Task Manager vs Trello (2026): which should a team of 5-30 choose?

Almost everyone who has ever moved a card between “To do” and “Done” columns knows Trello. Task Manager is a Polish task and team communication tool that you install on your own server and buy once. We compare both tools without bias: where Trello is simply better, where Task Manager does things Trello cannot, and how much each costs a 10-person team over 3 years. The short answer: Trello if you need a board straight away and mainly work from your phone; Task Manager if you want to keep your data on your own server, use one tool instead of several and have predictable costs.

Two different approaches to the same task

Both tools solve the same problem: “who does what and by when”. They approach it from two different angles.

Trello is a board. A card, a list, drag and drop. Everything else (calendar, table view, integrations and automations) comes with higher-tier plans or through Power-Ups. Task-related conversations take place in comments under the card, while mail and files are kept in other tools.

Task Manager is more like “one place for all your team’s work”. A task is also a conversation thread: it has a subject, description, due date, assignees and the full discussion underneath, including reactions, mentions and attachments. Alongside the task list, there are chats, a calendar, notes and an AI Assistant, while the Pro version also includes Mail, Files, Automations, AES-256 encryption and a knowledge base for AI. There is also a Board view, but it is one of several views rather than the heart of the tool.

Most of the items in the table below stem from this difference in approach.

Where Trello is better

First, what Task Manager does not offer or handles differently.

• Get started in a minute, for free. The Free plan includes up to 10 collaborators in a Workspace, up to 10 boards, attachments of up to 10 MB per file and 250 automation runs per month. For a three-person team, that is often enough for a long time.
• Pure kanban. In Trello, columns can represent whatever you want: process stages, weeks or people. Moving a card changes its stage. In Task Manager, Board columns are workspaces, while you change the task status (in progress / done / cancelled) from the ⋮ menu on the card or using the status icon on the list, rather than by dragging it between columns. If your team thinks in terms of process stages, Trello feels more natural here.
• Mobile apps. Trello has native iOS and Android apps on every plan. Task Manager works on your phone as an app installed from the browser (PWA), with a touch-friendly layout, but you will not find it in the App Store or Google Play.
• Ecosystem. Power-Ups connect Trello to Google Drive, Slack, Jira and many other services, with no per-board limit on the Free plan. Task Manager offers Google Calendar synchronisation and an experimental n8n integration (webhooks and API), but it does not have a catalogue of ready-made plugins.
• Labels and views. Coloured labels, Timeline view, Map view and dashboards are available on the Premium plan. Task Manager has filters, sorting, a calendar and a board, but no labels or timeline.

If this list makes you think, “that is really all I need”, Trello is probably the right choice. Read on if any of the points below matter to you.

What Task Manager does that Trello cannot

Your data is stored on your server

Trello is a cloud service. Atlassian states explicitly that Trello data is stored in Amazon Web Services data centres in the USA and that “the service features require data to be transferred to the United States”. For many companies, this is not a problem. For an accountancy firm, law firm or company starting to bid for public contracts, it may be the first question raised by a client or auditor.

Task Manager consists of PHP files and a MySQL database on your own server: ordinary Polish shared hosting is enough. Tasks, conversations, notes and attachments are stored wherever you installed it. The user’s browser does not download anything from third-party servers (libraries, fonts and icons are served by your server), so the software works even on a network without internet access. You can learn more about this model on the Your data stays with you page.

One important caveat: when you use the AI Assistant, the request and the necessary context are sent to your chosen model provider (OpenAI, Google, Anthropic or xAI) using your key. The software also works without AI if your policy does not allow it.

Pay once, not every month for each user

Trello charges per user, per month. Every new team member adds another item to the invoice, while cancelling the subscription means returning to the Free plan limits.

You buy Task Manager as a perpetual licence for a set number of users: Starter for up to 8 people (690 zł excl. VAT), Classic for 9-20 people (1 490 zł), and Max for 21-35 people (2 290 zł). The Pro version (mail, files, automations and more) costs 1 990, 3 990 and 5 990 zł respectively. The first year of access to new versions is included; after that, you can renew it for an annual fee or stay on your current version and continue using it at no extra cost. Details are available on the Perpetual licence page.

Tasks, conversations, mail and files in one place

In Trello, discussions about a task take place in the comments, but related details - a quick question, an email from a client or a proposal file - are scattered across Slack, Outlook and your drive. In Task Manager, a task is a thread, just like in a messaging app, while a chat is the same kind of conversation without a status or due date. With the Pro option, you also get a full IMAP/SMTP inbox and a shared drive with a folder for each task alongside your task list. You can link an email thread to a task and save attachments from the entire conversation to Files with one click.

AI Assistant with your own key

In Trello, basic AI features for extracting tasks from email, Slack and Teams are available from the Standard plan (5 USD per user per month), while summaries, card organisation and AI-generated boards are available from the Premium plan (10 USD).

In Task Manager, you connect your own account with a model provider and pay them directly for your usage, with no intermediary mark-up. The Assistant knows the tasks, due dates, conversations and attachments you have access to. It creates tasks (by opening a completed form and waiting for your approval), organises long threads, creates Word and PDF files, and sets reminders. The administrator enables AI separately for tasks, chats and the Assistant window, so you can start in just one place. See the AI Assistant.

Polish interface and support

Trello has a Polish interface (one of more than 20 languages), but its documentation and technical support are mainly in English; Atlassian uses translation when responding to requests in other languages. Task Manager was created in Poland, with a Polish interface, user guide, pricing in złoty with a VAT invoice, and support in Polish.

