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awork as an alternative to Asana

awork as an alternative to Asana
16
.Β 
February 2022

Looking for a GDPR-compliant Asana alternative from Germany? Compare Asana with the Hamburg-based work management tool awork and discover why awork is the best Asana alternative for teams with high data privacy requirements.

An overview of all content:

What sets Asana apart? An overview of the tool

The cloud-based software Asana, headquartered in the USA, offers project management for teams that prefer classic PM tools like task lists or boards.

  • Asana allows teams to organize their daily tasks and keep them in view, whether it's a single task or a large project.
  • Asana GDPR: All data is hosted in American data centers, but Enterprise customers (the highest pricing tier) can host their data in the EU data center in Frankfurt am Main.
  • With Asana, you can choose from various project views and work with the tool from anywhere.
  • Asana offers different pricing models, ranging from a free version to monthly payments of over €30 per user.
  • The free basic version of Asana covers only the fundamental features. Some features (e.g., milestones or certain integrations) are only fully accessible in larger, higher-priced packages.

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Why companies switch fromΒ Asana to awork

[.b-testimonial]We switched from Asana to awork. The flexibility of awork, from time tracking to task creation, is what I particularly love about it.[.b-testimonial]

Michael Schmitt, CEO at Storyliner

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The following 5 things make a case for looking for an Asana alternative:

  • Asana security and data privacy: Asana data is managed in data centers distributed worldwide. To host data in a German server location and ensure GDPR compliance, teams must use the higher-priced Enterprise plan.
  • Features: Some users find Asana lacking in features like automations and integrations. Also, you can't assign multiple assignees to a task.
  • No in-tool time tracking: Asana itself does not provide a time tracking solution for teams but offers integration with time tracking applications like Timely or Clockify.
  • Pricing: Asana's basic version is more suitable for teams needing a tool for rudimentary task management. For additional functionality, teams pay up to €30 per user per month.
  • Usability: Some users criticize the clarity in Asana and mention that the tool's pre-configuration can increase the workload.

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awork as an Asana alternative

If you're looking for a GDPR-compliant Asana alternative for secure and intuitive project management, then you should definitely keep reading. We believe that successful task and project management should be simple and bring joy to your work.

OMR Reviews; December 2023

[.b-button-primary] Curious? Try awork for free! [.b-button-primary]

Why is awork the best Asana alternative for you and your team?

Data privacy / GDPR in awork and Asana

Asana hosting occurs in data centers distributed worldwide, including the USA. The possibility of a German server location guaranteeing GDPR compliance is available only through a subscription to the Enterprise plan.

The GDPR-compliant Asana alternative awork is simple, intuitive, and secure:

  • awork is GDPR compliant. The tool operates in modern, certified data centers. These centers are ISO 27001 certified, state-of-the-art, and located in Germany.
  • All data stored in awork is exclusively kept there. Besides you and, if your support requires it, our technician, no one else has access to it. This is ensured, for example, through constant data encryption.
  • Thanks to the complex technical infrastructure, awork ensures very high availability, particularly strong data security, and up-to-date backups.

Costs of awork and Asana

What is Asana's pricing like?

  • Asana's basic version is particularly suitable for teams needing a tool for rudimentary task management.
  • The Asana Premium plan costs approximately €14 per user per month (with monthly payments). Features like a timeline with Gantt charts, milestones, task templates, or advanced search are only available in higher-priced packages. For these packages, teams pay up to €30 per user per month.
  • In contrast to Asana's basic version, the awork Business version includes all features for planning your team. Support is also included, and you can upgrade at any time – flexible and transparent!
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Depending on your preferences, awork comes in three versions:

  • ‍Basic: The right entry point for small teams who do not need specific collaboration features, like workload overview etc.‍
  • Business: The right entry point for most teams of up to about 50 users. It includes extensive features for planning your team, and phone support is also included. If you later find that you need some enterprise-level features, you can upgrade at any time.‍
  • Enterprise: Specifically designed for large organizations. With awork, planning for multiple locations, diverse client teams, or many users is no problem. Most teams start showing interest in awork Enterprise packages with around 50 users – the largest teams using awork have about 5,000 users in the work management tool.

[.b-button-primary] Check out the awork pricing [.b-button-primary]

Kanban in awork and Asana

Everything you need to know about the Asana Kanban board – your project progress in one place.

