Is Monday.com Legit? An Honest Look at the Platform
Short answer: Yes, Monday.com is a legitimate company. It's a publicly traded business (NASDAQ: MNDY) with a market cap over $16 billion, over 245,000 customers worldwide, and offices across multiple continents. The software itself is real, widely used, and generally well-reviewed.
But "legit" and "right for your business" are two different things. Let's dig into what you actually need to know before signing up.
Who is Monday.com? The Company Background
Monday.com was founded in 2012 by Roy Mann, Eran Kampf, and Eran Zinman. The company is headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel, with a major North American headquarters in New York City. They went public on NASDAQ in June 2021.
This isn't some fly-by-night operation. Monday.com has over 2,500 employees across offices in London, Sydney, Tokyo, Chicago, Miami, and several other cities. In their fiscal year 2024, they reported $268 million in quarterly revenue with 32% year-over-year growth.
So if you're worried this is a scam or that the company might disappear tomorrow—don't be. Monday.com is a well-established, venture-backed, publicly traded SaaS company.
What Users Actually Say: Review Breakdown
Here's where it gets interesting. Monday.com has a mixed reputation depending on where you look:
- G2: 4.7/5 from over 14,000 reviews
- Capterra: 4.6/5 from about 5,600 reviews
- Trustpilot: 3.1/5 from around 3,350 reviews
That Trustpilot score should raise an eyebrow. Why the massive discrepancy?
The G2 and Capterra reviews focus heavily on the product itself—usability, features, integrations. Users praise the visual interface, flexibility, and ability to customize workflows. The platform scores high for ease of use, with reviewers noting that even "tech-wary" team members can adopt it quickly.
Trustpilot reviews, however, tend to focus on billing and customer service issues. And this is where things get ugly.
The Billing Controversy: Real Red Flags
If there's one consistent complaint about Monday.com across review platforms, it's the billing practices. Multiple users have reported issues including:
- Being charged for seats they didn't use due to "auto-upgrade" features
- Difficulty downgrading or canceling subscriptions
- Unexpected price increases
- Slow customer support when resolving billing disputes
One user described Monday's billing as "predatory," noting that the system automatically increases billing if you exceed your seat count, but doesn't automatically reduce it when you lower seats. Another user reported being overcharged $8,500 over an 8-month period.
The company's minimum seat requirements compound this problem. Monday.com uses "bucket pricing" where plans start at a minimum of 3 seats, then increase in increments of 5. So if you have 6 users, you're paying for 10 seats. This pricing model can make costs add up quickly for growing teams.
Is this a scam? No. But it does require you to pay close attention to your subscription settings and billing statements.
Monday.com Pricing: What You'll Actually Pay
Here's the breakdown of Monday.com's pricing structure. All prices are per seat, per month (billed annually):
- Free: $0 for up to 2 users. Limited to 3 boards and 1,000 items.
- Basic: $9/seat/month. Unlimited boards, 5GB storage, 1 week activity log.
- Standard: $12/seat/month. Adds Timeline/Gantt views, 250 automations/month, guest access.
- Pro: $19/seat/month. Private boards, time tracking, 25,000 automations/month, chart views.
- Enterprise: Contact for pricing. Advanced security, 250,000 automations/month, dedicated support.
Remember the seat minimums: Paid plans require at least 3 seats, and you can only add users in increments of 5 after that. Monthly billing runs about 16-33% higher than annual depending on the plan.
For detailed pricing information, check out our Monday.com pricing guide.
What Monday.com Does Well
Despite the billing concerns, there are legitimate reasons Monday.com has over 245,000 paying customers:
- Visual, intuitive interface: The drag-and-drop boards are genuinely easy to use. Most teams can get up and running without formal training.
- Flexibility: You can build project trackers, CRMs, marketing calendars, and more. The platform adapts to different workflows.
- Integrations: Connect with Slack, Google Drive, Zoom, and hundreds of other tools. Over 200 native integrations available.
- Templates: 200+ templates for different industries and use cases help teams get started quickly.
- Automation: Set up workflows to automate repetitive tasks. Even the Standard plan includes 250 automation actions per month.
The platform has expanded beyond basic project management to include Monday CRM, Monday Dev (for software teams), and Monday Service (for service desks).
What Monday.com Doesn't Do Well
Let's be direct about the downsides:
- Expensive for small teams: The seat minimums and bucket pricing mean solo users or tiny teams pay more per person than they should.
- Customer support issues: Many users report slow response times and difficulty resolving problems.
- Performance on large boards: Some users report slowdowns when dealing with 50,000+ items.
- Learning curve for advanced features: While basic usage is easy, the more complex automations and integrations take time to master.
- Limited free plan: Only 2 seats and 3 boards—basically just enough to test, not to actually run a business.
Monday.com vs. Alternatives
If you're considering Monday.com, you should also look at:
- Asana: Similar pricing, arguably better for pure task management. More free features.
- ClickUp: More features at lower price tiers. Can be overwhelming due to feature bloat.
- Notion: Better for documentation-heavy teams. Less robust for traditional project management.
- Smartsheet: Better for spreadsheet-style workflows. Enterprise-focused.
For a detailed comparison, see our Monday.com vs. Asana breakdown and Monday.com alternatives guide.
Is Monday.com Worth It?
Monday.com is a legitimate, well-funded company with a genuinely useful product. It's not a scam. The software does what it says it does, and millions of users rely on it daily.
That said, go in with your eyes open:
- Watch your billing like a hawk
- Understand the seat minimums before committing
- Start with the free trial to test if it fits your workflow
- Set calendar reminders before renewal dates
If you need a flexible, visual project management tool and you have a team of 5+ people, Monday.com is worth considering. For smaller teams or solo users, the pricing structure may not make sense.
Try Monday.com free for 14 days and see if it works for your team before committing to a paid plan.
Related Resources
Want to learn more about using Monday.com effectively? Check out these guides: