Difference Between Trello and Asana

If you’re starting up a new project, you might be looking at using some task management software to help you organize and assign tasks to team members. There’s a lot of different software out there to do this — and for free — however, Asana and Trello are easily some of the top programs that people and businesses are using to streamline projects. However, there are some pretty big differences between the two programs that can affect how your project is ran, so before deciding which one is your go-to software, we’re going to run through all of the big differences between the two.

Let’s get started, shall we?

Trello

Trello is a piece of free Cloud-based project management software that takes on a clean, Card-based layout that makes it easy to organize your tasks into “sprints.” For example, you could create a Board for finishing a school writing progress. You could have multiple lists titled “To Do”, “In Progress” and “Completed.” You could create a bunch of tasks within “To Do”, and the tasks that your working on could be moved to “In Progress.” When you finish those tasks, the “In Progress” tasks can be moved to “Completed.” It’s a really organized way to keep track of what needs to be done, what is being done, and what’s already been completed.

Not only can you organize tasks up in this way, but you can assign tasks to people that you’ve invited to your workspace. You can even add yourself to these tasks so that you can keep track of the progress. This is also helpful for workers who might have questions. They can ask questions in the comment/text field, and then since you “added” yourself to the task, you’ll get notified of there questions and concerns as well.

One of the nice things about Trello is that they even allow you to upload files or attachments to individual tasks. This would be helpful for, say, a Web Developer, who need access to a handful of source files for a development project. Trello allows you to add due dates and checklists to cards as well.

Trello comes with a lot of different unique design abilities as well — you can customize the background color, add stickers, and more!

You can try it for free at the link below.

Get it here: Trello

Asana

Asana comes up next, and is actually significantly different than Trello in that they don’t use a card-based layout. Asana is more of a list view than a Card view.

The one major downside to Asana is that it they do offer a free version, but they very much want to get your team signed up on a subscription. That said, a lot of the features that Asana does have is locked down until you sign up you or your team on a package. So naturally, Asana, only works in basic function, such as adding tasks, adding sections, and completing tasks. You can add a certain amount of members to your Asana team for free, and assign them tasks to complete.

Within each individual task, you can assign specific team members to work on it. You can discuss the tasks within the Discussion box, and you can even set up due dates. Files and attachments can be added to tasks.

One of the neat things about Asana tasks is that they can be broken down even further. You can give a certain task subtasks, so you could actually have your team working on the same task, but working on different sections of that task for quicker completion.

Asana has a lot of neat tools built into it — again, many of them require a subscription — however, there are things like quick access to a built-in calendar, a timeline to finish projects, project progress, and even an archive of all of the tasks completed. There’s a lot more, but that’s just an idea of what Asana can offer you.

Get it here: Asana

Verdict

As you can see, there are some major differences between Trello and Asana; however, as far as core functionality goes, they are essentially the same. The differences really come down to how projects and tasks are organized together. That all depends on your personal preference, but the Card-based layout is definitely one of the more efficient, streamlined ways for managing projects.

Which one are you going to take for a spin? Let us know in the comments section below.