As you may know, Asana also has If-Then Rules capability. A number of users have asked how this functionality compares to Flowsana’s If-Then Rules. In response, here are some tables comparing Asana vs. Flowsana.

While Asana has a few triggers and actions that Flowsana does not have (yet!), you’ll see that overall Flowsana can handle almost all rule conditions and actions that Asana can, plus Flowsana provides a number of important capabilities that Asana does not, including, for example, support for tags and the ability to auto-create new Asana projects.

It’s also important to note that Flowsana’s If-Then Rules comprise only one of its five different types of workflow automation – Flowsana does much more than just If-Then Rules!

Rules Comparison - Conditions/Triggers

Edit
Condition/Trigger
Asana Premium
Asana Business
Flowsana
Task added
No
YES
YES
Task put in a certain column/section
Limited
YES
YES
Task moved out of a certain column/section
No
No
YES
Task assigned (to any user)
No
No
YES
Task assigned to a certain user
No
YES
YES
Task unassigned
No
No
YES
Certain tag added to task
No
No
YES
Certain tag removed from task
No
No
YES
Task marked complete
Limited
YES
YES
Task changed to incomplete
No
No
YES
Certain custom field set to a certain value
Limited
Dropdown-list fields only
YES
Task added to a certain other project
No
No
YES
Task marked as a Milestone
No
No
YES
Task name contains certain words or text
No
No
YES
Due Date set or cleared
No
YES
No
Due Date approaching or past due by a certain amount
No
YES (not immediate, only at midnight)
YES (both immediate and at midnight)
Start Date approaching or past due by a certain amount
No
No
YES (both immediate and at midnight)
Comment added
No
YES
No
Attachment added
No
YES
No
Dependent task no longer blocked
No
YES
No
Approval completed
No
YES
No

Rules Comparison - Actions

Edit
Action
Asana Premium
Asana Business
Flowsana
Add task to another project
No
YES
YES
Move task to another project
No
YES
YES
Move task to certain column/section
Limited
YES
YES
Assign task to a certain user
No
YES
YES
Unassign task
No
YES
YES
Add certain tag to task
No
No
YES
Remove certain tag from task
No
No
YES
Mark task complete
Limited
YES
YES
Change task to incomplete
No
YES
YES
Set a certain custom field to a certain value
Limited
Dropdown-list fields only
YES
Set or modify task's name to a certain value
No
No
YES
Set task's due date
No
YES
No
Add collaborators to task
No
YES
No
Add a comment
No
YES
No
Set task as an Approval task
No
No
YES
Send an email notification to certain users
No
No
YES
Create a new project from a template
No
No
YES
Add subtasks from a template
Limited
Limited
YES
Move task's project to another team
No
No
YES
Archive task's project
No
No
YES

What does “Limited” mean in the Asana Premium column?

While the Asana Business-level subscription allows you to create your own custom rules (just as you do in Flowsana), the rules capability in Asana’s Premium-level subscription consists of a limited set of predefined rules that you can choose from. Specifically, here are the options you have in Asana Premium:

Asana Premium Predefined Rules

Edit
Condition/Trigger
Action
Task moved to a certain column/section
Mark task complete
Task moved to a certain column/section
Set a certain custom field to a certain value
Certain custom field changed to a certain value
Mark task complete
Certain custom field changed to a certain value
Move task to a certain column/section
Task marked complete
Set a certain custom field to a certain value
Task marked complete
Move task to a certain column/section

Additionally, Flowsana’s rules support variable substitution, allowing you to insert values from custom fields, as well as task, project, and section names, in a number of places.

You can include any of the following text strings:

{task.custom-field-name}
{task.name}
{project.name}
{section.name}


and Flowsana will replace the string with the value specified by it.

You can use these special strings in the following places:

  • The If task contains the word or phrase ______ rule condition
  • The Set custom field ______ to the value ______ rule action
  • The Set task name to ______ rule action

Lastly, Flowsana’s rules can be applied to your My Tasks list whereas Asana’s rules cannot.