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Trello reviews — what users really think

last reviewed 24 march 2026
how we review

We start with direct ratings from our readers, then look at what real users are saying in practitioner forums and community spaces. We pair that with search demand data and profession-level persona analysis.

full methodology →

Editorial note: this was originally published in august of 2024

quick take

  • Best for: visual thinkers managing small-team Kanban workflows
  • Skip if: you need built-in Gantt charts, time tracking, or sprint reporting
  • £Best value: free tier for teams under 10 boards, Standard at $5/user/month for anything beyond that
½3.5/ 5 — editorial rating

based on real user feedback, community sentiment, pricing value, and fit for target audience. see our full methodology

used Trello? we'd love to know your thoughts

reader ratings shape our score

Trello is a Kanban-style project management tool that's been around long enough to have a genuinely battle-tested free plan. Freelance project managers who think visually and small agile development teams get the most out of it. The key tradeoff is real: it's faster to set up than almost anything else in this category, but it trades depth for simplicity, and you'll feel that gap the moment you need Gantt charts, time tracking, or approval workflows.

The free plan gives you unlimited cards and members with up to 10 boards per workspace. Standard costs $6 per user per month (or $5 billed annually) and unlocks unlimited boards and more automation. Premium, at $12.50 per user per month, adds timeline and dashboard views. Trello runs on web, iOS, and Android. One thing to know before you try it: the Power-Up system that extends Trello's functionality has slot limits on lower tiers, so map out which integrations you need before committing to a plan.

how popular is Trello?

monthly search interest

246k/mo now

0132k264k400k2023202420252026
peak interest368k/moJan 2024
searches now246k/moFeb 2026
1-month change— steadyvs prev month

Trello's search volume has been drifting down since a January 2024 peak and is now sitting about a third below that high point. This is what a maturing tool looks like when newer, more feature-rich competitors have pulled away some of the consideration set. The core user base is still large and stable enough that Trello isn't going anywhere, but the hype has long passed, which means you're evaluating a settled product rather than a moving target.

who is Trello for?

Whether Trello is worth it depends almost entirely on what you're actually trying to track and how much your team needs to report on it. Pick your role below to see the honest breakdown.

overall sentiment

select your role to see what people like you are saying

Agile Software Development Team Lead

mixed

Trello's Kanban board is a natural fit for sprint task tracking, and the Jira integration means you don't have to abandon your existing dev toolchain. The free tier is enough for a small agile team. The ceiling shows up fast though: no native burndown charts, no velocity tracking, and boards with large card counts get slow during active sprints. Treat it as a lightweight visual layer, not a full sprint management tool.

strengths

  • Native Kanban methodology support for sprint planning and task flow
  • Mobile app allows developers to update status from anywhere during standups
  • Jira integration enables seamless connection between development tools
  • Free tier sufficient for small agile teams without premium costs

concerns

  • Performance degradation when managing large sprint boards with many cards
  • Limited automation requires Butler upgrade, pushing toward paid plans
  • Lacks advanced reporting for burndown charts and velocity tracking

what users are saying

The tool sells simplicity, then requires you to bolt on paid add-ons to cover gaps that competitors include by default.

Community coverage of Trello is fairly thin in terms of independent critical voices, with the most substantive public reviews coming from project management-focused sites rather than large forum threads. The consensus from those sources is that Trello earns its place as the go-to Kanban board for teams that want to get started fast without reading a manual. The visual drag-and-drop interface gets consistent praise. The friction points that come up repeatedly: the free tier caps you at 10 boards per workspace and 250 automation runs a month, which sounds generous until you actually start building workflows. Power-Ups, which Trello uses to add features like Gantt charts, time tracking, and reporting, run out of slots fast on the free plan, and once you need more than a couple, you're looking at the Standard tier at $6 per user per month or the Premium tier at $12.50 to unlock anything meaningful. The general frustration is that the tool sells simplicity, then requires you to bolt on paid add-ons to cover gaps that competitors include by default.

