Teamwork vs Trello
A source-aware comparison of pricing, documented capabilities and workflow fit.
Short answer
Trello is a kanban board: cards move across lists, and Power-Ups add calendars, timelines and automation. It is fast to learn and works for any team that thinks in boards. Teamwork.com is project management aimed at agencies and client-services teams: task lists, Gantt-style timelines, time tracking, billing and client permissions are built in. Trello is the lighter tool for tracking work; Teamwork is the one to pick when you bill clients for that work and need time, budgets and invoices in the same place.
Teamwork is the pick when
- agency or client work with time tracking and billable hours
- Gantt timelines, workload and budgets on every project
- clients need their own login with restricted visibility
Trello is the pick when
- visual boards are how the team already thinks
- a small team or personal workflow with light process
- you want to start in minutes and grow through Power-Ups
Written by hand from both vendors’ own documentation, checked 2026-09-15. Sources: Trello, Teamwork.com. Prices below come from the pricing we track. How we score tools.
What Teamwork is
What Teamwork isTeamwork is project management aimed at client services, with billing, time tracking and client access built in. Client access, billable time and invoicing are built in, which is exactly what an agency needs and what generic trackers make you bolt on. For an internal product team most of that machinery is unused weight.
What Trello is
What Trello isTrello is the world's most popular and simple Kanban board system. It brings the 'To Do, Doing, Done' logic into the digital world in its purest form. You manage your workflow by dragging cards between columns. Its success is rooted in providing instant usability for those who don't want to get lost in complex features. With 'Power-Ups,' it can connect to tools like Slack or GitHub, while 'Butler' automation handles routine chores easily.
Side by side
| Teamwork | Trello | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Project Management | Project Management |
| How to start | Free tiernot a monthly price | $6/user/moverified |
| Public API | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile app | Yes | Yes |
| Open source / self-hostable | No | No |
| SSO (SAML) | Yes | Yes |
| Visit | Teamwork ↗ | Trello ↗ |
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What Teamwork is built to do
- Client users
- Gives clients scoped access to their own projects.
- Billable time tracking
- Records time against tasks and turns it into invoices.
- Workload planning
- Shows capacity across people and projects.
What Trello is built to do
- Kanban Boards
- Create a visual workflow by dragging and dropping cards between lists.
- Butler Automation
- Set up rules triggered by card movements without writing any code.
- Power-Ups
- Add calendars, voting, or external app integrations directly to your cards.
- Checklists
- Break large tasks into smaller pieces within individual cards.
Choose Teamwork if
- Small teams: Free allows 5 users and 5 projects with Gantt and time logging
- Client-service teams that need time tracking and templates for $9.99/user/month yearly
- Agencies that bill clients: Accelerate ($24.99/user/month yearly) adds time budgets and invoicing
Skip Teamwork if
- You have more than 5 users or projects and no budget
- You need quoting, resource scheduling or profitability: Optimize is custom-priced
- You rely on AI features long term — usage-based AI credits are scheduled from September 2026
Choose Trello if
- Small groups working for free: up to 10 collaborators per Workspace with unlimited cards, 10 boards, unlimited Power-Ups and 250 Workspace command runs per month
- Teams that hit the board cap — Standard ($6 per user/month billed monthly, less annually) gives unlimited boards, advanced checklists, custom fields and 1,000 command runs
- Teams that need views: Premium at $10 per user/month billed annually ($12.50 monthly) adds Calendar, Timeline, Table, Dashboard and Map views plus unlimited command runs and admin controls
Skip Trello if
- You need SSO and user provisioning below the top tier — those come with Atlassian Guard on Enterprise at $17.50 per user/month billed annually ($210.00 per user per year)
- You attach large files: storage is unlimited but capped per file at 10MB on Free and 250MB on Standard
- Your Workspace has more than 10 collaborators and you wanted to stay free — that is the hard limit on the Free plan
Evidence and freshness
Where a claim on this page comes from a vendor page, it is linked here.
Teamwork: pros & cons
- Built around billable client work
- Time tracking and invoicing included
- Client users can be given limited access
- Interface feels busy
- Some features gated to higher tiers
- Less suited to product teams
Trello: pros & cons
- Zero Training: Anyone can understand how to use it at first glance.
- Fast and Light: Low CPU usage and very responsive in both browser and mobile.
- Visual Simplicity: Lets you see exactly where work stands with one look.
- Free Plan: Generous enough for personal use and small projects without a card.
- Complexity Cap: Can become difficult to manage for projects with hundreds of tasks.
- Reporting: Has very low capacity for deep data analysis and advanced charting.
- Hierarchy: Not as flexible as rivals for breaking projects into layers or sub-tasks.
Our verdict on Teamwork
Well matched to agency work. Product teams should look at trackers built for them.
Our verdict on Trello
A card-based board that stays simple on purpose; you will feel its limits on complex projects.
Published plans, side by side
Every figure below was read from the vendor's own pricing page and is shown with the sentence it came from. Where a vendor publishes no plan prices, we say so rather than guess.
Teamwork
- Free$0/mo
Free: 5 users, 5 projects, 100 automations
- Basics$9.99/user/mo billed annually
Basics $9.99/user/month yearly; Accelerate $24.99/user/month yearly with client invoicing; 14-day trial
- Accelerate$24.99/user/mo billed annually
Basics $9.99/user/month yearly; Accelerate $24.99/user/month yearly with client invoicing; 14-day trial
Trello
- Free$0/mo
Free: up to 10 collaborators per Workspace, unlimited cards, up to 10 boards per Workspace, unlimited Power-Ups per board, unlimited storage at 10MB/file, 250 Workspace command runs per month, unlimited activity log, iOS and Android apps, 2-factor authentication
- Standard$6/user/mo billed monthly
Standard: '$6 billed monthly', lower per user/month if billed annually — unlimited boards, AI, advanced checklists, card mirroring, custom fields, list colors, collapsible lists, unlimited storage at 250MB/file, 1,000 Workspace command runs per month, single board guests, saved searches
- Premium$10/user/mo billed annually
Premium $10 per user/month if billed annually ($12.50 billed monthly): Calendar, Timeline, Table, Dashboard and Map views, Workspace views, unlimited Workspace command runs, admin and security features, Workspace-level templates, collections, observers, simple data export
- Enterprise$17.5/user/mo billed annually
Enterprise $17.50 per user/month billed annually ($210.00 annual price per user): unlimited Workspaces, organization-wide permissions, public board management, multi-board guests, attachment permissions, Power-Up administration, free SSO and user provisioning with Atlassian Guard, 24/7 Enterprise Admin support
Teamwork vs Trello: common questions
- Does Teamwork or Trello have a free plan?
- Teamwork has a free tier with limits, while Trello publishes a free plan (Free).
- Which is cheaper once you start paying, Teamwork or Trello?
- Trello has the cheaper first paid step: Standard at $6/user/mo billed monthly, against Basics at $9.99/user/mo billed annually for Teamwork. Both figures come from the vendors' own pricing pages.
- What is the difference between Teamwork and Trello?
- On the criteria we check, on what we checked they match — both offer public api, mobile app and sso (saml). The table above lists every criterion side by side.