If you’re a business owner with a small team or a project manager of a large enterprise business handling multiple projects, teams, or vendors, you need many different tools to plan and manage your daily work. To make your workplace as efficient and effective as possible, project management systems are a great solution to streamline your day.

The building blocks of project management tools include projects, tasks, assignees, due dates, and milestones. Project management systems help teams stay connected, track projects over time, and align on company-wide goals — all of which have become more important than ever in today’s remote and hybrid work environments.

These elements help teams stay on the same page. However, with so many platforms on the market today, choosing the right project management solution isn’t cut and dry. That’s why we are helping you compare two of the most popular tools, Asana and Monday.com. Both platforms offer a range of features that help teams manage tasks, projects, and workflows — but is one better than the other?

If you are considering adding either of these two project management behemoths into your workflow, it’s important to compare Asana vs. Monday.com when it comes to their features, pricing, and suitability for different types of teams and projects. Let’s get started.

Asana vs. Monday.com: Comparing features

Both Asana and Monday.com have some serious history. Built by some industry giants and used by enterprises and small businesses across the globe, these two platforms would be a great asset to your company. However, let’s dig into a few differences between Asana and Monday.com and discover which platform best suits you and your team.

Asana and Monday.com offer similar features, including task and project management, team collaboration, and progress tracking. However, they have differences that might sway you when trying to pick one over the other. 

Features of Asana

Asana provides a more comprehensive set of features than Monday.com does, including project timelines, workload management, and custom fields. It also offers features such as templates, forms, and automation, which were built for your team to streamline its workflows and save time. Also, Asana’s user interface is just a smidge more intuitive and easy to use than Monday.com, making it suitable for teams of all sizes and skill levels.

Asana key features: 

• Workflow Builder Board
• Calendar, Gantt Chart and Kanban Board views
• Tasks automation
• Desktop and mobile apps
• Third-party app integrations

Features of Monday.com

Just because Asana has something of a “features edge” over Monday.com, it does not mean you should overlook this second platform as an option. Monday.com also offers features that are focused on task management and team collaboration.

It provides a customizable interface, allowing users to create custom boards and workflows that fit their needs. Monday.com steps up with its automation features and custom notifications, and in my humble opinion, its interface is more visually appealing than Asana. It’s a popular choice for creative teams who want more freedom to customize and prefer the “look” over Asana’s drag-and-drop boards. 

Monday.com key features:

• Customizable templates
• Visual dashboards
• Automate repetitive tasks
• Extensive integrations with many popular third-party apps and tools
• Timeline and Gantt views
• Collaborative workspaces and team communication within the platform

Asana vs. Monday.com: Pricing comparison

Asana and Monday.com have different pricing plans, scaled based on the number of users and features you want to be included. Both Asana and Monday.com offer a free plan, perfect for individuals or teams just starting. However, if you are a busy team that needs a more robust platform with added features, you will need to pay more emdash and this is true with both Asana and Monday.com.

Asana Pricing

Asana’s pricing starts at $10.99 per user per month for its Basic plan, which includes task and project management, team collaboration, and basic reporting. The Premium plan costs $24.99 per user per month and includes more advanced features like timelines, workload management, and scaled security. Asana’s Business plan, which costs $44.99 per user per month, includes all the features of premium but also time tracking, custom branding, advanced integrations, and priority support.

Monday.com Pricing

Monday.com’s pricing starts at $8 per user per month for its Basic plan, which includes task management, team collaboration, and basic reporting. Its Standard plan costs $10 per user per month and has more advanced features, such as automation, guest access, integrations, time tracking, and a dashboard with up to 5 boards. There is also a Pro plan which costs $16 per user per month and includes even more advanced features, such as custom boards, calendar view, and advanced reporting.

Pricing key takeaway: Asana’s plans are generally more expensive than Monday.com’s plans, but they offer a more comprehensive range of features. So, if you need more advanced features and want to pay less per user, Monday.com might be the Platform for you.

