ClickUp Review 2026: New Prices, Real Cost and Who It Fits
We're a monday.com partner and may earn a referral fee. Here's how we review fairly.
ClickUp’s prices went up in late 2026: new teams can no longer buy the Unlimited plan ($7) or the old $12 Business plan, and now pay $9 per user a month on Core or $17 on Business, billed yearly.
Our rating: 4.2/5
ClickUp gives you more features for the price than the other tools we compare here, but you pay for that power with setup time.
Our 4.2/5 is our opinion, not a test score: we weigh what each plan gives for its price, the limits that force an upgrade, setup effort and fit for small and mid-size teams.
What your team pays forpeople25 people
- Core $225.00 a month
- Business $425.00 a month
25 people: 25 seats. Billed yearly, USD, checked on Nov 13, 2026. Monthly billing, yearly totals and the table
Best for
- Tech-savvy teams and power users
- Startups replacing several tools
- Teams outgrowing simple tools
Look elsewhere if
- You want plug-and-play simplicity
- Your users are non-technical
- You need dashboards on the cheapest plan
- You want free software on your own servers
What brings you here?
Pick one to jump to your part of the page.
Choosing a tool for my team:
ClickUp packs tasks, docs, whiteboards, chat, time tracking and AI into one app, from $9 per user a month. The catch is setup: in our experience it takes longer to settle in than simpler tools, and dashboards, Timeline and Workload views start on Business ($17).
Who should use ClickUpClickUp vs monday.com, feature by feature
Already on ClickUp, thinking of leaving:
ClickUp’s pricing page now lists one lineup: Free Forever, Core, Business, Enterprise and Max. Workspaces on an older plan keep their limits. If the setup has grown hard to run, compare the alternatives before the next renewal: yearly plans renew by themselves unless you give 30 days’ notice.
What moving off ClickUp takesMoving from ClickUp to monday.com: what moves and what cannot
Just me, or a very small team:
The Free Forever plan has unlimited members and tasks, but 60 MB of storage, and paid features such as Gantt, custom fields and time tracking come with a fixed number of uses that never reset. Core ($9) has no seat minimum, so one person pays for one seat.
What’s included in each planProject management software for individual users
Checking the price:
Core is $9 and Business $17 per user a month, billed yearly ($12 and $25 billed monthly). A team of 25 pays $225 a month on Core or $425 on Business. The whole workspace is on one plan, so everyone moves up together.
Work out the cost for your teamClickUp alternatives when the price or the setup is too much
ClickUp promises to replace your entire productivity stack — tasks, docs, whiteboards, time tracking, goals, and even AI assistance, all in one platform. After helping 110+ clients evaluate and implement project management tools, we’ve seen ClickUp work well for some teams and overwhelm others.
We’re a monday.com partner. Why this review is still fair:
- Every price and limit comes from ClickUp’s own pages, with the day we read them.
- ClickUp wins where it is better: no seat minimum, time tracking on Core, docs, whiteboards and chat built in, and a free plan with unlimited members.
- Five of the six “look elsewhere” cards below point to tools other than monday.com.
- Our 4.2/5 is our opinion, not a test score: we weigh what each plan gives for its price, the limits that force an upgrade, setup effort and fit for small and mid-size teams.
- No first-hand trial workspace was built for this review: see how we reviewed ClickUp.
What Is ClickUp?
ClickUp is a project management platform founded in 2017. In our experience its promise to replace several tools is real, but so is the complexity.
Free, open source or self-hosted? ClickUp has a free plan, but it is not open source, and it runs only in ClickUp’s own cloud (on AWS); none of ClickUp’s pages we read offers a version to install on your own servers. For that, see the open-source options below.
What’s New in ClickUp: the Last 18 Months
Short answer: AI agents, ClickUp 4.0, Brain² and, by Nov 10, 2026, one plan lineup at higher prices.
May 2025 · AI agents: Autopilot Agents that take on routine work, and the Brain MAX desktop app.
Dec 2025 · ClickUp 4.0 and AI Super Agents: new navigation and a Teams Hub, Subfolders in beta, and Super Agents.
May 2026 · Gantt baselines: compare the plan with what happened (Business and up); Brain on mobile; ClickUp inside ChatGPT.
Jun 2026 · Brain² AI: a ground-up rebuild of ClickUp Brain, included in every current plan.
Oct or Nov 2026 · One plan lineup, higher entry price: by Nov 10, 2026 the older Unlimited plan ($7 per user a month, billed yearly) and the old $12 Business plan were no longer on ClickUp’s pricing page (our check of Oct 27, 2026 still saw them). A new team now starts on Core at $9 or Business at $17.
Dates and changes are from ClickUp’s release notes, checked Nov 10, 2026. The release notes do not say when the plans changed.
