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Trello vs Asana

Decide if your business needs linear to-do lists or something to manage complex projects.

Amy Stoltenberg
Amy Stoltenberg

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Choosing between Trello and Asana comes down to the size of your business and the nature of your everyday tasks. The prices are similar, though you’ll get more bang for your buck with Asana — simply because it has more features.

Good to know: You’ll see the word kanban used throughout this article. Kanban is basically a linear way of organising tasks. The standard kanban consists of three buckets — to-do, ongoing and done.

What's in this guide?

  1. Who are these brands best for?
  2. How do Trello and Asana compare?
  3. Which should I choose?
  4. Compare collaboration software
  5. Frequently asked questions

Who are these brands best for?

Trello is best for companies that want to track straightforward, linear projects from beginning to end. Essentially, it’s a digital kanban board. This may make it best suited for smaller businesses and entrepreneurs managing a tight-knit team.

Asana is a more sophisticated project management platform that’s best for larger companies with multiple teams. It offers granular control over projects and works well for cross-team collaboration. Asana is stocked with agile features and hundreds of integrative apps to smooth your workflow.

How do Trello and Asana compare?

Trello logoAsana logo
Memberships & Price per user
  • Basic: Free
  • Business Class: From US$9.99 monthly
  • Enterprise: Custom
  • Basic: Free
  • Premium: From AUD$11.99 monthly
  • Business: From AUD$26.99 monthly
  • Enterprise: Custom
Platforms
  • Web, desktop and mobile
  • Web and mobile
Benefits
  • Linear kanban boards
  • Easy to learn
  • Desktop app available
  • Cloud-based
  • Hundreds of integration apps
  • Task dependency management system
Drawbacks
  • No task dependency management
  • May be too simple for larger teams
  • Fewer apps integrations than Asana
  • Steeper learning curve
  • Email support only available on weekdays
  • No desktop app
Unique features
  • Drag-and-drop editing
  • Card layout on kanban board
  • Custom backgrounds, stickers and emoji
  • Milestone tracking
  • Portfolio and workload overview
  • Complex privacy and security settings
Read our full review of Trello
Read our full review of Asana

Which should I choose?

To make the right choice between Trello and Asana, take a good look at your company’s needs. Do tasks at your company require a to-do, doing and done model like the kanban format? Or are they more complex and task-dependent?

Here’s our quick take to help you decide.

Best for businesses with few employees: Trello

Trello is best for businesses with few employees, due to its simplicity. Asana might be overkill since it’s intended for cross-team collaboration.

Best for businesses with large teams: Asana

Asana is best for businesses with large teams because it supports cross-team collaboration for complex tasks, and because it offers the largest amount of integration apps. Trello’s linear kanban design would likely be limiting for a business with large teams.

Best for scalability: Asana

If you’re expecting your company to grow and become increasingly complex, we recommend starting with Asana. That way, you’re best suited to work through bigger projects as they come — and your team will have already tackled the steeper learning curve.

Best for price per user: Toss-up

This one’s a toss-up. While Trello is potentially cheaper for price per user, you’ll get more bang for your buck with Asana with more tools available. However, if cost is your bottom line, you’ll pay less with Trello.

If neither Trello nor Asana seem quite right, compare other business software options to find a platform that better suits your needs.

Compare collaboration software

Data indicated here is updated regularly
Name Product Starting price Features App integration Tech support
Zoom
Zoom
Free
Video
Yes
Phone, Email, Live chat
Powerful collaboration tools to host virtual meetings or provide education services
Go to site
More Info
Slack
Slack
Free
Direct messaging, Public chat channels, Video, Project management
Yes
Email
Helps streamline communications across company teams and projects
Go to site
More Info
Monday.com
Monday.com
$39/month
Direct messaging, Project management, Calendar
Yes
Phone, Email
Connect to run projects and workflows with confidence
Go to site
Jira
Jira
Free
Project management, Calendar
Yes
Email
Plan, track, release and report your workflow
More Info
Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams
Free
Direct messaging, Public chat channels, Video
Yes
Phone, Email
Invite everyone you work with to chat, meet, call, and collaborate all in one place
Asana
Asana
Free
Project management, Calendar
Yes
Email, Live chat
Helps you organize projects by task, milestone, assignee and deadline
More Info
Trello
Trello
Free
Project management, Calendar
Yes
Email
Collaborate on projects from beginning to end
More Info
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