Asana vs Microsoft Planner 2026: Standalone WM vs M365 Bundled

Asana vs Microsoft Planner: what is the short answer?

Choose Asana when your priority is a broad work-management platform, with portfolios, many integrations, and several views around the schedule. Choose Microsoft Planner when your priority is project work inside Microsoft Teams and an existing Microsoft 365 setup. Neither is universally better: the decisive questions are who needs to edit the schedule, whether critical path and baselines are required, and whether the surrounding workflow should be a focused scheduler or a broader work platform.

Checked on 18 October 2026: Prices and plan details below were checked against the vendors’ official pricing, product, and help pages. Prices are USD list prices for annual billing unless stated otherwise; taxes, promotions, regions, legacy plans, and negotiated contracts can differ.

How do Asana and Microsoft Planner compare now?

The table separates a visible timeline from formal schedule controls. A product can show dated bars while placing dependencies, critical path, or baseline comparison on a higher tier. That distinction matters more than whether a marketing page simply says “Gantt.”

Figures and their sources

Asana

Figure	Value	Source
Free plan (Personal)	Up to 2 users; no Timeline, Gantt or task dependencies	Asana pricing
Starter (Gantt and dependencies)	$10.99 per user per month billed annually, $13.49 monthly	Asana pricing
Critical path	Advanced and above, from $24.99 per user per month billed annually	Asana pricing
Rating	4.5 out of 5 from 13,764 reviews	GetApp

Microsoft Planner

Figure	Value	Source
Basic Planner	Included in Microsoft 365, without the Timeline (Gantt) view	Microsoft service description
Planner Plan 1 (Timeline, finish-to-start links)	$10 per user per month, paid yearly	Microsoft Planner plans and pricing
Critical path and baselines	Planner and Project Plan 3, $30 per user per month, paid yearly	Microsoft Planner plans and pricing
Rating	4.3 out of 5 from 298 reviews	Capterra UK

Checked on 18 October 2026.

When is Asana the better choice?

Asana is the stronger fit when the priority is a broad work-management platform, with portfolios, many integrations, and several views around the schedule. Paid plans have no seat cap, Portfolios come with Advanced, and Asana lists 100+ free integrations.

The main qualification is equally important. Formal schedulers should account for the Advanced-tier critical-path gate: Starter shows the Gantt chart and dependencies, but not the critical path.

Choose Asana if: its surrounding workflow matters as much as the chart, its current plan limits match the real editor group, and the team has tested one representative project rather than comparing feature names alone.

When is Microsoft Planner the better choice?

Microsoft Planner is the stronger fit when the priority is project work inside Microsoft Teams and an existing Microsoft 365 setup. Planner runs as web and Teams apps and needs an eligible Microsoft 365 subscription. Premium plans allow up to 3,000 tasks per project.

The tradeoff is not hidden. Timeline requires a paid Planner licence, and critical path and baselines require the $30 Plan 3. Planner also took over from Project for the web, which Microsoft retired on 1 August 2025.

Choose Microsoft Planner if: its pricing unit matches how the team works, its scheduling tier contains every required control, and the product’s collaboration model fits internal and external participants.

What does the price comparison look like for 10 people?

• Asana: For 10 paid users, Starter is $1,318.80/year. Advanced is $2,998.80/year and is the first tier with critical path.
• Microsoft Planner: For 10 licensed users, Plan 1 is $1,200/year and Planner and Project Plan 3 is $3,600/year, before any Microsoft 365 subscription the team needs.

Those figures are not automatically like-for-like. A free viewer, collaborator, guest, manager, or desktop user can have different permissions in each product. Compare the smallest group that must actually create tasks, change dates, restructure dependencies, and administer the schedule—not the total number of people who may open a link.

For procurement, model at least three cases: the current editor count, the editor count after one year, and the number of simultaneously active projects. Then confirm the result in each vendor’s checkout because seat minimums, project add-ons, and regional pricing can change the total.

Which product has the stronger Gantt scheduling model?

Asana: Timeline and Gantt views are included on Starter and higher plans. Task dependencies are available on Starter and higher plans, not on Personal. Critical path is available on Advanced and higher plans. Check Asana’s current help pages for baseline support on the plan you would buy.

