Our analysts compared Asana vs Smartsheet based on data from our 400+ point analysis of Project Management Software, user reviews and our own crowdsourced data from our free software selection platform.
Analyst Rating
User Sentiment
Asana is a cloud-based project management platform designed to help teams of all sizes manage and organize projects with customization, automation, AI and collaboration. Users can build custom workflows, templates and tasks, and visualize projects in multiple ways, including list, timeline, calendar, Kanban and Gantt views.
You can also build and trigger automation rules when tasks are moved or status or priority is changed. Stay aligned with goals, locate risks and hit project deadlines with reports and collaboration tools. Connect with other solutions using its open API and native integration with dozens of apps.
Our Research Process for Asana
Taking software at face value for a product page review is so passe. Luckily, with a little help from my company’s email address, I got a free trial of Asana’s Advanced plan for 30 days.
I set up a dummy project for content creation, complete with the stages and automations we currently use, so I’d have a more apples-to-apples comparison of a real-world project.
Additionally, I tested some “standout” features our researchers suggested and investigated the pros and cons users mentioned on review sites.
To learn the ropes, I visited the help center, watched demo videos and scoured Reddit for shortcuts. This webpage is the result of a week of dedicating all my working hours to living and breathing Asana.
Smartsheet is an enterprise-level SaaS management application that helps teams streamline processes through collaboration, project planning and task management. Users can set up tasks using a grid view, similar to a spreadsheet with automations, formulas, comments and mentions.
It provides templates for projects and automations that can be modified and saved as a template to save time. Project views include a Kanban board, Gantt chart, timeline, calendar view, card view and a custom dashboard.
Its file and sheet sharing capabilities, comment feature and conversations remove team and data silos and give stakeholders insight into project details. A user-friendly interface helps managers and team members boost adoption rates, maintain consistency and increase efficiency.
among all Project Management Software
Asana has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 89% when considering 27379 user reviews from 5 recognized software review sites.
Smartsheet has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 88% when considering 22301 user reviews from 5 recognized software review sites.
SelectHub research analysts have evaluated Smartsheet and concluded it earns best-in-class honors for Mobile Capabilities and Project Tracking.
Asana is a work management platform designed to help users organize and streamline operations with a user-friendly, customizable interface, automation and AI. Key features include the ability to create custom fields, deadlines, and subtasks, utilize various project views like Kanban boards and timelines, and leverage AI for summarizing tasks and drafting workflows. During my test of the software, I liked how easy it was to create a task by email and create project and task summaries using their AI tool.Customization was also a win. I built a task template for my Content Creation project with custom fields, relative due dates, assignees and a bulleted checklist. However, head’s up, adding task templates to existing tasks requires creating a new task with the template and merging it. Hands down, workflow management was one of my favorite parts of testing Asana. Adding in new sections (without having to go to the list view) and creating custom rules for transitions with a little help from their version of prompts was a breeze.Collaboration is another plus, with in-card comments and mentions, an inbox, group and individual messaging in platform and guest accounts with custom permissions for external users.On the downside, if you don’t have access to a free trial of the paid version (like I did), the free version may not be as effective. You won’t be able to access AI features, certain project views and resource management. The setup also isn’t exactly intuitive, and you may need training plus multiple visits to the help center to conceptualize your project and pick the right template.Overall, Asana is a fantastic all-in-one project management solution for users looking for a flexible tool with AI assistance and don’t mind springing for one of the paid plans.
Smartsheet is a cloud-based work management platform that helps users streamline and organize processes with a spreadsheet-esque interface, flexible templates, multiple views and team collaboration. Apart from the grid view, you can visualize projects using a Gantt chart, Kanban board, calendar view, card view or timeline view. No-code automations are another note-worthy feature, where you can build from templates or scratch.It streamlines project creation with templates suited to different industries and end goals, so you have a jumping-off point instead of going in blind. Team collaboration is another area where Smartsheet shines, with comments, conversations and file and sheet sharing (even with people outside your organization). It also offers a customizable dashboard view, although I did find some of the chart widgets a little tricky to work, without training.Highlights for me were definitely the familiarity of spreadsheet formatting (but with more views and automations), robust collaboration capabilities and guided explainers throughout the setup. However, user reviews noted limited filters and integrations, lags and expensive add-ons as downsides.Overall, Smartsheet is a great option for teams familiar with spreadsheets but are on the lookout for more visualization and collaboration, along with the budget to spend on advanced features.
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