Trello is hired to keep work as cards on a board that anyone can read at a glance. The job is simple enough that a lighter tool can often take it over, and the open-source option below is built around the same board idea. Below: the plans as published, the replacement, and a procedure for moving the boards people still use.
Boards are easy to start and nobody closes them. A tool that begins as one person's to-do list becomes the place a team keeps client work, with attachments that exist nowhere else.
Because each plan is priced per user, the bill follows headcount rather than use. People who were added for one board stay on the invoice long after.
The move itself is usually small once you list which boards are alive. Start by finding the charge with the audit, then count the boards touched this quarter.
Only alternatives we have checked. An open-source project is listed with the license its repository reports, on the date shown; one whose license could not be read as a single standard id is not offered as open source. Read the license guide before running any of them.
| Alternative | Kind | License | Read from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wekan | Open source | MIT | Wekan repositoryChecked Oct 25, 2026 |
Each feature below is what the product's own page or README says, linked to where we read it on the date shown. Pros and cons are limited to what those pages state and to what the path itself changes. We do not rank products on quality.
| Plan | Price as published | Includes | Read from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trello Free | $0 | Up to 10 collaborators per Workspace, up to 10 boards per Workspace | Trello pricingChecked Oct 25, 2026 |
| Trello Standard | $5 billed annually, or $6 billed monthly | Unlimited boards, 250MB per file of storage | Trello pricingChecked Oct 25, 2026 |
| Trello Premium | $10 billed annually, or $12.50 billed monthly | Unlimited Workspace command runs | Trello pricingChecked Oct 25, 2026 |
| Trello Enterprise | $17.50 billed annually | Unlimited Workspaces | Trello pricingChecked Oct 25, 2026 |
List prices as printed on the vendor's page on the checked date, in US dollars per user per month and excluding tax. Prices may differ at checkout.
A kanban board is one of the simplest jobs in software: columns, cards, owners. If that is how the team uses it, the decision is about habits and the few automations, not about data.
Count the boards that were touched in the last 90 days. Many accounts have a long tail of dead boards that can be exported and archived, which shrinks the move to a handful.
Samples are made up and are not Trello's prices. Type in the figures from your own invoice or order form.
The honest yearly cost of running open-source software yourself, set against the bill it replaces, with the seat count where it stops paying.
Paid seats against seats in use: what the idle ones cost a year, and what you save by right-sizing at renewal.
Arithmetic only, not tax, accounting or legal advice. Check the figures against your own order form.
A board move is quick when you do it one board at a time. In outline:
List every board with its last-activity date and owner. Anything untouched for a year goes on the archive list.
Write down each automation, power-up or integration on the live boards. Each is rebuilt, replaced by a habit, or dropped on purpose.
Export one board and open the file. Check lists, cards, labels, due dates, comments and attachments against the screen.
Set up the destination and move one team's board. Let them use it for two weeks and note what they miss.
Move the remaining live boards on an announced day. Compare the card count per list before and after.
Mark the old boards read-only where possible, redirect integrations, and tell people outside the company where to go.
Keep the exports. After a month of normal use, end the plan inside the contract's notice window.
Run the vendor report for QuickBooks Online or Xero, then open the free audit.
General information, not legal advice. See cancelling without penalties. Last reviewed Oct 25, 2026. Product names belong to their owners and are used only to identify them.
Send us the export and see which lines are worth a second look. A connected version is planned. Trello is one of the lines worth a look.
Worked example. Type over it.
Result
| Self-hosting, per year | Amount |
|---|---|
| Hosting, backups, tooling | 720.00 |
| Admin and restore-test time | 2,640.00 |
| Total | 3,360.00 |
| One-off set-up (not in the yearly total) | 1,200.00 |
The saving holds only if the time is real. Price the admin hours at what that person's time costs the company, not at zero.
Worked example. Type over it.
Result
“In use” is your call: last sign-in in the past 30 or 90 days from the vendor's admin report. A seat for someone on leave is not idle.