Migrate from Asana to Plane: what the move involves and how long it takes to plan
A team running active Asana projects that wants them in self-hosted Plane will find that the Asana importer does the copying, but the migration itself is the surrounding work. The importer moves projects into Plane. The effort lies in mapping Asana structures to Plane's model, setting up access, validating the results against what teams actually use, and running both tools in parallel until the cutover is safe.
Where the importer runs determines the path. Plane documents its Asana importer for Plane Cloud and for the self-hosted Commercial Edition. The Community Edition is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and matches the feature set of the Cloud Free tier, so it is not the target for this import. If your team already runs a Community install, plan the switch to the Commercial Edition before the import starts. That step requires a license key, and seats are counted by users with paid roles. Confirm with Plane which import path fits your topology before you commit to a sequence.
Effort depends on four things you can measure before any work begins: the size of the Asana workspace (projects, tasks, sections, custom fields and members), the integrations connected to Asana that also need to point at Plane, how much history must move (comments, attachments and completed work), and how many Asana concepts have no direct Plane equivalent. Build a mapping sheet that decides how sections, custom fields, tags and portfolios will land in Plane's work items, states, cycles, modules and pages. Confirm who in your Asana organization can generate the access token the importer needs and which Plane roles will own the imported data.
No duration or price should be accepted without a written scope. Ask any partner for a quote built from your inventory of workspaces and projects, your integration list, your history retention rule, the mapping sheet, a validation checklist with named Asana owners, a parallel-run period and a cutover plan. Cost falls into a few groups: implementation fees for the agreed scope, your staff time for validation, and the Commercial Edition license and seats, which recur. The import itself is one-time work. Hosting and support are ongoing costs that you should price separately.
What maps from Asana to Plane and what needs a decision
This table compares each Asana capability in scope with the closest Plane object and notes what to verify before migrating. Treat every mapping as one to confirm against Plane's Asana importer documentation, because the importer is documented but field-level mappings are not stated here. The main takeaway is that projects and tasks are the likely core of the move, while sections, custom fields, dependencies and portfolios or goals need a decision on how they will be represented.
| Asana capability | Plane equivalent | Migration notes |
|---|---|---|
| Projects | Project | Confirm with Plane's Asana importer documentation how projects are created and named. |
| Sections | No confirmed equivalent | Decide whether sections become states, modules or labels. Confirm the importer's handling first. |
| Tasks and subtasks | Work items, with parent-child relations | Confirm subtask nesting and whether it is preserved or flattened on import. |
| Assignees and due dates | Work item assignee and target date | Confirm user matching and whether unmatched users are created or left unassigned. |
| Comments and attachments | Work item comments and attachments | Confirm which comments, authors and file types transfer and how attachment size limits apply. |
| Custom fields | No confirmed direct equivalent | Map each field to a Plane property or label, or keep it as text in the description. Confirm first. |
| Dependencies | Work item relations | Confirm which dependency types import and how cross-project relations are handled. |
| Portfolios and goals | No direct equivalent confirmed | Closest candidates are modules or cycles. Decide the structure before import and confirm with Plane. |
| Users and workspace membership | Workspace members and roles | Confirm the admin prerequisites and the access token scope the Asana importer requires. |
Confirm the Asana importer prerequisites before you schedule the move
Confirm the Asana importer prerequisites before anyone picks a cutover date, because the importer cannot run until a credential and a set of permissions line up on both sides. On the Asana side, the importer depends on an access token that can read the projects you plan to move. On the Plane side, the person running the import needs rights in the target workspace to create projects and import work. The exact token scopes, the admin roles required in each tool and the sequence of steps are set out in Plane's Asana importer documentation, and you should confirm them there before planning. Do not work from memory or from a colleague's earlier import. Also confirm that the importer is available on your deployment, since Plane documents it for Plane Cloud and the Commercial Edition, not the Community Edition.
