Early November, and the holiday rush is already in the group chat. Someone asked who is ordering gift boxes, someone else thought it was done, and the supplier deadline was yesterday. When three or four people share the work, the problem is rarely effort. It is that nobody can see who owns what.
The short answer: a small team can run on a free plan. Trello Free covers up to 10 collaborators per Workspace across 10 boards, and ClickUp Free Forever allows unlimited members but only 60 MB of storage. Asana Personal and monday.com Free both stop at 2 people, and Notion Free caps a shared workspace at 1,000 blocks. For most teams of three to ten people, Trello is the free plan that lasts longest.
Key takeaways
- Trello Free allows up to 10 collaborators and 10 boards per Workspace, with 250 automation runs a month; Standard is US$5 per user a month billed yearly.
- Asana Personal and monday.com Free both stop at 2 people, so a team of three pays from day one.
- Notion Free gives a solo owner unlimited blocks, but a workspace with more than one member gets 1,000 blocks before it has to upgrade.
At a glance
| Tool | Best for | Free plan limit | Paid from | Canadian note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trello | Teams of 3 to 10 who think in lists and cards | 10 collaborators and 10 boards per Workspace; 10 MB per file | Standard US$5 per user a month billed yearly, US$6 monthly | Priced in USD only |
| ClickUp | Teams that want many features and store few files | Unlimited members; 60 MB total storage; 5 Spaces | Core $9 per user a month billed yearly (currency not stated on the page) | Currency not stated on the page |
| Asana | Two partners running projects together | 2 people; unlimited tasks and projects; 100 MB per file | Starter $10.99 per user a month billed yearly (currency not stated on the page) | Currency not stated on the page |
| monday.com | Owners who like a colourful spreadsheet style board | 2 seats, 3 boards, 3 docs; capped items | Basic $9 per seat a month billed yearly, from 3 seats (currency not stated on the page) | Price set by your billing country, per the page |
| Notion | A solo owner who wants notes, wiki and tasks in one place | Unlimited blocks for 1 member; 1,000 blocks once more members join | Plus US$10 per member a month | Priced in USD |
How we chose
- Official pages only for every price, limit and rule.
- Published features and pricing, not hands on testing.
- What matters to a small Canadian team: how many people the free plan really allows, what it caps, and what the first paid step costs.
- Nobody pays to be included.
The five free plans, tool by tool
Trello Free
Trello is a board and card tool from Atlassian: each job is a card you drag across lists.
Best for: a shop, studio or trade business with three to ten people who need to see who is doing what this week.
- People: free for up to 10 collaborators per Workspace.
- Boards: up to 10 per Workspace.
- Storage: unlimited, with a 10 MB limit per file.
- Automation: 250 Workspace command runs a month, plus unlimited Power-Ups per board.
Why it stands out: it is the only free plan here that comfortably fits a team of up to ten people.
Limits: Calendar, Timeline, Table, Dashboard and Map views are listed under Premium. The 10 MB file cap rules out large photos and videos. Ten boards fills up fast if you make one per client.
Price: Free is US$0. Standard is US$5 per user a month billed yearly or US$6 monthly. Premium is US$10 billed yearly or US$12.50 monthly.
ClickUp Free Forever
ClickUp is an all in one work app with tasks, docs, whiteboards, forms and AI in a single workspace.
Best for: a team that wants lots of views and features at $0 and keeps its files somewhere else.
- People: unlimited free members, and guest accounts are included.
- Automation: 100 actions per workspace a month and 5 active rules.
- AI: 500 AI credits per workspace.
- Structure: 5 Spaces, 3 whiteboards and 1 form.
Why it stands out: no cap on members, so a growing team never hits a people wall on the free plan.
Limits: 60 MB of storage for the whole workspace is very little once people attach photos or PDFs. Gantt, Timeline and Workload views are trial only. Activity view covers just 1 day.
Price: Free Forever is $0. Core is $9 per user a month billed yearly (the page lists $12 as the regular price), and Business is $17 billed yearly ($25 regular). The page shows only a $ sign, so the currency is not stated on the page.
Asana Personal
Asana is task and project software built around lists, boards and due dates, with a free Personal plan.
Best for: two business partners, or an owner and one assistant, who want clean task lists with due dates.
- People: 2 users; the comparison table says up to 2 seats per project and team.
- Volume: unlimited tasks and projects.
- Storage: unlimited, with a 100 MB limit per file.
- Views: list, board and calendar, plus more than 100 free integrations.
Why it stands out: a calendar view and unlimited projects on the free plan, which Trello and monday.com keep for paid tiers.
Limits: a third person means paying for Starter. The page does not confirm any AI on Personal.
Price: Personal is $0. Starter is $10.99 per user a month billed yearly or $13.49 monthly; Advanced is $24.99 yearly or $30.49 monthly. The page shows only a $ sign, so the currency is not stated on the page.
monday.com Free
monday.com work management organises jobs as rows on colourful boards, a little like a shared spreadsheet.
Best for: one or two people who want to try monday.com before a paid team plan.
- People: up to 2 seats, and its help centre says you can invite as many viewers as you want.
- Boards and docs: up to 3 of each.
