A free Trello alternative with real-time kanban and no signup

Trello is a mature kanban tool with Power-Ups, automation and multiple board views — but it's built around accounts and workspaces, and the good stuff sits behind per-seat plans. cnvs.app gives you a real-time kanban / to-do board you can open and share in seconds with no signup, no per-seat pricing, and a public MCP endpoint so AI can manage tasks on the same live board. And the same board can flip to an infinite drawing canvas.

Open a free board now → See the comparison

TL;DR

Trello vs cnvs.app at a glance

CapabilityTrello (free)Trello (paid)cnvs.app
Signup requiredYesYesNo
Per-seat pricingFree tierPer user / mo$0
Kanban columns & cardsYesYesYes
Card priority / due / assigneeYesYesYes
Lanes / row groupingVia Power-UpYes (Swimlanes)Built in
Real-time multi-user syncYesYesYes, no signup
Drag reorder + touchYesYesYes
Automation / Power-UpsLimitedButler + Power-UpsNo
Calendar / timeline viewsYesNo
AI collaborationAtlassian IntelligencePublic MCP endpoint
Doubles as drawing canvasNoNoYes (infinite canvas)
Installable PWA + offlineAppAppYes (offline read-only)

When to pick which

Pick Trello when

You want a full project-management workspace: Butler automation, Power-Ups, calendar/timeline/dashboard views, deep integrations and a mature mobile app, and you're fine with accounts and per-seat plans as your team grows.

Pick Trello (paid) when

You need swimlanes, advanced automation, multiple board views and admin controls across a managed workspace — and you're OK paying per user for them.

Pick cnvs.app when

You want to spin up a shared kanban board in seconds with no signup and no per-seat cost, get real-time sync and AI-via-MCP for free, and you value having an infinite drawing canvas in the same tool for sketching alongside the task list.

One thing Trello doesn't have: an open AI protocol

cnvs.app ships a public Model Context Protocol endpoint at https://cnvs.app/mcp. Add it once to Claude Desktop / Claude Code / Cline / Goose and the AI can read and edit any kanban board you point it at — create cards, set priorities and assignees, move them across columns — live, alongside humans. It even subscribes to cnvs://board/{id}/tasks.json to react when people move cards. Trello has Butler for rule-based automation and Atlassian Intelligence in-app, but no open endpoint that any MCP-capable agent can drive.

→ How the kanban / to-do mode works · → AI via MCP

FAQ

Do my collaborators need accounts like Trello?

No. There are no accounts on cnvs.app — share the board link and anyone can view and edit cards live. The board ID is the access key, with an optional per-board PIN lock.

Is cnvs.app a full Trello replacement?

For lightweight, no-signup shared task tracking, yes. For workspace-level project management — Power-Ups, Butler automation, calendar/timeline views — Trello is the heavier, more featureful tool.

What's on each card?

A name, optional description, priority, due date, assignee and a done state. Cards sit in columns, optionally grouped into named lanes, and drag to reorder with full touch support. Full feature breakdown →

Can AI manage the board?

Yes. The public MCP endpoint and its REST mirror let Claude, GPT or any agent create, move, complete and list cards on the same live board as humans. More on AI via MCP →

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