When you have ever felt that project management is a mess of sticky notes, mountains of emails, and spreadsheets that you cannot understand, you are not alone. It is extremely difficult to remain at the same level in most businesses.
Project management software market is expanding rapidly. The value of these tools in the world in 2024 is estimated to be approximately $8 billion, and it is expected to increase more than twofold in 2030. Why? Since efficiency is a money saving measure. Research indicates that almost 12% of investment goes to waste since project performance is not good and less than 47% of project managers are professional project managers.
It means that in the majority of cases, the accidental project managers, such as you and I, are struggling to keep things afloat.
Smartsheet has been the tool of choice of those who prefer Excel but require additional power over the years. Still it is not quite the same with everyone. Perhaps it is too costly or even outdated or your team struggles to use it.
In case you seek an alternative, then you are in the right place. The following guide will introduce you to ten of the largest Smartsheet Competitors in simple and easy to understand English, so you can pick the one that will ease your life.
What is a Smartsheet?
Imagine Smartsheet to be the steroids version of Excel.
It is essentially a spreadsheet with rows, columns and cells. This is easy for those who are familiar with using Microsoft Excel. Smartsheet is not the same since it is interactive. It is possible to delegate tasks to individuals, add files to rows, set date alerts, and see data as a calendar or a Gantt chart (a timeline view).
It is an intermediate between basic spreadsheets and full-fledged project management software. It is strong, however, and it depends on your preference towards the grid interface.
The Reason Companies Seek Alternatives.
Although Smartsheet is popular, they abandon it due to three major reasons:
- Spreadsheet fatigue. Rows and columns are not so popular with everybody. The strict and data-intensive appearance is not appreciated by the marketing and design teams. They desire something pictorial and vivid.
- Steep learning curve. It is similar to Excel, but advanced features (such as automation) are not always easy to use. Sometimes teams require a Smartsheet guru to install it.
- Pricing structure. The pricing at Smartsheet may be bewildering. The price of entry appears to be cheap, yet the bill can be billed quickly by adding sophisticated features or additional partners.
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Top 10 Smartsheet Competitors.
The following is the breakdown of the best tools that compete with Smartsheet.
1. Airtable
Airtable is also referred to as a spreadsheet database. It is also among the nearest competitors since it begins with a grid. Airtable is more adaptable and up to date. You may include images, checkboxes, dropdowns and links to other records rather than plain text. It is popular among marketing teams, inventory managers and content creators since it has been known to manage data well. It is not as much work but rather a digital collection organization. There is no problem with switching your grid to a Gallery, Kanban board, or Calendar instantly.
Key Features:
- The ability to create a relational database (connect various sheets with ease).
- Interface Designer to develop new dashboards.
- Attachment types (rich fields).
- Email triggers or Slack triggers.
Pros:
- 100 percent user-friendly and colorful interface.
- Excellent in storing data, not only work.
- Mammoth collection of community templates.
Cons:
- Reporting is not as advanced as Smartsheet reporting.
- Does not take long to become costly as your record count increases.
Pricing: Free plan; paid plans begin at approximately 20-dollar per user monthly.
Best For: Marketing departments, product inventories, and content plans.
Website: airtable.com
2. Asana
Asana is a project management tool that is very renowned in the world and rightfully so. One of the co-founders of Facebook constructed it in order to address the issue of work about work. Asana is task-oriented as Smartsheet Competitors that is data oriented. It is pleasant and supportive (you have little unicorns fly with you after completing work!). It is good in the overall team work when you want to know who is doing what and when. It eliminates the daunting nature of spreadsheets and thus does not require much effort to invite new team members who are not tech-savvy.
Key Features:
- List, Board, Timeline and Calendar views.
- Portfolios to be able to track numerous projects simultaneously.
- Workload monitoring to determine whether a team member is a burnout.
- Image reviewing and PDF reviewing tools.
Pros:
- The industry has one of the most user interfaces.
- Excellent mobile application (far superior to Smartsheets).
- Good connectivity with applications such as Slack and Gmail.
Cons:
- Does not feel too basic to complex financial tracking or data extensive projects.
- It is not always easy to delegate a single task to a group of people (it promotes individual ownership).
Pricing: Free Basic plan; Premium: Starts at 10.99 per user per month.
Best for: Creative agencies, marketing departments and overall business partnership.
Website: asana.com
3. Wrike
In case Smartsheet is the spreadsheet specialist, Wrike is the enterprise specialist. Wrike is a robust project management system that is applied by big firms and large marketing teams. It is less rigid than Asana or Monday.com but is more professional. Wrike will be used in case of the review of creative work, say, a design agency can upload a video and allow a boss to comment by clicking on a particular point. It bridges the gap between the task lists and sophisticated resource plans.
Key Features:
- Best proofing and approval software.
- Accurate cost and time monitoring.
- Custom forms for new work.
- Automatic updating smart Gantt charts.
Pros:
- Best when the approval procedures are complex and lengthy.
- Extremely safe (enterprise security).
- Huge folder and sub-project organization.
