Trello VS Airtable: A Side-by-Side Comparison - Which Project Management Tool is Better?

Mikael Hugg:
Well, you know, am I excited because this is gonna be a huge competition and best versus best from tools. Well, we don't have the name yet for this one, so let's just call it which one is best. Now we're talking about Trello versus AirTable. Me and ar, we both are huge task manager persons.

Just because our work is the kind that we have to just do it. Otherwise it's just crazy, crazy time scheduling and and nothing good comes out of it. So that's why we use, but we had this discussion with you all them like last week. And we were just talking about the task manager tools that I was like, well, you know, I use Trello. That's no, no doubt. The best one out there in the market. And then you said like, No way. It's gonna be AirTable and then, okay, we have to make a video of this and let's have a battle. Kind of like a rap battle just with tools.

Artem Daniliants:
Without the rap, without the, yeah, without the, without the embarrassing rap part. So basically you are representing Trello and you are avid Trello user. So you'll be defending Trello's Honor in this video. And I will be representing Airtable and obviously trying to convince everybody that Airtable is a much better.

Compared to Trello. So again, guys, if you like the format, remember to comment, subscribe. It's not a sponsored video. Obviously, if we just love the tools, we want to share some of the tips and our, you know, basically workflows that we use in our day-to-day operation. That's pretty much it. That was the whole idea. So without further ado, just let's get started. So tell me, mi Miguel, why the heck do you like Trello? I know it's simple, but how do you use it in your business?

Mikael Hugg:
Well, I can show it to you. So this is Trello, and as I can see, you can name them ones, you know, name the titles, what, what, what, what your the boards, what you're having. So I obviously name it as. so that I understand and, and remember what kind of boards I'm, I'm doing. So, you know, well, trailer is beautiful. It, it looks, you know, this is stunning, you know, compared to Airtable. So me as a creative person, I like to , I like to use tools that also look nice. But the best thing is that, you know, I just gotta be creative with whatever I do here.

So I can just create, let's say that I would have a. For normal, you can make the templates out of it. So now I have to just create, because I don't wanna open my current projects open, so now I'm just, you know, showing this way. But I mean, like, you know, of course you can, you can make like a backlog. There you go. And then I finished this. Well, what else you need here? O You would put something else there as well. You can. Make them look nice. You can upload pictures. You can do whatever you want so that you know, these actually look really nice. And you can also add these different kind, you know, I use Trello for my work, but I also use them.

Just use this tool just for my. Like person like, like just like personal stuff as well. So when we go to the summer house, we have created its own channel board so that we can see like how to use different tools, how to find stuff from the from this summer house. So it's good for personal and also business wise. But yeah, let's say like, I'm just gonna write here, like record a video. and, and you can modify it. , but then you can also add this checklist. That, that's the thing what I use a lot. So I, I, I can just, you know, put whatever here, then I can decide who to assign it. I can decide when, you know, I want to be, when, when that should be ready. So especially if you have a more people you know, in your team, kind of makes sense to have this like paid version so that you.

Make this deadlines and, and assigning stuff to people. That's what we use every day. And me as a ADHD person, this is kind of like a must have tool. It's yeah, I mean like, and then we have the power apps, so you can create these like own power ops so that you can just add different. Different apps here and make this even even more powerful. You know, if you are using Slack, you can add Slack here. And so there's a lot of like automation, what you can do in here this is owned by Atlassian, so if you're using Gira or whatever tool that Atlassian owns, you know, it's a perfect combination and then you can do the button. This was, I think this was called before it was called the Butler or something like that, but now it's just, but buttons and kind of makes sense.

You can make do this quick automations. Like let's say that we wanna move this, like when, when somebody ha something happens then move it to top of the finish. In the mics is the best board. All right, and let's do that. Let, let's give it like finished and I suck riding. Okay. And now, you know, let's say, let's say that we have done all this, all this crap here. Like, yeah, there we go. And we said like, okay, now this is finished. So I just click this. and it goes straight to here and it's marked that it's done. You can do this kind of stuff. So yeah, this is the, the simplest thing. I have more to show, but you can, you can take over if you feel like it's.

Artem Daniliants:
Basically tell me why you like Trello, like the top three things that you like about Trello.

Mikael Hugg:
It's just easy to use. You super user friendly. I've been using Trello for years. You know, way back, I think it, it wasn't even owned by Atlassian when I first started using it. And the free version, it's something that most people can just go by. They don't need the paid for paid one. Obviously the paid one is even better, but the generous with the free plan and yeah, like, it looks nice.