Decide who holds each access right before the project starts. On the Asana side, the token should belong to a named person whose Asana access covers every team, project and attachment in scope, because the import can only carry what its token can read. If that person is an admin of the Asana organization, ask the Asana administrator whether the importer needs admin rights or only membership with read access. On the Plane side, the importing user should be a workspace administrator in the target workspace, and that person should still hold the role through cutover. Write down both names, their roles and a named backup for each. Illustrative example: if the token holder is a member of only three of eight Asana teams, the first test run will show a partial set of projects, and the gap will look like a data problem until someone checks the token holder's team memberships.
Run the checks in a fixed order and record the results. Start with the edition: confirm that the Plane instance you will import into is Plane Cloud or the Commercial Edition, and that your license or plan covers the import. Next, confirm the token scopes and admin roles with the Asana administrator and the Plane administrator, using the importer documentation as the reference. Then run a test import of one small Asana project into a scratch Plane workspace. Compare the imported work items, comments, attachments and assignees with the source, and note any project the token could not see. Keep the test output with the migration plan so reviewers can see what was checked, when, and by whom.
Put this check in the first week of the inventory phase, before the scope of the move is locked. The inventory decides which Asana projects, teams and users go into Plane, and that list is only as complete as the access behind it. If a token lacks a permission in week three, the inventory your stakeholders already approved may need to be reopened, and the schedule built on it will move with it. Edition and licensing decisions also need lead time, and confirming them early gives the budget owner the facts needed to approve the move. A blocker found in week one leaves room to re-plan. Found at cutover, the same blocker forces an emergency decision.
Which documented import paths apply to Asana and related trackers
Plane documents a separate importer for each source tracker, and each one carries a different set of data. Choose the path that matches where your projects currently live, then confirm the current supported data for that importer before you plan the cut-over.
Asana importer
This is the direct path for this migration, documented for Plane Cloud and the Commercial Edition. Before you schedule a test import, confirm which Asana objects the importer carries and which it leaves out. Verify the access token and workspace admin prerequisites in Plane's importer documentation, because the import cannot start without them. Record the result of a test run against a non-production project.
Jira importer for Cloud and Data Center
Plane's Jira importer supports Jira Cloud as well as Jira Server and Data Center, and runs on Plane Cloud and all plans of the Commercial Edition. It documents work items, statuses, priorities, users, comments, attachments, sprints as cycles, components as modules, story points, relations and worklogs. Use this path only if some Asana projects also originated in Jira, and check how your Jira fields map onto the Asana data you are moving.
Linear importer
Plane documents a Linear importer on Plane Cloud and the Commercial Edition. It applies only if part of your Asana estate was mirrored or duplicated from Linear, so confirm that overlap before you choose it. Run it as its own import with its own test pass, because its supported data differs from the Asana importer. The sibling Linear migration guide covers its mapping in more detail.
Export and manual reconciliation fallback
Plan this path for any Asana data the importer does not carry, such as objects that fall outside its documented scope. Export that data in a format your team can review, then reconcile it by hand against the imported projects in Plane. Assign an owner for each category of leftover data, and record what was rebuilt, attached as a file or retired so that the decision can be audited later.
Edition requirement for every path
All three importers are documented for Plane Cloud and the Commercial Edition, and the Community Edition is not listed for them. If your target is an existing Community Edition install, plan the edition change before the import, and confirm the license and seat implications with Plane. Make this decision before testing, since it determines which importer you can run at all.
Why the Asana importer requires the Commercial Edition
The Asana importer is documented for Plane Cloud and the Commercial Edition, so a team that plans to bring Asana projects into self-hosted Plane should settle the edition question before any installation begins. The Community Edition is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and matches the feature set of the Plane Cloud Free tier. Plane's documentation places the importers on the paid side of that line, so a Community install cannot be assumed to run the Asana import. Plane also describes each self-hosted edition as built on a distinct codebase with its own release cycle, which means the edition choice also determines which upgrade path the team follows for years.
