20 of the Best Smartsheet Alternatives & Competitors for Project Management 2025

Looking for the best Smartsheet alternatives?

While Smartsheet is a capable platform with basic project management features, it has some serious drawbacks.

For starters, Smartsheet is known to be a little clunky when updating or generally managing projects that have a bit of complexity. Secondly, it is an expensive option for agile projects and resource tracking, which you can find in many Smartsheet alternatives.

At its core, Smartsheet follows a spreadsheet format just like Excel. If you want an all-in-one solution to manage your projects, Smartsheet can force you to spend hours digging through cells and columns to find the information you need.

And if you’re not a fan of managing projects through spreadsheets, there are options available! That’s why we’re here—to showcase the best tools that not only help you organize projects but platforms that can do it using different views.

Here are the 20 best Smartsheet alternatives you have to consider (including detailed information on every tool’s main features, pros and cons, pricing, and customer ratings).

Before we get to the alternatives, let’s look a little deeper into why folks are considering moving away from Smartsheet in the first place.

Why to Look for Smartsheet Alternatives?

Via Smartsheet Smartsheet is essentially spreadsheet software . But it can be used for project management. And that’s a major drawback because there’s only so much you can do with this specific view.

Simply put, spreadsheets are impractical for modern project management where—let’s face it—we’re hyper-focused on productivity. If you’re looking for a wall-to-wall solution to help teams improve productivity, Smartsheet isn’t always your best option.

However, if you want to manage massive amounts of data (and dig through it all 😬) or rely on manual data entry to scale enterprise project portfolio management , then this might be your tool. But for most, it’s super inconvenient to work through cells and columns for everything, especially if project collaboration is essential to your organization.

Smartsheet lacks essential collaboration and reporting features to help teams thrive

Collaborative teams just perform better. In fact, survey data shows the No. 1 reason why employees and organizational leaders believe a project had failed was due to poor collaboration.

A comprehensive project management tool needs to be equipped with built-in chat and comment features to keep everyone in the loop. Smartsheet requires more email communication, which causes bottlenecks by having to hunt down information.

Example of planning a campaign in Smartsheet

At the same time, reporting features on project progression are equally as important. But with Smartsheet, you have to input everything manually when creating detailed Gantt charts .

While Smartsheet has a team reporting feature, it’s not very user-friendly. For effective project tracking , you need an easier view by using Velocity, Burnup, and Burndown charts, which you won’t find in Smartsheet.

Smartsheet doesn’t have the time tracking features to balance your resources

Every project manager needs a time tracking feature in their toolbox.

Why?

These project management tools allow teams to be more flexible so they can estimate productivity, implement effective resource management , measure billable time, or roll up time spent across multiple tasks and projects.

So what about Smartsheet?

Unfortunately, Smartsheet doesn’t come with advanced and automatic time tracking features. That means you have no way to determine the time you’ve spent on a particular task.

Smartsheet is one of the more expensive options—even for enterprise organizations

First off, Smartsheet doesn’t offer a Free plan.

The Pro plan starts at $9 per user per month (up to 10 users), while the Business plan is $32 per user per month (minimum of three users). That’s $96 per month for the cheapest Business plan. Smartsheet does offer an Enterprise plan with custom pricing too.

The bottom line, Smartsheet gets expensive without in-depth resource management, multiple project views, and time-tracking features. If you’re using Smartsheet AND another productivity tool in your organization, it might be time to reconsider your options.

The 20 Best Smartsheet Alternatives You Have to Try

1. ClickUp

Visualize your tasks with over 15 views in ClickUp including List, Board, and Calendar

ClickUp is the world’s leading wall-to-wall productivity platform as well as one of the highest-rated tools on the market today. With ClickUp’s powerful reporting, tracking, and collaboration features, you’ll have everything you need.

Here’s why ClickUp is No. 1 in this list of Smartsheet alternatives and how its free version can do more than Smartsheet’s paid plans! ClickUp’s 15-plus customized Views let you visualize your project workspace exactly how you like it.

