Asana alternative from the EU: projects, time and invoices in one app

In short

• Asana is a mature tool for project and task management from a US provider.
• According to its pricing page, Asana offers storage in the EU (Frankfurt) only in the Enterprise tiers. Otherwise, transfers to the US rely on the EU-US Data Privacy Framework.
• CloudyBird is developed in Germany and hosted in the EU, on every plan.
• CloudyBird connects projects with time tracking, leave, invoices, files and chat in one app – for companies with 5 to 30 employees.
• You can bring ongoing Asana projects along via import: sections, tasks, subtasks, dates, tags and dependencies – without comments and attachments.
• If you only need project management or rely on many integrations, Asana is often the better choice.

Who Asana is made for

Asana organises work in projects and tasks, with list, board and calendar views, and on paid plans also a timeline and Gantt view. Office teams, agencies and larger organisations use it to run many projects in parallel. The interface is available in several languages. According to the pricing page, direct messages and team conversations are included; dedicated time tracking is available from the "Advanced" plan or as an add-on.

What Asana does not cover, because it is not built for it: writing invoices, managing leave or recording working hours as required by working-time law such as the German Working Hours Act (ArbZG). These do not appear in the feature comparison on the pricing page. Small businesses therefore usually combine Asana with three or four other tools.

Where your data is stored

According to Asana's data processing addendum, your contracting party is Asana, Inc., based in San Francisco. As subprocessors for its infrastructure, Asana lists Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud, with locations including the US and Germany.

• Storage in the EU: According to the pricing page, EU data residency is available as an add-on for Enterprise organisations. On the smaller plans you have no say in it.
• Transfers to the US: According to its data processing addendum, Asana is certified under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework and uses the EU Standard Contractual Clauses as a fallback. The Data Privacy Framework is currently being challenged before the Court of Justice of the European Union (appeal C-703/25 P). Whether it will stand is open.

This does not mean you may not use Asana in the EU. It does mean that you have to justify the transfer in your GDPR records and that you depend on the outcome of the proceedings.

CloudyBird runs entirely on Scaleway, a French provider: application, database and files in Amsterdam, encrypted backups in Paris. This applies on every plan, including the free one. Optional features such as signing in with Google use US services only if you choose them.

What CloudyBird does differently

CloudyBird is not just a project tool but the app for the whole business. Projects are deliberately modelled on Asana so that switching feels familiar:

• Projects with list, board, timeline and calendar views, sections, subtasks, dependencies, assignees and followers, approval tasks and milestones.
• Workflows automate simple routines ("when … only if … then …"), such as "file uploaded → create a review task".
• Every project has a folder: attachments are real files with versions and previews.

On top of that comes what Asana lacks or needs another tool for:

• Time tracking with breaks and checks against the German Working Hours Act (ArbZG), booked to projects and tasks – on every plan.
• Billing: recorded hours become an invoice, as an e-invoice in the German/EU formats XRechnung or ZUGFeRD.
• Leave and absences with requests, approval and leave balance.
• Team chat with chats for projects and tasks, plus voice and video calls from the chat.

Asana and CloudyBird compared

As of the date above. Information on Asana according to Asana's pricing page and legal documents (sources below).

When CloudyBird is the better fit

Choose CloudyBird if …

• besides your projects you also have to record working time and want to book the hours straight to projects and tasks,
• the recorded hours should turn into invoices – as e-invoices, without exporting to yet another program,
• your data should stay in the EU – on every plan rather than only in the Enterprise tiers,
• leave and absences should be requested and approved in the same app you plan in,
• plans, quotes and photos should sit in a project folder with versions instead of being scattered across tasks,
• you are a company with 5 to 30 employees and want one app with one login for everything instead of several tools.

When Asana is the better fit

CloudyBird is not the right choice for everyone. Stay with Asana if …

• you are looking for project management only and already have time, invoices and HR well covered,
• customers or freelancers should work directly in your projects – CloudyBird has no guests in projects,
• you depend on many ready-made integrations,
• you need to bring comment histories and attachments along in full – the import takes over the tasks, but no comments and attachments,
• you are a large company with many teams; CloudyBird is built for companies with 5 to 30 employees.

How to switch

1. Back up your Asana data: projects can be exported from Asana; Asana describes an export of the whole organisation for the Enterprise plans.
2. Import ongoing projects: export the project in Asana as a CSV file and upload it in CloudyBird under Projects → "Import". Sections, tasks, subtasks, descriptions, dates and completion status are taken over, tags become labels and "blocked by" links become dependencies. In the preview you match people to your team. Comments and attachments stay in Asana; let completed projects run out there.
3. Bring your files: upload plans, photos and documents to the project folder. If they are in Google Drive, you can take them over directly on the paid plans.
4. Replace the other tools: first time tracking, then leave, then invoices – each at the start of a month, so that reports and payroll stay clean.