Asana vs. Trello: Differences, pros and cons in 2024

Asana is project management software designed to help you handle various products and projects. Since its 2011 release, it has helped users break down, label and organize tasks. Trello is a similar tool that also launched in 2011 and was likewise created to help manage and track projects, though with a more visually-based approach.

Trello and Asana each come with unique advantages and disadvantages that would make one or the other most suitable to users, depending on their needs. We researched each product’s features and pros and cons, breaking everything down to determine the best service.

Asana vs. Trello: Quick overview

In the following table, we compare both services, providing an overall impression of what each option offers, their similarities and where they differ.

Pricing and value

Verdict: Trello

Asana pricing and value

With annual billing, Asana can cost as low as $10.99 each month when billed annually. While that’s more expensive than Trello’s monthly charges, Asana arguably makes up for the higher price with a broad range of project management tools and integrations. If you decide on Asana, you should still get good value for the money with the service.

Trello pricing and value

Not only does Trello provide a robust free tier for managing projects, but its premium services are available for a relatively low monthly cost. If you switch to an annual plan, then you only pay $5 per month or $60 yearly. It is ultimately a more budget-friendly option regardless of whether you take your service month by month or year over year.

Key features

Verdict: Asana

Trello and Asana are among the best project management solutions, with tools supporting maintaining deadlines, collaborating with peers or assigning responsibilities to team members. When we compared each service, Asana took the lead, as it offers more key features with each plan.

Asana features

Customers can create unlimited tasks, projects, messages and activity logs with Asana’s free Basic plan. The service is also helpful in streamlining HR projects related to onboarding and employee management. It saves time by automating redundant activities and tracking candidates throughout the onboarding process; you can also better manage employee benefits, time-off requests, training and more. 

Asana provides HR-friendly templates as well, in addition to templates for managing all aspects of company projects. Examples include event planning, marketing, meeting and business planning templates.

Upgrading to one of Asana’s premium plans allows you to access a broader range of organizational features, including:

• Gantt chart formatting.
• An automated workflow builder.
• Custom forms and fields.
• Start dates and times.
• Advanced reporting.
• A time tracking tool.
• Team bandwidth assessment.
• Admin controls. 

Beginning with the Premium plan, you can access Asana Intelligence, an AI tool for better managing work and projects. Overall, Asana has a better range of features and possibilities, letting it come out ahead of Trello. 

Trello features

Even without upgrading, Trello gives users a decent set of tools for maintaining projects, meeting deadlines and collaborating with team members. Starting with its free plan, Trello users get:

• At least ten boards, each with unlimited power-ups (integrations).
• Unlimited cards and lists.
• 250 workspace commands per month.
• Unlimited activity log.
• Custom backgrounds and stickers.
• Assignee and due dates.
• Two-factor authentication (2FA).

It is also worth noting that, as with Asana, Trello offers unlimited storage; however, its file size capacity is smaller. Trello caps files at 10 MB vs. Asana’s 100 MB limit. It also provides HR-specific templates to help companies manage their potential candidates and employees better. Other templates available include marketing, remote work, sales and productivity templates. These templates, while helpful, feel a bit denser than the Asana templates, which flow more clearly and are easier to follow.

Software integrations

Verdict: Tie

Trello and Asana each offer at least around 200 integrations. Not only is there some significant overlap in the third-party apps available, but the services may also be integrated with each other.

Asana software integrations

Asana’s project management software works well with hundreds of popular applications, including:

• Canva.
• Microsoft Teams.
• Salesforce.
• Figma.
• Loom.

Its apps page allows you to search for specific software integrations related to communication, operations and productivity, making it easy to narrow your choices to precise service options. In addition to third-party apps, Asana offers self-made integrations.

Trello software integrations

Trello pairs well with many top products like:

• Slack.
• Jira.
• Zendesk.
• Mailchimp.

Its page also lets you select integrations by category, focusing results on concepts such as design, developer tools, marketing, automations and communications. Moreover, Trello highlights third-party social media applications, which could make this service ideal for companies seeking a product management tool that directly impacts their social networking practices.

Customer Support

Verdict: Trello

Asana and Trello provide similar methods to connect with their support team. While Asana does offer live support, between the two, Asana has seen a more significant wave of negative feedback regarding the quality of its customer support.

Asana Customer Support

Asana’s customer support options include a ticket system accessible through its chatbot, and its support email is considered the best way to contact a live agent. You will get placed into a queue, so a response from the support team may not be immediate. When contrasting the services, there are more choices for contacting someone with Asana than through Trello. 

In addition, Asana provides a knowledge base and the Asana Academy for learning the product’s features and functionality. Its member-exclusive community also puts resources, including downloadable resources, training content and webinars at your fingertips. 

Trello Customer Support

Trello provides a robust knowledge base and tutorial guide to help customers understand how to get the most out of their service. If you need to contact someone, you must submit a contact form by logging in; depending on the issue, you may also need to grant a support team member access to your account. 

It also offers a Trello community for all users in which you can access answers and support from other Trello users. 

User reviews

Verdict: Trello

In our research, we found that Asana and Trello tended to have similar ratings across trusted customer review sites. Trello had thousands more user reviews than Asana, which meant its average rating factored in the experiences of a more significant number of people, making it more popular overall with generally more positive user experiences.

Asana user reviews

The Asana app earned a 4.4-star rating with over 41,000 reviews on the Google Play Store. It earned a 4.7-star rating with over 14,000 reviews on the Apple App Store. However, Asana earned a 2.6-star rating on Trustpilot with around 160 reviews. 

