Asana Business vs HubSpot Sales Hub Starter vs Evernote Professional: The Real Difference

Here's the thing: Asana Business and HubSpot Sales Hub Starter and Evernote Professional are among the most cross-shopped apps out there, and for good reason — they are all genuinely good. The hard part is figuring out which one is right for you. This head-to-head breaks down where each wins, where each compromises, and which you should actually buy.

On the surface these apps look similar, and any of them would serve most people well. But the differences that seem minor on a spec sheet are exactly the ones you notice every day. We have weighed them against the factors that matter for professionals and entrepreneurs, so you can skip the analysis paralysis and choose with confidence.

🏆 Editor's Choice

Best Overall · operations leads and mid-size teams managing multiple workstreams

Asana Business

9.1/10★★★★★

Across our testing the Asana Business struck the best balance of the field: portfolio-level visibility. It is the one we would buy without overthinking it.

$24.99/moPortfolios & goalsAdvanced reporting25,000 automations/mo

At a glance

Before the deep dive, here is the quick side-by-side.

How they compare

Asana Business

A robust project and portfolio management platform offering timelines, workload management, goal tracking, and deep cross-team reporting for growing organizations. Its calling card is portfolio-level visibility, backed up by goals tracking. It is the one to pick if you prioritize operations leads and mid-size teams managing multiple workstreams. The catch is overkill for small teams. At $24.99/mo it scores 9.1/10 in our assessment.

Live with it for a while and the personality comes through. This is a app that rewards operations leads and mid-size teams managing multiple workstreams specifically, and if that is you, the small compromises fade into the background. If it is not, those same compromises will nag at you, which is precisely why a head-to-head matters more than any single app's marketing.

HubSpot Sales Hub Starter

A beginner-friendly CRM and sales automation platform offering deal pipelines, email tracking, meeting scheduling, and reporting built directly into Gmail or Outlook. Its calling card is free crm foundation, backed up by deal pipeline view. It is the one to pick if you prioritize small sales teams and solo business developers. The catch is features locked behind tiers. At $20/mo it scores 8.5/10 in our assessment.

Live with it for a while and the personality comes through. This is a app that rewards small sales teams and solo business developers specifically, and if that is you, the small compromises fade into the background. If it is not, those same compromises will nag at you, which is precisely why a head-to-head matters more than any single app's marketing.

Evernote Professional

A note-taking and organization platform that captures handwriting, web clips, PDFs, and voice memos, then makes everything searchable across every device. Its calling card is superior search across notes, backed up by pdf annotation. It is the one to pick if you prioritize researchers, writers, and executives who live in information overload. The catch is slowed recent updates. At $14.99/mo it scores 8.2/10 in our assessment.

Live with it for a while and the personality comes through. This is a app that rewards researchers, writers, and executives who live in information overload specifically, and if that is you, the small compromises fade into the background. If it is not, those same compromises will nag at you, which is precisely why a head-to-head matters more than any single app's marketing.

Living with them day to day

Specs decide the shortlist, but daily use decides the winner. In practice, the gap between these apps is smaller than the spec sheets imply — all of them get the fundamentals right. Where they diverge is in the texture of everyday use: how often you notice a strength, how often a limitation gets in the way, and whether the app fades into the background or keeps demanding your attention. The best choice is the one whose strengths line up with what you do most and whose weaknesses touch what you do least.

What actually matters when you choose

It is easy to be dazzled by a spec sheet or a slick ad, but the apps that people stay happy with tend to score well on a short list of practical factors. These are the ones we weigh most heavily, and the ones worth keeping in mind as you compare your own shortlist.

Define your primary bottleneck

Before subscribing to anything, identify whether your biggest time drain is communication, task tracking, scheduling, or documentation—the best app solves your specific constraint rather than adding another tool to manage.

Check your existing stack first

Many professionals pay for overlapping features across multiple apps; audit what your current tools already do, since platforms like Google Workspace and HubSpot bundle capabilities that you may be duplicating with standalone subscriptions.

Evaluate true per-seat cost

Per-user pricing compounds fast—an app listed at $12 per seat becomes $600 per month for a 50-person team, so always calculate your realistic monthly spend at your actual headcount before committing to any plan.

Prioritize integration depth

The best productivity app for your workflow is the one that connects cleanly to the other tools your team already relies on; check native integrations and Zapier compatibility before assuming two platforms will work together smoothly.

Trial with your real work

Free trials only reveal value when you use them on actual projects rather than demo data, so commit two full weeks of genuine daily use before deciding whether an app earns a paid subscription.

Common mistakes to avoid

The difference between a purchase you love and one you quietly resent usually comes down to a handful of avoidable errors. Here are the ones we see most often.

• Signing up for every trending productivity app at once fragments your attention and creates tool-switching overhead; instead, adopt one new app at a time, master it fully, then evaluate whether a second tool genuinely fills a remaining gap.
• Choosing the cheapest plan only to hit feature walls immediately is a common trap—read the feature comparison table carefully before subscribing and factor in the plan you will realistically need within six months, not just today.
• Onboarding your entire team to a new platform without a clear champion or training plan guarantees low adoption and wasted spend; designate one internal power user to learn the tool deeply and run a structured 30-minute team walkthrough before launch.

Frequently asked questions

Which should you buy?

For most people, the Asana Business is the one to get: it is the most well-rounded and the hardest to regret. Choose a different pick if its particular strength lines up with your priority and you are happy to trade a little for it. The Evernote Professional is the value play when budget is the deciding factor. Whichever you choose, you are not making a mistake — you are simply matching a very good app to the way you live, which is exactly how this decision should be made.