Apps Like Trello: 12 Project Management Tools That Scale Beyond Boards
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About Trello
Founded
2011
USA
Ships to
Worldwide (web app)
Editor-reviewed
Every recommendation read and refined by hand
Honest tradeoffs
Drawbacks listed, not hidden
No paid placements
Brands cannot pay to be ranked
Picture a freelance designer juggling four client projects, a two-person startup tracking their launch checklist, or a marketing coordinator who finally convinced her boss they didn't need another enterprise tool. They open Trello, drag a card from "Doing" to "Done," and feel a small, real satisfaction. That feeling — the dopamine of a card sliding across a board — is why Trello won. It made project management feel like tidying a desk instead of filing taxes. No training session required, no implementation consultant, no Gantt chart staring back like a spreadsheet from accounting.
The problem is that the work outgrows the board. The free plan caps you at 10 collaborators per workspace and locks the views people actually need — Timeline, Calendar, Dashboard — behind Premium at $10 per user per month. Power-Ups that used to be generous are now metered. And Kanban, for all its charm, struggles the moment a project has dependencies, recurring tasks, or anything that needs to be tracked by hours instead of by columns. Atlassian has been slowly steering Trello toward Jira's orbit, and the tools that once felt like Trello's rougher cousins now do more for less.
What replaces a beloved tool is rarely a clone — it's whichever app finally fits the shape of the work.
The problem is that the work outgrows the board. The free plan caps you at 10 collaborators per workspace and locks the views people actually need — Timeline, Calendar, Dashboard — behind Premium at $10 per user per month. Power-Ups that used to be generous are now metered. And Kanban, for all its charm, struggles the moment a project has dependencies, recurring tasks, or anything that needs to be tracked by hours instead of by columns. Atlassian has been slowly steering Trello toward Jira's orbit, and the tools that once felt like Trello's rougher cousins now do more for less.
What replaces a beloved tool is rarely a clone — it's whichever app finally fits the shape of the work.
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12 brands
The 12 Best Alternatives to Trello
1
Asana
Est. 2008
San Francisco, USA
≈
similar
Small teams who've outgrown Kanban-only and need list, timeline, and calendar views without paying for premium
Offers a clean list-and-board hybrid with the same low-friction onboarding Trello pioneered, but adds timelines, goals, and workflow rules out of the box on its free tier.
Pros
- Free plan includes list, board, and calendar views
- Clean UI that rivals Trello for intuitiveness
- Strong automation rules even on lower tiers
- Mature integrations ecosystem
Cons
- Gets expensive quickly past 15 users
- Reporting locked behind Business tier
- Can feel over-structured for solo users
2
ClickUp
Est. 2017
San Diego, USA
$
cheaper
Power users who want everything in one tool and don't mind a learning curve
Includes Kanban boards as one of 15+ views, but layers on Gantt charts, time tracking, docs, and goals — addressing nearly every reason people leave Trello in a single app.
Pros
- Genuinely generous free tier with unlimited tasks
- Gantt, time tracking, and docs built in
- Cheaper than Asana or Monday at every paid tier
- Custom statuses and fields on every view
Cons
- Interface is dense and overwhelming at first
- Performance can lag on large workspaces
- Feature sprawl means some tools feel half-finished
3
Notion
Est. 2016
San Francisco, USA
≈
similar
Solo operators and small teams who want tasks, notes, and docs in one connected workspace
Database views include Kanban boards that look and behave like Trello, but live inside a doc-and-wiki environment, so tasks sit next to the meeting notes and specs they relate to.
Pros
- Free for personal use with unlimited pages
- Databases double as Kanban, table, calendar, gallery
- Best-in-class docs and wiki capabilities
- AI add-on is genuinely useful
Cons
- Not built for project management at scale
- No native time tracking or Gantt
- Mobile experience is noticeably weaker
Visit Notion
Full guide: Apps Like Notion
4
Monday.com
Est. 2012
Tel Aviv, Israel
$$$
pricier
Mid-sized teams running multiple parallel projects who need reporting
Brings the visual, color-coded feel Trello fans love but with proper project structure — timelines, dependencies, workload views, and dashboards on every board.
