Check out this Smartsheet vs Asana article and see which platform suits your requirements better.
Many products in the market offer features that are designed for productivity, collaboration, task management, and project management. These products allow users to track workflows, manage teams, collaborate remotely, and improve the overall efficiency of the business.
Two of the most popular products on the market are Smartsheet and Asana. This article will discuss the similarities and differences between these products.
Project Management Software like Smartsheet and Asana allow you to improve your team’s efficiency and productivity so you can deliver projects within the deadline and the budget.
What Is Smartsheet?
Smartsheet is an enhanced spreadsheet tool. It offers functions for project and workflow management, among others. It is ideal for people who are comfortable with other spreadsheet software such as Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets.
One of the best things about Smartsheet is its collaboration function. It has a “content collaboration” feature that allows people to plan and manage content production through project sheets. It also allows customers, suppliers, and other third parties to view content even without having access to the project sheets themselves.
Communications between people working on a project are facilitated through emails, which are then presented in the Smartsheet software. It means the users will not have to switch between different computer programs while working.
Moreover, users can automate workflows quickly and easily. Recurring processes and repetitive workflows can be automated through an easy-to-use visual editor.
What Is Asana?
Asana is known for being an excellent collaboration and productivity tool. It offers a simple, flexible, and intuitive user interface. It also has workload management and task assignment features, among others. However, Asana is not the strongest product when it comes to project management, as it lacks functionalities such as advanced project scheduling and built-in project time tracking.
This product provides different “views” that display various pieces of information to the user. For example, the portfolio view displays the projects the user is working on. This view allows the user to track task changes and the overall progress.
Priority levels can also be established to balance the workload. A user can easily see the duties distributed among the team members. That means the team members who are given too many tasks (and those who are given too little) can be quickly identified.
Similarities Between the Two Platforms
- Integrations – Both products allow software integrations to provide more functionalities to users. For example, both products can connect to Box, Dropbox, Google Suite, and Microsoft Teams. Users can access the tools they need through either Smartsheet or Asana.
- Workflow Templates – Both products provide users with a wide range of templates to choose from. These templates are also divided into different categories, such as “Marketing” and “Engineering.” With these templates, users can start creating and managing projects.
- Collaboration features – Both Smartsheet and Asana come with great collaboration features, which allow users to communicate and work on projects efficiently.
- Report Generation – Asana’s reporting tool can generate all the data needed by the user. There are pre-built charts to choose from. The reporting tool also allows the user to design his or her report. Customizable dashboards and charts can be added to the reports.
Reports can be made across different teams or departments. Lastly, the reports generated can be easily shared and exported. In Smartsheet, reports can be generated to compile the important information from various sheets. Thus, users can efficiently manage and update projects across different sheets.
- Admin Controls – Both products come with administrative tools for monitoring, managing, and auditing access and usage. The admins can easily set user types and specify the things that can and cannot be done by the users.
What Makes One Better than the Other
Here is a head-to-head comparison of the main features of Smartsheet and Asana:
- Interface – Asana has a simple graphical user interface – easy to understand and navigate. Smartsheet, on the other hand, uses a spreadsheet as the primary interface. Thus, Asana is ideal for those who want to work with a typical user interface. A spreadsheet interface might be too intimidating or complicated, particularly for users who are not comfortable with Excel or Google Sheets.
- Usability – This is directly related to the graphical user interface of the products. Asana is clearly easier to use, as the screens and the options that will be displayed are similar to standard webpages or software screens.
Smartsheet can be difficult to use at first because the project management features and other functionalities are controlled using a spreadsheet interface. Familiarity with spreadsheet software is required for those who want to use Smartsheet.
- Task Management – Asana is great when it comes to coordinating the work of a team. The “workload” functionality of Asana allows project managers to balance the workload among team members since the tasks assigned to each team member can be easily identified. However, it is difficult to create schedules with this software. Smartsheet, on the other hand, lets users schedule tasks quickly and easily.
- Resource Management – Resource management is important to successfully deliver projects within the budget and the schedule provided. Smartsheet offers features that track time spent on projects. It can also display the people within the organization, allowing the project manager to search for the people needed. It also shows the people who are on vacation, those who are available, and those who are currently working on a project.
Finding the right people for the project and tracking/managing resources for the project is easy with Smartsheet. Asana, on the other hand, does not come with built-in resource management functionalities. Integration with other software is needed for a user to access this feature.
Pricing Difference
Smartsheet offers three account types:
- Pro – USD 7 per month for each user. Included here are unlimited reports, sheets, and dashboard, 20 gigabytes of attachment storage, etc.
- Business – USD 25 per month for each user. It includes all the features under the Pro account, plus unlimited collaborators, unlimited automation, custom branding, etc.
- Enterprise – Includes the business plan, plus other features, such as work insights, account discovery, DocuSign integration, etc. Smartsheet should be contacted for the price quotation.
Similarly, there are three account types in Asana:
- Basic – This is free. It comes with great features such as unlimited tasks, projects, and messages. It also allows collaboration for up to 15 teammates.
- Premium – USD 10.99 per month for each user if billed annually; $13.49 per month for each user if billed monthly. It covers everything under the basic account plus additional features such as timeline, admin console, advanced search, etc.
- Business – USD 24.99 per month for each user if billed annually; USD 30.49 if billed monthly. It includes everything under the premium account plus other features, such as workload, goals, portfolios, etc.
Conclusion
Smartsheet and Asana are two great products for those who are looking for project management solutions. These products have some similarities. But they have substantial differences which make it necessary for users to choose carefully.
Asana offers free accounts and an intuitive user interface, making it ideal for people who are just getting started with project management. Smartsheet, however, offers a robust system of project management features ideal for those who are comfortable with spreadsheets.