You might've heard that the same company owns Trello and Jira — Atlassian. But that doesn’t mean they’re the same regarding project management features and capabilities; far from it.
Looking at Trello and Jira in a side-by-side comparison, it becomes apparent they’re built with different use cases and workflows in mind. So, it all comes down to what your team needs.
This article will compare two of Atlassian’s popular project management tools — Trello and Jira — to help you choose the best solution for your business.
Trello vs. Jira in a nutshell
Trello and Jira belong to the Atlassian ecosystem; you’d expect them to have similar capabilities. Yet, they’re two very different project management tools developed with distinct workflows and types of projects in mind:
Trello is a simple task-list-based project management platform focusing on visual boards — specifically, Kanban boards — and is a great fit for non-development teams managing simple projects.
Jira — Trello’s older sibling with a broader range of board views — is a platform for issue tracking and agile project management. It’s purpose-built for agile software development teams — but remains flexible enough to be used in project management applications.
The demand for agile tools for project management continues to grow; the market is expected to reach $11.84 billion by 2032:
If you’d prefer an all-in-one solution—project management features, collaboration tools, and automation capabilities combined in one app—Lark is the alternative you’re looking for.
Which Atlassian PM tool has the best features for your team?
Below is an overview of Trello’s and Jira’s key features — including task management, collaboration tools, pre-built and custom automation, reporting, and customization options.
User interface and customization options
Trello’s simplified approach to task management is reflected in its intuitive interface. It’s easy to navigate, with drag-and-drop functionality and the option to customize how your boards look — which makes it highly accessible.
With Jira, you get a more complex — yet highly visual — interface. It still has a great design with extensive customization options, but there are many more settings and options to go through — so it’s easier to get lost.
Task management features
Let’s start with an overview of Trello’s range of task management tools:
Unlimited boards and cards
Advanced checklists with the option to set due dates and assign members to each task
Custom fields for additional information on Trello cards
Different project views, including Kanban boards, timelines, calendars, dashboards, tables, and map view
Library with ready-to-use and customizable templates
As a robust project management software tool for larger teams and higher-level task management, Jira boasts a more advanced range of features:
Unlimited projects and “Issues” (Jira’s equivalent of tasks and subtasks), with additional information — including assignees, due date, and status — and custom fields
Different types of project views, including backlog, board, timeline, summary, calendar, list, and dashboard views
Customizable workflows
Pre-built and custom project templates
Advanced planning for tracking work across different teams and projects
Dependency and capacity management
Goals for setting objectives and tracking progress
Built-in automation features
Both platforms allow you to set up automated project management workflows through no-code automation:
Trello’s Butler can automate repetitive tasks and other processes. Depending on the pricing plan, the number of available Workspace command runs per month ranges from 250 to unlimited.
Jira supports pre-built and custom automation, a wide selection of templates, and between 100 and unlimited rule runs per month (depending on your subscription level).
Collaborative features
Unfortunately, Trello and Jira have relatively limited features for company-wide collaboration. You can leave comments and @mentions, but these are basic features compared to most other project management apps.
And yet, the need for remote collaboration is clearly on the rise:
If your remote or distributed team heavily relies on collaboration tools, Lark is a Jira Software alternative worth considering. With built-in messaging, video conferencing, and document editing tools, Lark has everything you need for effective collaboration.
Reporting features
Jira software has an edge when it comes to agile reporting:
It offers reports about your team’s performance, project progress, and insights for Scrum, Kanban, and other agile frameworks — including burndown charts, time tracking reports, Sprint boards, Velocity charts, and more — within a single dashboard.
Unlike Jira, Trello doesn’t support agile reporting. You’ll get a high-level view of your team’s workload and project progress through Trello’s dashboard and custom charts. But other than that, you’ll need Power-Ups for advanced reporting and analytics features.
Which has the best integrations?
The Atlassian Marketplace is home to over 3,000 apps, so you can expect Jira to integrate with a wide range of third-party tools, further extending its functionalities based on your workflow and specific use cases.
As for Trello, it integrates with over 200 apps and tools — including Slack, Google Drive, Gmail, Evernote, Salesforce, and TimeDoctor.
Additionally, Trello and Jira support Zapier integration. You can connect both tools to thousands of apps and create unlimited automation that suits your workflow.
Plus, since the same parent company owns them, you can connect Jira and Trello, too.
While third-party integrations are useful for streamlining your project management workflow, adding even more tools to your existing tech stack is far from ideal.
So, why not go with an all-in-one platform like Lark, instead?
Which comes out on top for pricing for businesses?
Considering that Trello and Jira are part of the same parent company, it’s no surprise they have relatively similar pricing structures.
Both platforms have four pricing tiers — starting with feature-rich free plans:
Trello’s Free plan supports up to 10 project boards per Workspace, unlimited task cards, unlimited file storage (with a file size limit of 10 MB per file), and unlimited Power-Ups
Jira’s Free plan is suitable for up to ten users and includes unlimited projects and tasks, 2 GB of file storage, 100 automation runs per month, six types of project views (including backlog and summary views), and reports
Here’s an overview of Trello’s remaining three pricing plans:
Standard plans start at $5 per user per month
Premium plans start at $10 per user per month
Enterprise plan starts at $17.50 per user per month
As for Jira Software’s pricing tiers, they include:
Standard plan, which starts at $7.16 per user per month
Premium plan, which starts at $12.48 per user per month
Enterprise plan with custom pricing (for teams with more than 801 members)
If you want a project management software solution that offers a wider range of features without being too expensive, check out Lark:
You’ll cut costs by reducing the additional subscriptions you must pay for — all the essential tools are available in one place.
