The best monday.com alternative for most teams is ClickUp, which does boards, lists, Gantt charts, docs and automations, has a free plan with unlimited members, and imports monday.com boards directly. Asana suits structured team projects, Trello is the simplest and cheapest board tool, and Basecamp charges a flat monthly price instead of per seat.
The 10 Best monday.com Alternatives
- ClickUp: best all-round monday.com replacement
- Asana: best for structured team projects
- Trello: best simple, low-cost boards
- Notion: best for docs and projects in one place
- Airtable: best for database-style workflows
- Smartsheet: best for spreadsheet-minded teams
- Zoho Projects: cheapest per user
- Basecamp: best flat monthly price
- Wrike: best for growing teams that need Gantt charts
- Teamwork.com: best for agencies and client work
How we compared them: This is a research comparison based on pricing pages, help documentation and plan limits, not a hands-on test, so our picks are “best fit” calls. On November 5, 2026, we checked the pricing pages of monday.com, ClickUp, Asana, Trello, Notion, Airtable, Smartsheet, Wrike, Basecamp and Teamwork.com, plus Airtable’s plans overview, Zoho Projects’ plan limits and the import and export guides from monday.com and ClickUp. monday.com’s monthly prices, Notion’s monthly prices and Zoho Projects’ dollar prices come from independent price trackers, because the official pages showed only yearly figures or none. All prices are in US dollars and come from these checks unless another date is given. SmartWorkflowLab has no sponsorship or affiliate deal with any tool in this list.
monday.com Pricing in 2026: The Baseline
As of November 2026, this is what monday.com work management costs per seat, according to its pricing page. Monthly prices come from Costbench (checked October 29, 2026) and Tinycommand (September 15, 2026):
| Plan | Billed yearly | Billed monthly | What it adds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 | Up to 2 seats, 3 boards and 3 Docs |
| Basic | $9 per seat a month | About $12 per seat | Unlimited items and free viewers, 1,000 AI credits |
| Standard | $12 per seat a month | About $14 per seat | Timeline and Gantt views, guests, 250 automation actions |
| Pro | $19 per seat a month | About $24 per seat | Private boards, time tracking, 25,000 automation actions |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom | Up to 250,000 automation and integration actions a month |
monday.com is a work management platform built around colorful boards, where each row is a task or item and each column tracks a status, owner, date or number. This guide covers monday.com work management, the core board product; monday CRM, monday dev and monday service are separate products with their own pricing. Four things push small teams toward monday.com competitors:
- Seat buckets. Paid plans start at 3 users, according to monday.com’s pricing page, and seats are sold in predefined buckets of 3, 5, 10, 15 and up, according to Tinycommand. A team of 6 pays for 10 seats.
- Automations start on Standard. Basic includes none, and Standard caps you at 250 automation actions a month.
- A small free plan. Two seats and 3 boards is enough to test the tool, not to run a team on it.
- Gantt and timeline views cost extra. They start on Standard, at $12 a seat billed yearly.
Verdict: monday.com is fair value for a team of exactly 3, 5 or 10 people on Standard. Teams of other sizes, or anyone who needs automations on a budget, will save money with the tools below.
