Smartsheet brought spreadsheet-native teams into project management. But at 66/100, its AI capabilities lag far behind the competition. If you need autonomous AI, modern views, or better value, these alternatives outperform Smartsheet across the board.
| Rank | Tool | Score | Starting Price | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ClickUp | 94 | Free / $7/user/mo | Full PM with table views + AI |
| 2 | Taskade | 89 | Free / $4/user/mo | AI-native task management |
| 3 | Wrike | 87 | Free / $10/user/mo | Enterprise PMO replacement |
| 4 | Airtable | 79 | Free / $20/user/mo | Spreadsheet upgrade with AI |
| 5 | monday.com | 78 | Free / $9/seat/mo | Visual PM for all teams |
| 6 | Zoho Projects | 76 | Free / $5/user/mo | Budget PM with Gantt + AI |
| 7 | Notion Projects | 76 | Free / $10/user/mo | Docs + database PM |
| 8 | Jira Software | 75 | Free / $8.15/user/mo | Engineering agile workflows |
| Ref | Smartsheet | 66 | $9/user/mo | Spreadsheet-first PM |
Scores based on our 100-point rubric evaluating AI capabilities, ecosystem quality, UX, governance, and value.
Smartsheet carved out a legitimate niche: teams that think in rows and columns could do project management without learning new mental models. That was compelling in 2015. In 2026, the gap between Smartsheet and modern PM tools has widened considerably.
Smartsheet's AI generates formulas, spots data trends, and suggests column types. Useful, but passive. It scores 1/5 on agentic capability in our rubric -- it cannot autonomously create tasks, predict project risks, or execute multi-step workflows. In a market where ClickUp's Super Agents break down goals and act on them, Wrike's ML predicts delays, and Taskade's agents orchestrate other agents, Smartsheet's AI feels like a calculator compared to a colleague.
Smartsheet starts at $9/user/month for the Pro plan, with AI features gated behind the Business plan at $19/user/month. Every alternative on this list except Google Workspace offers a free tier. For small teams evaluating tools, Smartsheet's minimum commitment is a barrier that competitors have eliminated.
Smartsheet's grid is familiar to Excel users, but it is the only view that feels native. Board, card, Gantt, and calendar views exist but feel secondary. Modern PM tools like ClickUp, monday.com, and Airtable treat every view as a first-class citizen, offering richer interactions in each. If your team needs Kanban boards, workload views, or mind maps alongside their grid, Smartsheet forces compromises.
Smartsheet scores 3/5 on agile methodology fit. It handles basic Kanban and waterfall well, but teams running Scrum sprints, managing backlogs, or tracking velocity need tools built for those workflows. Jira (5/5 agile fit) and ClickUp (5/5) are designed for agile from the ground up.
If your team's primary need is spreadsheet-based project tracking with Gantt charts and BI reporting, and AI is secondary, Smartsheet may still be the right fit. The alternatives below serve teams that need more from their PM tool's AI, agile capabilities, or pricing model.
Key differentiator: Multi-model Brain (GPT-5, Claude, o3) that operates across all 15+ views. AI Knowledge Manager indexes your entire workspace. Dashboards, Gantt charts, and workload views are all native and fully featured, not add-ons to a grid.
Pricing: Free (unlimited tasks). Unlimited at $7/user/month with AI. Business at $12/user/month.
Best for: Teams that want Smartsheet's structured data views plus modern PM features, autonomous AI, and lower per-seat costs. The most complete replacement available.
Key differentiator: Multi-agent orchestration where agents reason through problems, invoke other agents, and execute multi-step workflows. MCP support and multi-model access (Claude, Gemini). AI included in the free tier with limited credits -- Smartsheet has no free tier at all.
Pricing: Free (limited AI). Pro at $4/user/month. Teams at $8/user/month.
Best for: Small-to-mid teams (under 50 people) that want AI-powered project management without Smartsheet's enterprise pricing. Best value in the category.
Key differentiator: ML-powered Knowledge Graph that analyzes project health indicators and flags at-risk deliverables before deadlines slip. AI Agents (GA February 2026) with sandbox testing and transparent reasoning give enterprise IT teams audit visibility into AI decisions. Proofing workflows for creative teams.
Pricing: Free tier. Team at $10/user/month. Business at $24.80/user/month. AI in all paid plans.
Best for: Enterprise PMO teams (100+) that need predictive risk analytics, cross-departmental portfolio management, and stronger AI governance than Smartsheet provides. Check our best tools for enterprise teams for more options.
Key differentiator: Relational database architecture that models complex data relationships, combined with AI-powered app and interface generation. Where Smartsheet gives you rows, Airtable gives you a data platform. 6+ views (grid, Kanban, gallery, calendar, Gantt, form) all feel native.
Pricing: Free (1,000 records/base). Team at $20/user/month. Business at $45/user/month.
