Trello Review – Features/Pros & Cons/Pricing & more

Used by companies from around the world, Trello is a collaborative workspace tool used to manage everything from simple tasks to complex projects across teams, businesses, and locations. The cloud-based digital tool makes it super easy to represent tasks, create timelines, and give teams additional perspectives on their project across different phases. 

In this review, we’ll delve into the software’s core functionality and look deeper into what it has to offer. We will also discuss its strong and weak points and determine whether it was made to suit your business.

1. Security (Rating: 3.5/5)

Trello certainly doesn’t disappoint when it comes to security. Owned by Atlassian, the software has access to 128-bit AES TLS protocol while in transit and 256-bit AES encryption while at rest. The company invests heavily to maintain its compliance with the GDPR and to adhere to the Standard Contractual Clauses as a means to transfer data. Additionally, it undergoes regular, timely audits by Atlassian on the client and Amazon on the server side.

So, users can rest assured that Trello offers good, all-around data protection. On the privacy end, however, it might pose some concerns. 

The Atlassian privacy policy states that the company logs in activity and the information we enter. It also shares data with third parties who may or may not use it for targeted ads. Although users are yet inundated by Trello-related spam, it is noteworthy that your data isn’t entirely private with the software. 

A common mistake that users make that compromises privacy is making their boards public. Which essentially means that anyone can access them. Since they are accessible to all, including Google crawlers, they can appear on google searches. If you avoid this pitfall, Trello is pretty much safe to use! 

2. Customer Support (Rating: 3.5/5)

Much like its user-friendliness, Trello has excellent customer support. Even if you are experimenting with project management tools as a beginner, the tool has many comprehensive guides. In addition to that, you can find webinars targeting specific issues along with comprehensive tutorials that will teach you to use the software like a pro. Although it falls short in interactive support, there are several other options to help you out! 

If there’s a specific issue you need help with, you can reach out to their forum, the Trello community. Here, you can find active members that pitch in, so you can find an answer to your question instantly. If all above fails, you can always reach out to staff with the contact form from the support page (though people mostly use it to report bugs or subscribe to special plans).

Asking help questions will get you redirected to the relevant page or forum. That being said, Trello offers several ways to solve your queries quickly, considering we use a free plan. Trello supports multiple languages, including; English, Portuguese, French, Spanish, German, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish, Russian, Polish, Hungarian, Ukrainian, Czech, Dutch, Italian, Turkish, Thai, Japanese, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, and Vietnamese. 

3. Features (Rating: 4/5)

Trello’s advanced set of project management features is our next favorite thing. In fact, saying that it has some of the best compared to other top project management tools wouldn’t be an exaggeration.

Let’s discuss some of our favorite features to play around with in detail:

Multiple Views

For starters, we have the interactive Kanban Board, which is pretty much the highlight of this section. Enabling users to organize and manage efficiently, the feature lets you organize cards by list, label, or member to display workload and task assignments. In the higher-tiered plans, Trello allows multiple views for the team to get different perspectives over different phases.

For instance, the timeline displays how all the project’s moving parts fit together over time. For projects spread across multiple boards, teams can use the Table view to provide a convenient, spreadsheet-style list that can be filtered and sorted later.

With the dashboard view, you can get a deeper insight into your team’s performance. The calendar view shows the project aligned over the month and provides an easy way to change the start and due dates with drag and drop.

At last, the Map view organizes locations on cards that can be visualized on an actual map with just a click. 

Connected Cards 

Trello’s smart cards represent tasks that can be labeled, sorted, and moved across different project management stages in the software.

When clicked on, each one displays descriptions, to-do lists, comments, and activity feed. Users can use the feature to add members, due dates, checklists, and files and even link other cards by pasting a PMCOM as a card title. 

Workflow Automation 

Trello’s AI integration and automation tools make accomplishing repetitive tasks more efficient than ever. Good thing they are as easy to set up as they are as generous. Butler, Trello’s automation bot, makes setting up rule-based triggers and desired actions effortless. All you have to do is answer a couple of questions, and Butler will configure the rest. 

