Trello vs Asana vs BoardBell: Which Project Management Software Is Best?
Is your team looking for an online project management tool? Then this blog post is for you. We’ll compare BoardBell with two giants in the project management space: Trello and Asana. We'll help pick the most suitable tool for your team.
Task tracking and project management lie at the core of successful project completion. Owing to BoardBell's simplicity and ease of use, more and more project managers are relying on BoardBell to deliver projects on time.
Whether you are a project manager or a team member, you know how cumbersome it can be to track tasks using spreadsheets and emails. This is especially true when dealing with multiple tasks and team members.
Given that many businesses are now working remotely, a tool for centrally managing tasks and projects is all the more important. For this reason, several teams are looking for online project management software to assign, track, discuss, and complete tasks with ease.
Considering the wide array of choices among online project management tools, how do you pick the right tool for your team? Should you go with big names like Trello and Asana? Or should you choose a simple and flexible tool like BoardBell? Those are the questions we’ll attempt to answer in this post.
We'll compare Trello, Asana, and BoardBell on the following parameters:
- Features
- Pricing
- Ease of Use & Ideal Team Size
Let’s get started.
Introduction to BoardBell, Trello, and Asana
Before we begin with the comparison, let’s have an overview to get you started.
BoardBell
BoardBell is an online task management tool launched in 2020 by Polydojo. It simplifies projects with visual task management and collaboration. For the same reason, BoardBell is a suitable tool for individuals working remotely and with a team. You can use it to assign, track, discuss, and complete projects from anywhere, anytime!
This whiteboard analogy explains how BoardBell works. BoardBell follows a kanban style visual tracking system with boards, columns, and cards. Just by looking at the visual board, your team can track the real-time status of tasks under progress and the ones in the pipeline. This communicates ‘who needs to do what’ and prevents idle time.
BoardBell is simple yet powerful. Easy to use yet versatile. As a result, you can use it to manage both personal and work-related projects.
BoardBell strikes the perfect balance between basic task tracking tools and complicated workflow management platforms. It picks up where spreadsheets fail to deliver.
BoardBell is particularly helpful if you’re a spreadsheet user and are tired of informing each team member after assigning tasks. If you have been using other chat apps for the purpose, you don’t have to do that anymore!
As BoardBell includes team chat, you can steer clear of chat apps like WhatsApp or Slack to communicate with your team. Since all your discussions will be in BoardBell, you wouldn’t need to keep switching between apps. By combining task management with team chat, BoardBell preserves the context of tasks and makes way for concise discussions.
And of course, you need not pay for the chat. Everything’s included in BoardBell!
Trello
Trello came out of beta in September 2011, after its launch at the TechCrunch Disrupt Conference by Fog Creek Software. Trello was subsequently acquired by Atlassian.
Like BoardBell, Trello follows the kanban work management system to organize your tasks and projects. Projects can be broken down into pieces with boards, lists, and cards. You can add any number of lists you want depending on how you want to organize the project.
Similar to the whiteboard analogy explained for BoardBell, you can drag and drop a Trello task card from one list to another until it reaches completion. Along with tracking task progress, you can attach relevant files, invite members, and change board backgrounds.
Initially, Trello was designed as a simple tool for project management and collaboration. But the addition of more features overtime has also added a tad bit of complexity to this once simple tool. We’ll discuss more on this as we move on.
Asana
Launched in April 2012, Asana is a complete project management package. It is especially useful in handling complex projects with multiple moving parts, intricate dependencies, and complicated hierarchies.
Asana users can create multiple sections for the project that is to be monitored. For example, if launching a product is your project, then ‘create a sales page’, ‘market on social media’, and ‘record user testimonials’ form different sections of that project.
After dividing the project into sections, you can add multiple tasks for each section, assign due dates, mark team members, give real-time feedback, attach files, and do other things necessary to see that project to completion.
Asana has the firepower to see projects to completion, but it is not visually appealing like its kanban alternatives. While it is useful for large teams and projects, some users may find it comparatively daunting.
Key Features: Trello vs Asana vs BoardBell
Trello: Key Features
Trello moves task cards on a visual Kanban board.
Expanding on a basic three-list board, Trello allows you to create multiple lists. You can then create task cards under each list and assign them to respective members.
You can customize each task card with detailed descriptions, checklists, tags, and colors.
Besides functioning as a task board, Trello doubles as a mini app store where you can add plugins called ‘Power-Ups’ to integrate the board with third-party apps like Google Drive, Slack, Hootsuite, and more.
