Motion vs ClickUp: Hands-On 2024 Comparison

Running a creative business requires efficient task management skills every single day. The more you can automate your day-to-day tasks and minimize time wastage, the easier it is to scale and grow.

ClickUp and Motion are two top-rated AI-supported project management tools that provide structure but differ in methodology.

This article is a detailed Motion vs ClickUp comparison based on my hands-on experience with both of these tools.

I’ll break down the key features and use cases for each, share my impressions from using these planners, and tell you what each of them is best for, in my opinion.

Here’s a quick overview:

Best For automation

Motion

• Daily planning done for you by AI
• Automatic schedule adjustments for urgent tasks
• Easy team collaboration
• Great meeting scheduling tool
• 7-day free trial

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Best For complex projects

ClickUp

• Tasks, docs, whiteboards, and team goals in one place
• AI-powered task breakdown, summarization, and more
• Helps teams be more organized
• Free plan available

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What is the difference between Motion and ClickUp?

When it comes to Motion vs ClickUp, the key difference lies in their approach to managing work.

Motion app takes a more automated approach, using AI to plan your day and handle scheduling based on tasks and events.

You input what needs to be done, and Motion figures out the optimal schedule. This takes scheduling off your plate but requires adjusting to having less manual control.

ClickUp combines several apps in one and gives you more flexibility to set up customized workflows, views, and fields specific to your team’s needs.

It does not focus on scheduling and basically puts you in the driver’s seat to design your own project management system.

What is Motion good at?

From a productivity standpoint, one of Motion’s biggest assets is its automated scheduling capabilities.

Leveraging AI, it intelligently maps out your day down minute-by-minute based on tasks, calendars, and your preferences. This takes a huge mental load off by doing the scheduling grunt work for you.

Rather than stressing over how to cram everything in, Motion streamlines your agenda to respect deadlines, priorities, and availability and protects your focus time.

It finds the optimal slots for tasks and meetings while avoiding overlaps. Want to allocate a couple of hours for deep work? Motion will plan around your blocks, and will not even allow anyone to book meetings with you during that time.

The AI planning also dynamically adapts to last-minute changes. Need to prioritize something urgent? Motion will rearrange efficiently, updating not only your schedule but your team members’ too, if necessary.

Organizing your day manually is draining enough, and some project managers tend to overcomplicate the process instead of optimizing. Motion, for a change, automates that process so you can focus energy on actual work instead of logistics. And it only improves over time as the algorithms learn.

What is ClickUp good at?

ClickUp is a multi-use project management tool that is especially a gem for big teams.

It has massive functionality and offers a unified place for task planning, workforce management, project documentation, brainstorming, and tracking progress toward business goals.

When it comes to customizing your workflows, few tools can touch ClickUp’s level of flexibility. From tailoring spaces and boards to configuring robust fields and views, it puts a high degree of control directly in your hands.

No two teams operate the same, so being able to sculpt ClickUp precisely to your unique needs delivers real value. Whether through UI customization or leveraging its new AI assistant, ClickUp empowers extensive personalization.

All this customization can seem daunting, but ClickUp’s 3.0 redesign keeps it user-friendly. While maximizing flexibility, it becomes a pleasure rather than a chore to use when you get past the learning curve and figure out the best way for your team to use it.

In summary, ClickUp truly shines by giving full creative control over your operations. Whether tailoring existing features or building new automations, its extensive moldability delivers hands-on solutions for unique workflows.

Motion vs ClickUp: Key feature comparison

While Motion and ClickUp take different roads to productivity, let’s see where their key features overlap or diverge.

From calendar functions to customization, I’ll break down what you can expect in both Motion and ClickUp. Their approaches may vary, but certain capabilities will resonate more with specific workflows.

1. Project management

Both Motion and ClickUp are good at project and task management. They both offer boards and lists and let you create recurring tasks, as well as set priorities and deadlines.

Motion

In Motion, projects are organized into folders to separate related tasks and give you multiple levels of visibility (for example, you can filter tasks by project or assignee).

Tasks can be viewed and managed as lists or via Kanban boards.

As tasks are completed or new ones are added, the AI automatically schedules them on your calendar according to deadlines and priorities.

You don’t need to prioritize tasks manually or figure out how to fit a new urgent task into your busy schedule – Motion does this for you instantly, acting as your super-smart executive assistant.

The default view in Motion is the Calendar view, where you can see your full agenda, which task you are supposed to do next, and a list of tasks in the left sidebar for quick reference.

ClickUp

ClickUp offers a robust toolkit for project management, which likely includes every feature you can think of and more.

You can create customizable spaces to segment work by client, team, or category. Within each space, folders, lists, boards, and files all nest together logically.

