Anyone else feel the overwhelmed from all of the different project. apps, systems and software that everyone is screaming at you to use? Girl, you are not alone. There’s an app for literally everything these days, and instead of having a whole bunch of people yell at you about why the project management tool they use for their teams is the BEST one, I thought I’d take a more fair, calm approach. 

In full transparency, I am an Asana Certified Pro but have also recently moved my team from Asana to Clickup. I’ll talk about why but both are similar (and also unique in their own ways), so I thought it would be beneficial to highlight the pros and cons of both… from someone who has actually used both! Let’s jump in. 

Lists

Both Asana and ClickUp are based on this core component: a list. Whether it’s a to-do list, customer service requests, contacts, a list of affiliate links – pretty much whatever – both Asana and ClickUp have their default view of each “project” as a list.

Both apps let you create sections within the lists for organization, assign it to a team member, set due dates and add subtasks within each task or list item.

Boards

One app that we’re not talking about is Trello. It’s a very common project management tool used for a variety of functions, from client management to project management and everything in between. One of the smartest things Asana did was incorporate Boards as an alternative view of a List to compete with Trello. 

ClickUp followed suit and now both Asana and ClickUp allow you to create a “project” in their app as either a List OR a Board. 

Other Views

Looking to see all your to-dos in a calendar? Maybe you’d like to have a conversation with your team about a specific project. Luckily, both Asana and ClickUp allow you to have a few different views to display your projects. Both also have views available in the free version, as well as some in their paid plans. 

That said, the views is really where ClickUp stood out for me and, apart from price, is one of the reasons I jumped ship. The coolest feature when it comes to Views is the views that you can embed from other apps. You can embed views from Airtable, boards from Miro, projects from inVision, forms from Typeforms, documents from Google Docs, Sheets and Calendar, and more! 

Here's a quick run-down:

Team Communication

When it comes to team communication, Asana and ClickUp are pretty on par. Both allow you to comment on tasks, tag team members, assign tasks to members, as well as add Guests outside of your organization to collaborate (like consultants or clients, for example). 

My absolute favorite feature in both apps when it came down to communicating with my team was the Conversations option. This allows threads of comments related to a specific project. That said, they are setup a little differently in each app and it comes down to your personal preference. 

In Asana, each project you setup as a “Conversations” view. Within that view, you can start “New Conversations” within that view so all of your conversations are in one place. You can start as many conversations as you’d like. 

In ClickUp, you can add a Conversation as a “View” in each list/project, and rename it to whatever you’d like. You can add as many “Views” that are conversations as you’d like, though it becomes a bit messy if you have more than 2 or 3. That said, depending on how you structure your ClickUp Workspace, most projects that my team work on don’t require more than 1 conversation anyway. 

Price

Moving from Asana to ClickUp ultimately was triggered by price. While it wasn’t the deciding factor with this project management tool, it was what initially got me looking into ClickUp as an alternative. 

For paid plans, Asana currently requires a minimum of 5 users – whether you have a team of 5 or not. Users are identified by their email addresses – if they share the same domain as your workspace, they’re added as a “User” instead of a “Guest”.

For ClickUp, price is based on the number of users you have – no matter how many – and their monthly (or annual) rate per user is currently lower than Asana anyway, despite the minimum-5-user-rule.

ClickUp also works with partners and offers discounts, which is how I first heard about the app. Because I noticed them offering an exclusive rate to a community I was a part of, I reached out about my own and their customer experience was top notch. They responded immediately and set up an exclusive rate for my own members as well. Talk about good service!

Bonus: ClickUp Goals 

Before jumping into my final recap and verdict, I just have to show off my absolute favorite feature within ClickUp: Goals. 

Goals allow you to set a target and then create tasks with specific, measurable “mini” goals that you can track progress on. As you update those “mini” goals, (ie. be featured on a certain number of podcasts, sell a certain number of units, help a certain number of people or hit an email newsletter list goal), the progress for the overall goal updates automatically. 

The Goals feature is a great way to really keep your team engaged and on board with the overall strategic direction of your business. And through measurable action, nonetheless!

Recap and Verdict

After comparing their main features, Asana and ClickUp are pretty similar. Both have a few features and functionalities that stand up over the other app. Asana is easy and intuitive to learn. ClickUp requires a bit more creativity but has a few more robust and unique features.

At the end of the day, both Asana and ClickUp are great options for a project management tool to use with your team. I'd suggest taking advantage of their free plans and really take the time to explore them both. Ultimately, one will come out on top and you'll be ready to get organized, centralize your project management and manage your team like the absolute #boss that you are.

What's your favorite project management tool? Share in the comments below!