solutions.
Steep learning curve for maximizing the extent of platform features.
Several tools are only available as add-on features or for higher subscriptions.
Why we chose Wrike
Wrike is known for its ease of use and team collaboration, making it ideal for project managers who handle multiple projects. Another key reason why we chose Wrike was its scalability, making it a great choice for hyper-growth teams.
SEE: Find out more in our Wrike review, or see how Wrike compares to monday work management and Trello.
Asana: Best for extensibility
Image: Asana
One of the most popular project management software solutions, Asana is the work management platform started by former Facebook developers in 2008. The Silicon Valley-based company has grown dramatically in that time, and the platform’s extensibility affirms why so many businesses choose it. From viewing team member workloads to adding strategic goals and setting user security policies, I believe Asana has something for every team.
Though some actions were less intuitive, Asana made up for them with the documentation and resources to guide platform projects efficiently.
Pricing
A 30-day free trial is available for these Asana plans:
Basic: $0 per user per month.
Premium: $10.99 per user per month billed annually, or $13.49 per user per month billed monthly.
Business: $24.99 per user per month billed annually, or $30.49 per user per month billed monthly.
Features
Visualize project data through the list (Figure F), board, timeline, calendar and workload views.
Manage and create project data with custom fields, rules and forms.
Enable the built-in time tracking tool to visualize time spent on tasks.
Import data from Airtable, Google Sheets, monday work management, Trello, Smartsheet and Wrike.
Add integrations for communications, files, finance, IT, reporting, sales and security.
Figure F
Image: Asana. The List view in Asana looks similar to a spreadsheet and allows users to view, modify or communicate through task details.
Top integrations
OneDrive
Slack
Jira
Harvest
Pros
Robust feature set competing with the best in project management software.
Friendly user interface and flexible controls for different tools.
Extensive import options, including multiple top project management platforms.
Cons
At times, the interface is less intuitive than competing project management platforms.
There is a steep learning curve for deploying some features and advanced tools.
Occasional error messages and lag occur when moving between platform pages.
Why we chose Asana
Asana is an outstanding task management and team collaboration software. It’s flexible, fast and feature-rich and offers a generous free plan. The flexibility offered by Asana means it can be used by businesses of all sizes. In addition, you get several import options, making it easy for users to transition to Asana from other software or use the Asana with other applications.
SEE: Explore our Asana review, or see how Asana stacks up against Planner, Notion and Airtable.
Confluence: Best for project document management
Image: Confluence
Confluence is a team collaboration and project management software with outstanding document management and knowledge-sharing features. It is suitable for any size or type of team. Users can also use Confluence to create and track tasks on one centralized platform.
Pricing
Free: No cost for up to 10 users.
Standard: $5.75 per user if billed monthly, or $580 per year for 1–10 users.
Premium: $11 per user if billed monthly, or $1,100 per year for 1–10 users.
Enterprise: Customized pricing.
Features
Expensive template library. This includes customizable templates and blueprints for a variety of use cases.
Version control and history feature to track changes to files over time.
Atlassian Analytics tools (Figure G) to gain valuable insights for informed decision-making.
Bulk archive feature to archive multiple outdated or obsolete pages in one go.
Figure G
Analytics tools in Confluence.
Top integrations
Jira
Trello
Salesforce
Zendesk
Pros
Strong in-app learning content.
Outstanding document management tools.
Centralized knowledge hub.
Cons
Limited team collaboration tools.
Performance issues with a large volume of data.
Why we chose Confluence
Confluence offers some advantages over other competitors, including a centralized knowledge repository, robust document search and discovery feature, and file sharing. Users already using Atlassian products will find Confluence a powerful addition to the ecosystem.
SEE: For more information, read our full Confluence review.
Zoho Projects: Best for multiple project visualizations
Image: Zoho Projects
Under the Zoho portfolio of solutions, Zoho Projects offers teams a stack of features for tracking tasks, issues, time and resources to maximize collaboration and productivity. Users can visualize and adjust project data through views like a traditional spreadsheet, simple list, kanban board or Gantt chart in real time or automate mapped workflows with the Blueprints tool.
