{"id":365,"date":"2026-11-06T20:18:47","date_gmt":"2026-11-06T19:18:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theprogrammanager.com\/blog\/?p=365"},"modified":"2026-11-06T20:18:47","modified_gmt":"2026-11-06T19:18:47","slug":"asana-vs-smartsheet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theprogrammanager.com\/blog\/asana-vs-smartsheet\/","title":{"rendered":"Asana vs Smartsheet: Pricing, Features and Fit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"ok-byline\"><div class=\"ok-who\"><span class=\"ok-avatar\" aria-hidden=\"true\">MB<\/span><div><strong>Reviewed by Max Benz<\/strong><span>Updated <time datetime=\"2026-11-06\">November 6, 2026<\/time> \u00b7 17 min read<\/span><\/div><\/div><ul class=ok-chips><li class=\"ok-chip ok-chip--ok\">US pricing as of November 6, 2026<\/li><li class=\"ok-chip ok-chip--ok\">Which plan unlocks portfolios and capacity<\/li><li class=\"ok-chip ok-chip--ok\">Based on vendor documentation and G2<\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Asana vs Smartsheet is a choice between a task-first work manager and a spreadsheet-first one. <strong>Choose Asana<\/strong> when accountable owners, task dependencies and cross-team collaboration are the daily problem. <strong>Choose Smartsheet<\/strong> when your teams already think in rows and columns, you need structured intake, reports and dashboards over many sheets, and you can budget for its higher tiers when portfolios or scenario planning matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For a program manager, the interface debate is the least useful part. What counts is whether a slipped milestone in one workstream reaches the next owner, whether capacity conflicts are visible before they hurt a launch, and whether the executive update comes from the same records the teams maintain. Both products can do that work. They charge for it in different places, and the plan you need often isn't the plan with the headline price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"ok-verdict ok-wide\"><div><strong class=\"ok-verdict__h\"><span class=\"ok-fav ok-fav--sm\"><img src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/opskit\/fav\/asana.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"18\" height=\"18\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\"><\/span>Choose Asana for accountable task delivery<\/strong><ul><li>Timeline and Gantt views from Starter at $10.99 per user<\/li><li>Portfolios, goals and resource management inside a portfolio on Advanced<\/li><li>Unlimited free guests and unlimited automations from Starter<\/li><\/ul><\/div><div><strong class=\"ok-verdict__h\"><span class=\"ok-fav ok-fav--sm\"><img src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/opskit\/fav\/smartsheet.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"18\" height=\"18\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\"><\/span>Choose Smartsheet for structured, sheet-based programs<\/strong><ul><li>Grid, Gantt, board and calendar views from Pro at $9 per member<\/li><li>Workload tracking, unlimited automations and unlimited sheets per report on Business<\/li><li>Native Portfolios and SAML single sign-on start at Enterprise<\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"asana-vs-smartsheet-at-a-glance\">Asana vs Smartsheet at a glance<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Asana organizes work as tasks inside projects, then rolls projects into portfolios, which is what a PMO uses. Smartsheet organizes work as rows inside sheets, then pulls sheets together with reports and dashboards. That difference shapes onboarding, reporting and how each tool scales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"ok-compare ok-wide\"><div class=\"ok-scroll\"><table class=\"ok-sbs\"><thead><tr><th scope=\"col\">Tool<\/th><th scope=\"col\">Unit of work<\/th><th scope=\"col\">Entry paid price<\/th><th scope=\"col\">Free option<\/th><th scope=\"col\">Gantt<\/th><th scope=\"col\">Portfolios<\/th><th scope=\"col\">G2 rating<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><th scope=\"row\"><span class=\"ok-tcell\"><span class=\"ok-fav ok-fav--sm\"><img src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/opskit\/fav\/asana.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"18\" height=\"18\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\"><\/span>Asana<\/span><\/th><td>Task in a project<\/td><td>Starter $10.99 per user<\/td><td>Personal, 2 users<\/td><td>From Starter<\/td><td>Advanced<\/td><td>4.4 from 14,107 reviews<\/td><\/tr><tr><th scope=\"row\"><span class=\"ok-tcell\"><span class=\"ok-fav ok-fav--sm\"><img src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/opskit\/fav\/smartsheet.