Asana vs Smartsheet
A source-aware comparison of pricing, documented capabilities and workflow fit.
Short answer
Asana is a work-management tool organised around tasks, projects and goals, with list, board, timeline and calendar views and a strong mobile app. Smartsheet is a spreadsheet that learned project management: rows, columns and formulas at the core, with Gantt charts, dashboards, forms and enterprise reporting layered on top. Teams that already live in spreadsheets and need formulas, cross-sheet references and heavy reporting choose Smartsheet; teams that want a clean task tool with less setup choose Asana.
Asana is the pick when
- cross-functional teams tracking tasks and goals, not cell formulas
- you want an interface people adopt without training
- workflow rules and forms matter more than reporting grids
Smartsheet is the pick when
- your project plans are already spreadsheets with formulas
- portfolio dashboards and roll-up reports across many projects
- PMO-style resource management and enterprise controls
Written by hand from both vendors’ own documentation, checked 2026-09-15. Sources: Asana, Smartsheet. Prices below come from the pricing we track. How we score tools.
What Asana is
What Asana isAsana is a leading work management platform designed to help teams organize, track, and manage their work. It goes beyond simple checklists, allowing you to manage projects through Timelines (Gantt), Kanban Boards, and Calendars. By centralizing collaboration, Asana reduces 'work about work' (unnecessary meetings and emails). It aligns strategic goals with daily tasks, ensuring every team member knows exactly what they should be focusing on at any given moment.
What Smartsheet is
What Smartsheet isSmartsheet manages work in a spreadsheet-like grid with automations, dependencies and reporting layered on. The grid is deliberate: teams that already run projects in spreadsheets can move across without learning a new mental model, then gain Gantt views, approval workflows and cross-sheet reporting they could not build in a spreadsheet. It suits operational and portfolio work more than software development, where board-based tools fit the rhythm better.
Side by side
| Asana | Smartsheet | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Project Management | Project Management |
| How to start | Free tiernot a monthly price | $9/user/moverified |
| Public API | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile app | Yes | Yes |
| Open source / self-hostable | No | No |
| SSO (SAML) | Yes | Yes |
| Visit | Asana ↗ | Smartsheet ↗ |
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What Asana is built to do
- Timeline View
- Plan your project schedule and task dependencies visually in a Gantt-style chart.
- Workload Management
- Monitor team capacity in real-time to prevent burnout and ensure efficiency.
- Automated Workflows
- Automate routine tasks like status changes or assignments based on triggers.
- Strategic Goals
- Connect high-level company objectives directly to daily projects and tasks.
What Smartsheet is built to do
- Grid, Gantt and card views
- The same data shown as a sheet, a timeline or a board without duplicating it.
- Cross-sheet reporting
- Roll many project sheets into one portfolio view for reporting upward.
- Automated workflows
- Approval chains, reminders and status updates triggered by field changes.
- Forms
- Collect structured requests from people who never open the sheet itself.
Choose Asana if
- Individuals and pairs — the free Personal plan covers up to 2 users with unlimited tasks and projects
- Teams that want to add people without a seat minimum; paid plans have none
- Buyers comparing per-seat cost: Starter is $10.99/user/mo billed annually
Skip Asana if
- You are three or more and want to stay free — Personal stops at 2 users
- You need timeline, workflow rules or reporting; those start at Starter
- You attach large files: the free plan caps uploads at 100MB per file
Choose Smartsheet if
- Teams that think in spreadsheets but need automation, forms and dashboards on top
- Small groups: Pro starts at $9/member/month billed annually
- Trying it fully first — 30 days with no card
Skip Smartsheet if
- You need unlimited automations or timeline view; those start at Business, $19/member/month annual
- You want a free tier; Smartsheet has none, only a trial
- You are an existing customer hoping to move to Pro — the vendor lists Pro as available to new customers only
Evidence and freshness
Where a claim on this page comes from a vendor page, it is linked here.
Asana: pros & cons
- Intuitive Interface: Excellent UX makes for a rapid team adoption and onboarding.
- Powerful Reporting: Visualize team capacity and project progress through dashboards.
- Deep Integration: Works seamlessly with Slack, Google Drive, and Adobe Creative Cloud.
- Great Mobile App: Manage tasks and projects effectively while on the go.
- Can be Overwhelming: Too complex for simple personal to-do lists.
- Pricing: Cost per user can be high for small teams on a tight budget.
- System Rigidness: Does not offer the same free-form flexibility as tools like Notion.
Smartsheet: pros & cons
- Familiar to anyone comfortable in spreadsheets
- Handles dependencies and resource views
- Strong automation and forms
- Interface is dense
- Per-user pricing with feature gates
- Spreadsheet metaphor breaks on complex work
Our verdict on Asana
A balanced and disciplined tool for managing complex team projects with transparency.
Our verdict on Smartsheet
The easiest migration path off spreadsheets. Teams that never liked spreadsheets will not like this either.
Published plans, side by side
Every figure below was read from the vendor's own pricing page and is shown with the sentence it came from. Where a vendor publishes no plan prices, we say so rather than guess.
Asana
- Starter$10.99/user/mo billed annually
Starter $10.99/user/month annual, $13.49 monthly
- Advanced$24.99/user/mo billed annually
Advanced $24.99/user/month annual, $30.49 monthly
Smartsheet
- Pro$9/user/mo billed annually
Pro from $9 per member/month billed annually
- Business$19/user/mo billed annually
Business from $19 per member/month billed annually
Asana vs Smartsheet: common questions
- Does Asana or Smartsheet have a free plan?
- Asana has a free tier with limits, while Smartsheet has no free plan listed.
- Which is cheaper once you start paying, Asana or Smartsheet?
- Smartsheet has the cheaper first paid step: Pro at $9/user/mo billed annually, against Starter at $10.99/user/mo billed annually for Asana. Both figures come from the vendors' own pricing pages.
- What is the difference between Asana and Smartsheet?
- On the criteria we check, on what we checked they match — both offer public api, mobile app and sso (saml). The table above lists every criterion side by side.