27 Best Smartsheet Alternatives in 2024 (Free & Paid)

Updated Jul 19, 2023.
smartsheet-alternatives

If you are looking for Smartsheet alternatives, there are chances that you may have used the software and are disappointed. Often, many users find that Smartsheet, even though used widely, does not provide all the tools for end-to-end project management.

It lacks several important features, can be expensive, and is also very similar to Microsoft Excel.

Whatever your reason for switching to Smartsheet alternatives may be, we have put together a list of the top twenty-seven alternatives to Smartsheet that can help businesses of different sizes in different industries, manage different types of projects.

Why Look For an Alternative to Smartsheet?

Let us first look at the reasons why you may want to look for an alternative to Smartsheet.

1. Too much like Excel

Smartsheet is a spreadsheet-based tool and it can often feel too much like Excel. This makes many users skeptical about paying additional money for a tool with Excel-like features that they can get for free.

Also, even though it has a simple interface, it can be easy to use only for those who are familiar with the functions of Excel or other similar spreadsheets. There may be a learning curve for those using spreadsheets for the first time.

2. Lacks important features

Even though Smartsheet claims to be an end-to-end work management solution, it lacks important project management features like time tracking, project budgeting, and resource allocation.

3. No central hub for communication

The communication feature of Smartsheet is much like Excel too, where users can leave comments, reply to comments through email or directly, assign tasks to team members, mention team members, but there is no streamlined channel for communication.

Due to this, messages may often get lost and there is no single thread that they can follow. The conversations may be scattered and difficult to link to each other.

4. Expensive

Even though Smartsheet offers a free trial, even their individual plans are paid and start at $7 per user per month. This plan has a user limit, so small teams with smaller project management needs might need to subscribe to the Business plan even if they do not need the features.

Best Smartsheet Alternatives for Project Management

1. Monday.com

Best Smartsheet alternative that offers high flexibility and ease of use.

Monday.com is the Best Smartsheet alternative that offers high flexibility and ease of use

Monday.com is a cloud-based work management software that is loaded with features that help teams manage projects easily. Streamline tasks, collaborate on projects, keep track of deadlines and improve team productivity.

Project Management Tools

Dashboard

Get a complete overview of all your projects from one customizable dashboard. Click on the charts and figures on the dashboard to get a deeper view of the metrics that matter most to your projects.

Resource Capacity Planning

Allocate resources effectively within projects. Evaluate the workload of each team member and distribute work evenly across all projects.

Gantt Charts

 Visualize projects through Gantt charts and keep track of your tasks, milestones, and dependencies.

Integrations

More than 50 integrations that help you streamline your projects. Some of the integrations include Zoom, Google Calendar, Google Drive, Salesforce, and Zapier.

Why Choose Monday.com Over Smartsheet?

Monday.com is a much more flexible tool when compared to Smartsheet and is a great option for freelancers and small businesses that are just getting started as it is more affordable.

Pricing

Learn more about Monday pricing or Monday review

Monday.com’s pricing plans include a free plan that supports two users. However, it is quite limited in its features. If you have a bigger team and would like simple work management tools, the Basic plan is a good choice.

For medium-sized businesses handling multiple projects simultaneously, the Standard plan is a good choice as it offers automation, Gantt chart views of projects, calendar views, integrations, and a joint dashboard of all your projects.

Try Monday.com for free and get a discount by choosing annual plans.

2. ClickUp

Best feature-rich alternative to Smartsheet.

ClickUp is the Best feature rich alternative to Smartsheet

ClickUp is a project management and collaboration software that is good for businesses of all sizes from different industries. It is a fully customizable platform and is an all-in-one feature-rich software that can help companies manage their projects from start to end.

Project Management Tools

Workflows

Create different views and custom workflows for every project. Manage your projects through Gantt charts, calendar views, list views, or others.

Customization

ClickUp offers integrations with over 35 ClickApps. You will not have to install any third-party application or need any code to use them.

Collaboration

Collaborate with your team on projects, share documents, chat with team members and offer feedback on tasks. Maintain a knowledge base that can be accessed by the whole team.

Reporting

Utilize visual dashboards to keep track of projects, time spent on tasks and documents, generate reports on resources allocated.

Time tracking

Keep track of time from anywhere, use different time tracking widgets, calculate time spent on tasks and create time estimates for every project.

Pricing

Learn more about ClickUp pricing or ClickUp review

ClickUp offers five plans, one of which is free and one is a custom plan for enterprises. The free plan has limited features and is good for individuals who want to organize their personal small projects. For small teams, the Unlimited plan may be a good place to get started.

Later as project needs evolve, the Business plan may serve its purpose better as it offers several advanced features like time tracking, granular time estimates, advanced workload management, public sharing, and more.

Why Choose ClickUp Over Smartsheet?

ClickUp offers a lot more customizable advanced project management features that Smartsheet doesn’t.
Try ClickUp for free and save 45% by subscribing to the yearly plans.

3. Wrike

Best alternative to Smartsheet for simple collaborations within small teams.

Wrike is the Best alternative to Smartsheet for simple collaborations within small teams

Wrike is a digital work management tool that can be used by small teams working remotely to streamline their internal projects and bring all project-related communication and collaboration in one place.

Project Management Tools

Kanban boards

Create custom workflows for every project, track task status based on deadlines, use ready-made templates, identify bottlenecks by tracking resource allocation.

Gantt Charts

Visualize projects with Gantt chart views, use drag and drop functionality to move tasks, create dependencies, manage multiple projects centrally, spot bottlenecks through critical path analysis.

Customization

Customize dashboards, reports, workflows depending on the needs of your project to ensure complete control.

