How we price this: SoftwareSift reads every number off the vendor pricing page, dates it, and re-checks it monthly. We report the real cost even on tools we earn nothing from, and on this page that is all three of them: SoftwareSift has no affiliate relationship with Asana, monday.com, or ClickUp, so every link here is plain and earns us nothing, and nothing on the page is shaped by a commission. All figures are list prices in USD; quote-only Enterprise tiers and intro promos are kept out of the headline numbers on purpose.
Asana, monday.com, and ClickUp all price the same way (per seat, per month, billed annually), which makes them directly comparable once you do the one piece of math the vendors never show you: the all-in cost for an actual team over an actual year. A per-seat sticker hides three things at once: it scales with headcount, it is the annual-prepay rate (month-to-month costs more), and monday.com will not sell you fewer than three paid seats.
The number that is not on any vendor page: real first-year cost for a 10-seat team
We take each publicly priced tier and multiply the per-seat monthly price (billed annually) by 10 seats and 12 months. None of these three charges a separate onboarding fee, so for a project-management tool that is the whole bill.
| Vendor | Tier | Per seat/mo (billed annually) | Real cost, 10 seats/year | Seat minimum | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asana | Starter | $10.99/seat/mo | $1,318.80 | none | first paid tier |
| Asana | Advanced | $24.99/seat/mo | $2,998.80 | none | automation + reporting tier |
| Asana | Enterprise | Custom (quote) | Custom (quote) | n/a | quote-gated, excluded |
| monday.com | Basic | $9/seat/mo | $1,080 | 3 seats | cannot buy 1-2 paid seats |
| monday.com | Standard | $12/seat/mo | $1,440 | 3 seats | mid tier |
| monday.com | Pro | $19/seat/mo | $2,280 | 3 seats | most popular tier |
| monday.com | Enterprise | Custom (quote) | Custom (quote) | n/a | quote-gated, excluded |
| ClickUp | Core | $9/seat/mo | $1,080 | none | cheapest entry, ties monday.com Basic |
| ClickUp | Business | $17/seat/mo | $2,040 | none | automations + dashboards |
| ClickUp | Enterprise | Custom (quote) | Custom (quote) | n/a | quote-gated, excluded |
Prices re-verified October 31, 2026 from the Asana, monday.com, and ClickUp pricing pages. Per-seat figures are the billed-annually list rate in USD; month-to-month billing runs higher (Asana Starter is $13.49/seat billed monthly vs $10.99 billed annually, about 18% more, and monday.com advertises 18% off for annual prepay; ClickUp's $9 Core and $17 Business are billed-yearly rates, with month-to-month at $12 and $25). Enterprise tiers on all three are quote-gated, with no public number, and are excluded from the table. monday.com requires a 3-seat minimum on every paid plan.
What the headline hides
- monday.com will not sell fewer than 3 seats. Every paid plan carries a 3-seat minimum, so a solo founder or a 2-person team still pays for three: Basic works out to $324/year minimum, Standard $432, before a third person exists. Its free plan also caps at 2 users, so adding teammate number three forces a paid plan and the 3-seat floor in the same step.
- The stickers are the annual-prepay rate; monthly costs more. Asana Starter is $10.99/seat billed annually but $13.49 month-to-month, about 18% more, and monday.com advertises 18% off for yearly billing. ClickUp's $9 Core and $17 Business are billed-yearly rates too ($12 and $25 month-to-month); ClickUp has retired its Unlimited tier in favor of Core. Pay monthly and every sticker above goes up.
- AI is a separate line item. ClickUp Brain adds about $9/seat/mo on top of the plan, and Asana and monday.com meter their AI features the same way. The collaboration price above does not include the AI add-ons that increasingly drive the upgrade decision.
- Free tiers are tight. monday.com caps its free plan at 2 seats; ClickUp gives a free plan with unlimited tasks but only 60MB of storage; Asana's free Personal plan is built for individuals and very small groups. Free is a trial, not a foundation; budget for paid from the start.
Which fits a small team?
For the lowest real cost, ClickUp Core and monday.com Basic tie at $1,080/year for 10 seats and are the cheapest publicly priced entries, with Asana Starter at $1,318.80. Step up to the tier most teams actually run and monday.com Standard lands at $1,440/year for 10 seats, ClickUp Business at $2,040, and Asana Advanced jumps to about $3,000 for its automation and reporting tier. If you are one or two people, ClickUp (free or a single paid seat) sidesteps monday.com's 3-seat floor entirely. Price it at your real headcount and your real billing term before you commit: the per-seat sticker is the annual-prepay rate, not the bill.
Go deeper
- Asana vs monday.com, feature by feature
- The best project management tools for small teams
- Project management software with a client portal
Check current pricing at the source: Asana, monday.com, ClickUp. We link straight to the vendor and earn nothing on the click.
SoftwareSift Team. We earn affiliate commissions on some tools we cover, disclosed on every link; this never changes the prices or the math we report.