Quick answer
Teamwork.com - Teamwork.com wins for most small builders because its free tier includes more users, more projects, and built-in time tracking and client organization, while Asana is the better pick only if you want a cleaner task-first workflow with fewer free-plan constraints.
How the free tiers compare
These two free tiers aim at different ends of project management. Asana’s Personal plan is tightly capped at 2 users, but it does let you run unlimited tasks and projects, which makes it a simple home for solo work or a tiny duo that mainly needs task tracking and basic collaboration. Teamwork.com’s Free plan is more generous for a small team: up to 5 users, up to 5 projects, 100 automations, time logging, client organization, multiple project views, and US or EU hosting. The tradeoff is that Teamwork’s free plan is more operationally bounded by project count, while Asana is more constrained by headcount. After free, both switch to per-seat pricing, but Teamwork’s paid ladder exposes more project-management and client-billing features earlier, while Asana’s paid tiers emphasize broader collaboration, reporting, and AI credits.
Asana vs Teamwork.com free tier, side by side
| AsanaFTV 49 | Teamwork.comFTV 49 | |
|---|---|---|
| Free usersTeamwork.com is more generous for small teams. | Up to 2 | Up to 5 |
| Free projectsAsana is far better if you want to keep adding projects without paying. | Unlimited | Up to 5 |
| Free automationsTeamwork.com includes automation on the free plan; Asana's free-plan automation cap is not provided here. | Not listed | 100 |
| Free storageAsana gives a file-size cap rather than a storage cap in the provided data. | Unlimited, 100 MB max per file | Not listed |
| Free time trackingTeamwork.com has native time logging in free; Asana relies on integrations. | Through integrations with other tools | Log time on projects |
| Free viewsTeamwork.com offers more view types on the free plan. | List, board, calendar | Task, list, board, table, Gantt |
| Credit card required for free planThis is stated explicitly in the provided data. | Yes | No |
After you outgrow the free tier
After free, both products use per-seat pricing for their first paid tier. Asana’s Starter begins at $10.99 per user per month billed annually, while Teamwork.com’s Basics begins at $9.99 per user per month billed yearly. Teamwork is slightly cheaper at the entry level and its paid plans add larger project, storage, and automation limits earlier. Asana’s first paid tier is a little pricier but adds no user seat limits, reporting dashboards, timeline and Gantt views, and 50K AI credits per billing account. Both later move into contact-sales plans for larger organizations.
Cost at real usage
| Usage | Asana | Teamwork.com |
|---|---|---|
| 3 users, small internal teamAsana free covers only 2 users; Teamwork.com free covers up to 5 users. | ~$32.97/mo est. if all 3 need paid seats | $29.97/mo |
| 5 users, one active client project workflowTeamwork.com free supports up to 5 users and 5 projects. | ~$54.95/mo est. if all 5 need paid seats | Free (within tier) |
| 10 usersBoth are per-seat and scale linearly with headcount. | ~$109.90/mo est. at Starter annual pricing | ~$99.90/mo est. at Basics annual pricing |
Estimates, not quotes. Usage-based rates change - verify with the vendor's pricing page before committing.
When to pick each one
Pick Asana when…
- You only need 2 collaborators and want unlimited tasks and projects without paying.
- You prefer a simple task and calendar workflow over client-facing or time/billing features.
- You mainly need status updates and a lightweight place to organize internal work.
- You want 100+ free integrations and do not need a larger free team.
Pick Teamwork.com when…
- You need up to 5 free users instead of 2.
- You manage client work and want client organization built into the free plan.
- You need time logging and 100 automations from day one.
- You want Gantt, table, board, and task views available on the free tier.
- You care about choosing US or EU data hosting on the free plan.
Bottom line
For the most common builder case, Teamwork.com is the better free-tier choice because it gives a larger team room to operate, plus time logging, client organization, and multiple project views. Asana is still a strong pick when you want the simplest possible task system and can live within 2 users. Once you outgrow free, Teamwork stays a bit cheaper at the first paid step, while Asana offers a cleaner jump into broader planning and reporting features.
Read the full listings: Asana and Teamwork.com. Scores use the FTV methodology at /ftv. Browse more head-to-heads on /compare, or see the top-ranked free tiers on /top.