Asana alternative from Germany
Task management from San Francisco or project and portfolio steering from Hanover: what WORKSPACE.PM brings in planning depth, steering and data sovereignty, and what the difference costs.
At a glance
- German contracting party, hosting in Germany; Asana is a US company, EU residency only from Enterprise.
- With EU data residency Asana Enterprise+ costs €52.24 per user and month, WORKSPACE.PM under €20.
- Network diagram with float, risk simulation and capacity planning in every account; at Asana critical path from Advanced.
- Costs, earned value and status reports with approval included; at Asana budgets as an add-on, earned value not documented.
Who this question is for
Three situations in which organizations weigh Asana against WORKSPACE.PM.
A data protection review or audit is coming up
Your data protection officer asks about server location, legal entity and the CLOUD Act. With Asana, EU data residency is a plan upgrade to Enterprise; with WORKSPACE.PM it is the operating basis in every plan.
A tender requires EU data residency
Since 1 July 2026, Section 58 (2) of the German Procurement Regulation (VgV) explicitly names aspects of digital sovereignty as a permissible award criterion. Bidders need verifiable statements on legal entity, data center and sub-processors.
The team is outgrowing task management
Once dates depend on each other, resources compete across projects, risks have to be quantified and decisions have to be evidenced to committees, the question is no longer “which board” but “which planning system”.
What WORKSPACE.PM brings
The difference starts where dates are calculated, risks are quantified, capacity is planned and decisions are evidenced. Six areas in which WORKSPACE.PM goes beyond task lists, boards and dashboards.
Features compared
From scheduling to AI, row by row.
| Criterion | WORKSPACE.PM | Asana |
|---|---|---|
| Network diagram and critical path | Forward and backward pass, early/late start and finish, total float per task, dedicated network view with cycle check | Critical path from Advanced as a highlight in the timeline; without subtasks, up to 2,000 tasks with due dates |
| Risk simulation | Monte Carlo with PERT distribution, 10,000 iterations, P50/P80/P90, reserve as cost item; bowtie diagram | Not documented |
| Capacity and utilization planning | Organization-wide utilization matrix for people and machines, availability check including absences, in every plan | Workload from Advanced, company-wide capacity planning from Enterprise |
| Earned value | PV, EV and AC recorded per as-of date, earned value dashboard | Not documented |
| Status reports | Three-stage approval workflow (draft, submitted, approved), locked as-of snapshots, roll-up into the portfolio | Status updates per project; approval workflow not documented |
| Risk register | Register with gross/net rating, 5×5 matrix, review cycles of 30 to 365 days, review history, convert risk to task | Feature matrix lists “risk reports”; risk register with a rating system not documented |
| Measures and early indicators | Preventive and corrective measures with reduction value, cost and deadline; key risk indicators with threshold alerts | Not documented |
| Dependencies | FS/SS/FF/SF with lag, by text entry (e.g. 6.4FF+3) or by dragging; cross-project between milestones of different projects | Dependencies between tasks (blocked by/blocking); dependency types with lag not documented |
| Baseline and milestone trend analysis | Several baselines per project, compare any two, delta calculated, history browsable; milestone trend analysis as a dedicated view across the project’s reporting dates with a trend rating per milestone | Baseline as a date snapshot in the Gantt view; milestone trend analysis not documented |
| Work breakdown structure and progress | WBS codes automatic or manual, stable as an external reference; seven progress methods (0/50/100, 0/100, from Kanban, from sub-containers and more) | Subtasks on several levels; WBS codes and progress methods not documented |
| Resources per work package | Several people and machines per work package with planned and actual effort; actuals derivable from time tracking | One assignee per task; effort shares of several people not documented |
| Skill pools | Book effort on a skill before the person is known; resolve to people or machines later | Not documented |
| Time tracking | Weekly timesheets with one- or two-stage approval, auto-approval within tolerance, bulk approval | Basic time tracking from Advanced; “Time tracking and budgets” as an add-on for €5.99 per user and month; approval workflow not documented |
| Cost types and forecast | Tenant-wide catalogue with account number and Capex/Opex; cost forecast from bookings | Budgets in the “Time tracking and budgets” add-on; cost types with account number not documented |
| Personnel costs | Automatically from assignment or time tracking times hourly rate, plan and actual; daily rates per attribute or person | Not documented |
| Change requests and quality gates | Change request register with category, impact dimensions, approvers and risk link; quality gates with release criteria in the structure tree | Approval tasks; change request register and quality gates not documented |
| Responsibility matrix and stakeholders | Responsibility matrix (A/E/I/K/M/P) per project; stakeholder register with action plan, environment analysis and stakeholder portfolio | Not documented |
| Meetings and decisions | Minutes with mentions, decisions with approval status, series evaluation of open items, Outlook coupling | Not documented |
| Requirements management | Presets for Automotive SPICE and V-Modell XT, verification items with runs, audit trail | Not documented |
| Traditional and agile in the same project | Network diagram, Scrum backlog with sprint board, burndown and velocity, Kanban in the same project | List, board, timeline, calendar; sprint metrics not documented |
| Import of schedule files | MS Project (.mpp, XML) including dependencies and assignments; Primavera P6 and Asta Powerproject; CSV for projects, Kanban cards and users; Trello import | CSV import; MS Project import not documented |
| Goals and strategy | Strategy fields, OKR cycles, six key result types, alignment matrix, gap analysis | Goals linked to projects and portfolios, plan-dependent |
| AI assistant | Assistant acts only after approval; own provider key or local model; AI-supported risk detection | Asana AI included in the plans; own model provider and approval before changes not documented |
Law, operations and licensing
What data protection reviews and procurement ask for.
