Trello vs Jira: Which one to choose? (2023)

According to the latest project management statistics, 69% of project managers use project management (PM) software.

The right software allows you to easily organize your project, make a project task list, assign people responsible, and then follow how the project progresses.

However, with so many apps available on the market, it’s sometimes difficult to opt for the right one.

In this blog post, we’ll compare 2 popular project management apps, Trello and Jira, in terms of:

• Pricing,
• User Interface,
• Task management,
• Team collaboration,
• Progress tracking,
• Administration,
• Integrations,
• Support, and
• Security.

So, which one is better — Trello or Jira?

By the end of the article, you’ll know exactly what Trello and Jira have to offer. 

Keep reading to find out our final verdict!

Trello vs. Jira overview

Trello is an easy-to-use work management tool that functions as a Kanban board. 

Trello’s simple 3-level organization of boards, lists, and cards provides a clear overview of any project type. Due to its flexibility, you can customize it according to your team’s unique preferences. 

Trello is available for web, macOS, Windows, iOS, and Android.

Jira, sometimes referred to as Jira Software, offers more advanced issue and project-tracking capabilities. 

The tool is packed with more complex features suitable for software development, though you can adapt it to other purposes. 

Jira is available for web, Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android.

Both Trello and Jira are owned by a single company — Atlassian, which is why you’ll notice many similarities between these 2 apps.

Here’s a quick overview of Trello’s and Jira’s main features:

Feature	Trello	Jira
Pricing	Free plan ✓ Paid plans start from $5 per user per month	Free plan ✓ Paid plans start from $7.75 per user per month
User Interface	Easy-to-use, interactive	Comprehensive, with a steep learning curve
Task management	Well-organized, suitable for simpler projects	Well-organized, suitable for complex projects
Team collaboration	Communication within the comments section Notifications	Communication within the comments section Notifications
Progress tracking	Kanban view Dashboard*, Timeline*, Table*, Calendar*, Map* view	Reports and insights Board view (Scrum and Kanban), Timeline view
Administration	Admin, Member, Guest, and Observer* permissions	Admin permissions User roles and permissions* Anonymous access*
Integrations	200+ Power-Ups	3,000+ integrations
Support	Self-help guides Community support Customer support* Priority support*	Self-help guides  Community Support  Customer Support* Phone support*
Security	Advanced	Advanced

* Paid feature.

Trello vs. Jira pricing 1:0

Pricing is one of the determining factors when deciding what to buy or whether to buy it. So, let’s analyze Trello’s and Jira’s pricing plans to help you make that decision.

Trello’s Free plan comes with up to 10 boards (or projects) per Workspace. 

So, in case you’re managing multiple projects (more than 10, to be specific) — you’ll probably need one of Trello’s paid plains.

The free plan also includes the following features:

• Unlimited users and cards (or tasks),
• Unlimited Power-Ups per board, and
• Unlimited storage (10MB/file).

Trello’s Standard plan ($5 per user/month if billed annually) offers unlimited boards and other features such as:

• Advanced checklists,
• Custom fields, and
• More storage (250MB/file).

Trello’s Premium plan ($10 per user/month if billed annually) comes with other extra features, such as different board views (Calendar, Timeline, Table, Dashboard, and Map).

For large teams, there’s an Enterprise plan, which is billed annually. 

While there’s no limit to the number of users in Trello, this is not the case with Jira. 

Jira’s Free plan is available only for up to 10 users, including features such as:

• Unlimited project boards,
• 2 GB of storage,
• Backlog and timeline,
• Reporting and insights, etc.

As for the paid plans, the pricing for each plan changes depending on the number of users — a system some may find too complicated. However, if your number of active users frequently changes, you might find this pricing system convenient.  

Here are Jira’s 3 paid plans:

• Standard plan — $7.75 per user/mo,
• Premium plan — $15.25 per user/mo, and
• Enterprise plan — only available for more than 800 users and is billed annually. You’ll need to contact the sales for the pricing.

You can try Jira Standard and Premium for 7 days for free, no credit card information required.

Trello vs. Jira pricing verdict

We must admit that Atlassian played it nicely when creating the pricing plans. 

Whichever app you choose, you’ll experience some noticeable limitations. While Trello limits you in terms of boards, Jira does so in terms of users. 

It almost appears that the perfect solution would be a combination of the 2 apps.

For now, to fully benefit from both apps, you’ll need to opt for one of the paid versions. 

Jira’s paid plans offer more features and Trello’s are slightly cheaper. 

However, as Trello’s pricing system is simple and more transparent — it wins a point in this category.

