When looking for the most reliable collaborative task management tools, you have to compare Trello vs Asana. Both are excellent tools, no doubt. If you have to choose one of the two, what will it be? Briefly, Asana is more comprehensive while Trello is a basic tool. When your needs outgrow the latter, you have to shift to the former. While you have to split activities as a task in the former, you need to create a card for each action in the latter. Of the two, the latter is easier to use than its counterpart. To make this discussion easier for you, let us define each option

Trello overview

Trello emerged in 2011. Its founders were Joel Spolsky and Michael Pryor. It became popular almost immediately after inception. Teams and individuals were happy to adopt the solutions. Six years later, Atlassian, the software developer who created JIRA, acquired this project management product. JIRA is a similar product with broader capabilities. Instead of dealing with projects like similar solutions do, Trello focuses on the workflow of an activity. Hence, you only need to deal with boards, lists or columns, and cards.

  • The board – This software resembles a Kanban Board. So, users can tackle every board as a separate assignment. Each card has to flow through every status on the columns. A card contains real user discussions and notes. To simplify this, if you know how a Kanban Board works, this application runs in a similar way. Thus, it is easier to know the doer of each work. As an activity continues, you can shift the related card from one column to the next to indicate progress. By just checking the columns, a user can know the status of every duty. Furthermore, you can name your columns based on the status of the function at hand. Group members can know which functions are in progress, pending review, or completed.

Trello Vs Asana - key differences

Asana overview

Asana is a more detailed, activity-based planner. Users can divide a big activity into different sections and milestones. After that, they can organize a list of specific jobs to do per section. And to simplify complex roles, you can split them again into sub-tasks, descriptions, tags, remarks, assignees, and custom fields. The founding father was also the creator of Facebook and his name is Dustin Moskovitz.

He worked together with a former Facebook worker whose name was Justin Rosenstein. The platform came out in 2008, but was not immediately popular as the founders kept it to themselves. When they finally launched it in April of 2012, people loved it. Still, team members can view the Calendar, files, due dates, edits around activities, files, and more. In addition, each user can open My Inbox and My Tasks to track progress in whatever they have to do. When comparing Asana vs Basecamp, the two use a similar concept.

  • The board – The first step is to select an activity or create it. Next, you have to come up with tasks by clicking on a plus icon appearing on the top. After that, you can add extra details to a specific activity. Simply click on that activity to allow a panel with details to open. The panel will as well reveal an activity history along with everything that has happened to it. The board here appears among the ways to view your activities. You can decide to view different duties in a List, Board, Calendar, or Timeline. To follow the notifications and remarks that relate to the entire project, check Inbox within the planner.

Trello Vs Asana – In-depth comparison 

In this section, we will compare both versions based on different factors. In the end, we will choose the best choice. So, shall we begin ?

1. Features and views

If you want an application that can provide a broader view of your progress, then you would be best picking Asana. As aforesaid, it has different ways to view. These include Board, Gantt (Timeline), Calendar, and List. Wait, as a free member, you cannot access the Timeline view. Its counterpart offers only the live Kanban board view. Hence, you would have to obtain third party power-up methods of viewing. These are costly in the long run. As for other useful features, both products have them.

Best choice: Asana wins because it has every feature you want plus different views.

2. Trello Vs Asana cost

Concerning the price as a factor to consider, do not focus on it a lot. The most essential consideration when looking for an application to plan activities with is quality. However, the two options we are discussing here have proven success. So you need to know their prices to decide on the type you can afford. The pricing mechanism for these and even Wrike is the same. You will pay based on the number of employees you have. If you have several workers or users, you will pay a bigger price than someone who has fewer. Also, you may begin with a small fee now and then pay a big price when your needs expand. The following are prices for Asana vs. Trello.

  • Trello cost – Everyone can access a freemium version. In short, the basic plan here attracts zero fees. Needless to say, this option is fine until you realize that there are benefits it does not contain. Therefore, you will have to pay to help your team. If you pay monthly, the price is $12.50 per user. And if you pay annually, you will pay about $9.99 per user every month. Hence, the yearly subscription is good. They also offer an enterprise price plan that begins at $17.50 per member every month.
  • Asana cost – Similarly, the starting fee is zero. This application gives you a free version as a way to get you in. Asana free version is fine when users are fifteen or fewer. Nevertheless, as a growing business, time will come when you will outgrow the unpaid edition and look for the paid plans. In case of paying every month, you will pay $13.49 per user. In contrast, you will pay $10.99 x 12 months if you decide to pay a lumpsum for the whole year. The provider also has a business plan that requires you to pay $24.99 each month for 12 months. If you want to pay a monthly rate, then it will be costlier at $30.49 per member. They have an enterprise plan that they don’t expressly talk about. You may have to send an email to the support staff to find out more. Wait for them to reply soon.

Best choice: Both are similar. Trello’s prices are low when compared to Asana’s. However, the latter has a better freemium plan because it gives you access to more capabilities. It is free until you add an extra user. If you add 5 users, the system will charge you for 20 users. The former will do the same. There are few alternatives that will only charge you for the extra 5, in the above example.

