Atlassian's Trello redesign may be 'worst in tech history' say frustrated users

Customers compare upgrade to Microsoft's mega-messy Windows 8

UPDATED Angry users of Atlassian’s Trello project management tool users are dishing out harsh criticism about a recent redesign.

Revisions of popular apps invariably elicit a few critical comments, but dislike for the new Trello is difficult to write off as just background noise. It's as if Atlassian had seen the blowback from Microsoft's Skype redesign, Accenture's Hertz site debacle, GitHub's bungled code search renovation, and last year's CEO-ending Sonos update, and then said, "Let's have some of that."

This update is possibly the worst in tech history

The Trello revision debuted on May 22, 2025. It changed how interface elements are arranged on the page, altering the layout, fonts, and button functions. Some capabilities, like the ability to add comments to cards, disappeared.

On the company's Trello community forum, a thread started in June has accumulated almost 200 posts, largely from people complaining about the design change.

Here's a dissatisfaction sampler:

• "...the new version is truly terrible";
• "Just adding my voice here, the new card layout is horrible;"
• "Hate the new format. Can't wait for instructions on how to revert back to the old;"
• "...HORRIBLE new UI. Your team really failed at this one."; and
• "I mean this as respectfully as possible to the Trello team, but you are irritating a lot of people with this update and setting yourselves up for failure."

On Reddit, an "Open letter to Trello leadership," by user mnmacguy, offers a blistering assessment of the changes.

"People are comparing this to the worst software updates in history," the post says. "One user said, 'This is the worst UI update I’ve ever seen, including Windows 8.' If you’re being measured against Windows 8, that should say something."

Atlassian customer Stephen Wilson wrote, "This update is arguably one of the worst in the past five years, and possibly in tech history, which is quite disappointing."

A few contrarian voices have expressed love for the new design.

Steering customers to Jira

Atlassian acquired Trello in 2017, when the Australian firm said the tool “will expand Atlassian’s leadership in powering all types of teamwork” and complement its Jira project-tracking tool and Confluence enterprise Wiki.

The company is now suggesting Jira as a Trello alternative.

In a thread discussing the Trello upgrade, Atlassian product manager Victor Dronov responded by to an angry users by stating “We are changing Trello to become an entirely different product” and suggesting a shift to Jira for team collaboration and product management.

Users are speculating that Atlassian is trying to shift professional users to Jira. Both Jira and Trello have free tiers, but Jira's lowest paid tier costs $7.53, compared to $5.00 for Trello.

One Reddit user observed that Atlassian has “decided to revamp the tool as a personal task management app and are deliberately making it harder for teams to be productive with it while also suggesting for those teams move to the company's original project management app, Jira, which is more expensive than Trello and will require teams to be less productive in order to learn a different system.”

The redditor lamented that such moves are “a common occurrence when a major corporation acquires a product that's similar to their own. They eventually turn the subsidiary into a sales channel for their main product."

Gabriel Barbosa, a Laravel and Vue.js developer based in Brazil, told The Register he agrees that Atlassian is trying to move users from Trello to Jira.

"A lot of actions [in Trello] are now worse, like adding a member to a card is hidden behind a few clicks,” he said. "That's why I made the free script [to restore the old user interface].” Barbosa is also testing an open source Trello alternative called Taiga that has a lot of features not available in Atlassian’s product.

After this story was filed, an Atlassian spokesperson responded that the company shared its vision for transforming Trello from a product management app to a personal productivity app earlier this year and that more than 20 percent of the user base has opted into the beta program.

"We understand that change, especially to a tool you rely on every day, can be frustrating," the company spokesperson said. "While most users have embraced the new direction, some have shared that the experience no longer meets their needs. We genuinely empathize with that feedback. At the same time, we remain committed to this new chapter for Trello. The future of the product will focus on helping individuals manage their work and life more effectively. As a result, new features and the updated interface will continue to reflect this shift."

For those seeking a more capable product management solution, the spokesperson recommended Jira.®

Updated at 1339 UTC to include statement from Atlassian.