  • The columns can be flexibly adapted to the progress of work and can be named as needed.
  • Each card on the board includes a deadline, the responsible person, and subtasks.
  • You can also switch directly from the board to the timeline or calendar view.

What does a Kanban board look like in awork?

awork also offers various columns that are flexible and customizable to your team's specific needs. When comparing the Asana Kanban board to the awork board view, the following awork advantages become apparent:

  • With a click on the task icons, you can adjust assignees or deadlines, select task lists, add tags, start the timer, create dependencies, and much more!
  • Additionally, you can group tasks by lists and users and switch to the agile Kanban board's presentation mode. This feature is especially helpful for meetings with clients or your team.

Conclusion on Kanban boards: Unlike Asana, awork offers more features specifically designed for productive collaboration in creative teams. They support you and your team in happy and productive cooperation.

Furthermore, awork impresses with a smooth, highly intuitive board interface. A perfect overview of all upcoming to-dos, even in agile projects!

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[.b-related-article] Optimize your workflow with kanban – β€œStop starting, and start finishing!” [.b-related-article]

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Gantt charts in awork and Asana

Gantt charts show the timeline of a project and its components (e.g., phases and tasks). They help project managers provide a current status of the schedule and its adherence.

How do Gantt charts work in Asana?

  • You can add deadlines and a start date to your task, and it will be visible in the Gantt chart.
  • In Asana, you can also create milestones to mark important sub-goals. You can easily set task dependencies as well.
  • If deadlines are missed and need to be changed, you can drag and drop them on the timeline.

What do the Gantt charts look like in awork, and what makes them so great?

Due to the following benefits, awork's Gantt charts are the best Asana alternative:

  • Smart zooming in and out: Keep an eye on the big picture instead of just seeing current to-dos in Asana. In the awork timeline, you can enlarge or shrink the visible time range and get a holistic view of your project.
  • Easy task addition: Create new to-dos not only by drag and drop, as in Asana but also via the add button or from unplanned tasks in awork.
  • Mindmap: To quickly switch to another timeframe in long projects, there's a timeline minimap at the bottom – only in awork. Clicking on a point in time here automatically changes the main view of the timeline to that time range.
  • Export timeline as PDF: Using the document icon in the upper right corner, you can export the entire timeline as a PDF. You can download this PDF and send it to a customer or include it in a presentation – a feature that Asana does not offer.
  • The timeline includes all to-dos, including milestones, dependencies, and displays the color-coded status of each task – project organization made easy!

Project management in awork and Asana

The cloud software Asana primarily focuses on classical project management methods. With the goal of increasing productivity, Asana aims to enable effective collaboration in teams. To achieve this, teams can access various PM feature groups in the software:

  • App integrations
  • Automations
  • Goals
  • Forms
  • Workflow builder
  • Timelines
  • Boards
  • Reports
  • Workloads
  • Calendars
  • and much more.

With so many features, keeping track of projects and tasks can quickly become challenging. awork solves this problem. Even though the tool covers various functional areas, the entire interface remains clean and straightforward – even when handling multiple projects simultaneously.

awork is perfect for setting up and managing great projects:

  1. Since awork, like Asana, is a cloud solution (Software-as-a-Service), you can start planning your projects and creating your first to-dos right away.
  2. Clear responsibilities and an intuitive user interface help everyone get a good overview.
  3. With awork team planning, you can plan multiple projects simultaneously, considering your users' workload.
  4. Mobile project management on the go: With the awork app, you can stay up to date even when you're on the move. You can create tasks or quickly start time tracking.

Pro tip: Did you know that you can completely customize and arrange your dashboard in awork? Decide for yourself which widgets you need daily for a quick overview and add them to your dashboard.

awork goes beyond mere project management; it's designed for teams that want to work better and happier together.

What does that look like exactly?

  • Made for the end users: awork is ready to go in no time, intuitive, and easy to use – suitable for all age groups and teams of all sizes.
  • Simply beautiful project organization: The tool looks great and brings a smile to your face with friendly interactions.
  • Work happiness instead of admin hassle: Put an end to organizational chaos – awork creates more time for the enjoyable part of your work.

[.b-button-primary] Curious? Try awork for free! [.b-button-primary]

About the author
Dorte
Talent Acquisition Lead
The bear-strong Panda update is here, bringing one of the most frequently requested features to life: a new task level, or more precisely, real subtasks.
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