Asana Review
Reviewed by Carlos Gil · Founder & Editor, The Best Network
Updated 8 min readEditorially reviewed
Quick facts
- Starting price
- Starter $10.99/user/mo billed annually ($13.49 monthly)
- Free plan
- Yes
- Best for
- Teams of 2 to several hundred people that run cross-functional projects and want timelines, automations and reporting on Starter, plus goals and portfolios on Advanced
- Platforms
- Web, desktop apps, iOS and Android; REST API and developer platform; Asana apps in ChatGPT and Claude
BestStacked Score
Weighted average of 5 categories. Methodology below.
Quick answer
What is Asana, and is it worth paying for?
Asana is a work management platform: teams plan tasks and projects in list, board, calendar, timeline and Gantt views, automate routine steps with rules, and track goals and portfolios on higher tiers. Paid plans now include AI Teammates, Asana Dash and AI Studio with monthly usage limits. It's worth paying for if several teams share projects and you want timelines, forms, unlimited automations and dashboards in one place. Starter costs $10.99 per user a month billed annually ($13.49 monthly), checked on Asana's pricing page on October 13, 2026. Goals, portfolios, approvals, proofing and the two-way Jira Cloud sync need Advanced ($24.99 annual, $30.49 monthly). The free Personal plan is limited to 2 seats per project and team, and Asana's pricing page says it does not offer refunds.
- Best for
- Cross-functional teams that need shared timelines, intake forms, rules and dashboards, and managers who want goals and portfolio rollups on Advanced.
- Skip it if
- You want a free plan for a team of three or more, need a single paid seat, or need refundable billing.
- Strongest capability
- Structured project planning: timelines and Gantt, task dependencies, unlimited rules and forms from Starter, then goals, portfolios, approvals and critical path on Advanced.
- Biggest limitation
- Pricing structure: Personal stops at 2 seats, paid seats come in bands above 5 users, key features sit on Advanced, and AI usage runs on two separate meters with monthly caps.
The Verdict
Asana remains one of the more structured project tools for teams that share work across departments. Starter covers most day-to-day needs: timeline and Gantt views, task dependencies, unlimited rules, forms, custom fields, dashboards and unlimited free guests. Advanced adds goals, portfolios, approvals, proofing, time tracking and two-way Jira Cloud sync. AI is now part of every paid plan, with 5 AI Teammate or Dash requests per user a month (capped at 50 per account below Enterprise) and a monthly pool of AI Studio credits. The trade-offs are cost and complexity. The free Personal plan was cut to 2 seats per project and team, there are no 1-user paid plans, seats are sold in bands of 5 above five users, and extra AI usage is billed per request or per credit. Asana's own pages disagree on whether downgrading removes data, how AI Teammates are licensed, how AI Studio Plus is billed, and which nonprofit plans qualify. We score Asana 8.4/10.
Best for
Cross-functional teams that want structured projects, timelines and automations, with goals and portfolios available as they grow.
Skip if
You need a free plan for three or more people, a single paid seat, or simple, predictable AI pricing.
Alternativesmonday.com, ClickUp, Notion
The Background
What Is Asana?
Asana (asana.com, listed on the NYSE as ASAN) sells work management software built on what it calls the Work Graph. The core product, now marketed as Agentic Work Management, covers tasks, projects, goals, portfolios, reporting and automation in Personal, Starter, Advanced, Enterprise and Enterprise+ plans. Its AI layer includes AI Teammates (ready-made and custom AI agents), Asana Dash (described as an AI Chief of Staff) and AI Studio (no-code AI workflows). Asana also sells Asana Service Management, Asana Client Management and Command by Asana as separate products, plus StackAI by Asana for workflows that run across other business systems. Its pricing page says the service is hosted on Amazon Web Services and that there is no on-premises version.
The Product
Asana Features: What You Actually Get
Projects, views and timelines
Every plan includes unlimited tasks, projects, comments and storage (100 MB per file), with list, board and calendar views, recurring tasks and mobile apps. Starter adds timeline and Gantt views, start dates, task dependencies, milestones, custom fields, custom task types and project templates. Advanced adds critical path on the timeline. Pages (formerly Notes) and threaded comments arrived in 2026 updates.
