Trello alternatives for client work: seven options and where PLYNTUM fits

Trello organises work as boards, lists and cards, and it is hard to beat for a small team that wants to see what is in progress. Its pricing page lists a free plan for up to 10 collaborators per Workspace, Standard at $5 per user a month billed annually ($6 monthly) and Premium at $10 ($12.50 monthly), which adds Calendar, Timeline, Table, Dashboard and Map views (checked 25 September 2026). Teams doing client work usually leave for one of these reasons.

• One board per project does not add up. Seeing every project and every person together needs Premium’s workspace views, and even then a card is not a budget.
• No time and no money. Trello’s pricing page lists no time tracking, invoices or client billing. Hours come from a Power-Up or a separate tool, and the invoice from yet another.
• Clients as guests. Free and Standard allow single-board guests; multi-board guests start on Premium. A guest sees your board, not their invoices or balance.
• The language. Georgian is not among Trello’s interface languages. PLYNTUM works in Georgian and English.

If your team only needs to move cards across a board, Trello is probably still the cheapest good answer.

1. Do you only need better project views? Asana, monday.com and ClickUp add timelines, workload and more structure, and still leave invoicing elsewhere.
2. Do you bill for time? Then time tracking and invoices matter more than views. Harvest, Paymo, Teamwork.com, Productive and PLYNTUM cover both.
3. Do you need to know what each client costs? That takes hours recorded against tasks and a cost for each person. Productive and PLYNTUM (from Core) calculate project profitability, and Paymo includes it from Plus.
4. How big will the team be? Per-user prices look small at five people. At twenty, compare the monthly totals.
5. What language does the team work in? Check the interface languages with each vendor before you commit.

Prices are the vendors’ own, checked 25 September 2026 unless stated, excluding tax and on annual billing unless stated; 10-person costs are arithmetic, not quotes. Nothing is ranked, and PLYNTUM, which we make, has its own section.

Asana

Asana is a work and project management platform. It adds project structure, timelines and workload to what Trello does, and has a free Personal plan for up to 2 users. Starter is $10.99 per user a month billed annually; time tracking is on Advanced ($24.99), and timesheet approval needs the Timesheets & Budgets add-on, sold per user with no published price (checked 24 October 2026). Its pricing page lists no invoices. PLYNTUM vs Asana

Best for: teams that want more structure for tasks and projects, with billing kept elsewhere.

monday.com

monday.com describes itself as an AI work platform; its Work Management product covers projects and tasks on flexible boards. Basic is $9, Standard $12 and Pro $19 per seat a month billed annually, with seats sold from 3 (monday.com’s seat picker sets the sizes), and a free plan for up to 2 seats (checked 25 September 2026). Time tracking is a column on Pro; invoices and expenses are not listed in its plans. PLYNTUM vs monday.com · monday.com alternatives

Best for: teams that like boards but want more views and automation.

ClickUp

ClickUp is one app for tasks, docs, goals and chat, with many views. There is a Free Forever plan; ClickUp Core is $9 and Business $17 per user a month billed annually, and timesheet approval is on Enterprise, priced on request (checked 24 October 2026). ClickUp states no native client invoicing. PLYNTUM vs ClickUp · ClickUp alternatives

Best for: teams that want Trello’s flexibility with far more features.

Teamwork.com

Teamwork.com is professional services software for client projects, with time tracking, budgets and invoices. There is a free plan for up to 5 users; Accelerate, which adds client invoices from logged time, is $24.99 per user a month billed annually (checked 24 October 2026). PLYNTUM vs Teamwork.com

Best for: client-services teams that want project tools made for billable work.

Paymo

Paymo is work management with time tracking and invoicing for small teams. Plus is $15.90 per user a month at the standard monthly price and already includes project profitability; invoicing is on every plan, and timesheet approval and leave management are on Pro at $23.90 (checked 24 October 2026). PLYNTUM vs Paymo

Best for: small teams that want tasks, time and invoices in one inexpensive app.

Productive

Productive is agency software for resources, projects and finances, with a sales pipeline on every plan. Essential is $10 and Professional $25 per user a month billed annually, with a 3-seat minimum; the interface is in English only (checked 24 October 2026). PLYNTUM vs Productive · Productive alternatives

Best for: agencies that want a pipeline, delivery and finance in one tool.

Harvest, next to Trello

Harvest is time tracking with invoicing. You can keep Trello for the board and add Harvest for hours and invoices. Teams starts at $9 per seat a month billed annually, plus usage fees; timesheet approval needs Enterprise at $14 (checked 24 October 2026). PLYNTUM vs Harvest

Best for: keeping Trello and adding time tracking and invoicing.

PLYNTUM is business management software for service companies: projects and tasks, clients, people, recorded time, invoices, expenses and receivables in one workspace.

• Boards still work. Tasks sit on project boards, with list and timeline views. See projects and tasks.
• Hours on the task. People record time against tasks on every plan; from Core, managers approve timesheets. See time tracking.
• From hours to money. Invoices and receivables are on every plan. From Core, logged hours become project cost, so you see what each client earns you.
• Clients. From Core, each client can get a private portal link to their projects, invoices and balance.

Where it does not fit. For a small team that only moves cards, PLYNTUM costs more: Launch is $55 a month for 5 members, against $25 for five Trello Standard users on annual billing. It has no Power-Up marketplace and no integrations with other tools today, and rule-based automation is planned, not available.

Core costs $150 a month for up to 10 members, or $120 a month billed annually. See pricing.

• You only need a board. For moving cards across lists, Trello is simple and inexpensive.
• Your process lives in Power-Ups. If automation and Power-Ups carry your workflow, check each one before moving.
• You do not bill for time. If hours and invoices do not matter, a heavier tool adds cost without much benefit.

There is no Trello importer in PLYNTUM, so move one client at a time.

1. Keep a copy of each board. Check Trello’s export options for your plan and archive the boards before you change anything.
2. Start with one client. Create the client and the project in PLYNTUM, rebuild the open cards as tasks and leave finished cards in Trello.
3. Record time from day one against those tasks, and raise the client’s next invoice from PLYNTUM.
4. Compare after a month: hours, invoice and margin for that client, then decide on the rest.

Start on Launch’s 7-day trial; timesheet approval, profitability and the client portal need Core. For help planning the move, write to us.

Every price was checked on the vendor’s own pricing page on the date shown next to it. If something has changed, tell us at info@plyntum.com and we will correct it.

• Trello pricing (checked 25 September 2026)
• Asana pricing (checked 24 October 2026)
• monday.com pricing (checked 25 September 2026)
• ClickUp pricing (checked 24 October 2026)
• Teamwork.com pricing (checked 24 October 2026)
• Paymo pricing (checked 24 October 2026)
• Productive pricing (checked 24 October 2026)
• Harvest pricing (checked 24 October 2026)

• Kanban board: what it is and how to use one for client work