The Best Alternatives To Smartsheet
We take an in-depth look at the pros & cons of the following tools in this review:
Below you’ll find an overview of the top Smartsheet alternatives on this list, with screenshots, feature overview, and pricing.
Smartsheet
Smartsheet pricing and paid plan information.
- 30 days free trial
- From $7/user/month
Enterprise-scale businesses, portfolio and project managers, spreadsheet and Excel lovers—these are ideal Smartsheet users. Smartsheet is the perfect solution to manage large teams and workloads. Smaller teams, on the other hand, will have a harder time getting used to the complicated organization of this project management tool.
In this article, I’ll go over 10 of the best Smartsheet competitors to help you choose a more suitable design at a reasonable price.
Why Might You Need A Smartsheet Alternative?
Your team’s not enjoying the interface of your current project management tool
Members who are used to team collaboration using spreadsheets and database-like tools won’t have an issue with Smartsheet’s design but others will find the UI clunky. For a more enjoyable daily experience, you’ll want to look for customizable and colorful project management tools that meet today’s standards for what modern software should look and feel like.
You need to invoice clients
Smartsheet has a budgeting option so you can track time, budgets, and expenses using their 10,000ft panel but there’s still no way to send invoices directly from the app. 10,000ft is also sold separately from Smartsheet as a premium add-on product.
You’re finding it too expensive
Smartsheet is indeed one of the most expensive project management solutions on the market. This is in part due to its extensive project management features and enterprise-level target market, but you can find similar functionalities at a much lower cost.
Key Features For A Viable Smartsheet Alternative
Time tracking
Basic time tracking options are available through their 10,000ft integration, which costs extra, so you might want a tool with native time tracking capabilities that include timesheets and time reporting.
Task and workflow management
In spite of Smartsheet looking like just another database, the tool does come with advanced task management and view options like a Gantt chart and Kanban board. When picking an alternative, you’ll want to consider solutions that let you add subtasks, task priorities, and dependencies to handle complex projects without overcrowding a spreadsheet.
A friendlier interface
Talk to your team to see what kind of UI they would prefer to replace the traditional spreadsheet-style appearance. Specifically, you’ll want advanced features like custom fields, a design any user can personalize, and a variety of add-ons to make use of on top of your team’s workspace.
Custom reporting
Smartsheet boasts a strong real-time report builder feature. For teams working with lots of data or needing to provide proof of their work to clients, you’ll want an alternative that nails reporting too.
10 Best Smartsheet Competitors Compared
Next, we’re jumping over to the advantages and disadvantages, free trial information, cost, and expert opinion for 10 Smartsheet alternatives. We’re comparing each one of these primarily based on look and feel, pricing, and extra functionalities.
Best Smartsheet Alternatives
Wrike
Best Smartsheet alternative for teams for a free plan
Why Wrike is a great Smartsheet alternative
Smartsheet doesn’t come with a free subscription option. Wrike not only has a free plan available, but also provides more-than-decent features within it, such as unlimited user numbers, task and subtask management, desktop and mobile app availability, and even a spreadsheet view so you won’t miss what you get from Smartsheet.
monday.com
Best Smartsheet alternative for a cheaper cost
Why monday.com is a great Smartsheet alternative
monday.com is the task management solution you need to make your agile team’s work a bit less burdensome. The interface is nothing like Smartsheet; it’s easy to use for anyone and requires minimal training. This makes it ideal if you’re considering switching and don’t have too much time to get used to a new platform. And it all comes at a considerably lower cost than Smartsheet, complete with a free plan if you want to give the tool an extended test run.
ClickUp
Intuitive Smartsheet alternative for startups and SMBs
Why ClickUp is a great Smartsheet alternative
Want similar project management features to Smartsheet under a colorful interface? Your team will definitely enjoy using ClickUp thanks to its customization options and fun emojis to brighten their day. Plus, ClickUp is one of the cheapest project management apps on the market with a free plan packed with features for small teams and startups.
Rocketlane
Best client & stakeholder portals with shared project views
Running customer-projects on Smartsheet? Work can get overwhelming navigating through sheets just to stay in the know and deliver projects with the right visibility for leaders and your customers.
Rocketlane is purpose-built to run customer-facing projects. It uniquely
combines project management, document collaboration, and communication to help teams hit their project goals, accelerate time-to-value, and deliver a 5-star customer experience.
Rocketlane offers private and shared views for project plans and documents as well as a customer portal for stakeholder and client views. You can also codify your best practices with project and document templates to create them once and reuse them forever across projects.
Kintone
Organize your communication by topic, project, or even specific data point
Kintone is an all-in-one project management platform that allows managers to track, prioritize, and review their team’s tasks for any given project workflow—no matter how complex.
What sets Kintone apart from Smartsheet? You can organize your communication by topic, project, or even specific data point. It's got a simple and intuitive user interface. It offers a flexible structure for all your data. Customer support is included in all plans with a dedicated support rep. You can also secure your data with SSO, SAML, IP address restriction with no additional cost.