| Criterion | WORKSPACE.PM | Asana |
|---|---|---|
| Vendor and headquarters | AMNAU GmbH, Hanover (Germany) | Asana, Inc., San Francisco (USA) |
| Governing law and jurisdiction | German law, place of jurisdiction Hanover | California law according to the Terms of Service; no German jurisdiction agreed |
| Server location | German data centers only, in every plan | Default: cross-regional with AWS. EU data center Frankfurt (backup Dublin) as an add-on for Enterprise, included in Enterprise+ via opt-in |
| Scope of EU data residency | Application and content data in full; exception: optional AI features with an external model provider | Content data at rest; authentication, usage and billing data may reside outside the selected region |
| US CLOUD Act | No US legal entity in the processing chain | US company; the act applies regardless of storage location |
| On-premises | Docker deployment in your own infrastructure with the same functional scope | Not offered; SaaS only |
| Editions and licensing | No editions; every account booked individually, €16.80 per month | Personal, Starter, Advanced, Enterprise, Enterprise+; seat bands in steps of 5, 10 and 25 |
Statements about Asana from the publicly available sources of Asana, Inc. and the authorized reseller Bechtle; statements about WORKSPACE.PM from the feature catalogue of the current version. Reviewed: September 7, 2026.
Where the differences lie
Three points decide the question in practice.
Scheduling logic
Network diagram instead of highlight
Asana’s critical path highlights the longest dependency chain in the timeline, from Advanced. WORKSPACE.PM calculates a network diagram with forward and backward scheduling, outputs total float per task, knows four dependency types with lag and imports MS Project schedules with their dependencies.
Steering
Calculated instead of listed
In WORKSPACE.PM risks carry gross and net ratings, are simulated with Monte Carlo and tracked with measures, reduction value and early indicators; capacity is planned across all projects, personnel costs result from effort times rate. Asana’s documentation lists risk reports, workload from Advanced and budgets as an add-on.
Framework
One price, one legal entity, one location
All features in every account from €99 per month for five users, contracting party in Hanover, data centers in Germany or on-premises. At Asana the features are spread across five plans, EU data residency starts at Enterprise, and Enterprise+ costs €52.24 per user and month.
Prices side by side
Same requirement, same yardstick: full feature set and EU data residency. At Asana that is Enterprise+. Asana publishes no list price for it; the authorized reseller Bechtle does.
| Users | WORKSPACE.PM SaaS per month | per user | Asana Enterprise+ per month |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | €99 | €19.80 per user and month | €261 |
| 20 | €351 | €17.55 per user and month | €1,045 |
| 50 | €855 | €17.10 per user and month | €2,612 |
| 100 | €1,695 | €16.95 per user and month | €5,224 |
WORKSPACE.PM SaaS: €99 base price per month including 5 accounts, each additional account €16.80 per month, billed monthly, all amounts net. Asana Enterprise+: €52.24 per user and month, Bechtle list price net on an annual subscription; negotiated terms may differ.
