9 Best Zipline Alternatives For Retailers In 2024

Best Zipline Alternatives

Let's double down on some of the best Zipline alternatives to date. Some of these solutions are free, while others are paid. However, their effectiveness varies from one use-case to another.

We shortlisted these tools to not only help you with selecting a robust solution that fits your business needs, but also to help you understand how each software pans out against different requirements and use-cases.

So, let's get to it.

1. Xenia - Overall No. 1 Zipline Alternative For Worldwide Retail Business Operations

Hey, that's us!

As one of the best Zipline alternatives, Xenia offers a multitude of solutions within a consolidated package that effectively scales alongside your growing retail business requirements.

So, whether you are a small retail or convenience store business owner, or someone who is potentially looking to transition to a "better" software to meet the demands of a multi-unit operation, Xenia has got you covered.

The tool offers a powerful mobile first task management feature that enables you to standardize processes, improve store employees' accountability and effectively increase brand standards too.

In addition to that, managers can access the built-in operations template section to create and customize checklists around audits, inspections, brand standardization, compliance and plenty of other things. All of these aspects are essential to ensuring that the business is running at optimal level, and scaling without any interruptions.

Moving on, the program has a dedicated chat system for real time collaboration with team members across departments, multiple locations and vice versa. It reduces the requirement for managers' physical check-ins, allowing them to directly engage anyone for any store task, corrective actions etc.

Speaking of corrective actions, should the manager find a task that requires additional remediation from a specific person, the corrective action module enables the addition of task deliverables that are needed to get the job done - then and there!

Here are some of the great features that the program offers as a fully customizable, out of the box solution.

Key Features

• Store Task Management: Enhance task accountability and transparency with tools to create multiple tasks, progress tracking, photo attachments etc. 
• Centralized Operations Templates: Simplify and standardize workflow through operations tempaltes section - the place where you can build audits, inspections and much more!
• Scheduled Work: Setup specific tasks in a recurring order on weekly, monthly or any specific rotation, allowing the removal of manual intervention from managers end. Task assignees are notified of activity due dates, overdue tasks and vice versa. 
• Team Communication: Use the built-in chat system, alongside task specific mentions, company-wide announcements, and messaging for real time updates. 
• Analytics & Reports: The powerful reporting dashboard allows managers insights on work trends, store team members' productivity, any weak areas that require improvements and an overall holistic view of what's being done vs. assigned activities.

Pricing 

• Free Forever: For up to five people with unlimited and un-restricted access to all the basic features.
• Starter: $99 per month for the first 15 users with access to all the core features.
• Premium (Best Value): $199 per month for the first 15 users with access to all the basic, core and advanced features.
• Custom: Do you need anything exclusive to your organization?

Book a free demo today!

2. Planview Clarizen

After Xenia, Planview Clarizen is another one of the best Zipline alternatives, specifically for businesses seeking robust project portfolio management (PPM) and professional services delivery solutions.

As an award-winning enterprise work management solution, Clarizen empowers PMOs, EPMOs, PSOs, and ESOs with real-time visibility across all their work, automation of workflows, proactive risk management, and the ability to deliver greater business impact.

The level of a set of features within Clarizen are primary differentiator between the two task management software compared here.

Key Features

• Allocate resources efficiently, balance workloads, and optimize capacity to assure project completion and delivery. 
• Gather, prioritize, and manage project requests for the organization's goals and strategic initiatives. 
• Centralize document storage, version control, and collaboration to guarantee that information is shared and accessed consistently across teams. 
• Customized reports and dashboards provide meaningful insights into project success, resource consumption, and portfolio health. 
• With integrated email and mobile capabilities, team members can communicate and collaborate seamlessly, assuring productivity regardless of location or device.

Pricing 

• Contact Vendor 

3. Todoist

People in the professional and small business segment would be better off with Todoist as it offers a much more versatile task management solution as compared to Zipline.

Rather than being just focused on retail management, Todoist has a truckload of features that help streamline personal and team productivity, making it an excellent solution for personal use as well as small teams as well.

