Are the Business Class and Basic version of the software compatible

[Polito_Alysia]

Hello all,

My boss and I would like to upgrade to the business class version of Trello to utilize the new checklist features, but we are not interested in upgrading all members of our project boards as these members may frequently change, etc. Can anyone comment on the compatibility between business class and free software members? Are we able to share our project boards with non business class members?

Thank you!

[Chris Marts · Accepted solution]

You can share your project boards with non business class members. Said another way, if you have a Business Class team, you don't have to have a paid license for every member that accesses those boards. Some users can just be "guests" and they'll still pick up the Business Class features on those boards in your team.

However, this is sort of a loop hole (why not add everyone as guests?), which is why this only works when adding a guest to a single board on your team. As soon as you add one of those guest users to more than one board in your team, that user will require a license.

You may wonder why you would do this, if you have to pay either way, and the reason is that you may want to have some users pick up the Business Class features on a single board, but not be able to see or join just any of your team boards (as they would if they were a proper member of your team).

If your situation works such that you have some members that only need access to a single board in your team, you can reduce your licence count using this method.

If, however, you have a handful of boards that these folks need access to, you'll need to ensure they are all licensed on your team.

[Polito_Alysia]

Thank you for your explanation, Chris. This is very helpful. Is it correct to assume that these other members would need a business class license although it is not necessary for them to view the business class features on multiple boards? 

[Chris Marts]

A guest user can view and use all the features of a board in a Business Class team. The limitation is that they can only be on one board in your team.

It helps to remember the Business Class features are enabled for all boards on a Business Class team. It's not really the user that gets the features, it's the board (kind of - paid users do get these features on Personal boards, I think). But generally, if a user, of any kind, can access a board in a Business Class team, then the Business Class features are available. You only avoid the fee when you have a user that is only on one board in your team.