What Is Smartsheet? Uses, Features and Pricing

What is Smartsheet? It’s a popular project management software that takes the familiarity of a spreadsheet and tries to super-size it. This is a smart move. Most businesses use spreadsheets but complain about their complexity and limitations when it comes to work management.

But when asking, “What is Smartsheet?” do users get the answers they want if they’re looking for project management software? That’s the question we’re posing and will explore in depth to find the answer.

What Is Smartsheet?

Smartsheet is cloud-based work and project management software designed for small and large teams. It uses the familiarity of the spreadsheet-like interface of its software to organize work. But, unlike Excel spreadsheets or Google Sheets, Smartsheet has more tools that work together so teams can track projects.

What is Smartsheet? It’s a tool that helps projects plan more effectively, making teams more productive, which delivers projects faster. It can take a project from inception to completion, assigning tasks, organizing calendars, collaborating with team members on documents and monitoring progress. That is, if users can clear the steep learning curve.

For those looking for a project management software tool that has Smartsheet’s features and more, plus doesn’t take forever to figure out how to use, there’s ProjectManager. Our award-winning software has more comprehensive project and portfolio management tools, at a better price point with integrated resource and risk management features. It’s a lot more value for the money. Get started with ProjectManager today for free.

Import Smartsheet data into ProjectManager — ProjectManager offers robust project management features in modern, easy-to-use software. Learn more

Smartsheet Project Views

Before we showed how ProjectManager beats Smartsheet at its own game, it’s only fair to give it a chance to defend itself. What is Smartsheet in terms of project views? Just like ProjectManager, Smartsheet has multiple project views, but they’re not as dynamic. Here’s a simple rundown of those project views.

Timeline View: Organizes data in groups on a timeline.
Board View: Displays work on cards in vertical, dynamic lanes.
Grid View: Data is shown in a spreadsheet.
Gantt View: Spreadsheet to the left captures data, which is displayed on the right on a timeline.
Calendar View: Data displayed over a week or month grid.

Smartsheet Project Features

What is Smartsheet feature-wise? Let’s look at the tools it has to help project managers and their teams do their work more efficiently. The following are the key features that Smartsheet offers.

Project Management: Smartsheet has the basic components needed to plan and manage projects, such as Gantt charts, timelines and the multiple views listed above.
Task Tracking: There are also workload tracking and activity tracking that can be used to identify availability, monitor tasks and resolve overallocation, however, the software lacks live time tracking.
Collaboration: It has real-time collaboration and content collaboration for teams and stakeholders.
Automation: Workflow automation and data entry help manage tasks and goals.
Reporting: Real-time reports provide project data for better decision-making.
Integrations: The software integrates with other apps, such as Microsoft Office 365, Google G-Suite and DocuSign.
Customizability: There are customizable templates and other customization capabilities.

Plans and Pricing

When it comes down to the bottom line, most will focus on the price. What is Smartsheet pricing? It comes in several different plans, with different features. The features that are more essential for project management will end up sending users to the most expensive subscriptions. Here’s a quick overview of Smartsheet plans and pricing.

Pro Plan: $12 per user/month, billed annually
Business Plan: $24 per user/month, billed annually
Enterprise: Contact sales

While those prices might seem competitive, remember that Smartsheet isn’t built for project management. It lacks the features of a robust project portfolio management system and for resource management and capacity planning, users are going to have to purchase add-ons for hundreds of dollars over the basic plan pricing. What is Smartsheet? It’s not ideal project management software for the price, but there are Smartsheet alternatives that deliver what project managers and their teams want.

ProjectManager is award-winning project and portfolio management software with all the features Smartsheet does, but better. For example, Smartsheet has dashboards, but users have to build them, which is cumbersome and time-consuming. Our real-time project and portfolio dashboards automatically collect live data and display it in easy-to-read graphs and charts that capture key performance indicators (KPIs) such as time, cost, workload and more.

There are dashboards to monitor a single project or, unlike Smartsheet, a program or portfolio of projects, which provide an instant status report. Plus, customizable reports can be filtered and shared to focus on what’s important in greater detail. Get started with ProjectManager today for free.

