The best Trello alternatives in 2026 are Asana for teams that need timelines and dependencies, ClickUp for teams that want one tool for tasks, docs and time tracking, monday.com for configurable work boards across departments, Notion for teams whose tasks live next to their docs, Airtable for board views on top of real data, Basecamp for flat-priced client work, Microsoft Planner for Microsoft 365 companies, and Wekan if you want a free, self-hosted kanban board. If your board has turned into a workflow that no generic tool fits, building a small custom app is a legitimate option too. Prices below are as of October 2026, and this page carries no affiliate links.
Trello is still the fastest way to get a team from a whiteboard to a shared board. People usually leave for one of three reasons: they hit the free plan's caps, they need views and dependencies that only paid plans include, or the board has quietly become a process that cards and lists can't model.
How we compared
We compared each tool on five things: the free plan and where it stops, the entry paid price and how it's billed, the views you get beyond a kanban board (timeline, calendar, table), how it handles people outside your team, and whether you can self-host or export your data. Prices and plan details were checked on each vendor's own pricing page or documentation on October 12, 2026. Where a vendor doesn't publish a number, we say so.
Trello's own plans, for reference
On Trello's pricing page, Free covers up to 10 collaborators per Workspace, up to 10 boards per Workspace and 250 Workspace command runs (automations) a month. Standard is $5 per user per month billed annually ($6 billed monthly) and removes the board cap. Premium is $10 per user per month billed annually ($12.50 billed monthly) and adds Calendar, Timeline, Table, Dashboard and Map views. Enterprise is $17.50 per user per month, billed annually.
That's the bar every alternative has to clear: if your only problem is the 10-board cap, Trello Standard at $5 is hard to beat.
At a glance
| Tool | Best for | Free plan | Entry paid price (as of October 2026) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Asana | Timelines, dependencies, cross-team projects | Personal, for one or two people | Starter $10.99/user/month, billed annually |
| ClickUp | Tasks, docs and time tracking in one tool | Free Forever, unlimited members | Unlimited $7/user/month yearly ($10 monthly) |
| monday.com | Configurable boards across departments | Up to 2 seats, 3 boards | Basic $9/seat/month, billed annually |
| Notion | Tasks that live beside docs and wikis | Free, for individuals | Plus $10/member/month, billed yearly |
| Airtable | Board views over structured data | Free plan available | Team $20/user/month, billed annually |
| Basecamp | Client projects with flat pricing | One project, up to 5 users | Freelancer $25/month (20 users max) |
| Microsoft Planner | Microsoft 365 organizations | Part of Microsoft 365 suites | Premium features need a Planner subscription |
| Wekan | Free, self-hosted kanban | Open source (MIT) | Free to self-host |
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The 8 best Trello alternatives
1. Asana – when the board needs a timeline
Asana is the most common step up from Trello for teams whose projects have dates and dependencies. The free Personal plan is built for one or two people. Starter is $10.99 per user per month billed annually and adds Timeline and Gantt views, reporting dashboards, unlimited automations and unlimited free guests. Advanced is $24.99 per user per month billed annually and adds goals and capacity planning. Enterprise is quote-only.
Who it's for: teams of five or more running projects with handoffs and deadlines. Limits: the free plan is too small for a team, so Asana is really a paid tool. Our Asana alternatives guide covers what people switch to when Asana's per-seat pricing stops fitting.
2. ClickUp – the everything-in-one option
ClickUp packs tasks, docs, forms, whiteboards, chat and time tracking into one product. Free Forever includes unlimited members, kanban boards, sprint management and 60MB of storage, with a cap of 5 Spaces. Unlimited is $7 per user per month billed yearly ($10 monthly) and adds unlimited storage, Gantt charts, native time tracking and guests. Business is $12 billed yearly ($19 monthly).
Who it's for: teams that want to consolidate several tools into one. Limits: the breadth comes with a learning curve; teams leaving Trello for its simplicity sometimes find ClickUp the opposite of what they wanted.
3. monday.com – boards for every department
monday.com feels closest to Trello visually but treats every board as a configurable table of items with columns, automations and dashboards. Free covers up to 2 seats and 3 boards. Basic is $9 per seat per month, Standard $12 and Pro $19, all billed annually; Standard adds Timeline, Gantt and Calendar views, guest access and 250 automation actions a month.
Who it's for: operations, marketing and sales teams that want one work platform across departments. Limits: the free plan is effectively a trial for two people. The monday.com alternatives roundup looks at the tools teams move to from here.
4. Notion – when tasks and docs belong together
Notion isn't a board tool first. Its databases (with subtasks, dependencies and custom properties, per its pricing page) keep tasks next to the specs and meeting notes they belong to. Free is for individuals organizing personal projects. Plus is $10 per member per month and Business $20, both billed yearly.
Who it's for: small teams whose project management is mostly writing. Limits: you build your own system out of databases and templates; there's no opinionated workflow. Our Greta.sh vs Notion comparison covers where a Notion setup starts straining for internal ops.
