How to Back Up Trello Boards Automatically

Trello boards hold a lot of quiet history: checklists, comment threads with decisions in them, and files attached months ago. Most teams never think about backing them up until a board is deleted, a Power-Up or automation rewrites a pile of cards, or someone cleans up “old” cards that weren’t old.

Trello does give you exports, and it has an archive that works like a soft delete. But exports are manual, the best export options sit behind Premium, and Trello can’t import its own export files. Deleted cards and boards can’t be brought back at all.

Quick answer: For most teams, the practical setup is Trello’s archive for everyday “oops” moments, plus a third-party tool that backs up every board daily and can restore cards and boards back into Trello. ProBackup does this for Trello, including attachments, comments and checklists, starting at $25/month billed annually, and the same license covers other apps such as Airtable and Notion. If you only need Trello and have a small team, Rewind Backups for Trello may cost less. If you can code, a scheduled script against the Trello REST API is the free option.

What Trello can do natively

Trello has two built-in safety nets: board exports and the archive. Here’s what each does, quoted from Atlassian’s own support docs.

JSON and CSV export

Every board member can export a board, but the readable format is a paid feature:

“All board members can export a board to raw JSON format. JSON format is not easily read by humans but lends itself well to technical use. Boards in Premium Workspaces can be exported to CSV format, which can be opened in any spreadsheet program.”

— Export data from Trello

The most important limitation is in the very next sentence. An export is a copy you can read, not a copy you can restore:

“It is not currently possible to import JSON or CSV formats to re-create a Trello board.”

— Export data from Trello

Comments are only partly covered. The single-board JSON export is capped:

“The JSON exports include the 1000 most recent actions on a board, which includes comments.”

— Export data from Trello

The same page says “Comments aren’t included in the CSV export,” and that “The CSV export only includes cards that aren’t archived” (you can get archived cards by adding .csv to the board URL by hand). Cards in your personal Inbox can’t be exported until you move them to a board.

Workspace export and attachments

On Trello Premium, a Workspace admin can export every board in the Workspace at once, in both CSV and JSON, from the Workspace settings. This is also the only native way to get attachment files rather than links:

“Attachments will be included in their original formats within a ZIP file in your download. Otherwise, exports will link to attachments hosted on Trello.”

— Export data from Trello

So on Free and Standard plans, a board export gives you attachment links, not the files themselves. If the card or board is deleted, those links are no use.

Archive vs. delete

Archiving is Trello’s version of a trash can, and it doesn’t expire. Atlassian says archived cards “won’t be deleted automatically,” and you can send them back from the board menu under “Archived items.” Deleting is a different story:

“Deleting a card is permanent, and deleted cards can’t be restored.”

— Archive or delete a card

Boards work the same way. A board has to be closed before it can be deleted, and then:

“Deleting a board is permanent, and deleted boards cannot be recovered.”

— Delete a board

What’s missing from the native options

• No restore from export. Trello can’t import JSON or CSV to rebuild a board. An export helps you read old data, not put it back.
• No schedule. Every export is a manual click. Nothing runs nightly.
• Comments are capped or missing. Board JSON stops at the 1,000 most recent actions, and CSV has no comments.
• Attachments as files need Premium. Other plans get links to files hosted on Trello.
• No safety net after deletion. Archive covers you only if people archive instead of delete. A deleted card or board is gone.

Trello backup tools compared

Prices and plan limits checked against each vendor's pricing page in October 2026. Plans change, so confirm on the linked pages before you buy.

Prices and limits come from each vendor’s pricing or product page. BackupLABS’s prices are calculated on its page by the number of boards you protect, so check it directly. Always check the linked pages before you buy.

ProBackup

What it is

ProBackup is a SaaS backup service that covers Trello along with 20+ other apps, including Airtable, Notion, monday.com and GitHub. One license covers every app you connect, and pricing scales with storage and history rather than seats.