If the organization already runs the Community Edition, the route to paid plans is to switch to the Commercial Edition and activate it with a license key. This is a change to the platform itself, not a configuration tweak, so it belongs in the change plan alongside the import run. Ask Plane or review the editions documentation to confirm the switch steps, the backup and rollback approach, and whether existing data and configuration carry over unchanged in the version you will run. Plan the switch as its own change window so that a failed edition change does not coincide with the migration.
The Commercial Edition counts seats by users with paid roles, so the seat count is a direct cost driver for the migration. Before scheduling, map each Asana user to the Plane role they will hold and count how many hold paid roles. Plane's pricing page lists Pro at 6 to 8 US dollars and Business at 13 to 15 US dollars per user per month, with Enterprise Grid priced on request. Those figures can change, so confirm current pricing in writing. Also confirm how guests and view-only users are counted, because Asana users with limited access may not map cleanly onto a paid role.
Before the import is scheduled, the team should confirm four things with Plane and in its own environment. First, the installed edition and version must be the Commercial Edition build that documents the Asana importer, since release cycles differ by edition. Second, the license key must be active and cover the plan tier the team needs. Third, the plan must include the features the workspace depends on, such as SAML or OIDC single sign-on, which Plane's pricing page places at Pro and above on self-hosted installs. Fourth, the seat count must match the paid-role mapping. Record each answer in the migration plan so that the import date is not set against an edition the team has not verified.
How an Asana to Plane migration runs from inventory to decommission
The sequence moves Asana projects into a Commercial Edition Plane workspace you operate, proving each project's data before Asana access is withdrawn. Each step closes with a named check and a written outcome the client can sign off.
Inventory Asana projects and integrations
DeployOpen works with your Asana admin to list every project, team, portfolio and workspace in scope, with task counts, custom fields, attachments, subtasks and dependencies noted per project. The inventory also records every integration, webhook, automation rule and third-party app connected to Asana, because each one either needs a replacement or a documented retirement. The client provides an export of the workspace structure and the names of the owners for each project. The step is done when the inventory is agreed in writing, with each project marked for migration, archival or exclusion and each integration assigned an owner and a disposition.
Confirm access and admin prerequisites
The client's Asana administrator confirms the account that will generate the access token has the rights needed to read every in-scope project, and that the token will be issued from that account rather than a personal login. DeployOpen checks the target hosting environment, the Plane Commercial Edition licensing position and the identity and seat plan for the users who will own migrated work. The client provides the administrator contact, the list of users who must exist in Plane, and approval for the token handling process. The step closes when the read access is confirmed against two or three sample projects and the token is stored in the agreed secrets location.
Install Commercial Edition with a test workspace
DeployOpen installs Plane Commercial Edition in the client's own infrastructure, since the Asana importer is available on Plane Cloud and the Commercial Edition rather than Community Edition. A separate test workspace is created so that early imports never touch the production workspace. The client provides the hosting target, network and DNS decisions, and the database, cache, queue and object storage choices. The step is done when the test workspace loads, users can sign in through the agreed method, and a backup and restore has been run once against the install.
Run a pilot import of one representative project
DeployOpen selects one project that represents the typical mix of tasks, assignees, sections, attachments and dependencies found in the inventory, and runs the Asana importer against the test workspace. The import log is reviewed for skipped items, errors and mapping warnings, and each mapping decision is recorded. The client provides the project owner, who confirms which fields matter for daily work. The step closes when the pilot result and its mapping decisions are agreed, and any gaps that need a workaround are listed with an owner.
Validate tasks, assignees and dates
The pilot import is checked against the source project at a sample level and a full count level. Task counts, titles, descriptions, status and section placement are compared, then assignees are checked against the user list so no tasks land unassigned by mistake. Due dates, start dates and completion dates are compared on a sample that includes dates near time zone boundaries and recurring tasks. Comments, attachments and subtasks are spot checked. The client's project owner signs off the validation record, which lists each mismatch and its resolution. The step is done when no open mismatch is unexplained.
