The 7 best Asana alternatives for project management in 2025

Asana is a huge name in project management, and for good reason. It’s a solid tool that helps a ton of teams organize their work. But let’s be real, it’s not the perfect solution for everyone. Maybe the per-user pricing is making your finance team sweat, or maybe your team just needs something simpler without a million features you’ll never actually touch.

If you’re nodding along, you’ve come to the right place. You’re looking for a tool that fits how your team works, not the other way around. I’ve spent a lot of time digging through different platforms to see what really holds up. This article cuts through the marketing fluff and gives you the real story on the 7 best Asana alternatives, so you can find the right match for your team without all the guesswork.

What is Asana? A quick refresher

Before we jump into the alternatives, let’s quickly set the baseline. Asana is a work management platform that helps teams juggle everything from tiny tasks to huge projects. Its main strength is its flexibility. You can see your work as lists, Kanban boards, Gantt-style timelines, or calendars. It’s also loaded with features like workflow automation for repetitive tasks, goal tracking, and tons of integrations. It’s a powerful platform, which is exactly why so many other tools are measured against it.

A screenshot of the Asana interface, showing its various project views like lists, boards, and timelines.

Common reasons for seeking out Asana alternatives

If Asana is so popular, why are so many people looking for something else? It usually comes down to a few common frustrations that I’ve seen pop up over and over again.

• Pricing and scalability: Asana’s per-user pricing can get expensive, and fast. The Starter plan is $10.99 per user each month, and you often have to buy seats in bundles. That’s not great for small teams that add one person at a time. The model can feel like it punishes you for growing, especially if you’re a startup trying to keep costs down.

• Complexity and learning curve: For teams that just need a simple way to see who’s doing what, Asana can feel like overkill. All those features, while powerful, can be pretty overwhelming. New hires can take a while to get up to speed, and you might find yourself spending more time managing the tool than managing the actual work.

• Specific feature gaps: Asana does a lot, but it doesn’t do everything perfectly for everyone. Some teams wish it had better built-in docs or chat. Others need more serious time tracking or budgeting features that just aren’t part of Asana’s main deal.

• Workflow rigidity: While Asana offers options, some teams feel like they have to change their own processes to fit into the tool’s structure. If you’re looking for a platform that’s more of a blank slate or one that’s built for your specific industry, you might find Asana a bit too opinionated.

If you’re looking for a platform that’s more of a blank slate or one that’s built for your specific industry, you might find Asana a bit too opinionated.

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How we picked the best Asana alternatives

To build a list that’s actually useful, I focused on what really matters when you’re choosing a project management tool. It’s not about having the most features, but having the right features that work well together. Here’s what I looked for:

• Core Functionality: Does it get the basics right? Every tool on this list can handle tasks and projects well, from simple to-do lists to complex timelines.

• Ease of Use: How quickly can a new team start using it? I gave extra points to tools with clean interfaces that don’t require a week-long training course.

• Customization & Flexibility: Can you make it your own? The best tools bend to your team’s way of working, whether you’re running agile sprints or managing a more traditional project.

• Collaboration Features: Does it actually help your team talk to each other? Good tools bring conversations, files, and updates into one place so you’re not constantly switching between apps.

• Value for Money: Is the price fair? I looked at what you get for what you pay, especially on the free and entry-level plans, to find options that give you real value.

Asana alternatives comparison at a glance

Here’s a quick overview of the tools we’ll be covering.

The 7 best Asana alternatives in 2025

Alright, let’s get into the details. Here are the top contenders that give Asana a run for its money, each with its own vibe.

1. ClickUp

ClickUp’s slogan is "one app to replace them all," and they really mean it. It’s a hugely ambitious platform that tries to bring all your work into a single hub. Its killer feature is its wild level of customization. You can create custom task statuses, add all sorts of custom fields, and flip between more than 15 different views, like lists, boards, calendars, Gantt charts, and even mind maps.

Why it’s a good alternative: If you want more features for your money, ClickUp is a clear winner. Its free plan is one of the most generous you’ll find, offering unlimited tasks and users. It also has much better built-in collaboration tools than Asana, with native Docs, Whiteboards, and a chat view all included.

• Pros: Generous free plan, super customizable, great collaboration tools.

• Cons: The sheer number of options can be a lot for new users, and the interface can feel a bit busy sometimes.