ProjectManager's portfolio dashboard — ProjectManager doesn’t make you work for great real-time project or portfolio dashboards. Learn more

Pros and Cons of Smartsheet

Let’s give Smartsheet a fair shake. It’s not perfect, but there are advantages and disadvantages to using the software. Here are some pros and cons of using Smartsheet for project management.

Pros

Spreadsheet-like interface is one that most customers are familiar with
Collaborative work management features for sharing information with coworkers
Highly customizable for users to create their solutions or use templates
Multiple project views, including kanban, Gantt chart and calendar
Supports automation, scalable for various team sizes
Efficient task management tools set deadlines and track progress
Automation for features, such as workflow, and formulas to streamline processes

Cons

Difficult to learn with an interface that is difficult for those unfamiliar with spreadsheets, also focuses too much on spreadsheets
No backup files and version control doesn’t work if multiple people are editing the same file at once
Limited features, especially the advanced ones project managers and their teams need, and relying heavily on complex formulas.
Lacks real-time time tracking
Project views, such as the Gantt chart, spreadsheets and kanban boards, lack customizable features
Limited integration with only a small number of third-party applications
Resource management and capacity planning add-ons are very expensive
Reporting tools are limited, which makes insightful analysis difficult
Dashboard is difficult to build and doesn’t support views filtered by group
Too simple for those seeking an enterprise solution
Sheet views with too many rows and collaborators are too large and frustrating to use

FAQ

For the final section, let’s look at some frequently asked questions about Smartsheet.

Is Smartsheet free?

Yes and no. There are two types of Smartsheet users: a licensed and a free one. The licensed user pays a subscription fee and can create sheets, reports and dashboards to share with teams. The free user can view and edit the items that have been shared but can’t create their own without a license.

Does Smartsheet have a free trial?

Yes, there is a free 30-day trial where users can see if the software is a good fit. The free 30-day trial gives users access to the business plan’s suite of features.

Does Smartsheet work on Mac?

Yes, Smartsheet works on Macs and PCs. Smartsheet is software as a service (SaaS) and is an online application that works on any browser for Mac or PC.

Does Smartsheet have a mobile app?

Yes, Smartsheet has a mobile app for Android and iOS, though it has less functionality than the online version.

ProjectManager Is the Best Smartsheet Alternative

What is Smartsheet? Maybe not the project management software it claims to be. It can manage work and collaboration, but then so can a whole lot of other software products. What differentiates it from the rest? Spreadsheets. Wasn’t project management software created as a tool that can plan, manage and track projects more efficiently than Excel spreadsheets? For those who are running projects, big and small, regardless of whether they’re traditional waterfall or done in an agile environment, ProjectManager is the choice of project managers and their teams across industries as diverse as construction, manufacturing, IT, professional services and many others. Our mobile app for Android and iOS makes it simple to log hours wherever the team is working. And there’s more.

Plan and Manage Projects With Multiple Views

Smartsheet has multiple project views, but users will find them lacking. Our software has powerful tools, such as Gantt charts that can link all four types of task dependencies, filter for the critical path and then set a baseline to track the planned effort against the actual effort in real time. This avoids costly delays, identifies essential tasks and keeps projects on schedule and budget. Then those plans can be shared with teams, who can use robust task lists or kanban boards to manage their work. Stakeholders can view the calendar for an overview of progress to keep them informed and manage their expectations.

Manage Resources, Track Time and Labor Costs

Don’t pay an arm and a leg for Smartsheet’s resource management add-ons, this feature comes with the plan. First, managers can set team availability when they’re onboarded. That makes it easy to see who has PTO, vacation time or if it’s a global holiday when making assignments. Then view the team page or the color-coded workload chart to view resource allocation. From those pages, balance the team’s workload and keep everyone working at capacity, which makes them more productive without risking burnout. Unlike Smartsheet, we have time tracking with secure timesheets that show how far each team member has gone in completing their tasks. It also offers visibility into labor costs to stay on budget.