Disclosure: we make Client Forms & Portal, one of the options compared below. The free options come first, and for many teams they are enough. We checked Trello's plans and guest rules against Atlassian's pages and Hipporello's prices on its own site in October 2026.
Can a client follow their Trello cards without joining the board?
Not with Trello alone. Trello shares a board, not a card: anyone you invite sees every card on that board, and a board you make public is open to anyone with the link. To show a client only their own requests, you either keep a separate board for each client, write the updates yourself, or add a portal that sits outside Trello and reads from it.
As of October 2026, Trello Standard costs $5 per user per month billed annually ($6 monthly) and Premium costs $10 ($12.50 monthly). The Free plan allows up to 10 collaborators per Workspace (Trello pricing), and guests count towards those 10.
| Option | Client needs a Trello account | What the client sees | Cost (as of October 2026) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Invite the client to your board | Yes | Every card on the board, with descriptions, comments and files | Free for one board; billed as a member once they join a second board on Standard or Premium |
| A separate board per client | Yes | Everything on their board, which you keep tidy for them | Free for one board each, plus the time to keep two places in step |
| A public board | No | Everything on the board, as does anyone else with the link | Free |
| Status emails written by hand | No | Whatever you write | Free, paid in your team's time |
| Hipporello Service Desk | No | A case page with the conversation and the latest status | Free for 5 cards a month; Premium $10 per agent per month |
| Client Forms & Portal (ours) | No | Their requests' titles and stages, their own answers, your messages and the files you pick | €10 per workspace per month or €100 per year |
What goes wrong when clients join the board
Inviting the client is the first thing most teams try, and it works for a week. Three things tend to break it.
They see every card, and everything on it
Atlassian's own help page on guests is plain about it: "There isn't a way to prevent someone from seeing specific cards on a board, so they can see all cards on any board they're invited to" (What is a Workspace guest?). That includes the card description where someone pasted the internal brief, the comment thread where the team discussed the budget, and the cards for other clients if they share the board. Teams end up moving the real conversation to Slack, and the board stops being the place where work is recorded.
By default a guest is also a normal board member, so a client can move cards, edit descriptions and archive things. Trello's Observer role can view and comment but not edit, and it needs Premium. Observers still see every card.
Seats and collaborator limits
On Standard and Premium, a guest on one board is free. Add the same person to a second board and they become a multi-board guest, "billed at the same rate as a normal Workspace member" (Multi-board guests). An agency with one board per project hits this quickly: the client with three projects is now a paid seat.
On the Free plan the problem is the cap. Workspace members, guests and pending invitations all count towards the 10 collaborators (Atlassian), so a five-person studio has room for five client contacts in total.
They need an account and Trello's notifications
A client who opens Trello twice a year has to sign up, remember a password, and then learn which of the notifications Trello sends them are about their work. Most of them go back to email, and you are writing status updates by hand again.
Five ways to give clients a view of their work
1. One board per client
Give each client a board of their own and invite them as a single-board guest. It is free and it works when one client means one stream of work. The cost is discipline: everything on that board must be fit for the client to read, so internal notes go elsewhere, and if your team works from a shared production board, someone copies or mirrors cards between the two. Keep the client's board to a few lists (Received, In progress, Ready for review, Done) so it reads as a status page, not your workflow.
2. A public board
A public board needs no account at all, which makes it tempting for a shared roadmap or a single client. Atlassian's own advice is to be "mindful of what you post", because "the entire world has access to public boards" (Atlassian). Anyone with the link sees every card, so it suits a roadmap you would happily publish, not client work.
3. Status emails written by hand
A weekly email per client is free and gives you full control over the wording. It works for a handful of clients with long projects. It scales badly: the update depends on someone remembering, the client cannot check between emails, and their questions arrive in one person's inbox instead of on the card. If those emails are already piling up, our guide to running a shared inbox in Trello covers getting them onto the board.
4. A form for requests, email for updates
Many teams solve the front door first: a form whose answers become cards, so requests stop arriving as loose emails. That fixes intake but not the "where is my request?" question, because the client still sees nothing after they press Send. Our comparison of forms that create Trello cards goes through the options.
5. A portal Power-Up
A portal sits outside Trello, reads the cards, and shows each client only what belongs to them. The client opens it from a link, with no Trello account and no seat. The work stays on your board, where the team already is.
