Top 10 Software Alternatives to Asana

Asana has successfully transformed its simple task management software launched in 2008 into a serious contender in the work management software market. It is used by thousands of teams working for both small and big companies alike.

Product development teams use Asana to launch new products, marketing agencies apply it to improve sales, construction companies rely on it to plan and control construction processes, and so on and so forth.

However, it would be wrong to think that Asana is the ultimate productivity tool that can magically turn any project into success. It is great for many use cases, but many Asana alternatives can work better.

Besides, users often note the high price, lack of a full-fledged time tracking functionality, inability to assign a task to multiple team members, and other Asana’s drawbacks.

In this review, you’ll be able to explore the best Asana alternatives and compare their capabilities, main characteristics, and plans.

Contents:

• GanttPRO — best Asana alternative for advanced Gantt chart planning.
• Toggl Plan — best for geographically distributed teams.
• ProofHub – best for enhanced workload management.
• nTask – best for streamlined teamwork.
• Office Timeline – best Asana alternative with pre-made project management templates.
• AceProject – best Asana alternative with a free plan for a quick start.
• Procore – best Asana alternative for construction projects.
• Trello – best Asana alternative with convenient virtual boards.
• Hubstaff Tasks – best for high-quality time tracking.
• Strategic Roadmaps by Tempo – best for marketing agencies and creative teams.

Asana new features for premium users

At present, you still cannot find a Gantt chart in Asana to plan your project which makes people look for Asana Gantt chart integration.

In March 2018, it released a premium feature called Timeline. But it is more of a view where tasks, assignees, and due dates/date range appear together. Dependencies between tasks can also be created, and the timeline gets updated whenever any individual task included gets updated.

However, it is not fully automatic. Subtasks, for example, must be manually added and must have a due date, or they will not appear in the Timeline.

Also, Asana has missing features that teams specifically need to manage their projects. It does not have time tracking or expense tracking, so you have to use another application for this purpose. In addition, it has limited exporting tools, so you cannot export your data to Excel easily to present it in a meeting or to send it to a client.

Top 10 alternatives to Asana

If you believe that Asana is not for you, your team, or your business, there are simpler and more affordable alternatives to Asana where you can find the features you really need to manage your project.

1. GanttPRO – best Asana alternative for advanced Gantt chart planning

GanttPRO is an online Gantt chart maker for project planning. It is a modern and effective Asana alternative that allows you to save time with efficient planning and improves productivity with a more engaged team.

GanttPRO is an interactive Gantt chart that provides real-time information to team members or external partners that you give the right to view. This alternative to Asana allows managers and teams to easily manage multiple projects with automatic scheduling and drag and drop functionality.

In this Asana alternative, you can set roles such as an Owner, Admin, or Member, assign tasks, post comments, attach files, collaboratively track progress, manage not only tasks and resources but also project costs.

The tool even has Gantt chart templates for a quick start, whether you are in software development, professional services, construction, marketing, consulting, or event planning, among many others.

Project professionals from Salesforce, Sony, Hubspot, and NASA are some of the customers getting great benefits from using this Asana alternative.

2. Toggl Plan – best for geographically distributed teams

Toggl Plan is a beautifully simple project planning and execution tool that can be a good alternative to Asana. It makes project management easy, even if you’re not a certified project manager.

With Toggl Plan, planning and adjusting project schedules is really easy. All you need to do is drag and drop tasks and milestones on the plan timeline. Project plans are color-coded. That way, there’s no confusion even if you work on multiple projects.

While you can manage task workflow from the plan timeline itself, there’s another option. If you’re a Kanban fan or use Agile development practices, you can use Toggl Plan’s board feature too.

While some Toggl Plan alternatives offer more powerful Kanban boards, you still get a great experience with them here. Plus, tasks are automatically synced between the timeline and the board.

In addition to the plan timeline, Toggl Plan also has a team timeline. It is great for workload management, i.e. to make sure none of your team members are overwhelmed or underworked.

The tool is widely used among remote teams and freelancers.

3. ProofHub – best for enhanced workload management

ProofHub is a simple and intuitive project management and collaboration software. This Asana alternative helps teams get work done more effectively and efficiently by streamlining all their processes at one central location.

