Trello Free Plan 2026: What's Included, What's Missing, When to Upgrade
Yes, Trello has a permanent free plan — but it comes with real limits. Here's exactly what you get and when it stops being enough.
Quick Answer: What Does the Trello Free Plan Include?
Trello's Free plan costs nothing and never expires. It supports up to 10 boards per workspace, 10 collaborators, 1 Power-Up per board, 10 MB attachments, and 250 automation runs per month. It's genuinely useful for individuals and very small teams — but hits hard limits fast.
✓ What You CAN Do for Free
- Unlimited cards (within 10 boards)
- Unlimited personal (non-workspace) boards
- iOS and Android mobile apps
- Basic Kanban view
- Labels, due dates, checklists
- Attach files up to 10 MB
- Email-to-board
- Calendar Power-Up (counts as your 1 Power-Up)
- Trello's basic automations (Butler rules)
- Community support
✗ What You CANNOT Do for Free
- More than 10 boards per workspace
- More than 10 workspace collaborators
- Multiple Power-Ups per board
- Advanced checklists or custom fields
- Timeline, Dashboard, Calendar, or Map views
- Saved searches
- 250+ MB file attachments
- More than 250 automation runs/month
- Activity history older than 14 days
- SSO or admin controls
The 10-Collaborator Limit: How It Really Works
In April 2024, Atlassian changed the Free plan collaborator limit to 10 workspace collaborators. Workspaces that hit this limit became read-only for new members — existing boards remained accessible but no new members could join.
Who counts as a collaborator: Anyone who is a workspace member, invited to a specific board within the workspace, or has a pending invite. This means if you invite a client to review a project board, they count toward your 10-person limit immediately upon accepting.
The observer loophole (Premium only): Trello Premium introduced an “Observer” role that grants read-only board access without counting toward workspace member limits. If you need clients to view boards without editing, you need Premium ($10/user/mo) — this feature is not available on Standard or Free.
Heads up: Pending invites count toward the limit even if the person hasn't accepted yet. Cancel unused invites to free up slots.
When to Upgrade from Free
Use this table to identify your upgrade trigger.
| Scenario | What breaks on Free | Minimum plan |
|---|---|---|
| Team has grown to 10+ people | 10-collaborator limit locks new members out | Standard ($5/user/mo) |
| You need more than 10 project boards | Board limit reached — can't create more workspace boards | Standard ($5/user/mo) |
| You want to use multiple Power-Ups on one board | Only 1 Power-Up allowed per board on Free | Standard ($5/user/mo) |
| Automations failing mid-month | 250 runs/month exhausted — all automations pause silently | Standard (1,000/mo) or Premium (unlimited) |
| You need Timeline or Gantt view | No views beyond basic Kanban on Free | Premium ($10/user/mo) |
| Clients need to view boards without being full members | Observer role not available on Free | Premium ($10/user/mo) |
| Files larger than 10 MB | 10 MB attachment ceiling hit | Standard (250 MB) |
Free Plan FAQ
Is Trello free forever?
Yes, Trello's free plan is permanent — it's not a trial. However, Atlassian has tightened free plan limits over the years. In April 2024, they reduced the workspace collaborator limit to 10 (from a higher threshold). Always check the current limits at trello.com/pricing.
Who counts as a collaborator on the Trello Free plan?
Workspace collaborators include: full workspace members, guests invited to specific boards within the workspace, and pending invites. View-only observers (a Premium feature) do not count. If you invite a client to a board, they count toward your 10-collaborator limit.
Can I use Trello for free with more than 10 people?
Not in one workspace. A workaround is to use separate workspaces, but this creates data silos and is impractical for teams. If you have 11+ people, you need Standard at minimum ($5/user/month on annual billing).
What happens when you hit the 10-board limit on Free?
You can still view and edit existing boards, but you cannot create new boards in that workspace. You can archive old boards to make space. On Standard and above, there is no board limit.
What is the guest loophole on Trello Free?
People with view-only access who haven't been added as workspace members don't count toward collaborator limits — but the Observer role (read-only) requires Premium. On Free, anyone you add to a board becomes a collaborator and counts toward 10.
Ready to upgrade? Try Premium free for 14 days.
No credit card required. Downgrade to Free at any time.