Working dynamics are changing rapidly, and for businesses to remain in tune, project management (PM) has become the fastest-growing industry of our time.
There’s an increase in PM software that enables teams of employees to collaborate easily and in real-time to stay organized and productive. It’s clear that maximizing productivity, managing employees and freelancers, and growing your business depends heavily on the project management tool you choose.
Trello and monday.com have consistently featured among the leading lights in the project management space, but most potential users need help deciding between the two. While both tools offer similar benefits at a glance, they have some subtle differences in boards, integrations, time-tracking features, browser extensions, and mobile apps.
Instead of letting you grope in the dark and make a random choice of Trello vs. monday.com, we want to help you by breaking down their main features so you can make an informed decision.
Trello vs. monday.com: An Overview
Project management software plays a critical role in the lives of solo entrepreneurs and those managing multiple projects for large companies. With PM software, issues like completing tasks on time, delegating, or communicating with team members become a walk in the park.
Trello and monday.com are formidable options, but what will suit you most depends on what you’re looking for. However, since there’s a degree of overlapping in terms of features, we will briefly compare the two and mention some of their strengths and weaknesses.
Most importantly, our review will highlight where each tool shines or falls short, covering areas like ease of use, customer support, reporting, and integration with other software.
What is Trello?
Trello is an online collaboration tool with cards and boards that allow users to share their perspectives on assigned roles and projects. The platform consists of boards, lists, and cards that teams can use to create unlimited collaboration boards. Users will write their tasks on movable cards to reflect their progress.
Users can filter, label, or color code the drag-and-drop cards for more significant visual effects. The software allows users to write comments on the cards when they have feedback, questions, or different ideas. Most importantly, users can mention specific members they’re notifying in the app via mobile, email, or desktop notification.
Trello revamped its features in 2021 to include a new set of features, the most notable being additional ways to view projects. The most prominent additions had a timeline view, a calendar view, and a workspace table from which you can view tasks and multiple boards simultaneously. Nonetheless, all these new features are only available to users on Trello’s paid plans.
What is monday.com?
monday.com is a cloud-based work operating system that allows you to create tools for managing and organizing everything you do at work. You can use the tool to shape workflows and connect with team members and everything in between. The device is simple and intuitive that can help teams of all sizes to adjust shifting needs, collaborate with ease, and create transparency.
While monday.com is designed for managing the flow of projects, you can also use the tool to manage ad campaigns, manage customer projects, track bugs, and manage video production, among other complex tasks. monday.com has several customizable templates, time-tracking tools, and dashboards for insights, besides mobile apps that allow users to remain connected while on the go.
monday.com’s business management system is designed around customizable boards, making it the moniker “an interesting Trello alternative.” The board templates featured by this PM tool facilitate an easier workflow for teams from different industries and project types.
Besides enabling team members to communicate directly, on the boards, or via internal messaging systems, monday.com has numerous business tools such as sales and marketing, customer relations, and document management.
Trello vs. monday.com: A Comparison of Features
monday.com
monday.com offers a 14-day free trial period, but the pricing scheme depends on the plan one chooses based on the number of users accessing the projects. Their basis plan will cost $39 monthly for between one and five users. The tool offers discounts for educational institutions and non-profit organizations.
#1. Templates and Data Fields
monday.com has templates covering everything from incident management and family vacations to calendars, A/B testing, and agile processes. The templates are designed so users can download and adapt them based on the type of project or industry. There are also over 20 highly customizable data fields you can adjust for any project.
#2. Automation
monday.com comprises a library of rules-based automation designed explicitly for minor task management. These can be used to set notifications or for moving things on board.
#3. Collaboration
Like all other PM tools, monday.com enables collaboration between team members through comments and conversations within the project, where you can also add documents and images. There is room for creating automation to send email notifications to everyone in the loop, such as when a task is completed. Managers can see the entire team’s workload and quickly readjust assignments as required.
#4. Progress Charts and Reports
monday.com offers charting possibilities through the Gantt chart, which allows users to create using its timeline function. The available charting options include pie, bar, and line charts that will enable team members to see progress and customize to view team member workloads.
#5. Mobile App
monday.com has an intuitive mobile app that supports both Android and iOS. However, while the app has a few limitations and isn’t as flexible as the desktop version, it enables users to access the tool’s functions on the go.
Trello
Trello features a digital pinboard, a “kanban” board interface, that helps users organize projects visually. Users can easily create tasks, assign them to others, or use drag-and-drop technology to move them around the board.
#1. Automation
Trello operates an automation feature, Butler, which allows users to program automation across numerous boards where the entire team can access them. Users can schedule commands, set up rules, and create due-date trigger-specific actions like monday.com.
#2. Collaboration
Project members can comment on tasks besides sharing images and files within Trello. In addition to the drag-and-drop functionality, you can share through email and add teammates to any project. Trello is cheaper than monday.com as it allows users limited access without payment.
#3. Progress Charts and Reports
Regarding reporting, Trello doesn’t have a regular reporting function, but the Butler automation helper assists in generating reports. By collecting a group of cards, Butler can quickly create an account based on their content. Nonetheless, apart from a few charts, Trello reporting doesn’t include a sit and doesn’t have the equivalent of monday.com’s Gantt chart view.