3. User experience and user-friendliness

Both applications boast a good user interface. However, Asana is a more organized app. Although it is harder to use, it will not pop-up menus that are out of context. It might, however, shoot marketing memos across the screen when the user is working. Many people do not see these as a distraction. Besides, you can create sections, activities and sub-activities. Trello, on the other hand, offers the most user-friendly service. The interface itself is straightforward and easy to understand.

Even when buying this for teams, they will catch up fast and start using the platform. The only thing we do not like about it is lack of scalability. When your needs grow, you will either buy Power-Up services or get a different product altogether. If you continue to use it for management of big jobs, you will have to deal with several columns.

Scrolling vertically and horizontally will soon become a bother. The former is better because it offers a condensed task-view that reveals what is happening to each job. As for documentation, we love both solutions. Likewise, users can seek answers to their problems from active forum and community members.

Best choice: Asana wins straight-on.

4. Integration ease with cloud-based services

Nobody wants to spend on a cloud application that is standalone. The main reason for this is that a business has other third party cloud-based services that help enhance its performance. When you buy an activity planning app that can work in unison with your existing packages, you will enjoy using it. Otherwise, nobody needs an unconnected system because they will need to re-invent how they operate to accommodate it.

When it comes to EverHour vs Trello integration, you should not have a problem at all. It can connect to major apps via Power-Ups. Whether you use Drive Tools, Drive, or any other major cloud service, it will be easy to merge the two. When it comes to Asana vs other cloud services on the internet, it is reliable too.

Best Choice: We can conclude that both applications are the best.

5. Trello Vs Asana dependency

When finding a proper project planning product, consider dependency. To explain, some projects are sequential. For this reason, the second job will only begin if the first job is over. A group of users has to manage this dependency factor. So, when selecting an activity planner, you should think about this point. See how we contrast dependency for two below.

  • Trello – It does not provide the dependency capability between cards. You cannot schedule the activities that should occur first so that the remaining ones can begin. Hence, you have to purchase an add-on Power-Up service that begins at $3.99
  • Asana – It tackles dependencies better. You can determine which jobs will have to end first so that others can follow. As well, you can view the Timeline or Gantt to check if there are issues that require immediate attention.

Best choice: Asana is the winner.

6. User collaboration

A reliable activity planning tool can support many users. It can let them operate together as a group without complicating things. In short, it simplifies how different team members collaborate with each other to complete different tasks. In line with this, both applications enable users to upload as many files as possible. However, Trello can let you upload a file of up to 250MB while its counterpart allows only 100MB per file.

Besides, a customer can use descriptions, due dates, assignees, and the file attachment option any time. Likewise, both platforms have unpaid editions. Even so, we would choose the former because it allows unlimited users to join and use the unpaid version. Compared to Trello, Asana’s unpaid plan is only limited to fifteen users only.

User collaboration

Best Choice: We would select Trello because it allows as many members as possible to access content without paying first.

7. Strengths and weaknesses

Here we will list the pros and cons of each service so you can further decide the best choice when comparing Trello vs Asana.

Trello’s strengths

  • It is a bespoke PM app you can adjust to suit your system and style. Besides being easy to configure, you can use it for personal and business needs
  • You can view how an assignment moves from a step to the next until you complete it all. In this application, users have to move an assignment to the next column to show its progress.
  • You can sign up freely and continue as a non-paying member
  • It is the easiest to learn how to use.
  • Unlimited cards are available
  • It is easy to merge with Google Drive, DropBox, and other third party cloud services.

Trello’s weaknesses

  • When your activities grow, you will find that this application is hard to use
  • Some features are unavailable when using the open plan
  • Some users can struggle to derive a process that works for their business.

Asana’s strengths

  • It comes with a good UX design, which improves user experience
  • It is easy to customize according to the complexity of the duties you want to organize. You can make a section for each of them to monitor separately.
  • You can integrate with EverHour, email, and other cloud-based services
  • There is an unpaid plan
  • It gives a complete activity planning kit
  • You can use Smartphone on Android or Apple digital platforms
  • Many ways to view what you are working on in a central place and reliable cookies monitoring
  • Automation can occur when you buy the business plan.

Asana’s weaknesses

  • Endless emails when the due date is approaching can be annoying reminders
  • It is hard to use when doing a procedure-based job like website development
  • The application does not offer two-factor authentication when logging in.

Trello Vs Asana – which software is better?

To be honest, both are excellent options. However, businesses are unique entities with dissimilar needs. Some process several activities every day while others are startups with quite a small amount of information. That is why you have to select a single product between the two. Whether you are an individual freelancer or an enterprise, you must single out the best channel. Therefore it comes down to when you can choose Trello vs Asana.

When to use Asana?

  • You have several duties to list based on different parameters to make them easier to do.
  • Your budget is small and your group has fifteen members or fewer.
  • You have a huge job that you cannot do without splitting it into smaller, manageable milestones.

When to use Trello?

  • You can comfortably use only the Kanban boards and buy Power-Ups separately.
  • You are looking for the most idiot-proof jobs planning system. This is the best you can find as it is not at all technical.
  • You have many members in your group and have no money to spend first. This platform allows unlimited use no matter the size of your group. It will only become a problem when you start to have more activities to You will have to upgrade to a premium plan.

After reading this outline, you should now select the best item for your needs. You can catch more news about the two licenses on this page.

You can also check our Asana vs Jira article also.