Trello alternatives without per-user pricing

The Trello alternatives that avoid per-user billing are Moxboard (one price per workspace, by team size) and Basecamp (flat price per organization). ClickUp, Notion and Linear are per user but cheaper or more capable than Trello Premium for certain teams, and Jira Free covers up to 10 engineers at no cost. Trello Free is good for up to 10 collaborators. The problem starts when you need Standard or Premium and every new person adds to the bill.

TL;DR

• For 8 people, Trello Standard is $40 a month and Premium is $80. Moxboard Team 10 is €25 for the whole team, everything included. ClickUp Unlimited is $56. Linear Basic is $80 (checked November 2026).
• Only two options on this list are not per user: Moxboard and Basecamp. The rest are cheaper per seat or free up to a cap.
• Leaving Trello costs you Power-Ups, Butler automation, the template library and polished mobile apps. Decide if you use them.

What do small teams outgrow in Trello?

Teams outgrow Trello Free at four points: the 10-collaborator cap, the 10-board cap, the lack of built-in structure, and the switch to per-user billing when they upgrade. None of these is a flaw in Trello. They are the shape of the free plan and the business model behind it.

10 collaborators per workspace. Free workspaces allow up to 10 collaborators. The eleventh person forces Standard, and Standard is priced per user for everyone, not just the eleventh.

10 boards. Free workspaces are limited to 10 open boards. A small agency with one board per client hits this in the first year. Archiving boards works until you need the archived one back.

Structure comes from Power-Ups. Trello's core is lists and cards. Priority, task type, story points, WIP limits and custom fields all arrive through Power-Ups. Free and Standard allow unlimited Power-Ups now, but each one is a separate add-on with its own interface, and some of the good ones are paid separately.

Per-user cost after Free. Standard is $5 per user per month billed annually ($6 monthly). Premium is $10 ($12.50 monthly) and is where Calendar, Timeline, Table and Dashboard views live. For 8 people that is $40 or $80 a month. Add a part-time contractor and a new hire and it moves again. See trello.com/pricing.

If the fourth point is your main complaint, the general argument is in Why per-seat pricing punishes small teams.

[Image: Line chart of monthly cost as a team grows from 3 to 15 people, Trello Standard, Trello Premium and Moxboard (Free, then Team 5, Team 10 and Team 20), light theme, landscape]

Six Trello alternatives, with the price for 8 people

Each entry gives the price for 8 people on annual billing (checked November 2026), who it suits, and what it does not do. Prices change; check the official pricing page before deciding.

1. Moxboard: one price per workspace by team size, Trello JSON import

Moxboard is a simple kanban board for small teams, with one price per workspace, set by team size, instead of per-user billing, and every feature on every plan. We make it, so weigh this entry accordingly. It is a board-first tool like Trello, with the structure Trello leaves to Power-Ups built in: WIP limits per column, stale-task flags, task types with templates (Bug, Feature, Feedback, Improvement, Tech debt), priority, sections by client or area, subtasks, recurring tasks, a list view, composite filters and saved views shared with the team. Guests are read-only and free.

Price for 8 people: Team 10 is €25 a month for up to 10 members, or €250 a year. Team 5 is €15 a month up to 5 members, Team 20 €45 up to 20, Team 50 €100 up to 50, Team 100 €175 up to 100. Free covers 2 members and 1 GB. Every plan includes every feature, including Timeline, Dashboard, Reports across projects and Slack notifications (on Trello, Timeline and Dashboard are Premium). For a full team of 10, 20, 50 or 100, that is half the price of Trello Standard or less. Just past a size step the gap is smaller: 3 people pay €15 on Moxboard and $15 on Trello Standard. USD prices are the same numbers outside the euro zone. See /pricing.

Import from Trello: Export a board as JSON from Trello and upload it. Lists become columns, cards become tasks, labels and checklists come across, and attachments are kept as links. See /help/import-from-trello.

