Todoist versus Asana PM tools image.
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Perhaps you’re like many people and feel there are too many things to do and not enough hours in the day to complete them. The best project management software options can’t manipulate the clock, but they can help you be more productive. Here’s a breakdown of the features offered by Asana and Todoist, two of the leading PM tools to help people manage their workflows. (Also check out TechRepublic’s comparison articles Asana vs. monday.com and Asana vs. Trello.)

What is Asana?

Asana helps companies align workflows with goals and enables users to combine their efforts to get work done regardless of their location. The platform also provides real-time insights to help managers see whether teams are on track and where room for improvement exists.

What is Todoist?

Todoist is a cloud-based project management tool that syncs across various devices and platforms so that users always have the latest details. Team members can comment and upload files to collaborate without hassles, while managers can view productivity statistics and check activity streams to stay in the loop.

SEE: 5 key resources to improve your project management (TechRepublic Premium)

Asana vs. Todoist: Project management features

Todoist allows users to assign tasks to specific people or teams and track completion. As anyone who uses project management tools knows, it’s often helpful to send people relevant files to ensure they have all the information needed to do their best work. Todoist makes that easy with a drag-and-drop file-sharing interface.

Similarly, Todoist enables users to share projects with others. Then, those people get access to all the comments, files and other details associated with them. It’s also helpful that project management can span outside an organization.

A company can use technology to optimize its remote strategies, which may typically rely on the help of freelancers or specialists outside the company. Todoist administrators can manage whether users can share projects outside an organization with such parties, and whether people from beyond the organization can join in those efforts.

The project management offerings in Asana are comparatively more granular. For example, you can set up dependencies to specify the necessary task completion order. There is also a Sections feature that enables dividing and organizing all of a project’s tasks.

Doing that helps prioritize duties or categorize them according to the people responsible. Asana is like Todoist in that it permits people from outside an organization to work on projects. They do that through Workspaces, which facilitate working within groups even if users do not have shared email domains. It’s also possible to designate people as Limited Access Members of Workspaces. Those people have fewer privileges but can still see all project details.

Asana vs. Todoist: Tools for administrators

The best project management tools have plenty of user-friendly features for people in administrative roles. Todoist and Asana are no exception. Todoist has an Activity Log that lets administrators filter by person or project.

Admins can encourage team members to use the Productivity View in Todoist. It shows the number of tasks a person completes per day or week, plus the overall progress made on projects. If someone’s productivity suddenly drops for a sustained period, that could be a sign that the person might benefit from the offerings of an employee assistance program that gives support through life’s challenges. When people are less stressed, their productivity often rises due to improved focus.

Asana offers more specific capabilities than Todoist for what administrators can do within the tool. Most of those activities occur within the Admin Console. From there, admins can get detailed insights about how a team uses Asana, including metrics about recently invited members. Asana also offers a breakdown of which users send the most Asana project invites or have the highest activity levels for sharing projects and creating teams.

In addition, the Asana Admin Console confirms how many guests versus registered users within an organization use the program at any given time. Administrators can use that part of the dashboard to add or remove users and grant access to more people.

It’s easy to keep the Admin Console tidy as well, because there are various ways to sort through users. For example, admins can list users by the times of their last activities and then delete those who no longer actively use Asana.

SEE: Feature comparison: Time tracking software and systems (TechRepublic Premium)

Asana vs. Todoist: Which is better for your organization?

As you research project management software, it will soon become clear that there is no universally best choice for every workplace. It’s necessary to know what your organization requires and then take a deeper dive into each product’s offerings to see which one is most appropriate. Both Todoist and Asana have free tiers available. That’s a plus if you’re eager to use project management software but don’t want to spend a lot of money before giving it a try.

However, as the above overview highlights, Asana is probably the better choice if you require the ability to be more specific about how you assign tasks and monitor usage. On the other hand, if your company is just getting started with project management tools, Todoist could be a great introduction to what’s possible. They both simplify assigning tasks, completing projects and tracking progress.