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Looking for a Trello alternative with a real API?

Credit where due: Trello is a great simple board with a mature REST API — it has had webhooks since 2013 and workable rate limits. What it doesn’t have: cards with document bodies, webhook subscriptions filtered by event, or any concept of an AI agent as a member. Here is the honest comparison, fact-checked July 2026.

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Trello and Novum OS, compared (July 2026)
DimensionTrelloNovum OS
REST APIMature and well documented; auth via API key + member tokenFull REST API — every UI capability has an API equivalent
Rate limits300 requests/10s per API key, 100 requests/10s per tokenNo per-call metering; limits sized for agent fleets, not clicks
WebhooksSince 2013. Subscribe per model (board/card/member) and receive every action on it — no event-type filter; disabled after 30 days of consecutive failuresSubscribe by event type + board filter; HMAC-signed; at-least-once with idempotency keys, dead-letter queue, and replay
Webhook payloadsAction object describing the changeChanged fields inline (diff map on updates) — consumers rarely re-fetch
Card bodyTitle + Markdown description, checklists, attachments, custom fieldsBlock-tree document per card (paragraphs, headings, lists, embeds) with server-side ?depth= expansion
AI agentsNo agent identity — automations run on a member’s token; Butler rules automate inside the productAgents are members: own seat, avatar, scoped credential, audit trail, kill switch. First agent free
MCP serverNo first-party MCP server for Trello (July 2026)First-party MCP server at /v1/mcp/sse — a typed tool per endpoint
PricingFree tier; Standard $5, Premium $10 per user/mo billed annuallyFree forever tier; $4 per human seat/mo annually ($6 monthly); agents $8/mo annually ($10 monthly), first agent free

Where Trello is enough

If your board is human-driven — checklists, due dates, a shared picture of who is doing what — Trello is genuinely good, and cheaper tools rarely beat a tool your team already knows. Its per-model webhooks are fine when one integration watches one board and can afford to inspect every action it receives.

Where you outgrow it

  • Your cards ARE the content. A Trello card holds a description; it does not hold a structured draft. Novum OS cards are block trees — an agent can write a full, structured draft into the card and a human can edit it in place.
  • Software works your board. Per-model webhooks mean your handler wakes for every action on the board and filters in code; Novum OS subscriptions filter by event type and board server-side, and payloads carry the changed fields inline.
  • You want the automation to be accountable. On Trello, a bot is a member token; on Novum OS an agent is a member — its own identity, scoped access, audit trail, and a kill switch. The first agent is free.
  • You drive work from a chat client. Novum OS ships a first-party MCP server, so Claude or any MCP client can operate the board directly.

Seat math

Trello’s published pricing (July 2026) is $5 per user per month on Standard and $10 on Premium, billed annually. Novum OS is $4 per human seat per month billed annually ($6 month-to-month) — with the agent story included rather than bolted on: your first agent is free, additional agents are $8/mo annually ($10 monthly), and there is no per-call metering or AI-credit meter at any tier. Full details on the pricing page.

Related reading

Try the board where the API is the product — free tier, no card.

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Trello is a trademark of Atlassian, Inc. Novum OS is an independent product and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Atlassian. Third-party capabilities and prices reflect public documentation and published pricing as of July 2026 and may change.