The best Trello alternative depends on who moves the cards. If it’s you and a team of people, Asana or ClickUp will feel familiar. If more and more of the work is done by AI agents like Claude Code, Codex or Claude, you want a board those agents can read, update and ask you questions on.
People leave Trello for two reasons. Its free plan stops at 10 boards and 10 collaborators per Workspace, and views beyond the board start on Premium. And a card that waits for someone to drag it is slow when the someone is an agent that finished the job an hour ago.
Context Board is ours, so weigh the bias. Its Plan board is first on this list because your agent writes the plan with you, marks each step as it builds it, and leaves its questions on the board for you. The other seven are good tools, and each card says who should pick it. We read every price and limit on the vendor’s own page on November 9, 2026.
- Your AI agents do more of the work: Context Board. Claude Code or Codex marks each step building, done or blocked, and its questions wait for you. $12 a month after 3 free days.
- A team that wants boards, lists and timelines: Asana. Personal is free for 2 users, and Starter adds Timeline and Gantt.
- A free plan with unlimited members: ClickUp Free Forever, with 60MB of storage.
- A software team: Linear. Free for 250 issues, and you can assign an issue to an agent.
- Open source, on your own server: Kanboard, under the MIT License.
Why people look for a Trello alternative
Trello keeps kanban simple: lists, cards, drag. Its own pricing page shows where it starts to pinch:
- 10 boards on the free plan. Free allows “up to 10 boards per Workspace”. Standard removes the cap.
- 10 collaborators on the free plan. Free is “free for up to 10 collaborators per Workspace”.
- One view until Premium. Calendar, Timeline, Table, Dashboard and Map views start on Premium, $10 a user a month billed yearly or $12.50 monthly.
- Small files and few automations. Free caps files at 10MB and automation at 250 Workspace command runs a month. Standard is $5 a user a month billed yearly or $6 monthly, with 250MB files and 1,000 runs.
Trello has also caught up on AI. Its official MCP server works on all Trello plans and lets ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor, VS Code and Gemini CLI view boards and create, move, update and archive cards. MCP is the standard that lets an AI app read and change another tool’s data. So Claude can already move a Trello card. What changes on a board built for agents is everything around the card: on Context Board’s Plan board, the agent marks each step as it works on it, and its questions wait on the plan for your answer.
The reason to switch is a different job. A Trello board is shaped for people dragging cards. When an agent does the building, you want the plan, each step’s status, the proof a step works and the agent’s open questions in one place, kept current by the agent itself.
The 8 best Trello alternatives, compared
| Tool | Best for | Price for one person | Your AI can work in it | Free plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Context Board | Founders whose agents do the work | $12 a month, every board included | Yes, built for it. Every change signed | 3-day trial |
| 2. Asana | Teams that want boards and timelines | Starter $10.99 a user yearly | Yes, Asana MCP server | Yes, 2 users |
| 3. ClickUp | A free plan for a whole team | Core $9 a user yearly, listed down from $12 | Yes, MCP calls on every plan | Yes, unlimited members, 60MB |
| 4. Notion | Boards inside your docs | See their pricing page | Yes, Notion MCP | Yes |
| 5. Linear | Software teams | Basic $10 a user yearly | Yes, MCP and agents on every plan | Yes, 250 issues, 2 teams |
| 6. monday.com | Teams that want AI in the boards | See their pricing page | AI credits from Basic | Yes, 2 seats, 3 boards |
| 7. Microsoft Planner | Teams already on Microsoft 365 | In Microsoft 365. Plan 1 $10 a user yearly | Copilot add-on, $30 a user | In Microsoft 365 |
| 8. Kanboard | Open source, self-hosted | Free, you run the server | Not on its site | Free software, MIT License |
Where a vendor shows a yearly and a monthly rate, the table gives the yearly one. Our server is in Europe, and Notion and monday.com showed us only euros, so we left their paid prices out rather than guess the dollar figure.
1. Context Board: a plan your agents build and keep current
Best for: a founder or small team who already works with Claude Code, Codex, Claude or ChatGPT, and wants the board kept current by the agents doing the work.
Context Board, by ContextBolt, is a web app at board.contextbolt.com. One workspace holds several kinds of board, and three of them cover the jobs a Trello board usually does.
A Plan board for a build. It’s an Overview and its steps. Each step has a page with what it does, how it works, its tasks as to-dos and the files it touches. Hand off gives you the words to paste into Claude Code or Codex in your project. The agent builds the plan step by step and marks each one Planned, Building, Done, Blocked, Waiting, Later or Dropped, with what proves a done step works. When a step needs a call only you can make, the question waits under Needs you with the agent’s pick marked. Click an answer and the agent that asked gets it.