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"18\" height=\"18\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\"><\/span>Smartsheet<\/span><\/th><td>Row in a sheet<\/td><td>Pro $9 per member<\/td><td>Free Contributors; no free plan<\/td><td>From Pro<\/td><td>Enterprise<\/td><td>4.4 from 23,139 reviews<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Prices are monthly equivalents on annual billing in US dollars, excluding tax. Both vendors charge more for month-to-month billing, and both reserve their portfolio features for tiers that cost more than the entry plan suggests. This comparison is based on vendor documentation and G2, not on a hands-on test of either product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"pricing-compare-the-tier-that-does-the-job\">Pricing: compare the tier that does the job<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Asana lists <strong>Starter at $10.99<\/strong> and <strong>Advanced at $24.99<\/strong> per user per month billed annually. On monthly billing those become $13.49 and $30.49. Personal is free for up to two users, and Enterprise is quoted by sales, so there's no list price to plan with. Smartsheet lists <strong>Pro at $9<\/strong> and <strong>Business at $19<\/strong> per member per month billed yearly, or $12 and $24 billed monthly. Enterprise and Advanced Work Management are custom quotes. For a line-by-line breakdown of each vendor, see our <a href=\"\/blog\/asana-pricing\/\">Asana pricing<\/a> and <a href=\"\/blog\/smartsheet-pricing\/\">Smartsheet pricing<\/a> guides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><thead><tr><th>Plan<\/th><th>Price per user per month, billed annually<\/th><th>What it adds for program work<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td>Asana Personal<\/td><td>$0 (2 users)<\/td><td>Basic task management<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Asana Starter<\/td><td>$10.99<\/td><td>Timeline and Gantt views, unlimited automations, unlimited free guests<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Asana Advanced<\/td><td>$24.99<\/td><td>Unlimited portfolios, goals, resource management within a portfolio<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Asana Enterprise<\/td><td>Quote<\/td><td>Universal resource management, capacity planning, SAML sign-on<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Smartsheet Pro<\/td><td>$9 (1 to 10 members)<\/td><td>Grid, Gantt, table, board and calendar views; 250 automations per month<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Smartsheet Business<\/td><td>$19 (3+ members)<\/td><td>Timeline view, workload tracking, unlimited automations and attachments up to 1 TB<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Smartsheet Enterprise<\/td><td>Quote (10+ members)<\/td><td>Portfolios, SAML sign-on, unlimited attachment storage<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Smartsheet Advanced Work Management<\/td><td>Quote<\/td><td>Enterprise plus premium applications<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Two details change the arithmetic. Smartsheet Business has a three-member minimum, so its floor is $57 per month on annual billing even for a tiny group. And Smartsheet Pro is only open to new customers, so an existing customer shouldn't plan on it as a downgrade path. Check the currency and billing term in your quote before you budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/theprogrammanager.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/asana-vs-smartsheet-plan-gates-for-program-work.png\" alt=\"Matrix comparing Asana Advanced and Smartsheet Business on price, Gantt, portfolios, capacity and automations.\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Portfolios sit on Asana Advanced at $24.99 per user, but on Smartsheet only from the quote-only Enterprise tier. Source: Asana and Smartsheet pricing pages, 11\/2026<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"ok-calc\" data-calc=\"{&quot;min&quot;: 1, &quot;max&quot;: 50, &quot;default&quot;: 10, &quot;unit&quot;: &quot;people&quot;, &quot;label&quot;: &quot;Paid users&quot;, &quot;items&quot;: [{&quot;label&quot;: &quot;Asana Starter&quot;, &quot;sub&quot;: &quot;$10.99 per user&quot;, &quot;per&quot;: 10.99}, {&quot;label&quot;: &quot;Asana Advanced&quot;, &quot;sub&quot;: &quot;$24.99 per user&quot;, &quot;per&quot;: 24.99}, {&quot;label&quot;: &quot;Smartsheet Business&quot;, &quot;sub&quot;: &quot;$19 per member, 3 minimum&quot;, &quot;per&quot;: 19, &quot;min_units&quot;: 3}]}\"><div class=\"ok-calc__q\">Paid users: <strong data-n>10 people<\/strong><\/div><ol class=\"ok-bars\"><li><span class=\"ok-bars__label\">Asana Starter<small>$10.99 per user<\/small><\/span><span class=\"ok-track\"><span class=\"ok-fill\" style=\"width:44.0%\"><\/span><\/span><span class=\"ok-bars__v\" data-cost>$110<small> per month<\/small><\/span><\/li><li><span class=\"ok-bars__label\">Smartsheet Business<small>$19 per member, 3 minimum<\/small><\/span><span class=\"ok-track\"><span class=\"ok-fill\" style=\"width:76.0%\"><\/span><\/span><span class=\"ok-bars__v\" data-cost>$190<small> per month<\/small><\/span><\/li><li><span class=\"ok-bars__label\">Asana Advanced<small>$24.99 per user<\/small><\/span><span class=\"ok-track\"><span class=\"ok-fill\" style=\"width:100.0%\"><\/span><\/span><span class=\"ok-bars__v\" data-cost>$250<small> per month<\/small><\/span><\/li><\/ol><p class=\"ok-note\">Monthly cost on annual billing, US dollars, before tax and add-ons. Smartsheet Pro is $9 per member for 1 to 10 members and is open to new customers only.