Migrating from Jira to Trello
The main reason teams move from Jira to Trello is task management and project tracking. Trello's approach — extremely intuitive drag-and-drop kanban interface — virtually zero learning curve, new users productive within minutes — suits freelancer and startup teams that have outgrown Jira's model. Here's how to migrate without losing historical context.
At a Glance
- Industry standard for software development teams — most PMs will encounter Jira in their career
- Deepest configurability of any project management tool with custom fields, workflows, and screens
- 3,000+ marketplace integrations covering virtually every tool in the product stack
- Extremely intuitive drag-and-drop Kanban interface — virtually zero learning curve, new users productive within minutes
- Generous free tier with unlimited cards, unlimited Power-Ups, and up to 10 boards per Workspace
- Butler automation engine is powerful and accessible, allowing no-code workflow automation with rule-based, calendar, and due date triggers
You leave behind
- −roadmapping
- −sprint planning
- −backlog management
Migration Steps
Audit and export your current workspace
Before touching Trello, document what lives in Jira: issues, epics, and sprints, custom fields, automations, integrations, and team permissions. Export a full CSV backup — most tools support this from Settings → Export. Pay particular attention to any custom fields and workflow automations that your team relies on daily.
Set up your Trello workspace
Create your Trello workspace and replicate your project structure using tasks and projects. Trello starts at $6/user/mo/user/mo with a free tier available — $1.9100000000000001/user/mo less than your current Jira spend. Run with a single pilot team before migrating everyone.
Map your workflow equivalents
Find the closest Trello equivalent for each Jira feature your team relies on. issues, epics, and sprints in Jira maps to tasks and projects in Trello. Trello supports custom fields — recreate your Jira field schema here first. Prioritise the critical path: task creation, status tracking, and assignment.
Import your data
Trello supports CSV import for tasks and projects and has 20+ native integrations. After importing, rebuild your key automations — Trello's automation engine can replicate most rules you had in Jira. Start with your most active project rather than importing everything at once.
Onboard your team
Run a 30-minute walkthrough covering the daily workflow: how to create tasks and projects, update status, and find your board. Trello has a gentle learning curve — most PMs are fully productive within 1–2 days. Focus the session on the UI differences rather than feature training.
Run Jira in parallel for two weeks
Keep Jira read-only while your team works primarily in Trello. This reduces risk and lets people reference historical context — old decisions, archived tickets, past sprint data — without slowing the migration. After two weeks with no new work going into Jira, archive the workspace and make Trello the official home.
Ready to switch?
Read the full Trello review for pricing, integrations, and team fit details.