Asana vs Jira

Asana suits cross-functional teams that want approachable project coordination, with shared tasks, request forms, and portfolio visibility. Jira suits teams that need configurable work types, enforced workflows, granular access, and planning across business and engineering work.

Compare features See the tradeoffs

Asana

Best for cross-functional teams coordinating projects, requests, and goals

Advantage: Can create live search views across several projects using shared custom fields and other search criteria.
Advantage: Can compare workloads across project groups on Advanced. Broader workload and availability planning requires Enterprise.
Advantage: Can turn form responses into tasks in an Asana project.
Limitation: Can customise task types, statuses, and rules, but cannot require fields for each status change. Enterprise adds shared setup across teams.
Limitation: Can make tasks private, but cannot hide a task from members of a project it is shared with.

Jira

Best for teams that need configurable work models, enforced workflows, and connected delivery planning

Advantage: Configurable workflows can restrict transitions, require information, validate changes, and run follow-up actions.
Advantage: Software spaces provide backlogs for ranking, estimating, and scheduling upcoming work.
Advantage: Can reuse managed work-type and workflow schemes across company-managed spaces.
Limitation: Can connect Jira work to Confluence documents; the full document workspace is supplied by Confluence rather than Jira alone.
Limitation: Company-managed boards group columns by status and can add swimlanes by query, story, assignee, epic, or space.

Feature comparison

✓ Supported · — Partially supported · × Not available.

Feature	Asana	Jira
Pricing
Starting paid price Compare the entry paid plan, billing unit, and payment commitment.	From $10.99/user/month, billed annually (Starter).	Jira Standard starts at $7.91 per user/month on the current monthly pricing example. Actual prices vary by user count, billing cycle, and region.
Free plan Compare what teams can use before moving to a paid plan.	Personal is free for up to two users, with unlimited tasks and projects.	The Free plan covers up to 10 users with 2 GB storage, community support, and lower automation limits. Permissions, external collaboration, and other controls require a paid plan.
Work structure and knowledge
Projects, tasks, and subtasks Organise work from individual tasks through projects and larger initiatives.	Supported	Supported
Custom fields Track information that is specific to the team’s work.	Supported	Supported
Custom work types Model different kinds of work with their own structure and fields.	Supported	Supported
Documents and knowledge Keep project documentation and long-form knowledge connected to tasks.	Limited Can write formatted project briefs and attach or embed supporting documents; project context is lighter than a full wiki.	Limited Can connect Jira work to Confluence documents; the full document workspace is supplied by Confluence rather than Jira alone.
Whiteboards Connect visual brainstorming to project work.	Limited Can embed Miro and other visual collaboration resources in project briefs; the whiteboard is hosted in the connected tool.	Limited Can create and import Jira work on Confluence whiteboards; Confluence is the companion product.
Views and everyday work
Board and list layouts Switch between a board and a list of the same work.	Supported	Supported
Grouping by field Organise views by status, owner, or another work-item field.	Supported	Supported
Cross-project views View work from several projects or teams together.	Supported	Supported
Advanced filters Build precise views from several conditions.	Supported	Supported
Saved and shared views Save board or list settings and share them with other people.	Supported	Supported
Keyboard navigation and commands Navigate and act without reaching for the mouse.	Supported	Supported
Bulk editing Update several selected work items together.	Supported	Supported
Planning and reporting
Planning across teams Connect current delivery work with broader projects, initiatives, and plans.	Supported	Supported
Progress reporting Understand delivery progress and performance through reports.	Supported	Supported
Task dependencies Track blocking relationships between tasks and projects.	Supported	Supported
Workload and capacity Compare assigned work with team availability and capacity.	Supported	Supported
Goals and objectives Connect tasks and project progress to organisational goals.	Supported	Supported
Time tracking Record time spent on work and review it in reports.	Supported	Supported
Sprint planning Plan repeating delivery periods with a backlog and sprint scope.	Limited Can track sprints using projects, fields, and templates, but needs setup. Inherited from jira-vs-asana, Workflow and automation: Sprint planning and reports. Sources were attributed at page level in the original comparison; claim-specific attribution needs review.	Supported
Sprint reporting Review burndown, velocity, and delivery trends with dedicated reports.	Limited Can track sprints using projects, fields, and templates, but needs setup. Inherited from jira-vs-asana, Workflow and automation: Sprint planning and reports. Sources were attributed at page level in the original comparison; claim-specific attribution needs review.	Supported
Timeline and Gantt views Plan work against dates and see schedules and dependencies in a timeline or Gantt view.	Supported	Supported
Backlog management Maintain an ordered backlog and select work for upcoming delivery periods.	Limited Can order upcoming tasks in projects and use templates and fields for a delivery backlog; it is built on the general task model.	Supported
Workflow and intake
Automatic actions React to changes and automate multi-step processes.	Supported	Supported
Rules for changing status Enforce allowed status transitions and require information before work can move to another stage.	Limited Can customise task types, statuses, and rules, but cannot require fields for each status change. Enterprise adds shared setup across teams. Inherited from jira-vs-asana, Workflow and automation: Process steps and rules. Sources were attributed at page level in the original comparison; claim-specific attribution needs review.	Supported
Request forms Collect structured requests that create work items.	Supported	Supported
Custom statuses Define the stages that match each team’s process.	Supported	Supported
Approval steps Require approval from designated people before work can proceed.	Limited Can request and record sign-off with approval tasks; approval tasks alone do not establish enforced status-transition gates.	Supported
Access and administration
Project roles and permissions Control who can view, edit, and administer project work.	Supported	Supported
Individual work-item access Restrict an individual work item within an otherwise shared project.	Limited Can make tasks private, but cannot hide a task from members of a project it is shared with. Inherited from jira-vs-asana, Access controls: Private tasks in shared projects. Sources were attributed at page level in the original comparison; claim-specific attribution needs review.	Supported
Shared configuration Reuse managed fields and process settings across teams.	Supported	Supported
Integrations
Development integrations Connect planning with branches, pull requests, builds, and deployments.	Limited Can link GitHub pull requests and sync their status to tasks; coverage focuses on pull requests rather than a complete build and release record.	Supported
Jira integration Connect work and updates with Jira projects.	Supported	Supported
API and webhooks Read and update work programmatically and receive events when it changes.	Supported	Supported

