When you buy through affiliate links in our content, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Learn 
Our Trello review talks in detail about this popular Kanban-style project management tool. It promises to be a budget-friendly PM solution with plenty of automation and integration options. However, not all businesses find Trello fit for their needs. Read on as we dig into Trello’s features and compare it with its rivals.
Trello Pricing
Trello offers three paid plans along with a free forever plan. Here’s a more detailed look into what each of these Trello plans offer:
| Free | Standard | Premium | Enterprise | |
| Starting Price | Free | $5/user/month | $10/user/month | $17.50/user/month |
| User Limit | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | Minimum 50 |
| Free Version | Free plan | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Task/Project Limit | 10 boards | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Time Tracking | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Project Views | 1—Kanban Board view | 1—Kanban Board view | 8—Kanban, Timeline, Calendar | 8—Kanban, Timeline, Calendar |
| Automation | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Custom Fields | NA | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Approvals | Through automation | Through automation | Through automation | Through automation |
| Templates | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Security | 2FA, SAML SSO via Atlassian Access | 2FA, SAML SSO via Atlassian Access | 2FA, SAML SSO via Atlassian Access, Domain restricted invites, deactivate members | 2FA, SAML SSO via Atlassian Access, Domain restricted invites, deactivate members, attachment restrictions |
| Integrations | 200+ | 200+ | 200+ | 200+ |
Trello Features
Trello offers a lot of handy features, and during our Trello review, it was easy to see why it’s one of the best project management tools. Here’s a closer look at some of the most loved Trello features:
Kanban Boards
Sure, almost all the best project management apps offer Kanban boards, but no one does it better than Trello. Trello boards are incredibly easy to use, intuitive, colorful, and organized.
Managers can add unlimited cards to a Kanban board right from the free plan. Each card represents an individual task and can be easily dragged and dropped into the desired column on the board.
These columns represent the status of the task or project, such as—”In progress”, “Finished”, and so on. You can set due dates for each card, too, and assign them to members of your team.
Beyond this, you can upload files within it and leave comments to collaborate with team members or offer updates. These cards can also be color-coded as per project status or priority.
Templates
Trello is also popular for its selection of templates. It’s a world away from what we found in our Notion review, but these Trello templates are beautifully designed, offering a great “out-of-the-box” solution.
The templates are divided into 14 categories, such as Business, Design, Project Management, and Marketing, making it ideal for any team, whether it be for sales, support, HR, operations, or marketing.
Trello also offers detailed guides on how to use each template, who it’s best for, and the power-ups and automations used in the template. You also have the option to customize them to your needs.
Automations
Trello’s no-code automation, named Butler, makes it easy to track projects and automate tasks. We like the button options you get on Trello cards, for instance.
- Move the card to the next list
- Add members who are responsible for the next step
- Create a subtask check
Similarly, you can create a button at the board level that can sort your cards using custom fields such as due dates, project status, and team members, letting you easily see any overdue tasks.
There’s also an option for calendar commands, which you can use to automate recurring tasks. For example, you can choose to archive all completed task cards on Monday at 9 AM.
You can also set up automation with third-party apps. For example, you can automatically send an email to a client with the card details when a card is moved to, say, the “Need feedback” list.
Trello Integrations
Trello offers 200+ “power-ups”—a fancy name for third-party integrations—from the free plan itself. This is one of the biggest praises Trello receives.
This is because you don’t usually see unlimited integrations, even with the best free project management solutions. So, Trello takes the cake in this aspect.
All these “power-ups” are neatly divided into various categories like Analytics, Communication, HR, and Automation. These integrations are a way for the platform to make up for features it lacks.
For instance, time-tracking integrations like Everhour, Chronos, and Clockify are available. Other popular integrations include Slack, Jira, Outlook MailTrackers, Microsoft Teams, and Gmail.
Other PM tools like Wrike limit the number of integrations on the free plan, whereas Monday doesn’t provide any for free. As you can see, Trello is far ahead of competitors in terms of integrations.
Trello Customer Reviews
Trello has garnered good reviews on sites like G2 and TrustRadius. It has a score of 8.1/10 from 2,700+ reviews on TrustRadius, with 99% of users believing it delivers good value for the price.
Similarly, users on G2 have rated it 4.4 out of 5 on average, with 13,000+ reviews. We found many reviews across these sites showing gratitude for Trello’s ease of use.
Users also like the customization options. From changing the background to adding shapes, labels, and icons, there are a lot of ways you can design your Trello board.
However, as some users agree, Trello isn’t the most ideal pick for large organizations with a lot of ongoing projects. The dashboard can quickly become clunky, and it can be difficult to locate projects.
However, in our own testing, we found that Trello can easily manage several projects simultaneously because you get several workspace templates to segregate and customize projects for better scannability.
A noticeable downside echoed in customer reviews (and that we agree with as well) is that Trello lacks a couple of important advanced features, including time tracking and Gantt charts.
What is Trello Good for?
Trello is a good option for teams on a budget looking for high-end automations and valuable integrations. These features are considered premium in the industry—and you get them for free with Trello.
Trello delivers great value for small teams as well—on its $10/user/month plan, you get unlimited boards, advanced checklists, and calendar and timeline views that help in resource management.
The platform also has some of the best templates we’ve seen. However, Trello lacks Gantt charts, time tracking, and AI functions, all features most top project management apps offer.
If you’re after this, we highly recommend considering a Trello alternative like Monday or Wrike. Read on, as we’ll compare Trello to its top competition below.