<\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"what-a-ten-person-team-pays\">What a ten-person team pays<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ten paid users on Asana Starter cost <strong>$109.90 per month<\/strong>, or $1,318.80 over a year. The same ten on Asana Advanced cost $249.90 per month. Ten Smartsheet Business members cost <strong>$190 per month<\/strong>, or $2,280 a year, while ten Pro members cost $90 per month. At this size Smartsheet Pro is the cheapest way into Gantt scheduling, but it only works if you can live with 250 automations per month, one sheet per report and ten widgets per dashboard, and it's open to new customers only. Asana Starter is the cheapest option without those caps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The picture changes when you need portfolios. Asana Advanced for 25 users is $624.75 per month. Smartsheet Business for 25 members is $475, but it doesn't include Portfolios, so a PMO that needs native rollups is quoted Enterprise instead and has no public price to compare. Business and Advanced aren't equals, so price Smartsheet Enterprise before you decide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"free-guests-and-contributors\">Free guests and contributors<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Outsiders can take part without a full seat in both products, though the rules differ. Asana Starter and above include unlimited free guests. Smartsheet gives Pro accounts unlimited free Contributors, and Business and above unlimited free Guests. In both cases the free role is limited, so list every stakeholder who has to edit rather than just view, and price those people as paid users. You'll want that count before renewal, not after.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"work-model-tasks-versus-sheets\">Work model: tasks versus sheets<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In Asana the task is the center. It carries an owner, a due date, a description, comments and a place in one or more projects. A program manager can ask who owns a deliverable and what blocks it, and the answer lives on the task itself, so nobody has to hunt through a status deck. Projects show the same tasks as lists, boards, timelines or calendars, so a contributor sees a personal task list while a lead sees a plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In Smartsheet the sheet is the center. Each row is an item, request, milestone or whole project, and the columns capture the fields your workflow needs. Sheets accept formulas, forms and automations, and reports pull selected rows from many sheets into one view. A standard sheet holds up to 400 columns, 20,000 rows or 500,000 cells, whichever limit comes first, so a very large register eventually needs splitting across sheets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The work model decides onboarding more than any feature list. People who want a short daily to-do list tend to accept Asana quickly, and they won't miss the grid. Operations teams that already keep trackers in spreadsheets tend to accept Smartsheet quickly, because the grid feels familiar. G2 reviewers reflect both sides: ease of use leads the praise for each product, and a steep learning curve leads the complaints, which suggests neither tool is effortless once you build real structure on top.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"dependencies-and-schedule-changes\">Dependencies and schedule changes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dependencies only matter when someone maintains them, and the two products don't set them up the same way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"asana-link-tasks-then-watch-the-timeline\">Asana: link tasks, then watch the timeline<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Asana puts Timeline and Gantt views in Starter, and dependencies appear as lines between tasks in those views. A downstream task can be blocked by an upstream one, and the owner of the later task sees what it's waiting for. That's practical for delivery teams who already live in task lists, because the dependency attaches to work people recognize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Start the pilot with a real prerequisite, such as an approved integration contract that blocks a release task. Assign the contract owner and an acceptance criterion, link the release task, then move the contract date and watch what the downstream owner sees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"smartsheet-predecessors-in-a-grid\">Smartsheet: predecessors in a grid<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Smartsheet handles dependencies through duration and predecessor columns, and it won't schedule anything until they're on. A sheet owner or admin has to switch dependencies on for the sheet, and then you'll enter the row numbers that must finish first. The relationship types are finish to start, start to start, finish to finish and start to finish, and you can add lag time in working days. The critical path is highlighted in red once predecessors are in place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Baselines show how the plan gates work. Smartsheet's pricing page lists baselines from Business upward, and only one baseline can be stored on a sheet, so repeated re-planning needs a convention for what the baseline represents. Smartsheet's help article lists Pro as well, so confirm the entitlement in your quote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<aside class=\"ok-callout ok-callout--watch\"><p><strong>A Gantt chart isn&#x27;t a risk process<\/strong> Neither tool decides who acts when an upstream date moves. Write down who's notified, who can accept the new date and who escalates before you build the schedule.