Trello vs Asana: Which Is Better? (2023)

Project management software brings many benefits to businesses, regardless of their type and size.

According to the results of Capterra’s PM software market research, 60% of project managers reported that PM software helped them estimate the project timeline more accurately. 

Another benefit that the majority of respondents (55%) highlighted is the contribution of project management tools to using project resources more effectively. 

Apart from these 2, project management software offers plenty of other helpful features to make your workflow run smoothly.

However, when that moment arrives and you must decide which PM tool to implement, you often find yourself in doubt about which app is the best.

In this article, we’ll try to narrow down your choice by comparing 2 popular project management tools — Trello and Asana.

We’ll compare these tools based on the following criteria:

• Pricing,
• User interface,
• Task management,
• Team collaboration,
• Progress tracking,
• Administration,
• Integration,
• Support, and
• Security.

So, let the best one win!

Trello vs Asana overview

If asked to describe Trello in one sentence, we would say that Trello is a straightforward project management tool based on Kanban-style boards. 

Trello’s customizable and intuitive interface allows you to easily organize any type of project you’re currently working on.

This web-based tool is available for Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS.

Asana is a more comprehensive work management tool suitable for businesses of all sizes.

It positions itself as ‘the best platform for cross-functional work’ and aims to facilitate task management and cross-team collaboration.

Asana is translated into 13 languages and is available for web, Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android.

Let’s take a closer look at the features that these 2 tools offer:

Feature	Trello	Asana
Pricing	Free plan, Paid plans start from $5 per user/month billed annually	Free plan, Paid plans start from $10.99 per user/month billed annually
User interface	Intuitive, interactive, simple, customizable	More complex, uncluttered
Task management	Simple, intuitive, and great for simple projects	Well-organized, with more advanced task management features for cross-functional teams
Team collaboration	Basic (communication within the comments section, notifications)	Advanced (task, project, and team communication, inbox notifications)
Progress tracking	Excellent for smaller teams (Watch feature, status labels, task checklists, stickers, Kanban view, Timeline*, Dashboard*, Calendar*, Table*, and Map* view, Power-Ups)	More advanced (List, Board, Calendar, Timeline*, Dashboard*, File* view, Workload*, Filter and Sort)
Administration	Admin, Member, Guest, and Observer* permissions	Task, Project, and Team permissions
Integrations	100+ integrations and 200+ Power-Ups	200+
Support	Knowledge base, blog, articles and guides, priority support*	Tutorials, forums, guides, support forms
Security	Advanced	Advanced

*This is a paid feature.

Trello vs Asana pricing 1:0

With Trello’s free plan, you’ll get:

• Up to 10 boards per workspace,
• Unlimited users and cards,
• Unlimited storage (10MB per file), etc.

Trello’s Standard plan ($5 per user/month billed annually) includes:

• Unlimited boards per workspace,
• Unlimited storage (250MB per file),
• 1,000 workspace command runs per month, etc.

If you’re not a big Kanban fan, Trello’s Premium plan ($10 per user/month billed annually) might be a better solution for you, as it offers:

• Calendar, Timeline, Table, Dashboard, and Map board views, and
• Table and Calendar Workspace views. 

For larger teams looking for more advanced features, there’s Trello’s Enterprise plan which offers additional security and support features.

Asana, on the other hand, has a rather unusual strategy to attract paid users. 

After signing up, you’ll automatically get access to a 30-day free trial that includes some of the most popular Premium and Business features. 

Once the trial period expires, you’ll be asked to enter your billing information and select the paid plan, or otherwise, you’ll be downgraded to a free Asana Basic plan with fewer features.

As explained on the Asana website, if you want to cancel your trial immediately, you need to reach out to the Asana support team.

Through this trial approach, Asana gives its users enough time to gain firsthand experience of its wide functionalities and get accustomed to them.

Asana’s free plan is limited to 15 users only and includes the following features:

• Unlimited storage, projects, and tasks,
• Unlimited messages,
• Board, List, Calendar view, etc.

Asana’s Premium plan ($10.99 per user/month if billed annually) offers a reporting dashboard and allows you to add custom fields and generate various project status reports.

If you still need more, there are even more advanced Asana Business and Enterprise plans.

