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Asana vs Microsoft Project comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 8, 2024
 

Categories and Ranking

Asana
Ranking in Project Management Software
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
45
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Microsoft Project
Ranking in Project Management Software
2nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
79
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2024, in the Project Management Software category, the mindshare of Asana is 7.9%, down from 11.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Project is 9.0%, down from 12.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Project Management Software
 

Featured Reviews

Ian Herzing - PeerSpot reviewer
Stands out with portfolios, easy setup, and real-time information, but needs big improvement when it comes to workflows, automation, and dashboards
Their workflows and automation could use a big improvement. I don't even know if they have anything in that regard right now. I would really love to see a way where you can send custom alerts based on a task's completion or status change or an approval coming through. I would love to see a way to get some low-code functionality into Asana because right now, that is a big miss. On top of that, their dashboards are incredibly lacking. The way the widgets connect to the projects, they don't pull the data in the way that I really want them to. When I build a dashboard in Asana versus Smartsheet, I can't pull in data via a custom text field in Asana, but in Smartsheet, I can. That's a huge advantage because sometimes, you just want to report on really niche tasks or a launch date in a specific project or a collection of projects, and Smartsheet's dashboard features will let you do that, but Asana won't. So, their dashboards are lacking, and the workflows are pretty below where the market is right now. I would love to see a complete revamp of how they do dashboards right now. Dashboards are really poor. They don't display information well, and they don't look good. They don't pull in data in an advanced search kind of way. They are very simplistic. If you're a traditional project manager and you're PMP certified and you understand project management, you're going to be very frustrated with Asana's dashboards because they do not speak the language of project management. That's because of the way they are set up. So, I would like to see that completely revamped. It's just not an industry standard.
Md.  Kamruzzaman - PeerSpot reviewer
A stable solution that very accurately runs projects
Project availability and speed could always be improved. Most of the time, we get the target from the system. If there is a chance to improve the interface, then it should be implemented. Otherwise, our end users are satisfied with using our own interface. Reports could be pushed more quickly.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"I really enjoy the portfolios in Asana. One of the ways Asana stands out to me is with portfolios. You can have all your different projects, and you can have those assigned to different teams. If you want to customize a grouping of projects, you can use portfolios. For instance, one of the things that we do is we can assign a portfolio to a specific strategic objective we have, and we can put all those projects that are related to that strategic objective in that portfolio. We then know exactly what people are working on to help us achieve our goals. So, I really like portfolios."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is its project management tracking systems."
"The initial setup is straightforward. It was just a few clicks to get started and to integrate Asana into our existing business system. It took 15 days to fully implement our projects using Asana."
"It has helped our departments maintain visibility."
"By using this software, I have adaptability in my work, and it can improve the production of our company."
"The solution scales well."
"The general UI shows progress and data analytics for all projects in progress."
"It's an easy way to communicate."
"Microsoft Project is user-friendly and easy to use to do very complex project plans."
"The solution is stable."
"Time tracking and budget tracking are the most valuable features of the solution."
"The daily tracker is valuable."
"The features I find the most valuable are scheduling and reporting."
"The reporting features are quite strong. Being able to do team reports and find out what work is pending, what work needs to be done are key in my day-to-day management of the team. The earned value analysis capabilities and critical path capabilities inside the tool help me make sure that I'm keeping the projects on track."
"The solution is well established and runs very accurately."
"In my experience, this solution is one of the best for the waterfall management model."
 

Cons

"In some instances, there were subtasks where more than one person needed to review it, but I could only assign it to one person. I would have to create a subtask under a subtask and then assign it to other people. This could be improved."
"The documentation for integration could be improved. We require more information to facilitate the integrations."
"If you have been using a tool like Jira for many years, it make time some time to get used to the minimalist layout in Asana."
"On the development side for technical project management, Asana is missing features. We only use it for discussing tasks and strategies, and we use it for customer to-do lists. It doesn't have the source code integration that Jira and Jira Service Desk both have."
"We tried, but we haven't been successful with it. If people don't have the training, it is not easy to use. You need to make sure that the people are trained to use the system. They can provide more resources in the form of webcasts and videos that people can use to train themselves and understand how to use it."
"Having a quick way to do video inside the platform or video communication could be very handy."
"This solution has a learning curve, where it is initially difficult to use."
"We'd like the capability to be able to set up weekly reminders."
"We'd like to have more resource allocation and monitoring features."
"I have no idea about the cost because it is a corporate decision."
"Once we commit our status, changing it is hard."
"Its reporting and its integration with some of the other related systems should be improved. It is not very easy to integrate."
"The licensing cost is expensive and has room for improvement."
"We'd like to be able to see different timelines as a part of one task."
"When a project plan becomes huge, it is painful to arrange and structure the project in Microsoft Project. Currently, you require a separate product for managing agile projects, and people are using Jira and Rally to manage stories in agile. Primarily, on the software development side, people are kind of moving away from Microsoft Project."
"Microsoft Project should provide better documentation regarding the usage of the solution."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Asana has two different types of structures: company vs workspace. Company is really best if all the users you plan to assign work to are all internal (have the same corporate domain in their user ID email address). Once one person signs up (even for a free account) with a corporate email address, Asana will automatically relate that person to that company, if it already exists. If you plan to use it for external collaboration as well as internal, then creating a workspace is a better approach."
"There is a free version of Asana, but we use the paid version to receive all the features we want. The overall price is reasonable."
"The price of this solution makes it quite accessible, and the plans fit my budget."
"The price of the solution is reasonable."
"It has a free version."
"The cost is $25 US per unit per month."
"The solution's free version can be used for basic functions."
"Price-wise, I think it's an affordable option for mid to large-sized companies."
"The license fees for the professional version, which is estimated to be approximately $1,600, and the standard version, which is approximately $1,200, may be considered expensive by some users. This is something that could be improved to make the platform more accessible to a wider audience."
"I am not involved with this."
"You only need a Team's license in order to use Microsoft Project within Teams, which is very helpful."
"The solution is expensive."
"Its price could be reduced a little."
"I rate the solution's pricing a three out of ten."
"The cost for an on-premises-based license is a one-time fee, and the cloud-based is an annual payment plan."
"Microsoft Project is an expensive solution."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
57%
Computer Software Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
4%
Manufacturing Company
4%
Educational Organization
66%
Computer Software Company
4%
Manufacturing Company
4%
Government
3%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Asana?
The solution's user interface is very good.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Asana?
The pricing is reasonable. We paid and received equal functionality.
What needs improvement with Asana?
The solution could have a bigger pop-up when someone assigns a task or have a notification similar to Facebook, where you see a number indicating the notifications you receive. This way, you can se...
Has anyone moved from Microsoft Project to Smartsheet? How has your experience been with Smartsheet?
Hi @Eire Zimmermann, I helped an organization evaluate both MS-Project and Smartsheet when they were conducting their PM tool RFP. The short of it is this, MS Project is not caught up with the mo...
What do you like most about Microsoft Project?
The product's initial setup phase is easy.
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

No data available
Project Pro, MS Project
 

Learn More

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Uber, Vodaphone, NASA, Spotify, Lyft, Baggu, Udacity, Patreon, Flipboard, Dropbox, Intel, Samsung, Airbnb, SFMoma, Hubspot, Trivago
Aston Martin, ABANCA, Airbus Group, Capita, Cardiff University, City of Saskatoon, Intel, Pegasus Airlines, South Australia Power Network (SAPN), Israeli Ministry of Construction and Housing
Find out what your peers are saying about Asana vs. Microsoft Project and other solutions. Updated: October 2024.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.