Asana is a popular task management software designed for coordinating work across multiple teams and projects. Despite its extensive feature offering, it lacks real-time collaboration functionality and native time tracking. The best Asana alternatives are competitively priced, user-friendly, and have robust free plans. Below are the best use cases for leading Asana competitors on the market:
- monday.com: Best overall Asana alternative
- Teamwork: Best for client collaboration
- ClickUp: Best for affordability
- Notion: Best for information and data management
- Wrike: Best for artificial intelligence (AI)
- Bitrix24: Best for real-time communication
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Asana & Best Alternatives Compared
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Want to know if there are more affordable options? Here’s our comprehensive best free project management software for small businesses. Learn about the robust tools you can access at zero cost.
monday.com: Best Overall Asana Alternative
What We Like
- Comes with over 200 native templates
- Robust security and privacy features
- Offers work performance insights
Where It Falls Behind
- Free plans can only have up to two users
- Time tracking is only available in the Pro and Enterprise plans
- Unlimited boards are part of paid plans
How It Compares to Asana
- Both Asana and monday.com offer prebuilt workflow templates, but monday.com’s templates are more robust and industry-specific.
- Asana offers 200-plus integrations with unlimited actions, while monday.com only has 50-plus with limited monthly actions.
- Asana is free to use for up to 15 people, while monday.com has a two-person limit for its free plan.
Based on our comparison of the top Asana alternatives, monday.com nabbed the top spot because of its versatility. The platform is a work management beast that can support all elements of business operations—from HR to customer relationship management (CRM). Create custom dashboards and workflows or opt for its prebuilt products, such as monday sales CRM and monday work management.
Best of all, monday.com offers 24/7 customer support with all its plans. While it comes with several project management tools like whiteboard collaboration and custom notifications, it has file storage limits. Depending on your plan, users get 500MB to 1TB, which may be insufficient for businesses handling large volumes of data. Give ClickUp a try—its free plan comes with 100MB, but all paid plans have unlimited storage.
monday.com Monthly Pricing at a Glance
- Free: Up to two seats, one week activity log, 500MB file storage, unlimited messages and updates, and whiteboard collaboration
- Basic: $10 per user for unlimited free viewers, 5GB file storage, and unlimited boards and docs
- Standard: $12 per user for the timeline and Gantt views, guest access, six months activity logs, 20GB file storage, 250 automations and integrations monthly, Zoom integration, and calendar view
- Pro: $20 user for private boards, chart view, 100GB file storage, 25,000 automations and integrations monthly, one year activity logs, and time tracking
- Enterprise: Custom pricing for 1TB file storage, five years activity logs, 250,000 automations and integrations monthly, and 99.9% uptime service level agreement (SLA)
monday.com Features
- Kanban view: Easily manage, visualize, and track your work using monday.com’s Kanban view. Sort out your work process and gain greater efficiency by getting your team to complete tasks before moving on to the next item.
- File management: Manage and store files effectively by keeping project files directly on the platform. This facilitates better data access, allowing your team to have everything they need at their fingertips.
- Zoom integration: Stay connected and jump into online meetings from your monday.com account. Use this feature by opening the relevant board, clicking the integration button, and selecting Zoom. Functions include syncing meeting details to items and participant notifications.
Teamwork: Best for Client Collaboration
What We Like
- Comes with native time tracking and timesheets
- Custom branding available in the starter plan
- Allows users to set dependencies
Where It Falls Behind
- No phone, live chat, and email support in the Free plan
- No single-user option for paid plans
- Free and Starter plans don’t come with shared dashboards
How It Compares to Asana
- All Asana plans have unlimited projects, but Teamwork only offers this in its highest plan.
- Asana and Teamwork are feature-rich solutions, but Asana has a slightly steeper learning curve, more suited for larger teams.
- Asana’s free plan allows up to 15 users, but Teamwork’s free plan only accommodates up to five users.
Teamwork is best for client management and collaboration because it’s an integrated, all-in-one solution for tracking tasks and projects. Recently added products, such as CRM, client billing, and chat, have expanded Asana to become a client management tool. It has time tracking, individual and company timesheets, and time reminders to track billable time efficiently. Client view centralizes all clients and in-depth data per client, such as activity and project health.
Teamwork offers a balanced mix of standard and advanced project management features to keep teams organized. All plans come with integrated team chat, dashboards, and multiple project views. However, Free plan users cannot access two-factor authentication (2FA) features. Ensure your company and client’s data are protected and explore what monday.com offers. All plans come with 2FA and SOC 2 Type II Compliance.