The Portfolios Business feature, for example, is excellent for large teams that manage multiple projects, as it helps them keep track of each project within a group.

Trello vs Asana pricing verdict

Both apps’ free plans have certain limitations, so chances are you’ll have to upgrade to some of the paid versions if your project is slightly more complex.

Trello’s free plan doesn’t limit the number of users, but it allows you to create only 10 boards (projects). 

On the other hand, Asana’s free version is limited to up to 15 users, but the number of projects you can create is limitless.

However, we decided to award Trello a point in this category since Asana doesn’t give you a choice when it comes to its 30-day trial period. 

Namely, you can’t just opt for the free basic plan from the very beginning, unless you contact the support, which sounds like a waste of time and energy.

Pricing	Trello	Asana
Free version	✓	✓
Free trial	✓ (14 days)	✓ (30 days)
Starting price	$5	$10.99
Overall impression	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐

Trello vs Asana user interface 1:1

According to recent project management statistics, functionality and ease of use are among the top 3 features users look for in a project management tool.

These numbers stand in favor of Trello, as its user interface is quite simple to navigate — it took us no more than a couple of minutes to learn our way around Trello.

As you can see from the picture above, Trello allows you to organize your workspace into:

• Boards,
• Lists, and
• Cards.

Cards represent tasks, and tasks are grouped into lists according to common characteristics, e.g. you can have lists of tasks named ‘To Do’, ‘Doing’, and ‘Done’. As your work progresses, you can easily drag cards from one list to another.

What we like is that we can unleash our creativity with the Trello board and personalize it by:

• Adding colored labels to the board,
• Changing backgrounds,
• Adding stickers to cards, etc. 

For those of you who are always finding ways to save time, Trello has hundreds of customizable templates ready for you, so you don’t need to spend time starting from scratch.

Asana’s interface is a bit more complex than Trello’s. However, it shouldn’t take too long to learn your way around it.

Even though it offers so many features, Asana somehow still manages to look uncluttered.

Also, you can switch between dark and light themes, and there’s also a color-blind mode.

Asana has a template library where each template is configured in an appropriate view depending on the project it is intended for.

Each template comes with automated workflow suggestions and app integrations. You can also create your own templates from your existing projects.

Trello vs Asana user interface verdict

Considering their user interface, both Trello and Asana creators have done a great job. 

Both of their interfaces are simple and clean and very easy to navigate. They’re user-friendly and intuitive, so it won’t take you a lot of time to find the options you need.

Therefore, we award each of these apps a point in this round.

User interface	Trello	Asana
Structure and layout	Clean	Clean
Customization	Highly customizable	Average
Overall impression	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐

Trello vs Asana task management 0:1

If Trello had intended to make task management easy, they certainly managed to do so — boards are your projects, cards are your project tasks, and lists are your groups of tasks.

It doesn’t get much simpler than that.

You can freely drag your cards around the board, from one list to another until you finally complete the task and move into the ‘Done’ list for good.

Of course, you can add various additional task information within the cards, e.g.:

• Members,
• Labels,
• Checklists,
• Dates,
• Attachments,
• Comments, etc.

In addition, you can automate your workflow with the built-in Butler, a no-code automation tool to create:

• Rules, 
• Buttons,
• Due date commands, and
• Scheduled commands.

In Asana, you can create tasks and group them in various ways, depending on the view you choose. 

Asana also offers an option to automate repetitive tasks and save time with Asana Rules.

In addition to usual features such as assignees (although Asana allows only 1 assignee per task) and due dates, Asana facilitates task management with features such as:

• Subtasks — for breaking up a task into smaller parts,
• Dependencies — for making it clear which tasks are ready to start, and which are waiting on others,
• Milestones — for visualizing significant checkpoints, and
• Custom fields — for tracking anything you want and which is specific to your project. 

However, bear in mind that you get most of these extra features only with paid plans.

Trello vs Asana task management verdict

Although both Trello and Asana are good tools for task management, they are not suitable for the same types of projects. 

Trello is better suited to projects that consist of similar types of tasks that progress the same way. 

On the other hand, Asana is a better solution if your team has more complex projects that are not very similar to each other. 

Since Asana offers considerably more options for task management than Trello, it wins a point in this round.