Collaboration

Help teams collaborate with context, create shared team calendars, share files instantly, automate approval processes and offer feedback on tasks.

Project portfolio management

Bring information about all projects in one place and allow project managers to keep track of progress, manage resources, track time, predict resource requirements,

Pricing

Learn more about Wrike pricing

For teams that are just getting started, the Free plan might be sufficient as it has all the important project management features. Larger teams looking for a collaboration and project management solution will find the Professional plan good for their needs.

However, if you have a team of five to two hundred members and are looking for a feature-rich project management solution, the Business plan starting at $24.80 per user per month may be the best choice.


Why Choose Wrike Over Smartsheet?

Wrike offers team collaboration features that Smartsheet does not

. Some of these features include time tracking, a three-pane view of dashboards and a secure platform for document sharing and storage.

Try Wrike for free and keep upgrading as your project progresses.

4. Teamwork

Best Smartsheet alternative for effective communication within teams.

Teamwork is the Best Smartsheet alternative for effective communication within teams

Teamwork is a task management and team collaboration solution that lets project teams manage different aspects of their projects in one place like clients, resources, task deadlines, project finances, project schedules, and more.

Project Management Tools

Workload management

Manage team productivity by getting a clear view of the availability of resources, allocate resources based on available capacity, reassign work based on workload and deadlines.

Kanban boards

Quickly view the status of tasks, create custom workflows, customize views, get insights about workflow efficiency, automate workflows and create workflow dependencies.

Time tracking

Keep track of time spent on different project-related hours, create accurate time estimates and calculate billable hours for multiple projects.

Team collaboration

Provide a secure platform for teams to communicate and share project-related documents, grant access permissions to only those who play a role in a project.

Pricing

Learn more about Teamwork pricing

While the Free Forever plan may be very basic and be good only for teams or individuals getting started with project management, the Deliver plan may be a good place to begin if you have small teams and work on small projects with fewer complexities.

However, for growing teams with complex project management requirements, the Grow plan may be a good plan that offers fifty templates, lets you manage multiple projects, and customize them based on business needs.

Why Choose Teamwork Over Smartsheet?

Teamwork is an easier-to-use task management tool and it offers a secure platform for teams to communicate, share documents and grant permissions rather than just allowing them to leave comments on project boards.

Try Teamwork for Free and save by choosing the custom Teamwork One bundle.

5. Scoro

Scoro is an Affordable Visual Task Management Platform to Manage Projects and Customers

Scoro is an all-in-one work management software that helps businesses manage multiple business functions. Using their project management features businesses can manage their teams, projects, tasks, deadlines, resources, documents all in one place.

Project Management Tools

Time management

Allocate tasks to team members, prioritize tasks and assign deadlines, create shared calendars, use built-in trackers to calculate billable hours accurately.

Capacity utilization

Evaluate available resources and allocate based on current workload, forecast future demand and plan resources, reassign tasks to distribute workload evenly.

Gantt charts

Visualize your projects and track progress in real-time, create task dependencies, identify bottlenecks that derail project progress.

Automation

Automate daily repetitive tasks, utilize templates for work automation or set custom rules, get notified automatically when deadlines are close.

Pricing

Learn more about Scoro pricing

As Scoro is a complete work management tool, there are different packages based on different business functions.

Since you are looking for a project management software, the Work Hub plan is a good choice. It has all the resource planning, collaboration, and task management features that project managers require.

Why Choose Scoro Over Smartsheet?

Scoro is a complete work management software with features like time tracking and management that Smartsheet doesn’t.

Try Scoro’s Workhub plan for free for 14-days.

6. Celoxis

Best Smartsheet alternative for medium to large-sized businesses.

Celoxis is the Best Smartsheet alternative for medium to large sized businesses

Celoxis is an all-in-one project management solution that does not only help teams with project management but also with managing project budgets and resource allocation.

You can get real-time visibility into your projects and manage projects across multiple locations centrally.

Project Management Tools

Project tracking

Build complete project plans by assigning tasks to team members, schedule resources, create task dependencies that get updated automatically, study the health of projects using RAG indicators, create baselines, and more.

Project accounting

Create budget forecasts for projects, keep track of expenses, forecast revenue, manage finances across multiple projects.

Workflow

Use different tools to create workflows, use custom fields to route tasks and identify issues in workflows, automate repetitive tasks, and identify project-related risks.

Portfolio management

Manage your entire portfolio centrally through customizable project dashboards, track individual project progress and metrics that matter most.

Pricing

Celoxis Pricing Plan

Celoxis offers two plans only, one of which is a cloud solution and the other can be deployed on the premises. If you are looking for a project management solution that you can access from anywhere, the Cloud plan is the best choice.

The plan is priced at $22.50 per month, per team member and supports unlimited projects. For businesses that want to have an on-premise project management solution, the On Premise plan may be a good choice but it can be expensive for some businesses.

Why Choose Celoxis Over Smartsheet?

Celoxis is an all-in-one project management solution that can help streamline project resources and also offers project budgeting unlike Smartsheet.

Try Celoxis for an on-premise project management solution.

7. Asana

Best alternative to Smartsheet that has everything needed for managing complete projects.

Asana is the Best alternative to Smartsheet that has everything needed for managing complete projects

Asana is a complete project management solution that can help teams be on the same page about their projects and also manage projects from beginning till the end.

Right from operations teams, to IT, marketing and sales, and even event planning companies can use Asana to manage their projects.

Project Management Tools

Task management

Create projects using templates, add templates, assign deadlines, create custom fields in projects, assign tasks to team members, break down tasks into subtasks, create dependencies and track project status in real-time.