Zoho Projects offers a lot of functionality, considering it’s the most affordable project management software. However, it also lacks some of the configurability and advanced features included in the top tier of platforms.
Pricing
Free: $0 for up to three users.
Premium: $4 per user per month billed annually, or $5 per user per month billed monthly. A free trial is available.
Enterprise: $9 per user per month billed annually, or $10 per user per month billed monthly. A free trial is available.
Features
Visualize project data through the classic (spreadsheet), plain (list) and kanban views.
Create project baselines to compare expected versus real progress on tasks.
Track time for tasks to inform workload and resource management.
Integrate with critical apps for Google, Microsoft, code repositories and more.
Access Zoho Apps like Mail, Docs, CRM, Desk, Analytics and Forms.
Top integrations
Zoho CRM
Slack
Google Suite
Zapier
Pros
Least expensive subscription plans among the top project management platforms.
Robust feature set considering its affordability.
Familiar interface and bundling value for existing Zoho customers.
Cons
Lagging when moving between different platform pages.
Limited options for viewing project data relative to competitors.
Some platform actions, like creating multiple subtasks, aren’t intuitive.
Why we chose Zoho Projects
If you are looking for value for money, it doesn’t get any better than Zoho Project. This low-cost project management app offers outstanding value. You get multiple channels for team collaboration and communication and a quick and easy setup.
SEE: For more information, read our full Zoho Projects review.
Trello: Best for basic users
Image: Trello
Trello is the ideal tool for users who want simplified project management. Its Kanban-based interface makes it easy to manage and track any type of project. While it might not be able to handle complex projects, Trello offers enough features to handle core project management tasks, including task automation, file sharing, and team collaboration.
Pricing
Free: Up to 10 boards per workspace.
Standard: $5 per user per month if billed annually, or $6 per user per month if billed monthly.
Premium: $10 per user per month if billed annually, or $12.50 per user per month if billed monthly.
Enterprise: $17.50 per user per month when billed annually.
Features
Project checklists to help break big projects into more manageable tasks.
File attachment feature with drag-and-drop functionality.
Automate workflows through Trello’s built-in automation builder (Figure H).
Extensive library of pre-built templates.
Figure H
Trello’s automation builder “Butler”.
Top integrations
Dropbox
GitHub
Jira
Slack
Pros
Generous free plan.
Highly visual interface.
Variety of add-ons.
Powerful automation tools.
Cons
Heavily reliant on the kanban view.
Not designed to handle complex projects.
Why we chose Trello
Trello earns a spot on our list of best project management software with its feature-rich free plan, collaboration tools and outstanding ease of use. The Kanban-style interface is visually appealing and feels intuitive. In addition, the efficiency offered by Trello helps simplify project management.
SEE: For more information, read our full Trello review.
Jira: Best for development teams
Image: Jira
Atlassian’s portfolio of collaboration, code management and security solutions is led by its flagship project tracking software, Jira. In response to a growing number of general-use project management solutions, Jira Software offers a mix of project data views, reporting and configuration capabilities with the Work Management platform included in its suite of products.
Jira is ideal for organizations already using Jira products or teams relying on integrations like private repository host BitBucket. Otherwise, its general project management functionality is below par relative to the broader project management marketplace.
Pricing
Free: $0 for up to 10 users.
Standard: $7.75 per user per month billed monthly and $790 annually for 1–10 users.
Premium: $15.25 per user per month billed monthly and $1,525 annually for 1–10 users.
Enterprise: Available for teams with more than 800 users and only billed annually. Contact Jira sales for pricing information.
Features
Visualize project data through the list, board, timeline (Figure I) and calendar views.
Import existing work to create project issues and collect data through forms.
Access a Summary page embedded with key performance indicators for progress, priorities and workloads.
Integrate with Jira Software and other Atlassian tools.
Start from 20 prebuilt templates for finance, marketing, human resources and legal teams.
Figure I
Image: Jira. Timeline view on Jira displays tasks and dependencies against a timescale by week, month or quarter.
Top integrations
Github
Lucidchart
Confluence
Microsoft Teams
Pros
More than 500 integrations and 3,000 extensions for workflow apps.
Bundle with Atlassian’s portfolio of tools like BitBucket, Crucible and Trello.
