Smartsheet vs. LiquidPlanner

When it comes to project management, Smartsheet and LiquidPlanner are reliable options for software. These two project management solutions have valuable features to help your company complete tasks and projects on time.

Smartsheet is an award-winning project management software with capabilities to aid you in staying on top or things. LiquidPlanner’s project management features can cater to the needs of organizations from different industries.

We’ll compare the key features of Smartsheet and LiquidPlanner in this article to give you an idea of what each software can add to your company.

If you’re just beginning your software research, use our Product Selection Tool to get a free list of up to five recommended project management solutions.

An overview of Smartsheet vs. LiquidPlanner

Smartsheet was introduced in 2006 and has garnered more than 80,000 global users since. Its features include automation, task management, resource management, calendar, collaboration, communication, reporting, dashboards, custom branding, reminders, and a mobile app. Smartsheet has mid-range prices for their plans. It is one of the most used project management solutions by both small and large businesses worldwide.

LiquidPlanner’s beta version was first released by LiquidPlanner, Inc. in 2008. The software has features for task management, collaboration, time tracking, priority-based scheduling, client sharing, notifications, and a mobile app. LiquidPlanner has high-end pricing and is more suitable for medium to large scale businesses. It has a high customer satisfaction rating.

Read also: Here Are 6 Change Management Tools That Every Project Manager Needs In Their Life

Comparing features

Smartsheet and LiquidPlanner both have task management, collaboration, and mobile application features. Let’s compare how each software handles similar features:

Task management

Smartsheet lets you delegate tasks to team members using cards. Add custom fields, images, and color coding to these cards and tailor them to your team’s needs. Filtering cards and lanes to easily see the flow of work from different points of view is also possible. Users can update the status of work through Smartsheet’s drag-and-drop interface. Set deadlines for tasks and attach files from Google Drive, OneDrive, and Dropbox easily with Smartsheet.

LiquidPlanner uses priority-based scheduling to manage tasks. With this software, assign your tasks, estimate them, and arrange them in priority order. You can attach documents and files to these tasks and add dependencies and deadlines as well. LiquidPlanner automatically calculates a range of probable start and finish dates for each of your tasks. Those projections are rolled out to your projects and tasks. You will be alerted whenever the system detects you’re at risk of missing a deadline.

Collaboration

Smartsheet lets users collaborate through a commenting feature called Conversations. Through this feature, users can provide detailed feedback through pinned annotations, conversations, and individual approvals. Replies to comments may be done from your email. Smartsheet also lets you collaborate with vendors and clients by allowing you to review content proofs without sheet access.

For collaboration, LiquidPlanner has a contextual commenting feature that puts conversations in line with the task or project folder they’re related to. Team members can track conversations threads easily so everybody remains updated on the tasks. LiquidPlanner has a seamless document sharing feature that lets you upload and share files from your desktop or cloud storage systems like Google Drive, Box or Dropbox. Your team can work together on editing these files and getting approvals.

Mobile application

Smartsheet’s mobile app lets you monitor tasks and projects on the go. You can create tasks, share files, and collaborate with your team on projects. It lets you automate workflows, plan projects, and collaborate with your team, too. With this feature, users can check notifications, work on requests and approvals, and update the status of tasks in card view. You can access the Smartsheet dashboards from your phone. The mobile app can be downloaded from the App Store or Google Play store.

LiquidPlanner also has a mobile application to manage projects whenever and wherever you are. You can add priority-based scheduled tasks through dragging and dropping. Users can collaborate and share files with their teammates. Commenting on tasks and projects can also be done through the mobile app, and conversation threads can be accessed. In addition, you can check the data analysis and trend reporting. The LiquidPlanner mobile app is available for download from the App Store and Google Play store.

Integrations

Smartsheets can integrate with numerous popular apps for electronic signature, file sharing, team communication, issue tracking, and third party integrations:

• Zapier
• Google Drive
• Jira
• Microsoft Teams
• DocuSign

LiquidPlanner integrates with useful platforms and tools for time tracking, payroll, dashboards, more integrations, and lead generation:

• Cyfe
• VisitorTrack
• Rippling
• HubStaff
• Zapier

The better project management software for you

Smartsheet and LiquidPlanner have remarkable features that can help you in planning and managing projects efficiently. The better software to suit your business will depend on your company’s needs and  particular preferences.

Smartsheet has more native integrations than LiquidPlanner, therefore you can expand the capabilities of this software. Smartsheet has more customization possibilities when it comes to task assignment, so if you prefer the tasks to be color-coded, then Smartsheet is the better choice. 

LiquidPlanner, on the other hand, is more suited for handling large teams with numerous tasks. Its priority-based scheduling feature will automatically schedule every task for every member — you won’t have to worry about the recurring task of manually setting the start  and end date for every team member. This feature also ensures your team members won’t have too much on their plates as the system considers the user’s availability before calculating the start and end dates for each task.

Want to explore more options? Use our Product Selection Tool to quickly get a list of recommended project management software vendors for free.