Views

Visualize and organize your projects through different views like Gantt chart views, list views, grid views, files view, and prioritize tasks through to-do lists.

Reporting

Use custom dashboards to track project progress visually, set and manage company goals, create milestones, and manage multiple project timelines in one place.

Communication

Create and edit tasks directly from Slack, Google Mail, and Outlook, access team projects in one place, allow team members to communicate on tasks, use the multiple language support to chat in different languages.

Pricing

Learn more about Asana pricing

Asana’s Basic plan is a free plan that is good for individual or small teams to manage small projects. The Premium plan that is priced at $10.99 is a better choice for bigger teams that want features like advanced search, custom fields, task templates, admin console, and others.

Why Choose Asana Over Smartsheet?

Asana has better task management and organization features than Smartsheet where it can streamline every minute detail across multiple projects.

Try Asana’s Basic plan for free and upgrade to the Premium plan.

8. Bitrix24

Best free alternative to Smartsheet for remote teams.

Bitrix24 is the Best free alternative to Smartsheet for remote teams

Bitrix24 is a project management and collaboration tool that helps project managers track the status of tasks, collaborate remotely, manage workloads, share documents and files, and streamline the entire project management process.

Project Management Tools

Task Dependencies

Instead of manually making changes to each and every task, when one change is made to a particular task the task dependency feature updates all related tasks automatically.

Workload management

Automate weekly, daily, and monthly work assignments through customized task settings. Oversee the workload of your team members and allocate tasks evenly.

Real-time collaboration

Communicate with team members through the same app, collaborate on tasks, check the status of current tasks and offer feedback or comments.

File sharing

Share your important project-related files and documents through Bitrix24. Store them in the cloud and access them anywhere and anytime. Tag files so they can be found easily.

CRM tool

Use Bitrix24’s CRM tool to manage all your customer relationships. Manage your sales funnel through the tool and keep track of your customers as they move through the funnel.

Pricing

Bitrix24 Pricing Plan

Bitrix24 offers four plans among which one of them is free. You can use the free plan if you are looking for a project management tool that has all the basic features. While this plan supports unlimited users, it is quite limited.

The Standard plan is ideal for businesses looking for project management and collaboration tool with all necessary features. For a fully-loaded, feature-rich solution, the Professional plan is the ideal choice.

Why Choose Bitrix24 Over Smartsheet?

While Bitrix24 has better collaboration features than Smartsheet, it also offers a more powerful CRM tool for sales teams.

Register on Bitrix24 for free and save 30% with an annual plan.

9. Workfront

Best Smartsheet alternative for enterprise collaboration.

Workfront is the Best Smartsheet alternative for enterprise collaboration.

Workfront is an enterprise-level workflow management platform that can be used by large organizations to manage projects and portfolios. If you are looking for software to manage complex workflows across your organization, Workfront is a great solution.

You can customize the software for the needs of your organization, get real-time information across all your projects, and manage them from one central location.

Project Management Tools

Workflow automation

Continuously plan and execute your projects, create customizable dashboards and automatically assign recurring tasks.

Work management

With real-time actionable insights, you can manage multiple projects centrally, study the health of each project and ensure that your teams deliver on time.

Team collaboration

Irrespective of where your teams may be, you can collaborate across departments and allow each team member to create a personalized working style.

Integrations

It integrates with hundreds of tools that are commonly used like Salesforce, Google Drive, Slack and allows all activities to be managed from one intuitive platform.

Resource management

Evaluate the total resources that you have, identify over allocation or under allocation of resources and forecast future demand.

Pricing

While Workfront offers three different plans, all the plans have custom pricing that is available on request. For most medium-sized businesses a Pro plan can be a good choice as it includes most of the project management features.

But, if you are looking for a complete feature-rich plan, the Enterprise plan can help you with project management, portfolio optimization, strategic portfolio planning, and more.

Why Choose Workfront Over Smartsheet?

Workfront is a much stronger tool than Smartsheet for large complex projects as it offers enhanced analytics, premium integrations and resource management features which Smartsheet doesn’t.

Try Workfront and pay only for the features that your business needs.

10. Paymo

Best alternative to Paymo that specializes in invoicing and time tracking.

Paymo is the Best alternative to Paymo that specializes in invoicing and time tracking

Paymo is an online work management app that is a great choice for individuals and small businesses that often have to raise invoices and manage multiple clients. It has an easy-to-use interface and is a simple tool that is ideal for beginners.

This solution has everything you need like task management, resource scheduling, billing, time tracking all in one place.

Project Management Tools:

Project planning

Paymo allows teams to create visual views of their projects, use templates, create dependencies, add milestones, set deadlines and plan complete projects.

Resource scheduling

Keep track of all your resources, add resource exceptions depending on team availability, track unscheduled work, and more.

Time tracking

Track time spent on each activity, track your team’s time to analyze productivity, export timesheets to Excel, and do bulk time entries.

Invoicing

Create invoices in multiple languages, set up recurring payments, create email templates for invoicing and pay directly to clients.

Financial management

Create project budgets and track expenditure on each project and study the financial health of projects.

Pricing

Paymo Pricing Plan

Paymo offers three plans and includes a free plan. The free plan can be a great choice for freelancers, and very small businesses having up to ten members.

For bigger teams, the Small Office Plan priced at $9.95 per user, each month is a good choice. It lets you create unlimited reports, time entries, invoices, estimates and use unlimited project templates.

Why Choose Paymo Over Smartsheet?

Paymo is a complete project management solution for small teams and even offers a free plan unlike Smartsheet. You can also use time tracking and invoicing features without the need to integrate with other third-party applications like you have to with Smartsheet.

