Asana vs Microsoft Planner

Asana

• Teams coordinating projects across several departments
• Organizations that tie project work to company goals
• Nonprofits and schools that qualify for the 50% discount

Microsoft Planner

• Organizations already paying for Microsoft 365
• Teams that plan and track work inside Microsoft Teams
• Project managers who want Gantt timelines, sprints and baselines on a Microsoft stack

Asana

• The free Personal plan is limited to 2 users; timeline and Gantt views, forms and custom fields start on Starter.
• Seats are sold in fixed steps: one at a time from 2 to 5 users, then blocks of 5 up to 30 and blocks of 10 up to 100.
• Portfolios, goals, approvals and built-in time tracking need the Advanced plan at $24.99 per user / month.
• The download page lists Mac, Windows, iOS and Android apps but no Linux app.

Microsoft Planner

• Basic Planner is not sold on its own: it comes with Microsoft 365 business, enterprise, education and frontline subscriptions.
• Timeline (Gantt), sprints, dependencies and goals need Planner Plan 1; baselines, critical path and task history need Planner and Project Plan 3.
• Copilot and Planner Agent features need a separate Microsoft 365 Copilot license, listed at $30.00 per user / month, paid yearly.
• Microsoft lists a web app, a Teams app and iOS and Android apps. The only desktop software is the Project desktop app that comes with Plan 3.

Asana

Project views

Show a project as a list, board, calendar, timeline or Gantt chart. Timeline and Gantt views start on the Starter plan.

Rules and forms

Rules automate routine steps and forms turn incoming requests into tasks. Both start on Starter; form branching needs Advanced.

Goals and portfolios

Goals link projects and tasks to company-level objectives, and portfolios track groups of related projects in one place. Both are part of the Advanced plan.

Workload and resource management

Shows how much work each person has so tasks can be rebalanced. Capacity planning across the organization is an Enterprise feature.

Reporting dashboards

Charts built from live project data to show the state of a team's work, included from the Starter plan.

AI Teammates and AI Studio

AI Studio builds AI-driven workflows from a monthly credit pool: 50K credits on Starter, 75K on Advanced and 200K on Enterprise. Extra AI requests are billed per request.

Microsoft Planner

Grid, Board, Schedule and Charts views

Basic plans, included with Microsoft 365, show tasks as a grid, a kanban board, a schedule or charts, with labels, checklists and file attachments on each task.

My Day, My Tasks and My Plans

Personal views gather the tasks assigned to you across plans, along with assignments from meeting notes, Microsoft Loop and flagged Outlook email.

Timeline, sprints and dependencies

Planner Plan 1 adds premium plans with a Timeline (Gantt) view, backlogs and sprints, task dependencies, milestones, project goals and a People view for workload.

Portfolios, baselines and critical path

Planner and Project Plan 3 adds portfolios across plans, baselines, critical path, task history and dependencies with lead and lag. Plan 1 users can view portfolios but not create them.

Planner in Microsoft Teams

Planner runs as an app inside Microsoft Teams, where a plan sits next to its files and chats. Teams is sold separately from Planner Plan 1 and Plan 3.

Copilot and Planner Agent

With a Microsoft 365 Copilot license, Copilot generates plans, task lists and status reports, and simple routine tasks can be assigned to Planner Agent to carry out.

Asana

• Personal$0

  For one or two people: unlimited tasks and projects, list, board and calendar views, and 100+ integrations.

• Starter$10.99

  per user / month, billed annually ($13.49 billed monthly)

  No seat limit. Adds timeline and Gantt views, reporting dashboards, forms, custom fields, automations and free guests.

• Advanced$24.99

  per user / month, billed annually ($30.49 billed monthly)

  Adds portfolios, goals, resource management, approvals and proofing, time tracking and form branching.

• EnterpriseCustom

  SAML authentication, SCIM provisioning, capacity planning and service accounts. An Enterprise+ tier adds further compliance controls.

Microsoft Planner

• Microsoft 365 Business Basic (no Teams)$5.40

  per user / month, paid yearly

  Microsoft 365 suite plan that includes basic Planner: Grid, Board, Schedule and Charts views and basic templates. Microsoft Teams is not included.

• Microsoft 365 Business Basic$7.00

  per user / month, paid yearly

  The same suite plan with Microsoft Teams, where Planner also runs as a Teams app. Business plans cover up to 300 users.

• Planner Plan 1$10.00

  per user / month, paid yearly

  Premium plans with Timeline (Gantt), Calendar and People views, backlogs and sprints, task dependencies, project goals, milestones and custom fields.

• Planner and Project Plan 3$30.00

  per user / month, paid yearly

  Everything in Plan 1 plus portfolios, baselines, critical path, task history, lead and lag dependencies and the Project desktop app.

Asana

• Annual discount

  Save up to 18% with annual billing

  Asana's pricing page lists Starter at $10.99 per user / month billed annually against $13.49 monthly, and Advanced at $24.99 against $30.49.

• Nonprofit

  50% off for eligible nonprofits

  Qualifying 501(c)(3) nonprofits, public libraries and international equivalents can apply for 50% off a Starter or Advanced annual plan.

• Education

  50% off for education customers

  Approved schools and universities get 50% off paid plans after an eligibility check. The page still names the older Premium and Business plans.

Microsoft Planner

• Nonprofit

  Business Basic free for eligible nonprofits

  Microsoft's nonprofit page lists Microsoft 365 Business Basic, which includes Planner, as a grant that is free for up to 300 users, with discounted staff pricing on Business Standard and Premium.