How it works with Trello

You sign in with Trello, allow access, and choose which boards or Workspaces to include. After that, ProBackup takes a daily backup automatically. Its Trello page lists “Boards, cards, custom fields, attachments, comments, checklists and labels.” ProBackup’s help center adds Workspaces, teams and users, and lists. It’s also upfront about the gaps: automations, Power-Ups and views are not backed up, because “These data types are not available through Trello’s API.”

Backups are encrypted with AES-256 and stored by ProBackup, per the vendor. On Pro and Premium, you can also sync backups to your own Google Drive.

Restore

Restores never overwrite live data. The Trello page says ProBackup “will never overwrite or change existing data in Trello. Instead a copy will be recreated from your data backup and added as an extra item.” Per ProBackup’s Trello restore guide:

• Boards are restored as a new board in the Workspace, with cards, comments and attachments.
• Cards come back with description, members, attachments, custom field values, comments, checklists and labels.
• Comments are recreated as duplicates on the related card, and files are added back to the related card.
• Custom fields and labels can only be restored if the original was deleted, because Trello requires unique names. A restored custom field doesn’t bring its values back.

Views and automations aren’t restored. ProBackup also notes that a deleted Workspace itself can’t be restored, but Trello closes (not deletes) the boards inside it, so you can reopen them and move them to a new Workspace.

Strengths

• Restores into Trello at card or board level, which Trello’s export can’t do.
• Fully automatic daily backups, with nothing to schedule.
• One subscription also covers Airtable, Notion and other tools your team uses.
• Google Drive sync on Pro and up gives you a second copy you control.

Limits

• Daily only. Changes made between backups aren’t captured.
• Automations, Power-Up data and views aren’t backed up.
• Restored items are copies, so you may need to tidy up duplicates if the original still exists.
• The Plus plan keeps 6 months of history. Two years needs Pro ($38/mo billed annually), and unlimited history needs Premium ($69/mo billed annually).

Who it’s for

Teams that run real work in Trello and want to bring back a deleted card or board quickly, especially if they also need backups for other SaaS tools.

Rewind Backups for Trello

What it is

Rewind is a backup company that covers several SaaS apps. Its Trello product is installed as a Power-Up.

How it works with Trello

Per Rewind’s product page, once you “install the Rewind Backups for Trello Power-Up,” every board in your account starts backing up, and you can pick which boards to protect. It backs up “boards, lists, cards, checklists, custom fields, labels, attachments and comments” daily, with “365 days of backup history.” You can restore boards, cards, lists and attachments.

Strengths

• A year of daily history on the standard offer.
• Installs from inside Trello as a Power-Up.
• Per-user pricing that can be cheap for small teams: from $4.00 per user/month on Standard and $5.20 on Advanced, per its pricing page.

Limits

• Per-user pricing grows with team size, so compare totals for larger teams.
• Rewind’s product page doesn’t list what’s excluded. Assume automations and Power-Up data aren’t covered, as with other API-based tools, and confirm with Rewind.

Who it’s for

Small teams that only need Trello backed up and want a long history window.

BackupLABS

What it is

BackupLABS is a backup service for a handful of developer and project tools, including Trello, GitHub, GitLab, Notion and Jira.

How it works with Trello

Its Trello page says it backs up “Boards, Cards, Lists, Images, Custom Fields, Attachments and most Metadata,” including comments. The Essential plan runs one backup a day with 30-day retention, and Pro runs two a day with 90-day retention. Restores create new items in Trello, or you can download a ZIP. You can also send a copy to your own Dropbox, Google Drive or Amazon S3, and choose a storage region (UK, US, EU or Australia).

Strengths

• Twice-daily backups on Pro.
• Bring-your-own-storage copies and data residency choices.
• 14-day trial with no card required.

Limits

• Retention is short compared with ProBackup and Rewind: 30 or 90 days unless you go to a custom Enterprise plan.
• Pricing is per protected item and calculated on the page, so it’s harder to estimate up front.

Who it’s for

Teams with data residency requirements, or that want copies landing in their own S3 bucket.