Microsoft Planner: Planner Plan 1 adds the Timeline (Gantt) view, along with premium plans and sprints. Plan 1 creates finish-to-start dependencies; Plan 3 adds advanced dependencies (FS, SS, FF, SF) with lead and lag. Critical path needs Planner and Project Plan 3; Plan 1 does not include it. Baselines need Planner and Project Plan 3.

A stronger schedule model is not always the better product. A team may rationally accept lighter Gantt controls in exchange for automation, documents, dashboards, or ecosystem fit. Conversely, a project manager who recalculates handoffs daily should not buy a broad platform merely because it can display a timeline.

What should you test before choosing?

1. Import or rebuild one real project with at least 30 tasks.
2. Create the dependency types the project actually uses, including lag if relevant.
3. Move a predecessor and confirm how successors react.
4. Display critical path and a baseline using the tier you intend to buy.
5. Invite one scheduler, one contributor, and one read-only stakeholder.
6. Export the schedule in the format your clients or PMO require.
7. Price the exact number of paid editors and active projects at checkout.

This test exposes permission, scale, and plan-limit differences that a marketing comparison cannot.

When is GanttFather a better fit than Asana or Microsoft Planner?

GanttFather fits a Gantt-first project with up to two editors and many reviewers. It is free for 1 project you own, with 2 editors and unlimited free viewers. Each extra project is US$5 a month (US$2.50 a month billed yearly), and an extra editor seat is US$2 a month (US$1 a month billed yearly). No feature is locked to a paid plan: FS/SS/FF/SF dependencies with lag and lead, critical path, Gantt, List, and Board views, Excel import and export, PDF and PNG reports, live updates, and an MCP server for AI assistants.

The limits: GanttFather has no baselines, no comments, and no resource leveling (workload is only a count of active tasks per person), it runs only in the browser, and dependencies are not part of its Excel import and export. Asana or Microsoft Planner can be the better purchase when those capabilities or a larger ecosystem outweigh the price difference.

Create a free GanttFather project and reproduce one dependency-heavy phase before deciding. For direct product pages, see GanttFather vs Asana and GanttFather vs Microsoft Planner.

Frequently asked questions

Is Asana or Microsoft Planner cheaper?

It depends on paid editors, active projects, and the feature tier. Asana: For 10 paid users, Starter is $1,318.80/year. Advanced is $2,998.80/year and is the first tier with critical path. Microsoft Planner: For 10 licensed users, Plan 1 is $1,200/year and Planner and Project Plan 3 is $3,600/year, before any Microsoft 365 subscription the team needs. Compare the exact checkout totals rather than multiplying a headline price that may use a different team-size band or project bundle.

Which one has a usable free Gantt chart?

Asana: Personal is free for up to 2 users, with unlimited tasks and projects, but it has no Timeline, Gantt, or task dependencies. Microsoft Planner: There is no standalone free plan. Basic Planner comes with Microsoft 365 subscriptions, but it has no Timeline (Gantt) view and shows dependencies as view-only. “Free” should be evaluated with its usage, task, project, and collaboration limits—not just account creation.

Which one supports dependencies?

Asana: Task dependencies are available on Starter and higher plans, not on Personal. Microsoft Planner: Plan 1 creates finish-to-start dependencies; Plan 3 adds advanced dependencies (FS, SS, FF, SF) with lead and lag.

Which one supports critical path?

Asana: Critical path is available on Advanced and higher plans. Microsoft Planner: Critical path needs Planner and Project Plan 3; Plan 1 does not include it.

Which one supports baselines?

Asana: Check Asana’s current help pages for baseline support on the plan you would buy. Microsoft Planner: Baselines need Planner and Project Plan 3.

How should a team migrate between them?

Export the smallest representative project first, preserve a copy of the source data, and validate task hierarchy, dates, dependency types, lag, assignees, comments, and custom fields after import. No cross-vendor migration preserves every permission, automation, dashboard, or integration, so budget time for manual reconstruction and acceptance testing.

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Sources

1. Asana, Pricing
2. Asana, Pricing feature table (plain text)
3. Microsoft, Planner plans and pricing
4. Microsoft Learn, Planner service description
5. Microsoft Support, Planner FAQ
6. Microsoft Planner Blog, Dependencies and critical path
7. Microsoft Planner Blog, Retiring Project for the web