What it lacks: No Gantt dependencies, no automations (no equivalent of Butler), no time tracking, no public API yet. Timeline and Dashboard are on every plan; API and webhooks are coming soon, without a date. No Power-Up ecosystem; what you see is what there is. Full comparison in Moxboard vs Trello.

[Image: Moxboard board for project MOX with 13 tasks, columns To do / In progress 3 / 3 / In review / Done, type chips Bug, Feature and Feedback, 4 assignees, one stale task in In review, light theme, landscape]

2. Basecamp: flat price per organization

Basecamp bundles to-dos, a message board, schedule, docs, files and group chat into each project. A card table view gives you a kanban for to-dos. 37signals charges a flat rate for the whole company on its main plan, regardless of how many people join, which is the point of this list.

Price for 8 people: pricing: flat per organization [VERIFY current Basecamp price]. A lower per-user plan may exist [VERIFY]. We are not quoting a number until it is confirmed this month.

What it lacks: The card table is a secondary view, not the heart of the product. No WIP limits, no task types, no custom fields in Trello's Power-Up sense. No Trello import; you would rebuild or go through CSV. For a team that only wants a board, a company-wide flat rate may cost more than Moxboard Team 10, depending on the current Basecamp price.

3. ClickUp: per user, but cheap, with a generous free tier

ClickUp is the opposite of Trello in scope. It has tasks, docs, whiteboards, goals, time tracking, dashboards, Gantt, automations and chat. The kanban view is one of fifteen or so views. Free Forever allows unlimited users with storage and feature limits, which beats Trello's 10-collaborator cap outright.

Price for 8 people: Unlimited is $7 per user per month annually ($10 monthly), so $56. Business is $12 ($19 monthly), so $96. See clickup.com/pricing.

What it lacks: Simplicity. The workspace, space, folder, list hierarchy and the volume of settings take a weekend to learn. It is still per user, so the bill grows with the team. Trello import is native.

4. Notion: tasks beside your documents

Notion is a docs tool where any database can be shown as a board. Many small teams keep tasks in a Notion database next to their meeting notes and specs. If your Trello boards are mostly checklists attached to written work, Notion consolidates them.

Price for 8 people: Plus is about $10 per user per month annually ($12 monthly), so about $80. Business is about $20 [VERIFY]. Free is for individuals. See notion.com/pricing.

What it lacks: The board is a database view, so there are no WIP limits, no stale-task flags, no per-column behavior. It is per user, at Trello Premium's price for 8. Trello import is native but shallow; checklists and attachments do not always survive.

5. Linear: for engineering teams only

Linear is an issue tracker for software teams: cycles, projects, roadmaps, triage, and tight GitHub and GitLab integration. Engineering teams that use Trello as a lightweight sprint board often move here when they want branch links and auto-closing issues.

Price for 8 people: Basic is $10 per user per month annually ($12 monthly), so $80. Free includes 250 issues and 2 teams. Business at $16 adds guests and Insights. See linear.app/pricing.

What it lacks: Any fit for non-engineering work. Guests require Business. It costs the same as Trello Premium for 8. There is no Trello importer in the main import flow [VERIFY: Linear Trello import]; CSV is the fallback. See Moxboard vs Linear.

6. Jira Free: up to 10 users, no cost

Jira Software's free tier covers up to 10 users with scrum and kanban boards, backlogs, WIP limits and swimlanes. For an engineering team under 10, it replaces Trello Free with more structure at the same price: zero.

Price for 8 people: Free. Standard above 10 users is about $7–8 per user [VERIFY exact Jira Standard price]. See atlassian.com/software/jira/pricing.

What it lacks: Lightness. Workflows, schemes and permissions take configuration, and non-engineers tend to stay away. The 10-user cap is the same wall Trello Free has. Trello import is via CSV, though Atlassian owns both products.

Comparison table: Trello vs six alternatives for 8 people

Monthly, annual billing, 8 people (checked November 2026). Prices change; check the official pricing page before deciding.

For the wider field including Asana, monday.com and the full criteria, see the pillar: Best Asana alternatives for small teams.