5. Airtable – kanban on top of a real database
Airtable is a database with a kanban view, not a kanban tool with fields bolted on. That matters when every card is really a record: a candidate, an order, a piece of content. There's a Free plan, where all users are free. Team is $20 per user per month and Business $45 per user per month, both billed annually, and Airtable only charges paid plans for users with edit permissions; read-only collaborators and form submitters aren't charged.
Who it's for: teams tracking structured records through stages. Limits: it gets expensive per editor, and building good interfaces takes effort. See Greta.sh vs Airtable Interfaces for when that ceiling arrives.
6. Basecamp – flat pricing for client work
Basecamp prices by account, not by person, which makes it unusual here. The free plan gives you one project and up to 5 users. Freelancer is $25 a month for up to 3 active projects and 20 users. Studio is $59 a month for up to 10 active projects and unlimited users, Pro is $99 a month for 25 active projects, and Unlimited is $299 a month billed annually for unlimited projects.
Who it's for: agencies and service businesses inviting clients into projects. Limits: Basecamp's to-do lists and card tables are deliberately simple, and the cheapest paid plan caps you at 3 active projects. Our Greta.sh vs Basecamp piece goes deeper.
7. Microsoft Planner – the answer for Microsoft 365 shops
Microsoft's own documentation says Planner is part of the Microsoft 365 and Office 365 suite subscriptions, with full editing on basic plans. Premium plans (with features like timelines and dependencies) require a Planner Plan 1 or Planner and Project Plan 3 subscription. Planner in Teams needs a subscription that includes Microsoft Teams.
Who it's for: companies already paying for Microsoft 365 that want a board tool with no new vendor. Limits: the basic board is simple, and the premium features are a separate purchase.
8. Wekan – free and self-hosted
Wekan is an open-source kanban board released under the MIT licence and actively maintained (its latest GitHub release shipped in October 2026). You run it on your own server, which means no per-user fees and your data stays on your infrastructure.
Who it's for: teams with someone comfortable running a server who want a Trello-style board without a subscription. Limits: you own upgrades, backups and security, and you won't get Trello's integrations ecosystem.
When a generic board isn't what you need
Here's the pattern worth noticing. Teams rarely leave Trello because kanban stopped working. They leave because the board became a process: an intake form that should create a card, a status that should trigger an approval, a column that should only be visible to managers, a report the client keeps asking for. At that point every tool above asks you to bend your process to its data model.
The alternative is to build the board your workflow actually needs. With an AI app builder like Greta.sh, you describe the app in plain English (for example "a job tracker where clients submit requests, managers approve them, and each job moves through quote, scheduled, in progress and invoiced") and it generates a working full-stack app with a database, logins and roles. Pricing starts with a Free plan of 5 credits a day for building; deployment and a custom domain start on Starter, which is $5 a month on the welcome offer (normally $20 a month). Our guide to custom workflow tools shows how to scope one before you build.
Be honest about the trade. A custom app is yours to maintain, and it won't come with Trello's Power-Up ecosystem on day one. If a standard board fits, buy one. If you've spent months fighting a tool's data model, the case for building gets strong; the SaaS sprawl to custom tools story walks through that shift.
How to choose
- You just need more boards: stay on Trello and move to Standard.
- Projects have dates and dependencies: Asana, or monday.com Standard.
- You want one tool for tasks, docs and time: ClickUp.
- Your tasks live inside documents: Notion.
- Every card is really a record: Airtable.
- You work with clients and hate per-seat pricing: Basecamp.
- You're a Microsoft 365 company: Planner.
- You want free and self-hosted: Wekan.
- Your board is really a custom workflow: build it.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the best free Trello alternative?
For a team, ClickUp's Free Forever plan is the most generous of the hosted options here, with unlimited members and kanban boards (5 Spaces and 60MB of storage). For one or two people, Asana Personal works. If you can host it yourself, Wekan is free and open source.
Is there an open-source Trello alternative?
Yes. Wekan is an MIT-licensed kanban board you can self-host, and it's actively maintained on GitHub. You'll need someone to run the server, handle upgrades and back up the data.
Does Microsoft have something like Trello?
Yes, Microsoft Planner. Microsoft's documentation says Planner is part of the Microsoft 365 and Office 365 suite subscriptions, and premium plans with extra features need a Planner Plan 1 or Planner and Project Plan 3 subscription.
Is Trello still free?
Yes. Trello's Free plan covers up to 10 collaborators per Workspace and up to 10 boards per Workspace, with 250 Workspace command runs a month, as of October 2026.
Which Trello alternative is best for small businesses?
It depends on the work. Basecamp's flat monthly price suits client-service businesses, ClickUp suits teams consolidating tools, and Asana suits teams running date-driven projects. If none of them match how your business actually runs, a custom app built for your workflow is worth pricing out.
Pick the tool that matches the reason you're leaving
Write down the one thing Trello can't do for you today. If it's a view or a limit, one of the eight tools above solves it. If it's your process, no off-the-shelf board will, and building is the better bet.