#4. Mobile App
Trello features a mobile app that supports Android and iOS systems with greater functionality than monday.com’s. The app enables users to create lists, boards, and cards, mark completed tasks, or adjust due dates. The easy-to-use mobile app gives you a miniature view of all your boards.
Trello vs. monday.com: Integrations and Add-ons
Trello
Trello has a unique system of integrations known as Power Ups that you can easily apply to individual boards. Coming in their hundreds, the Power-Ups allow users to add new features to their Trello boards besides integrating them with numerous business tools.
Some of the more popular Power Ups include a fantastic add-on for customized fields, a time tracker, Trello forms, and an in-built SurveyMonkey feature.
There are also active integrations for Gmail, Google Drive, Salesforce, and Zendesk. Trello’s Power-Ups are primarily free of charge, but you may have to pay a subscription fee for some from third-party creators.
monday.com
monday.com incorporates many integrations and add-ons you can add to your workspace as the need arises. These integrations are available for use on all boards, and you only need to install them individually on each board. However, most of these integrations come from third-party creators, and you may be required to pay a subscription fee.
Some of the more notable apps available on monday.com include notes, embedded HTML, a voicer for recording audio descriptions of tasks, and SuperForm.
Additional integrations on monday.com include email, internal communications, file management, and marketing. Even so, some of these are restricted to users on paid plans above the standard level. This may be the main deviation from Trello, where similar integrations are free of charge or are charged by third-party creators.
Trello vs. monday.com: Ease of Use
Both Trello and monday.com have user-friendly, intuitive interfaces. However, the ease of use will come down to personal preferences.
Trello
Trello has adopted the Kanban board method, where a user can easily customize the cards using images. Your cards will be displayed on the board where they only show the most important aspects, including title, progress, and due date.
A user can also color code to pass important messages, such as due dates, to the rest of the team – they can click on the card to get the precise details. The system arranges the cards neatly, previewing saved documents and images.
Compared to monday.com, it’s easier to learn using Trello, which walks users through their first project simply because it doesn’t display too many fields or customization options on the go.
monday.com
monday.com’s interface resembles a spreadsheet with records called Pulse, where you can hold documents and tasks or show steps taken towards completing a project. A user can create the same reports using an online form unique to monday.com.
If you’ve used a spreadsheet before, you already know what to expect with additional features like icons and color that can be used to differentiate fields or customization.
Nonetheless, if you’re a total newbie, monday.com’s format can be a little overwhelming since all the information, including calendars, card views, and timelines, are on the same page. The good thing about monday.com is that it walks a user through the basic process of creating a project so that the other advanced processes can be learned as you move along.
Trello vs. monday.com: Customer Service
Both Trello and monday.com offer excellent customer support. However, you’ll note that while monday.com includes phone support, Trello only affords users personal support via email or community forums.
Trello
Trello’s customer service package includes written guides and a searchable how-to function that delivers advanced answers but few basic instructions. The tool’s guides are illustrated and easy to follow with information incorporating guides, a knowledge base, YouTube webinars, a community forum, and a VIP training package.
monday.com
monday.com beats Trello in customer service because of its live phone and 24/7 email support. The company also provides a library of articles, self-help guides, and videos with detailed tutorials walking you through completing tasks.
These guides include a professional service in onboarding, data migration, training, and integrations. The available tools include directions, a knowledge base, webinars, video tutorials, a community forum, and a VIP training package.
Trello vs. monday.com: Use Case
Trello
We estimate that Trello may best suit users operating marketing projects, sales pipelines, customer support tracking, and HR tracking. The PM tool’s upper-tier plans include core features sued by companies like Adobe and Foot Locker.
However, Trello has several limitations, such as needing an in-built customer invoicing feature, which makes it more appropriate for in-house projects. If you’re dealing with large-scale projects that require advanced reporting and budgeting tools, you’ll want to consider a Trello alternative that offers a higher level of functionality.
monday.com
While monday.com also uses the Kanban formula to organize projects, it also offers an additional project schema with advanced functionalities that takes it beyond the reach of Trello. Even with its advanced functionality, customer reviews indicate that monday.com is still very easy to use, and perhaps it’s the reason leading companies like Adidas, Lonely Planet, and HubSpot are among its popular users.
monday.com best suits businesses and large-project owners instead of individual or personal projects. Business owners find that lower-level plans with limited features, such as restricted activity logs or reduced file storage, such as Trello’s, don’t suit them.
As a result, if you’re involved in a large project needing extensive functionality, Monday.com should be your choice, even if you’ll end up paying a little more for the service.
Final Words
After discussing Trello vs. monday.com, you must have realized that both PM tools offer excellent collaboration features, meaning choosing the outright winner between the two or comparing them with other project management tools becomes tricky.
First, Trello is easy to set up, which makes it applicable to anyone that can easily get overwhelmed when they come across too many features. However, monday.com is a feature offering various board types and collaboration tools. The icing on the cake is the My Work area that facilitates the management of personal tasks.
Your project needs and preferences should determine what you end up with. Choose Trello if you’re looking for a simple PM tool for projects that require minimal collaboration. On the other hand, if you’re into something that requires advanced features and a wide variety of board types, then monday.com is the better choice. monday.com is our overall winner, but the ultimate choice is yours since you know your project best.
Next, check out Asana vs. monday.com: which is a better project management tool.
