How to Cancel Asana Premium in 2026 (The Project Management Tool Nobody Uses)

Updated 2026-02-19 · 5 min read

📋 The Productivity Paradox

Companies adopt Asana to "get organized," then spend more time managing Asana than doing actual work. At $10.99-24.99/user/month, a 20-person team pays $2,640-6,000/year for a glorified to-do list that half the team stopped checking after month one.

Asana Pricing (2026)

Personal (free): 10 users, unlimited tasks/projects, list/board/calendar views
Starter: $10.99/user/month — timeline, workflow builder, forms
Advanced: $24.99/user/month — portfolios, goals, custom fields, approvals
Enterprise: Custom pricing — SAML, data export, admin controls
Hidden cost: Asana charges per SEAT, not per active user — inactive accounts still cost money

How to Cancel (or Downgrade)

Option 1: Downgrade to Free

Only the Organization Admin can do this
Go to Admin Console → Billing
Click Downgrade or Change Plan
Select the Personal (Free) tier
Your workspace stays active with free-tier limits
Premium features (timeline, custom fields, etc.) become view-only

Option 2: Cancel Completely

Export your data first (Settings → Admin → Export Organization)
Go to Admin Console → Settings
Find Deactivate Organization
This deletes all projects, tasks, and data permanently

⚠️ Annual Contract Trap

Asana's annual plans do not prorate refunds. If you cancel 3 months into a yearly plan, you lose the remaining 9 months of payment. You can downgrade, but the change takes effect at the end of your billing cycle. Set a reminder 30 days before renewal.

Export Your Data

Go to Admin Console → Settings → Export
Select JSON or CSV export
This includes all tasks, projects, comments, and attachments
Download completes via email link (can take hours for large orgs)
Individual projects can also be exported from project settings

Free Alternatives

Notion (free tier): Unlimited blocks for personal use, databases, kanban boards — replaces Asana + docs + wiki
ClickUp (free tier): 100MB storage, unlimited tasks, all views — closest Asana feature parity
Trello (free tier): Unlimited boards, 10 boards/workspace, simple kanban — perfect for small teams
Linear (free tier): 250 issues for teams up to 10 — best for software teams
Todoist (free tier): 5 projects, 5 collaborators — ideal for individuals
GitHub Projects: Free for all GitHub users — kanban built into your code repo

The Project Management Tax

Most teams stack multiple project management tools without realizing it:

Asana ($11/user/mo) + Jira ($8/user/mo) + Monday.com ($12/user/mo) = $31/user/month
For a 15-person team: $5,580/year on task management alone
Pick ONE tool. Export and consolidate. Most teams only need a free tier.

💡 The Free Tier Reality Check

Asana's free tier supports 10 users with unlimited tasks and projects. For most small teams and startups, that's plenty. The premium features (timeline, custom fields, portfolios) sound useful but most teams never use them — they just need task lists and due dates.

🔍 SaaS Subscription Stack Audit

Asana, Slack, Zoom, Notion, Figma, Jira — per-seat SaaS tools are the fastest-growing expense category. Upload your bank statement to JustCancel to find every recurring SaaS charge and identify tool overlap.

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Quick Cancel Guide: Asana

Direct cancel link + step-by-step instructions