Asana is a very good work management tool. It answers one precise and useful question: who does what, by when, and where things stand. Ownership is clear, rituals hold, the interface is quick to pick up. On that ground there is little to fault.
A project asks a different question: what drives the end date, and how far can it slip before you lose it. Answering that takes a scope broken into deliverables, a dependency network, a critical path and float. Asana can compute a critical path, but from a timeline you have already drawn, and only on its highest plan. Orchesia starts from the other end: you describe the structure of the project, and the schedule follows.
| Capability | Asana (Starter plan) | Asana (Advanced plan) | Orchesia |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting point | A task list | A task list | Breakdown of deliverables (WBS) |
| Seeing the scope | Sections and subtasks | Sections and subtasks | Dedicated mind map |
| Task dependencies | Included | Included | Dedicated network diagram (PERT) |
| Gantt and timeline | Included | Included | Generated from the breakdown and dependencies |
| Critical path | No | Included | Calculated, from the first paid plan |
| Total float and free float | No | Not documented in the plan comparison | Calculated per task |
| Team workload | No | Workload view | Dedicated view, time off included |
| Project portfolio | No | Portfolios | Consolidated portfolio |
| Baselines | Not documented | Not documented | Baselines compared with the live schedule |
| Recalculation when a duration changes | Shifts according to the dependency | Shifts according to the dependency | Automatic across the chain, float recalculated |
| Automations | Included | Included | No-code rules, simplified projects only |
| Seats | No minimum | No minimum | No minimum, free viewers |
| Price (monthly billing) | ~€14 incl. VAT/user/month | ~€31 incl. VAT/user/month | ~15 € incl. VAT/user/month |
Prices taken from asana.com/pricing on 25 August 2026: $13.49 and $30.49 excluding tax per user per month on monthly billing, $10.99 and $24.99 with an annual commitment, Enterprise on quote. Asana bills in US dollars: euro amounts are converted at the ECB rate of 21 August 2026 ($1 = €0.8548) and then increased by French VAT at 20%. These are orders of magnitude, not contractual prices.
Dependencies and Gantt are there from the Starter plan, which is a genuine strength. But the critical path, the workload view and portfolios only arrive with the Advanced plan, at $24.99 per user per month billed annually. Those are precisely the three things you need to defend a deadline. A team of four either pays for the top plan or steers blind.
Asana starts from a list. That is immediate, and it is what makes it pleasant. But a project is framed by decomposing deliverables before deciding who does what. Without that step the list becomes the scope by default: whatever was forgotten exists nowhere, and it surfaces mid-project rather than in the kickoff.
In Asana you place dates on a timeline, then the tool shows you the most constrained chain. Reversing the order changes everything: when the schedule is derived from a network of dependencies and durations, there is no hand-placed date to defend. The whole chain shifts on its own, and float tells you immediately how far you can slip.
The initial setting is generous: comments, status changes, collaborators added, all of it surfaces, often by email. On an active project the team quickly learns to ignore those alerts, and that reflex also erases the ones that mattered. It is fixable by configuration, provided someone does it for the whole team rather than each person for themselves.
You describe the structure of the project, and the calendar follows.
A tree of deliverables, built with the team on a view made for it. Scope gets discussed before it is split into tasks, which is the only moment when an omission is still cheap.
What blocks what is drawn on a dedicated view. The critical path, total float and free float are derived from it, from the first paid plan.
No date placed by hand. When a duration changes the whole chain shifts, and the baseline shows the gap against what was planned.
A grid per person and per day, with declared leave, included without changing plan. "We are full until October" stops being a feeling.
Holding a deadline means knowing what drives it, and how far it can slip. A list of dated tasks does not tell you that, however well kept.
Before splitting the work, you need to know what the project is made of. That is decomposition work, done on a view built for it rather than in a list.
Arbitrating means seeing workload and projects together. In Asana both of those views belong to the Advanced plan.
Already have a fixed end date? See backward planning software.
Two tools, two questions.
Day-to-day work, very well handled
Task tracking, due dates, comments, team rituals. For moving a team's daily work forward, the tool is hard to fault.
Dependencies and Gantt from the entry plan
Where others reserve dependencies for higher tiers, Asana includes them from the Starter plan. Credit where it is due.
Automations and integrations
No-code rules from the paid plans, working across every project, with a very wide integration catalogue and a mature API.
The project is modelled, not listed
Deliverables, dependencies and durations form a network. The critical path and float are derived from it and recalculate on their own.
Two views for building together
Mind map and network diagram, editable simultaneously. A kickoff meeting becomes readable.
Steering is not a pricing option
Critical path, float and team workload are there from the first paid plan, with no upgrade required.
Baselines and portfolio
The gap against plan is visible, and every project reads in the same view with real workload per person.
If your need is to move a team's work forward, Asana does it well. If your need is to defend a date, it takes a project model, not a better organised list.
And among those that do, the majority want to switch.
of SMEs use nothing beyond spreadsheets, email or paper
Capterra 2018, 753 respondents, 250 in SMEsof employees equipped with project software are looking to change tool
Capterra 2018of projects consistently apply a research-backed method
PMI, Pulse of the Profession 201830-day free trial, no credit card. Critical path, float and workload from the Standard plan, from 15 € per user per month.
per user, billed monthly
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AI creditsFor the planning side, yes: breakdown, dependencies, critical path, float, workload and portfolio.
Yes, but from the Advanced plan, the highest of its publicly priced tiers. The workload view and portfolios belong to the same tier. With Orchesia those three features are in the first paid plan.
Each view on its own is simple. What takes time is deciding which one is authoritative: list, board, timeline and calendar show the same work from four angles, with no method imposed. Teams end up each picking one, and the shared reading disappears.
It is a default-setting problem, not a design problem. The initial volume is high, and on an active project the team gets used to ignoring it, including the alerts that mattered. It is fixable, provided someone sets notifications for the whole team rather than each person for themselves.
No, there is no import today. Orchesia exists to structure a project, so to produce the data rather than inherit it: the breakdown gets redone, and that is often the moment a scope the original list left implicit finally becomes explicit.
Orchesia has a backward planning mode: you start from the deadline and work back up the chain to find when each deliverable must start. See backward planning software.
Yes. Thirty days with every feature, no credit card. At the end of the trial you pick a plan inside the app or stay on the free tier.
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