Hipporello's Service Desk is the long-standing option. Customers submit forms or emails, each one becomes a card, and a link in the email opens a case page with "all the communication for the case, as well as its latest status". As of October 2026 it is free for 5 cards a month, and Premium costs $10 per month per agent, where an agent is a Trello board member (Hipporello pricing). It is built as a help desk, with email inboxes, automations and a knowledge base add-on, which suits support teams. Our own Power-Up, described below, is built for client work: requests, stages and sign-off, at one price for the workspace.
When the free route is enough
- One client, one board, nothing internal on it: invite them as a single-board guest. It costs nothing on Standard or Premium.
- A few long projects: a weekly email from the project lead is fine, and clients often prefer it.
- A roadmap you would publish anyway: a public board is the simplest way to show it.
A portal starts to pay off when several clients share one board, when the board carries internal notes, or when one client has work on several boards and would otherwise become a paid seat.
How Client Forms & Portal does it
Client Forms & Portal gives each client a page of their own. The cards stay on your board, and the page shows only the parts you mean them to see.
What the client sees, and what they don't
| On the client's page | Stays on your board |
|---|---|
| The card's title | The card description |
| The stage you gave its list, such as In progress | The real list names, such as "Waiting on Lina" |
| The answers they sent in the form | Checklists, labels and members |
| Messages you send them from the card | Your team's own comments |
| The files you pick for an approval | Every other file on the card |
That split is checked on the server for every request the client's page makes, not just hidden in the page. A client with requests on several boards in the same workspace sees all of them on one page.
How a card reaches the client
There are two ways. A form with a Client email question shares the card it creates with whoever filled it in, and they get a private link by email. Any other card can be shared from its Client section: click Share and type the client's address. The link opens their page with no account and no password, and the browser keeps them signed in for 30 days. If they lose the link, they type their email on the page and a fresh one arrives.
Stages instead of list names
On the Portal tab you give each list the stage a client should see. The workspace starts with Received, In progress and Completed, and you can add your own, such as Ready for review. A list can also be hidden: a card moved there keeps showing the stage the client last saw. The stages belong to the workspace, so every board speaks the same set. When a card moves to a list with a different stage, the client gets an email, at most one an hour per card, with the stage it has by then. You can turn stage emails off for the whole workspace, and each client can turn off their own.
Messages that stay on the card
You write to the client from the card's Client section, and they reply on their page. Every message in both directions is also posted as a comment on the card, starting with "From client" or "To client" and the client's address, so the history is in Trello with everything else. A client's reply mentions the card's members, and a red badge on the card front marks messages nobody has answered yet.
Setting it up for one client
- Add Client Forms & Portal to the board and then click its Client Forms & Portal button at the top of the board.
- Build a form from the Project request template, pick the list it files cards on, and tick Client email on the question that asks for their address.
- Open the Portal tab and give each list a stage, hiding the lists that are only yours.
- Publish and send the link. When the client sends the form, the card appears and they get the link to their page.
- For existing cards, open the card, find the Client section and click Share.
The price is one subscription for the workspace, €10 a month or €100 a year, however many clients you share with. The 5-day trial starts when you publish your first form and needs no card. Sign-off is covered in our guide to client approvals in Trello.
A page of their own for every client
Client Forms & Portal shows each client their requests, stages and your messages, and keeps the rest of the board to your team. No Trello account, no seat.
Add to Trello€10 per month for the whole workspace · 5-day free trial · No card needed
Frequently asked questions
Can I share a single Trello card with a client?
Not with Trello alone. Trello shares whole boards, and a guest sees every card on the board they're invited to. To share one card, move it to a board of its own or use a Power-Up that shows the card on a separate page, such as a portal.
Do Trello guests cost money?
A guest on one board is free. On Standard and Premium, a guest on two or more boards becomes a multi-board guest and is billed at the same rate as a member. On the Free plan, guests count towards the limit of 10 collaborators per Workspace.
Can I hide comments or descriptions from a guest?
No. A guest is a board member and sees the cards on that board with their descriptions, comments and attachments. Premium's Observer role stops them editing, but they still see everything. Keep internal notes off a board clients can open, or show clients their work outside Trello.
Is a public Trello board safe for client work?
Only for content you would publish anyway. Anyone with the link can see every card on a public board, without an account. It suits a public roadmap, not a client's requests, files or budget.
Does my client need a Trello account to use a client portal?
Not with a portal Power-Up. With Client Forms & Portal, the client opens their page from a private link sent by email, with no account and no password, and stays signed in on that browser for 30 days. They are never added to your board, so they don't use a seat.