Suitability for your business

These two are competitors because they are both suitable for some of the same types of projects. While both platforms would manage your tasks well, each is better suited for a specific type of workflow process. It would be best if you picked the one that suited YOUR business and worked within your workflow instead of trying to adjust to the workflow of a program. Choose the platform that marries up to your process, not one that will be a square peg in a round hole.

So in this instance, these platforms do better within these two specific applications:

Asana is particularly well-suited for teams needing a comprehensive project management platform to handle complex workflows and tasks. It is also a good choice for teams that value automation and efficiency, as it offers great workflow automation. Asana is commonly used by teams in industries such as marketing, design, and software development.

Monday.com is a good choice for teams that prioritize visual and customizable workflows. Its customizable interface allows teams to create boards and workflows that fit their specific needs, making it a good choice for creative teams needing flexibility. Monday.com is commonly used by teams in industries such as media, advertising, and publishing.

Customer reviews on Monday and Asana 

Thanks to G2, Capterra and other platforms we can easily find real users’ experiences with platforms such as Monday and Asana. We’ve dug into what people say about each platform to help you make an informed decision when comparing and choosing task management tools. Ahead, we also shared a leading alternative to these platforms.

What users say about Asana

Generally speaking, Asana offers a decent solution for people looking for a platform that can assist in delegating tasks to other team members. However, people often find it challenging to be onboard in the platform, most people describe a speed learning curve and difficult navigation. Avid users of Asana also were unsatisfied with the amount of key features missing in the platform.

One user wrote on G2 on February 28, 2024: “There are some privacy & management rules that I wish existed for custom fields. Additionally, I would like for the Gantt chart view to be more dynamic, where you can build/choose your columns on the chart. Lastly, I hope the dependencies get enhanced by the addition of start-to-start and finish-to-finish.” 

Another Asana user on July 12, 2023 left a review on G2 expressing their frustration with the platform user experience: “Asana is a bit cluttered and can get overwhelming if you do not know how to use it. I do not like that you have to delete a task if you cannot complete it. Deferring a task also does not remove it from your list. Sometimes I do not want to delete a task, but I want to mark it as off my list even though it cannot be completed. That is extremely frustrating.”

What users say about Monday 

On the other hand, Monday users seem to be okay with how the platform performs in terms of navigability and user experience. The tool is also delivering a satisfactory experience when it comes to collaboration among teams. However, Monday is frustrating users with the large amount of issues and bugs on boards and problematic automation.

On February 29, 2024, a Monday user wrote on G2 about how poorly the platform deals with automation, integration and customer service: “EVERYTHING seems to need an app or integration (3rd party) to make real use of Monday.com. Doing this causes a certain number of “actions” to occur. Sometimes such small things quickly eat up thousands of actions and then your account essentially gets frozen. Same thing with automations, barely doing something triggers so many little micro automations that you blow past the 25,000 on Pro doing minimal automating.

What really grinds my gears is that when you do get basically forced to upgrade to Enterprise, there is NO CUSTOMER SUPPORT PHONE NUMBER to be found. People in chat are slow to respond, and then bounce you around cause they can’t give a straight answer. If you want someone to actually respond, good luck. I’m told 3-5 business days to be able to upgrade, but when locked out because of actions or automations triggering, you’re toast. Not only will it take forever, they keep sending the same garbage emails saying someone will eventually reach out, whether you do CHAT or EMAIL or FORM. It’s awful.”

Their automations are also super limited. If you want something like an IF/THEN statement before running an automation, it’s basically impossible. You can try to do it through a workflow, but then it doesn’t even work properly because they only give you certain automation choices depending on which way you try to automate things. The number of apps you need to do BASIC things is mindblowing. If you want a “timeline” to work properly with start/end dates, you need an app. Then you have to pay for more apps separately. Everything seems super poorly thought out, which is a shame, because Salesforce is much cleaner and all built in, but just costlier. I guess you get what you pay for, but even on Enterprise, you’re not saving much money vs competitors. Even costs more than some better options.

It’s okay at some things like visuals, but they’re not easy to build into widgets for some strange reason. There’s nothing intuitive when trying to build processes out. I would personally NOT recommend this to anyone who wants to successfully run their business from a Sales and Project Management perspective.”

