project management tool · head to head
Asana vs Taskade
Comparison Summary
Asana scored 6.7 and Taskade scored 5.3 on our project management tool test script.
Asana: Asana is the smoother tool to work in: pasting builds tasks, the CSV import understood all our columns and finished 200 rows in about 10 seconds, its AI was accurate, and the export keeps dependencies. But a new account runs on a 14-day trial, and much of what impressed us, from Gantt charts and rules to custom fields and the AI, is paid. The free plan is for two people and has list, board and calendar views.
Taskade: Taskade's free plan does more than you might expect: a pasted Markdown checklist built our phases in one go, repeating tasks and a fast automation worked without paying, and CSV import took seconds. But the Windows app was the heaviest we have tested, froze once, and added itself to startup without asking. Imported dates become plain text, the project's own CSV export dropped every due date, Gantt and dependencies are paid, and the free plan has no AI credits at all.
Editor's Verdict
Choose Asana if…
Best for: Teams ready to pay for Starter or Advanced who want a polished, fast-to-learn project tool with strong import and export.
- The CSV import recognised all seven of our columns with no manual mapping; 200 rows took about 10 seconds
- Pasting a multi-line list creates one task per line, and dates can be typed
- Rules can be built by describing them in a chat; ours fired within about 20 seconds
Choose Taskade if…
Best for: Individuals and pairs who want lists, boards and simple automation for free and are happy in the browser.
- A pasted Markdown checklist becomes phase blocks with tasks in one step
- Repeating tasks and a working automation on the free plan
- The automation fired within about a second
Head to Head
Task by task
The same prompts, pasted word for word into each app on a clean Windows 11 PC. On the 8 tasks both apps were graded on, Asana completed 5 and Taskade completed 1.
| Task | Asana | Taskade |
|---|---|---|
| P1 · Build a project | Partial≈ 9 min | Partial≈ 15–20 min |
| P2 · Views | Pass≈ 2 min | Partial≈ 4 min |
| P3 · Rules | Pass≈ 6 min | Partial≈ 10 min |
| P4 · 200-row import | Partial≈ 4 min | Partial≈ 2 min |
| P5 · Scale | Pass≈ 1.5 min import | Pass≈ 2 min |
| P6 · Permissions | Pass≈ 10 min | Partial≈ 4 min |
| P7 · AI | Pass≈ 20–30 s each | Fail– |
| P8 · Leave | Partial≈ 6 min | Partial≈ 5 min |
Measured on the same PC
| Measurement | Asana | Taskade |
|---|---|---|
| On disk | 1.1 GB | 597 MB |
| Admin rights | Not needed | No |
| Starts with Windows | No | Yes |
| 40-task project | ≈ 9 min | ≈ 15–20 min |
| Views on the free plan | 3 / 4 | 3 / 4 |
| Cold start | ≈ 14 s | ≈ 15–50 s |
| Memory | 1.4 – 1.8 GB | 1.3 – 2.4 GB |
| CSV export | 47 / 47 | Dates lost |
| Left after uninstall | ≈ 245 MB | ≈ 275 MB |
Pros and cons
Asana
+ What works
- The CSV import recognised all seven of our columns with no manual mapping; 200 rows took about 10 seconds
- Pasting a multi-line list creates one task per line, and dates can be typed
- Rules can be built by describing them in a chat; ours fired within about 20 seconds
- Recurring tasks and rules did not get in each other's way
- Dash, the AI chat, got our project summary and the overdue question right
- The project CSV export includes subtasks and dependencies
- Removing a member took effect on their next page load and offers a handover of their tasks
- No admin rights, no startup entry and no services
− What falls short
- New accounts start a 14-day trial, so you see paid features first; there is no button to end it early
- The free plan is for 2 users, with list, board and calendar only; Gantt, Timeline, rules, custom fields and AI need Starter
- No priority field on the free plan: priorities are a custom field, which is a paid feature
- The import keeps “Done” as a label, does not mark those tasks complete and does not split “qa;legal” tags
- Heavy: about 14 seconds to a usable window and 1.4–1.8 GB of private memory, with a working set up to 3.2 GB
- Dash created subtasks without asking first, and an AI field suggestion kept coming back after we dismissed it
- Closing the window leaves Asana running; the uninstall leaves about 245 MB
- Marketing emails are pre-ticked at sign-up
Taskade
+ What works
- A pasted Markdown checklist becomes phase blocks with tasks in one step
- Repeating tasks and a working automation on the free plan
- The automation fired within about a second
- CSV import of 500 rows in about a second, every value kept
- Starter plan from $6 a month for three people
− What falls short
- Added itself to Windows startup without asking, and the entry stays after uninstalling
- Up to 2.4 GB of memory, a slow cold start, and the app froze once until restarted
- The project's CSV export dropped every due date and shuffled the rows
- Imported dates and statuses become plain text, not dates or fields
- Gantt chart and dependencies need a paid plan
- No AI credits on the free plan, and only 10 automation runs a month
Privacy and security
What we saw on our own test PC. Each review also lists what the vendor states about data handling, training and certifications.