Tasks can be organized visually on lists or boards to showcase status and workflow. Additional features like tags and automations link various elements seamlessly.

Pre-built and custom reporting options also give extensive visibility into project metrics, timelines, and progress. Integrations extend functionality for importing data or connecting externally.

Templates provide flexibility for standardizing operations across teams and departments. Custom fields further enhance ClickUp’s capabilities for setting up unique work environments.

Winner

If you are looking to automate processes and reduce manual planning work, Motion is your best bet! But if you don’t care about scheduling and are okay with doing things manually, ClickUp offers a much wider range of features.

2. Creating new tasks

Motion

In Motion, adding a new task is seamless directly from the calendar, any project view, or task sidebar.

Since each task is being scheduled immediately, you are required to fill in things like duration, priority, and deadline so Motion can find the best placement for it in your calendar.

However, if you are in a rush, you can just type the task name and click Schedule, which will apply the default values for every field, such as 1-hour estimate and Medium priority level.

ClickUp

ClickUp offers extensive versatility when introducing new tasks.

The default fields cover basic attributes like project, task type, assignee, date, priority, and status. But ClickUp is super flexible and allows fully custom fields, templates, and formatting options.

You can add a description for the new task manually or use Write with AI to fill it automatically (more on this later).

Templates can auto-populate fields for standardizing repetitive task types.

Winner

While Motion keeps task entry simple and automatically schedules it into your calendar, ClickUp provides unmatched customization potential for tuning your work system exactly how you want it.

3. AI features

Motion

In Motion, AI powers automated scheduling by analyzing tasks, priorities, availability, and patterns to rearrange workloads dynamically in your calendar.

As new information is added or changes are made to tasks, the AI seamlessly reschedules to optimize the allocation of time blocks. Over time, it continuously learns your personal preferences to refine planning intelligence based on evolving habits and feedback.

ClickUp

ClickUp recently introduced an AI assistant that can lend you a hand everywhere across the app. It can generate subtasks and action items, summarize conversations, draft documents, and brainstorm ideas.

The coolest part is that you have access to hundreds of role-based AI templates that have a real potential to make your life easier by simplifying typical daily tasks.

Winner

Motion has the advantage of fully integrating AI as the engine behind automated planning. Its intelligence is baked into seamlessly adapting schedules through continuous learning and rearrangement.

This distinguishes Motion’s AI as integral to its flagship productivity value compared to ClickUp’s more supplementary AI applications.

4. Scheduling and calendar integration

Motion

As a calendar-focused platform, Motion is awesome at automated scheduling.

The AI builds out personalized agendas based on tasks, availability, and workstyle preferences. It makes sure each minute of your day is utilized efficiently.

(That said, there is a setting to add 5-15 intervals between scheduled tasks, which prompts you to take regular breaks and not overwork yourself.)

Motion factors priorities, deadlines, and your protected focus times to optimize how items are slotted each day and across weeks. It does two-way syncing between all your calendars for seamless planning across devices.

In my opinion, it’s one of the best timeboxing tools you can use in 2024.

Another strength of the Motion app is its meeting scheduling toolbox. It completely eliminates the need for additional schedulers like Calendly, giving you a comprehensive suite for scheduling team and client meetings.

You can pre-select availability for each type of meeting, or Motion can choose it automatically based on your workload.

ClickUp

ClickUp integrates tasks and events with calendar views. However, it does not automate scheduling to the same degree as Motion.

Users must manually add and position individual tasks and meetings within time blocks on integrated calendars. ClickUp does not apply AI to optimize allocation.

Planning with ClickUp involves more user intervention versus Motion’s hands-free automated approach. ClickUp users commonly complain about the amount of time being spent manually customizing views and tracking changes.

Winner

When it comes to calendar integration, Motion wins by a lot because it’s the primary feature of the app, and it does a great job of scheduling your tasks and meetings.

5. Team collaboration

Motion

Motion facilitates collaboration through integrated calendars that sync scheduling changes in real time.

This is really cool when you see it in action! For example, if you simply reassign one task to your teammate Max, Motion will:

• reschedule your future workload to fill this task’s space
• add this task to Max’s calendar
• reshuffle Max’s schedule, aiming to find the perfect spot for this new task based on priorities, deadlines, and more

This behavior makes Motion extremely useful for team collaboration. It keeps everyone on the same page without unnecessary back-and-forth communication.

Comments and @mentions enrich discussion threads too.

If you need to schedule a meeting with several team members, Motion will automatically find the time that works for everyone.

ClickUp

ClickUp puts robust collaboration at the forefront.

Customizable workspace roles govern detailed permissions. Discussion threads on tasks enrich coordination and transparency. File and document sharing through folders streamline the organization.

