Smartsheet vs Monday.com

If you are seeking software to help your development team manage projects and boost productivity, smartsheet other Monday.com are two solid options. Which is the better pick than PM software? We will help you decide that by taking a closer look at the features and pros and cons of Smartsheet and Monday.com, plus how they differ.

Before we begin looking at the differences between Smartsheet and Monday.com: are you looking to become a certified project manager? If so, we have a list of the Top Project Management Certifications to help you get started.

Smartsheet Project Management Features

Smartsheet is a project management solution that helps software development teams of all sizes manage workflows and collaborate so they can increase productivity and stay on the same page. Who can Smartsheet appeal to right out of the box? Spreadsheet users who are familiar with products like Google Sheets and Excel, as Smartsheet uses the spreadsheet format as its foundation. Where Smartsheet differs from typical spreadsheet software is a host of features that can help you manage tasks and projects, such as these:

Multiple views for visualizing and tracking your work (grid, card, calendar, Gantt)
Team and outsider collaboration through conversations, forms that collect feedback, reminders, e-signatures, and the ability to send rows from a sheet or reports via email
A notification center
Tasks with file attachments
Sharing with permission levels
Time tracking
Shareable workspaces
An activity log to track changes
resource management
Baselines for team accountability and keeping projects on track
Reports you can share and publish
Workflow automation to save time from having to complete recurring tasks manually
Integrations with over 100 apps

How Much Does Smartsheet Cost?

Smartsheet offers free trials, but it does not have a Free forever plan. The Pro plan costs $7 per user, per month with annual billing. Teams can use it to track and manage their projects with such features as unlimited viewers, unlimited sheets, 20GB of storage, multiple views, forms, dashboards, reports, up to 10 editors, and 250 monthly automations.

To unlock Smartsheet’s more advanced features and unlimited editors, you will need to pay $25 per user, per month for the Business plan. It gives you all of the Pro plan’s features plus an activity log, unlimited automations, publishable dashboards, reports, and sheets, 1TB of storage, and Smartsheet training.

Smartsheet’s final offering is the Enterprise plan, which has custom pricing and gives you added perks like single sign-on, custom email domains, unlimited storage, and a dedicated manager.

Smartsheet Pros and Cons

Like any other project management tool, Smartsheet has its pros and cons. Here they are:

Smartsheet Project Management Pros for Developers:

User-friendly for those familiar with Excel and spreadsheets
Multiple views to cater to different needs
Customizable and scalable
Drag and drop makes it easy to create automations
Simplified, real-time reporting
Forecasting and budgeting capabilities
Various collaboration tools
Solid security

Smartsheet Project Management Cons for Developers:

Lack of a free plan (although there are free trials)
Monthly costs can get high with some premium plans
No integrated time tracking
Non-spreadsheet users may take some time to navigate their way around the software
Spreadsheet format is not for everyone
Not ideal for managing complex projects
Does not fit all project management methodologies (Agile software development teamsfor example, will miss Kanban boards)

You can learn more about Smartsheet by reading our Smartsheet Project Management Review.

Monday.com Project Management Features

Monday.com is a tool that not only helps software developers manage projects, but also marketing and sales teams, designers, operations, and more. It is one of the most highly-rated PM software solutions around, and much of that is thanks to such features as:

A user-friendly interface
Time-saving custom automations
Multiple views for visualizing tasks and progress (Kanban, Gantt, calendar, timeline, form, map, and workload)
30-plus column types to customize projects
Linkable boards and file attachments for streamlining tasks
Customizable dashboards
Pre-built, customizable templates to get started with minimal setup
Out of the box time tracking
Workdocs that create seamless workflows
File storage, sharing, and organizing
Integrations with popular apps like Gmail, Zoom, and Slack

How Much Does Monday.com Cost?

One of the biggest advantages Monday.com holds over Smartsheet is that it has an Individual plan that is free forever. The Basic plan costs $8 per seat, per month for teams looking to get started with PM software and manage their projects without having to switch between apps.

The standard plan costs $10 per seat, per month and helps teams optimize their collaboration and processes. For $16 per seat, per month, you can get the Pro plan that helps you run complex workflows and streamline projects. And, if you need enterprise-grade features, Monday.com has an Enterprise plan with custom pricing.

Monday.com Pros and Cons

Monday.com has its fair share of strengths and weaknesses. Here are its pros and cons that may make you a fan of the PM software or push you towards Smartsheet:

Project Management Pros of Monday.com for Developers:

Easy to use interface
Free forever plan
Time tracking without the need for integrations
Plenty of integrations if you need them
Several views
Pre-built templates can fit different organizational needs and limit the need for slow startup
24/7 support and plenty of video tutorials for getting acquainted with Monday.com’s features

Project Management Cons of Monday.com for Developers:

Task dependencies are limited
Collaboration can get confusing when several team members are commenting
Limited reporting
Expense tracking can be difficult
Sluggish performance at times
Some widely-used or desired features (such as time tracking) are only available with Monday.com’s more expensive plans
Teams with many members (aka seats) may find the pricing structure to be too costly

You can learn more by reading our Monday.com Project Management Tool Review.

What is the Difference Between Smartsheet And Monday.com?

Although you have now seen what Smartsheet and Monday.com have to offer and their pricing, pros, and cons, you are probably wondering how they differ, as that can make it easier to pick between the two. For starters, Smartsheet lacks integrated time tracking, although you can add that feature via third-party integrations. Monday.com, on the other hand, lets you track time spent on tasks right out of the box.

If you have onboarding concerns and seek user-friendly software, that is precisely what Monday.com is, as its intuitive interface is easy to navigate, even for beginners. Smartsheet, meanwhile, has more of a learning curve and can feel clunky when managing complex projects and trying to pinpoint data in its spreadsheets.

In terms of access, Smartsheet lets unlimited users view dashboards and reports while giving them the power to edit sheets. Monday.com gives unlimited guests the ability to only view, but not edit. Also, Smartsheet only lets you change account permissions after a user has joined, while Monday.com lets you set permission levels for invited members.

What about collaboration? Smartsheet allows for customized collaboration via messaging apps, mobile push, email, and approval requests. Monday.com mostly gives you push notifications and email.

We cannot forget security, either. If you experience a security breach on your account when using Monday.com, you can activate a panic mode for protection, which is something that Smartsheet lacks. And lastly, let us talk about pricing differences. Smartsheet does not have a free forever plan, while Monday.com does. And as for premium plans, Smartsheet’s higher-end offerings are more expensive than Monday.com per user.