Task management	Trello	Asana
Multiple assignees	Yes	No
Dependencies	No	Yes
Workflow automations	Yes	Yes
Overall impression	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Trello vs Asana team collaboration 0:1

In project management, good communication is one of the crucial factors in avoiding project failure. 

So, when choosing a project management tool, it’s good to pay special attention to collaboration features that help make team communication seamless.

In Trello, for example, you can communicate with your team members in the following ways:

• Leave comments within task cards,
• Add attachments to cards,
• Tag @someone or an entire @card or @board, and instantly notify them of any updates,
• Set deadline reminders,
• Leave emoji reactions to comments, etc.

You will immediately get a notification on any changes or mentions.

Asana offers several ways to communicate with your project team members, and they include:

• Task conversation,
• Project conversation, and
• Team conversation.

You can add team members to a task so they can comment and reply to comments related to that task. You can also tag @someone from the team, and they’ll get notified.

Also, team members working on the same project can post comments and attach documents relevant to it. Within a project, there is space for conversation where all communication related to the project takes place.

In addition to sending direct messages to individual team members, you can also create a space for conversation with the whole team.

Apart from that, there is an Inbox section where you can quickly access all your notifications and notification settings. 

Trello vs Asana team collaboration verdict

Both apps have comment sections within tasks for easier team communication.

However, Asana offers more options to communicate directly within the app, e.g. by sending direct messages to your teammates.

With that in mind, Asana deserves a point in this category.

Team collaboration	Trello	Asana
Built-in communication channels	No	Yes
Communication within tasks	Yes	Yes
Notifications	Yes	Yes
Overall impression	⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐

Trello vs Asana progress tracking 1:1

Trello’s checklists located within the Trello card are particularly useful for progress tracking. 

They are highly transparent and easy to create, and as you check each item as complete, you’ll see the percentage as an indicator of your progress. 

Also, creative teams find Trello’s collection of stickers especially appealing. 

So, if you want to make progress tracking more visual and fun, you can use various stickers to mark tasks and show their progress.

Trello offers a Watch feature, which lets you activate receiving notifications for all the board, list, or card changes, even if you’ve not been assigned to them.

However, to track progress in views other than Kanban, you’ll need to upgrade to Trello’s Premium plan.

As for Asana, you can, for example, set your project task list to display only those tasks that are due or those completed. This way, you can filter out completed tasks so that you can focus only on tasks to be done.

Another way to single out particular tasks is by using the option Favorites. It allows you to mark certain tasks as favorites so that you can easily access them.

Asana offers several views, including:

• List, 
• Board, 
• Calendar, and
• Timeline view.

Moreover, Dashboard view allows having all real-time project data visually displayed in one place, while Files View displays a gallery-style view of all attachments.

Users will also love the Workload feature, as it gives an overview of what each team member is working on, as well as the deadlines for each of those tasks. 

This way, it will help you notice if some team member is stuck with too much work so that they can share their workload with other team members and improve the team’s overall workload management.

Trello vs Asana progress tracking verdict

Although Trello’s solutions are colorful and visually attractive, we must admit that they are more basic than Asana’s. 

However, this is not necessarily a bad thing — smaller teams probably won’t require anything more than what Trello has to offer anyway.

On the other hand, larger teams that are looking for a more serious workload management tool will find everything they need in Asana.

So, both apps score well this time.

Progress tracking	Trello	Asana
Activity log	Yes	Yes
Time tracking	Yes (through integrations)	Yes (through integrations)
Reporting	Yes	Yes
Overall impression	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Trello vs Asana administration 1:1

Now’s the time to check out how user permissions in Trello and Asana function.

In Trello, you can create a workspace that contains all your projects, i.e. boards that can be:

• Workspace visible,
• Private, and
• Public.

There are several types of member permissions in Trello:

• Board admins — they can do anything on the board.
• Board members (or normal members) — they can edit or add to the board without restrictions.
• Workspace members — they can see boards that are Workspace visible.
• Guests — they can only view and edit the boards to which they’ve been added.
• Observers — they can view the board and participate in the discussion on the cards but cannot make any changes to the board. 

For additional workspace settings, you’ll need to upgrade to Trello Premium.