Similarly, Butler is another Trello offering that can automate board usage based on your regular style of working. It makes use of commands or 'Triggers' to automate certain actions that are repeated regularly.
These features can make your job easier. But, if you’re looking for a simple project management tool, you might find these features complicated. Trello relies on Power-Ups for essential features like Chat and Calendar. These features should have been built into the project board.
The same goes for ‘Butler’ as it’s a counterintuitive feature. Simplifying projects via automation shows that Trello is not as easy to use as it might seem.
Asana: Key Features
When a project includes many interdependent tasks, one minor mistake can bring progress to a halt. This is when Trello feels cumbersome and Asana seems better suited for the purpose.
Along with a kanban board view, Asana gives you access to the following basic task management features:
- Unlimited tasks
- Assign tasks to team members and assign due dates for those tasks
- Add comments and attach files
- Calendar View
- App Integrations
Although Asana can support large projects and teams, its free plan does not entirely serve the purpose.
It deprives free users of important features like timeline view, task dependencies, advanced search & filtering, and advanced access control. You must upgrade to one of their paid plans to access these features.
BoardBell: Key Features
BoardBell's UI centers on a visual Kanban board. But the UI is simpler and more approachable. While most software platforms focus on adding more features, BoardBell is focused on adding the right features.
If you prefer simplicity, you’ll like BoardBell. While other platforms bombard users with features, buttons, and endless configuration options, BoardBell’s simplicity is a breath of fresh air.
Let’s illustrate the platform’s simplicity with an example of a task-based column on BoardBell. When a member works on a task, they can shift the task card from the ‘To Do’ column to the ‘Doing’ column, thus updating its progress in real-time. The card keeps moving through subsequent columns until it reaches the final ‘Done’ column upon completion.
What makes BoardBell unique is that despite focusing on simplicity and minimalism, the platform is flexible. It has all the features you’ll need for effective project management.
Let’s explore some of these essential features.
Built-in Card Chat and Board Chat
BoardBell has a built-in chat feature that you can use for a one-on-one chat or group chat, without having to exit the tool.
You can use card chat for commenting inside a task card. All you have to do is click on a task card from any column and type the message in the chat-box provided. This way you can share and ask for important updates related to the task. BoardBell not only presents all task-related information in an organized fashion but also helps recent members catch up with all the relevant details in one place.
What do you do if you or a member of your team wants to start a general conversation that is not related to a specific task?
This is where Board Chat comes in handy.
As the chat panel is located right next to the task board, you can easily take part in an ongoing discussion. No painful app-switching required. Everything is on the same screen. Board chat is super-handy!
Clear communication is critical to team management and successful project completion. While Trello users can post comments on the back of cards, it’s just not sufficient for overall project communication. You’d still need to use a third-party app like WhatsApp or Slack to communicate with your team.
On the other hand, BoardBell’s built-in messaging system, aka Board Chat, eliminates the need for using third-party apps like Slack and WhatsApp. It also promotes context-aware discussion, which is not always possible when you switch between apps.
A built-in chat box is highly context-oriented as opposed to emails that are general, prone to malware, and lack transparency. With board-chat, you are free from frustrating third-party integrations since everything in one place!
BoardBell recently introduced a Two-Tier Access Control system for managing users’ access to boards. With this interesting feature, you can manage the access levels for different users such as managers, employees, and clients.
Now that you know what each tool has to offer in terms of unique features, let's move onto the next important parameter responsible for most buying decisions.
Pricing: Trello vs Asana vs BoardBell
Trello: Pricing Plans
If you intend to use Trello for personal use, you can have access to unlimited boards, cards, and lists. Trello’s free tier includes just 10 boards.
One thing to keep in mind is that Trello’s free plan limits you to just one power-up per board. This is very constraining as even the most basic features are made available as Power-Ups. So if you add the Calendar Power-Up to your board, you won't be able to add any other Power-Up, unless you upgrade.
If you have a bigger team and feel limited with the free-version, Trello’s Business Class costs $12.50 per user per month. If you have 10 members on your team, Trello will cost $125, billed monthly. Although the annual subscription provides a discounted price of $9.99 per user per month, for a 10-member team, Trello will cost $99.90 per month, which amounts to $1198.80 per year. Note that the entire amount will be billed upfront for the year.
