The life of a project manager for a small or midsize team has arguably never been more chaotic. As if it weren’t enough to manage different projects, tasks, teams, and departments, much of that work is now being coordinated remotely. 

A person working on his/her computer, remotely

Asana vs Jira: Task management functions

If you find yourself drowning in a desk full of sticky notes and to-do lists, or you just can’t keep up with the action items flying into your inbox, Asana and Jira can both simplify things to make your work more efficient.  

Asana uses the favored project/task system, where you create projects and then list tasks for each project. Jira focuses on scrum and kanban boards to match your development framework. 

Both apps afford you the ability to assign tasks to team members, set deadlines, and attach files and comments to them. 

Jira's task management options
Jira’s task management options

To manage workflows and task processing, Asana lets you customize how you and your team work with each other. It enables you to collaborate together by creating a plan, identifying needed steps, and eliminating threats or risks to your projects.

Asana also allows different teams (ie. sales and marketing) to work together on a product launch or upcoming campaign. Asana categorizes its workflows as “views,” so you can toggle back and forth to see your progress in different ways. 

Asana task management options
Asana task management options

On the other hand, Jira mainly uses its “roadmaps” feature, along with kanban and scrum boards to manage workflows. The roadmaps help you see the big picture, and then the kanban and scrum boards identify a step-by-step process of what needs to happen to deliver results to your clients. 

AsanaJira
  • Project/task view
  • Custom workflows for different team needs
  • Set deadlines, assign tasks, see a timeline
  • Collaborate with team members on tasks
  • Kanban/scrum boards
  • Roadmaps feature to manage workflow
  • Set deadlines, assign tasks, see a timeline
  • Collaborate with team members on tasks
Asana vs Jira comparison table

Integration options for Asana vs Jira

As far as integration capabilities are concerned, Jira wins. It has more than 3,000 integrations, so you will be more than covered on this front; everything from Adobe and Gliffy to Scriptrunner, Slack, and Trello, can all be added into the Jira interface, so everything is in one workspace. 

Hand scrolling through cellphone apps and integrations
Hand scrolling through cellphone apps and integrations

Asana, on the other hand, offers more than 100 integrations as well as its own API, including everything from Dropbox, Adobe, and Slack to Mailchimp and Zapier. For project managers who manage non-DevOps work and just need “the basics,” Asana will likely be a great fit. 

Pricing tiers for Asana vs Jira 

Asana is a little bit more expensive per user, but both Asana and Jira have free trials that you can sign up for. They also both offer an always-free plan, but it will have limited capabilities compared to paid subscriptions. Like most other subscription models for management apps, their pricing tiers are scalable based on users per month. Asana’s free version works for teams of 15 people or less; Jira’s free version allows teams of under 10 people. 

You won’t get access to all the features, but it at least gives you the basics if you’re on a small budget or just have simple projects. Both apps offer discounts for yearly subscriptions.

Asana vs Jira free options
Asana vs Jira free options

Jira’s paid pricing plans start at $7.50/user/month and Asana’s start at $10.99/user/month. The paid plans for Asana include access to its new Workflow Builder, which helps you create automated processes to coordinate your teams. 

Both Jira and Asana have enterprise pricing options for larger organizations that need a more custom option.

AsanaJira
  • 100+ integrations
  • Free version for <15 people
  • $10.99+ per user/month
  • Enterprise pricing options
  • 3,000+ integrations
  • Free version for <10 people
  • $7.50+ per user/month
  • Enterprise pricing options
Asana vs Jira pricing comparison table

Final thoughts on Asana vs Jira

For Asana vs Jira, they’re built for different kinds of work. Asana is going to give you everything you need for the tried-and-true, classic project management system. Jira is made for software developers, so if your team has nothing to do with DevOps, Asana will probably be a better fit.

Male developer working on different monitors

Final thoughts on Asana vs Jira

For Asana vs Jira, they’re built for different kinds of work. Asana is going to give you everything you need for the tried-and-true, classic project management system. Jira is made for software developers, so if your team has nothing to do with DevOps, Asana will probably be a better fit.

Male developer working on different monitors
Male developer working on different monitors

If you mostly work with non-dev departments and occasionally pull the software team into projects, it may be worth doing a free trial of both to see how they compare with each other. 

Have you used Asana or Jira? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below about which features and abilities you like the best.

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