Think Projects as an Asana alternative
Planning, conversations, time tracking and client updates at one team price.
Who this suits
Teams of about five to twenty on Asana Starter who want time tracking and a plan that says when work lands, and would rather pay one number for the team than per seat. On Asana, time tracking comes with Advanced or as a paid add-on to Starter; here it is part of every plan. Small agencies that want clients in without a seat conversation. Think Projects does not have a workload view; if that, or portfolios, goals and the workflow builder, is what you need from Advanced, Asana Advanced is built for you.
What your week would look like
The task side will feel close: task lists with subtasks five deep, sections (here, lists), tags, priorities, start and due dates, assignees and custom fields; a Kanban board, a calendar and a timeline with dependencies and milestones; @mentions and comments; templates for projects and tasks; file attachments; a Slack or Teams feed.
Beyond it:
- A forecast finish date. From estimates, dependencies, who is doing what and when people are away, the timeline forecasts when each task, milestone and project will finish, and moves the date when something changes, with plan health saying what moved it.
- Time tracking on every plan — a timer, a billable flag and a CSV export. Asana includes it from Advanced, or as the Timesheets and Budgets add-on on Starter ($5.99 per user a month billed annually).
- Project conversations as threads with reply by email, so clients can reply to project notifications from their inbox.
- A weekly status update drafted from the week's activity for a person to send.
What it costs
| Feature | Think Projects | Asana |
|---|---|---|
| Entry paid plan | Starter, $15 a month for up to 5 people | Starter, $10.99 per user a month (monthly equivalent, billed annually); $13.49 billed monthly |
| Seat rules | A team-size band | Seats sold in steps: by 1 up to 5, by 5 up to 30, by 10 up to 100 |
| Eight people | $32.50 a month (monthly equivalent, billed annually; Team, up to 15 people); $39 billed monthly | $109.90 a month (monthly equivalent, billed annually) for the ten seats eight people must buy; $134.90 billed monthly |
| Timeline | Every plan, with a forecast finish date | Starter and above |
| Custom fields | Every plan; 6 kinds, up to 8 per project | Starter and above |
| Time tracking | Every plan, included | Advanced ($24.99 per user a month, monthly equivalent billed annually) and above; on Starter, the Timesheets and Budgets add-on at $5.99 per user a month billed annually |
| Workload | Not yet | Advanced and above |
| Goals and portfolios | No | Advanced and above |
| Guests who can take part | Free and unlimited, invited to individual projects | "Unlimited free guests" (external collaborators) on Starter and above |
| Free plan | 14-day trial of everything | Personal, up to 2 users |
Asana figures from asana.com/pricing, read 7 and 8 September 2026, in US dollars, per user; seats are sold in increments of 1 up to 5, of 5 up to 30 and of 10 up to 100; the Timesheets and Budgets add-on is listed at $5.99 per user a month billed annually on Starter and above. Think Projects in US dollars; pounds and euros.
Bringing your work with you
Export a project as CSV (project menu → Export/Print → CSV) and drop it into the import wizard. Tasks with notes, sections, assignees, dates, tags, completion, subtasks and the Priority and Estimated-time fields come across; comments, attachments, dependencies and other custom fields stay behind. One project per file, named on the way in. Details on the switching page.
Where Asana is the better choice
Portfolios and goals; the workflow builder and forms; a workload view; the integrations marketplace; AI features; native phone apps. Larger organisations with several teams coordinating across projects are Asana's home ground.
Try it with one project
Export one Asana project, import it into a trial workspace, and run it here for a fortnight.
Want to try it on your own work? Every feature on every plan, a 14-day trial, no card needed — and guests are always free.
Create a workspace