Monday.com started as a colorful alternative to spreadsheet project management. In 2026, it's a sprawling platform with complex pricing, feature gates, and hidden costs that catch teams off guard.
This guide breaks down exactly what you'll pay for Monday.com in 2026, what each tier actually includes, and whether the value justifies the price.
Monday.com Pricing Overview 2026
Monday.com uses per-seat pricing with four main tiers. All prices require annual billing for the rates shown—monthly billing adds 18%.
| Plan | Price/Seat/Month | Minimum Seats | Actual Monthly Cost (Min) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 2 seats max | $0 |
| Basic | $12 | 3 seats | $36/month |
| Standard | $14 | 3 seats | $42/month |
| Pro | $27 | 3 seats | $81/month |
| Enterprise | Custom | Contact sales | $$$$ |
The first pricing trap: Monday.com requires minimum 3 seats on paid plans. A solo founder or two-person team pays for a third seat they don't use.
Plan-by-Plan Breakdown
Free Plan ($0)
What you get:
- Up to 2 seats (hard limit)
- 3 boards
- Unlimited docs
- 200+ templates
- iOS and Android apps
What you don't get:
- Timeline or Gantt views
- Calendar view
- Integrations
- Automations
- Dashboard widgets beyond basics
Reality check: The free plan is a trial, not a solution. Two seats and three boards work for evaluating Monday.com. They don't work for running a business.
Basic Plan ($12/seat/month)
What you get:
- Unlimited boards
- Unlimited items
- 5GB file storage
- Prioritized customer support
- One dashboard based on 1 board
What you still don't get:
- Timeline or Gantt views
- Calendar view
- Integrations
- Automations
- Guests
Reality check: Basic removes the seat limit but keeps Monday.com's most valuable features locked. No integrations means no connecting to your other tools. No automations means manual work that competitors automate.
Standard Plan ($14/seat/month)
What you get (in addition to Basic):
- Timeline view
- Gantt view
- Calendar view
- Guest access
- 250 automations/month
- 250 integrations/month
- Create a dashboard combining 5 boards
The catch: Those automation and integration limits sound generous until you use Monday.com seriously. 250 automations across a 10-person team is 25 automations per person per month. Teams hit this limit faster than expected.
Reality check: Standard is where Monday.com becomes usable for project management. But the per-seat cost at scale gets expensive quickly:
| Team Size | Monthly Cost (Annual) | Annual Cost |
|---|---|---|
| 5 seats | $70 | $840 |
| 10 seats | $140 | $1,680 |
| 25 seats | $350 | $4,200 |
| 50 seats | $700 | $8,400 |
| 100 seats | $1,400 | $16,800 |
Pro Plan ($27/seat/month)
What you get (in addition to Standard):
- Private boards and docs
- Chart view
- Time tracking
- Formula column
- Dependency column
- 25,000 automations/month
- 25,000 integrations/month
- Create a dashboard combining 10 boards
The jump: Pro is nearly double the cost of Standard. The main draws are time tracking, private boards, and vastly higher automation limits.
Pro pricing at scale:
| Team Size | Monthly Cost (Annual) | Annual Cost |
|---|---|---|
| 5 seats | $135 | $1,620 |
| 10 seats | $270 | $3,240 |
| 25 seats | $675 | $8,100 |
| 50 seats | $1,350 | $16,200 |
| 100 seats | $2,700 | $32,400 |
Reality check: A 50-person company on Pro pays over $16,000/year for project management alone. That's before email, documents, CRM, and every other tool.
Enterprise Plan (Custom Pricing)
What you get:
- Enterprise-scale automations and integrations
- Advanced security (HIPAA compliance, audit logs)
- Multi-level permissions
- Premium support
- Enterprise-scale reporting
- Tailored onboarding
What you'll pay: Monday.com doesn't publish Enterprise pricing. Expect $35-50+ per seat based on team size, with significant volume discounts for large organizations.
Reality check: Enterprise is necessary for regulated industries or organizations over 100 people. The security features at lower tiers aren't sufficient for compliance requirements.
The Hidden Costs of Monday.com
The sticker price isn't the full picture.
Hidden Cost #1: Seat Minimums
Three-seat minimum means small teams overpay. A two-person startup on Standard pays $42/month for capacity they don't use.
