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Jira and Trello both offer great project management software, but our independent research suggest Jira is the better project management tool overall. Compared side-by-side, Jira beats Trello in almost every assessment area including features and customer support, scoring a 4.3/5 overall in our last round of testing, compared to Trello's overall score of 4.1/5.
Our researchers found that Jira has a better range of task management features than Trello, including time-tracking, task dependencies, burndown charts, and a full suite of data visualization tools on all of its plans — which Trello doesn't have, plus a free plan equipped with more features than Trello's. In this article, we'll reveal exactly why Jira is far better value for money.
However, our research team found Trello the more usable software (but only just); it's a bit simpler than Jira overall and perfect for basic task management. Before you sign up for anything, check out our comparison page with additional providers, and make sure your investment is worthwhile.
| Price All prices listed are per user, per month (billed annually) | Score The overall score obtained from our most recent round of project management software user testing. | Pros | Cons | Support | Verdict | ||
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| Jira | Trello | ||||||
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| 4.3 | 4.1 | ||||||
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| All-around great software, thanks to ease of use and a scalable pricing scheme. | A fairly-priced, stripped-down option best for small teams. |
Jira vs Trello – Which is Best?
Jira and Trello are both great choices for teams managing projects, but Jira is the better software tool overall. Jira scores higher for customer support (4/5) than Trello (1.8/5), as well as task management (4.3/5 to Trello's 3.4/5), workflow creation (3.8/5 to Trello's 3.5/5) and data visualization (5/5 vs Trello's 1.8/5).
Jira has multiple ways to view projects on all plans, including Gantt charts, Kanban boards, and a spreadsheet-style view with formulas. Trello doesn't offer Gantt charts on its free or standard plan, nor a spreadsheet-style view (which is available on the Premium and Enterprise Trello plans, but without those useful formulas Jira offers).
Another huge difference is data visualization. Trello offers virtually no tools to visualize data on its free plan or Standard plan, with no custom or preset charts and no widget builder. Dashboards and preset charts are only available Trello's pricier plans. Jira, on the other hand, offers data dashboards, custom chart, and a widget builder on all of its plans.
- Trello is best for independent workers or personal projects since it has a free tier with unlimited personal boards
- Jira is better for visualizing project data and better for data-intensive projects
- Trello is best for large teams that require easy ways to integrate with email, and want a flexible and customizable tool
- Jira is best for teams working in software development or IT departments, with great issue-tracking features
- Trello is better for basic task management and a minimalist approach
- Jira is better for teams who want to centralize their workflows around a singular app
Jira vs Trello: Pricing
Before you make a decision on any new software, you need to know how much it costs. In the tables below, we'll show you exactly how much Jira and Trello will cost your business, from pricing plans to features. Take a look to get a better idea of how these two providers stack up when it comes to pricing.
Jira Pricing
Jira has four tiers, which include a free tier and an Enterprise tier without public pricing. Jira's Standard and Premium plan prices decrease in line with the number of users that will be using the software if you add any more than 100 of them.
The free tier has quite a lot included for a free tier, offering 2 GB of storage, and the same set of data visualization features that you'll have on the paid plans, like the ability to make custom charts. It's not quite as good as ClickUp's free plan though, which has 24/7 live support, a spreadsheet view for task management, and a team instant messenger, all of which Jira's free plan doesn't.
ClickUp has a higher ease-of-use score (4/5) than Jira (3.8/5) after perfoming better on Tech.co's usability tests.
However, it does have a user limit of 10, which increases to 35,000 when you move to the Standard plan ($7.75 per user, per month), and you'll also get 250 GB of storage space. This is still cheaper than monday.com's first paid plan ($9 per user, per month). Aside from monday.com edging Jira when it comes to collaboration (3.8/5 vs Jira's 2/5), Jira's standard plan is far superior for task management, customer support, and data visualization.
The Premium tier costs $15.75 per user, per month, and also allows 35,000 user profiles. The storage cap is removed completely, meaning you won't have to worry about how much data you include in your account. You'll have to contact Jira's sales team to get a quote for the Enterprise tier's pricing, as it's not public.