ClickUp Pricing: What You’ll Actually Pay
ClickUp charges per user per month and sells five plans. Every paid plan includes a monthly pool of AI credits, and Free Forever gets 500 once (prices per user a month):
| Plan | Billed yearly | Billed monthly | AI credits | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free Forever | $0 | $0 | 500, once, for the whole workspace | Individuals and small teams testing |
| Core | $9 | $12 | 1,000 per user a month, pooled | Small teams that need storage, Gantt and time tracking |
| Business | $17 | $25 | 1,500 per user a month, pooled | Teams that need dashboards, workload and timesheets |
| Enterprise | By quote | By quote | 3,000 per user a month, pooled | Security, compliance and data residency |
| Max | $100 | $120 | 10,000 per user a month, pooled | AI-heavy teams |
Prices are from ClickUp’s pricing page, checked Nov 13, 2026. ClickUp says yearly billing saves “up to 33%”. By our sums Core is 25% cheaper, Business 32% and Max 17% than on monthly billing. There is no seat minimum.
What ClickUp costs for your team
Core
$225.00 a month
$2,700.00 a year
$9.00 per user per month
Business
$425.00 a month
$5,100.00 a year
$17.00 per user per month
Max
$2,500.00 a month
$30,000.00 a year
$100.00 per user per month
25 people: 25 seats.
| People | Core, a month | Core, a year | Business, a month | Business, a year | Max, a month | Max, a year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | $90.00 | $1,080.00 | $170.00 | $2,040.00 | $1,000.00 | $12,000.00 |
| 25 | $225.00 | $2,700.00 | $425.00 | $5,100.00 | $2,500.00 | $30,000.00 |
| 50 | $450.00 | $5,400.00 | $850.00 | $10,200.00 | $5,000.00 | $60,000.00 |
| 100 | $900.00 | $10,800.00 | $1,700.00 | $20,400.00 | $10,000.00 | $120,000.00 |
Prices in USD, checked Nov 13, 2026. Confirm on ClickUp’s pricing page.
Core or Business? Tick what your team needs.
The plan that covers what you tick, and its cost for your team, show as you go.
Core
25 people on Core: $225.00 a month, billed yearly
Core is enough: unlimited storage, Gantt, custom fields, goals, time tracking and 1,000 automation actions a month. Dashboards, Timeline and Workload stay limited uses that never reset.
Business
25 people on Business: $425.00 a month, billed yearly
You need Business: dashboards, Timeline and Workload views, timesheets, Google sign-in and automations that act in other apps start there, with 10,000 actions a month. The whole workspace moves up together.
Enterprise
You need Enterprise, priced by quote: SAML SSO and SCIM, audit logs, HIPAA with a signed BAA and a chosen data region start there.
ClickUp vs monday.com for the same teamClickUp alternatives when the price or the setup is too muchWhat seven project tools cost side by side
Already on an older plan? “Workspaces on earlier plans keep their existing limits” (ClickUp’s Brain page); ClickUp’s release notes still name older plans such as Business Plus (Oct 17, 2026). No page we could read says what happens if such a workspace changes plan, so ask ClickUp first.
What’s Included in Each Plan?
The limits that force an upgrade, plan by plan:
Free Forever
60 MB of storage, 5 Spaces, 100 automation actions a month, and Gantt, custom fields, goals, time tracking and dashboards only as limited uses.
Core ($9)
unlimited storage, Gantt, custom fields, goals and time tracking, and 1,000 automation actions a month; dashboards, Timeline and Workload stay limited uses.
Business ($17)
dashboards, Timeline and Workload views, timesheets, the full Brain² assistant, Google sign-in, 10,000 actions and automations that act in other apps.
Enterprise (quote)
SAML SSO and SCIM, audit logs, HIPAA with a signed BAA, a chosen data region, unlimited wikis and 10,000 API calls a minute.
The full plan table
| Feature | Free Forever | Core | Business | Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Members and tasks | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Storage | 60 MB | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Spaces; lists per Space | 5; 40 | Unlimited; 200 | Unlimited; 400 | Unlimited; 1,500 |
| Automation actions a month (whole workspace) | 100, and 5 active rules | 1,000 | 10,000 | 1 million |
| Automations that act in other apps (webhooks, email, SMS, integrations) | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| AI credits | 500, once | 1,000 per user a month | 1,500 per user a month | 3,000 per user a month |
| Brain² assistant | Trial | Trial | Yes | Yes |
| Gantt, custom fields, goals, time tracking | Limited uses | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Dashboards, Timeline and Workload views | Limited uses | Limited uses | Yes | Yes |
| Mind Map, Map and Team views | No | Limited uses | Yes | Yes |
| Sprint points | Limited uses | Limited uses | Yes | Yes |
| Timesheets | No | No | Yes | Yes (adds approvals) |
| Whiteboards | 3 | 10 | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Wikis | 1 | 1 | 1 | Unlimited |
| Chat history | 90 days | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Activity view | 1 day | 7 days | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Teams (user groups) | 2 | 3 | 10 | Unlimited |
| Guests with edit rights | Unlimited, always with full edit rights | 5, then 2 per extra paid user | 10, then 5 per extra paid user | As Business |
| List view export | No | Limited uses | Yes | Yes |
| Sign-in | Authenticator-app 2FA | Authenticator-app 2FA | Adds Google SSO and SMS 2FA | Adds SAML, Microsoft and Okta SSO, and SCIM |
| Audit logs, HIPAA, data residency | No | No | No | Yes (HIPAA with a signed BAA) |
| API calls a minute | 100 | 100 | 100 | 10,000 |
| Support | 24/7 | 24/7 and live chat | 24/7 and live chat | Adds priority support |
Plan details are from ClickUp’s pricing page, checked Nov 10, 2026. Only file attachments count toward the 60 MB on Free. Every plan has video calls (SyncUps), sprints, dependencies, docs and 24/7 support. Max ($100) adds 10,000 AI credits per user a month, and ClickUp’s table gives it the same 1 million automation actions as Enterprise.
