Wrike vs Asana Features & Price Compared: Which Is Better?

Doing a Wrike vs Asana comparison is a lot like Coca-Cola vs Pepsi. Or Android vs iOS. 

Both apps work great and are the leading players in the project management industry. But one will always be more to your liking. 

So, which of the two is the project management software your business needs? We try to answer that question below.

What is the difference between Wrike and Asana?

The difference between Asana and Wrike is that Asana is more like a team collaboration tool that's designed to improve the relationship between managers and their teams. Wrike is fully-fledged project management software that's ideal for teams who want their project to have a very strict organizational hierarchy. 

Asana has a more minimalistic and modern-looking interface that allows users to be up and running in very little time. Asana's software is also more playful; don't be surprised if you see unicorns jumping on your screen when you complete a task.

Wrike uses a folder hierarchy by default that organizes work in Spaces, Folders, and Projects. Projects can have tasks and you can view them in various ways, including in a Kanban board. 

There’s also a spreadsheet-like view, which is a great functionality if you're into working in spreadsheets. It's an ideal choice if you prefer a well-organized hierarchy of tasks. Asana has no such feature. 

Asana has a more well-designed form builder and automation engine. Although Wrike has a form builder, Asana's just works more smoothly. Wrike's automation engine is hidden away and much harder to use. 

With its simpler hierarchy, Asana is a better platform for a small business or midsize companies. Wrike's focus on folder hierarchy, with its ability to create folders and subfolders within a project, makes it a suitable platform for mid-sized companies and growing businesses that want to keep multiple projects organized. 

Asana lacks in-depth reporting and budgeting tools, so you'll have to use third-party integrations to gain these functionalities. Wrike beats Asana in this regard as it comes with a time tracker functionality and resource management features. It also has a budgeting feature that makes its platform stand out. 

In other words, Asana is a lighter project management tool, while Wrike is more heavyweight and comes with more powerful features.

Check out our Asana review if you need more details on this powerful task-management app. If you’re more interested in Wrike, we also have a Wrike review available, so you can get a more in-depth look at that all-around tool.

Wrike vs Asana comparison chart

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Wrike vs Asana pricing

The pricing plans are an important metric for choosing the best project management system. In this regard, Wrike and Asana have some differences.

Asana has three main plans, with the addition of a free plan. The cheapest paid plan, called Premium, stands at US$10.99 per user per month, billed annually, or $13.49 billed monthly. This makes it a slightly more expensive plan than Wrike's Professional plan, which costs $9.80 per user per month. Asana's Premium plan unlocks an additional Timeline view (which works like a Gantt chart), while Wrike's Professional plan unlocks the Gantt chart feature. 

Where Wrike shines is its Business plan that comes with a range of advanced features but also a hefty price tag. For $24.80 per user per month, you'll get access to features like custom fields and workflows, an automation engine, real-time reports, resource management, time tracking, effort allocation, and more. 

Asana's Business plan costs almost the same, starting at $24.99 billed annually or $30.49 billed monthly. It also opens the door to more advanced features growing companies might need, like Portfolios, Goals, advanced reporting, and advanced workflows. 

Wrike offers a Calendar view with the Business plan, while Asana offers it with the free plan. Wrike's Professional and Business plans impose a user limit of 200, while Asana's don't. Wrike Business and above are only available as an annual subscription.

Wrike also has two more plans geared towards specific teams: Wrike for Marketing Teams and Wrike for Professional Services Teams.

But here’s the tricky part with Wrike: it’s sold in groups of users. For accounts of up to 30 users, subscriptions are sold in groups of 5. For accounts of 30 to 100 users, subscriptions are sold in groups of 10. For accounts with more than 100 users, subscriptions are sold in groups of 25.

This means that if your team counts 11 members and you want to subscribe to the Professional plan, you’ll have to pay for 15 users. You’ll be paying for four empty seats each month. Instead of paying $108 per month, you'll be looking at $147 per month, which is an additional $468 annually.

