Kevin JohnsonAsana, Inc. is a San Francisco-based company that offers a web and mobile work management platform to help teams organize, track, and manage their work. The company was founded in 2008 by Dustin Moskovitz and Justin Rosenstein.
In Apr 2012, the founders officially launched Asana globally. Asana improves team collaboration and simplifies work management. Users can create projects, assign tasks to teammates, set deadlines, and manage everything in a single platform.
Asana also offers reporting tools, file attachments, calendars, and tracking features. In Sep 2020, Asana went public via direct listing valued at $5.5 billion. In 2021, the company had 1080 employees and reported a 67% increase in revenue to $378.4 million. [1]
Asana expanded its platform in the past five years with new features and integrations. In 2017, the company integrated its app with Microsoft Teams and Gmail. Asana launched Asana for Marketing and Creative Teams in 2019, Asana Goals and Asana for Sales in 2020, and Asana Flow in 2021.
The company also expanded its integration with Jira Cloud, Tableau, Microsoft’s PowerBI, Salesforce, Vimeo, Splunk, and Netskope. These features and capabilities contribute to Asana’s high customer retention rate of 120%.
Its average net retention rate for customers spending over $50,000 is above 145%. But the company faces stiff competition from Wrike, Monday.com, ClickUp, Smartsheet, Nifty, Basecamp, and Trello. [2]
Here is an in-depth analysis of top Asana’s competitors and alternatives:
1. Wrike
Year founded: 2003
Headquarter: Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Wrike is a versatile work management platform for the enterprise. Citrix acquired Wrike in 2017 to expand its project management portfolio. In 2021, Citrix had around 9,000 employees and made $3.22 billion in revenue.
Wrike’s feature-rich platform can be configured to meet the needs of any team and application. Innovative companies like Estée Lauder, Hootsuite, Nielsen, Ogilvy, and Siemens rely on Wrike to plan, manage, and execute work at scale.
In May 2022, Wrike received the TrustRadius Top Rated Award in the project management category. The company also won seven subcategories. Asana operates in all these categories. Wrike is the top Asana competitor and alternative. [3]
2. Monday.com
Year founded: 2012
Headquarter: Tel Aviv, Israel
Monday.com is a cloud-based project management and work operating platform. This solution helps PMs build custom workflow apps and manage projects and processes. In 2021, Monday.com had around 1,000 employees and more than 100,000 business clients.
Monday.com is a collaborative tool for project management professionals (PMPs) with a user-friendly interface and customizable templates. The company offers a lower price point than Asana, enticing first-time users.
Both Asana and Monday.com integrate with the most popular project management tools. In Jun 2021, Monday.com went public and raised $574 million. After the IPO, its valuation surged to $7.5 billion. Monday.com is one of the best alternatives to Asana for project managers. [4]
3. ClickUp
Year founded: 2016
Headquarter: San Diego, California
ClickUp is a startup that offers a project management platform. Its software replaces all workplace productivity tools with a single solution that combines task management, chat, docs, reminders, goals, and spreadsheets. In 2021, ClickUp had 858 employees and made $80 million in revenue. The company has raised $135 million in total funding and is valued at $4 billion.
ClickUp is an intuitive and customizable PM platform for managing projects and teams of any size. In Apr 2022, ClickUp launched Whiteboard to develop work-from-home analytics.
With this platform, ClickUp can deliver the first automated workforce supervision solution powered by AI and ML. ClickUp is the most innovative Asana competitor. [5]
4. Smartsheet Inc.
Year founded: 2005
Headquarter: Bellevue, Washington
Smartsheet Inc. is a publicly-listed company that developed the world-famous Smartsheet app. Its app is an intuitive online project management and collaboration tool with a spreadsheet-like UI. As of Apr 2022, Smartsheet had around 2,600 employees. The company’s 2021 revenue surged by 43% to $550.8 million, $507.4 million from subscriptions, and $43.5 million from professional services. [6]
Smartsheet combines spreadsheets with Gantt charts, file sharing, and workplace automation to help project managers track, assign, and filter tasks.
The main benefit of using Smartsheet is its spreadsheet view. Most people know how to use traditional spreadsheets, increasing Smartsheet’s competitive advantage over Asana. Smartsheet is an easy-to-use Asana alternative for work and task management.
