Trello suits small teams that want a simple card board, with up to 10 collaborators and 10 boards on its free plan. monday.com suits teams that want a configurable work platform with dashboards, automations and AI, but its free plan stops at 2 seats and 3 boards. For a team trying things out, Trello's free plan goes further; for a team ready to build workflows, monday.com is the bigger toolkit.
People often lump these two together because both look like colourful boards. Underneath, they're quite different. Trello is cards in lists, kept deliberately simple. monday.com is closer to a flexible database with boards on top, where each row can be a task, a client or a process. I read both companies' plan pages so you can see what each one gives you before you invite your team.
monday.com and Trello at a glance
| monday.com | Trello | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes, free forever | Yes, Free |
| Seats or people on free | Up to 2 seats | Up to 10 collaborators per Workspace |
| Boards on free | Up to 3 boards | Up to 10 boards per Workspace |
| Docs on free | Up to 3 Docs | Not listed on the plans page |
| Building blocks | 200+ templates and 8 column types on free | Unlimited cards and Power-Ups per board |
| Automation | From Standard (250 actions a month) | 250 Workspace command runs a month on free |
| Calendar and timeline views | From Standard (Timeline, Gantt and Calendar) | From Premium (Calendar, Timeline, Table, Dashboard, Map) |
| Built-in AI | From Basic: Sidekick AI assistant and a vibe app builder | From Standard |
| Guests | Guest access from Standard | Single board guests from Standard |
| Mobile apps | iOS and Android | iOS and Android |
Where monday.com earns its place
monday.com's free plan is a taster: 2 seats, 3 boards, 3 Docs, 200+ templates and 8 column types. The interesting part starts once you upgrade. Basic adds unlimited items and unlimited read-only viewers, plus Sidekick, its AI assistant, and a vibe app builder that turns a plain description into a small business app.
- Standard adds automations and integrations (250 actions a month each), Timeline, Gantt and Calendar views, guest access and an AI meeting notetaker.
- Pro lifts automations and integrations to 25,000 actions a month and adds private boards, time tracking and advanced columns.
- Everything sits in rows and columns, so the same board can track a project one day and a client list the next.
Where Trello earns its place
Trello gets people on board by being obvious. You make a board, add a few lists and start moving cards. The free plan lets up to 10 collaborators share a Workspace with up to 10 boards and unlimited cards, and an Inbox catches to-dos from email, Slack and Teams. Automation is built in from the start, with 250 Workspace command runs a month.
When you need more, Standard brings AI, unlimited boards, custom fields and card mirroring, and Premium adds Calendar, Timeline, Table, Dashboard and Map views. Trello also offers an MCP server, so you can connect your boards to AI tools.
The free-plan maths for a small team
Put the two free plans next to each other and the numbers tell the story. monday.com's free plan allows 2 seats and 3 boards. Trello's allows 10 collaborators and 10 boards per Workspace, and it includes automation runs, which monday.com saves for Standard. If you're a team of four wanting to try something without a card on file, Trello is the one you can roll out to everyone.
monday.com's answer is what sits above the free plan: AI on every upgrade tier, a vibe app builder and automation volumes that run into the tens of thousands. It's built for teams that want to design their own system, not just track jobs.
Which one fits your business
Choose Trello if you want a board the whole team can use straight away, with minimal setup and a free plan that covers a small team. It's a natural fit for freelancers, agencies running client work and small marketing teams. For a wider look at how teams pick methods, see my guide to the main project management methodologies.
Choose monday.com if you want one place to run projects, clients and processes, with dashboards and automations doing the chasing. You can read more about monday.com's marketing strategy if you want to see how it positions itself against simpler tools.
Want AI doing the heavy lifting in your marketing?
I build the systems that handle the boring 80 percent, so you get your week back. Done properly, with the human kept in.
My advice: start with how much you want to build
If you want a tool to track work, Trello is quicker to set up and its free plan stretches further. If you want a tool to build your own way of working, with custom columns, automations and AI apps, monday.com gives you more to work with once you upgrade. Decide which of those you need before you compare features, and the choice gets easy.
Do you make work management or project software? Tool makers can ask to be considered for a featured place in comparisons like this one.
Frequently asked questions
Is monday.com free?
Yes. monday.com has a free forever plan for up to 2 seats, with up to 3 boards, up to 3 Docs, 200+ templates and iOS and Android apps.
Is Trello free?
Yes. Trello's Free plan covers up to 10 collaborators per Workspace, with up to 10 boards per Workspace and unlimited cards.
Does monday.com have automations on the free plan?
No. monday.com lists automations and integrations from the Standard plan, at 250 actions a month each. Trello's free plan includes 250 Workspace command runs a month.
Which one has AI?
monday.com's AI features, including the Sidekick assistant, start on Basic. Trello's AI features start on Standard.