As a primary reason, what makes Todoist a good Zipline alternative is its perfect integration of tasks, projects, comments, attachments, notifications... everything needed which makes a real productivity boost:

Everything is done and it works together: you become much more productive. It empowers users in task management and also in whole project management, and also in collaboration with a product team.

Key Features

• Easily prioritize jobs and projects to focus on what is most important, guaranteeing effective task management and completion. 
• Plan and plan projects with ease, using easy tools like due dates, reminders, and sub-tasks to keep you organized and on track. 
•  Create repeating tasks easily, saving time and effort on recurrent chores while maintaining consistency and dependability in task management. 
•  Enable collaboration and communication among remote team members by seamlessly integrating with a variety of devices and platforms, providing flexibility and accessibility regardless of location. 
• Robust reporting and tracking tools provide vital insights into project progress and performance, allowing users to make educated decisions and modifications as needed.

Pricing

• Beginners - Free
• Pro - $4
• Business - $6

4. Hive

Whereas Zipline concentrates primarily on retail management, Hive is equipped with a broad range of tools that help teams work more quickly and efficiently.

It is a team productivity software that works like the ultimate team email but is way faster. It lets you do a basic project managing tool, easy to add other people to projects as needed, easy to list each person/project's tasks. 

Moreover, another major reason that Hive is an exceptional Zipline alternative is because of its productivity-packed offers beyond basic task management.

Hive provides teams with a complete tool to manage projects, work together, and streamline processes just beyond awesome task management products.

Derived from the intuitive interface and user-friendly features, the program lets teams work smarter and faster, irrespective of the size of the industry.

Key Features 

• Easily construct tasks from meeting notes, ensuring that action items are collected and allocated to the right team members for follow-up. 
• Convert emails into actionable tasks with Hive, allowing teams to centralize communication while ensuring that crucial work is not ignored. 
• Delegate work to both internal team members and external collaborators to ensure transparency and collaboration among all stakeholders. 
• Workflow automation streamlines operations inside and between apps, allowing teams to automate repetitive tasks, increase productivity, and decrease human labor. 
• Keep track of how much time you spend on tasks and projects, allocate resources efficiently, and obtain insights into team productivity and performance.

Pricing 

• Free 
• Starter - $1
• Teams - $3
• Enterprise-custom 

5. MeisterTask

MeisterTask is an impressive Zipline alternative, that offers task management software made specifically for agile teams but still flexible enough to fit into various other types of workflows.

While Zipline is specifically focused on retail management, MeisterTask is made to offer a streamlined and intuitive platform for teams to organize tasks more efficiently and keep track of project progress.

Furthermore, one of the best features of MeisterTask is its accessibility. 

The software features a free basic plan that doesn’t credential user access and limits the tool integration, for an unlimited number of projects and team members. Due to this, MeisterTask is a great alternative for teams of any size.

A primary feature that separates MeisterTask from other task management software is its relatively user-friendly, customizable, and efficient boards serving as the main hub to create tasks and track the project’s progress.

The board is designed to help users maintain a high sense of organization with a greater ability to visualize their workflows, giving users the flexibility to set their project’s priority, and allowing all involved to collaborate efficiently and effectively while in the office or on the go. 

Key Features 

• Assign tasks to team members while also appointing observers who may monitor work progress without being personally accountable for its fulfillment, promoting openness and collaboration.
• Time spent on tasks and projects can be tracked directly in MeisterTask, allowing teams to easily monitor productivity, detect bottlenecks, and optimize resource allocation.
• Customize tasks with additional fields to gather unique information about your operation, ensuring that all required data are recorded and easily accessible.
• Divide jobs into manageable subtasks by establishing several checklists inside each task, allowing teams to tackle complicated projects with clarity and efficiency.

Pricing 

• Basic - Free
• Pro -$6
• Business - $12
• Enterprise - Custom

6. Yoobic

If you’re in the market for a frontline workforce management solution, another cool substitute to Zipline is YOOBIC. 

While Zipline is fairly easy to use, a closer look reveals that YOOBIC offers significantly higher quality and functionality. 

Why? You might want to know.

