Monday.com vs. Trello vs. SmartSuite (2025 Edition)
We will go over each platform's features, integrations, pros and cons, and reviews to help you make an informed decision.
Project management is complicated enough—choosing a tool shouldn’t be.
To help you out, we’ve compared Monday.com, Trello, and SmartSuite, focusing on what really matters: ease of use, flexibility, and value.
By the end of this post, you’ll know exactly which tool is best for your team.
Short on time? Here’s a TL;DR
- Monday.com is ideal for teams that prioritize visual management and extensive customization. However, costs can scale significantly with team size, and external communication tools are needed.
- Trello is best suited for teams that want to manage simpler, small-scale projects using Kanban boards. It’s among the most affordable and offers a wide range of integrations, but it lacks advanced features such as reporting and task automation.
- SmartSuite is best for organizations needing a versatile, all-in-one platform with built-in communication tools. It offers the most competitive free plan and per-user pricing of the three.
Let’s dive into each tool’s key features. 👇🏼
Monday.com vs. Trello vs. SmartSuite
SmartSuite Features
SmartSuite is a comprehensive project management tool that lets you manage all your projects on a centralized platform with built-in automation and a communication center.
Comprehensive project management
SmartSuite’s project management feature helps you plan, track, and manage simple to complex projects.
To simplify the process, you get numerous built-in intuitive features to execute your tasks perfectly.
Here’s what we have in store for you.
- Smart task management: You can turn any item field into a task—a checklist item, comments, or sub-item. With this flexibility, you can easily build a solid task list and assign it to the right person with a due date and priority status.
- Project phases and milestones: Having milestones ensures your project stays on track and moves towards the objective. With SmartSuite, you can set them, monitor through your reporting dashboard, and flag issues.
- Files and project deliverables: With SmartSuite, you can manage and organize all your documents. Attach project-related files, share feedback with your team, and manage version history, all within your work context.
SmartSuite supports various file formats like PDF, GIF, CSV, PNG, and MP4. The tool also integrates with Dropbox, Google Drive, Box, and Microsoft OneDrive, making it easy to add files to your workflows.
Also, you can add images directly in SmartSuite by connecting your social media and Unsplash accounts.
- Native time tracking: Monitor and evaluate task and project completion times. Built-in tracking helps group time entries, see estimates and segment billable and non-billable entries.
Native team collaboration
SmartSuite outperforms Monday.com and Trello with its built-in communication and collaboration features. You can connect with peers in group chats or 1:1 conversations for quick feedback and keep stakeholders updated.
SmartSuite’s members’ directory provides a deep dive into each teammate’s details, such as availability status, job profile, and other relevant information, to give a holistic view of the project team.
Use comments and @mentions to share updates, nudge teammates, or add new people to the conversation, like the other two tools.
Comprehensive project reporting
SmartSuites offers a dynamic project analytics tool with configurable charts and graphs.
The reporting dashboard helps you track project performance, understand resource allocation, and identify slow-moving projects. Based on these insights, you can quickly develop plans to overcome roadblocks and get the project back on track.
You can visualize reporting in Grid, Card, Kanban, Timeline, Map, Calendar, or Dashboard views. Add as many as needed to build a visual storyboard for your project’s progress.
To share reports with stakeholders or clients, you can make the report public and share the necessary access. SmartSuite also supports printing or exporting in PDF, Excel, Google Sheets, or CSV format.
Advanced workflow automation
SmartSuite's no-code automation builder is one of the most intuitive, giving a neck-to-neck competition in automation.
You can assemble automation at the task and project and automate repetitive tasks based on triggers like changing dates, sending notification emails, or updating statuses. There are six pre-defined triggers and 15+ actions, with options to build custom ones.
SmartSuite is the right choice if you:
✅ Need a platform that can adapt to various business processes
✅ Want to centralize team communication and collaboration
✅ Want affordable and feature-packed project management tool
SmartSuite isn’t the best option if you:
❌ Want a well-established platform with a long track record, as SmartSuite is relatively new.
❌ Need extensive third-party integrations, as SmartSuite is still building and offers fewer options than Trello and Monday.com.
Monday.com Features
Monday.com is a robust project management software that helps you track, manage, plan, and organize multiple projects.
Dashboards with custom widgets
With Monday.com, you can build custom dashboards by fetching data from all your projects for a holistic view of progress. It offers 80+ widgets through integrations with apps like videos, calendars, clocks, and images, allowing flexibility in building project dashboards.