monday.com Alternatives at a Glance
| Tool | Best for | Free plan | Entry paid plan (billed yearly) |
|---|---|---|---|
| ClickUp | All-round replacement | Unlimited members, 60 MB storage | Core: $9 a user |
| Asana | Structured team projects | Up to 2 users | Starter: $10.99 a user |
| Trello | Simple boards | Up to 10 collaborators, 10 boards | Standard: $5 a user |
| Notion | Docs and projects together | Free for individuals, limited for teams | Plus: $10 a member |
| Airtable | Database-style workflows | Up to 5 editors, 1,000 records per base | Team: $20 a user |
| Smartsheet | Spreadsheet-minded teams | None (30-day trial) | Pro: $9 a member |
| Zoho Projects | Lowest price per user | Up to 5 users, 3 projects | Premium: about $4 a user |
| Basecamp | Flat monthly pricing | 1 project, up to 3 users | Freelancer: $29 a month, 5 users |
| Wrike | Growing teams that need Gantt | Yes | Team: $10 a user, 2 to 15 users |
| Teamwork.com | Agencies and client work | Up to 5 users, 5 projects | Basics: $9.99 a user, min 3 |
What Each Tool Costs by Team Size
This is the monthly cost, billed yearly, on the plan closest to monday.com Standard, with a timeline or Gantt view and automations. Basecamp has neither, so it sits at the bottom as a flat-fee option:
| Tool and plan | 3 users | 6 users | 8 users | 12 users | 15 users |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| monday.com Standard ($12) | $36 | $120 | $120 | $180 | $180 |
| Seats monday.com bills you for | 3 | 10 | 10 | 15 | 15 |
| ClickUp Core ($9) | $27 | $54 | $72 | $108 | $135 |
| Asana Starter ($10.99) | $33 | $66 | $88 | $132 | $165 |
| Trello Premium ($10) | $30 | $60 | $80 | $120 | $150 |
| Notion Plus ($10) | $30 | $60 | $80 | $120 | $150 |
| Airtable Team ($20) | $60 | $120 | $160 | $240 | $300 |
| Smartsheet Pro ($9) or Business ($19) | $27 | $54 | $72 | $228 | $285 |
| Zoho Projects Premium (about $4) | $12 | $24 | $32 | $48 | $60 |
| Wrike Team ($10) | $50 | $100 | $100 | $150 | $150 |
| Teamwork.com Basics ($9.99) | $30 | $60 | $80 | $120 | $150 |
| Basecamp (flat fee, no Gantt or automations) | $29 | $79 | $79 | $99 | $99 |
Asana and Teamwork.com costs are rounded to the dollar and assume one seat per user. Users on Asana’s community forum report being billed in seat blocks, so check the seat count at checkout.
What the table shows:
- monday.com bills 6 and 8 people for 10 seats, and 12 people for 15. A team of 6 pays for 4 empty seats, which is why its Standard bill doubles from $60 at 5 users to $120 at 6.
- Per-user tools grow one seat at a time. ClickUp, Trello, Notion, Airtable, Zoho Projects and Teamwork.com add only one seat’s price for each new person.
- Three alternatives have jumps of their own. Wrike sells seats in groups of five for accounts up to 30 users, so 6 people pay for 10 there too. Smartsheet Pro stops at 10 members, so a team of 12 must move to Business at $19. Basecamp’s flat plans cap users, so a sixth person moves you from Freelancer at $29 to Pro at $79.
Feature Check: What You Keep and What You Lose
| Tool | Timeline or Gantt view | Automations on the cheapest paid plan | How seats are billed | monday.com importer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| monday.com | Standard and up | ✗ (they start on Standard) | Buckets of 3, 5, 10, 15 and up | n/a |
| ClickUp | ✓ (60 uses on Free) | ✓ (1,000 actions a month) | Per user | ✓ dedicated |
| Asana | Starter and up | ✓ (unlimited) | Per seat; blocks reported | Spreadsheet import |
| Trello | Premium and up | ✓ (1,000 command runs a month) | Per user | Paste rows as cards |
| Notion | ✓ | ✓ (database automations) | Per member | Spreadsheet import |
| Airtable | Team and up | ✓ (25,000 runs a month) | Per editor | Spreadsheet import |
| Smartsheet | ✓ | ✓ (250 a month) | Per member; Pro up to 10 | Spreadsheet import |
| Zoho Projects | ✓ | ✓ | Per user | Spreadsheet import |
| Basecamp | ✗ | ✗ | Flat fee with a user cap | ✗ |
| Wrike | Team and up | ✓ | Groups of five up to 30 users | Spreadsheet import |
| Teamwork.com | ✓ | ✓ | Per user, minimum 3 | Spreadsheet import |
A ✓ means the feature is on at least one plan unless a plan is named. Only ClickUp documents a dedicated monday.com importer. With the other tools, export each monday.com board to Excel and bring the rows in through the tool’s spreadsheet or CSV import. In Trello, pasting a list of lines into a new card creates one card per line.
Integrations: all ten tools connect to Zapier, so automations that link monday.com to your email, forms or CRM through Zapier can be rebuilt. Check each tool’s native Slack and Google Workspace connections before you switch.
