Project management alternatives

Asana alternatives

Seat rules and a steep plan step are the documented reasons buyers compare Asana with other project management tools

Jira is the highest-scoring Asana alternative at 7.2/10, against 6.5/10 for Asana, and it suits software and IT teams that track work as issues. For general business teams, ClickUp and monday.com score 7.0 each. The Asana review documents three reasons to look elsewhere: new free accounts are capped at 2 users, paid plans carry a seat minimum, and the price per seat rises 127% from Starter to Advanced (third-party reported).

Why people look for an Asana alternative

  • New free accounts created on or after November 12, 2025 are limited to 2 users, with no automations, custom fields, forms or timeline view (third-party reported).
  • Paid plans carry a 2-seat minimum, and G2 reviewers report seats sold in blocks of five (review platform).
  • Moving from Starter to Advanced on annual billing raises the per-seat price by 127%, and goals, portfolios and workload sit only in Advanced (third-party reported).
  • Single sign-on through SAML and SCIM provisioning sit on the sales-quoted Enterprise tier, and AI use beyond the included allowance is billed per request (third-party reported).

The 6 best Asana alternatives ranked

1. Jira: 7.2/10, best for software teams

Compared with Asana, you gain Scrum and Kanban boards, backlogs and issue tracking built for software delivery, a $0 Free plan and published SOC 2 Type II, SOC 3 and ISO 27001 coverage (vendor-sourced). You give up simplicity for general task management, because Jira is built around issue types and workflows and takes more setup. Total cost also rises as you add Confluence, Jira Service Management or marketplace apps.

2. ClickUp: 7.0/10, best free plan

Compared with Asana, you gain a free plan with unlimited tasks and unlimited users and paid plans from $7 per user per month billed annually, against $10.99 for Asana Starter (third-party reported). Capterra shows 4.6 from 4,558 reviews (review platform). You give up a simpler product, because reviewers report a learning curve, and AI costs $9 or $28 per user per month on top of every plan.

3. monday.com: 7.0/10, largest review base

Compared with Asana, you gain a larger independent review base, with 4.7/5 from 15,384 reviews on G2 and 4.6/5 from 5,945 on Capterra (review platform), and configurable boards with automation action allowances by tier. You give up some entry-price ground on Gantt views, which start at Standard, listed at $12 per seat in third-party USD listings against $10.99 for Asana Starter. Paid plans start at three seats, and the free plan is limited to 2 seats.

4. Wrike: 6.9/10, best for resource planning

Compared with Asana, you gain workload views, time tracking and capacity forecasting that independent review coverage singles out as strengths, plus a free plan for unlimited users and a $10 Team plan (third-party reported). You give up ease of setup, because G2 ease of use scores relayed by one review site place Wrike behind Asana, and the price steps from $10 to $25 per seat past 15 users.

5. Trello: 6.5/10, lowest paid entry price

Compared with Asana, you gain a Free plan and paid tiers from $5 per user per month, against $10.99 for Asana Starter (third-party reported). You give up breadth, because Trello is built around one model, cards on boards, rather than a long list of modules. SAML single sign-on is documented for Enterprise, listed at $17.50 per user per month, and the seven AI features announced in July 2026 need a paid plan (vendor-sourced).

6. Smartsheet: 6.3/10, best for data-heavy projects

Compared with Asana, you gain a spreadsheet-style grid that independent reviewers say suits data-heavy projects, and public Pro and Business prices of $9 and $19 per member per month on annual billing (third-party reported). You give up a free plan, because Smartsheet has none, and reviewers describe it as complex and less suited to beginners and visual thinkers.

Score comparison

Asana and its alternatives at a glance

Category
Jira7.2/10Project management
ClickUp7.0/10Project management
monday.com7.0/10Project management
Wrike6.9/10Project management
Asana6.5/10Project management
Trello6.5/10Project management
Smartsheet6.3/10Project management

How these alternatives compare with Asana

Asana scores 6.5/10, so four of the six alternatives score higher and one scores the same. Alternatives are ordered by overall score, with equal scores ordered by name. On entry price, the third-party figures in the reviews run from $5 per user per month for Trello and $7 for ClickUp to $10 for Wrike Team and $10.99 for Asana Starter, and Jira has a $0 Free plan. Sources quote different currencies and billing terms, so compare the tier that carries the features you need.

Which Asana alternative to choose

  • Your team builds software and tracks issues: Jira.
  • You want a free plan for more than 2 people: ClickUp, whose free plan has unlimited users.
  • You want the lowest paid price per seat: Trello, if boards and cards are enough.
  • You need workload views and capacity forecasting: Wrike, if your team stays under 15 users or can budget for Business.
  • You want the closest like-for-like feature set with a larger review base: monday.com, compared in Asana vs monday.com.
Common questions

Frequently asked questions

Is there a free alternative to Asana?

Yes. ClickUp's free plan has unlimited tasks and unlimited users, Jira and Trello both have free plans, and Wrike's free plan covers unlimited users, with a reported cap of 200 active tasks. monday.com's free plan covers up to 2 seats, the same cap Asana applies to new free accounts.

Which Asana alternative scores highest?

Jira scores 7.2/10, followed by ClickUp and monday.com at 7.0 each and Wrike at 6.9. Asana scores 6.5/10, level with Trello.

Which Asana alternative is cheapest?

Trello lists the lowest paid entry price at $5 per user per month, followed by ClickUp at $7 (third-party reported). Jira has a $0 Free plan. Entry price understates total cost at several tools, because seat minimums, AI add-ons and single sign-on tiers add to the bill.

Read the Asana review for its full score breakdown, or the best project management software roundup for all seven tools.