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Crew vs ClickUp: a focused tool for agents and clients, or one broad platform
ClickUp is a broad work platform: many view types, Docs, Whiteboards, Forms, Dashboards, a large template library and a built-in AI assistant. Crew is narrower and built for project teams that work with AI agents and clients: agent runs with human approval gates, a built-in client portal, time tracking, planning and documents in one product. Crew is made by a Swiss company and hosted in Germany or Switzerland, your choice; on-premise on request.
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Where Crew leads and where ClickUp leads
| Area | Where Crew leads | Where ClickUp leads |
|---|---|---|
| AI | Agent runs on the task with approval gates and your choice of models. | A built-in assistant (Brain) with credits per plan, ready to use in the workspace. |
| Clients | Client portal with per-client and per-user permissions. | Guest accounts, with limited and view-only guests on paid plans. |
| Breadth | Tasks, planning, time, documents and portal in one product. | Whiteboards, Forms, Dashboards, Goals and many view types. |
| Templates and integrations | Preset workflow schemes and team presets. | 1,000+ templates and 118 native integrations. |
| Hosting | Germany or Switzerland, your choice; on-premise on request. | AWS; US, EU or APAC data residency on Enterprise. |
| Compliance | Ask us for current security documentation. | SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001, among others, published on its security page. |
Detailed comparison
| Criterion | Crew | ClickUp | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work: views | Boards, lists, Gantt timeline, roadmap. | List, Board, Calendar and Table on all plans; Gantt from Core; Timeline, Workload, Team and Map on higher plans. | clickup.com/pricing |
| Work: hierarchy and types | Task types (Epic, Story, Task, Sub-task), five levels of hierarchy, releases. | Spaces, Folders and Lists. | clickup.com/templates |
| Work: workflows | Preset workflow schemes (Simple, Development, Complex, Marketing), assigned per project, with dynamic board columns. | Board columns by status or any field. | clickup.com/features |
| Work: automations | Workflow transitions with conditions and approval gates in agent runs. | Rule-based automations. Monthly actions by plan: 100 on Free Forever, 1,000 on Core, 10,000 on Business, 1M on Enterprise. | clickup.com/pricing |
| Planning: capacity | Resource planner per person and day, planning meetings, milestones. | Workload view compares assigned work with capacity; Business plan and up. | clickup.com/pricing |
| Knowledge: docs | Documents and files per project, notes with live editing, task attachments with preview, structured checklists. | Docs on every plan, with wikis and nested pages. | clickup.com/pricing |
| Knowledge: whiteboards | No whiteboard. | Whiteboards: 3 on Free Forever, 10 on Core, unlimited on Business and up. | clickup.com/pricing |
| Knowledge: forms | Embeddable public forms with email notification. | Forms; each submission becomes a task. | clickup.com/features |
| Knowledge: dashboards | Dashboard widgets for tasks, project health, workload and approvals. | Dashboards with 50 dashboard cards. | clickup.com/features |
| Knowledge: templates | Preset workflow schemes and team presets. | A library of 1,000+ templates. | clickup.com/templates |
| Time: tracking | Worklogs, weekly and monthly timesheets, team timesheets, billing review with PDF reports. | Time tracking from Core; timesheets from Business; timesheet approvals on Enterprise. | clickup.com/pricing |
| Clients: portal | Built in. Per client and per user you decide what clients see and can do: tasks, comments, planning, documents, hours, approvals. | Guest accounts on every plan; limited and view-only guests from Core. No separate client portal is listed. | clickup.com/pricing |
| AI: agents | Agent runs are part of the task. Each stage can stop at a gate where a person approves, approves with changes or requests changes. | Brain answers questions, writes content and takes action using workspace data. Certified Agents are an add-on for Enterprise. | clickup.com/features |
| AI: usage | Agent usage is billed separately, or you bring your own API key. | AI credits per user per month, pooled: 1,000 on Core, 1,500 on Business, 3,000 on Enterprise. More can be bought. | clickup.com/pricing |
| AI: models | Own models possible, for example Qwen, Mistral or Apertus on Infomaniak. Providers are swappable. | Models are provided by the vendor; no option to bring your own is listed. | clickup.com/pricing |
| Developers: API and MCP | REST API (v1, documented with OpenAPI) and an MCP server at /mcp. Tokens act as their owner and never see more than that person. | Documented REST API. MCP calls per day depend on the plan: 100 on Free Forever up to 25,000 on Enterprise. | clickup.com/features |
