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Trello Review: Features, Pricing, Pros & Cons (2025)

Discover how Trello unifies project tracking and team collaboration—combining visual boards, task management, and workflow automation to simplify coordination and accelerate productivity across your organization.

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Trello

Trello is one of the most widely adopted visual project management platforms in the world, known for transforming how teams organize and track work through its intuitive Kanban-style boards.

It brings tasks, files, conversations, and workflows into a single visual interface where work actually gets done—enabling IT, operations, and internal support teams to manage cross-departmental workflows and keep distributed work organized.

What Is Trello?

Trello is a visual project management and collaboration platform designed around the Kanban methodology, using boards, lists, and cards to organize work.

Users create boards for projects, lists for workflow stages (like "To Do," "In Progress," "Done"), and cards for individual tasks. Originally built to bring the simplicity and visual organization of sticky notes and whiteboards online, Trello now supports automation, integrations, and real-time collaboration. Its user base ranges from freelancers to global enterprises, with strong adoption among IT, HR, and operations teams that need flexible workflow visualization without complex setup requirements.

What is Trello used for?

Common use cases for Trello span across departments and organizational functions:

  • IT Service Management - Track help desk tickets, software requests, and technical issues through visual boards with automated routing and status updates
  • Cross-Departmental Workflows - Coordinate processes that span IT, HR, Finance, and Operations with approval tracking and stakeholder notifications
  • Employee Onboarding - Manage new hire workflows with checklists, document attachments, and progress tracking across multiple teams
  • Project Management - Visual tracking of project milestones, task assignments, and deliverables with real-time collaboration
  • Content and Editorial Planning - Organize content calendars, review processes, and publication workflows with due date tracking
  • Remote Team Coordination - Asynchronous collaboration across time zones with activity logs and notification management
  • Process Documentation - Centralize standard operating procedures, approval workflows, and institutional knowledge
  • Asset and Equipment Tracking - Monitor device requests, software licenses, and inventory with custom fields and automation

Key Features of Trello

The platform's core functionality includes comprehensive tools for visual workflow management:

  • Kanban Boards and Cards provide the foundation for visual work organization, with drag-and-drop functionality that makes task status immediately clear and workflow transitions intuitive.
  • Automation via Butler enables no-code workflow automation with rule-based triggers, custom buttons, and scheduled actions that reduce manual work and ensure consistent processes.
  • Advanced Views offer multiple perspectives, including Calendar, Timeline, Dashboard, Table, and Map views for different project oversight needs and stakeholder reporting requirements.
  • Power-Ups and Integrations connect with 200+ third-party applications, including Slack, Google Drive, Okta, and HRIS systems, extending functionality without platform switching.
  • Collaboration Tools include real-time commenting, @mentions, file attachments, and activity logs that keep teams aligned and maintain complete audit trails.
  • Custom Fields and Labels allow workflow adaptation to specific organizational needs, with filtering and reporting capabilities that support diverse use cases.
  • Security and Permissions provide enterprise-grade controls, including SSO, two-factor authentication, and granular access management for sensitive organizational data.

Trello Pros & Cons

Trello offers significant advantages for visual workflow management while presenting limitations for complex project requirements.

Trello Pros

  • Intuitive Kanban interface requires minimal training and enables immediate productivity.
  • Generous free plan with unlimited cards, lists, and basic automation for small teams
  • Extensive integration ecosystem with Power-Ups for specialized functionality
  • Real-time collaboration with activity logs and notification management
  • Flexible customization adapts to diverse workflows without rigid structure constraints
  • Mobile apps provide full functionality for distributed and remote teams

Trello Cons

  • Limited native reporting and analytics compared to a dedicated project management platform.s
  • No built-in Gantt charts or advanced dependency tracking for complex projects
  • Basic time tracking requires third-party Power-Ups or integrations
  • Advanced features often require paid plans or additional Power-Up costs
  • Can become unwieldy for very large teams without careful board organization
  • Limited offline functionality compared to some competitors

Trello Pricing

Trello offers a tiered pricing model designed to scale from individual users to enterprise organizations.

Plan Monthly Price Key Features
Free $0 Up to 10 boards, unlimited cards/lists, basic automation (250 commands/month), 10MB attachments
Standard $5/user Unlimited boards, advanced checklists, custom fields, calendar view, 250MB attachments
Premium $10/user Timeline/Dashboard views, unlimited automation, advanced permissions, data export
Enterprise $17.50+/user Organization-wide controls, SSO, advanced security, dedicated support, audit logs

Annual billing provides approximately 20% savings across all paid plans, with enterprise pricing scaling based on organization size and requirements.