27+ task views
Monday.com offers over 27 task views to visualize task progress throughout the project lifecycle, including charts, Gantt charts, Calendars, Workloads, Timelines, Kanban boards, Tables, Forms, Cards, Files, and Blank views.
Such a wide range of task views offers flexibility and control over the project dashboard and caters to the team's different working styles.
Workflow automation
Monday.com offers triggers, conditions, and actions to build linear to multi-step sequences. With these automated workflows, you can eliminate repetitive tasks like status updates, delete processes, or schedule calls.
Monday is ideal choice if you:
✅ Need advanced automated workflow builder
✅ Want real-time data visualization and reporting
✅ Need powerful integration
✅ Already uses Monday.com’s CRM or dev platform
Monday isn’t the best option if you:
❌ Want advanced time tracking features, only available on higher-tier plans.
❌ Are a small team with a limited budget, as pricing scales up quickly due to the group-based structure
❌ Need native team communication features
Trello Features
Butler automation
Trello’s no-code automation builder, Butler, helps you create custom rules and commands to automate repetitive tasks. For example you can automatically move cards to different lists, assign team members, or set due dates based on predefined conditions.
In Trello, you can create following automation type:
- Rules that run a set of actions when triggered by a predefined action.
- Buttons that run action on a card or board when clicked
- Due date commands that run in relation to approaching or past due dates.
- Calendar commands that run at set time intervals.
Along with the pre-built automated triggers and rules, you can also build custom automations.
Power-ups
Power-ups are Trello’s version of add-ons or plugins that extend the functionality of Trello boards. These are third-party tools that add extra features to existing boards, for example,
- Calendar view power up for visualizing deadlines
- Voting on cards power up for team decision-making
- Time tracking power up for task management
Currently Trello offers 300+ power ups across various categories including communication tools, file management, and social media. It’s worth noting that most of these power-ups cost extra, which can increase the overall cost of the tool.
Workviews
While Trello is known for its Kanban board view, it offers additional views to help teams visualize and manage their work. Here are some other task views it have:
- Timeline view: A Gantt-chart style view for visualizing project schedules
- Calendar view: For seeing tasks and deadlines in a calendar format
- Table view: A spreadsheet-like view for sorting and filtering tasks
- Dashboard view: For getting an overview of project metrics and progress
- Map view: For seeing location of where the work is getting done
Trello is ideal for
✅ Small to medium-sized teams working on relatively simple projects
✅ Teams who already use Atlassian’s products such as Jira software
✅ Teams that prioritize ease of use and quick onboarding
✅ Projects with straightforward workflows that don't require complex dependencies or resource management
Trello might fall short for:
❌ Large enterprises with complex project structures and multiple dependencies
❌ Teams requiring advanced resource management and workload balancing features
❌ Organizations requiring extensive reporting and analytics capabilities
Integrations: Monday vs. Trello vs. SmartSuite
SmartSuite Integrations
SmartSuite integrates with major platforms from communication to social media. It offers five connectors, including Zapier, Ply, Integrately, Relay, and Make, to connect with 1000s of apps to transfer data.
Some of the notable integrations are:
- Salesforce
- Slack
- Twilio
- Jira Cloud
- HubSpot
- Intercom
Monday.com Integrations
Compared to SmartSuite, Monday.com offers 200+ integrations and apps across various categories. It provides native integrations with popular tools like Slack, Gmail, Microsoft Teams, and GitLab.
It excels in two-way synchronization with some integrations, enhancing data flow across apps, and has an open API for custom integrations.
Some standout Monday.com integrations are:
- QuickBooks
- Google Workspace
- Zendesk
- PandaDoc
- Jira
- Freshdesk
Trello Integrations
Compared to SmartSuite and Monday.com, Trello offers over 500 integrations and power-ups encompassing different categories including sales, social media, productivity, and communication.
Some of the trello’s notable integrations are:
- Slack
- Jira Cloud
- Microsoft
- Github
- Miro
- Google Drive
- Pipedrive
Winner: Trello
Trello offers a higher number of integrations (over 500) encompassing different tools across a variety of categories—communication, social media, productivity, file management, analytics and reporting.
Pricing Monday vs. Trello vs. SmartSuite
SmartSuite Pricing
SmartSuite offers a forever-free plan, which is among the most generous. With the free plan, you get 100 automated triggers, team collaboration tools, 7+ task views (Dashboard, table, boards, cards, list, calendar, and grid), time tracking, and more.
