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Notion 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:
 

Categories and Ranking

Notion
Ranking in Project Management Software
14th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
Knowledge Management Software (4th), Document Automation Software (4th)
Smartsheet
Ranking in Project Management Software
5th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
40
Ranking in other categories
Project Portfolio Management (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Project Management Software category, the mindshare of Notion is 2.3%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Smartsheet is 4.6%, down from 6.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Project Management Software
 

Featured Reviews

Iván Fanego - PeerSpot reviewer
Creates customizable systems and improve team collaboration
Notion is a very flexible and customizable platform, allowing users to create whatever they need. The most impactful feature for project management is the ability to invite multiple client stakeholders without complication. Once I understand the basics, it's easy to use despite an initial learning curve. It also significantly improves team collaboration through customized views and visualizations of data.
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The initial setup is easy."
"The product has a valuable feature for databases. It has a table and a calendar view and saves various documents in the system."
"Notion is heavily used in my workflow."
"Notion is a very flexible and customizable platform, allowing users to create whatever they need."
"Notion has a lot of integrations."
"It is easy to use and very intuitive compared to Microsoft Project."
"The ability to create and organize notes, plans, and technical content in a single platform is the product's most valuable feature."
"We can install it on mobile phones, making it feasible to manage productivity."
"To me, one of the most powerful features of Smartsheet is being able to email others."
"This solution provides easy collaboration and allows non-building users to use the system without requiring a license."
"The solution is straightforward. Whenever a requirement arises, we create three things in Smartsheet: a project plan, a dashboard, and internal documents. It is done through the form and Smartsheet's automation services. This process shortens the time to market from seven days to less than 12 hours."
"The dashboard and the layouts are quite good."
"The ability to update in real-time before meetings is great."
"Smartsheet is easy to use."
"The most valuable feature of Smartsheet is its intuitiveness, ease of use, and overall simplicity."
"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."
 

Cons

"There could be an automation feature included in the product."
"It is complicated to connect Notion with external systems."
"User management needs improvement. It's difficult to determine what information is private. It's a bit complicated for me."
"Notion has one big downside: the lack of an offline mode. If the internet or Notion's servers are down, I cannot access information. This is a big disadvantage."
"If the internet or Notion's servers are down, I cannot access information. This is a big disadvantage."
"The platform's documentation feature needs improvement."
"The only problem I experience is that it often hangs."
"The product could be integrated with external platforms."
"An area for improvement in Smartsheet is that if you're in the government or you're a regulated customer, you're not allowed to use APIs due to internal restrictions, so there are specific things that you cannot connect to it. Another area for improvement in the solution is that because there's a capacity of how many records you can have, and there's a capacity of how many functions you can apply, Smartsheet has set up their system where they can force people into purchasing a $20,000 additional module that is called Control Center, that will create documents for them on the fly, so they don't use so many functions and automation. Smartsheet also needs to improve on training, because the training that is out there is very little. The solution requires a steeper learning curve. You have to do your own training and you have to work on your own solution."
"Smartsheet needs to improve the user interface."
"The main challenge with Smartsheet is that when you start putting components on the Smartsheet dashboard, they don't know about each other. So, if I filter something in one widget, or if I click on a region or a project ID, the other widget or component and the visualization that's on that dashboard don't change. It doesn't know about the other component."
"I think that the mobile interface needs to be improved. If you cannot access it through your laptop, I'd prefer to have that option on the mobile, but I don't think that it's user-friendly and easy to navigate."
"They should improve the solution's integration with API."
"Initially, there were issues like dropdowns. Those have been overcome."
"The integration with Microsoft products should be improved."
"There isn't much automation at this time."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I pay around $100 per year."
"Notion offers a free plan that covers most functionalities. Clients are only prompted to upgrade if they require AI capabilities, priced at $10 for unlimited usage, or if they need to add team members, typically around $10 per member."
"The product has good pricing."
"The product is affordable compared to other platforms."
"The solution's pricing can seem steep, especially when you work with a lot of people. If you are working on your own or for another business, the solution's price won't affect you much."
"The product has good pricing."
"Notion is free to use."
"The pricing structure is quite reasonable, and the basic plan covers the most essential features."
"There's a trial version and a free version. Each license costs a decent amount, $25 per month or something."
"I would assume there is a licensing fee. I don't think that it is free."
"I believe a licensed user costs between 300 to 400 euros."
"I pay $ 120 or $ 128 a month for two to three users."
"For a normal license, like the one I had: I had my own Smartsheet because I wanted to play with it and I didn't want to mess with what I was doing in Verizon, so I paid $200 monthly, and it gave me all the same functionalities, so I could do whatever I wanted for $200. The problem is if you have anyone else working on it or deploying on it, it's $200 a month for every single person who's deployed on it, that's working on it as an owner or an administrator, so owners and administrators are the only ones who can change, edit, and add data to worksheets and columns. Depending on the size of your organization, Smartsheet can be costly. As for implementing its Control Center, Smartsheet forces you to have three people come in: it's a minimum of three people from Smartsheet for three months who will provide you the solutions for the Control Center side, and that's $150 an hour, so it can become very expensive. For my company, not having the Control Center would save on the setup fees and then the $20,000 a year, because the Control Center of Smartsheet is a yearly subscription of $20,000."
"The solution is reasonably priced."
"The solution is expensive."
"This licensing is straightforward and they charge per user."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
Media Company
9%
Educational Organization
7%
University
7%
Educational Organization
45%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Healthcare Company
6%
Government
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Notion?
I like the high level of customization in Notion.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Notion?
It's affordable and offers community support if I get stuck. I can find help through community forums like Google, where people share insights on navigating problems. Many people understand it, off...
What needs improvement with Notion?
It is easy to use, and I love its UI. The only problem I experience is that it often hangs. I might find myself trying to load a new page, but I am unable to move from one page to another due to fr...
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

Startups like Loom, Mixpanel, Blinkist, Adobe, Deel and Education facilities such as USC, Dartmouth and The University of Chicago.
Sony Music, ESPN, Hilton, Unisource, Colliers, Extreme Networks, Groupon, Netflix
Find out what your peers are saying about Notion vs. Smartsheet and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
837,501 professionals have used our research since 2012.