Also, many advanced Wrike features are offered as add-ons that contribute to your monthly billing. 

Which is best for you?

Both Asana and Wrike have similarly priced plans, although Asana's plans are a little easier to understand. Wrike's tricky pricing might confuse many project managers. Another downside is the user limit Wrike Professional and Business plans impose. It’s also not possible to purchase Wrike Business on a monthly subscription. But if you're a growing business that needs Wrike's advanced features, definitely go with the Business plan. 

Asana vs Wrike free versions

Asana’s free plan is quite generous and gives you access to features like three project views (Board, List, and Calendar), basic reporting, integrations with 100+ apps, and unlimited projects. You can even add a time tracking functionality by integrating Asana with a third-party app. But here’s the downside: the free plan is limited to 15 users. In other words, if you’re a team of more than 15 members, you’ll have to subscribe to a paid plan. 

Wrike’s free plan is a good solution for smaller teams that need to manage simple projects. Although it doesn’t impose a user limit, it’s designed to support a smaller team of 1-5 members. You’ll get access to features like task management and subtask management, custom workspace views (Kanban, Table view), and folder hierarchy. The downside is that Wrike’s free plan lacks a Gantt chart view, time-tracking functionality (only available with the Business plan and up), custom workflows, and real-time reports. 

Which is best for you? 

Both Asana and Wrike’s freemium versions have plenty of functionality for small teams. The difference is that Asana’s limited to 15 users, while Wrike’s more limited in project views. 

While Asana offers Calendar view and time-tracking functionality (although not native) with the free plan, Wrike does this only with its Business plan or higher. If the user limit is an issue for you, go with Wrike. 

Customer support

Both Wrike and Asana offer email and chat support, although Wrike has the upper hand here as it also has phone support. Asana doesn't offer phone support at any subscription level. If you submit a ticket to the support team at Asana, their support providers reach out within one business day. 

There's also 24/7 support, but this service is only available to subscribers of the Enterprise plan. Wrike has a Premium Support package available for purchase as a subscription add-on.

Which is best for you? 

Both project management solutions offer satisfactory customer support, but Wrike’s slightly better. The only difference is that Wrike also has phone support. 

Asana offers 24/7 support to its Enterprise customers, while Wrike charges premium support as a subscription add-on. 

Wrike’s response times seem to be faster than Asana’s. If you’re signed up for a free trial, Wrike will reach out instantly to offer assistance every step of the way. 

Knowledgebase and learning

Asana's knowledge base is quite extensive and includes different resources that range from guides and blogs to webinars. Asana has its own academy called Asana Academy, which contains a set of lessons that can help you gain an in-depth understanding of project management fundamentals and how the system works. 

Asana's community forum is also lively, where you can find fellow users and employees answering questions. 

Wrike’s knowledge base offers a range of resources, including interactive training where you learn how the software works step-by-step, video tutorials, help articles, and monthly webinars. There’s also a community forum where you can ask for help and help out other users. 

Which is best for you? 

This round is a strong tie as both platforms offer rich knowledge bases that contain a variety of resources. If we have to pick a winner, Asana might be at an advantage thanks to its Asana Academy. 

Asana vs Wrike features & functionality

In the following chapter, we’ll compare Wrike and Asana in various categories in terms of features and functionality. 

Choosing a winner in each category will probably be tricky as these two solutions are not so different from one another and offer similar project management features. In some rounds, there will be no clear winner as the best tool will depend completely on the needs of your team. 

Wrike or Asana for ease of use?

Asana might seem intimidating at first, but the good news is plenty of resources are available to help you learn the system. 

On top of that, the system has some awesome ready-to-go project templates that make it easy to add new workflows to Asana. 

In other words, you don't have to build workflows from scratch. Simply choose a project template, like content editorial or new employee onboarding, and let the software set up the perfect workflow for your specific project. There are also custom templates you can design to save your team time from creating the same workflows over and over again. 

