Asana vs Smartsheet
The Winner
Smartsheet
Wins for overall value, user satisfaction, and Enterprise spreadsheet power users.
Quick Comparison
| Criteria | | |
|---|---|---|
| Free Tier | Yes Best | No |
| Starting Price | $13.49/mo | $12/mo Best |
| User Rating | 4.0 | 4.5 Best |
| Review Count | 75,879 | 168,398 Best |
| Free Trial | No | 30 days Best |
| Annual Discount | 18% | 25% Best |
| Best For | Timeline-focused PM for organized teams | Enterprise spreadsheet power users |
Feature Breakdown
Asana Key Features
- AI Studio: No-code workflow builder with natural language automation (available on all paid tiers)
- AI Teammates: Collaborative AI agents that handle complex strategic work (beta for AI Studio Pro)
- Smart Workflow Gallery: Prebuilt AI workflows for campaigns, Kanban, goal setting, and more
- Smart Summaries and Change Summaries for projects, tasks, and portfolios
- Timeline and Gantt chart views for project planning
- Advanced workflow automation with up to 25,000 actions per month (Advanced tier)
- Portfolio management for tracking multiple projects
- 200+ integrations including Slack, Microsoft Teams, Salesforce, and Microsoft 365 Copilot
Smartsheet Key Features
- Smart Assist - AI companion that creates projects from outlines and answers questions in real-time
- Smart Agents - AI project manager that monitors progress, flags risks, and recommends improvements
- Smart Flows - Build complex multi-step workflows using natural language prompts
- Smart Columns - AI-powered columns that categorize, translate, and analyze data automatically
- Knowledge Graph - Intelligent data foundation powering all AI features across the platform
- Advanced Gantt charts with drag-and-drop editing and automatic dependency updates
- Unlimited automations on Business+ plans (250/month on Pro)
- 175+ integrations including Microsoft, Adobe, Google, Salesforce, and Jira
Asana
- Clean Interface That Teams Actually Use
- Proven ROI With Real Numbers
- Timeline Views Are Unmatched
- Enterprise Security Without Compromise
- Free Tier Is Limited
- Time Tracking Requires Advanced Tier
- Customization Requires Investment
Smartsheet
- Powerful Data Analysis
- Enterprise-Grade Automation
- Flexible Visualization
- Comprehensive AI Suite
- Steep Learning Curve
- Limited Free Plan
- AI Requires Enterprise
Asana Overview
If your team wastes hours weekly on status updates and task coordination, Asana delivers immediate ROI. The Starter tier unlocks timeline views and workflow automation that pay for themselves in reduced meeting time. The Advanced tier adds portfolio management for multi-project teams. Enterprise pricing is custom but justified for large organizations.
Best For:
- Timeline-focused PM for organized teams
- Organizations with budget to invest in well-designed PM tool customization
- Structured workflows requiring timeline views and dependencies
- Enterprise teams needing reliable task management with strong security
- Organizations managing multiple projects with portfolio views
- Teams requiring 200+ business tool integrations
Smartsheet Overview
Smartsheet excels at enterprise-scale project management for teams comfortable with spreadsheet interfaces. The Pro tier offers Gantt charts, unlimited sheets, and 250 automations monthly, while Business unlocks unlimited automations at a higher tier. Best for organizations needing powerful data analysis alongside project tracking.
Best For:
- Enterprise spreadsheet power users
- Complex data analysis and financial modeling
- Organizations requiring advanced reporting and dashboards
- Teams needing Gantt charts with dependency management
- Companies wanting no-code workflow automation
- Large-scale resource planning and allocation
- Cross-functional collaboration with real-time updates
The Verdict
Smartsheet is our top pick for most users, thanks to its higher user ratings.