Why the free plan matters more than the feature list
Most project management tools advertise a free plan. Very few free plans are built for the same thing. Some are generous with people and stingy with storage. Some give you every view but cap the number of projects. Some are really a single-user product with a second seat bolted on. Picking the wrong one does not hurt on day one; it hurts on day forty, when the team hits a limit in the middle of a project and has to choose between paying, deleting work, or migrating.
This guide compares seven tools with a free plan that a team can actually run projects on: ClickUp, Zoho Projects, Trello, Wrike, Taiga, Notion and Asana. Every limit and price below comes from the vendor's own pricing page or help center, checked in October 2026. Where a vendor does not state something, this article says so instead of guessing.
The ranking is about the free plan itself: how far a real team can get before paying. Paid features only matter here as the answer to "what happens when we outgrow it, and what does that cost?"
What to look for in a free project management plan
Free plans are defined by their limits, so compare the limits first and the features second. These are the ones that decide whether a free plan works for a team.
- User cap. The most important number. Asana Personal stops at 2 users and Zoho Projects at 5, while ClickUp lists "unlimited free plan members", Wrike lists unlimited users and Taiga's cloud plan allows an unlimited number of users. A tool that caps you at two people is a personal planner, not a team tool.
- Project or board cap. Zoho Projects allows 3 projects, Trello 10 boards per Workspace, and Taiga's free cloud plan 1 public and 1 private project. ClickUp and Asana both list unlimited tasks; Wrike instead limits you to 200 active tasks and one shared space.
- Storage and file size. This varies wildly: ClickUp's free plan has 60MB of total storage, Taiga's free cloud plan 10MB, Wrike 2GB per account and Zoho Projects 5GB. Trello and Asana take a different approach with unlimited storage but a per-file cap (10MB on Trello Free, 100MB on Asana Personal).
- Views. Board (Kanban) and list views are standard. Timeline and Gantt views are usually the first thing vendors hold back: Asana and Trello keep them for paid plans, Wrike adds its Gantt chart on Team, while Zoho Projects lists Gantt charts on its Free plan.
- Automation. Free automation is metered: 100 automation executions on ClickUp Free, 250 Workspace command runs per month on Trello Free, 50 workflow executions per month on Zoho Projects Free, and button automations only on Notion Free.
- Integrations. Check that the two or three tools your team already uses (Slack, Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, GitHub) connect on the free tier, not just on paid plans.
- The upgrade price. The free plan is also a trial of the paid product. If the first paid tier is expensive for your team size, a generous free plan is a trap. The pricing section below works out the cost of each first paid tier for 10 people.
Free plan limits at a glance
The table below lists what each free plan includes, from the vendor's pricing page or help center. "Not stated" means the vendor does not give a figure on those pages.
| Tool | Users on free plan | Projects / boards | Storage | Views on free plan | Automation on free plan | First paid tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ClickUp | Unlimited free plan members | Unlimited tasks; 5 Spaces, 40 Lists per Space | 60MB total | Unlimited custom views | 5 active rules, 100 automation executions | Core, $9/user/month billed yearly |
| Zoho Projects | Up to 5 users | 3 projects | 5GB | Gantt chart included; custom views on paid plans | 50 workflow executions/month | Premium, US$4/user/month billed annually (US$5 monthly) |
| Trello | Up to 10 collaborators per Workspace | Up to 10 boards per Workspace | Unlimited, 10MB per file | Board views; Calendar, Timeline, Table, Dashboard and Map are Premium | 250 Workspace command runs/month | Standard, $5/user/month billed annually ($6 monthly) |
| Wrike | Unlimited | 1 shared space, 200 active tasks | 2GB per account | Table, Board, Chart | None listed | Team, $10/user/month billed annually |
| Taiga (cloud) | Unlimited | 1 public + 1 private project | 10MB | Kanban, Scrum | Not stated | Enthusiast, 5 EUR/month (50 EUR billed annually) |
| Notion | Unlimited for individuals; limited block trial for 2+ members | Unlimited pages for individuals | 5MB per upload | Databases with subtasks and dependencies; 1 chart | Buttons only | Plus, $10/member/month billed annually |
| Asana | Up to 2 users | Unlimited projects and tasks | Unlimited, 100MB per file | List, board, calendar | Automations come with Starter | Starter, $10.99/user/month billed annually ($13.49 monthly) |
ClickUp: full review
ClickUp is an all-in-one work platform: tasks, docs, whiteboards, forms, chat and dashboards in one workspace. For a free plan comparison, what stands out is how little of the core task management it holds back.
