Task manager for small teams: 4 simple tools compared
How to pick a task manager for a small team: ownership, visible due dates and context next to the task. We compare Trello, Todoist, Basecamp and Tydy on free plans, pricing as of November 9, 2026, where the conversation lives and what an 8-person team would pay.
Contents
- What a small team needs from a task manager
- How to choose in five minutes
- Task managers for small teams compared
- Trello: the simplest shared board
- Todoist: a to-do list that grows into a team workspace
- Basecamp: projects with chat built in
- Tydy: tasks from the Telegram chats you already use
- What an 8-person team would pay
- How to roll out a task manager in a small team
- FAQ
What a small team needs from a task manager
Most small teams do not need a portfolio dashboard or resource planning. They need fewer “who is on this?” messages. A good task manager for a small team usually comes down to four things:
- Ownership. Every task has one person responsible for it.
- Due dates people actually notice. A date in a card helps only if someone sees it before the client asks.
- Context next to the task. The files, decisions and follow-ups that explain what “done” means.
- Low setup cost. The team should start using it this week, not after a month of configuration.
Below we compare four simple options: Trello, Todoist, Basecamp and Tydy. Prices and limits come from each official pricing page, checked on November 9, 2026. If you are specifically leaving one tool, see our guides to Trello alternatives and Todoist alternatives; for free plans only, read free task tracker for teams.
How to choose in five minutes
- Find where the conversation happens. If your team and clients already talk in a messenger, a tool that asks everyone to move into its own comments will compete with that habit.
- Count people a year from now. Per-seat pricing and flat or per-workspace pricing behave very differently as the team grows.
- Pick one view you will live in. A Kanban board, a to-do list or a project space. Extra views are nice; one view everyone opens is essential.
- Check reminders. Who gets notified about a due date, and where: email, an app, or the messenger people already read.
Task managers for small teams compared
Data from official pricing pages as of November 9, 2026, in US dollars unless noted.
| Trello | Todoist | Basecamp | Tydy | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | Simple Kanban boards | Lightweight to-do lists shared with a team | Projects with messages, chat and to-dos in one place | Teams whose work arrives in Telegram |
| Free | Up to 10 collaborators and 10 boards per Workspace | Beginner: 5 personal projects | Free: one project, up to 3 people | Up to 2 members and 3 projects |
| Paid from | $5 per user/month billed annually | Business $8 per user/month billed yearly | $29/mo flat for up to 5 users | Pro 990 ₽ per workspace/month |
| Pricing model | Per user | Per user | Flat package | Per workspace |
| Where the conversation lives | Card comments; capture from email, Slack and Teams | Task comments | Message boards, Chats and Pings inside Basecamp | The Telegram chats you connect, with tasks next to them |
Trello: the simplest shared board
Trello is the classic Kanban board: lists, cards, assignees and due dates. It is easy to explain to a new teammate in five minutes, which is why many small teams start here.
- Free: up to 10 collaborators per Workspace, up to 10 boards, unlimited cards, assignee and due dates, 250 Workspace command runs per month.
- Standard: $5 per user/month billed annually ($6 billed monthly): unlimited boards, advanced checklists, custom fields and AI features.
- Premium: $10 per user/month billed annually ($12.50 monthly): Calendar, Timeline, Table, Dashboard and Map views.
- Enterprise: $17.50 per user/month billed annually.
Trello can capture to-dos from email, Slack and Microsoft Teams into its Inbox. If your setup is a board, we also have a guide to setting up a Kanban board for teams.
Todoist: a to-do list that grows into a team workspace
Todoist starts as a personal to-do app and adds a shared team workspace on its Business plan. It suits small teams whose work is mostly lists of clear, short tasks.
- Beginner: $0, 5 personal projects, task reminders, list and board layouts.
- Pro: $5 per month ($60 billed yearly) or $7 billed monthly, for individuals.
- Business: $8 per user/month, $96 billed yearly ($10 billed monthly), plus local tax: a shared team workspace, up to 500 team projects, calendar and table layouts for team projects, team roles and permissions.
Todoist can show prices in local currency by region; the figures above are the USD prices shown on November 9, 2026.
Basecamp: projects with chat built in
Basecamp keeps to-dos, message boards and group chat inside each project. It suits teams that are happy to move their conversation into Basecamp, and its flat packages avoid per-seat maths.
- Free: one project free forever for personal use, up to 3 people and 1 GB of storage.
- Freelancer: $29/mo, 3 projects, up to 5 users.
- Pro: $79/mo, 8 projects, up to 10 users, plus multiple message boards, chat rooms and card tables per project, and templates.
- Pro Plus: $99/mo, 12 projects, up to 15 users, plus time tracking.
- Pro Unlimited: $199/mo billed annually ($329/mo billed monthly), unlimited projects and users.
Basecamp Business packages start with a 30-day free trial.
