Microsoft Project vs. Smartsheet

Microsoft Project

717 Reviews and Ratings

Smartsheet

877 Reviews and Ratings

Overview
Product	Rating	Most Used By	Product Summary	Starting Price
Microsoft Project	Score8.1 out of 10	N/A	Microsoft Project is a project management software. It provides core PM functionality, including agile workflow support and resource management. Project can be deployed in the cloud or on-premise.	$120 per year per user
Smartsheet	Score8.4 out of 10	N/A	Smartsheet is an online project management and collaboration tool. It includes automated alerts, instantaneous updating and sharing across team members, resource management, nested tasks organized in a hierarchy, a Gantt chart view, exportable and automated reports, and integration with email.	$12 per month per user (up to 10 users)

Pricing

Microsoft Project

Smartsheet

Project Server: $0
Planner Plan 1: $10
per month per user
Planner and Project Plan 3: $30
per month per user
Planner and Project Plan 5: $55
per month per user
Project Standard 2024: $679.99
one-time fee per installation
Project Professional 2024: $1,129.99
one-time fee per installation

Pro: $12
per month per user (up to 10 users)
Business: $24
per month per user (3 user minimum)
Enterprise: Contact Sales
Advanced Work Management: Contact Sales

Pricing Offerings
Microsoft Project	Smartsheet
Free Trial
Yes	Yes
Free/Freemium Version
No	No
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
No	No

No setup fee

No setup fee

Plans are billed annually.

A discount is offered for annual billing.

