Quick Verdict
Trello still works for simple task tracking, but it’s showing its age. The free tier is decent, but the paid plans feel overpriced for what you get. If you need Kanban boards and nothing else, it’s fine. If you need real project management, look elsewhere.
Trello ★★★½ (3.5/5) – Great for visual lists, frustrating for anything complex.
I first tried Trello back in 2015 when my coworker Mark wouldn’t shut up about it. We were using sticky notes on a whiteboard that kept falling off, and I was desperate. Mark’s now a crypto bro I don’t talk to, but Trello stuck around. Funny how that works.
First ten minutes? I signed up and instantly felt overwhelmed by the blank board. There’s a "Start with a template" button that just throws you into a sea of pre-made boards—everything from "Personal Goals" to "Agile Sprint Planning." I clicked one, saw a thousand cards, and immediately hit back. Next, I accidentally archived my entire first board because the "Archive" button is right next to the "More" menu, and my muscle memory from Gmail betrayed me. Another time I emailed my entire client list with the subject line "Test" after trying to share a board link. That was fun.
Now I use Trello for exactly one thing: tracking chores and small side projects. I have a board called "Life Admin" with lists like "To Do," "Waiting On," and "Done." That’s it. I don’t use it for anything the marketing says I should. Trello ads love pushing it as a CRM, a code sprint tool, a wedding planner. I tried using it to manage a freelance design project once. Had to track deadlines, client approvals, file versions. Trello couldn’t even do sub-tasks properly without a Power-Up, and those things get expensive fast.
You know what really pisses me off? Trello’s automation. They call it "Butler" and act like it’s some revolutionary feature. It’s basic if-this-then-that rules that IFTTT could do in 2015. And they limit you to 250 commands per month on the free plan. 250? I wrote more than that in my sleep.
Pricing: They want $5 per user per month for Standard, $10 for Premium. For what? Custom fields? A calendar view? That’s like charging extra for the color blue on a car you already bought. I’m not your landlord, Trello. You don’t get to ask for rent just because I like making lists. If you have a team of 10, that’s $50–$100 a month for glorified sticky notes. You could buy a nice lunch for that.
Who’s this actually for? If you’re a Fortune 500 company with an IT budget, sure, go ahead. You’ll buy Premium, integrate it with Jira, and still probably hate it. If you’re a freelancer eating ramen, stick with the free plan and accept that your boards will look like a toddler’s art project. Trello is for people who think visually—designers, marketers, anyone who wants to drag cards around like they’re playing a game. It’s not for software developers who need sprints, story points, and burndown charts. It’s not for event planners managing 50 vendors. Use Airtable. Use Notion. Use a paper notebook. Anything else.
Would I buy it again? No.
Pros & Cons
Trello
- Beautiful, intuitive interface. Drag and drop just works.
- Free tier is actually generous—unlimited boards and cards, but limited on features.
- Great for visual thinkers. You can quickly see what needs to be done.
- No native time tracking, no dependencies, no real project management tools. You need Power-Ups for everything.
- Automation ("Butler") is underwhelming and limited. 250 commands/month on free feels like a tease.
- Board clutter becomes a problem fast. No built way to archive or clean up without manual work.
Pricing at a Glance
| Plan | Starting Price | What You Actually Get | |——|—————|———————-| | Free | $0 | Unlimited boards, cards, and 10 MB file attachments. Butler automation limited to 250 commands/month. No custom fields, calendar view only for one week. | | Standard | $5/user/mo | Custom fields, unlimited Power-Ups, 250 MB file uploads. Still no timeline or Gantt view. Butler jumps to 1000 commands/month. | | Premium | $10/user/mo | Timeline, calendar, map, and dashboard views. Butler gets 1000 commands/month per board. You also get workspace-level templates. | | Enterprise | $17.50/user/mo | Everything, plus admin controls and priority support. If you need this, you probably already know. |
FAQ
Q: Is Trello free to use? A: Yes, but you’ll hit the limits fast. The free plan is good for personal use or tiny teams. For anything real, you’ll need to pay.
Q: Can I use Trello for software development sprints? A: Technically yes, but it’s painful. No built-in sprint reports, velocity tracking, or backlog management. Use Jira or Linear. Trello is for kanban light.
Q: What’s the difference between Trello and Asana? A: Trello is a board with cards. Asana is a project management tool that happens to have a board view. If you need deadlines and dependencies, Asana wins. If you just want to drag tasks around and look at them, Trello is fine.
Q: Can I get a refund if I don’t like it? A: They offer a 30-day money-back guarantee on paid plans, but don’t expect a fast response. I waited two weeks for a refund once. Ended up doing a chargeback.
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