Trello vs Pivotal Tracker

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Our analysts compared Trello vs Pivotal Tracker based on data from our 400+ point analysis of Project Management Software, user reviews and our own crowdsourced data from our free software selection platform.

Trello Software Tool
Pivotal Tracker Software Tool

Product Basics

Trello is a cloud-based visual collaboration solution that can be used by organizations of any size to plan tasks and projects. It helps users define projects, requirements and workflows to ensure they are completed in a planned and sequential manner. It organizes projects into boards and provides a peek into ongoing projects and tasks.

It helps administrators delegate tasks, set deadlines and define workflows while supporting a range of project types. Specific team use cases include marketing, engineering, product management, support, design and sales. It is also useful for remote teams and startups.
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Pivotal Tracker is a cloud-hosted project planning solution that facilitates real-time communication and collaboration within cross-functional agile teams. Businesses can keep a tab on progress throughout a project’s lifecycle. It helps teams delegate and prioritize tasks, list actionable components and set deadlines. Project status, conversations and workflows are stored at a central location for easy accessibility and defining priorities.

It computes the time required to complete a project or smaller tasks based on previous data. Managers can use this data to estimate delivery time for every project subject to workforce availability and other conditions. It offers an iteration module that helps prioritize project tasks and divide them into manageable subtasks. Project status, everyday tasks and resource availability are displayed on a shared calendar.
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$5/User, Monthly
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$0 Monthly, Quote-based
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Mobile
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Product Assistance

Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars
Documentation
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Live Online
Videos
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Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
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Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support
Email
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FAQ
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24/7 Live Support

Product Insights

  • Visualize Project Workflows: Present projects visually using Kanban and Scrum layouts. Add list columns for team requirements and name them according to their workflow stages while keeping items organized and identifying bottlenecks. 
  • Hit Deadlines: Add due dates to cards and set reminders for everyone. Easily view due dates on cards, which turn red when past deadlines. 
  • Intuitive Interface: Move cards between columns with drag-and-drop capabilities or switch the order of columns. 
  • Centralized Collaboration: Facilitate communication within teams, add description boxes, attachments and comment threads to cards. Mention and add team members to cards to identify who’s responsible for each task. 
  • Track Details: Cards display relevant details about a task. Labels identify the card’s purpose, status or other specific information. Add a checklist to track items associated with a task and show or hide a card’s activity. 
  • Work With External Users: Invite guests to single or multiple boards to collaborate. Provide selective access without compromising boards that are for internal use only. 
  • Simplify Communication: Connects with email so users can comment on Trello cards and share attachments directly from their inbox. Each board is assigned a specific email address, which enables creating cards from email as well. 
  • Stay Updated: Change updates let users know when they are tagged, or a member is moved to another column. Set notifications for email, mobile, desktop and the app. 
  • Free Version: Create unlimited personal boards, cards and lists, along with one power-up per board for free. Include ten team boards, basic automation via integration with Butler and two-factor authentication. 
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  • 360-Degree View: Control projects across the board with complete visibility into their status and progress. Synchronize updated information with team members to reduce reporting time. Generate a history of project developmental progress while highlighting critical aspects that need to be tackled. 
  • Effective Communication: Share documents as well as concerns with team members with clear and effective lines of communication. Deal with customer feedback effectively by providing feasible project delivery timelines. 
  • Real-Time Collaboration: Get access to a virtual environment that fosters conversation and doesn’t need constant refreshing. Get regular updates via email, RSS, Campfire or Twitter. Let developers attach mock-ups that could be turned into working tools. 
  • Integrations: Create a variety of integrations and tools with REST API. Seamlessly integrates with external modules like Slack, Jira, GitHub, Jenkins, Zendesk and others. 
  • iOS Compatibility: Access integrated mobile interface on iOS devices and tackle critical issues on-the-go. Record stories from anywhere and get access to all business aspects in offline mode. 
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  • Boards: Create multiple boards for different projects, workflows or other needs. Keep all related information organized in a single location. 
  • Cards: Build processes, follow progress and manage all aspects of a project. Foster collaboration and organization within teams. 
  • Task Management: Represent tasks on each card and move them through the workflow. Set up and manage task dependencies by creating checklists and linking associated cards to one another. 
  • Templates: Create real-world boards from the inspiration section for teams. Use pre-built or custom templates to create boards, lists or cards. 
  • Power-Ups: Integrate it with apps like Slack, Zapier, Google Drive, MailChimp, Salesforce, Dropbox, SurveyMonkey and Zendesk to complete workflows. Choose from over 130 modules for file management, reporting, automation and developer tools.
  • Mobile Apps: Access it through iOS and Android devices, including smartphones, iPads, smart watches and Kindle fire tablets. 
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  • Stories: Use stories to track actionable work items and project progress. Customize stories with categories like features, chores and bugs to construct new features, prevent bugs and restrict technical debts. Gauge a story’s complexity while prioritizing and allocating points by iteration using drag-and-drop functions. 
  • Velocity: Businesses can measure their speed and trajectory using velocity. Find out the pace at which teams are completing stories and gaining points per iteration. Get a realistic picture of project delivery time based on points earned in recent iterations. Encourage a consistent rhythm within teams to meet stringent deadlines. 
  • Workspaces: Set-up an ideal workspace by arranging multiple projects and juggling responsibilities on a single screen. Use the drag-and-drop tool to move stories between projects and find things by searching backlogs. Store all work across teams and projects into the ‘my work’ panel. Have an accessible location that contains all stories to plan future to-do lists. 
  • Analytics: Gauge team performance with broad trends and minute details that illustrate a project’s health. Identify fluctuations and trends to get a reality check of team productivity. Drill down reports to monitor project health closely by iterations, releases, epics and more. Gather requisite data for the teams to detect and remove bottlenecks from the elementary level. 
  • File Sharing and Labels: Enrich stories with presentations, mock-ups and other files from Google Drive or a computer. Organize stories with searchable labels for a more visible workflow. 
  • Notifications: Stay updated by configuring message notifications on desktop or mobile. Users can involve people in conversations with mentions and follow stories they like. 
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Product Ranking