Pricing	Trello	Jira
Free version	✓	✓
Free Premium plan trial	✓ (14 days)	✓ (7 days)
Starting price	$5	$7.75
Overall impression	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐

Trello vs. Jira user interface 1:0

One of Trello’s main advantages is that it is easy to interact with. 

You can seamlessly navigate the board and move your lists and cards around it simply by dragging them.

The ability to choose from a range of colors and backgrounds when customizing your boards makes Trello especially appealing to creative teams. 

To make things even more fun, add stickers to your cards or celebrate success with confetti.

More importantly, you can automate your workflow with the built-in Butler Automation tool to create:

• Rules, 
• Scheduled automations,
• Due date automations, and
• Card and Board buttons.

And, if you don’t want to build your board from scratch, you can opt for one of Trello’s community templates for free. 

Jira Software, on the other hand, is more complex to use, and it has a steep learning curve. This is probably because it’s intended primarily for planning software development projects.

However, to make navigation easier, Jira offers 2 templates to start from: 

• Scrum — to track your work across Sprints, and
• Kanban — to visualize your work in Kanban style.

You can further customize these templates according to your specific needs. 

Also, you can use Jira’s automation to save time and increase efficiency by creating Rules (i.e. an option that allows you to automate certain actions based on criteria previously set up by the user) that are made up of three parts:

• Triggers — that kick off your rule, 
• Conditions — that refine your rule, and 
• Actions — that perform various tasks.

Jira offers some automation templates to help you get started.

Admittedly, you’ll need more time to master Jira, but once you’re done with it, you’ll be able to fully benefit from all its robust features.

Trello vs. Jira user interface verdict

Though Jira’s user interface is quite comprehensive, it’s only because it’s intended for complex projects. And it’s only natural that more complex projects require more complex solutions.

However, Jira still loses the point in this category due to its steep learning curve. 

So, congratulations to Trello, you scored once again!

User interface	Trello	Jira
Structure	Clean	Complex
Customization	Moderate	Advanced
Workflow automation	Yes	Yes
Overall impression	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐

Trello vs. Jira task management 1:1

What needs to be done, who will do it, and when — you’ll need to answer all these questions first to organize properly. 

Let’s see how Trello and Jira help you deal with task management.

Within the Trello workspace, you’ll find 3 organizational units:

• Boards, 
• Lists, and 
• Cards. 

A board represents the project you’re managing, and you can keep track of all of the important project information within that board.

The number of lists and cards (or specific tasks within the list) is unlimited in all plans. 

Cards can be further specified by adding: 

• Description,
• Members, 
• Labels,
• Checklists, 
• Dates, 
• Attachments,
• Comments, etc.

In Jira, the terminology is slightly different. A workspace consists of the following units:

• Issues — individual work items,
• Projects — a collection of issues, and 
• Boards — a visual display of work progress.

Depending on the project, an issue can be anything from a project task support ticket, to a leave request form or any other type of work that needs to be completed. 

To categorize issues, you can add different issue types. Here are the default issue types in Jira:

• Epics — larger bodies of work,
• Tasks — specific tasks to be done,
• Stories — requirements from the user’s perspective, and 
• Bugs — problems and errors that need to be fixed, and
• Sub-tasks — issues within any other issue type.

You can either choose from the default issue types or customize them to fit your specific needs.

Issues can be further specified with additional information about a piece of work, the so-called issue fields, including:

• Description,
• Attachments,
• Comments,
• Due dates,
• Assignees,
• Labels, etc.

Trello vs. Jira task management verdict

Both apps score in this category as each satisfies their target users’ needs. 

However, if you’re asking yourself whether Trello can replace Jira and vice versa — our advice is to think carefully about your needs before making any final decisions.

Otherwise, you might make a simple project more difficult with Jira’s overly advanced features or overburden Trello’s simple board with large-scale project information.

Task management	Trello	Jira
Customization	Highly customizable	Highly customizable
Intuitiveness	User-friendly	Highly complex
Overall impression	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐

Trello vs. Jira team collaboration 1:1

This category is dedicated to communication in project management. Team collaboration features within your PM app facilitate sharing updates about specific tasks and issues in one place instead of storing such information in other apps.

In Trello, you can communicate with team members by leaving comments within Cards, as well as comment or react to any attachments uploaded to the Card. 

Mentioning people by typing @someone, @board, or @card will immediately get their attention with a notification.

Also, you can set reminders and notify team members about upcoming project-related deadlines.

With the Watch feature, you can receive notifications on any changes to a card, list, or board — regardless of whether you’re an assignee on that card, list, or board.

In Jira, you’ll mostly communicate through the comments issue field, where you can ask any questions related to the issue or share any important updates. 

Just like in Trello, you can @mention your team members to get their attention and use the Watch issue feature to stay up to date with the changes.