What “limited uses” means, and why it is the catch to plan around. ClickUp marks some paid features on Free and Core as “Trial”. That is not a timed trial: it is a fixed number of uses. ClickUp: “Uses are cumulative throughout a Workspace and they do not reset or count down.” When they run out, “you won’t lose any data, but you won’t be able to edit or create new items with that feature”, and ClickUp offers a grace period while you pick a plan. So a free team that builds its plan on Gantt charts or custom fields hits a wall that does not lift next month. The pricing page offers no timed trial of a paid plan.
The Hidden Costs
Automation actions run out
The cap is for the whole workspace, not per user: a 20-person team on Core shares 1,000 actions a month. Automations that act in other apps (Slack, email, webhooks) need Business. ClickUp’s help centre has an article on buying more actions; we could not read its price.
AI credits run out
Credits pay for agents, AI automations and AI fields; chatting with Brain² does not use them. More credits cost $10 per 10,000. Premium AI models have daily, weekly and monthly limits that grow with your plan.
Everyone moves up together
To upgrade, ClickUp says “you’ll need to upgrade your entire Workspace, which means all members”: you cannot put five people on Business and the rest on Free.
Yearly plans renew by themselves
To cancel or reduce seats, ClickUp’s terms ask for notice at least 30 days before the renewal date; price changes are emailed at least 30 days before renewal.
Refunds are narrow
within 30 days of a first purchase only, not on renewals, sales-team purchases, or after a pilot or trial. Idle free accounts can be closed after 60 days without activity.
Seats and guests: who pays
- No seat minimum, no seat blocks. A one-user paid workspace is allowed, and added users are billed at once, prorated for the time left in your cycle.
- Colleagues are always paid users. “If you add people from inside your organization to your Workspace, they will be billed as paid users.” Guests are for people outside it.
- Guest seats grow with paid users. On Core you get 5 guest seats for a one-user workspace and 2 more for each extra paid user, so 10 paid users can invite 23 guests with edit rights. Business gives 10, then 5 per extra paid user. Read-only guests are unlimited on paid plans. Guests beyond your allowance can be billed: ClickUp’s terms list guest overages as a fee, and the price is not on the pricing page.
- Guests on Free cannot be limited. “On the Free Forever Plan, guests have full create and edit permissions, which cannot be modified.” Limited and view-only guest rights start on Core.
- Each workspace is billed separately. Two workspaces mean two bills.
Outside the US: currency, tax, data region and payment
- Currency: from Canada, ClickUp’s pricing page shows “$ 9” and “$ 17” with no currency code, and so does its German page. ClickUp’s own savings calculator on the same page lists other tools at their US-dollar prices, so we read the figures as USD, but no ClickUp page we could read names the currency. We could not confirm what visitors in the UK or EU see.
- Tax: ClickUp’s terms say it will “charge tax if required to do so by law”, so expect tax on top where it applies (ClickUp’s terms).
- Where your data lives: ClickUp runs on AWS. Choosing the EU (Ireland), Asia Pacific (Australia or Singapore) or the US as your data region needs Enterprise, at no extra cost (ClickUp’s security page). ClickUp says this covers “core Workspace data”; its page does not list what stays outside the region. Where Free, Core and Business data sits is not stated on the pages we could read.
- Payment: cards, and bank transfer for larger Enterprise orders. PayPal started in India in August 2026.
Discounts, and what 20 people pay against Asana and monday.com
| Who | Discount |
|---|---|
| Nonprofits | A discount on the workspace (size not stated) |
| Students and educators | An academic discount (size not stated) |
| Startups | $3,000 in credit, for eligible startups |
From ClickUp’s nonprofit page, ClickUp’s student page and ClickUp’s startup page, checked Nov 10, 2026.
What 20 people pay for a year (billed yearly, USD): ClickUp Core $2,160, Asana Starter $2,637.60, monday.com Standard $2,880, ClickUp Business $4,080. Our project management software cost comparison sets seven tools side by side.
