Smartsheet Review (2026)
Best for: Teams migrating from Excel-based project tracking
A spreadsheet that grew into a project management platform. If your team thinks in rows and columns, Smartsheet feels natural. If they don't, everything feels clunky.
Pros
- Familiar spreadsheet interface
- Strong automation capabilities
- Good for data-heavy project tracking
Cons
- Feels like a spreadsheet, not a PM tool
- Mobile experience is poor
- Confusing pricing with sheets/user limits
Smartsheet: What You Need to Know
Smartsheet is what happens when Excel grows up and gets a project management job. The interface is a grid. Rows are tasks. Columns are fields. If you've spent your career managing projects in spreadsheets (and half the business world has), Smartsheet feels immediately familiar. That familiarity is a strategic advantage over every competitor that asks you to learn a new mental model.
Behind the spreadsheet interface sits real PM functionality: Gantt charts, resource management, automated workflows, dashboards, forms, and reports. Smartsheet's enterprise customers (90% of Fortune 100 companies use it) use the platform for everything from simple task tracking to complex program management with hundreds of thousands of rows. The product handles scale that makes Asana and Monday sweat.
Free for individuals (2 sheets, 500 rows each). Pro starts at $9/user/mo. Business at $19/user/mo. Enterprise is custom. The Pro plan is limited (10 sheets), so most teams need Business, which runs $4,560/yr for a 20-person team. That's competitive with Asana and Monday at similar headcounts, but the value proposition is different: Smartsheet trades visual appeal for computational power.
What The Sultan Likes
Where It Falls Short
What You'll Actually Pay
Free: 2 sheets, 500 rows each, basic features. Pro: $9/user/mo (10 sheets max). Business: $19/user/mo (unlimited sheets). Enterprise: custom. Smartsheet charges per user on a named-license basis.
Real costs: 10 users on Business = $190/mo ($2,280/yr). 25 users on Business = $475/mo ($5,700/yr). 50 users on Business = $950/mo ($11,400/yr). Enterprise pricing negotiates down for large deployments. At 100+ users, expect 20-30% discounts from list price.
Hidden cost: Smartsheet's value comes from dashboards, reports, and automations that require Business tier. The Pro plan at $9/user looks competitive but delivers a fraction of the capability. Budget for Business from the start and you won't be surprised.
Should You Buy Smartsheet?
Buy Smartsheet If…
Teams migrating from Excel/Google Sheets for PM
The transition is nearly painless. Your team already thinks in rows and columns. Smartsheet adds Gantt charts, automations, and dashboards on top of the mental model they already have. The adoption speed advantage over board-based tools is significant.
PMO and program management offices
Cross-project reporting, resource management, and portfolio dashboards at enterprise scale. Smartsheet handles the complexity that PMO teams face when managing 50+ concurrent projects with shared resources and executive reporting requirements.
Operations teams with process-heavy workflows
Procurement tracking, compliance checklists, facility management, HR onboarding. These operational workflows map naturally to rows in a sheet with status columns and date triggers. Smartsheet's automation handles the process management that dedicated PM tools ignore.
Skip Smartsheet If…
Visual thinkers who prefer boards and kanban
If your team gravitates toward Monday's color-coded boards, Trello's kanban simplicity, or Notion's flexible layouts, Smartsheet's grid-first approach will feel stifling. Board views exist but they're secondary to the spreadsheet experience.
Small teams with simple PM needs
A 5-person startup doesn't need Smartsheet's scale or enterprise reporting. Asana's free tier, ClickUp's free plan, or even Trello will serve you better at lower cost and complexity. Smartsheet is calibrated for organizations, not small teams.
Software engineering teams
No Git integration, no sprint/cycle management, no developer-centric design. Linear, Jira, or GitHub Projects are purpose-built for engineering workflows. Smartsheet treats software development like any other project type, which means it doesn't treat it well.
Stage-by-Stage Guidance
Solo Founder
Running lean, doing everything yourselfThe free plan works for personal project tracking if you think in spreadsheets. Otherwise, Trello or Notion are simpler and more flexible. Smartsheet's value emerges with teams and scale.
Small Team (2-10)
Growing past founder-led salesBusiness plan ($19/user/mo) if your team manages projects in Google Sheets today and wants to upgrade without changing mental models. For a team of 5-10, the $1,140-$2,280/yr cost is comparable to Asana or Monday with a faster adoption curve for spreadsheet-native teams.