What the free plan includes. The pricing page lists the Free Forever plan with unlimited tasks, unlimited free plan members, unlimited custom views, 5 Spaces, 40 Lists per Space, 100 Folders per Space, 1 form, 3 whiteboards, 1 wiki, 5 active automation rules with 100 automation executions, and 50+ native integrations. It also includes 500 AI credits per workspace as a trial of ClickUp's AI.
The limits that matter. Storage is the big one: 60MB for the whole workspace. That is a handful of PDFs and screenshots, so teams on the free plan should attach links to files stored elsewhere rather than upload them. The automation allowance (100 executions) is a taste, not a workflow engine. Custom fields and task types, goals, guest permissions and unlimited Gantt charts are all listed as Core additions, so they are not part of the free plan.
What the first paid tier costs and unlocks. Core is $9 per user per month billed yearly; the page shows a regular price of $12. Core adds unlimited storage and Spaces, custom fields and task types, unlimited forms, unlimited Gantt charts, 1,000 automations per month, goals and guest permissions. Business ($17 per user per month billed yearly, regular price $25) adds advanced dashboards, resource management, timesheets and 10,000 automations per month.
Who it is for. Teams that want to start free with everyone on board, and that are fine keeping files in Google Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive. Because members are unlimited, a 15-person team can run its real work on the free plan, which none of the user-capped tools allow.
Why it is the top pick. Among the seven tools here, ClickUp is the only one that combines unlimited members, unlimited tasks and unlimited custom views on the free plan. Wrike also has unlimited users but caps active tasks at 200 and spaces at one. The trade-off is storage and a dense interface: ClickUp has a lot of options, and a free workspace with no naming rules gets messy fast.
Zoho Projects: full review
Zoho Projects is a traditional project management tool from Zoho, with tasks, milestones, Gantt charts, timesheets and issue tracking. Its free plan is narrow on people and projects but generous on planning features and storage.
What the free plan includes. The pricing page lists the Free plan for up to 5 users with 3 projects, subtasks, whiteboard, 5GB of storage, iOS and Android apps, 50 workflow action executions per month, integration with Google apps and Office 365, and the Zoho MCP server. The plan comparison table on the same page marks Gantt charts, feeds and document sharing as included on Free, and also ticks integrations with Zapier, Slack and Microsoft Teams. Task dependencies are available on Free within a project, limited to the finish-to-start type.
The limits that matter. Three projects is the main constraint; once a fourth client or initiative starts, you either archive one or upgrade. The comparison table marks time tracking, custom views and the GitHub integration as not available on Free, and reports are "Basic". There is no workload report on Free.
What the first paid tier costs and unlocks. Premium is US$4 per user per month billed annually, or US$5 billed monthly. It unlocks unlimited projects, custom views and statuses, task blueprints, project budgeting, time logs and timesheets with approvals, 5,000 workflow executions per month, recurring tasks and reminders, and Zia AI features. Enterprise is US$9 per user per month billed annually (US$10 monthly) and adds read-only users, SSO, portfolio dashboards, critical path and baselines. Ultimate is US$14 billed annually (US$15 monthly). All paid plans have a 15-day free trial with no credit card required.
Who it is for. Teams of up to five who plan work against dates and want a Gantt chart without paying. Agencies or small operations teams already using other Zoho apps get the most out of it.
Limits to watch. The 5-user cap is hard: a sixth person means upgrading. If your projects are ongoing (for example a separate project per client), 3 projects fills up quickly.
