Asana vs ClickUp:
count people, files and client access.
Work out which plan supports your team before comparing the feature list.
Two seats and shared storage
change different decisions.
Consider Asana when task ownership, project coordination and a clear intake process are central to your work. Consider ClickUp when tasks and documents belong in the same workspace and you need room for more free members. For a new three-person team, Asana Personal’s people limit is an immediate gate. For a file-heavy team or clients needing restricted access, ClickUp Free’s storage and permission rules need closer attention.
Seven plan boundaries to check
| Buying question | Asana | ClickUp |
|---|---|---|
| Free team size | Current Personal: up to two seats per shared team/project | Free Forever: unlimited free members and guests |
| Files | Unlimited storage with 100 MB maximum per file | 60 MB shared attachment storage; do not interpret it as 60 MB per file |
| Client permissions | Check the actual free sharing arrangement; paid organization guests differ from workspace collaborators | Free guests receive full permissions; paid plans provide guest permission controls |
| Paid planning | Starter adds timeline/Gantt, forms, custom fields and rules; Advanced adds portfolios and goals | Choose the current package that includes your required views, dashboards and automation capacity |
| External access on paid plans | Organization guests outside the company domain are not billed; workspace collaborators count | View-only guests can be unlimited on paid plans; permission-controlled guests have plan-specific capacity |
| Paid seat boundary | At least two seats; larger teams are billed in increments | Each Workspace upgrades separately; excess permission-controlled guests can create a paid member seat |
| AI budget | AI Studio credits are a separate allowance from ordinary workflow rules | AI packaging and credits depend on the offer shown to your account |
Match the package shown to your account
Current Asana Personal differs from older free accounts. ClickUp is showing newer packages to some workspaces, while its documentation also describes Unlimited and Business arrangements. Use the plan name and terms in your actual checkout. We do not mix the fee from one package with the guest allowance or AI capacity of another.
Keep a UK quote in pounds
Ask each vendor for the plan, paid seats, billing cycle, taxes and AI extras in GBP. The examples below identify capacity and access requirements; they do not infer a current pound price or rank the subscriptions by cost.
Four team briefs that change the shortlist
| Team brief | Asana arrangement | ClickUp arrangement |
|---|---|---|
| Two colleagues, light file use | Current Personal fits these people and file limits. | Free Forever fits these people and shared-storage limits. |
| Three colleagues starting a new account | Current Personal exceeds the two-seat boundary; evaluate a paid plan. | Free Forever permits three members; check its feature limits. |
| Two colleagues with 80 MB of attachments | Fits the listed storage and per-file boundaries. | Exceeds the 60 MB shared-storage allowance. |
| Two paid members and eight commenting clients | In a paid organization, verify eight genuine external guests and their access. Workspace collaborators are billed differently. | On the documented Unlimited package, two members include seven permission-controlled guest places; the eighth can add one paid member seat. |
Two colleagues, light file use
A capacity fit does not establish that your chosen report, form or automation is included. ClickUp’s native per-file upload limit is not modelled here.
Three colleagues starting a new account
Old Asana accounts may show legacy terms. Read the account’s actual downgrade or upgrade screen rather than using historic ten-seat articles for a new account.
Two colleagues with 80 MB of attachments
Four 20 MB files total 80 MB. An individual file fitting a limit does not make the whole collection fit a shared cap.
Two paid members and eight commenting clients
That additional seat raises documented guest capacity to nine, giving three billed member seats for two internal members in this example. This is an Unlimited-package rule, not a quote for every newer ClickUp offer.
Use shared storage and file size separately
Check the combined size of existing attachments and the largest new file. A collection can exceed a shared cap while every upload is small. Leave room for revisions and duplicate attachments; moving files to a linked drive changes how the team finds and controls them.
Price the access you intend to give clients
In a paid Asana organization, genuine external guests outside the company email domain do not count as paid members. A workspace follows different rules: collaborators count towards its subscription. Confirm the space type and identity before describing client access as free.
ClickUp paid plans distinguish view-only and permission-controlled guests. Giving a guest permission to comment or edit can consume a guest place. Adding a view-only guest to a Team can also change their role. On the documented Unlimited package, the first member includes five permission-controlled guest places and each additional member adds two. Two members therefore include seven; adding an eighth such guest can create a paid member seat. Check this rule against any newer package offered to you.
Free collaboration still needs the right permissions
ClickUp Free guests have full permissions rather than adjustable comment-only access. A client who only needs to approve a document should not automatically receive broader editing rights. Test the client view with synthetic material, then ask whether the intended role requires a paid plan.
Test the same project on a phone and desktop
- Create one project with a real sequence of work, clear owners and a blocked task. Use synthetic documents.
- Ask a colleague to find today’s next action without a walkthrough. Check the phone interface as well as desktop.
- Submit one request through the intended form and confirm its owner, status and notification.
- Invite a test client with the intended role. Check exactly which items they can see, comment on, edit and export.
- Build the report you need after a week’s work and record the plan that enabled it.
- Export the project and inspect assignments, custom fields and attachment references before planning migration.
Trials can expose features from a higher tier. Repeat essential actions on the package you intend to keep. No hands-on Asana–ClickUp usability benchmark has been performed for this comparison.
Compare monday.com and Trello seat rules → · Compare ClickUp with Trello →
Questions before you choose
Can three people use Asana for free?
The current Personal package supports two seats in a shared team or project. Some older accounts have legacy arrangements, so check the actual account terms. Do not budget a new three-person team around an old ten-seat limit.
Is ClickUp’s free storage 60 MB per file?
No. The listed 60 MB is shared attachment storage. Tasks do not count against it. Several small files can exceed the total even if no individual file is large.
Are clients always free on paid plans?
No. Asana organization guests outside the company domain differ from workspace collaborators. ClickUp distinguishes view-only guests from permission-controlled guests, and excess permission-controlled guests can add a billed member seat.
Which is better for a UK team?
Start with your people, files and client access, then test the same project. Obtain GBP quotes for the current package, actual billed seats and AI extras. No universal price or usability winner is established by these plan limits.
Keep the assumptions with the figures
These are hypothetical buying examples, not measured performance results. Current paid prices, taxes and account-specific terms need a same-currency quote. Plan changes can alter the limits.
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Send the examples to your team when discussing the shortlist.