Asana: Pricing Plans
While Trello’s free access is limited to 10 team members, Asana gives scope for 5 more and allows free integration with 3rd party apps.
However, Asana’s Free plan doesn’t provide access to key features like Timeline, Task dependencies, and Advanced Search.
As with its competitors, the real deal lies in the Premium plan where you get access to most of Asana’s cool features including the ones mentioned above. But it complicates the pricing structure. As per its pricing page, the premium tier costs $10.99 per user per month when billed annually. When you opt for monthly billing, the cost increases to $13.49 per user per month.
Let’s consider that you chose the annual billing cycle. As per Asana’s pricing structure, a team of 16 members should cost you $160 per month, right? Well actually, you'll need to pay much more.
Asana's plans are packaged in sets of 5 users. Teams up to 30 users will have to buy in multiples of 5 users. How will this affect you?
If your team has 16 members, you will have to pay for 20! A 21-member team will have to pay for 25 users. This continues up to 30 users. After that, users are grouped in sets of 10.
So if you've got a team of 31 members, you must pay for 40 members to gain access to Asana’s Premium tier. This is confusing and expensive. Although Asana is a collaboration tool for large teams, it’s pricing structure isn’t flexible enough to support such teams.
BoardBell: Pricing Plans
Simplicity is a part of BoardBell’s DNA. And our pricing structure reflects that.
Along with being simple, we also want BoardBell to be affordable for businesses. And that's why we launched BoardBell Business Plan with a flat pricing of $79 per month. This plan can accommodate up to 100 users.
The Business Plan is highly cost effective for teams with anywhere between 21 to 100 users. We say that because BoardBell does not not charge businesses on a per user per month basis.
The following example should give you some perspective.
If you have 21 users on your team, Trello costs $12.50 per user per month. Asana operates on a similar pricing structure with a per user per month pricing of $13.49 (billed monthly)
So, you will spend anywhere between $260 to $300 for your team, per month, for Trello or Asana. Imagine the cost incurred monthly as your team strength increases! For 50 users, Trello and Asana can cost you more than $600 per month. And that’s a lot!
BoardBell is not only simple, but easier on your pockets. If you use BoardBell, you only pay $79 per month flat for your entire team! Another great news is that pricing remains the same for 100 users. So, you don't have to worry about huge monthly payments for a growing team.
That’s not all.
We recently launched the Lite Plan, specially for smaller teams.
As you know, Boardbell is absolutely free up to 10 users. Our free users get access to all the features offered with the paid plans. This is not the case with Trello and Asana as they are limited in terms of free access.
For teams stretching beyond the free user limit, BoardBell's Lite Plan is the go-to option.
Once again, we have adopted a flat pricing structure for the Lite Plan. This is to relieve our users from the tyranny of per user per month billing. The Lite Plan costs only $19 per month for teams up to 20 users.
Going by the per user per month pricing, for 11 users, you pay just $1.72 per user per month for BoardBell. This is only 14% of what you would otherwise pay for Trello (and even less compared to Asana)
What if your team has 19 users? BoardBell's per user pricing drops to just $1 per month. Clearly, BoardBell is not only simple, but affordable too.
Also, we deliver what we promise on our pricing page. There are no hidden caveats.
Trello and Asana's pricing increases if you choose the monthly billing option. For BoardBell, the pricing remains the same no matter what billing option you choose. In simple words, you pay for what you see.
So, for most teams, BoardBell is the best option in terms of affordability.
| BoardBell | Trello | Asana | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 Users | $19/mo | $250/mo | $269.80/mo |
| 40 Users | $79/mo | $500/mo | $539.60/mo |
| 80 Users | $79/mo | $1,000/mo | $1,079.20/mo |
| Board Chat | ✔ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Free Access To All Features | ✔ | ✗ | ✗ |
Ease of Use: Trello vs Asana vs BoardBell
Completing a project requires some level of motivation. When managing a task becomes complicated, our motivation levels gradually decline. Therefore, it is vitally important for your project management tool to be simple and user-friendly.
Trello: Ease of Use & Ideal Team Size
The UI seems simple at the basic level. But Trello has a learning curve involved because of its increasing list of features. If you are a new user, it's easy to get bogged down by Power-Ups and Automation. Upon starting, you will need some time to get used to Trello and its features, let alone the fact that these features will be useful to you or not.
While some people get used to it, others may feel the need for a simpler alternative that just works.
For customer support, you can take advantage of Trello’s active community and share your queries with existing users. You can also share your queries with Trello’s support team.
