BQE CORE vs. Trello

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
BQE CORE
Score 9.4 out of 10
Small Businesses (1-50 employees)
BQE CORE is a business management solution built specifically for professional service firms. BQE CORE is a combination of a billing assistant, project management, and accounting solution. CORE is designed to do the hard work of delivering actionable insights directly to the user's dashboards or inbox. BQE CORE replaces the products Engineeroffice, Archioffice, and BillQuick; the functionality of these applications is now found in BQE CORE.N/A
Trello
Score 8.4 out of 10
N/A
Trello from Atlassian is a project management tool based on a Kanban framework. Trello is ideal for task-management in a to-do list format. It supports sharing boards and cards across users or teams. The product offers a free version, and paid versions add greater automation, collaboration, and administrative control.
$6
per month per user
Pricing
BQE CORETrello
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Standard
$6
per month per user
Premium
$12.50
per month per user
Enterprise
$17.50
per month per user
Free
Forever Free
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
BQE CORETrello
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsA discount is offered for annual billing and for larger numbers of users.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
BQE CORETrello
Considered Both Products
BQE CORE
Chose BQE CORE
Toms Planner gant charts are very easy to navigate and edit.
Chose BQE CORE
I previously used Gusto for both benefits / employee details and also time tracking. It was really nice to have everything in one place, and Gusto felt very simple. However, it did not have as many broken down categories for time allotment. Harvest felt similar to Gusto, and it …
Chose BQE CORE
It helps and have a great impact on It employees like me to track and submit my timesheet to my managers and higher officials and make a note that I have spend my working house valuable and resourceful and the managers can take a look at what have I done in my working hours
Chose BQE CORE
our team uses both the platforms and does not tie very well. bamboo does have a more pleasant to the eye interface comparatively. it is also a bit easier to navigate and not have to click too many times to reach any particular information on bamboo. BQE CORE does do visuals of …
Chose BQE CORE
BQE CORE combined numerous products for us. It allows everything to be in one place which cuts down on the back and forth, as well as user error.
Chose BQE CORE
It was an admin desiring to switch. However CORE is easy to manage and calculate timesheet automatic with timer future. In addition I believe the admin stag like the billing aimless function and multiple additional future that monograph does not have. Without mentioning that …
Chose BQE CORE
BQE has more visual tools for determining billable hours and for tracking hours against a project. BQE has a better system for involving employee and simpler methods of tracking expenses.
Chose BQE CORE
Monograph did not allow exporting/importing of data nor did they offer integration with Quickbooks Desktop
Chose BQE CORE
Again, since I'm only an employee, I had no part in choosing BQE for my organization. But it is the best timesheet tracking system that I've used, and I've used 3 other ones in the past. BQE is the simplest to use, yet equally as powerful as the others. When editing my …
Chose BQE CORE
It’s the best program I have used to date! It was selected for me through my company.
Chose BQE CORE
They aren't used for the same thing so not able to compare.
Chose BQE CORE
Not used any other software than accounting. This is much easier for my staff to use because it's not a straight up accounting software.
Chose BQE CORE
I didn't take part in selecting BQE CORE; however, our CEO chose it because of its ability to help with invoicing and incorporating other software into the program such as Gantt charts. I like BQE CORE better than BillQuick because it is more user friendly and also displays the …
Chose BQE CORE
BQE CORE has a much more streamlined process for entering expense entries than Concur. You are able to select which project you would like to charge to and where expense entries are sent for approval, whether that be your manager or the project manager. BQE CORE also is very …
Chose BQE CORE
I have only really used this product.
Chose BQE CORE
BQE CORE is much more in-depth at time tracking than Harvest. Harvest is easier to use out of the gate but BQE CORE is worth the learning curve. I haven't had a chance to use BQE CORE on a mobile device so I can't speak to how it stacks up there against Harvest.
Chose BQE CORE
I don't recall the previous program we used as this was years ago, but we had to put in time manually each week and this was very time consuming. BQE CORE keeps your projects in the timesheet from week to week to you don't have to reinput the project number.