Trello: full review
Trello is the Kanban board most people have already used. Lists of cards on a board, drag and drop, and Power-Ups to add extras. The free plan keeps that core experience intact.
What the free plan includes. The pricing page lists Trello Free as free for up to 10 collaborators per Workspace, with up to 10 boards per Workspace, unlimited cards, unlimited Power-Ups per board, unlimited storage with a 10MB per-file limit, 250 Workspace command runs per month for automation, and the mobile apps.
The limits that matter. The 10-collaborator cap applies per Workspace, and Atlassian's help center notes that a free Workspace can have only 10 open boards at a time; closing a board frees up a slot. The extra views (Calendar, Timeline, Table, Dashboard and Map) are listed under Premium, so the free plan is boards only. Custom Fields are a Standard feature.
What the first paid tier costs and unlocks. Standard is $5 per user per month billed annually, or $6 billed monthly. It adds unlimited boards, Custom Fields, card mirroring, AI features, 1,000 Workspace command runs per month, 250MB per file and multi-board guests. Premium ($10 billed annually, $12.50 monthly) is the plan with the extra views and unlimited command runs.
Who it is for. Small teams of up to 10 with simple, visual workflows: content calendars, hiring pipelines, sprint boards for small product teams, personal and family planning.
Limits to watch. Trello Free does not do timelines or dependencies. Teams that need to plan dates across projects will hit the ceiling on views before they hit the ceiling on people.
Wrike: full review
Wrike is a work management platform aimed at structured teams, with strong request intake, Gantt planning and reporting on paid plans. Its free plan is unusual: unlimited users, but tight on tasks and spaces.
What the free plan includes. Wrike's comparison table lists the Free plan with unlimited users and 2GB of storage per account. The help center article on the Free plan lists folders, projects, tasks and subtasks, comments and @mentions, live editing, file sharing, filtering, mass actions, an activity stream, Table, Board and Chart views, an Inbox, email and cloud storage integrations, and the iOS and Android apps. The comparison table also lists free viewers for involving people from other departments, clients and contractors, and access to Wrike's REST API.
The limits that matter. According to the help center, Free users get only one shared space and a limit of 200 active tasks, including subtasks; once you reach it, you need to complete, cancel or delete tasks before adding more. Dashboards, calendars, the Gantt chart and automation are not part of Free in the comparison table.
What the first paid tier costs and unlocks. Team is $10 per user per month, billed annually, for 2 to 15 users. It adds AI Essentials, shareable dashboards, interactive Gantt charts, calendars, 50 automation actions per seat per month, 2GB of storage per user and integrations with productivity tools like Google Workspace, Office 365 and Slack. Business is $25 per user per month (5 to 200 users, annual only). Seats are sold in groups of 5 up to 30.
Who it is for. Larger groups that need everyone in one place but have modest task volume, such as a department tracking a few dozen initiatives. It also suits teams evaluating Wrike before a paid rollout.
Limits to watch. 200 active tasks across the whole account goes fast if every person has a dozen open tasks. The one shared space means you cannot separate departments the way paid plans can.
Taiga: full review
Taiga is an open-source agile project management tool for software and product teams. It covers Kanban boards, Scrum backlogs and sprints, epics, sub-tasks, issue tracking, burn-down charts and a wiki. It is the only tool in this list you can run on your own servers.
What the free cloud plan includes. On taiga.io's deployment and pricing page, the free cloud plan includes 1 public project and 1 private project, up to 10MB of storage, an unlimited number of users and community support.
The self-hosted option. Taiga describes itself as "the free and open-source project management tool", and its source code is public on GitHub: the backend is licensed under MPL-2.0 and the frontend under AGPL-3.0. Taiga's community site has a setup guide for running it in production with Docker. Self-hosting has no listed license fee, so the cost is your own server and the time to maintain it. Taiga also sells a managed Private Cloud (a dedicated instance with 8GB RAM, 2 vCPU and 100GB SSD) and an On-Premise package with priority support and an SLA; both are priced through sales.