Tydy: tasks from the Telegram chats you already use
Trello, Todoist and Basecamp all ask the conversation to happen inside the tool, in comments or chat rooms. Tydy takes the opposite route. Your team and clients keep writing in Telegram. Tydy reads only the groups, forum topics and Telegram Business personal chats you connect, and turns that conversation into tasks.
The conversation stays in Telegram. The task, the board and the due date appear next to it.
Every work chat in one inbox
In the “Every work conversation in one inbox” section you can see which chat and topic a message came from, what is unread and which task it belongs to. Reply back to Telegram or leave an internal note the client never sees. Tydy reads a batch of messages from one person as one request, and a follow-up hours later updates the same task instead of creating a duplicate.
Reply to clients as yourself
With Telegram Business the team sees only the personal chats you add yourself. You reply from Tydy, and the client receives the message from your own account, not from a bot. That is why Tydy works for agencies with many client chats and for freelancers whose clients send voice notes and screenshots.
A board and due-date reminders
Tasks live on a Kanban board with custom columns, labels, priorities, assignees and due dates. When a task has a due date and an assignee, the bot messages the main assignee in Telegram a day before and/or an hour before, and once when it is overdue, with Complete, +1 day, Tomorrow and Next week buttons. Optional quiet hours and a morning digest are available, and every due date appears in a calendar and an overdue report. All of this is included on every plan, Free too.
What Tydy does not try to be
Tydy is not an all-in-one suite. Its public pages do not describe Gantt charts, time tracking or an import from other trackers. If those are must-haves, Basecamp Pro Plus (time tracking) or a heavier tool may fit better. Tydy fits when the real problem is that work arrives as chat messages and gets lost in the feed. For a side-by-side view of approaches, see Tydy, Trello, Notion and Jira.
What an 8-person team would pay
An example as of November 9, 2026, using the cheapest plan that fits eight people. Treat it as a guide, not a quote: taxes, currency and add-ons can change the total.
- Trello: $0 on Free (up to 10 collaborators and 10 boards), or $40/month on Standard billed annually ($5 × 8).
- Todoist Business: $64/month billed yearly ($8 × 8), plus local tax.
- Basecamp Pro: $79/month flat for up to 10 users and 8 projects.
- Tydy Team: 2,990 ₽/month per workspace for up to 15 members. Pro at 990 ₽ covers up to 5 members.
Tydy bills in roubles via YooKassa, so compare the totals in your own currency on the day you decide.
How to roll out a task manager in a small team
- Start with one project. Pick one client or one internal project with real deadlines.
- Agree on one rule. For example: every task has an owner and a due date, or it is not a task yet.
- Keep the conversation in one place. In Trello, Todoist or Basecamp, that means discussing tasks in the tool. In Tydy, connect the Telegram groups and Business chats where the work is already discussed. Our guide on how to manage team tasks in Telegram walks through it.
- Review after a week. If people open the tool without being reminded, roll it out to the rest of the team.
FAQ
What is the best task manager for a small team?
It depends on where your team talks. Trello is the simplest shared Kanban board, Todoist suits lightweight shared lists, Basecamp keeps messages, chat and to-dos inside each project, and Tydy fits teams whose work arrives in Telegram, because it turns those chats into tasks with an owner and a due date.
Is there a free task manager for small teams?
Yes. As of November 9, 2026, Trello is free for up to 10 collaborators and 10 boards per Workspace, Basecamp’s Free plan offers one project for up to 3 people, Todoist Beginner covers 5 personal projects, and Tydy Free covers up to 2 members and 3 projects with no card required.
How much does a task manager for a small team cost?
For eight people on November 9, 2026: Trello Standard is $40/month billed annually, Todoist Business is $64/month billed yearly plus tax, Basecamp Pro is $79/month flat for up to 10 users, and Tydy Team is 2,990 ₽/month per workspace for up to 15 members.
Which task manager has built-in chat?
Basecamp includes message boards, group chat and direct messages inside the app. Trello and Todoist use comments on cards and tasks. Tydy does not add a new chat: it connects to the Telegram groups, topics and Business chats you choose and builds tasks from them.
Can a small team manage tasks in Telegram?
Yes. With Tydy, you connect the Telegram chats where work is discussed. A batch of messages becomes a task or updates an existing one, tasks live on a Kanban board, and the bot reminds the main assignee about due dates in Telegram.
Does Tydy charge per user?
No. Tydy prices per workspace: Free 0 ₽, Pro 990 ₽ for up to 5 members and Team 2,990 ₽ per month for up to 15 members, as of November 9, 2026. Members do not pay separately, and payment is in roubles via YooKassa.
Related
How to manage team tasks in Telegram without losing them in chat
How to manage team tasks in Telegram without losing them in chat: connect the conversations you choose, turn a batch of messages into a task with an owner and a due date, keep a live Kanban board and get deadline reminders. A walkthrough of Tydy’s public product demo, with prices as of 8 November 2026.
