Trello Al­tern­at­ives

Trello is a simple yet time highly effective project man­age­ment tool that sim­pli­fies the execution of private and pro­fes­sion­al projects. Launched in 2011, Trello today boasts over 25 million users. The software stands out with its sleek design and intuitive functions, that generally don’t require any lengthy in­tro­duc­tions. Trello uses Kanban to display current tasks, re­spons­ib­il­it­ies, and the progress of projects on a board. Whether personal to-do lists or internal business project plans – Trello generates an overview of all projects and clearly displays their progress.

But almost all software has its ad­vant­ages and dis­ad­vant­ages. The project man­age­ment tool Trello is also better suited to some projects than others. The main ad­vant­ages and dis­ad­vant­ages depend on in­di­vidu­al re­quire­ments and the projects being dealt with. In this article, we’ll dive into the topic of why a Trello al­tern­at­ive can make sense, and what the options are.

This article was last updated in April 2021.

At first glance, the project man­age­ment tools presented here have many sim­il­ar­it­ies. The Kanban board is a popular and proven rep­res­ent­a­tion method that is available in every software presented in our list. But while Trello is limited to this view, al­tern­at­ives to Trello offer many more practical al­tern­at­ives for more complex projects and in­di­vidu­al re­quire­ments. The functions also go well beyond creating tasks in some al­tern­at­ives, offering features for expenses man­age­ment, resource man­age­ment, or customer re­la­tion­ship man­age­ment.

The following table shows a com­par­is­on of the presented Trello al­tern­at­ives and their ad­vant­ages and dis­ad­vant­ages.

As of April 2021

Trello is one of the most used project man­age­ment tools. One of the key features that have led to its wide­spread use is its clear structure of tasks on boards, lists, and cards:

• Boards: A board rep­res­ents a project and can be shared with other team members.
• Lists: On the boards, any number of lists can be created. Common examples include ‘To do’, ‘In progress’, and ‘Ac­com­plished’.
• Cards: Every card is assigned to a list and includes one task. By clicking on it, the card displays further in­form­a­tion, comments, or at­tach­ments.

The structure of Trello is simple and easy to follow, while also offering extensive functions that simplify the or­gan­isa­tion of projects within a team. Its visual and intuitive style sim­pli­fies the workload without requiring much fa­mil­i­ar­isa­tion. Trello is available on the desktop, in the browser and as an app. An automatic sync function makes sure that all users are up to date.

Trello doesn’t only have its pros: While the simple structure is a big advantage for many, it can also quickly become a dis­ad­vant­age when it comes to more complex tasks and projects. The project man­age­ment tool is limited to the Kanban board and offers no al­tern­at­ive display of tasks. Projects with bigger teams and extensive com­mu­nic­a­tion might find that a Trello al­tern­at­ive is better suited to them. In addition, the free version of Trello caps the size of file at­tach­ments at 10 MB. Even in the Pro version, only 250 MB are allowed per at­tach­ment.

The project man­age­ment tool Trello as well as the al­tern­at­ives to Trello presented in this article are all available free of charge. They all offer the software’s most important functions and allow you to test their various project man­age­ment tools before choosing the one that best suits your needs. With their re­spect­ive fee-based, premium versions, you’ll have access to an even bigger scope of functions. Below, we’ll introduce you to six Trello al­tern­at­ives so simplify the choice for you.

All data have been re­searched in April 2021.

Airtable is available for desktop, browser, and as an app with the free version and lets you create an unlimited number of tables. The fee-based versions for around £7 or ap­prox­im­ately £15 per month and user provide ad­di­tion­al functions as well as more storage space. In the free version, at­tach­ments are capped at 2 gigabytes. The extra packages expand this capacity to 5 or 20 gigabytes depending on the package.

The scope of Asana’s func­tion­al­it­ies can be extended by in­teg­rat­ing ad­di­tion­al tools. In doing so, you can, for example, turn Microsoft Teams con­ver­sa­tions into action points, share designs from Adobe Creative Cloud, or activate no­ti­fic­a­tions from Slack when changes are made in Asana. The syn­chron­isa­tion with other tools is es­pe­cially helpful when col­lab­or­at­ing with other users, making teamwork a lot more efficient. Some in­teg­ra­tions, like Sales­force or Tableau, as well as setting up more than 15 users, will require you to purchase the fee-based version.

While Asana doesn’t offer optional add-ons, the Trello al­tern­at­ive still offers more functions as standard. These include the display of a project’s status and de­term­in­ing the in­ter­de­pend­ence of in­di­vidu­al tasks. While Trello scores points with its easy overview, Asana is better suited for projects with more than 30 tasks. Due to its design, its in­teg­ra­tions, and its functions, Asana is an es­pe­cially good choice for larger teams and more complex projects.

The free version of this Trello al­tern­at­ive has limited functions. While an unlimited number of team members can be added, the tool’s special features are only available for one user. This includes, for example, the time tracking table or access to the expenses and invoices functions. The number of projects is also limited to ten. The fee-based versions are – like most of the other al­tern­at­ives to Trello presented here – based on per user pricing. In some cir­cum­stances, this solution is also a cheaper al­tern­at­ive for bigger teams, if the functions of various programs can be brought together.

However, not all functions that are needed or helpful for projects and teamwork are accounted for in this al­tern­at­ive to Trello. To still make work with different tools as efficient as possible, ClickUp lets you integrate other tools, like Basecamp, Todoist, Excel, or Trello. When switching between the two project man­age­ment tools you have the option to easily import existing projects from Trello.

With just 100 MB, the free version quickly reaches its limits. Compared to the other Trello al­tern­at­ives presented here, the fee-based version is still quite cheap. For just around £3.50 per month and user you get unlimited storage space as well as an unlimited number of in­teg­ra­tions, dashboard, and views.

One thing that’s special with Zenkit is its included CRM system, which makes it possible for you to create a customer database. With this, com­mu­nic­a­tion flows can be tracked, and key customer figures can be cal­cu­lated. If you’ve used Asana or Trello so far, Zenkit offers a smooth trans­ition with its important function. The Trello al­tern­at­ive also lets you transfer existing project by importing a CSV file.

In the free version, Zenkit offers 1 GB of storage space for up to three users. To also use Gantt diagrams, user roles, 50,000 Items, per­son­al­ised designs, and 6 GB of storage space, you need to get ZenKit Plus for around £6.50 per month and user. The Business plan will set you back £18 for ad­di­tion­al functions and 50 GB of storage space.

The free version lets you create up to three projects with an unlimited number of users. The Pro version costs £8.25 per month ­– without a cap on the number of users – and lets you create unlimited projects, several check­lists, project groups, and stat­ist­ics and reports. Compared to similar products out there, this Trello al­tern­at­ive is es­pe­cially cost effective for bigger teams.