TaskNote vs Trello

The board

Both apps give you a drag and drop board with columns and cards. The habit is the same: pull a card from To Do to In Progress to Done.

The difference is what a card can hold. On Trello's free plan a card has a basic description field, and Power-Ups are capped at one per board. In TaskNote every card opens into a full rich text editor with headings, checklists, links and formatting, and nothing needs adding first.

Trello's free plan has no ceiling on cards. TaskNote's free plan has 50 tasks and 3 boards, which covers a personal board comfortably; Pro removes the limits. Columns can be renamed, given a card limit, and cards reordered inside a column.

Notes on cards

A Trello card has a description, which is a plain area for context. Richer formatting means a Power-Up, and the free plan allows one per board.

TaskNote goes the other way: every card is backed by a real note. Write up a meeting, paste in a spec, add a checklist of subtasks, all inside the card, in the same editor used for standalone notes.

There is also a notes section independent of the board. Jot a thought down as a note, then select a line and make it a card once it turns into work.

Reminders and dates

Trello has due dates on cards, but calendar views and notifications come from the Calendar Power-Up, which uses up the single Power-Up the free plan allows.

In TaskNote reminders are part of every card and every note. Set a date and a time, and a notification arrives when it is due. Nothing to install, nothing to connect.

Privacy

Trello keeps your boards on Atlassian's servers as readable text, which means Atlassian can read your cards. For most team work that is a fair trade. For personal or sensitive projects it is worth a thought.

In the TaskNote web app, notes and cards are encrypted on your device before they are sent anywhere, and the key stays with you. We cannot read your content, and neither can anyone who reaches the server. The Windows app goes further: the board never leaves the computer.

Price

Trello's free plan covers the basics but limits you to one Power-Up per board. Several Power-Ups, automation and admin features come with the paid tiers.

In TaskNote the board, the note editor, reminders and encryption are all in the free plan, with 50 notes, 50 tasks and 3 boards, and no card details. Pro lifts the limits for $19.99 a month or $199.90 a year. The Windows app is separate: free with the same limits, or Lifetime for $49, once.

Trello for one person

Trello was built for teams, and it shows when you use it alone: workspaces, members, visibility settings and Power-Up menus all sit around a board that only you will ever open. The board itself is good; the rest is furniture you step around.

A personal board needs three things: cards that hold your own notes, a reminder that fires, and no one else reading it. That is the whole of TaskNote's board, and why it fits a to-do list, a reading list, a move, a renovation or a job hunt better than a tool designed for a product team.

Moving from Trello

There is no importer for Trello's JSON export yet, and we would rather say so than promise one. For a personal board the honest path is short: open the Trello board in one tab and TaskNote in another, type the card titles into the matching column, one line each, and paste the descriptions that still matter into the cards. Twenty minutes for most boards.

Keep the Trello board for a week alongside. When you stop opening it, archive it.