Pricing: ClickUp has a feature-packed Free Forever plan. Paid plans start with the Unlimited tier at $7 per user/month, which gives you unlimited storage and integrations. The Business plan at $12 per user/month adds things like Google SSO and unlimited dashboards.

2. monday.com

If you’re looking for a tool that’s as nice to look at as it is to use, check out monday.com. Its colorful, modern interface makes it one of the easiest platforms to get started with. Everything is built around visual boards that you can tweak to track just about anything. It also comes with a huge template library for things like marketing campaigns or HR onboarding, which makes setup a snap for new teams.

Why it’s a good alternative: monday.com is fantastic at making complicated information easy to grasp in a single glance. Its dashboards are powerful and simple to build, letting you pull data from multiple projects to see the big picture. It’s a great pick for managers who need to report on progress without drowning in details.

• Pros: Beautifully designed, very intuitive, excellent for reporting.

• Cons: The free and basic plans are pretty limited, and all paid plans require at least three users, which can be a bummer for tiny teams.

Pricing: monday.com has a Free plan for up to 2 users. Paid plans start with the Basic tier at $9 per user/month, but you’ll probably want the Standard plan at $12 per user/month to get key features like timelines and automations. Remember that 3-seat minimum on paid plans.

3. Trello

Trello is the tool that made Kanban boards a household name (at least in offices). It’s built on a dead-simple system of boards, lists, and cards that you drag and drop to show progress. If your workflow can be broken down into stages like "To Do," "Doing," and "Done," Trello is a wonderfully straightforward choice. It’s the total opposite of Asana’s complexity.

Why it’s a good alternative: It’s all about being fast and simple. You can set up a new board and have your team collaborating in minutes. There’s basically no learning curve. For small teams or straightforward projects, Trello gives you just enough structure to stay organized without burying you in admin work.

• Pros: Extremely easy to use, great for visual people, strong free plan.

• Cons: The free plan is limited to the Kanban view, and it can start to feel messy when you’re managing very large or complex projects.

Pricing: Trello’s Free plan gives you unlimited cards and up to 10 boards per workspace. The Standard plan at $5 per user/month unlocks unlimited boards, and the Premium plan at $10 per user/month adds more views like a Calendar and Timeline.

4. Airtable

Airtable is for teams that love the grid of a spreadsheet but need the power of a database. It’s a super-flexible platform where you can build your own custom apps to manage work. You start with a "base," which looks like a spreadsheet, but you can add all kinds of rich data types like file attachments, checkboxes, and even links to records in other tables.

Why it’s a good alternative: For projects that are heavy on data, like a content calendar, a bug tracker, or a simple CRM, Airtable gives you a level of control Asana can’t touch. You can build custom dashboards for your team and create powerful automations to speed things up. It’s less of a ready-made project manager and more of a toolkit for building your own.

• Pros: Incredibly flexible for data-heavy projects, multiple ways to view your info, great for building custom workflows.

• Cons: It takes longer to learn than a standard PM tool, and for some people, it might feel too unstructured.

Pricing: Airtable has a Free plan with unlimited bases for up to 5 editors. The Team plan at $20 per seat/month bumps up your record and storage limits quite a bit. The Business plan at $45 per seat/month adds enterprise features like SAML SSO.

5. Wrike

Wrike is a heavy-duty project management platform designed for bigger companies, especially marketing and professional services teams. It’s built to handle complicated projects with a ton of moving parts. It has advanced features like interactive Gantt charts, customizable forms for new project requests, and tools for proofing and approving creative work.

Why it’s a good alternative: Wrike offers more fine-grained control and security than Asana, which is a big deal for enterprise-level work. Its reporting and resource management tools are more robust, giving managers a deep dive into workloads and timelines across the whole company.

• Pros: Powerful for managing complex projects, advanced reporting, strong security features.

• Cons: It’s likely too much (and too expensive) for smaller teams, and the interface takes some getting used to.

Pricing: Wrike has a Free plan for basic task management. The Team plan starts at $9.80 per user/month for smaller teams. The Business plan, at $24.80 per user/month, is their most popular and unlocks customization, reporting, and resource management.