Chose BQE CORE
I felt like BQE CORE was the most up to date looking software interface. I like that it was developed by an Arch/Eng.
Trello
Chose Trello
Our business ended up using Monday due to the holistic nature of the tool. It allows us to collaborate amongst teams and see the project as a whole easier. Trello is for personal usage and task management. I use Monday to organize my overarching needs, and then put specific …
Chose Trello
I don't feel that Trello stacks up to these other tools as well. I used to use Trello much more in the past and, over the last 5 years, have consistently used it less and less because it is easier to stay within the workflow of the tools I listed above.
Chose Trello
Okay, I have to say that at the organization where I work, we completely switched from Trello to Monday.com, and it wasn't an easy decision. As I've mentioned throughout this review, I think Trello works perfectly for small and medium-sized businesses and/or entrepreneurs …
Chose Trello
We actually use both in our company. I personally prefer Slack just because I feel like it gives me more avenues of communication with my peers and coworkers then Trello does.
However, Slack would fail to meet our business requirements for what we need to succeed with new …
Chose Trello
Ease of adaption for small startups.
Chose Trello
Trello is more visual than Todoist and MS To Do. For me, the major advantage of Trello is its functionality around creating Kanban Boards—there is not the same flexibility or options in either of the other two products. I was also able to seek advice from colleagues who were …
Chose Trello
Asana is awesome but it comes with a price. For a startup pricing hurts. ClickUp is so vast and has a lot of areas to get lost in, if you don't set some standards there are many ways to do it wrong. Slack is just a communication platform, you can collaborate and stuff but not …
Chose Trello
Trello is more simple and not as "robust" as the other tools, but it's easier to use and manage and understand and ACTUALLY get stuff done with. It's simplicity is part of the beauty of using it. You don't need a million options that nobody uses, you just need to get stuff done.
Chose Trello
We found that those software, while they included Kanban boards, offered a lot more features. Our tickets tended to get lost and it was harder to navigate through. Our Product team didn't particularly like how they functioned as much.
Chose Trello
Trello won becuase of the easy drag and drop feature that makes it simple for team members to jump on and use from day one. That said, Asans has way more features and for a tech-savvy person it would be the choice; it is still user-friendly. While it has a steeper learning …
Chose Trello
Trello provides precise goal setting, targets, and activity tracking with minimal human intervention, while Trello provides tags and tasks to add users and communicate visual task organization. Trello also offers real-time updates, team collaboration, and project progress …
Chose Trello
Easier to use and easier to integrate with 3rd party software. Better design and we don't need to build everything from scratch.
Chose Trello
For our purposes and my role in the business, Trello is simpler and easier to use. I found Jira very hard to navigate to individual projects, and the process of creating a card was very time-consuming. That said, I think Jira performs a number of roles that Trello doesn't, and …
Chose Trello
Trello offers wide range of features even for free users which other vendors rarely offers.
Chose Trello
I have been able to use the free version of Trello for many years and for the free version, this platform offers incredible value. I have not yet found such value in other free versions of similar platforms. This platform is also very easy to use as a first time user.
Chose Trello
Trello is more in-depth and task-driven, whereas 15Five is more accountable and has personal weekly goals and accomplishments. Trello can be divided up to allow others to do the listed task, and all employees work together to accomplish and complete each required ticket/card …
Chose Trello
We are still transitioning into using Trello but used ActiveCollab in the past for our website management and projects. I do like the layout of Trello better and feel that the notifications work well.
Chose Trello
I also use Whatsapp chat as a task management tool. Whatsapp group chat is very convenient for assigning tasks and making follow-ups. Trello currently lacks here. Whatsapp chat is also way more handy and user-friendly than Trello, because of its better interface and engagement. …
Chose Trello
Atlassian Jira Align (formerly AgileCraft)
Chose Trello
Trello offers more functionality and features for use before forcing you to purchase.
