Trello alternatives with docs and CRM included: Notion, ClickUp, Basecamp and Atrix

Who outgrows Trello

Trello does one thing very well: a board with lists and cards that anyone understands in thirty seconds. The trouble starts when the team needs more than cards:

• Documentation. A card has a description and comments, but it is not a place to write a spec, a handbook or meeting notes. Teams end up with Google Docs linked from cards and nobody knows which version is right.
• Cycles and backlog. There are no native sprints. You can simulate them with "This week" and "Next" lists, but there is no burndown and no automatic rollover of what was not finished.
• Customers. Many teams use a Trello board as a CRM. It works until you need deal value, owner, stage and a history per company.
• Several projects at once. Ten boards are ten silos. Premium's workspace views help, but they do not replace a real cross-project view.

If two of those four sound familiar, you have already outgrown Trello.

What Trello costs in October 2026

We have seen third-party sources describe a price change in February 2026, but they contradict each other and Trello's page does not mention one; we use only what the page shows today. AI features (summaries, organisation, generated boards) appear in Trello's comparison table without a clear per-plan map, so we do not claim which sit in Standard and which in Premium.

Comparison of Trello alternatives

Prices per user per month billed yearly unless noted, October 2026.

Notion: documents first, board second

Notion reverses Trello's order: the page first, the view second. A task database shows as a board, table, calendar or timeline, and every card is a full page with text, tables and links. For teams that document more than they execute, it is the best option on the list.

In October 2026 Plus costs $10 per member per month and Business $20; the free plan is comfortable for one person and limits pages and blocks from two members. What it lacks: native sprints, backlog and burndown (built with databases and formulas) and a real CRM (also built). Notion Agent arrives with Business and custom agents use credits at $10 per 1,000.

ClickUp: everything Trello lacks, and more

ClickUp is the answer when the wish list is long: docs, sprints with burndown, time tracking, whiteboards, chat and goals, all in one product. Its free plan does not cap users or tasks, but it does cap storage (60 MB), spaces (5) and automations. In October 2026 the page shows Unlimited at $7 per user per month ($10 monthly) and Business at $12 ($19); elsewhere on the same page a newer lineup appears with Core at $9 and Business at $17, so check which you see. Brain, the AI, costs $9 per user on top.

ClickUp's price is time: the hierarchy of spaces, folders and lists, and fields and views for each. A team of three coming from Trello can take weeks to feel at home. If you enjoy configuring, it is the most complete option for its price. If not, it wears you down.

Basecamp: fewer features, flat price

Basecamp goes in the opposite direction to ClickUp. Every project has to-dos, a message board, chat, docs and a schedule, and little else. No sprints, no complex timeline views, no CRM. In return, the price is flat and per team: in October 2026, Freelancer costs $29 a month for up to 5 people and 3 projects, Pro $79 for up to 10 people and 8 projects, Pro Plus $99 for up to 15 and 12 projects, and Pro Unlimited $199 a month billed yearly ($329 monthly) with no limits. The free plan allows 1 project and 3 users.

Basecamp suits agencies and service teams that run projects per client and want everyone, clients included, to understand the tool without training. It does not suit product teams that need a backlog and cycles.

Atrix AI: board, docs, cycles and CRM in one price

Atrix AI is where we ended up, and we use it for exactly this: client and product projects, documentation and a sales pipeline in one place. Projects have five views (board included), a backlog, a timeline, cycles of one to four weeks with a goal, burndown and rollover, coloured labels and milestones. Pages are edited live with cursors, have version history and databases. The CRM has companies, contacts and a five-stage pipeline with deal values protected by permissions. There is chat, a calendar with booking links, hiring, HR, goals and time tracking, an AI agent that turns a brief into requirements and tasks, and an 85-tool MCP server.

Limits, unvarnished: there is no free plan and the 7-day trial asks for a card; Builder costs $39 a month for 5 seats and Studio $149 for 15, so at 6 to 12 people it is expensive next to Trello Standard; there are no story points; and Android is in testing. Founding teams that subscribe before 31 December 2026 keep unlimited seats. A useful detail when migrating: Atrix imports pages from Markdown, Word and Excel, and Trello cards export to CSV on Premium or to JSON on any plan.

What you would pay at 3, 5 and 10 people

Monthly with yearly billing, October 2026.

Trello is the cheapest in every row, which is why the question is not price but what you buy with the difference. At five people, the extra $14 for Atrix over Trello Standard buys docs, cycles, CRM and calendar; at ten, Atrix Studio is the expensive option except for founding teams.

How to migrate from Trello in five steps

1. Export each board. On Premium, board menu, "Export as CSV"; on any plan, "Print and export", JSON.
2. Decide which boards are projects and which are processes. A "Clients" board is a CRM, not a project; an "Ideas" board is an ideas list. Each goes somewhere different in the new tool.
3. Import cards as tasks with title, list as status, label and date. Comments and attachments rarely travel well; keep the JSON just in case.
4. Recreate the Butler automations you actually use. There are usually two or three.
5. Keep Trello read-only for a month before deleting anything.

FAQ

What is the best free alternative to Trello?

ClickUp Free, for unlimited users and tasks with 60 MB of storage. Trello's free plan is still generous: 10 collaborators and 10 boards per workspace. Notion Free is good for one person. Atrix has no free plan.

Trello or Notion for a small team?

Trello if the work fits in cards and you want zero setup. Notion if you write specs, handbooks or content and want tasks to live next to documents. Notion costs twice Trello Standard per user in October 2026.

Which Trello alternative has sprints?

ClickUp and Atrix have native sprints with burndown. In Atrix they are called cycles, last one to four weeks and roll unfinished work into the next. Notion and Basecamp do not have them.

Can I use Trello as a CRM?

You can, with lists per stage and custom fields on paid plans. It works until you need deal value, a history per company and permissions over the numbers. Atrix includes a five-stage CRM with those three things.

How much does Trello cost in 2026?

In October 2026, Standard costs $5 per user per month billed yearly ($6 monthly), Premium $10 ($12.50) and Enterprise $17.50. The free plan exists with limits of 10 boards and 10 collaborators.

Next step

The Atrix vs Trello comparison shows board, docs, cycles and CRM side by side. The list of Trello alternatives adds Asana, Linear and monday.com.

Sources

Prices checked in October 2026: Trello, Notion, ClickUp, Basecamp, Atrix AI.