In this guide · 8 sections
- 01Monday vs Trello: the quick answer
- 02Pricing compared: free plans and paid tiers
- 03What a small team actually pays per month
- 04Automation limits: Butler runs vs monday actions
- 05Ease of use: which one will your team keep using?
- 06Security and data checks before you sign up
- 07Do it yourself or get help?
- 08Frequently asked questions
Short answer
Choose Trello if you want simple boards, a generous free plan and per-user pricing. Choose monday.com if you need tables, dashboards and automations across several workflows, and accept its three-seat minimum and seat buckets. For a team of 3 to 10, Trello usually costs less.
Monday vs Trello: the quick answer
Both are visual tools for tracking work. The difference is depth versus simplicity.
Trello
SimplestFree; Standard US$5/user/mo
- Boards, lists and cards; learn it in minutes
- Free for up to 10 collaborators per Workspace
- Per-user pricing, no minimum
- Built-in automation on every plan, with run limits
- Extra views (calendar, timeline, table) on Premium
Best for: Small teams tracking jobs, content or tasks on boards.
monday.com
More structureBasic US$9/seat/mo; 3-seat minimum
- Table-style boards with many column types
- Dashboards, timeline and Gantt on higher plans
- Seats sold in buckets: 3, then multiples of 5
- Automations and integrations from Standard
- Free plan limited to 2 seats and 3 boards
Best for: Teams running several processes (sales, projects, operations) in one tool.
Prices are in US dollars, approximate, as of October 2026, from Trello's pricing page and monday.com's pricing page. Neither publishes SGD prices, so your card may add a foreign-currency fee.
Pricing compared: free plans and paid tiers
Here are the core plans side by side, at yearly billing. Trello's monthly billing is US$6 (Standard) and US$12.50 (Premium); monday.com says yearly billing saves 18%.
| Plan level | Trello | monday.com (Work Management) |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Up to 10 collaborators, 10 boards per Workspace | Up to 2 seats, up to 3 boards |
| Entry paid | Standard: US$5/user/mo | Basic: US$9/seat/mo |
| Mid | Premium: US$10/user/mo | Standard: US$12/seat/mo |
| Upper | Enterprise: US$17.50/user/mo (estimate) | Pro: US$19/seat/mo |
| Seat rules | Pay per user | Minimum 3 seats, then buckets of 5 |
Monday.com's support centre confirms the bucket rule: pricing works per group of seats, plans start at a minimum of three seats and then go up in multiples of five, so a team of six needs the 10-seat plan (monday.com plans and pricing).
What a small team actually pays per month
Seat rules matter more than headline prices for small teams. Worked through at yearly billing:
| Team size | Trello Standard | monday.com Standard |
|---|---|---|
| 3 people | US$15/mo | 3 seats x US$12 = US$36/mo |
| 6 people | US$30/mo | 10-seat bucket = US$120/mo |
| 10 people | US$50/mo (or Free if 10 boards are enough) | 10 seats = US$120/mo |
| 12 people | US$60/mo | 15-seat bucket = US$180/mo |
Automation limits: Butler runs vs monday actions
Both tools can automate routine steps, such as moving a card when a checklist is done or notifying someone when a due date nears. The limits differ.
- Trello: built-in automation is on every plan, measured in Workspace command runs. The pricing page lists 250 runs a month on Free, 1,000 on Standard and unlimited on Premium.
- monday.com: monday's support centre says automations and integrations are available only on Standard and up. Standard includes 250 automation actions and 250 integration actions a month; the pricing page lists 25,000 on Pro (monday.com automations pricing).
- Connecting other apps: Trello uses Power-Ups (unlimited per board on all plans, though some partner Power-Ups charge separately). Monday.com integrations count against the integration action limit.
For anything that crosses several apps, such as creating a card when a website enquiry arrives or a Xero invoice is paid, a separate automation tool is often cheaper than upgrading. Our Zapier vs Make comparison covers that route.
Ease of use: which one will your team keep using?
The best tool is the one people open every day. For many small teams that decides it more than features.
Choose Trello if
- Most staff have never used a project tool
- Work moves through clear stages (to do, doing, done)
- You want to start free and pay per person
- People mostly work from their phones
Choose monday.com if
- You need several workflows: sales pipeline, projects, operations
- Managers want dashboards and workload views
- You will use automations and integrations heavily
- Your team size fits the seat buckets (3, 5, 10, 15)
If you are also weighing all-in-one tools such as Notion, ClickUp or Asana, see our Notion vs ClickUp vs Asana comparison. And if most of your coordination happens in chat, our WhatsApp vs Slack vs Teams guide may solve the real problem first.
Security and data checks before you sign up
Project boards fill up with customer names, addresses, quotes and sometimes NRIC numbers or photos of IDs. Set a few rules before the team starts.
Before rolling out a project tool
Both tools store data overseas, which is allowed under the PDPA if you protect it properly and know where it goes. Keep the same leaver process you use for email: remove ex-staff from the board tool on their last day.
Do it yourself or get help?
Setting up either tool for one workflow is a DIY job: create a board, invite the team, agree the stages. Help is worth it when you want the tool connected to the rest of your systems, so enquiries, quotes and invoices create and update cards automatically.
Our Workflow Automation service (S$390 per workflow) connects Trello or monday.com to your website forms, email, WhatsApp or accounting software, so the board stays up to date without manual copying.
Frequently asked questions
Yes, for many. Trello's Free plan covers up to 10 collaborators per Workspace, with unlimited cards, up to 10 boards per Workspace and 250 automation command runs a month, as of October 2026. Teams that need more boards, more automation or extra views move to Standard at US$5 or Premium at US$10 per user per month, billed annually.
On yearly billing in October 2026, monday.com lists Basic at US$9, Standard at US$12 and Pro at US$19 per seat per month. Plans start at three seats and then go up in buckets of five, so five people buy the 5-seat plan: about US$45 a month on Basic or US$60 on Standard, before tax.
No. Monday.com's support centre says automations and integrations are available only on the Standard plan and above. Standard includes 250 automation actions and 250 integration actions per month, and Pro raises that to 25,000 according to the pricing page. Trello includes built-in automation on every plan, with monthly run limits on Free and Standard.
Trello is usually quicker to learn because it uses one simple idea: cards that move across lists on a board. Monday.com uses table-style boards with many column types, which is more flexible but takes longer to set up well. Teams new to project tools often start on Trello and move later only if they need dashboards or complex workflows.
Yes. Monday.com offers an import from Trello, and both tools let you export data. Moving is easiest before you build many automations and integrations, because those do not transfer between tools and must be rebuilt. If you expect to need dashboards and several workflows soon, it can be cheaper to start on the tool you will end up using.