<\/p><\/aside>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"a-dependency-test-that-exposes-the-difference\">A dependency test that exposes the difference<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Use one scenario in both trials, and don't change it midway: security must approve an API scope before engineering can finish a customer launch. Put the approval in one project or sheet and the launch in another. Change the approval date, remove its owner, then ask each tool to show the affected milestone, the notified people and the view an executive would open. Record what happened automatically and what needed a person, because that's the real workload and it's what you'll pay for in admin time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"portfolio-reporting-and-executive-views\">Portfolio reporting and executive views<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Asana Advanced includes unlimited portfolios and goals. A portfolio collects projects under one review, shows status and progress for each, and lets leaders drill into the underlying tasks. For a PMO that already runs a regular status cadence, this keeps the executive view tied to the work teams update, so leaders aren't reading a copy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Smartsheet takes two routes, and they're priced differently. On Pro and Business you build reports and dashboards from source sheets. Business removes the Pro limits of one sheet per report and ten widgets per dashboard, so a coordinator can combine many sheets into one dashboard. Native Portfolios start at Enterprise, along with scenario planning for comparing portfolio changes. The dashboard route is clearly flexible, but someone has to maintain the report definitions as sheets change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The test for either product is traceability, and it takes an hour. Put a late project, an open decision and a blocked dependency on screen, and don't prepare the demo data in advance, then click from the red status to the record and the person who owns it. If the answer's a separate slide or spreadsheet, you've built a parallel reporting system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"resource-and-capacity-planning\">Resource and capacity planning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Capacity is clearly gated behind higher tiers in both products. Asana Advanced includes resource management within a single portfolio, while Enterprise adds universal resource management and capacity planning across the organization. Smartsheet Business includes workload tracking, and its separate Resource Management product is an add-on on Business and above. Define what you need first, because you can't compare tiers without it: rough allocation by project, staffing by person, or financial forecasting. They're different requirements, and the cheapest tier usually covers only the first, and that rarely satisfies a PMO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Test it with one shared specialist who's assigned to two launches. See whether the conflict appears early enough for a manager to act, and who can reassign the work once it does. If nobody can say, that's your finding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"automation-intake-and-approvals\">Automation, intake and approvals<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Asana Starter includes unlimited automations. Smartsheet Pro caps automations at 250 per month, and Business and above remove the cap. Smartsheet also supports forms that write directly into a sheet, which suits structured intake: a requester fills in fixed fields and it becomes a row with an owner and status. Asana can route incoming work into a project and assign it for triage, with less enforced structure at the point of entry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Whichever you pick, don't automate the manual process until the team agrees on it. Start with three flows, since they're the ones that matter: a new request needing triage, a missed milestone needing escalation, and a finished deliverable needing approval. Check who can edit each rule, since you'll need an owner for it, how a failed run surfaces and whether an admin can audit changes. Smartsheet's activity log is a Business feature, so audit-heavy programs shouldn't overlook that gate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"permissions-security-and-governance\">Permissions, security and governance<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Both vendors reserve single sign-on controls for higher tiers: SAML authentication starts at Enterprise in each product. Asana Enterprise adds SAML sign-on alongside universal resource management, and Smartsheet Enterprise adds SAML and directory integrations. Smartsheet Business adds unlimited free Guests and 1 TB of attachment storage, which matters for programs that share files with external partners who aren't on your payroll.