Asana vs monday.com: which project management tool is best?

Making up your mind isn't always easy. It's even harder when you have to choose between two great options. You end up stuck, like Buridan's donkey, debating the pros and cons of two identical bales of hay.

Choosing a project management tool can feel like that. Luckily, Asana and Monday.com aren't two identical bales of hay. They're each great— but they're not the same.

In this post, we've researched their pros and cons so you don't have to. If you’ve been toying with the idea of Asana or Monday.com, dive in below to really get a feel for what you can expect from each tool.

Asana vs Monday: At a glance

Asana is a project management tool that is used to track and manage projects. It’s used to assign tasks to team members, set deadlines, and track progress. The most basic version is free for up to 15 users.

Monday.com is also a project management tool used to track and manage projects. Like Asana, you can use it to assign tasks, set deadlines, and track progress through a Kanban-style board. Monday.com offers a free trial, and pricing starts at $8 per user per month.

The biggest difference between Asana and Monday (aside from price) is that Monday is a more advanced tool, whereas Asana is a slightly more beginner-friendly one.

Asana vs Monday: Ease of use

Both Asana and Monday.com are relatively easy to use, but for complete beginners, Asana takes the cake. It has a slightly more intuitive user interface.

That being said, both tools are pretty easy to set up. Asana does offer a guided setup process, giving it yet another slight edge over Monday.

Here's the point worth noting: while Asana might be easier to setup, that's in part because it's less feature-rich than Monday. Monday.com is a more advanced project management tool. That doesn't mean it's difficult to use, but it does mean there are more features to learn when getting started.

Asana vs Monday: Features

At the base level, Asana and Monday are pretty similar. They're both project management tools that can be used to track progress across a list or board-style platform. Where they differ is in the extra features that each tool offers.

So, what do those actually mean? Let's dive deeper into how these features translate into the user experience.

Key features in Asana

• Intuitive user interface: Asana has more of a what-you-see-is-what-you-get approach. There are not as many customisation options for more nitty-gritty details, but if ease of use is your top priority and your projects aren't too complex, it's a good pick.
• Colour-blind-friendly view: Asana lets you view its entire palette in a colour-blind-friendly view, which is excellent for colour-blind users or anyone looking to increase accessibility.
• Save advanced searches: In the platform, you can run advanced searches with specific criteria and save them for easier access down the road.
• Attach files to subtasks: Subtasks need context, too. Asana makes it easy for teams to attach files to subtasks, keeping each project organized with plenty of data that can be attached.
• Create projects from templates: Asana offers plenty of different project templates, including templates for design, IT, HR, engineering, customer success, and marketing. You can also create and save your own templates.
• Unlimited custom fields: You can create unlimited custom fields in Asana, including adding descriptions and due dates.
• Custom fields in the calendar view: Asana’s custom fields also appear in its calendar view, which is helpful when zooming out and getting an overview of your most important project tasks, dates, and data.
• File storage: Asana has a 1,000 MB per file limit for anything uploaded to the platform. Though there is no limit to the number of files you upload.
• Task dependency: This handy feature is great for projects that are highly dependent on a specific task completion order. Task dependency means that certain tasks are blocked until other tasks have been completed, which can be helpful when collaborating on multi-part projects.

While Monday.com has...

• Question and Answer feature: The Q and A feature empowers you to create an in-depth, up-to-date knowledge record so your team can collaborate more easily.
• Built-in calls: want to talk to a team member directly? Monday.com’s phone feature lets you call them at any time once they’ve uploaded their contact information.
• Custom fields: You can create unlimited custom fields on Monday.com, and view them in any layout you like (provided your plan allows for it).
• Gantt chart view: In addition to the more standard list and Kanban view styles, Monday.com supports the Gantt chart view to ensure you’re always properly managing resources with plenty of project visibility.
• Excellent customer support: This feature is huge for larger teams, especially for those working remotely. With their robust customer support team waiting to help, no one on your team will get behind due to technical difficulties.
• 10+ project view options: In addition to the ones mentioned above, project views include file view, form view, and table view.
• Colour-coded fields: Monday.com is known for being highly visual. The platform makes it easy to add graphs, shapes, and colours throughout your project tasks and fields, which is great for visual thinkers.
• Plenty of file storage: Monday.com’s maximum file size limit is 500 MB.
• Task dependency: Monday.com makes it easy to create mandatory, internal, external, and discretionary task dependencies.

