Trello
A visual project management tool that helps teams organize tasks, collaborate on projects, and boost productivity.
Best for small and mid-market publishers.
Summary review · Last verified Oct 19, 2026 · Scored on 10 criteria · Vendors can't pay for scores
Research by Vahe Arabian · Scored and edited by the SODP team
Key facts
- Score
- 2.9 / 5
- Tier
- Marginal Fit
- Pricing model
- Free up to 10 collaborators; Standard $…
- Type
- Editorial calendar
- Hosting
- SaaS
- Headcount
- 6
At a glance
- Trello scores 2.9/5 (Marginal Fit) in Benchmark Grid's independent editorial calendar software benchmark, assessed on 10 published criteria.
- It is built for small and mid-market publishers.
- Strongest on Usability (4.5) and Collaboration (4.2); weakest on Performance tracking (1.2).
- Pricing: Free up to 10 collaborators; Standard $5/user/month. (vendor pricing page, verified 2026-08-06).
- Scores last verified 19 Oct 2026. Vendors cannot pay for a score or a position.
Summary
Editor's update, July 2026: 19 Oct 2026 accuracy audit: removed pasted acquisition note from tagline.
Trello, part of Atlassian, is a visual project management tool using kanban boards and cards that many editorial teams adapt as a content planning and editorial calendar without dedicated publishing software.
Visual kanban board workflow for editorial teams — Trello's board and card system provides a visual content pipeline many editorial teams use as an editorial calendar without specialist software.
Score breakdown
2.9 = 0.45 × 3.49 capability + 0.40 × 1.50 publisher fit + 0.15 × 4.70 cost
Σ (criterion rating × weight) across 10 criteria · scale 1 (poor) → 5 (excellent)
The tool offers versatile kanban boards, timeline, and calendar views that provide a strong visual structure for content scheduling.
14% of capability · What we check: Calendar, board and timeline views for planning stories and campaigns.
Teams can build custom workflow stages using lists and automate transitions or status updates through the Butler no-code engine.
14% of capability · What we check: Status stages, approvals and deadlines built for editorial teams.
The card-based system excels at team coordination through real-time comments, task assignments, mentions, and notifications.
12% of capability · What we check: Assignments, comments, mentions and notifications.
While it lacks native CMS features, it provides extensive integration capabilities via the Power-Up ecosystem to connect with publishing tools.
12% of capability · What we check: Connections to CMS, social scheduling and newsletter tools.
The flexible board structure allows teams to organize and color-code content across multiple channels in a centralized hub.
10% of capability · What we check: Plans web, social, newsletter and print in one place.
Users can utilize custom fields and templates to standardize cards, though significant structural changes often rely on third-party add-ons.
10% of capability · What we check: Custom fields, story templates and saved views.
Native performance tracking and reporting features are a known weakness, offering almost no visual data or analytics on published content.
8% of capability · What we check: Shows how published pieces performed inside the plan.
The intuitive visual interface requires minimal training, making it highly accessible for newsrooms to adopt quickly.
8% of capability · What we check: How quickly a newsroom can adopt it day to day.
Leverages Atlassian's enterprise-grade security framework, providing robust compliance and role-based access controls.
6% of capability · What we check: Roles, permissions and security certifications.
Atlassian provides standard support channels and documentation, with response times that depend on the specific plan level selected.
6% of capability · What we check: Onboarding help and support availability.
Trello scores 2.9/5 in Benchmark Grid's independent Best Editorial Calendar Software benchmark (benchmarkgrid.com/best-editorial-calendar-software/trello, verified Oct 19, 2026)
Strengths & limitations
Strengths
- Centralized collaboration
- Flexible boards, lists, and cards
- Free version available
- Over two million global users
- Editorial calendar for smooth integration of content creation, editing, and production
- Power-Ups for connecting favorite apps and integrations
Limitations
- Could do better with enhanced analytics and reporting features
Who uses it
We haven't detected any publishers running Trello yet.
Cost of ownership
Pricing
Free up to 10 collaborators; Standard $5/user/month. (vendor pricing page, verified 2026-08-06)
Pricing unclear for your setup? — we'll make the introduction. Free, and it never affects the score.
Cost data sourced from vendor pricing pages and community signals. Vendors may dispute any factor.
What users say
Users praise the platform's intuitive drag-and-drop interface, versatile integrations, and streamlined workflows, though concerns regarding its free-tier limitations and past security vulnerabilities remain documented among community members.
Sources: Reddit 77% · Hacker News 14% · Blog 6% · G2 3%
Most discussed
Recent quotes
"I've used Trello for years and thought it worked just fine. But its updated version is even better!"
Positive·Blog·1y ago·via ZDNET
"I've been experimenting with ways to reduce external saas spend, and continually bring traditionally external pieces of context (prs, docs, trello boards) into the one mono repo."
Negative·Hacker News·5mo ago
"It was able to build a workflow where it was reading tickers from a Trello board from columns assigned for him and draft that into a workable story for a development profile"
Positive·Reddit·1mo ago
"Trello's popularity largely comes from its simplicity. While traditional project management tools are designed for professional project managers and use complex techniques like Gantt charts that are not easy to use or understand, Trello emphasizes ease of use"
Positive·Blog·5y ago·via Business Insider
"I would use ChatGPT to create sprint plans, PRDs, and roadmaps only to spend an hour recreating them in Trello before anything could actually kick off."
Negative·Hacker News·7mo ago
71 mentions from 4 independent sources, each read and scored by our analyser. Mentions we could not tie to a real user, and those flagged as promotional, are excluded. Sentiment is opinion, and is independent of the verified publisher adoptions shown above.
The company behind Trello
Trello is operated by Espaço Saúde. Company facts come from an independent business-data record rather than the vendor's own site.
- Employees
- 6
- Ownership
- Self-Employed
Compare Trello
The head-to-heads publishers look at most, then the closest contests in the same benchmark.
FAQ
How is Trello scored?
Trello scores 2.9 out of 5 in Benchmark Grid's independent Best Editorial Calendar Software benchmark. The overall figure blends capability (45%), publisher fit (40%) and cost of ownership (15%). Capability is itself a weighted average of 10 criteria; the heaviest are planning & scheduling views (14%), editorial workflow & approvals (14%) and collaboration (12%). Vendors cannot pay for a score.
What size publisher is Trello built for?
Trello is built for small and local publishers and mid-market publishers. That is the vendor's own stated target, and it is one of the inputs to our publisher-fit score — a platform that suits a national newsroom often carries more operational load than a small one can absorb.
What does Trello cost?
Free up to 10 collaborators; Standard $5/user/month. (vendor pricing page, verified 2026-08-06) Our cost-of-ownership score is 4.7/5, which weighs pricing transparency, entry cost, implementation cost, hidden-fee risk and ongoing cost. Ask the vendor for a written first-year figure that includes implementation before you commit.
Can Trello pay for a better score?
No. Scores come from our editorial review of the product's documentation, demos and public evidence. A vendor can claim this listing or request a re-review, but nothing they buy changes a score or a position.
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