Try Paymo free for 15 days and test all available features.

11. Clarizen

Best Smartsheet alternative that has many more features for project management.

Clarizen is the Best Smartsheet alternative that has many more features for project management

Clarizen is a collaborative work management and project management tool that allows collaboration across the organization, lets you manage your projects from one solution, and also lets you automate processes.

It is a scalable project management solution that helps medium to large businesses gain real-time visibility into their projects, manage project-related risks, resource demands, and streamline projects across the organization.

Project Management Tools

Dashboards

Clear descriptive customizable dashboards that let you access information across all your projects through one central dashboard.

Project workflow

Supports multiple work styles and lets you create automated workflows by setting dynamic rules.

Collaboration

Integrate with tools like Slack and Microsoft Teams for smoother project-related communication, share files within the application and offer feedback on tasks.

Real-time visibility

Get a three hundred and sixty-degree view of projects, understand the financial health of projects, and access dynamic reports about each project.

Pricing

Clarizen offers two plans both of which have custom pricing. Both these plans let you manage an unlimited number of projects, portfolios, risks, and requests. The only difference between the plans is the bandwidth they offer.

The Enterprise edition offers fewer emails, reports, dashboards, and smaller file storage. Hence, your choice of plan will depend on the size of your organization and the size of projects of your organization.

Why Choose Clarizen Over Smartsheet?

Clarizen has a lot more project management features than Smartsheet and it also has an easier-to-use interface even though it can handle enterprise-level projects.

Request a demo with Clarizen and avail custom pricing.

12. Hygger

Best advanced project management alternative to Smartsheet.

Hygger is the Best advanced project management alternative to Smartsheet

Hygger is a project management tool and also a product management tool that is used by tech and non-tech teams. Software teams often use Hygger for their Kanban boards. This tool offers several product management and project management features that not all tools offer.

Good for small and midsized companies, agile teams can use Hygger for collaboration, task management, and identifying bottlenecks.

Project Management Tools

Task management

Create timelines for your projects and prioritize tasks based on deadlines. Organize task views through custom rules and create task lists.

Kanban boards

Visualize your workflows using Kanban boards and collaborate with teams on tasks. Track changes made to tasks and cards easily.

Work distribution

Keep track of the status of all your tasks, evaluate the workload of team members, check the work in progress status before scheduling new tasks.

Live activity stream

Follow real-time data about every task across projects, get a quick overview of tasks through smart links and track team performance.

Pricing

Hygger Pricing Plan

Hygger offers two paid plans that offer a free trial and a free plan. While the free plan supports unlimited users and projects, it does not offer a lot of storage and integrations. The Standard plan is ideal for project and task management.

If you are looking for advanced features like API access, a branded workspace, and multiple projects in one board, the Enterprise solution is the best choice.

Why Choose Hygger Over Smartsheet?

Hygger is a more visual tool than Smartsheet and offers Kanban views of projects, Sprint boards, and quicker tracking of tasks across projects.

Try Hygger for free and save 20% on their annual subscription.

13. ProofHub

Best Smartsheet alternative for global teams working remotely.

ProofHub is the Best Smartsheet alternative for global teams working remotely

While Proofhub offers several online project management features like task management, resource scheduling, time tracking, and workflow visualizations, it is known for its robust collaboration feature which makes it a great choice for global teams.

Project Management Tools

Collaboration

Communicate not only with your team members but also with your clients through one tool. Mention people or comment on threads to draw attention to important topics.

Work views

Create tabular, Gantt chart, and Kanban views of your projects, organize your projects, divide tasks into stages, assign tasks to team members and keep track of progress.

File sharing

Share files with team members and clients through the platform. Store them within the platform and organize them so you can find them easily later.

Timesheets

Keep track of the time spent on each task and maintain a record of billable hours.

Reporting

Create custom reports with metrics that matter to you the most. Get valuable insights about your projects and resources.

Pricing

ProofHub Pricing Plan

Proofhub offers two paid plans and both their plans are quite straightforward. If you are looking for core project management features only, Proofhub’s Essential plan offers you that. However, you will be able to manage only 40 projects using this plan.

For those looking at managing unlimited projects, there is the Ultimate Control plan, which not only lets you manage unlimited projects but also offers advanced features along with the core project management features.

Why Choose Proofhub Over Smartsheet?

Compared to Smartsheet, Proohub has a simpler interface and has more developed tools for communication and collaboration among remote teams.

Try Proofhub for free and subscribe to their unlimited user plans.

14. Nifty

Best project management alternative to Smartsheet that offers easy workflow automation.

Nifty is the Best project management alternative to Smartsheet that offers easy workflow automation

Nifty is a project management and team collaboration software that focuses more on improving team productivity by streamlining project-related activities. Teams can use this tool to share documents, manage tasks, create project calendars, and more.

Project Management Tools

Discussions

Communicate with team members, share files through a common portal and create tasks automatically from conversations.

Task management

Automate task assignment through custom rules, keep track of deadlines, filter tasks based on milestones.

Time tracking

Enable team members to check their time spent on different activities, track productivity across projects, and get complete reports and task insights.

Project portfolios

Create portfolios of projects across teams and departments, grant access rights, and give ownership of portfolios or projects to managers.

Gantt charts

Visualize your projects, create tasks and milestones, create dependencies that get updated automatically, add custom fields to register custom data to tasks.

Pricing

While Nifty offers five plans, one of them is a free forever plan with limited features. Even though unlimited team members can use the plan, you can manage only two projects through the plan and store only a hundred MB of data. However, it has most of the project management features.