5. Nifty Technologies, Inc.
Year founded: 2017
Headquarter: Levittown, New York
Nifty is a tech company founded by Shiv Kapoor that offers a project management platform. Its PM solution consolidates discussions, tasks, docs, roadmaps, and files in a single location. In 2021, Nifty had 21 employees and generated $1.8 million in revenue.
Nifty offers robust features for collaborative task management, including a built-in automation builder and custom fields. Users can visualize tasks using a board, list, timeline, or calendar view. The platform also provides interactive roadmaps, workflow automation, and built-in docs. These features make Nifty a worthy alternative to Asana. [7]
6. Basecamp
Year founded: 1999
Headquarter: Chicago, Illinois
Basecamp is a project management tool developed by 37signals, a web software company. The platform is web-based, so users only need access to a web browser to manage their projects. In 2021, Basecamp had 37 employees and generated $7.9 million in revenue.
Basecamp is an intuitive project management tool. But it doesn’t have advanced features like Gantt charts, time tracking, and dependent subtasks. In May 2021, about a third of Basecamp’s 57 employees resigned after the revelation of racist practices.
Millions of service providers rely on Basecamp to manage their to-dos, files, messages, schedules, and milestones. Basecamp is one of the best alternatives to Asana for work management. [8]
7. Trello
Year founded: 2011
Headquarter: Sydney, Australia
Trello is a web-based project management tool developed by Fog Creek Software. Australian tech giant Atlassian acquired Trello in 2017. The Kanban-style list-making app helps PMs manage their projects with ease. In 2021, Trello had around 100 employees and made $19.5 million.
Both Trello and Asana offer robust project management tools. Trello is the best Kanban board, with a more flexible and collaborative approach to managing projects. The app is available in 21 languages and provides a free plan with unlimited integrations.
PMs can turn Trello into an end-to-end hub to meet all their project management needs. Trello is one of the top Asana competitors. [9]
8. Teamwork
Year founded: 2007
Headquarter: Blackpool, Cork, Ireland
Teamwork is an Irish software company that offers a project management platform. Its software helps teams manage the entire project lifecycle, from planning to resource allocation, execution, and reporting. In 2021, Teamwork had 270 employees.
Teamwork is a suite of productivity tools, including a helpdesk, CRM, and project management software. Its PM platform and add-ons support teams and their clients throughout their projects.
In Apr 2022, Teamwork integrated its software with Microsoft’s Outlook. This integration allows users to create tasks, add files to projects, and perform Teamwork actions without leaving Outlook. Teamwork is a worthy Asana alternative for project collaboration and task management. [10]
9. Workfront
Year founded: 2001
Headquarter: Lehi, Utah
Workfront is a cloud-based work management solution for enterprises. It helps marketing and IT teams address the challenges of working with disconnected tools and excessive emails and status meetings. In fiscal 2021, Workfront had around 3,000 customers and generated $200 million in revenue. About 1,000 employees work in its offices in Utah. [11]
Workfront simplifies project and portfolio management, issue tracking, and doc collaboration. It is a feature-rich platform that meets the needs of most organizations, from mid-sized companies to global giants.
Because Workfront is an enterprise-level tool, it may be too complex and pricey for SMBs and small teams. Workfront is one of the most full-featured alternatives to Asana.
10. Citrix Podio
Year founded: 2012
Headquarter: Raleigh, North Carolina
Citrix Podio is a project management platform owned by Citrix Systems, Inc. The subsidiary was founded after Citric acquired Podio in 2012 and merged it with existing Citrix PM solutions. In 2021, Citrix had 9,000 employees and generated $3.22 billion in revenue. [12]
The selling point for Podio is its integrated platform that offers everything PMs needs to manage their projects. Users don’t have to switch tabs or leave the app to check emails or Facebook. They can execute all tasks on Podio.
Citrix has over 400,000 clients globally, including 98% of the Fortune 500 companies. These businesses are more likely to use Podio than Asana. Podio is one of the top Asana competitors for many reasons.