Pre-configured and customizable board and list views also spark collaboration through visualization of team priorities, blockers, and workflow handoffs.

Integrations with Zoom, Discord, Slack, and multiple other apps provide additional collaboration channels for your team.

Winner

I would say that Motion is a game changer for small teams, but if you have 100+ people and need multiple integrations, ClickUp may be a better solution.

6. Customization and flexibility

Motion

Motion provides basic customization of folders, boards, and tags for light segmentation. There are some settings to personalize the experience, but I didn’t feel like I had a lot of configuration control.

Options are fairly limited compared to ClickUp’s toolkit.

ClickUp

ClickUp is definitely a winner in this category, as its focus is on extensive personalization. Fields, automations, views, interface, and formatting can all be tailored to your personal and company needs.

Custom properties allow you to set up unique work systems while maintaining a clear structure. Pre-built and custom templates help keep everyone in sync and standardize processes organization-wide.

7. Reporting and analytics

Motion’s goal is to make everyday planning easy for your team. It does a great job of daily scheduling and saves a lot of time, making sure that more tasks get done and all the deadlines are met.

But when it comes to reporting, there isn’t much to talk about besides the basic features you’d expect from any planner.

If you need to get fancy with your views and filters, Motion may not cut it. But ClickUp is a different story.

As well as stock templates covering all the basics like timelines, productivity, and more, they also let you fully customize your own reports from any fields or formulas.

Not only that, but you can automate exports and even make dashboards to visualize key metrics. It’s extremely flexible, so you can drill down and analyze your unique workflows in-depth, as well as prepare impressive reports for stakeholders.

My experience with ClickUp and Motion

I spent some time exploring Motion and ClickUp, and I think they are both impressive and great for different purposes.

While ClickUp is incredibly full-featured and customizable, I found Motion’s interface much cleaner, intuitive and straightforward right out of the gate.

While ClickUp definitely has competitors in the project management space, such as Monday or Notion, that are very similar, I’ve yet to see another app match Motion’s unique automated planning capabilities powered by AI.

As a solopreneur, I prefer a minimalistic approach and like having more control over my workflow without a ton of extra, unnecessary features. That’s why, after testing a bunch of task management apps, including both ClickUp and Motion, I ended up using Sunsama (read my full comparison review of Motion vs Sunsama).

But I still think Motion is amazing and can truly save you hours each week just by having your daily schedule optimized for you automatically.

However, for big teams taking on more complex projects that require highly customized views, reporting, and tracking across departments, ClickUp seems like a much better overall solution. It really shines when you need to break down intricate processes and visualize collaboration at an advanced level.

Motion pricing vs ClickUp pricing

Motion offers a 7-day free trial and a very straightforward pricing structure.

• Individual Plan: $19/month billed annually, or $34 per month billed monthly. It gives you access to all project planning features, as well as AI-powered task and meeting scheduling.
• Team Plan: $12/month billed annually, or $20 per month billed monthly. Leverage this for advanced team collaboration and smooth scheduling across everyone’s calendars.

ClickUp lets you sign up and use the app for free with limited functionality.

• Free Plan: Create however many tasks and documents you want, only limited to 100 MB storage.
• Unlimited Plan: $10/user/month billed annually, or $7 if billed monthly. Offers unlimited storage and may be more than enough for smaller teams.
• Business Plan: $19/user/month billed annually, or $12 if billed monthly. Adds a ton of useful features for bigger teams, such as advanced automation and timesheets.

ClickUp is a clear winner price-wise because it has a Free Forever plan, which may be enough for solopreneurs, freelancers, or digital creators who are just starting their businesses and have limited resources.

However, keep in mind that AI features will cost you an extra $5 per month and can only be used on top of paid plans.

So, the real choice here should be based on the features you are looking for.

Motion vs ClickUp: Which is better?

Both Motion and ClickUp are excellent platforms, but in the end, every business has unique needs that only you, as a business owner, can evaluate.

Motion focuses its capabilities on automated calendar-centric planning through AI, while ClickUp offers a more well-rounded set of tools for collaboration, document handling, customization, and reporting.

The choice really comes down to priorities – do you want automation to save you time or flexibility to build a fully customized workspace? Will collaboration tools see heavy use, or is personal planning the priority? How complex are your processes and customization requirements?

Let’s look at Motion’s and ClickUp’s pros and cons at a glance:

Overall, Motion is ideal for solopreneurs and small teams seeking effortless collaboration and hands-off time-blocking, while ClickUp caters perfectly to complex enterprise needs at scale. ClickUp also gives you more control versus Motion’s set-it-and-forget-it approach.

But only you can decide which aligns best with your goals and team culture. If you are still on the fence, be sure to try both tools for free before committing and see which makes more sense for your workflows and planning preferences.

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