Chloe Goodshore, Author at TechnologyAdvice We're On IT. Tue, 14 Feb 2023 22:59:44 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://cdn.technologyadvice.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/ta-favicon-45x45.png Chloe Goodshore, Author at TechnologyAdvice 32 32 Smartsheet vs. monday.com Comparison (2023) https://technologyadvice.com/blog/information-technology/smartsheet-vs-monday-com/ Mon, 30 Jan 2023 14:00:00 +0000 https://technologyadvice.com/?p=99396 Smartsheet and monday.com take different approaches to work management―but they share many similar project management features. So even though Smartsheet focuses more on spreadsheets and monday.com emphasizes easy-to-read dashboards, it’s not always obvious which software offers the better project management tool for your business. After digging deep into both options, we’ve found that monday.com offers... Read more »

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Smartsheet and monday.com take different approaches to work management―but they share many similar project management features. So even though Smartsheet focuses more on spreadsheets and monday.com emphasizes easy-to-read dashboards, it’s not always obvious which software offers the better project management tool for your business.

After digging deep into both options, we’ve found that monday.com offers the better out-of-the-box solution and works better for light project management needs. Smartsheet’s advanced features make it better for scaling businesses or teams that need portfolio management.

Want more details to help you decide? Let’s compare Smartsheet and monday.com.

monday.comSmartsheets
Starting price$8/user/mo.$7/user/mo.
Selling pointIntuitive interfaceAdvanced spreadsheets
Integrations40+80+
Free trialYesNo
Try monday.comTry Smartsheets

Smartsheet vs. monday.com overview

Smartsheet bills itself as a scalable work management solution. You use its powerful spreadsheets to track projects, create reports, automate workflow, and more. While you can set up Smartsheet to display data in everything from a calendar to a Kanban board, everything revolves around the spreadsheets.

The Monday.com work OS, on the other hand, uses drag-and-drop blocks and a highly visual interface to simplify your project management. By default, monday.com uses a simple table to organize your tasks. You can easily switch views (like to a Gantt chart) or create dashboards that draw from multiple tables.

Make sense? Then let’s see how monday.com and Smartsheet compare at a glance.

Standout features

One of monday.com’s best features is its out-of-the-box solutions:

  • monday dev
  • monday marketer
  • monday projects
  • monday sales CRM

These products all use the monday.com work OS―but instead of making you set up your own workflow, they come prepackaged with everything you need to hit the ground running. So monday sales CRM, for example, lets you immediately import leads and manage contacts. And monday marketer has a prebuilt content calendar for your marketing team.

We also like that monday.com offers a guest access option. On certain plans, you can give guests limited access to your project management tool. It’s a nice compromise between a view-only mode and complete access―making it a great feature if your team works with lots of freelancers, for example. Plus, you can get four guests for the price of one normal user.  

As for Smartsheet? It may not have the out-of-the-box features of monday.com, but it does have everything you need to manipulate and analyze your project data:

  • Cell activity logs
  • Cell formulas
  • Conditional formatting
  • Conditional logic
  • Cross-sheet formulas

In other words, you get all the tools you’re used to with an Excel spreadsheet or Google sheet―and then some. Because Smartsheet has other great tools. 

Take its proofing features. Your team can comment on and approve images and documents within the Smartsheet software. Or look at Smartsheet Control Center, its portfolio management tool that gives project managers one location to manage dozens of projects at once. So while it may take a while to learn how to use Smartsheet for project management, Smartsheet gives you plenty of advanced features worth learning.

Core features

As you can see, Smartsheet and monday.com actually have some big differences. But they do have a lot in common too. 

For instance, both Smartsheet and monday.com offer these common project management features:

  • Calendar view
  • File storage
  • Forms
  • Free viewers
  • Gantt chart view
  • HIPAA compliance (on enterprise plans)
  • Kanban board view
  • Task automation
  • Templates
  • Unlimited sheets/boards

That means that both Smartsheet and monday.com give you the essential tools for project management. Just keep in mind that you may have to pay for a higher-tier plan to get access to all the best features.