Ideal Team Size for Trello
With Trello, you get free team access to 10 boards but with limited features. To gain access to more features, you must upgrade to Business Class, which will cost you $100 per month for the same team strength.
For access to a large team of 30 members, Trello will cost you over $299.70 per month based on per-user charges. You must pay for every member of your team! Please note that this pricing is for the annual billing cycle. For a 30-member team, Trello will cost you $375 if you choose monthly billing.
Asana: Ease of Use & Ideal Team Size
Sophistication and micro-level control over projects is Asana’s strength. While the tool tries its best to be user friendly, its inherent nature doesn’t allow it to be simple.
You can give Asana a thought if you are a project manager responsible for managing very large projects with a lot of granular tasks, role hierarchies, and task interdependence. But if your team is relatively small, Asana can feel unnecessarily complicated.
In terms of customer support, Asana uses pre-set questions to navigate users. For example, If you click on the ‘I’m having trouble with…’ tab, you must then go through another set of questions. You must pass through several questions until you get to the specific problem you are facing. While this can be a lengthy process, it is also possible that you might not find what you are looking for.
In that case, you can get in touch with Asana’s support team and share your query in detail. Please note that only paid users receive priority support. If you are a free user, you might have to wait until your query is addressed.
Ideal Team Size for Asana
Although Asana can handle large teams, the Free Plan includes only 15 members.
As your team grows, you will usually need to access more features that are beyond the scope of the Free Plan. Asana’s pricing is structured in sets of 10 users for teams with over 30 members. If there are 41 members in your team, you pay for 50 users! At $13.49 per user per month, you pay an excess of $135 every month for 9 ghost users! And this is just for the premium plan. For even more features, you'll need to spend even more on Asana’s Business or Enterprise plan.
BoardBell: Ease of Use & Ideal Team Size
BoardBell’s strength lies in its simple and minimal approach. Instead of stuffing the UI with dozens of buttons, panels, and features, BoardBell's focus is on enhancing the user experience with all the essentials required for managing projects effectively.
The UI provides ample breathing space and doesn't feel bloated or crowded. It serves as a reminder that you don’t need many widgets, configuration options, and customization settings for effective project management.
In terms of customer support, BoardBell follows a traditional yet effective format to attend to its users. You can either write to support@boardbell.com or call +1 302 480 1597. In either case, you’ll get one-on-one, direct attention from the support team.
BoardBell is a new tool, so the user base is relatively small when compared to its competitors. This is an advantage as you’ll receive focused attention. This may not be the case with project management tools that have a wider user base.
Don't be surprised if the founder himself answers your queries!
Ideal Team Size for BoardBell
As the UI is free from plugins, all of BoardBell’s features are accessible to all users, including free users. Therefore, you don’t have to pay more just for the sake of unlocking features.
A flat price of $79 per month for the Business Plan removes budgeting concerns associated with growing teams. For a 50-member team, BoardBell will only cost you $79 per month. In comparison, Asana and Trello would cost you over $500 per month.
What if you add 10 more users to the existing 50-member team? BoardBell’s price still remains the same! BoardBell’s Business Plan can accommodate up to 100 users. When it comes to affordability, BoardBell is the clear winner for teams with under 100 members.
Final Verdict: Why BoardBell is the Best Project Management Software
From this analysis, BoardBell emerges as a simple yet versatile project management software for the following reasons:
- Simplicity and Minimalism: Instead of using hundreds of buttons, add-ons, and settings, BoardBell keeps things simple. You need not install any plug-ins or Power-Ups as all features are built-in.
- Contextual Team-Chat: You needn't use a separate chat-app as the chat panel sits right next to the task board. With Trello and Asana, you will often need to use separate apps for team chat, which can make you lose context.
- Flat, Affordable Pricing: Instead of highly tiered pricing with caveats and per-user fees, BoardBell has a flat pricing structure with all features available across all plans.
- Stellar Support: BoardBell is a young product and recently exited the Beta phase. Your feedback is highly valued and taken into account while planning new features.
As the creators of BoardBell, we're inherently biased toward BoardBell. But we genuinely feel that especially for small teams, BoardBell's simplicity will help your team get more done. Plus, BoardBell's Free plan is 100% free. Why not give it a whirl and see for yourself?
Questions?
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact support@boardbell.com or call +1-302-480-1597. BoardBell's friendly support staff will be happy to help.