With Trustpilot as an outlier, the overall impression provided by Asana users was positive. Reviewers gave the service top marks for its collaborative features, clean interface and number of integrations. Mobile app users especially appreciated its flexibility and power. Those dissatisfied with Asana were specifically displeased by missed notifications or poor customer support experiences.

Trello user reviews

Trello’s app earned 4.4 stars on Google Play, with over 118,000 reviews, and 4.4 stars on the Apple App Store with over 5,600 reviews. On Trustpilot, Trello earned a 3.8-star rating with around 150 reviews. Overall, Trello earned far more feedback across most review sites.

Users lauded Trello for its intuitive, user-friendly interface and the ability to simplify tasks and projects. One caveat for some was the notable feature gap between the freeware version of Trello and its premium services.

Final verdict

Winner: Trello

While potential customers will find both Asana and Trello are ideal, we believe Trello is the better choice overall, thanks to its pricing, popularity and customer satisfaction.

Who is Asana best for?

Asana works best for anyone wanting a streamlined organizational tool that, while less visually driven, allows you to quickly outline tasks and share details between collaborators, assigning access or passing along files as needed. It is also better for anyone wanting a broad range of features without upgrading to a premium plan.

Who is Trello best for?

Trello is a more hands-on, Kanban-friendly task and project management tool that works best for projects where images are needed or for those who want to visualize each process step. The free version of Trello can work well for small teams and individuals needing key features. And, if you want more out of Trello, it offers flexible monthly and annual pricing.

Asana and Trello alternatives

Should you wish to expand your search beyond what Asana and Trello offer, there are similar products worth your consideration.

Todoist

Todoist functions as a to-do list and a task management tool, allowing users to organize their personal or professional goals. The platform suits teams and individuals, letting groups keep track of shared projects and meet upcoming deadlines. Features include a quick add tool, recurring due dates and the ability to break down items into sections and subsections. 

Todoist more closely resembles Asana in organizing tasks, letting you keep checklists of personal goals or communicate with team members than Trello, where you physically move cards back and forth between cards. Though it can be used in a business sense like Trello or Asana, Todoist isn’t quite as robust as either option. For instance, while it does have around 90 integrations, this is less than half of what either Asana or Trello provide.

Todoist is free, with monthly premium plans starting at $5. In comparison, Asana’s paid plans start at $13.49 per user per month. Trello’s premium plans start at $6 per user per month. 

Monday.com

Monday.com’s cloud-based work management software lets users run projects, tasks or processes at scale. Set clear objectives according to priority or due dates, and later adjust item statuses as you hit milestones.

Monday also lets you share tasks between team members, notifying all parties whenever someone completes their portion of the objective or identifying a potential bottleneck delaying the process. Between Asana and Trello, Monday more closely resembles the latter. Users can, for instance, create boards for projects. You can work in a Kanban style that visually resembles Trello.

Monday’s free plan limits you to three boards, while Trello gives you ten. Monday offers a free plan suitable to individuals or partners; paid plans start at $10 per user per month. Trello’s paid plans start at $6.00 per user per month, and Asana’s start at $13.49 per user per month.

TeamGantt

TeamGantt is ideal for those who prefer to create and use Gantt charts to visualize the project completion process. The software allows you to break down large projects into smaller milestones and track them over days, weeks or months.

You can use color coding and labels to identify specific projects and how far along team members are with their tasks. In addition to the Gantt visual model, you may also view projects as lists, boards or on a calendar. Asana and Trello also let you change how you see projects and tasks, with the timeline tool most resembling TeamGantt’s standard visual perspective. However, to shift to your ideal viewing medium, you must upgrade to make the options available.

Pricing for TeamGantt’s plans starts at $24 per month per manager. Asana and Trello are much cheaper, starting at $13.49 per user per month and $6.00 per user per month, respectively. TeamGantt offers a free forever tier, or you can upgrade to have access to a robust array of features. Pricing starts at $59 per month per manager with as many collaborators as you want. 

Read more: Best Trello alternatives

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

Which is better, Asana or Trello?

When comparing Asana and Trello directly, we found Trello to be the slightly better service due to its lower starting cost and more positive customer feedback. Asana may be better if you want a broader range of service features without upgrading to a premium plan.

Does my business need project management software?

According to a 2019 survey by GetApp, up to 44% of respondents used project management software daily; 97% used two or more tools to manage their projects. Depending on your business needs, the right project management software could make your entire process easier and more efficient.

What should I look for when choosing project management software?

When looking for the right project management software, choose a product with features attuned to your needs. GetApp noted that 52% of its survey respondents were unhappy with their product management tools; this might play a factor in why so many use multiple types of software.

Try to opt for software that favors your organizational style. If, for instance, your team prefers Gantt to Kanban, look for products that let you organize assignments or projects in this way. Consider using a free service plan or trial that will allow you to understand better how the software works before committing to a premium package.

How much does project management software cost?

Project management software costs vary by brand. You could spend between $5 and $350 monthly, depending on your preferred service plan and number of users. If you find freeware that meets your organization’s needs, it may be possible to forgo payment altogether.

While aiming for a cost-effective solution is always ideal, you should also be prepared to budget for a product that provides the exact features you or your team needs.

Is Asana cheaper than Trello?

When comparing their premium plans, we found Trello cheaper than Asana. However, both services offer a free tier, which could be equally cost-effective if you want to use product management tools without purchasing software. If you’re looking for an affordable substitute, please read our list of the best Asana alternatives.