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The cheapest project management tool for a small team in 2026
Four project management tools, priced per seat, for a team of about five. The spread between the cheapest and the most expensive seat is more than double, and the free tiers are not the same size. Every number below is read from the vendor's own pricing page.
Prices last re-checked 2026-10-05. Numbers are read from each vendor's own pricing page; any exception is flagged under "What to watch".
Which one should you pick?
- Pick Trello if you need the cheapest seat. Visit Trello
- Pick ClickUp if you need the cheapest seat that does real project management. Visit ClickUp
- Pick Asana if you need the best free tier for a team. Visit Asana
- Pick monday.com if this trade-off works for you: mid-priced, but the free tier will not fit five. Visit monday.com
The short answer
Short answer: Cheapest seat: Trello is free for unlimited cards and up to 10 boards per workspace, then $5 per user per month on Standard ($6 monthly) and $10 on Premium ($12.50 monthly), billed annually. For a small team that mostly needs boards and cards, it is the cheapest paid seat of the four.
| Tool | Entry price | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/mo (no annual discount published) | Unlimited cards, up to 10 boards per workspace, 10MB attachment limit |
| Standard | $6/mo, or $5/mo billed annually | Per user. Unlimited boards, advanced checklists, custom fields, 250 workspace co |
| Premium | $12.5/mo, or $10/mo billed annually | Per user. Calendar/Day/Table/Timeline/Dashboard views, AI, 1,000 command runs/mo |
| Enterprise | $17.5/mo (no annual discount published) | Per user. Organization-wide permissions, SSO, 250 workspace command runs/mo |
Prices checked 2026-10-05.
Cheapest seat: Trello
Trello is free for unlimited cards and up to 10 boards per workspace, then $5 per user per month on Standard ($6 monthly) and $10 on Premium ($12.50 monthly), billed annually. For a small team that mostly needs boards and cards, it is the cheapest paid seat of the four. The trade-off: the free tier caps you at 10 boards per workspace and 10MB attachments, and there is no built-in time tracking.
See Trello pricingCheapest seat that does real project management: ClickUp
ClickUp is free for unlimited members with 100MB storage, then $7 per user per month on Unlimited ($10 monthly) and $12 on Business ($19 monthly), billed annually. Unlimited includes unlimited storage, dashboards, Gantt and 1,000 automations a month. The trade-off: the free tier's 100MB storage is the smallest of the four, and the interface is the busiest.
See ClickUp pricingBest free tier for a team: Asana
Asana is free for up to 10 teammates with unlimited tasks and projects and list, board and timeline views, then $10.99 per user per month on Starter and $24.99 on Advanced, billed monthly. Ten free seats is the most generous free tier here. The trade-off: Asana publishes no annual discount, so the per-user rate is the same either way.
See Asana pricingMid-priced, but the free tier will not fit five: monday.com
monday.com is free for up to 2 seats and 3 boards, then $9 per seat per month on Basic, $12 on Standard and $19 on Pro, billed annually ($12, $14 and $24 month to month). At $9 a seat, Basic sits between ClickUp and Asana. The trade-off: the free tier is only 2 seats, so a five-person team pays from day one.
See monday.com pricingThe prices, plan by plan
Trello
Trello is free for unlimited cards and up to 10 boards per workspace, then $5 per user per month on Standard, $10 on Premium and $17.50 on Enterprise, billed annually.
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/mo (no annual discount published) | Unlimited cards, up to 10 boards per workspace, 10MB attachment limit |
| Standard | $6/mo, or $5/mo billed annually | Per user. Unlimited boards, advanced checklists, custom fields, 250 workspace command runs/mo |
| Premium | $12.5/mo, or $10/mo billed annually | Per user. Calendar/Day/Table/Timeline/Dashboard views, AI, 1,000 command runs/mo |
| Enterprise | $17.5/mo (no annual discount published) | Per user. Organization-wide permissions, SSO, 250 workspace command runs/mo |
Prices checked 2026-10-05.