It's easy to use. Very, very simple to understand. And then also if you want to, and like for our case as a. Growth hackers. You know, we have our clients and, and our clients the whole flow is in, in Trello. So we just share the board and, and then our clients can follow up. You know, how, what we do, and we've been using Monday before Trello and you know, I'm in Monday, is, is I think it's more feature rich. But also, it's more for the internal work and yeah, I mean I Monday for sure.

Artem Daniliants:
Yeah, for sure. For sure. Or at least give you a free paid account. Right. If nothing else. If nothing else, yeah.

Mikael Hugg:
Yeah, for sure.

Artem Daniliants:
Alright, so very good intro. Thank you very much. Now let me show you all the cool stuff you can do with Airtable. I will share my screen and you'll be able to see, and I will be able to hopefully convince you that you can do all the same things you can do in Trello, but much better. So first of all, you create workspaces in Airtable and workspaces can be shared with your teammates, customers, and so forth. Or you can share specific, I wouldn't call them boards, but if we're talking about trailer versus Airtable, Bases are like Trello boards.

So, so far, very, very similar. You create teams in Trello. In Airtable, you create workspaces. You can share whole workspace or you can share a specific board, or in Airtable case base. When you create a new base, right, first of all, which is really awesome, is you can import existing data from Google Sheets, Excel, csv, or you can just paste the data, or you can also start from a template.

So if, for example, you want to do CRM type of workflow, there is a probably a template for that. If you want to do project management, there is a template for that, and those are ready made templates You don't have to fiddle with. You can of course customize them, but if we don't start with the ready made table, we will just create something ourselves. Let's call it tasks. And let's choose a nice icon and change color. So, looks wonderful. Remember, I'm using free version, so everything I'm showing now is available in the free version. So first of all, you create a table, right? So here we would have tasks.

Mikael Hugg:
Do, do you, do you have the air table paid.

Artem Daniliants:
I have paid version as well, but for the sake I think, I think it's worth the money. But to be honest, you can do so much with the free version. I think you can only, you need to upgrade only once you start hitting specific limits. And with with air table, the limit is I think 5,000 rows. In one specific base. So there are specific limits that once you hit them, you have to upgrade to the to the paid version.

Mikael Hugg:
So is, so basically this is kind of like you know, I have used a little bit of air air table but I'm not too, too fam familiar of it. So, but have I understood right that it's basically like a very smart Excel or Google sheets.

Artem Daniliants:
It's a lot more than that. It's actually many different tools packed into Excel like interface. And I think this is a very good segue for me to continue and start building out. And I can show you what cool things you can do with Air Table. So first of all, you create like Google spreadsheets. You create your table structure. So you have name, which is a single line. Then you have, for example, Here would be task.

And here you would have notes for your task or description, for example. And then after that you would have maybe a assignee, of course, a person that you want to assign the task to. And then you have status, for example, right? And maybe deadline. Let's add deadline as well. And this would be a date, basically. And then let's choose European and then maybe include time as. So basically when you create your structure, you have to choose column type. So it's very similar to database in a sense, in Google Sheets and in Excel, for example. In many cases, you don't really touch column type, you just start entering data.

Here you have to describe the column type, and there are many column types, phone numbers, rollups lookups counts, formulas, ratings, duration. and so much more, right? But again, it's very easy. You don't have to spend a lot of time you know, selecting proper column time. But most likely there'll be a column time that will satisfy you. And once you satisfy your needs, and once you are done right, you can start adding tasks. So, for example, here, do this place and then description. You can use markdown. So you can write, hello. Heading and then, you know, maybe subheading, subheading and so forth. Really cool stuff. You can choose a assignee, so you can assign, for example, for example, this task to me, and you can choose that it's in TuDu phase now, and deadline is, for example, next Sunday.

So what, what is really awesome about our table is that once you have created this s. You can go to views and you can now consume the same, same data, but using different views. So for example, you can click calendar and then it'll automatically use date field and it'll create a calendar view. So you will be able to see all your tasks in calendar view, which are similar to, for example, Trello, right?

So here it is, and here is our task. You can move it to a different date and it will automatically be update. . You can also click on any date and you can create task here as well right away. Boom, it's done. Now that you have seen calendar view, you can create CanBan view, which is very much the tr, the Trello kind of functionality within Airtable. You can choose here status and we will use status column for our status. And now you have trailer like functionality where you are. Cards from one place to another. And if you click on a card, you will open a a view where you can see all the fields. You can update the fields, but you can also have a communication with your team.