For more information, check out our in-depth Jira pricing guide.
| Price (annually) The amount you'll pay per month, when billed annually | Users | Storage | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| | | | | |
| Jira Cloud Free | Jira Cloud Standard | Jira Cloud Premium | Enterprise | |
| Free | $7.75/user/month | $15.25/user/month | On request | |
| 10 | Max. 35,000 | Max. 35,000 | Max. 35,000 | |
| 2 GB | 250GB | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Trello Pricing
Trello has four plans, a free plan, a basic plan, a premium plan, and an enterprise-level plan. The free plan only allows a max of 10 MB per file, which is very small, so most businesses might find themselves getting stopped frequently by this. You'll also only be offered 10 boards. It's not as good as Jira's free plan, however, with no features for displaying data (Jira has many options) and no Gantt chart view for managing tasks.
The Standard plan is ideal for small businesses that don't require a lot of advanced features. It raises the file size to 250 MB, and gives the user unlimited boards. You get all the core functionality of a project management system, without a lot of bells and whistles – which explains why it scores slightly higher for usability (3.6/5) than Jira does (3.5/5). Most notably, you only get the on, albeit very popular, board view, whereas the next plan opens up a lot more.
The Premium plan is $10 per user, per month. You'll be given priority support if you need to contact Trello. This plan also adds a wide range of new board views, including map, calendar, timeline, team table, and more. You'll also get access to unlimited automations, which is always attractive for saving time.
The final paid tier is the Enterprise tier, which costs $17.50 per user, per month. This plan gives your organization a little more control over the software, allowing for branding on boards, attachment permissions, and custom fields.
For more information on Trello's pricing plans, check out our Trello pricing page.
| Price (annually) The amount you'll pay per month, when billed annually | Projects/Boards | Storage | Number of automations | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | | | | ||
| Trello Free | Trello Standard | Trello Premium | Trello Enterprise | ||
| Free | $5/user/month | $10/user/month | $17.50/user/month | ||
| 10 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | ||
| 10 MB per file | 250 MB per file | 250 MB per file | 250 MB per file | ||
| 250 actions/month | 1000 actions/month | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Jira Review Summary
- A very simple approach appeals to some organizations
- Designed with software projects in mind
- Great tools for displaying project data on the free plan
- Very economical pricing for small teams of up to 10
- Wide variety of third-party add-ons
- Roadmap view helps teams keep their projects on schedule
Jira was initially popular among software development businesses – a fact that becomes obvious once you dig into the product. Other companies have turned to Jira because their IT department is already using it, but nowadays, it's got a much wider application and over 65,000 companies have signed up with Atlassian to use it.
Jira scores 4/5 for workflow creation, with custom project templates and pre-built and custom automation for streamlining the mundane parts of your workflows. Jira scores 5/5 for data visualization, with chart customization options all the way from the free to the enterprise plan, but doesn't have as many collaboration features as the likes of Teamwork, which scores 4/5 for collaboration thanks to features like a project message board and instant messenger, which Jira (2/5) doesn't have.
Jira's integration with Confluence, plus its document templates under the Pages tab, provides easy ways to add necessary documents to a project. It also supports helpful features such as “at mentions”, which can draw a colleague's attention to a document. Jira supports nearly 2,000 app integrations created by third parties, while Confluence has about 874.
Pros
- Large range of customer support
- Lots of helpful integrations
- Scalable pricing structure - the more users you have, the more you save
Cons
- Missing more advanced task management features
- Integrations can be confusing
- Not the best for collaborating
Trello Review Summary
- The free tier makes it easy for single users or small teams to get started
- Limited access to add-ons and data display tools with free tier
- Supports automations to complete basic tasks and housekeeping more efficiently
- Supports email-to-task conversion
- High average customer score of 4.3/5
- Some fundamental project management features require add-ons, and are not enabled by default
Trello has a similar card-and-board interface to Jira, but makes it much easier to get up and running and most things can be edited pretty easily with a couple of mouse clicks. For that reason, Trello is often the better choice for smaller businesses that just need a barebones project management program, rather than a more complex offering such as Jira.
Trello itself is very easy to understand, and any team choosing the free tier will probably find themselves frustrated with it unless their needs are simple.
