Chassis vs Trello: the cockpit-native PM vs the kanban that started it all.
Trello is the cleanest, simplest kanban tool ever built — a free-forever tier, drag-and-drop cards, an entire generation of operators learned project management on it. Chassis takes that kanban shape and wires it into the rest of an operating cockpit: cycles + burndown for sprints, GitHub sync, Forge AI, Crew people records, Centerline cadence, Atlas docs. Below: where each one wins, and a feature-by-feature table that doesn't lie.
Where Trello is better.
Honest list. Trello earns its iconic status on simplicity.
- Simple, beautiful kanban. The card-and-list metaphor is the cleanest in the category. Onboarding takes thirty seconds. If you need a tool a non-technical teammate can use without a tutorial, Trello wins.
- Free forever. Unlimited cards on up to 10 boards per workspace, unlimited members. Solo operators and 2-person teams can run on free indefinitely. Chassis has a 7-day trial; the Drive itself is paid.
- Power-Ups marketplace. Hundreds of Power-Ups for calendar, time tracking, custom fields, Slack — drop-in extensions that don't require code. Chassis has Forge + Platform Contract, which is more programmable but less point-and-click.
- Atlassian ecosystem. Native ties to Confluence, Jira, Bitbucket, and the rest of the Atlassian suite. If your team already lives there, Trello is an easier choice.
- Mobile native apps. Polished iOS and Android apps. Chassis is mobile-responsive web only.
Where Chassis is better.
Where structure + cockpit-native posture earn their place.
- Real cycles + burndown + points. If you run sprints, Chassis ships them as first-class. Trello fakes this with Power-Ups and you end up patching together three of them. Chassis has cycles with start + end dates, Fibonacci estimates, burndown chart, end-of-sprint retros — out of the box.
- Native to Centerline cadence. Quarterly bearings promote into Chassis projects without re-keying. Trello boards don't model the operating cadence (what EOS calls rocks, what we call bearings) so the quarterly objective lives somewhere else.
- Native to Crew, Atlas, Webster. Owners are real Crew employee records. Tasks reference Atlas docs natively. Webster product pages render from project state. The cockpit context Trello can't reach without paid integrations.
- Forge AI workflows ship in the box. Subtask suggestions, auto-written end-of-cycle retros, weekly digests, project scaffolding from your venture profile. No add-ons.
- Real GitHub bidirectional sync — no add-on. Import open issues + PRs, reconcile state, export tasks as fresh issues, auto-close. Trello's GitHub Power-Up is lighter and partial.
Feature-by-feature.
Snapshot as of May 2026. If a row reads wrong, email [email protected] and we'll fix.
| Feature | Chassis | Trello |
|---|---|---|
| Kanban view | ✓ | ✓ best in class |
| List view | ✓ | via Power-Up |
| Cycles / sprints + burndown | ✓ first-class | ✗ (Power-Up patchwork) |
| Point estimation (Fibonacci) | ✓ | via Power-Up |
| Custom fields | partial — tags + priority + estimate | via Power-Up |
| AI assist (subtasks, retros, digests) | ✓ in the box | partial — newer, gated |
| GitHub bidirectional sync | ✓ in the box | via Power-Up, partial |
| Power-Ups / extensibility | via Forge + Platform Contract | ✓ marketplace |
| Mobile native app | ✗ (responsive web) | ✓ iOS + Android |
| Free tier | 7-day trial; cockpit free | ✓ free forever |
| Pricing model | $49/mo flat (per tenant) | $5–$10/seat/mo paid |
| Centerline bearing integration | ✓ | ✗ |
| People records (HR + payroll) | ✓ Crew | ✗ |
| Operations projects (no repo) | ✓ first-class | ✓ but flat |
| Learning curve | low | very low |
Who should use Chassis instead.
Operators graduating from Trello who now run sprints, ship code on GitHub, want AI workflows without bolting on a fourth tool, and need owners to be real people connected to the rest of the cockpit. The kanban view is familiar; the structure underneath is what you've been faking with Power-Ups.
If your work has outgrown a flat board of cards, Chassis is the next step.
Who should stay on Trello.
Don't fix what isn't broken. If your team runs cleanly on Trello free or Standard, has the Power-Ups you need, doesn't run sprints, and doesn't want to learn a new tool — stay. Trello is the right choice for a lot of teams forever, and we are not going to pretend otherwise.
If you live deep inside the Atlassian ecosystem (Confluence + Bitbucket + Jira), Trello will integrate more cleanly than Chassis will.
Try Chassis with the rest of the cockpit.
7-day free trial. The kanban view is familiar; the structure underneath is what your work has outgrown.