Task Manager vs Trello: a comparison for teams of 5-30 people

Marta runs Kreska, a seven-person graphic design studio in Poznań that is expected to employ ten people next year. The team has been using a Trello board for four years. Two weeks ago, a healthcare client asked in a security questionnaire which country their project files were stored in.

Trello and Task Manager: two approaches to who does what and by when

Trello organises work around boards, lists and cards moved through successive stages. Task Manager starts with a task that also serves as a place for team conversations.

In Trello, you can create a card, assign someone, set a due date and move work from the “To do” list to “Done”. Comments stay with the card, but the team often has to look elsewhere for emails, longer conversations and company files.

In Task Manager, a task has a subject, description, due date, assigned people, status and a message thread with reactions, mentions, quoting and attachments up to 100 MB. Alongside these are Chats, Calendar and Notes, while the Pro variant adds Mail, Files, Automations, AES-256 content encryption and the AI knowledge base. The Board remains one of the views, not the axis of the whole program.

Where Trello is better

Trello comes out ahead when a clear stage-based workflow, a quick start and working from a phone matter most. If your company mainly needs a kanban board, you may not need to switch.

• The Free plan supports a small team at no cost. It includes up to 10 collaborators in a Workspace, up to 10 boards, attachments up to 10 MB and 250 Butler automation runs per month.
• Columns can represent workflow stages. Marta drags a card from “Brief” to “Design” and then to “Client approval”. In Task Manager, the columns are Workspaces, and you change the status on the card or in the list.
• Native apps are available for iOS and Android. Task Manager is installed from a browser as a PWA and is not available in the App Store or Google Play.
• The Power-Ups directory extends boards. Trello offers integrations with Google Drive, Slack and Jira, among others, while Task Manager does not have a directory of ready-made plugins.
• Premium adds more ways to view your work. These include Timeline, Dashboard and Map, which Task Manager does not have.

If your board guides your work well from the first column to the last, do not change what already works.

What Task Manager does that Trello does not

Task Manager stands out through self-hosting, a one-off licence and the way it combines tasks with communication. The difference is not how the cards look, but where the software runs and how much of your company's work it covers.

Your data is stored on the server you choose

Task Manager stores its database and files on hosting chosen by your company. Trello is a cloud service, and Atlassian states that data is stored in AWS data centres in the USA and that operating the service requires data to be transferred to the United States. (support.atlassian.com)

Task Manager's application files are written in PHP, while its data is stored in a MySQL database. Standard shared hosting is enough, and the browser downloads libraries, fonts and icons from your server. This allows the application to run on your company network without internet access.

The exception to local operation is the server's outgoing connections. It connects to the licence panel on its own, but only passes it licence data, such as the key and domain, and the program version. It connects to other services only once you turn them on. If you use the AI Assistant, the query, together with the necessary context, is sent to the chosen model provider using your own key. Without a key, the program keeps working, just without the AI features. You can find out more in the description of the model where your data stays on your server.

Pay once for seats, not every month per user

Task Manager has a perpetual licence for a specified number of seats. Trello charges for its Standard and Premium plans per user per month, so the fee recurs monthly or annually. (trello.com)

Starter includes up to 8 people and costs 690 zł, Classic includes up to 20 people and costs 1 490 zł, while Max includes up to 35 people and costs 2 290 zł. The Pro versions cost 1 990 zł, 3 990 zł and 5 990 zł respectively.

The price includes 12 months of new versions. After that, you can purchase an annual renewal or continue using the installed version without any further fees. See the page about the Task Manager perpetual licence for details.

A task and conversation, plus an email and file in the Pro version, are all close together

In Task Manager, a task is also a conversation thread. You do not have to search through a messaging app for a decision if the team discussed it alongside the relevant work.

On Tuesday, Marta creates a task called “Autumn catalogue”, assigns three people and adds a due date. The designer pastes in a preview, the copywriter mentions Marta, and the shared to-do list shows that 4 of 6 items have been completed, along with the names of the people who ticked them off.

With the Pro option, you can connect a private IMAP/SMTP mailbox. You link an email thread to a task and can then switch between them with one click; this does not make the email content visible to anyone else. You can save all attachments from the email thread to the Files module with one click, where every task and chat has its own folder.

The AI Assistant uses your key

The AI Assistant in Task Manager uses the customer’s key for OpenAI, Google Gemini, Anthropic Claude or xAI Grok. You pay the model provider for actual usage, with no markup added by the software vendor.

The AI Assistant can only access materials available to the person who is signed in. It can complete the new task form, change the status and filter the list. It can also prepare a Word, PDF, Excel, CSV or HTML file, while the “Organise” mode in a task thread summarises the conversation for the duration of the session without altering the originals. The administrator enables AI separately for tasks, chats and the AI Assistant window.

Trello offers AI features from the Standard plan, while summaries, card organisation and AI-generated boards are only available from the Premium plan. In both products, AI remains an addition to work organisation, but the billing model differs: a Trello subscription includes the plan’s features, while with Task Manager you receive the model bill directly from its provider. You can find a cost comparison in the article about AI costs with your own key.

A Polish interface does not always mean Polish documentation

Trello has a Polish interface and supports more than 20 languages. You can submit a support request in a language other than English, but Atlassian provides support mainly in English and uses translation where needed.

Task Manager has a Polish interface, documentation and support. Pricing is shown in Polish złoty.

Trello and Task Manager use two different ways of working

Trello is primarily a cloud-based board for moving cards through stages. Task Manager combines tasks, conversations and your own installation environment, but it does not replace every Trello view.