ClickUp Key Features: What You Actually Get
Task Management: Flexibility Meets Complexity
ClickUp organizes work in a hierarchy: Workspace → Spaces → Folders → Lists → Tasks → Subtasks (a Subfolders beta, added in December 2025, adds one more level). Dependencies, subtasks and checklists are on every plan, and 15+ custom field types (dropdowns, numbers, dates, formulas, relationships) start on Core. Where it struggles: the flexibility becomes “which view do I use for what?” without a team playbook, and ClickUp publishes no speed figures for large workspaces, so test with your own data before you commit.
The views, plan by plan
ClickUp names 16 views. These are the main ones, by plan:
| View | Free Forever | Core | Business and up | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| List | Yes | Yes | Yes | Backlogs and straightforward task lists |
| Board | Yes | Yes | Yes | Kanban-style workflows (WIP limits from Business) |
| Calendar | Yes | Yes | Yes | Deadlines and schedules |
| Table | Yes | Yes | Yes | Spreadsheet-style editing |
| Gantt | Limited uses | Yes | Yes | Plans with dependencies and milestones |
| Timeline | Limited uses | Limited uses | Yes | Start and end dates across many tasks |
| Workload | Limited uses | Limited uses | Yes | Who is under or over capacity |
| Mind Map | No | Limited uses | Yes | Ideas and hierarchies |
| Map | No | Limited uses | Yes | Work tied to places |
| Box (Team view) | No | Limited uses | Yes | Work grouped by assignee |
The other views are Docs, Chat, Whiteboards, Forms, Embed and Activity. Views from ClickUp’s views page and plans from ClickUp’s pricing page, checked Nov 10, 2026.
Customization reaches the workspace’s layout and settings, the filters, columns and sorting of each view, custom fields (since August 2026 also by task type), and notification settings. Sharing works by Space, Folder, List and task on every plan; custom roles and custom permissions need Enterprise. Templates for tasks, projects, workflows and documents are on every plan.
Docs, Whiteboards and Chat: Good Enough, Not Best-in-Class
Docs embed tasks and turn any comment into a task; whiteboards turn a sticky note into a task; Chat has channels, threads and SyncUps video calls on every plan, and since August 2026 imports Slack history. What’s missing: one wiki below Enterprise, private docs only from Business (protected docs on Enterprise), and 90 days of Chat history on Free. Heavy doc users still prefer Notion or Google Docs, diagramming teams stay on Miro or Figma, and most teams we see keep Slack for real conversation.
Docs, whiteboard and Chat details
- Docs: multiple users edit at once, with live cursors, inline comments, tables, images and embedded tasks; save SOPs, meeting notes and project briefs as templates.
- Whiteboards: a canvas for brainstorming and flowcharts; draw and comment live with others.
- Chat on Free: Free Forever keeps 90 days of Chat history, the same as Slack’s free plan, and limits the number of messages; paid ClickUp plans keep unlimited history. ClickUp pitches Chat as a Slack replacement; in our view it still lacks the depth of a dedicated tool.
Time Tracking: Native and Mostly Solid
A timer on every task, manual entries, billable flags and hourly rates by member, task or project start on Core ($9); time estimates are on every plan. What’s missing: timesheets start on Business and timesheet approvals on Enterprise; comparing estimates with logged hours in dashboards needs Business; ClickUp exports invoice-ready reports but sends no invoices, and its time tracking page lists no screenshots or idle detection. Agencies that invoice from a time tool often keep Toggl, Harvest or Clockify, which ClickUp syncs with.
Automation: Powerful but Quota-Limited
If-then rules with 100+ templates, a custom builder (trigger, conditions, actions), scheduled automations (since March 2025), and AI that builds an automation from a plain-English request. What’s missing: the monthly action cap for the whole workspace (see the plan table), and automations that act in Slack, email, SMS or through webhooks need Business. It is easy to create 50+ automations and hard to debug them: start with 3 to 5 high-impact rules and audit them each quarter.
Dashboards and Reporting: Powerful Once You Set Them Up
Dashboards mix charts, tables, workload, time tracking and calculations per Space, updating live as tasks move, and they are included from Business ($17); on Free and Core they are limited uses that never reset. What’s missing: honest data. Charts mislead when estimates, statuses and custom fields are not standardized; making estimate fields mandatory before tasks move to “In Progress” keeps them useful.
ClickUp Brain² (AI): Included, With Limits
Brain² answers questions from your docs, comments and wikis with a link to the source, writes standups and reports, builds automations from prompts, and runs agents: Super Agents (December 2025) and agent templates (September 2026). It is not a paid add-on: ClickUp says “Brain 2 is included in every current ClickUp plan.” What’s missing: Free and Core get a trial only; agents, AI automations and AI fields use credits (see the plan table), and premium models have daily, weekly and monthly limits. ClickUp says its AI partners may not use your data to train their models.