Aside from that, Asana's user interface is simple, colorful, and user-friendly. You'll find the navigation menu on the left, user options and help center in the top-right corner, and your task management view in the center of the screen. All the important information is easily visible thanks to the colorful user interface, like tags on tasks, assignees, due dates, etc. 

The List view works really well and gives a clear overview of all tasks. You can see who is doing which task and when they're due, along with other details. If you're not a fan of List view, you can view tasks in a Kanban board that offers drag-and-drop functionality. 

The Timeline view, which is similar to a Gantt chart, is very easy to read. You can drag and drop tasks, create task dependencies, add milestones to the timeline, and more.

Wrike has a steeper learning curve compared to Asana, but this is understandable considering it's a more heavyweight system. Wrike's homepage is like a navigation center for all of your work. 

Here, you'll find three panels: the left panel that gives you the latest notifications and assignments, the center panel that contains shortcuts to your work, and the right panel with quick links to smart folders and tools. 

Work gets done in Spaces, Folders, Sub-folders, Projects, Tasks and Subtasks. You use them to contain and organize information, which becomes quite straightforward once you get your head around how the system works. 

Wrike also lets you view your tasks in different ways. The Kanban Board might even be better than Asana's. The downside is that the interface looks outdated and is not as colorful as Asana's. 

If Asana has a Timeline view, Wrike has Gantt charts, although they're a bit more complex, especially if you’re not tech-savvy. You can drag and drop tasks on the timeline, create dependencies, adjust due dates, and more. 

Which is best for you? 

When it comes to ease of use, Asana is the winner, as it’s a more lightweight product. If you’re a non-technical manager and are just starting with project management software, Asana might be the better pick. 

It might not be as powerful as Wrike, but it’s much easier to use. However, if you need a more complex system, go with Wrike, but get ready to invest in some learning. 

Integrations

Asana integrates with 200+ third-party apps like Google Drive, Zapier, Zoom, and Slack, so there’s no need to worry about extending the platform’s functionality. It’s important to mention some more powerful integrations are only available with the higher-priced plans. 

For example, the integration with Tableau and Power BI is only accessible if you’re subscribed to the Business plan or higher.  

Wrike is more restrictive in terms of integrations. It only allows specific app integrations based on your subscription plan. 

The free plan lets you integrate Wrike with cloud storage platforms, but that’s pretty much it. The Professional plan is slightly better as it lets you connect the platform with a productivity app. 

However, the native Salesforce integration and Adobe Creative Cloud extension are only available to users of the Business plan and higher. 

The paid add-on Wrike Integrate unlocks 400+ custom integrations, including Basecamp, Asana, Quickbooks, and Monday.com, but this comes at an additional cost. 

Which is best for you? 

If you need integrations with multiple tools beyond cloud storage platforms and productivity apps, consider going with Asana as its ecosystem is more well-established. But if you have the budget to spend on Wrike Integrate, it’s definitely worth it. 

Product limitations

Asana’s weaknesses lie in its strength. As a lightweight system with a low learning curve, it might not be the best choice for businesses that need more robust project management capabilities. 

If your projects are more heavyweight and involve dozens of moving parts, Asana might fall short. 

Another downside is that Asana is not a traditional project management software. You won’t find features like resource management, budgeting, or expense tracking. The system also lacks a native time-tracking functionality. 

The good news is you can deploy some integrations with third-party apps to gain some of these features.

Many users also complain about the inbox madness. If you’re working on or overseeing many tasks, your inbox may be bombarded with notifications. But this is easily avoidable by turning off email notifications. 

Asana's hefty monthly plans may put off some users that are working with limited budgets. At $10.99/user/month for the Premium plan and $24.90 for the Business plan, it's more expensive than its competitors. 

And finally, the thorn in many users’ eyes: you can’t assign a task to more than one user. One way to handle this issue is by duplicating the task and assigning it to another user. 

