Asana vs Sunsama

Asana is one of the most reliable and stable project management tools on the market. We used it for 7 years before switching to Motion. We didn't switch because Asana was bad... Asana is fantastic, as long as you take the time to set it up properly and actually need all the features it offers.

Asana is exactly what a comes to mind when you envision a traditional project manager tool. It has traditional lists view, tasks view, custom fields, kanban boards, calendar (which isn't even worthy of the name when you compare Asana vs Motion), files, and timeline views. It even has robust project management features like gantt charts, workload management and advanced reporting features. If your organization has complex projects and is looking for a tool with all the bells and whistles, including reporting for upper management, then Asana would be our top recommendation for you.

Asana is now a public traded company and it's focusing more on enterprise accounts (1000+ seats). With that, comes more enterprise features, which, we'll never need as a small team.

Our needs are much more simple—we simply wanted a tool to help us get more work done fast (hence why we made the switch to Motion.

If you have complex projects that require multiple custom fields, team collaboration, multiple views including kanban boards, lists, timelines, gantt charts and perhaps even workload management features. Workload management features, for example, allow you to manage your teams capacity, see how much work is on their plate (whether they are overwhelmed or underworked) and rebalance work as required.

Reporting important to your team for things like monitoring spending for project costs, tracking project status and seeing total revenue across projects (note: this can at times be managed in your CRM so you'd want to make the decision as to where you're mainly tracking revenue so you have a single source of truth).

• Free Tier: As a free project management software (for small teams), it might be alluring to try Asana on the tree tier. But to unlock key features you'd need to be on a paid tier, so we don't fall into the trap of comparing Asana as a free project management software to other paid tools.
• Starter Tier: $10.99/mo on the annual tier. This is the first super useful Asana tier. Here you'll get their workflow builder, automations (limited to 250) and the ability to invite unlimited guests (freelancers and contractors).
• [BEST 🥇] Advanced Tier: $24.99/mo on annual tier. This is the tier we were on when we used Asana for 7 years, even as a 1-2 person team. This tier allows for ample automations (25k per month) and unlocks their more advanced features such as reporting and workload management.

Sunsama is a daily planner built around intentional, manual time blocking. The very first thing it asks each morning is "What do you want to get done today?"

It's intuitive and easy to navigate, giving you a full view of your tasks on one side and your calendar on the other. You have the ability to drag tasks onto your schedule and then reflect on obstacles. Then, at the end of the day, you go through a shutdown ritual and review what you completed. It’s not a tool that's trying to automate your life, but trying to help you be more mindful about it.

I always recommend Sunsama to my friends who love pen-and-paper planners but want a digital version. If you enjoy sitting down for 10–15 minutes each morning to thoughtfully plan your day, you'll probably love what Sunsama brings to the table.

If you hate the idea of AI planning your day, then Sunsama is 100% for you (it's basically the opposite of Motion). There's no AI auto-scheduling or project management tool built in.

• Structured daily routines
• Beautiful, calming, minimal design
• Daily planning and time blocking experience
• Strong philosophy around healthy work habits
• Integrates with popular tools (Asana, Monday, Gmail, Slack, etc.)

• Heavy manual daily planning
• Limited team collaboration features
• Can feel time-consuming for busy professionals

Sunsama creates an experience that guides you through a routine focused on what you feel, not what is fastest or what an AI automation thinks is most efficient.

There is what Sunsama calls auto-scheduling, which is different from how AI works with tools like Motion. What it means is it uses a mixture of keyboard shortcuts and your preset schedule to place tasks on your calendar, split them, or defer them; it's not actually doing anything with AI or anything that automated.

We could see this really working for someone who prefers control over AI guesswork and already likes sitting down to map out their day. This feels like the cleanest digital version of that experience. It forces you to be realistic about your time and in tune with your day.

Sunsama doesn’t try to replace your project management software, but it's aware that professionals often need to be in tools like Asana, Monday, Trello, Gmail, Slack, etc.

So it connects to those tools and allows you to pull in tasks, BUT it doesn’t automatically schedule everything. This is different from other tools that, with a click of a button, your entire schedule is ready to go; with Sunsama, you choose what makes it onto your calendar.

It acts more like a daily decision layer on top of your existing stack. Your PM tool manages the big picture, and Sunsama helps you decide what actually gets your time today.

Much like the beginning of your day, Sunsama has you do a shutdown routine at the end of the day. You review what you completed and reflect on how the day went.

This might sound redundant if you are just trying to be as efficient as possible, but if the goal is awareness and intention, it's powerful. A lot of busy founders just want to close their laptops and be done with the day, but Sunsama makes you pause and look at your progress.

It does a great job of helping you reinforce work boundaries and help you build a healthier relationship with work, because when you see all your output, it makes you realize sometimes it's okay to stop.

• Free: 30-day free trial with our Sunsama discount (normally only 14 days if you go direct). No credit card required.
• Pro: $20/mo per user (billed yearly) or $25/mo (billed monthly). Best for busy professionals who want a full daily planning system with unlimited usage, integrations, and AI features.
• Enterprise: Unlisted. Includes SSO, SCIM, audit logs, and custom security, compliance, and billing options for larger teams.