Asana Timesheets and Budgets: Setup, Pricing and Whether You Need the Add-on (2026)
Asana’s Timesheets and Budgets is an add-on, not part of any base plan. It adds weekly timesheets with approvals, billable and non-billable hours, user rates, and project budgets tracked by hours or cost. It is available on Starter, Advanced, Enterprise, and Enterprise+, and it is listed at $5.99 per user per month billed annually, on top of your Asana seat.
Asana’s Help Center article on the add-on also notes a 14-day self-serve trial that admins or billing owners start from the admin console. During the trial, everyone in the domain gets access.
I implement work-management tools for client teams (SSPM is a Smartsheet partner; we also configure Asana for agencies). The add-on is good. The question is whether you need it, or whether native time tracking plus a custom field is enough.
What you get with and without the add-on
| Capability | Without add-on | With Timesheets and Budgets |
|---|---|---|
| Log time on a task | Starter: via integrations; Advanced: native estimated vs actual | Yes |
| Weekly timesheet view | No | Yes, with submit and approve |
| Billable vs non-billable | No | Yes |
| User rates (bill and cost) | No | Yes |
| Project budget by hours or cost | Custom fields only | Yes, with burn tracking |
| Portfolio budgets, profitability | No | Advanced and above |
Base prices for context, from asana.com/pricing on October 14, 2026: Starter $10.99 and Advanced $24.99 per user per month billed annually ($13.49 and $30.49 monthly).
Who needs it
- Agencies and consultancies that bill clients by the hour and need approved timesheets before invoicing.
- Internal teams with chargebacks that must report hours by project or cost center.
- PMOs tracking budget burn across a portfolio (Advanced and above for portfolio budgets).
Who can skip it
If you only want “how long did this take?”, Advanced’s native time tracking (estimated vs actual on the task) covers it. Add a number custom field for budget and a formula field for variance, and you have a lightweight budget view without the extra license.
Setup in six steps
- Start the trial or buy licenses. Admins start the 14-day trial from the admin console. After purchase, admins assign licenses to specific users; you only buy seats for people who log time.
- Set rates. Add bill rates and cost rates per person or role. Get finance to sign off on these first; changing rates later rewrites reports.
- Configure timesheet permissions. Decide who approves timesheets (usually the project owner or a resource manager).
- Set the project budget. Choose hours or cost. Enter the total and the start date.
- Tell people when timesheets are due. Friday end of day works for most teams. Approvals Monday morning.
- Review the first two weeks. Look for zero-hour weeks and tasks without estimates. Those are training gaps, not software problems.
Cost math at 20 people
If 12 of 20 people log billable time, you need 12 add-on licenses: 12 x $5.99 = $71.88 per month, about $863 a year, on top of seats. Compare that with a separate time tool (Harvest or similar) plus the integration work. For most agencies already on Advanced, keeping time inside Asana is cheaper than another subscription and another sync to maintain.
Common mistakes
- Licensing everyone. Only people who log time need the add-on.
- Setting budgets before rates are agreed.
- Skipping approvals. Unapproved timesheets make budget reports meaningless.
- Using Starter for portfolio-level budgets. Portfolio views require Advanced.
For broader Asana setup, see our Asana automation rules guide.
Plain terms used in this guide
- Billable hours: time you charge a client for.
- Bill rate: what you charge per hour. Cost rate: what that hour costs you (pay plus overhead).
- Budget burn: how much of the budget is already used.
- License: one paid add-on seat for one person.
Rates: the decision that matters most
Set rates before anyone logs time. Here is why. Budget reports multiply hours by rates. If you change rates later, past reports change too, and finance stops trusting the numbers.
What I do with agencies:
- Agree on 4 to 6 role rates (for example, Designer $95, Senior Designer $130, Project Manager $110). Role rates are easier to keep current than a rate for every person.
- Add cost rates only if you will look at profit. Many teams skip cost rates for the first month.
- Write the rates in one shared doc, approved by finance, with a “valid from” date.
A weekly rhythm that works
- Daily: people log time on the task they worked on. Five minutes at the end of the day beats an hour of guessing on Friday.
- Friday: everyone submits the weekly timesheet.
- Monday morning: the approver checks for zero-hour days and odd entries (like 14 hours on one task) and approves.
- Monthly: the project lead compares budget burn to progress. If 70% of the budget is used and the project is 50% done, raise it now, not at the end.
Gotchas from real rollouts
The trial gives everyone access. During the 14-day trial, the whole domain gets the add-on. When it ends, only people with assigned licenses keep it. Decide who needs a license before day 14, or people lose access mid-week.
Logged time without estimates tells you little. Ask people to add an estimate on every task over 2 hours. Then you can compare estimate to actual and spot work that always runs over.
Approvers go on vacation. Name a backup approver. Unapproved timesheets sit for weeks otherwise, and invoices wait.
Guests do not log time. Contractors working as free guests cannot use the add-on. If contractors bill you hourly, they need a paid seat plus an add-on license, or keep their time in their own tool.
When NOT to buy the add-on
- You only want to know roughly how long work takes. Advanced’s built-in time tracking is enough.
- You already run payroll or invoicing from Harvest, Toggl or a PSA tool (software built for services firms) and it works. Two time systems means double entry.
- Fewer than 3 people track time. A shared spreadsheet is cheaper for now.
Add-on vs separate time tracker
| Asana add-on | Separate tool (Harvest, Toggl) | |
|---|---|---|
| Where time is logged | On the Asana task | In another app, often linked |
| Approvals | Built in | Built in (varies by tool) |
| Invoicing | Export | Often built in |
| Extra login | No | Yes |
| Best for | Teams that live in Asana | Teams that bill from the time tool |
My take: if invoices come from your accounting software anyway, the Asana add-on is the simpler choice. If you want invoices straight from the time tool, a separate tracker still wins.
Common questions
How much is Asana Timesheets and Budgets?
It is listed at $5.99 per user per month billed annually, on top of your Asana plan. Confirm current pricing with Asana before you buy.
Which Asana plans can use Timesheets and Budgets?
Starter, Advanced, Enterprise, and Enterprise+, per Asana’s Help Center.
Is there a free trial?
Yes. Admins or billing owners can start a 14-day self-serve trial from the admin console. Everyone in the domain gets access during the trial.
Does Asana have time tracking without the add-on?
Yes. Advanced includes native time tracking that compares estimated and actual effort. Starter supports time tracking through integrations.
Can contractors use Asana Timesheets?
Only if they have a paid Asana seat with an add-on license assigned. Free guests can’t use it.
What happens when the Asana Timesheets trial ends?
Only people with assigned add-on licenses keep access. Assign licenses before the 14 days end.
Pricing and availability checked against asana.com/pricing and the Asana Help Center on October 14, 2026.
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