Slack vs. Trello: Which Tool is Best For You?

Slack Vs. Trello: How Are They Different? 

According to Developers, Slack helps to bring all your communication (messages, files, Twitter, Google Docs, etc.) together in one place, where it can be instantly searchable and available wherever you go. Trello on the other hand is described as your whole project at a single glance, indicating what is being worked upon, who’s working on what, and where something is in a process. 

6% Growth in PM Jobs By 2024 - Upskill Now

UMass PCP Project ManagementExplore Course

Head to Head Trello Slack Comparison

Market Share of Slack Vs Trello

According to a Slintel comparison, Slack enjoys 26.76% market share in the category of productivity tools, while Trello has 1.61% market share in the same market space. 

Features Overview

Trello

Trello is a very popular workflow management system or collaboration tool that allows teams to easily check who is working on what and when they finish their task without having to switch from one app to another. Kanban boards with cards make it easier to organize tasks and add color code labels for quick view. Tello makes teamwork easier, it utilizes boards, cards, and lists to prioritize projects.  

PMP Certification Essential for Senior-Level Roles

PMP Certification TrainingExplore Course

Main Features of Trello

• Card Archive
• Drag and drop Editing
• Mobile Friendly Views
• Deadline Notifications
• Developer API
• Progress Meter Checklist
• File attachment
• In-line editing

Benefits

• Ease of Use
• Free Plans
• Instant Notifications
• Hassle Free Project Management
• Customizable
• Mobile Friendly

Slack

Slack is a communication champ that replaces email, text messaging for a team with something faster, more organized and reliable. Slack allows you to bring all of your business communication into one place so it gets easier to stay organized and make decisions more quickly. With slack, communication becomes stress free, where you can search for anything you need without having to struggle through email strings looking for who said what and when. 

Main Features of Slack

• Instant Messaging
• Create Channels
• Slack Content
• Accessibility
• Voice and Video Calls

Benefits

• Notifications Feature
• Data Security
• Ease to use
• Effective Image Transfer
• Fully functioning mobile app

Comparing Free Plans of Slack vs Trello

Both Trello and Slack have free plans that offer basic functionality. 

Trello has a forever-free plan that includes some standard features for managing projects on a small scale. 

If you’re on a free Slack subscription, you can access the most recent 10000 messages. You can use it for as long as you wish and invite any number of members. 

Pricing

Trello pricing

There are four Trello Plans including

• Free – 0$. For individuals or teams looking to manage teams and collaborate
• Standard – 5$. For teams looking to manage more work and scale collaboration
• Premium – 10$. For businesses looking to use it for teams up to 100 people
• Enterprise – 17.50$. For businesses looking to work and connect across teams with increased security and controls. 

Slack Pricing

• Free – 0$. The quickest and easiest way of using Slack
• Pro – 6.67$. for small teams that want better collaboration
• Business + - 12.50$. for businesses that want to increase productivity and keep teams connected.
• Enterprise Grid – for demanding businesses that require flexibility to meet requirements

User Interface

The desktop application of Slack is built using Electron aka Atom shell for a faster, and superior user experience. You can join a workspace by simply entering the name you were invited to, and you are set up immediately. The sidebar displays key information like mentions, reactions, people, files – where all of these can be coordinated into manageable sections in the sidebar.

The Trello user interface is straightforward to navigate for project management. You can add, move or edit lists and cards easily. The upper right hand corner of the dashboard display the settings, profile, cards, activity, shortcuts, etc. 

Shortcuts & Productivity

With Trello, you can give your personal productivity a boost and make it easy to check off tasks. The boards, lists and cards enable teams to progress from ideas to actions in seconds. 

Keyboard shortcuts in Slack allow users to get around quickly. These include:

Up – Edit last message.

Ctrl+B and Ctrl+I – Emphasizing messages.

V and M – Toggling call functions.

Shift+Enter – A whole new line.

Ctrl+F and Ctrl+G – Searching 

Ctrl+U – Upload a file.

Ctrl+N – Start a new message

Teams that use Slack are reported to experience shorter sales cycles, increase in potential closed deals, and faster internal response times. 

Bots and Workflows

While integrating Trello with Slack, you need to add the bot to your slack channels. Next, attach and create Trello cards directly from the channels.  

Type in /invite @Trello in the desired channel’s message field and send the message.  

Integrations

For using Trello integration with Slack, there’s no need to switch between tabs. Simply enter the commands into your Slack message field, and watch it sent over to your Trello board. 

Security & Compliance

The security and compliance feature available are:

• Manage data loss prevention
• Manage compliance exporting and history
• Keep Track of event logging 
• SSO and AD syncing
• Manage employee mobile devices
• Identify and address malware, bad links and IP addresses

Slack vs Trello - Which Workstream Collaboration Product Is Best for Your Business?

Depending on how you run your business, you might find that Slack or Trello is better suited to your needs. Using both of them together is the best to get the most out of Trello and Slack. 

If you want an easy way to manage tasks and simple projects, Trello is best for your needs. Choose from templates for different workflows like content writing, podcast or video production, sales pipelines, wedding planning etc. 

If you’re in need of an instant messaging software to improve communication, then Slack would be the best choice. 

Learn new trends, emerging practices, tailoring considerations, and core competencies required of a Project Management professional with the PMP Certification course.

Can You Use Slack and Trello Together?

Why choose between Slack and Trello when you can have the best of both worlds, right? Fortunately, that’s possible. Trello allows comments and mentions but is not an ideal tool for quick communication when used alone. Similarly, Slack is ideal for instant messaging, but besides the /remind command, it does not have much scope for managing tasks. 

There are two ways to use Trello and Slack in harmony –

• The Slack Power-Up in Trello: allows the user to do the steering from Trello
• The Trello App for Slack: allows users to do the steering from Slack

As you can see, both these tools have an amazing set of features useful for team management and business collaboration. You can choose one or the other based on your specific business needs and the nature of your task. 

Jumpstart your career in project management with Simplilearn’s Post Graduate Program in Project Management. Check out our resource page for learning more about project management tools and get access to a wealth of project management courses and tutorials.