In Asana, there are several types of permissions, including:

• Task permissions — users can access only that task,
• Project permissions — users can access all the tasks in a specific project, and

Team permissions — users can access all the public projects assigned to a team and all the tasks within those projects, and

Asana admins can manage who is a member of the Asana workspace and control which information is public or private, and who can access tasks and projects. 

Admins can manage all that through the Admin console, including the following:

• Add and remove members,
• Create teams,
• Export data to CSV,
• Set security options, etc.

There are 2 types of admin roles in Asana — admins and super admins. Admins can access user and team management features and user security settings. Super admins have access to all features and can manage security settings for the entire company.

Trello vs Asana administration verdict

We award a point to each of these 2 apps in this round because they both offer a variety of user roles and well-organized admin permissions.

Administration	Trello	Asana
Advanced permissions	Yes	Yes
Custom roles	No	Yes
Overall impression	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Trello vs Asana integrations 1:1

To enrich your project management tool with additional features and personalize it, you can integrate it with some of the apps you use.

Trello offers 100+ integrations and 200+ Power-Ups to improve your user experience.

Power-Ups are options that are basically add-ons and are similar to integrations. The only difference is that integrations connect other apps to Trello, while Power-Ups add features to your Trello board without sending any data to other apps or tools.

Some of the most popular integrations and Power-Ups that you have at your disposal in Trello include:

• Google Drive,
• Card Annotations,
• Last Seen,
• Slack,
• GitHub,
• Clockify,
• Dropbox, etc.

Trello also offers an option to create your own Power-Ups by using Trello’s API.

You are allowed to use an unlimited number of Power-Ups per board with all plans (including the free plan), but some of them require paying an additional fee.

Asana offers 200+ integrations, with 100+ of them available in the free plan.

Some of the integrations that you get in Asana are:

• Google Drive,
• Zoom,
• GitHub,
• Slack,
• Figma, etc.

Bear in mind that some integrations are available only in the Business and Enterprise plans.

Asana, just like Trello, offers an option to create your own integrations using its API.

Trello vs Asana integrations verdict

In terms of integrations, both Trello and Asana have a lot to offer, so whichever app you choose, you won’t be disappointed.

Thus, each app gets a point in this category.

Integrations	Trello	Asana
Number of integrations	200+	200+
Overall impression	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Trello vs Asana support 1:1

One of the crucial factors many users consider when choosing a project management tool is the efficiency of its customer support.

Trello offers various forms of support, but some of them are limited only to certain paid plans.

Free plan users can make use of self-help resources only. Still, Trello’s knowledge base is quite comprehensive, and its blog contains a variety of educational texts about project management.

You can also ask community members for help and tips.

If you are a Standard plan user, you can contact support by submitting a form that you fill out on their website. However, bear in mind that you will have to wait a while until you receive the reply. 

There is an option for priority email support, but it’s limited to Premium and Enterprise users.

The Standard plan offers support during local business hours (9 a.m. to 5 p.m.), the Premium plan offers 24/5 support, and the Enterprise plan offers 24/7 support.

Only the Enterprise plan includes phone support.

Asana, just like Trello, offers an extensive base of articles and guides where you can find help. Also, you have access to additional resources like:

• Forum,
• Webinars,
• Use cases,
• Video tutorials, etc.

If you want to reach the support team, you can go to the support page and fill out a contact form describing the issue. However, be prepared to wait a bit longer for the response.

All paid plans in Asana offer support, yet 24/7 support is only available for Enterprise plan users.

Trello vs Asana support verdict

Both Trello and Asana offer lots of resources in textual form to help you out when you come across an issue. 

However, if your problem requires contacting their support team, you will have to be an Enterprise user in both Trello and Asana to get 24/7 support.  

So, both apps score the same in this category.

Support	Trello	Asana
Knowledge base	Yes	Yes
24/7 support	Enterprise plans only	Enterprise plans only
Overall impression	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐

Trello vs Asana security 1:1

You probably want to know how your project management tool handles sensitive customer data. Both Trello and Asana take care of the security of their user’s personal information pretty seriously.

Trello possesses several certifications that prove its safety, and some of them are:

• SOC 2 and SOC 3,
• ISO/IEC 27001 and ISO/IEC 27018
• FedRAMP,
• GDPR, and others.

