Tickhatch vs Trello
A Trello alternative built for shipping software
Pick Tickhatchover Trello if your cards are really tickets: work that has a type, a priority, a ticket ID that means something in a branch name, and a “shipped” moment when the PR merges. Pick Trello if you want a free-form canvas for anything at all — content calendars, house moves, wedding planning — where total flexibility is the feature.
| Feature | Tickhatch | Trello |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | $10/mo (or $96/yr) flat per workspace | $5–10/user/mo (Standard–Premium, annual) |
| Invited members | Always free — flat price covers the team | Each seat billed on paid plans |
| Board model | Four fixed stages: New → In Progress → Testing → In Production | Any lists you like — fully free-form |
| Human ticket IDs (KEY-142) | — | |
| GitHub: PR moves the card | Built in — open → In Progress, merge → shipped | Power-Up attaches PRs; moving is manual or Butler rules |
| Chat intake (Telegram → triaged ticket) | — | |
| AI agents | Built-in MCP endpoint, per-board scoped tokens, agents can't mark work shipped | Not built in |
| Automation | Opinionated and automatic (PRs, intake, archiving) | Butler rules you compose yourself |
| Types & priorities on every card | Via labels/custom fields (paid) |
Pricing as of mid-2026, from public pricing pages; both products may change them.
When Trello is the better choice
Trello's flexibility is real and twenty years of Power-Ups back it up — choose Trello when:
- The board isn't about software — editorial calendars, event plans, personal kanban.
- You want to design your own columns, rules, and card fields from scratch.
- Non-work stakeholders live in the board and need zero learning curve.
- You already rely on a specific Power-Up ecosystem (time tracking, CRM overlays).
FAQ
What makes Tickhatch more developer-focused than Trello?
Every ticket has a type, priority, and a human ID like WEB-142 that works in branch names and commits. Put that ID in a PR title and the ticket moves itself: In Progress when the PR opens, In Production when it merges. Trello can attach PRs via a Power-Up, but the board doesn't move on its own.
Can non-developers on my team use Tickhatch?
Yes — that's the point of the intake wedge. A cofounder texts the Telegram bot and their message becomes a typed, prioritized ticket; they never open a dev tool. Invited members (editor or viewer) always use Tickhatch free.
Can I recreate my Trello board in Tickhatch?
If your lists roughly mean 'to do / doing / done', they map cleanly onto Tickhatch's four stages. There's no importer yet, but small boards move over in minutes — or text the cards to the Telegram bot and let triage file them.
Is Tickhatch free like Trello's free plan?
Tickhatch's free plan is one project with the full board and Telegram intake, free forever. Pro — unlimited projects, members, GitHub integration, and agent access — is a flat $10/month or $96/year for the whole workspace, not per user.
Try the whole pipeline in under a minute.
Free for solo devs — one project, the full board, and Telegram intake. No credit card.