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In an Asana vs Jira match-up, it's Asana that offers the fundamental features most people expect from project management software. Jira, on the other hand, is unquestionably the better choice for engineering and software development teams looking for an agile project management solution.
Asana comes with straightforward task lists, a built-in timeline view, and a calendar view, and the best automation builder of the 14 providers we've tested. Jira's free plan is impressive, but it requires a steeper learning curve than Asana. Most teams will get more out of a provider like ClickUp, however, which is easier to use, contains better task management features, and retails at a cheaper starting price than both Jira and Asana.
In this Asana vs Jira head-to-head, we explain the merits and pitfalls of each software solution so you can decide which is the best tool for your own needs. Alternatively, you can use our quick, free project management comparison tool to see how they compare.
Price All prices listed are per user, per month (billed annually) | Pros | Cons | Support | ||
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Asana | Jira | ||||
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In this Guide:
Asana vs Jira – Which is Best?
While both Asana and Jira are capable project management platforms, Asana is the better project management option in most scenarios, with the all-important exception of software or web development teams, who should definitely stick with Jira. For more general project management scenarios, Asana is a great choice, and it has a free tier that's ideal for personal projects that can be used by up to 15 people, too.
- Asana is the best choice for teams looking for “classic” project management software
- Jira is the best choice for software or web development teams
- Jira is the best choice for small teams on a tight budget
- Jira has a better free plan, and a cheaper starting price
- Asana is the best choice for individual projects
That's our quick rundown of reasons to choose Asana or Jira. But before you make your mind up, let us guide you through each of these project management software brands in a little more detail, below.
Best for Value – Jira
Jira scores 4.2/5 for value, whereas Asana scores 3.9/5. Jira's free plan includes a lot more features than Asana's free plan, such as custom charts and widgets for displaying data, while its first paid plan is $7.75 per user, per month. In Asana, a number of key features require at least a $10.99 per user, per month commitment.
Jira's Premium plan ($15.25 per user, per month) is also cheaper than Asana's comparable Business plan ($24.99 per user, per month). Asana has more collaboration tools like a team messenger, but Jira has much better customer support options, including 24/7 live chat. Jira also has automation tools on every plan, whereas Asana doesn't provide any on its free plan and you'll have to purchase the Business plan if you want to build custom automations.
By the time you get to these plans, both providers offer an impressive range of task management, workflow creation, and data display tools, but it's Jira that will allow you to access more of these features for less money. Neither are quite as good value for money as Zoho Projects, however, which is available for just $4 per user, per month and scores 4.8/5 for task management, higher than both Jira and Asana.
Best for Features – Asana
Asana came out on top when it came to features, scoring 4.3/5 compared to Jira's 3.9/5. One area that both providers excelled in was data visualization. Asana and Jira both provide dashboards, upon which you can place both custom and preset charts for your team to view.
Asana scores 4.4/5 for task management, offering multiple ways for users to view takes, such as a Kanban board and a spreadsheet-style view (although if you're a fan of spreadsheets, we'd recommend Smartsheet's new $7 per user, per month Pro plan). There are also features like custom fields that can be used to input relevant data into tasks. Jira's task management features were pretty comprehensive too, and it achieved a 4.3/5 in this assessment area.
As we mentioned in the previous section, Jira lacks collaboration features. Its resource-management tool was very difficult to find, and communications can only be sent via comments on particular tasks. Asana, on the other hand, scores 3.3/5 for collaboration, which was actually the 4th best score out of 14 providers. There's a project message board and a calendar view on all Asana plans, neither of which Jira offers.
Best Free Plan – Jira
While this rule doesn't always hold true, many individual freelancers have relatively simple needs for staying organized. They usually know what's going on and what needs to be done, but having a project management solution makes it easier to stay on track.