What to watch: Trello prints the annual per-user rate by default; the monthly-billing rates come from the page's monthly toggle. Enterprise is quoted at the same rate either way.
Source: https://trello.com/pricing, read 2026-10-05.
See Trello pricingClickUp
ClickUp is free for unlimited members with 100MB storage, then $7 per user per month on Unlimited, $12 on Business and a custom quote for Enterprise, billed annually.
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free Forever | $0/mo (no annual discount published) | Unlimited members, 100MB storage, unlimited tasks, board and list views |
| Unlimited | $10/mo, or $7/mo billed annually | Per user. Unlimited storage, integrations, dashboards, Gantt, 1,000 automations/mo |
| Business | $19/mo, or $12/mo billed annually | Per user. Advanced automations, time tracking, workload, 10,000 automations/mo |
| Enterprise | custom quote | Custom quote. SSO, advanced permissions, white labelling |
What to watch: ClickUp prints the annual per-user rate by default; the monthly-billing rates come from the page's monthly toggle.
Source: https://clickup.com/pricing, read 2026-10-19.
See ClickUp pricingmonday.com
monday.com starts at $9 per seat per month on Basic, $12 on Standard, $19 on Pro and a custom quote for Enterprise, billed annually; monthly billing costs more.
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/mo (no annual discount published) | Up to 2 seats, 3 boards, 1,000 items |
| Basic | $12/mo, or $9/mo billed annually | Per seat. Unlimited boards, 5GB storage, 1,000 automations/mo |
| Standard | $14/mo, or $12/mo billed annually | Per seat. Timeline, Gantt, calendar, guest access, 250 automations/mo |
| Pro | $24/mo, or $19/mo billed annually | Per seat. Time tracking, formula column, private boards, 25,000 automations/mo |
| Enterprise | custom quote | Custom quote. Enterprise auth, audit log, multi-level permissions |
Prices checked 2026-10-05.
What to watch: monday.com prints the annual per-seat rate by default and switches to the monthly rate with a client-side toggle. Both sets are the vendor's own numbers, but the monthly figures come from the toggle rather than the static HTML.
Source: https://monday.com/pricing, read 2026-10-05.
See monday.com pricingAsana
Asana is free for up to 10 teammates, then $10.99 per user per month on Starter, $24.99 on Advanced and a custom quote for Enterprise, billed monthly.
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Personal | $0/mo (no annual discount published) | Up to 10 teammates, unlimited tasks and projects, list/board/timeline views |
| Starter | $10.99/mo (no annual discount published) | Per user. Timeline, workflow builder, 250 automations/mo, 500 form submissions/mo |
| Advanced | $24.99/mo (no annual discount published) | Per user. Goals, portfolios, workload, time tracking, 25,000 automations/mo |
| Enterprise | custom quote | Custom quote. SSO, SCIM, data residency, advanced reporting |
Prices checked 2026-10-05.
What to watch: Asana's pricing page shows the same per-user rate whether you pay monthly or yearly, so we record no annual discount rather than inventing one.
Source: https://asana.com/pricing, read 2026-10-19.
See Asana pricingQuestions people ask
What is the cheapest option here?
Trello, at $5 per user per month on Standard, billed annually. ClickUp is $7, monday.com is $9 and Asana is $10.99.
Which one has the best free plan?
Asana, free for up to 10 teammates with unlimited tasks and projects. Trello is free for unlimited cards but caps you at 10 boards per workspace, and monday.com's free tier is only 2 seats.
What does a five-person team actually pay?
Trello $25/mo, ClickUp $35/mo, monday.com $45/mo and Asana $54.95/mo on the entry paid plan at annual rates.
Do any of these charge per seat on the free plan?
No. All four free tiers are free, they just differ in size - 10 teammates on Asana, unlimited members on ClickUp, 2 seats on monday.com and unlimited cards on Trello.
Which one should I pick if I need time tracking?
ClickUp Business at $12 per user per month billed annually, or Asana Advanced at $24.99. Trello and monday.com Basic do not include it.
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