HenkSuiteTL;DRMost teams don't need five project tools - they need two. The common stack of Jira + Slack + Notion + Google Calendar + Toggl can be collapsed into one productivity app (tasks, docs, calendar, time tracking) plus one chat tool. HenkSuite, Notion, and ClickUp all handle the productivity side; Slack or Discord handle chat.
Quick answer: you probably need two, not five
Project management does not require five separate SaaS apps. It requires two: one app that holds your work (tasks, documents, calendar, time) and one app that holds your conversations (chat). Everything else is either a nice-to-have or a specialized tool you only need occasionally.
If you're currently running projects through Jira, Slack, Notion, Google Calendar, and Toggl, this guide walks through which to keep, which to drop, and how to consolidate without losing work in the process.
The typical five-tool project stack
Before cutting, it's worth naming what each tool actually does. Most of them overlap by 40-60%.
Jira - tickets and issue tracking
Used for tickets, sprints, and bug tracking. Powerful but heavy. The interface assumes a dedicated project manager translating requests into tickets. For teams under 20 people, Jira is usually overkill.
Slack - chat and announcements
Real-time messaging, channels, threads, and a growing list of integrations. Good at what it does. The problem is that work ends up happening in Slack instead of being discussedthere.
Notion - docs and specs
Docs, wikis, PRDs, meeting notes. Often used as a lightweight task system too, which creates overlap with Jira. Slow on large workspaces and cloud-only.
Google Calendar - meetings and deadlines
Meetings, reminders, and sometimes deadlines. Rarely integrated tightly with the task system, which means deadlines live in two places: on the calendar and on the ticket.
Toggl - time tracking
Timers per task for billing or self-audit. Lives entirely outside the project tool, so tracking requires alt-tabbing constantly.
The overlapFour of the five tools above can hold a to-do list. Three can hold a document. Two can hold a calendar. You're paying five subscriptions for mostly the same surfaces.
Why the five-tool stack breaks
There is no single source of truth
When project state is spread across five apps, people stop believing any of them. A deadline in Jira, a commitment in a Slack thread, a spec in Notion, and a meeting on the calendar can all contradict each other - and usually do. Engineers ask "where's the real list?" and managers ship the wrong version.
The monthly bill keeps climbing
At typical 2026 pricing: Jira ($8), Slack ($8), Notion ($10), Google Workspace ($12), and Toggl ($9) is $47 per user per month. For a ten-person team that's $5,640 per year - before any AI add-ons, premium tiers, or admin seats.
Onboarding new teammates is a week lost
Every new hire has to be provisioned in five tools, taught five UIs, and remember which one holds what. That first week of "I think the design review is in Notion but the ticket is in Jira" is pure friction.
The consolidated two-tool stack
Here's what the same team needs when they stop duplicating surfaces.
One productivity app for work
Pick a single app that handles projects, tasks, docs, calendar, and time tracking in one place. Options:
- HenkSuite - local-first desktop app with 21 native modules. Projects, tasks, notes, calendar, mail, spreadsheets, time tracking, and finance all share one SQLite file. Everything opens instantly and works offline. One-time license.
- Notion - flexible workspace for those who love building their own system. Replaces Jira + Notion + a lightweight calendar view, but it's cloud-only and slower on big workspaces.
- ClickUp - feature-heavy cloud suite that positions itself as "one app to replace them all." Covers tasks, docs, goals, and time tracking in one login.
One chat app for conversation
Keep a chat tool for synchronous conversation and announcements - Slack, Discord, or Microsoft Teams depending on your culture. The key rule: decisions made in chat must get copied into the productivity app. Chat is the hallway, not the filing cabinet.
- ✓Half the subscriptions, half the bill
- ✓Single source of truth for work
- ✓New teammates learn two apps, not five
- ✓Cross-module linking (tasks to docs to calendar) comes for free
- ✕Engineering-heavy teams may still want a dedicated issue tracker
- ✕Migration takes real effort - plan for 2-4 weeks
- ✕No single app is best-in-class at every module
A 30-day migration plan
- Week 1: audit your current stack. For each tool, list what it's actually used for (not what it was sold as). Most teams discover 2-3 tools are 80% empty.
- Week 2: pick your new productivity app and migrate active projects only. Leave archived work in the old tool as read-only reference.
- Week 3: move docs, SOPs, and meeting notes. This is usually the heaviest step. Set a cut-off date: nothing new gets written in the old doc tool after this.
- Week 4: cancel at least two subscriptions. If you can't cancel them, you haven't really migrated.
FAQ: consolidating project tools
What about engineering teams using Jira?
Large engineering orgs with formal sprint processes may still need Jira or Linear. But everyone else in the company - marketing, sales, ops, design - can live in one productivity app. Don't force the whole company into Jira just because engineering uses it.
How do I share with clients?
Most consolidated apps have share links or guest access for clients. If not, a weekly PDF or spreadsheet export from your new tool is usually enough. Clients rarely want to log into your project manager - they want a summary.
What if the new tool fails?
Pick an app that lets you export everything. Local-first options like HenkSuite store your data in a SQLite file you own outright. Cloud tools should offer CSV and Markdown exports. As long as your data is portable, the risk is contained.
The bottom line
The five-tool project stack is a historical accident, not a best practice. It's what happens when teams adopt the market-leading tool in each category without asking whether they need five categories at all. Most don't.
If you're ready to try a two-tool stack, start with HenkSuite for work and your favourite chat app for conversation. You'll notice the difference in the first week - and your invoice in the first month.
About the author
Emilia is the founder of HenkSuite. She builds productivity tools because the internet has 47 of them and none of them feel fast, private, or finished.