Trello's free plan is great but caps you at 10 boards per workspace and one Power-Up per board - paid Standard ($6/user/month) is where the real features live. Open-source Kanban tools and flexible free apps match Trello's core. Here are the best free Trello alternatives.
| Alternative | Price | Best For | No Signup? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wekan | Free (open source) | Self-hosted Trello clone | ✅ Yes |
| Planka | Free (open source) | Modern Trello clone | ✅ Yes |
| Focalboard | Free (open source) | Boards with multiple views | ✅ Yes |
| Notion | Free (personal plan) | Boards plus docs | Account needed |
| ClickUp | Free (unlimited tasks) | Kanban plus power features | Account needed |
Wekan is an open-source Kanban board that looks and works like classic Trello: lists, cards, labels, checklists, and swimlanes, self-hosted with unlimited boards and members. No board limits, no Power-Up fees.
Planka is a modern open-source Trello alternative with real-time boards, card labels, due dates, and comments. Deploy it on Docker in minutes for a free, self-hosted team board.
Focalboard offers Kanban, table, and calendar views in a self-hosted board tool with a polished desktop app. It is a fast, lightweight Trello alternative for individuals and teams.
Notion's board view recreates Trello's Kanban experience while adding databases, docs, and wikis around it. Teams get boards and their knowledge base in one free workspace.
ClickUp's free plan includes Kanban boards with unlimited tasks, custom fields, and 100 automation runs monthly - Trello's paid Power-Up features baked into the free tier.
Trello costs $5-6/user/month (Standard). That is $72/year every year — money that could go toward building an AI-powered income stream instead. Our case studies show that you can build complete revenue-generating systems using only free tools.
| Option | Monthly Cost | Annual Cost | 5-Year Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trello | $5-6 | $60-72 | $300-360 |
| Free Alternatives | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Savings | $72/year/year saved | ||
The best free alternative to Trello depends on your needs. Wekan is ideal for self-hosted trello clone. Planka is ideal for modern trello clone. Focalboard is ideal for boards with multiple views. All of these alternatives are free or have generous free tiers.
Trello costs $5-6/user/month (Standard). For most individual users and small projects, the free alternatives listed here provide 80-100% of the functionality at zero cost. Teams with complex collaboration needs may find the paid version worthwhile, but solo creators and small businesses can save hundreds per year.
Yes. The alternatives we list are production-ready tools used by millions. Most people switching from Trello find that 2-3 free tools combined cover all their needs, often with better specialised features than the all-in-one paid product.
Yes. Every alternative listed is a well-established tool with active development, large user bases, and transparent privacy policies. Open-source options like those from Hugging Face and Ollama are additionally auditable — you can inspect the code yourself.
Switching from Trello ($5-6/user/month (Standard)) to free alternatives saves you $72/year per year. Over 5 years, that is enough to fund a side business or invest in other tools.
Browse All Free Alternatives →