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Product features cover only part of governance, and they won't replace ownership of templates and access reviews. Compare permission boundaries at the workspace, project, sheet and report layers, then test a contributor who may edit one item but not see sensitive budget columns. Add a departing employee, an external partner and a new administrator to the test, since they're the cases that usually break. Review each vendor's security documentation and contract, and don't assume every control comes with every plan, because it doesn't.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"integrations-and-data-ownership\">Integrations and data ownership<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">List the systems that own authoritative data: ticketing, CRM, finance, identity, documents and business intelligence. For each, decide whether the tool should copy data, link to the source or trigger an action. Asana lists a two-way Jira Cloud sync, Slack, Microsoft Teams and GitHub pull request sync among its integrations. Smartsheet's premium applications, including Data Shuttle and Connectors, sit in Advanced Work Management, so integration-heavy programs should price that tier early.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Don't promise bidirectional sync from a marketplace listing. Change a record in the source system, then check that the destination shows the right status without a duplicate. Include an export scenario so your team knows how it'd recover its data if you leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"total-cost-beyond-the-license\">Total cost beyond the license<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Licenses are only part of the cost of a rollout. Include configuration, templates, migration, administrator time, training and reporting support, since they're real costs even when the vendor doesn't invoice them. Model two groups, frequent editors and occasional participants, and ask each vendor which roles need a paid seat in your intended use, since that's what drives the bill. Write down renewal terms, seat minimums and add-ons so none of them surprises you at renewal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Smartsheet's costs can rise through add-ons and premium applications. Asana's costs rise when you cross from Starter to Advanced for portfolios or resource management. Ask each vendor for the renewal price in writing, because the first-year figure doesn't tell you what you'll pay later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"which-team-should-pick-which-tool\">Which team should pick which tool<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"ok-rows\"><li><span>Cross-functional delivery teams who need clear task ownership<\/span><span class=\"ok-tchip\"><span class=\"ok-fav ok-fav--xs\"><img src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/opskit\/fav\/asana.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"13\" height=\"13\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\"><\/span>Asana<\/span><\/li><li><span>Operations teams that run on structured registers and forms<\/span><span class=\"ok-tchip\"><span class=\"ok-fav ok-fav--xs\"><img src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/opskit\/fav\/smartsheet.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"13\" height=\"13\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\"><\/span>Smartsheet<\/span><\/li><li><span>Native portfolios with a public price<\/span><span class=\"ok-tchip\"><span class=\"ok-fav ok-fav--xs\"><img src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/opskit\/fav\/asana.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"13\" height=\"13\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\"><\/span>Asana<\/span><\/li><li><span>Dashboards that combine many sheets<\/span><span class=\"ok-tchip\"><span class=\"ok-fav ok-fav--xs\"><img src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/opskit\/fav\/smartsheet.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"13\" height=\"13\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\"><\/span>Smartsheet<\/span><\/li><li><span>Goal tracking linked to project work<\/span><span class=\"ok-tchip\"><span class=\"ok-fav ok-fav--xs\"><img src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/opskit\/fav\/asana.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"13\" height=\"13\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\"><\/span>Asana<\/span><\/li><li><span>Spreadsheet-style formulas and grid editing<\/span><span class=\"ok-tchip\"><span class=\"ok-fav ok-fav--xs\"><img src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/opskit\/fav\/smartsheet.