Project management is an important aspect of many businesses. Project management software helps team members to stay on task and track workflow effectively. This makes the whole process more efficient and makes sure that no details fall by the wayside. Notion and Trello are two project management software applications that help you get the job done. Both have free versions, making them perfect for trying before you buy, ensuring the platform works for your needs.
We compare Notion and Trello to see which might be better for your business.
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Trello vs. Notion: At a Glance
Notion actually offers a Trello integration. Trello is a highly functional Kanban-style project management solution. It can work independently or within Notion as part of a bigger productivity program. Notion is more comprehensive when it comes to breaking down and establishing projects and to-do lists. Notion also serves as a company resource center with a personnel directory, mission page and company goals. Trello simplifies projects into bite-sized tasks, allowing you to assign and organize work. Where Trello keeps everyone on a team organized, Notion crosses teams and silos to make sure everyone is on the same page.
Notion
Starting price
$8 per month (billed annually)
Free version available
Yes
Integrations available
Slack, Asana, Jira, GitHub, Trello, Google Drive
$8 per month (billed annually)
Yes
Slack, Asana, Jira, GitHub, Trello, Google Drive
Notion is a productivity app that allows you to build a company home page, roadmap for projects and sprints, and track meetings. It gives you the ability to design docs with ease and has an engineering wiki that lets you design new projects, processes and best practices.
Notion has four plans you can subscribe to, with the first being the free Personal plan that is designed to keep a one-man operation organized. It offers unlimited pages and blocks and syncs across all devices. As you move into the Personal Pro plan for $8 per month (if billed annually), you get unlimited uploads, and it saves plans for 30 days so that you can look at different versions of what you create.
If you have a team, you’ll want to subscribe to the Team plan for $8 per person per month (if billed annually), which gives you everything that the Personal Pro plan does, plus a collaborative workspace, sharing permissions and admin tools. Enterprise plans can be customized and tailored to your company’s needs.
- Free plan available
- Paid plans cost slightly less than Trello
- Fast platform
- Easy to collaborate
- Dynamic content creation
- Built-in budgeting, billing and invoicing
- Offers multiple views
- Steep learning curve
- Can be buggy
- Using Notion on portable devices can be tricky
Trello
Starting price
$5 per month (billed annually)
Free version available
Yes, with unlimited cards and storage
Integrations available
Slack, Adobe XD, Jira
$5 per month (billed annually)
Yes, with unlimited cards and storage
Slack, Adobe XD, Jira
Trello is a drag-and-drop Kanban-style project management tool. The Trello board allows you to see the project and various stages with all stakeholders involved. You can switch from the board to other views that include a timeline, table, calendar, map, and dashboard in Premium and Enterprise versions, giving a better picture of project progress.
The Free plan is robust, allowing unlimited cards with unlimited individuals. It limits you to ten boards per workspace with assignments and due dates. For teams with more projects to manage, consider the Standard plan at $5 per person per month (if billed annually). With this plan, you get unlimited boards, advanced checklists and custom fields. You can have single board guests and save searches for convenience.
Stepping up to the Premium plan costs $10 per person per month (if billed annually). In this plan, you get additional admin and security features, templates and observers. Enterprise plans are $17.50 per user per month (billed annually) and offer unlimited workspaces, sophisticated permissions, public board management and attachment permissions. To learn more, read our Trello review.
- Free forever plan with unlimited storage and cards
- User-friendly, easy to learn
- Tons of integrations
- Boosts efficiency
- Customizable
- Does not offer budgeting, billing or invoicing like Notion
- Archiving isn’t intuitive
- Cannot bulk modify cards
- Only offers one view
How Notion and Trello Stack Up
| Notion | Trello | |
|---|---|---|
| Free Plan | Yes, for one user (with a 5 MB file upload limit) | Yes |
| Starting Price For Paid Plans | $8 per month with annual billing | $5 per month with annual billing |
| Role Assignment Features | Yes | Yes |
| Timelines | Yes | Yes |
| Gantt Charts | Yes | No |
| Budgeting | Yes | No |
| Billing and Invoicing | Yes | No |
| Customer Service | Email, chat or Twitter | Web support 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday |
When you look at the features of both Notion and Trello, you start to see where the two differ. Notion is much more of a template-driven file management system that includes timelines, Gantt charts, budgeting, billing and invoicing options. Trello is good at being a project management tool following the Kanban-style workflow. Users drag and drop tasks through a pipeline for project management.
Neither Notion nor Trello has a phone support system. Users are encouraged to read through how-to templates and take advantage of the vast user experience. If you can’t find the solution, you can email or use the chat feature for further service help.
Bottom Line
Notion and Trello help business owners better organize information, projects and tasks. Notion is for companies that need a more dynamic way to manage and develop content, while Trello takes tasks and pushes them forward in the project machine. Trello is better for smaller companies that don’t need the added features that Notion brings with managing big company silos where collaboration isn’t always the primary concern.
Still researching? Read our comprehensive Trello Alternatives guide and our Notion Alternatives guide.
Forbes Advisor small business expert Kimberlee Leonard contributed to this article.
