How to Migrate from Trello to Asana: Step-by-Step Guide (2026)

Your team has outgrown Trello. The kanban boards that worked perfectly for 5 people are now a maze of 15 boards with no cross-project visibility. Sound familiar?

This guide walks you through the exact migration path from Trello to Asana — from data export to team training — based on our experience migrating a 12-person team.

Before You Start: Is Asana the Right Move?

Migration is disruptive. Before committing, confirm that Trello's limits are actually your bottleneck:

You Should Migrate If:

• ✅ You have 10+ active boards and can't see the big picture
• ✅ You need task dependencies ("Task B can't start until Task A is done")
• ✅ You need timeline/Gantt views for project planning
• ✅ Multiple teams need to coordinate across projects
• ✅ You need workload management to prevent burnout
• ✅ Reporting and dashboards are a weekly need

You Should Stay on Trello If:

• ❌ You have fewer than 10 team members
• ❌ Simple kanban is all you need
• ❌ Your team resists change (seriously — failed adoption is worse than Trello's limits)
• ❌ Budget is extremely tight (Trello Free > Asana Free for small teams)

Need a deeper comparison? Check our Trello vs Asana breakdown.

Phase 1: Preparation (Day 1-2)

Step 1: Audit Your Trello Setup

Before exporting anything, map what you actually use:

Document these:

1. Active boards — Which ones are used daily vs. abandoned?
2. Power-Ups — Which Trello Power-Ups does your team rely on?
3. Labels — Your color-coding system and what each label means
4. Automations — Any Butler rules running? Document their triggers and actions
5. Custom fields — Any custom fields from Power-Ups?

Create a spreadsheet:

| Trello Board | Active? | # Cards | Key Power-Ups | Asana Equivalent | |-------------|---------|---------|---------------|-----------------| | Marketing Sprint | ✅ | 45 | Calendar, Custom Fields | Asana Project (Board view) | | Bug Tracker | ✅ | 120 | Labels, Voting | Asana Project (List view) | | Old Q3 Planning | ❌ | 30 | None | Archive / Don't migrate |

Step 2: Clean Up Trello First

Don't migrate garbage. Spend 30 minutes cleaning up:

• Archive completed cards — They'll still export but won't clutter Asana
• Delete abandoned boards — If nobody's used it in 3 months, skip it
• Standardize labels — Inconsistent labels create inconsistent Asana tags
• Close duplicate cards — Every team has them

Step 3: Choose Your Asana Structure

Trello's hierarchy is: Workspace → Board → List → Card → Checklist

Asana's hierarchy is: Organization → Workspace → Team → Project → Section → Task → Subtask

The key mapping:

| Trello | Asana | Notes | |--------|-------|-------| | Board | Project | One board = one project | | List | Section | "To Do" list = "To Do" section | | Card | Task | | | Checklist | Subtasks | Checklist items become subtasks | | Labels | Tags or Custom Fields | Tags for categories, Custom Fields for statuses | | Members | Assignees | | | Due Date | Due Date | Transfers cleanly |

Phase 2: Data Migration (Day 3-4)

Step 4: Use Asana's Built-In Importer

Asana offers a direct Trello import. Here's how:

1. Go to asana.com → + Create → Import → Trello
2. Authorize Asana to access your Trello account
3. Select the boards you want to import
4. Choose the Asana team/workspace for each board
5. Click Import

What transfers automatically:

• ✅ Board → Project
• ✅ Lists → Sections
• ✅ Cards → Tasks
• ✅ Card descriptions → Task descriptions
• ✅ Due dates → Due dates
• ✅ Attachments → Attachments (size limits apply)
• ✅ Checklists → Subtasks
• ✅ Card comments → Task comments

What does NOT transfer:

• ❌ Trello labels → You'll need to recreate as Asana tags
• ❌ Power-Up data (Custom Fields, Calendar Power-Up settings)
• ❌ Butler automations → Recreate in Asana Rules
• ❌ Card cover images
• ❌ Board backgrounds (cosmetic)
• ❌ Voting data

Step 5: Post-Import Cleanup

After the import completes (usually 5-15 minutes), do this immediately:

1. Check task counts — Compare Trello card count vs. Asana task count per project
2. Verify attachments — Spot-check 5 tasks with attachments
3. Fix sections — Asana may order sections differently than Trello lists
4. Add missing labels — Create Asana tags to match your Trello label system

Phase 3: Restructuring (Day 5-7)

This is where the real value comes in. Don't just replicate Trello in Asana — improve your workflow.