#8

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Project Management Software

#15

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Project Management Software

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User Sentiment Summary

Great User Sentiment 35053 reviews
Great User Sentiment 565 reviews
89%
of users recommend this product

Trello has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 89% when considering 35053 user reviews from 5 recognized software review sites.

85%
of users recommend this product

Pivotal Tracker has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 85% when considering 565 user reviews from 6 recognized software review sites.

4.9 (22)
n/a
4.4 (12443)
4.1 (95)
n/a
4.32 (122)
4.5 (20471)
4.3 (117)
n/a
4.3 (129)
4.3 (54)
4.6 (26)
4.2 (2063)
4.1 (76)

Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

Functionality: Trello offers robust organizational tools that simplify task delegation and streamline workflows, as reported by nearly 88% of the users who mention the product’s functionality.
Easy to Use: The system is intuitive, user friendly and doesn’t require a steep learning curve to understand its features, as noted by approximately 82% of users who referred to its usability.
Collaborative: Approximately 79% of users who talked about collaboration noted that project collaborations are a breeze with Trello as it shares information with team members and clients in an organized manner while adding specific members to project cards.
Customizable: The system is highly customizable with numerous display choices and features to adapt to users’ requirements, as reported by nearly 74% of reviewers who referred to customization.
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Simple Interface: Pivotal Tracker's straightforward design makes it easy to learn and navigate, even for those new to project management tools. Users appreciate the intuitive layout and lack of unnecessary complexity.
Effective Prioritization: The platform's emphasis on prioritizing tasks helps teams focus on the most important work first. Users find the ranking and backlog management features particularly useful for maintaining project clarity.
Collaboration Features: Pivotal Tracker facilitates team communication and collaboration through features like shared workspaces, comments, and @mentions. This helps keep everyone on the same page and promotes efficient teamwork.
Iteration Planning: The software's iterative approach to project management allows teams to break down large projects into manageable chunks. Users find this helpful for setting realistic goals and tracking progress over time.
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Scalability: Nearly 75% of reviewers who mention scalability note that it is cumbersome to scale the system to a company’s growing needs and cannot manage complex projects.
Cost: Trello offers limited functional and storage capabilities in its basic version, and advanced version requires per-user licensing, making it expensive for large teams, reported nearly 83% of users who mentioned cost.
Mobile Application: The system doesn’t perform well on mobile platforms, and its mobile application cannot perform all the functions of the desktop version, as reported by nearly 71% of users who mentioned mobile accessibility.
Installation: Trello is challenging to install and can overwhelm new users with its host of features, as reported by nearly 69% of users who talked about product set-up.
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Limited Project Views: Pivotal Tracker's singular view can feel restrictive for teams accustomed to Kanban boards or Gantt charts, potentially hindering workflow visualization.
Estimation Challenges: The platform's story point estimation system, while promoting relative sizing, can be confusing for new users and may require additional training for accurate implementation.
Collaboration Constraints: The absence of real-time collaborative editing features can lead to version control issues and communication challenges, especially for distributed teams.
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Trello includes robust workflow management and organizational capabilities for users to efficiently manage a project lifecycle. Its intuitive UI and clean dashboards simplify task delegation and monitoring, along with streamlining workflows. Its collaborative tools foster team communication and information sharing, while flexible integration capabilities help complete workflows. However, it lacks enterprise-grade project management abilities and is not suitable to handle large projects that require bulk movements. Additionally, the system provides limited features in its basic plan, and its mobile application lacks several functionalities offered by the desktop version.

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Pivotal Tracker shines as a project management tool built for Agile development teams, especially those using Scrum. Its strength lies in its intuitive interface and features tailored to Agile methodologies, like user story mapping and sprint planning. Users appreciate its simplicity and ease of use, making it a breeze to get started and manage projects without a steep learning curve. The platform's real-time collaboration features keep everyone on the same page, fostering transparency and efficient communication within teams. However, some users find Pivotal Tracker's simplicity limiting for complex projects that require extensive customization or advanced reporting capabilities. Additionally, while it integrates with popular tools like GitHub and Slack, the range of integrations might not be as extensive as some competitors like Jira or Asana. Pivotal Tracker's core strength is its laser focus on Agile principles, making it ideal for software development teams or organizations that heavily rely on Agile methodologies. Its user-friendly interface and collaborative features streamline sprint planning, backlog management, and progress tracking, ultimately boosting team productivity and project delivery. However, for teams with complex project needs or those seeking a broader range of features and integrations, exploring alternatives like Jira or Asana might be worthwhile.

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