Pros
- Beautiful, colorful interface
- Excellent dashboards and reporting
- Strong automation builder
- Dedicated CRM and dev product lines
Cons
- 3-seat minimum on paid plans is irritating
- Free plan is effectively a trial
- Gets expensive past 10 users
5
Linear
Est. 2019
San Francisco, USA
≈
similar
Software teams and product-led startups who want speed and structure
A Kanban board that feels like it was designed by someone who actually uses Kanban — keyboard-driven, fast, and opinionated, with cycles replacing endless lists.
Pros
- Fastest UI in the category — keyboard shortcuts everywhere
- Built-in cycles and roadmaps
- Clean, distraction-free aesthetic
- Generous free plan for small teams
Cons
- Strongly opinionated toward software workflows
- Not ideal for marketing, ops, or non-eng teams
- Fewer integrations than legacy tools
6
Basecamp
Est. 1999
Chicago, USA
$
cheaper
Agencies and small businesses tired of per-user pricing
Trades Kanban for a flat-rate, calm-by-design approach to team projects — to-dos, message boards, and check-ins in one tidy bundle without per-seat pricing.
Pros
- Flat $299/month for unlimited users at Pro tier
- Deliberately simple — no feature bloat
- Includes message boards, docs, scheduling
- 30-year-old company with no signs of going anywhere
Cons
- No Kanban view by default (added recently as Card Table)
- No Gantt, no time tracking
- Philosophy can feel restrictive if you want power features
7
Jira
Est. 2002
Sydney, Australia
≈
similar
Engineering teams running agile sprints with real ceremony
Atlassian's grown-up sibling to Trello, with proper Kanban and Scrum boards, sprints, epics, and the reporting power Trello deliberately avoids.
Pros
- Free for up to 10 users
- Industry-standard for agile software development
- Deep customization of workflows and fields
- Integrates tightly with Confluence and Bitbucket
Cons
- Steep learning curve
- UI can feel cluttered
- Overkill for non-technical teams
Visit Jira
Full guide: Apps Like Jira
8
Height
Est. 2018
New York, USA
≈
similar
Lean teams who want AI to handle the busywork of project management
A Trello-style board view paired with an AI-driven autonomous mode that triages, updates, and routes tasks without a project manager standing over it.
Pros
- Genuinely useful AI copilot, not a gimmick
- Clean Kanban, list, and Gantt views
- Built-in chat replaces some Slack threads
- Free tier is workable for small teams
Cons
- Younger product with smaller community
- Fewer third-party integrations
- AI features require paid tier to fully use
9
Todoist
Est. 2007
Berlin, Germany
$
cheaper
Solo users and freelancers who don't need true team collaboration
Best known as a personal task manager, but the board view and shared projects make it a credible Trello replacement for individuals and tiny teams.
Pros
- Best-in-class natural language input
- Board and list views included
- Works beautifully on mobile
- Paid tier is only $4/month
Cons
- Not built for complex multi-stakeholder projects
- Limited reporting and dashboard features
- Board view is functional but not its strength
10
Wrike
Est. 2006
San Jose, USA
≈
similar
Marketing teams and agencies needing proofing and approvals
Offers Kanban alongside Gantt, workload, and analytics views, with stronger enterprise features and proofing tools Trello has never tried to match.
Pros
- Strong proofing and approval workflows
- Gantt charts and time tracking built in
- Free tier supports unlimited users
- Dedicated solutions for marketing and creative teams
Cons
- UI feels dated compared to Linear or Height
- Pricing tiers can be confusing
- Real power locked behind Business plan
11
Airtable
Est. 2012
San Francisco, USA
≈
similar
Operations and content teams who think in databases, not boards
A spreadsheet-database hybrid where Kanban is just one view of your data — drag cards by status, then switch to grid, calendar, or gallery instantly.
Pros
- Same data viewed as grid, Kanban, calendar, gallery, Gantt
- Powerful automations and scripting
- Genuinely useful free tier
- Interface Designer lets you build internal apps
Cons
- Steeper learning curve than Trello
- Record limits on free tier can bite quickly
- Not a true PM tool — more a flexible database
12
Kanboard
Est. 2014
Open-source project
$
cheaper
Privacy-conscious users and small teams comfortable self-hosting
A free, open-source Kanban tool you self-host — no per-user fees, no metered Power-Ups, no Atlassian roadmap to worry about.
