As projects continue to become more and more complex over time, coupled with advancements in technology, different project management tools have emerged to help project managers improve collaboration and streamline their workflow. In fact, a recent study by Massachusetts Institute of Technology Center for Information Systems Research (CISR) discovered that most firms will lose about 28% of their incomes due to digital transformation.

Having the right project management tool will, thus, be very important going forward. Even though there are currently so many options in the market to choose from, Asana and Monday have become the most popular project management tools in achieving these goals.  Asana is best suited for teams looking to have a less complicated project management experience because it offers project managers a structured method of organizing tasks. Monday, on the other hand, provides you with a customizable, more flexible platform suitable for teams dealing with complex workflows and projects.  

Since the two project management tools are cloud-based, they allow your team members to cooperate from anywhere. They also enable you to track tasks to know the progress of your project. But there has been a debate on Asana vs Monday, with each side of the conversation trying to justify why they think one is better than the other. The only way to settle this discussion is to dissect the two project management tools in-depth to know which one is superior to the other.

That way, you will be able to make an informed choice on which project management tool to embrace for your project between Asana vs Monday or you should now move to new-age playbooks altogether.

Asana vs Monday: A Comparative Analysis

Having a comprehensive understanding of the two project management tools will help you decide whether you should stick with one of them or move to an entirely new-age playbook.

What is Asana?

Asana is a cloud-based project management tool that caters to the business needs of small and medium enterprises. The software offers you a one-stop solution to workflow management, collaboration, task management, and portfolio management. You can see the progress of your project using Gantt charts, Kanban Boards, lists, and calendars. Asana also has integrated some tools you can use to communicate with your team.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Asana

Advantages

• It has an intuitive user interface that’s easy to navigate even for beginners
• Asana allows you to customize almost all the functions your team performs
• It can be integrated with other popular tools, allowing you to streamline your workflow and augment the overall productivity
• You can manage views based on your preferences
• It enables teams to communicate on one workspace

Disadvantages

• You can’t manage all tasks on one screen, and therefore, you have to keep switching between tabs
• You can’t assign a role to a number of individuals
• You can find the software to be expensive if you’re running a small project

What is Monday?

Monday is also a cloud-based project management tool that allows you to incorporate each project management phase in one space. This makes it possible for your team to collectively track tasks, visualize the progress of the project through stats, performance options, and scheduling alternatives, collaborate at each stage of the project, and store all data on one platform. It will also provide you with integrations that will make it an outright necessity for your team, especially when working in a dynamic setting.

Merits and Demerits of Using Monday

Merits

• It has a vibrant and colorful user interface
• It enables multiple departments to collaborate
• Unlike Asana, this project management tool allows you to assign one task to different people
• It has multiple integrations that enable you to have many functions
• It’s intuitive user interface makes it easy to navigate even for newbies

Demerits

• The complexity of managing tasks means that you need training to be able to use Monday
• It’s quite expensive for small teams
• Its free plan can only accommodate two people, making it useless if you have a big team

Asana vs Monday: A Comparison of Features

Comparing the components of these two project management tools could help you know the one that best suits your business. Below is a comparison of Asana vs Monday based on their characteristics:

Task management

Task management using Asana entails creating tasks, setting realistic goals of each task like deadlines, assigning those tasks to team members, and tracking them through Gantt charts, Kanban boards, lists, and calendars view.

You can see tasks that are almost completed and details of any task by clicking on it. You can also attach documents to foster collaboration between team members. Here’s a sample of task management using Asana.

Monday almost manages tasks in a similar way, but tasks are instead called pulses. The tool allows you to create pulses, allocate them to different team members, and develop dependencies in those tasks. You are also able to keep track of the progress of tasks by looking at the task overview tab in the task manager. The status of each task helps the team to know their completion rate.

This tool also lets you manage the daily to-do lists as well as weekly team tasks. The team leader can then create tasks and allocate them to different persons. The ability to view the status of each task on the boards makes task management very convenient for all the team members.

Integrations

Asana has more than 150 integrations with multiple enterprise software programs. This means that you can choose to use either Google Drive, Instagantt, Slack, or Dropbox to better organize your workflow. Monday, on the other hand, has fewer integrations than Asana because it only has over 50 of them. You can use such workspaces as Excel, Google Drive, and Zoom, among others, with Monday.  

Portfolio management

Both Monday and Asana will offer you portfolio management. This involves the management of all your continuing projects on one space. With Asana, you’re able to view the portfolio of all your ongoing ventures on the day-to-day tasks.  The statuses of all projects are shown in the portfolio, thereby ensuring that you don’t miss out on any of them because of juggling between numerous assignments at the same time.