What the first paid tier costs and unlocks. Taiga's cloud plans are priced per workspace, not per user, and in euros. Enthusiast is 5 EUR per month (50 EUR billed annually) for 5 public and 5 private projects and 100MB of storage. Basic is 20 EUR per month (200 EUR billed annually) with unlimited projects, 500MB and basic support. Premium is 60 EUR per month (600 EUR billed annually) with 3GB and premium support. All cloud plans include an unlimited number of users.
Who it is for. Agile software teams that want Scrum and Kanban without per-seat pricing, and organizations that need their project data on their own infrastructure.
Limits to watch. The free cloud plan's 10MB of storage and 2 projects are only enough to evaluate the tool or run one small project. Taiga's own site says integrations work partly through Zapier, so the integration list is shorter than that of the commercial tools here. Self-hosting needs someone comfortable with Docker.
Notion: full review
Notion is a connected workspace for docs, wikis and databases. Project tracking in Notion is built from databases with properties, subtasks and dependencies, plus board, table and calendar layouts.
What the free plan includes. The pricing page lists Free with unlimited pages and blocks for individuals, file uploads up to 5MB, 10 external guests, 7 days of page history, 1 chart, basic forms, basic sites, Notion Calendar, basic button automations and a trial of Notion AI. Databases on Free include subtasks, dependencies and custom properties.
The limits that matter. The key line is that pages and blocks are "limited for 2+ members". Notion explains that once a shared workspace reaches the limit, you can still read, edit and organize existing blocks, but you cannot add new ones. For a team of two or more, the free plan works as a trial rather than a permanent home. Automations on Free are buttons only; database automations come with Plus.
What the first paid tier costs and unlocks. Plus is $10 per member per month billed annually. It adds unlimited collaborative blocks, unlimited file uploads, unlimited charts, custom forms, custom sites, 30 days of page history and custom database automations. Notion says yearly billing saves up to 20%, but the monthly Plus price was not confirmed for this article. Business is $20 per member per month billed annually.
Who it is for. Solo users who want projects, notes and a wiki in one place for free, and small teams who mainly need documentation with some task tracking and are ready to pay once they commit.
Limits to watch. For multi-person teams, the block limit means the free plan has an end date. Notion is also more of a toolkit than a ready-made project tool: you build the project system yourself.
Asana: full review
Asana is one of the most established work management tools, with a clean interface and strong structure for cross-functional projects. Its free plan, called Personal, is good software with a firm ceiling.
What the free plan includes. The pricing page and Asana's Personal plan page list unlimited projects and tasks, list, board and calendar views, 100+ integrations, unlimited storage with a 100MB maximum per file, and the iOS and Android apps.
The limits that matter. Personal is capped at 2 users. Timeline and Gantt views, reporting dashboards, automations, forms, custom fields, custom templates and guests are all listed as Starter features. That is why Asana ranks last here: the free plan cannot hold a team of three, however good its task management is.
What the first paid tier costs and unlocks. Starter is $10.99 per user per month billed annually, or $13.49 billed monthly. It removes the seat cap and adds Timeline and Gantt views, reporting dashboards, unlimited automations, forms, custom fields, custom templates, unlimited free guests, the workflow builder and Asana AI. Seats are sold one at a time up to 5 users, then in groups of 5 up to 30. Advanced is $24.99 billed annually ($30.49 monthly).
Who it is for. Freelancers, individuals and two-person teams who want a polished task manager for free, and teams that already plan to pay for Starter and want to learn the tool first.
Limits to watch. Anyone running a team of three or more should treat Asana as a paid tool. Its first paid tier is the second most expensive in this list.