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"13\" height=\"13\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\"><\/span>Smartsheet<\/span><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"scenario-coordinated-product-launch\">Scenario: coordinated product launch<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A launch pulls in marketing, legal, engineering and support, and it's rarely one team's project. Asana Starter makes task prerequisites visible without a portfolio purchase, and guests from an agency join free. If the launch spans many separate projects and the sponsor wants a single rollup, you'll need Advanced. In Smartsheet, a single launch sheet with predecessors works well, and Business adds the workload view for the specialists who split time with other launches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"scenario-operations-program-with-many-registers\">Scenario: operations program with many registers<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Vendor onboarding, facilities requests and campaign approvals each need different fields, and they won't all fit one task template. Smartsheet's sheets and forms handle that variety without forcing every process into a task shape, which is what operations teams don't get elsewhere. The risk is governance: you'll want to agree on shared names for owner, due date, risk and status, or the rollup turns into manual reconciliation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"scenario-pmo-reporting-to-executives\">Scenario: PMO reporting to executives<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A PMO that needs portfolios, goals and capacity should compare Asana Advanced with Smartsheet Enterprise, not the entry plans. Put the portfolio review on screen and ask a sponsor who's not on the project team to trace a red status to its task or row, its owner and its mitigation. Ask the sponsor to make a real call in the pilot, such as reassigning a specialist or accepting a delay. A view that changes a decision is working.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"tool-snapshots\">Tool snapshots<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<section class=\"ok-card ok-wide\" aria-labelledby=\"asana\"><header class=\"ok-card__head\"><span class=\"ok-fav ok-fav--md\"><img src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/opskit\/fav\/asana.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\"><\/span><div class=\"ok-card__title\"><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"asana\">Asana<\/h3><p class=\"ok-card__sub\">Task-first work management with portfolios on the Advanced tier<\/p><\/div><span class=\"ok-job\">Work management + portfolio layer<\/span><span class=\"ok-rate\"><span class=\"ok-stars\" aria-hidden=\"true\">\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2606<\/span> 4.4<span class=\"ok-muted\"> \u00b7 14,107 G2 reviews<\/span><\/span><\/header><div class=\"ok-card__body\"><div class=\"ok-card__main\"><p class=\"ok-lede\">Asana is the better start when the problem is assignment clarity: every deliverable has an owner, and projects roll up into portfolios once you reach Advanced.<\/p><div class=\"ok-cs\"><div class=\"ok-cs__yes\"><strong class=\"ok-cs__h\">Choose it when<\/strong><ul><li>Your program runs on accountable tasks, and owners need to see what blocks them in Timeline and Gantt views from $10.99 per user<\/li><li>You report across many projects and need portfolios and goals, with unlimited free guests for external partners, on Advanced at $24.99 per user<\/li><\/ul><\/div><div class=\"ok-cs__no\"><strong class=\"ok-cs__h\">Skip it when<\/strong><ul><li>You need native portfolios on a small budget: they start at Advanced, $24.99 per user<\/li><li>You want spreadsheet-style formulas and grid editing as the main way of working<\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div><dl class=\"ok-users\"><dt class=\"ok-k ok-k--p\">Users like<\/dt><dd>ease of use and task management<\/dd><dt class=\"ok-k ok-k--c\">Users dislike<\/dt><dd>a steep learning curve, missing features such as time tracking, and power tools locked behind higher tiers<\/dd><dd class=\"ok-src\">Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.g2.com\/products\/asana\/reviews?qs=pros-and-cons\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">G2<\/a>, 14,107 reviews<\/dd><\/dl><\/div><dl class=\"ok-card__side\"><div><dt>Starting price<\/dt><dd>Personal free for 2 users; Starter $10.99 and Advanced $24.99 per user per month billed annually; Enterprise by quote<\/dd><\/div><div><dt>Dependencies<\/dt><dd>Timeline and Gantt views from Starter, with dependency lines between tasks<\/dd><\/div><div><dt>Automations<\/dt><dd>Unlimited on Starter and above<\/dd><\/div><div><dt>Portfolios<\/dt><dd>Advanced and up; Enterprise adds universal resource management and capacity planning<\/dd><\/div><div><dt>Integrations<\/dt><dd>Jira Cloud two-way sync, Slack, Microsoft Teams and GitHub pull request sync<\/dd><\/div><div><dt>Free guests<\/dt><dd>Unlimited on Starter and above<\/dd><\/div><\/dl><\/div><\/section>\n\n\n\n<section class=\"ok-card ok-wide\" aria-labelledby=\"smartsheet\"><header class=\"ok-card__head\"><span class=\"ok-fav ok-fav--md\"><img src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/opskit\/fav\/smartsheet.