ClickUp vs Trello: which one fits your team?
One is loved because it never makes anybody feel stupid. The other is bought because somebody needs a dashboard. Teams migrate from the first to the second and quietly miss the first.
It turns on whether the reporting is worth the weight, which depends entirely on who is asking for it.
Pick ClickUp if
somebody on the team enjoys building the system and you want it bent into the exact shape of your process. Where it stops: it is useful after you configure it, which is a project of its own.
Pick Trello if
you want a board everyone gets instantly, for free, and tracking state is all you need. Where it stops: a board says what state something is in, never when it happens.
What it costs
For a team of 5, billed yearly: ClickUp is about $420 a year, Trello is about $300 a year, and UnaTask is €480 plus VAT. Between the two of them Trello is $120 a year cheaper at that size.
ClickUp: Free plan. $7 Unlimited and $12 Business per user per month billed yearly, plus around $9 per user for Brain AI. Trello: Free up to 10 collaborators. $5 Standard and $10 Premium per user per month billed annually.
Where they part company
ClickUp does more on 12 of them
- dependencies and a timeline
- docs and a wiki inside
- portfolio and agile reporting
- time blocking on a calendar
- having a plan for today
- two way calendar sync
- showing who has room
- turning meetings into tasks
- turning email and chat into tasks
- linking pull requests to the work
- rules that fire on their own
- AI that does the work rather than the scheduling
Trello does more on 1 of them
- being useful before you configure it
Side by side
| What it does | ClickUp | Trello | UnaTask |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time blocking on a calendar | Partly. There is a calendar view and time estimates, but placing your week is not what it is for. | No | Core |
| A plan for today and this week | Partly | No | Core |
| Two way calendar sync | Yes | Partly. A calendar power up on the board, not a calendar you plan a week on. | Yes |
| It is the task manager itself | Core | Core | Core |
| Dependencies and a timeline | Yes | No | Yes. Dependencies with a timeline that shows what is waiting on what. |
| See who has room | Yes | Partly | Core |
| Booking links | No | No | Yes |
| Meetings become tasks | Partly | No | Yes |
| Email and chat become tasks | Yes | Partly | Yes |
| Pull requests linked to work | Yes | Partly. Through a power up rather than natively. | Yes |
| Docs and wiki inside | Yes | No | Partly. Docs live on a project, they are not a wiki you would run a company from. |
| Portfolio or agile reporting | Core | Partly | Partly. Team workload and project progress, not portfolios that roll up to a board. |
| Rules that fire on their own | Core | Yes. Butler rules on the board are genuinely good and free to start. | Yes |
| AI that does the work, not just the scheduling | Partly. Brain is a separate line on the bill. | No | Yes. AI teammates you assign a task to. The work comes back on the task for review. |
| Useful before you configure it | No. The power is real and it arrives after the configuration, not before. | Core | Core |
| A free plan | Yes | Yes | Yes |
What should not decide it
They answer the same on 3: being the place the tasks actually live, booking links and having a free plan.
And where UnaTask sits
UnaTask keeps the small surface and answers the question the board never could: not what state is it in, but when is it happening.
It does more than both of them on time blocking on a calendar, having a plan for today, showing who has room, booking links, turning meetings into tasks and AI that does the work rather than the scheduling.
Common questions
ClickUp vs Trello: which should I pick?
Pick ClickUp if somebody on the team enjoys building the system and you want it bent into the exact shape of your process. Pick Trello if you want a board everyone gets instantly, for free, and tracking state is all you need.
What is the biggest difference between ClickUp and Trello?
The clearest gap is being useful before you configure it, where Trello does more than ClickUp. Underneath that, ClickUp is a configurable platform several departments can shape to their own process, and Trello is a list or a board that everybody understands without being taught.
Is ClickUp or Trello cheaper?
For a team of 5, billed yearly: ClickUp is about $420 a year, Trello is about $300 a year, and UnaTask is €480 plus VAT. Between the two of them Trello is $120 a year cheaper at that size.
What do ClickUp and Trello have in common?
They answer the same on 3 of our 16 axes: being the place the tasks actually live, booking links and having a free plan. Those are the things that should not decide it for you.
Where does UnaTask fit against ClickUp and Trello?
UnaTask does more than both on time blocking on a calendar, having a plan for today and showing who has room. It is free on your own and €10 per seat for a team, with every feature included. Where it does less: it is not an issue tracker with sprints and burndown, and it is not a documentation workspace.
Details checked 2 August 2026.