devBoard vs Asana

By Darko Bačić, founder of App Tube · 9 October 2026 · Facts checked 9 October 2026

Pick Asana if you plan work across a whole company, with timelines, goals and portfolios. Pick devBoard if you are a small dev team and want a tracker shaped around shipping code. Asana does far more, and devBoard does less on purpose. We make devBoard, so keep that in mind as you read. Where Asana is better, we say so.

The main difference: a whole company or one dev team

Asana is built for a whole company. People outside engineering plan in the same place as the developers. Asana's help page on its structure lists seven levels, from organization and team down to task and subtask.

devBoard is built for one small dev team, or one freelancer. It has three levels. An epic is a big piece of work split into smaller tasks. A subtask is one small step inside a task. A release is one version of your app and the tasks that go out in it.

An example: Luka, Mira and Ivan

Luka, Mira and Ivan are a three-person studio shipping a mobile app. Big pieces become epics, and each task belongs to a release, like 1.4.0.

Mira presses Start on a task on her phone. Ivan opens a pull request, which asks to merge his code changes into the main code. His card moves to In progress on its own. When 1.4.0 goes out, Luka marks the release shipped.

They do not need goals or portfolios. If they grow into a company with a sales team, Asana starts to make sense.

Side by side

MCP is the open standard that lets an AI assistant use other tools. Both have an official MCP server. Asana's announcement of its MCP server says each session covers one workspace.

What Asana does better

Work across a whole company

Portfolios group projects, and goals track what the company aims for. Both start on the Advanced plan. devBoard has neither.

Timeline and Gantt

From Starter up, Asana can show a project as a timeline or a Gantt chart. A Gantt chart shows tasks as bars across the weeks. devBoard has a board and a list.

Rules that run on their own

From Starter up, Asana has rules, its name for automations, with no limit. devBoard has no automations.

It runs in a browser and on Windows

Asana works in any browser and on Windows. devBoard does not run in a browser, and its Windows app is not out yet.

What devBoard does better

A timer on every task

Press Start on a task or subtask, then Stop. The total sits next to the estimate. In Asana, built-in time tracking starts on the Advanced plan. More on time tracking in devBoard.

Three levels, not seven

devBoard has epic, task and subtask, and nothing above them. There is less to set up and less to decide.

Built around shipping code

Releases are built in. Connect GitHub once, and pull requests show up on their task. An admin picks where the card moves when a pull request opens, merges or closes.

Start work from your editor

Say "start APP-42" in Claude Code or Cursor. devBoard assigns you, moves the card to In progress, starts your timer and gives you a branch name. A branch is a separate line of work in your code. Asana's server is built around tasks and reports.

What devBoard does not have

• No web app or browser version.
• No Windows or Linux app yet. Both are coming.
• No goals, portfolios or workload charts.
• No timeline, Gantt or calendar view.
• No automations, custom fields or recurring tasks.
• No sprints. Releases do that job.
• No docs, wiki, chat, importer or export.

Who should stay on Asana

• More than one department plans its work in Asana.
• You use goals, portfolios or a timeline every week.
• You rely on rules to move work along.
• Someone needs a browser or a Windows laptop.

Who should try devBoard

• You are a small dev team or a freelancer, shipping an app.
• You want time on the task without moving up a plan.
• You want Claude Code or Cursor to start and finish tasks.
• Everyone is on iPhone, Android or Mac.

See also other Asana alternatives and all our comparisons.

What it costs

Prices as of October 2026, from Asana's pricing page.

For devBoard, there is one line. Free while in early access; paid plans will be one plain number, posted here first.

Moving from Asana

devBoard has no importer, so you move open work by hand. Leave finished projects in Asana. Turn big pieces into epics and the rest into tasks and subtasks. The guide to epics, tasks and subtasks shows how in about five minutes.