Our take: Trello is genuinely the easiest Kanban board to get a small team using on day one. The free plan is real, not a 14-day trial. But if your team needs burndown charts, approval workflows, time tracking, or timeline views for anything beyond basic use, you'll hit the ceiling fast, and the paid tiers put you in territory where Notion, Asana, or ClickUp offer more for similar money. Don't subscribe until you've mapped out which Power-Ups you actually need and checked whether the Standard tier covers them. If you're managing anything with dependencies or client reporting, Asana's free tier handles more before you have to pay.

features

  • Boards, Lists, and Cards: Create project workflows by organizing tasks across boards, lists, and cards that track every project element.
  • Task Management: Assign team members, set due dates, attach files directly to cards, and break tasks into checklists with progress tracking.
  • Multiple Views: Visualize work through timeline, table, dashboard, and calendar views that help teams understand project progress and spot potential bottlenecks.
  • AI-Powered Automation: Use Atlassian Intelligence to generate cards from emails and Slack messages, summarize meeting notes, extract action items automatically, and get writing assistance for brainstorming and content improvement.
  • Butler Automation: Create automatic rules, commands, and scheduled tasks that handle repetitive work, reducing manual effort and increasing team productivity.
  • Time Management Tools: Trello Planner helps with time blocking through Google Calendar and Microsoft Outlook integration, while Power-Ups add Time Tracker and AutoPlan capabilities.
  • Integrations: Connect with hundreds of apps like Slack, Microsoft Teams, Gmail, Google Drive, Jira, and Salesforce, transforming Trello into a customized workflow solution.
  • Enterprise-Grade Security: 99.99% uptime, compliance certifications, and project management infrastructure that keeps your team's data safe and accessible.

pricing

  • Free version offers unlimited cards, lists, and members, up to 10 boards per workspace, 1 Power-Up per board, 10MB file attachments, 250 automation runs per month, and basic collaboration features.
  • Standard version provides unlimited boards, unlimited Power-Ups, advanced checklists, custom fields, 250MB file attachments, and 1,000 automation runs per month at $6 per user monthly or $5 when billed annually.
  • Premium version includes unlimited card views like Timeline and Dashboard, advanced admin tools, unlimited automations, and additional security features at $12.50 per user monthly or $10 when billed annually.
  • Enterprise plan offers organization-wide permissions, unlimited workspaces, multi-board guest access, attachment permissions, advanced security controls, onboarding assistance, and 24/7 support at $210 per user monthly or $17.50 with bulk pricing when billed annually.

frequently asked questions

The free plan is genuinely worth using if you're running a small team with up to 10 boards and don't need Gantt charts or automated workflows. The Standard tier at $6 per user per month is reasonable for teams that need unlimited boards and more automation runs. Premium at $12.50 per user per month is harder to justify unless you specifically need timeline and dashboard views built in. If your team needs advanced reporting or approval workflows, you're better off comparing Asana or ClickUp at similar price points before committing.

Trello works best for freelance project managers who think visually and manage multiple clients without needing enterprise reporting, and for small agile software teams that want a lightweight Kanban board alongside Jira. Remote marketing and creative teams get value from it for content calendars and campaign coordination, but they'll run into limitations once campaigns get complex. It's a poor fit for teams that need built-in Gantt charts, time tracking, or detailed stakeholder reporting from day one.

First, the Power-Up system means you're constantly trading slots: add a Gantt chart Power-Up and you've used a slot that could have gone to time tracking or a reporting tool. Second, there's no native burndown chart or velocity tracking, which matters if you're running agile sprints and need to report on team performance. Third, the free plan's 250 automation runs per month sounds adequate until you're running a team with daily recurring tasks. And large boards with hundreds of cards get noticeably slow, which is a real problem during active sprints.

If your team is purely doing software development and you need sprint velocity, burndown charts, and issue tracking built in, Jira is the better call despite its steeper learning curve. Trello wins when you need something a non-technical team member or a client can pick up in ten minutes without training. Many development teams use both: Jira for engineering workflows, Trello for cross-functional project tracking. If you're already paying for Jira, Trello's free tier is a reasonable complement rather than a replacement.

On the free plan, you can share boards with clients and track basic task status, but you can't add a Gantt timeline view, built-in time tracking, or custom reporting without upgrading. If a client needs a visual project timeline for a presentation, you're either screenshotting a board or paying for Premium. For client work that stays simple, the free plan holds up. For anything that involves deadlines across multiple dependencies or billing by hours tracked, you need to budget for at least the Standard tier, plus potentially a third-party time tracking integration.

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toolsforhumans editorial team

Reader ratings and community feedback shape every score. Since 2022, ToolsForHumans has helped 600,000+ people find software that holds up after launch. how we research →

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