With over 50 million users, Trello is one of the most widely used project management software worldwide. Even though the app has some amazing features, it also has some drawbacks, especially for freelancers.
If you're a freelancer looking to organize tasks or want a better alternative to Trello, we have handpicked 12 of the best Trello alternatives that you can use to stay on top of your project management requirements.
Why do freelancers need a project management tool?
Before talking about Trello and its alternatives, let's understand the importance of project management for freelancers. Most full-time freelancers work on multiple projects at once. Handling many projects simultaneously, keeping track of multiple tasks and their individual deadlines, and ensuring timely delivery can be challenging and exhausting.
Project management tools make your life easier. Instead of manually tracking each project and its progress, project management software gives you powerful tools to accomplish the work in a fraction of the time. This way, you can manage your tasks more accurately without spending too much time tracking and recording them, freeing up time to focus on the work that matters.
Many of the options we'll show you have a free trial or a free forever plan you can use as free project management software. This is a valuable way to decide if a tool is going to work great for you.
What is Trello and how to use it?
Trello is a web-based project management software solution that helps you simplify complex projects by dividing them into smaller tasks. It's a lightweight project management app that uses Kanban boards to allow freelancers and project managers to keep track of their time and track project progress.
The developer of Trello — Trello Enterprise — is a subsidiary of Atlassian, the company that also owns Jira. Trello is best suited for freelancers and small teams with fewer team members. It has a seamless, easy-to-use, drag-and-drop interface, making it ideal for beginners and new users.
Using Trello is quite easy. You can create new boards with a single click, name them, and add content to them. You can move them around to different lists and categories as per your requirements.
Let's look at some key features of Trello:
- Seamless drag-and-drop editing
- Overviews for front/back cards
- In-line editing and progress meter checklist
- File attachment and sharing
- Task assignment and progress tracking
- Deadline alerts and notifications
- Data filters
- Mobile app: iOS app and Android app
With Trello, Freelancers can leverage a well-organized board and card system to both track progress and manage their projects. They can collaborate with their clients and other freelancers, and ensure better productivity and timely delivery of completed tasks.
12 project management software alternatives to Trello for complex projects
We’ve rounded up 12 of the best Trello alternatives for you to explore. So, let’s dive in and discover the perfect Trello alternative for you!
1. Indy
If you’re looking for a powerful alternative to Trello, check out Indy, an all-in-one tool for freelancers and independent workers.
Let’s take a look at how Indy compares to Trello. While Trello offers an excellent project management tool with some amazing features, it also has some limitations. Like other project management software solutions, Trello helps you manage projects. It lets you track the progress of all your projects, set up deadlines and alerts, and collaborate with your team members and clients.
However, a freelancer's requirements go beyond that. As a freelancer, you need to send proposals, generate invoices, create contracts, track billable hours, and the list goes on. Since Trello doesn't allow you to accomplish all of this, you'll need to use different tools and integrate them together.
Indy eliminates all that hassle. It's an all-in-one freelance platform that allows you to do everything a freelancer needs to do. This includes everything from communicating with clients to creating contracts and sending invoices.
Here are some key features of Indy:
- Communicate with clients using a proprietary chat platform
- Store, organize, and share files
- Create and send proposals
- Create various types of contracts and get them signed
- Build forms to generate more leads
- Track your own tasks and manage your projects
- Use the calendar to stay on top of your schedule
- Generate invoices and get paid on time
- Automatically track time
- Set up workflow automations and integrations
Lastly, let's talk about pricing. Both Trello and Indy have a free version. Coming to paid plans, Trello has three paid plans now: Standard for $5 per user/month, Premium for $10 user/month, and Enterprise for $17.50 user/month.
Indy’s robust Free plan gives you unlimited access to all of the core tools, while Indy Pro has advanced features like workflow automations, custom branding options, and integrations for $9/month. Hence, the value you get from Indy is way higher than Trello. And with the Free plan, you’ll always have access to all the basic tools you need to manage your business.
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2. Monday.com
Monday.com offers a wide range of project management, task management, progress tracking, and team collaboration features. It also has a powerful reporting feature to improve your tracking capabilities.
Key Features:
- Collaboration tools
- Alerts and notifications
- Document management and file sharing
- Access controls and permissions
- Third-party integration with hundreds of apps
Pricing: Monday.com has five plans: Free, Basic, Standard, Pro, and Enterprise. The Basic, Standard, and Pro plans are available for $8, $10, and $16/seat/month, respectively. You'll need to contact sales for the Enterprise plan.
3. ClickUp
ClickUp is a well-known project management solution and another great alternative to Trello. Like Trello, ClickUp has Kanban boards and grid options to manage your projects and tasks. However, it has more features than most Trello alternatives, such as timelines, Gantt charts, and more. It also allows you to schedule charts, create recurring tasks, and chat with team members.
Key Features:
- Native time tracking
- Gantt charts
- To-do list and Kanban boards
- Sprints and agile project management
- Automation
- Notepad and forms
Pricing: ClickUp has five plans: Free, Unlimited, Business, Business Plus, and Enterprise. The Unlimited plan is available for $5/member/month, Business for $9/member/month, and Plus for $19/member/month. You'll need to contact sales for the Enterprise plan.
4. Forecast
Forecast is a great collaboration tool and project management solution that takes care of all your project management requirements. It works similarly to Trello, as it has Kanban boards and a seamless drag-and-drop editor. Forecast claims to have AI-enabled Kanban and Scrum boards that help freelancers get complete control of their projects and schedule.
Key Features:
- Project management
- Team collaboration
- AI work automation
- Project accounting
- Business Intelligence
Pricing: Forecast has three plans: Lite for $29/seat/month, Pro for $49/seat/month, and Plus, which is available for custom pricing (contact sales).