Security and single sign-on: SSO usually sits on the top tier. ClickUp Enterprise includes SSO, SCIM and HIPAA support with a BAA, Asana Enterprise adds SAML and SCIM, Smartsheet Enterprise adds SAML-based SSO, Trello Enterprise includes SSO through Atlassian Guard, and monday.com keeps enterprise security for its Enterprise plan.
1. ClickUp: Best All-Round monday.com Replacement
What is ClickUp? ClickUp is an all-in-one work management app with tasks, lists, boards, Gantt charts, docs, whiteboards, goals and automations in one workspace.
ClickUp is the closest match to everything monday.com does, and it goes further on the free and cheap plans. The free plan allows unlimited members, and every plan now includes a pool of AI credits.
According to ClickUp’s pricing page:
| Plan | Billed yearly | Billed monthly | Automation actions a month | AI credits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free Forever | $0 | $0 | 100 per workspace | 500 per workspace |
| Core | $9 per user a month | $12 per user a month | 1,000 | 1,000 per user a month |
| Business | $17 per user a month | $25 per user a month | 10,000 | 1,500 per user a month |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom | 1,000,000 | 3,000 per user a month |
| Max | $100 per user a month | $120 per user a month | 1,000,000 | 10,000 per user a month |
The monthly figures are the regular prices ClickUp’s page shows next to the yearly ones, and it says yearly billing saves up to 33%. ClickUp added Core and Max and replaced its older Unlimited plan in late October 2026, according to PricingSaaS, so workspaces that signed up earlier may still see Unlimited pricing. The free plan includes 60 MB of storage and 5 Spaces, and its Gantt, Timeline and Workload views are limited to 60 uses each, according to ClickUp’s view limits.
ClickUp has a dedicated monday.com importer that turns each board into a List, and brings over items, sub-items, statuses, assignees, comments, due dates and most column types.
What you give up vs monday.com
- monday.com’s simpler, more visual boards; ClickUp takes longer to learn.
- Attachments, formulas, dependencies and mirror columns, which the importer doesn’t carry over.
- Only 60 MB of storage and 60 Gantt view uses on the free plan.
Verdict: Pick ClickUp if you want monday.com’s features and more for less per seat, and you’re willing to spend a few hours learning it.
2. Asana: Best for Structured Team Projects
What is Asana? Asana is a project and task management tool for teams, with lists, boards, timelines, goals, portfolios and AI features for planning and status updates.
Asana is the alternative for teams that want clear projects, owners and deadlines without ClickUp’s long feature list. Even the Starter plan includes unlimited automations, timeline and Gantt views, forms and unlimited free guests.
According to Asana’s pricing page:
| Plan | Billed yearly | Billed monthly | Adds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal | $0 | $0 | Up to 2 users, unlimited tasks and projects |
| Starter | $10.99 per user a month | $13.49 per user a month | Timeline and Gantt, dashboards, unlimited automations |
| Advanced | $24.99 per user a month | $30.49 per user a month | Portfolios, goals, resource management, approvals, AI Meetings |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom | SAML, SCIM, capacity planning |
Asana’s pricing page doesn’t explain how seats are counted, and users on its community forum report being billed in seat blocks, so confirm the seat count before you pay.
What you give up vs monday.com
- A useful free plan for teams, since Personal stops at 2 users.
- monday.com’s spreadsheet-like flexibility with custom columns on every board.
- A cheaper top tier: Advanced costs $24.99 a user, against $19 for monday.com Pro.
Verdict: Asana is the right switch for teams that care more about clean project structure and unlimited automations than about the lowest price.
3. Trello: Best Simple, Low-Cost Boards
What is Trello? Trello is Atlassian’s kanban board tool, where tasks are cards you drag between lists such as To Do, Doing and Done.
If your team uses monday.com mainly as a board of tasks, Trello does that for far less. The free plan covers up to 10 collaborators per Workspace, and Standard costs $5 a user.
