Airtable vs. Asana: What’s the difference?

When it comes to choosing the right tool to manage your data and workflows, there’s no shortage of options.

And if you don’t understand the similarities and differences between them, you may quickly find yourself overwhelmed with jargon, taglines, and features—but no clear definition of what a product does or how it stacks up to its competitors.

So, with that in mind, let’s take a look at Airtable vs Asana.

What is Asana?

Asana is best known for task management, helping teams work around their deadlines, and reporting their project statuses. Its relatively singular focus has made it a popular alternative to Jira—especially for non-engineering disciplines. For teams looking for a robust task management software, Asana is a decent pick.  

It allows teams to break projects into tasks, measure time-to-completion of said tasks, assign due dates, and communicate with one another about progress.

And as far as task management goes, it gets a lot right! It’s often credited for its sleek design and simple, action-oriented UI, and it makes it easy to move work forward and keep teams stay on the same page.

What is Airtable?

Airtable helps teams create applications that support the unique way they work. Teams start by structuring and connecting their data using Airtable’s interactive relational database. From there, teams create custom interfaces, which allow them to drag drag-and-drop elements to make something visually striking. You don’t have to be a developer or designer to create an application on Airtable.

Airtable empowers anyone to adapt the platform to their needs, regardless of technical skill. So rather than forcing your workflow and processes to fit rigid tools, you can shape Airtable into the perfect solution for your team.

So what’s the difference between Airtable and Asana?

• Flexible vs rigid data model: Not every workflow can conform to Asana’s definition of “tasks” or “projects.” After all, projects and tasks are just one type of data—so other types of data like visual assets, campaign results, or org charts often don’t apply. With Airtable, teams can store any type of business data.
  
  Asana funnels teams into very specific ways of working. For example, you can only select one owner for a project. But what happens when projects need collaboration and shared ownership?
  
  Asana also neglects basic features like a “multi-select” field type, which are considered table stakes for database software like Airtable. Overall, Asana forces teams to organize their work into a rigid project, task, and subtask hierarchy.
• One specific use case vs. multiple use cases: If your team is simply looking for a project or task management software, Asana is beyond capable of the task.
  
  But if you’re looking to do something more than just track tasks, look no further than Airtable.
  
  Airtable is scalable enough not just for teams, but for some of the largest companies in the world—and it’s used for everything from Marketing and Content Operations to Digital Product roadmaps, research repositories, and even digital-asset management. It’s handy for all of these use-cases, allowing companies to reduce the number of software licenses required to run a best-in-class productivity suite.
• Basic vs. detailed reporting: Asana’s reporting is primarily focused on tracking task completion (like how long individual tasks take to complete). Airtable’s custom reporting and flexible interfaces uses your data to create custom-tailored, and shareable dashboards. So whether you plug into Salesforce, Tableau, Jira, or something entirely different, Airtable can make it easier to navigate.
• Separate data vs. linked records: While Asana allows you to associate one task with multiple projects, Airtable gives you the power to sync data from multiple tables, as well as external sources.

What are the similarities between Asana and Airtable?

• Views: Both Airtable and Asana offer a wide range of different views so you can visualize tasks in multiple ways, from Kanban to Gantt charts.
• Automations: Both allow you to automate common tasks, such as sending emails and creating new records based on external triggers.
• Approachable: Both are designed to be easy for end-users to create, manage, and maintain without major IT/technical involvement.

Airtable’s advantages

• Flexible and functional: Airtable offers templates and solutions to get you started, but you're free to scrap, shape, or structure however makes the most sense for you.
• See things your way: Every team member can organize their data in one place, or transform that data into personalized views like Timeline, Gantt, Kanban, and more.
• Update once, update everywhere: With linked records, all your data is connected. Changes made once are made everywhere—and in real time.
• Automate anything: Airtable has an expansive library of plug-and-play automations. Seamlessly integrate the tools you’re already using, like Trello, Slack, Basecamp, Jira, Salesforce, and more.
• Operate at any scale: Companies of all shapes and sizes trust Airtable to organize their data. Whether you’re a start-up, pop-up, or large organization, we can meet you where you are.

How much do Airtable and Asana cost?

Conclusion

If you’re looking for a tool that allows you to keep track of projects and tasks, both Airtable and Asana will get the job done. While Asana’s time-to-complete-tasks feature is a boon, Airtable’s ability to create shareable dashboards and showcase assets is also essential.

There’s a reason Asana is one of the most popular task management programs out there. But if you’re looking for a scalable platform that can meet your team’s unique needs, that’s Airtable.

Airtable provides the ability to design and customize your workflow in a way that most software does not. If you’ve ever felt the friction of working with task management software or want to do more with your data, then we think you’ll love Airtable.

Get started with Airtable for free today.

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