Free Project Management Tools: Trello Wins at $0, $5 to Upgrade

Use Trello: its Free plan costs $0 and its first paid tier is $5 per user per month on annual billing. We ranked five tools on whether the free plan is real and what the first paid tier costs, using each vendor’s own pricing page. Our view: for project management on a budget, the cheapest upgrade path matters more than a longer feature list.

Source: trello.com/pricing, fetched October 14, 2026; atlassian.com/software/jira/pricing#plan-comparison, fetched October 12, 2026; linear.app/pricing, fetched October 14, 2026; notion.com/pricing, fetched October 17, 2026; asana.com/pricing, fetched October 4, 2026. Prices in USD. First paid tier on annual billing.

Which free project management plan has the loosest limits?

It depends on what each vendor caps. Linear Free allows unlimited members but only 250 issues. Jira Free is free forever for 10 users. Trello Free covers up to 10 collaborators per Workspace. Asana Personal stops at 2 users. Our view: Trello and Jira fit a small team best.

Linear is the odd one out: no member cap, but 250 issues run out fast on an active backlog. Notion Free is pitched at individuals organizing personal projects, so treat it as a solo tool. Asana Personal is for one or two people. Our view: past three people, only Trello, Jira and Linear are realistic free options.

1. Trello

Trello Free costs $0 and covers up to 10 collaborators per Workspace. Trello’s pricing page lists no other Free limits; see our Trello pricing page for the full ladder.

Standard is $5 per user per month on annual billing, or $6 billed monthly. Paying monthly for five seats costs $60 more a year. Premium is $10 ($12.50 monthly), and Enterprise is $17.50 per user per month, billed annually at $210.00 per user.

Best for: small teams and individuals who need visual Kanban without configuration overhead.

Why it ranks #1: it has a free plan and the lowest first paid tier here. Our view: Standard at $5 is the buy for most teams, and Premium needs a specific reason.

Read our Trello review.

2. Jira

Jira Free costs $0 and is free forever for 10 users.

Standard is $7.91 per user per month, pitched as everything you need to get started. Premium is $14.54 per user per month and aims to align multiple teams. Enterprise is contact sales, and Data Center is a self-managed product for strict regulatory or security needs.

Best for: software engineering teams running Scrum or Kanban at scale.

Why it ranks #2: a free plan, but its first paid tier costs $7.91 per seat, $2.91 more than Trello Standard. Our view: pick Jira when your work is engineering tickets, not general tasks.

Read our Jira review.

3. Linear

Linear Free costs $0 and is free for everyone. It includes unlimited members, 2 teams, 250 issues, the Agent platform and Linear Agent. Our view: the 250-issue cap is the limit you hit first.

Basic is $10 per user per month, billed yearly. It adds 5 teams, unlimited issues, unlimited file uploads and admin roles. Business is $16 billed yearly, $6 more than Basic, and adds unlimited teams, private teams and guests, Triage Intelligence, Loops and Code Intelligence. Connect is contact-us pricing.

Best for: product engineering teams.

Why it ranks #3: a free plan, but its first paid tier costs $10 per seat.

Read our Linear review or the Linear pricing breakdown.

4. Notion

Notion Free costs $0 and is built for individuals organizing personal projects. It includes trial AI capabilities, publishing a page to the web, multiple connected calendars, and room to organize hundreds or thousands of items like projects or tasks.

Plus is $10 per member per month. It adds chart views of database data, removes Notion branding from public forms, and connects to some tools like Slack and Google Drive. A per file size limit may apply to uploads. Business is $20 per member per month and adds single sign-on and search across connected apps. The page advertises “Save up to 20%” and warns that plans may not be available for every workspace.

Best for: solo founders.

Why it ranks #4: a free plan, but its first paid tier costs $10 per seat. Our view: Notion is a workspace first and a task tracker second. If notes matter more than tasks, see our best note taking tools.

Read our Notion review or the Notion pricing guide.

5. Asana

Asana Personal costs $0 and is free forever for one or two people. It includes 2 users, unlimited tasks and projects, list, board and calendar views, unlimited storage with a 100MB max per file, status updates, and time tracking with integrations.

Starter is $10.99 per user per month on annual billing, or $13.49 billed monthly, a $2.50 premium. It removes the user seat limit and adds Timeline and Gantt views, reporting dashboards and unlimited automations. AI Teammates and Asana Dash include 5 requests per user per month, up to 50 requests per account. Advanced is $24.99 ($30.49 monthly) and adds goals, unlimited portfolios, resource management, and approvals and proofing. Asana says annual billing saves up to 18%.

Best for: cross-functional marketing and ops teams running multi-step campaigns.

Why it ranks #5: a free plan, but its first paid tier costs $10.99 per seat, the highest here.

Read our Asana review, or compare Asana alternatives.

What does upgrading cost for a five-person team?

Trello Standard is cheapest at $300 per year for five seats, and Asana Starter is the dearest at $659.40. Jira lands at $474.60, while Linear Basic and Notion Plus tie at $600. Our view: the $359.40 gap between Trello and Asana buys features, not a better free plan.

tools8020 calculation from each vendor’s annual list price. Excludes tax.

Jira costs $174.60 more per year than Trello for the same five seats. If you do not need Gantt views or reporting dashboards, Asana’s premium is wasted money. For a ranking that starts from paid features, see our best project management tools.

How did we pick these tools?

Every tool here has a tools8020 profile and a pricing page we captured ourselves, between October 4 and October 17, 2026. We ranked by two facts from those captures: whether a free plan exists, then the price of the first paid tier. Vendor review sites and coupon pages were not used. Prices change, so recheck the vendor page before you buy.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best free project management tool?

Our pick is Trello. Free costs $0 for up to 10 collaborators per Workspace, and Standard starts at $5 per user per month on annual billing, the lowest first paid tier we checked.

Which free project management plan has no member limit?

Linear Free offers unlimited members, but it caps you at 2 teams and 250 issues. Basic at $10 per user per month, billed yearly, adds unlimited issues and 5 teams.

How much does Trello Standard cost for five people?

Five seats cost $300 per year on annual billing at $5 per user per month. Billed monthly at $6 per user, the same five seats cost $360 per year, which is $60 more.

Is Asana free for small teams?

Asana Personal costs $0 and is free forever, but it is limited to 2 users. Starter at $10.99 per user per month on annual billing removes the user seat limit.

Is Jira free for small teams?

Yes. Jira Free costs $0 and is free forever for 10 users. The first paid tier, Standard, costs $7.91 per user per month, which is $2.91 more than Trello Standard.

Can Notion work as a free project management tool?

For one person, yes. Notion Free costs $0 and is aimed at individuals organizing personal projects. For a team, Plus costs $10 per member per month, so Trello or Jira fit better.

Sources

1. Asana, Pricing, asana.com/pricing, captured Oct 4, 2026.
2. Trello, Pricing, trello.com/pricing, captured Oct 14, 2026.
3. Linear, Pricing, linear.app/pricing, captured Oct 14, 2026.
4. Notion, Pricing, www.notion.com/pricing, captured Oct 17, 2026.
5. Jira, Pricing Cloud, www.atlassian.com/software/jira/pricing#plan-comparison, captured Oct 12, 2026.