Smartsheet vs. monday.com in Detail

Now that you’ve seen how Smartsheet and monday.com compare in terms of work management, let’s talk about some other factors that may help you decide between the two.

Pricing

For both Smartsheet and monday.com, your price depends on the plan you choose. 

Smartsheet has two plans for most businesses: Pro and Business. (It also has an Enterprise plan.) 

Smartsheet pricing by plan

ProBusinessEnterprise
$7/user/mo.$25/user/mo.Unlisted

The lower-tier Pro plan comes with everything you need to start managing projects. The higher-tier plan gives you more features, though, like conditional logic, published sheets, and proofing.

monday.com has more plan options than Smartsheet. Aside from the free plan (which is too limited for most businesses), it has four paid plan choices. 

monday.com pricing by plan

IndividualBasicStandardProEnterprise
$0/user/mo.$8/user/mo.$10/user/mo.$16/user/mo.Unlisted

Most businesses will want at least the Standard plan. That plan gives you a timeline view, calendar view, automation tools, and software integrations. Of course, the Pro plan gives you even better task management and productivity tools (like time tracking) along with unlimited guests.

One great thing about monday.com’s paid plans? They come with a free trial for 14 days, so you can see if your team likes its project management software.

Bottom line: Smartsheet’s Pro gets you more features for less money than monday.com’s cheapest paid plan. But if you want more advanced tools, monday.com’s Pro plan costs less than Smartsheet’s Business plan.

Integrations

Want to make sure your project management software works with the other software you use?

Smartsheet offers over 80 software integrations. These include popular software like these:

  • Adobe Creative Cloud
  • G Suite
  • HubSpot
  • Microsoft Teams
  • Slack
  • Salesforce

Plus, it includes integrations with software to make your Smartsheet sheets better―like adding work management for legal teams or productivity tools for suppliers.

monday.com has more than 40 integrations. Like Smartsheet, it integrates with popular software like Slack, Microsoft Outlook, Adobe Creative Cloud, and more. 

Unlike Smartsheet, though, monday.com has native integrations for other project management software, like Asana, Jira, and Trello. That means you can easily use monday.com alongside some of the other best project management tools out there (like if your dev team is hopelessly devoted to Jira).

Bottom line: While they both integrate with common business apps, Smartsheet has more integrations than monday.com. But if you use other work management software, monday.com likely has more of the integrations you need. 

Customer support

With all their features, project and task management software can get really complicated. So it’s worth thinking about what kind of customer support you can expect.

Smartsheet has an extensive training database that walks you through every Smartsheet feature, from customizing your Control Center to setting up an automated workflow. If you can’t find answers there, you can turn to Smartsheet’s forum instead to ask other users for help. 

Need more personalized software advice? Smartsheet doesn’t offer phone support with either of its standard plans, but you can pay extra to add 24/7 phone support.

monday.com also has a knowledge base that walks you through managing projects, customizing your dashboard, and setting up task automation. But monday.com also lets you easily contact customer support for help. All plans come through 24/7 support, and you can get in touch via email, live chat, or phone.

Bottom line: monday.com offers 24/7 support to all customers, while Smartsheet expects you to solve problems with its guides or community forum.

Customer reviews

Finally, let’s look at user reviews. Both monday.com and Smartsheet get generally positive reviews, but at the time of this writing, monday.com earns slightly better scores overall. 

For example, the monday.com mobile app earns a 4.9 on the Google Play store and a 4.8 on the App Store  while the Smartsheet app gets a 4.5 and a 4.8. Likewise, monday.com gets a 4.7 out of 5 on G2, and Smartsheet gets a slightly lower 4.4.

As you’d expect, users like monday.com’s intuitive interface and clean dashboards. They say it sometimes runs a bit slow, though, and automations can be a bit finicky. For Smartsheet, user reviews rave about its powerful project management and collaboration tools, but they say it has a big learning curve.

Bottom line: monday.com and Smartsheet both get very good reviews, though users like monday.com just a bit more.

