Asana vs. Microsoft Excel

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Asana
Score 8.5 out of 10
N/A
Asana is a web and mobile project management app. With tasks, projects, conversations, and dashboards, Asana lets an entire team know who's doing what by when, enabling workload balancing. Users can also add integrations for GANTT charts, time tracking and more.
$13.49
per month per user
Microsoft Excel
Score 8.9 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet application available as part of Microsoft 365 (Office 365), or standalone, in cloud-based and on-premise editions.
$6.99
per month
Pricing
AsanaMicrosoft Excel
Editions & Modules
Starter
$13.49
per month per user
Advanced
$30.49
per month per user
Enterprise
Contact Sales
Personal
Free
Excel with Microsoft 365
$6.99
per month
Excel for 1 PC or Mac
$139.99
perpetual license
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
AsanaMicrosoft Excel
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
YesYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
Additional DetailsA discount is offered for annual billing.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
AsanaMicrosoft Excel
Features
AsanaMicrosoft Excel
Project Management
Comparison of Project Management features of Product A and Product B
Asana
8.2
178 Ratings
6% above category average
Microsoft Excel
-
Ratings
Task Management9.2178 Ratings00 Ratings
Resource Management7.8151 Ratings00 Ratings
Gantt Charts8.960 Ratings00 Ratings
Scheduling8.3161 Ratings00 Ratings
Workflow Automation8.8131 Ratings00 Ratings
Team Collaboration9.3177 Ratings00 Ratings
Support for Agile Methodology8.57 Ratings00 Ratings
Support for Waterfall Methodology8.57 Ratings00 Ratings
Document Management7.8149 Ratings00 Ratings
Email integration7.8141 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile Access8.6148 Ratings00 Ratings
Timesheet Tracking6.16 Ratings00 Ratings
Change request and Case Management8.44 Ratings00 Ratings
Budget and Expense Management6.776 Ratings00 Ratings
Professional Services Automation
Comparison of Professional Services Automation features of Product A and Product B
Asana
6.3
47 Ratings
20% below category average
Microsoft Excel
-
Ratings
Project & financial reporting5.51 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with accounting software7.246 Ratings00 Ratings
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User Ratings
AsanaMicrosoft Excel
Likelihood to Recommend
9.0
(208 ratings)
9.3
(77 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.6
(34 ratings)
9.7
(7 ratings)
Usability
8.2
(36 ratings)
8.4
(22 ratings)
Availability
8.4
(2 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
Support Rating
5.0
(42 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.2
(1 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
User Testimonials
AsanaMicrosoft Excel
Likelihood to Recommend
Asana
The usability of Asana is broad since it's available in a variety of platforms that are widely used nowadays. I think that it would be great for people who are constantly on the move and switching devices, since it has allowed me to work from my phone, too. I also think that Asana has proven itself to handle a large quantity of work
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Microsoft
I don't really know another program as powerful as Excel. I've used Google Doc programs but do not feel they come close. So far, anytime I've needed a table of some sort for data, whether it's budget oriented or information off a survey, the best system has been Excel. We do web audits on occasion and we create an Excel worksheet featuring every URL of the pages we're auditing, notes, data about the content, information about files attached to the page and other information to help us determine what pages need updating, deleting or otherwise. We also use Excel primarily to export our Google Analytics to in order for us to create reports for clients that need to see specific information about their traffic.
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Pros
Asana
  • Through it, we were able to communicate and cooperate with the rest of the team to complete the work in the required manner and at the appropriate time.
  • Available for free on Android and iPhone.
  • Asana has a simple and easy user interface
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Microsoft
  • It is very good at embedded formulas and tying cells to one another
  • It allows me to compare deals terms on a side-by-side basis and talk my clients through it easily.
  • It is very helpful as well in terms of allowing me to filter/sort results in many different ways depending on what specific information I am most interested in prioritizing.
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Cons
Asana
  • Asana is not really a project management tool, it is good for simple projects only
  • UI has some glitches (doesn't save preferences, etc.)
  • Integration with other tools (Office 365, MS Project)
  • No reminders if the working period you entered is on holidays
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Microsoft
  • Excel offers collaboration features that allow multiple users to work on the same spreadsheet, but managing changes made by different users can be challenging. Excel could improve its features by offering more granular control, better tracking of changes, and more robust conflict resolution tools.
  • Itcan be a barrier to productivity when importing and exporting data from other applications or file formats. To improve its features, it should offer better support for standard file formats and more robust error handling and reporting tools.
  • Excel can be challenging for finance students and working professionals, but it can be improved by offering more robust tutorials, better documentation, and more user communities and support forums.
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Likelihood to Renew