Another leading option: Hive

If these two options were insufficient, how about we throw in a third? Hive!

Hive is a project management software platform that is great for teams who want a robust platform with features like task management, team collaboration and reporting.

While it’s the “new bee on the block” compared to Asana and Monday.com, it does not mean it’s less robust than the other two software platforms. Built by its users, Hive has thought of everything from its goal-tracking features to its integrated HiveMind AI tool and even its integrations with hundreds of third-party apps.

Like the other two options, Hive offers a free plan but has two paid options. The Hive Teams plan costs $12 per user per month and includes advanced features like external guest access, unlimited storage, an in-app calendar, and more. The Enterprise plan includes everything the Teams plan does, including custom analytics and reporting, enhanced security, and Enterprise API use. Enterprise prices vary based on your needs, so contact the sales team to learn more!

Comparing Hive vs Asana

Hive is a project management tool that works off of “tasks” as a building block, the same way Asana does, which makes it one of the top alternatives to Asana. Hive’s interface is very user-friendly and boasts a first-of-its-kind email integration which sends messages directly from Gmail and Outlook to Hive, which Asana does not have.

Additionally, when comparing Hive and Asana the reporting and dashboards capabilities of Hive truly standout. Plus, Hive also has several features that Asana doesn’t have, including data import, customizable templates, note-taking, and custom forms – which makes Hive one of our top Asana alternatives. If you’re going to be manipulating data or customizing content, Hive is your best option.

So what does Hive offer that Asana doesn’t? Hive also offers all of the features teams need to succeed in today’s workplace, including:

• Data import
• Customizable templates
• Note-taking and AI writing tools
• Custom forms
• Resourcing capabilities
• Customizable dashboards via Pages

Comparing Hive vs Monday

Hive is a leading alternative to Monday.com, especially when it comes to dashboard and reporting capabilities. When comparing Hive to Monday.com, it’s easy to notice the powerful tools Hive offers. For example, Hive can break down actions and tasks with customizable summary views, subactions, and automation. Built with a visual display, Hive has moveable cards and 6 different project layout options that make learning and using the platform a snap. Another reason why Hive makes a good alternative to Monday.com is how the software receives and applies customer feedback. Hive is the first and only democratic project management platform. Via the Hive Forum, customers have access to a public roadmap and can submit and vote on the features they’d like to see in Hive. It’s a tool built by users, for users.

So what does Hive offer that Monday.com doesn’t? Hive has more robust project management and collaboration features, including:

• Resourcing and timesheets
• Proofing and approvals
• Native chat with both direct and group messaging
• Note-taking within Zoom meetings
• Native email
• Features are built by users via the Hive Forum

What to consider when choosing project management software?

Maybe the question when comparing Monday.com and Asana shouldn’t even be about their features or differences, but about your company’s wants and needs. A great way to assess that can be hosting a brainstorming session, doing a survey, or simply talking to managers and people in different departments before making a final decision about a project management platform. A process where everyone feels included and heard can go a long way, especially because it’s common to find resistance from employees when adopting a new system. 

Okay, now… here are the essential features any good project management software should offer:  

• Task management: It should allow you to create, assign, and track tasks, as well as set due dates and priorities.
• Time tracking: It should let you track how much time is being spent on each task, which can be helpful for budgeting and estimating future projects.
• Project scheduling: It should allow you to create a timeline for your project and track its progress. 
• Communication: With chat and comments features, a tool should offer ways for you to communicate with your team and clients through messaging, file sharing, and commenting.
• Reporting: It should let you create reports on the project’s progress, which can be helpful for stakeholders and for tracking your team’s performance.

So what platform should you pick?

Ultimately, when choosing a project management software platform for your team or business, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Each platform has its strengths — Asana for complex workflows and automation; Monday.com for visual and customizable workflows; Hive for its goal-tracking features, integrated AI, and integrations with third-party apps. Hive also offers a more customizable plan (cost and feature-wise), which is great for growing teams.

Hive is a project management tool that is built to help teams work faster, smarter and more efficiently. Try us for free, today!