For small businesses, the Starter plan can be a good choice as it lets you manage up to forty projects and lets you store a hundred GB of data. If yours is a growing team, the Pro plan may be a better choice.

Why Choose Nifty Over Smartsheet?

Nifty’s user interface is much more friendlier than Smartsheet’s and supports different views that fit individual business needs. It also offers a lot more useful project management features than Smartsheet.

Try Nifty for free and get two months free on their annual subscription.

15. Hive

Best alternative to Smartsheet that has many unique project management features.

Hive is the Best alternative to Smartsheet that has many unique project management features

Hive is an AI-backed project management tool and collaboration software that can be used by businesses of all sizes. Project managers can use this tool to get better control over their projects and ensure their team collaborates on projects to deliver well.

Several renowned brands use this software for task management, process automation and optimization, time tracking, and measuring the productivity of teams working on projects.

Project Management Tools

Task management

Assign tasks to team members, evaluate the availability of your teams, assign deadlines and milestones to make team members accountable for deliverables.

Project views

Create project views that suit your team’s productivity. Visualize project information through Gantt charts, Kanban boards, tabular views and bring all project-related information together.

Time tracking

Keep track of your team’s time spent on different activities from one place and visualize your team’s workload for better resource allocation.

Team collaboration

Help team members communicate with each other through individual and shared inboxes, grant access to message boards, allow team members to offer feedback on project-related tasks.

Workflow automation

Automate repetitive tasks, use analytical information available to create reports, label individual actions for easier reporting.

Pricing

The free plan that Hive offers is ideal for you if you are just beginning your project management journey and have a team of just two members. It has limited features and misses out on analytics, time tracking, and resource scheduling.

For bigger teams that want to streamline their project management processes, the Hive Team plan priced at $12 per user, per month is a good choice. Larger enterprises with custom project management requirements can contact the sales team for the Hive Enterprise plan.

Why Choose Hive Over Smartsheet?

Hive offers several project views that Smartsheet does not have. It also has several tools like analytics, time tracking, and a developed communication system that Smartsheet does not offer.

Try Hive for free and request new features that you need.

16. Zoho Projects

Best cost-effective alternative to Smartsheet.

Zoho Projects is the Best cost effective alternative to Smartsheet

Zoho Projects is a cloud-based project management solution that can be used by small and mid-sized companies to manage projects. Teams can plan, execute and collaborate on projects using this solution.

With Zoho Projects, you also get several project scheduling and budgeting tools that ensure that your projects are delivered on time and project costs are within the estimated budgets.

Project Management Tools

Task management

Organize the tasks within your projects, create sub-tasks, assign them to team members, create different project views, and set dependencies that get updated automatically.

Team collaboration

Communicate with team members through private or group chat rooms, post comments on an interactive feed, discuss ideas on the forum, share and store documents and files within the solution.

Workflow automation

Design workflows to automate processes, define criteria for escalation of issues, set rules that trigger certain actions.

Time management

Log and track time spent on tasks, enable timers to log time automatically, create invoices for billable hours.

Reporting

Create custom reports for different criteria, get detailed insights about project issues and errors, utilize timesheet reports to evaluate team productivity.

Pricing

Zoho Projects offers a free plan but it can only be used by three members and has very limited features. So this plan is good only for managing just a couple of very small projects. If you have a bigger team of up to fifty members the Premium plan is the best choice.

It will let you manage unlimited projects, track time, create project budgets, automate tasks, visualize projects through Gantt charts, and more.

Why Choose Zoho Projects Over Smartsheet?

Zoho Projects is a more advanced tool than Smartsheet and has some project management features like in-app chatting, time tracking, and reporting that Smartsheet misses.

Try Zoho Projects free for three members and save 20% on their annual plan.

17. JIRA

Best project planning alternative to Smartsheet for multidimensional organizations.

Jira is the Best project planning alternative to Smartsheet for multidimensional organizations

JIRA is often used by software development teams as it is an agile project management tool that follows agile methodology. Due to its Kanban workflow management system, it can be used for project management by every department within an organization.

Project Management Tools

Workflows

Customize workflows, assign tasks, set deadlines, and group tasks. Utilize the default workflows available and customize them depending on your needs.

Reports

Jira’s agile reporting feature lets you track progress on tasks, discover project bottlenecks, identify work allocation errors, bugs found in projects, and timesheet reports.

Scrum boards

Collaborate with teams through Jira scrum boards and work on projects together to ensure incremental delivery of project objectives and goals.

Kanban boards

Helps agile teams visualize their projects, define and configure workflows, establish work in progress limits, spot workflow blockages, and more.

Pricing

Jira Pricing Plan

Jira offers a free plan with limited features for teams that have up to ten members and lets you manage one project. If you have a bigger team, the Standard plan is a good choice but it will also allow you to manage only one project.

For teams looking for an agile project management software that accommodates unlimited users and also supports multiple projects, the Premium plan priced at $14.50 per user each month is the best option.

Why Choose Jira Over Smartsheet?

Jira is a project management solution that has been created especially for teams following the agile methodology and has tools to support the same. Smartsheet is not designed specially for agile teams.

Try Jira free for 7 days or subscribe to their plans for enterprise level security.

18. Airtable

Best user-friendly, cost-effective project management alternative to Smartsheet.

Airtable is the Best user friendly, cost effective project management alternative to Smartsheet

Airtable is the best project management software for organizing projects that deal with a lot of data. It makes data organization and collaboration really easy. Businesses of all sizes can use Airtable’s project management tool to streamline their projects.

Project Management Tools

Templates

Airtable has a wide range of templates that you can choose from. You can choose from the project management templates and then customize them

Database

Organize the data that you need through custom fields, attachments, text notes, barcodes, and links. Find the correct data when you need it.