Teamwork Monthly Pricing at a Glance
- Free: Free for up to five users, integrated team chat, 100MB of storage, tasking and dependencies, two project templates, time tracking, and 100 monthly automations
- Starter: $8.99 per user for at least three users, 10 project templates, 50GB of storage, 1,000 monthly automations, Gantt filtering, and multi-channel customer support
- Deliver: $13.99 per user for at least three users, 20 project templates, 5,000 monthly automations, team management, unlimited client users, and 100GB of storage
- Grow: $25.99 per user for at least five users, 50 project templates, 20,000 monthly automations, company timesheets, resource scheduling, and 250GB of storage
- Scale: Custom pricing for unlimited project templates, 50,000 monthly automations, profitability reports, 500GB of storage, and unlimited shared dashboards
Teamwork Features
- Proofing: Use Teamwork.com’s Proofs section to create and manage proofs from creation to the approved final product. Invite colleagues and clients to review and greenlight a proof without being added to your Teamwork.com site.
- Retainers: For businesses with long-term clients, this feature removes the need to recalculate your time and money constantly. Keep fluctuating budgets in check by reflecting under and overspending between pay periods. Create custom alerts for when budgets reach a certain amount so you’re updated in real time.
- Tasks and subtasks: Create, edit, and assign the individual pieces of work you need to deliver. Break down your work into smaller pieces for even more granular detail.
ClickUp: Best for Affordability
What We Like
- Platform is AI-compatible
- Features real-time chat and in-app video recording
- Robust security features U.S. and E.U. data residency and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
Where It Falls Behind
- Number of features can be overwhelming at first
- Free plan comes with limited storage
- Native time tracking is a paid plan feature
How It Compares to Asana
- ClickUp has 50-plus integrations, less than Asana’s 200-plus native integrations.
- Asana only offers 24/7 support for Enterprise plan users, while ClickUp’s 24/7 support is included in its Free plan.
- ClickUp offers extensive collaboration tools like team chat and whiteboards, while Asana’s collaboration features are more administrative (task approvals).
If you’re looking for a cost-effective Asana alternative, ClickUp is your best bet because it has the lowest entry-plan subscription fee and has a feature-rich free plan. Its zero-cost package includes crucial features, such as unlimited tasks and custom views, whiteboards, smart notifications, and task checklists. Paid plans unlock additional features, including unlimited file storage and unlimited spaces.
ClickUp comes with various features like mind maps and goal tracking, but its artificial intelligence (AI) features are a paid add-on costing $5 per member, monthly. AI tools in project management add value to each project tracking stage by allowing users to allocate resources and distribute tasks. To get AI capabilities at no extra charge, check out Wrike. Its free plan includes essential work intelligence features, including smart search, AI-recommend tasks, and smart replies.
ClickUp Monthly Pricing at a Glance
- Free: Free for 100MB of storage, unlimited free plan members, whiteboards, unlimited tasks, real-time chat, in-app video recording, and Kanban boards
- Unlimited: $10 per user for unlimited storage, guests with permissions, native time tracking, resource management, unlimited Gantt charts, and unlimited integrations
- Business: $19 per user for Google single sign-on (SSO), unlimited teams, granular time estimates, advanced automations, workload management, and custom exporting
- Enterprise: Custom pricing for SSO, unlimited custom roles, live onboarding training, and white labeling
ClickUp Features
- Relationships: Link tasks, docs, and integrations to make accessing and sharing important items related to your team and project easier. Custom Relationships are available on every plan. Use this with the dependency feature if a task needs to be completed before another one starts.
- Dashboards: Centralize project indicators in one place—a visual dashboard that brings together real-time data. Dashboards provide high-level views for spotting bottlenecks and reviewing popular metrics and performance.
- Milestones: ClickUp lets users highlight milestones that mark significant progress or stages toward project completion. Track major deliverables, and you can recognize progress made and key contributors upon completion of each milestone.
Notion: Best for Information & Data Management
What We Like
- Unlimited file uploads
- All plans have page analytics
- Up to 250 invited guests
Where It Falls Behind
- Lacks built-in time tracking tools
- AI features are an optional paid add-on feature
- Audit logs are only available to Enterprise plan subscribers
How It Compares to Asana
- Both platforms offer templates and multiple-view options.
- Asana includes unlimited activity logs for all plans, while Notion only offers audit logs for Enterprise users.
- All Notion plans can have guest collaborators (10 to 250 guest depending on the plan), while paid Asana plans get unlimited free guests.
Notion is our top Asana alternative for document and data management because entries are arranged by pages and can be re-organized at any time. This platform’s interface features collapsing arrows that hide and expand information as needed. It combines different content types into a single workspace, ideal for team collaboration and note-taking. All plans have unlimited pages, real-time collaboration, and link sharing with editing and comments.