You can comment on the specific task and you can reference other people, for example, here. Yeah, like so, which makes it really easy to have a discussion similar to what you have in. Yeah, that's, but if you want to go even further, you have gallery view. Yeah, you have gallery view for if you, for example, want to see if there's a one big gallery, for example, if you are using Airtable, for example, to store content and so forth. So now if I add new field, that would be a file feed. And if I add any images, it will be displayed here in a gallery. Again, it's all the same data, but you just consume it in a different way. Besides that, you can also create a form with just one click, and this form is automatically ready to go. So basically it means that I can now copy.

This form and I can send it to a customer and using this form, customer will be able to add data to Airtable without having access to Airtable directly. So by just giving the form url, the customer will be able to add necessary information without having, you know, without even understanding what is Airtable and so forth. This really. So it kind of replaces Google Forms and Google Sheets and also Google Calendar in a way, and also maybe file storage. But what is also really awesome is that you can go to automations and you can do automations on a whole new level. So you can create triggers and then you can decide what will happen. you can automatically update formulas, values and so forth, which is really awesome. You can send Slack messages, for example, when somebody submits a form and so forth. But beyond that, you can also create dashboards. So data is only as useful as you know. Insights you gain, you get from using the data so you can use their drug and.

Interface and create an interface like dashboard for the data that you're storing here. So for example, you can create interface where you aggregate all the data, create executive summary and so forth. And the interface is really, really simple. It's very much just, you know, drug and drop. You decide what kind of interface you want to create. And then here, for example, you know of. I can spend more time here, but I could create something like this in a few minutes.

Mikael Hugg:
If I would like to create this, you, you know, you like Looker, so it used to be Data Studio from Google or Databox. Yeah. Can you make a similar stuff?

Artem Daniliants:
Yes. You could maybe make something similar, but in Airtable you first have to get the. You have to get the data first here in the table, and after that it's available for the interface. So there are many different integrations, for example, Zapier, Airtable of course. And you know, to be honest Trello has also very good integration with Zapier and meg.com. But of course you can bring data from many different sources.

So for example, I. Customer data from Gmail and from my calendar to Airtable. Then I sort, it remove duplicates, and then I have a specific interface where I can see my contacts and I can see insights based on my contact data, you know, and I can see information that I want. So once you pump the data into Airtable, you can create interface, dashboard, or. That would be basically like a UI for that data. So if, for example, this views that you see here, and in the paid version, you also have timeline and gun options as well. But if these views are not enough for you, you can go to interface and build your own.

Mikael Hugg:
What is guns?

Artem Daniliants:
Gun, basically it's, it's a gun chart where you can. Like a water, it's like a waterfall way of looking at the tasks basically. So you will see the sequence of tasks and you will see their dates like a Gant view. It allows you to see dependencies of tasks and so forth. It's a g. View per table. We can see it here. I think it's it's nothing really too fancy.

It looks like this. And it's available only in the in the paid version. So it basically will show our. Data in this way. Oh, you'll be able to see, okay. All the data in this format. And of course you can group, you can sort and so forth. This is what I like about it. You can also share views, so you can share you can create URL for a specific view so you can give it to your customer. For example, if I only want to share calendar for. I can create shareable link and share only calendar view to my customers so they know, for example, how the project is doing, for example, without giving them access to the whole base. Or I can share access to the whole base and invite, for example, customer to participate in it. So, and of course you can have multiple tables within the same document table. so that way you can create complex table structures.

Mikael Hugg:
What is the benefit for having more tables? It's just same like with the spreadsheet, and you can have this like a multiple, multiple tables there, and then you can you know, take the data from one to an and import it to another.

Artem Daniliants:
If you have multiple tables, you can a, actually refer from one table to another. So for example, if I create a table called clients, , I can create a client, for example, X Notes client that I like, and then let's remove a assignee. And then status, let's remove that as well. So for example, here I have clients table, and here I have just one client. Now I can go to tasks, create new column, and then here I can use lookup, call it client. and then you can create basically a field. Okay. So I think we need to create a link. Link to another record. Yeah. Okay. So link to clients directly. Boom. Link to clients. And now, now, and we choose here names so we can see that now we have we have now client and I can just choose from.

Client X, and now I can refer from one table to another table and use that data. So from that perspective, it's very, very useful once you start getting into a more complex structure, data structure, and most importantly, . Most importantly it reminds me of traditional database structure, so foreign keys and if you guys are familiar with, for example, PostgreSQL or MySQL, this is like foreign key in database.

