Confluence vs Trello

2023. Atlassian brings an AI assistant to Jira and Confluence



Atlassian has introduced Atlassian Intelligence, an AI-powered 'virtual teammate' that utilizes the company's proprietary models and OpenAI's large language models to create customized teamwork graphs. This technology enables various functionalities, such as AI-generated summaries in Confluence and test plans in Jira Software, as well as the rewriting of responses to customers in Jira Service Management. Atlassian Intelligence provides users with a chatbox similar to Chat-GPT, which is deeply integrated into different products and allows for the referencing of specific documents. For instance, to generate a summary of action items from a recent meeting, users can link the document with the transcript and request the summary inside Confluence. The tool then generates a list of decisions and action items from the meeting.


2021. Atlassian peps up Confluence with new graphical design features



Confluence, the collaborative workspace developed by Atlassian, has been a staple knowledge-sharing tool for over 15 years, widely adopted by companies for its versatility. In its latest update, Confluence introduces several new features to enhance user experience. Users can now customize their spaces with cover images, title emojis, and personalized avatars that represent different sections of Confluence. The addition of smart links allows for seamless integration with platforms like YouTube and Trello, automatically recognizing and displaying links in their native formats. Furthermore, users can schedule the publication of new pages and convert pages into blog posts, reflecting the increasing popularity of corporate blogging within organizations, particularly for internal audiences during the pandemic.


2021. Trello is redesigning its project management platform for a remote work future



Productivity app Trello, known for its virtual whiteboard-style platform designed for project organization and management, has unveiled a significant redesign and introduced new features to assist businesses in managing third-party integrations. The platform's visual elements, including the logo and illustrations displayed on its website and apps, have undergone a revamp. Moreover, Trello now offers enhanced customization options for cards and alternative ways to view workloads, expanding beyond the traditional whiteboard column view. The introduction of mirror cards and link cards aims to simplify the management of other applications and services within Trello. Additionally, Trello has introduced five new board views, deviating from its iconic column layout that has gained widespread popularity.


2020. Atlassian’s Confluence gets a new template gallery



Confluence, the content-centric collaboration tool by Atlassian, is simplifying the onboarding process for new users through the introduction of an enhanced template gallery, featuring 75 additional templates. This update signifies the evolution of Confluence from a specialized wiki primarily used by technical documentation teams to a widely adopted tool utilized across various organizations. The revamped template gallery offers improved search tools, filters, and previews conveniently located in the right-hand panel of your Confluence site. These enhancements facilitate the seamless discovery of templates that are most relevant to your business needs.


2018. Trello acquired business process automation tool Butler



Trello, the collaborative tool under the ownership of Atlassian, has recently made an acquisition of Butler, a lightweight business process automation tool. With the integration of Butler, Trello gains the capability of automation, enabling users to streamline complex tasks through a series of automated commands. Over time, teams have recognized the value of automating processes on Trello boards using the Butler Power-Up, allowing them to allocate more time to essential responsibilities and enhance overall productivity. Butler empowers teams to systematize business rules and procedures, transforming a ten-step process into a single-click automation. This signifies that Trello transcends its static organizational role and ventures into the realm of agile business process automation.


2018. Trello gets a newsfeed and improved notifications



The project management service Trello, which is owned by Atlassian, is undergoing a makeover. Trello is renowned for its cards and boards, but this simplicity often led power users to sift through numerous boards to determine their next focus. To address this, Trello is introducing a personalized newsfeed that will showcase activity from your Trello teams. The newsfeed will include sections like "Up Next" and "Highlights," providing a comprehensive overview of the ongoing developments within your projects. Furthermore, Trello is introducing enhanced notifications. Users will now have the ability to modify due dates and disable notifications for specific cards directly from the notifications interface. Additionally, users can mark alerts as "read" or "unread" to manage their notification status effectively.


2017. Trello comes to the desktop, gets Stride integration



Popular project management tool Trello, which was recently acquired by Atlassian, has introduced desktop applications for both Mac and Windows operating systems. Previously, Trello was exclusively available as a web-based platform. With the new desktop apps, Trello users can enjoy all the familiar features they are accustomed to using in the browser, along with the added convenience of native desktop notifications. Furthermore, the desktop apps offer the flexibility to add cards from any application using a variety of keyboard shortcuts, allowing users to stay focused without the distraction of navigating to other websites like Facebook. If you are using an Apple laptop equipped with the Touch Bar, you can also take advantage of its capabilities to effortlessly create new cards and open boards in separate windows with a single tap. In line with Atlassian's recent launch of Stride, a competitor to Slack, it is unsurprising that Trello now integrates with Stride as well. This integration enables users to initiate Stride audio and video conferences directly from within Trello, facilitating instant conference calls with all Trello board members without the need to switch between different applications.


2017. Atlassian acquired Trello



Atlassian, the renowned software company, has made a significant acquisition by purchasing the project management service Trello for a whopping $425 million. Similar to its approach with previous acquisitions, Atlassian intends to maintain the Trello service and brand, ensuring that existing users will not experience immediate changes. By acquiring Trello, Atlassian gains access to one of the rapidly growing project management services, boasting approximately 19 million users. Trello enhances productivity for both individuals and teams by providing a comprehensive view of all projects within a single glance. Assigning projects is simple—just place them in the respective person's or team's list, and upon completion, drag them to the "completed" list. Each task, referred to as a "card," allows for comments and the addition of links. Trello is compatible with multiple devices and facilitates file uploads from platforms such as Dropbox or Google Drive.


2016. Trello makes its Power-Ups available to free users



The project management service Trello has expanded access to its Power-Ups feature, making it available to all users, including those on the free tier. Previously, only paying users had access to this functionality, which includes integrations with various products such as SurveyMonkey, join.me, Github, and Slack, among others. Free users were limited to three basic Power-Ups: Calendar for viewing Trello's calendar, Card Aging for gradually fading out cards as they age, and Voting for adding voting options to cards. Additionally, Trello is introducing integrations with Intercom, Github Enterprise, and Screenful. Moreover, Trello is launching two new Power-Ups of its own. The first is custom fields, enabling users to create new data fields and visual cues for their cards. The second is Card Repeater, allowing users to set intervals for recurring tasks. For instance, with Card Repeater, users can automatically generate copies of specific cards for tasks that repeat periodically, such as expense report due dates. Currently, this feature is in public beta, and admins need to request access to it.


2016. Trello launched platform for developers



Project management tool Trello has opened its Power-Ups Platform to developers, providing them with the opportunity to seamlessly integrate their services with Trello. Notable partners in Trello's new developer platform include SurveyMonkey, Zendesk, join.me, and Giphy. Currently, Trello's directory offers around 22 add-ons. By accessing these third-party tools within the Trello service itself, users can avoid frequent context switching to perform routine tasks and automate more aspects of their workflow directly within Trello. It is important to highlight that Trello has long provided an API that enables developers to utilize certain Trello features within their own applications. However, with the introduction of this new platform, developers can directly integrate specific features into the Trello user interface.