Trello vs. Slack vs. BoardBell: Which Is the Best Team Management Tool for your Business?

Project Management

Feb 10

Slack Looking for the best team management software? In this Trello vs. Slack vs. BoardBell review, you will find out which tool is the best for managing multiple projects and teams.

We all knew it — team management is pretty complex. It requires teamwork and smooth communication in order to achieve maximum team productivity.

A lot of companies struggle in this part. But this is where a simple team management software can lend you a hand.

Trello, Slack, and BoardBell are three incredible tools to organize many projects and teams at once. But how does each tool stack up against each other?

Learn more about it in this Trello vs. Slack vs. BoardBell review!

Trello vs. Slack vs. BoardBell: Key Features

These three team management tools have many things in common. So let’s start off this Trello vs. Slack vs. BoardBell review with a comparison of their basic team management features.

Trello

Trello popularized the use of visual kanban boards. With kanban boards, users can freely move each task card from one column to another.

In each task card, you can add a title, description, due date, assignees, labels, attachments, and many more.

Power-Ups

Apart from its task board functionality, Trello also has what it calls the ‘Power-Ups.’ These are apps that you can integrate with your board.

Trello’s ‘Power-Ups’ integrations include Slack, Google Drive, Zendesk, SurveyMonkey, and many more.

The thing about ‘Power-Ups’ is that it can get too limiting. Some basic project management features like a chat box and calendar view are only accessible through integrations.

Do note that free account users are only allowed one ‘Power-Up.’ Therefore, you need to choose which one you will get. Otherwise, you will be forced to upgrade to Trello’s premium plan, which can be a little too expensive for small businesses to start.

Butler

In addition, Trello also has an automation functionality called ‘Butler.’ It enables you to set up automation, rules, and commands on your boards based on your workflow.

‘Butler’ uses a variety of commands to automate actions of your task cards that repeat on a regular basis. It is suitable for projects that involve orderly sprints and releases.

Although a great feature, ‘Butler’ has a steep learning curve for beginners. The setup part alone requires some getting used to.

Slack

Slack is an instant messaging tool that has a bunch of task management functionalities. It is great for keeping in touch with team members throughout the working day.

Although mostly used as a communication tool, some teams use Slack for team management. It is a little bit weird to have a messaging app like Slack be used to manage teams, projects, and tasks. But it is actually possible with Slack.

A caveat, though: Slack does not have all the basic functionalities of a team management software. So keep that in mind.

In fact, Slack only has one legitimate project management feature. And that’s the Slack Command. This feature allows you to schedule reminder messages, whether it is for you or your team.

Other than that, you can integrate Slack with third-party project management and workflow tools like Trello and Asana.

Sure, you can assign tasks to team members through chat. But it is going to take a lot of work as you need to constantly keep following up with your team for status updates. This can be a productivity killer.

BoardBell

BoardBell Pricing Plans

And then we have BoardBell — the newest tool among this bunch. Although a newcomer, BoardBell does have a few tricks up its sleeve.

BoardBell is a simple team management tool built to maximize productivity. Unlike most tools on the market, it is void of bells and whistles. So features that do not matter as well as features that can only drag down your team’s output cannot be found on BoardBell.

What are BoardBell’s team management features?

Multiple Task Views

BoardBell has not one, not two but so many ways to view your tasks. Apart from the basic board and calendar views, BoardBell has a few other ways to look at your tasks.

Board View

The kanban-style board is the default view. It contains all the task cards your project board has.

You can easily move each task card from one column to another. In addition, you can put a title, description, due date, assignees, and more on each card.

Calendar View

The calendar view allows you to see all tasks with due dates in a more orderly manner. It is quite useful for ferreting out urgent tasks.

My Tasks

The ‘My Tasks’ mode lets you view all tasks assigned to you in one dashboard. It is quite a nifty tool to allow each team member to focus on tasks that matter to them the most.

Task Filtering

The ‘Task Filtering’ mode is a more versatile method to find and view tasks. It allows you to find tasks using relevant queries. ‘Task Filtering’ also allows you to filter tasks based on specific parameters such as due dates, assignees, and task colors.

Task Hub

The ‘Task Hub’ is a unified place to find tasks across all your project boards — not just the present board. It is best used for managing multiple clients, projects, or teams.

If you are someone who deals with multiple clients, projects, and teams, you know tasks end up all over the place. It can get too frustrating to jump from one board to another just to find urgent tasks.

With the ‘Task Hub,’ you get a comprehensive view of all your tasks. Therefore, it prevents you from missing deadlines and unattended tasks.

Team Communication System

Team communication is a must-have in any team management. That is why it is too counterintuitive for some team management tools to not have a native comment or chat system.

BoardBell has a native comment or chat system. Therefore, users won’t have to rely on any third-party messaging tools like WhatsApp and Slack.

Each task card is equipped with a dedicated comments section that doubles as a chat tool. It allows you to tag or mention concerned members to make sure they get notified about your message. With it, you can be certain that your communication is based on context.

BoardBell also has a project-wide chat system. It is designed for general team conversations. Like the task-specific comments, the project-wide chat system allows you to tag or mention members.

Access Control System

Having full control over the level of access each project member or guest gets is quite important. This is especially true if you are dealing with multiple clients and team members.

And so this is something that BoardBell has perfected. Its Access Control System is intuitive, enabling project managers to handle a bunch of clients more effectively.

BoardBell’s Access Control System has two tiers — Team-wide Access Control and Board-specific Access Control.

Team-wide Access Control applies to all team members. You can specify the role of each member, whether they are a guest, a regular, or an admin. Each role has a different level of access to the team.

For example, you invite a client to your website redesign board. Your client does not have to know if a specific task has been assigned to a person. Therefore, you assign your client as a guest, so they have a limited view of your board specifics.

Board-specific Access Control, meanwhile, applies to all project members. You can determine the role of each member, whether they are a reader, a regular, or an admin. Each role has a different level of access to the board.

Learn more about how BoardBell’s Access Control System works.

Want to know how Trello, Asana, and BoardBell stack up against each other? Learn more in this in-depth Trello vs. Asana vs. BoardBell review.