Whether you want to see a List, Box, Gantt chart, Kanban board, or Calendar, ClickUp is customizable so all your different teams can work from a view that makes sense. Imagine having your sales team in the CRM, the content marketing crew in Kanban, IT in the list view, and your product team in the calendar view—all connected without ever leaving the platform!

Assign comments in tasks or subtasks to teammates in ClickUp so everyone stays informed

Every task in ClickUp has a built-in Comment section for project-relevant discussions. Whether you want to share a file or use Assigned Comments to tag any team member to a task, ClickUp is the ultimate collaborative solution.

And unlike Smartsheet, ClickUp’s built-in Time Tracking feature monitors your team’s work, tracks billable hours, or gathers collected time spent on projects. ClickUp also integrates perfectly with almost any third-party time tracking tool, like Time Doctor , Timely , and Everhour .

ClickUp uses convenient and non-invasive time-tracking features to measure team resources

Key features

• 100+ prebuilt workflow Automation templates: Automate repetitive tasks or customize and build your own automated workflows
  • Drag and drop: Pull any team member profile from the sidebar to assign tasks or move tasks into another status
• Mind Maps: Plan and organize new or existing tasks, ideas, or projects through a highly-visual outline
• Task Checklists: Create checklists within tasks to give projects more details and accountability
• ClickUp Docs: Easily create, assign, tag, and organize Docs into tasks and subtasks so everything stays in one place
• Custom statuses: Not all teams work the same and customizable tags and statuses make it easy to tailor workflows to specific needs

Pros

• Powerful Free Forever Plan with tons of advanced features
• Great for Scrum
  • Visualize your team’s activity levels with detailed reports
• Highly user-friendly UI for fun and easy project management software
  • Custom Permissions
    to keep project stakeholders in the loop
• Powerful Dashboards for better work management
  • Easy to create a project plan and get our list of the best ClickUp alternatives .

Pricing

ClickUp has a free forever plan along with four other pricing options to choose from:

• Free Forever: Unlimited tasks and Free Forever members with 100MB of storage
• Unlimited: $7 per user per month for unlimited dashboards, Gantt Charts, members, integrations, and storage
• Business: $12 per user per month for unlimited teams, Mind Maps, workflow management Basecamp is a project management software and collaboration too l targeted toward small to medium-sized businesses. While Basecamp aims to be a single platform catering to all project needs, it does have some drawbacks though.

Key features

• To-do lists help with managing tasks
• Chat platform (Campfire and Pings) with group chat rooms for real-time communication
• Team reports for detailed overviews of any task or team member
• Hill charts help track project progress in real-time
• Document management feature to keep your paperwork organized

Pros

• Simple interface with a relaxed learning curve
• Easy drag and drop functionality for file sharing
• Handy universal search bar lets you access any information easily
• Hourly auto backups keep your project files secure

Cons

• Doesn’t have advanced features to organize tasks or project budgeting
• No native time tracking features means you have to use third-party integrations
• The Basecamp app isn’t that great with to-do lists
• Project tracking features are only limited to Hill charts

Pricing

Flat $99 per month for unlimited users and unlimited projects with 500 GB of file storage.

Customer ratings

• G2: 4.1/5 (4400+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.3/5 (11900+ reviews)

Check out these Basecamp Alternatives !

3. Asana

Via Asana Asana is a simple project management software solution that’s quite popular among project managers. With an easy-to-use UI and tons of integrations, Asana is a Smartsheet alternative that’s more suited to smaller, simpler projects.

Compare Asana Vs Smartsheet !

Key features

Kanban board !

5. Jira

Via Jira Jira is a bug tracking and project management software solution targeted toward Agile and Scrum teams. Unlike some other tools, you can even use its open-source version for added customizability.

Let’s take a look at why this tool makes the list of top Smartsheet competitors.