When Trello Isn't Enough: Meet Siit

While Trello excels at visual project management and tracking, organizations often need a complementary solution that addresses the cross-departmental coordination chaos that happens around workflow execution.

This is where Siit becomes essential, operating as a business process orchestration layer directly within communication platforms like Slack and Microsoft Teams.

Siit transforms how teams handle service management workflows by:

  • Service Catalog - Employees submit requests through Siit's Slack-native interface, where they already work, and Siit automatically creates Trello cards with complete context—eliminating the portal adoption problem that slows down request submission
  • Role-Based Access Control - Siit coordinates approvals between managers, Finance, and HR while automatically updating Trello boards with real-time status—turning multi-day coordination nightmares into automated workflows without manual handoffs between departments.
  • AI-Powered Triage - Siit captures employee requests with full context and routes them through appropriate Trello workflows while maintaining audit trails—ensuring nothing gets lost in translation between departments
  • AI-Powered Workflows - Siit orchestrates the human coordination (manager notifications, equipment requests, desk assignments) alongside Trello card movement through workflow stages—completing end-to-end processes that span multiple departments.s
  • Multi-Channel Messaging - Employees receive automated status updates about their Trello cards in Slack or Teams—creating seamless communication without forcing portal adoption or requiring employees to check Trello boards constantly.

The result: Siit handles the cross-departmental coordination and employee experience—eliminating the manual coordination overhead that typically consumes 40% of operational capacity and transforms service requests from multi-day, multi-person coordination nightmares into streamlined processes where employees get help instantly.

Try Siit Today

Trello's visual workflow management combined with Siit's intelligent automation can help significantly reduce coordination overhead, freeing up valuable operational capacity. Experience how automated business process orchestration transforms scattered project tracking into seamless cross-departmental execution.

Book a demo to see Siit + Trello in action for your team.

Trello Alternatives

For organizations seeking alternatives to Trello's visual project management approach, several options offer different capabilities and workflow styles. All tools listed below integrate with Siit, enabling seamless transitions while maintaining workflow automation capabilities.

  • Asana combines project management with advanced reporting and task dependencies, offering more structured planning capabilities while integrating with Siit for automated request processing.
  • Monday.com provides customizable work operating systems with advanced views and automation, connecting to Siit for cross-departmental workflow orchestration.
  • ClickUp offers all-in-one project management with docs, chat, and goals integration, working with Siit to automate complex multi-tool workflows.
  • Notion delivers database-driven project management with documentation capabilities, integrating with Siit for knowledge base automation and request routing.
  • Jira Service Management specializes in IT service management with advanced ticketing features, while Siit enables seamless coordination with HR and Finance workflows.
  • Linear focuses on software development workflows with streamlined issue tracking, connecting to Siit for automated ticket creation and cross-team coordination.

FAQs

Is Trello suitable for large enterprise organizations?

Trello scales for enterprise use through its Premium and Enterprise plans, which provide advanced security controls and organizational management features, with SSO integration available as a paid add-on. However, very large organizations with complex dependency tracking or advanced reporting requirements may need to supplement Trello with specialized tools or consider more robust project management platforms.

How does Trello handle cross-departmental workflows?

While Trello excels at visual project tracking, cross-departmental coordination often requires manual effort to route approvals and update stakeholders across different systems. This is where integration with platforms like Siit becomes valuable, as it can orchestrate complete business processes that span multiple departments while maintaining Trello's visual workflow benefits.

Can Trello replace traditional IT service management tools?

Trello can handle many ITSM functions through its visual boards and automation features, particularly for smaller teams or less complex workflows. However, organizations with extensive compliance requirements, advanced reporting needs, or complex approval processes may benefit from specialized ITSM solutions or hybrid approaches that combine Trello's usability with dedicated service management capabilities.

What level of automation does Trello provide without additional costs?

Trello's free plan includes Butler automation with up to 250 command runs per month, which covers basic workflow automation like moving cards, setting due dates, and sending notifications. Paid plans offer unlimited automation runs and more advanced triggers, while complex integrations with external systems typically require Power-Ups or third-party automation platforms.

How does Trello compare to other visual project management tools?

Trello pioneered the digital Kanban approach and maintains advantages in simplicity and ease of adoption. While competitors like Asana and Monday.com offer more advanced features out of the box, Trello's strength lies in its intuitive interface, extensive integration ecosystem, and flexibility to adapt to diverse workflows without overwhelming users with complexity.

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