Jira vs. Trello: Which tool fits your team? A consultant’s breakdown

Using the right project management tool makes a significant difference between well-structured success and organisational chaos. While both Jira and Trello, owned by Atlassian, are designed to enhance team collaboration, their primary goals cater to distinct and specific demands.

Whether you’re organising marketing campaigns or operating a fast-moving software development team, finding the right tool is critical to get the job done effectively. This guide represents a comparison of various aspects between Jira and Trello through the perspectives of actual consultants from Evelon, a firm that supports organisations with the selection and customisation of their tools for optimal performance.

Start with the basics

Before diving into the numerous contrasting aspects of Jira and Trello, it would help to have a reminder of what each platform presents to its users.

Jira

Jira is a solid project management tool, primarily designed for software development purposes. It is designed to manage intricate project structures, provides in-depth reporting, and also supports Agile methodologies like Kanban and Scrum.

Trello

Trello is an ocular, card-based task management system, renowned for its intuitive and simplistic interface. It leverages lists, cards, and boards to facilitate tasks and workflow organisation. This tool is perfect for use in straightforward project requirements or for smaller teams.

Use-case comparison: When to use Jira vs. Trello

Below are a few comparison factors of Jira and Trello concerning their use-case:

Agile software development teams

Jira: While purposefully designed for Agile teams, it excels in epic, backlog, and sprint management. It is ideal for use in large-scale tech projects, thanks to its native support for CI/CD workflows and powerful integrations like Bitbucket and GitHub. Its role-based access controls and detailed permissions make it stand out and a favoured choice among enterprise teams.

Trello: Despite having some Agile functionality through templates and Power-Ups, Trello is incapable of serving iterative development cycles. So, it is best suited for Kanban-style boards or Agile workflows for non-IT teams.

Consultant’s view: At Evelon, we advise our clients undergoing Agile transitions to use Jira. Our Jira Implementation Consultant team work meticulously with the development team to personalise dashboards, workflows, and permissions to match with SAFe or Scrum frameworks. 

Marketing and creative teams

Jira: While Jira is a perfect tool to be used for marketing purposes, its complexity often disrupts teams that are unfamiliar with its technical workflows. Its steep learning curve and user interface can be excessive at times for content planning or campaign tracking.

Trello: Marketing teams love Trello due to its clean interface, ease of collaboration, and ability to add tailored checklists, labels, and due dates. Its Power-Ups enable seamless integration with calendar tools, Slack, and Google Drive. 

Consultant’s view: Since Jira is at a disadvantage in this context, we at Evelon often guide the marketing teams to use Trello for any campaign planning. Yet, in the case of critical cross-team collaboration with the IT department, we can create lightweight Jira boards and train teams as needed.

Startups and small business

Jira: Jira’s workflows and admin controls may be unnecessarily intricate for smaller teams. However, Jira can still offer a long-term structure for tech startups with strong Agile roots or immediate scaling plans.

Trello: Trello’s free tier and low-barrier-to-entry features make it an ideal option for startups. Its setup process is simple, demands less training, and enables small teams to visualise timelines and tasks instantly.

Consultant’s view: This aspect of contrast is conditional. For small businesses that are unclear of their long-term tool requirements, Evelon usually recommends both platforms side-by-side. However, our Jira Implementation Consultant team conducts onboarding sessions as a part of the discovery process to emphasise on scopes that make Jira worthy of investment.

Feature comparison: Core distinction 

Features	Jira	Trello
Learning curve	Steep	Shallow
User interface	Complex but customisable	Simple and visual-based
Custom workflows	Highly tailorable	Restricted customisation
Agile support	Strong support (SAFe, Scrum, Kanban)	Basic support (Kanban with Power-Ups)
Automation	In-built Jira automation	Butler (limited automation)
Reporting and dashboards	Advanced (velocity, burn-downs, etc)	Built-in minimal
Integrations	Extensive developer tool integrations	Wide range of general integrations
Pricing (as of 2024)	Paid tiers scale, free for up to 10 users	Free tier with paid Power-Ups

Security and compliance 

Jira: Jira offers its users enterprise-grade security features, covering audit logs, advanced user permissions, data residency, and SAML SSO. It strictly adheres to SOC2, GDPR, ISO/IEC 27001, and more.

Trello: While Trello is compliant with standard security guidelines and supports only basic security features, Trello Enterprise is needed for advanced compliance.

Our consultants suggest Jira as the safer option for industries with stringent regulatory requirements.

Pricing overview

Jira: Jira offers its users more distinct, out-of-the-box features, even in its free plan, applicable for up to 10 users maximum. Its paid plans vary based on team size and need.

Trello: Trello presents its users with a generous free plan. However, to access advanced features, you have to go for the paid Enterprise or Business Class plan or with Power-Ups.

Pro tip: While Trello might seem cheaper at first glance due to its free plan, the additional costs can quickly rise due to multiple Power-Ups for integrations, automation, and views. In contrast to that, Jira offers more of these benefits natively. 

Which tool is right for your team?

Team type	Recommended tool	Why
Small businesses	Trello, for the initial phase	Easy and quick setup, easy onboarding
Scaling startups	Jira	Built-in workflows and structure for growth
Agile development teams	Jira	Customisable, scalable, deep Agile features
Marketing and creative teams	Trello	Simple, visual, ideal for campaign and content monitoring
Regulated organisations	Jira	Compliance and security controls

Verdict

It is an undeniable fact that both Trello and Jira are excellent tools, serving exactly what they are designed for. Where Jira offers its users structured and feature-rich benefits ideal for more intricate and larger projects with Agile frameworks, Trello, on the other side, is best for visual project tracking, fast onboarding, and simple workflows. 

Still need help to make a choice? Connect with Evelon’s Jira Implementation Consultant to make an informed decision and take the initiative for smarter project management.