Cons:
- Interfaces may have an initial sense of crowding.
- Learning is time consuming; not pick up and playing.
Pricing: Free plan; Team plan, beginning at $9.80/user/month.
Best For: Marketing agencies, product development units, and large corporations.
Website: wrike.com
4. Monday.com
One of the top Smartsheet Competitors is Monday.com. They refer to themselves as a Work OS (Operating System). Monday.com has a pleasant, playful, and clicksome feel. It begins with a spreadsheet concept but appears as a contemporary mobile application. You can make column types anything, status buttons, people, numbers, or dates. Changing a status of a task to working on it and to done provides a pleasant visual feedback. It transforms complicated information into simple color-coded boards which are visible at a glance.
Key Features:
- Graphic boards having drag-and-drop sections.
- Intrinsic automations (e.g. When status is Done, email the boss.)
- Pulling data across numerous boards into a single view dashboards.
- It is possible to collaborate with Workdocs within the platform.
Pros:
- Incredibly user-friendly; virtually no learning capacity.
- Can be customized very much without coding.
- Entertaining to use, and this increases team adoption.
Cons:
- It is priced per seat (3, 5, or 10 seats), which is irritating.
- Slowness can occur with thousands of rows on a board.
Pricing: Free plan (2 seats); Basic, begins at $9/user/month.
Best For: Visual, flexible and easy tool desired by a team.
Website: monday.com
5. ClickUp
The slogan of ClickUp, which is One app to replace them all, is valid. Whereas Smartsheet is dedicated to project management, ClickUp attempts to do it all. It has tasks and docs (such as Google Docs) and whiteboards, chat, and goal tracking: all in a single window. It is very feature‑rich. In case Smartsheet becomes too restricted since it is unable to process documents or brainstorming, ClickUp will occupy that space. It is also quite cheap and it is very value-oriented.
Key Features:
- All -Tasks view reflects work in the entire company.
- Inbuilt documentation of wikis and notes adjacent to tasks.
- They include mind maps and whiteboards.
- Screen recording allows providing visual feedback.
Pros:
- Premium pricing; liberal Free plan.
- Extremely customizable-switch on or off turn features.
- New features are often introduced.
Cons:
- It is overwhelming to set up since it does a lot.
- Small bugs occur due to the release of new features in a short period.
Pricing: Free Forever plan; Unlimited plan$7/user/month.
Best for: Startups, small business, and teams that prefer having everything under one roof.
Website: clickup.com
6. Jira (by Atlassian)
Smartsheet may frustrate you, in case your team develops software, applications, or websites. A method employed by developers is known as Agile and Jira is the best tool regarding it. It is developed to track bugs, software issues, and development sprints. It is directly linked to the code storage (such as GitHub). Whereas Smartsheet can attempt to do so, Jira is designed to do so. It is more technical and provides engineering teams with the precise structure that they require to deliver software on schedule.
Key Features:
- Scrum and Kanban boards: developer boards.
- Agile reports ( burn-down charts, velocity charts).
- Strong interpersonal connections with Bitbucket, GitHub, and others.
- Roadmaps Product-planning Roadmaps.
Pros:
- Software development standard in the industry.
- Completely configurable issue-tracking processes.
- Gather momentum to thousands of users.
Cons:
- Lacks of user-friendliness with non-technical departments (HR, Marketing).
- It may be tedious and lengthy to install.
Pricing: Free with the first 10 users; Standard will be $8.15/user/month.
Best for: Software engineers and IT teams and product developers.
Website: atlassian.com/software/jira
7. Microsoft Project
Microsoft project is an extremely ancient project management tool. It started in the 1980s. Whereas Smartsheet is more of a spreadsheet, MS Project is more of a mighty engine. It is created to apply to such projects as Waterfall large tasks like construction of bridges or long-term government contracts, during which every minute and dollar is monitored. It is not as collaborative and fun as Asana. It is a gravitas tool which is used by the professionals when they require detailed Gantt charts and resource planning, making it one of the notable Smartsheet competitors.
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Key Features:
- Resource management and capacity planning.
- Gantt charts and critical path analysis are extremely detailed.
- One of the many features is seamless integration with the Microsoft 365 environment.
- Budgeting and financial projections tools.
Pros:
- Power incomparable to plan complex and dependent tasks.
- Easy to use interface in case you are already using Microsoft products.
- That of the construction and heavy industry standard.
Cons:
- Extremely high learning curve and training is needed to use.
- costly relative to current cloud services.
- Features of collaboration are awkward.
Pricing: Cloud solutions begin at approximately $10/user/month. Desktop licenses are more costly.
Best For: Construction, engineering, and certified PMP Project managers.
Website: microsoft.com/project
8. Trello
Trello is a Microsoft project. It is pure simplicity. Trello made the popularization of the so-called Kanban Board style of work, i.e. imagine a digital whiteboard implementing the lists such as To Do, Doing, Done, and sticky notes, which you drag and drop between them. That is Trello. It lacks grid view and complicated formulas of Smartsheet. It is all about visual flow. It is good with teams that only require to get a glimpse of what is happening with a task.
