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Crew vs Asana: work management for teams with AI agents and clients
Asana is a polished work management tool that is quick to start with and strong for cross-team coordination. Crew is built for project teams that work with AI agents and clients: agent runs with approval gates, a client portal, time tracking, planning and documents in one product. Crew is made by a Swiss company and hosted in Germany or Switzerland, your choice; on-premise on request.
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Feature comparison
| Topic | Crew | Asana |
|---|---|---|
| AI agents with approval gates | Agent runs are part of the task. Each stage can stop at a gate where a person approves, approves with changes or requests changes. | AI features such as AI Studio and AI teammates, depending on plan at time of writing. Check how agent output is reviewed before it counts as done. |
| Client portal | Built in. Per client and per user you decide what clients see and can do: tasks, comments, planning, documents, hours, approvals. | No dedicated client portal. Clients are invited into projects as guests or members. |
| Time tracking | Worklogs, weekly and monthly timesheets, team timesheets, billing review with PDF reports. | Time tracking fields on higher paid plans at time of writing. Detailed timesheets usually through integrations. |
| Planning and timeline | Gantt timeline with milestones and releases, roadmap, resource planner per person and day, planning meetings. | Timeline and Gantt views, portfolios and workload on paid plans, depending on tier. |
| Documents | Documents and files per project, task attachments with preview, notes with live editing, structured checklists. | Project briefs, task descriptions and file attachments. Many teams keep a separate wiki. |
| Hosting and data location | Public instance at Hetzner in Germany. Hosted in Germany or Switzerland, your choice; on-premise on request. Company in Zürich. | Asana cloud only, no self-hosting. Data residency options on enterprise plans at time of writing. |
| AI models | Own models possible, for example Swiss-hosted open models such as Qwen, Mistral AI or Apertus on Infomaniak. Email can use your own SMTP server. | Asana AI features are provided and run by the vendor; you do not bring your own models at time of writing. |
| Jira import | Built in: connect, map types, statuses and users, dry run, import. Then optional two-way sync per project. | Import via CSV and integrations at time of writing. |
| MCP and API | REST API (v1, documented with OpenAPI) and an MCP server at /mcp. Tokens act as their owner and never see more than that person. | Public REST API. Asana offers an official MCP server at time of writing. |
| Setup effort | Opinionated defaults: preset workflow schemes, task types, one portal per client. | Quick to start. Structure (portfolios, goals, rules) grows with the plan. |
| Licensing model | No public price list yet (invite-only beta). Quote on request. | Per user per month in tiers. Paid plans are sold in seat bundles at time of writing. |
Short verdict
Pick Crew if your work is client projects with agents in the loop and you want time, planning, documents and the client view in the same place as the tasks. Pick Asana if you mainly coordinate work across many internal teams and want a tool that most people pick up without training.
When Asana is the better choice
- Your teams are mostly internal (marketing, operations, HR) and do not need a client portal or detailed time tracking.
- You use Asana goals and portfolios to steer the whole company.
- Ease of use for occasional users matters more than depth in one area.
- You need a product with a published price today. Crew is in beta.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Crew an Asana alternative?
Yes, for project and agency teams. Crew covers tasks, boards, workflows, timeline, time tracking, documents and a client portal, and it runs AI agents on tasks with approval gates.
Can clients work with us in Crew?
Yes. The client portal is part of Crew. Clients sign in with an email link or a one-time code and see only what you allow: tasks, comments, planning, documents, hours or approvals.
Can we import from Asana?
Crew has a built-in importer for Jira. There is no Asana importer at time of writing; talk to us about moving Asana projects.
What does Crew cost compared with Asana?
Crew has no public price list yet; it is in invite-only beta and we give quotes on request. Asana is billed per user per month; see asana.com for current prices.
See if Crew fits your team
Crew is in invite-only beta. Tell us how your team works today and we will get in touch.
Request beta access