Compare · Project tools
Project management tools for managers compared
For a manager or project lead running their own team’s projects, not a software organization choosing a tracker for hundreds. Facets’ Projects beside Trello, Asana, monday.com, Notion, Linear, Jira, ClickUp and Microsoft Planner: who needs a paid seat, dependencies and dates, imports and exports, AI drafting and published prices.
Checked against each vendor’s public pages on . Sources at the foot.
What to compare
- Who needs a paid seat. For a manager running a team's projects, the cost that matters is whether every teammate needs a seat, and an account, or only the person running the work. Count guests and viewers too.
- Dependencies and dates. Whether a task can wait on another, and what happens when one slips: later dates move on their own, you are shown a proposal to confirm, or nothing moves until you move it.
- Getting work in and out. An importer for the tool you use now, and an export someone else can open, such as a spreadsheet or Microsoft Project XML, so a plan is never stuck where it was made.
- Updates for people outside the project. A written status for your own manager or a client, by email or a link, without giving them a seat.
- How AI is paid for. Inside the plan, by credits, per request or as a separate license; and whether anything it drafts changes the project before you accept it.
- Phones and chat. A native app, and posts to Slack or Microsoft Teams, if that is where your team already works.
Side by side
| Row | Facets | Trello | Asana | monday.commonday work management | Notion | Linear | Jira | ClickUp | Microsoft Planner |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plan at no chargeWhat you can use without paying. | No; included in a manager's seat | Up to 10 collaborators and boards | Personal: up to 2 users | 2 seats, 3 boards | No charge; block limit with 2+ members | Unlimited members, 250 issues | Up to 10 users | No-charge plan, unlimited members | Basic Planner included in Microsoft 365 |
| Who needs a paid seatEveryone who works on a project, or only the person who runs it. | Only the manager; up to 50 people join by a personal link, with no account | Per user; multi-board guests billed | Per user; free guests from Starter | Per seat; free viewers from Basic | Per seat; guests free | Per user | Per user; free guests from Standard | Per user; guests on every plan | Per user |
| Timeline or Gantt viewTasks drawn against dates, and the plan it needs. | Yes · Timeline, list, board, calendar and charts | Timeline from Premium | Timeline and Gantt from Starter | Timeline and Gantt from Standard | Yes · Timeline view | Project timeline | Yes · Timeline on every plan | Gantt from Core; Timeline from Business | Timeline (Gantt) from Plan 1 |
| Task dependenciesOne task waiting on another. | Yes · Four kinds, each with a lag or a lead | Not listed | Yes · From Starter | Pro and Enterprise | Yes · Every plan | Between projects | Yes · Every plan; cross-project on Premium | Yes · Every plan | Yes · Plan 1; lead and lag on Plan 3 |
| Dates move with dependenciesWhen one task slips, the tasks after it move too. | Yes · Proposed on the Schedule page; applied when you choose | Not listed | Yes · Auto-shift, off by default | Yes · Strict or flexible modes | Yes · Three date-shifting options | Yes · Bumps planned projects on drag | Not listed | Yes · In Gantt, when turned on | Yes · With advanced dependencies |
| Import from other toolsBringing existing projects in. | Yes · From ClickUp, Trello, Asana, Jira, Monday, Notion, Linear or Microsoft Project, or from any spreadsheet or JSON file | No · Paste, API or Power-Ups | Yes · CSV importer: Trello, Wrike, more | Yes · Excel, Asana, Trello, Jira, more | Yes · CSV, Trello, Asana, monday.com | Yes · Jira, Asana, Shortcut, more | Yes · CSV, Asana, monday, ClickUp, more | Yes · Asana, Jira, Trello, Monday, more | Not listed |
| AI drafts a planA model proposes tasks from a short brief, and how it is paid for. | Yes · Sections, tasks and milestones to review, from the manager's 150 AI credits per 30 days | Yes · AI-generated boards, Standard up | Suggests sections and fields | Yes · Sidekick drafts plans; monthly AI credits | Yes · Drafts a plan; AI on Business and up | Not listed | Yes · Rovo breaks work into child items | Yes · Brain drafts a plan from a prompt | Add-on: Copilot, $30.00 a user a month |
| iPhone appA native app from the App Store. | No · Not yet; teammates use a web link | Yes · iOS and Android, every plan | Yes · iOS and Android, every plan | Yes · iOS and Android, on every plan | Yes · Desktop and mobile apps | Not listed | Yes · iOS and Android, every plan | Yes · iOS and Android | Not listed |
| Slack or Microsoft TeamsProject news posted to a channel. | Yes · One-way posts to a Slack or Teams channel | Capture to-dos from Slack and Teams | Yes · Slack, among free integrations | Yes · Slack channel notifications | Not listed | Yes · Project updates to Slack | Not listed | Yes · Microsoft Teams, every plan | Yes · Microsoft Teams, every plan |
| Status updates for stakeholdersA written progress update for people outside the project. | Yes · By email and a read-only link | Not listed | Yes · Status updates, every plan | Sidekick summarizes updates, on a schedule too | Yes · AI drafts progress updates for stakeholders | Yes · Project updates with health | Yes · Rovo drafts status updates | Yes · Brain writes a project update | Add-on: Status reports with Copilot |
Not listed: we did not find it on that vendor’s public pages on 29 October 2026; it may exist.