Jira's free tier is ideal for people in this situation. It's got the provider's full range of data display tools, which helped it to a 5/5 score in this assessment area, plus task management tools like custom fields and a Gantt chart, which aren't available on Asana's free plan. Every now and then, freelancers also need to bring on colleagues or clients to work together, which is where Jira's 10-person team limit comes in handy.
The main problem with Jira as a program is its poor collaboration score (2/5) – it's not very user-friendly in that regard. But if you're working solo, or in a very small group, you'll probably be able to live without them.
Best for Usability – Asana
One of the most important aspects of software is how much you can actually achieve with it, and Asana tops Jira in this regard, scoring 3.9/5 to Jira's 3.5/5. A lot of tasks that can be completed swiftly with Asana took a lot of menu navigation to finish in Jira, and on the whole, a lot more mentally taxing.
Due to Jira's leaning toward the world of software development, a lot of the signposting might be more confusing for other types of teams. For example, ‘tasks' are called ‘issues.' This sort of thing makes Jira very usable for teams that spend their days fixing bugs in programs, but less so for teams that aren't using an Agile framework.
“Jira Software will be ideal for any team needing to be agile, particularly software, engineering, and tech delivery teams” Cameron Blair, who heads up an SEO team that uses Jira, told Tech.co.
“We find Jira's Kanban board functionality particularly useful when it comes to team visibility and prioritization for our planned technical SEO projects,” he explained, but added that in “most use cases, I probably wouldn't champion [Jira] above other project management tools or software”.
Indeed, while both have very similar automation builders, the test found Jira to be trickier to use. Overall, Asana scores higher for workflow creation (4.3/5) than Jira (3.8/5) largely thanks to the intuitive way the rule-based automation builder is designed.
Best for Small Teams – Tie
For small teams that need to get up and running without much fanfare, Asana is a solid choice. There's a free plan has some good basics, as we detailed above, but it's pretty limited compared to Jira's no-fee offering and ClickUp's free plan.
Asana's Premium plan, which will set you back $10.99 per user, per month, will suit small teams better. That's reasonably pricey for a first-paid plan but it comes with a huge range of features, including reports, custom templates, and the ability to create private teams and projects.
Asana offers multiple views depending on what your team requires. If you need the Kanban-style card-and-board interface, that's available to all users from the minute they log in. For those who'd rather have a list of tasks and mark them as they go, then the list view will suit. There's also a calendar view to get an overview of the project and a time-tracking feature was added in early 2023 too.
Jira won't suit as many small teams as Asana, but it's got a better free plan than its rival and a cheaper initial paid plan, which retails at $7.75 per user, per month.
Overall, it's better value than Asana – but more expensive than Smartsheet's Pro plan, which is better at handling complex tasks than both Jira and Asana.
So, that means it's a dead heat – if pricing's your priority, you can try out Jira, but if you're willing to put a bit of your budget behind your project management software, we'd recommend Asana working outside of the web development world.
Best for Large Teams – Asana
Asana doesn't just serve small teams well – it's also a great option for larger ones. Asana's enterprise tier includes several key features that larger companies need, such as SAML, user provisioning, and custom branding.
If the Enterprise tier is too expensive for your large team, the $24.99 per user, per month Business tier may suffice. Asana Business boasts Portfolios (to get a top-level view of ongoing projects), as well as support for forms and proofing. See how Asana compares to other project management tools.
Asana also provides communication features, such as comments and “at mentions.” There's also Slack integration for receiving notifications about tasks, and for taking actions inside said notifications (such as changing assignees or due dates).
Slack is just one of many key business software integrations that Asana supports. There's also Dropbox support for attaching files to tasks, while Microsoft Office 365 lets you receive notifications in Microsoft Groups. Asana also supports integration with Adobe Creative Cloud, Box, Google Drive, Gmail, Microsoft Outlook, One Drive, and Salesforce.
Asana Pricing
Asana has four plans: a free plan, a Premium plan ($10.99 per user, per month), a Business plan ($24.99 per user, per month), and an Enterprise plan without public pricing.
