Trello vs ClickUp: when boards are enough

If your work is a column of cards moving left to right, take Trello. If you want tasks, docs and Gantt in one tool and don't mind the setup, take ClickUp.

The free plans fail in different places

Trello Free is $0 for up to 10 collaborators per Workspace, with up to 10 boards, unlimited storage at 10 MB per file, unlimited Power-Ups per board and 250 Workspace command runs a month, per Trello's pricing page (checked November 1, 2026).

ClickUp Free Forever has Unlimited members and tasks, 5 Spaces, 60 MB storage. It also caps automation actions at 100 a workspace a month, with 5 active rules, and gives 1 day of activity history.

So the question is what you outgrow first. Trello runs out of people and boards. ClickUp runs out of file space: 60 MB is a handful of screenshots. A team of twelve can't start free on Trello, and can on ClickUp.

Paid seats

Trello Standard is $5 per user a month billed annually, or $6 billed monthly. It gives unlimited boards, 250 MB per file and 1,000 command runs a month. Premium is $10 annually or $12.50 monthly, and adds Calendar, Timeline, Table, Dashboard and Map views with unlimited command runs.

ClickUp Core is $9 per user a month billed yearly, beside a regular price of 12 USD/mo. The pricing page has a Monthly and Yearly toggle. I could only read the yearly figures. Core has unlimited file storage, unlimited Spaces, Gantt charts, custom fields and 1,000 automation actions a month. Business is $17 billed yearly, regular price $25, and is the first tier with dashboards included.

Do the sum for ten seats on yearly billing. Trello Standard costs 10 times $5. ClickUp Core costs 10 times $9. The gap is the price of Gantt, unlimited storage and more automation. ClickUp's Collaborative Docs are on the free plan already. At the top: Trello Premium $10 against ClickUp Business $17.

What each is for

Trello is boards, cards and Power-Ups. The views come at Premium. It doesn't try to be a wiki.

ClickUp lists, boards, Gantt and whiteboards. It gets there by being a larger product: Core caps whiteboards at 10 and teams at 3. Expect configuration before it behaves.

For where each fits in a five-person team, see the project management roundup. Developers should read project management for software teams instead. If you pick Trello, setting up a kanban board takes minutes. Compare more in the project management catalog.

The call

Boards only, under 10 people: Trello. More than 10 people, free: ClickUp. Gantt, unlimited storage and automation: ClickUp Core.