While it’s a great product for storing project-related information, it lacks advanced project management features like time tracking. If you’re looking for an all-in-one work management system, we recommend monday.com. It’s our top-ranked Asana alternative and best team management app because it has advanced features like time tracking, built-in reporting, and capacity planning.
Notion Monthly Pricing at a Glance
- Free: Free for unlimited blocks for individuals, basic page analytics, 5MB file uploads, 10 guest collaborators, seven-day page histories, and basic automations
- Plus: $10 per user for unlimited blocks for teams, unlimited file uploads, 30-day page histories, 100 guest collaborators, priority support, and custom database automations
- Business: $18 per user for private team spaces, 90-day page histories, 250 invited guests, advanced page analytics, and SSO
- Enterprise: Custom pricing for audit logs, unlimited page history, user provisioning, advanced workspace controls, and customer success manager
Notion Features
- Private teamspaces: By default, each workspace comes with a teamspace that includes all team members. Create dedicated areas for each team where only members or owners can invite others.
- Workspace analytics: This advanced feature offers a detailed overview of your organization’s content engagement across the workspace. Get insights about how Notion is used and gauge content performance by tracking page popularity and views.
- Drag-and-drop functionality: Drag and drop any content block in Notion and rearrange it to the desired order and layout. Use Notion’s editor and structure your thinking with ease.
Wrike: Best for Artificial Intelligence
What We Like
- Minimalist and clean interface
- Features dynamic data views (Kanban, calendar, etc.)
- Free plan has unlimited users
Where It Falls Behind
- Calendar view unavailable in the free plan
- Lacks built-in messaging
- 2FA not available until the Enterprise plan
How It Compares to Asana
- Unlike Asana, which relies on third-party integration, Wrike includes built-in time tracking.
- Both allow custom workflows—Asana has the Workflow Builder and Wrike has the Automation Engine.
- Neither platform includes Gantt charts in the free plan; it’s a paid feature.
Automation is fairly common among project management solutions, and based on our review of top Asana competitors, Wrike’s has the most extensive workforce intelligence feature set. It’s the only solution offering robust capabilities for free, including smart search, voice assistant interaction, and document processing for mobile. Wrike’s automation also includes generative AI, which generates content like plans and briefs tailored to your company’s brand and messaging.
While Wrike excels in automation and the use of AI, it lacks an essential element of task tracking—built-in messaging. Native chat features allow users to communicate with each other in real time without leaving the platform. Wrike integrates with Slack, but if you’re looking for a project management solution with built-in chat functionality, give Bitrix24 a try. Its free plan includes chat, high-definition (HD) video calls, feed, and company workspace.
Wrike Monthly Pricing at a Glance
- Free: Free for 2GB storage per account, unlimited users, eight language support, task and subtask management, custom work views, and voice assistant interaction
- Team: $9.80 per user for up to 25 users, custom fields/workflows, calendars, dashboards, Gantt chart, work schedules, analytics view, request forms, and automation (50 actions)
- Business: $24.80 per user for up to 200 users, 5GB storage, portfolio, live reports, custom templates, approval, time tracking, and folder hierarchy
- Enterprise: Contact sales for up to unlimited users, 10GB storage, automation (1,000 actions), and advanced security controls
- Pinnacle: Contact sales for 15GB storage, advanced analytics, automation (1,500 actions), capacity planning, and locked spaces
Wrike Features
- Blueprints: Minimize tedious and repetitive tasks and use blueprints as a template for new work items, folders, tasks, and projects. These are available at the account and space level, which allows you to quickly create tasks and projects with predetermined attributes.
- Spaces: Develop and tailor your team’s unique workspace. These grouping types act as centralized hubs for all information relevant to your team. All spaces have an information section that shows you the description and list of administrators and team members included in the space.
- File attachments and storage: Access relevant documents easily by attaching files directly to tasks and projects within the Wrike platform. All file attachments generate links that appear in the task’s attachment section. Avoid paying for other cloud solutions by using Wrike’s storage solution.
Bitrix24: Best for Real-time Communication
What We Like
- Predictable flat-fee pricing
- Free plan for unlimited users
- All plans have unlimited video call duration
Where It Falls Behind
- Lacks advanced customization
- Free plan only comes with 1:1 video calls
- Paid plans have a minimum user requirement
How It Compares to Asana
- Bitrix24 has a contact center, which Asana lacks.
- Unlike Asana, Bitrix24 includes an attendance tracking feature.
- Bitrix24’s Free plan lacks Office 365 integration, which Asana includes in all of its plans.
