Simplr vs Asana
Asana is a strong work-management platform, and its new Client Management brings a client portal and agency AI. Simplr was built by an account manager around the full client relationship, from the first brief to the final invoice.
Moving from Asana? Import your clients, jobs and tasks from your Asana export. How the import works01 / THE DIFFERENCE
Both tools now speak to agencies. The difference is how much of the account manager’s job happens inside the product.
In Simplr, the brief becomes a versioned scope the client accepts in the portal. Change requests record price and workload impact, so extra work is a decision, not a surprise.
Asana’s client portal is on its Advanced plan. Simplr’s branded portal, with version approvals, briefs and downloads, is on every plan, and clients never need a seat.
Asana sells timesheets and budgets as an add-on and doesn’t invoice clients. Simplr Plus turns approved time, milestones or retainers into numbered PDF invoices.
02 / SWITCHING
You don’t start from a blank workspace. Upload your Asana export in Settings › Import and your clients, jobs and tasks come across with their statuses, owners, due dates and notes.
In each Asana project, open the project menu and choose Export › CSV. Upload several projects at once: sections and completion map onto your workflow stages, and notes, subtasks and tags stay on each task.
Simplr suggests how each column, status and person maps onto your workflow and team. Change anything that doesn’t look right, and invite people who aren’t in Simplr yet if you want to.
A dry run shows every client, job and task before anything is saved, and what fits your plan. Importing the same export again later only adds what is new.
03 / SIDE BY SIDE
What each tool offers an agency out of the box, and what you would need to add or build.
| Feature | Simplr | Asana |
|---|---|---|
| Clients and scope | ||
| Client records and account teams | Built in: Client records with an account lead, creative director and team, and a one-client view | Built in: Client Directory with contacts, renewal dates and budget burn (Client Management) |
| Briefs, scope and change requests | Built in: Versioned briefs and scope the client accepts; change requests record price and workload impact | Partly, or with add-ons or setup: AI Teammates draft briefs; scope baselines and change control are set up by you |
| Creative review and clients | ||
| Creative versions and approvals | Built in: Version history, pinned image comments and a creative director → account lead → client sign-off | Built in: Approvals and proofing on Advanced |
| Client portal | Built in: Branded portal on every plan, free for clients: approve versions, send briefs, accept scope, download files | Built in: Branded client portal on Advanced; clients don’t need a seat |
| Email and meetings | ||
| Client email | Built in: Gmail and Microsoft 365 sync automatically; emails are matched to jobs with reply drafts (Plus) | Partly, or with add-ons or setup: Forward emails to create tasks, plus Gmail and Outlook add-ons |
| Meeting notes and actions | Built in: Recording bot for Meet, Zoom and Teams, calendar sync and Granola import (Plus); transcript upload on every plan | Built in: Call transcripts, summaries and action items; meetings to tasks on Advanced |
| Planning, time and budgets | ||
| Resource planning | Built in: Daily bookings by person against weekly availability (Plus) | Built in: Resource management on Advanced; capacity planning on Enterprise |
| Time tracking and approval | Built in: Timers, manual entries and time approval (Plus) | Partly, or with add-ons or setup: Time tracking on Advanced; timesheet approval is part of a $5.99 per user add-on |
| Project budgets | Built in: Planned hours, rate and fee per job, with planned against actual hours (Plus) | Partly, or with add-ons or setup: Budgets with alerts in the Timesheets & Budgets add-on |
| Billing | ||
| Client invoices | Built in: Numbered PDF invoices from approved time, milestones or retainers, with payments recorded (Plus) | Not built in: Not built in; export timesheets to invoice elsewhere |
| Retainers | Built in: Retainer agreements invoiced monthly, quarterly or yearly (Plus) | Not built in: Not built in |
| Setup and price | ||
| Setup | Built in: An agency workflow from intake to delivery from the start, adjustable per client, with import from Asana, monday.com, ClickUp, Teamwork.com, Airtable and Notion exports | Partly, or with add-ons or setup: Templates, then projects, rules and forms you configure |
| Price | Essentials $20, Plus $50 per person / month, billed annually. Clients are always free. | Starter $10.99, Advanced $24.99. Time and budgets add $5.99. Clients are free. |
Details about Asana come from its public pricing and help pages, checked on 6 October 2026, and prices are per person per month, billed annually, in USD. Plans change, so confirm current details with Asana. “(Plus)” marks Simplr features on the Plus plan.
04 / THE RIGHT FIT
05 / FAQ
It moves Asana much closer to agencies, with a client directory, a branded portal on Advanced and AI teammates. Simplr goes further into the account manager’s job: versioned scope the client accepts, change requests with price impact, retainers and client invoicing, with the portal on every plan.
Per person, Simplr Plus ($50) costs more than Asana Advanced with Timesheets & Budgets ($30.98). Plus also includes client invoicing, retainer billing, email sync and a meeting recorder, which Asana doesn’t include or which agencies often buy separately. Simplr Essentials ($20) includes the client portal, which Asana keeps for Advanced.
Yes. Export each Asana project as CSV and upload the files in Settings › Import. Sections and completion map onto your workflow stages, assignees are matched to your team, and notes and subtasks stay on each task. You see a dry run before anything is saved, and importing the same export again only adds what is new.
Yes. Clients sign in to your branded portal with a one-time code. They never take a seat, on any plan.
YOUR NEXT STEP
Bring a real brief, a client and an approval you’re chasing. We’ll walk through how it runs in Simplr.