Trello Problems & Issues

The redesign that launched May 22, 2025 changed layout, fonts and buttons, added Inbox, Planner and a floating navigation bar, and moved card comments behind a separate button. Atlassian says there is no option to switch back to the old view. Long community threads and an August 2025 report in The Register describe it as one of the worst software updates users had seen.

Atlassian PM explicitly stated they're 'changing Trello to become an entirely different product' - transforming it from a team collaboration tool to a personal productivity app. The 2025 redesign deliberately makes team features harder while pushing professional users toward Jira. Users feel Trello is 'no longer interested in serving its actual users.'

As boards grow with more cards and lists, they become cluttered and overwhelming. G2 reviews note Trello 'can feel limited when managing more complex projects' and 'the platform cannot handle a high volume of team members and tasks.' Finding information quickly becomes difficult, and users need strict discipline to keep things tidy.

Trello lacks built-in advanced reporting, time tracking, and detailed analytics. G2 reviews note 'when you generate performance reports for the project, it doesn't go much in detail.' Users must rely on Power-Ups or external tools for basic project insights, adding complexity and cost.

Trello lacks the ability to show task dependencies, which is essential for critical path analysis and complex project planning. Users needing Gantt charts or dependency tracking must use workarounds or switch to alternatives. This makes Trello unsuitable for project professionals who need to understand how tasks relate to each other.

Since 2024 a free Workspace can have at most 10 collaborators, and members, guests and pending invites all count. Workspaces over the limit turn view-only and their automations stop until an admin removes people or upgrades, which surprises small teams who thought Trello was free for unlimited users.

Timeline, Calendar, Dashboard and Map views are Premium features ($10/user/month annual, $12.50 monthly). Free Workspaces are also capped at 10 open boards, so users who want more than a basic Kanban board hit the paywall quickly.

Trello's Enterprise page says the plan is for businesses with 50 seats or more, at $17.50/user/month billed annually, with a $10k minimum spend. Smaller teams that need organization-wide controls or Atlassian Guard SSO either overpay for seats or stay on Premium.

Atlassian announced 'maximum quantity billing' for monthly subscriptions effective October 2025. Your bill reflects the highest number of active seats in the month, not the average or end-of-month count. If you add seats mid-month then remove them, you're still billed for the peak - punishing flexibility.

Free Workspaces get 250 automation runs and 2,500 operations per month, Standard gets 1,000 runs, and the quota is shared by every board in the Workspace. Users report hitting the free cap within days, after which rules silently stop until the 1st of the next month or an upgrade.

Atlassian Community threads show board-loading incidents in January, February and May 2026, with the 'We're having trouble loading this board' error or missing comments. Several users noted the status page still showed all systems operational while boards would not open.

Trello is an online-only application with no offline mode. Users cannot access or modify their boards without an internet connection. G2 reviews specifically cite 'missing offline access' as a frustration (32 mentions). For users who travel or work in areas with spotty connectivity, this is a dealbreaker.

Capterra reviews note that 'security controls and permission settings are insufficient for sensitive data and complex team structures.' Users report difficulty configuring access to comment on cards or view them by teams. One reviewer stated 'the permission management is a bit nascent' and 'hard to follow if many people use same board because no way to see who changed what.'

Trello loads every open card and attachment when a board opens, and Atlassian's own guidance is to stay under 1,000 open cards per board (500 with heavy attachments or checklists). Teams with long-running boards report daily freezes and input lag of several seconds in 2026.

Atlassian's public bug tracker lists several iOS sync bugs where edits get stuck in the sync queue without an error, or web changes do not appear on the phone. 2026 community threads report boards that spin and never update until the app is reinstalled.