Whenever someone mentions you in the comment field, Jira will notify you via email.

Trello vs. Jira team collaboration verdict

Again, both Trello and Jira score a point in this category. 

Their team collaboration features are more or less similar — both apps allow you to communicate about a specific task in the comments section and follow changes with the Watch option.

Team collaboration	Trello	Jira
Built-in communication channels	No	No
Comments	Yes	Yes
Notifications	Yes	Yes
Watch option	Yes	Yes
Overall impression	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐

Trello vs. Jira progress tracking 0:1

Progress tracking features facilitate staying on top of your project at all times. Let’s see how Trello and Jira manage progress tracking.

We’ve already mentioned that Trello’s distinct feature is its Kanban-style workspace. The Kanban view allows you to track progress in one of the simplest ways possible — through boards, lists, and cards.

Apart from the Kanban view, paid plan users can track progress in other views, such as:

• Dashboard,
• Timeline,
• Table,
• Calendar, and
• Map.

Also, with the Filter option, you can search for cards across all your boards by:

• Keywords,
• Members, 
• Due dates
• Labels, and
• Activity. 

With Jira, you get to track progress through 2 views:

• Board view, and 
• Timeline view.

You can use Jira’s Search bar to scan through all boards, issues, and issue fields.

Best of all, you can get a visual display of your work’s progress in real time with Jira’s Reports feature.

Trello vs. Jira progress tracking verdict

Nothing gives a better overview of your progress than colorful charts, diagrams, and reports.

So, thanks to its strong Reports feature, Jira scores 1:0 in this category!

Progress tracking	Trello	Jira
Reporting	Yes (integrated)	Yes (built-in)
Number of views	6	2
Overall impression	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Trello vs. Jira administration 1:1

Now, it’s time to analyze how Trello and Jira handle administration permissions.

In Trello, there are 5 types of member permissions: 

• Board admins — they can do anything on the board,
• Board members (or normal members) — they can edit or add to the board without restrictions,
• Workspace members — they can see boards that are Workspace visible,
• Guests — they can only view and edit the boards to which they’ve been added, and
• Observers — they can view the board and participate in the discussion on the cards but cannot make any changes to the board. 

Observer settings are great for keeping all stakeholders in the loop with the project’s progress, though only paid members can enjoy this feature.

On the other hand, if you want to share your Workspace publicly — for example, your product roadmap — you can set your Workspace to Public for free. But be cautious, as this option makes your Workspace visible to the entire Internet. 

In Jira, the Free plan doesn’t allow you to edit project permissions or roles. So, everyone who can access the board is considered a project admin. 

Some more advanced permissions come with paid plans. 

The Standard plan allows you to assign roles to different users (e.g., admin or end-user) and set different permissions based on these roles (e.g., whether users can create new projects).

Premium and Enterprise plans offer:

• Admin Insights — to access information about the level of security or activity over time,
• Sandbox — to test products and apps before their release, and 
• Release tracks — to control when and how changes are released to end users.

All paid plans allow you to use Anonymous access to let people outside your organization view and create issues.

Trello vs. Jira administration verdict

Both Trello and Jira score this time! 

What got them points is the option to invite people outside of your organization to view your project or even leave a comment or a reaction. 

Administration	Trello	Jira
Role-based permissions	Yes	Yes
Guests	Yes	Yes
Overall impression	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐

Trello vs. Jira integrations 0:1

Now, let’s analyze how well Trello and Jira integrate with other tools.

Trello allows you to connect your work across external tools via the so-called Power-Ups. The app integrates with 200+ apps and tools, such as:

• Slack,
• Google Drive,
• Microsoft Teams, 
• Jira, 
• Salesforce, etc.

And here are some other examples of how certain Trello Power-Ups can help in project management:

• Last Seen — to see when team members have last seen the boards or opened the card,
• Clockify — to track time within Trello, 
• Card Duration — to view card duration, time left, time overdue, etc.

The number of Power-Ups is unlimited with every Trello plan, though not all of them are free. 

Jira has quite an extensive list of apps (sometimes called add-ons or plugins) it integrates with — more than 3,000 tools. 

You can also connect Jira with other Atlassian products, such as:

• Confluence, 
• Trello, or 
• Bitbucket. 

Or you can integrate with other tools available in the Atlassian Marketplace, such as:

• Slack, 
• Zoom,
• Github, or
• Clockify.

Trello vs. Jira integrations verdict

Jira takes the point in this category with 3,000+ integrations available, compared to Trello’s 200+.

Integrations	Trello	Jira
Number of integrations	200+	3,000+
Overall impression	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

At this point, it’s 5:5 for Trello and Jira.

