When comparing Asana vs Remember the Milk, the Slant community recommends Remember the Milk for most people. In the question“What are the best cross-platform task apps?” Remember the Milk is ranked 16th while Asana is ranked 17th. The most important reason people chose Remember the Milk is:
Smart lists are configured using Remember the Milk's syntax, making it very customizable.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Powerful team collaboration features
Asana has fantastic mechanisms for dealing with team collaboration. Not only can tasks be assigned to team members, but Asana lets users follow tasks and use hyperlinks to refer to team members within a task.
Pro Free for up to 15 users
Pro Simple workflow
The Asana task workflow within a project is broken down into "Today," "Upcoming," and "Later." The tasks themselves have the status of either done or not done. There is also a subtask feature to group tasks together. Tasks can be assigned to other team members and are stored in the "Inbox" view for processing. This replaces email for some team communication.
Pro CSV export and print
Pro Very polished interface
Teams can have private (only visible to project members) and public (visible to anyone in the team) projects. Each member can also have their own personal projects.
Tasks can be viewed in list and calendar views. It's possible to display only the tasks assigned to the user or tasks organized by project or team. Single tasks can exist in multiple projects. Lists of tasks can be divided into sections and organized in many different ways – tasks that still have to be done, tasks that have been completed, by due date, by assignee, by popularity, etc.
Expanding a task will allow adding things like subtasks, tags, and attachments, as well as comments. Users can also subscribe to a task via RSS from this view. There's a separate view specifically for attachments.
Search lets you find what you’re looking for quickly.
Pro Tagging system allows easily filtering tasks
The tagging system enables project managers to easily filter tasks.
Pro Provides lots of help for getting started
There are many videos, tutorials, and reference documents to help you get up and running.
Pro Supports Kanban and list views
Asana provides a list view and a Kanban view which can be selected if a new project is created.
Pro Well thought out keyboard shortcuts
Keyboard shortcuts all involve the Tab key, so it is unlikely that they will interfere with shortcuts that have already been established.
Pro Integrates with Slack
It's possible to have tasks appear in a Slack channel.
Pro Has its own syntax for programming smart lists
Smart lists are configured using Remember the Milk's syntax, making it very customizable.
Pro Semantic shortcuts
Remember The Milk has a list of semantic shortcuts that allow adding tasks and task options faster.
Pro Many features already working in the free version
The majority of commonly used features are available for free. The pro version adds increased functionality such as advanced sorting, mobile push notifications and sharing permissions.
Pro Excellent cross platform support
Whether you depend on an iOS, Windows or Android phone; Google Calendar or Outlook; Evernote or Twitter: RTM has an app or extension for you.
Pro Powerful query language
Query language can be used to build your own GTD-based system, with tags and lists and queries. Such as system can be used for private life and work alongside several simple lists without things getting mixed up.
Pro Location-based notifications
You can set locations for each task (for example a specific store, or a general location like 'near the beach' for shell collectors), and RTM will remind you when you are near or in that location. This can help keep your daily list uncluttered and remind you of errands you might have forgotten.
Pro Tasks may have additional options
Extra options such as how often it repeats, the due date, and the location.
Pro Support of a "start" date
A start date can be set which can be used with smartlists or to set a reminder.
Pro Lists can be shared
Share lists with other Remember The Milk users, or with iCal and more. Shared lists can be collaboratively updated. This makes it great for teams or just to share progress with others.
Pro Quickly add rich text
Remember The Milk offers Smart Add – shortcuts that allow you to quickly add advanced information to a task. For example, you can quickly add a due date, set the priority level, add a tag, set repeat times, add URLs, and add notes to your tasks. For the full list, check out How Do I Use Smart Add?
Pro Manual sorting
Manual sorting is available on both the web app and android, allowing prioritization of tasks. This can be particularly useful for shopping lists, where you can put all the meat together, and all the cheese together etc. to make it easier to skim through when you're in the store.
Pro Nice Android Widget
Compared to competitors like todoist, the widget doesn't use too much space.
Pro Really, really cool support
They react within hours, and they actually keep track of your issue.
Pro Support for keywords to set due/start date, add to list with one line of text
There are special characters which open a box so the user can select predefined values or a calendar picker.
Pro Lightning fast sync
Syncs quickly across all your devices and platforms.
Pro Syncs with Evernote
Not only syncing, it's more of a "linking" with a two-way synchronization. Changing the title of a note in Evernote will update the title in Remember the Milk. So far, Remember The Milk is the only to-do app with a feature like this.
Pro Add tasks via e-mail
You can add tasks to Remember the Milk via email easily once you get the hang of formatting the messages.
Pro Twitter integration
The Twitter integration is excellent and allows for many types of automation.
Cons
Con Mobile version lacks calendar
Asana's calendar is present in the web version but is conspicuously missing in the mobile app.
Con Unable to manage multiple workspaces
Each "workspace" or "team" in Asana is strictly isolated. You cannot see your personal tasks versus work tasks or collaborations together, you need to log in to a different profile.
Con No task dependencies in free version
Dependencies is only available only to Teams and Organizations on Asana Premium.
Con Can not use list view and board view for a same project
Asana can only choose one, either a list view or a board view.
Con Strange UX with strange workflow
Similar to task the manager in Todoist or Wunderlist, but not too complex for under four members.
Con UX Design is overly opinionated
The workflow is not very customizable, which forces you to use a flow that may not be your preferred or best option.
Con Subtasks only available in Pro version
Subtasks can break a longer to-do item into discrete tasks, helping you keep tabs on your progress.
Con Bad UI redesign
The web app takes up too much screen real estate and uses a half-screen format that requires a wide screen. The task edit screen is clunky. It still has UI bugs one year in. You can't complete tasks from the UI.
Con Free version lacks features
Mobile reminders, subtsaks, offline mode, Microsoft Outlook sync, priority, and more features are limited to the paid version ($39.99/year). To see the full list of restrictions, check out this page.
Con Does not support attachments
Cloud storage was recently added as a pro feature.
Con Cannot add task in notification bar
There is no pull down option to add a task in the notification bar.
Con Ugly icon
The goofy cow image does not fit well with a professsional office environment.
