I Ran My Business in ClickUp for 30 Days — Here's What Actually Happened

I want to be upfront about something: I teach Asana. I've built my business around helping people use Asana well. So when I decided to run my business inside ClickUp for 30 days, I expected the conclusion to be pretty straightforward.

It wasn't.

I'm comparing the free plans specifically — because that's the real decision most people are making. Not paid vs paid. Free vs free.

Here's what I actually noticed.

Either keep reading or watch the video below:

What ClickUp's Free Plan Includes That Asana's Doesn't

This is the part that surprised me the most.

Dependencies: ClickUp lets you set task dependencies on the free plan. In Asana, that's a paid feature. If your workflow requires Task B to wait on Task A, ClickUp just gives you that.

Templates: ClickUp's free plan includes templates. Asana's doesn't.

Relative due dates: Instead of setting a fixed date, you can say 'due 3 days after the project starts.' This is a ClickUp free plan feature.

Start dates: Simple but important for project planning. ClickUp includes start dates for free. Asana does not.

Custom fields: In Asana, custom fields require a paid plan. In ClickUp, you get them for free.

Priority status: High, medium, low priority labels — free in ClickUp, paid in Asana.

Docs: This was the biggest surprise. I've wanted better docs inside Asana for a long time. ClickUp has a built-in Docs feature that is clean, functional, and genuinely good. And Tella videos embed and play directly inside ClickUp tasks — no leaving the app to watch them.

What Asana's Free Plan Has That ClickUp's Doesn't

The gap is smaller here — ClickUp really does give you a lot. But there's one thing that matters more than you'd expect: default views.

In Asana, you can save a default view for a project — list, board, calendar — and it opens that way every single time. In ClickUp's free plan, you can't save a default view. Every time you open a list, you start from scratch.

That sounds minor. It is not minor when you're in a tool every day.

The Template Workflow Issue

This is my main frustration with ClickUp after 30 days.

You can't edit a template directly. To update a template, you have to use it, modify the resulting list, and then re-save it as a template. Which means you either keep an unused copy somewhere just for editing, or you delete the new list every time you need to make a change.

In Asana, you just edit the template. Much simpler.

A Few Things Worth Knowing

Voice comments. ClickUp has them on the free plan. Small feature, big impact for async teams.

Progress circles. Sections in ClickUp show a visual progress indicator as tasks complete. It's a small thing that makes the tool feel satisfying to use.

The All Tasks workaround. If you want something like Asana's My Tasks calendar view in ClickUp, the closest option is the All Tasks board view — grouped by due date and filtered to yourself as assignee. Not identical, but workable.

YouTube tabs. You can add a YouTube video tab inside a ClickUp list. Limited to one video per tab, but could be useful for team onboarding lists where someone needs to watch one key walkthrough.

So Which One Is Better?

ClickUp's free plan offers more features than Asana's. If you need dependencies, custom fields, templates, and start dates without paying, ClickUp is worth considering.

But Asana is quieter. It has fewer decisions. And for a lot of people managing a lot — especially if you're neurodivergent or low-bandwidth — fewer decisions is the whole point.

The tool you'll actually open and use is the right tool.

If you want to get set up in Asana in a way that feels calm and actually sticks, Asana Made Simple is where to start.

And if you want to try ClickUp for free, click here.