Brain² by plan, and search across other apps
- Business: premium models (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini) and unlimited standard models, under fair use. Enterprise: included (“Scaled”). Max: included, with 10,000 credits per user a month.
- Search across other apps: personal connections work on every plan with 30 to 90 days of history; workspace-wide connections are Enterprise only.
- More credits cost $10 per 10,000. The trial on Free and Core is enough to see whether the assistant helps before you pay for Business.
Integrations, Importers and Support
ClickUp lists 1,000+ integrations, about 50 of them native; Zapier and Make connections are included, while cloud storage apps (Google Drive, Dropbox, Box, OneDrive) start on Core. Its API allows 100 calls a minute (10,000 on Enterprise). ClickUp has importers for monday.com, Asana, Trello, Jira, Notion, Basecamp, Wrike, Todoist, Confluence and CSV files (ClickUp’s import page). Support is 24/7 on every plan (see the plan table; Max also gets priority support), with success managers on Enterprise and free courses in ClickUp University.
ClickUp Security and Compliance
ClickUp keeps its strongest controls for Enterprise: SAML SSO, SCIM, audit logs, a chosen data region and HIPAA with a signed BAA. Healthcare and finance teams that need those should budget for Enterprise pricing; for most other teams ClickUp is safe on any plan.
Security details
| Security Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Encryption | TLS 1.2 in transit, AES-256 at rest |
| Certifications | SOC 1 Type 2, SOC 2 Type 2 and SOC 3; ISO 27001, 27017, 27018, 27701 and 42001 (AI management); maintains PCI compliance |
| GDPR | ClickUp says it is GDPR compliant |
| Uptime promise | 99.9% on Enterprise |
Sign-in, audit logs, HIPAA, data residency and permissions by plan are in the plan table above. From ClickUp’s security page, ClickUp’s pricing page and ClickUp’s Enterprise page, checked Nov 10, 2026.
ClickUp Pros and Cons
| Strength | Why It Matters |
|---|---|
| More features for the price | ClickUp packs tasks, docs, whiteboards, time tracking, goals, Gantt and 1,000 automation actions into Core at $9 per user a month. |
| Unlimited free plan | Unlimited members and tasks make it a fit for bootstrapped startups, freelancers, and trial runs (mind the 60 MB and the limited uses). |
| No seat minimum | One person pays for one seat; monday.com sells 3 seats at least and Asana 2. |
| Extreme customization | Custom fields, statuses, views, and workflows let you build exactly what you need. |
| Active development | ClickUp ships new features often: its release notes show updates in most months of 2026. |
| Weakness | Why It Hurts |
|---|---|
| Steep learning curve | In our experience it takes longer to settle in than simpler tools, and teams can spend weeks debating structure. |
| Key views cost more | Dashboards, Timeline and Workload start on Business ($17); on Free and Core they are limited uses that never reset. |
| Higher entry price than last year | New teams start on Core at $9, where the older Unlimited plan was $7. |
| Weaker Android app | Rated a full point below monday.com’s on Google Play (store ratings below). |
| Notification noise | In our experience notifications pile up without tuning; plan time to set them per team. |
| AI limits are hard to predict | Credits run out and premium models have daily, weekly and monthly limits. |
What users say in the app stores
Read Nov 10, 2026, from a device in Canada:
| Store | ClickUp | monday.com |
|---|---|---|
| Google Play | 3.6 out of 5, 21.4K reviews | 4.6 out of 5, 45.4K reviews |
| App Store (iPhone) | 4.7 out of 5, 1.3K ratings | 4.8 out of 5, 5.5K ratings |
From ClickUp on the App Store, ClickUp on Google Play, monday.com on the App Store and monday.com on Google Play. The gap is on Android; the two iPhone apps are close. ClickUp’s own “4.6 stars” from 25,000+ reviews on G2, Capterra and GetApp is the vendor quoting itself; we could not open those sites to check.
Who Should Use ClickUp?
Ideal Users
1. Power users and tech-savvy teams
- You love customization, don’t mind setup time, and have someone who enforces taxonomy, field standards and automation hygiene
2. Startups replacing several tools
- Docs, whiteboards, chat, time tracking and tasks in one bill; the bill grows one person at a time, and eligible startups get $3,000 in credit
3. Teams outgrowing simple tools
- You have hit the limits of Trello, Todoist or spreadsheets and need Gantt and custom fields on a small budget
Smaller team? See project management software for small business.
Who Should NOT Use ClickUp?