Even without an EU data residency requirement, Asana Advanced is worth a look: €24.99 per user and month billed annually (€30.49 monthly), the lowest plan with critical path, portfolios and workload; capacity planning and EU data residency are not included there. At 5 users it is €99 versus €125, at 50 users €855 versus €1,250. Add the band model: Asana sells seats in fixed bands, WORKSPACE.PM books every account individually.
The full calculation for your team size is on the pricing page and in the ROI calculator.
Migration in practice
Which path, what carries over and what takes shape in the new system.
Inventory
Which projects, portfolios and rules are in production? Which personal data sits in the legacy system: assignments, comments, time entries, guest accounts?
Export before cancelling
Asana exports projects as CSV and JSON and offers API access. Export before the contract ends; deletion periods apply afterwards.
Import into WORKSPACE.PM
Projects, Kanban cards and users arrive via CSV import with field mapping and preview; schedules as MS Project files; other sources via the REST API.
Build the structure that did not exist before
Network diagram with dependencies, work breakdown structure with WBS codes, risk register, capacity planning and portfolio assignment are created in the new system, not in the export.
Records of processing and deletion
Update the DPA, sub-processors and technical and organizational measures under Art. 30 GDPR; request and document the deletion confirmation from the legacy system.
Involve the works council
Software with time tracking and utilization data is regularly subject to co-determination under Section 87 (1) no. 6 of the German Works Constitution Act. Early involvement avoids a later stop.
How long it takes
The data path itself is a CSV export and import. The time goes into building structure: network diagram, risks and capacities do not exist in the Asana export and are created anew. How much that means for your projects is what we clarify in a 30-minute migration call based on your export.
What is set up fresh
- Automations: set up as workflows in WORKSPACE.PM.
- Portfolios and goals: restructure as portfolio and OKR.
- Comment threads: save via JSON export or API if needed.
- Attachments: save before cancelling and upload again.
Frequently asked questions: Asana alternative
What IT leaders, data protection officers and PMOs ask about Asana and WORKSPACE.PM.
Yes. WORKSPACE.PM is operated by AMNAU GmbH from Hanover exclusively in German data centers, in every plan, without an Enterprise upgrade, from €99 per month including five accounts. Managed Hosting and operation in your own data center are also available.
Asana provides the formal prerequisites: a DPA under Art. 28 GDPR and a public sub-processor list. Whether a specific deployment is compliant depends on data category, purpose and your risk assessment, including a transfer impact assessment for the third-country transfer.
Yes. Asana, Inc. is a US company and therefore within the scope of the CLOUD Act (18 U.S.C. § 2713), which explicitly applies regardless of storage location. With WORKSPACE.PM the question does not arise because no US legal entity is involved.
Yes, in the Frankfurt data center with backup in Dublin. Data residency is a paid add-on in Enterprise organizations and included in Enterprise+ via opt-in. It is not available in Personal, Starter and Advanced.
No. Asana itself documents that authentication data such as e-mail addresses, password reset links, IP addresses and identifiers, as well as usage and billing data, may be stored outside the selected data region. The feature limits the storage location of content data at rest.
WORKSPACE.PM costs €99 per month including five accounts, each additional account €16.80, so below €20 per user and month. Asana Enterprise+, the plan with EU data residency included, costs €52.24 per user and month net according to the Bechtle list price. At 20 users that is €351 versus €1,045 per month.
Yes. The usual path is Asana’s CSV export and the CSV import in WORKSPACE.PM for projects, Kanban cards and users. Schedules arrive as MS Project files, custom sources via the REST API. Automations and forms are set up as workflows in WORKSPACE.PM.
Operation in data centers whose operator runs an information security management system certified to ISO 27001; SSO via OIDC and SAML, MFA via TOTP and passkey enforceable tenant-wide, SCIM 2.0, system-wide audit trail and a DPA under Art. 28 GDPR.
AI is optional and switched off until you enable it. You can register your own model provider or use a locally operated model; with a locally operated model all content data stays in your operating environment. Write actions by the assistant are executed only after your approval.
Every account individually at €16.80 per month, on top of the base price of €99 with five accounts. Growing from 30 to 31 users costs €16.80 more. Asana sells seats in fixed bands: steps of 5 up to 30, steps of 10 up to 100, steps of 25 up to 500.
More comparisons
All comparisons in one checklistReviewed: September 7, 2026. Statements about the compared product come from its publicly available information and are re-checked every six months. Statements about WORKSPACE.PM refer to the current version.