Asana

Best for cross-functional teams coordinating projects, requests, and goals

Shared tasks across projects

Can show the same task in several projects, with changes shared everywhere.

Portfolio and workload visibility

Can track progress, milestones, and reports across projects on Advanced and Enterprise.

Structured request intake

Can turn form responses into tasks in an Asana project.

Goal-linked project work

Can link goals directly to tasks, projects, and groups of projects.

Jira

Best for teams that need configurable work models, enforced workflows, and connected delivery planning

Enforced workflow rules

Configurable workflows can restrict transitions, require information, validate changes, and run follow-up actions.

Configurable work types and fields

Administrators can create custom fields and apply contexts so teams capture organisation-specific data.

Connected delivery planning

Backlogs, sprints, releases, timelines, and Plans support short- and long-range planning.

Granular work-item access

Work items inherit space permission schemes and can add issue-level security where configured.

Key differences

Asana

Jira

Work structure and customisation

Compare how each product models projects, tasks, work types, and team-specific information.

Can filter, sort, and group tasks by custom task type and status. Can search across projects with multiple criteria and library custom fields on Starter and above.

Jira supports grouping work by fields, including status columns and assignee swimlanes. Board scope, quick filters, rows, and card colours can use JQL queries.

Workflow configuration

Consider whether the team needs a consistent status model or rules that govern how work moves between stages.

Can customise task types, statuses, and rules, but cannot require fields for each status change. Enterprise adds shared setup across teams. Can request and record sign-off with approval tasks; approval tasks alone do not establish enforced status-transition gates.

Configurable workflows can restrict transitions, require information, validate changes, and run follow-up actions. Can embed multiple approval steps into team-managed business workflows on Premium and Enterprise. Rules combine triggers, conditions, branches, smart values, and actions across Jira work.

Access and extensibility

Review the permission model and the options for connecting or extending each product programmatically.

Can make tasks private, but cannot hide a task from members of a project it is shared with. Can control access to teams, projects, project groups, and tasks, including guest access.

Work items inherit space permission schemes and can add issue-level security where configured. Local configuration and plan restrictions apply. Global, space, work-item, and workflow permissions can control viewing, creation, editing, transition, and administration.

Planning and portfolio scope

Consider how near-term execution connects to timelines, initiatives, dependencies, and broader organisational plans.

Can compare workloads across project groups on Advanced. Broader workload and availability planning requires Enterprise. Can track progress, milestones, and reports across projects on Advanced and Enterprise.

Can plan individual work allocations across the Jira site and use team capacity in planning; availability depends on the plan and enabled planning features. Backlogs, sprints, releases, timelines, and Plans support short- and long-range planning.

Sources and verification

Documentation reviewed 2026-09-11 / 2026-09-16. Based on product documentation and pricing sources.