Look Elsewhere If You’re…
1. Wanting plug-and-play simplicity
- Onboarding is measured in weeks, not hours, and ClickUp feels built by engineers for engineers
- Instead: monday.com is quicker to pick up in our experience. See ClickUp vs monday.com
2. A software team that lives in sprints
- ClickUp has sprints on every plan, but sprint points and the dashboards for velocity and burndown need Business
- Instead: a developer-first tool. Read our Jira review
3. A team that mainly writes docs and wikis
- ClickUp allows one wiki below Enterprise, and its docs are convenience tools
- Instead: a docs-first workspace. Read our Notion review
4. A small team that only needs a simple board
- ClickUp’s depth is overhead if a board with lists and cards is enough
- Instead: Trello Standard costs $5 per user a month. Read our Trello review
5. Needing dashboards on the cheapest paid plan
- Instead: Asana includes project dashboards from Starter ($10.99). Read our Asana review
6. Wanting free software on your own servers
- Instead: OpenProject’s Community edition is free and open source (GPL-3.0), with Gantt charts, agile boards and time tracking, for your own servers. Plane is open source (AGPL-3.0) and can be self-hosted; its cloud is free for up to 12 users, Pro is $6 per user a month billed yearly, and it imports from ClickUp (OpenProject’s pricing and code, Plane’s pricing and code, read Nov 11, 2026). More in our ClickUp alternatives guide
We’re based in Canada · Working with clients across North America and Europe
Shortlisting ClickUp?
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ClickUp vs. Alternatives: How It Compares
ClickUp beside the main project management software alternatives:
ClickUp, monday.com, Asana, Trello, Jira and Notion: plans and limits side by side
| ClickUp | monday.com | Asana | Trello | Jira | Notion | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free plan, people | Unlimited | 2 seats | 2 users | 10 collaborators | 10 users | Limited blocks with 2+ members |
| Cheapest paid plan | $9 (Core) | $9 per seat (Basic) | $10.99 (Starter) | $5 (Standard) | $9.70, billed monthly (Standard, up to 100 users) | $10 (Plus) |
| Next plan | $17 (Business) | $12 (Standard), $19 (Pro) | $24.99 (Advanced) | $10 (Premium) | $19.60, billed monthly (Premium) | $20 (Business) |
| Seat minimum | None | 3, in set sizes | 2, in blocks | Not stated | None; yearly by user tier | None |
| Time tracking from | Core | Pro | Advanced (an add-on on Starter) | None listed | Free | None listed |
| Gantt or timeline from | Core (Gantt); Business (Timeline) | Standard | Starter | Premium (Timeline) | Free (timeline) | See pricing page |
| Automations | 100 to 1M actions a month by plan | None on Free and Basic; 250 (Standard), 25,000 (Pro), 250,000 (Enterprise) a month | Unlimited from Starter (50 per project) | 250 runs free; 1,000 on Standard; unlimited on Premium | 150 steps free; 400 per user on Standard | Buttons on Free; database automations from Plus |
| Dashboards from | Business | Free (1 board each) | Starter | Premium | Free | See pricing page |
| AI | Credits on every plan; full Brain² from Business | Credits from Basic | Every paid plan | Standard and Premium | Rovo from Standard | Trial on Free and Plus; included from Business |
Per user a month, billed yearly, unless the cell says otherwise. USD for monday.com, Asana, Trello and Notion; ClickUp’s and Jira’s pages show “$” with no currency code (see “Outside the US” under pricing). From ClickUp’s pricing page, monday.com’s pricing page, Asana’s pricing page, Trello’s pricing page, Jira’s pricing page and Notion’s pricing page, checked Nov 10, 2026. “See pricing page” marks a fact we could not confirm, and “None listed” means the pricing page names no built-in time tracking.
ClickUp vs. monday.com
What the table above does not show:
| Dimension | ClickUp | monday.com |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Unlimited members, 60 MB, limited uses of paid features | 2 seats, 3 boards, 500 MB |
| Smallest paid bill | One seat at $9 (Core) | 3 seats at $9 (Basic): $27 a month |
| Billed monthly | Core $12, Business $25 | Basic $12, Standard $14, Pro $24 |
| Dashboards | From Business ($17); limited uses below | Every plan; 1 board per dashboard on Free and Basic, 5 on Standard, 20 on Pro |
| AI credits | 1,000 per user a month on Core | 1,000 a month on Basic, 2,000 on Standard, 3,000 on Pro |
| Guests | Every plan; seats grow with paid users | From Standard (4 guests billed as 1 seat); free viewers from Basic |
| Google sign-in | Business | Pro |
| Docs | Every plan; one wiki below Enterprise | Every plan (3 on Free, unlimited from Basic) |
| Trial | No timed trial on the pricing page; 30-day refund on a first purchase | 14 days of Pro, no card |
| Integrations | 1,000+ (about 50 native) | 850+ |
| Learning curve (our experience) | Longer: someone designs the structure first | Shorter: boards are quick to read |
Both keep SAML SSO, SCIM, audit logs, HIPAA and a 99.9% uptime promise for Enterprise. Neither vendor publishes speed figures, so test both with your own data. Plans and prices: monday.com’s pricing page and monday.com’s Time Tracking Column article, checked Nov 10, 2026. monday.com’s page shows Canadian visitors CAD: Basic $13, Standard $17 and Pro $26 per seat a month, billed yearly.
