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Technology · head to head

Asana vs Lago

Asana logo

Asana

Technology

Manage your team's work, projects, & tasks online

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Lago logo

Lago

Accounting

Open-source billing infrastructure for usage-based models

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Asana the free Personal tier is capped at 2 users, so it does not cover a small team; Lago free tier limited to 10,000 entities per month with 5M event cap
  • They diverge on capability: Asana covers Multiple project views, Lago covers Real-time usage metering.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Asana and Lago actually diverge.

Attributes where Asana and Lago differ
AttributeAsanaLago
Pricing modelUnknownFreemium with optional paid tiers
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidWeb, Cloud, Self-hosted, On-premise, VPC
CategoryTechnologyAccounting
Founded2008Unknown

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Asana

  • Multiple project views
  • Task dependencies
  • Milestones
  • Portfolios
  • Goals & OKRs
  • Workflow automation
  • Resource management
  • Reporting dashboards

Only in Lago

  • Real-time usage metering
  • Multiple pricing models
  • Automated invoicing
  • Prepaid credits
  • Entitlements
  • Multi-currency support
  • Payment orchestration
  • Revenue analytics

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Asana

  • Project planning & trackingnot Lago
  • Campaign managementnot Lago
  • Product launchesnot Lago
  • Event planningnot Lago
  • Agile & Scrum managementnot Lago

Lago

  • Building usage-based billing for high-volume APIs and infrastructurenot Asana
  • Implementing metered billing for AI and tokenized servicesnot Asana
  • Creating subscription and hybrid pricing modelsnot Asana
  • Managing multi-currency billing for global companiesnot Asana
  • Maintaining billing infrastructure without vendor lock-innot Asana

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Asana

  • The free Personal tier is capped at 2 users, so it does not cover a small team
  • Timeline and Gantt views, reporting dashboards and time tracking all require Starter at $10.99 per user per month
  • Portfolios, goals, workload management and approvals need Advanced at $24.99 per user per month
  • Salesforce, Tableau and Power BI integrations are Advanced or above
  • Monthly billing costs more, at $13.49 and $30.49 against the annual rates

Lago

  • Free tier limited to 10,000 entities per month with 5M event cap
  • No specific pricing published for Pro annual plan or Scale plan
  • Self-hosted and on-premise deployments require engineering resources
  • Community support only on free tier
  • Scale plan requires annual contracts and sales engagement

Pricing, plan by plan

Asana

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Asana review.

Lago

Free
  • Build (Free)Free
    • 10,000 managed entities per month
    • 5M usage events per month
    • 1K events per second rate limit
  • Pro$399/month
    • 10,000 entities included (graduated pricing to 100K)
    • 25M usage events included (to 500M with graduated rates)
    • 10K events per second (upgradeable to 100K)
  • Scale$null/custom
    • Custom entity and event volumes
    • 50K events per second (upgradeable to 100K)
    • RBAC and SSO (SAML)

Which should you pick?

Choose Asana if

  • You need multiple project views.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want task dependencies.
Asana review

Choose Lago if

  • You need real-time usage metering.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Cloud, Self-hosted, On-premise, VPC.
  • You also want multiple pricing models.
Lago review

Questions people ask

Is Asana or Lago better?
Neither clearly leads. Asana starts at Free and Lago at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Asana or Lago?
Asana starts at Free and Lago at Free.
Does Asana or Lago run on more platforms?
Asana runs on Web, iOS, Android. Lago runs on Web, Cloud, Self-hosted, On-premise, VPC.
Can I use Asana for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Asana best used for?
Asana is most often used for project planning & tracking, campaign management, product launches, event planning. Of those, project planning & tracking and campaign management are not what Lago is typically brought in for.
What can Asana do that Lago cannot?
Asana covers Multiple project views, Task dependencies, Milestones, Portfolios. Lago covers Real-time usage metering, Multiple pricing models, Automated invoicing, Prepaid credits.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Asana: Does Asana have a free tier?

Yes. Asana offers a free Personal plan for up to 2 users, plus free trial access to paid plans.

Source
Lago: Can I use Lago open-source for free?

Yes, Lago is open-source under the AGPLv3 license and can be self-hosted. The cloud-based Build plan is also free with limits of 10,000 entities and 5M events per month.

Source
Asana: What is the starting price for Asana paid plans?

Asana Starter plan begins at $10.99 per user per month when billed annually, or $13.49 per user when billed monthly.

Source
Lago: What payment providers does Lago integrate with?

Lago integrates with Stripe and Adyen for payment processing. It is not a payment processor itself but orchestrates payments through these providers.

Source
Asana: Does Asana integrate with other work tools?

Yes. Asana offers 200+ integrations including Slack, Google Workspace, Microsoft Teams, Salesforce, Jira, and Zoom.

Source
Lago: Does Lago support multiple currencies?

Yes, Lago supports multi-currency billing with automatic currency conversion for global businesses.

Source
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