Hive vs Trello
Features, use cases, pros and cons, and pricing side by side — and which one to pick.
Quick verdict: Hive and Trello are both project management heavyweights, but they solve problems differently. Hive is a connected hub that pulls your work from Slack, email, and CRM tools into one place. Trello is a simple, visual Kanban board that gets you organized fast.
Best for: Marketing teams that plan campaigns, coordinate content, and need approval workflows in one place., Agencies and studios that manage multiple client projects and bill by the hour.
Read the full Hive reviewBest for: Small teams that want a free, simple way to organize shared work, Remote teams that need to share context across locations and time zones
Read the full Trello reviewCommission may apply at no extra cost
Hive vs Trello: features compared
Compare key features side by side
Feature Comparison Summary
Ease of Use
Feature Set
Customer Support
Integration Options
Mobile Experience
Scalability
Show detailed feature notes
User Interface & Views
HiveHive offers multiple project visualization views out of the box. Trello’s core is a simple Kanban board, with advanced views locked behind Premium.
Hive provides Kanban, Gantt, Calendar, Table, and List views. You can switch views per project to match your team's style. This flexibility is great for complex workflows. Trello’s strength is its clean, intuitive Kanban board. Trello forces a trade-off between simplicity and advanced features.
AI & Automation
Hive’s AI searches across connected apps to summarize and create tasks. Trello’s AI focuses on converting emails and messages into tasks.
Hive’s Buzz AI can search across Slack, email, and Salesforce. It summarizes information and turns conversations into action items. Automation uses templates for recurring tasks. Trello’s Atlassian Intelligence transforms forwarded emails into structured task cards. Automation is built-in on every board, letting you create rules without code. Hive’s AI is broader, connecting more data sources. Hive’s AI is an add-on on mid-tier plans.
Collaboration & Integrations
HiveHive acts as a central hub, pulling data from your existing tools. Trello uses Power-Ups to add specific integrations.
Hive integrates directly with Slack, Salesforce, email, and Gong. It aims to be your single source of truth. Your team can collaborate without switching apps. Trello uses Power-Ups for integrations. You can connect Slack, Teams, and email, but it’s more modular. Card Mirroring helps manage tasks across boards. Hive offers a more unified, out-of-the-box connected experience. Trello’s integration approach is more customizable but requires setup.
Ease of Use & Onboarding
TrelloTrello is famous for its simplicity and quick start. Hive’s connected power comes with more initial setup.
Trello’s Kanban boards are intuitive. 81% of customers choose it for ease of use. You can be productive in minutes. The learning curve is very low. Hive connects your tools, which requires initial setup. Its democratically-built features add power but also complexity. It’s easy once configured, but setup isn’t instant. Trello wins for sheer simplicity and speed to value. Hive requires more upfront investment but offers a more powerful end state.
Mobile Experience
TrelloTrello is praised for reliable real-time sync across all devices. Hive’s mobile details are less highlighted.
Trello users consistently praise its mobile apps. Real-time sync works reliably across iOS, Android, and desktop. It’s great for on-the-go task capture. Its focus is on the centralized desktop workspace. Integration depth might be the priority over mobile UX. Trello is clearly the leader here based on user reviews.
Customer Support & Experience
Hive offers dedicated support on higher tiers. Trello’s support improves with paid plans, but some users report admin friction.
Hive’s support varies by plan. Enterprise gets a dedicated Customer Success Manager. Lower tiers use a contact form. Some users report billing confusion. Trello’s support scales with plans. Free users rely on community. Premium gets local business hours support. Users report Atlassian login and billing issues. Both have mixed support reviews. Hive’s enterprise support seems more dedicated. Trello’s admin process frustrates some users.
Security & Compliance
TrelloTrello lists specific security certifications. Hive points to a security overview page without detail.
Trello is SOC2 Type 2, ISO 27001, and PCI-DSS certified. These are strong, verifiable standards. Enterprise includes free SSO with Atlassian Guard. Hive has a 'Security Overview' page. You need to request details during a demo. Trello provides more transparent security information upfront. Hive’s security posture is less clear from public materials.
Scalability & Enterprise
Trello has clear Enterprise tiers with unlimited workspaces.
Enterprise details aren’t listed but include a dedicated CSM. It offers unlimited workspaces and organization-wide permissions. Support is 24/7. Both can scale to large teams. Trello’s Enterprise plan is more clearly defined. Hive’s scalability depends on add-on modules.
Which should you choose?
Choose Hive if
- you want to centralize work from multiple apps like Slack and Salesforce into a single, AI-assisted workspace
Choose Trello if
- you need a simple, visual system to organize tasks and don't want a steep learning curve
Hive vs Trello: pros and cons
Hive bundles project views, native time tracking, proofing, and chat into one workspace, which can replace several separate subscriptions for agencies and creative teams. Setup takes real effort, though, and the most valuable features sit behind paid tiers with pricing that isn't fully published. Overall, it's a solid pick for teams that bill time or manage client approvals.
Pros
- Kanban, Gantt, calendar, and table views are available for the same project, so team members can work in the layout that suits them.
- Time tracking, proofing, chat, and email come built in, potentially replacing several standalone subscriptions.
- A free plan and free trial let teams evaluate the platform with a small group before paying.
Cons
- The most useful capabilities — advanced automations, deeper analytics, and full proofing — sit behind paid tiers, so the free plan works best as an evaluation tier.
- The breadth of features creates a real learning curve; teams must invest in setup and conventions to avoid a cluttered workspace.
- Notification volume can become noisy on busy projects without deliberate configuration.
