Project management comparison, checked July 2026
BusinessHRM vs Asana
Beautiful project management. Now put the business around it.
10 of 10 areas in the table, native on one platform
1 native, 1 with limits, 8 not native
Free forever for unlimited users. No credit card required.
The short answer
Asana is a project and work management platform for organising tasks and projects across list, board, timeline, and calendar views. BusinessHRM offers project management too and adds HR, attendance, payroll, time tracking with screenshots, CRM, and invoicing in one place.
Our verdict
Choose Asana if project management is the only thing you are buying and you want the deepest version of it. Choose BusinessHRM if you want solid boards, lists and Gantt plus the time tracking, HR, payroll and client billing Asana leaves to other tools.
Best fit for BusinessHRM
Teams that run projects in Asana but pay separately for time tracking, HR, and client billing.
How to read this page
The table covers the areas an all-in-one platform is built for, so it naturally favours breadth. Where Asana is the stronger product, we say so first. Checked against Asana's public documentation in July 2026.
Asana is a mature, well-loved project and work management tool, and its core task and project features are genuinely best-in-class. It is built to manage work, not the workforce, though. There is no HR, no attendance or leave, no payroll, no CRM, and no invoicing, and its time tracking is a paid add-on with no screenshots or activity levels. BusinessHRM gives you strong project management plus the HR, tracking, and billing Asana leaves to other tools.
Where Asana is strong
Best-in-class project management
Flexible list, board, timeline, and calendar views with subtasks, dependencies, milestones, and custom fields. This is its mature core.
Powerful automation and templates
A workflow builder, reusable templates, and forms for standardised intake that automate routine steps.
Strong reporting and ecosystem
Universal reporting for dashboards across projects and portfolios, plus a very large integration library.
Where Asana stops
No HR, attendance, or payroll
Asana manages work, not people. There are no employee records, no leave or attendance, and no payroll.
No monitoring-grade time tracking
Native time tracking is a paid add-on on higher tiers, and there are no screenshots or activity levels at all.
No CRM or invoicing
Sales pipelines and client billing are not native and require separate tools or integrations.
Side by side, area by area
Native, out-of-the-box capability only. Anything that needs a higher tier, an add-on or a separate product is named.
| Capability | BusinessHRM | Asana |
|---|---|---|
| Time tracking & timesheets | Yes, native | Add-on |
| Screenshots & activity levels | Yes, native | Not native |
| HR records & documents | Yes, native | Not native |
| Attendance, shifts & leave | Yes, native | Not native |
| Payroll | Yes, native | Not native |
| Projects, tasks & Gantt | Yes, native | Yes, native |
| CRM & sales pipeline | Yes, native | Not native |
| Invoicing & online payments | Yes, native | Not native |
| Helpdesk & tickets | Yes, native | Not native |
| One platform, one login, one bill | Yes, native | Not native |
Based on publicly documented features, checked July 2026. Plans and add-ons change, so confirm current details on Asana's own site before you decide.
Which one fits your team
Choose Asana when
- Project and work management is the only tool you need to buy.
- You rely on portfolios, a mature workflow builder and a very large integration library.
- Many departments across a large organisation need to coordinate work in one PM tool.
Choose BusinessHRM when
- You pay separately for time tracking, HR and invoicing around your project tool.
- You bill clients for project time and want the invoice built from it.
- You want time tracking with activity levels and optional screenshots included.
Why teams move from Asana
Time tracking that is included
Screenshot-based tracking and timesheets are built in, not a separate add-on with no monitoring.
HR and payroll in the same place
Records, attendance, leave, and payroll run alongside your projects instead of in another system.
From project to invoice
Tracked project time becomes a client invoice in one step, which Asana cannot do.
How Asana charges
Asana is priced per user, per month with a capable free tier for small teams and paid tiers billed cheaper annually. Structured timesheets and budgets are a separate paid add-on on top of a paid plan. Verify current figures on asana.com before deciding.
BusinessHRM publishes its prices: Starter is free for unlimited users, Growth is $2 per user per month, and every core module is on every plan.
See BusinessHRM pricingTest it against Asana
Set up a free workspace, bring one team across and compare the two with real work, not a feature list.
How to move over from Asana
No big-bang migration. Run them in parallel until the numbers agree, then decide.
- 1
Day one
Start a free workspace
Sign up with an email address. The Starter plan is free for unlimited users, so the whole team can join before you commit to anything.
- 2
First week
Bring your data across from Asana
Export your projects from Asana. We help you bring projects and clients across, and project templates let you rebuild repeat work once.
- 3
First week
Set up boards and templates
Create board columns, task templates and milestones for the kinds of project you run, then turn on a timer for each task.
- 4
First cycle
Run both for one project cycle
Keep Asana running for one project cycle and compare the numbers side by side before you change anything for real.
- 5
When the numbers agree
Switch off what you no longer need
Cancel the subscriptions BusinessHRM now covers. Your data stays exportable to CSV or PDF, and reachable through the API.
BusinessHRM and Asana: questions
Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we will correct it.
Other comparisons
Does Asana have built-in time tracking?
Asana has native time tracking only on higher tiers, and full timesheets need a separate paid add-on. It has no screenshots or activity levels. BusinessHRM includes screenshot-based tracking and timesheets in the platform.
Does Asana do HR, payroll, or invoicing?
No. Asana is a dedicated project management tool with no HR, attendance, leave, payroll, CRM, or invoicing. Running those means buying and integrating several separate tools.
Is BusinessHRM project management as flexible as Asana?
BusinessHRM offers boards, lists, and Gantt with milestones, dependencies, and time on every task. Asana has a deeper pure-PM feature set, but BusinessHRM covers the core plus the rest of the business.
Outgrowing Asana? Move to one platform
Start free, bring one team across, and keep Asana running until the numbers agree.
Free forever for unlimited users. No credit card required.