Zipline only offers basic features for task management and communication, while YOOBIC fully equips frontline teams for exceptional performance with a suite of tools that goes above and beyond.

It’s not only about checking off tasks; Your team’s productivity will skyrocket with features like digital checklists and audits, quick task and action plan creation, and powerful visual merchandising campaign management.

The customizable dashboards provide real-time and easy-to-view analytics so executives know when to step in or can head off potential issues before they occur.

Visually, data illustrates how well a business is doing. Executives can look at the wrangled data and make data-driven decisions in real time that help the entire company. 

This is where Zipline lacks.

The features are limited, and so is its data. 

In addition, the platform is designed to be highly engaging and simple to use, with a gamified front end that field teams embrace. The approach has led to an increased adoption rate, a testament to its efficiency and ease of use.

Key Features 

• Promotes uninterrupted communication among the frontline teams, making sure everyone is connected and well-informed.
• Keeps uninterrupted communication among your frontline teams so everyone is connected and informed.
• Employees can easily pick up learning materials on their mobile devices that allow learning and skills development all at once, anytime and anywhere.
•  Frontliners can easily access learning items on their mobiles, so they can learn and brush up on skills on the go, wherever and whenever.
• Help teams efficiently organize tasks, making sure every task is organized and finished on time.
• Facilitate task delegation and organization so every item is accounted for and done on schedule
• Compatible with other tools and platforms, improving its applications to connect to another system.

Pricing 

• Contact Vendor

7. Confluence

Another giant player in the market for the best Zipline alternative is Confluence.

This project management platform is built on the notion that collaboration should be easy. Regardless if you enjoy the freedom of working off of the cloud or if you would rather keep all things accumulated in-house, Confluence has your back.

Without a doubt, one of the biggest selling points of Confluence is the editor. You can effortlessly create all types of project documents, from meeting notes to product requirements to research reports.

Your keyboard is the only boundary; you can write content that fast. But here’s the kicker: it’s not merely a location for managers to pontificate in comments or create their pages. 

No more email threads with attached versions or trying to understand that train-of-thought comment thread.

But that's not all—for Knowledge Management, Confluence then beefs up its centralized repository. For managers, protecting sensitive organizational data is no longer a problem.

For collaboration on a need-to-know basis within your teams, Confluence makes it all neat and clean. And there's not a hacker in sight.

Key Features 

• Real-time editing, also called live editing, allows teams to work in unison on Confluence content, which saves continuously as changes are made. 
• From the administrator console, you can monitor and regulate what users are allowed and not allowed to do on a specific page or space.
• Users can set a page to watch, and they will receive a notification whenever new page changes are published. This allows team members to keep up-to-date with the latest company and project information in a more simplified manner.
• Create your new content or space and simply select the template to get going. Here are some of the templates you can choose from Templates for spaces,  Page templates, and Templates for whiteboards.

Pricing 

• Free
• Standard - $4.89
• Premium - $8.97
• Enterprise - Custom

8. Podio

Next, we have Citrix Podio, the must-have project management tool for project leads lacking collaboration and flexibility.

Podio lets you build a tool to fit your organization’s needs, streamline communication, and get everyone working smarter, not harder. 

The key differentiator of the software is its app-building capabilities. No need to be a coding whiz or have your tech team on standby – it lets you build custom applications that fit your business's unique needs and workflows.

Also, the App Market is jam-packed with pre-built apps that can handle just about anything you can think of. Need an extensive project portfolio management suite? No problem.

From applicant tracking to a robust task management system, Podio's got all the apps you need – ones made by other users who appreciate your industry's specific needs.

However, the app isn't just about ticking boxes—it's about bringing people together. With Facebook-like social collaboration features, staying connected and engaged is a breeze.

Giving virtual thumbs-ups to your colleagues' work, seamless file sharing, and hopping on an instant message or video chat—Podio keeps the conversation flowing and makes collaboration easy.

Key Features

• Organize tasks and issues effortlessly by availability or needed skills for efficient resource allocation.
• Define and keep track of due dates for projects, tasks, or assignments to guarantee punctuality.
• Arrange activities and workflows effortlessly to augment efficiency and flow up productivity.
• Alter and adapt efficiently to changing needs or situations while editing tasks.
• Manage your tasks while on the move using the mobile version of this platform that can be accessed from anywhere and at any time.

