A ClickUp alternative for design studios
Design does not happen in the gaps between meetings, and a task list will cheerfully pretend that it does.
Why design studios use ClickUp
It bends into a studio pipeline exactly, with custom fields for every stage of a project.
Where it stops
Building that pipeline is itself a week of somebody’s deep work, and the result still plans in dates.
The week design studios actually have
Three projects at different stages, a review that could have been asynchronous, and a designer whose best four hours went to a call at eleven that cut the morning in half. Nobody scheduled the interruption. It just arrived, because there was nothing on the calendar saying otherwise.
The best hours get taken because they look empty
An unmarked calendar is an invitation. The deep work has no defence because it was never written down as time.
In UnaTask: Blocks you place yourself, that stay where you put them, and that a booking link will not offer to anybody.
A day cut into four pieces is not four hours of design
Two calls and a review leave a shape nothing fits into, and every planning tool records that day as mostly free.
In UnaTask: You see the shape of the day, not just its total, which is the difference between a plan and an arithmetic error.
Feedback rounds are work and never on the plan
Two rounds of revisions are certain and never estimated, so every project runs over by the amount everybody privately expected.
In UnaTask: Put the rounds on the calendar as tasks with time, so the estimate contains the thing that always happens.
Client calls generate work that lands nowhere
The review call produced eleven changes and a memory of eight of them.
In UnaTask: A notetaker turns the review into assigned tasks on the project.
On the things design studios asked about
| What it does | ClickUp | UnaTask |
|---|---|---|
| Time blocking on a calendar | Partly. There is a calendar view and time estimates, but placing your week is not what it is for. | Core |
| See who has room | Yes | Core |
| Meetings become tasks | Partly | Yes |
| A free plan | Yes | Yes |
What it costs
For a team of 5, billed yearly, ClickUp is about $420 a year and UnaTask is €480 plus VAT. The two are quoted in different currencies, so we have not subtracted one from the other.
ClickUp: Free plan. $7 Unlimited and $12 Business per user per month billed yearly, plus around $9 per user for Brain AI.
Common questions
Why do design studios use ClickUp?
It bends into a studio pipeline exactly, with custom fields for every stage of a project.
Where does ClickUp stop working for design studios?
Building that pipeline is itself a week of somebody’s deep work, and the result still plans in dates.
Should we leave ClickUp?
Not necessarily, and we would rather say so. Keep ClickUp if somebody on the team enjoys building the system and you want it bent into the exact shape of your process. Move if the missing piece is the week itself: hours on a calendar, for everyone, before the work is promised.
Can I stop people booking over my focus time?
Yes. Booking links only offer slots that are genuinely free, and a focus block is not free.
Does it work for a studio of three?
Yes. Three seats at €10 each per month, and there is nothing to configure first.
ClickUp details checked 2 August 2026.