Trello alternatives: where to go, and how to bring your boards with you
Eight destinations, one for each reason to leave, plus a seven-step migration plan.
Short answer: ClickUp if you want Kanban without the 10-person ceiling, Asana or monday.com if your team runs on deadlines, Notion if tasks sit next to docs, Basecamp if you'd rather pay one flat price than per seat, Microsoft Planner if you already pay for Microsoft 365, and Kan.bn if you want open source you can host. One thing before you pick: any board member can export to JSON, but the file only holds the last 1,000 actions, your Inbox cards aren't included, and your automation rules stay behind. We compared all eight destinations and their 2026 prices.
The ranking is editorial: a sponsored spot is always labeled on its card, and no affiliate link changes a score.
Why teams outgrow Trello, and why it catches them off guard
Nobody leaves Trello because cards in columns stopped making sense. People leave because of free plan caps, the price of the views that matter, and a redesign that split long-time users. Here are six reasons, checked against Trello's pages and its users' forums in 2026.
The 10-collaborator cap
Free Workspaces allow up to 10 collaborators. That count covers members, guests and pending invites. Go over, and every board in the Workspace turns view-only until you remove people or upgrade. Nonprofits, freelancers with clients and growing teams hit it without warning.
Single-board guests still count
Adding a client to one board feels harmless. Trello counts that person as a Workspace collaborator like anyone else. Three clients and two contractors, and your six-person team no longer fits the free plan. Agencies run into this more than anyone.
Ten boards per Workspace
The free plan also stops at 10 boards per Workspace. One board per client or project, and you're archiving old ones or upgrading. Standard ($5 per user per month billed yearly, $6 monthly) removes the limit.
Timeline views cost double
Timeline, Calendar, Table, Dashboard and Map views are Premium only: $10 per user per month billed yearly, $12.50 monthly. An eight-person team that just wants deadlines on a timeline pays $80 a month instead of $40 on Standard.
Big projects get messy
Trello shines on a board with fifteen cards. On a months-long project with dozens of linked tasks, user reviews keep landing on the same point: it gets cluttered fast and lacks depth (dependencies, workload, cross-board reporting) unless you're on Premium.
Not everyone likes the new Trello
In 2025 Trello added an Inbox and a Planner next to boards and moved the board list. On Atlassian's community forum, long-time users complain about the extra click to switch boards and an Inbox that never goes away. Some say their company started migrating. If that's you, it's as valid a reason as price.
You're leaving because… go to…
The right Trello alternative depends on what's pushing you out. Usually one line fits. Each card jumps to the full write-up below.
Usable free plan, official Trello importer, Unlimited at $10 per user.
Your team needs deadlines and dependenciesAsana or monday.comAsana for clear ownership, monday.com for visual boards and a built-in Trello import.
Per-seat pricing is killing youBasecampFlat monthly plans, no price per user.
Your tasks live next to your docsNotionBuilt-in Trello import: each board becomes a database.
Your company already pays for Microsoft 365Microsoft PlannerKanban already in your subscription, wired into Teams.
You want to host it yourselfKan.bn, Wekan or PlankaOpen source; Kan.bn imports Trello boards on every plan.
Trello alternatives, tool by tool
For each tool: why move there, who it's for, its limit, how to bring your boards over, and what it costs. Prices are what each vendor shows in 2026, in the currency it shows. Scores come from our full reviews where a tool has one.
ClickUp: Trello's Kanban without the 10-person ceiling
Closest matchWhy move to ClickUp. You get a Board view that feels like Trello, plus lists, a calendar, docs and subtasks around it. The Free Forever plan gives unlimited tasks and 100 MB of storage, enough to run a small team for free, which Trello's free plan no longer does past ten people.
Who it's for. Teams of five to fifty who want one place for tasks, docs and time tracking.
Who it's not for. Anyone who loved Trello for being minimal. ClickUp has a lot of menus, and it takes about a week to feel at home.
Its limit. 100 MB goes quickly once people attach files. Unlimited costs $10 per user per month, so twenty people pay $200 a month.
How to migrate. ClickUp has an official Trello importer: connect your account, pick boards, and lists, cards, checklists and attachments (up to 1 GB) come across. Cover images don't. If your team spots cards by their cover, swap it for a label before importing.
Our ClickUp review goes through every plan, and ClickUp pricing runs the numbers by team size.