Community Pulse
Key User Insights
	Microsoft Project	Smartsheet
Considered Both Products	Microsoft Quratulain Habib, PMP Partner / Director / Head of Projects in Information Technology at QZ Global (Information Technology & Services, 1-10 employees) Chose Microsoft Project Initially, I tried using Smartsheet and then Wrike, all for Gantt Chart availability and task management. They don't come close to the flexibility or depth of features that Microsoft Project provides. Wrike does have better collaboration amongst team members and provides an … Incentivized Helpful? Cristian Bodnarasec Senior Software Development Manager in Information Technology at eSilicon (Semiconductors, 501-1000 employees) Chose Microsoft Project Smartsheet came from behind covering some of the gaps in Microsoft Project and started to become more and more popular. And for good reason, it combines the main features of project management from both Project and Project Server. It provides good user experience and it is … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Microsoft Project We compared MS Project to QuickBase and Smartsheet. We found that Smartsheet was a simple to use project management tool, which would fit our needs by allowing our end users the ability to create and track their own initiatives, with a minimal learning curve. Smartsheet also … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Microsoft Project All of these tools have their strengths but none, I found, was an all-in-one solution like MS Project. I did find that project resources enjoyed working with Smartsheet for its simplicity but as a project manager, I found that MS project an overall winner. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Microsoft Project Microsoft Project was the most expensive project management software that we utilized aside from the costs associated with developing and in-house service. Microsoft Project provide a wealth of features for managing a large scale project like planning all of the tasks … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Microsoft Project Microsoft Project had the strongest integrations and Gantt chart qualities. As a team that uses Outlook, Skype, DevOps and the Office Suite, it became clear that Project suited our needs best. Additionally, testing found that the user interface and security features pleased … Incentivized Helpful? Joshua Melder Process Optimization Analyst in Corporate at Quad (Printing, 10,001+ employees) Chose Microsoft Project While many of the above tools are extremely well-versed, Microsoft Project's largest advantage comes from it being related to the largest business productivity company in the world. Project does have its sharing limitations - but regardless, offers one of the most robust tools … Incentivized Helpful? Litzi Saraí Gordils Ortuño Purchasing Coordinator in Corporate (Health, Wellness and Fitness, 11-50 employees) Chose Microsoft Project Microsoft Project (online version) gives you the chance to do native collaboration using other Microsoft Tools and gather around with all the resources available in your company to set up communications standards, commitments and quality assurance guidelines, and most of all to … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Microsoft Project At the end of the day, Microsoft Project still is best in class overall. It isn't as specialized as some tools like Trello or JIRA, but especially with new integration with Planner and native support for Agile project management templates it becomes a lot closer. Microsoft … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Microsoft Project MS Project is most familiar to our users, so the learning curve is easiest. However, MS Project doesn't allow our teams to collaborate nor does it track actual vs. planned effort (time reporting). Hence it's not the only tool we use. We typically plan with MS Project and use it … Incentivized Helpful?	Smartsheet Syed Ghufran Hassan Project associate in Information Technology at Q solutions (Information Technology & Services, 11-50 employees) Chose Smartsheet Smartsheet is user friendly with easy to use templates as compared to Microsoft Project. Other thing is collaboration which cannot be achieved in Microsoft Project. Smartsheet has different types of pricing for different types of users but Microsoft Project only offers … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Smartsheet Definitely a lot more intuitive and a lot less clunky and confusing. When I have to introduce Smartsheet to other team members who have experience with MS Project they are overwhelmed with how easy it is and feel a lot more engaged when developing their own workbooks Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Smartsheet Price and ease of collaboration was the deciding factor and since we made this decision quite awhile ago, Microsoft Project's collaboration features were not there yet, making Smartsheet the clear winner. Many of our Project Manager were comfortable working with Microsoft … Incentivized Helpful? Jesse Bickel Sr. Project Manager in Information Technology at CaptureRX (Hospital & Health Care, 51-200 employees) Chose Smartsheet We selected Smartsheet because we needed something between Excel and MS Project. We have a group of staff members who were not Project Managers by trade, but yet managed teams and staff who are supporting smaller efforts with task management. They were looking for a simple tool … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Smartsheet We used Smartsheet primarily because a customer was already using the tool. We typically use Microsoft Project since most of our customers and team are familiar with the tool. Incentivized Helpful? Mandy Ferguson Product Manager in Information Technology at Marriott (Information Technology & Services, 10,001+ employees) Chose Smartsheet I think they serve completely different purposes. Smartsheet is a high level, consistent reporting tool. Microsoft Project has more auto features and allows for more details. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Smartsheet Smartsheet is way more comfortable to use and understand. Much better at collaboration. Smartsheet users can get up and running a lot more quickly with little training needed. On the other hand, Microsoft Project is an advanced tool with a deep set of features. It requires … Incentivized Helpful? Blake Baron Ecommerce & Consumer Products Manager in Sales at Midwest Tungsten Service (Mining & Metals, 11-50 employees) Chose Smartsheet We used the SmartSheet free trial and were deeply impressed. Microsoft Excel sitting on a mail server and database with automatic Gantt Charts was our dream. We could track expected vs. actual time to complete a task, view bottlenecks, and identify time savings visually. Base… Incentivized Helpful? Xenia Le Dinh, PMP Project Manager in Professional Services at Groupe conseil ERA / ERA Consulting Group (Management Consulting, 51-200 employees) Chose Smartsheet Smartsheets has more PM features than Asana, whereas Asana seems to be better for a roadmap or higher level planning. MS Project is similar to Smartsheets, however less user friendly in my opinion Incentivized Helpful? Vlad Kalika Engineering Operations Director in Engineering at Cummins (Automotive, 10,001+ employees) Chose Smartsheet Smartsheet has all the basic features of MS Project with a superior collaboration tool. Being cloud-based, it gives user's access from anywhere anytime. Individual engineers and project managers are able to assign tasks and provide updates, improving communication. Project … Incentivized Helpful? Andrew Brodsky Senior Manager Digital Program Management in Product Management at Marriott InternationL (Hospitality, 10,001+ employees) Chose Smartsheet Depending on your use of the software Smartsheet may be the perfect choice for you. If you use a Mac forget about MS Project because it does not support Mac. If you need for real-time collaboration Smartsheet excels at that. Smartsheet also supports sheets way beyond project … Incentivized Helpful? Evans Kyalo Software Engineer in Information Technology at StileCreations (Computer Software, 51-200 employees) Chose Smartsheet This item is an extraordinary option to Microsoft Project, and better from numerous points of view. Simpler to utilize and increasingly adaptable. We likewise use JIRA for IT anticipates and keeping in mind that I see the similitudes. I think for Agile or Waterfall, JIRA may … Incentivized Helpful? (MIKE) XIANG LING CHEN Senior Project Manager (SAP) in Information Technology at Nielsen (Information Services, 10,001+ employees) Chose Smartsheet MS Project: Desktop standalone mostly, no online collaboration with other users, other functions are great. IRA: Too complicated with too many options and functions with apps, not easy to have a whole picture of projects. It's too difficult of a web UI to enter or update data … Incentivized Helpful? Joshua Pekar HRIS Manager in Human Resources at Penske Truck Leasing (Transportation/Trucking/Railroad, 10,001+ employees) Chose Smartsheet This product is a great alternative to Microsoft Project, and better in many ways. Easier to use and more flexible. We also use JIRA for IT projects and while I see the similarities. I think for Agile or Waterfall, JIRA may have the edge as it was designed specifically for … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Smartsheet I have preferred Smartsheet to Microsoft Project because it is more intuitive to use and better lends itself to collaboration. It also is more convenient to use because of the fact that it is accessible through the web. In my experience with managing relatively small scale … Incentivized Helpful? Angelo Liriano Cepeda Business Developer & Key Account Manager in Sales at C&W Business (Information Technology & Services, 1001-5000 employees) Chose Smartsheet Smartsheet enable users to build the more custom solutions that can include workflows, reports, dashboards, sheet data, reminders, etc. It allows to create the most complete reports and have available thousand of already built solutions on the Solution Center. Also, has the … Incentivized Helpful? Abigail Selebe Freelance Consultant in Corporate at Self-Employed (E-Learning, 1-10 employees) Chose Smartsheet Smartsheet is a dedicated project management tool that is built on spread sheet principles. When compared to Microsoft's own offering, Smartsheet came out on top in some areas like dedicated project management features vs having to build custom features to Microsoft 365. … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Smartsheet Before utilizing Smartsheet we utilized a combination of Quip and an in-house developed task management tool. Even though we did not utilize Smartsheet for all of our project management needs it did provide a useful structure for planning a schedule for routine tasks and … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Smartsheet All the products seemed to perform the project and task management function adequately. The following factors were the keys to our selection: Ease of use - so similar to Excel everyone can figure it out. Flexible architecture lends itself to many different use cases beyond … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Smartsheet Smartsheet was the most cost-effective option we found, and least complex. It's simple to get used to and onboard colleagues too. Functionalities are similar to Excel, and sheets can be uploaded from prior Excel files. Overall it seemed to be the best option, and this proved to … Incentivized Helpful? Joshua Melder Customer Account Manager in Corporate at Quad (Printing, 10,001+ employees) Chose Smartsheet Smartsheet is a unique data and project management collaboration tool that sets itself apart from its competitors. Teams have the ability to create extremely customized dashboards that have data flowing to and from multiple worksheets and workspaces. Smartsheet has the ability … Incentivized Helpful? Chris Metropulos Senior Product Manager in Product Management at Deltek (Computer Software, 1001-5000 employees) Chose Smartsheet Smartsheet offers the best blend of features from its direct and indirect competitors. It is intuitive and collaborative, like Asana. It provides entry-level features from DevOps in regards to Agile, it offers traceability and integrations better than both Teams and Liquid … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Smartsheet With built-in templates, Smartsheet makes it easier to start with project management. This tool is very useful for collaboration, project management, and communication. If you can use MS Excel, you can easily master this software. Tableau needs more training to master and … Incentivized Helpful? Christina Onolaja Systems Analyst in Corporate at Frederick Primary Care Associates, P.A. (Medical Practice, 201-500 employees) Chose Smartsheet Smartsheet is so much easier to use than any other product. Because of how much it resembles and Excel spreadsheet, end users can pick it up and begin using it with very little to no training. The cost is also significantly less than the alternatives. Being a cloud solution … Incentivized Helpful?
	Would buy again
	No answers on this topic	No answers on this topic
	Delivers good value for the price
	No answers on this topic	No answers on this topic
	Happy with the feature set
	No answers on this topic	No answers on this topic
	Lived up to sales and marketing promises
	No answers on this topic	No answers on this topic
	Implementation went as expected
No answers on this topic	No answers on this topic