Trello
Trello makes work visible with drag-and-drop boards, inbox capture from email and Slack, and no-code automation on every plan. The free tier is genuinely usable, though AI, SSO, and data export sit behind pricier plans. Overall, it's an easy, low-risk pick for small to mid-sized teams that want organization without a learning curve.
Pros
- The free plan is genuinely usable, not a demo — unlimited cards, unlimited Power-Ups (200+ app integrations), built-in no-code automation with 250 command runs per month, unlimited storage at 10MB per file, mobile apps, and 2-factor authentication all at $0.
- Quick capture fits how work actually arrives — you can forward emails straight to your Inbox or save Slack and Teams messages as to-dos, with AI-generated summaries and links added automatically.
- The Planner syncs your calendar and lets you drag top tasks into dedicated time slots, so scheduling work is a drag-and-drop action rather than a separate planning session.
Cons
- AI features are locked behind Premium ($10 per user/month annual) and Enterprise — teams on Free or Standard get the Inbox capture but not the AI-generated summaries or AI-assisted boards.
- The free plan caps you at 10 collaborators and 10 boards per Workspace with 10MB per file, which small teams can hit quickly once a second project starts.
- There is no timed free trial — evaluation happens through the free plan — and no refund policy is displayed on the pricing page, so annual commitments carry some billing risk.
Hive and Trello in detail
Hive
Hive is a cloud-based project management and productivity platform. Teams plan work in flexible layouts — Kanban boards, Gantt charts, calendars, and table views — and manage tasks, files, conversations, and approvals from a single workspace. It runs in the browser and offers desktop and mobile apps for working across devices.
Standout features
- Flexible Project Views
- Built-In Time Tracking
- Proofing and Approvals
- Automations
- Dashboards and Reporting
Use cases
- Marketing Campaign Management
- Agency and Client Project Delivery
- Creative Production and Design Reviews
- Cross-Functional Project Coordination
Trello
Trello is a visual work management tool from Atlassian. You organize work on boards, capture tasks in an Inbox, and schedule them with a calendar-style Planner. It serves individuals on the free plan up through large organizations on Enterprise. Marketing, product, engineering, design, startup, and remote teams are all highlighted as common users.
Standout features
- Inbox: capture every to-do
- Boards that keep work visible
- Planner: make time for what matters
- Automate the busywork, connect your tools
- Start fast with templates
Use cases
- Track tasks in one place
- Turn messages into to-dos
- Keep projects on track
- Keep remote teams in sync
Pricing compared
List prices from each vendor's pricing page, before taxes and add-ons. Costs are per month.
| Pricing compared | Hive | Trello |
|---|---|---|
| From (cheapest paid plan) | $5/mo Starter · per user | $6/mo Standard · per user |
| Free plan | No | Yes Up to 10 collaborators per Workspace, up to 10 boards per Workspace, 10MB max file size, and 250 command runs per month |
| Free trial | Not stated | Not stated |
| Money-back guarantee | Not stated | Not stated |
| Annual billing savings | — | Up to 20% |
| Pricing model | Per user | Per user |
| Cost for 1 user | $5/mo Starter plan, billed monthly | FreeCheaper Free plan, billed monthly |
| Cost for 5 users | $25/moCheaper Starter plan, billed monthly | $30/mo Standard plan, billed monthly |
| Cost for 10 users | $50/moCheaper Starter plan, billed monthly | $60/mo Standard plan, billed monthly |
| Cost for 25 users | $125/moCheaper Starter plan, billed monthly | $150/mo Standard plan, billed monthly |
| Plans | 2 | 4 |
| Prices checked | Checked Oct 13, 2026 | Checked Oct 13, 2026 |
| Price history | Tracking prices since Oct 1, 2026. No price change detected yet. | Tracking prices since Oct 1, 2026. No price change detected yet. |
- Cheapest plan that fits each team size. Per-user plans are multiplied by the number of users (respecting stated minimums and seat packs). Plans that include some users cost their base price plus the extra-user price for each user beyond those included. Flat-priced plans with no stated user limit are counted as one licence per user.
Cheaper for your team size
For 5 users (billed monthly), Hive costs $25/mo vs Trello at $30/mo.
- For 1 user (billed monthly), Trello costs $0/mo vs Hive at $5/mo.
- For 10 users (billed monthly), Hive costs $50/mo vs Trello at $60/mo.
- For 25 users (billed monthly), Hive costs $125/mo vs Trello at $150/mo.
- Only Trello has a free plan.
Computed from published list prices on the dates shown. Excludes taxes, add-ons and promotions.
More comparisons
Frequently Asked Questions
Can Hive connect to Salesforce and Slack like Trello?
Yes, and deeper. Hive has native integrations with Salesforce, Slack, email, and Gong. It aims to pull all data into one workspace. Trello connects to Slack and others, but often through Power-Ups.
Is Trello easier to learn than Hive?
Yes, Trello is generally easier. Its core Kanban interface is very intuitive. Hive requires more setup to connect your tools, but once configured, it’s also user-friendly. Trello has a faster time-to-value.
Which tool has better mobile apps?
Based on reviews, Trello’s mobile experience is better. Users praise its reliable real-time sync across iOS, Android, and desktop. Hive’s mobile apps are functional but not highlighted as a key strength.
Does Hive have an AI assistant like Trello?
Yes, Hive has Buzz AI. It searches across your connected apps (like Slack, email) to summarize info and create tasks. Trello’s AI focuses on converting emails and messages into task cards. Both use AI to reduce manual work.