11. Microsoft Project
Year founded: 1984
Headquarter: Redmond, Washington
Microsoft Project is the oldest project management software. It has served PMs, PPMs, and PMOS for over 35 years. In 2021, Microsoft had around 182,200 employees and reported an 18% increase in revenue to $168 billion. [13]
MS Project is a comprehensive suite of PM solutions, including Microsoft Planner and MS Project for the Web. This PPM system integrates with Microsoft collaboration tools, including Excel, Outlook, and Teams. Microsoft Project is one of the best alternatives to Asana for PMs, PPMs, and PMOs.
12. Bitrix24
Year founded: 2011
Headquarter: Alexandria, Virginia
Bitrix24 is a SaaS work operating platform for sales and marketing campaigns. It combines social intranet, project management tasks, and CRM. In 2021, Bitrix24 had 113 employees and made around $8 million in revenue.
Bitrix24 offers robust collaboration tools and a virtual PBX for automating calls and managing communications with teams globally. Unlike Asana, Bitrix24 is beginner-friendly and intuitive. Admins can manage all conversations, projects, and company updates in one place.
Bitrix24’s UI is similar to Facebook, with Photo Gallery, a Like button, and Activity Stream like Facebook’s News Feed. The platform syncs shared calendars with Outlook and Google and integrate with Gantt charts and Kanban boards, simplifying project management. Bitrix24 is one of the best free alternatives to Asana. [14]
13. Hive
Year founded: 2015
Headquarter: New York City, New York
Hive is a project management tool with a user-friendly interface. Like Asana, Hive works on tasks as building blocks. Although Hive offers a free plan, it limits the number of users to 2. Teams with more than 2 members can get Hive’s paid version, starting at $12/user/month.
Hive’s unique features include data import, customizable templates, and custom forms. It has one-a-kind email integration that conveys messages from Gmail and Outlook to Hive.
PMs can use Hive analytics to build dashboards for tracking KPIs, such as workspace productivity. This feature identifies bottlenecks and alerts the PM to take action. Hive is one of the top Asana alternatives. [15]
14. Airtable
Year founded: 2012
Headquarter: San Francisco, California
Airtable is a cloud collaboration service that combines database features and a spreadsheet. In Dec 2021, the company raised $735 million in a funding round at an $11.7 billion valuation. Airtable is the latest startup to reach decacorn status, a rarefied club of companies valued at over $10 billion. [16]
The main advantage for Airtable is its unique spreadsheet-database approach. This approach allows users to interact with data and execute programmatic management quickly and easily.
According to CEO Liu, more than 30% of active Airtable users subscribe to its paid plan. The company makes over $100 million annually and plans to expand to Europe. Airtable is one of the fastest-growing Asana competitors and alternatives. [17]
15. Jira
Year founded: 2002
Headquarter: Sydney, Australia
Jira is a project management and issues tracking platform owned by Atlassian. It is an end-to-end PM solution comprising Jira Service Desk, Jira Core, and Jira Software. In 2021, Atlassian had 5,752 employees and generated $1.6 billion in revenue.
Jira streamlines workflows, communication, and collaboration. Unlike Asana, Jira targets DevOps and software developers who use agile project management methods. Jira’s UI features Kanban and Scrum boards and roadmaps to help agile teams manage their projects.
Both Jira and Trello are part of Atlassian’s integrated ecosystem, increasing their competitive advantage over Asana. Jira is the best Asana alternative for agile project management. [18]
16. ProofHub
Year founded: 2011
Headquarter: Walnut, California
ProofHub is an all-in-one project planning and management software. It is a robust PM solution for enhancing team performance. According to ProofHub CEO and Founder Sandeep Kashyap, over 85,000 teams use the ProofHub software. [19]
ProofHub offers several features, including Gantt charts, Kanban boards, Timesheets, Request Forms, Timers, Custom Roles, and Discussions. But most teams use ProofHub to access robust proofing capabilities. It allows users to proof and adds comments on docs and creative work. ProofHub is a worthy alternative to Asana.
17. nTask
Year founded: 2015
Headquarter: Los Angeles, California
nTask is a project management software company. Its features include a Kanban board, Gantt chart, collaboration tools, and time management. In 2021, nTask had around 25 employees.
