Tasks, boards, sprints and roadmaps.

Project management: build, buy or switch?

6 tools compared on 3-year cost, cheaper options and risk. Prices checked October 2026.

Tool	Verdict	From	Buy, 3 yrs	Build, 3 yrs	Cheapest option
Asana	SWITCH	$10.99/seat/mo	$1,978	$2,725	ClickUp (free)
ClickUp	BUY	$7/seat/mo	$1,260	$4,363	Trello (cheaper)
Jira	BUY	$7.92/seat/mo	$2,851	$5,425	GitHub Projects (free)
Linear	SWITCH	$10/seat/mo	$1,800	$5,053	GitHub Projects (free)
monday.com	SWITCH	$9/seat/mo	$2,160	$3,565	ClickUp (free)
Trello	BUY	$5/seat/mo	$900	$925	ClickUp (free)

3-year costs use each tool’s typical plan and team size and $30/hour for your time. Open a tool to change them.

Project management

Switch to ClickUp or Trello. ClickUp’s free plan has no member cap, and Trello costs $5 a user against Asana’s $10.99.

Project management

Buy it, or start on the free plan. At $7 a user, ClickUp costs far less than building even a slice of it.

Project management

Buy it, and start free. Jira costs nothing for up to 10 users, and Standard runs about $8 a user beyond that.

Project management

Switch to Plane. It imports Linear issues and cycles, is free for up to 12 people, and Pro costs $6 a user against Linear’s $10.

Project management

Switch to Trello or ClickUp. Five seats on monday.com Standard cost $60 a month; Trello is $25 and ClickUp has a free plan.

Project management

Buy it. The free plan covers up to 10 collaborators, and building costs more time than it saves.

Paying for more than one of these?

Stack Scan spots tools that do the same job and shows what you’d save by keeping one.

Verdict key: BUILD = Build it · BUY = Buy it · HYBRID = Hybrid · SWITCH = Switch. How we score.