Asana

Overview

Asana has been one of the dominant project management platforms since 2008, built specifically for team task coordination at scale. It was designed by former Facebook engineers to solve the problem of work fragmentation — keeping tasks, deadlines, and accountability visible across large teams without relying on email threads or spreadsheets.

The product is organised around projects, tasks, and subtasks with multiple view options: list, board, timeline (Gantt), calendar, and workload. Teams can use Asana as a simple shared to-do list or as a complex programme management tool with dependencies, milestones, and cross-project portfolios. This range of depth is what makes it work for both a 5-person startup and a 1,000-person enterprise ops team.

Key Features

• Multiple views — list, board, timeline, calendar, and workload views on every project
• Task dependencies — mark tasks as blocked by or blocking others; visualised in timeline view
• Rules and automation — trigger actions when task status changes, due dates approach, or fields update
• Portfolios — track status across multiple projects in one dashboard (Business+ tier)
• Goals — connect team goals to the projects and tasks driving them
• Forms — capture intake requests that automatically create tasks
• Integrations — Slack, Zoom, Salesforce, Google Workspace, GitHub, and 200+ apps
• Reporting dashboards — customisable charts showing workload, completion rates, and project health

Pricing

Asana Personal is free for up to 10 users with unlimited tasks and projects. Starter ($10.99/user/month billed annually) adds timeline view, automation rules, and task dependencies. Advanced ($24.99/user/month) includes portfolios, goals, workload, and advanced reporting. Enterprise plans are custom-priced.

Best For

Asana works best for marketing, operations, and product teams that need to coordinate work across people and deadlines with clear accountability. It suits teams who want structured workflows with approval processes, intake forms, and milestone tracking. It is particularly strong for cross-functional teams where work moves across departments and visibility needs to be shared without constant meetings.

Limitations

Asana is designed around tasks and projects with fixed structures. Teams with fluid or non-linear workflows sometimes find it rigid. The pricing scales quickly — a 20-person Starter team costs over $2,600/year, and most power features require the Advanced tier. The mobile app is functional but less capable than the desktop experience.

Verdict

A mature, reliable project management platform that handles complexity without becoming chaotic. Best for teams that need clear task ownership and deadline visibility at scale. For smaller or more technically-oriented teams, Linear or Notion may fit better.