- Data model2 of 2 tasksDone
- Booking page1 of 2 tasksBuilding
- Payments for groupsWaits on youBlocked
- Reminders0 of 2 tasksPlanned
- Should groups pay up front or at the door?3m
- Seats table
- Seats left on the page
- Book several seats
Booking page screenshot is in Previews.
That’s an example board with example data. Two more kinds cover the rest of a Trello habit:
- A Client pipeline for deals. Deals sit in stage columns, Lead, Talking, Proposal sent and Won to start, and you drag a deal to move it. Each deal holds a value, a next step and its date, and a history. Your agent can log a call and move the deal in one go. Deals come in and go out as CSV.
- A Custom board for any other tracker. Describe the tool, like “a content pipeline with a row for every piece, its writer, its stage and its date”, and your agent writes an app that fills the board. What you type is kept as records, up to 2,000, and your agents can add, change and remove them.
Your agents connect with one address over MCP: Claude, ChatGPT, Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and VS Code. Everything an agent does appears with its name on it and can be undone, and deletions go to a 30-day trash. The board’s own chat runs on the Claude or Codex plan you already pay for, so there are no AI credits to buy.
Price: free for 3 days, then $12 a month for the whole workspace: plans, pipelines, docs, sheets, dashboards and the rest of the board kinds.
Pros
- Your agents move the work, and you see who changed what
- Questions from your agents wait on the plan until you answer
- One price for plans, deals, docs and your numbers
Cons
- No free plan, only a 3-day trial
- No team plan. Anyone who edits a board you share needs their own subscription
Context Board vs Trello, for one founder
| Context Board | Trello | |
|---|---|---|
| Who updates the board | Your agents, each change signed | You, or an AI app over Trello MCP |
| A build’s steps | Seven statuses, tasks, proof, previews | Cards in lists |
| Price for one | $12 a month, every board | Standard $5 a user yearly |
| Free plan | 3-day trial | Yes, up to 10 boards |
| A team on one board | View free, edit on their own plan | Free for up to 10 collaborators |
You gain a board your agents keep current and a place for their questions. You give up a free plan and cheap seats for a team. We checked eight agent jobs against Trello’s MCP in Context Board vs Trello.
2. Asana: boards, lists and timelines for a team
Best for: a team that wants a Trello-style board today and a timeline or Gantt chart later.
Asana’s pricing page lists Personal as free forever for 2 users, with unlimited tasks and projects and list, board and calendar views. Starter is $10.99 a user a month billed yearly or $13.49 monthly, and adds Timeline and Gantt views. Advanced is $24.99 yearly or $30.49 monthly.
Your AI: Asana’s MCP server connects Claude and ChatGPT through Asana apps, and its docs name Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and VS Code too. You can create and manage tasks and projects in plain words. Asana’s own AI Teammates are listed from Starter, with 5 requests a user a month, up to 50 per account.
Watch for: the free plan is 2 users. A team of three pays for Starter. Our Asana alternatives post sets out the AI each plan includes, side by side.
3. ClickUp: a free plan for a whole team
Best for: a team that wants boards, whiteboards and automations at no cost, and doesn’t store many files.
ClickUp’s pricing page gives Free Forever unlimited free members, a board view, 5 Spaces, 60MB of file storage and 100 automation actions a workspace a month. Timeline, Gantt and Workload views are a trial on Free. On the day we checked, Core was $9 a user a month billed yearly, marked down from $12, and Business was $17, down from $25. The page showed no monthly prices.
Your AI: the pricing page lists MCP calls on every plan: 100 a day on Free Forever, 300 on Core and 1,000 on Business. ClickUp’s own Brain² is a trial on Free and Core.
Watch for: 60MB of storage fills fast, and the sale price may not last. Budget for $12 a user.
4. Notion: boards inside your docs
Best for: someone who wants task boards in the same place as their notes, specs and wiki.
A Notion database can show as a board view. Cards group by a status property by default, and you drag them between columns. The free plan caps file uploads at 5MB and keeps 7 days of page history. Notion Agent is on Business. Notion’s pricing page showed us euros, so check it for your price.
Your AI: Notion MCP lets Claude, Cursor and ChatGPT read and write your pages, with your own permissions.
Watch for: a Notion board is a database view, so you build it before you use it. Our Notion alternatives post compares it with tools a solo founder might pick instead, and Context Board vs Notion covers the two side by side.
5. Linear: issues and boards for software teams
Best for: a team that ships software and wants issues, cycles and projects in one tool.
Linear’s board layout shows issues as cards grouped by status, and Cmd or Ctrl B switches between list and board. Its pricing page has a free plan with unlimited members, 2 teams and 250 issues. Basic is $10 a user a month and Business $16, both billed yearly.
Your AI: the pricing page marks MCP access and the agent platform as included on all four plans, and the Linear MCP server reads and changes issues, projects and documents. You can assign an issue to an agent, and agents aren’t billable seats.