Comparison table

Trello prices from the official price list (accessed 2026-09-20). Trello, Atlassian, Power-Ups and Butler are trademarks of Atlassian Pty Ltd.

What it really costs: 10 people over 3 years

Consider Kreska, a seven-person graphic design studio in Poznań that will grow to 10 people within a year. Its owner, Marta, calculates the cost of the tool over 3 years, as that is roughly the “lifespan” of one of the studio's workflows.

Trello (list prices from trello.com/pricing, excl. VAT):

Task Manager (pricing from taskmanager.pl, excl. VAT):

Three caveats without which this calculation would be unfair:

1. Hosting. Task Manager requires a server. If your company already has hosting for its website and email (and most do), the same account will usually be sufficient. If not, add its annual cost.
2. AI. In Trello, AI is included in the plan price (the scope depends on the plan). In Task Manager, you use your own key and pay the model provider for your actual usage: the bill depends on the chosen model, the number of questions and how many documents you provide to the Assistant. You can see your usage in your provider account, and most providers allow you to set a monthly spending limit. We explain how to calculate it on the AI costs page.
3. Installation. You install the application yourself - upload the files and run the installer; a remote installation service is also available in the price list.

With renewals included, Marta's cost for the Standard option is around one-third of Trello Standard, while the Pro option (with Mail, Files and Automations) costs about the same as Trello Standard and considerably less than Premium. This compares prices only, not the range of features, as each product offers features the other does not: Trello has a timeline and Power-Ups, while Task Manager has Mail and a shared drive. The calculator in the pricing section will work out the cost for your team.

When Trello is the better choice

• A team of up to 10 people (the collaborator limit in the Free plan), one or two boards and no budget.
• Work done mainly on mobile: couriers, event teams and field salespeople.
• A stage-based process (sales pipeline, recruitment, content production), or a company that already uses Atlassian products and depends on a specific Power-Up.

When Task Manager is the better choice

• Clients or an auditor ask where the data is stored: accountancy firms, law firms, public-sector organisations and agencies working with materials covered by an NDA.
• You want one application instead of four: one password, one Search tool and one place where new team members can find the full history of a matter.
• You prefer a licence you buy once and AI on your own terms: the cost does not increase with each additional person within the package, and you can see your AI bill directly with the model provider.

How to switch from Trello

No sugar-coating: Task Manager does not have a Trello board importer. Switching requires some manual work, though in practice less than you might expect, as old boards are usually half-dead anyway. Here is an approach that works for teams of up to 30 people:

1. One Trello board = one Workspace. Set up Workspaces for departments or projects and choose who can add tasks and chats.
2. Only move open cards. Closed cards stay in Trello as an archive; the Free plan does not expire, so you lose nothing.
3. Turn workflow columns into statuses and checklists. “Doing” becomes the “In progress” status; add approval stages as a to-do list in the task description, which the team can tick off directly on the card, with a record of who ticked each item.
4. Move project discussions to chats. The “General” chat is created during installation, and you can set up more for individual Workspaces.

You can find the details in Getting started. At Kreska, Marta was responsible for keeping the move organised, and it took her two afternoons.

If Trello comes out ahead for you after this comparison, by all means stick with it: there is no point changing something that works. But if you would rather have everything in one window, keep your data on your own server and buy a licence once, try the software with your own tasks in the Demo.

Frequently asked questions

Does Task Manager have a kanban board like Trello?

It has a Board view: each Workspace is a column with Favourites, Tasks and Chats sections, cards and columns can be dragged, and the layout is saved. The difference is that columns represent Workspaces rather than process stages; you change a task's status using the ⋮ menu on the card. Trello is better for boards with custom stage columns.

How much does Trello cost in 2026?

According to the official pricing page (accessed 2026-09-20): Free 0 USD, Standard 5 USD per user per month when billed annually (6 USD monthly), Premium 10 USD (12,50 USD monthly), Enterprise 17,50 USD when billed annually. The Free plan is limited to 10 collaborators per Workspace, 10 boards and 10 MB per attachment.

Does Task Manager work without internet access and without AI?

Yes. The software only needs a connection to your server, so it can run on a company network without internet access. The AI Assistant is optional: without a key, the software works as normal, but without the AI features.

Where is data stored in Trello and Task Manager?

Atlassian states that Trello data is stored in AWS data centres in the USA and that the service's features require data to be transferred to the United States. Task Manager stores its database and files on the server where you install it, such as a Polish shared hosting server.

Can Trello boards be imported into Task Manager?

There is no automatic importer. You create open tasks manually (or dictate them to the AI Assistant, which fills in the form and waits for approval), while closed cards remain in Trello as an archive.

Sources

1. Atlassian, Trello Pricingtrello.com · accessed 20 September 2026
2. Atlassian Support, Trello and GDPR - Our Commitment to Data Privacysupport.atlassian.com · accessed 20 September 2026
3. Atlassian Support, Change your language in Trellosupport.atlassian.com · accessed 20 September 2026
4. Atlassian Support, Does Trello offer support in other languages?support.atlassian.com · accessed 20 September 2026
5. Narodowy Bank Polski, average USD exchange rate from Table A dated 18 September 2026 (3,7998 zł)api.nbp.pl · accessed 20 September 2026
6. Task Manager, pricing and licence terms

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.