Asana offers four paid pricing plans; Starter, Advanced, Enterprise and Enterprise+. See breakdown below:

Pricing model comparison:

• Starter: This SKU is normally too limited for many organizations because of the lack of SSO, sharing, timesheets, etc
  • $10.99/user/mo when billed annually, $13.49 when billed monthly
• Advanced: This tier covers many SMB and Mid-Market organizations with its exporting, goals, timesheets, etc
  • $24.99/user/mo when billed annually, $30.49 when billed monthly
• Enterprise: Most organizations lean toward Enterprise because of its SSO, advanced permissions, HIPAA needs and API access
  • Starts at $40/u/mo, but often discounted to $35 or lower.
• Enterprise+: Everything above, plus more in-depth integrations, workspace management, and a sandbox
  • Starts at $45/u/mo when billed annually but often discounted to $40 or lower.

General Strategy

• 1. Leverage Contract Length and License Growth
  • Multi-Year Commitments: Committing to a multi-year agreement with Asana often leads to significant discounting. Start negotiations with a one-year term and strategically shift to a multi-year commitment to secure a lower rate than the previous year.
  • License Growth: Use any increase in user numbers as a leverage point. Asana is responsive to license growth, so plan to negotiate better rates when adding more users. If expecting flat renewal or reduction, initially underestimate needs to create leverage when adding licenses back.
  • Early Upgrades: Consider upgrading to a higher tier or enterprise agreement before Asana phases out older plans. Early upgrades can lead to savings, especially before forced upgrades.

• 2. Competitive and Budgetary Pressures
  • Competitive Quotes: Always obtain competitive quotes to keep Asana honest. Mentioning competitors like JIRA and the possibility of switching to alternatives like Monday.com can incite doubt and push Asana to offer better terms.
  • Economic Conditions: Highlight the challenging economic environment and internal budget constraints. This can be effective, especially if overall spend with Asana is significant. Use leadership's focus on reducing SaaS expenses as a reason for Asana to waive standard uplifts or offer additional discounts.

• 3. Strategic Purchase and Renewal Tactics
  • Staggered License Acquisition: When making new purchases, consider obtaining proposals for incremental increases in licenses (e.g., 5, 10, 15, 20) to identify and exploit the best rate at each increment.
  • Renewal Strategy: If facing a renewal with no additional discount for user growth, threaten to switch to a competitor or not renew. This can lead to concessions such as free months of service or a reduced rate.
  • Right-Sizing and Timing: Start negotiations by asking for active usage data and consider right-sizing the account based on actual needs. Negotiate renewals towards the end of financial quarters when sales reps have more flexibility to offer discounts.
• 4. Reseller
  • Asana has recently begun their own reseller program to increase sales volume and access to the product. One of these organizations, The Collaborative, can reseller Asana products, and since they are based in Portland, OR, do not charge sales tax on the order.
  • Unlike other resellers, Asana ones are not able to offer the same level of discounting compared to resellers of Microsoft or Adobe, but can still provide value with an additional layer of support.

Custom Strategies

Strategy #1: For current customers considering Enterprise upgrade

• Step One: Understand usage and send notice of non-auto renewal at minimum 45 days ahead of renewal via email.
  • Internally, decide how many licenses are used and how many will be needed in the future. Do not share these quantities upfront with Asana.
  • Ask Asana to share the usage data they have and review the data to ensure it aligns with internal data.
  • Notice of non auto - renew: “We would like to send an official notice of non auto renewal per our contract while we work through options for the upcoming renewal. Please confirm this is sufficient notice to avoid the auto renewal of this agreement.”
• Step Two: Gather Pricing.
  • Ask for renew as-is pricing on the current plan and ask for a comparison with Enterprise pricing as some folks are lobbying for Enterprise.
  • After receiving the above, ask for Enterprise pricing with reduced quantities.. This will “scare” the reps as they will not want to lose additional business. You may let them know the current pricing is unacceptable and the team needs to re-evaluate their options.
• Step Three: Push on pricing.
  • Asana is open to reducing the Enterprise license cost when volume and/or term length are leveraged.
  • Competitive quotes: Asana faces a lot of competition from the market. Threatening an RFP or competitive quote can help add leverage to the conversation.

Strategy #2: For current customers with plans to increase headcount

• Step One: Understand usage and send notice of non-auto renewal at minimum 45 days ahead of renewal via email.
  • Internally, decide how many licenses are used and how many will be needed in the future. Do not share these quantities upfront with Asana.
  • Ask Asana to share the usage data they have and review the data to ensure it aligns with internal data.
  • Notice of non auto - renew: “We would like to send an official notice of non auto renewal per our contract while we work through options for the upcoming renewal. Please confirm this is sufficient notice to avoid the auto renewal of this agreement.”
• Step Two: Gather Pricing.
  • Ask for renew as-is pricing on the current plan.
  • After receiving the above, ask for quotes that lead up to the final count of licenses needed.
    • For example, if a total of 30 licenses are needed and the team has 15. Ask for a proposal for 20 and 25 licenses.
• Step Three: Leverage “Growth” and willingness to commit to higher license count.
  • Let the reps know that the team is considering a user increase, but will only be able to get this approved by finance if they meet the allotted budget.
• Step Four: Customer Escalation & Timing.
  • Have an executive on the team send a note to the Asana rep that reiterates the budget asked for and willingness to commit to the increase, if the price is right.
  • This is where the team may leverage timing and offer a target signature date in return for Asana bringing forth their best and final offer.

Strategy #3: For current customers with plans to reduce headcount

• Step One: Understand usage and send notice of non-auto renewal at minimum 45 days ahead of renewal via email.
  • Internally, decide how many licenses are used and how many will be needed in the future. Do not share these quantities upfront with Asana.
  • Ask Asana to share the usage data they have and review the data to ensure it aligns with internal data.
  • Notice of non auto - renew: “We would like to send an official notice of non auto renewal per our contract while we work through options for the upcoming renewal. Please confirm this is sufficient notice to avoid the auto renewal of this agreement.”
• Step Two: Right-size as much as possible.
  • Choose a conservative, yet realistic number of users.
  • Threaten a further reduction or tier downgrade if the pricing isn’t satisfactory after the reduction
• Step Three: Gather Pricing.
  • Ask for pricing that is less than what is needed.
    • For example, if a total of 30 licenses are needed and the team has 50. Ask for a proposal for 15 and 20 licenses.
• Step Four: Leverage "Growth"
  • Let the rep know that you are willing to renew with the higher number of licenses, only if they are able to offer the target unit rate.
    • For example, we are willing to proceed with 30 licenses, but need to be at a unit rate of $X.
• Step Five: Multi-Year.
  • Ask for multi-year options, even if the team is not looking to commit to a long term agreement.
  • Push for the 3-year pricing to be applied on a 2-year term or the 2-year pricing to be applied on a 1-year term.