ProofHub saves time, eliminates confusion, boosts communication, facilitates collaboration, and keeps everyone informed at all times through its various features.

This Asana alternative takes care of everything from the planning of the project using Gantt charts, smooth execution through real-time collaboration (file sharing, real-time notifications on task progress, team chat, centralized place for proofreading), effective management (assigning tasks, status reports, workload overview, bottlenecks visibility) to delivery of projects on time in the most organized manner.

What makes ProofHub a right fit as an Asana alternative is that it solves almost every problem related to project management and collaboration without making a hole in your pocket. ProofHub does not charge per user and is economical yet it does not make you compromise on any of the core features of a project management tool. Another strong side of ProofHub is advanced workload management.

Some of the notable companies like Netflix, TripAdvisor, and Nike get project management benefits from this Asana Alternative.

4. nTask – best for streamlined teamwork

nTask is a robust project management tool used to manage multiple projects and help teams collaborate for getting things done. This Asana alternative is an easy-to-use application that doesn’t need technical knowledge.

nTask offers several tools that help you to manage projects from start to finish. It allows you to create Gantt charts for managing your workflows, timesheets for time tracking of all your tasks, issues management, risk matrix, task management, and work assignments. Give due dates, set the status and priority of your tasks for tracking the progress.

It recently launched Kanban boards for smooth project management and seamless team collaboration on tasks. It integrates with Zoom, Slack, Google Calendar, and other applications through Zapier.

This alternative to Asana is used by more than 100,000 teams worldwide, including Sony, Walmart, HP, and AT&T. nTask lets you manage all your projects in one place without the need to shift through apps.

5. Office Timeline – best Asana alternative with pre-made project management templates

Office Timeline is a free PowerPoint timeline maker. If you often work with MS PowerPoint for creating presentations, you can also create a visually impressive project plan with a tool that you are already familiar with and use it as an alternative to Asana.

Office Timeline has a PowerPoint add-in that allows you to create Gantt charts, Swimlane diagrams, and other types of timelines as quickly as your clients or stakeholders can ask of them. And it works with all versions of PowerPoint or Office 365, so you can be confident that your plans can be viewed by others.

The platform comes with advanced ready-made templates.

Individuals and teams from Fujifilm Medical Systems, Identropy, Hitachi Solutions, and Ericsson use this alternative to Asana.

6. AceProject – best Asana alternative with a free plan for a quick start

AceProject is a free and feature-rich online project management software. A simple interface of this alternative gives you easy access to a comprehensive set of tools that will help you manage multiple projects, unlimited tasks, and teams of all sizes.

This Asana alternative offers a Dashboard to provide instant information about your tasks, time, projects, and expenses. It has built-in time tracking, timesheet, and expense tracking. You get this on top of a Gantt chart planning tool, email notifications, document management with image preview, and customizable reports.

Thousands of people in over 50 countries are completing their projects with this alternative to Asana.

It proposes a free plan, so you can start without extra pay here.

7. Procore – best Asana alternative for construction projects

Procore is a project management software specially designed for the construction industry. Most businesses and organizations can utilize general project management tools like Asana. However, the construction industry has specific requirements, resources, workflow, customers, and regulations that can easily be addressed by Procore. Whether you are an owner, a general contractor, or a specialty contractor, this alternative to Asana enables you to manage all the phases of a construction project, as well as manage resources and finances involved in the project.

Customers like Athena Engineering, Ascot Group, Bottenfield Construction, and Cullison Wright are able to complete projects with certainty and confidence with the help of this PM tool.

8. Trello – best Asana alternative with convenient virtual boards

Another free tool that can help individuals, teams, and SMBs manage tasks, workflow, and projects is Trello. Users choose this platform because of its powerful Kanban boards.

It is easy to use, intuitive, and highly visual. A variety of companies and organizations use this Asana alternative to help them manage day-to-day tasks, track progress, and collaborate in a simple way.

Although also lacking a Gantt chart tool, the free plan allows for 1 Power-Up integration. For project planning, you can choose Power-Ups like Deadlines from Elegantt, Projects by Placker, or TeamGantt, as an alternative project planning application.

9. Hubstaff Tasks – best for high-quality time tracking

Hubstaff Tasks is an Agile project management tool designed to improve team collaboration. It’s built with Agile in mind and helps you keep track of to-dos with several task organization capabilities.