Views

Create different views for your projects, filter, and sort tasks, create timelines for your projects, use the Kanban view and let teams collaborate, assign milestones and create task dependencies.

Apps

Integrate with over fifty apps from the Airtable marketplace and supercharge your projects with tables, photos, Shopify integrations, and more.

Automation

Automate redundant tasks by setting custom rules and through integrations.

Pricing

Airtable Pricing Plan

While Airtable has a free plan, it is limited in terms of features and is good for individuals or small teams only. To get the most out of Airtable, the Pro plan is the best choice as it offers all the project management and team collaboration features that Airtable has to offer.

Why Choose Airtable Over Smartsheet?

Airtable is a simpler tool than Smartsheet and has a friendlier user interface. It is also a more cost-effective option than Smartsheet.

Try Airtable for free and upgrade the plan as your team grows.

19. Kissflow

Best easier to use Smartsheet alternative.

Kissflow is the Best easier to use Smartsheet alternative

Kissflow is not just a project management software but is a workplace that you can use to manage all kinds of work. It is an intuitive platform that brings all project-related information in one place and lets teams collaborate, plan and coordinate different types of work.

Project Management Tools

Multiple project views

Create lists, Kanban, or Matrix views of your project and gain insights about all your projects in one place.

Task management

Assign tasks to team members, set priorities, assign deadlines to each task, get notified about pending tasks and due dates.

Reporting

Use Kissflow’s customized reports or ready-to-use reporting templates to get deep insights about your projects, team’s productivity, project finances.

Team collaboration

Let teams discuss projects in real-time, share and store files centrally and organize them so that they can be found later.

Marketing project management

Designed for non-project managers. Allows marketing teams to collaborate on content plans and social media schedules to achieve marketing objectives efficiently.

Pricing

Kissflow Project Pricing Plan

Kissflow offers three paid pricing plans where the Starter plan is priced at $7 per user per month. Since it supports only three projects, it is good for small teams with smaller project management needs. Most of the core project management tools are included in this plan.

The Professional plan will let you manage five projects and includes some more features than the Starter plan. However, if you would like to manage more than five projects using Kissflow, there is a custom plan for Enterprises.

Why Choose Kissflow Over Smartsheet?

Kissflow is an easier-to-use project management solution where the focus is on streamlining workflows whereas Smartsheet is more about task management.

Try Kissflow for free and request a custom plan for all your project needs.

20. HyperOffice

Best alternative to Smartsheet for managing multiple projects at once.

HyperOffice is the Best alternative to Smartsheet for managing multiple projects at once

HyperOffice is an online project tracking software and task scheduling solution that can be used by teams of all sizes to manage multiple projects from one central hub. It includes all the essential project and work management features that project teams require.

Project Management Tools

Work management

Keep track of tasks across projects, create views that suit your project’s needs, schedule resources based on availability, create dependencies, and assign milestones.

Document sharing

Allow teams to share and store documents centrally, grant permissions to users, control versions of documents, leave comments and feedback on files.

Personal workspaces

Let users have their individual workspaces where they execute tasks, create calendars, store related files, and manage reminders.

Workspace customization

Brand each of your projects by setting colors, themes, logos depending on the client that you are working with.

Pricing

HyperOffice Pricing Plan

For small teams looking for a good project and work management solution, the Atlas plan is a good choice as it includes project management features, offers contact and document management, and also lets teams collaborate on projects.

Why Choose HyperOffice Over Smartsheet?

HyperOffice is an all-in-one project and work management tool with many more important project management features than Smartsheet.

Try HyperOffice for free and avail volume discounts for big teams.

21. Workzone

Workzone is the Best alternative to Smartsheet for project related document collaboration

Workzone is a feature-rich project management solution that not only lets users manage multiple projects but also helps with reporting, project collaboration, document management, time tracking, and task management.

It is an easy-to-use tool and works well for decentralized teams as it is a cloud-based project management software.

Project Management Tools

Project dashboard

Get a clear picture of all your projects across the organization in one central location, dig deeper into the specifics or have a birds-eye view.

Task dependencies

Link tasks to each other so that when one task is changed or completed, all other related tasks get updated automatically.

Workload reports

Get a detailed customizable report about all available resources, identify under-allocated or overallocated resources and distribute work evenly.

Approvals workflow

Automate the approval processes for all the stages within the project and notify the responsible person when approval is pending from their end.

File sharing

Share files securely with teams or individuals, grant access permissions, comment or approve documents from one software.

Group calendars

Along with individual calendars, bring together all project-related tasks, deadlines, events, and important dates into a group calendar so everybody is on the same page

Pricing

Workzone Pricing Plan

The three plans that Workzone offers on its pricing page are ideal for teams with five to five hundred members. They also have a plan for individuals and teams having up to four members available on request.

This plan will cost you $40 per person which might be a bit expensive. If you are looking for a complete feature-rich plan with custom reporting, enhanced dashboards, workspace groups, and critical path, the Enterprise plan will meet all your needs.

The other two plans are quite similar and have just different storage limits. For those who do not need API access, the Team plan is a good choice.

Why Choose Workzone Over Smartsheet?

While Smartsheet can help you plan and execute projects, Workzone has much more developed collaboration and document sharing features.

Request for a free demo from Workzone and get a personalized product tour.

22. Microsoft Planner

Best Smartsheet alternative for quicker task planning.

Microsoft Planner is the Best Smartsheet alternative for quicker task planning

As the name suggests, Microsoft Planner is a task planning tool that helps in the planning and prepping stages of a project. It is an easy-to-use tool and integrated seamlessly with other Microsoft apps.