Read our full ClickUp vs monday.com comparison →
If you need a tool non-technical teams pick up quickly, consider monday.com: Try monday.comPartner link: TaskRhino may earn a referral fee.
ClickUp vs. Asana
Asana focuses on tasks and project tracking with a cleaner, simpler interface.
ClickUp wins on:
- Docs, whiteboards, chat and time tracking on cheaper plans (Asana includes time tracking only from Advanced, $24.99, and sells it as an add-on on Starter)
- A better free plan (unlimited members against Asana’s 2-user Personal plan)
- Lower price ($9 against $10.99 per user a month, billed yearly), with no seat minimum (Asana sells 2 seats at least, in blocks)
- Goals from Core (Asana keeps them for Advanced)
Asana wins on:
- Simpler onboarding and a cleaner UI (our experience)
- Project dashboards from Starter ($10.99), where ClickUp’s start on Business ($17)
- Unlimited automations from Starter (50 per project), where ClickUp counts actions each month
- Free, unlimited guests from Starter
ClickUp vs. Trello
Trello is Kanban first: boards, lists and cards, with five more views on Premium ($10).
ClickUp wins on:
- More views, more features and more depth: Gantt from Core, where Trello has a Timeline view on Premium and no Gantt
- Built-in time tracking (Trello’s pricing page lists none)
- A free plan with unlimited members (Trello’s covers 10 collaborators per workspace)
Trello wins on:
- Lower price ($5 against $9 per user a month, billed yearly)
- More free automation runs (250 a month against 100)
- Almost no learning curve: most people use Trello on day one
ClickUp vs. Notion
Notion is a doc-first workspace with databases, wikis, and lightweight tasks.
ClickUp wins on:
- Task management depth (Gantt, workload, sprints; Notion has subtasks and dependencies as database features)
- Native time tracking (Notion’s pricing page lists none)
- Deeper automation (Notion has database automations from Plus, $10)
Notion wins on:
- Doc and wiki quality (ClickUp allows one wiki below Enterprise)
- Database flexibility
- Knowledge management
ClickUp vs. Jira
Jira is built for software development teams with Agile workflows, sprints, and issue tracking.
ClickUp wins on:
- Broader use cases (marketing, ops, HR — not just dev)
- Easier for non-developers
- Built-in docs and whiteboards (Jira’s docs live in Confluence, a separate product)
- A free plan with unlimited members (Jira’s covers 10 users)
Jira wins on:
- Developer-specific workflows and issue tracking
- Time tracking and a timeline on every plan, the free one included
- Integration with the Atlassian suite (Confluence, Bitbucket)
What Moving Off ClickUp Takes
Staying put is often the right answer: if your team is productive and trained, a move costs more than it saves. If you do leave, plan for three things. Your data: list exports are included from Business (Core gets a limited number of uses, Free none), table exports start on Business, and every plan has ClickUp’s API. What does not move: automations and integrations are rebuilt by hand in the new tool. The overlap: keep ClickUp open for reference while the team learns the new tool; when we do the move, the dates, and a short freeze window when nobody edits ClickUp, are fixed in your quote. Your old plan: ClickUp says “Workspaces on earlier plans keep their existing limits”, and no page we could read says what happens if such a workspace changes plan, so ask ClickUp before you switch plans.
Moving between ClickUp and monday.com, either way
From ClickUp to monday.com: export your Lists (or pull data through the API), bring them into monday.com boards, recreate the automations, reconnect apps from monday.com’s integrations marketplace, and train the team. Teams make this move for a quicker start and a cleaner interface. Our ClickUp to monday.com migration page lists what moves, what we rebuild and what cannot move. We sign an NDA before the free assessment, then send a fixed quote with the dates in it for data migration, workflow setup and team training; after go-live you get a written rollback plan, 14 days of fixes, and our working copies deleted, confirmed in writing.
From monday.com to ClickUp: ClickUp’s import page brings monday.com boards into ClickUp in a few steps; check that custom fields and statuses came across, recreate automations within your plan’s monthly actions, reconnect apps from ClickUp’s integrations library, move content into ClickUp Docs and train the team. Teams make this move to save money: a 5-person team on monday.com Standard pays $60 a month, and on ClickUp Core $45, which is $180 a year (billed yearly, USD); a team paying for 3 monday.com seats but using 1 or 2 saves more.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does ClickUp cost?
Free Forever costs nothing. Core is $9 and Business $17 per user a month, billed yearly ($12 and $25 billed monthly); Max is $100, and Enterprise is priced by quote. There is no seat minimum, but the whole workspace is on one plan. A team of 25 pays $225 a month on Core or $425 on Business: work out the cost for your team.
Did ClickUp’s prices go up in 2026?
