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Airtable vs Smartsheet comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 19, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
7.0
Organizations and freelancers improved efficiency and returns using Airtable for automation, project tracking, and process optimization.
Sentiment score
6.9
Smartsheet enhances productivity and collaboration, automates processes, manages timelines, and is cost-effective compared to Microsoft Project alternatives.
I can automate the process so it automatically populates data into the Airtable base and performs any necessary calculations.
I use it to monitor my performance as a freelancer, checking if I'm doing work and delivering on time.
Compared to Microsoft Project, which is more expensive, we save costs using Smartsheet.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
5.4
Airtable's customer service is praised for helpfulness and responsiveness but varies in effectiveness based on customer level.
Sentiment score
6.8
Smartsheet's customer service feedback is mixed, with praise for responsiveness and resources but concerns over response delays and ticket management.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
5.6
Airtable excels in small to medium projects but struggles with scalability and costs for larger datasets and firms.
Sentiment score
7.4
Smartsheet is praised for scalability, integration features, and cost-effectiveness, with some concerns over task tracking in larger projects.
Smartsheet is pretty flexible and scalable.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
Airtable is praised for stability and quick issue resolutions, offering a reliable platform with minimal disruptions during updates.
Sentiment score
7.9
Users find Smartsheet stable, with minor issues, high reliability ratings, and minimal disruptions enhancing overall satisfaction.
 

Room For Improvement

Users want improved API capacity, interface intuitiveness, mobile features, affordable pricing, reporting, documentation, AI, templates, and translations.
Users want better data management, UI, integration, security, support, and Excel-like features in Smartsheet.
I really want to see a scenario where collaborators working on a project could easily chat, asking questions and discussing changes immediately on the project.
If they show step-by-step guides for automations, this will help them attract more clients who are willing to learn and use their system.
I have a novice understanding of Smartsheet, so I sought a solution more suited to repeatable projects and process-oriented governance.
 

Setup Cost

Airtable's pricing starts at $10 per user monthly, with costs varying based on features and user count.
Smartsheet pricing is user-based, varies by plan, and advanced features can increase costs compared to competitors like Microsoft Project.
Licensing might be cheaper per user.
 

Valuable Features

Airtable offers an intuitive interface, relational databases, automation, and integration, enhancing data management and replacing traditional spreadsheets.
Smartsheet offers real-time collaboration, customizable dashboards, automation, and integration, making it ideal for efficient project management.
I can link records from other tables and see what's happening, use the lookup field, the roll-up field, and the count field to see what's occurring in other departments and generate insights.
Everybody has a particular base for different purposes, so you add information to those bases, and anybody can access it at any point in time anywhere in the world.
It was effective for easy reporting and data on our user feedback.
Automation helps by simplifying some manual work, saving time and facilitating communication.
What I appreciate best about Smartsheet is the straight Gantt chart and its flexibility.
We were looking for a tool that allowed for repeatable projects and process-oriented governance.
 

Categories and Ranking

Airtable
Ranking in Project Management Software
17th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
Product Management Software (2nd)
Smartsheet
Ranking in Project Management Software
5th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
43
Ranking in other categories
Project Portfolio Management (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Project Management Software category, the mindshare of Airtable is 1.1%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Smartsheet is 4.3%, down from 5.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Project Management Software Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Smartsheet4.3%
Airtable1.1%
Other94.6%
Project Management Software
 

Featured Reviews

Favour Emosivbe - PeerSpot reviewer
Has required stronger collaboration features while still supporting complex project workflows
The best features in Airtable include the flexibility and the fact that I could create relational databases. Before I started using Airtable, I was using Excel which didn't offer these capabilities. The ability to create relationships between tables and see through what's working in other departments is great for me. I can do scripting and work on large data sets on Airtable. It makes it easy for me, as working on those data sets on Excel tends to slow me down, but on Airtable, it's much faster. I can integrate Airtable with other platforms; aside from the native integration where I can send notifications to Slack teams and messages to Gmail, I can also connect with Make.com to share data. The interface on Airtable is exceptional. Working for my clients, when a client didn't want access given to all teams, we structured that on the interface and the different teams got different access to different tables. Airtable's rich field types help in organizing complex data for my team. The advanced field types work exceptionally with features such as linking records together. I can link records from other tables and see what's happening, use the lookup field, the roll-up field, and the count field to see what's occurring in other departments and generate insights. Unlike other CRMs, data cannot enter if it's not properly structured. If I want to input an email and it's not valid, it won't allow it because it expects the data to be structured appropriately.
PaulDiaz - PeerSpot reviewer
Needs to improve baselines and changing dates can be frustrating
I like the dashboarding feature best, as it lets me assemble a workspace with source sheets, dashboards, and reports simultaneously. The standard reports and worksheets are most useful for team collaboration. People look at dashboards during presentations, but they go to the sheets to update projects, add comments, or make notifications. It's automated, so changes come to me or whoever needs to see them. I can send notifications from specific line items. The worksheet is key for tracking project progress, though we track it at a higher level rather than detailed work breakdown structures. Subject matter experts say when they'll deliver things, and that's what we track.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
16%
University
8%
Educational Organization
8%
Construction Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
14%
Government
10%
Healthcare Company
9%
University
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Large Enterprise3
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise22
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Airtable?
I would love them to improve by adding tutorials, especially for scripting, and provide good documentation. We need comprehensive documentation for Airtable. If they show step-by-step guides for au...
What is your primary use case for Airtable?
I use Airtable as a database to store information and perform automation with scripting. I use Airtable to get leads from my Pipedrive account to store in the Airtable base. I use it to track speed...
Has anyone moved from Microsoft Project to Smartsheet? How has your experience been with Smartsheet?
Hi @Eire Zimmermann, I helped an organization evaluate both MS-Project and Smartsheet when they were conducting their PM tool RFP. The short of it is this, MS Project is not caught up with the mo...
What do you like most about Smartsheet?
The tool creates shareable dashboards. These dashboards allow us to display project deliverables' status, their position in the queue, expected delivery timelines, and more. The best part is that t...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Smartsheet?
The pricing is great and reasonable enough that I maintained my copy and bought it for my team independently.
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Cole Haan, Expedia, BuzzFeed, Medium, Shopify, Box, JetBlue
Sony Music, ESPN, Hilton, Unisource, Colliers, Extreme Networks, Groupon, Netflix
Find out what your peers are saying about Airtable vs. Smartsheet and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
871,688 professionals have used our research since 2012.