Built-in time tracking tools for tracking effort against tasks.
Cons
Higher learning curve for non-software development teams.
Not as intuitive as other top project management tools.
Still a developing application relative to Jira Software’s accolades.
Why we chose Jira
Jira is one the best project management software for its Agile support, bug tracking and issue management capabilities. While these features are most suitable for software development, they can be used for a variety of other applications.
SEE: For more information, read our Jira review, or see how Jira compares to Asana and Trello.
What are key features of project management software?
The key features of project management software vary depending on the specific tool, but generally, these are some of the most important features to look for when evaluating a solution.
Task management
Effective task management capabilities enable users to create, assign, track and update tasks, providing a clear overview of individual responsibilities and overall project progress. This feature is essential for keeping teams organized and ensuring that everyone understands their roles and deadlines, contributing to the successful completion of projects.
Customizable workflows
Customizable workflows allow teams to create and modify workflows according to their unique processes and preferences, ensuring the software is adaptable to their specific needs and requirements. This flexibility enables teams to tailor their project management system to suit their project types, methodologies and industry best practices, ultimately improving efficiency and effectiveness.
Collaboration and communication
Project management software should foster seamless collaboration and communication among team members through features like real-time chat, file sharing, commenting and notifications. These tools help keep everyone on the same page and streamline decision-making, making it easier to coordinate work, resolve issues and ensure that projects stay on track.
Multiple views
Providing various views such as Gantt charts, kanban boards, list views and calendar views allows users to visualize project data in different ways, catering to individual preferences and enhancing overall project comprehension. This feature helps teams monitor progress, identify potential bottlenecks and plan work more effectively.
Native time tracking
Time-tracking capabilities help teams monitor the time spent on tasks and projects, facilitating better resource allocation and promoting efficient time management. This feature enables organizations to optimize productivity, manage budgets and accurately bill clients for work completed.
Custom fields
Custom fields enable teams to add personalized data points to tasks and projects, making it easier to track, filter and report on the unique information relevant to their organization. This feature provides additional flexibility and customization, ensuring teams can capture and manage the data that matters most to them.
Document and file management
Integrated document and file management features allow users to store, share and collaborate on project-related files, ensuring easy access and organization. This functionality helps keep essential documents and resources centralized, streamlining communication and reducing the risk of misplacing or duplicating files.
Reporting and analytics
Comprehensive reporting and analytics tools help users gain insights into project performance, identify bottlenecks and make informed decisions based on real-time data. These features enable teams to continuously improve their processes, allocate resources more effectively and optimize overall project success.
Resource management
Effective resource management capabilities enable teams to allocate resources such as personnel, equipment and budgets optimally, ensuring projects are completed efficiently and cost-effectively. This feature helps organizations balance workloads, avoid overloading team members and prevent resource conflicts.
Third-party integrations
Integration with other tools and software, such as customer relationship management systems, accounting tools and productivity suites, can enhance the project management software’s functionality and streamline workflows. This feature enables teams to connect their project management system to other essential tools, reducing manual data entry and facilitating a more seamless working experience.
What are the benefits of project management software?
Project management software offers a multitude of benefits that can significantly enhance team productivity and efficiency. Let’s delve into some of the most compelling advantages that these tools can provide.
Improved organization and prioritization
Project management software offers a comprehensive and structured approach to organizing tasks and projects, making it easier for teams to stay focused and prioritize work. It enables users to break projects down into smaller, manageable tasks and assign deadlines, ensuring that teams can effectively allocate resources and time to critical activities. By categorizing and prioritizing tasks, team members can better understand their responsibilities and overall project progression, reducing confusion and miscommunication.
SEE: Improve your project organization with these top project portfolio management software.
Enhanced collaboration and communication
A key benefit of project management software is the facilitation of team collaboration and communication. By providing a centralized platform, team members can easily share information, documents and updates on their progress. This visibility allows for more effective communication, faster decision-making and better issue resolution. Additionally, such tools often have integrated communication features, like chat or comment sections, which can help streamline communication and ensure everyone is on the same page.
