Top 10 Smartsheet Alternatives & Competitors for Advanced Project Management in 2023

AFFiNE
9 min readOct 31, 2023

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Do you find it demanding to use the same intricate project management tool?

Are you looking for a fresh and efficient alternative to Smartsheet?

Are you ready to take your project management skills to the next level in 2023?

Look no further! In this article, we have curated a list of 10 sensational Smartsheet alternatives that not only offer advanced features but also provide flexible pricing options. Whether you’re a seasoned professional seeking advanced features or a budding event planner looking for user-friendly options that revolutionize the way you handle projects, we’ve got the perfect alternatives to Smartsheet that boost your productivity and streamline your workflow.

What is Smartsheet?

Smartsheet is a popular project management tool that describes itself as a “work execution platform.” Introduced in 2006, with a major redesign in 2010, the platform serves as a single systematic and flexible solution for all the task management needs of a team. This web-based application is best known for its unique use of project management spreadsheets.

However, working through cells and columns to manage complex projects that require collaboration may prove inconvenient and ineffective. While Smartsheet has been a popular choice for many teams, it’s always good to explore other options and see what else is out there.

Pros and Cons of Smartsheet

Smartsheet’s user interface is relatively straightforward and it won’t take long to get the hang of it, especially for those with experience in Microsoft Excel. The design is clear and sleek though some may find it plain. Nevertheless, this ensures that you won’t be hindered from concentrating on what matters most — getting the job done!

Pros of Smartsheet

  • Easy to pick up
  • Does more than just project management
  • Time tracking
  • Real-time chat

Cons of Smartsheet

  • Complexity involved in setting up more complex workflows or automation
  • Limited integration options
  • Expense
  • Sluggish performance
  • Inadequate reporting
  • Limited data security

While there are both pros and cons associated with using Smartsheet as a project management solution; ultimately whether it’s suitable for your organization will depend on your specific requirements and preferences.

2023 Top 10 Smartsheet Alternatives You Have to Try

1. AFFiNE

AFFiNE is an innovative and comprehensive task management software designed to help you organize, manage, and collaborate on tasks, projects, and information, as well as streamline your workflow. As a next-generation knowledge base, AFFiNE combines the best features of popular apps like Smartsheet and Miro into one powerful, time-saving, and user-friendly platform. It focuses on data security, privacy, and collaboration, making it the perfect choice for managing your daily plans, personal knowledge repository, and team projects.

Key features:

  1. Local-first design: AFFiNE prioritizes data security and privacy, ensuring your data remains stored on your local device unless you actively delete it.
  • Powerful search functionality: Quickly locate the documents, tags, or actions you want with a modern search app that can handle multiple workspaces and pages.
  • Time tracking and goal setting: Use AFFiNE’s built-in features to track your time spent on tasks and set goals to improve your productivity.
  • Open-source: As an open-source app, you can access AFFiNE’s code, allowing for customization and the ability to deploy the server on your own computer or data center. Here are some quick views of what you can do with AFFiNE’s core features

2. Shifting between two modes: You start on the whiteboard, freely connecting and arranging your thoughts, creating a visual representation of your workflow-Best for roadmap creation!

  • Powerful edgeless mode: Easily create, organize, and track your daily tasks like never before. Say goodbye to complex processes and welcome an unprecedented ease-of-use way.
  • Multiple tools: Visualize and connect your daily tasks smoothly with a better cartoon-style shape, slick pen, and connectors. No constraints. Limited only by your imagination.

Price: Free

AFFiNE is a fantastic, completely FREE task management app that welcomes everyone to experience its powerful features, making it a delightful surprise for those seeking a comprehensive solution for their daily task management needs.

  • Come and check out our latest beta version, enjoy your creative moments.
  • For more things related to AFFiNE, come and check out our website: AFFiNE — All In One KnowledgeOS
  • Wanna try it online: https://app.affine.pro/

2. ClickUp

ClickUp is a versatile project management tool that offers a wide range of features to help teams stay organized and collaborate effectively. With its user-friendly interface and customizable workflow options, ClickUp has become a popular alternative to Smartsheet. ClickUp helps teams of all sizes and across industries manage projects, create complex roadmap templates, and optimize processes.

Key features:

  1. Task Creation and Assignment
  2. Effortless Workflow Updates
  3. Real-time Communication

Pros and Cons:

Price:

Free Trial: Available

Starting from: $9.00/month

Pricing model: Free, Subscription

3. Monday.com

Monday.com provides you with all of the no-code building blocks so you can shape your workflows, your way. With Monday.com, you can run every aspect of your work by layering industry-specific products on top of the Work OS. Combine building blocks, like apps and integrations, to customize anything you need to improve the way your business runs.