Key features

• Powerful Agile views with Scrum
  • Allows third-party integration
• Highly customizable dashboards
• Powerful mobile app to always keep an eye on your projects

• Can manage larger, complex enterprise projects

  Cons

• Hard to set up and configure
• Steep learning curve due to a complex UI
• Expensive paid plan
• No team collaboration features for effective coordination

Pricing

• Free: Up to 10 team members
• Standard: $7 per user per month for 250GB storage and up to 5,000 users
• Premium: $14 per user per month for unlimited storage and up to 5,000 users

Customer ratings

• G2: 4.2/5 (3600+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.4/5 (8900+ reviews)

Check out these Jira alternatives !

6. Wrike

Via Wrike Wrike is another powerful project management software and one of the top Smartsheet alternatives. Its enterprise-level features have made it a popular choice among project managers worldwide.

Here’s why it’s a good Smartsheet alternative:

Key features

• Enterprise-level capabilities
• Powerful analytics to report on projects
• Real-time data collaboration
• Unique three-pane dashboard

Pros

• In-built time tracking
• Tons of integrations with file sharing and social networking apps
• Good customer support

Cons

• The user interface is complicated with a steep learning curve
• The mobile app lacks the functionality of the desktop version
• Cannot assign comments to team members

Pricing

Wrike has three variants to choose from and offers a limited free trial for their Professional plan with no credit card required.

• Free: Up to five members
• Professional: $9.80 per month per user for up to 15 members
• Business app: $24.80 per month per user for up to 200 members

Customer ratings

• G2: 4.2/5 (1000+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.2/5 (1500+ reviews)

Check out these Wrike Alternatives !

7. Workzone

Via Workzone Workzone is a popular project management tool that’s been around since 2000. Its simple project management capabilities make it a great Smartsheet alternative.

Key features

• Simple process management capabilities
• User-friendly UI
• Good collaboration features
• Powerful reporting

Pros

• Simple learning curve for new users
• Software with tons of customizability
• Good customer support

Cons

• Mobile apps for iOS and Android need work
• Limited project views
• Can’t assign comments
• This app has no free version

Pricing

Workzone offers you a 14-day free trial with no credit card needed and has three different account types:

• Team plan: $24 per month per user for 100GB of storage
• Professional plan: $34 per month per user for 150GB of storage
• Enterprise plan: $43 per month per user for 200GB of storage

Customer ratings

• G2: 4.3/5 (30+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.7/5 (120+ reviews)

8. Microsoft Projects

Via Microsoft Microsoft Project, or better known as MS Project, is a spreadsheet platform and one of the market’s oldest and most robust project management tools. You can use MS Project to manage simple projects, but it’s better for complex projects or larger enterprises.

However, one of MS Project’s major drawbacks is the steep learning curve. This tool will not be an ideal fit if you’re looking for a project management tool that lets you hit the ground running.

Key features

• Time-tracking through a timesheet submission feature
• Resource management
• High-level and easy-to-generate custom reports fit for complex projects
• Advanced project budgeting
• Shared team calendars

Pros

• Centralized home screen view to easily access your projects, create new ones or view critical project information
• Supports multiple project management methodologies(agile, waterfall, or hybrid) and workflows (Scrum, Kanban, and even custom workflows)
• Allows detailed task descriptions
• Ms Project integrates seamlessly with other tools in Microsoft 365

Cons

• Steep learning curve since the tool is devised for advanced project managers
• Does not support popular integrations such as Zapier or SalesForce
• Lacks interactive dashboards
• Expensive and often confusing pricing models

Pricing

Microsoft Project offers two pricing features. There’s the cloud-based pricing model and the on-premise pricing model.

Cloud-based solution

• Project Plan 1: $10 per user per month
• Project Plan 3: $30 per user per month
• Project Plan 5: $55 per user per month

On-premise solution

• Project Standard 2021: One-time payment of $679.99
• Project Professional 2021: One-time payment of $1,129.99
• Project Server: Custom pricing available on request

Customer ratings

• G2: 4.0/5 (1,500+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.4/5 (1,300+ reviews)

Check out these Microsoft Projects Alternatives !

