Asana vs. Trello: Should You Migrate From One to the Other?

When it comes to project management, both Asana and Trello are excellent options, but which one is best? In the Trello vs. Asana battle, many users wonder whether they should consider migrating to the other. Both have their pros and cons, but picking the right one comes down to your needs.

Trello vs. Asana

Trello and Asana are both project management tools, but they take different approaches to the process. Both work well for collaboration and teams. However, each one uses different methods to organize projects and tasks. Overall, Trello is often seen as a more basic, straightforward tool, while Asana is usually seen as the more robust option.

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User-Friendliness

With Trello, everything is organized into individual cards. The cards are part of boards, though you can change this view to a list, timeline, dashboard, etc. What makes Trello easy to use are the templates. If you’re not sure the types of cards to create, just choose a template and customize from there.

It’s easy to add new members, add/remove cards, add color-coded labels, and edit any card or list of cards at any time. While you can create entire boards from templates, you can do the same with cards. With every card, you can list members, tasks, checklists, dates, and much more. Everything is incredibly straightforward. The only drawback comes with a lot of information added to a card, as it gets harder to manage and find what you’re looking for.

Tip: looking for Trello inspiration? Put your ideas into action with these Trello board ideas.

With Asana, you also get started with templates, and these are based on the type of project you need to manage. You can even import data from spreadsheets if you want. Creating new tasks and projects is fairly simple. You can customize every task and choose from a variety of views, such as list, board, timeline, etc.

Adding members is straightforward, and everything is well organized. Having communication features front and center also makes it easier to use and stay in contact with the team. While not quite as colorful as Trello, it’s just as easy to use. The only difficult thing about using Asana is ensuring that everyone follows the same process setting up tasks and subtasks. If not, no one will know what they need to do.

Learning Curve

The reason you see such a huge Asana vs. Trello debate is that both are incredibly beginner-friendly. Whether you’re an individual just wanting to manage your own projects or a large business tracking dozens of team projects at once, no one will have a hard time learning to use these project management tools.

Both offer a step-by-step guide to getting set up for the first time. Templates offer plenty of guidance to set up new projects and tasks, without having to do everything from scratch. Asana has a cleaner layout that may feel less intimidating at first.

In testing both Asana and Trello, you can set up a new project, customize the tasks, add members, and start tracking progress in less than 10 minutes. If you’re looking for the right tool that’s easy for everyone to learn, you can’t really go wrong with either one.

Good to know: make your way around easier with this Trello keyboard shortcuts cheatsheet and Asana keyboard shortcuts cheatsheet.

Both also have extensive tutorials to help you learn how to use the platforms. Asana’s Academy is incredibly useful, while you can quickly look for answers in the Trello community.

Interface

At first glance, Trello is just beautiful. It’s colorful and the project cards stand out. Trello uses the Kanban project management style for a visual approach. Naturally, this makes tasks easy to view at a glance. Extra options, such as filters, automations, and templates, are within quick reach, as well as top-level menus above the cards. Even if you’re completely new to project management, you’ll find your way around with ease. Of course, this is just project window.

The workspace is also well laid out. Quickly jump to different boards or create new ones. You can also access board templates from here.

After Trello, Asana may look a little plain, but it does have a much more professional-looking interface for projects. If you prefer a simpler view, Asana has you covered. At the same time, part of what makes Asana’s interface so useful is having all the different views – along with a dashboard summary, messages, and files – just above the current view, which lets you quickly jump to what you need.

Overall, Asana’s interface feels less crowded than Trello, which may make finding projects, tasks, and communications much easier. At the same time, without proper color-coding, things can tend to blend in. But, if you’re not into Kanban for project management, Asana’s interface offers far more views.

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Customizations and Add-ons

Trello helps you get more done through customizations and add-ons. Easily integrate with Slack, Microsoft, Google, GitLab, and much more. You can also add polls, time tracking, forms, etc. You have both integrations and power-ups, which are a form of integration.

Fully customize your workspace’s color, add custom fields, use stickers, and even set up automations. If you’re not used to setting up automation rules, Trello’s Butler suggests automations based on activity and can also step you through the entire process of creating custom automations.