Pros
- Completely free and open source
- Self-hosted — your data stays yours
- Genuinely simple, focused on Kanban only
- Active plugin ecosystem
Cons
- Requires technical setup
- Interface is deliberately spartan
- No official mobile app
Closest to the Trello experience
If what you loved was the simple drag-and-drop board and the low-friction onboarding, Asana, Linear, and Height stay closest to that spirit. All three offer Kanban as a first-class view rather than a checkbox feature, and all three onboard a new user in minutes rather than hours. Linear in particular feels like what Trello would be if it were redesigned today.
Power users who need Gantt, time tracking, and automation
For people leaving Trello because Kanban alone isn't enough, ClickUp, Monday.com, and Wrike each pack timeline views, time tracking, dependencies, and reporting into a single workspace. ClickUp is the cheapest and most feature-dense; Monday is the most polished; Wrike has the strongest proofing tools for creative and marketing teams.
Free, open-source, or flat-rate alternatives
Kanboard is genuinely free and self-hosted — no per-user pricing, ever. Basecamp's flat $299/month for unlimited users punishes per-seat pricing models on principle. Notion and Todoist both have free tiers that real solo users can live inside indefinitely without hitting a wall.Which Alternative Is Right for You?
If you're a solo freelancer or run a side project, Todoist or Notion will cover you for free and feel lighter than Trello ever did. If you're a small team that grew out of Trello's free tier, Asana and ClickUp are the two obvious next steps — Asana if you value polish, ClickUp if you value features per dollar. Software teams should look hard at Linear; the keyboard-first UX is a productivity unlock once you adjust. Marketing and creative teams will get more from Wrike or Monday.com, both of which handle proofing and dashboards Trello simply doesn't. Agencies fed up with per-seat pricing should price out Basecamp's flat rate against their current Trello Premium bill — the math often surprises people. And if you're technical, privacy-minded, or just done with SaaS subscriptions, Kanboard self-hosted is genuinely the answer. Frequently Asked Questions
QWhat is the best free alternative to Trello?
ClickUp's free tier is the most generous — unlimited tasks, unlimited users, and most views (including Gantt) available without paying. Asana's free tier is more polished but caps at 10 users with limited views. For solo users, Notion and Todoist are both stronger than Trello's free plan for everyday work.
QWhich Trello alternative has Gantt charts and time tracking built in?
ClickUp, Wrike, and Monday.com all include Gantt charts and time tracking as native features. ClickUp offers both on its free tier, which is unusual in the category. Airtable has Gantt as a view type on paid plans. Trello requires Power-Ups for either, which count against your limit on the free plan.
QIs Notion or ClickUp a better Trello replacement?
They solve different problems. Notion is best if you want tasks living alongside docs, notes, and wikis — it's a workspace with Kanban inside it. ClickUp is best if project management itself is the main job and you need Gantt, time tracking, sprints, and reporting. Heavy task management leans ClickUp; documentation-heavy work leans Notion.
QWhy is Trello no longer enough for my team?
Most teams hit three walls: the free plan's 10-collaborator-per-workspace cap, the lack of native Gantt or workload views, and Atlassian's metered Power-Ups that used to be unlimited. If you're paying $10/user/month for Premium to unlock Timeline view, you're now competing on price with ClickUp, Asana, and Monday — all of which give you more.
QIs there an open-source self-hosted alternative to Trello?
Yes — Kanboard is the most direct match, free and self-hosted with a deliberately minimal Kanban interface. Wekan is another open-source Trello clone if you want something visually closer to the original. Focalboard (the open-source project formerly maintained by Mattermost) is also worth a look, though development has slowed.
Our Verdict
The Best Trello Alternative For You
If you're a solo freelancer or run a side project, Todoist or Notion will cover you for free and feel lighter than Trello ever did. If you're a small team that grew out of Trello's free tier, Asana and ClickUp are the two obvious next steps — Asana if you value polish, ClickUp if you value features per dollar. Software teams should look hard at Linear; the keyboard-first UX is a productivity unlock once you adjust. Marketing and creative teams will get more from Wrike or Monday.com, both of which handle proofing and dashboards Trello simply doesn't. Agencies fed up with per-seat pricing should price out Basecamp's flat rate against their current Trello Premium bill — the math often surprises people. And if you're technical, privacy-minded, or just done with SaaS subscriptions, Kanboard self-hosted is genuinely the answer.