We offer four paid plans, each with a 14-day free trial.
- Team: Starts at $12/user/month, including 8+ dashboard views, 5000 automation runs, time tracking, and collaborative SmartDocs.
- Professional: Starts at $28/user/month, including two-factor authentication, Gmail & Outlook integrations, and unlimited editors.
- Enterprise: Starts at $35 per user/month, including audit logs, data loss prevention, and 50,000 API calls monthly.
- Signature: Customized plan tailored to your organization’s needs and team size.
Monday Pricing
Monday.com offers a free plan for up to 2 users, including shareable forms, 500MB storage, a 1-week activity history, and one board per dashboard.
Monday.com pricing plans have four tiers and require a minimum of 3 user seats:
- Basic: Starts at $17/user/month, including Kanban view, unlimited free viewers, and unlimited boards.
- Standard: Starts at $20/user/month, including 250 automated actions/month, 3+ dashboard views, and Zoom integration.
- Pro: Starts at $32/user/month, including all five dashboard views, time tracking, and 2-factor authentication.
- Enterprise: Includes dedicated customer success manager, cross-project analytics, and resource allocation insights. Contact sales for a quote.
Trello Pricing
Trello offers a free plan best suite for individuals or small teams. It comes with 10 workspace collaborators, 250 automated command runs/month, unlimited activity log, and 2-factor authentication.
More advanced features are locked in three pricing tiers. For each plan, you can get a 14-day free trial.
- Standard: $6 per user/month with unlimited activity log and 250 workspace command runs/month.
- Premium: $12.50 per user/month with unlimited workspace collaborators and built-in automation.
- Enterprise: $17.50 per user/month with 24/7 Enterprise admin support and SAML SSO via Atlassian Access.
Winner: SmartSuite
SmartSuite comes across as the best contender due to its generous free plan and lower entry point for paid plans. Additionally, the price-to-feature ratio is well distributed across tiers compared to the other two tools.
Lastly, it offers flexible per-user pricing, not locking you in unused seats, unlike Monday.com. And, even though Trello has lowest pricing plans, the features aren’t as advanced as SmartSuite.
What are Customers Saying about Monday.com, Trello, and SmartSuite?
SmartSuite Reviews
G2 rating: 4.8/5
What users love:
- Intuitive interface and quick setup
- Built-in communication features
- Flexible customization options
- Value for money compared to competitors
Common complaints:
- Limited integration options compared to established competitors
- Some advanced features are still in development
- Newer platform with a smaller user community
- Occasional performance issues with larger datasets
Monday.com Reviews
G2 rating: 4.7/5
What users love:
- A highly visual interface with multiple view options
- Extensive customization capabilities
- Strong automation features
- Large template library
Common complaints:
- Steep learning curve for new users
- Group-based pricing can be expensive for small teams.
- Interfaces sometimes feel cluttered and overwhelming due to loads of features
- Mobile app performance issues reported
Trello Reviews
G2 rating: 4.4/5
What users love:
- Ease of use that helps them get the job done without complex feature lists
- Free power-ups to extend the tool’s functionality such as add charts and other visuals
- Drag-and-drop functionality
Common complaints:
- Lack of clarity in user permission and roles
- Limited reporting capabilities that make user rely on paid power-ups or integrations
- Lacks a clear separation between private items and shared team boards
Each platform has great pros and cons. The best choice depends on your needs and budget:
- SmartSuite users value its all-in-one approach and pricing.
- Trello users praise the clean interface and goal-tracking features.
- Monday.com users appreciate the visual customization and automation capabilities.
Ready to pick one?
All three tools—SmartSuite, Trello, and Monday.com—bring something valuable to the table.
But, no tool is one-size-fits-all.
Whether you prioritize ease of use, advanced features, or budget-friendly options, the right choice is the one that best matches your team's requirements.
✅ If you want a well-established platform with strong visual management capabilities and don't mind paying more, Monday.com is a solid choice.
✅ Trello offers Kanban focused task management software with a diverse range of powerups and integrations at an affordable price.
✅ If you want an all-in-one platform that combines project management, communication, and customizable workflows at a competitive price, SmartSuite is your best bet. It may be newer, but it offers a feature set that rivals established competitors.
Start your journey with SmartSuite by signing up for its free plan.
If you want to explore all the advanced features, schedule a demo call or sign up for a free trial.
