ActiveCollab vs. Trello

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
ActiveCollab
Score 5.4 out of 10
N/A
Active Collab is a project management solution built around features such as task management, collaboration, time tracking, and invoicing.
$8
per member/per month
Trello
Score 8.1 out of 10
N/A
Trello from Atlassian is a project management tool based on a Kanban framework. Trello is ideal for task-management in a to-do list format. It supports sharing boards and cards across users or teams. The product offers a free version, and paid versions add greater automation, collaboration, and administrative control.
$12.50
per user/per month
Pricing
ActiveCollabTrello
Editions & Modules
ActiveCollab Project Management
$8
per member/per month
Self-Hosted Plan
$999.00
license
Business Class
$12.50
per user/per month
Enterprise
$17.50
per user/per month
Free
Forever Free
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
ActiveCollabTrello
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup Fee$6.25 per member, per month, annual billingNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
ActiveCollabTrello
Considered Both Products
ActiveCollab
Chose ActiveCollab
Certainly, each of them has a particular advantage, which in the end makes it unique. ActiveCollab also belongs to a group of platforms created to be represented in particular, its way of project management is superior to JIRA or Trello. With this software, the work is more …
Chose ActiveCollab
I have used multiple project management platforms such as ActiveCollab, JIRA, Trello, etc. Trello has great visualization with their (Kanban Board) board system and support drag and drop functionality for managing tasks. ActiveCollab, however, does not have the fancy …
Chose ActiveCollab
ActiveCollab is 100% better than any of the other tools we have used. We had previously spent thousands of dollars trying out different software that was comparable, but this has been one of the best decisions we have made as a company. It's also the cheapest ongoing option, …
Trello
Chose Trello
We are still transitioning into using Trello but used ActiveCollab in the past for our website management and projects. I do like the layout of Trello better and feel that the notifications work well.
Chose Trello
Trello is much friendlier and I am happy to have his service. Compared with other software, I think that Trello represents the new productivity-oriented programs under a comfortable work mode.
Chose Trello
We have used Active collab and a few other project management systems. Most system works in same way. But when it comes to trello, I like 2 features best and unique:
1. Drag and drop abilities: It helps moving a task into different stages easily.
2. Quick summary of all projects …
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
ActiveCollabTrello
Project Management
Comparison of Project Management features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCollab
3.6
13 Ratings
72% below category average
Trello
8.1
205 Ratings
6% above category average
Task Management5.212 Ratings9.1205 Ratings
Resource Management1.08 Ratings8.2170 Ratings
Gantt Charts3.07 Ratings7.667 Ratings
Scheduling1.011 Ratings7.1155 Ratings
Workflow Automation7.01 Ratings7.5130 Ratings
Team Collaboration6.113 Ratings9.4201 Ratings
Support for Agile Methodology7.07 Ratings8.4139 Ratings
Support for Waterfall Methodology7.01 Ratings7.5110 Ratings
Document Management3.08 Ratings8.8148 Ratings
Email integration4.09 Ratings8.6136 Ratings
Mobile Access1.110 Ratings8.9179 Ratings
Timesheet Tracking2.09 Ratings7.282 Ratings
Change request and Case Management1.08 Ratings8.795 Ratings
Budget and Expense Management2.07 Ratings7.069 Ratings
Professional Services Automation
Comparison of Professional Services Automation features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCollab
5.7
8 Ratings
27% below category average
Trello
7.3
67 Ratings
3% below category average
Quotes/estimates6.97 Ratings7.247 Ratings
Invoicing6.96 Ratings7.840 Ratings
Project & financial reporting1.07 Ratings6.853 Ratings
Integration with accounting software7.94 Ratings7.441 Ratings
Best Alternatives
ActiveCollabTrello
Small Businesses
Stackby
Stackby
Score 9.4 out of 10
Stackby
Stackby
Score 9.4 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Planview AgilePlace
Planview AgilePlace
Score 9.4 out of 10
Planview AgilePlace
Planview AgilePlace
Score 9.4 out of 10
Enterprises
Planview AgilePlace
Planview AgilePlace
Score 9.4 out of 10
Planview AgilePlace
Planview AgilePlace
Score 9.4 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
ActiveCollabTrello
Likelihood to Recommend
2.2
(13 ratings)
9.3
(205 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(4 ratings)
Usability
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(43 ratings)
Support Rating
7.1
(3 ratings)
8.0
(79 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(2 ratings)
User Testimonials
ActiveCollabTrello
Likelihood to Recommend
ActiveCollab
Scenarios where ActiveCollab works well 1) ActiveCollab works well for small teams specifically T&M teams.Its invoicing feature is unique & can make your life easy. 2) It is very easy to use & posses good range of filters like on the task list, we can drag/drop tasks, Filter by assignee's,
tasks lists, due dates, or completed tasks. 3) It has some simple but awesome features like when you're in
the middle of writing something i.e a comment on story and get interrupted,
it retains what you wrote. 4) It allows you to tag team members in threads of comments to grab their attention, its really needed when teams are distributed. Thus helping team members to collaborate easily & stay on same page. 5) It integrates pretty well with other web apps like quickbooks , Slack, Trello, HubSpot, Zapier etc Scenarios where ActiveCollab did not work well 1) Tasks can not have multiple assignee's here so if two members are working on same task it did not allow you to reflect that. 2) Sorting capability is not their under invoicing 3) It did not work well for larger teams 4) Search option is not very detailed & you may end up wasting lot of time searching one particular bug or issue.