6. Notion

Notion is more than just a project manager; it’s an all-in-one workspace where your documents, wikis, and task lists can all live in the same place. It started out as a note-taking app on steroids and has grown into a flexible platform where you can build almost anything. Think of it as a set of digital LEGO bricks for your team’s collective brain.

Why it’s a good alternative: Its biggest edge over Asana is how it blends documentation and project management. In Notion, your project brief, meeting notes, and task board can all be part of the same page. This saves a ton of context-switching and helps create a single source of truth for your team.

• Pros: Incredibly flexible, amazing for documentation and building a team wiki, has a strong and active user community.

• Cons: There’s a definite learning curve to really get the hang of it, it can feel a bit slow at times, and it’s not a ready-to-go project manager, you have to build your own systems.

Pricing: Notion has a great Free plan for individuals with a trial for teams. The Plus plan for teams starts at $8 per user/month for unlimited blocks. The Business plan at $15 per user/month adds advanced features like private team spaces and SAML SSO.

7. Smartsheet

Smartsheet is the perfect Asana alternative for teams that can’t imagine life outside of spreadsheets. It takes the familiar grid of Excel or Google Sheets and adds powerful project management features on top, like automated workflows, task dependencies, and collaborative dashboards.

Why it’s a good alternative: If your team is hesitant to leave their spreadsheets, Smartsheet is the perfect middle ground. It combines the cell-based flexibility of a spreadsheet with the structure of a PM tool. It’s especially good at handling big projects with lots of individual data points.

• Pros: Familiar interface for spreadsheet fans, powerful automation, solid reporting features.

• Cons: Can feel clunky if you don’t "think" in rows and columns, and some important features are locked behind expensive add-ons.

Pricing: Smartsheet has a Free plan for one user and up to two sheets. The Pro plan is $7 per user/month for small teams, and the Business plan at $25 per user/month is required for unlimited automations and admin tools.

Beyond typical Asana alternatives: Automate knowledge, not just tasks

Choosing the right project management tool is a great start. But what if the real problem isn’t tracking tasks, but finding the info you need to actually do them? Project management tools are great at telling you what needs to be done, but they don’t help you find the how.

Think about it: the answers your team needs are probably scattered everywhere. In old Slack threads, buried in Google Docs, hidden in Confluence spaces, or tucked away in past support tickets. All that searching is a massive time sink.

This is where a different kind of tool can help. Instead of replacing your project manager, you can make it smarter. eesel AI connects to all your company’s apps to create a single, unified brain for your team.

• Instant Answers: With eesel AI’s "AI Internal Chat", your team can ask questions right in Slack or MS Teams and get immediate, accurate answers pulled from all your company documents. No more bugging colleagues, no more digging through shared drives. It just finds the answer for you.

• Seamless Integration: eesel AI works with Asana, ClickUp, or any other tool on this list. It doesn’t ask you to move your work. It just unifies the knowledge from all your different sources without you having to migrate a single document.

• Radically Simple Setup: While most PM tools can take weeks to get right, eesel AI can be up and running in minutes. It’s a self-serve platform that starts helping your team from day one.

How to choose the right Asana alternatives for your team

Feeling a little overwhelmed by the options? That’s totally normal. Here are a few simple steps to help you narrow things down and make a choice.

• Figure out your must-haves: Before you get distracted by fancy features, make a list of what you absolutely need. Are you just tracking tasks, or managing complex projects with multiple stages? Be honest about what you’ll actually use.

• Think about your team’s style: Is your team visual and collaborative, or more data-driven? A team that loves whiteboarding might click with Trello, while an engineering team might want something with more structure.

• Take it for a test drive: This is a must. Pick your top two or three contenders and run a small, real-world project in each one. There’s no substitute for actually using a tool to see how it feels.

• Check for key integrations: Your project management tool needs to play nice with the other apps your team uses every day, whether that’s Slack, Google Drive, Figma, or GitHub.

Find the best Asana alternative that works for you

At the end of the day, there’s no single "best" Asana alternative. The best tool is the one that fits your team’s needs, budget, and culture so well that you forget it’s even there. The goal is to find something that makes work easier, not another system you have to wrestle with.

And once you’ve picked your project manager, you can stop the endless hunt for information. Give your team instant access to all your company knowledge with eesel AI. You can get it live in minutes and see what a difference it makes.

This video provides a helpful comparison of top project management tools, including several of the Asana alternatives discussed.