Key features:

  1. Intuitive Project Management
  2. Workflow Automation
  3. Extensive Integrations

Pros and Cons

Price:

Free forever plan: Up to 2 seats, after which pricing scales based on the number of seats, as well as functionality needed.

Paid plans: Start at $10/seat/month, billed monthly, for the Basic plan and include a minimum of 3 seats.

4. Miro

Miro is a versatile and collaborative tool that brings visual collaboration to the forefront of project management. With its intuitive interface and extensive range of features, Miro empowers teams to brainstorm, plan, organize, and execute projects seamlessly.

Key features:

  1. Collaborative Whiteboarding
  2. Agile Framework Support
  3. Integration Ecosystem

Pros and Cons

Price:

Free Plan: Includes unlimited team members, three editable boards, core integrations, premade templates, and basic attention management.

Team Plan: ($8 per member, per month): Provides unlimited boards, unlimited visitors, custom templates, project management, and private boards.

5. Wrike

Wrike is a powerful project management solution that provides advanced features like Gantt charts, workload management, and custom dashboards. It is designed to cater to more complex projects and offers a high level of configuration to adapt to various business processes. Wrike also supports integrations with popular third-party tools, allowing for a more streamlined workflow.

Key features:

  1. Customizable Dashboards
  2. Workload Charts for Resource Management
  3. Time Tracking Support

Pros and Cons

Price: Wrike has a free plan for startups and as your team grows, they have plans starting at $9.80/user/month.

6. ProofHub

ProofHub is a powerful project management software that offers advanced features to streamline your workflow and improve collaboration. With its user-friendly interface, you can easily manage tasks, deadlines, and resources in one centralized platform.

Key features:

  1. To-Do Lists
  2. Custom Workflows and Kanban Boards
  3. Gantt Charts

Pro and Cons

Price:

Starting from: $99.00/month

Pricing model: Free, Subscription

Free Trial: Available | (No Credit Card required)

7. Trello

Because of its focus on project management, Trello is also among the finest communication tools for distributed teams. You can see the large picture of all your projects at once thanks to the Kanban view it employs. If you open the card for a certain project, you can see where it stands. By creating a board for each undertaking, you will be able to do more than ever before.

Key features:

  1. Set Reminders
  2. Kanban Board View
  3. Assign Tasks

Pros and Cons

Price: Trello has a free version

Standard: $5.00 per user per month

Premium: $10 per user per month

Enterprise: Pricing starts at $17.50 per user per month (starting for 250 users, billed annually)

8. Asana

Asana is a comprehensive project management platform that offers a robust feature set for task management and team collaboration. It provides various views, such as a list, board, calendar, and timeline, to help teams stay organized and track progress. Asana also includes automation capabilities and integrates with numerous third-party tools.

Key features:

  • Kanban board for easy workflow management
  • File sharing and task comments for better team collaboration
  • Advanced task management features with subtasks and checklists
  • Powerful project overviews for better resource management

Pros and Cons

Price:

Basic: Free

Premium: $10.99 per user, per month (billed annually) or $13.49 per user, per month (billed monthly)

Business: $24.99 per user, per month (billed annually) or $30.49 per user, per month (billed monthly)

Enterprise: Contact Asana for pricing information.

9. Scoro

Your team can scale faster using Scoro’s work management software by accessing crucial project data. In addition to automating billing and resource usage, Scoro has an inbuilt CRM to simplify billing and revenue forecasting. Of the Smartsheet alternatives on this list, Scoro has the best inbuilt CRM.

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

Pros and Cons

Price:

14-day free trial, no credit card required.

Essential: $26 per user, per month.

Standard: $37 per user, per month

Pro: $63 per user, per month.

Ultimate: Contact Scoro for pricing.

10. Workzone

Having been around since 2000, Workzone is a great Smartsheet alternative thanks to its simple project management capabilities. With its user-friendly interface, Workzone makes it easy for teams of all sizes to stay organized and on track.

Key features:

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

Pros and Cons

Price: 14-day free trial with no credit card needed and has three different account types

Which Smartsheet Alternative offers the best solution?

While each of the wonderful Smartsheet alternative discussed offers its own unique and appealing features, we encourage users to choose the ideal option based on their specific needs and pain points. However, with a humble perspective, we still propose that AFFiNE emerges as the ultimate winner in this evaluation, providing a comprehensive and versatile solution for managing daily tasks and goals, catering to a wide range of user requirements.

AFFiNE is still in its beta, but we are continuing to build to a more feature-rich and stable build. Come and join us on our journey over on our media platforms.

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AFFiNE

AFFiNE is the Next-Gen Knowledge Base to Replace Notion & Miro: affine.pro