9. Google Sheets

Example of a Google Sheets schedule template

One of the more simple Smartsheet alternatives is Google Sheets. It’s a free spreadsheet tool by Google with various uses such as data management and even project management. Google Sheets was built with the same concept as Excel, but it’s simpler and has a cleaner interface.

While it is free, Google Sheets has many drawbacks as a project management tool. It might not be a good fit if you’re looking for a robust tool to handle modern project management.

Key features

• Real-time team collaboration in Google Drive by handling up to 100 users in a doc at a time
• Project templates such as project plans, time trackers, and project timelines
• Gantt charts to track project progress
• Advanced data analysis through pivot tables, conditional formatting, and data validation

Pros

• Free 15 GB per user
• Easy and straightforward to use
• Detailed user guides to help you if you’re stuck
• Cloud-based software, which ensures projects are easily accessible at all times
• Free to use

Cons

• Google Sheets doesn’t support attachments such as photos
• By default, Google Sheets is not a project management tool
• Google Sheets doesn’t allow you to assign tasks natively from the app
• Building project dashboards on Google Sheets means jumping through various hoops and making manual updates
• Lacks support for long-form documentation
• Lacks native time tracking

Pricing

• Free: Limited storage space
• Google Workspace Package: $12 per user per month with 1TB of storage space per user

Customer ratings

• G2: 4.7/5 (39,000+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.7/5 (12,000+ reviews)

Check out these Google Sheets Alternatives !

10. Podio

Via Podio At its core, Podio is a low-code tool to help businesses customize work and communication. How exactly does Podio fit as a project management tool? Well, Podio lets you align all your project data, conversations, and workflows into a central hub for collaboration.

Key features

• Central Admin portal to help you control roles and set access permissionsIn-built communication tools !

15. Workfront

Via Wo rkfront Workfront is an online system to manage work across your organization. Furthermore, of the Smartsheet alternatives, this database platform ensures executives receive real-time communication about projects, resources, and people.

Key features

• Real-time notifications and custom smart forms to facilitate seamless collaboration
• Decisioning dashboards to plan, implement and review projects and tasks
• Resource management functionality to ensure projects are completed on time and within budgets
• Process automation to save time and scale faster
• Streamlined approval workflows to uphold company standards
• Automatic versioning and comment tracking

Pros

• Real-time reports to keep everyone updated across the board
• Advanced role and permission levels for large enterprises
• Super customizable to fit organizations of all forms
• Awesome proofing tools for robust projects and advanced workflows

Cons

• Long-winded process of learning to use the software effectively
• Not as intuitive, resulting in a lot of repetitive steps and process
• The mobile app can be clunky and slow

Pricing

All of Workfront’s pricing plans are custom with different features and add-ons.

• Enterprise:Premium API and integrations, enhanced security, and advanced support
• Business: Premium integrations, enhanced analytics, and unlimited reviewers
• Pro: Resource management, demand management, content review, and approval

Customer ratings

• G2: 4.1/5 (800+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.7/5 (2,000+ reviews)

Check out these Workfront alternatives !

16. Celoxis

Via Celoxis Celoxis combines modern agile trends, customization functionality, and workflow automation so its project management features remain flexible. This Spreadsheets alternative is detail-oriented with powerful dashboards and reporting capabilities to fit teams of any kind.

Key features

• Project request tracking through custom fields
• Automatic project scheduling and project dependencies One of the more popular Smartsheet alternatives is Zoho Projects . This tool has cloud-based project management features and is a part of Zoho Suite. The online tool combines task management, collaboration, and project workflow automation to create a potent project management software.

Key features

• Cloud document management
• Gantt charts and kanban boards to track dependencies and review project progress
• Multiplatform support for seamless use across devices
• Timesheets to track project team’s project hours
• Email alerts to keep team members in the loop
• Pages to document all your project information

Pros

• Seamless integrations with third-party apps
• In-built chat for easy communication and quick project updates
  • Team Forums with the option to arrange discussions into folders

Cons

• Cumbersome integration with other Zoho tools
• Overwhelming and complicated user interface
• Lacks dedicated customer support

Pricing

Zoho has one of the most straightforward pricing models on this list.

