Pick Asana if your main problem is getting work done on time: tasks, owners, deadlines and dependencies across a team. Pick Notion if your main problem is knowledge: docs, wikis, specs and light databases. The entry prices are close ($10.99 for Asana Starter and $10 for Notion Plus, per seat a month billed yearly), so let the job decide, not the price.
I checked Asana’s pricing page and Notion’s pricing page on October 22, 2026. I have set up both for client teams, and most regret comes from a limit nobody read.
Quick comparison
| Asana | Notion | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Task and project execution | Docs, wikis, knowledge, light tracking |
| Free plan | Up to 2 users, 100 MB per file | Unlimited for one person; blocks limited for 2+ members, 5 MB uploads, 10 guests, 7-day page history |
| Entry paid plan | Starter $10.99 | Plus $10 ($12 monthly) |
| Next plan | Advanced $24.99 | Business $20 ($24 monthly) |
| SAML SSO | Enterprise | Business |
| Automations | Unlimited rules from Starter | Buttons on Free; database automations from Plus |
| Guests | Unlimited free from Starter | 10 on Free, unlimited on Plus |
How each tool thinks
Asana is built around the task. A task has one owner, a due date and a place in a project. You move it from open to done. Timelines, dependencies, rules and dashboards all hang off that model. The structure is decided for you, which is a good thing once three or more people share deadlines.
Notion is built around the page. A page can be a doc, a wiki, or a database. A database can show the same records as a table, board, calendar or gallery. You can drop a filtered view of a database inside any doc. It is a blank canvas, which is both its power and its risk.
Where Asana pulls ahead
- Timelines and dependencies. On Starter, Timeline and Gantt views show how one slip pushes the rest. Notion has dependencies in databases, but no true project scheduling.
- Unlimited rules. Starter has unlimited automations: assign, move, set fields, notify.
- Forms into tasks. A form submission becomes a task with fields filled in.
- Free guests. Starter includes unlimited free guests for clients and freelancers.
- Portfolios, goals, approvals and workload on Advanced. This is where cross-team reporting starts.
- My Tasks. Each person gets one list to run their day from.
Where Notion wins
- Docs and wikis. Meeting notes, specs, handbooks and onboarding hubs feel natural. In Asana they feel bolted on.
- Flexible databases. Build a CRM, content calendar or bug list in minutes, with custom properties.
- Tool consolidation. Small teams often replace a wiki, a doc tool and a simple tracker with Notion alone.
- Web publishing. Plus includes custom sites, and every plan can publish pages.
- Cheaper SSO. SAML SSO is on Business at $20. On Asana you need Enterprise.
Pricing traps
Asana:
- The free plan stops at 2 users. A third person means paying for Starter.
- Advanced at $24.99 more than doubles the Starter price. Many teams only want portfolios or approvals, and pay for the whole tier.
- AI is metered. Starter and Advanced include 5 AI requests per user a month, up to 50 per account. Extra requests cost $0.50 each prepaid or $0.60 on demand.
Notion:
- The Free plan limits blocks once you have 2 or more members. Teams hit this quickly.
- On Free and Plus, Notion AI is only a limited trial. The full Notion Agent, AI Meeting Notes and Enterprise Search come with Business, which includes 1,500 Standard credits and 500 Select credits per seat a month.
- Database automations need Plus. Free only has buttons.
The honest downsides
Asana: weak for long documents. Notes live in task descriptions or project briefs, which get messy. It is also costly once you need Advanced features.
Notion: project tracking is only as good as the system someone builds. When that person leaves, the setup often decays. There is no workload view, no real critical path and no project portfolio like Asana’s. Large databases can also feel slow.
A real setup example
Here is how I split the work for a 12-person product and marketing team using both tools.
In Notion (Plus, $10 a seat):
- A Product specs database with properties for Status, Owner, Release and Link to Asana project.
- A Team wiki with pages for onboarding, brand rules and how-we-work notes.
- A Meeting notes database, with one page per meeting and the action items listed at the bottom.
In Asana (Starter, $10.99 a seat):
- One project per release or campaign, built from a template, with dependencies on the Timeline.
- A Requests project fed by a form, with a rule that assigns new requests to the triage owner.
- A dashboard showing overdue tasks by owner.
The rule that makes it work: decisions live in Notion, deadlines live in Asana. Action items from a meeting become Asana tasks the same day. If a task only lives in a Notion page, it gets lost.
For 12 people, this costs about $252 a month on yearly billing ($120 for Notion Plus plus $131.88 for Asana Starter). If that is too much, start with only the tool that fixes your bigger pain, and add the other later.
When to use each, and when to use both
Use Asana alone if your team ships against deadlines and keeps few docs. Agencies, marketing teams and PMOs fit here.
Use Notion alone if your team is small, writes a lot and has simple tasks. Startups under 10 people, content teams and researchers fit here.
Use both if you have real projects and real documentation. Keep specs, wikis and meeting notes in Notion. Run tasks and deadlines in Asana. Paste the Asana task link in the Notion spec, and the Notion doc link in the Asana task. This split is common with product teams.
When not to use either: software teams that live in sprints and pull requests. Jira or Linear fit them better.
How I would choose in 30 minutes
- List the five things your team does most each week.
- Mark each one as “doing” (a task with a deadline) or “knowing” (a doc or record).
- If most are “doing”, start an Asana Starter trial. If most are “knowing”, start Notion Plus.
- Run one real project for two weeks before you buy seats for everyone.
Related guides
Common questions
Is Asana or Notion better for a small team?
For a small team with deadlines and handoffs, Asana. For a small team that mostly writes and shares knowledge, Notion.
Can Notion replace Asana?
For simple task lists, yes. For timelines, dependencies, workload and unlimited rules, no. Asana is built for that.
Which is cheaper, Asana or Notion?
Notion Plus is $10 per seat a month on yearly billing. Asana Starter is $10.99. Their next tiers are $20 (Notion Business) and $24.99 (Asana Advanced).
Which has better AI?
Notion’s full AI comes with Business at $20, with credits included. Asana includes a small number of AI requests on paid plans and charges $0.50 to $0.60 per extra request.
Can I use Asana and Notion together?
Yes. Many teams keep docs in Notion and tasks in Asana, and link between them. Asana has 100+ free integrations.
Sources
- Asana pricing (checked Oct 22, 2026)
- Notion pricing (checked Oct 22, 2026)
- Asana Help: Approvals
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