Mid-Market (11-50)
Scaling with dedicated teamsStrong fit. Business plan for 20-50 users delivers portfolio management, resource views, and reporting that rival enterprise tools at mid-market prices. This is the size where Smartsheet's computational power starts justifying the enterprise-grade pricing.
Enterprise (50+)
Complex org, multiple divisionsEnterprise plan with governance, admin controls, and premium support. At 100+ users, Smartsheet competes with Planview, Clarity, and Microsoft Project for enterprise work management. The spreadsheet familiarity gives Smartsheet an adoption advantage over those more complex platforms.
Alternatives Worth Considering
Asana
Choose Asana if you want a modern PM tool with workflow automation and multiple views. Asana's user experience is significantly better. Smartsheet's data handling and reporting are significantly stronger. The choice maps to team preferences: visual vs. analytical. Read review →
Wrike
Choose Wrike if you want enterprise PM features with stronger collaboration tools. Wrike's Gantt charts, resource management, and proofing compete directly with Smartsheet. Wrike feels more like a PM tool. Smartsheet feels more like a business process tool. Read review →
Monday
Choose Monday if visual simplicity and adoption speed matter most. Monday is the opposite of Smartsheet in design philosophy. Monday makes PM visual and intuitive. Smartsheet makes PM powerful and data-driven. Both are valid approaches for different teams. Read review →
Airtable
Choose Airtable if you want Smartsheet's database-like approach with a more modern interface and API-first design. Airtable handles custom applications and workflows that Smartsheet also targets, with a developer-friendlier ecosystem.
The Sultan's Bottom Line
Smartsheet is the PM tool for organizations that think in spreadsheets and need enterprise scale. The grid-based interface is a competitive advantage for teams migrating from Excel, and the platform handles data volumes that make consumer PM tools choke. If your PMO manages 100 concurrent projects with shared resources and needs executive dashboards, Smartsheet is one of three or four tools that can deliver.
The aesthetics are a weakness. Smartsheet looks like a tool, feels like a tool, and has the personality of a tool. Teams that value software design (and increasingly, all teams do) will find the interface uninspiring. The functionality beneath that uninspiring surface is substantial, but first impressions matter for adoption.
Score: 7.0. Smartsheet is excellent at what it does (data-heavy, process-driven project and portfolio management). The score reflects the narrow audience that benefits most from this approach. If you're in that audience, Smartsheet is an 8+. If you're not, there are more modern options that serve you better.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Smartsheet just a spreadsheet?
It started as one, but no. Smartsheet includes Gantt charts, resource management, automated workflows, dashboards, forms, reports, and proofing tools. The spreadsheet grid is the interface metaphor, but the functionality underneath is genuine project management.
How does Smartsheet compare to Excel for project management?
Smartsheet does everything Excel can do for PM (grids, formulas, conditional formatting) plus native Gantt charts, automations, real-time collaboration, and dashboards. If you're managing projects in Excel, Smartsheet is the direct upgrade that preserves your mental model while adding the features Excel lacks.
Is Smartsheet good for small businesses?
It can work, but it's overkill for most small teams. The Business plan ($19/user/mo) is the minimum viable tier, and the feature depth targets organizations with 20+ people. Teams under 10 get better value from Asana, Monday, or ClickUp.
Does Smartsheet integrate with Microsoft 365?
Yes. Teams, Outlook, SharePoint, OneDrive, and Power BI integrations are available. For organizations already invested in the Microsoft ecosystem, Smartsheet connects more naturally than Asana or Monday, though Microsoft Project is the direct Microsoft-owned alternative.
What's the difference between Smartsheet and Airtable?
Both use a grid/database interface. Smartsheet is built for project management and enterprise work management with Gantt charts and resource planning. Airtable is built for custom applications and workflows with a more modern API-first architecture. Smartsheet for PM. Airtable for everything else.
Can Smartsheet replace Monday or Asana?
For data-driven, process-heavy teams, yes. Smartsheet's reporting and scalability exceed both. For visual, collaborative teams that value UI design and ease of use, Monday and Asana are better experiences. The replacement question depends on what your team values most.
Key Features
- Grid view
- Gantt charts
- Automations
- Dashboards
- Forms
- Resource management
Pricing
| Plan | Price |
|---|---|
| Pro | $9/user/mo |
| Business | $19/user/mo |
| Enterprise | Custom |