Published prices
| Tool | Published prices |
|---|---|
| Facets |
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| Trello |
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| Asana |
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| monday.commonday work management |
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| Notion |
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| Linear |
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| Jira |
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| ClickUp |
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| Microsoft Planner |
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The same Manager seat, $7 a month billed annually, covers projects of up to 50 people, who join by a personal link and need no account.
Each price is in the vendor’s own unit: a user or a seat, billed yearly or monthly, sometimes with a minimum. We do not convert them, because the unit is part of the price.
Where Facets is different
- One seat, the manager’s. Projects come with the manager’s seat. Up to 50 people join a project by a personal link, never need an account and are never charged.
- Work comes in, and goes out. Import from ClickUp, Trello, Asana, Jira, Monday, Notion, Linear or Microsoft Project, or from any spreadsheet or JSON file, with dates, subtasks, dependencies and who owns each task. Export a project as Microsoft Project XML or as CSV for someone who works elsewhere. Or send a project’s tasks to a basic Microsoft Planner plan shared with a group, through the manager’s own Microsoft 365 work account; where the organization’s Microsoft 365 settings ask for it, an admin approves Facets once first. Each task goes once, with its title, description, dates, priority, checklist and labels, and who it is assigned to. After that, completing it on either side completes it on the other at the next check, nightly or when the manager asks.
- A schedule you approve. Dependencies come in four kinds, each with a lag or a lead. The Schedule page proposes a start and due date for each open task from its length, what it waits for and the milestones, and nothing moves until you apply it.
- A plan drafted from a short brief. Describe the goal, answer a few questions or skip them, and review a draft of sections, tasks and milestones. Nothing exists until you press Create project. Each request draws on the manager’s 150 AI credits per 30 days.
- Updates out, ideas in. Send a written update by email or a read-only link to people who never need an account. On an idea board, Make a task copies an idea into a project and keeps the link between the two.
When another tool fits better
Choose another tool when one of these matters more to you than what Facets does differently:
- Trello. Trello's no-charge plan covers up to 10 collaborators and 10 boards, with iOS and Android apps. Its Standard plan adds AI-generated boards.
- Asana. Asana can shift dependent dates automatically once you turn it on, and its iOS and Android apps come with every plan. Guests are free from Starter, and status updates are on every plan.
- monday.com. monday.com moves dependent dates in strict or flexible modes on Pro, and viewers are free from Basic. It imports from Excel, Asana, Trello, Jira and more.
- Notion. Notion includes task dependencies on every plan, the free one too, and can shift dependent dates automatically. It imports from CSV, Trello, Asana and monday.com, and guests are free.
- Linear. Linear's no-charge plan has unlimited members, and it imports from Jira, Asana and Shortcut. Project updates carry a health indicator and post to a Slack channel you choose.
- Jira. Jira's no-charge plan covers 10 users with timeline views and dependencies within a project. Its importer brings work in from CSV, Asana, monday, ClickUp and more.
- ClickUp. ClickUp includes dependencies on every plan and Gantt from Core, where it can reschedule a whole dependency chain when one task moves. It imports from Asana, Jira, Trello, Monday and more, and its Microsoft Teams integration is on every plan.