You'll be able to choose from a multitude of different views, but as one of our researchers put it on their testing notes, it is “less competitive with the more in-depth aspects of project setup” such as budgeting. This is one of the reasons Trello only scored 3.1/5 for features (along with its 1.8/5 scores for both collaboration and data visualization). ClickUp, on the other hand, scores 4.5/5 overall for features – and it's first paid plan is $5 per user, per month, the same price as Trello (check out our full ClickUp review for more info).
Most companies will probably want to turn to at least the business tier, which costs $5 per user, per month (billed annually). For that money, the service includes custom fields for inputting anything you data you please, plus 1,000 automations (which Trello calls “workspace command runs”) to improve the efficiency of your workflow. It also supports Google single sign-on.
Pros
- Kanban-dominant approach
- Automation is available on the free plan
- Cheaper than most competitors
Cons
- Very simple project templates
- Basic functionality, not updated regularly
- Sparse collaboration tools
Jira vs Trello: Team Sizes
How big your team is will be a key decision-making factor in which project management software is right for you. Whether you're an individual looking for a productivity boost or an enterprise-level business in need of some serious organization and collaboration tools as well as complex task management functions, finding the right software to fit your staff numbers is crucial.
Jira is better than Trello for Small Teams
For small teams of less than 10 users, Jira is the better choice if your project is complex and you'll need advanced project management features. However, if what you need is effectively a glorified to-do list, then Trello's uncomplicated interface will be your best bet.
Jira and Trello both offer free plans with user limits of 10. However, Jira's free plan has a much larger array of features across almost all areas of project management, from task management to collaboration. So, if you have a small team, don't want to spend anything at all on project management, and want the most features, then Jira is your way to go.
Compare Jira and Trello to other suites – see our guide to the Best Project Management Software
Trello is better than Jira for Large Teams
Where Jira is more suited for small teams that might not need too many resources to help them communicate, Trello understands that larger teams might need some tools that bigger teams can use to stay on top of their progress.
Trello is more flexible than Jira, and will have you up and running quickly. It's also simple enough that the onboarding process can be accomplished rather quickly. The automations feature with the Butler add-on is also helpful for keeping teams organized by simplifying basic operations, such as notifying the entire team when a task is moved to the Done column.
Large teams paying for the enterprise tier also get access to more advanced automation features, as well as unlimited use of Butler. Business Class users, however, can only use 1,000 automation runs per team. At the Enterprise level, you can also get the key features that larger teams need – such as SAML IdPs – while admins have control over which Power-Ups a team can use.
Another feature that large teams will find handy is the ability to forward email messages directly to a Trello board, automatically turning it into a task. While people complain a lot about email, it's still the fundamental way many large teams communicate. Easy integration with Trello is a big plus.
Jira is better than Trello for Teams Working with IT
For companies that are already invested in Jira for bug tracking, developing a company website, or creating products, using Jira as an extension of that makes a lot of sense. This is especially true for teams that have to work closely with the software development team. Using the same tool makes it easier for teams to communicate, and to understand how their project management workflow is structured.
Jira is purpose built for software development, but it's still flexible enough to work as a general project management tool. The only thing you'll have to do is add some of the features that you feel are missing, such as Gantt charts or calendars. Jira marketplace apps typically cost money, but if you're careful about how many you add, it still offers very good value.
Once you start adding apps, Jira becomes a little more complicated, and you can tell that many of the apps feature instructions and designs aimed at software developers. That may be a downside for some, and for those people, Trello may be the better choice.
Trello is better than Jira for Independent Workers
Since it offers a free tier with unlimited personal boards, there's no question that Trello is the best choice for freelancers working alone. It also supports up to 10 team boards, meaning you can invite colleagues – or even clients – when a team effort is required.
For a singular user, Jira might feel somewhat overwhelming – it's got so many settings and features that a solo freelancer just wouldn't get much use out of. Trello is less intimidating and is likely to have everything you need to organize your work.
A downside of Trello’s free tier is that file attachments are limited to 10MB each, while the paid tiers support a maximum of 250MB per file attachment – although this is unlikely to affect those working solo or freelancers as much as it might multiple team members trying to work together. You'll just have to store your files locally or on a cloud drive.
