If Asana feels too complex and too pricey for your small team, a simpler kanban board is the answer: you get visual drag-and-drop boards, the few features you actually use, and per-user pricing that fits a team under 10 — without paying for an enterprise tool built for hundreds of people. Asana is optimised for companies of 100-plus employees, and it charges accordingly at $10.99 per user for Premium and $24.99 per user for Business. For a team of three or five, that is overkill on both features and budget. Here is what a simpler alternative looks like and how to switch.
Why Asana feels heavy for a small team
Asana is a capable tool, but it was built for large organisations with project portfolios, workflow approvals, and reporting layers that a small team rarely touches. The result is a learning curve and a dashboard full of features you scroll past every day. When your "team" is three people who sit in a group chat, that machinery is friction, not value.
The pricing tells the same story. At $10.99 per user for Premium and $24.99 per user for Business, a five-person team pays between roughly $55 and $125 every month — for capabilities sized to companies ten or twenty times larger. You feel it most when you realise how few of those features you open in a typical week.
What "simpler" should actually mean
Simpler does not mean fewer capabilities for the work you really do. It means a tool that leads with a visual board, gets out of your way, and only surfaces advanced features when you reach for them. A small team needs to see what is in progress, who owns it, and what is overdue — and then get back to work.
Todos8 is a simpler Asana alternative built for small teams under 10, with drag-and-drop kanban boards, real-time collaboration, and euro-priced plans instead of enterprise-tier billing. You start on a board with To Do, In Progress, and Done columns, and you are productive in minutes rather than after a training session.
The features a small team actually uses
Visual drag-and-drop boards
Your work lives on a board, not buried in nested project views. Drag a card from To Do to In Progress to Done and the whole team sees where everything stands at a glance. Default columns are ready immediately, and you can rename them to match your process.
Real-time collaboration
Todos8 uses SignalR, so when a teammate moves a card or updates a due date, your board changes without a refresh. For a small team working closely together, that live view replaces a constant stream of "did you see this?" messages.
A My Work view that keeps everyone honest
Each person gets a My Work view that aggregates every task assigned to them across all boards, grouped by Overdue, Today, This Week, and No Due Date. Instead of hunting through projects, each teammate opens one list and knows exactly what to do next.
Time tracking, custom fields, and attachments
Track time directly on a card when you bill clients or measure effort. Add custom fields for the data your work needs, and attach files to the card so context stays with the task. These are the practical extras a small team reaches for — without the enterprise scaffolding around them.
Role-based access for guests and clients
Invite team members, external guests, and clients with role-based access. A client can review a board as a guest without seeing your other work, and a contractor can pick up tasks without full admin rights.
What it costs compared to Asana
Todos8 has a free tier to start, then euro-priced paid plans designed for teams under 10 — not the $10.99–$24.99 per-user, per-month enterprise pricing Asana uses. For a small team, the difference over a year is real money, and you are not paying for portfolio reporting and admin controls you will never switch on.
Todos8 also connects to the wider Friendly8 platform — Cust8 CRM, Inboxes8 unified inbox, Posts8 social scheduling, and MakeNotes8 meeting notes — so as your small business grows, your task board grows with it instead of forcing another migration.
How to switch from Asana in an afternoon
You do not need a big migration project. Create one board, add your current active tasks as cards, set the columns to match your stages, and invite your team. Move your live work over first and let the finished archive stay in Asana until your trial period ends. Within a day, your team is running on the new board and you can cancel the old subscription.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best simple Asana alternative for small teams?
A simple Asana alternative for a small team leads with a visual kanban board, includes only the features you actually use, and prices per user at small-team rates. Todos8 was built for teams under 10 with drag-and-drop boards, real-time collaboration, and euro-priced plans.
Is Asana too expensive for a small team?
For many small teams, yes. Asana charges $10.99 per user for Premium and $24.99 per user for Business, which is built for companies of 100-plus employees. A five-person team pays a steep monthly bill for features sized to much larger organisations.
Is Asana too complicated for a team of three?
Often, yes. Asana includes portfolios, approvals, and reporting layers a three-person team rarely needs, which creates a learning curve. A simpler kanban board like Todos8 lets a small team start in minutes without training.
Can I move from Asana without losing my tasks?
Yes. Recreate your active tasks as cards on a new board, set your columns to match your stages, and keep the finished archive in Asana until your billing period ends. Most small teams complete the switch in an afternoon.
Try a simpler board
If Asana is too much tool for your team, move your active work to a board built for teams under 10 and see how fast everyone gets oriented. Start free on Todos8. No credit card required.