Also, Trello implements TLS 1.2 with 128-bit advanced encryption to safeguard your data during transmission to its servers.

Additionally, Trello adds an extra layer of security to your personal data by offering 2-factor authentication. This means that, besides having to use your password to log into your account, you will need to type in the code that you receive on your phone.

Asana possesses several certifications and attestations, such as:

• ISO,
• SOC 2 (Type 2) and SOC 3,
• GDPR,
• HIPAA,
• CCPA,
• APPI, etc.

Asana uses Amazon’s relational database services (RDS) for managing user data, storing it in data in centers situated across Europe, Australia, and Japan.

All data in Asana is encrypted both in transit and at rest.

There is also a feature called Enterprise Key Management (EKM) that allows you to encrypt your data with your own encryption key. However, this feature is available only for Enterprise users.

Asana also offers a multi-factor identification option and Google Single Sign On (SSO).

Trello vs Asana security verdict

Whether you opt for Trello or Asana, you can be sure that your data is protected, since both apps offer advanced security features.

As a result, we award each app a point in this category.

Security	Trello	Asana
Two-factor authentication	Yes	Yes
Data encryption	Yes	Yes
Relevant certifications	Yes	Yes
Overall impression	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Trello vs Asana: verdict

The decision wasn’t easy, but it’s time to finally answer the question — is Trello or Asana better?

Though Trello has some pretty attractive features and an appealing interface, it still wasn’t enough to go up against Asana’s wide range of functionalities.

So, our final decision is — Asana wins! 

Let’s take a look at the scoreboard and see in which categories Asana beats Trello.

Feature	Trello	Asana
Pricing	1	0
User interface	1	1
Task management	0	1
Team collaboration	0	1
Progress tracking	1	1
Administration	1	1
Integrations	1	1
Support	1	1
Security	1	1
Total score	7	8

When introducing Asana, we mentioned that it positions itself as ‘the best platform for cross-functional work’. After an in-depth review, we can now officially confirm that Asana does indeed deliver on its promise.

Asana is popular for a reason, and it’s no wonder it’s used by famous companies such as Amazon and Uber. Asana’s robust task management and team collaboration features secure it a decisive victory in the Trello vs Asana comparison.

However, Trello remains significant in the world of project management apps, as it’s a convincing winner in terms of simplicity and price.

If your workflow isn’t complex and you’re looking for something less advanced, Asana might seem a bit overwhelming, whereas Trello is the best choice.

In conclusion, consider your specific needs before making that final decision, and you can use this article as a guideline.

Looking for a Trello or Asana alternative? Try Plaky

If neither Trello nor Asana seems to possess what you are looking for, you should take a look at Plaky.

Plaky is a project management tool that is easy to use and offers a variety of useful features. You can use it in any industry and customize it according to your specific needs.

Plaky is a great Trello alternative since it offers an unlimited number of projects and tasks totally free of charge. While Trello’s free plan provides only a Kanban board view, Plaky’s free plan allows you to switch between Kanban and Table views.

Plaky can also be an excellent alternative to Asana. Asana’s free plan has a 15-user limit, while Plaky is free for any number of users. As opposed to Asana, Plaky offers 24/7 support even in its free plan, and you can expect a reply from the support team within 1 hour on average.

Here’s a table showing what Plaky, Trello, and Asana offer with their free plans.

Plaky’s free plan	Trello’s free plan	Asana’s free plan
An unlimited number of Plaky boards (or projects)	Only 10 boards (or projects)	Unlimited projects
Table and Kanban views	Only Kanban view	List, Board, and Calendar view
Unlimited number of users	Unlimited users	Only up to 15 users
Multiple assignees	Multiple assignees	Only 1 assignee per task
Custom fields (up to 6 per board for free)	No custom fields with the free plan	No custom fields with the free plan
24/7 support (holidays included)	No 24/7 support with the free plan	No 24/7 support with the free plan

Also, take a look at the Plaky Pro plan and Plaky Enterprise plan if you’re looking to have even more freedom for your team.

The paid plans offer additional options, such as bulks actions, 25MB or 100MB of storage per file, as well as custom SSO and subdomain.