9 Great Asana Alternatives for Social Media and Content Managers in 2024

Are you looking into project management tools to help manage your marketing initiatives? You may have given Asana a try, but you’re not alone if you remain unconvinced. While it’s useful for organizing tasks, marketing managers often seek Asana alternatives due to its limitations in handling content management needs.

Asana can work as project management software, but there are better choices to streamline content creation and distribution. Many marketing teams prefer to use dedicated content calendar tools.

I researched and tried several Asana alternatives, and I selected the best nine that I believe cater to the unique requirements of social media and content managers. Let’s find the perfect fit for your team.

Why you should look for an alternative to Asana

Asana is a project management tool that helps teams organize, track, and manage their work. It offers a wide range of features, including task assignments, project timelines, and deadline tracking.

I remember using Asana for project management when I first started working as a content marketing specialist for a software company. It was useful for managing tasks, but our team soon moved on to another tool specifically created for marketing activities.

Asana lacked in some areas essential to content workflows, such as limited feedback and collaboration mechanisms, social media integrations, and calendar options.

When you find yourself not using the tool and going back to plain old email communication, it’s a sign that the project management software is not a good fit.

Planning

Asana provides reliable planning tools that help teams create detailed project plans. Users can assign tasks, set deadlines, and create milestones. It offers various views, such as lists, boards, and calendars, to visualize tasks and timelines effectively.

While Asana offers comprehensive planning features, marketing managers, in my experience, need more specialized content calendar management features, such as direct social media scheduling or visually enhanced previews of campaigns.

Asana offers a calendar view for project management, not content planning. Customization is possible, but wouldn’t you rather just use a calendar designed for content needs?

Collaboration

Teams collaborate in Asana through chat functions, comment threads, and notifications. You can communicate within tasks and stay updated on project progress in real-time.

With that said, Asana lacks advanced features needed for content creation, such as version control and detailed feedback mechanisms.

For example, while you can leave comments directly within tasks and on images or PDFs, you cannot comment on documents, making collaboration on written content cumbersome.

Here is what Danielle M., a Content Marketing Specialist, had to say in her review of Asana:

I don’t find the editorial calendars to be particularly useful. I also find it difficult to communicate within the app. The threads are confusing, and there’s no good way to attach documents for review.

Approvals

Asana allows users to create custom workflows that include approval steps in the form of approval tasks assigned to different team members. This ensures that tasks are reviewed and approved before proceeding to the next stage in the content workflow.

While straightforward, this process does not take into account the various roles that marketing teams have and their relationship with agencies or clients, where visibility and approval layers are needed.

Pricing: Asana offers a free plan that includes basic task management features. The Starter plan (starting at $10.99/seat/month) provides advanced functionalities like a timeline view, custom fields, and advanced search capabilities. Approvals and proofing are available only starting with the Advanced plan ($24.99/seat/month).

Here’s why marketers should consider an Asana alternative in 2024

• Content creation often requires more sophisticated collaboration features, such as version control and detailed feedback mechanisms, which Asana doesn’t fully provide.
• Asana lacks built-in tools for directly scheduling and publishing social media content, which can hinder a streamlined workflow for social media managers.
• Asana has limited features for creating editorial calendars – one of the most important productivity tools for content and social media managers.
• Approval workflows can be heavy and lack sufficient fine-tuning mechanisms for content-specific tasks.

Let’s look at nine Asana alternatives that may serve marketing teams better.

1. Planable – best Asana alternative for social media collaboration and approvals

Planable is an excellent alternative to Asana for teams focusing on content management and social media. With efficient content planning and advanced collaboration features, Planable allows teams to work seamlessly on every step of the creation and publishing process.

With Planable, you can enjoy real-time comments, annotations, clear text suggestions, and streamlined approvals through customizable multi-level approval layers.

Let’s look at these features in more detail to see why Planable may just be the best Asana alternative for your team.

Planning

The platform’s planning capabilities are top-notch, featuring a user-friendly calendar with drag-and-drop functionality for posts, which allows you to easily plan, organize, and schedule your content directly from the same place.

Color-coded labels and filter views help you quickly select relevant content, making content planning more efficient.