Which one is easier for your team to get started with?
Even glancing, it’s clear that Trello is the more intuitive and user-friendly tool. Jira’s vast list of features and capabilities makes it a more complicated platform — so it has a steeper learning curve than Trello.
Atlassian has a comprehensive knowledge base with many resources, including troubleshooting and how-to tips.
Plus, Trello and Jira users have access to Atlassian University support, including free training, instructor-led courses, and Atlassian Community Events.
It’s also worth adding that Trello and Jira offer the same customer support options as part of the Atlassian Support offerings. Free users only have access to self-help resources — while the additional customer support options are bundled based on subscription levels:
Standard plans cover support during local business hours
Premium plans include 24/7 premium support with faster response times
Enterprise-level plans get a dedicated support team and phone support
That said, response times vary depending on severity level.
Are these Atlassian products secure enough for your business?
Insider threats, Cloud account compromises, and DDoS attacks are viewed as major risks to a company’s cyber security:
So, business teams should consider Trello’s and Jira’s security levels.
Both platforms have implemented standard security features you’d expect from most project management software.
With Trello, you get SOC2 Type 2 and ISO/IEC 27001 certification and Atlassian Access — an add-on that costs $4 per user per month and includes SAML Single Sign-On and enforced two-factor authentication.
And here’s what Jira has to offer in terms of security features:
Data encryption in transit using TLS 1.2+ with Perfect Forward Secrecy (PFS) and industry-standard AES-256 encryption at rest
Full compliance with CCPA, GDPR, FedRAMP, HIPAA, and the ISO/IEC 27000 family of standards
Advanced security features — including Single Sign-On, SCIM provisioning, and audit logs — are available with Atlassian Guard Standard
Disaster Recovery Program
Unfortunately, some of Atlassian’s products have been involved in data breaches and leaks in recent years.
In 2020, a hacking campaign used Bitbucket to distribute malware, affecting over 500,000 computers globally. Two years later, in 2022, there were reports of hackers exploiting Atlassian’s Confluence Server zero-day vulnerability (CVE-2022-26134). Most recently, Trello was involved in a massive user data leak that exposed the account information of 15 million users.
You need a platform that follows strict security measures and adheres to global data compliance requirements — and that’s exactly what you get with Lark.
What do their users say about them?
Jira currently has a rating of 4.3 out of 5 stars on G2 — and most users appreciate its advanced features for software development projects, third-party integrations, and robust customization options.
That said, they also note that Jira's steep learning curve can be overwhelming, especially for new users.
Trello is commonly praised for its ease of use and uncomplicated interface, with an overall rating of 4.4 out of 5 stars. However, limited functionality and customization options — frequently mentioned as Trello’s main downsides — make it unsuitable for complex task management.
On the other hand, Lark has a rating of 4.6 out of 5 stars on G2 — better than Jira and Trello — and is often applauded for providing a wide range of features within a single platform.
Where do Trello and Jira fall short?
Trello can be a solid tool for simple task management — as long as you keep a few downsides in mind:
Trello’s level of customization is limited compared to other popular project management tools, so it might not be suitable for custom workflows that require a higher level of adaptability.
It relies on add-ons and third-party integrations, even for some basic functionalities — so you’ll likely have to add even more apps to your tech stack.
Trello lacks advanced project management features, making it unsuitable for larger teams that need to handle complex projects.
It can’t handle large volumes of tasks or complex projects, raising scalability concerns.
Jira is a robust and versatile tool for managing larger projects and keeping agile development on track — but it’s not without its downsides. Here are a few potential drawbacks to be aware of before choosing Jira as your agile management solution:
Jira is a resource-intensive platform, and you may experience performance issues when working on larger projects with more tasks and users.
There’s a steep learning curve, so the initial setup and familiarization take time. Plus, it’s not uncommon for new users to require additional training to use all of Jira’s advanced features.
The mobile app is not as robust as the desktop version. If being able to work on the go is a priority, you’d be better off with Lark.
Trello vs. Jira: Which of these Atlassian tools is best suited for your business?
Jira is great for software development teams that typically work in an agile environment and need to manage complex projects. Alternatively, Trello’s Kanban-based solution for basic task tracking would be a better fit for teams needing simple task breakdowns.
But if neither Trello nor Jira meets your team’s needs, it’s time to try Lark.
This productivity super app combines Trello’s and Jira’s core functionalities and features for team communication, video conferencing, and more — all in one place.
Here’s what Lark has to offer:
Base and Meegle, Lark’s comprehensive solutions for project management with pre-built automation capabilities for optimizing your workflow and 100+ ready-made templates
Meetings, Lark’s built-in video conferencing solution with screen sharing, breakout rooms, and automatic transcription and translation
Lark Messenger for one-on-one and group chatting, with rich formatting and real-time automatic translation
Lark’s Docs for collaboration with real-time syncing and co-editing, and Wiki for building and managing your organization’s knowledge base
Cross-platform availability, with support for Windows, macOS, Linux, as well as Android and iOS mobile devices
Conclusion
At this point, it’s clear that while Trello and Jira are both part of the Atlassian ecosystem, they’re two very different tools.
Trello is a more general-purpose, basic task management solution. And Jira is a highly specialized platform created with the software development and IT sector in mind.
But what if neither Trello nor Jira looks like it'd meet your team’s needs and workflow?
Lark is the alternative you’re looking for — a super app that packs robust features into a single platform.
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