What People Love About Asana
Before we get into where Start Page HQ goes further, credit where it's due.
- A genuinely powerful enterprise PM tool — list, board, calendar, timeline, Gantt, and portfolio views in one platform.
- Strong cross-functional team features: workload tracking, capacity planning, and goal alignment.
- A free Personal tier that covers small teams of up to 10 collaborators.
- Polished automation, AI Studio, and AI Teammates for paid plans.
- Solid mobile and desktop apps across Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android.
Where Start Page HQ Goes Further
Specific differences, not vague claims.
Personal, Not Enterprise
Asana is built for cross-functional teams of 50+. Start Page HQ is a personal-productivity dashboard — your own Kanban, todos, and calendar, with no per-seat pricing or workspace admin to set up.
On Every New Tab, No Workspace to Open
Asana is a destination you have to open. Start Page HQ lives on every new tab in your browser — your tasks are visible the moment a tab opens.
50+ Widgets, Not Just Project Management
Asana is a single-purpose PM platform. Start Page HQ ships Kanban tasks alongside notes, RSS, weather, AI tools, dev utilities, calendars, habits, and Pomodoro — everything you tab between in a normal day.
Multi-Page Dashboards by Context
Build a Work page with Tasks and Calendar, a Personal page with Todo and Habits, a News page with RSS and Hacker News. Switch with a click instead of navigating between Asana projects.
No Per-Seat Pricing
Asana Starter is $10.99/user/month and Advanced is $24.99/user/month, billed annually. Start Page HQ is a flat $25/year or $49 lifetime — single user, every widget included.
Hosted Web App on Any Browser
Use startpagehq.com on any browser, or install extensions for Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge. No admin install required for the web app.
Side-by-Side Comparison
An honest line-by-line look at how the two stack up.
| Feature | Asana | Start Page HQ |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free or $10.99-$24.99/user/mo | $25/yr or $49 lifetime |
| Free tier | Yes (up to 10 users) | Free demo only |
| Lives on every new tab | No | Yes |
| Chrome | Yes | Yes |
| Firefox | Yes | Yes |
| Safari | Yes | Yes |
| Edge | Yes | Yes |
| Hosted web app | Yes | Yes |
| iOS / Android apps | Yes | Web app (PWA) |
| Native desktop apps | Yes | No |
| Cross-device sync | Included | Included |
| Kanban tasks | Yes | Yes |
| Timeline / Gantt views | Yes | No |
| Portfolio / workload management | Yes | No |
| Team collaboration / assignees | Yes | No |
| Multi-page dashboards | Project pages | New tab dashboards |
| Notes / quick capture widget | No | Yes |
| Habit tracker / Pomodoro | No | Yes |
| RSS / news / podcasts | No | Yes |
| AI tools (image gen, translation, summary) | AI Studio | Included |
| Developer tools (JSON, regex, diff) | No | Yes |
Widgets That Replace Asana
Drop these onto your dashboard and you've covered Asana's core features — plus a lot more.
Frequently Asked Questions
Not for cross-functional team PM. Asana is built for teams running portfolios, workload management, and Gantt timelines — keep using it for that. Start Page HQ is the personal-productivity layer: your own Kanban, todos, calendar, and dashboard on every new tab. Many users run both side by side.
There is a free public demo at startpagehq.com/demo where you can try the Tasks widget and every other widget without signing up. Full access requires a paid plan: $25/year or $49 one-time. Both plans include all 50+ widgets, cross-device sync, and AI credits.
Asana Personal is free for up to 10 users; Starter is $10.99/user/month and Advanced is $24.99/user/month, billed annually. Start Page HQ is a flat $25/year or $49 lifetime with no per-seat math.
Yes. Cross-device sync is included in the base price. Sign in once and your boards, todos, and dashboards sync across every browser and device automatically.
There is no automated Asana importer. Most users keep Asana for team projects and rebuild personal boards in the Tasks widget — usually a few minutes per project. The Links widget is a handy place to pin your most-used Asana URLs.
Start Page HQ doesn't include Gantt timelines or portfolio-level views. If those are core to your workflow, Asana still wins on that specific job. The Calendar widget covers most personal scheduling needs.