| Developers: integrations | Jira sync, Bitbucket and GitHub webhooks, Cockpit. | 118 native integrations. | clickup.com/features |
| Hosting: location | Public instance at Hetzner in Germany. Your own instance in Germany or Switzerland, your choice; on-premise on request. Company in Zürich. | Hosted entirely on AWS. | clickup.com/security |
| Hosting: data residency | Germany or Switzerland, chosen by you. | US, EU or APAC on the Enterprise plan (Ireland, Australia, Singapore, United States). | clickup.com/security |
| Security: certifications | Not claimed on this page. Ask us for current security documentation. | SOC 1, SOC 2 Type 2, SOC 3; ISO 27001, 27017, 27018, 27701 and ISO 42001. | clickup.com/security |
| Security: access | Roles per project and per client portal user. | Google SSO from Business; Microsoft or Okta SSO, SAML and SCIM, audit trails and custom roles on Enterprise. | clickup.com/pricing |
| Migration: import | Built-in Jira importer with optional two-way sync. No ClickUp importer. | An Import entry exists; the pricing page gives no detail. | clickup.com/pricing |
| Licensing | From 20 EUR or 20 CHF per user per month, minimum 10 users; the price per user falls with more users. | Free Forever plan; paid plans per user per month. See ClickUp for current prices. | clickup.com/pricing |
Moving from ClickUp to Crew
Crew has no ClickUp importer and no CSV import for tasks at the time of writing. The built-in importer is for Jira. A guided migration from ClickUp is done on request. The usual steps:
- Map your Spaces, Folders and Lists to Crew projects and task types.
- Map your statuses to one of the workflow schemes.
- Move one pilot project first and check it with the team.
- Move the rest and switch over.
What is moved is agreed per project. Crew's REST API (v1) is open for scripted transfers.
When ClickUp is the better choice
- You want Whiteboards, Forms, Dashboards and Goals in the same tool as your tasks.
- You want to start today on a free plan, without asking anyone.
- A large template library and many native integrations matter to you.
- You want an AI assistant inside the workspace that works out of the box.
- You need SOC 2 or ISO 27001 reports and data residency in the US or Asia Pacific.
- Your teams are mostly internal and do not need a client portal.
Cost
Crew costs from 20 EUR or 20 CHF per user per month, with a minimum of 10 users. The price per user falls as the number of users grows; the tiers will be announced later. Agent usage is billed separately, or you bring your own API key. Setting up LXD and deployment environments is quoted separately. There is no self-service trial: you request a test through the form on the pricing page. ClickUp has a Free Forever plan and paid plans billed per user per month, with AI credits per plan. Check ClickUp's pricing page for current prices.
Sources
ClickUp facts are taken from these official pages, as of October 2026.
- ClickUp pricing and plan comparisonhttps://clickup.com/pricing
- ClickUp featureshttps://clickup.com/features
- ClickUp security and compliancehttps://clickup.com/security
- ClickUp templateshttps://clickup.com/templates
Frequently asked questions
Is Crew a ClickUp alternative?
For project and agency teams, yes. Crew covers tasks, boards, workflows, timeline, time tracking, documents and a client portal, and it runs AI agents on tasks with approval gates. It has no whiteboards, and it is smaller than ClickUp in templates and integrations.
Can clients work with us in Crew?
Yes. The client portal is part of Crew. Clients sign in with an email link or a one-time code and see only what you allow: tasks, comments, planning, documents, hours or approvals.
Can we import from ClickUp?
There is no ClickUp importer at the time of writing. A guided migration is done on request; what is moved is agreed per project.
Where is the data hosted compared with ClickUp?
Crew's public instance runs at Hetzner in Germany. For your own instance you choose Germany or Switzerland; on-premise on request. ClickUp runs on AWS and offers US, EU or APAC data residency on Enterprise. Which providers process data also depends on the AI setup; US providers can be replaced, for example by models hosted at Infomaniak.
How does AI work in Crew compared with ClickUp Brain?
ClickUp Brain is an assistant inside the workspace, with credits per plan. In Crew, AI agents work on the task itself and each stage can stop at a gate for human approval. Agent usage is billed separately, or you bring your own API key.
What does Crew cost compared with ClickUp?
Crew costs from 20 EUR or 20 CHF per user per month, minimum 10 users, and the price per user falls with more users. ClickUp is billed per user per month and has a free plan; see its pricing page for current prices.
See if Crew fits your team
Tell us how your team works today and we will set up a test with you.
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