People leave Trello when their board is really a sales pipeline in disguise. Orbit gives you a proper deal pipeline with stages, plus contacts, tasks, email, and invoices in one place. The task system and one pipeline are free, contacts are free to 250, and every card is a real person or deal. Here is what changes when you switch.
Trello is a friendly, flexible board. That flexibility is why so many people quietly turn it into a CRM: one list per stage, one card per lead, drag the card as the deal moves. It works until you need the things a board does not have, like a contact record, an email history, or an invoice attached to that lead.
Orbit is built for exactly that. A deal moves through pipeline stages the same way a card moves across lists, but each deal links to a full contact record with its own timeline. The free CRM covers up to 250 contacts and one pipeline, and the task system that replaces your checklists is free with no limit.
Where each tool fits. For current Trello pricing and Power-Up limits, check their site.
| Orbit | Trello | |
|---|---|---|
| Drag cards across stages | Deal pipeline | Boards and lists |
| Real contact records with a timeline | ||
| Tasks and GTD lists | Free, unlimited | Cards and checklists |
| Built-in CRM | Free to 250 contacts | |
| Built-in email inbox | 100/mo free | |
| Invoices and proposals | 10 free each | |
| Pipelines on the free plan | 1 free | Boards vary by plan |
| Team project boards and Power-Ups | Lighter | Strong |
| Two-way Google Calendar sync | Any paid plan | Check their site |
| Price to start | $0 forever, no card | Check their site |
Your board becomes a pipeline, and the basics cost nothing.
A paid plan (Lite $8/mo, Pro $14/mo) is optional. The pipeline and tasks work on the free plan.
A board maps onto a pipeline cleanly.
Trello is a genuinely great project board. If you run team projects with swimlanes, automations, and a stack of Power-Ups, Trello does that better than Orbit does. Orbit has one pipeline on the free plan and a lighter take on general project boards, because it is a CRM first.
If your boards are true project management for a team, and there is no client or deal behind the cards, stay on Trello. Orbit is the better move when the board is really a pipeline and you want contacts, email, and invoices around it. For the detail, see Orbit vs Trello.
A board holds cards. A CRM holds the person behind the card, and everything you have ever sent them.
Yes. Export the board, import your contacts from a CSV, then recreate each Trello list as a pipeline stage and each card as a deal. Card checklists become tasks that attach to the right contact or deal. Most people finish the move in an afternoon.
The free plan is genuinely free with no credit card. It includes up to 250 contacts, one deal pipeline, unlimited tasks and GTD lists, a calendar, notes, and a built-in email inbox with 100 messages a month. Pro is $14 a month with an optional 30-day free trial that requires a card.
Trello is stronger for team project boards with swimlanes, automations, and Power-Ups. Orbit has one pipeline on the free plan and a lighter take on general boards, because it is a CRM first. If your cards are pure project management with no client behind them, Trello fits better.
The free plan includes one pipeline with the stages you choose. Lite at $8 a month adds unlimited pipelines and deals, plus unlimited contacts, the Chrome extension, two-way Google Calendar sync, and more email. Pro at $14 a month adds the meeting recorder and more AI credits. The task system stays free on every plan.
One. Orbit has a single assistant named Hiro, opened with Cmd or Ctrl J. Hiro can create and update deals, move them through stages, draft follow-ups, and organize tasks. AI is included with free monthly credits, and nothing sends until you approve it.
People running a business mostly alone: founders, consultants, freelancers, agency owners, and small teams whose board is really a sales pipeline. It is not a sales-team CRM like Salesforce, and it is not a replacement for a full team project-management tool.
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