With Asana, most of your customization features are available just by clicking the “Customize” button on the right of your workspace. It includes the ability to add new fields, create workflow automations, add app integrations, insert forms, and use task templates.

Asana has a wider variety of integrations than Trello. This is likely due to its design for both team and project management. Asana has all the integrations you’d expect, including Microsoft, Google, and Slack. It also has several Adobe integrations, as well as Canva and even YouTube.

Unique Features

Simplicity is where Trello shines. While Asana offers a Kanban board view, it’s just not as well done as Trello. Since Trello places the focus on this methodology, it’s more refined and makes Trello a standout among project management options.

Trello also has Butler. Thanks to AI analysis of common tasks from your team, Butler can suggest and automatically create workflow automations.

On the other hand, Asana gives you far more ways to view and organize projects, including Gantt charts and lists. Asana also excels at workload management; it tracks how much individual employees are doing or being assigned so that they don’t get overwhelmed.

Asana is more focused on managing the team versus projects, which is a nice bonus.

Good to know: learn how the Eisenhower Matrix method can help you manage your tasks.

Price

One thing both of these tools do right is give you free trials of their premium plans without a credit card. Trello offers a 14-day free trial, while Asana offers a 30-day free trial.

Trello offers four different plans:

• Free – unlimited cards, storage, power-ups, and activity log. However, you only get 10 boards per workspace, 10 MB per file, and 250 workspace commands per month.
• Standard – $5/user/month. You’re boosted to 250 MB/file, custom fields, unlimited boards, and 1,000 workspace commands per month.
• Premium – $10/user/month. Get more view types, additional workspace views, unlimited workspace commands, additional security and admin features, and free observers.
• Enterprise – price varies based on number of users. More admin and organizational control and easier management for larger organizations.

With Asana, there are only three plans:

• Basic (free) – unlimited tasks, projects, messages, activity logs, and file storage (up to 100 MB/file). Get access to list, board, and calendar views. Assign dates and get project overviews. Integrations are included.
• Premium – $10.99/user/month – You gain unlimited dashboards, timeline view, advanced search, unlimited free guests, and a workflow builder.
• Business – $24.99/user/month. Get access to workloads, goals, portfolios, time tracking, and advanced integrations.

Switch to Trello If

If you’re using Asana, you may want to switch to Trello if you want a simpler approach to project management. If you’re an individual or smaller team, it’s the more intuitive, easy-to-set-up option.

It’s also better if you prefer a more visual approach or a Kanban-style tool. You can quickly move tasks up and down a board as your workflow changes. While powerful, it’s overall the easier project management tool to use.

Switch to Asana If

If you’re using Trello, you may want to switch to Asana if you need a more complex project management tool. You can create more complex automations and workflows, have access to even more integrations, and better manage team communications.

While you can use Asana as an individual, it’s designed mainly for teams of all sizes, including large organizations. It also offers a more attractive free plan.

Asana vs. Monday vs. Trello

Naturally, Asana and Trello aren’t the only names in the game. Often, you’ll also see Asana vs. Monday vs. Trello. How does Monday stack up to the other two?

Monday is more comparable with Asana in terms of features and look/feel than Trello. The platform offers summarized dashboards, Kanban, Gantt, forms, automations, and numerous integrations. You can also get started quickly with templates.

Overall, Monday isn’t quite as user-friendly for beginners. While it is easy to use, finding options and learning to navigate the platform is a little harder. On the other hand, it’s incredibly simple to change views and customize your project layout.

Monday’s free plan is rather limited, but it offers four premium plans that are comparable in price to Trello and Asana. You can also test drive Monday Premium for free without a credit card.

Monday is less cluttered than Asana, though, as you add more projects. Overall, it’s just slightly more advanced than Asana and worth checking out if there’s something you need that’s not in Asana.

Obviously, these aren’t your only three options. See how Asana, Trello, and Monday compare to four other project management tools.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I import data from one tool to another?

It’s easier to import your Trello boards into Asana than the other way around. Asana provides step-by-step instructions for doing this.

Trello recommends either copying/pasting to import data or using a power-up integration to complete the import.

Which tool is best for individuals?

Trello is best for individuals. However, if you prefer additional views, the free version of Asana offers more.

Image credit: Unsplash. Screenshots by Crystal Crowder.