Bitrix24 delivers on what other Asana alternatives overlook—real-time communication channels like chat, video calls, and video conferencing. Strengthen collaboration and give your team the tools to resolve challenges and answer questions quickly. Bitrix24’s native chat, call, and video features minimize misunderstandings, reduce delayed coordination, and ensure all team members are on the same page. Bitrix24 can be used as a virtual call center, unlike other Asana alternatives.
Bitrix24 is an internal social network that combines robust communication features with task management. While it allows you to collaborate efficiently with all its communication channels, this platform may be too much for individuals and small teams needing a simple task management system. For an easy-to-use, straightforward project management solution, try ClickUp. This low-cost Asana free alternative has essential features like whiteboards and time tracking.
Bitrix24 Monthly Pricing at a Glance
- Free: Free for unlimited users, up to 5GB online storage, chat, one-on-one HD video calls, task status summary, task to email, and manual time tracking
- Basic: $61 for five users, up to 24GB online storage, video call sharing and recording, webmail, and document view
- Standard: $124 for 50 users, 100GB cloud storage, company drive, announcements and polls, collaborative editing, recurring tasks, and public file sharing
- Professional: $249 for 100 users, 1,024GB, custom task fields, and task automation
- Enterprise: $499 for 250 users, 3TB cloud storage, drive documents search, centralized branch management, 30 days backup storage, priority support, and encryption at rest
Bitrix24 Features
- Workgroups: This refers to a virtual community that discusses and collaborates regarding work. Create workgroups to store data, files, messages, and tasks. Track which assignments are completed and monitor active tasks. Anyone can create a workgroup or project; all plans get unlimited workgroups.
- Chat: Communicate with colleagues using Bitrix24 messenger and easily transfer files and create tasks. There are four ways to chat: personal chats for one-on-one conversations, private chats visible only to invited users, open public chat rooms, and HD video conference chats.
- Company drive: This shared document library is open to all employees, and the drive administrator configures access permissions. This drive contains all employees’ files; users can upload files from their computers and sort them by date, ID, name, or size.
How We Evaluated the Best Asana Alternatives
We reviewed different project management software based on popularity, customer feedback, and service offerings to determine the best Asana alternatives. From there, we ranked the providers based on a six-category rubric and computed the scores to determine which Asana project management alternatives are the best overall.
Learn how we evaluated the best Asana alternatives by clicking on the tabs below:
20% of Overall Score
To determine the best pricing for small businesses, we examined the subscription plans of all the best Asana competitors and gave higher points to providers with entry-level plans priced at $15 or less. We prioritized alternatives to Asana with several plan options and gave more weight to platforms offering discounts.
25% of Overall Score
Time tracking and task reminders were the general features we considered in our evaluation. We also looked at 2FA and the availability of mobile apps, which are essential for small teams with remote or mobile team members.
20% of Overall Score
The niche features we prioritized included calendar management and milestone tracking—crucial task management capabilities that can help optimize work performance. The best Asana alternatives offer comma-separated values (CSV) and Excel data export, as well as robust integrations.
10% of Overall Score
Asana is a popular, user-friendly work management platform, so paid and free alternatives to Asana must be intuitive. We checked if technical skill is necessary to set up and operate the platform.
10% of Overall Score
Small businesses with lean teams need a third-party provider they can rely on for technical issues. We favored platforms offering 24/7 customer support, and those with various communication channels, namely phone, email, and live chat, got extra points.
15% of Overall Score
The expert score looks at overall value for money and considers each provider’s standout features and ease of use. We assessed each provider’s popularity and ease of use by referring to third-party review sites. We weighed subscribers’ feedback with our findings based on our experience using the software.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
The answer to whether Asana or Trello is better depends on your needs and budget. Trello is great for solopreneurs and small teams looking for a simple, intuitive solution that streamlines task management. Its monthly per-user plans are also more affordable, starting $5, while Asana starts at $13.49. Asana is better for organizations managing larger or more complex projects because of advanced features like unlimited projects and dependencies.
No, Asana is a cloud-based task management system with no plans of offering an internally hosted version. As an alternative, ClickUp offers self-managed solutions for complete control of your operating system.
Yes, Asana is great for teams of all sizes looking to break down larger work into manageable tasks. Examples of companies using Asana include Amazon, Google, Deloitte, Spotify, Vodafone, Slack, and ClassPass.
Bottom Line
The best alternative to Asana has feature-rich free plans, native time-tracking, and robust customer support. After careful consideration, we found that monday.com is the best option because it’s versatile, affordable, and has essential collaboration tools like its document editing tool and workdocs. Sign up for monday.com’s free-forever plan and explore the platform to see if it suits your needs.