According to Trello’s pricing page:
| Plan | Billed yearly | Billed monthly | Limits and adds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 | Up to 10 collaborators and 10 boards per Workspace, 250 command runs a month |
| Standard | $5 per user a month | $6 per user a month | Unlimited boards, AI, custom fields, 1,000 command runs a month |
| Premium | $10 per user a month | $12.50 per user a month | Timeline, Calendar, Table, Dashboard and Map views, unlimited command runs |
| Enterprise | $17.50 per user a month | Not listed | Unlimited Workspaces, organization-wide permissions, SSO |
For a closer look at Trello against a database tool, see our Airtable vs Trello comparison.
What you give up vs monday.com
- Timeline and dashboard views on the cheaper plans; they start on Premium.
- Rich column types such as formulas, numbers and time tracking on every board.
- Reporting across many boards, which needs Premium.
Verdict: For small teams that just need clear task boards, Trello is the cheapest switch and the easiest to learn.
4. Notion: Best for Docs and Projects in One Place
What is Notion? Notion is a connected workspace for notes, docs, wikis and databases, which you can set up as task boards, timelines and project trackers.
Notion suits teams whose projects live alongside a lot of writing, such as briefs, meeting notes and wikis. Its databases can show the same tasks as a board, table, calendar or timeline.
According to Notion’s pricing page, with monthly prices from Dupple’s check on October 14, 2026:
| Plan | Billed yearly | Billed monthly | Adds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 | Button-only automations, 7-day page history, 5 MB uploads |
| Plus | $10 per member a month | $12 per member a month | Database automations, charts, 30-day history |
| Business | $20 per member a month | $24 per member a month | Notion Agent, AI Meeting Notes, Enterprise Search |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom | Zero data retention with AI providers |
Teams on the free plan can add only a limited number of content blocks before they must upgrade. Full Notion AI comes only with Business; Free and Plus get a trial. Our Notion alternatives guide covers what that $20 AI price means in practice.
What you give up vs monday.com
- Ready-made project templates that work out of the box; Notion needs setup.
- Workload and resource views for managing who is busy.
- Strong automations on the free plan, which allows button automations only.
Verdict: Choose Notion if your team writes as much as it tracks, and you’re happy to build your own project setup.
5. Airtable: Best for Database-Style Workflows
What is Airtable? Airtable is a spreadsheet-database hybrid, where each table holds records with typed fields, linked records and views such as grid, kanban, calendar, timeline and Gantt.
Airtable is the pick when your monday.com boards are really databases: content calendars, inventory, client lists or applicant tracking. It handles linked records and large tables better than monday.com, but it costs more per user.
According to Airtable’s plans overview:
| Plan | Billed yearly | Billed monthly | Records per base | Automation runs a month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 | 1,000 | 100 |
| Team | $20 per user a month | $24 per user a month | 50,000 | 25,000 |
| Business | $45 per user a month | $54 per user a month | 125,000 | 100,000 |
The free plan allows up to 5 editors, and Airtable charges only for people who can edit, not for read-only collaborators or form submitters. Business requires a company email domain. If Airtable’s price puts you off, our Airtable alternatives guide lists cheaper database tools.
What you give up vs monday.com
- A lower price: Team costs $20 a user against monday.com Standard’s $12.
- Simple project features such as workload views and time tracking.
- A free plan big enough for real work, at 1,000 records per base.
Verdict: Airtable is in this list as an upgrade pick, not a cheaper one. It’s worth its price only when your work is data-heavy and needs linked tables, not just task boards.
6. Smartsheet: Best for Spreadsheet-Minded Teams
What is Smartsheet? Smartsheet is a work management platform that looks and works like a spreadsheet, with Gantt charts, card views, forms, reports and dashboards on top.
Smartsheet feels familiar to anyone who runs projects in Excel. Pro costs $9 a member with no 3-seat minimum, which makes it one of the cheapest paid options for very small teams.
According to Smartsheet’s pricing page:
| Plan | Billed yearly | Billed monthly | Members | Adds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pro | $9 per member a month | $12 per member a month | 1 to 10 | Gantt, 250 automations a month, 20 GB storage |
| Business | $19 per member a month | $24 per member a month | 3 or more | Unlimited automations, guests, 1 TB storage, workload tracking |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom | 10 or more | SAML SSO, portfolios, scenario planning |
Smartsheet has no free plan, only a 30-day free trial with no credit card.