Chose Trello
Trello is convenient for tasks management of the team, there are columns, additional tools, and integrations. Regular to-do lists are better to add routine tasks that you need to do daily. In Trello, It is convenient to add small projects or add smaller tasks for a big project …
Chose Trello
Trello is better than Gitlab CI and other tools because it provides a very simple way of managing project with just lists and draggable components. Also, thanks to Mobile version, it is really easy for a team lead to manage his projects at anytime of a day. So I widely …
Chose Trello
Trello has a better and easy UI, very quick learning curve. Flexibility to add plugins.
Chose Trello
Trello looked very simple to use compared to others. And basic features mostly suffice the requirement.
Features
BQE CORETrello
Project Management
Comparison of Project Management features of Product A and Product B
BQE CORE
7.6
Ratings
1% below category average
Trello
9.5
Ratings
22% above category average
Task Management9.10 Ratings9.80 Ratings
Resource Management8.60 Ratings9.60 Ratings
Gantt Charts8.80 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Scheduling8.00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Workflow Automation7.10 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Team Collaboration5.20 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Support for Agile Methodology7.40 Ratings9.40 Ratings
Support for Waterfall Methodology4.50 Ratings6.50 Ratings
Document Management7.90 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Email integration6.40 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Mobile Access7.90 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Timesheet Tracking9.60 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Change request and Case Management7.10 Ratings8.10 Ratings
Budget and Expense Management8.70 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Professional Services Automation
Comparison of Professional Services Automation features of Product A and Product B
BQE CORE
7.5
Ratings
1% below category average
Trello
5.0
Ratings
41% below category average
Quotes/estimates6.30 Ratings5.00 Ratings
Invoicing8.10 Ratings5.00 Ratings
Project & financial reporting8.40 Ratings5.00 Ratings
Integration with accounting software7.30 Ratings5.00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
BQE CORETrello
Small Businesses
Stackby
Stackby
Score 9.0 out of 10
Stackby
Stackby
Score 9.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
InEight
InEight
Score 8.3 out of 10
InEight
InEight
Score 8.3 out of 10
Enterprises
InEight
InEight
Score 8.3 out of 10
InEight
InEight
Score 8.3 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
BQE CORETrello
Likelihood to Recommend
9.4
(0 ratings)
9.8
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
7.0
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.2
(0 ratings)
9.6
(0 ratings)
Availability
8.2
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Performance
7.3
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
7.4
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Online Training
6.4
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
2.3
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
5.0
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
4.5
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.2
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
8.2
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
8.2
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
BQE CORETrello
Likelihood to Recommend
I would recommend this for our industry: architecture, engineering, or construction. I would recommend this for any larger firm with many employees or high number of projects. I would particularly recommend this for a company with projects that have budget constraints and where time tracking and expense tracking is very important. I would not recommend this complicated software for a small firm with a small amount of income or number of projects.
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Trello is great for cross-team communication and intra-team organization. It's simple to get setup, with flexible tools that give businesses control over how to make Trello work the best for them. It is an amazing platform for operations tracking, project management, and even organizing customer service requests for a smaller business.
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Pros
  • Invoice Collections within Billing is a great tool because of the ability to take notes and track contact.
  • Invoices are professional looking and easy for our clients to understand the overall progress within each phase of their project.
  • Dashboards are the best tool EVER!
  • The Contact List feature within Clients setup is the perfect way to track multiple project managers within a large company that also has multiple contracts with us.
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  • Helps track employees "to do before hire", "to do after hired," and "to do when employee leaves"
  • Provides important information on each employee like personal information along with data collected during the time of hire and during employment time
  • Allows more than one person to be assigned to a task per employee and will remain open until everyone involved has completed their task
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Cons
  • Customizable Reporting
  • Linking Project to Payment all together
  • Assigning contacts to particular roles - such as Invoicing, Contracts, etc.
  • Accounting Functionality - they are basically a project management accounting software, so in my opinion, they could learn some things from other accounting software such as QuickBooks etc.
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  • I use colour coding a lot so I would like a wider range of colour options.
  • Also as a visual thinker I would like to be able to easily add images to cards.
  • I would like to be able to attach a wider range of file formats to cards.