Pricing comparison: what happens when you outgrow the free plan
Every free plan here eventually runs out, whether on users, projects, tasks or storage. Here is what the first paid tier costs for a 10-person team for one year, using only prices from the vendors' pricing pages. Per-user prices are multiplied by 10 seats and 12 months.
| Tool | First paid tier | Price used | 10 users, 1 year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zoho Projects | Premium | US$4/user/month billed annually | 4 x 10 x 12 = $480 |
| Trello | Standard | $5/user/month billed annually | 5 x 10 x 12 = $600 |
| ClickUp | Core | $9/user/month billed yearly | 9 x 10 x 12 = $1,080 |
| Wrike | Team | $10/user/month billed annually | 10 x 10 x 12 = $1,200 |
| Notion | Plus | $10/member/month billed annually | 10 x 10 x 12 = $1,200 |
| Asana | Starter | $10.99/user/month billed annually | 10.99 x 10 x 12 = $1,318.80 |
| Taiga (cloud) | Basic (unlimited projects) | 200 EUR billed annually, flat | 200 EUR, any number of users |
On monthly billing, the same team would pay $600 a year for Zoho Projects Premium (US$5 x 10 x 12), $720 for Trello Standard ($6 x 10 x 12) and $1,618.80 for Asana Starter ($13.49 x 10 x 12). ClickUp shows a regular price of $12 for Core next to the yearly price, which would be $1,440 for 10 users over a year. Wrike's Team plan is billed annually.
A few things stand out:
- Zoho Projects has the cheapest per-seat upgrade, which matters because its free plan stops at 5 users. A team growing past five can upgrade for less than any other per-seat tool here.
- Taiga's flat pricing gets cheaper per person as the team grows, and self-hosting has no license fee at all. Its prices are in euros, so convert at your own rate.
- Asana's upgrade is the most expensive per seat among the per-user tools, on top of the smallest free plan.
- ClickUp costs more to upgrade than Zoho or Trello, but because members on its free plan are unlimited, many teams can stay on Free much longer before they have to pay at all.
How to choose the right free plan
Start with your team size and how you plan work, then check the one limit most likely to stop you.
Count people first. If you are one or two people, every tool here works, and Asana Personal or Notion Free are both pleasant. At three to five people, Asana is out, and Zoho Projects, Trello, ClickUp and Wrike all fit. At six to ten, Zoho Projects is out unless you upgrade, and Trello is the limit at 10 collaborators per Workspace. Above ten, only ClickUp, Wrike and Taiga have no user cap on the free plan.
Then count projects and tasks. Teams running one or two big projects fit anywhere. Teams running many parallel projects should avoid Zoho Projects Free (3 projects) and Taiga's free cloud plan (2 projects). Teams with a high volume of small tasks should watch Wrike's 200 active task limit.
Then check storage. If your projects involve a lot of files (design files, contracts, video), ClickUp's 60MB and Taiga's 10MB will fill quickly. Zoho Projects (5GB) and Wrike (2GB) have the most free storage here; Trello and Asana have unlimited storage with per-file caps of 10MB and 100MB.
Decide whether you need dates. If your team plans against deadlines and dependencies, look at Zoho Projects, which lists Gantt charts on its Free plan. Trello, Asana and Wrike all keep timeline or Gantt views for paid plans.
If you write code, look at Taiga. Backlogs, sprints, epics and burn-down charts are built in, and the open-source version means you are never forced onto a paid plan. If you already use GitHub, note that Zoho Projects only lists its GitHub integration on paid plans.
If your work is mostly documents, look at Notion. It is the strongest tool here for wikis and docs, but plan to pay once more than one person is writing.
Finally, price the upgrade. Use the pricing table above with your real headcount. A free plan you will outgrow in three months is a trial, and the paid tier is what you are really choosing.
Conclusion
For most teams starting from zero, ClickUp has the best free plan: unlimited members, unlimited tasks and unlimited custom views mean a whole team can run real work on it. Keep files elsewhere, because 60MB of storage is the catch.
Zoho Projects is the best choice for teams of up to five that plan with dates. Its free plan includes Gantt charts and 5GB of storage, and its Premium upgrade is the cheapest per seat here. Trello remains the simplest option for small teams that work in boards. Wrike is worth a look for larger groups with modest task volume, Taiga for agile teams and anyone who wants to self-host, and Notion for documentation-first teams. Asana is excellent software, but its free plan is for one or two people.
Free plans change often, so check the vendor's pricing page before you commit a team to one.
Sarah Chen