Operate a parallel run for an agreed period
For the agreed period, the migrated projects are used in Plane while Asana remains open and available, so teams can compare outcomes and raise discrepancies. DeployOpen tracks reported issues, reruns the importer for corrections where appropriate and keeps the validation checks running on new changes. The client provides the team leads who will report discrepancies and decide which system is authoritative for each project. The step closes when the parallel run period ends with no open data-loss issues and the cutover date is agreed in writing.
Cut over with a frozen Asana state
Before the final import, Asana is frozen for in-scope projects so no new changes are made there after the snapshot, and the team is told which system is the single source of record. The final import runs against the production workspace, and the same count, assignee and date checks used in the pilot are repeated. The client provides the freeze announcement, the confirmed cutover window and the approver for the go decision. The step is done when the production validation record is signed and the team has confirmed access to Plane.
Decommission Asana access
Once cutover is accepted, DeployOpen and the client's administrator revoke the migration token, remove the importer access, disable the integrations listed as retired in the inventory and set the in-scope Asana projects to read-only or archived as agreed. The client decides the retention period for the Asana export and confirms who keeps it. The step closes with a decommission record listing each revoked credential, each disabled integration and the location of the final export, which the client keeps as evidence of completion.
What drives the cost and duration of an Asana to Plane migration
This table lists the factors that change the effort and calendar time of an Asana to Plane migration, how each one affects the work, and what to request in a written quote. Read it before you share a workspace inventory with a partner, because two Asana workspaces of similar size can produce very different scopes. Plane's listed paid plan prices appear only as Plane's own figures, and a quote follows from the written scope.
| Driver | Effect on effort | What to ask for in a quote |
|---|---|---|
| Number of projects and tasks | More projects and tasks increase import batches, validation passes and reviewer time for each project. | Project and task counts by status, owner and last activity, plus the proposed import batches. |
| History depth | Years of comments, status changes and completed tasks add data volume and more questions about what to carry over. | Earliest date to import, whether closed work is included, and how activity history is handled. |
| Custom fields | Each custom field needs a decision on its Plane equivalent or a documented loss, and each decision needs testing. | A field inventory with type, usage count and target Plane field, plus the fields expected to be dropped. |
| Portfolios and goals | Portfolios and goals may not map one to one to Plane structures, so each one needs an explicit mapping or rebuild decision. | Confirm with Plane's Asana importer documentation which objects transfer, and a mapping table for each object. |
| Attachments volume | Total file size and file count drive transfer time, storage sizing and integrity checks after import. | Total attachment size, file count, and where files will sit in the S3-compatible bucket. |
| Number of users and roles | Paid roles drive seat count. Plane's pricing page lists Pro at 6 to 8 and Business at 13 to 15 US dollars per user monthly. | A user list by role, the Plane plan assumed for seat count, and how inactive or guest users are handled. |
| SSO and integration work | SAML and OIDC need Pro or higher. LDAP and API audit logs are listed as Enterprise features, and each adds configuration and testing. | Identity provider, protocols required, and whether LDAP or audit logging is in scope. |
| Self-hosted infrastructure | PostgreSQL, Redis or Valkey, RabbitMQ and S3-compatible storage each add setup, sizing and backup work. | Whether each service is new or existing, managed or self-run, the Docker Compose or Kubernetes path, and Commercial Edition licensing. |
| Parallel run length | Teams working in both tools need sync rules, cutover freezes and reconciliation, and longer runs add coordination effort. | Assumed cutover approach, freeze rules, and who signs off each reconciliation step. |
What usually goes wrong in Asana to Plane migrations and how to prevent it
The Asana importer moves most of the data, but the risks that matter most come from decisions made before the import starts and from changes made in Asana while both systems run side by side. Each card names the risk, the prevention step and the check to run before cutover. Work through them in order, because edition and identity decisions shape what every later check can prove.
Confirm edition, admin rights and token
The Asana importer runs on Plane Cloud and the Commercial Edition, so a self-hosted Community Edition install cannot run this import. Before starting, confirm the target runs the Commercial Edition, that the person running the import holds admin rights in the Plane workspace, and that the Asana access token belongs to a user who can read every project in scope. Test the token against each in-scope project before cutover, not only the first project you tried.