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Likelihood to Renew
We have been using Core for a few years now, and honestly started to look at other software systems to see what was out there. What we chose was a nightmare for migration so we never left Core. Now we have added invoicing and payments from Core instead of double entry with QBO. Still only a few cycles in but looks like it will be up to speed soon and working smoothly.
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I am very likely to renew Trello, because it doesn't cost anything to do so. I am also very likely to use Trello's upgraded features in the future because a lot of my team's data is stored on there and they have already gotten used to the platform. Trello is very easy for new team members to pick up, making the onboarding and usability very streamlined.
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Usability
The foundation is awesome, like I have said before, however the house being built on it, the educational resources being provided to us (more of sales pitches that don't work), and flexible workflow opportunities, is making us look elsewhere for how much we will be spending on per user. It's crazy to think how flexible they are not when it comes to user settings. Lack of integration with other sources is awful.
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I am technology illiterate, it's my Achilles heel and this program is so easy to use. I have been utilizing it for a decade now. It makes organizing and prioritizing my life, my work, my business, my kids life, etc so much more manageable and without having to hold on to a bunch of into in my head. I can find it and locate it quickly and easily in Trello.
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Reliability and Availability
I can only remember a couple of times in 4 years that Core has been unavailable.
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yes always support available when I need it!
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Performance
This is one area that does need some improvement. It can be slow at time, so we had our IT look at it from our side and we had no issues, so it has to be some slowness on their side.
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Never experienced issues with the above!
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Support Rating
As a new employee and CORE user, I talk to support on a weekly basis. I have never had to wait for more than 3 min to get connect with a support rep, and all my questions have been answered. The support representatives are polite and eager to help no matter how simple your question is.
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I haven't had much need to contact their support because the product is easy to use and pretty bug-free. I did reach out to them about swimlanes and I was able to find the information I needed very quickly and it was thorough and accurate information about current functionality. I love that they use their own product. That's always a good sign.
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In-Person Training
No answers on this topic
It was helpful and informative! It was back before the pandemic in 2019 so I'm not sure if they still do it but I really enjoyed the experience
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Online Training
Make sure you have someone training you that fits your style of learning.
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No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
wont let me skip
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For our small business, getting a few of us started well on Trello was the key, I think. As long as a couple of us were really comfortable with the interface, we could lead others and help them with any questions. From now on, anyone who works with us just naturally uses Trello for information sharing - it's just part of what we do.
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Alternatives Considered
Deltek Vision is far more advanced, more encompassing and offers more flexibility with what you want to do. However, it's also quite difficult to use, whereas BQE CORE is intuitive and user friendly. The trade off is worth it in some arenas but overall it's not suited for a larger fast paced company. Great for smaller companies.
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Our business ended up using Monday due to the holistic nature of the tool. It allows us to collaborate amongst teams and see the project as a whole easier. Trello is for personal usage and task management. I use Monday to organize my overarching needs, and then put specific tasks into Trello to stay organized.
Read full review
Scalability
This software works on a small and large scale.
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Feels like anyone across the org (no matter their location) can use the tool easily!
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Return on Investment
  • Quick setup of new tasks under a parent project, with immediate hourly billing to it.
  • Monitoring of details of non-chargeable efforts in appropriate detail
  • Validation of hourly cost, billing cost, benefit cost, profitability by person and role
  • Company tracking of write-off's included in corporate and project reporting, no data is "lost"
  • Can track excessive work time as +PTO in lieu of pay for use as future vacation
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  • It's been an essential tool for our onboarding team. We wouldn't be able to operate without it.
  • It's been a very affordable investment for our team as well since we still use the free version.
  • We have had a negative return in the fact that there aren't any reporting tools within the app. We have to spend time tracking certain elements manually.
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ScreenShots

BQE CORE Screenshots

Screenshot of Core powered by BQE SoftwareScreenshot of BQE CORE Project Dashboard ViewScreenshot of BQE CORE 360* Firm Performance ViewScreenshot of BQE CORE Reporting & AnalyticsScreenshot of BQE CORE Project Time EntryScreenshot of BQE CORE Project Expense Tracking