From notifying team members to updating cards and sending out due-date commands, Butler does just enough to help you save time and human resources and let you be more productive without having to worry about the admin tasks. 

Extended Functionality 

One thing I personally love about Trello is its simplicity. Second is their ability to think outside the box while keeping their simplicity intact.

With Trello, you get many additional functionality options that make your work easier – the best part? They are super easy to use with virtually no learning curve!

In addition to the AI integration, we have Power-Ups that integrate tools like Slack, Google Drive, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams. Now you can easily move data across channels, manage files and even opt for reports and analytics. These extended capabilities take the Trello board to the next level. 

Powerful Mobile App

Although most project management tools come with a mobile app, Trello is a high-rated fan favorite. It carries every feature on the website and more. The app basically boils down the entire project management process to a few taps. Everything from assigning tasks to tracking time and keeping tabs can be done using the app, allowing everyone to stay in the loop – even without their computers. 

4. Pricing (Rating: 4.5/5)

When it comes to pricing, it is easy to say that Trello is one of the most affordable PM tools on the market today. In fact, there is even a free plan for basic use. The rest three paid plans offer tremendous value for teams of all sizes. Here’s a closer look into the pricing options and what they offer: 

Free Plan

This one is perfect if you need Trello for personal use or small side projects. The free plan offers unlimited cards, unlimited power-ups, unlimited lists, and 10 MB per file attachment. The package supports up to ten boards a team, which is more than enough if you need it for individual use.

Interestingly enough, the free plan also has automated functionality, making it arguably one of the best free plans in the market. 

Standard

With a rate of $5 per user per month, Trello Standard is the popular product offering. In addition to the basics, the plan also includes custom fields, calendar and map views, advanced checklists, list limits, card repeaters, voting, and over 100 app integrations. There are over 1000 command runs per month, and the file attachment limit is 250 MB per file. 

That being said, there are some restrictions, but freelancers or employers working on small teams won’t come anywhere near these limits. If you have 10, 20, or 30+ team members, you will want to upgrade to this tier. 

Premium

Perfect for teams of and above 100, this package allows users to stretch and customize the platform to suit their needs. You’re allowed unlimited command runs, multiple views of progress, and the creation of template boards. Simply put, for $10 a month, you get to shape the platform however you need, without any limits. 

Enterprise

Being a top-of-the-line offering, this plan is designed for large teams with advanced project management needs. It is important to note that Trello Enterprise doesn’t necessarily accommodate more advanced projects. Instead, it adds more functionality to the simple ones on a larger scale. In addition to all the features in previous plans, this solution can control content management permissions and manage users in real time. 

Other noteworthy features in Trello Enterprise include: 

• Data encryption with hourly backups and off-site storage
• Organization-wide access restrictions at the team and board levels
• Attachment restrictions and file-sharing preferences
• Membership controls
• Control which third-party Power-Ups can be integrated with boards
• Top-tier enterprise support

Although the plan is priced at $17.50 per user per month, Trello offers volume discounts for larger teams with more than 250 users. So the more your users, the further your per-person rate drops. All in all, it’s perfect for large enterprise administrators who want stringent control over and visibility into what happens with their team’s boards.

5. Ease of Use (Rating: 5/5)

Coming down to the best feature of Trello, the software is intuitive as it gets. It is perfect for administrators looking for a straightforward project management solution. Even non-technical users without any experience with PM tools can easily navigate the platform without much help. 

The entire process – from starting a new project onboarding new team members, and assigning timelines, takes just a few clicks. Since simplicity is at Trello’s core, learning to operate the software literally requires no learning. You can sign up and start a new project in less than 10 minutes. It’s that easy! 

The Bottom Line 

Trello is and always has been a solid project management tool, especially for small projects. It is intuitive, easy to use, and requires minimal training to master. Although it might not be as feature-rich as other softwares on the market, the fact is, it is one of the cheapest ones too. Be it for any of its plans, Trello isn’t ideal for complex projects. However, if you are an individual or team looking for a no-brainer, simple project management solution, this might be the perfect tool for you.