Features

Microsoft Project

Smartsheet

Comparison of Project Management features of Microsoft Project and Smartsheet
Feature	Microsoft Project 9.1 108 Ratings	Smartsheet 9.0 125 Ratings
Task Management	10.0107 Ratings	10.0122 Ratings
Resource Management	10.0104 Ratings	9.0104 Ratings
Gantt Charts	10.0104 Ratings	9.0105 Ratings
Scheduling	10.0106 Ratings	10.0107 Ratings
Workflow Automation	10.083 Ratings	8.196 Ratings
Team Collaboration	8.096 Ratings	10.0118 Ratings
Support for Agile Methodology	6.080 Ratings	7.078 Ratings
Support for Waterfall Methodology	10.080 Ratings	8.976 Ratings
Document Management	9.077 Ratings	8.997 Ratings
Email integration	5.082 Ratings	9.996 Ratings
Mobile Access	10.067 Ratings	8.092 Ratings
Timesheet Tracking	10.073 Ratings	10.059 Ratings
Change request and Case Management	10.063 Ratings	9.065 Ratings
Budget and Expense Management	10.083 Ratings	9.071 Ratings

Comparison of Professional Services Automation features of Microsoft Project and Smartsheet
Feature	Microsoft Project 10.0 77 Ratings	Smartsheet 9.1 63 Ratings
Quotes/estimates	10.054 Ratings	8.841 Ratings
Invoicing	10.045 Ratings	9.834 Ratings
Project & financial reporting	10.074 Ratings	8.957 Ratings
Integration with accounting software	10.050 Ratings	8.931 Ratings

User Ratings
	Microsoft Project	Smartsheet
Likelihood to Recommend	9.7 (108 ratings)	10.0 (143 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew	10.0 (3 ratings)	10.0 (23 ratings)
Usability	10.0 (6 ratings)	9.0 (13 ratings)
Performance	- (0 ratings)	10.0 (1 ratings)
Support Rating	8.2 (34 ratings)	8.1 (45 ratings)
Online Training	- (0 ratings)	7.0 (1 ratings)
Implementation Rating	5.0 (1 ratings)	10.0 (6 ratings)