Yes, for new teams. By Nov 10, 2026 ClickUp’s pricing page no longer listed the Unlimited plan ($7 per user a month, billed yearly) or the old $12 Business plan. New teams start on Core at $9 or Business at $17, billed yearly ($12 and $25 billed monthly). We checked the prices again on Nov 13, 2026.
Does my old ClickUp plan keep its price?
ClickUp’s pages say “Workspaces on earlier plans keep their existing limits”; they do not say the price stays the same. No page we could read says what happens if such a workspace changes plan, so ask ClickUp before you switch. ClickUp emails price changes at least 30 days before a renewal.
Is ClickUp’s free plan really free forever?
Yes. ClickUp’s Free Forever plan includes unlimited members, unlimited tasks, and 60 MB of storage, and it is not a timed trial. The catch is the limits: 5 Spaces, 40 lists per Space, 100 automation actions a month, and Gantt, custom fields, dashboards, goals and time tracking only for a limited number of uses that never reset. See what’s included in each plan.
Is Core ($9) enough, or will we need Business ($17)?
Core suits most small teams: unlimited storage, Gantt, custom fields, goals, time tracking and 1,000 automation actions a month. You need Business for dashboards, Workload and Timeline views, timesheets, Google sign-in and automations that reach other apps. If managers need to see who is overloaded, plan for Business.
How long does ClickUp take to learn?
In our experience it takes longer to settle in than simpler tools, because someone has to design the structure first. Simple task lists are easy, but the feature volume creates a steep learning curve. ClickUp offers free training (ClickUp University), templates, and in-app tutorials to help. Power users love the depth; casual users feel overwhelmed.
Does ClickUp integrate with monday.com?
Not directly. You can sync data via Zapier or Make (formerly Integromat), but it’s clunky for ongoing two-way sync. ClickUp’s monday.com import moves boards into ClickUp in one go, but that is a one-time import, not a sync. Most teams pick one or the other, not both; our migration section covers moving either way.
Does ClickUp work for Agile and scrum teams?
Yes, with caveats. ClickUp supports sprints and Kanban boards on every plan; sprint points and the dashboards for velocity and burndown start on Business. It works for Agile workflows but isn’t built only for software like Jira. Cross-functional Agile teams (dev + marketing + ops) appreciate the flexibility. For dev-only teams, read our Jira review.
Can ClickUp handle a team of 100 or more?
Yes: members are unlimited on every plan, and Enterprise adds SAML SSO, SCIM, audit logs, a 99.9% uptime promise and 10,000 API calls a minute. ClickUp publishes no speed figures and no workspace size where it slows down. Test on the free plan with your real data, or use the 30-day refund on a first purchase.
Is ClickUp safe to use?
For most teams, yes. ClickUp encrypts data with TLS 1.2 in transit and AES-256 at rest, holds SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001 certifications, and says it is GDPR compliant. SAML SSO, audit logs, HIPAA with a signed BAA and a chosen data region need Enterprise. See ClickUp’s security details.
What is better than ClickUp?
It depends on what ClickUp gets wrong for you. For a quicker start, monday.com (in our experience); for software teams in sprints, Jira; for docs and wikis, Notion; for a simple board, Trello; for dashboards on the cheapest plan, Asana; for free software on your own servers, OpenProject or Plane. Our ClickUp alternatives guide compares them.
Final Verdict: Power Comes with a Price
The bottom line: ClickUp gives you more features for the price than the other tools we compare here, but you pay for that power with setup time. Choose ClickUp if you are consolidating tools, love customization and have someone to own the setup; look elsewhere if your team is non-technical, lives in sprints, or wants free software on its own servers.
Our recommendation: Start on the free plan with a real project, keep an eye on the limited uses, and move to Core or Business when you know which features your team relies on.
Need Help Choosing?
Book a free 30-minute call and we’ll look at your workflow with you.
How We Reviewed ClickUp
How we reviewed ClickUp:
- Based on ClickUp’s own pages: its pricing page and plan table, its security, Brain, import, Enterprise and feature pages, its terms and its release notes, all read on Nov 10, 2026
- ClickUp’s help centre, G2, Capterra and TrustRadius blocked automated reading that day, so no help-centre detail is printed as fact and no review-site rating is quoted; the app store ratings were read directly
- OpenProject and Plane were read on their own pricing and code pages on Nov 11, 2026
- No first-hand trial workspace was built for this review, and the 4.2/5 rating is our opinion; the time to settle in is our experience from client projects, given without numbers, not a vendor figure
- We are a monday.com partner (see the disclosure at the top); for monday.com and the other tools we used each vendor’s own pricing and help pages, linked where each claim is made
Rakesh Patel is the founder of TaskRhino, a certified monday.com consulting partner specializing in workflow automation, custom integrations, and helping teams get real value from their project management platforms. With 110+ clients across 8 industries, from healthcare and finance to legal services, TaskRhino has seen what works — and what doesn’t.
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