Unlike Asana, nTask allows project managers to assign more than one person per task. It offers risk management, issue tracking, and multiple layouts to enhance data visualization. PMs can create, prioritize, and share to-dos then monitor progress with Gantt charts.
Best of all, nTask offers a feature-rich free plan for up to 5 users. And its paid subscription is cheaper than Asana. nTask is an affordable alternative to Asana. [20]
18. Kantata (Mavenlink)
Year founded: 2022
Headquarter: Irvine, California
Mavenlink is a PM solution that streamlines project accounting, invoicing and expense reporting. It stands out from the crowd thanks to its financial capabilities. According to Craft.co, Mavenlink has 424 employees and $111 million in total funding.
In May 2022, Mavenlink merged with Kimble Applications to create a new company called Kantata. [21] Mavenlink offers advanced analytics and BI tools, allowing teams to charge vendors or contractors directly via the platform.
The merger brings together the comprehensive range of vertical SaaS solutions of Mavenlink and Kimble. Kantata is the newest Asana competitor and the best alternative for managing projects’ finances.
19. Slack
Year founded: 2009
Headquarter: San Francisco, California
Slack is a unique project management app because it is a tricked-out social networking platform. It brings a social approach to project collaboration. In mid-2021, Salesforce acquired Slack and integrated it into its ecosystem. Within 6 months, Slack had contributed $600 million to Salesforce’s revenue. [22]
Slack offers a centralized and searchable collaboration hub that streamlines communication and file sharing between team members. According to Salesforce’s projection, Slack will generate $1.5 billion in revenue in fiscal 2023. Slack is the best alternative to Asana for social-driven collaboration.
20. ProjectManager
Year founded: 2008
Headquarter: Austin, Texas
ProjectManager is a SaaS project planning and work management software. It supports the unique needs of hybrid teams by combining Agile and Waterfall methodologies. Organizations such as Nestle, Avis, and Lubrizol rely on ProjectManager for project execution, portfolio management, workflow automation, time tracking, and more. [23]
ProjectManager allows teams to manage projects, collaborate, and track and report on progress. In Jan 2022, the company won the Winter Top Performer Award from Sourceforge. ProjectManager is one of the top Asana competitors.
21. Workzone
Year founded: 2002
Headquarter: Blue Bell, Pennsylvania
Workzone is an online project management software that helps teams organize and monitor work more efficiently. It started as a collaboration tool for ad agencies and marketing departments. In 2004, the company expanded its offerings by launching its Project Tracker solution. [24]
The benefits of using Workzone instead of Asana include access to personalized to-do lists for tracking teams and tasks. Workzone users can associate, share, and store docs for each project. The platform also offers interactive Gantt charts, calendars, and dashboards to enhance the visibility of all the projects. Workzone is a robust alternative to Asana.
22. Scoro
Year founded: 2013
Headquarter: London, England
Scoro is an all-in-one SaaS work management software for professional and creative services. It combines project planning, time tracking, contact management, quoting, invoicing, and billing. In 2021, Scoro had around 130 employees.
Scoro allows users to keep their CRM with their project management tasks. PMs can manage everything within the Scoro ecosystem. In Apr 2022, G2 named Scoro one of the top ten Best Project Management Products.
This category includes project management and collaboration, analytics, and professional services automation. All four are part of Scoro’s end-to-end work management platform. Scoro is a worthy alternative to Asana. [25]
23. Nutcache
Year founded: 2013
Headquarter: Quebec, Canada
Nutcache started as an invoicing app and expanded into a collaborative project management tool. It offers several features, including project planning, time tracking and management, and file sharing. In 2021, Nutcache had around 25 employees.
Nutcache allows PMs to manage the entire project delivery lifecycle in a single system. Users can track time and expenses, create invoices, and bill clients.
With Nutcache, PMs can manage their teams and workflow for Scrum, Kanban, and other agile project types. Nutcache is one of the best alternatives to Asana for managing project finances. [26]
24. SmartTask
Year founded: 2016
Headquarter: Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
SmartTask is a task management company founded by Shyamal Parikh. The company offers an all-in-one cloud-based work management and collaboration software. In 2021, SmartTask had 12 employees.