What you give up vs monday.com
- A free plan.
- Guests on Pro; you need Business to invite them.
- monday.com’s colorful, board-first look; Smartsheet is grid-first.
Verdict: Smartsheet is the natural move for teams that think in rows and columns and want Gantt charts without paying for seat buckets. If Smartsheet’s 10-member cap on Pro is a problem, our Smartsheet alternatives guide compares its costs by team size.
7. Zoho Projects: Cheapest Per User
What is Zoho Projects? Zoho Projects is a project management tool from Zoho with tasks, Gantt charts, time tracking, issue tracking and Zia, Zoho’s built-in AI assistant.
Zoho Projects costs a fraction of monday.com per user, and it fits neatly if you already use Zoho CRM, Zoho Books or another Zoho app.
Plan limits come from Zoho Projects’ pricing page, which showed no dollar prices for us. Prices come from Costbench, verified October 31, 2026:
| Plan | Billed yearly | Billed monthly | Projects | Storage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 | 3 | 5 GB |
| Premium | About $4 per user a month | About $5 per user a month | Unlimited | 100 GB |
| Enterprise | About $9 per user a month | About $10 per user a month | Unlimited | 120 GB |
The free plan allows up to 5 users. Zoho’s own pages disagree on whether the free plan allows 2 or 3 projects, so check before you plan around it.
What you give up vs monday.com
- monday.com’s polished design and large template library.
- A big third-party integration catalog outside the Zoho apps.
- Clear prices on Zoho’s own page, which didn’t display them for us.
Verdict: For a small team that wants Gantt charts and time tracking at the lowest price per person, Zoho Projects is hard to beat.
8. Basecamp: Best Flat Monthly Price
What is Basecamp? Basecamp is a project management and team communication tool from 37signals, where each project has its own to-dos, message board, chat, schedule and files.
Basecamp doesn’t charge per seat: you pay one flat monthly price for up to a set number of users. Clients and contractors you invite count toward that limit.
According to Basecamp’s pricing page:
| Plan | Price | Active projects | Users | Storage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 1 | Up to 3 | 1 GB |
| Freelancer | $29 a month | 3 | Up to 5 | 10 GB |
| Pro | $79 a month | 8 | Up to 10 | 25 GB |
| Pro Plus | $99 a month | 12 | Up to 15 | 100 GB |
| Pro Unlimited | $199 a month billed yearly, $329 billed monthly | Unlimited | Unlimited | 1 TB |
Registered US non-profits get 10% off, and schools can use Basecamp free for class work.
What you give up vs monday.com
- Gantt charts, custom columns and dashboards; Basecamp keeps project tracking simple.
- Many projects on the cheaper plans, which cap active projects.
- Automations.
Verdict: Basecamp suits small teams and agencies that want simple projects plus team chat for one predictable bill. Watch the user caps: a sixth person moves you from Freelancer at $29 to Pro at $79.
9. Wrike: Best for Growing Teams That Need Gantt Charts
What is Wrike? Wrike is a work management platform with interactive Gantt charts, dashboards, request forms, resource planning and AI features, built for teams that expect to grow.
Wrike sits between monday.com and enterprise tools. The Team plan adds interactive Gantt charts and AI Essentials, and Business adds templated workflows and integrations for larger groups.
According to Wrike’s pricing page, which applies to new purchases from January 21, 2026:
| Plan | Price, billed yearly | Users | Adds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Not stated | Projects, tasks, board and table views |
| Team | $10 per user a month | 2 to 15 | AI Essentials, interactive Gantt charts, dashboards |
| Business | $25 per user a month | 5 to 200 | AI Elite starter pack, templated work, integrations |
| Pinnacle | Quote | Not stated | Advanced resource planning, budgeting, reporting |
| Apex | Quote | Not stated | More AI actions, Wrike Integrate and Wrike Sync |
Wrike bills per user yearly, Business and above are yearly only, and accounts up to 30 users buy seats in groups of five.
What you give up vs monday.com
- Monthly billing on Business and above.