Asana
No startup entry
The installer added no startup entry, services, scheduled tasks or listening ports. The app does keep running after you close its window.
Marketing emails pre-ticked
Sign-up ticks “Get feature updates and tips via email” by default, and the industry question notes that Asana may contact you about its products.
Organization-wide by default
New projects are open to everyone in the organization as Editors until you make them private.
Left after uninstalling
A 236 MB profile folder with the signed-in session and a 10 MB updater.
Taskade
Signed installer
Signed by Taskcade Inc. through Microsoft's signing service.
Starts with Windows
Added a startup entry without asking; it remains after uninstalling.
Firewall prompt
First launch asked to accept network connections; declining did not affect the app.
Share link on by default
A workspace link giving editor access is enabled until you turn it off.
Features & Pricing
| Asana | Taskade | |
|---|---|---|
| Web | ✓ | ✓ |
| Windows | ✓ | ✓ |
| macOS | ✓ | ✓ |
| Linux | — | ✓ |
| iOS | ✓ | ✓ |
| Android | ✓ | ✓ |
| Free plan | ✓ | ✓ |
| Paid from | $10.99/mo | $6/mo |
Asana plans
- Personal$0
- Starter$10.99/user/mo
- Advanced$24.99/user/mo
- EnterpriseCustom
From Asana's pricing page, checked Oct 29, 2026.
Taskade plans
- Free$0
- Starter$6/mo
- Pro$10/mo
- Business$25/mo
- Max$100/mo
- EnterpriseContact sales
From Taskade's pricing page, checked Oct 31, 2026.
Who makes them
- Company
- Asana:Asana, Inc.
- Taskade:Taskcade Inc. (Taskade)
- Headquarters
- Asana:San Francisco, California, USA
- Taskade:San Francisco, California, USA
- Founded
- Asana:2008
- Taskade:2017
- Funding
- Asana:Public company, listed on the New York Stock Exchange (ASAN) through a direct listing in September 2020.
- Taskade:Venture-backed private company; Y Combinator alumnus.
Timelines, official links and sources are in each review: Asana · Taskade.
Read the full reviews
This page compares the two side by side. Each full review has the complete test log, every screenshot, the scoring notes, pricing, security and company details.
Asana reviewSituational 6.7 Asana is the smoother tool to work in: pasting builds tasks, the CSV import understood all our columns and finished 200 rows in about 10 seconds, its AI was accurate, and the export keeps dependencies. But a new account runs on a 14-day trial, and much of what impressed us, from Gantt charts and rules to custom fields and the AI, is paid. The free plan is for two people and has list, board and calendar views. Read the full review → Taskade reviewSituational 5.3 Taskade's free plan does more than you might expect: a pasted Markdown checklist built our phases in one go, repeating tasks and a fast automation worked without paying, and CSV import took seconds. But the Windows app was the heaviest we have tested, froze once, and added itself to startup without asking. Imported dates become plain text, the project's own CSV export dropped every due date, Gantt and dependencies are paid, and the free plan has no AI credits at all. Read the full review → Project Management Alternatives
ClickUp Recommended Small teams that want lists, boards, Gantt charts, automations and AI in one free workspace and do not mind a busy, heavy app 7.4 Read reviewReview 
Notion Situational Individuals and small teams who want tasks living next to their docs and wiki, and who are happy to build their own setup 6.9 Read reviewReview 
Airtable Situational Teams who want a flexible database behind their projects, with automations and reliable CSV in and out 6.8 Read reviewReview 