This work management tool is good for handling small projects that do not have a lot of complexities.

Project Management Tools

Schedule view

Get a complete view of all project-related tasks, keep track of deadlines and know the status of each task in your project.

Resource allocation

Check the availability of your resources, assign tasks to teams and individuals, keep track of every team member’s workload.

Collaborative task management

Allows teams to collaborate on projects, assign tasks, share files, leave feedback, communicate with team members and more.

Integrations

Lets users integrate with Outlook and iCalendar so that emails, calendars, comments, tasks get synced together.

Microsoft 365

Since Microsoft Planner is a part of Microsoft 365, all your projects can be integrated with Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Power Automate, and others.

Pricing

Microsoft Planner Pricing Plan

Microsoft Planner offers different plans for businesses and for enterprise customers. If you are looking for all the basic features only, then the Basic plan is a good choice.

The Standard plan starting at $12.50 is a better choice for collaboration, and lets you use Microsoft Planner on your mobile, tablet, or computer devices.

Why Choose Microsoft Planner Over Smartsheet?

Microsoft Planner is a much more focused task management tool than Smartsheet can be used by businesses as well as enterprise customers.

Try Microsoft Planner free for a month and integrate with other Microsoft solutions.

23. Slack

Best project management alternative to Smartsheet for streamlined communication.

Slack is the Best project management alternative to Smartsheet for streamlined communication

While a lot of us know Slack to be a great communication solution, this feature also makes it a powerful tool for project management and brings all project-related communication to one place.

Right from planning, collaboration, task management, there is a lot that this solution can do.

Project Management Tools:

Channels

Streamline your communication through channels for each project, communicate with members individually or the organization as a whole.

Workflow automation

Create custom workflows, set custom rules, gather all project-related data in one place, and automate repetitive tasks.

Integrations

Connect Slack with over two thousand applications like Google Drive, Twitter, DropBox, Microsoft teams and bring different business functions together.

Searchability

Strong searchability feature that lets you find anything discussed in any conversation across your Slack account.

Files sharing

Share files from your local device or cloud, collaborate on files, add details to files to make them searchable, access shared files across devices.

Pricing

Slack Pricing Plan

For very small teams managing small projects and looking for a tool to streamline communication, the Free plan can be helpful. It also lets you integrate with ten applications.

However, for slightly bigger teams the Pro plan will be an ideal choice as it includes all the important collaboration, searchability, and integrations features. If you are looking for advanced features like Active Directory Sync, identity management, and others, the Business plan is ideal.

Why Choose Slack Over Smartsheet?

Slack has strong team communication and collaboration features that Smartsheet completely misses out on.

Try Slack’s free plan and upgrade as your team grows.

24. Basecamp

Best easy-to-learn project management alternative to Smartsheet.

Basecamp is the Best easy to learn project management alternative to Smartsheet

Basecamp is a feature-rich online collaboration app and a project management software that lets teams work together on projects, keep track of tasks and help teams stay on the same page. It has many more functionalities than traditional project management solutions.

Project Management Tools

To-do lists

Create a list of tasks that have to be done, assign them to one more team member, set deadlines and milestones, comment on tasks, and keep track of the status.

Message boards

Maintain discussions about different topics on separate pages, look for specific messages easily, leave comments and feedback on posts.

Document storage

Upload files from Google Drive, share them with team members, organize them using color codes, store files within the solution and refer to them later.

Client access

Allow access to clients to their projects, let them leave direct feedback, and help them track progress directly.

Pricing

Basecamp Pricing Plan

Basecamp offers separate plans for individuals and for businesses. For businesses, there is just one plan priced at $99 per month through which you can manage unlimited projects, unlimited users and there is no fee per user. So your entire team can use the same plan.

Why Choose Basecamp Over Smartsheet?

Basecamp is a much easier-to-learn software than Smartsheet and does not have a steep learning curve. It is also much simpler and has a cleaner interface than Smartsheet.

Try Basecamp for free and then choose the Basecamp Business plan with no per user fee.

25. Microsoft Project

Best alternative to Smartsheet which is an advanced all-in-one project management solution.

Microsoft Projects is the Best alternative to Smartsheet which is an advanced all in one project management solution

Since Microsoft Project is developed and sold by Microsoft, it automatically integrates with all other Microsoft solutions. It is a project management software that can help project managers manage budgets, track workloads, schedule resources, and let teams collaborate virtually.

Project Management Tools

Planning and scheduling

Define activities with projects, set deadlines and milestones, assign tasks to team members, create project calendars, and get notified about upcoming events and deadlines.

Project timeline view

Organize all the information about projects in one view, add timelines, format them using colors and make all project-related information easily accessible.

Team dashboard

Offers an overview of your projects, add graphs, data presentations, graphics, allot work to teams, and schedule resources centrally.

Collaboration

Bring your team together and collaborate through the software or integrate with Microsoft Teams.

Master Project Plan

Manage multiple projects from one central hub, customize the master project and manage resource allocation, progress tracking, and planning.

Pricing

Microsoft Projects Pricing Plan

Microsoft Project offers three different plans where the Project Plan 1 is a simple project management solution that you can use through a web browser. For advanced tools like resource scheduling, there is Project Plan 3.

If you would like to manage your complete project portfolio using Microsoft Project, then Project Plan 5 is the right choice.

Why Choose Microsoft Project Over Smartsheet?

Microsoft Project can be used to manage projects for small businesses as well as for enterprises. It has many more developed tools and features for project management than Smartsheet.

Try Microsoft Project Plans free for a month and subscribe to monthly or annual plans.