Time and resource management
Project management software helps teams efficiently manage their time and resources, ultimately leading to increased productivity. These tools often include features like time tracking, workload balancing and resource allocation, which allow teams to make informed decisions about how to best utilize their time and resources. By monitoring progress and identifying bottlenecks, managers can make adjustments and reallocate resources as needed to keep projects on track.
Accurate budget tracking and financial control
Managing budgets is a critical aspect of any project and project management software can help ensure financial control. With features like cost estimation, expense tracking and financial reporting, teams can monitor budgets and make informed decisions to avoid overspending. This level of financial control and visibility not only helps projects stay within budget but also supports better forecasting for future projects.
Increased accountability and transparency
Project management software increases accountability and transparency by providing a clear overview of tasks, responsibilities and deadlines. This visibility helps ensure team members understand their roles and take ownership of their work. Moreover, the software allows for real-time progress tracking, making it easier to hold individuals accountable for meeting deadlines and completing tasks. This improved accountability fosters a sense of ownership and responsibility within the team, leading to better overall project outcomes.
Streamlined reporting and decision-making
Finally, project management software simplifies reporting and decision-making by consolidating data from various sources into customizable dashboards and reports. This enables stakeholders to access relevant information quickly and make data-driven decisions. By providing insights into project performance, teams can identify areas for improvement and implement changes, ensuring projects stay on track and meet objectives.
Considerations for project management tools
Use cases and audience
Most project management software solutions speak to a broad audience of potential use cases. Across industries and departments, the use cases mentioned most for project management tools include:
Agile, scrum and other software development methodologies.
Campaign and client management.
Content creation and digital asset management.
Event planning and management.
Issue, request, ticket and bug tracking.
Lead tracking and sales pipeline.
Onboarding and offboarding personnel.
Product management and features backlog.
Resource, time and workload allocation.
Integrations
As with the two software development project management picks, the range of integrations offered by top project management platforms is a crucial differentiating factor. Teams across the globe increasingly rely on a stack of applications to conduct everyday work. Considering project management software is meant to enable productivity in teams existing workflows, the lack of a critical integration is a dealbreaker.
Customer support and service
Finally, teams relying on project management software for critical business operations also need to ensure the level of technical support meets expectations. Teams are bound to encounter unexpected outages, roadblocks and platform issues, making regular availability by phone or web chat essential to business continuity.
How do I choose the best project management software for my business?
The best project management software should offer a combination of user-friendliness, customization and scalability to meet the needs of your team and organization. It should be intuitive and easy to navigate, allowing users to perform tasks with minimal training. The software should also be adaptable, providing the ability to tailor features and workflows to suit the organization’s specific requirements. Scalability is another essential aspect, ensuring that the software can accommodate growth in team size, project complexity and workload.
SEE: Working on a smaller team? Explore top project management software for small businesses.
Effective communication, time and resource management and comprehensive reporting are vital features of a top project management tool. Collaboration and communication features should streamline information sharing and decision-making, while time and resource management capabilities help optimize productivity. Robust reporting and analytics functionalities are crucial for informed decision-making and continuous improvement. Integration with other tools, such as CRM systems or productivity suites, can further enhance efficiency.
Lastly, consider the security, reliability and cost-effectiveness of the software. Robust security measures, such as encryption and access controls, are necessary to protect sensitive project data. Reliability in terms of uptime and responsive customer support ensures a seamless experience. The best project management software should offer value for money, balancing features and functionality with cost. Evaluating customer reviews, case studies and testimonials can provide valuable insights into the tool’s suitability for your organization’s specific needs.
Methodology
To compile this list of the best project management software, we did a deep dive into several parameters and features of the software. This complete analysis includes an assessment of the usability of the software, standout features, and security tools.
For the assessment of the user interface, we looked at the ease of navigation and visual appeal of each software. An intuitive user interface plays a key role in the overall user experience. We also analyzed the functionality and features of each software, including core and advanced tools. In addition, the performance and stability of each software were assessed to check the responsiveness and efficiency of the software.
For a more thorough understanding of ease of use, we looked at several other aspects of the software, including ease of setup, scalability and user support. Lastly, we did an analysis of the compatibility and integration of each software to check how it would fit into different technology ecosystems.