Productive
Best for in-app sales management
Why Productive is a great Smartsheet alternative
Productive offers tools that specifically cater to project budgeting. Productive's financial management tools make it easier for businesses to manage their finances. The software has a built-in invoicing system that sends automatic invoices to clients and tracks payment schedules. Additionally, it offers features directed toward revenue forecasting, helping users plan and make informed decisions. However, the biggest advantage over Smartsheet is that it has a sales module built into the platform which helps you follow up on leads through your sales funnel and forecast potential sales revenue.
AchieveIt
Best Smartsheet Alternative for business plan management with strategy experts
Why AchieveIt is a great Smartsheet alternative
AchieveIt is a good Smartsheet alternative for several reasons. AchieveIt is specifically designed to help businesses manage strategic initiatives and goals, while Smartsheet is a more general project management tool. This means that AchieveIt offers a more focused set of features and functionalities for managing strategic planning and execution. They collect and visualize multiple business plans across your organization and then deliver the data visualizations that matter most to your inbox every morning. AchieveIt also offers strategy consultations with certified experts on planning and reporting goals, which makes it stand out from virtually every other item on this list.
Hub Planner
Best Smartsheet alternative for resource management
Why Hub Planner is a great Smartsheet alternative
I picked Hub Planner as one of the best alternatives to Smartsheet because of its user-friendly interface, comprehensive features, and focus on resource management. Unlike Smartsheet, which offers a more general-purpose tool for project management, Hub Planner specializes in resource management and scheduling, making it a better fit for businesses and teams that require accurate resource allocation and scheduling.
Ravetree
Best Smartsheet alternative for teams with billing and invoicing
Why Ravetree is a great Smartsheet alternative
Ravetree is a cloud-based work management software that facilitates project management, resource planning, and client and contact management. In addition to its comprehensive project and task management capabilities, this software is well-suited to professional service providers and agencies due to its client-facing features. The platform's client portals and ability to create estimates (with templates) are unique compared to Smartsheet's capabilities. Users can auto-generate invoices, set up retainer agreements, and establish various bill rates directly through the software.
Scoro
Best for project management with built-in KPI tracking
Why Scoro is a great Smartsheet alternative
Scoro’s price tag may be a bit hard to swallow but there are some instances where it just can’t be beat. They have all the project management tools you come to expect (Gantt charts, calendars, collaboration, subtasks) as well as some you don’t, like detailed user-based or team-based key performance indicator tracking reports. They offer a huge amount of ready-to-digest information for the user, including outstanding invoices, number of new leads, monthly revenue, and hours worked.
Need expert help selecting the right Project Management Software?
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10 Best Smartsheet Alternatives Summary
| Tool | Free Option | Price | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wrike Best Smartsheet alternative for teams for a free plan | Free plan available | From $9.80/user/month | Visit Website |
| 2 | monday.com Best Smartsheet alternative for a cheaper cost | 14-day free trial + freemium plan available | From $8/user/month (billed annually, min 3 seats) | Visit Website |
| 3 | ClickUp Intuitive Smartsheet alternative for startups and SMBs | Freemium plan available | From $9/user/month | Visit Website |
| 4 | Rocketlane Best client & stakeholder portals with shared project views | 14-day free trial | From $19/user/month | Visit Website |
| 5 | Kintone Organize your communication by topic, project, or even specific data point | 30-day free trial | From $24/user/month | Visit Website |
| 6 | Productive Best for in-app sales management | 14-day free trial | From $20/user/month | Visit Website |
| 7 | AchieveIt Best Smartsheet Alternative for business plan management with strategy experts | Free demo available | From $70/user/month | Visit Website |
| 8 | Hub Planner Best Smartsheet alternative for resource management | 30-day free trial | From $7/user/month (billed annually) | Visit Website |
| 9 | Ravetree Best Smartsheet alternative for teams with billing and invoicing | 7-day free trial | From $29/user/month | Visit Website |
| 10 | Scoro Best for project management with built-in KPI tracking | 14-day free trial | From $28/user/month | Visit Website |
About Smartsheet
Smartsheet is a project management solution—with a twist.
Smartsheet
Smartsheet is a spreadsheet-like project management tool. It has won a few awards for quickly becoming a favorite business app. It’s a nice project management software if you’re comfortable working in Excel but want a break from complicated formulas—Smartsheet performs all the calculations for you across multiple sheets. You can also add customized brand logos and set color themes for individual projects.
Smartsheet has useful project management features such as workflow automation and visualization of tasks in Gantt, calendar and card views. Team members get notified of critical changes in real-time, and the tool provides shared views, detail history, activity logs, automated alerts, reminders, and status reports to improve collaboration, keep everyone aligned and informed. The Critical Path feature highlights all the tasks which directly impact your project completion date to keep an eye on important milestones. Reporting is a strong feature of this tool, with editable summary reports that you can easily export to Excel.
Smartsheet integrations include Microsoft (Microsoft teams, Microsoft excel) and Google apps, as well as development essentials like Jira, and useful business apps like Salesforce, ServiceNow, Slack, Box, and Tableau. The platform is extensible through a REST API and webhooks.
Smartsheet costs from $7/user/month, with a minimum of 3 users and a maximum of 25 users. They also offer a 30-day free trial.