Pricing 

• Free
• Plus - $11.20
• Premium - $19.20 

9. SmartSheet

Last but not least, we have SmartSheet.This all-in-one work execution platform is similar to your reliable spreadsheet but amped up. It’s easy to get started, excel stay on track in real-time, and communicate seamlessly with teams on any device.

Whether your requirements include document resource management, concise project reporting, full-featured task management, robust file sharing, or timeline tracking of projects, this software has it all.

On top of that, the app skillfully organizes operations and amplifies cooperation using automated workflows personalized to your team’s style: No more tedious manual tasks or forever-stretching email threads—Smartsheet maintains the flow at all times, so you’re free to work undisturbed.

We also need to discuss views of this best Zipline alternative. There’s one for every preference in Smartsheet. Whether you like card layout, grid view, Gantt chart, or calendar view, arrange and filter your project data exactly how you want to see it. Combined with a real-time dashboard, project status is at your fingertips and as a result, you get complete visibility, eliminating guesswork and making for smoother work.

Key Features

• Collaborate easily from anywhere with built-in tools that keep everyone in sync.
• Easily understand where work stands with a visual dashboard customizable by team, watcher, project, section, or label. With real-time insights, you have visibility into every detail. 
•  Get feedback and approvals fast with easy-to-use proofing tools that streamline review and document finalization
• Take control of your account with administration features and tools designed to help you easily manage users and permissions.
• Seamless workflow is at your fingertips when you integrate your favorite tools and apps with Workfront
•  Keep every digital asset organized and easy to find so you never waste time searching for files again.

Pricing

• Free
• Pro - $7
• Business - $25
• Enterprise - Contact Vendor

What Exactly Does Zipline Do?

Zipline, a retailing task management Software, allows multiple organizations and businesses to manage their retailing operations.

Aside from delivering a task management tool, Zipline has many features that range from streamlined communication down to store execution enhancing operational efficiency throughout their retailing outlets.

A great aspect of Zipline is that managers can individually make the pages and widgets to finally get the content that they are looking for.

The features, they offer, allow users to tailor the components to their individual needs and work systems with API-driven exposure.

Also providing organizations with insights into survey results so they can make decisions in real time, is an overall good addition for small to medium sized businesses.

Zipline’s Limitations: Why Seek Alternatives?

Though Zipline offers numerous features, some limitations should be considered when deciding if it is the right tool for your organization.

One limitation is the lack of depth in certain features.

For example, the survey options and tasking are quite basic. Many users have expressed a desire for more customization in these areas to fit their needs. 

An issue that many people face with the Zipline app is that it is difficult to access things on the app whenever you’re not a certain distance away from the store.

This can delay many core users from getting to their information and could be problematic for people trying to access things on the go.

Another potential issue with this software is the lack of control over the user lists.

Users have reported they have no control or the ability to add or edit the user lists or control the user lists which impedes the administration of the users, and that all depends on the much-needed functionality I would like to improve.

Moreover, multiple users have stated that Zipline has proven to be a bit more "one-size-fits-all" than what they expected out of the customization options.

While the platform has limited options for customization, several users have stated that they wish they had even more options to tailor their experiences and workflows in the system. 

Which Is The Best Zipline Alternative for Your Retail, Or Convenience Store Business?

According to the American Psychological Association, 20% of individuals are chronic procrastinators, which is something to consider while attempting to increase productivity. 

In summary, If your company is looking to maximize productivity, simplify operations, and produce breakthroughs, you should be managing your tasks and projects with some sort of task management software to ensure you can keep everyone on track.

While Zipline offers several useful features for retail task management, there are many other alternatives available to meet the unique needs and preferences of your organization.

Take your pick from any of the retail task management solutions mentioned in this list.

We recommend trying each software by signing up for a trial account to see how it works against your individual business requirements. if it fits those needs, feel free to transition to a paid plan and take things forward in full motion.