- A simple interface; Wrike is denser and takes time to set up.
- One-seat flexibility, because seats come in groups of five.
Verdict: Wrike is the right pick for a team that already plans in Gantt charts and expects to add more people and processes over time.
10. Teamwork.com: Best for Agencies and Client Work
What is Teamwork.com? Teamwork.com is a project management platform built for agencies and client services, with time tracking, budgets, client users and profitability reporting.
If your monday.com boards track client projects and billable hours, Teamwork.com is built for that job, with features aimed at client work rather than internal task tracking.
According to Teamwork.com’s pricing page:
| Plan | Price, billed yearly | Users | Projects | Storage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Up to 5 | 5 | 100 MB |
| Basics | $9.99 per user a month | Minimum 3 | 300 | 100 GB |
| Accelerate | $24.99 per user a month | Minimum 5 | 600 | 250 GB |
| Optimize | Quote | Contact sales | Unlimited | 500 GB |
The free plan also includes 100 automations and 2 project templates.
What you give up vs monday.com
- A general-purpose tool for non-client work such as HR or content calendars.
- Monthly prices on the pricing page, which shows yearly prices only.
- Small-team flexibility, with a 3-seat minimum on Basics and 5 on Accelerate.
Verdict: For agencies, freelancers with subcontractors and consultancies that bill by the hour, Teamwork.com fits client work better than monday.com.
Also Considered
These tools came up in our research but didn’t make the top 10 for small teams leaving monday.com:
- Jira is Atlassian’s tool for software teams, with sprints, backlogs and issue tracking, and it’s free for up to 10 users. It’s the closer match to monday dev, but too developer-focused for general project work.
- Microsoft Planner is included in Microsoft 365 business plans, and Planner Plan 1 adds premium planning for $10 a user per month billed yearly, according to Microsoft’s Planner pricing. It’s the easy choice if your company already runs on Microsoft 365, but it has fewer views and automations than the tools above.
- Linear is an issue tracker for product and engineering teams. Its free plan allows 2 teams and 250 issues, and Basic costs $10 a user per month billed yearly. It’s fast and polished, but built for software work rather than client or operations projects.
- OpenProject is open-source project management software. Its Community edition is free under the GPLv3 license and runs on your own Linux server, according to OpenProject’s FAQ. It suits teams that need to keep project data in-house and have someone to run the server.
Free Alternatives to monday.com
If your goal is to stop paying for project management altogether, these free plans go furthest:
- ClickUp Free Forever: unlimited members, 100 automation actions a month, 60 MB of storage.
- Trello Free: up to 10 collaborators and 10 boards per Workspace.
- Zoho Projects Free: up to 5 users, 3 projects and 5 GB of storage.
- Teamwork.com Free: up to 5 users and 5 projects.
- Airtable Free: up to 5 editors and 1,000 records per base.
- Basecamp Free: one project for up to 3 users.
monday.com’s own free plan covers 2 seats and 3 boards, so every option above is bigger for a small team.
Best monday.com Alternative by Use Case
- Solopreneurs and freelancers: Trello Free, or Basecamp Freelancer if you invite clients.
- Small teams on a budget: ClickUp Core or Zoho Projects Premium.
- Agencies and client work: Teamwork.com or Basecamp.
- Content and marketing teams: Notion or Airtable.
- Spreadsheet-heavy operations: Smartsheet, or one of the Smartsheet alternatives if your team will grow past 10.
- Teams of 6 to 9 people: any per-user tool, to avoid paying for monday.com’s 10-seat bucket.
When to Stay on monday.com
monday.com still earns its price in a few cases. Stay if your team is exactly 3, 5 or 10 people, if non-technical colleagues adopted it quickly and like it, or if you rely on its CRM, service or dev products alongside work management. Its boards are among the easiest to learn, and Pro’s 25,000 automation actions a month is generous for heavy automation users.
Switch if your team size falls between seat buckets, if you need automations but don’t want to pay for Standard, or if you mostly need simple boards that Trello or ClickUp offer for less.
How to Switch From monday.com
- Export everything first. An account admin can download every board, including files, as one zip file from Administration, General, Account, according to monday.com’s export guide. Archived boards and dashboards aren’t included, and the export can take up to 24 hours.
