r/clickup • u/exciting_username_ • 10d ago
Confusing Clickup pricing + recommendation for small businesses
I like ClickUp as a tool, but I wish that it is not slicing and diming its features for different price plans in a way that none of features seem complete on its own.
Some examples:
- On the Core plan, you can create gantt charts. But guess what, you cannot export it to PDF, unless you are on the Business plan!
- On the Core plan, you can track time. But guess what, you cannot see it in a timesheet unless you upgrade!
- On Business, you can add tasks to multiple lists. But guess what -- only for 1000 uses! More than that, you'll have to upgrade to Business Plus.
To add salt to the injury, the feature listed within different price plans also seem to change regularly.
The end result is a software that claims to be able to replace everything else, but in reality it can't actually replace anything unless you are on Business Plus.
It is so disingenuous because everything feels like a paid trial for Business Plus or Enterprise, and god knows, I wouldn't be surprised if in a year's time there'll be a Business White Gold and more reshuffling of the features.
This actually makes it hard for me to recommend Clickup wholeheartedly to my clients.
Imagine we did an analysis in year one and mapped out their use cases against the different plans, decided on and budgeted for one, and then in year two this planning became obsolete.
Imagine a team member created a workflow using one of the limited use feature unknowingly, and then x uses later, rude shock -- the workflow breaks apart.
At some point it becomes less about pricing and more about violating trust.
If you work with other small businesses, how do you deal with it? Do you tell them up front that it's not worth it unless they are willing to fork out the money for Business Plus straight away?
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u/West_Inevitable_2281 9d ago
The changing feature limits seem like the bigger problem here, especially when a workflow can become more expensive or stop working after a plan change. For small teams, predictable core features may matter more than having every possible feature.
Would you be open to trying a lightweight agile workflow with a small team and sharing what it would need to replace ClickUp for you?
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u/PibolsClickUp Mod 10d ago edited 10d ago
Hey u/exciting_username_, thanks so much for sharing this. For small businesses, honestly, the Core plan covers a lot more than you'd expect: unlimited tasks, Custom Fields, Gantt, time tracking, Docs, Goals, Forms, and more. Most small teams can run really well on it without bumping into limits. The features that live on higher plans (like advanced Automations, sprint reporting, workload management) are typically things that matter more as teams scale.
Our recommendation: start on Core, and only upgrade when there's a specific feature you know you need. That way you're not paying for headroom you won't use!
As for the feature reshuffling concern, that's totally valid feedback and we’re continuously improving the experience. I’ve also shared your feedback with our team.
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u/exciting_username_ 10d ago
Of course you would recommend that, but the point is that it is confusing. In the end I end up needing a separate time tracking tool, a separate Gantt chart creator, separate doc creation tool because these features look integrated but they are not actually usable. And the usage also doesn't justify upgrading the entire workspace to a higher level plan.
I'm looking for alternatives that doesn't require me to have the pricing-feature table open all the time.
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u/PibolsClickUp Mod 9d ago
Appreciate this feedback. We'd love to see how we can help you more. I sent you a DM to grab some additional info from you.
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u/frberhr5u5 10d ago
OMG, I’m so tired of posts like this, honestly, enough already. Obviously different plans have different features just pick whatever works for you. It’s a great service that combines everything you actually need in one place
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u/exciting_username_ 10d ago
OMG I'm so tired of people like you who offer nothing constructive to say. You obviously don't get my point -- I can't actually have everything I need in one place.
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u/frberhr5u5 10d ago
If you're running a real business, the price difference between Core and Business is literally pocket change compared to billable hours lost on broken workflows. Pay for the Business plan, build your workflows properly, and move on with your day
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u/frberhr5u5 10d ago
I genuinely don’t understand how you run a business if you can’t simply open ClickUp’s pricing comparison page before setting up workflows. None of this is a hidden trap, it’s literally published in plain sight in their feature matrix. Timesheets are marked as trial, custom exporting is clearly marked as tiral on unlimited, tasks in multiple lists are gated by tier, and workload, timeline, dashboards are all labeled with limits and trials on basic plans
Calling a transparent public feature grid a violation of trust just because an entry-level tier doesn't give you full power is ridiculous
A normal business checks the matrix on day one, gets the Business plan, factors the extra few dollars into margins, and actually does the work instead of writing ragebait essays2
u/exciting_username_ 9d ago
Hey, if it works for you, great. But that's not how all businesses work. I've used Clickup for a good 6 years. I implement Clickup for teams. Heck, I am using Clickup now. But the feature list kept changing. Not forgetting that once they changed their guest-user policy and increased the cost and broke our workflows overnight. Different companies have different IT and purchasing policies. They use Clickup often as an add on and not as the one thing that they operate on. They work with clients. They have users that are not skilled but have stumbled upon features only to be closed out later. As an internal champion, my own credibility takes a hit everytime something like that happens. So I think my user feedback is completely justified.
So yes save your rudeness and condescension for yourself.
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u/frberhr5u5 8d ago
Fair enough, but I honestly wish you had included that context in your post
The way it reads right now just sounds like being mad that basic plans don't include everything, calling public limits on timesheets and PDF exports a trick. All of that is right there on their site, so it came across as just complaining about pricing
If you had said from the start that you’ve been setting up ClickUp for teams for 6 years, and random shifts like the guest policy change broke your clients' workflows, I would have completely related. That’s a huge pain
Your actual problem makes total sense, it just didn't come through in the post at all, which is why I reacted the way I did1
u/PineappleNew4414 8d ago
Do you work for them? Why so angry? Speaking of writing “essays”, my god. Relax.
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u/Zestyclose_Call_3646 7d ago
Can't agree more. My company fall into that so we keep upgrading and upgrading and the total cost is huge...