The free version of Asana won't exactly set your business up for growth. It's an excellent taster which may just suit individuals or very small teams, but in most cases, you'll need to reach into your wallet for the Premium version. of Asana. This is still great value – Asana Premium at just $10.99 per user, per month.
We look at all the Asana price tiers in our table below, but you can see how Asana compares to other providers using our quick, free comparison tool.
Price (annually) The amount you'll pay per month, when billed annually | Users | Projects/Boards | Storage | Support | Number of automations | ||
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TRY FREE | | ||||||
Asana Basic | Asana Premium | Asana Business | Asana Enterprise | ||||
Free | $10.99/user/month | $24.99/user/month | On application | ||||
15 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | ||||
Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | ||||
Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | ||||
Email, knowledge base, community forum, webinars | Email, knowledge base, community forum, webinars, onboarding assistance | Email, knowledge base, community forum, webinars, onboarding assistance | Email, knowledge base, community forum, webinars, onboarding assistance, 24/7 live support | ||||
N/A | Unlimited (preset automation only) | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Asana summary
One of the most appealing aspects of Asana is how distinctly modern it feels. The interface is very easy to read and understand, which is particularly helpful once you start loading up Asana with tasks for each team member.
Individual tasks support attachments, sub-tasks, dependencies, and tags. Team members can also mark certain tasks as milestones, and use Asana's Portfolios feature to track the status of each project.
Asana supports all sorts of features, but what you get depends on how much you pay. One downside of the platform is that many important features are locked behind higher pricing tiers – milestones, task dependencies and timelines, for example, are restricted to the Premium tier ($10 per user, per month). For Portfolios, meanwhile, you’ll need the Business tier.
The Portfolios feature is nice, but not necessarily a must-have. Milestones and dependencies, however, are key components for managing an effective project. That means choosing one of Asana's paid services is often preferable. Still, if you need a free service, Asana is fairly capable – it offers task basics, board and calendar views, assignees and due dates, and the ability to collaborate with up to 15 teammates.
See our full guide to Asana Pricing
Pros
- Unlimited storage
- Plenty of third-party integrations
- Incredible clean and intuitive interface
Cons
- Most key features require a Premium plan
- High prices for larger teams
- No 24/7 live support, live chat, or phone-based support
Jira Pricing
Aside from their free tier, Jira offers three pricing plan options. The first is the Standard tier ($7.75 per user per month), which, as expected, offers a pretty minimalistic set of features and limits. This is the same as the free tier, with highlights being great data visualization options and project workflow creation.
Next is the Premium tier ($15.25 per user per month), which allows for resource management features and unlimited data storage. Finally, like Asana, Jira's Enterprise tier has no public pricing – you'll have to contact sales for a custom quote.
Price (annually) The amount you'll pay per month, when billed annually | Price (monthly) The amount you'll pay per month, when paying on a rolling monthly basis with no 12-month commitment | Users | Storage | ||||
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Jira Cloud Free | Jira Work Management Standard | Jira Cloud Standard | Jira Cloud Premium | Jira Cloud Data Center | Jira Service Management Standard | Jira Service Management Premium | Jira Service Management Data Center |
Free | $500 (1-10 users) | $7.75/user/month | $15.25/user/month | $42,000 per year (1-500 users) | $20 per user per month | $40 per user per month | $17,200 per year |
Free | $5/user/month | $7.75/user/month (average) | $15.25/user/month | N/A | |||
10 | 10,000 | Max. 35,000 | Max. 35,000 | Unlimited | |||
2 GB | 250 GB | 250GB | Unlimited | N/A |
Jira summary
Developed by Atlassian, the main appeal of Jira is its simplicity. Each task is represented by a card, with these cards then placed under different categories – To Do, In Progress, and Done. Jira's task cards support task titles, descriptions, attachments, checklists, linking between cards, and linking to Confluence Pages (documents).