Hidden Cost #2: Monthly vs Annual Billing
Monday.com quotes annual pricing prominently. Monthly billing costs 18% more:
| Plan | Annual Price | Monthly Price | Monthly Premium |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $12/seat | $14/seat | +17% |
| Standard | $14/seat | $17/seat | +21% |
| Pro | $27/seat | $32/seat | +19% |
Annual billing locks you in for 12 months. No refunds if you outgrow Monday.com or decide to switch.
Hidden Cost #3: Add-On Products
Monday.com has expanded into separate products with separate pricing:
- Monday Work Management: The core product (prices above)
- Monday CRM: Starts at $12/seat/month
- Monday Dev: Starts at $12/seat/month
- Monday Service: Starts at $12/seat/month
Using Monday's full suite means stacking subscriptions. A team using Work Management + CRM pays $24-54/seat/month minimum.
Hidden Cost #4: Automation Overages
Standard plan includes 250 automations/month. Exceed that limit and automations stop running. Options:
- Upgrade to Pro ($13/seat/month increase)
- Buy additional automation credits
- Live without automations until next month
This limit catches growing teams unexpectedly.
Hidden Cost #5: Storage Limits
- Basic: 5GB total
- Standard: 20GB total
- Pro: 100GB total
Teams with significant file attachments hit these limits. Exceeding storage requires upgrading or purging files.
Hidden Cost #6: Integration Overhead
Monday.com integrates with 200+ tools—but integrations are a band-aid, not a solution.
Real cost of integrations:
- Time configuring and maintaining connections
- Zapier/Make fees if Monday's native integrations aren't enough
- Data sync failures and troubleshooting
- Information still siloed across tools
The integration cost isn't just dollars. It's complexity.
Is Monday.com Worth It in 2026?
Monday.com works well for:
- Teams who need visual, colorful project management
- Organizations standardized on Monday's workflow approach
- Companies willing to pay premium for the Monday UX
- Teams under 25 people on Standard plan
Monday.com struggles for:
- Teams needing email, calendar, and tasks in one place
- Organizations trying to reduce tool sprawl
- Budget-conscious teams (per-seat adds up fast)
- Teams hitting automation limits regularly
- Companies wanting to build custom apps
The Math Problem
A 25-person team on Monday.com Pro:
- Monday.com Pro: $675/month ($8,100/year)
- Plus email (Google Workspace): ~$375/month ($4,500/year)
- Plus documents (Google Workspace or other): included or additional
- Plus CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot, etc.): $1,000-3,000/month
- Plus other tools: varies
Total: $2,500-5,000/month for basic business operations, fragmented across multiple tools.
The Alternative Math
Unified platforms that include project management, email, documents, and more start at lower total cost with:
- One login, one bill, one data model
- No integration maintenance
- AI that understands your full business context
Making the Decision
Stay with Monday.com if:
- You love the Monday.com interface
- Your workflows are built around Monday
- Migration cost exceeds subscription savings
- You're under 10 seats on Standard
Evaluate alternatives if:
- Per-seat costs are growing unsustainably
- You're managing 5+ other tools alongside Monday
- Integration maintenance is eating time
- You need email, docs, and project management unified
- You've hit automation limits repeatedly
Monday.com vs Alternatives 2026
| Feature | Monday.com Pro | Asana Business | ClickUp Business | WaymakerOS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price/seat | $27 | $24.99 | $12 | Varies |
| Email built-in | No | No | No | Yes |
| Calendar built-in | View only | View only | View only | Yes |
| Docs built-in | Basic | Basic | Yes | Yes |
| Automation limits | 25K/month | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Custom apps | No | No | No | Yes |
Looking beyond Monday.com? See our Monday.com alternative guide or compare ClickUp vs Asana vs Monday vs WaymakerOS for the full picture.
Related reading: Understand Asana pricing 2026 for comparison, explore why project management tools fail without integration, or see the best project management software for 2026.
About the Author
Stuart Leo
Stuart Leo founded Waymaker to solve a problem he kept seeing: businesses losing critical knowledge as they grow. He wrote Resolute to help leaders navigate change, lead with purpose, and build indestructible organizations. When he's not building software, he's enjoying the sand, surf, and open spaces of Australia.