Mismatched user identities and roles
Assignees and comment authors depend on how each Asana user is matched to a Plane member. A mismatched email address or a missing account can leave work items unassigned or attributed to the wrong person. Export the Asana user list, compare it with the Plane member list, and decide which users map to existing accounts, which need new invitations, and which should stay out. Confirm each role, especially who needs admin access, before any data moves.
Dependency and relation loss
Task dependencies and subtask links are relationships that teams rely on for sequencing, and they are easy to lose or simplify during a move. Ask the importer documentation how dependencies, subtasks and cross-project links are handled, and confirm the answer for your Asana setup. Build a short test set of the most important dependency chains, run a test import, and check that each chain appears intact in Plane. Record every link you rebuild by hand.
Custom field gaps
Asana custom fields need a matching property in Plane before their values can carry over, and values with no target are easy to miss. Build an inventory of every custom field used in the in-scope projects, noting its type and the Plane property that will hold it. Mark any field without a match as a decision for the project owner, and compare field values on a sample of work items after a test import.
Attachments that do not arrive intact
Attachments depend on the importer retrieving each file from Asana, so a file can fail to transfer, lose its original name or arrive incomplete. Count attachments per project in Asana before the import, then compare counts and file sizes in Plane after a test run. Include large files and files on completed tasks in the sample, since teams often notice those problems last. Confirm which attachment types the importer supports for your data.
Edits continuing in Asana
If people keep editing in Asana during the parallel run, changes made after the import never reach Plane and the two systems drift apart. Set a freeze date for each project, announce which tool is authoritative for each team, and name an owner for the final delta check. Before cutover, confirm that no open edits remain in Asana and that Plane holds the latest comments, status changes and assignments.
Questions buyers ask before hiring help to migrate from Asana to Plane
What drives the cost of an Asana to Plane migration and how is a quote built?
The cost follows the written scope, which is agreed before work starts. Main drivers: the number of Asana workspaces, projects and portfolios in scope, the volume of tasks, comments and attachments, how many custom fields and sections must be mapped to Plane states, cycles and modules, and how much cleanup happens before import. Self-hosting work also counts: preparing Plane in your infrastructure, the Commercial Edition setup, identity integration and backups. Your Plane subscription is a separate recurring cost. Plane's pricing page lists Pro at 6 to 8 US dollars and Business at 13 to 15 US dollars per user per month, with Enterprise Grid priced on request, so your seat count affects that line. Ask any quote to list deliverables, assumptions and client responsibilities, and to separate one-time migration effort from recurring hosting and licensing.
How long does an Asana to Plane migration take and what sets the timeline?
The duration is stated in the written scope, and it depends on a few variables. The largest are the number of projects, the total task and attachment volume, the cleanup needed before import, and how long your team takes to review mapped data. Preparing the Plane environment in your infrastructure is another variable, and access approvals from Asana and identity administrators are often the slowest step, so request them early. A trial import of one representative project can surface mapping decisions before the full run. Ask for named milestones: environment ready, trial import reviewed, full import, validation sign-off and cutover. Check your own change calendar for freeze windows that could move the dates.
What does an Asana to Plane migration need from admins, project owners and security?
Asana administrators must create or approve the access token the importer uses and confirm which projects and users are in scope. Project owners decide which projects stay active, which are archived, how fields map to Plane states, cycles and modules, and they review the imported results. Your security team approves where Plane and its data stores run, how users sign in (on self-hosted Plane, SAML and OIDC are available on Pro and above, according to Plane's pricing page), how the access token is stored and revoked after import, and how backups and logs are handled. Confirm the exact token scopes and prerequisites against Asana's and Plane's current documentation before work begins.
Can our own team run an Asana to Plane migration without outside help?