A product marketing team maps a launch on a Gantt timeline, links design, copy and web tasks with dependencies, and shifts the dates when engineering slips a week.
Rules, forms and workflow builder
Starter includes unlimited rules (automations), forms that create tasks, the workflow builder and reference custom fields. Advanced adds forms with branching logic (up to five nested levels on the Advanced plan page), proofing on images and PDFs, and approval tasks. Workflow bundles and script actions are listed for Enterprise and Enterprise+ only.
An operations team routes every new vendor request through a branching form that assigns legal review, sets a due date and moves the task to the right section automatically.
AI Teammates, Asana Dash and AI Studio
Paid plans include AI Teammates and Asana Dash with 5 requests per user a month, capped at 50 per account on Starter and Advanced and 250 on Enterprise and Enterprise+. Extra requests cost $0.50 each prepaid or $0.60 on demand. AI Studio, for AI-powered rules, includes 50,000 credits a month on Starter, 75,000 on Advanced and 200,000 on Enterprise tiers, with paid Plus and Pro tiers for more. Credit use depends on the model chosen, from GPT-5 mini to Claude Opus 4.6. Personal has no AI features.
A support operations lead builds an AI Studio rule that reads each incoming request, tags its category and urgency, and assigns it to the right queue.
Goals, portfolios and resource management
Advanced adds company, team and individual goals with automatic progress and a strategy map, unlimited portfolios with dashboards, time tracking against estimates, portfolio-level workload, formulas, and Salesforce, Tableau and Power BI integrations. Enterprise adds universal resource management, capacity planning, placeholder profiles, portfolio PDF reports and PowerPoint export. Timesheets, user rates and project budgets are a separate Timesheets and Budgets add-on.
A head of marketing links each quarterly goal to its campaigns in a portfolio and checks which projects are off track before the monthly leadership review.
Admin, security and compliance
All plans list SOC 2 Type II, multi-factor authentication and 256-bit encryption at rest and in transit. Starter adds an admin console, Google and Microsoft SSO, private teams and projects. Enterprise adds SAML, SCIM provisioning, service accounts and view-only licenses. Audit log API, SIEM, eDiscovery, DLP and IP allowlisting are a Compliance add-on on Enterprise and included on Enterprise+, where HIPAA and Enterprise Key Management are opt-in. Asana's terms say it does not let AI partners train models on customer data.
An IT team on Enterprise connects Asana to Okta through SAML and SCIM so new hires get access on day one and leavers lose it automatically.
Feature recap
- Unlimited tasks, projects and storage (100 MB per file) on every plan
- Timeline, Gantt, dependencies, unlimited rules and forms from Starter
- Unlimited free guests on paid plans
- AI Teammates, Asana Dash and AI Studio included with monthly limits on paid plans
- Goals, portfolios, approvals, proofing and Jira Cloud two-way sync on Advanced
- Capacity planning, SAML, SCIM and view-only licenses on Enterprise
- 100+ free integrations, including Slack, Microsoft 365, Google Workspace and Zoom
- Free Personal plan limited to 2 seats per project and team
The Numbers
Asana Pricing: Every Plan Explained
These Asana prices come from Asana's pricing page, checked October 13, 2026, in USD per user a month. Annual prices are shown as a monthly figure; the page says yearly billing saves up to 18%. Sales tax is added based on your billing address, and VAT or GST may apply.