- Views: Kanban, Files and Forms; Timeline, Gantt and Calendar are listed under Standard.
Why it stands out: unlimited viewers, so a client or bookkeeper can look without taking a seat.
Limits: items are capped but the pricing page does not give the number; referrals can lift the account to 1,000 items in total, per the help centre. Archived items still count. Formula and time tracking columns are not available on Free.
Price: Basic is $9, Standard $12 and Pro $19 per seat a month billed yearly, and paid plans start from 3 seats. The page shows a $ sign without a currency code and says prices are set by your billing country; monthly billing costs more, as the yearly plan saves 18%.
Notion Free
Notion is a workspace for notes, documents, wikis and simple task databases.
Best for: a solo owner who wants a business handbook, ideas list and task board in one place.
- Solo use: unlimited blocks when the workspace has one member.
- Guests: 10 external guests.
- Files: up to 5 MB per upload.
- History: 7 days of page history.
Why it stands out: it doubles as your written procedures, so instructions and tasks live side by side.
Limits: once a workspace has more than one member, the free plan allows 1,000 blocks, then you must upgrade to keep creating content. Every paragraph and to do item is a block, so a team reaches that sooner than it sounds. Notion AI is a limited trial only.
Price: Free is US$0. Plus is US$10 and Business US$20 per member a month, with up to 20% off yearly.
What a team of four pays after free
If four people need full access, here is the first year at the published rate, before sales tax. Use the GST/HST calculator if tax is added at checkout. Prices in US dollars and prices with no stated currency are listed apart, because they cannot be compared directly.
Priced in US dollars:
- Trello Free: US$0, since four people is under the 10 collaborator limit.
- Trello Standard, billed yearly: 4 × US$5 × 12 = US$240.
- Notion Plus, monthly: 4 × US$10 × 12 = US$480.
Currency not stated on the page:
- ClickUp Free Forever: $0, since members are unlimited.
- ClickUp Core, billed yearly: 4 × $9 × 12 = $432.
- monday.com Basic, billed yearly: 4 × $9 × 12 = $432.
- Asana Starter, billed yearly: 4 × $10.99 × 12 = $527.52.
When a price is in US dollars, what you pay in Canadian dollars moves with the exchange rate, and some cards add a conversion fee. Check the final amount at checkout before you enter a card.
Set up a holiday rush board in 20 minutes
Whatever tool you choose, this layout works on any board or list view. Copy it as it is, then rename the lists for your business.
Lists, left to right
- Inbox: anything new lands here first; nobody works from it.
- This week: only what must happen in the next seven days.
- Doing: one or two cards per person, no more.
- Waiting on someone: a supplier, a client reply, a payment.
- Done: clear it every Monday.
Every card gets four things
- A title that starts with a verb: "Order 40 gift boxes from supplier".
- One owner, never two.
- A due date, even a rough one.
- A checklist of the steps, so anyone can pick it up if the owner is off sick.
The 10 minute Monday catch up
- Move anything finished to Done.
- Pull this week's cards from Inbox into This week.
- Ask each owner one question: "What is stuck?"
- Chase everything in Waiting on someone.
Red flags before you sign up
- A people limit you will pass by spring. If you plan to hire a third person, Asana Personal and monday.com Free will force an upgrade.
- Storage you have not measured. ClickUp's 60 MB is shared by the whole workspace. Keep photos and large PDFs in your existing cloud drive and link to them.
- Yearly prices shown first. Several pages lead with the yearly rate. Check the monthly price if you do not want to commit for a year.
- Two tools doing one job. If your team already uses a free CRM or a social media scheduler with tasks built in, try those first before adding another login.
Our take
This is a judgment based on the published features and pricing, not a hands on test.
Solo owner: Notion Free, because it has no block limit for one member and holds your procedures and tasks together.
Two partners: Asana Personal, for its calendar view and unlimited projects at $0.
Small team with staff, three to ten people: Trello Free. It is the simplest free plan that fits the whole team, and Standard at US$5 per user billed yearly is the cheapest paid step here.
Online store or service business that wants automation, forms and AI: ClickUp Free Forever, as long as files live elsewhere.
When the pick changes: if you need a timeline or Gantt view to plan a renovation, event or launch, every option here charges for it except ClickUp's trial, so budget for a paid tier. For more picks by job, see the software hub.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best free project management tool for a small team?
For three to ten people, Trello Free fits best on published limits: up to 10 collaborators and 10 boards per Workspace at no cost. ClickUp Free Forever allows unlimited members but only 60 MB of storage in total.
Is Asana free for small teams?
Only for two people. Asana's Personal plan is free for 2 users with unlimited tasks and projects. A third person needs Starter, at $10.99 per user a month billed yearly (currency not stated on the page).
Is monday.com free?
monday.com has a free plan for up to 2 seats, 3 boards and 3 docs, with a cap on items. Paid plans start from 3 seats, from $9 per seat a month billed yearly (currency not stated on the page).
Can a team use Notion for free?
Yes, but a free workspace with more than one member gets 1,000 blocks, then has to upgrade to keep creating content. A workspace with only one member has unlimited blocks.
