Asana vs Jira — Pricing, Plans, and Verified Costs (2026)
Asana starts at $13.49/mo. Jira starts at $8.15/mo. Jira is $5.34/mo cheaper on the entry tier than Asana.
Work management platform focused on projects, tasks, and strategic goal alignment. Alternative to running Jira + Confluence for non-engineering teams. Founded by Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz; publicly traded but valuation compressed 60%+ from 2021 peak. Acquired Stack AI in May 2026 for $75M to add agent capabilities — first acquisition in 18 years. Popular with marketing, ops, and product teams; overkill for a 5-person team, underpowered for engineering-heavy orgs.
The dominant engineering project management platform from Atlassian, publicly traded (TEAM), ~$50B market cap. Distinctive for its deep customization (workflows, custom fields, JQL query language) that scales to enterprise engineering orgs but overwhelms small teams. Priced free (up to 10 users) then $8.15/user/mo (Standard) up to $16/user/mo (Premium). Real cost bloat comes from add-ons in the Atlassian Marketplace and Data Center licenses (which just got 15-20% price hikes from Appfire).
All plans compared
| Tier role | Plan | Asana monthly | Asana annual | Jira monthly | Jira annual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free / starter | Personal / Free | Free | Free | Free | Free |
| Entry paid | Starter / Standard | $13.49 | $10.99 | $8.15 | $7.91 |
| Pro / power | Advanced / Premium | $30.49 | $24.99 | $15.25 | $14.54 |
| Enterprise | Enterprise | Custom | Custom | Custom | Custom |
Tier names differ across vendors. Rows are aligned by tier role, not name. Full tier structures on each tool's page.
What each is best for
Asana is worth it if… cross-functional teams (10-500 people) that need structured project management with dependencies, timelines, and cross-project reporting — without Jira's engineering-first UX. Starter covers most project needs; Advanced adds workload management and portfolios.
Jira is worth it if… engineering teams (10+ developers) that need structured sprint planning, backlogs, and release management — particularly if your org runs Scrum/SAFe/Kanban and you're already in the Atlassian stack (Confluence, Bitbucket). Free covers up to 10 users; Standard adds project roles; Premium adds Advanced Roadmaps and 24/7 support; Enterprise adds data residency.
Bottom line: Similar positioning, closer to a preference call than a strategic one.
Choose Asana over Jira if…
Choose Asana if…
- You want fixed-price predictability (per seat, from $13.49/mo).
- You match the profile Asana is built for: cross-functional teams (10-500 people) that need structured project management with dependencies, timelines, and cross-project reporting — without Jira's engineering-first UX.
- You need a general-purpose project management option rather than a vertical-specific one.
Choose Jira if…
- You want fixed-price predictability (per seat, from $8.15/mo).
- You match the profile Jira is built for: engineering teams (10+ developers) that need structured sprint planning, backlogs, and release management — particularly if your org runs Scrum/SAFe/Kanban and you're already in the Atlassian stack (Confluence, Bitbucket).
- You need a general-purpose project management option rather than a vertical-specific one.
At a glance
| Asana | Jira | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Entry price | $13.49/mo | $8.15/mo |
| Enterprise available | Yes | Yes |
| Pricing model | Per Seat | Per Seat |
| Last verified | September 18, 2026 | September 14, 2026 |
| Full pricing | View full pricing | View full pricing |
Pricing last verified September 18, 2026. Tracked daily.