When it comes to picking between the two, consider what features are non-negotiables for your current and future project management goals.

Do you need a free, easy-to-use option more than anything else? Asana might be the way to go. Are you looking for more robust features and display options? Monday.com is great for teams working on more complex projects.

Don't forget the little details. Email notifications, display options, and progress tracking are a few of the features that can make or break a project management tool. It's all about preference. Depending on your project and taste, some features will be more important than others.

While both tools are customisable, Monday.com gives you more options. It's got more features, more visualisations, and more display options than Asana.

Asana vs Monday: Flexibility

Features can automate your project management initiatives and make your project boards look stylish, but there aren't the only thing worth considering.

Flexible tools help teams stay productive, no matter what gets thrown at them. All those snazzy features aren't worth much if you can't customise and adjust them to your liking.

Asana allows you to customise the basics: fields, templates, and layouts. It offers a good selection of integrations, including connections with the G-Suite, Slack, and Dropbox. These integrations can help you manage your projects from one place, and share the data and attachments you need across platforms.

Monday.com can be customized to a higher degree, which makes it perfect for teams looking for a project management solution that’s more malleable. It's significantly more flexible than Asana. It also integrates with the G-Suite, Slack and Dropbox for cross-platform collaboration.

Flexibility (for project management tools) can be broken down into two main categories: internal and external. Internal flexibility will give you more control over how the inner workings of your project board look and work. External flexibility refers mostly to integrations.

For internal flexibility, Monday.com is the winner. For external, Asana may be the better bet. If you want a good blend of both, we'd recommend Monday.

Asana vs Monday: Pricing

Asana and Monday.com both offer a free version of their tool. Asana offers a free version for teams of up to 15 users. Monday.com offers a free trial, and its pricing starts at $8 per user per month.

Asana has three main pricing tiers: Basic, Premium, and Business. The basic plan is free and includes basic workflows and up to 15 team members. For most teams, this is a great way to trial the platform without fully committing (and many will never need to upgrade).

Premium comes in at $13.49/month for teams that want to make use of Asana's automation, custom templates, and live customer support.

Business is the priciest at $30.49/month but includes all of the features Asana can offer: project and portfolio views, advanced reporting, and advanced automated workflows.

Monday offers five pricing plans: individual, Basic, Standard, Pro, and Enterprise. Individual is free but only works for one user. Basic starts at $8/month and is the most barebones team version of the app.

Standard, which comes in at $10/seat/month (capping out at $30/month), is the most popular option. It includes more project view options and automations. Pro ($16/seat/month) comes with everything Standard offers, plus private boards, time tracking, and automation through integrations (for up to 25,000 actions per month).

For Enterprise plans, you'll need to contact Monday for pricing. This plan can combine up to 50 boards, and comes backed with all the automations, integrations, and advanced reporting and security a large team could need.

Realistically, the free version of either app isn't going to cut it for small businesses working with more than one person. So although there are free versions, it's best to consider those a trial.

If it’s critical that a tool offers flexibility with customisation options, Monday.com might be worth the higher prices. If you need a more basic task management tool that works and doesn't break the bank, Asana might be a better fit.

Asana vs Monday: Integrations

Integrations make work easier. Whether you need to automatically share updates in Slack or send documents with Dropbox, integrations make it easier to manage all the details of your project from one place.

Monday.com offers more integrations than Asana, which helps with large projects that exceed the scope of any one project management tool. Asana may have a smaller integration library, but it does connect with most of your favourite apps.

Asana's integration library includes over 150 integrations. The top three most popular integrations are Google Drive, Slack, and Dropbox.

Monday.com's integration library includes over 200 integrations. The top three most popular integrations are (similarly) Google Drive, Slack, and WhatsApp.

Both Monday.com and Asana also support a handful of built-in automations, like email notifications and task updates, on their higher-tiered plans.

Asana vs Monday: which is right for you?

While both are similar, it’s the specific features and their degree of flexibility that differentiate them from each other. And that’s where project managers need to get specific. It's all about finding the balance between what you need and what you're willing to spend.

Thankfully, you can demo each tool before making an investment. It never hurts to do a test drive. It's important to pick the one you actually like.

Whichever option you choose, you'll be able to integrate with Paperform. With these connections in place, you can turn form submissions into tasks, projects, or subtasks automatically. Sound good? Get started with our 14-day free trial.