Detailed Overview of 10 Smartsheet Competitors

GanttPRO Gantt chart maker
GanttPRO
Published in
6 min readAug 9, 2024

Many project managers know that Smartsheet improves the way how businesses collaborate and manage projects. While it seamlessly integrates spreadsheets’ familiarity with the dynamism of project management tools, popular Smartsheet competitors are not far behind in this race to advance productivity.

Modern PM tools bring their unique flair to the stage, vying for dominance in the realm of work management. As we delve deeper into the intricacies of these platforms, we uncover how each tool shapes the future of work, catering to diverse needs and redefining efficiency.

Let’s explore the leading competitors of Smartsheet and select the winner.

Smartsheet for project management

Key reasons for leaving Smartsheet

Project teams typically seek available Smartsheet competitors due to the limitations mentioned below:

  • Lack of features for advanced portfolio management. There is no advanced portfolio management in Smartsheet. It frustrates users who try to organize and control multiple projects.
  • Customization issues. Users find Smartsheet’s customization options restrictive. It makes it difficult to tailor workflows and dashboards to specific needs.
  • Weak collaboration. Users miss professional real-time collaboration features like real-time notifications or instant messaging.
  • Performance issues. Complex projects or extensive data can cause performance lags and slower processing times, hindering team efficiency.
  • Lack of integration. Users find Smartsheet’s integration capabilities limited or not seamless enough.
  • Mobile apps. Smartsheet’s mobile apps lack full functionality, which can be a drawback for those relying on mobile devices.
  • Pricing. Smartsheet’s pricing can be expensive, especially for small to medium-sized teams.
  • Poor analytics. Smartsheet’s basic analytics fall short for users who need advanced data analysis and visualization.

Do not endure these limitations and inconveniences and choose a more powerful tool from our list below.

Top PM tools that can be considered excellent Smartsheet competitors

Let’s evaluate leading nline competitors of Smartsheet and define their advantages that can encourage you to move to a new tool.

✔️ GanttPRO

Best for: professional project planning and scheduling using a Gantt chart

Pricing: starts at $7.99 user/month (billed annually).

Free trial: yes.

Top-5 features:

  • Advanced project planning.
  • Portfolio management.
  • Resource allocation.
  • Workload management.
  • Deadline control.

GanttPRO is a top competitor of Smartsheet. The well-known Gantt chart software offers a more professional, multifunctional online solution ideal for project managers and teams of any size. It overcomes Smartsheet’s limitations with advanced capabilities in project planning and work management.

GanttPRO excels in scheduling tasks, allocating resources, enhancing collaboration, and balancing workloads. It caters to various fields like software development, retail, construction, manufacturing, and creative events.

The platform provides pre-made Gantt chart templates for an easy start, making it highly competitive. Besides a Gantt diagram, it includes a handy calendar, user-friendly lists, and boards. A robust knowledge base with tutorials and articles supports users.

Market trends show demand for advanced visualization, task automation, and versatility, all of which GanttPRO meets. Its expanding functionality and growing list of awards make it a top choice for successful teams and ambitious projects.

GanttPRO as Smartsheet competitor

✔️ Google Sheets

Best for: users who seek interface simplicity and similar features

Pricing: starts at $6 user/month (billed annually).

Free trial: yes.

Top-5 features:

  • Project task management and planning.
  • Handy spreadsheets.
  • Reporting and analytics.
  • Document management.
  • Offline editing.

Smartsheet and Google Sheets share many similarities. They’ve evolved into full-fledged platforms for collaboration and management known all over the world.

Google Sheets, familiar to most spreadsheet users, allows data manipulation and calculations within columns and rows. It saves work to Google Drive, ensuring data is never lost, and supports real-time collaboration, enabling multiple users to edit documents simultaneously.

The transition to Google Sheets is quick and easy for most users. They can represent tasks in calendars and create Gantt charts, with basic methods available for free and advanced options in some paid versions. The tool also provides pre-made templates for generating new spreadsheets.

Google Sheets as Smartsheet competitor

Also read: Google Sheets Gantt charts

✔️ ClickUp

Best for: startups and small teams.

Pricing: starts at $7 user/month (billed annually).

Free trial: yes.

Top-5 features:

  • Simple task management.
  • Calendar management.
  • Handy timelines.
  • Prioritization.
  • Document management.

When choosing a Smartsheet competitor, teams often need software without extended functionality

ClickUp offers essential basic project management and collaboration tools with enough flexibility. Users like its online timelines for clear deadlines and automatic progress tracking.

The platform helps businesses and individuals create visibility, track shared goals, and simplify cross-functional teamwork. After testing a few features, we found it ideal for short-term projects. Its basic PM features are suitable for small businesses and startups. It excellently promotes collaboration and task organization.

Test its ability to plan tasks, allocate assets, tag people, and more. Features like in-app chat and streamlined task approvals with clients are also available.

ClickUp as Smartsheet competitor

✔️ Hive

Best for: complex projects and large business teams

Pricing: starts at $5 user/month (billed annually).

Free trial: yes.

Top-5 features:

  • Multiple project views.
  • Workflow automation.
  • Time tracking.
  • Team collaboration.
  • PM templates.

Now let’s consider Hive — a notable competitor of Smartsheet in project management. This tool offers flexible project views, advanced integrations, and features like project timesheets, boards, resource allocation, analytics, and automation.

The software has gained the trust of many teams and departments due to its comprehensive and scalable nature. As companies grow and need powerful tools for work planning and organization, many turn to Hive for its ability to handle complex project activities.

Hive also enhances cross-team communication, allowing organizations to collaborate in one central location. It makes the tool a reliable Smartsheet competitor for enterprise project management.

Hive a sSmartsheet competitor

✔️ Airtable

Best for: teams that want to get an extended template library

Pricing: starts at $20 user/month (billed annually).

Free trial: yes

Top-5 features:

  • Project planning.
  • Several project views.
  • Calendar management.
  • Real-time notifications.
  • Automatic backup.

Airtable is also a flexible project management tool that can be titled a good Smartsheet competitor.

It has evolved from a simple spreadsheet system to a robust PM platform that helps teams and individuals manage every project stage. Users can customize workflows and view tasks with calendars, boards, grids, galleries, and forms.

Airtable integrates with many third-party apps and popular project management platforms, offering a free plan with basic features. It is a popular choice among creative teams, digital agencies, and marketing specialists.

Templates in Airtable are professionally designed and customizable. They suit various industries, including marketing, design, legal, real estate, and media. Filtering and sorting features enhance their usability.

Airtable as Smartsheet competitor

What do you think about these Smartsheet competitors?

Would you like to explore 5 more available tools that can replace Smartsheet?

You can do it by delving into the full version of this article: https://blog.ganttpro.com/en/smartsheet-competitors/.

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