GitHub Projects vs Trello: which one fits your team?
Same idea, two weights. One is understood in four seconds by anybody; the other enforces a workflow and produces the reports. The step between them is usually a growth event, not a preference.
It turns on how much process your team needs enforced, and how much of it people will actually follow.
Pick GitHub Projects if
every piece of work is an issue, it never leaves the repo, and everybody has a GitHub login. Where it stops: no calendar, and it assumes everyone is on GitHub.
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: GitHub Projects does not publish a per seat price we can put in this sum, Trello is about $300 a year, and UnaTask is €480 plus VAT.
GitHub Projects: Included with GitHub. There is no separate charge for Projects. Trello: Free up to 10 collaborators. $5 Standard and $10 Premium per user per month billed annually.
Where they part company
GitHub Projects does more on 5 of them
- linking pull requests to the work
- dependencies and a timeline
- docs and a wiki inside
- portfolio and agile reporting
- AI that does the work rather than the scheduling
Trello does more on 3 of them
- two way calendar sync
- turning email and chat into tasks
- being useful before you configure it
Side by side
| What it does | GitHub Projects | Trello | UnaTask |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time blocking on a calendar | No | No | Core |
| A plan for today and this week | No | No | Core |
| Two way calendar sync | No | 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 | Partly | No | Yes. Dependencies with a timeline that shows what is waiting on what. |
| See who has room | Partly | Partly | Core |
| Booking links | No | No | Yes |
| Meetings become tasks | No | No | Yes |
| Email and chat become tasks | No | Partly | Yes |
| Pull requests linked to work | Core. Issues and pull requests are the items. Nothing to link. | Partly. Through a power up rather than natively. | Yes |
| Docs and wiki inside | Partly. The repo wiki and markdown in the repo, not a workspace. | No | Partly. Docs live on a project, they are not a wiki you would run a company from. |
| Portfolio or agile reporting | Yes | Partly | Partly. Team workload and project progress, not portfolios that roll up to a board. |
| Rules that fire on their own | Yes | Yes. Butler rules on the board are genuinely good and free to start. | Yes |
| AI that does the work, not just the scheduling | Partly | No | Yes. AI teammates you assign a task to. The work comes back on the task for review. |
| Useful before you configure it | Yes | Core | Core |
| A free plan | Yes | Yes | Yes |
What should not decide it
They answer the same on 8: time blocking on a calendar, having a plan for today, being the place the tasks actually live, showing who has room, booking links, turning meetings into tasks, rules that fire on their own and having a free plan.
And where UnaTask sits
UnaTask is a third direction rather than a point on that line: keep the surface small, and add the calendar neither of them has.
It does more than both of them on time blocking on a calendar, having a plan for today, two way calendar sync, dependencies and a timeline, showing who has room, booking links, turning meetings into tasks, turning email and chat into tasks and AI that does the work rather than the scheduling.
Common questions
GitHub Projects vs Trello: which should I pick?
Pick GitHub Projects if every piece of work is an issue, it never leaves the repo, and everybody has a GitHub login. 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 GitHub Projects and Trello?
The clearest gap is linking pull requests to the work, where GitHub Projects does more than Trello. Underneath that, GitHub Projects is a system of record for software work, built around issues and cycles, and Trello is a list or a board that everybody understands without being taught.
Is GitHub Projects or Trello cheaper?
For a team of 5, billed yearly: GitHub Projects does not publish a per seat price we can put in this sum, Trello is about $300 a year, and UnaTask is €480 plus VAT.
What do GitHub Projects and Trello have in common?
They answer the same on 8 of our 16 axes, among them time blocking on a calendar, having a plan for today and being the place the tasks actually live. Those are the things that should not decide it for you.
Where does UnaTask fit against GitHub Projects and Trello?
UnaTask does more than both on time blocking on a calendar, having a plan for today and two way calendar sync. 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 June 2026 and 2 August 2026.