Battle of the project management apps: Asana v Trello

As a VA, project management apps are where I live most of the time. It’s how my clients share their vision with me, it’s how I keep things organised, and it’s how we track progress and results.

For anyone that’s gone on the hunt for a good FREE project management app, there are two major players that come up: Asana and Trello. But what’s the difference, and which one is better? Let’s see if we can pick a winner:

🗒️ ALL ABOUT TRELLO 🗒️

→ Board-based app

→ “Lists” (columns) across the top, “cards” (projects/tasks) go under the columns

→ Conversations, files, etc. go in the cards

→ You can move cards easily between lists

In terms of setup, I’ve seen it all. Some people use their columns like pipeline stages, moving a project along to indicate various stages of completion. Others plan their content using columns for weeks and putting that week’s content underneath. There’s really no rule to this – it’s whatever makes sense to you.

👍 PROS: very visual and easy to use

👎 CONS: UX can feel a bit messy, and no other views available

📋 ALL ABOUT ASANA 📋

→ More traditional list-based UX

→ Projects include sections, and under sections sit tasks (and then sub-tasks)

→ Conversations, files, etc. go in the tasks

→ Tasks don’t move super easily between projects, but easy to drag and drop between sections

→ Board, timeline and calendar views also available

The traditional list view is my personal fav, but the flexibility of this tool really is a game-changer.

👍 PROS: super flexible and easy to use

👎 CONS: harder to move tasks between projects

🤔 So who came out on top? For me, the clear winner is… (drumroll please 🥁🥁🥁)

ASANA!!

The versatility really wins it for me. The fact that it has all the same functionality as Trello and MORE makes it an easy call. For a free app, you really can’t ask for anything more!