| Plan | Monthly | Annual | Included Features | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Personal | $0 | $0 | Up to 2 seats per project and team; unlimited tasks and projects; list, board and calendar views; status updates; unlimited storage at 100 MB per file; 100+ integrations. No AI, timeline, rules, forms or dashboards | Individuals and pairs |
| StarterBest value | $13.49/user/mo | $10.99/user/mo | No user seat limit (2-seat minimum); timeline and Gantt; dependencies; unlimited rules; forms; custom fields and templates; project dashboards; unlimited free guests; Google and Microsoft SSO; AI Teammates and Dash (5 requests per user a month, up to 50 per account); 50,000 AI Studio credits a month | Small and midsize teams |
| Advanced | $30.49/user/mo | $24.99/user/mo | Everything in Starter plus goals, unlimited portfolios, approvals and proofing, branching forms, critical path, time tracking, portfolio resource management, formulas, Jira Cloud two-way sync, Salesforce, Tableau and Power BI; 75,000 AI Studio credits a month | Teams managing many projects and goals |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom | SAML, SCIM, universal resource management, capacity planning, service accounts, view-only licenses, custom branding, workflow bundles and script actions; AI requests up to 250 per account; 200,000 AI Studio credits a month; Compliance, Permissions and data residency as add-ons | Large organizations |
| Enterprise+ | Custom | Custom | Everything in Enterprise plus audit log API, SIEM, eDiscovery, DLP and archiving integrations, IP allowlisting, managed workspaces, sandboxes, and opt-in data residency, Enterprise Key Management and HIPAA | Regulated industries |
For a team of five, Starter costs $54.95 a month billed annually and Advanced $124.95 (our arithmetic from Asana's listed prices), before tax and add-ons. Seat bands change the math as teams grow: Asana sells seats one at a time from 2 to 5 users, then in steps of 5 up to 30, so a sixth person moves a Starter team to a 10-seat plan at $109.90 a month billed annually. There are no 1-user paid plans. AI is billed on two meters: AI Teammate and Dash requests ($0.50 each prepaid, $0.60 on demand once the monthly allowance runs out) and AI Studio credits, whose cost per run depends on the AI model and the amount of text processed. Admins can set an on-demand spending cap. The free trial covers Advanced features and needs no credit card; trials without payment details simply expire. Asana's pricing page says it does not offer refunds; if you cancel, paid features stay available until the end of the current period. Its Subscriber Terms (last updated September 1, 2026) make fees non-cancelable and non-refundable unless the agreement says otherwise, renew subscriptions automatically for the same term at Asana's then-current rates unless either side gives notice at least 30 days before the renewal date, and keep customer data available for export only if you ask in writing within 30 days of termination. Unused AI requests and AI Studio credits expire at the end of the subscription term without refund, according to Asana's product-specific terms.
Read before you buy
Where Asana's own pages differ
Data after downgrading: the pricing page's refund answer says that when a subscription expires you lose access to paid features "and all data associated with those features." The help center's cancellation article says upgrading or downgrading "will not result in any data loss whatsoever" and that your data is not deleted, though projects that use paid features become inaccessible until you export them to CSV.
AI Teammates licensing: the pricing page lists AI Teammates and Asana Dash as included on Starter, Advanced and Enterprise plans, with 5 requests per user a month. The help center's AI Teammates add-on article describes an add-on license that must be assigned by an admin and purchased through Asana sales.
AI Studio Plus and Pro: the AI Studio Plus article says Plus is available on monthly and annual plans, sold in 100,000-credit packages that reset monthly, and that Pro is for Enterprise and Enterprise+ customers. The AI Studio pricing article describes Plus as an annual subscription (with an option of 1.2 million credits valid for the whole year), and the pricing page describes Pro only as available on an annual plan, without a tier restriction.
Nonprofit discount and Personal limits: the pricing page offers the nonprofit discount on an annual Starter or Advanced plan, while the help center's nonprofit article offers a 50% discount on monthly or annual plans. The Personal plan card says "2 users," while the comparison table and help center define the limit as 2 seats per project and team.
Data
Security, compliance and AI data terms
Asana's trust page lists SOC 2 Type 2 and SOC 3 reports, ISO/IEC 27001:2022, 27017:2015, 27018:2019 and 27701:2019 certifications, CSA STAR Level 1, GDPR and HIPAA. It offers data residency in Europe, Australia and Japan, and says Enterprise customers get 24/7 priority support and a 99.9% uptime commitment. The pricing page says the service runs on Amazon Web Services with cross-regional backups, and lists HIPAA compliance as an opt-in on Enterprise+.
