Asana vs Trello
This is the classic work management showdown between structure and simplicity. Trello is the visual Kanban master, delivering quick wins and unparalleled ease of use. Asana dominates complex workflows, linking company objectives directly to daily team tasks. The right choice depends entirely on your organizational structure and need for operational control.
Great features, poor customer support.
We find that Asana offers powerful project management features, excellent organizational scalability, and a generous free plan suitable for small teams. However, recurring external reports indicate severe problems with customer service responsiveness and billing transparency, heavily detracting from the product’s core strengths. Overall, we recommend caution for small businesses or any organization prioritizing reliable, direct customer support.
Pros
- Powerful free tier available for individuals and small teams (up to 10 users).
- Flexible design for managing tasks, projects, and team workflows efficiently.
- Supports excellent scalability, trusted by many Fortune 100 companies.
- Advanced features like Gantt charts and Timeline views are available starting on the Starter plan.
Cons
- Customer service is widely reported as non-existent, slow, or dependent on ineffective chatbots.
- Numerous complaints regarding deceptive auto-renewal practices and unauthorized charges.
- Refund requests are frequently denied, increasing costs for unintended subscriptions.
- Users often lose access or tasks when attempting to downgrade from a paid trial to the free plan.
Simple Project Management, Complex Login
We find Trello delivers exceptional value quickly due to its easy operation. Its Kanban visual organization is highly flexible for team workflows. Overall, Trello is a powerful tool, but stability issues and frustrating administrative friction points like the Atlassian login do hold it back.
Pros
- The simple, visual Kanaban board design offers great ease of use.
- A permanent Free plan is available and suitable for small teams or personal use.
- The platform is effective for team management and sharing context quickly.
- Supports extensive customization and functionality upgrades via Power-Ups.
Cons
- Users frequently report difficulty and friction with the Atlassian login process.
- Accessing billing information and invoices can be surprisingly complicated.
- The interface occasionally suffers from lag and server downtime.
- Key views like Calendar or Map require a paid Premium subscription.
AboutAsana
Asana is an online platform built specifically to manage your team’s work, projects, and tasks. It supports powerful Human + AI collaboration.
This AI component understands your specific business context, helping to move your most important work forward efficiently. Because it's a centralized ecosystem, it easily brings all doers and stakeholders together in one place. 💡
AboutTrello
Trello is designed to keep you at the top of your game by ensuring every to-do or idea, regardless of size, finds its proper place. The system helps you stay organized and efficient using three key components: Inbox, Boards, and Planner.
The Inbox quickly captures tasks as soon as they are on your mind, whether you are in the office or on the go. You manage your tasks using flexible Boards, where long lists become manageable by tracking items from “to-dos to tackle” to “mission accomplished!” Use the Planner to simply drag and drop your top tasks right into your calendar, ensuring you make time for what truly matters. 💡
Highlights
Feature Comparison
Features Overview
We highlight the main differences and pick a winner for each feature.
User Interface & Simplicity
Trello is the ultimate simple, visual Kanban tool; Asana is more complex and dense.
Trello is renowned for its intuitive drag-and-drop Kanban structure. Its simplicity helps 81% of users find it easy to use quickly. Asana offers a variety of views, including List, Timeline, and Gantt charts. The Asana interface handles complex project hierarchies and many tasks with ease. Trello delivers business value incredibly fast by minimizing tool complexity. Asana requires more adoption time but offers greater hierarchical control.
Scalability & Oversight
Asana is built for large-scale Enterprise control; Trello streamlines visual board oversight.
Asana supports immense organizational scalability, trusted by Fortune 100 companies. Asana provides resource management and unlimited portfolio views for executive oversight. It connects strategic company goals directly to daily tasks. Trello simplifies oversight using Card Mirroring to track tasks across various boards. Trello focuses more on easy team context sharing rather than top-down resource allocation. Asana is clearly superior for managing massive, multi-departmental rollouts.
Pricing & Value
Trello is significantly cheaper for paid plans; Asana’s entry cost is more than double.
Trello offers a great entry point: Standard plan is only $5/user/month (annual). Asana's first paid tier, Starter, costs $10.99/user/month annually. Both provide generous free plans limited to 10 users/collaborators. Trello’s Enterprise pricing is $17.50, notably cheaper than Asana’s Advanced tier. Asana is excellent for features, but Trello offers better overall value for money.
Automation & AI
Asana offers full AI Studio access; Trello excels at AI-powered task capture.
