Trello vs Sunsama

Trello is probably a project management tool that most people have heard of. It was one of the first project managers to hit mainstream popularity because it was the first project manager to allow for kanban board view from a web app, bringing with it a super user friendly interface.

This was an incredible feat back in 2011 and what resulted in its rise to popularity, especially in the B2C space (general consumers, not majorly breaking into the B2B space). For example, you'd use Trello to manage your personal tasks, maybe more as a prosumer, and less as a business owner.

We used Trello here at Efficient App for years, before ultimately switching to Asana, when they too added kanban functionality, as we felt that Trello sort of got a bit stuck, while their competitors were evolving and working to further innovate in the project management space.

The main differentiation that Trello had was kanban board functionality, and that's about where it started and ends. Thing is, kanban view is now a staple of any modern project manager on the market in this day and age.

Feature set wise, since Atlassian now owns Trello, they've prioritized integrations within the Atlassian suite.

Trello does board view well, but that's about the bulk of it. As they haven't really seemed to update Trello much in the past 6+ years, the bulk of the credit that we can give Trello comes from it having incredibly deep integration with the Atlassian suite of tools (e.g. Jira,Confluence, and Bitbucket).

With Atlassian's acquisition of Trello, came with it more of an integration with Atlassian's tooling.

Trello actually has a pretty solid mobile app on both iOS and Android. This is in part to how much time they've had to perfect it. Early on, being more in the B2C space, and coming out more when the iPhone was gaining major traction, a solid mobile app is something that the general consumer wanted. So this is something they've spent a lot of time perfecting.

We also have to give Trello credit in this area. They have a super robust API and powerful Zapier connector. If their Zapier connector doesn't have quite what you're looking for, you should be able to do chat you'd like to do using their developer API.

If your team is heavily relying on the Atlassian software stack, then Trello is likely to bring with it some native integrations to help your team out as well.

Sunsama isn’t trying to be a traditional task manager. It's a daily planning tool that include tasks. Their whole thing is wanting you to really place attention on what actually deserves your time today, which personally, I love the idea of. If you've ever heard of "time boxing" or "time blocking" that's exactly what Sunsama is good at.

You get a calendar view, and you drop and drag the tasks you want to get done for the day on your calendar. The tool itself also has a very beautiful and calming interface.

If you're an overachiever and tend to tell yourself you'll get the world done in an afternoon, Sunsama will also help set realistic expectations.

The only thing is, you need to actually make the time to plan your day. Which means it's only as useful as the discipline and enjoyment you have from planning your day. When I time block my tasks, I always find I am more efficient and focused so it's something I deeply value.

To make it easier to use, you can pull in tasks from tools like Asana, Gmail, or Notion, then intentionally choose what makes it onto your schedule.

• Clean, calming interface
• Works well if you like being hands-on with your schedule
• Allows you to drag tasks on your calendar
• Gives you a realistic view of what you can get done in a day
• Encourages a consistent daily routine (planning + reflection)
• Strong task aggregation from tools like Asana, Gmail, Slack, etc.

• Can feel like extra work if you’re already busy
• Limited collaboration and partner/team functionality
• Not designed for projects

Since Sunsama forces you to slow down, that means setting aside some time daily to decide what's going to make it onto your calendar. Most task management tools have you dump tasks into a list that you can quickly sort through. But with Sunsama, it's about intentionality, so you choose tasks and schedule them thoughtfully.

I always recommend Sunsama to friends who have relied on pen and paper for task planning and want to make the jump to something digital. It captures that same satisfying feeling of planning, organizing, and structuring your day.

All in all, the daily task planning process works really well if you like structure and routine, but you're going to feel the friction if you prefer speed and efficiency.

Sunsama wants you to bring in all your tasks from other tools so that you can effectively manage your day. They've made it easy to do so with their integrations.

Sunsama's native integrations include Asana, ClickUp, GitHub, Jira, Linear, Monday.com, Trello, Todoist, Notion, Microsoft To Do, Google Tasks, Gmail, Outlook, Slack, and Microsoft Teams. On the calendar side, it supports Google, Outlook, and Apple/iCloud.

Beyond that, they now have MCP support with Claude and ChatGPT and Zapier triggers (on the Power Pro plan), which extends connectivity significantly.

Sunsama walks you through the tasks you completed and helps you reflect so you can be better prepared for the next day.

If you care about building better habits and awareness, it definitely nails that.

• Free Trial: Use this Sunsama Discount to get an extended 30 day trial.
• Pro: $17/user/month (billed annually) or $22/user/month (billed monthly). Sunsama only offers a single paid plan. It includes unlimited usage, unlimited integrations, and access to AI, MCP, and Zapier features. This is the plan most individuals and teams will use.
• Enterprise: Custom pricing. Designed for larger organizations that need SSO/SAML, SCIM provisioning, audit logs, custom privacy requirements, security reviews, compliance support, and enterprise billing options. Contact sales for pricing.