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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 (3rd)
Smartsheet
Ranking in Project Management Software
5th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
41
Ranking in other categories
Project Portfolio Management (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Project Management Software category, the mindshare of Notion is 2.4%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Smartsheet is 4.6%, down from 6.0% 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 ability to structure data is one of the most essential functions of Notion."
"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 a great tool for note-keeping and note-sharing."
"Customer support is great, effective, and easy to reach."
"The product is easy to use and has good responsiveness."
"We can install it on mobile phones, making it feasible to manage productivity."
"I rate Notion a ten out of ten."
"The ability to create and organize notes, plans, and technical content in a single platform is the product's most valuable feature."
"If you just need a planning tool, it's a low-cost and effective option."
"The most valuable feature of Smartsheet is its intuitiveness, ease of use, and overall simplicity."
"Smartsheet is easy to use."
"This solution provides easy collaboration and allows non-building users to use the system without requiring a license."
"As I am in the corporate legal department, I have to deal with a number of contracts and sometimes it's hard to keep up with email transactions. Having the tracker sheet and being able to build dashboards and workflow has been quite valuable."
"The tool reduces manual labour and it is user-friendly."
"Smartsheet offers more than Project because it's similar to a table-based, database-type system. It's like a hybrid between Excel and project software. We were able to enter the formulas and do much of the automation. We added budgets to it and linked them to a vendor page. Smartsheet let us integrate the budget into the project seamlessly. With Project, we needed to open up Excel."
"The product is easy to use."
 

Cons

"Notion's UI needs improvement."
"The platform's documentation feature needs improvement."
"Notion's UI could be better."
"It can be difficult to contact the people at Notion."
"There could be an automation feature included in the product."
"The linked view of database, along with the sharing and permission settings, are areas with shortcomings in the solution that need improvement."
"User management needs improvement."
"The only problem I experience is that it often hangs."
"The dashboard is not user-friendly, it needs improvement."
"Areas for improvement in Smartsheet include better integration capabilities with other technologies through APIs and addressing limitations in reporting functionalities."
"Initially, there were issues like dropdowns. Those have been overcome."
"We have to manually put in every dependency in Smartsheet."
"I would like if Smartsheet allowed more formulas in its sheets. I don't think working with formulas is as intuitive as it is in Excel. I use Vlookups and index matches in some of my sheets, and I had to find an outside consultant to help me build out those formulas."
"The integration with Microsoft products should be improved."
"It would be beneficial to enhance user-friendliness and make it less complex while maintaining its overall excellence as a product."
"Lacks the ability to edit attachments within the solution."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I pay around $100 per year."
"I rate the product's pricing a three out of ten. We only need to pay for it if we use it in the workspace."
"The product has good pricing."
"Notion is free to use."
"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."
"It's pretty affordable."
"The pricing structure is quite reasonable, and the basic plan covers the most essential features."
"There would be more extensive usage if the solution were cheaper. It's really expensive right now, and that's why we provide a few licenses for admins. The rest of them are just users without admin privileges."
"This licensing is straightforward and they charge per user."
"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."
"I pay $ 120 or $ 128 a month for two to three users."
"Its licensing is on a yearly basis. I was responsible for negotiating the price with the Smartsheet team, but I don't remember what the price was. Its standard license probably was around 5,000 to 6,000 a year. The enterprise version is significantly more expensive."
"I would assume there is a licensing fee. I don't think that it is free."
"There's a trial version and a free version. Each license costs a decent amount, $25 per month or something."
"The solution is too expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
19%
Comms Service Provider
8%
University
8%
Media Company
7%
Educational Organization
40%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Healthcare Company
6%
Government
6%
 

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: April 2025.
849,190 professionals have used our research since 2012.