- Our score
- 4.2/5
- Free
- unlimited tasks, 100 MB
- Paid
- Unlimited $10/user/month
- Trello import
- official, no cover images
Asana: when your cards turn into real projects
Clear ownershipWhy move to Asana. Trello shows where a card sits. Asana shows who owns it, when it's due, and what it's blocking. Each task has one assignee and a due date, and Board and List views live on the same project. For marketing teams and agencies juggling dated deliverables, it's the natural next step.
Who it's for. Teams of five to a hundred with deadlines, parallel projects, and a lead who wants status at a glance.
Who it's not for. Teams that want to stay free: Personal only works for up to two users.
Its limit. Price. Starter is $10.99 per user per month billed yearly ($13.49 monthly), Advanced $24.99 ($30.49 monthly). That's about double Trello Standard.
How to migrate. Asana imports CSV files, and its app directory lists Migrator.xyz for moving Trello boards. The CSV route sometimes fails on Trello exports, according to Asana's own forum, so run a small board first.
- Free
- Personal, 2 users
- Paid
- Starter $10.99/user/month
- Best for
- dated deliverables
- Trello import
- CSV or Migrator.xyz
monday.com: colorful boards that also do planning
Most visualWhy move to monday.com. You keep the board idea, but each row carries columns (status, owner, date, budget), and you flip to Gantt or calendar without leaving. Trello import is built in: connect your account, choose a layout.
Who it's for. Non-technical teams that want something pleasant to use, with simple automations like "when status changes to Done, notify the client".
Who it's not for. Teams hoping to stay free: it stops at two users and three boards.
Its limit. Automations start on Standard, at €12 per user per month with 250 actions a month. Basic (€9) has none. Ten people on Standard means €120 a month. These prices are in euros, as shown on monday.com's EU page.
How to migrate. The direct import brings boards over, but comments, checklists and attachments don't always land cleanly, per the monday.com community. Check three rich cards before importing the rest.
Our monday.com review breaks down each plan.
- Our score
- 4.0/5
- Free
- 2 users, 3 boards
- Paid
- Basic €9, Standard €12/user/month
- Trello import
- built in
Basecamp: one flat price, however big the team
Flat pricingWhy move to Basecamp. Trello charges per user, so every new hire or client raises the bill. Basecamp sells flat monthly plans instead. Each project bundles to-dos, a card table (its Kanban), a message board, files and a schedule, which suits client work.
Who it's for. Agencies and growing teams with lots of guests, where per-seat pricing hurts most.
Who it's not for. A team that wants detailed Gantt charts, custom fields or heavy reporting.
Its limit. The free plan is a single project. Freelancer costs $29 a month, and Pro Unlimited $199 a month billed yearly ($329 monthly). Below a dozen users, per-seat tools can be cheaper.
How to migrate. Plan on moving active cards by hand into card tables, and keep your Trello JSON export as the archive. Start with one live client project.
- Free
- 1 project
- Paid
- Freelancer $29/month
- Best for
- many guests
- Pricing
- flat, not per user
Notion: tasks and docs in one place
Tasks and docsWhy move to Notion. If your Trello holds as many notes as tasks, Notion does both. A Kanban board is just a view of a database, sitting next to docs, meeting notes and wikis. The free plan is built for one person: once you invite members, blocks are limited.
Who it's for. Small teams and solo operators who want one workspace to think, write and track.
Who it's not for. Teams that want something ready on day one. Notion is built, not installed, and someone has to keep it tidy.
Its limit. Free caps files at 5 MB and version history at seven days. Plus is €11.50 a month, Business €23.50 (euro prices, as on our Notion review).
How to migrate. Import is built in: Settings, Import, Trello. Boards become databases, cards become items, lists become groups. Anything that doesn't fit that mold, like some custom fields, can drop out, so compare one card before and after.
Our Notion review covers what each plan unlocks.
- Our score
- 4.2/5
- Free
- one person, blocks limited for teams
- Paid
- Plus €11.50/month
- Trello import
- built in
Microsoft Planner: the Kanban your company already pays for
In Microsoft 365Why move to Planner. If your company runs Microsoft 365, you probably have Planner already. It shows tasks in columns, like Trello, and plugs into Teams and Outlook. One team that switched from Trello put it simply: it fit better with the Microsoft tools they already used.
Who it's for. Companies and departments that live in Teams and don't want another license.
Who it's not for. Teams that work with outside clients who don't have Microsoft accounts.
Its limit. The included version stays basic. Project planning features sit in separate plans: Planner Plan 1 is $10 per user per month billed yearly, and Plan 3 is $30.