Best for: Teams that have pushed Smartsheet's grid to its limits and need relational data modeling, custom interfaces, and AI-powered app creation on top of their project data.
Key differentiator: Most visually intuitive PM tool in the market. 200+ automation recipes, Gantt and Timeline views, workload management, and strong integrations with Salesforce, HubSpot, and Jira. Fastest onboarding for non-technical teams transitioning from Smartsheet.
Pricing: Free (2 seats). Basic at $9/seat/month. Standard at $12/seat/month with AI.
Best for: Cross-functional organizations where marketing, sales, and operations teams need to collaborate on projects with a visually clear, accessible interface.
Key differentiator: Zia AI with NLP search and predictive insights, 700+ pre-built Agent Studio actions, Gantt charts with inter-project dependencies, and the Zoho ecosystem (CRM, Books, Desk). Waterfall methodology fit scores 4/5, matching Smartsheet's traditional PM strengths.
Pricing: Free (3 users). Premium at $5/user/month. Enterprise at $10/user/month. Projects Plus at $16/user/month.
Best for: Organizations that need Smartsheet's traditional PM feature set (Gantt, time tracking, dependencies) at a substantially lower price, especially those using other Zoho products.
Key differentiator: AI Q&A across docs and databases simultaneously. Block-based architecture that handles any content type. Table views that will feel familiar to Smartsheet users, but embedded within a richer knowledge management platform.
Pricing: Free for individuals. Plus at $10/user/month with AI. Business at $18/user/month.
Best for: Teams that need both project tracking and comprehensive documentation in one platform. Product teams, agencies, and consulting firms with heavy spec-writing alongside project management.
Key differentiator: Agile methodology fit of 5/5 vs. Smartsheet's 3/5. Native Git integrations, sprint analytics, and the broadest developer tool ecosystem. Free for up to 10 users, eliminating Smartsheet's $9/user/month minimum for small engineering teams.
Pricing: Free (10 users). Standard at $8.15/user/month. Premium at $16/user/month.
Best for: Software engineering teams that have been using Smartsheet for sprint tracking and need purpose-built agile tooling. See our best AI tools for scrum masters guide.
This matrix maps Smartsheet's core strengths to each alternative, highlighting where each tool matches or exceeds Smartsheet's capabilities.
| Smartsheet Feature | ClickUp | Taskade | Wrike | Airtable | monday | Zoho | Notion | Jira |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grid / Table View | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Gantt with Critical Path | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | Basic | ✓ | ✓ | Basic | ✓ |
| AI Formula Generation | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| AI Autonomous Agents | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| BI Tool Integration | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Resource Management | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Proofing / Approvals | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Portfolio Dashboards | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| FedRAMP Compliance | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Free Tier | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Key insight: Smartsheet's unique strengths -- BI tool integration, proofing, and FedRAMP compliance -- are its hardest features to replicate. Wrike covers proofing and BI integration. Jira covers FedRAMP. But no single alternative matches all three. If those specific features are critical, evaluate Wrike and Jira as a pair or accept the trade-off for stronger AI.
ClickUp (94/100) is the highest-rated alternative. It provides table views that feel familiar plus 14 other views, autonomous AI, and docs at $7/user/month. For data-heavy teams specifically, Airtable (79/100) is the natural spreadsheet-to-database upgrade with AI app generation.
Airtable (79/100) outscores Smartsheet (66/100). Airtable offers relational databases, AI-powered app generation, and a more modern interface. Smartsheet retains advantages in Gantt depth (critical path analysis), BI integration (Tableau, Power BI), and Excel familiarity. Choose Airtable for data modeling; choose Smartsheet for traditional PMO workflows.
Yes, in the Business plan ($19/user/month) and above. AI includes formula generation, data insights, smart suggestions, and content generation. However, Smartsheet scores 1/5 on agentic AI -- it cannot autonomously execute tasks. Competitors like ClickUp (5/5), Taskade (5/5), and Wrike (4/5) offer far deeper AI automation.
Smartsheet has no free tier. Alternatives with free plans include Taskade (free with limited AI), ClickUp (free, AI at $7/user/month), and Zoho Projects (free for 3 users, AI at $5/user/month). All are more affordable entry points. See our best free AI PM tools guide.
Google Workspace (73/100) with Gemini AI in Sheets can handle lightweight project tracking. Gemini generates formulas and creates trackers from natural language. But Google Sheets lacks native Gantt charts, critical path analysis, automated workflows, and resource management. It works for simple tracking; complex PMO workflows need a dedicated tool.
Wrike (87/100) is the strongest PMO alternative. ML-powered risk prediction, portfolio management, resource optimization, and enterprise governance (ISO 27001, HIPAA, SOC2) address the needs of PMO directors managing complex project portfolios.