Asana Pricing, Features, Reviews & Comparison of Alternatives

Pros
Asana has a great team behind its product that constantly updates the platform to meet customer demand. The user interface is very modern and easy to use while the user experience is very well thought out with great micro interactions that make the whole product experience very delightful. It's easy to navigate from one section to another with colored elements to highlight important aspects of the UI. It has useful features like subtasks, boards view and calendar view. You can also view the overall progress per project or team. With the portfolio function, you can view the status of all your current projects in real time, so you can keep everything on track and easily report on progress. They recently added a Gantt chart feature named "Timeline" that can help project managers. You can create templates for different tasks and projects, so you and your team can be more efficient. Priority makes it easy to give attention to tasks that need urgent attention. Integration with different services (Slack, Harvest, Dropbox, GitHub, etc) makes Asana be even more helpful. There is also an open API for more sophisticated applications.

Cons
As with all services there is a learning curve to actually becoming proficient in using Asana, but that can be easily accomplished with a bit of time and practice. The only thing I want to mention as a negative is the lack of option to hide team members from the side bar, because they are shown on top of each project. If you are a startup or a small team, and most of the team is on each project, it becomes irrelevant to actually see the same team members again and again. This would make the side menu / list a bit shorter to navigate through.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 9/10

Pros
Asana If apps were food, my mouth would WATER when I mention Asana. It's not just any meal. When it comes to organizational apps, it's THE best dessert. It's SWEEEEEET! It's the app that I'm actually using to write the draft of this review on. Every time I need to move all my to-do's from my head onto another place, I jot them down on Asana. I can use physical calendars, ( I actually do like them)... but Asana has been the ONE system that I use to jot down my goals, to-do's , projects, systems, outlines, notes, reminders, pretty much everything except my shopping list and things I have to fully write. I love this app so much that I'm actually quite proficient at using it thanks to a course that I took called Asana HQ http://bit.ly/asanahq. It has taught me how to maximize my account that I created using my own domain. The beauty of Asana is that it's simple to use, easy to create lists on, group those things into tasks or projects and just literally move forward in life. I have become considerably more proficient in life thanks to Asana. Yes you can buy a computer, and buy some software and gear for your dreams... but if you don't have a tool in place that allows you to nudge yourself forward, you'll most likely be stuck for a very long time. Asana is SO great that I count my lucky stars knowing that it's free. Try it... and don't be surprised if you fall in love with it. It's perfect for the little thoughts you don't want to forget, it's also perfect for the

Cons
I can't think of anything. I like it that much. If I had a magic wand, maybe more free features would be nice. I wish they added a progress bar to your tasks or projects to visiaully better be able to gauge the progress we're making. But it's already a great app.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 10/10

Pros
Easy to learn, attractive and simple interfaces, easy to make it your daily home base. Great for both new and experienced computer users. I love that you can have task/project-related convos and attachments. This is excellent if you are like me and frequently need to show people where they made decisions in the past in an easy way. I love that events can be recurring on almost every pattern I've ever thought of. I use it for grants tracking, so I can assign out pieces to different team members and easily gather pieces back to me. I love that I can hyperlink to previous years notes, attachments, etc. for easy reference, which is really helpful with donors. I also use it to plan editorial pieces, social media, communications campaigns, nonprofit programs, board meetings, household tasks and chores, etc. Previosuly I used it for large books/projects to break large academic projects into smaller pieces. I've used it with large and small groups aged 18-67. I've set it up for over 10 orgs/groups and it is fast and easy. Everyone loves how easy it is to just start using it. Great email functionality and it has a ton of add-ins you can use to link to other software (like time tracking, invoicing, etc.) I LOVE ASANA.

Cons
I love their free version with a firey passion, but once downside is as they have grown, the free version has lost some searching/reporting capability. However, using their paid product gets you everything you could want. So if you are piloting the free version to get a sense, there is a lot more out there.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 10/10

Pros
Key pros that elevate my overall experience in regards to the software are: 1. User interface and design - The design aspects are very colorful and interactive, making it easy to navigate from one part of the application to another 2. The timeline feature and ability to monitor other team members' progress on common or interrelated tasks enables the overall team to be efficient and helps with easy follow up 3. The ability to create tasks, project templates, color coded calendars and visual project plans not only adds to the user experience (UX) but also to enhance efficiency as one progresses through the project timelines and goals 4. The software is efficient in updating what's in progress, complete, new requests, all of which assist the user to manage their goals for a project. Priority levels also increase efficiency because a user can also give more attention to high priority tasks. 5. On the technical side, it has an open API and integrates well with other software applications such as dropbox and GitHub 6. Asana recently added gantt chart functionality called timelines which helps with project dependencies

Cons
1. It takes some time to learn how to use each feature of the product as there are so many features. It requires someone who already has some knowledge to be able to guide other team members. They are easy to use once you do work on them, but some users struggle with more specific features such as dashboards, communication tools. 2. It does not have an in-built instant messaging/chat feature to chat instantly with team mates although they have options to integrate with other softwares for the same functionality. 3. There are too many details that need to be added by users, taking away slightly from the overall experience

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 7/10

Pros
The excellent user interface provides for a clean and organized way to add tasks to your list, edit tasks, and cross tasks off when completed. As I primarily use this software for business purposes for collaboration with team members within my office, it is a one-stop-shop that has eliminated paper checklists, sticky notes, and "to-do" lists, by combining all of these in a slick web interface. The ease of use results in frequent task updates which can be viewed and commented on by the entire team, ensuring tasks are not missed or forgotten. As I am often working on many projects simultaneously throughout the week, the convenience of adding new projects and tasks to individual projects is extremely helpful to stay organized, view all of the pending tasks, and schedule time accordingly based on completion dates you have inputted for each task. Another great feature is linking emails to certain projects in Asana; a quick copy of the URL for the project in the platform, and you can easily send emails and attachments directly into Asana for effortless filing. As a free software, Asana is an excellent tool to use for group collaboration, or for personal use to make sure you are effectively managing checklist, tasks and projects.

Cons
The major downside to Asana used in a working environment is that tasks can't be assigned priorities, which can result in frequent check-ins on the list to ensure you are prioritizing tasks properly. A color-coded priority method would be extremely helpful in elevating high priority tasks above the rest. As Asana is a cloud-based software, latency can sometimes be an issue resulting in a delay in typing and moving between projects and tasks, though this is only a minor convenience.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 9/10