Asana's product-specific terms (updated October 1, 2026, effective October 5, 2026) say Asana does not use or permit its third-party AI partners to use customer data to train the generative models behind Asana AI. They also make customers responsible for recording consent when using AI meeting transcription, and treat failed or timed-out AI actions as non-billable.
The Tradeoffs
Asana Pros and Cons
What we love
- Timeline, Gantt, dependencies, unlimited rules and forms from Starter
- Unlimited free guests on every paid plan
- Goals and portfolios connect project work to company objectives on Advanced
- AI Teammates, Dash and AI Studio included with monthly allowances on paid plans
- 100+ free integrations, plus Jira Cloud two-way sync on Advanced
- SOC 2, ISO 27001 and 27701 certifications, with data residency options
What could be better
- Free Personal plan is limited to 2 seats per project and team
- No 1-user paid plans, and seats are sold in bands of 5 or more above five users
- Goals, portfolios, approvals and time tracking need Advanced at $24.99 billed annually
- AI usage runs on two separate meters, with overages billed per request or credit
- No refunds, and subscriptions renew automatically at then-current rates
- Asana's pages contradict each other on downgrade data, AI licensing and nonprofit terms
The Audience
Who Should Use Asana?
Best for: marketing and operations teams running shared projects
Teams of 5 to 50 people that juggle launches, campaigns or intake requests get timelines, dependencies, branching forms and rules, with unlimited free guests for agencies and contractors.
Best for: managers who need goal and portfolio rollups
Department heads on Advanced can link projects to goals, watch portfolio health in one dashboard, and see who is overloaded before committing to new work.
Skip if: you're a team of three on a tight budget
Asana's free plan stops at 2 seats per project and team, and the cheapest paid plan is $10.99 per user billed annually. ClickUp's free plan allows unlimited members, and monday.com and Notion have lower paid entry prices.
The Methodology
How We Reviewed Asana
This is an editorial review, not a documented hands-on test. We didn't use an Asana account for this review. It's based on Asana's pricing page (including every cell of its feature comparison table), its Personal, Starter and Advanced plan pages, trust page, app integrations directory, Q3 2026 release page and 2026 press release, its Subscriber Terms and Product-Specific Terms, and help-center articles on the Personal plan, plan changes, cancellation, free trials, AI Studio pricing, AI Studio Plus, AI Teammates licenses, support, nonprofit discounts and the September 2026 product update, all checked on October 13, 2026. Where Asana's pages differ, we report both statements. No speed, uptime or AI-accuracy results are claimed.
Our editorial evaluation considers product information, official documentation, pricing, features and professional experience. It is not a claim of documented hands-on testing.
Our review methodology →What changed
- : First published. Editorial review based on Asana's pricing page and feature comparison table, plan pages, trust page, integrations directory, Q3 2026 release page and 2026 press release, Subscriber Terms and Product-Specific Terms, and help-center articles on the Personal plan, plan changes, cancellation, trials, AI Studio pricing, AI Studio Plus, AI Teammates licenses, support and nonprofit discounts, all checked October 13, 2026.
The Field
Asana vs The Competition
Asana competes with other work management platforms for cross-functional teams. Prices below were checked on each vendor's pricing page on October 13, 2026.