Unlike Asana, Monday doesn’t have a good portfolio management segment. But it has a feature labeled “Groups,” which can help you arrange the sub-benchmark your project may have. You can then create a portfolio tab using the group icon by putting all your continuing projects in the same place.  While the groups won’t show you the status of your projects’ progress, you can still have tabs on all the projects by creating a group.  

Workflow management

Asana project management helps you manage your workflow through different views, including boards, calendars, and Gantt charts. These views present workflow in dissimilar ways, all you need to do to see workflow is to drag and drop a task on a chosen view.

Monday’s way of managing workflow is almost similar to this one but switching between various visual project workflow parts is easier than when using Asana. Monday lets you manage your workflow through timelines, charts, and Kanban boards.

Below is an image of Kanban chart visualizing workflow of tasks undertaken by one team. Monday allows you to see the list view of each phase of a project in the form of pulses. The user interface also permits you to easily switch from one pulse to another. Although the default view comes as a list, you can choose to have either a chart or Kanban board for your workflow’s visual view.

Asana vs Monday pricing

Asana and Monday have a dissimilar pricing structure but the two platforms offer both free and tiered plans. This is how they compare:

1. Asana

• The free plan, also known as the basic tier, has calendar and list views, and it can support a maximum of 15 team members. It encompasses such basic task management elements as project brief and overview.
• The premium plan allows you to access various features, such as unlimited dashboards, custom fields, unlimited reporting, advanced search, and workflow builder, among others, across unlimited projects. You’ll, however, have to pay $10.99 per user each month, which is billed annually.
• The business plan has features like four views, unlike the lower tiers that have three, and advanced reporting options. But the plan is costly as you must pay $24.99 per month for each user.

2. Monday

• The individual plan is free but only supports a maximum of 2 team members. The available features include over 200 templates, up to 3 boards, and unlimited docs
• The basic plan costs $8 per month for each user paid yearly but with unlimited free views
• The standard plan costs $10 per month for each member billed annually
• The pro plan is charged $16 per month for each user paid yearly
• The prices for enterprise solutions are customized based on a package

Asana vs Monday: Which One Should You Choose?

This extensive Asana vs Monday comparison has shown that the two project management tools have both strengths and weaknesses. For instance, Asana has a superior performance to Monday when it comes to integration and customization. Monday, on the other hand, has a better interface and pricing plan compared to Asana. These project management tools are for use by the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and their structure is quite similar.  

There are a couple of things you should put into consideration when choosing Asana vs Monday for your business, including your budget, your projects’ complexity level, and your team’s needs. Even though both tools provide powerful collaboration and task management features, they deal with different levels of sophistication and needs.

If you need a user-friendly site with strong task management abilities and an intuitive user interface for your team, you might have to go for Asana. This project management tool is primarily designed for small businesses or teams that need many project management features. In fact, its free plan can offer you a starting point if it’s the first time you’re trying project management software.

Monday could be the better option if your team is used to more sophisticated project management tools and now wants an advanced customization level. Its built-in time tracking, robust functionality, and extensive integration and automation capabilities make this project management tool ideal for firms or teams dealing with more complicated projects.

This article will help you make an informed choice that supports your project management goals as it has tried to settle the debate on Asana vs Monday by comprehensively comparing their features.

Asana vs Monday? Or You Ought to Now Move to New-Age Playbooks?

This discussion has shown that Asana and Monday are still not perfect, notwithstanding their surged popularity in the recent past. While you may like some of their elements, you might be prompted to look for another software that can be easily customized to the needs of your business. This is where new-age playbooks come in.

The best thing about these new-age playbooks is that they come with advanced features, some of which include:

1. Personalization

The contemporary business setting has made most people to value customization and personalization than ever before. The new-age playbooks cater to this need very well. They will allow you to customize your views, layouts, and labels, add groups, and ensure that workflows suit your specific requirements.

2. Integration boosters

You will be amazed by the kind of integration boosters the new-age playbooks will provide you with. Most of these project management tools are developed after considering the ever-changing team and business dynamics. These playbooks combine project management features with other productivity-boosting components while at the same time offering you habit tracking, goal planning, and time blocking elements. These features will help your team to be in control of workflows and complete projects on time.

3. Prioritizing motivation and mindset

This is something you will highly be grateful for about the new-age playbooks. These project management tools often integrate aspects of mindfulness, motivation, and positive psychology into their design. This shows your employees that you mind about their affairs, thus making them feel valued. Even though these elements are meant to ease the management of tasks, it also makes team members to stay focused, inspired, and always engaged.

---