Its Kanban interface allows you to easily move tasks from one stage to another by dragging and dropping. You can attach files to task cards, create checklists, set estimates and deadlines, and communicate with teammates via comments.

This alternative to Asana comes with an Agile Sprints feature that helps teams with prioritizing work. You can assign tasks to different sprints — current, future, or backlog — based on when they need to be done. It also has customizable workflows that let you move tasks forward and assign them to team members with one click.

Hubstaff Tasks also has a Gantt chart feature called Timelines, which shows you an overview of your projects so you can stay on top of them. Users also rely on it because of professional time tracking.

10. Strategic Roadmaps by Tempo – best for marketing agencies and creative teams

Many users remember Strategic Roadmaps by Tempo by its old name (previously, the tool was called Roadmunk).

While it’s well-known for creating project roadmaps, this software solution offers a wider range of advanced features.

With its help, you can develop comprehensive project plans, manage resources, monitor progress, and communicate effectively with your team, partners, and other stakeholders. The tool also provides an advanced task prioritization feature.

Its simple interface and numerous additional visualization tools make it particularly appealing. Such tools are often chosen by creative teams and marketing agencies.

Find your option among worthy Asana alternatives and manage projects even better

For serious project professionals, a Gantt chart is an essential tool that gives many advantages. It provides an overview of multiple tasks, people, schedules, and status in a single document.

Online charts with real-time information automatically provide communication and status updates. Along with clarity comes accountability, and this also motivates teams to meet deadlines, to coordinate properly, and manage their time and schedule well.

Feel free to explore other alternatives and comparison of tools in the following articles:

• ClickUp alternatives.
• Instagantt alteratives.
• JIRA alternatives.
• Podio alternatives.
• Teamwork alternatives.
• Toggl Plan alternatives.
• Excel alternatives.
• Google Sheets alternatives.
• MS Project alternatives.
• Workfront alternatives.
• ProofHub alternatives.
• Paymo alternatives.
• Basecamp alternatives.
• Smartsheet competitors.

Frequently asked questions

• What is Asana software?

  Asana is a project management and task management tool that offers professional features like project workspaces, timelines, boards, and more to manage projects and tasks related to several clients and teams. It is mainly designed to reduce time for writing emails, meetings, and working on the assigned tasks.

• What is Asana software used for?

  Asana helps teams to keep projects organized, hit deadlines, and stay on track. With its help, you can control project progress, track individual tasks, plan sprints, integrate with other tools, and achieve efficient launches.

• When was Asana founded?

  Asana was officially launched for free out of beta in November 2011 and commercially in April 2012. The co-founder and CEO of Asana is Dustin Moskovitz.

• What are the limitations of Asana?

  While Asana is a project management tool that’s focused on task management, it lacks any way to track time. It requires some experience to use it, and often new users have a hard time understanding its interface. Besides, Asana is not an ideal solution for small teams or single projects.

• Is Asana a Scrum tool?

  When you’re running Scrum projects, it’s important to track work as it moves through stages. As Asana has intuitive Kanban boards, you can easily adapt the tool to your Scrum practices.

• Is Asana good for sprint planning?

  Asana allows for planning sprints, therefore project teams can have full clarity on any plan, launch dates, milestones, and backlog issues. They can work effortlessly and communicate in one place.

• Is Asana good for Agile projects?

  Asana can be a good helper in planning, organizing, and managing Agile projects and Scrum sprints as it is flexible and collaborative as Agile teams. The platform offers reliable features, from boards to timelines to build fast and deliver often.

• How is Asana different from JIRA?

  Asana and JIRA are two popular project management software solutions but each has its own specific market fit. JIRA is most widely used by product and engineering teams as it is designed specifically for their needs. Asana is chosen by companies of all sizes to manage projects and specific tasks. Many companies integrate the two apps for more productivity.

• What is the difference between Asana and Microsoft Teams?

  Asana is a project management tool and Microsoft Teams is often classified as the group chat and notification solution. They both are good for team collaboration. While Asana helps track the progress of tasks and share related updates, Microsoft Teams helps improve collaboration over all business aspects. Users often rely on Asana due to its fast task creation, while Microsoft Teams is mainly chosen for its free version.