Trello vs Top Competitors
Trello delivers a lot of value for small teams and those on a budget. However, let’s see how it fares against some of the best Trello alternatives:
| Trello | Monday | Wrike | ClickUp | Smartsheet | Teamwork | |
| Best For | Integrations and templates | Small and mid-sized businesses | Marketing-oriented businesses | Automations | Spreadsheet project management | Time and project tracking |
| Starting Price | $5/user/month | $9.80/user/month | $9.8/user/month | $7/user/month | $7/user/month | $5.99/user/month |
| Free Version | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Compatibility | Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS | Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS | Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS | Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS, and Android | Mac, Windows, Linux, ChromeOS, iOS, and Android | Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS |
| Top 3 Features | 200+ power-ups, unlimited Kanban boards, ready-made templates | Unlimited boards and docs, whiteboard collaboration, pivot analysis & reports | Unlimited projects, tasks & subtasks, interactive Gantt charts, project blueprints | Collaborative docs, sprint management, advanced time tracking | Conditional form logic, unlimited sheets, custom welcome screens | Estimated time management, project budget expenses, task list templates |
Trello vs Asana
If you’re looking for AI functions, go for Asana. It comes with several AI capabilities, such as smart fields, smart editors, and smart summaries, among others.
Plus, if you’re on the lookout for the best free project management tool, as we found in our detailed review of Asana, you’ll find it pretty well-rounded.
You can add unlimited projects and tasks on the free plan, apart from sending unlimited messages and access to unlimited storage (100MB per file). It also offers a lot of views that Trello doesn’t.
This includes Gantt and Portfolio. You even get time tracking on the free plan. We also found Asana’s reporting ahead of Trello, with chart customizations, advanced searches, and custom fields.
Trello, on the other hand, is perfect if you’re looking for ready-made project templates, and Butler makes it a solid option for automation. It’s also easily one of the easiest to use.
Recommended Read: Our Full Asana Review for 2024
Trello vs Jira
Both Trello and Jira are Atlassian products meant for very different needs. If you’re a large team with complex projects, pick Jira. Our review of Jira explored how it’s meant for agile teams.
It offers dedicated boards for issue and bug tracking. Plus, it offers more reporting options than Trello, with 15+ data-driven reports. There’s also a Roadmaps feature in Jira.
These are great for visual summaries of complex projects, letting you break them down into various tasks and subtasks. However, there is a steep learning curve, especially when compared to Trello.
Trello is a better option if you have a small team. From free templates, automations, and integrations to unlimited Kanban boards and cards—there’s a lot you can do with Trello for just $5/month.
Recommended Read: An In-Depth Jira Review for 2024
Trello vs Monday
Monday is a good pick if you’re looking for a project management solution with excellent collaboration features. You get a whiteboard for team brainstorming and document collaboration.
With Trello, you have to rely on third-party integrations for such functions. That said, Trello is great if you need more integrations, as you get 200+ power-ups on the free plan itself.
To put it in perspective, Monday charges $12/user/month to offer integrations and automations. With Trello, you get that for free. Trello is, overall, a more affordable option, too.
The Standard plan costs just $5/user/month. So, if you’re a small team with limited needs, Trello gets the job done, but as we explore in our review of Monday, it offers insane value for money.
Besides boasting features that require integration with Trello, Monday’s interface is as intuitive and as easy to use as Trello’s. The choice comes down to your specific needs and budget.
Read More: A Complete Monday Review for 2024
How We Test Project Management Tools
Our team of experts has been reviewing and comparing tech products, including PM tools, for over 13 years. We’ve tested all the market’s top options to give our readers unbiased reviews.
We try every project management solution for 2-3 weeks hands-on, during which we test every feature it claims to offer. This helps us find out if it’s really capable of adding value to your business.
Among other things, we check the tool’s ease of use and setup, performance, and value. For the latter, we compare the software side-by-side with its top rivals.
Then we go a step ahead and evaluate the provider’s customer support to determine its responsiveness and knowledge base. Lastly, we run through various review sites to see what others have to say.
This combined helps us ensure we deliver well-rounded reviews for our readers.
How to Choose the Best Project Management Solution
Here are a few things you need to keep in mind while shopping for the best project management solution for your business:
First, you need to set a budget for a project management tool. This is because you can get them for as little as $4-5/user/month or as expensive as $300/month.
Plus, there are tons of tools, each with various plans, so setting a budget helps you narrow down your options to the ones you can afford.
List all the features essential for the day-to-day operation of your business. This will help you find a tool that offers the features you need at the price you’re willing to pay.
Remember, not all features you need may be available within your budget. Some high-end features like analytics and advanced reporting may be reserved for higher plans.
As your business grows, so should your project management tool. Migrating from one platform to another can be a hassle. So, look for a platform with multiple pricing tiers that make it possible to upgrade to a higher plan when needed.
Also, consider the additional features you get with these plans and the cost of plan upgrades—scaling should be affordable, and this varies from business to business.
Ease of use varies depending on experience and the functionality on offer. To get a better idea of whether you’ll like the platform’s usability, we recommend trying out any free versions before committing.
What also helps increase the platform’s usability is an in-depth knowledge hub with lots of help articles and FAQs so that your team members can quickly find solutions to their queries.
A project management tool must integrate well with other platforms you’re using in your business, such as Slack, MS Teams, and Google Drive. Also, pay attention to the list of integrations a platform offers on the plan(s) you can afford, as some of them may only be available on premium-level plans.
Lastly, you need to check if the provider has helpful and responsive customer support agents that can help you should you run into any issues.
Consider factors like the different modes of support; preferably, there should be chat, email, as well as phone support. Also, see that the support hours align with your business timings.
FAQs
Is Trello actually useful?
What is a key disadvantage of Trello?
Why is Trello so popular?
References
- The Art of Project Management (Wisconsin School of Business)
- A Guide to Organizational Resources and How to Manage Them (University of Arkansas Grantham)
