Airtable vs Trello (2023): Which one is best for your team?

If you’re evaluating project management tools, there’s a good chance you’ve come across Airtable and Trello. Both project management tools have convenient and user-friendly features that help teams collaborate smoothly and get more done. But which project management tool is best for your organization?

Here’s an overview of Airtable and Trello to help you decide which one is best for your business. No matter what your company does or how large it is, one of these project management tools may be able to improve work processes and collaboration.

Jump to:

• What is Airtable?
• What is Trello?
• Airtable vs. Trello: Comparison Table
• Airtable and Trello: Pricing
• Feature Comparison: Airtable vs. Trello
• Airtable pros and cons
• Trello pros and cons
• Methodology
• Should your organization use Airtable or Trello?

What is Airtable?

Airtable is a cloud-based app for teams that combines the functionality of spreadsheets and databases. It also has a no-code aspect that allows teams to build apps for their companies without requiring coding backgrounds.

What is Trello?

Trello is a project management software that lets people see information organized in a board format with associated cards. Users can also separate projects into lists showing specific tasks that must occur at particular stages.

Airtable vs. Trello: Comparison Table

Here is a head-to-head comparison of Airtable vs. Trello.

Airtable and Trello: Pricing

Airtable pricing

• Free: Available at no cost for up to five editors.
• Team: $20 per seat per month billed annually or $24 per seat per month billed monthly.
• Business: $50 per seat per month billed annually or $54 per seat per month billed monthly.
• Enterprise Scale: Available upon request.

Trello pricing

• Free: Available at no cost, but features are limited.
• Standard: $5 per user per month billed annually or $6 per user per month billed monthly.
• Premium: $10 per user per month billed annually or $12.50 per user per month billed monthly.
• Enterprise: $17.50 per user per month billed annually — a team of 50. Pricing for this plan depends on the number of users in your organization.

Feature Comparison: Airtable vs. Trello

When looking for the best project management software, you’ll want details about each product’s features to facilitate team workflows.

Airtable vs. Trello: Views

Airtable offers several interface view options that make it easier to see what’s been done and what’s left to do. For example, the calendar view (Figure A) may be the most appropriate option if the project has numerous associated deadlines. Airtable offers a broader range of view options for organizing and visualizing data.

Figure A

In addition to the calendar view, Airtable also offers:

• Grid.
• Form.
• Kanban.
• Gallery.
• List.
• Gantt.
• Timeline view.
• Sections.
• Personal and locked views.

While Trello is popular for its Kanban board (Figure B), it also lets teams visualize their project with different view options. Trello’s views include:

• Calendar.
• Kanban.
• Timeline.
• Table.
• Dashboard.
• Map.

Figure B

Airtable is the winner in this category — it offers more view options, giving users the flexibility to customize their view and display their data in various ways.

Airtable vs. Trello: Automation

Many of the best project management tools have automation features to make workflows even more streamlined and efficient. Airtable and Trello are no different. Airtable’s automated features primarily work by letting people set up triggers to handle repetitive tasks. This event makes an automation start, such as when records are updated or created. There are also options to make triggers link to events in Google Calendar, Forms and Sheets.

Trello offers automation, too, but there are associated limitations on free plans. There is a maximum of 250 Workplace automations. People using the platform set rules that behave similarly to Trello’s triggers, which happen via the Butler part of the Trello interface. It can handle tasks like automatically assigning projects to the correct team or person.

Another handy capability of Trello’s automation is scheduling automation to occur at specific times, such as on a project’s due date. Alternatively, people can automate certain tasks associated with Trello boards, such as archiving all of the Done list’s cards each week or sorting project cards by the due date. Cutting down on manual management helps overall productivity rise.

If your team uses Jira or Slack along with Trello, you can set up email-related automations. For example, you might set things up so external stakeholders get emails that alert them they need to give feedback on certain items. That approach could reduce or eliminate the delays that often cause project bottlenecks.

Airtable vs. Trello: Integration

Integration is an important feature of any software product, as it enables users to connect the tool to their existing systems and workflows and facilitate data exchange between different platforms. Airtable and Trello offer integration capabilities, allowing users to connect their systems and enhance their workflow seamlessly.

As of this writing, Airtable integrates with 34 third-party services across 14 categories (Figure C).

Figure C

Some Airtable top integrations include:

• Trello.
• Google Drive.
• Salesforce.
• Zendesk.
• GitHub.
• Jira.
• Slack.
• Tableau cloud.
• Stripe.

Trello’s main capabilities come from its Power-Ups (Integrations), which allow users to extend Trello’s functionality (Figure D).

Figure D

Trello offers integrations with over 200 apps, including:

• Google Drive.
• Jira.
• Microsoft Teams.
• Slack.
• Pipedrive.

For this category, Trello ranks top for its extensive integration options.

Airtable pros and cons

Pros

• Offers templates for easy setup and use.
• Provides real-time collaboration and commenting.
• Offers 10 view options, including kanban, gallery and list views.
• Offers more view options than Trello.

Cons

• Advanced features take time to learn.
• It gets pricey with numerous team members.

Trello pros and cons

Pros

• More affordable than Airtable.
• Easier to use than Airtable.
• It offers integrations with over 200 third-party services.

Cons

• Trello is heavily reliant on its Power-Ups.
• Poor for complex projects.

Methodology

To evaluate Airtable and Trello, we considered how both products performed in five major categories: Pricing, features, ease of use, integrations with third-party apps and support. Our research process involved hands-on experience with the tools, gathering information from the vendor’s websites and documentation and reading and watching customer reviews from reputable review sites like Gartner Peer Insights.

Should your organization use Airtable or Trello?

The choice between Airtable and Trello depends on the specific needs and preferences. Airtable shines at managing data and organizing information in a more structured and customizable manner, making it suitable for complex data management projects.

Trello excels at visual project management and collaboration. Its simplicity and ease of use make it ideal for teams that prefer a visual representation of their projects.

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