Yes, if you have people who can operate a self-hosted Plane instance and people who know the Asana data well. Plane documents Docker Compose for small and mid-size teams and Kubernetes with Helm for high availability, and its Kubernetes guide installs the Commercial Edition. The harder work is usually decision-making: which history to bring over, how fields map, how users are matched, what security review applies and how cutover is validated. Write those decisions down before the import. Outside help is most useful when internal time or skills block those decisions, or when you want an independent check before cutover. Either way, the written scope should name who does each task.
Does the Asana importer for Plane require the Commercial Edition?
Yes. Plane documents its Asana importer as available on Plane Cloud and on the Commercial Edition, so it is not part of the Community Edition. Plane offers Community, Commercial and Airgapped self-hosted editions, each built on a distinct codebase with its own release cycle. The Commercial and Airgapped editions are proprietary, and the Community Edition is licensed under AGPL-3.0. To move a Community install to a paid plan, you must first switch to the Commercial Edition, which uses a license key. Decide the edition, license key and upgrade path before you start, and confirm current importer availability in Plane's importer documentation, since editions and plans can change.
What happens to our Asana data after cutover?
Your data owners decide this, and the written scope should record the decision. Common options include keeping Asana read-only for a defined period, exporting archives to storage you control, or deleting copies after validation. Retention, export and deletion options in Asana depend on your plan and admin settings, so confirm them with your Asana administrators before cutover. On the Plane side, imported data sits in your PostgreSQL database and object storage, so backup, retention and deletion follow your own policies. The scope should name who performs the decommissioning step, when, and how it is evidenced. Delete Asana copies only after data owners sign off on the validation results.
Which Asana data should we review before importing into Plane?
Review what your Asana projects contain before the import, because the importer carries over only the objects it supports. Start with the fields teams rely on: task names, assignees, statuses, due dates, comments, attachments, subtasks and custom fields. Decide how Asana sections and custom fields will appear in Plane as states, labels or modules, and how dependencies that do not map cleanly will be handled. Remove stale projects and duplicate users, and agree who may view attachments that contain personal or customer data. Confirm the supported objects in Plane's Asana importer documentation. Record each mapping decision so reviewers can check the trial import against it.
Should we run Asana and Plane side by side during cutover?
A short overlap is often safer than an abrupt switch, but the length is a decision for your project owners. During overlap, each project needs one place of record, so define which tool owns new work and when edits move across. Restricting edits in Asana during the cutover window, if your administrators can configure it, reduces drift between the two systems. Confirm how repeated imports behave in Plane's documentation before you rely on re-running the importer for late changes. Agree a rollback point, the criteria for triggering it and who can declare it. Put the overlap window, owners and rollback criteria in the written scope so they are approved before cutover.
How DeployOpen scopes, delivers and supports an Asana to Plane migration
DeployOpen plans, implements, customizes, integrates and supports self-hosted open-source platforms inside your own infrastructure. For Asana to Plane, we start from a written, fixed scope that covers the Asana importer prerequisites, the Commercial Edition requirement and the handover checks. Work runs in your cloud accounts, data centers or air-gapped network, and ongoing support is available as a retainer.
How we scope
- The written scope names the Asana workspace, projects and teams that are in and out of the migration.
- We confirm the access token, admin rights and Plane edition needed before any data moves.
- Fixed-scope engagements are agreed in writing, and the quote follows from that scope.
How we build
- We run the Asana importer against a non-production Plane instance first, then review the imported data.
- We document how Asana task types and dependencies are handled, including each change made in Plane.
- Importing requires the Commercial Edition, so an existing Community install is scoped for that switch first.
How we hand over
- Handover includes configuration notes, the migration record and the post-migration checks agreed in scope.
- Your team receives runbooks for the Plane deployment, including backups and upgrade steps for the chosen edition.
- Access to the deployment, secrets and Asana token is returned to your team and revoked where agreed.
How we support
- Ongoing support is available as a retainer, scoped separately from the migration itself.
- Retainers can cover Plane upgrades, patching and questions that arise after cutover.
- Ask for the Commercial Edition licensing and seat count in writing before the quote is finalized.