- Export single boards to Excel when you only need a few, then use your new tool’s spreadsheet or CSV import.
- Use ClickUp’s importer if you move to ClickUp. It needs an admin’s monday.com API token, and attachments, formulas, dependencies and mirror columns must be moved by hand.
- Rebuild automations in the new tool, or move them to an automation platform. Our Make.com alternatives guide compares tools that connect your project app to email, forms and CRM.
- Run both tools for a week, then cancel monday.com. Yearly plans cancelled within 30 days of purchase get a partial refund, according to its pricing page.
For more ways to save on software, see our list of free AI tools for small business, or compare the AI features in these apps in our guide to AI task management tools.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best alternative to monday.com?
ClickUp is the best alternative for most teams, because it covers boards, lists, Gantt charts, docs and automations in one tool, its free plan allows unlimited members, and it has a dedicated monday.com importer. Asana is the better pick for teams that want a cleaner, more structured project tool, and Trello for teams that only need simple boards.
What is the best free alternative to monday.com?
ClickUp’s Free Forever plan is the strongest free option, with unlimited members, 100 automation actions a month and 60 MB of storage. Trello’s free plan allows up to 10 collaborators and 10 boards per Workspace, and Zoho Projects is free for up to 5 users and 3 projects. monday.com’s own free plan stops at 2 seats and 3 boards.
Is there a cheaper alternative to monday.com?
Yes. Zoho Projects Premium costs about $4 a user per month billed yearly and Trello Standard $5, both well below monday.com Basic’s $9. ClickUp Core and Smartsheet Pro cost the same $9, but they have no 3-seat minimum, bill per user instead of in seat buckets, and include automations, which monday.com saves for Standard at $12.
How much does monday.com cost in 2026?
As of November 2026, monday.com work management is free for up to 2 seats. Basic costs $9, Standard $12 and Pro $19 per seat per month billed yearly, or about $12, $14 and $24 billed monthly. Paid plans need at least 3 seats and are sold in seat buckets of 3, 5, 10, 15 and up.
Is ClickUp better than monday.com?
ClickUp is better value for most small teams, because it has a free plan with unlimited members, costs $9 a user on Core with no seat buckets, and includes more automation actions on its cheaper plans. monday.com is easier to learn and its boards look cleaner, so teams that value simplicity over features may prefer to stay.
Can I move my monday.com boards to another tool?
Yes. An account admin can export every board to a zip file from Administration, General, Account, and each board can be exported to Excel. ClickUp has a dedicated monday.com importer that brings over items, sub-items, statuses, assignees, comments and most column types, though not attachments, formulas, dependencies or mirror columns.
Why does a team of 6 pay for 10 seats on monday.com?
monday.com sells paid seats in fixed buckets of 3, 5, 10, 15 and up, rather than one seat at a time. A team of 6 is too big for the 5-seat bucket, so it has to buy the 10-seat bucket and pays for 4 empty seats. Tools such as ClickUp, Trello, Smartsheet and Zoho Projects charge per user instead.
Sources
- monday.com: pricing page, account export guide, checked November 5, 2026; Costbench, October 29, 2026, and Tinycommand, September 15, 2026 (independent sources)
- ClickUp: pricing page, view limits and monday.com import guide, checked November 5, 2026; PricingSaaS, captures October 26 to November 2, 2026 (independent source)
- Asana: pricing page, checked November 5, 2026; Asana community forum, June 9, 2026
- Trello: pricing page, checked November 5, 2026
- Notion: pricing page, checked November 5, 2026; Dupple, October 14, 2026 (independent source)
- Airtable: plans overview, checked November 5, 2026
- Smartsheet: pricing page, checked November 5, 2026
- Zoho Projects: pricing page, checked November 5, 2026; Costbench, October 31, 2026 (independent source)
- Basecamp: pricing page, checked November 5, 2026
- Wrike: pricing page, checked November 5, 2026
- Teamwork.com: pricing page, checked November 5, 2026
- Also considered: Jira Free, Microsoft Planner pricing, Linear pricing and OpenProject FAQ, checked November 5, 2026