SmartTask helps PMs automate workflows, streamline processes, and manage tasks in one place. It combines project and task management, team collaboration, time tracking, CRM, analytics, and reporting features.
In Feb 2022, SmartTask won a contract with a leading security company TMS Protection to provide workforce management solutions. SmartTask is a fast-growing Asana competitor. [27]
25. Redbooth, Inc.
Year founded: 2008
Headquarter: Palo Alto, California
Redbooth Inc. is a privately-held computer software company founded in Barcelona, Spain. It offers an easy-to-use project management tool for teams to stay organized and get work done. In 2021, Redbooth had around 25 employees.
Redbooth is as intuitive as Asana. The software allows teams to manage an unlimited number of projects in collaborative workspaces.
According to G2 user reviews, Redbooth has a rating of 8.8/10 for ease of use, 8.1/10 for quality of support, and 8.8/10 for ease of setup. It is rated above G2’s project management average in these three categories. Redbooth is a worthy alternative to Astana. [28]
References & more information
- Asana, Inc. (2022, Mar 9). Asana Announces Record Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2022 Revenues. Business Wire
- Green, T. (2022, May 9). Why Asana Stock Crashed 33% in April. The Motley Fool
- Wrike (2022, May 12). Wrike Wins Top Project Management Awards from TrustRadius. Business Wire
- Crystal, T. (2021, Jun 10). com Jumps in Debut After Raising $574 Million in US IPO. Bloomberg
- Preimesberger, C. J. (2022, Apr 4). ClickUp launches Whiteboard to develop WFH analytics. Venture Beat
- Smartsheet Inc. (2022, Mar 15). Smartsheet Inc. Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Fiscal Year 2022 Results. Business Wire
- Parsi, P. (2022, Feb 24). Asana vs. Trello vs. Nifty: which one to choose in 2022. Nifty PM
- Newton, C. (2021, May 3). Inside the All-Hands Meeting that led to a Third of Basecamp Employees Quitting. The Verge
- O’Sullivan, F. (2022, Apr 26). Trello Review. Cloudwards
- Wellin, J. (2022, Apr 27). What’s new in Teamwork. Teamwork.com
- Brooks, S. (2021, Aug 13). A conversation with Workfront. Enterprise Times
- Citrix Systems, Inc. (2022, Jan 31). Citrix Reports Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2021 Financial Results. Business Wire
- Vailshery, L. S. (2022, Feb 23). Microsoft’s global revenue 2002-2021. Statista
- Graw, M. (2021, Oct 28). Bitrix24 CRM review. TechRadar
- DPM Editor (2022, Apr 1). Hive Review 2022. The Digital Project Manager
- Chapman, L. (2021, Dec 13). Airtable scores $11.7 billion in valuation and plans Europe expansion. Bloomberg
- Meijer, L. (2022, May 18). What is Airtable? Softr.io
- Morpus, N. (2021, Jan 29). What Is Jira: An Overview of a Unique Project Management Tool. The Motley Fool
- Kashyap, S. (2022, Jan 8). ProofHub: Brand Story by Sandeep Kashyap (CEO and Founder). Solutions Suggest
- O’Sullivan, F. (2022, May 16). nTask Review. Cloudwards
- KMW News (2022, May 20). Mavenlink and Kimble Applications emerge as Kantata. KMWorld
- Whiting, R. (2022, Mar 1). Customer Digital Transformation, Slack Acquisition Fuel Salesforce Growth. CRN
- Sourceforge (2022, Jan 21). About ProjectManager. net
- Rosin, T. (2022, Feb 1). The fundamental Workzone alternative for 2022. Monday.com Blog
- Scoro (2022, Apr 20). Scoro comes in hot to hit a top ten spot in G2’s 2022 Best Software Awards. Scoro Blog
- Santos, J. M. (2022, Feb 18). Nutcache Software Review: Overview, Features, and Pricing. Project Management Org
- TMS Protection (2022, Feb 25). TMS Protection Selects SmartTask Mobile Ops. Security Buyer
- G2 Reviews (2022). Redbooth Overview. G2.com
- Featured image by Felipe Furtado
Tell us what you think? Did you find this article interesting? Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments section below.
Brianna Parker
Ava Abbott
S.K. Gupta
Add comment