Now let's discuss Wrike's limitations. Wrike's paid plans are on par with Asana's, which may be a downside for many teams on a budget. 

The cheapest monthly plan stands at $9.80/user/month, while the Business plan will cost you $24.80/user/month, not to mention the tricky pricing based on groups of users. 

As Wrike comes with a plethora of features, managing the system can be complex, especially for newbies to the project management world. Although Wrike comes with a generous knowledge base, many features are complicated. 

There is a definite learning curve, so people unfamiliar with this type of program will need additional time and training to ensure they can utilize all of the project's essential functions.

Wrike also lacks more advanced communication features, like live chat and video calling tools, which can be a downside considering the hefty monthly plans. 

Which is best for you?

There's no winner in this category as both tools come with their own limitations. Asana shines in simple project management but lacks more advanced project management features like resource management and budgeting. 

Wrike, on the other hand, is a full-fledged project management system, but lacks more advanced communication features. 

Mobile versions

Both Asana and Wrike have mobile apps for Android and iOS you can use to access your tasks from everywhere. 

The mobile apps are functional for managing simpler tasks but can't replace the desktop or web apps for performing more complex activities. The mobile apps have good offline capabilities.

Which is best for you? 

Wrike and Asana both offer iOS and Android versions of their mobile apps that provide access to most of the features you'll find in the browser version. Both mobile apps are easy to use and convenient. 

However, they can't match the desktop versions in terms of functionality. This has nothing to do with Asana or Wrike; it's just the limitation of mobile screens.

Reporting 

Let’s begin with Asana’s reporting capabilities. Although free plan users don’t get access to any substantial reports, the users of the Premium plan can access report dashboards that cover many useful project insights, such as task completion over time and budget projections.

The data is presented in a visual, easily digestible format so that you can get an accurate picture of what is happening in your team. You can even choose a preset chart option from the template library or choose to make your own by clicking Add custom chart. 

For instance, you can choose to see upcoming tasks by assignee, tasks by custom field, projects with the most completed tasks, and more. If you're on a Business or Enterprise plan, you can create charts on project metadata.

Compared to Asana, Wrike has a more elaborate report-building system. Wrike Reports let you gain insights into your projects and tasks. You can use a pre-defined report template or build a custom report from scratch for more specific analytics. 

The Report Builder helps you quickly create a new report, and you can refresh or reopen reports at any time to have them update with the most up-to-date data. 

For example, the Project Risk Report uses AI to analyze all active projects and predict how likely each project will be completed on time. This can be a helpful capability for teams that juggle multiple projects simultaneously. 

Users of the Business plan can access timesheets and time tracking reports, which makes it so much easier to calculate billable hours. 

Which is best for you? 

Wrike’s the winner in this category as it lets you create more specific reports than Asana. Although Asana is not without its reporting capabilities, Wrike’s are more in-depth. Asana also doesn't have native budgeting or time tracking features built for report generation.

Automation

Both Wrike and Asana come with advanced automation features. Asana lets you set up Rules to automate repetitive tasks and processes so that you and your team can focus on more critical work. You can choose a pre-made Rule from the Rules Gallery, or you can use the custom rules builder to create your own. 

For example, you can use Rules to automate work like assigning work to the right teammate, setting due dates, moving tasks to the correct project, etc. 

Wrike’s Automation Engine does pretty much the same thing. You can use it to automate your most-used workflows to reduce manual work. You can set up triggers that will activate reminders, update work status, move and organize work, etc. 

Which is best for you? 

Although both platforms offer advanced automation tools, Asana has a slight lead just because it offers the automation feature with its Premium plan. 

Wrike hides the feature behind its Business plan. The feature is also limited; you only get 200 actions per each paid seat monthly if you’re subscribed to the Business plan. There's also a limit to the number of actions per minute.

Team management 

Asana’s Business plan comes with an advanced feature called Workload view. This view lets you visualize your team’s work and use the insight to prevent burnout. If a team member has too much on their plate, you can reallocate work to even out the workloads. 