Keep reading to find out the final result of this battle. 

Trello vs. Jira support 1:1

As customer support is a crucial factor affecting overall customer satisfaction, we’ll pay special attention to this category.

On Trello’s help site, you can:

• Read help articles,
• Ask the community, and 
• See FAQs. 

If you have any specific questions, you can contact support. But if you want those questions answered within a day, you’ll need to become a Premium or Enterprise member. 

To help you grasp all its features and possibilities, Jira provides comprehensive self-help guides. 

However, Jira offers only Community Support with its free plan.

The Standard plan comes with  9/5 support (during local business hours), while Premium and Enterprise plans provide you with 24/7 support with slight differences in favor of the Enterprise users, such as Phone support.

Trello vs. Jira support verdict

Trello and Jira offer only self-help resources and community support for free. To be honest, we would expect much more from such widely used apps.

So, both apps score the same in this round. 

Support	Trello	Jira
Self-help resources	Yes	Yes
Community support	Yes	Yes
Free 24/7 support	No	No
Overall impression	⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐

Trello vs. Jira security 1:1

Now, let’s see how Trello and Jira protect your data. 

Trello includes 2-factor authentication (2FA) in all plans, all its data is encrypted, and it possesses the following certifications and compliances:

• SOC 2 and SOC 3,
• ISO/IEC 27001 and ISO/IEC 27018,
• PCI-DSS, 
• FedRAMP,
• SAML 2.0 SSO (for Enterprise and Access customers), and
• GDPR.

Also, it runs automated vulnerability scans every 7 days minimum, and participates in an active bug bounty program on Bugcrowd.com.

Jira enhances customer data security with:

• Password policies,
• Encryption in transit and at rest,
• Disaster Recovery Program, and
• Built-in mobile device management support for iOS and Android. 

Here’s what Jira’s compliance program looks like:

• SOC 2 and SOC 3,
• PCI DSS,
• ISO/IEC 27001,
• ISO/IEC 27018, and
• GDPR.

Trello vs. Jira security verdict

Atlassian takes the issue of security quite seriously, so both Trello and Jira win a point in this category.

Security	Trello	Jira
2FA	✓	✓
Data encryption	✓	✓
Relevant certifications	✓	✓
Overall impression	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Trello vs. Jira verdict

And finally, the moment of truth has arrived! 

It’s a tie! 

Well done, Trello and Jira! 

Now, let’s take a look at the final scoreboard:

Feature	Trello	Jira
Pricing	1	0
User Interface	1	0
Task management	1	1
Team collaboration	1	1
Progress tracking	0	1
Administration	1	1
Integrations	0	1
Support	1	1
Security	1	1
Total score	7	7

It was a tight battle, but in the end, the total number of points both apps scored was the same. 

However, apps scored differently across categories.

Trello won against Jira in terms of pricing and user interface, while Jira came first in the progress tracking and integration categories.

So, if you’re still not sure which app to opt for, consider the individual categories and then decide what your team really needs.

Is it Trello’s simple interface, which is great for smaller and less demanding projects? Or is it perhaps the all-encompassing detailed functionalities of Jira?

After all, both apps are owned by the same company, so they can work well together through integrations.

Looking for a Trello or Jira alternative? Try Plaky

If you feel that neither Trello nor Jira is a good match for your company — you can always try Plaky. 

Plaky is an easy-to-use project management tool that can serve as a great Trello alternative since Plaky’s free plan offers several features Trello does not.

Plaky’s Free plan	Trello’s free plan
Unlimited boards (or projects)	Only 10 boards (or projects)
Kanban and Table view	Kanban view only
Custom fields (up to 6 per board for free)	No custom fields with the free plan
24/7 support (holidays included)	No support with the free plan

You can also use Plaky as an excellent Jira alternative as Plaky’s free plan offers several essential features that Jira’s free plan does not.

Plaky’s free plan	Jira’s free plan
Unlimited users	10 users only
Unlimited storage (10MB per file)	2 GB file storage
24/7 support (holidays included)	No support with the free plan
Member and admin user roles	Every user is a project admin

If you’re looking to have even more options for your team, take a look at the Plaky Pro plan and Plaky Enterprise plan, which offer plenty of useful project management software features, such as:

• Private boards and workspaces,
• Bulk actions,
• A viewer role,
• Additional storage,
• Advanced board permissions, and more.

✉️ Have you already tried Trello or Jira? If yes, what are your impressions? If not, which one would you like to try and why? We would be more than happy to hear your insights. You can always email us at blogfeedback@plaky.com and share your experience and advice, which we may include in some of our future posts. If you know anyone who would find this article interesting, please share it with them.