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\"><\/span><div class=\"ok-card__title\"><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"smartsheet\">Smartsheet<\/h3><p class=\"ok-card__sub\">Sheet-based work management with native portfolios on the Enterprise tier<\/p><\/div><span class=\"ok-job\">Work management + portfolio layer<\/span><span class=\"ok-rate\"><span class=\"ok-stars\" aria-hidden=\"true\">\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2606<\/span> 4.4<span class=\"ok-muted\"> \u00b7 23,139 G2 reviews<\/span><\/span><\/header><div class=\"ok-card__body\"><div class=\"ok-card__main\"><p class=\"ok-lede\">Smartsheet is the better start when the work already lives in structured trackers: sheets, forms and reports give operations teams control, with portfolios and SAML held back for Enterprise.<\/p><div class=\"ok-cs\"><div class=\"ok-cs__yes\"><strong class=\"ok-cs__h\">Choose it when<\/strong><ul><li>You run on structured registers and forms, and want schedules with predecessors, critical path and workload tracking on Business<\/li><li>You need dashboards that combine many sheets, with free external Contributors or Guests<\/li><\/ul><\/div><div class=\"ok-cs__no\"><strong class=\"ok-cs__h\">Skip it when<\/strong><ul><li>You want a free plan: there's none, and Pro is closed to existing customers<\/li><li>You need native portfolio rollups without an Enterprise quote<\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div><dl class=\"ok-users\"><dt class=\"ok-k ok-k--p\">Users like<\/dt><dd>ease of use<\/dd><dt class=\"ok-k ok-k--c\">Users dislike<\/dt><dd>a steep learning curve<\/dd><dd class=\"ok-src\">Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.g2.com\/products\/smartsheet\/reviews?qs=pros-and-cons\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">G2<\/a>, 23,139 reviews<\/dd><\/dl><\/div><dl class=\"ok-card__side\"><div><dt>Starting price<\/dt><dd>Pro $9 and Business $19 per member per month billed yearly; Enterprise and Advanced Work Management by quote<\/dd><\/div><div><dt>Dependencies and critical path<\/dt><dd>Pro and up; the critical path shows in red in Gantt view<\/dd><\/div><div><dt>Guests<\/dt><dd>Pro: unlimited free Contributors; Business and up: unlimited free Guests<\/dd><\/div><div><dt>SAML SSO<\/dt><dd>Enterprise and Advanced Work Management<\/dd><\/div><div><dt>Portfolios<\/dt><dd>Enterprise and up<\/dd><\/div><div><dt>Sheet limits<\/dt><dd>20,000 rows, 400 columns, 500,000 cells<\/dd><\/div><div><dt>Baselines<\/dt><dd>One baseline per sheet; Business and up on the pricing page<\/dd><\/div><div><dt>Branding and activity log<\/dt><dd>Activity log on Business and up<\/dd><\/div><\/dl><\/div><\/section>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"migration-and-rollout-checklist\">Migration and rollout checklist<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Moving between the two means redesigning relationships, not just copying rows. A sheet row can become a task, but predecessor logic, approval state, permissions and automation behavior rarely transfer unchanged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Inventory active projects, sheets, templates, fields and reports, and archive what's dead.<\/li><li>Name a data owner for each important field.<\/li><li>Import a small sample and check dates, relationships, owners, attachments and permissions.<\/li><li>Build one repeatable template before migrating a department.<\/li><li>Train administrators separately from contributors, who don't need the admin detail.<\/li><li>Set a cutoff for parallel tracking so teams don't keep two conflicting sources, and hold to it.<\/li><li>After launch, audit a sample of records against the executive report.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"where-a-dependency-layer-fits\">Where a dependency layer fits<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Neither tool guarantees that a dependency between two teams has been acknowledged by its owner. That gap grows when delivery work sits in several systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Our own product, The Program Manager, maps dependencies across Jira and Asana, watches milestones for risk and keeps blockers, decisions and approvals in one graph. Its live connectors are Jira Cloud, Asana and Slack, so it doesn't read Smartsheet and won't help there. It also isn't a portfolio suite and doesn't replace budgets, capacity planning or intake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<aside class=\"ok-product ok-wide\" id=\"the-program-manager\"><span class=\"ok-fav ok-fav--md ok-fav--ours\"><img src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/opskit\/fav\/prog.svg\" alt=\"\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\"><\/span><div><p class=\"ok-product__eyebrow\">What these tools don&#x27;t watch<\/p><p class=\"ok-product__head\">Know what will slip before your next status meeting.<\/p><p>The Program Manager maps dependencies across Jira and Asana, watches every milestone for risk, and keeps blockers, decisions and approvals in one graph. Ask about it in Claude or ChatGPT, and approve every change before it happens.