Watch for: 250 issues goes quickly for an active team. If you keep Linear for issues, Context Board can show your open issues and this cycle on a board, through Linear’s own MCP server: see the Linear dashboard.
6. monday.com: boards with AI features
Best for: a team that wants boards with automations and AI features in the same tool.
monday.com’s pricing page has a free plan for up to 2 seats, 3 boards and 3 docs. AI features start on Basic, with 1,000 AI credits a month, then 2,000 on Standard and 3,000 on Pro. The page showed us euros, and its FAQ says yearly billing saves 18%, so check the page for your price.
Your AI: the pricing page lists an AI agent workforce, the Sidekick assistant and AI columns, paid for in credits. It doesn’t mention MCP, Claude or ChatGPT.
Watch for: the free plan’s 3 boards is tighter than Trello’s 10.
7. Microsoft Planner: boards for Microsoft 365 teams
Best for: a team that already pays for Microsoft 365 and works in Teams.
Basic Planner is included in Microsoft 365, with Grid, Board, Schedule and Chart views in Teams and on the web. Planner Plan 1 is $10 a user a month paid yearly and adds Calendar, Timeline (Gantt) and People views. Planner and Project Plan 3 is $30.
Your AI: Microsoft 365 Copilot is a $30 a user a month add-on, and you need a Copilot license to assign tasks to Planner Agent.
Watch for: the timeline and Copilot are both extra, so a full setup costs more than Trello Premium.
8. Kanboard: open source kanban you host yourself
Best for: a technical founder who wants a plain kanban board on their own server, for free.
Kanboard is free, open source software under the MIT License. It has a drag-and-drop board with columns you add, rename or remove, work-in-progress limits that highlight a full column, automatic actions, subtasks, Markdown descriptions, comments and attachments, and LDAP or OAuth2 login.
Your AI: its site doesn’t mention an MCP server or AI features.
Watch for: you install it, host it and keep it updated. Its site doesn’t mention a hosted version.
Which Trello alternative fits your job
| If you are | Pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A founder whose Claude Code, Codex or Claude does the building | Context Board | The agent keeps the plan current and asks you on the board, $12 a month |
| A small team that wants boards now and timelines later | Asana | Free for 2 users, Timeline and Gantt from Starter |
| A team that wants a free plan for everyone | ClickUp | Unlimited free members, 60MB of storage |
| Keeping tasks next to notes and specs | Notion | Board views on the same databases as your docs |
| A software team | Linear | Issues on a board, agents you can assign work to |
| A team that wants AI features inside the board | monday.com | AI credits from Basic |
| Already paying for Microsoft 365 | Microsoft Planner | Board view included, Gantt on Plan 1 |
| Wanting your own server and no bill | Kanboard | MIT License, self-hosted |
Free Trello alternatives
If price is why you’re leaving, each of these has a free plan, per the pages above:
- Asana Personal: 2 users, unlimited tasks and projects, list, board and calendar views.
- ClickUp Free Forever: unlimited free members, 5 Spaces and 60MB of storage.
- Linear Free: unlimited members, 2 teams and 250 issues.
- monday.com Free: 2 seats, 3 boards and 3 docs.
- Kanboard: free software under the MIT License, on a server you run.
Notion has a free plan too, with 5MB uploads and 7 days of page history. Trello’s own free plan, at 10 boards and 10 collaborators per Workspace, beats some of these.
Context Board has no free plan. It’s free for 3 days, then $12 a month, and that one price covers every kind of board.
A Trello alternative for AI agents
Trello, Asana, ClickUp, Notion and Linear now let an AI app in over MCP. That changes the question from “which board” to “who keeps it current”. Our guide to the agentic workspace sets out what to check. For a board, run four checks:
- Can your agent read the whole job in one go? A step with its tasks, its files and its history beats a card with a title.
- Can it say where things stand? Done with proof, blocked on you, or waiting on someone else are different states.
- Can it ask you something and get the answer? Otherwise the question sits in a terminal you aren’t looking at.
- Can you see what it changed? A signed change with an Undo is how you trust an agent with your board.
A Context Board plan was built around those four. It also picks up where Claude Code’s own planning stops. Claude Code plan mode writes a good plan, but the plan lives in the session you made it in. On a Plan board it outlives the session, and Hand off starts the next session from where the build stands.
Context Board isn’t a team project management suite. It’s built for a founder and their agents, with no team plan or per-seat price. Someone you share a board with views it for free and needs their own subscription to edit, and a client pipeline or a custom board isn’t shared by link. If ten people drag cards all day, Asana, ClickUp or Trello itself will serve them better.
Try it on your next build
Open a Plan board and fill in what you’re building, who it’s for and what done looks like. Let your agent write the steps, then press Hand off and paste the words into Claude Code or Codex in your project. Free for 3 days, then $12 a month.