Goals is another great team management feature. In short, it’s a goal-tracking system that assures team leaders and executives their teams are on track to meet company and team goals. 

This feature is a great way to improve team performance and motivate employees to perform better. Business and Enterprise customers can create two types of Goals in Asana: company goals and team goals. 

The downside is that Asana doesn’t have time-tracking functionality. You can always integrate the software with a third-party app to achieve this. 

Wrike, on the other hand, has a native time-tracking feature. This feature works seamlessly and helps managers monitor how much time a team member spends on each task. Wrike lacks features for managing workloads and planning work based on team availability.

Which is best for you? 

Both platforms have some great team management features but also lack some. For instance, Asana comes with the Workload feature but lacks a time tracking functionality. Wrike offers a native time tracking feature, but lacks Workload view. 

Task management 

Asana lets you view your tasks in various ways, including Kanban board, Lists, Timeline, and Calendar. 

Each task can have a description, comments, attachments, assignee, due date, tags, and subtasks. Even subtasks can have a due date, assignee, and notes and comments. You can invite outside clients, freelancers, and other third parties to access projects free of charge.

In Wrike, the main work happens in tasks and subtasks. The system lets you add tasks to Folders and Projects, and each task can have a description, due date, assignee, duration, status, comments, and more. Unlike Asana, tasks can have one or more people assigned to them. Tasks can also have status options, like active, completed, deferred, or canceled.

Subtasks come in handy when you want to break large tasks into smaller action items. Similar to tasks, subtasks can also have an assignee and can be assigned a due date. You can even detach a subtask and convert it to a standalone task if you wish. 

The system lets you attach files to tasks and subtasks from different storage locations, like Dropbox or your own computer. You can also star tasks to make them easier to access in the future. When you star tasks, they appear in Starred tasks smart folder. All users (except collaborators) on all account types can duplicate tasks and make tasks recurrent.

Similar to Asana, you can view your tasks in different ways; there are Kanban boards, Gantt charts, Table view, and Calendar.

Both Wrike and Asana come with a neat feature called Forms that works pretty much the same. When someone fills out a Form, it will show up as a new task in the project it's connected to. You can add attachments to forms such as creative briefs, images, documents, PDFs, and other files. Forms are designed to help users collect creative requests, bug reports, customer feedback, IT requests, and more.

Which is best for you? 

One advantage Wrike has over Asana in terms of task management is that users can track how much time they spend working on a given task. You can also add multiple assignees to a single task. Aside from that, the two platforms offer similar functionality for task management. 

Which is better, Asana or Wrike? Our conclusion

By now, you're probably wondering:

This post drags on forever. When are we going to hear the winner announcements?

Get ready for some disappointment because we won't be announcing a winner. Instead, we're going to discuss the instances when Asana would be a better fit and when Wrike would make the more sensible solution.

Opt for Asana if you are a small to midsize company. It’s great if you need a powerful tool to improve team collaboration, and prefer something more streamlined and simple. And/or if you care about tracking your team's workload and prefer a platform with a small learning curve

Go with Wrike if you are a larger or rapidly growing company. It’s great if you want an all-in-one project management platform, and don't mind paying extra for add-ons and paying annually. It's the best choice if you need help managing more complex projects, ones where a lot of milestones are involved and you need significant reporting and time tracking capabilities.

At the end of the day, the best project management app for you has to have the right features based on the type of work your team does and the number of people who will use it. And, of course, your budget. 

If, even after reading this extensive post, you’re still in two minds, consider checking out the free plans for each work management platform. Alternatively, you can take advantage of the free trial the two platforms offer. 

You can also see how these apps stack up against a broader field in our project management software comparison, if you’re seeking a more meta-perspective.

It’s also possible you’ll end up not going with either one of the tools. In that case, you can check out our best Wrike alternatives to see what other apps might suit you. We also have an article covering the best Asana alternatives, so you can get coverage from the other side too.

Good luck!