How to choose

• You want to undo deleted cards and boards inside Trello: ProBackup, Rewind or BackupLABS all restore into Trello. Pick on price and history length.
• You also back up Airtable, Notion or other SaaS tools: ProBackup, because one license covers all of them. See our Airtable backup guide and Notion backup guide.
• You’re a small, Trello-only team: Compare Rewind’s per-user price with ProBackup’s flat price for your headcount.
• You need backups more than once a day: BackupLABS Pro, or your own script.
• You need data to stay in a specific region or in your own S3: BackupLABS.
• You have a developer and want $0 software cost: An API script (see below).

Whichever you pick, teach your team to archive instead of delete. Archive is free, unlimited and instant to undo.

How to set up automatic Trello backups with ProBackup

These steps follow ProBackup’s own docs. The interface may have changed since.

1. Start the trial. Go to ProBackup, choose Trello, and start the 7-day free trial (no credit card required).
2. Create your account. Sign up with your email address.
3. Connect Trello. Log in with your Trello account and click “Allow” so ProBackup can read your boards. Use an account that’s a member of every board you need, because the backup can only see what that account can see.
4. Choose the scope. Select the boards or Workspaces to back up, then click “Continue.” Include closed boards you still care about, not just the active ones.
5. Optional: connect Google Drive. On Pro or Premium, connect Google Drive for a second copy, or skip this step.
6. Start the first backup. Click “Start backup.” After this, backups run once a day automatically.
7. Test a restore. Before you need it, archive and delete a test card with a checklist, an attachment and a comment, then restore it from ProBackup. Check that everything came back on the right board.

The free DIY option: a Trello REST API script

If you can write a bit of code, the Trello REST API gives you everything you need for a scheduled backup that you control:

• The boards endpoint (GET /1/boards/{id}) can return lists, cards, checklists and actions together, using nested resources. Pull comment actions page by page so you aren’t limited to the 1,000 actions in the manual export.
• Attachment files have to be downloaded with your API key and token in the request header. Atlassian moved attachment downloads to authenticated access, so a plain link won’t work from a script.
• Stay under the rate limits: “300 requests per 10 seconds for each API key” and “100 requests per 10 second interval for each token.”

Run it daily from cron or GitHub Actions and save JSON plus files to cloud storage.

The tradeoff: you own failures, monitoring and retention. Restore is the hard part. Since Trello can’t import JSON, you’d have to write code that recreates lists, cards, checklists and attachments through the API. Practice that once before you count on it.

FAQ

Does Trello back up my boards automatically?

Not in a way you can use. Trello doesn’t give you a restorable copy of your boards or a point-in-time restore. Your built-in options are manual exports and the archive. For automatic backups you can restore from, you need a third-party tool or your own script.

Can I recover a deleted Trello card?

Not natively. Atlassian says deleting a card is permanent and deleted cards can’t be restored. First check “Archived items” in the board menu, since many “deleted” cards were only archived. If it was truly deleted, you can only get it back from a backup made before the deletion.

Can I import a Trello JSON export to restore a board?

No. Atlassian’s export docs say it is not currently possible to import JSON or CSV to re-create a Trello board. Backup tools like ProBackup, Rewind and BackupLABS restore through the Trello API instead, creating new boards or cards from their backup.

Are attachments included when I export a Trello board?

On a normal board export, attachments appear as links to files hosted on Trello. Only the Premium Workspace export with “Include raw attachments” gives you the actual files in a ZIP. Backup tools that list attachments, such as ProBackup, save the files themselves.

Do backup tools save Trello automations and Power-Ups?

Generally no. ProBackup says automations, Power-Ups and views aren’t available through Trello’s API, so they aren’t backed up. Keep a written record of your important Butler automations and Power-Up settings.

How often should I back up Trello?

Daily suits most teams. If many people edit boards all day, or automations change cards often, consider twice-daily backups or your own script. Whatever you choose, test a restore every quarter.

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Backing up code too? See our GitHub backup guide.