| Tool | Starting Price | Free plan | Best Feature | BS Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asana | Starter $10.99/user/mo billed annually ($13.49 monthly) | Yes | Projects, views and timelines | 8.4/10 |
| monday.com | Free up to 2 seats; Basic $9/seat/mo billed annually ($12 monthly) | Yes | Visual boards with AI credits on every paid plan | 9/10 |
| ClickUp | Free Forever; Core $9/user/mo billed yearly ($12 monthly) | Yes | Unlimited free members and a low entry price | 9.1/10 |
| Notion | Free; Plus $10/member/mo billed yearly ($12 monthly) | Yes | Docs, wiki and databases in one workspace | 9.4/10 |
| Airtable | Free (up to 5 editors); Team $20/seat/mo billed annually | Yes | Database-style apps and interfaces | 8.4/10 |
monday.com: monday.com's paid plans start at 3 seats. Standard is $12 a seat billed annually (shown as a special offer) or $14 monthly, and Pro is $19 annually or $24 monthly, with a 14-day Pro trial. It suits teams that want flexible boards; Asana includes unlimited rules and forms on its entry paid plan, while monday caps Standard at 250 automation actions a month.Read our monday.com review →
ClickUp: ClickUp's free plan allows unlimited members with 60 MB of storage, and Business is $17 billed yearly ($25 monthly) as of October 19, 2026. Goals appear from Core, where Asana keeps them on Advanced. ClickUp now includes Brain² AI credits in every plan instead of selling a separate AI add-on.Read our ClickUp review →
Notion: Notion's Business plan ($20 billed yearly, $24 monthly) adds Notion Agent, AI meeting notes and SAML SSO; Free and Plus get only a trial of Notion AI. Notion is more flexible for docs and wikis, while Asana offers more built-in project structure, such as dependencies, workload and portfolios.Read our Notion review →
Airtable: Airtable's free plan allows up to 5 editors and 1,000 records per base, and Team includes 15,000 AI credits per paid user a month and Gantt and timeline views. It fits teams building custom data apps; Asana is the more direct choice for task and project management.Read our Airtable review →
Use cases
Example setups by buyer type
A five-person agency moving off spreadsheets
Starter ($10.99 a user billed annually, $54.95 a month for five) covers timelines, intake forms, rules and dashboards, and clients can join as free guests. Budget for a 10-seat plan if a sixth person joins.
A 40-person marketing department with quarterly goals
Advanced ($24.99 billed annually) adds goals, portfolios, approvals and proofing for creative review. Check whether the AI Studio allowance of 75,000 credits a month covers your planned AI rules before turning them on.
An enterprise IT team with compliance needs
Enterprise adds SAML, SCIM and capacity planning; audit logs, SIEM and DLP integrations need the Compliance add-on or Enterprise+, and HIPAA is an opt-in on Enterprise+. Ask sales for both prices and the signed uptime commitment.
The Ecosystem
Asana Integrations
Asana says every plan includes 100+ free integrations. Some business-intelligence, CRM and developer integrations require Advanced or Enterprise.
- →Slack, Microsoft Teams and Zoom (all plans)
- →Google Workspace and Microsoft 365, including Outlook and Gmail (all plans)
- →Jira Cloud two-way sync (Advanced and up)
- →Salesforce, Tableau and Power BI (Advanced and up)
- →Zapier, Make and HubSpot
- →Adobe Creative Cloud, Canva and Figma
- →Asana apps in ChatGPT and Claude; custom MCP apps for AI Teammates
- →Splunk SIEM and Okta or other SAML providers (Enterprise tiers)
Plan availability above is from Asana's pricing comparison table and help center on October 13, 2026. AI Teammate integrations (Slack, Canva, HubSpot, Microsoft Teams, OneDrive, Gmail, Google Calendar and Outlook) were part of Asana's Q3 2026 release, and custom MCP integrations were added in September 2026. Asana's app directory also lists many third-party integrations built by partners; confirm who maintains an integration before relying on it.
Common Questions
Asana FAQ
The Final Word
Should You Use Asana?
Asana is a strong choice for teams that run shared, multi-step projects and want timelines, automations and forms on the entry paid plan, with goals and portfolios available on Advanced. Budget carefully: the free plan stops at 2 seats per project and team, seat bands jump above five users, AI usage beyond the monthly allowance is billed separately, and Asana doesn't refund fees. We score Asana 8.4/10.
Yes, if
Your team of two or more runs cross-functional projects and wants timelines, rules, forms and dashboards, with room to add goals and portfolios.
No, if
You need a free plan for three or more people, a single paid seat, or refundable billing.
About the reviewer
Carlos Gil
Founder & Editor, The Best Network
Carlos Gil is the Founder & Editor of The Best Network, bestselling author of The End of Marketing, and a LinkedIn Top Voice. His digital marketing career began in 2008 and spans corporate roles at LinkedIn and BMC Software, consulting for global brands, creator partnerships, and building his own businesses.
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