How to migrate. We didn't find a Trello importer in Microsoft's documentation. For a few boards, rebuild the columns and copy active cards; for many, an automation tool can create tasks from your export.
- Price
- in Microsoft 365
- Advanced
- Plan 1 $10/user/month
- Best for
- Teams users
- Trello import
- manual
Wrike: for teams that outgrew the simple board
Heavy projectsWhy move to Wrike. Wrike targets teams running many projects at once, with Gantt charts, workload and reports. It's the opposite of Trello: heavier, but it holds up with fifty projects open.
Who it's for. Mid-size marketing and services teams with an ops lead to set it up.
Who it's not for. A small team that just needs more than ten seats. The step up is too steep.
Its limit. Free caps at five users and 200 active tasks. Team is $10 per user per month, Business $25, and several add-ons cost extra. The learning curve is real.
How to migrate. Use the free trial to move one full Trello board and see if your team finds its way. Completed tasks don't count toward the free plan's 200.
Our Wrike review lists the paid add-ons.
- Our score
- 3.4/5
- Free
- 5 users, 200 active tasks
- Paid
- Team $10/user/month
- Best for
- many parallel projects
Kan.bn, Wekan, Planka: open-source Kanban you host
Open sourceWhy move to Kan.bn. Kan.bn looks like Trello on purpose. It's open source (AGPL), free for one user in the cloud, and you can run it on your own server. Its Trello importer is on every plan.
Who it's for. Technical teams and organizations that want control of their data without per-seat licenses.
Who it's not for. Teams with nobody to manage a server, backups and updates.
Its limit. The hosted Teams plan is $8 per user per month. Self-hosted, it costs only the server, but support is you. Wekan (MIT license, runs on Docker) and Planka are two more open-source boards, with no company behind them.
How to migrate. Kan.bn imports Trello boards directly. For Wekan or Planka, use their import tools and keep your JSON as a safety net. Skip Focalboard: Mattermost stopped maintaining it.
- Free
- 1 user, or self-hosted
- Paid
- Teams $8/user/month
- License
- AGPL (Kan.bn), MIT (Wekan)
- Trello import
- every plan
All 8 alternatives at a glance
Our default picks: ClickUp to keep the same workflow with no cap, Asana if your team lives on deadlines. For scale, take a twelve-person team that wants a timeline: Trello Premium runs $120 a month billed yearly, ClickUp Unlimited $120, Asana Starter just under $132, and Basecamp Pro Unlimited $199 flat no matter how many guests you add. One row per tool: free plan on the left, first paid plan and import path on the right.
| Free plan | First paid plan and import | |
|---|---|---|
| TrelloWhere you start | 10 collaborators, 10 boards per Workspace | Standard $5 ($6 monthly); views on Premium $10 |
| ClickUpClosest match | Unlimited tasks, 100 MB | Unlimited $10; official Trello importer |
| AsanaClear ownership | 2 users | Starter $10.99 ($13.49 monthly); CSV or Migrator.xyz |
| monday.comMost visual | 2 users, 3 boards | Basic €9, automations from Standard €12; built-in import |
| BasecampFlat pricing | 1 project | Freelancer $29 a month flat; manual move |
| NotionTasks and docs | One person, blocks limited for teams | Plus €11.50; built-in import |
| Microsoft PlannerMicrosoft teams | Included in Microsoft 365 | Plan 1 $10; manual move |
| WrikeHeavy projects | 5 users, 200 active tasks | Team $10; trial to test a board |
| Kan.bnOpen source | 1 user, or self-hosted | Teams $8; Trello import included |
Entry prices per user per month, billed yearly where the vendor splits it, before tax. Basecamp is a flat monthly price. Prices change, so check the vendor page.
Leave Trello in seven steps
A small team can move off Trello in a few days. Order matters: each step prevents a loss the export alone won't catch.
List your boards, Power-Ups and rules
Day 1Write down every active board, the Power-Ups on it, and each automation rule with its trigger. Rules don't export, and even Jira, Atlassian's own tool, doesn't convert them. One screenshot per rule is enough.
Archive dead boards while you're at it: the less you move, the cleaner the import.
- Time
- about an hour
- Risk if rushed
- a forgotten automation
Move your Inbox cards onto a board
TrapCards in your personal Inbox can't be exported. Drag them onto a board, even a "To sort" board, before exporting. Since the redesign, it's the easiest loss to miss.
- Time
- a few minutes
Export each board to JSON
FreeAny board member can export to JSON, even on the free plan: board menu, Print, export and share. The file holds lists, cards, labels and checklists, but only the last 1,000 actions of history.