Asana grants Asana AI Studio access and unlimited automation rules starting on the Starter plan. This AI uses full business context to handle routine administrative work. Trello uses Atlassian Intelligence to transform forwarded emails and messages into organized task cards. Trello also offers unlimited automation runs starting on the Premium plan. Trello makes communication instantly actionable using AI-powered quick capture. Asana focuses on broad workflow governance via its AI studio.
Customer Experience
Trello offers better stability and review sentiment; Asana has severely low customer satisfaction.
External reviews show Trello has generally favorable user sentiment (3.8 rating). Trello's complaints focus mostly on frustrating administrative issues like the Atlassian login. Asana has widespread low satisfaction with a 2.2 rating. Asana users frequently report unresponsive support and deceptive billing practices. If reliability and customer service matter, Trello is the safer selection.
Free Plan Capacity
Asana allows unlimited free projects; Trello limits free teams to 10 boards per workspace.
Asana’s free Personal plan supports up to 10 users with unlimited projects. This is highly generous for growing small teams and individuals. Trello’s free plan limits users to 10 collaborators and only 10 boards per workspace total. Trello automation is capped at 250 commands monthly on the free tier. Asana clearly provides more capacity and flexibility for those on a zero-dollar budget.
Integration Ecosystem
Asana connects directly to 300+ enterprise tools; Trello uses flexible, modular Power-Ups.
Asana integrates seamlessly with over 300 enterprise tools out of the box. High-level Asana plans specifically integrate with Tableau, Salesforce, and Power BI. Trello uses Power-Ups to add customization and connect external functionality. Trello focuses integration on quick capture from Slack and email platforms. For large organizations with complex tech stacks, Asana offers superior deep integration capabilities.
Advanced Work Views
Asana offers native Gantt views sooner; Trello requires Premium to unlock all views.
Asana includes professional Timeline and Gantt views starting on the Starter plan. These are essential for managing project dependencies effectively. Trello requires the Premium plan to access Calendar, Timeline, Dashboard, and Map views. Trello relies heavily on its core Board view for all lower subscription tiers. Asana provides robust visual planning tools sooner in its paid tier structure.
Our Verdict
Choosing between Trello and Asana is a choice between simplicity versus scaling power. Trello is the winner for speed and ease of use, delivering value almost instantly. Asana is engineered for maximum strategic control and complex project scaling. Asana's superpower is structured oversight, linking high-level goals down to daily tasks. Its Resource Management and Portfolio features are essential for massive enterprises. Asana provides professional features like Gantt charts much sooner than Trello. Trello’s core strength is its visual Kanban design and low price point. Paid Trello plans start at $5/user/month, less than half of Asana's. Trello also converts emails into actionable tasks better using Atlassian AI. Critically, Trello provides better reliability and far superior customer satisfaction. Asana’s documented billing and support issues are severe pain points to consider. If you need robust enterprise features and are willing to pay more, choose Asana. If you want simplicity, great value, and better customer experience for a small-to-midsize team, Trello is the clear, reliable winner.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is better for small teams: Asana or Trello?
Trello is better if you prioritize extreme ease of use and low cost. Asana is better if you need maximum free capacity. Asana offers unlimited projects for up to 10 free users.
Is the free version of Asana better than Trello's?
Yes, Asana’s free plan includes unlimited projects for up to 10 users. Trello’s free plan limits you to 10 boards and 10 collaborators per Workspace. Asana offers greater project volume capacity for free users.
Which tool is cheaper: Asana or Trello?
Trello is significantly cheaper for paid subscriptions, starting at $5/user/month for Standard. Asana’s Starter plan starts at $10.99/per user/month. Trello Enterprise is also less costly than Asana Advanced.
Does Asana offer Kanban like Trello?
Yes, Asana provides a Board (Kanban) view, List, and Calendar views for all users. Paid Asana tiers also include advanced Timeline and Gantt views. Trello focuses primarily on the core Kanban board.
Which tool provides better customer support?
Trello is considered superior in stability and customer experience. Asana has widespread complaints about unresponsive support and billing practices. Asana explicitly states they do not offer refunds.
Which is best for enterprise-level scaling?
Asana is better for Enterprise scaling and strategic control. It offers Resource Management, Objectives, and advanced compliance features like HIPAA (Enterprise+). Trello focuses on scaling simple board management.
Ready to Choose?
Both tools have their strengths. Choose based on your specific needs.