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Atlassian
It is well suited to my job requirements as I bring employees in, and I help offboard them as well. This tool helps me when I need to make sure all items are completed by a certain time frame, so I would say it holds us accountable. Someone who doesn't manage a group of people may not find this as useful when dealing with others but could use it for their own accountability when needing to track their accomplishments.
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Pros
ActiveCollab
  • Great for project and task assignments, project workflow and communications.
  • Solid web-based platform that doesn't require software downloads, also includes great mobile platform.
  • Great reporting tools for managing billing, estimating, project workflow and other essential project details.
  • Allows for both the agency and its clients to interact on a single platform using role-specific permissions.
Read full review
Atlassian
  • It helps make various workspaces. Each workspace can be used for a different set of task management and can be shared with the people involved.
  • Creating task lists. We can create various task lists, the list title could be the status of the task, for example, In progress, approval, completed, etc. You can slide your task cards from one list title to another.
  • Trello cards have a huge set of features like adding the heading and description of the task, you can also attach certain associated links and documents to the cards as well.
Read full review
Cons
ActiveCollab
  • It isn't possible to set members of staff as part time, so if someone is unavailable on certain days you must manually enter them as OOO every single day that they are not in, that other teammates work. Hours also can't be edited individually - everyone is treated as working the same hours in a day, rendering capacity planner useless for flexi working teams
  • Subtasks cannot be assigned their own hours and deadlines, meaning the To Do list view can't be seen in actual date order and capacity planner does not reflect all time allocated to an individual's schedule unless every task is set up as a separate task rather than subtask
  • There is no way to see all tasks of a certain type across multiple campaigns (e.g all copywriting tasks vs all technical tasks) - support team suggested exporting data and making spreadsheets
  • Kanban view isn't available for people's own task lists ('board' view here shows a list)
  • Not possible to have one task be assigned to more than one person
  • Notifications are not sent when tasks are updated, so you have to leave comments and tag people each time
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Atlassian
  • Allow tables as content for comment or description in Cards
  • Assign priority to certain cards (easy for sorting)
  • Create an open invite link for others to join/view the Trello board, without edit rights (so people don't need to install/use Trello if they want a quick glance on what's going on)
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Likelihood to Renew
ActiveCollab
No answers on this topic
Atlassian
I am very likely to renew Trello, because it doesn't cost anything to do so. I am also very likely to use Trello's upgraded features in the future because a lot of my team's data is stored on there and they have already gotten used to the platform. Trello is very easy for new team members to pick up, making the onboarding and usability very streamlined.
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Usability
ActiveCollab
No answers on this topic
Atlassian
Overall, Trello is a great tool to use. It's very user-friendly, very powerful and we've set it up to work well for our team. I've recommended it to others who need something free or very cheap and it's worked well for them too. If you're wanting something with more muscle, then I'd suggest looking at either monday.com or Airtable.
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Support Rating
ActiveCollab
We have not required support for ActiveCollab as it works pretty seamlessly. We didn't have any issues with using the platform or with any billing issues. The self-service aspect of the platform is robust and easy to navigate so we have not encountered any errors that required assistance from the support team.
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Atlassian
I haven't had much need to contact their support because the product is easy to use and pretty bug-free. I did reach out to them about swimlanes and I was able to find the information I needed very quickly and it was thorough and accurate information about current functionality. I love that they use their own product. That's always a good sign.
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Implementation Rating
ActiveCollab
No answers on this topic
Atlassian
For our small business, getting a few of us started well on Trello was the key, I think. As long as a couple of us were really comfortable with the interface, we could lead others and help them with any questions. From now on, anyone who works with us just naturally uses Trello for information sharing - it's just part of what we do.
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Alternatives Considered
ActiveCollab
ActiveCollab is easier to use and simpler in its setup. It has the right mix of features and simplicity. It's also project-oriented which is important for our workflow. Other tools are often too task-oriented, making it hard to track projects. Overall, ActiveCollab has a great mix of simplicity with good features.
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Atlassian
Trello is easy for a non-technical person to use. Other management systems, like MS Project, frighten away less computer-savvy users. I've found this to be instrumental in getting volunteers to agree to step in and get fully involved with projects--particularly those that might span the entire year or involve many different pieces to completion.
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Return on Investment
ActiveCollab
  • Allows our team to stay organized and keep conversations on tasks.
  • The To-Do List email every morning helps me mentally prepare and know exactly what I should be doing as soon as I start work.
  • Powerful and useful integrations save lots of time (Google Drive, Slack, Dropbox, Zapier and more!).
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Atlassian
  • Trello keeps me organized, focused, and on track. I could filter the Trello board to only see my issues and understand what I needed to work on and when.
  • Trello helped our team implement an agile structure. It's a very simple kanban method of viewing all of your team's tasks and statuses. You can completely customize the columns to your team's specific workflow and create tags relevant to your work.
  • Trello helps reduce unnecessary communications between teams. When I want to request translations, I simply create a card on the localization Trello board -- no need to directly message anyone on the team, and I can watch the status of the card change from "in progress" to "in review" to "translated," all without having to directly ask for updates.
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ScreenShots

ActiveCollab Screenshots

Screenshot of the dashboard with an overview of projects.Screenshot of multiple task views currently showing a Kanban view of the tasklists and tasks.Screenshot of Overview of all recent activity.Screenshot of Calendar view with task dependencies.Screenshot of Permission settings (owner, member, client, client+).Screenshot of List of available Add-ons.