On Premium, an admin can export the whole Workspace to CSV and JSON, with attachments in a ZIP. CSV alone skips comments, so don't rely on it.
- Format
- JSON for all, CSV on Premium
- Limit
- last 1,000 actions
Use the destination's importer, not a CSV
Most reliableClickUp, monday.com, Notion and Kan.bn connect to your Trello account and pull boards themselves. That beats a CSV, which drops comments and often breaks on fields. For Asana, use Migrator.xyz if CSV fails.
- Time
- minutes per board
Check one pilot board
CheckBefore importing everything, pick a busy board and compare three cards before and after: comments, checklists, attachments, assignees, dates. Every tool has gaps: ClickUp drops covers, monday.com can mangle comments, Notion can lose a custom field.
- Risk if skipped
- losses found too late
Rebuild automations and integrations
By handGo through your rules list and rebuild each one in the new tool. Then reconnect integrations (Slack, Google Drive, forms). If a Trello rule relied on a Power-Up, look for a native feature before paying for a connector.
- Time
- half a day to two days
Freeze Trello, don't delete it
Last dayAnnounce a cutover date, then make Trello boards read-only for the team. Keep the account open for a month or two: your export only has the last 1,000 actions, and the full history stays visible while Trello is live. If you were paying, drop to free instead of deleting the Workspace.
- Keep
- one to two months read-only
What makes a Trello switch go wrong
The same mistakes show up on the Trello, Asana and monday.com forums. None of them is technical. They're oversights, and each costs more than the time it takes to avoid it.
Trusting the CSV
Trello's CSV leaves out comments, and it's Premium only. Start from JSON or the destination's importer, which read the whole board.
Forgetting the Inbox
Inbox cards don't leave with the export. A week of quick notes can vanish if you close the account without moving them.
Assuming rules come along
Automation rules don't come out with the export. If nobody wrote them down, the team finds out when a task stops getting assigned.
Importing everything at once
A bulk import with no pilot board hides losses until someone hunts for an attachment. One complete pilot board prevents that.
Closing Trello too soon
The export keeps only the last 1,000 actions. While Trello stays open read-only, you can still see who moved what, and when.
Switching tools over a headcount
If your only problem is being eleven, check first: deleting pending invites or an inactive guest sometimes gets you back to ten. And Trello Standard at $5 costs less than a migration.
- Boards, Power-Ups and rules listed
- Inbox cards moved onto a board
- JSON export of each board archived
- Pilot board checked card by card
- Automations rebuilt and checked
- Trello frozen read-only, not deleted
Trello alternatives: common questions
What's the best free alternative to Trello?
For a team, ClickUp: its free plan keeps unlimited tasks with 100 MB of storage. Notion suits one person but limits blocks once you invite a team. Wrike allows five people, Asana and monday.com only two. To self-host with no license, look at Kan.bn, Wekan or Planka. Our project management software ranking covers them all.
What happens if I go over 10 collaborators on Trello free?
Every board in that Workspace turns view-only. Nobody can edit until you're back to ten or you upgrade. Single-board guests and pending invites count toward the ten, so clear out invites nobody accepted first.
How do I export a Trello board for free?
As JSON: any board member can export from the board menu, even on the free plan. CSV and a full Workspace export with attachments are Premium only. The JSON keeps only the last 1,000 actions, and your Inbox cards aren't in it.
Will my Trello automations carry over?
No. Automation rules don't export, and even Jira, from the same company, doesn't convert them. Note each rule and its trigger before you leave, then rebuild it in the new tool.
ClickUp or Notion to replace Trello?
ClickUp if your Trello is mainly for tracking team tasks; Notion if your cards are mostly notes and docs. ClickUp keeps a Board view very close to Trello, while Notion asks you to build your setup. Our ClickUp vs Notion comparison goes deeper.
Is Trello Premium worth it instead of switching?
If your team likes Trello and only wants Timeline or Calendar, Premium at $10 per user per month billed yearly fixes it with no migration. If you need dependencies, workload or docs, another kind of tool will serve you better for a similar price.
Is there a Trello alternative without per-user pricing?
Yes: Basecamp sells flat monthly plans, and a self-hosted Kan.bn, Wekan or Planka costs only your server. Flat pricing pays off once you have many guests or clients on your boards.
What's the best Trello alternative for a small nonprofit?
The catch is volunteers, who count toward the ten collaborators. Before you pick, check how each tool counts guests on its free plan: that's where the bill gets decided. Our project management ranking for nonprofits goes further.
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