Asana is a work management platform that helps teams organize tasks, projects, and cross-functional workflows in list, board, timeline, and calendar views. It is widely used by marketing, operations, and product teams to plan campaigns and track deliverables. Asana's Workflow Builder automates routine processes like approvals and handoffs, while Goals connects day-to-day tasks to company-wide OKRs so teams can see how their work ladders up to broader objectives. With custom fields, rules, and portfolios for tracking multiple projects at once, Asana scales from simple to-do lists to complex operational workflows across large organizations.
Plane is an open-source project management platform that lets product, engineering, and project teams track issues, run development cycles, and manage roadmaps with a rich text editor and built‑in analytics. It offers both hosted cloud SaaS and self‑hosted deployments via Docker or Kubernetes, so teams can choose the level of control they need.
Free for up to 10 users; paid plans start at $10.99/user/month.
- Very flexible views for different work styles
- Strong automation and workflow tools
- Good for cross-functional, non-technical teams
- Solid free tier for small teams
- Open source and free to use
- No admin overhead for hosted version
- Rich text editor with file support
- Built‑in analytics and AI‑enhanced pages
- Can feel overwhelming with many features enabled
- Pricier at higher tiers for large orgs
- Less developer-focused than Linear or Jira
- Limited native integrations listed
- Advanced reporting may require custom setup
- Self‑hosting requires Docker/Kubernetes expertise
What reviewers say
Asana Reviews
3.5 (2)Decent but has rough edges
Asana does what it says, with a few caveats. On the plus side, strong automation and workflow tools. That said, pricier at higher tiers for large orgs, which held us back from rating it higher.
Does exactly what we need
Been a daily user of Asana for a while now. Good for cross-functional, non-technical teams. One minor gripe: pricier at higher tiers for large orgs, but it hasn't been a dealbreaker. Would recommend to anyone considering it.
plane Reviews
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The Verdict
AI-generated from listing dataAsana offers a flexible, feature‑rich SaaS platform with a free tier but paid plans start at $10.99 per user, while Plane provides a completely free, open‑source solution with limited integrations and no API.
Key differences
- •Pricing model: Asana freemium then paid per user vs. Plane fully free open‑source.
- •Integrations: Asana lists Slack, Google Workspace, Salesforce; Plane lists no native integrations.
- •API availability: Asana provides an API; Plane does not.
- •Deployment & hosting: Asana is cloud‑only SaaS; Plane can be self‑hosted (requires Docker/K8s expertise).
- •Feature depth: Asana includes multiple views, workflow builder, goals, portfolios; Plane focuses on issue tracking, cycles, analytics, AI pages.
Pricing & value
Plane is free and open‑source; Asana charges $10.99/user/month after the free tier.
Ease of use / learning curve
Asana provides familiar UI with list, board, timeline views; Plane requires Docker/Kubernetes knowledge for self‑hosting.
Features & depth
Asana offers multiple project views, workflow builder, goals, portfolios, automation; Plane focuses on issue tracking and basic analytics.
Integrations & ecosystem
Asana lists integrations with Slack, Google Workspace, Salesforce; Plane lists no native integrations.
Collaboration
Asana includes collaboration tools like shared views, comments, and cross‑functional workflow features; Plane’s collaboration is limited to pages and issue comments.
Scalability
Asana’s cloud SaaS scales to large orgs (though pricier); Plane’s self‑hosted model can scale but needs engineering effort.
Support
Asana offers Help Center and email; Plane only offers email support.
Choose Asana if…
Teams needing robust views, automation, and native integrations, willing to pay per user.
Choose plane if…
Tech‑savvy product or engineering teams that want a free, self‑hosted tool and can manage Docker/K8s.
Common questions
What is the cost difference between Asana and Plane?
Asana starts at $10.99 per user per month after a free tier; Plane is free and open‑source.
Can I integrate these tools with Slack or Google Workspace?
Asana offers Slack, Google Workspace, and Salesforce integrations; Plane lists no native integrations.
Is there an API for building custom extensions?
Asana provides an API; Plane does not have an API according to the provided facts.