Key Features:
- Kanban boards (drags and drops).
- Power-ups (extensions) such as voting, automation, or calendar.
- Checklists inside cards.
- No-code automation known as Butlers.
Pros:
- It does not have a learning curve: you can be using it in 30 seconds.
- Very visual and tactile.
- Free plan Great free plan for individuals.
Cons:
- Not suitable with large projects, a board consisting of 100 cards is cluttered.
- Lacks In less expensive versions, native Gantt charts or list views.
Pricing: Large free plan; standard is at $5/user/month.
Best For: Small teams, uncomplicated workflow, and personal work organization.
Website: trello.com
9. Notion
The notion is a bit different. Not only is it a project management tool but a workspace connected too. Think of a blank piece of paper and you can write text on it along with adding a calendar, a database, a video or a task list anywhere you please. It is like creating something with Lego blocks. You create your own system. Numerous startups are operating on Notion as a Smartsheet Competitors, Google Docs, and an internal Wiki simultaneously. It is pretty and can be used to make notes, however, to make it work as a project manager, it should be set-up.
Key Features:
- Pages with flexibilities combining text and databases and images.
- Wikis and knowledge bases.
- Table, board, calendar, gallery (Simple database views).
- Built‑in AI writer (Notion AI).
Pros:
- It is very flexible; you can create anything you want.
- Not only jobs, but also excellent at writing and documentation.
- Minimalist design which is clean and liked by people.
Cons:
- Too open may be too much you must construct the system.
- Mobile app can be a bit slow.
Pricing: Free people (Plus plan: 8 USD/user/month).
Best For: Knowledge management, start-ups and prolific teams.
Website: notion.so
10. Workspace
In some cases, the rival to Smartsheet is the already existing tool. With Gmail, there is access to Google Sheets, Google Tasks and Google Chat. Google Sheets is a basic spreadsheet in comparison with Smartsheet (there are no in-built Gantt charts or alerts), yet you can combine it with Google Tasks and Calendar to make a free, self-made project system. Some small business might not need to purchase Smartsheet as a weekly meeting and a shared Google Sheet would suffice.
Key Features:
- Co-authoring (spreadsheet, best in class).
- On the sidebar, there is Google Tasks integration.
- Smart Canvas (mention people or dates by dropping).
- AppSheet (create simple apps using Sheets).
Pros:
- You likely already pay for it.
- Everyone knows how to use it.
- Infinite flexibility in case you study formulas.
Cons:
- No built-in Gantts, dependencies, etc. you need to hack into it.
- No robotized workflow and task reminders within the Sheet without coding.
Pricing: Typically begins at $6/user/month of the entire suite.
Best For: Small businesses on a budget and spreadsheet purists.
Website: workspace.google.com
How to Choose the Best Smartsheet Alternatives
The decision of the appropriate tool may be overwhelming. In order to simplify it, ask yourself the following three questions:
1. How “tech-savvy” is my team?
In case your team is not techno-savvy, you should not use Jira or MS Project. Go for Trello or Asana. These are tools that are user friendly and highly indulgent.
2. Is a Database or To-Do List required?
You must have a database, in case you are handling things (inventory, content, client lists). Airtable or Smartsheet are most effective in this case. Asana or ClickUp can be more effective in case you have to deal with actions (tasks, deadlines, approvals).
3. What is our budget?
In case of zero budget, ClickUp, Trello and Asana have the best Free Forever plans. ClickUp has the highest number of features per dollar in case you have a budget and need the most features.
Conclusion
Smartsheet is an excellent grid-loving tool but it is not the only one in the city now. The market has changed to present a slightly more visual, more automated, and even more enjoyable to use tools. These Smartsheet competitors offer different strengths:
- Monday.com is a better choice in case you prefer visuals.
- Airtable is better in case you prefer organization.
- ClickUp offers features and value, and that is why you should choose it.
- In case you desire basic cooperation, use Asana.
The most suitable software is not the one with the most features but the one that your team will actually make use of on a daily basis.
Would you mind me developing a comparison checklist of your industry so that you can further refine this list?
FAQs
Does it have a free version of Smartsheet?
No. Smartsheet has a 30-day free trial, after which you have to pay. It does not have a free forever plan that Trello or Asana does.
Is it possible to bring my Smartsheets to these competitors?
Yes. The tools mentioned above (particularly Monday.com, Asana, and ClickUp) all support direct importation of the Excel or CSV file, which makes the process of switching to Smartsheet rather simple.
What is the most similar Smartsheet Competitors?
The closest one is Airtable, which also prioritizes a grid/spreadsheet perspective, yet Monday.com is usually popular as an alternative to the general project management.
Can Excel be used as an alternative to Smartsheet?
For simple lists, yes. However, Excel does not have automated capabilities, file attachments, and workgroups (such as the ability to assign a task to a particular individual) that Smartsheet includes. Complex projects that require the use of excel tend to attract errors.