<\/p><\/div><a class=\"ok-product__cta\" href=\"https:\/\/theprogrammanager.com\/\">See how it works<\/a><\/aside>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"final-recommendation\">Final recommendation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Choose Asana when your program depends on task accountability, collaborative execution and a clear upgrade path to portfolios at $24.99 per user. Choose Smartsheet when your program depends on structured operational data, forms and configurable reports, and accept that native portfolios mean an Enterprise quote, which isn't public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Run both against the same real program in a short pilot, because a demo won't show the friction. Let the people who'll live in the tool do the clicking: a contributor changes a due date, a manager finds the blocker, and an administrator explains the access model. Anyone who needs a side spreadsheet to answer has found a gap, and you'll want it on record before you sign.<\/p>\n\n\n<div id=\"rank-math-faq\" class=\"rank-math-block\">\n<div class=\"rank-math-list \">\n<div id=\"faq-question-1\" class=\"rank-math-list-item\">\n<h3 class=\"rank-math-question \">Is Asana or Smartsheet better for program management?<\/h3>\n<div class=\"rank-math-answer \">\n\n<p>Asana suits programs built around accountable tasks and cross-team collaboration. Smartsheet suits programs built on structured registers, forms and reports. For portfolios, compare Asana Advanced with Smartsheet Enterprise rather than the entry plans.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"faq-question-2\" class=\"rank-math-list-item\">\n<h3 class=\"rank-math-question \">Which is cheaper, Asana or Smartsheet?<\/h3>\n<div class=\"rank-math-answer \">\n\n<p>Smartsheet Pro is cheaper at $9 per member per month billed yearly, against $10.99 for Asana Starter, though Pro is limited to 10 members and new customers. Smartsheet Business is $19 with a three-member minimum, which is more than Asana Starter but less than Asana Advanced at $24.99.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"faq-question-3\" class=\"rank-math-list-item\">\n<h3 class=\"rank-math-question \">Does Smartsheet have a free plan?<\/h3>\n<div class=\"rank-math-answer \">\n\n<p>No. Smartsheet has no permanent free plan. It offers unlimited free Contributors on Pro and unlimited free Guests on Business and above, but anyone who builds and manages work needs a paid Member seat. Asana's Personal plan is free for up to two users.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"faq-question-4\" class=\"rank-math-list-item\">\n<h3 class=\"rank-math-question \">Which tool has portfolios?<\/h3>\n<div class=\"rank-math-answer \">\n\n<p>Asana includes unlimited portfolios on Advanced. Smartsheet's native Portfolios start at Enterprise, which is quote-only.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"faq-question-5\" class=\"rank-math-list-item\">\n<h3 class=\"rank-math-question \">Can Smartsheet replace Asana?<\/h3>\n<div class=\"rank-math-answer \">\n\n<p>Smartsheet can cover many coordination workflows, including schedules, forms and dashboards, but the work model differs. Test task ownership, collaboration and reporting on a real program before migrating.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"faq-question-6\" class=\"rank-math-list-item\">\n<h3 class=\"rank-math-question \">Should we migrate every project at once?<\/h3>\n<div class=\"rank-math-answer \">\n\n<p>Usually not. You'd do better to pilot with one representative program, confirm dependencies, owners and permissions carried over, then move more teams.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<ul class=\"ok-related ok-wide\"><li><a href=\"\/blog\/asana-pricing\/\"><span>Guide<\/span>Asana Pricing: Plans, Seats and Portfolio Costs<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"\/blog\/smartsheet-pricing\/\"><span>Guide<\/span>Smartsheet Pricing: Plans, Seat Costs and Add-ons<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"\/blog\/asana-review\/\"><span>Review<\/span>Asana Review 2026<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"\/blog\/asana-vs-monday\/\"><span>Comparison<\/span>Asana vs monday.com<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Asana vs Smartsheet compared for program managers: US pricing, dependencies, portfolios, capacity, automation limits and which team should pick which.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":366,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-comparisons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theprogrammanager.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theprogrammanager.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theprogrammanager.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theprogrammanager.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theprogrammanager.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=365"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theprogrammanager.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":371,"href":"https:\/\/theprogrammanager.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365\/revisions\/371"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theprogrammanager.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theprogrammanager.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theprogrammanager.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theprogrammanager.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}