Beacon vs Asana
Asana is a polished, flexible work manager, and plenty of teams love it for coordinating projects across departments. Where it stops is the money. It tracks tasks, not the estimate you quoted, the hours against a budget, or what a contractor is owed. Beacon runs that side too.
Project management that runs the whole job. Plan, estimate, track time, watch the budget, and pay the team, built for agencies and dev shops that bill for their work.
Best for cross-functional teams coordinating work across marketing, ops, and product. Priced per seat, with time tracking and advanced reporting on higher tiers.
Feature by feature
The short version. Both handle tasks and projects. Beacon adds the money side that Asana leaves out.
| Feature | Beacon | Asana |
|---|---|---|
| Tasks, boards & projects | ||
| Per-developer estimations with approvals | – | |
| Built-in time tracking | Higher tiers | |
| Budget tracked against logged hours | – | |
| Developer payouts & contractor settlement | – | |
| Estimate & payment approvals | Rules & forms | |
| Client directory | – | |
| Per-client data isolation | – | |
| Roles & permissions | ||
| Activity & audit log | Enterprise | |
| Integrations & marketplace | Growing | Extensive |
Why teams switch from Asana to Beacon
The estimate and the payout live in one place
Asana ends at the task. Beacon carries the work from the estimate you quote, through the hours logged against it, to the payout the developer receives.
Time tracking that is actually built in
In Asana, real time tracking arrives on higher tiers or through integrations. Beacon has a native timer tied to the exact task or estimate you are working on.
Budget you can see as it burns
Logged hours roll up against the approved estimate, so margin is visible during the project instead of at month end.
Made for teams that bill for the work
A client directory, per-client data isolation, and contractor payouts come standard, because that is who Beacon is for.
In fairness, where Asana shines
Asana is genuinely good at what it is for. Coordinating non-billable, cross-functional teams, with a mature ecosystem and a huge library of integrations. If you do not bill for time and do not pay contractors, Asana's breadth may suit you better than Beacon's focus.
See the whole loop for yourself
Start free, invite a couple of people, and run one project from estimate to payout.