If that's all you need, then Jira's project management solution is an excellent choice. However, if you need items such as calendar integrations, Gantt charts, or other common project management tools, then you’ll need to look at Jira's add-on catalog. Jira supports close to 2,000 third-party app integrations, where you can customize Jira to include the project management tools you need – often at an additional cost. You can use our free comparison tool to see how Jira compares to other providers.
Jira's basic service is also paired with Confluence, which adds document creation for keeping meeting notes, marketing plans, blog posts, and anything else you might need a document for. Confluence documents also support features such as “at mentions”, for keeping team members informed when something requires their attention. In addition to the add-ons for Jira, there are around 2,000 third-party integrations for Confluence.
See our in-depth guide to Jira Pricing and discover Jira's top alternatives here.
Pros
- Large range of customer support
- Lots of helpful integrations
- Scalable pricing structure - the more users you have, the more you save
Cons
- Missing more advanced task management features
- Integrations can be confusing
- Not the best for collaborating
Other Project Management Providers
If these two platforms aren't doing it for you, that's ok! We've done the research and found a wide range of other tools that can help you keep track of your team's productivity. Use our free comparison tool to see how the best platforms perform, or take a look at our top picks below:
Price From All prices listed as per user, per month (billed annually) | Free Version | Verdict | ||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
BEST OVERALL | GREAT VALUE | BEST FOR SPREADSHEETS | ||||||||||||
ClickUp | monday.com | Smartsheet | Wrike | Teamwork | Zoho Projects | Trello | Basecamp | Jira | Asana | Scoro | Workfront | Microsoft Project | Backlog | Celoxis |
| $10.99/user/month | Available on Request | ||||||||||||
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Slick, simple software with a powerful core, plus a genuinely impressive free tier for individuals, and great value plans for teams. | A great task management system due to strong customizablity and support team, with a generous free trial period. | A great tool for spreadsheet-natives, which can take your Excel-based task planning to the next level, and there's a free trial, too. | A feature-rich service with a plain interface that's easy to learn, and has a free tier option to try. | A management tool with a complex functionality. | A solid project management solution with an attractive free tier for small teams, as well as great automations that can help speed up workflows | A fairly-priced, stripped-down option best for small teams. | A feature-rich software with a pricing scheme best for mid-sized teams. | All-around great software, thanks to ease of use and a scalable pricing scheme. | A simple task-list-based project management platform with an acceptable free tier. | Scoro's clean interface allows for easy use of its dedicated financial tools and full CRM features, automatically collating all essential information | An enterprise solution aimed at large companies. | A pricey service best for companies invested in Microsoft. | Modern, professional software with a simple approach and cheap plans, and a great choice for teamwork tracking. | A good value platform that's ideal for managing projects across growing teams |
How We Rated Asana and Jira
Here at Tech. co, we conduct independent research into the products and services we write about. For this Jira vs Asana head-to-head, we drew on our findings from our latest project management research, which involved rigorous user testing of 14 providers.
When testing project management software solutions, we focused on five key areas: usability, pricing, customer support, features, and average customer score. Each provider's overall features score was determined by how well they fared when we attempted to set up a project, manage tasks, create projects and workflows, visualize data, and collaborate with other users.
Although we have commercial partnerships with some of the providers we review, they never influence our research procedures, practices and results.
Verdict: Asana will be better for most teams
If you need the timeline feature, milestones, and task dependencies, then it'll cost you – so teams feeling the pinch during these trying economic times may opt for Jira. You'll still be able to get a lot done, but it won't be quite as straightforward as it would be with Asana. However, Zoho Projects is just $4 per user, per month and ClickUp's Unlimited plan is just $5 per user, per month, so just remember there are better value options out there.
When it comes to the interface and ease of use, there's no question in our mind that Asana is the best choice. The main exception would be for those who work in software or web development – or those who don't quite have the budget for Asana. For an alternative, you can use our free comparison tool to find a project management system better tailored to your individual needs.
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