Alternatives to Jira vs Trello
Jira vs Trello isn't the only project management head-to-head you should be thinking about – in fact, there are providers out there that scored better than both of them on our last round of testing.
Our best project management software tool is ClickUp, not only because it scored the best for features (4.5/5 – including 4.9/5 for task management and 5/5 for data visualization), but also because it's just $5 per user, per month for the Unlimited plan. monday.com provides one of the best user experiences with loads of opportunities to customize the software, but is slightly more expensive than Trello and Jira, with its first paid plan available for $9 per user, per month.
Wrike's pricing plans are also a bit more expensive than both Jira and Trello, but it has a free plan with no user limit and scores higher than both (4.5/5) overall, with great task management options.
Read our guide to the top Jira alternatives, or compare Jira vs Trello and various other matchups using our table below:
| Price From All prices listed as per user, per month (billed annually) | Free Version | Verdict | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BEST OVERALL  | GREAT VALUE  | BEST FOR SPREADSHEETS  |  |  |  | |  | |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| ClickUp | monday.com | Smartsheet | Wrike | Teamwork | Zoho Projects | Trello | Basecamp | Jira | Asana | Scoro | Workfront | Microsoft Project | Backlog | Celoxis |
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| $10.99/user/month | Available on Request | ||||||||||||
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Slick, simple software with a powerful core, plus a genuinely impressive free tier for individuals, and great value plans for teams. | A great task management system due to strong customizablity and support team, with a generous free trial period. | A great tool for spreadsheet-natives, which can take your Excel-based task planning to the next level, and there's a free trial, too. | A feature-rich service with a plain interface that's easy to learn, and has a free tier option to try. | A management tool with a complex functionality. | A solid project management solution with an attractive free tier for small teams, as well as great automations that can help speed up workflows | A fairly-priced, stripped-down option best for small teams. | A feature-rich software with a pricing scheme best for mid-sized teams. | All-around great software, thanks to ease of use and a scalable pricing scheme. | A simple task-list-based project management platform with an acceptable free tier. | Scoro's clean interface allows for easy use of its dedicated financial tools and full CRM features, automatically collating all essential information | An enterprise solution aimed at large companies. | A pricey service best for companies invested in Microsoft. | Modern, professional software with a simple approach and cheap plans, and a great choice for teamwork tracking. | A good value platform that's ideal for managing projects across growing teams |
Jira vs Trello: About our Project Management Research
At Tech.co, we conduct extensive research into all the software, services, and products that feature in our reviews and head-to-heads. We have a research team that devises testing criteria to put the best providers on the market through their paces and then utilizes it during all-encompassing usability tests.
When they tested and assessed the top 14 project management software solutions, the team focused on five key areas: Value for Money, Usability, Customer Support, Customer Score, and Features. Within the “features” criterion, each project management software application was given a score for collaboration, task management, data visualization, and workflow creation.
Although we do have commercial partnerships with some of the providers we write about, insights from our research team mean we can be editorially independent. All of the conclusions we draw in our articles are based solely on our own research – which is the way it'll always stay.
Trello vs Jira: The Verdict
In the battle of Jira vs Trello, Jira wins. Jira is better for complex projects and will be appreciated by tech and engineering teams who are used to Agile working and using burndown charts, which Jira offers but Trello doesn't. All in all, Jira has a better set feature score of 3.9/5 vs Trello's 3.1/5, including multiple data visualization tools that Trello doesn't offer, such as time-tracking, budget management, and task dependencies.
Trello is a more general, simpler project management program that focuses on facilitating basic task management. Jira is the better program overall though and has a lot more to offer for just a couple of dollars more than Trello's plans. Plus, even though Jira is a bit more complicated, Jira scores higher for customer support (4/5) than Trello (1.8/5) thanks to a live chat feature so the support is there if you do need a helping hand.
Unless you work in software development or already use other Atlassian products, however, we'd recommend ClickUp over both of them. It has a lot more features than Jira, including collaboration tools Jira doesn't offer. If you're still unsure which provider will be the best investment, head over to our comparison page and find the project management tool best suited to your business.
Jira vs Trello: Frequently Asked Questions
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