Smartsheet
Smartsheet Review and Pricing: Plans, Schedules and Seats
Smartsheet combines spreadsheet-style project records with forms, formulas, reports and different views of work. Teams can collect requests, maintain schedules and bring information from projects into shared reporting, giving a familiar grid a broader role in coordination.
The scheduling goes beyond storing dates. With dependencies enabled, a change to one task can move related dates and update parent rows. Explore Smartsheet if your team needs that connection between detailed records, a working schedule and management visibility.
A schedule behind the sheet
An owner or administrator enables dependencies and the duration and predecessor columns. Smartsheet then uses the sheet's working-day schedule to propagate date changes. Parent rows roll up dates, duration and completion, while four dependency types and lead or lag settings represent different relationships. A zero-duration task becomes a milestone.
For a project with sequential delivery steps, this means the schedule can reflect the effect of a changed predecessor. Teams still need to maintain the underlying structure. Manually overriding a dependent date removes its predecessor association, so an apparently small edit can change how the schedule behaves.
Forms and reports complement that planning. Intake can feed structured records, and reporting brings information together for oversight. Before rollout, decide who maintains the schedule, who supplies updates and which report is used for decisions.
Smartsheet pricing: Pro, Business and Member costs
Listed prices put Pro at USD 9 per Member per month with annual billing, for one to ten Members. Business is USD 19 per Member per month annually with a three-Member minimum, making its minimum base equivalent USD 57 per month. Business adds workload, external Guests and unlimited automation; API access requires Business or above.
The current subscription model distinguishes paid Members, provisional Members, free Contributors and external Guests. Contributors can view and, with Commenter permission, comment and attach files. Business and Enterprise Guests can edit shared work. Those roles should be mapped to actual duties before estimating paid access.
Qualifying activity can create provisional membership with at least 30 days of unpaid use. Whether that access converts to paid membership depends on the account's approval settings. Check the administrator setting and review provisional users before the billing reconciliation; do not assume their access is permanently free.
This remains an administrative responsibility after purchase. Annual plans reconcile quarterly and monthly plans monthly, with a time-sensitive review window. Assign an owner for that review so changing participation does not surprise the budget.
Migration and extensions deserve a separate check
Imports can create new sheets from Excel, Microsoft Project, Google Sheets and Trello. The documented limits are 50MB and up to 20,000 rows, 400 columns and 500,000 cells. Only the first Excel worksheet imports per pass. Merged cells, validation dropdowns and some formatting are excluded; formulas may need translation, and archived Trello cards are excluded.
Bring in a representative sheet and compare its formulas, hierarchy and dependency behavior with the original. Successful row import is only part of a working project migration.
Scheduled imports use Data Shuttle rather than ordinary file import. Data Shuttle and premium connectors sit in advanced packaging, while API access starts at Business. Establish the connector and service quote for the data flow you need; a Pro subscription should not be budgeted as though every advertised extension is included.
Support for the chosen package
Paid Members on Pro, Business and Enterprise can open technical-support tickets. Help, Community and the support portal are available around the clock, but that availability does not establish round-the-clock human response. Service depends on the support package. If a response commitment matters to delivery, request its terms along with the subscription and extension quote.
Alternatives and verdict
Wrike is worth assessing for configurable workflows, approvals and broader resource requirements. Asana offers a task-centered approach to coordination and portfolio visibility. The full project management comparison can help decide whether a grid should be the foundation of your system.
Smartsheet is a strong candidate when structured records, linked schedules and cross-project reporting belong together. Its value is clearest when the team is prepared to maintain that structure and manage access deliberately. Visit Smartsheet to evaluate a representative schedule and obtain a total that includes the required Members, connectors and support.