The calendar view provides a visual overview of the entire content strategy, ensuring that nothing is overlooked and that content is distributed evenly and strategically across different platforms.

Collaboration

Planable excels in collaboration on all content types, including articles, social media posts, newsletters, press releases, briefs, and more. With features such as tagging, real-time comments, and instant feedback, working on content as a team becomes much more efficient.

Annotations and clear text suggestions allow you to provide feedback directly on the content, improving the quality and relevance of the posts. Email and mobile app notifications ensure that team members are always up-to-date, making the collaboration process smooth and responsive.

These features make Planable an ideal tool for teams looking to enhance their content and social media collaboration efforts. According to user reviews, Planable is an “easy-to-use collaboration tool for small to medium-sized teams that need to work quickly and efficiently.“

Approvals

Planable offers customizable approval flows, from non-required to multi-level. This flexibility allows you to tailor the approval process to your organization’s specific needs, whether it’s a simple one-step approval or a complex multi-tiered process.

These customizable layers help maintain quality control and ensure that all content aligns with the brand’s standards and objectives.

External collaborators can act as approvers via an email invitation, without needing to sign up for an account. This stands out to me as perfect for agencies looking to give a client the final say and for marketing teams who want to include a subject matter expert from another team.

Drawbacks: Planable lacks social listening capabilities and does not offer direct integrations with CMS platforms for website publishing.

Pricing: Planable offers a free plan for up to 50 posts, while premium plans start at $11/user/month.

Planable vs Asana

• Direct publishing. Planable supports direct publishing to social media platforms, unlike Asana.
• Content planning. Planable’s features are designed to streamline content management, not just for general project management. Moreover, Planable’s visually appealing content calendar is more specialized for social media planning and marketing campaigns.
• Collaboration features. Real-time comments and annotations in Planable on all types of content provide more interactive feedback than in Asana.
• Approval processes. Planable offers customizable multi-level approval flows tailored for content approval, unlike Asana’s general task approvals.

Takeaway: If you’re looking for an Asana alternative that is tailored for content creation and social media publishing, Planable offers the most comprehensive set of features to meet your needs and a user-friendly interface that marketing teams love.

2. HubSpot – best for marketing automation

HubSpot offers comprehensive CMS and marketing automation tools, providing an all-in-one solution for complex marketing needs.

HubSpot is popular for its marketing and sales functionalities, integrating with a robust CRM. It offers a complete suite of tools for businesses to streamline operations, making it a good Asana alternative for marketing teams with more complex needs.

While tools like Asana focus on project management, HubSpot’s strength lies in its integrated approach to marketing and sales.

Key features

• Integrated CRM for managing contacts and leads
• Marketing automation for email campaigns and social media
• Detailed analytics and reporting
• Content management system for blogs and landing pages

Pricing: HubSpot offers a free tier with basic features, while premium plans start at $15/month and can go up to $3,600/month for advanced control and flexibility.

Drawbacks: HubSpot’s cost can escalate quickly as you add more advanced features, and new users may have a steep learning curve.

3. Sprout Social – best for social media analytics and engagement

Sprout Social excels in providing deep insights and engagement tools for social media managers.

This Asana alternative focuses on social media engagement, offering advanced features specifically designed for this purpose. The platform includes social media analytics and reporting tools, providing in-depth insights beyond basic project tracking and reporting.

Sprout Social also includes collaboration and publishing tools that are specifically designed for social media management, making it a superior choice compared to project management tools that lack built-in social media management capabilities.

Key features

• Advanced social media analytics
• Unified inbox for managing social interactions
• Social media scheduling and publishing
• Social listening and brand monitoring

Pricing: Plans start at $199 per user per month, with a free trial available.

Drawbacks: Sprout Social’s high cost may be prohibitive for smaller teams, and its focus is more on analytics and engagement rather than content creation.

4. Wrike – best for agile project management and collaboration

Wrike offers extensive project management features tailored for large teams and complex projects.

It provides highly customizable options to fit specific team needs, ensuring scalability. This Asana alternative includes in-depth real-time collaboration features, enhancing teamwork and productivity.

Additionally, Wrike offers extensive integration options, making it a versatile tool for various workflows. While Asana also integrates with many popular tools, it may not provide the same level of customization and depth of integration as Wrike.