Mikael Hugg:
You know, basically this review. I would say that Airtable is a lot more versatile tool than Trello for sure, because you can, doing so many things. You can probably even create some sort of like small apps or something like that. Good for for sure if you're a coder or like a technical person, like engineer. If your brains are working like an engineer, then air table would be definitely like go to solution.

Then me as a, because you know, well, you can code your, you, you can do the development stuff. So obviously, you know, for you SQLs and that this very, very familiar and backend stuff for me, you know, I'm a, I'm a creative, keep creative person. So for me, this kind of like how things look that's why I use Trello. It's easier for the eye when, you know, I just did not want to do stuff graphically. Like we are also talking with you about using Mira versus, I don't know, you were using something else. You didn't use Mira, but, but you know, this is like a white kind of a tool and for me, because I, I just create everything from wire frames and, and. understanding it graphically. So that's why it's, I tried to, I tried to learn to use stare table a year ago, I think, because I really wanted to try and learn and use it. But because I'm, I don't have a engineer's brain. I have the creative brain, so my brain where no,

Artem Daniliants:
it was hurting what I can say. And here I can I, I can maybe agree with you on some points For sure. Trailer is really good when you just want to get going and you don't need a specific structure, you just need to start doing things quickly. Mm-hmm. Without a rigid structure, it's very flowy. Kind of go with the flow kind of tool.

Mikael Hugg:
Yeah.

Artem Daniliants:
But it still has a lot of functionality that is hidden kind of, so you don't have to even see it if you don't want it. Air table works in another way. I think it brings a lot of functionality. But you can do a few simple steps to make it as easy as Trello. So yeah, you know, creating a can bond board and just using that and not touching anything else, and just creating structure for your table. Will be good enough, but it works in a different way.

It's it's very powerful, but you can make it very simple by, but by default it's very powerful. While Trello is very simple, but it can be very powerful if you want to, they ca they take kind of different approach to it, like to the interface. I think Airtable shows you everything right away and like, Hey, you can do amazing things. Just like, let's get going and then you have to do a little bit of work to make it simple if you want it. But Trello makes it simple from the get-go and kind of hides the complexity until you need it.

Mikael Hugg:
Well, the last question is that, can you change your background because that's what you can do in Trello. That's the most important part of the en me.

Artem Daniliants:
So if that's the most important part for you Yeah. Tool that, that is basically that you're using basically to make money and organize your life. The answer is no. I don't think you can change your background. You can change color of the. On the page, but you cannot change background picture. So what we can deduce from our conversation. . If you want to change your background, go with Trello. Yes. In every other case, go with Air table.

Mikael Hugg:
Exactly. There you go.

Artem Daniliants:
Yes. This was, we brought so much facts to the table and didn't talk about changing background at all. But anyway, that's the point is if you want something simple, if, if you just want to get going, I think Trello is easier.

It just kinda, it, it kind of clicks with the brain in different way, but, You want a rigid structure and you want to reuse your data in many different ways, and you want to kind of, you know, utilize your data in different views, forms, and so forth. I think Airtable is, is a much better option. So I guess, you know, in this case I wouldn't say Trello is better or Air Air Table is better. Maybe you guys can write in your comments in below the video. You can maybe let us know. What do you. Who actually did win this round? Was it Airtable or was it Trella? And of course if you have awesome tips or you want to share ideas on how you use Trello or Airtable or maybe there is even better tool that we dunno about, please guys let us know in the comments.

Mikael Hugg:
Yeah, that be, be comment box even though I don't believe that there is better one, but yeah, absolutely.

Artem Daniliants:
Awesome. I think it's time to wrap up. Mikael, thank you very much for this. Informative. I think this was a really, really fun. and we'll continue doing this because we have notion, we have Miro, we have Freeform. There are so many awesome tools and don't even get this started on email automation, lead generation. Yeah. Management and so forth. I think we will never run out of tools.

Mikael Hugg:
No, no. So this which one is better? Sequel is gonna last until. 10,000 can even 10,000. How you say it? I don't know. It doesn't even matter.

Artem Daniliants:
Yeah. Yeah. It'll last us until end of time. Yeah, exactly. I think we need to let mic Miguel get some coffee and just you know, close his computer for today. Guys, let us know what you thought. Hopefully you learn something new. Hopefully we were able to entertain you a little. Have a wonderful day and remember like and subscribe and please comment below the video.

Let us know what you think. Thank you so much and take care. Thank you. Bye.