Trello
Why Trello
Organises tasks visually on Kanban boards using lists and cards. Suitable for simple task management and lightweight workflows, particularly for small teams and founders who want a straightforward tool. Power-Ups and integrations extend the tool for more structured project tracking when teams grow beyond basics.
What it does
Trello organises work on boards. Each board has lists, and each list has cards. You move a card across lists as work progresses, for example from to do to doing to done. Cards hold descriptions, checklists, due dates, assignees, attachments and comments.
On top of that, Trello adds an Inbox for capturing to-dos from email, Slack and Teams, a Planner that syncs with your calendar, built-in automation, Power-Ups that connect other tools, and AI features on paid plans.
Why you would need it
You feel the need when work lives in email threads and in people's heads. Nobody can see what is in progress, who owns it, or what is stuck. A board shows that at a glance, and a new teammate understands it in minutes.
For a small team it is often enough to replace a shared spreadsheet and several status meetings.
Where it fits
Trello sits at the light end of project and task tools. It connects to Slack, Google Drive and Salesforce, among others, through more than 200 Power-Ups, and takes in tasks from email. It also has an official MCP server for AI tools.
It replaces sticky notes, spreadsheets and basic checklists. It does not replace a full project suite such as ClickUp, Asana or Monday.com once you need dependencies, workload and reporting.
What stands out
- The board is easy to grasp, so adoption is rarely a problem.
- Automation is built into every board, with limits on command runs that rise by plan.
- Card mirroring on paid plans keeps one card visible on several boards.
- An official MCP server and a public REST API with webhooks make it easy to connect to AI tools and your own systems.
My take
I have worked with various project management tools through my career, as a head of growth and as founder of two agencies, and I have implemented Trello, ClickUp and Notion in different roles. Trello is friendly and suits simple task management. It falls short on complex marketing campaigns.
For those, I prefer a tool with more structure, such as ClickUp, or the flexibility of Notion. ClickUp brings Gantt charts, time tracking and reporting, at the price of a steeper learning curve. Notion lets you build your own system, but then you have to build it.
Verdict
Pick Trello if you want a visual board that anyone can use on day one. Skip it if you manage large, multi-stage projects with dependencies and reporting.
Notes
Your note
Before you choose
Simple until the project grows
Trello is simple by design. Timeline, calendar, table, dashboard and map views are on the Premium plan, and dependencies between tasks are not what Trello is built for. If your projects have many linked steps, look at Asana or ClickUp.
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Free plan limits
The free plan allows up to ten collaborators and ten boards per Workspace, with a limited number of automation command runs. Standard adds unlimited boards, custom fields and card mirroring, and Premium adds the extra views and unlimited command runs. Check which of these your team relies on.
Many teams outgrow it
A common path is to start on Trello, outgrow it, and move to a larger tool. Keep your board structure tidy and exportable, so a later move does not mean starting from scratch.
Atlassian ecosystem
Trello belongs to Atlassian, and some admin and security features, such as single sign-on on Enterprise, follow its model. If you already use Jira or Confluence, that is a plus. Compare Notion if you want tasks and documents in one place.