Asana
  • Mobile + Desktop capabilities - Able to use it anywhere, anytime.
  • Task management - Easy to view projects and their progress.
  • Time management - Easy to see what elements require time / how they interrelate and manage the project on an overall basis.
  • Company management - Be able to see from a master dashboard perspective where each project is in its stages of completion.
  • Clear communication - It's visually documented who is doing what at what time so that the whole project gets done.
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Microsoft
Excel remains the industry standard for spreadsheets and has maintained simple and straight-forward formula writing methods. Although there is a learning curve to do more complex calculations, there are countless help sites and videos on the Internet for almost any need.
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Usability
Asana
It is very user-friendly. Takes a new employee an hour to start figuring out how the system works. That's an important factor. You don't want to encounter the issue where employees need a week to understand how the system works. For example, JIRA, I tried using it for a week and I still don't understand the complicated layout. Asana has a simple interface. Once you see it, you get it type of program.
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Microsoft
I'm giving it a 7 because it is my go to. But the fact other prefer Google Sheets when working with a team does get irritating. I've used the online version of Microsoft Excel that other teams can get into and it still seems behind Google Sheets. It's a little clanky and slow? If that's even a term.
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Reliability and Availability
Asana
Working with Asana on a daily basis
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Microsoft
I have rarely, if ever, had issues with its availability.
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Performance
Asana
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
Excel load and performs calculations immediately. It integrate well with all Microsoft Office applications and does not slow them down.
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Support Rating
Asana
I haven't had to use their support so I can't rate it. The fact that I haven't needed them reflects the ease of use of the product. I would recommend that any new users schedule a complete demo of the product to ensure that they are using it to it's fullest (there's a lot of useful features).
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Microsoft
I have not had to use it often, but it is good.
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Alternatives Considered
Asana
Asana is a top-tier project management software that helps us organize and track projects from start to finish. It allows us to apply tasks/to-dos to multiple projects without duplication, divide complex projects into smaller tasks, and track project progress. It also helps us organize work on Kanban boards or linear lists. It stands out from the crowd in a big way compared to the competition.
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Microsoft
Out of Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Power BI, IBM SPSS, and Google Sheets, Microsoft Excel is by far the most common tool used for anything data-related across organizations. Accordingly, our organization has also implemented Microsoft Excel as a first-step tool. We recently adopted Microsoft Power BI (the free version), and use it occasionally (mostly for creating dashboards), but it is less commonly understood by stakeholders across our organization and by our clients. Accordingly, Microsoft Excel is more user-friendly and because of its popularity, we can easily look up how to do things in the program online. Google Sheets is a comparable alternative to Microsoft Excel, but because it's cloud-based and we have sensitive data that needs to be protected, we chose against using this software. Finally, a few users (including myself) have access to and utilize IBM's SPSS. For my role, it's a helpful tool to do more rigorous analyses. However, because of its cost and limited functionality as a simple spreadsheet, we only use it for more complex analyses.
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Contract Terms and Pricing Model
Asana
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
N/A I was not involved in this process.
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Scalability
Asana
I used this tool on a daily basis at work and it runs as a solid rock
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Microsoft
Each user can use it to whatever level of expertise they have. It remains the same so users can contribute to another's work regardless of whether they have more or less expertise
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Return on Investment
Asana
  • Productivity - Most of all, it allows me to be more productive and have a good sense of where I am with projects and deadlines.
  • Easy to use - I can make the most of my time to get up (and stay) up and running.
  • Project coordination - Allows me to assign tasks to my interns and communicate directly within the platform to keep the work train moving.
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Microsoft
  • Excel has positively impacted the business as it has increased our efficiency.
  • It also saves us the time that we would have spent on making the calculations that it does for us.
  • Since it works on all devices and is compatible with both Windows and Mac, we do not have to invest in any other alternative.
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ScreenShots

Asana Screenshots

Screenshot of Product HomepageScreenshot of Team ConversationsScreenshot of Project CalendarsScreenshot of InboxScreenshot of List ProjectScreenshot of Portfolios