project management tool · head to head
Taskade vs Trello
Comparison Summary
Trello scored 6.0 and Taskade scored 5.3 on our project management tool test script.
Trello: Trello is still the quickest way to put a list of tasks on a board, and its free automation rules work well. But it is a Kanban tool first: on the free plan you get the board only, priorities have to be colour labels, there are no dependencies, no CSV import and no project-wide AI, and adding hundreds of cards is slow and capped at 100 at a time.
Taskade: Taskade's free plan does more than you might expect: a pasted Markdown checklist built our phases in one go, repeating tasks and a fast automation worked without paying, and CSV import took seconds. But the Windows app was the heaviest we have tested, froze once, and added itself to startup without asking. Imported dates become plain text, the project's own CSV export dropped every due date, Gantt and dependencies are paid, and the free plan has no AI credits at all.
Editor's Verdict
Choose Trello if…
Best for: Small teams and individuals who want a simple, visual Kanban board with a few automations.
- Pasting a multi-line list creates one card per line
- Free automation rules: ours moved a completed card within a second or two
- A recurring card rolls itself to next week when completed
Choose Taskade if…
Best for: Individuals and pairs who want lists, boards and simple automation for free and are happy in the browser.
- A pasted Markdown checklist becomes phase blocks with tasks in one step
- Repeating tasks and a working automation on the free plan
- The automation fired within about a second
Head to Head
Task by task
The same prompts, pasted word for word into each app on a clean Windows 11 PC. On the 8 tasks both apps were graded on, Taskade completed 1 and Trello completed 0.
| Task | Taskade | Trello |
|---|---|---|
| P1 · Build a project | Partial≈ 15–20 min | Partial≈ 20 min |
| P2 · Views | Partial≈ 4 min | Partial≈ 3 min |
| P3 · Rules | Partial≈ 10 min | Partial≈ 8 min |
| P4 · 200-row import | Partial≈ 2 min | Fail≈ 5 min |
| P5 · Scale | Pass≈ 2 min | Partial≈ 10 min |
| P6 · Permissions | Partial≈ 4 min | Partial≈ 3 min |
| P7 · AI | Fail– | Partial≈ 20 s |
| P8 · Leave | Partial≈ 5 min | Partial≈ 4 min |
Measured on the same PC
| Measurement | Taskade | Trello |
|---|---|---|
| Installer | 218 MB | Microsoft Store |
| On disk | 597 MB | 368 MB |
| Starts with Windows | Yes | No |
| 40-task project | ≈ 15–20 min | ≈ 20 min |
| Views on the free plan | 3 / 4 | 1 / 4 |
| Cold start | ≈ 15–50 s | ≈ 7 s |
| Memory | 1.3 – 2.4 GB | 0.6 – 0.85 GB |
| Automation rule | ≈ 1 s | ≈ 1–2 s |
| CSV export | Dates lost | 53 rows |
| Left after uninstall | ≈ 275 MB | Nothing |
Pros and cons
Taskade
+ What works
- A pasted Markdown checklist becomes phase blocks with tasks in one step
- Repeating tasks and a working automation on the free plan
- The automation fired within about a second
- CSV import of 500 rows in about a second, every value kept
- Starter plan from $6 a month for three people
− What falls short
- Added itself to Windows startup without asking, and the entry stays after uninstalling
- Up to 2.4 GB of memory, a slow cold start, and the app froze once until restarted
- The project's CSV export dropped every due date and shuffled the rows
- Imported dates and statuses become plain text, not dates or fields
- Gantt chart and dependencies need a paid plan
- No AI credits on the free plan, and only 10 automation runs a month
Trello
+ What works
- Pasting a multi-line list creates one card per line
- Free automation rules: ours moved a completed card within a second or two
- A recurring card rolls itself to next week when completed
- The Store app installs in about a minute without admin rights and uninstalls without leaving anything behind
- Quick to learn, with a clean board
− What falls short
- Free plan: board view only; calendar, timeline and table are Premium
- No priority field (we used colour labels) and no task dependencies
- No CSV import: we could only paste titles, at most 100 cards at a time
- Bulk card creation is slow, and 13 of our 500 cards were lost when we reloaded before it finished
- No AI chat for summaries or overdue tasks; AI checklists are a paid feature
- A new account starts a 14-day Premium trial; free workspaces are capped at 10 boards
Privacy and security
What we saw on our own test PC. Each review also lists what the vendor states about data handling, training and certifications.
Taskade
Signed installer
Signed by Taskcade Inc. through Microsoft's signing service.
Starts with Windows
Added a startup entry without asking; it remains after uninstalling.
Firewall prompt
First launch asked to accept network connections; declining did not affect the app.
Share link on by default
A workspace link giving editor access is enabled until you turn it off.
Trello
Store app
Installed and removed through the Microsoft Store, with no startup entry, services or leftovers.
Silent card loss
Cards still being created when we reloaded the board were lost without a warning.
Deletion is two steps
A board must be closed before it can be permanently deleted, so closing alone keeps the data.
Features & Pricing
| Taskade | Trello | |
|---|---|---|
| Web | ✓ | ✓ |
| Windows | ✓ | ✓ |
| macOS | ✓ | ✓ |
| Linux | ✓ | — |
| iOS | ✓ | ✓ |
| Android | ✓ | ✓ |
| Free plan | ✓ | ✓ |
| Paid from | $6/mo | $5/mo |
Taskade plans
- Free$0
- Starter$6/mo
- Pro$10/mo
- Business$25/mo
- Max$100/mo
- EnterpriseContact sales
From Taskade's pricing page, checked Oct 31, 2026.
Trello plans
- Free$0
- Standard$5/user/mo
- Premium$10/user/mo
- Enterprise$17.50/user/mo
From Trello's pricing page, checked Oct 30, 2026.
Who makes them
- Company
- Taskade:Taskcade Inc. (Taskade)
- Trello:Atlassian (Trello)
- Headquarters
- Taskade:San Francisco, California, USA
- Trello:Sydney, Australia (Atlassian); Trello based in New York
- Founded
- Taskade:2017
- Trello:2011
- Funding
- Taskade:Venture-backed private company; Y Combinator alumnus.
- Trello:Acquired by Atlassian in 2017 for about $425 million.
Timelines, official links and sources are in each review: Taskade · Trello.
Read the full reviews
This page compares the two side by side. Each full review has the complete test log, every screenshot, the scoring notes, pricing, security and company details.
Taskade reviewSituational 5.3 Taskade's free plan does more than you might expect: a pasted Markdown checklist built our phases in one go, repeating tasks and a fast automation worked without paying, and CSV import took seconds. But the Windows app was the heaviest we have tested, froze once, and added itself to startup without asking. Imported dates become plain text, the project's own CSV export dropped every due date, Gantt and dependencies are paid, and the free plan has no AI credits at all. Read the full review → Trello reviewSituational 6.0 Trello is still the quickest way to put a list of tasks on a board, and its free automation rules work well. But it is a Kanban tool first: on the free plan you get the board only, priorities have to be colour labels, there are no dependencies, no CSV import and no project-wide AI, and adding hundreds of cards is slow and capped at 100 at a time. Read the full review → Project Management Alternatives
ClickUp Recommended Small teams that want lists, boards, Gantt charts, automations and AI in one free workspace and do not mind a busy, heavy app 7.4 Read reviewReview 
Notion Situational Individuals and small teams who want tasks living next to their docs and wiki, and who are happy to build their own setup 6.9 Read reviewReview 
Airtable Situational Teams who want a flexible database behind their projects, with automations and reliable CSV in and out 6.8 Read reviewReview 