• Free
• Premium: $5 per user per month
• Enterprise: $10 per user per month

Customer ratings

• G2: 4.2/5 (200+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.3/5 (200+ reviews)

18. Scoro

Via Scoro Scoro is a work management software that avails crucial project data to help your team scale faster. This work management tool also automates billing and resource utilization . More importantly, of the Smartsheet alternatives in this list, Scoro features an inbuilt CRM to ease billing and revenue forecasting.

Key features

• A collaborative platform for projects of all kinds
• Drag and drop planner, Kanban task boards to plan tasks
• A real-time Gantt chart to track dependencies, tasks, and progress
• Automation of routine tasks with automatic notifications and deadline reminders
• In-built CRM

Pros

• Lots of customization options to fit your organization’s needs
• High-level reports with a single click

Cons

• Recurring tasks are not integrated into the overall workflow, which can cause task clashing during execution
• Planner feature requires manual tracking to prevent missing a time entry deadline

Pricing

• Essential:$26 per user per month
• Standard: $37 per user per month
• Pro: $63 per user per month
• Ultimate: Custom pricing

Customer ratings

• G2: 4.5/5 (300+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.6/5 (170+ reviews)

19. nTask

Via nTask Also making our list of the best Smartsheet alternatives is nTask. Of the best project management tools, nTask focuses on task and issue-monitoring for a wide variety of teams. This tool is not only lightweight, but it offers robust features to track tasks in real-time.

Features

• Drag and drop Kanban boards for easy task prioritization
• Pre-built templates to get you started
• Project and task linkages to create automated workflows
• Issue tracking and issue status assignment
• Meeting management
• Risk management with the help of a risk matrix and mitigation updates
• Native time tracking

Pros

• Bulk team invites to save time
• Dedicated workspaces for a cleaner UI
• Task comments to enhance real-time collaboration
• Automatic timer to keep track of team member’s contribution

Cons

• Buggy task sorting options
• Limited and basic features in the free version
• Limited integrations

Pricing

• Basic: Free for 100MB storage and up to 5 team members
• Premium: $3 per month per user for 5GB storage
• Business: $8 per month per user for 10GB storage
• Enterprise: Custom pricing for 100GB storage

Ratings and Reviews

• G2: 4.4/5 (10+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.2/5 (90+ reviews)

20. Airtable

Via Airtable Primarily, Airtable is a spreadsheet and database management software. But, with a few customizations, you can convert the platform into a project management tool. One upside of Airtable is how versatile it is. It’s more of a blank canvas that can fit any team, project, use, and organization with well-structured modifications.

Key features

• Custom views including spreadsheet, kanban, gallery, and calendar views
• Pre-made templates for quick set-up
• Document storage starting at 2GB per user

Pros

• Multiple calendar customization options
• Pretty versatile for various projects and uses
• Airtable databases allow complex data manipulation, analysis, and storage
• Easy collaboration and customization of project boards
• Easy import of Excel data

Cons

• Automation stops working when you reach limits
• Inability to add comments on specific cells
• Lacks automatic updates of tasks
• Incomprehensive permission levels
• Stripped-down functionalities in the mobile app

Pricing

• Free: Unlimited bases and up to 5 creators or editors
• Plus: $10 per user per month
• Pro: $20 per user per month
• Enterprise: Custom pricing

Customer ratings

• G2: 4.6/5 (1,400+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.7/5 (1,300+ reviews)

Check out these Airtable Alternatives !

Try ClickUp! The Best Smartsheet Alternative

While Smartsheet could help you, it’s hardly the best solution to rely on for its project management features.

Why settle for a spreadsheet when you have a project management tool designed to give you options and the customization to fit all your teams?

In steps ClickUp. Not only does ClickUp offer all these features that the other tools have, but it brings more to the table with Task Priorities, Resource Management, Dependencies, and much more.

The best part is most of the ClickUp features mentioned here are 100% FREE and super-fun to use!

So sign up with ClickUp today and take your productivity to the next level!