- Microsoft Planner. Planner suits a company already on Microsoft 365: basic Planner is included, and plans are managed inside Microsoft Teams. Plan 3 adds baselines, critical path and dependencies with lead and lag, and with a Copilot license a model can turn goals into a task list.
What Facets does not do
- There is no native mobile app yet, for iPhone or Android; teammates use a web link.
- There is no public API.
- Microsoft Planner is the one tracker Facets sends tasks to, and only to a basic plan shared with a group: Premium plans are out of its reach. Each task is sent once. After that only completing it crosses, either way, and every other edit stays on the side where it was made.
- There is no sync with any other tracker. Imports and exports are files you move once.
- There is no real-time co-editing of a project.
- There is no critical path and no baseline.
- There is no plan at no charge, a pricing decision rather than a missing feature: projects come with the manager's seat, and the Manager plan has a 30-day trial.
- There is no time tracking and no automation builder, by decision, on scope and cost. Automations come as a fixed set of switches.
Questions
Do team members need paid seats?
No. Projects come with the manager's seat. Up to 50 people join each project by a personal link, never need an account and are never charged.
Can I import projects from Trello or Asana?
Yes. Facets imports from ClickUp, Trello, Asana, Jira, Monday, Notion, Linear or Microsoft Project, or from any spreadsheet or JSON file, with dates, subtasks, dependencies and who owns each task.
Can I export a project to Microsoft Project?
Yes. A Facets project exports as Microsoft Project XML, which Project opens, and a Project XML file imports the other way. Each is a file you move once, not a live sync.
Does Facets reschedule tasks automatically?
Not on its own. The Schedule page proposes a start and due date for each open task from its length, what it waits for and the milestones. Nothing moves until you apply it.
Is there a free plan?
No. Projects come with a seat on the Manager plan, $7 a month billed annually, and that plan has a 30-day trial. The people on a project are never charged.
Sources
- Trello: trello.com/pricing, read ; support.atlassian.com/trello/docs/importing-data-into-trello, read
- Asana: asana.com/pricing, read ; help.asana.com/s/article/task-dependencies?language=en_US, read ; help.asana.com/s/article/auto-shifting-dates-for-dependent-tasks?language=en_US, read ; asana.com/apps/csv-importer, read ; help.asana.com/s/article/smart-projects?language=en_US, read
- monday.com: monday.com/pricing, read ; support.monday.com/hc/en-us/articles/360007402599-Dependencies-on-monday-com, read ; support.monday.com/hc/en-us/sections/13186581647762-Import-your-work, read ; monday.com/w/sidekick, read ; monday.com/integrations/slack, read
- Notion: www.notion.com/pricing, read ; www.notion.com/help/tasks-and-dependencies, read ; www.notion.com/help/import-data-into-notion, read ; www.notion.com/product/projects, read ; www.notion.com/blog/project-management-automation, read
- Linear: linear.app/pricing, read ; linear.app/docs/project-dependencies, read ; linear.app/docs/import-issues, read ; linear.app/docs/initiative-and-project-updates, read
- Jira: www.atlassian.com/software/jira/pricing, read ; support.atlassian.com/jira-software-cloud/docs/import-data-into-jira, read ; www.atlassian.com/software/jira/ai, read
- ClickUp: clickup.com/pricing, read ; help.clickup.com/hc/en-us/articles/6310249474967-Create-and-share-a-Gantt-view, read ; help.clickup.com/hc/en-us/articles/6311099045783-How-do-I-import-my-work-into-ClickUp, read ; clickup.com/p/features/ai/project-plan-generator, read ; help.clickup.com/hc/en-us/articles/31521204059415-Generate-a-project-update-with-Brain, read
- Microsoft Planner: www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/planner/microsoft-planner-plans-and-pricing, read ; support.microsoft.com/en-us/planner/teams/advanced-capabilities-with-premium-plans-in-planner, read
“Not listed” means we did not find it on that vendor’s public pages on 29 October 2026; it may exist.
Prices are as each vendor published them on 29 October 2026, in their own units, and they change.
Trello, Asana, monday.com, Notion, Linear, Jira, ClickUp and Microsoft Planner are trademarks of their owners. Facets is not affiliated with any of them.
If something here is wrong or out of date, tell us and we will correct it.
See how Projects work.
Lists, boards, a calendar, a timeline and charts, a schedule you approve, and updates for people outside the project, in the manager’s seat.