Asana vs Smartsheet

Two fact sheets from our own research, side by side — pricing, platforms, API access and status re-checked by us rather than quoted from the vendors.

The short answer

Entry price: Asana from $10.99/mo, Smartsheet from $9/seat/mo — different billing units, so no direct winner
Free plan: Only Asana (Smartsheet has paid plans only)
Public API: Both have one
Best fit: Asana: Cross-functional teams coordinating work across many projects and owners · Smartsheet: Project and portfolio management in organisations that think in spreadsheets
Platforms: Asana: Web, macOS, Windows, iOS, Android, Slack app · Smartsheet: Web, iOS, Android

From our own records as of each tool's last check. Anything we have not confirmed is left out rather than guessed. How we verify

AsanaWork management for tasks, projects and portfolios with credit-metered AI agents

SmartsheetSpreadsheet-shaped work platform for project and portfolio management, with AI columns and formula help.

Side by side

Fact	Asana	Smartsheet
Category	Task & Project Management	Task & Project Management
Pricing model	Freemium	Paid
Starts at	$10.99/mo	$9/seat/mo
Public API	Yes	Yes
Trust score	92 / 100	94 / 100
Platforms	Web, macOS, Windows, iOS, Android, API, Slack app	Web, iOS, Android, API
Company	Asana, Inc.	Smartsheet Inc.
Launched	2008	2005
Last verified	Oct 16, 2026	Oct 15, 2026

What our research says

Asana

Asana is a mature work-management system whose AI story is unusually concrete: agents are built from the same rules engine teams already use, and billed from an account-level credit pool instead of a per-seat AI surcharge. The catch is that the free tier is now effectively a two-person demo, so any real team lands on a paid plan immediately.

Pros

AI credits pool across the account rather than being sold per seat
No seat cap on paid plans, so adding collaborators does not force a tier jump
Well-documented public API plus native desktop, mobile and Slack clients
Portfolios, goals and reporting cover the layer above day-to-day tasks

Cons

Free plan is limited to two collaborating users
Portfolios, goals and advanced reporting sit behind the $24.99 tier
AI credit consumption per automation is not published, so budgeting is guesswork

Smartsheet

The choice for teams whose planning already lives in spreadsheets and who need governance on top — portfolio rollups, approvals, resource views. The AI features are competent additions to that, not a reason to switch. Per-member pricing plus free contributors works well for small core teams with many occasional participants, and badly the other way round.

Pros

Grid interface that project managers can adopt without retraining
Unlimited free contributors on every plan, with free guests added from Business up
Conversational AI features built into the sheets on all paid plans
Connections to external AI tools such as Claude, Gemini and Copilot on Business and above

Cons

No free plan; entry is $9 per member/month on annual commitment
Pro caps at 10 members and is restricted to new customers
Advanced Work Management and Enterprise are quote-only, so real cost is opaque
The pricing page renders prices by locale, which makes comparison shopping awkward

Which one fits

Choose Asana if you need

Cross-functional teams coordinating work across many projects and owners
Ops people who want automations and intake agents without writing code
Organisations that need portfolios, goals and reporting above project level

Choose Smartsheet if you need

Project and portfolio management in organisations that think in spreadsheets
Small editing teams with many occasional contributors, who are free on every plan
Connecting existing sheets to Claude, Gemini or Copilot through its external AI connections