The 5 best Trello alternatives to try in 2023
Trello is a fantastic kanban tool, but if you need more than a board, try these Trello alternatives
Trello is one of the best project management solutions out there, offering a fantastic kanban board at no cost. As good as it is, though, it’s also very much a one-trick pony, and chances are that as your scope grows, you’ll quickly outgrow it. So, with that in mind, we’ve put together this list of Trello alternatives.
Of course, Trello is more than just a kanban board: paying users get access to a number of other features, such as a list, a grid view, and even a way to map tasks to certain geographical locations. However, as we discuss in our Trello review, most other functionality besides the board is mediocre at best, keeping Trello firmly one-dimensional.
As a result, there’s a good chance larger teams will soon grow disenchanted with Trello and need either a tool to replace it, or at the very least one that can work in tandem with it. Luckily, we have more than a few candidates capable of doing exactly that.
Best Trello alternatives: At a glance
- Best Trello alternative overall: Wrike | Try it from £8
- Best Trello alternative for large companies: Asana | Try it from £10
- Best Trello alternative for smaller budgets: ClickUp | Try it from £4
How to choose the best Trello alternative for you
Your decision to look for an alternative to Trello will likely centre around how strongly the kanban board fits in your plans. If it’s all you need, then there will be no need to switch to another project management tool; Trello is the best kanban board around.
However, as cool as kanban is, it’s rare that on its own it will be sufficient to meet all your planning needs. For example, while a kanban board can be a great way to track the progress of tasks, a list is a great way to get an idea of who is working on something, or which departments are particularly busy. A timeline can offer up a much better idea of when tasks will be completed, as can a calendar.
The trick, then, is to figure out what you and your team need, and go from there. If you have a lot of time-sensitive tasks, then using a tool with a good timeline or calendar function is key. You can even integrate them with the board, if you like.
If you require an overview then you can easily shift between dates, people, and type, making a list a much better choice. In fact, modern lists are so malleable they’re up there with boards for being the most flexible way to track work.
Of course, it isn’t all about form and function: price is a consideration, too – and it’s in this regard where Trello still comes out on top. It’s among the best free project management tools out there: a smart operator can use it for free, even with a massive team. We’d go so far as to say that if you’re paying for it, then you’re using Trello wrong.
Any Trello alternative will entail a cost, although small, savvy teams can still get away with not paying a penny. However, in most cases, this added cost also adds value.
How we test Trello alternatives
Having first decided on what we need from a Trello alternative, we start by revisiting our archive of project management reviews, choosing services that meet our criteria. As we mentioned, Trello is the best kanban tool out there, and we figure that even if you want to bid adieu to Trello, you may still want to hang on to the board.
As a result, all our picks below offer decent kanban abilities, but they also offer great secondary functions. This includes lists, timelines and the like, but also more obscure features such as long-term planning or spreadsheet functionality. Of course, another huge issue is price – an area where Trello is hard to beat (read more about that in our article on Trello pricing). As such, we have made a decision to focus more here on value for money, so while some picks can be quite pricey, they should allow you to take your project management to heights Trello won’t ever attain.
The best Trello alternatives you can buy
1. Wrike: Best Trello alternative overall
Price: From £8 per user, per month | Check price at Wrike
Our top pick is Wrike, mainly because it balances great functionality with price. Like Trello, it features a solid board, but it also offers better, and more well-integrated, other functions, such as a grid view, a calendar and – best of all – a Gantt chart. In fact, Wrike may be one of the better Gantt tools out there, something we describe in detail in our full Wrike review. It’s far easier to use, too: although it lacks Trello’s colourful interface, navigating through different views is more straightforward.
Price-wise, Wrike is a mixed bag: its free plan provides a board and a list, but at £8 per user, per month, the paid plan stings a bit. However, if you can make use of the added functionality that Wrike offers, we recommend you give it a try.
2. Asana: Best Trello alternative for large companies
Price: From £10 per user, per month | Check price at Asana
Asana is our favourite alternative for companies that may have outgrown Trello. Even the most dedicated hardcore fans of kanban boards will eventually find limitations, when columns and tasks just stack up in an unending loop. Asana can help you overcome that issue through the way it functions.
As we describe in our Asana review, it’s a super flexible tool that scales well. Whether your team is small or large (or one that’s growing very quickly), some minor adjustments will enable you to quickly adapt to your new normal. If Trello is backed up as a result of too many tasks or team members, migrating everything to Asana will quickly shed light on any bottlenecks and address them.
Of course, this improved functionality comes at a price. When comparing Trello vs Asana, the latter’s nearly £10 per user, per month, may give you a fright. Nevertheless, it may prove its worth if you need to manage a large workload.
3. ClickUp: Best Trello alternative for smaller budgets
Price: Starts at £4 per user, per month | Check price at ClickUp
If you need to replace Trello with a more comprehensive tool, but without having a huge impact on your operating costs, ClickUp is an interesting choice. At a very reasonable cost of just £4 per user, per month, ClickUp is one of the best cheap project management tools out there.
As we mention in our ClickUp review, its price isn’t reflective of the offering: everything works as it’s supposed to, although you may occasionally encounter the odd bug since it’s a relatively new product. Still, if you’re a fan of kanban boards but require extra functionality, ClickUp is a decent option.
As for ClickUp pricing, you’ll be happy to know it scales very well, with more advanced plans keeping in line with most budgets. It may suffer some teething issues, then, but overall ClickUp is a great alternative to Trello.
4. Monday.com: Best Trello alternative for user-friendliness
Price: From £9 per user, per month | Check price at Monday.com
Monday.com is a full-service tool that, like Asana, offers plenty of functionality beyond kanban and is easily scalable, too. However, there are some key differences that make it an interesting option as a Trello alternative.
What sets Monday.com apart from Asana is that it’s super easy to use, making it a great option for those looking to move away from Trello, but who are a little nervous about dealing with more advanced functions. As you can read in our Monday.com review, it offers a bright, cheery interface that won’t see you endlessly looking for obscure functions.
Price-wise, though, things aren’t so rosy. As we discuss in our article on Monday.com’s pricing, it may come in a tad cheaper than Asana, but starting at £9 per user, per month, it’s significantly more expensive than Trello. Still, considering what you get for the money, this extra expenditure may be worth it.
5. Jira: Best Trello alternative for scrum
Price: From £6 per user, per month | Check price at Atlassian
Last on our list of Trello alternatives is Jira, a project management tool owned by the same company that runs Trello. Like most siblings, they share much of the same DNA, but deliver it differently. Where Trello is an all-purpose board, Jira focuses hard on scrum – the methodology used by Agile teams (read all about it in our Jira review).
The result is two programs that behave much the same, but for very different purposes. While Trello will work okay as a scrum tool, Jira is better. There’s also added functionality with Jira, including a list and a calendar that work more effectively than Trello’s built-in versions.
Jira is an interesting option for the budget-conscious, too. There’s a decent free plan for up to 10 people, with paid plans starting at just £6 per user, per month – discover what that gets you in our article on Jira pricing. Overall, if you like the scrum style of managing projects, Jira is miles ahead of Trello.