Sometimes I want to slam my head against a wall, there’s so much going on. You feel me, right? Deadlines and launches and emails and clients. How do we manage it all? We get a project management app. Here are my thoughts, as a user, on asana vs trello vs clickup.
I am an artist. In our souls, we love chaos and beauty and energy and lighting the world on fire. And then I met Malcolm Purkey, my lecturer at university. Prof. Shakespeare genius. Lover of the subversive. But also a deep believer in organised chaos. That’s what his rehearsal rooms were like. Absolute chaos. But organised. By him. Carefully controlled and expertly manipulated. But they felt like chaos. And it was delicious. So, when I hit the big wide world and I had to actually start working to earn a living, I knew that I could marry my love for art and fire and crazy unpredictability, with organised chaos. And magic would happen.
And it did. I managed to save money so I could travel and buy expensive coffee. Buy a house. Very few artists in my circles were able to. I deeply appreciated the importance of organised chaos. Emotional life? Chaos. Finances. Organised. Inside my underwear drawer? Chaos. My diary? Organised. See how this works?
Then in 2020 (aaaaaaaaah 2020)…Covid hit. What a ride, huh? And my head? Absolute chaos. Unmitigated, hysterical, spectacular chaos. So what did I do? I took the copywriting that I’d been doing on the side for ten years, and I turned it into a full-time online business. And starting that business was like adopting a puppy. Shit, err'where.
But then I found Asana. Oh, Asana. You beautiful, powerful elixir of gorgeous organisational splendour. You make my heart go boom. Especially on a Monday morning and the tasks are overflowing. But still…it’s organised.
Here’s the thing about starting your own business, or running one, no matter where you are in your journey. You need a tool that’s going to keep you organised. You need something that EVERYONE in your team can log into every day and know that these are the things they need to get done, and this is when they need to be done by.
If you’re not Asana-knowledgeable, it’s okay. It’s not too late. Get on that goodness immediately.
What are organisational tools?
These are web and mobile apps that let you organise, track, and manage your work and the work of your team. When they’re used strategically and properly they can literally simplify your business in a heartbeat. There are a few different kinds, but I currently use three of them, so these are the ones I’m going to look at.
Right. Let’s get to it. In the Asana vs Trello vs Clickup competition, which beast is best?
Asana
Like I said…splendour. Why do I love Asana so much? It’s clean. It’s neat and clean like the haircut my husband got as soon as lockdown lifted in London (can I get a muddafuggen hell, yes?).
Asana lets you know what you need to do, when people assign tasks to you. It can also get a little more complex, in that you can create subtasks and dependencies. This means that a certain task can’t be started until the task before it has been completed. This is great when you’re working with a team. It shows everyone where they sit in the task completion chain and everyone is super-clear about what they need to do.
Asana’s features
Asana is a project-based tool. You create a project and within each project, you can create tasks and sections. Then within that, you create further subtasks, tags, comments, and custom fields. You can view these projects and tasks as lists or on boards.
Now, I’m now gonna lie. When you start using it, you may feel that your brain might leak out of your eardrums. But once you understand how it works, you’ll wonder how you got anything done without it.
Trello
Trello is the same as Asana, in that it’s a task management tool, but it is, in the words of my friend Tiffany, much prettier than Asana. Trello comprises a series of lists with boards attached, providing a simple visual picture of what needs to get done. It basically mimics a Kanban board with sticky notes.
Trello’s features
Trello doesn’t have the complexity that Asana does. A board is created and then moved between different statuses depending on where you’re at with your task. So, it is much simpler to use than Asana, but that also means it’s a little limiting if you’re working on a bigger project with a bigger team. And let’s face it…one day soon you will be. Because who doesn’t want to scale their business? No one, that's who.
Clickup
My knowledge of Clickup is limited but I do use it with one of my clients. It’s really great because it allows you to keep your colleague or client up-to-date about where you are in your task’s life. So, if you’ve read the brief, you click the task update box and your client knows you’re briefed. Once you start working on it, you click the box again, and the client knows you’re working on it. I really like this, because I’m spectacularly OCD about making sure my clients know I’m totally brilliant and amazing. It also has a tracker option so you can track the time you’ve worked on various tasks or projects.
Clickup’s features
Clickup is similar to Asana in its layout and in the features that are available. The default layout of projects is lists, but you can view them as boards as well.
The commonalities
All three of these tools let you communicate with your team. So, whether you’re commenting in the board on Trello, or in a comments section in Asana and Clickup, you are able to tag your colleagues so you can ask questions and send updates.
Asana vs Trello vs Clickup: Which price is best?
Look I made you a list for easy-to-follow guidelines.
Trello
FREE:
Unlimited cards
Unlimited members
Up to 10 boards
1 Power-Up per board
Unlimited storage (10MB/file)
50 automated command runs per month
Unlimited activity log
Assignee and due dates
iOS and Android mobile apps
2-factor authentication
BUSINESS CLASS
$10 per user per month billed annually ($12.50 billed monthly) Everything in Free, plus:
Unlimited boards
Unlimited Power-Ups
Dashboard view
Timeline view
Workspace Table view
Calendar view
Advanced checklists
Map view
1,000 automated command runs per Workspace + 200 per user, up to 6,000 per month
Unlimited storage (250MB/file)
Admin and security features
Workspace-level templates
Collections
Observers
Single board guests
Custom backgrounds & stickers
Saved searches
Priority support
Google Apps sign-on
Simple data export Learn more about Business Class
ENTERPRISE
Price available on request Everything in Business Class, plus:
Organisation-wide permissions
Organization visible boards
Public board management
Multi-board guests
Attachment permissions
Power-Up administration
Unlimited automated command runs
Asana
BASIC: $0
Unlimited tasks
Unlimited projects
Unlimited messages
Unlimited activity log
Unlimited file storage (100MB per file)
Collaborate with up to 15 teammates
List view projects
Board view projects
Calendar view
Assignee and due dates
Project Overview
Project Brief
iOS and Android mobile apps
Time tracking with integrations - See time tracking apps
100+ free integrations with your favorite apps
PREMIUM $10.99 Per user, per month billed annually $13.49 billed monthly
Timeline
Dashboards
Advanced search & reporting
Custom fields
Unlimited free guests
Forms
Rules
Milestones
Admin Console
Private teams & projects
BUSINESS $24.99 Per user, per month billed annually $30.49 billed monthly
Everything in Premium, plus:
Portfolios
Goals
Workload
Custom rules builder
Forms branching & customization
Approvals
Proofing
Lock custom fields
Advanced integrations with Salesforce, Adobe Creative Cloud, Tableau, Power BI
Click up
FREE
100MB Storage
Unlimited Tasks
Unlimited Members
Two-Factor Authentication
UNLIMITED $9 per month Unlimited Storage Unlimited List, Board, and Calendar views Unlimited Integrations Unlimited Dashboards Guests and Permissions Goals, Portfolios, and Custom Fields The final verdict?
I’m going to say Asana every time. It just makes so much sense to me. It’s comprehensive; it lets me talk to the people I need to; it lets me see everything I have to do on one page, with no mess or confusion. It’s also lead me to my new mantra, which I tell all clients and prospective clients:
If it’s not in Asana, it doesn’t exist.
Ok, bye, love you.
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