Trello prices and limits come from the official pricing page, checked on 20 September 2026. Trello, Atlassian, Power-Ups and Butler are trademarks of Atlassian Pty Ltd.

How much Task Manager and Trello cost for 10 people over three years

For 10 people, the Classic plan with the Standard option costs 1 490 zł over three years without renewals, or 2 384 zł with two update renewals. Over the same period, Trello Standard costs 1800 USD, or approximately 6840 zł, while Premium costs 3600 USD, or approximately 13 680 zł, when billed annually.

The Classic plan with the Pro option costs 3 990 zł without renewals, or 6 384 zł with two renewals. You can compare its cost directly with Trello Standard and Premium in the tables below.

Trello prices are list prices excluding VAT. The conversion uses the average NBP exchange rate from 18 September 2026: 1 USD = 3,7998 zł.

For 10 people in Task Manager, you choose the Classic plan, which includes up to 20 seats.

Add hosting to the cost of Task Manager if your company does not already have it. You can complete the installation yourself using five browser screens; remote installation costs 299 zł with Starter and is included from the Classic plan upwards.

You pay the model provider separately for AI usage. In Trello, AI features are included in the relevant plan, while in Task Manager you pay for the actual usage of your own key.

This is a price comparison, not a comparison of identical packages. Trello offers Timeline, Map and Power-Ups, while Task Manager in the Pro variant adds Mail, Files, Automations, AES-256 content encryption and the AI knowledge base. You can check current variants in the Task Manager pricing.

When to stay with Trello

Stay with Trello if boards suit your process and you do not need your own installation. Migration means moving active cards manually and changing your team’s habits, so without a specific benefit, you are simply creating more work for yourself.

• You have up to 10 people, stay within the Free limits and do not mind the 10 MB attachment limit.
• The team works mainly from their phones, for example as field sales representatives or an events crew.
• The process is based on stages, and the company already uses Jira, Slack or Power-Ups connected to Trello.

When to consider the cost of Task Manager

The first sign appears when questions about where data is stored keep coming up in customer questionnaires or during audits. Consider Task Manager as well if tasks, conversations, email and files have become scattered across several services.

Accountancy firms, law firms, agencies working under NDAs and teams serving the public sector often compare the costs of both models. The second sign appears when 10 people are paying for four tools but still ask in chat: “Where is the latest version?”.

The third sign is the cost model. You buy a licence for a set number of seats, can continue working without further fees and choose your own AI provider.

How to switch from Trello

Task Manager does not have a Trello board importer, so you need to move open cards manually. However, you do not have to copy four years of archives if you only need active items for your current work.

Marta did this at Kreska over two afternoons. She followed four rules:

1. One project board became one Workspace with its own permissions for tasks and chats.
2. She moved the open cards and left the closed ones in Trello as an archive.
3. She replaced stage columns with task statuses and to-do lists in descriptions.
4. She moved project conversations to chats and general team arrangements to the “Shared” chat, which is created during installation.

You can also dictate open tasks to the AI Assistant. The AI Assistant will complete the form but wait for your approval. The getting started with Task Manager guide explains how to start using the software.

Tomorrow, export your open Trello cards and count how many contain decisions in their comments that are not recorded anywhere else. That is the true scale of the migration. Then open the Demo and recreate one real project in it.

Frequently asked questions

Does Task Manager have a kanban board like Trello?

Task Manager has a Board view, but its columns are Workspaces with Favourites, Tasks and Chats sections. You can drag columns and cards, but you change the status on the card or in the list, so Trello is better at handling workflows with custom stage columns.

How much does Trello cost in 2026?

According to the official pricing checked on 20 September 2026, Free costs 0 USD, Standard costs 5 USD per user per month when billed annually or 6 USD when billed monthly, while Premium costs 10 USD per user per month when billed annually or 12,50 USD when billed monthly. Enterprise costs 17,50 USD per user per month when billed annually.

Does Task Manager work without internet access and without AI?

Yes, Task Manager needs a connection to your company server, but it can run on a network without internet access. The AI Assistant is optional, so without an API key the software retains all its other features.

Where is data stored in Trello and Task Manager?

Atlassian states that Trello data is stored in AWS data centres in the USA, while Task Manager stores its database and files on the server where you install it. This could be a shared hosting server in Poland, for example. (support.atlassian.com)

Can Trello boards be imported into Task Manager?

No, Task Manager does not have a Trello board importer. You can create open tasks manually or dictate them to the AI Assistant, which fills in the form and waits for approval, while closed cards can remain in Trello as an archive.

Sources

1. Atlassian - Trello Pricing (accessed: 2026-09-20)
2. Atlassian Support - Trello and GDPR: Our Commitment to Data Privacy (accessed: 2026-09-20)
3. Atlassian Support - Change your language in Trello (accessed: 2026-09-20)
4. Atlassian Support - Does Trello offer support in other languages? (accessed: 2026-09-20)
5. Narodowy Bank Polski - average USD exchange rate from Table A dated 2026-09-18 (3,7998 zł) (accessed: 2026-09-20)
6. Task Manager - pricing and licence terms (accessed: 2026-09-22)
7. Task Manager - Perpetual licence (accessed: 2026-09-22)
8. Task Manager - Installed on your own server (accessed: 2026-09-22)

The Task Manager Team - we write about teamwork, AI in business and keeping tasks organised, using examples from Task Manager, software installed on your own server. Task Manager has been developed by Blue Creation Group (Piotr Łącz) since 2013 and is used by organisations including Neonet, the Military University of Technology and Polpharma - read customer reviews. We check our articles against the user guide and the latest version of the software.