5. Proofhub
ProofHub is another excellent Trello alternative best suited for software developers and other agencies that work on long, complex projects. It's also ideal for freelancers who offer software development, graphic design, and marketing services. The app is robust and comes with features like task descriptions, task dependencies, reporting tools, and more.
Key Features:
- Team boards and in-depth project reports
- Notepad and to-do list
- Powerful web app and mobile apps for business-class users and large teams
- Top-notch security features
- Various customization options
Pricing: Proofhub has two plans: Essential for $45/month and Ultimate Control for $89/month. A free trial is available.
6. Asana
Asana is a top project management system and team collaboration tool that's quite similar to Trello. It has power-ups, Kanban boards, a drag-and-drop interface, and other features like time tracking that’s helpful for freelancers. It also has a growing community like the Trello community. However, Asana is more powerful than Trello.
Key Features:
- Project management
- Assign tasks and dependencies
- Customize boards
- Due dates and times
- File sharing and attachments
Pricing: Asana has four plans: Basic (free users), Premium, Business, and Enterprise. The Premium plan is available for $10.99/user/month, and Business for $24.99/user/month. You'll need to contact sales for Enterprise pricing.
7. Paymo
Paymo is a simple project management software solution like Trello Gold that comes with basic features like power-up boards, a Gantt chart view, unlimited boards, and more. The ease of use of this software makes it a great Trello alternative. If you like Trello features like Trello cards, Trello calls, Power-Ups, and simple projects; you'll like Paymo too.
Key Features:
- Track tasks easily on any device
- Time tracking and timesheet reporting
- Team scheduling
- Business-class plans
- Hundreds of integrations
Pricing: Paymo has three plans: Free, Small Office ($9.95/user/month), and Business ($15.79/user/month).
8. Wrike
Wrike is another powerful project management software and collaboration app you can use as an alternative to Trello. It has enterprise-grade features, and thus, it comes with a steep learning curve. It's best for large-scale freelancers who work with multiple clients and team members. If you need a robust task management tool, Wrike has got you covered.
Key Features:
- In-depth reports and real-time updates
- Task priorities
- Team updates and project newsfeed
- Integration with over 400 apps
- Seamless scalability
Pricing: Wrike has five plans: Free, Professional, Business, Enterprise, and Pinnacle. The Professional and Business plans are available for $9.80/user/month and $24.80/user/month, respectively. You'll need to contact sales for Enterprise and Pinnacle pricing.
9. Teamwork
Teamwork is a team collaboration, project management software, and time management solution that offers many advanced features and customization options. The look and feel of Teamwork’s project dashboard is similar to Trello, but it offers more advanced features, like Gantt charts, time tracking, and more.
Key Features:
- Manage multiple projects from one place
- Unlimited projects and project templates
- Unlimited financial budgets
- Profitability reports
- Unlimited power-ups
Pricing: Teamwork has four plans: Free, Deliver, Grow, and Scale. The Deliver plan is available for $10/user/month and Grow for $18/user/month. You'll need to contact Sales for the Scale plan.
10. Workzone
Let's end this list with Workzone, another powerful project management tool that has an interface and features similar to the Trello app. It has Kanban board functionality that is similar to Trello’s kanban board view. Workzone is a lightweight tool and is ideal for small projects. It comprises real-time collaboration tools and helps you work more efficiently.
Key Features:
- Workload reports
- Real-time alerts and email notifications
- Gantt charts for powerful visualization
- To-do lists for task management
- Native time tracking
Pricing: Workzone has three plans: Team, Professional, and Enterprise. The Team plan is available for $24/user/month, Professional for $34/user/month, and Enterprise for $43/user/month.
11. SmartSheet
Smartsheet is a cloud-based platform that helps teams collaborate, automate, and manage work at scale. It is suitable for enterprises and small businesses across various industries, and offers a range of views, workflows, reports, and dashboards to track and optimize work performance.
Key Features:
- Integration with Gmail and G Suite
- Resource management
- Automation and Workflow
- Dashboards and reports
- Content management
Pricing: Smartsheet starts at $14/user/month for the Individual plan, which includes 10 sheets and unlimited free collaborators. The Business plan costs $25/user/month and includes unlimited sheets, reports, dashboards, forms, and more. The Enterprise and Premier plans offer advanced features and integrations, but the pricing is not disclosed on the website.
12. Airtable
Airtable is a cloud-based platform that allows freelancers and teams to create and share custom apps on top of shared data. It is suitable for businesses of any size and industry, and offers a flexible and user-friendly interface to organize, manage, and automate work processes.
Top Features:
- Multiple views for task management
- Flexible reporting
- Automation and integration
- Custom interfaces
- Templates
Pricing: Airtable starts at $0/user/month for the Free plan, which includes 1,200 records and 2 GB of attachment space per base. The Plus plan costs $10/user/month and includes 5,000 records and 5 GB of attachment space per base. The Pro plan costs $20/user/month and includes 50,000 records and 20 GB of attachment space per base, as well as advanced features and integrations.
Conclusion
Trello is a great tool for project management and team collaboration, but it has some drawbacks. It has limited features and doesn't cater fully to freelancers. Therefore, it's worth switching to a tool that offers better features and value for money. We’ve provided our picks for the best Trello alternatives on the market, offering a range of features for you to explore.
For freelancers and small businesses, Indy is an excellent alternative to Trello, as it comes with features like Proposals, Contracts, Invoices, Time Tracker, Forms, Files, Calendar, and Tasks, along with workflow automations and integrations at half the price of most project management software. And with a robust free plan, you’ll get unlimited access to Indy’s core tools. Check out how Indy can help you crush your goals.