26. Google Sheets

Best Smartsheet alternative for real-time collaboration on projects.

Google Sheets is the Best Smartsheet alternative for real time collaboration on projects

Google Sheets can be a great real-time collaboration app for small projects. People across your teams globally can work simultaneously on the sheets without experiencing any time lag. It’s functionalities are very similar to that of Excel and many of the features are the same.

Project Management Tools

Real-time collaboration

Grant access to team members on projects, make changes to sheets in real time and see changes being made, restore previous versions of the sheet, chat or leave comments within the sheet.

Enterprise level security

Grant permissions to only those who need access to the sheets, limit actions that people can take on sheets, disable download or copying options for specific collaborators.

Build custom solutions

Use Appsheet within Google sheets to create custom applications on top of sheets without writing any code.

Add-ons

Supplement built-in functions with plugins and add-ons for reporting, formatting, data analysis and more.

Pricing

Google Sheets Pricing Plan

While you can use Google Sheets for free for personal use, if you want to use Google Sheets for business, it comes as a part of the Google Workspace package. This includes Google Meet, Docs, Calendar, Chat, Jamboard, and all other applications.

For most medium-sized teams, the Business Standard plan is a good choice as it comes with 2TB cloud storage per user, one hundred fifty video meetings and recordings, security controls, and much more.

Why Choose Google Sheets Over Smartsheet?

Small teams dealing with simple projects looking for a simple collaboration tool will find Google Sheets better than Smartsheet for the best for real-time collaboration on projects irrespective of where their team members may be in the world.

Start a free trial with Google Sheets or contact sales for a custom plan.

27. Trello

Best Kanban-based project management alternative to Smartsheet.

Trello is the Best Kanban based project management alternative to Smartsheet

Trello is a great web-based project management solution based on Kanban that can be used to effectively manage small projects. It allows collaboration between team members, lets multiple teams work on multiple projects at once and improves productivity.

Project Management Tools

Task management

Create cards for each task, assign people to the tasks, color code them to keep track of status, make multiple lists and keep moving cards as tasks get completed, and add deadlines to each task.

Collaboration

Invite team members to project boards, grant access to users, leave comments under tasks on each card, create conversation separate threads for each task.

Document sharing

Instead of sharing documents through email, attach them to a task on a board, leave directions and make them easily accessible to team members.


Pricing

Trello Pricing Plan

Trello is a great tool for individuals as well as teams as it offers different plans for different needs. Freelancers can organize their personal projects easily through the Free plan and manage up to ten project boards.

For bigger teams, the Premium plan is a great choice as it supports up to a hundred members, offers a dashboard view of all your projects in one place, has admin features, and a lot more to suit medium-sized teams.

Why Choose Trello Over Smartsheet?

Trello is an interesting visual tool for small teams that want to manage small projects and does not involve complex formulas like Smartsheet.

Use Trello for free or try its feature-rich plan free for 14 days.

Smartsheet Alternatives FAQ

What is Smartsheet?

Smartsheet is a work management and collaboration developed by Smartsheet Inc that can be used by small to medium-sized teams to manage their projects. 

It is a spreadsheet-based tool and can be accessed through any device. Project teams can use the solution to track project progress, manage calendars, share files and documents, assign tasks, and more.

Is Smartsheet any good?

Smartsheet is a good tool for those who can spend a lot of time learning to use the tool well. There is a relatively steeper learning curve than most other project management software. However, you will not be able to access real-time data through Smartsheet.

You will also have to integrate with several other third-party applications for important project management functions like resource allocation, time tracking, and budgeting. So it is not an all-in-one project management solution.

Is Smartsheet cheaper than its alternatives?

No, Smartsheet is more expensive than most of its alternatives as some of the best project management alternatives to Smartsheet offer free plans. Whereas even for smaller teams or individuals their prices start at $7 a month. 

Its alternatives like Monday.com, Wrike, ClickUp, Teamwork, and many others include free plans that often support unlimited projects and even offer a small storage capacity for shared documents.

What are the drawbacks of Smartsheet?

Smartsheet misses out on some of the most important project management features like time tracking, budgeting and resource allocation. It is also a more expensive tool than most other alternatives that include all these features. 

Also, while teams can collaborate on their spreadsheets, there is a lack of a centralized communication hub. This makes it difficult to keep track of conversations and it can often get quite messy if that is your only mode of communicating with teams about project progress.

Choosing From These Smartsheet Alternatives

Now that you know the wide range of options you have, you are equipped to decide which Smartsheet alternative suits you the best. For different business needs, there are different solutions on our list.

Monday.com tops our list because of the ease of use and flexibility it offers even while handling complex projects.

If you are looking for a project management solution that makes team collaboration and communication easy, some Smartsheet alternatives are Teamwork, Wrike, and Scoro. For remote or global teams there’s Proofhub and Bitrix24.

Medium-sized businesses can choose Celoxis and enterprises can choose Workfront while Zoho Projects is a good cost-effective alternative.

If you are looking for more features than what Smartsheet has to offer, there’s a wide range of options like ClickUp, Hive, Asana, and JIRA.

Whichever alternative you choose, it is always a good idea to read some user reviews so that you know the experience that other users have had with the solution and see if businesses like yours have found the solution useful.

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Martin Luenendonk

Editor at FounderJar

Martin loves entrepreneurship and has helped dozens of entrepreneurs by validating the business idea, finding scalable customer acquisition channels, and building a data-driven organization. During his time working in investment banking, tech startups, and industry-leading companies he gained extensive knowledge in using different software tools to optimize business processes.

This insights and his love for researching SaaS products enables him to provide in-depth, fact-based software reviews to enable software buyers make better decisions.