Key features

• Gantt charts and timeline views
• Custom workflows and request forms
• Time tracking and reporting
• Impressive collaboration tools

Pricing: A free plan with limited project management features is available. Paid plans start at $9.80/user/month.

Drawbacks: Users report that the interface can be overwhelming to navigate, and customization options can be too complex for small teams.

5. Planoly – best for visual content planning

Planoly specializes in visual content planning for social media platforms, offering features specifically designed for this purpose.

The platform includes a user-friendly content calendar that makes planning and organizing social media posts straightforward.

Compared to Asana, Planoly offers built-in social media management capabilities but is more limited in its project management and collaboration features.

Key features

• Visual planner for Instagram feed
• Drag-and-drop calendar for scheduling posts
• Analytics and performance tracking
• Direct publishing and auto-posting

Pricing: A free trial is available, after which the Starter plan starts at $16/month for one user.

Drawbacks: Some users complain that the platform lacks client collaboration features and that connecting and publishing don’t always work for all platforms.

6. Hootsuite – best for complex social media management

Hootsuite is a social media management tool that streamlines managing multiple accounts. Its combination of social media management and collaboration features makes it a popular choice for marketing managers looking for Asana alternatives.

Hootsuite offers a content scheduling tool specifically designed for social media and specialized social media analytics, offering deeper insights compared to Asana’s basic project tracking and reporting features.

Key features

• Multi-platform social media scheduling
• Social listening and analytics
• Team collaboration features
• Customizable dashboards

Pricing: Plans start at $99/month for one user, with a free 30-day trial available.

Drawbacks: Some Hootsuite users complain of the high price point for the features offered.

7. Airtable – best for flexible app and database creation

Airtable is a versatile platform designed for data management and organization. It offers flexible and customizable database features that cater to a wide range of needs.

With this tool, teams can easily create and manage databases, benefiting from integrations with various third-party apps and services. Airtable also includes automation features that streamline workflows and enhance productivity.

While Airtable provides basic collaboration tools, it is primarily designed for data-centric tasks, so it’s more of an Asana alternative for teams looking for an app-building platform.

Key features

• Customizable templates for project management
• Integration with various apps and services
• Collaboration features with real-time updates
• Kanban, calendar, and grid views

Pricing: Free plan available, with paid plans starting at $20/user/month.

Drawbacks: According to reviews, Airtable can be intimidating to work with and has a steep learning curve.

8. ProofHub – best for customized project management

ProofHub offers a comprehensive suite of tools for team collaboration and project management. Its high level of customization makes it a favorite Asana alternative for those who want to tailor features to their specific needs.

This project management tool includes built-in collaboration features that enhance communication and teamwork. ProofHub is also a useful tool for proofing, being one of the best Asana alternatives for approval workflows.

Key features

• Task management with Gantt charts and Kanban boards
• File sharing and proofing tools
• Time tracking and reporting
• Custom roles and access levels

Pricing: A free trial is available, and the pricing starts at $45/month for unlimited users and core features.

Drawbacks: According to reviews, ProofHub’s notification system can overwhelm users, lacking filtering and customization, and the editing and feedback features could be improved.

9. ClickUp – best for larger teams and intricate workflows

ClickUp is an all-in-one productivity platform designed to replace multiple apps and streamline work processes.

The platform includes extensive features that go beyond standard project management tools. It’s designed to scale for complex projects, making it ideal for larger teams and more intricate workflows.

Compared to Asana, which is more suitable for small to medium-sized teams, ClickUp offers more customization options and real-time communication features.

Key features

• Task management with Gantt charts and Kanban boards
• File sharing and proofing tools
• Time tracking and reporting
• Custom roles and access levels

Pricing: A free is plan available, with premium plans starting at $7/user/month.

Drawbacks: The sheer number of features can be overwhelming for new users, requiring time to fully make use of the platform.

Choose the best Asana alternatives based on your specific needs

While Asana is a powerful project management tool, its content-specific feature limitations make it less ideal for social media and content managers. If you’re looking to streamline content management, automate social media publishing, easily customize feedback workflows, and improve team collaboration, Planable is the perfect alternative.

Try the free plan to experience unlimited features for 50 posts and discover how Planable can transform your workflow.