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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
15th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
Knowledge Management Software (5th), Document Automation Software (3rd)
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 (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the Project Management Software category, the mindshare of Notion is 2.3%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Smartsheet is 5.3%, 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

"We can install it on mobile phones, making it feasible to manage productivity."
"It is easy to use and very intuitive compared to Microsoft Project."
"Notion has very strong integration capabilities."
"The product has a valuable feature for databases. It has a table and a calendar view and saves various documents in the system."
"The ability to create and organize notes, plans, and technical content in a single platform is the product's most valuable feature."
"The product is easy to use and has good responsiveness."
"Notion is heavily used in my workflow."
"The product is easy to use and has good responsiveness."
"I prefer Smartsheet for its flexibility."
"Smartsheet is a really good tool for collaboration."
"Granting access to Smartsheet is much simpler. Anyone can access it with just a link and password. Smartsheet also offers intelligent forms, allowing us to collect project proposals easily. Before our first meeting, I can review initial project ideas submitted through these forms. Additionally, attaching files is straightforward - no need to navigate through menus. The search function is also nice."
"The most valuable feature of Smartsheet is its intuitiveness, ease of use, and overall simplicity."
"Smartsheet does a really good job of creating Gantt charts. Export to Excel feature was also very useful."
"The most valuable features of Smartsheet are its collaboration tools, the ability to centralize and prioritize projects, and robust reporting capabilities."
"The solution has subtasks and a rollup."
"The most valuable feature of Smartsheet is it can be highly customized."
 

Cons

"If the internet or Notion's servers are down, I cannot access information. This is a big disadvantage."
"It is complicated to connect Notion with external systems."
"There could be an automation feature included in the product."
"User management needs improvement."
"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."
"The product could be integrated with external platforms."
"Notion's UI needs improvement."
"The linked view of database, along with the sharing and permission settings, are areas with shortcomings in the solution that need improvement."
"The system can become more challenging to use in more complex scenarios, requiring additional add-ons that can be quite costly."
"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."
"The only reason we migrated to another application was the full integration available in other solutions. We never used the integration capabilities of Smartsheet."
"They should improve the solution's integration with API."
"It would be beneficial to enhance user-friendliness and make it less complex while maintaining its overall excellence as a product."
"If there was some way to store more complex files in the system, or if there was a back-end structure where you could store files, that would be ideal."
"The long-term timelines could be improved, especially the visuals on the projection Gantt chart."
"Smartsheet needs to improve the user interface."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing structure is quite reasonable, and the basic plan covers the most essential features."
"It's pretty affordable."
"The product has good pricing."
"The product has good pricing."
"Notion is free to use."
"The product is affordable compared to other platforms."
"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."
"I pay around $100 per year."
"I pay $ 120 or $ 128 a month for two to three users."
"There's a license for Smartsheet, and the enterprise plan comes down to about $750. My company also pays an extra $60 monthly apart from the standard licensing fee."
"The solution is reasonably priced."
"It is less expensive than Microsoft Project for enterprise or Oracle Primavera by an order of magnitude. If you buy a Microsoft Project license, it's probably $300 or so by itself, whereas Smartsheet is probably less than $50 per head."
"Smartsheet has many licensing models. You need to add the package that best suits your requirements. The license is paid per user and it is monthly. The cost was approximately $7 per PC, $15 for professional, and $33 for the enterprise plan."
"I would assume there is a licensing fee. I don't think that it is free."
"Smartsheet only requires licenses for project managers. When we were using Asana, we had to purchase a license for everyone who wanted to access their tasks and use the system. That gets costly fast. It was one of the main reasons we left Asana. As Asana and these other tools scale, they become way more expensive."
"Smartsheet can be low-priced, with personal subscriptions around eight dollars a month, but I imagine it gets pricier for enterprise systems. Microsoft Project can be more expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Educational Organization
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Educational Organization
44%
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?
For my use, the pricing is reasonable. I pay around $100 per year. However, inviting additional users can become costly.
What needs improvement with Notion?
User management needs improvement. It's difficult to determine what information is private. It's a bit complicated for me.
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

 

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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.
831,265 professionals have used our research since 2012.