What do you lose by leaving Trello?

You lose four things that Trello does better than almost everything on this list: the Power-Up ecosystem, Butler automation, the template library and the mobile apps. Be clear about which ones you actually use.

Power-Ups. Hundreds of integrations and field add-ons, from Google Drive to custom fields to time tracking. Moxboard and Basecamp have nothing comparable. ClickUp and Notion have integrations but not a marketplace of that depth.

Butler. Rule-based automation on every plan: move a card when a checklist completes, assign on label, archive on Friday. Moxboard has no automations yet. ClickUp and Notion have automation on paid plans. Basecamp has little.

Templates. Trello's public template gallery covers nearly every use case and is one click to copy. Moxboard starts you with a default board and task-type templates. ClickUp has a large template library; Notion's is community-driven.

Mobile apps. Trello's iOS and Android apps are mature and fast. Moxboard ships as an installable PWA for iOS, Android and desktop, which works well but is not a native app. ClickUp, Notion and Linear have native apps.

If you use Butler weekly or depend on two or more Power-Ups, the alternatives below Trello Premium's price are not a straight swap.

Choose Trello if, choose an alternative if

Choose Trello if you are under 10 people and 10 boards, if Butler saves you real time, or if your team is already fluent in Power-Ups. Trello Free is the best free kanban board available, and Standard at $5 per user is reasonable for a team that stays small.

Choose an alternative if any of these is true:

• You are at 8 to 15 people and the per-user bill is now a line item you notice. Moxboard is €25 for up to 10 members and €45 for up to 20, versus $60 to $120 for Trello at 12 people and $100 to $200 at 20.
• You keep adding Power-Ups to get priority, task types or WIP limits that should be built in. Moxboard and Jira have them natively.
• You want docs and tasks in one place. Notion.
• You are an engineering team and want Git integration. Linear or Jira.
• You want one tool for projects, chat and files with a company-wide price. Basecamp.
• You want everything, including dashboards and time tracking, and will invest in setup. ClickUp.

Moving a Trello board into Moxboard takes a few minutes with the JSON export; the walkthrough is at /help/import-from-trello. If you want to try the structure before committing, start with WIP limits for a five-person team.

FAQ

Is there a Trello alternative that is not priced per user? Yes. Moxboard charges one price per workspace, set by team size, with every feature on every plan: free up to 2 members, €15 a month up to 5, €25 up to 10, €45 up to 20, €100 up to 50 and €175 up to 100. Basecamp charges a flat rate per organization on its main plan. Everything else in this category, including ClickUp, Notion and Linear, bills per user.

How much does Trello cost for a team of 8? Trello is free for up to 10 collaborators and 10 boards. Standard is $5 per user per month billed annually, so $40 for 8. Premium is $10, so $80 for 8, and adds Calendar, Timeline, Table and Dashboard views (checked November 2026).

Can I import my Trello boards into Moxboard? Yes. Export the board as JSON from Trello's menu and upload it to Moxboard. Lists become columns, cards become tasks, and labels and checklists come across. Attachments are kept as links to the original files. The steps are at help.moxboard.app under Import from Trello.

What is the best free Trello alternative? For non-engineering teams, Trello Free itself is hard to beat up to 10 people. ClickUp Free Forever allows unlimited users with feature limits. Jira Free covers 10 users for software teams. Moxboard Free covers only 2 members, with every feature.

Does Trello have WIP limits? Not natively. Trello adds WIP limits through Power-Ups such as list limit add-ons. Moxboard, Jira and ClickUp include WIP limits per column as a built-in setting, with a warning in the column header when the limit is exceeded.

What do I lose if I switch from Trello? Power-Ups, Butler automation, the template gallery and Trello's native mobile apps. Moxboard, for example, has no automations and ships as a PWA rather than a native app. If you use Butler rules weekly or rely on several Power-Ups, test the alternative with one board first.

Try Moxboard free for 14 days — one board, one price, whole team.