Step 6: Set Up Cross-Project Features

Things Trello couldn't do that Asana can:

Task Dependencies:

Task: "Design mockups" → blocks → "Frontend development"
Task: "API specification" → blocks → "Backend development"

Timeline View: Switch any project to Timeline (Gantt) view to visualize the schedule.

Portfolios: Create a portfolio to see all projects in one dashboard. This is the #1 feature teams cite when explaining why they left Trello.

Step 7: Recreate Automations

Translate your Trello Butler rules to Asana Rules:

| Trello Butler | Asana Rule | |--------------|-----------| | "When card moved to Done, mark complete" | "Task moved to Done section → Mark complete" | | "Every Monday, create card in Sprint board" | "On a schedule → Create task" | | "When due date is tomorrow, add label" | "Due date approaching → Add tag" |

Asana's Rules engine is more powerful than Butler. You can trigger actions based on:

• Section changes
• Custom field changes
• Due date proximity
• Task completion
• And more

Step 8: Set Up Integrations

Replace your Trello Power-Ups with Asana integrations:

| Trello Power-Up | Asana Integration | |-----------------|-------------------| | Slack Power-Up | Asana for Slack (native) | | Google Drive | Google Drive integration | | GitHub | Asana for GitHub | | Calendar | Built-in Calendar view | | Custom Fields | Built-in Custom Fields (no integration needed) |

Phase 4: Team Onboarding (Day 8-14)

Step 9: Run Both Tools in Parallel

Don't kill Trello on day one. Run both tools for 1-2 weeks:

• Week 1: All new tasks go in Asana. Reference Trello for historical context.
• Week 2: If nobody needs Trello, make it read-only.
• Week 3: Archive the Trello workspace.

Step 10: Train Your Team

Asana's biggest adoption barrier is the learning curve. Address it proactively:

30-minute team training agenda:

1. (5 min) Why we switched — show the limitations we hit
2. (10 min) Asana basics — creating tasks, assigning, due dates
3. (5 min) Views — Board view (familiar!), List view, Timeline
4. (5 min) My Tasks — the personal to-do list every team member should use
5. (5 min) Q&A

Pro tip: Set Asana's default view to "Board" for the first month. It looks familiar to Trello users and reduces friction.

Common Migration Mistakes

1. Migrating inactive boards. Only migrate boards your team actively uses. Dead boards just clutter Asana.
2. Replicating Trello's structure exactly. Use Asana's portfolio and timeline features — you switched for a reason.
3. Skipping the parallel-running phase. Going cold-turkey causes panic and Trello nostalgia.
4. Not assigning an Asana champion. One person should own the migration, answer questions, and enforce the switch.
5. Over-customizing on day one. Start simple. Add custom fields, rules, and portfolio views after week 2.

Cost Comparison

| Plan | Trello | Asana | |------|--------|-------| | Free | ✅ 10 boards, limited Power-Ups | ✅ 15 users, limited features | | Starter/Premium | $6/user/mo | $13.49/user/mo | | Business/Enterprise | $17.50/user/mo | $30.49/user/mo |

Asana costs more per user, but teams consistently report that the productivity gains (dependencies, portfolios, reporting) justify the price for teams above 10 people.

For a fuller pricing analysis, see our Trello review and Asana vs Monday comparison.

Final Checklist

• [ ] Audited Trello boards and identified active ones
• [ ] Cleaned up completed/abandoned cards
• [ ] Imported via Asana's built-in importer
• [ ] Verified data transfer (task counts, attachments)
• [ ] Set up Asana tags to replace Trello labels
• [ ] Created task dependencies and timeline views
• [ ] Recreated automations as Asana Rules
• [ ] Connected integrations (Slack, GitHub, Google Drive)
• [ ] Trained the team (30-min session)
• [ ] Ran both tools in parallel for 1-2 weeks
• [ ] Archived Trello workspace

Migration complete? Your team now has the project management muscle that Trello's simplicity couldn't provide. The first month will feel unfamiliar, but by month two, nobody will want to go back.