Which is better for your business: Smartsheet or monday.com?

Though both Smartsheet and monday.com have lots of great tools for managing projects, most businesses will strongly prefer one or the other.

If you have a scaling business that needs to track dozens of projects, you’ll likely prefer Smartsheet and its portfolio management tools. Likewise, teams that want advanced reporting and a super customizable workflow will like Smartsheet’s spreadsheets and its conditional features.

If you care more about getting started quickly, monday.com is the better fit―especially if you pick one of its prepackaged projects. Even if you stick with the basic monday.com work OS, you’ll love how its clean dashboards and drag-and-drop customization make it easy for your team to use.

And on the off chance that neither software seems quite right for your team’s workflow, you can find lots of alternative options in our Project Management Software Guide.

Smartsheet vs. monday.com FAQ

What are the key differences between Smartsheet and monday.com?

The key differences between Smartsheet and monday.com are that Smartsheet offers more powerful customization and analysis than monday.com, while monday.com offers easier setup and more intuitive tools.

Which software is better for project management?

The better software for project management depends on your team’s needs. If you like spreadsheets and reporting, Smartsheet is the better choice. But if you prefer a simpler software, monday.com is a good Smartsheet alternative.

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Top 5 Project Management Software & Tools for 2023 https://technologyadvice.com/blog/project-management/best-project-management-tools/ https://technologyadvice.com/blog/project-management/best-project-management-tools/#comments Wed, 25 Jan 2023 18:00:00 +0000 https://technologyadvice.com/?p=51922 While some businesses can get away using Excel spreadsheets or even sticky notes to manage projects, dedicated project management (PM) software can make all the difference. The best project management tools help you assign tasks, simplify team collaboration, handle recurring tasks, give you project data―and much more.  You have tons of options for project management... Read more »

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While some businesses can get away using Excel spreadsheets or even sticky notes to manage projects, dedicated project management (PM) software can make all the difference. The best project management tools help you assign tasks, simplify team collaboration, handle recurring tasks, give you project data―and much more. 

You have tons of options for project management software. With that in mind, we’ve put together a list of trending project management software, along with reviews of seven of our hand-picked favorites. If you don’t see the right project management tool for your team, check out our Project Management Software Guide for even more options.

Top project management software

monday.com is best for project management across various teams with different functions.

Trello is best for companies that want a quick set up and an easy-to-use management tool.

Jira is best for software developers and other teams that stick to agile project management.

Airtable is best for viewing and manipulating project data in many different ways.

Asana is best for task management and breaking down a complex project into simpler parts.

monday.com: Best for project management across teams

monday.com bills itself as a “work OS” (operating system) that can meet most of your business’s software needs. monday’s suite of work software includes the following:

  • monday work management (for project and task management)
  • monday sales CRM
  • monday dev (for software development)
  • monday marketer
  • monday projects (for portfolio management)

With all those options, you can use monday.com as a single project management system for your whole business. You won’t need to worry about your marketing team’s project management app integrating with your dev team’s management tool of choice. Whether you want a Kanban board for your dev team, automated recurring tasks for your sales department, or advanced resource management for your project managers, monday.com can do it all. That means easier collaboration between teams and fewer headaches for your project managers.

monday.com pros and cons

Pros

  • Free read-only access on most plans
  • Multiple project views
  • 14-day free trial
  • Excellent customer reviews

Cons

  • Lackluster, cheap plans
  • Above-average plan costs
  • Limited storage
  • Additional cost for each app

monday.com key features

Automation: Save time by automating recurring tasks and responses to certain conditions. For example, the Work Management app can create a specific task each Friday, or the app can notify project owners if a specific task goes past its due date.

Views: Project managers and team members can view projects and tasks in several ways. Choose from a table, Gantt chart, Kanban board, calendar, and more.

View-only and guest access: Save money on your monday.com paid plans with view-only and guest options. Team members can view assignments and project progress without a plan. Or get four guests for the price of one seat (perfect for collaboration with freelancers).

Trello: Best for quick setup

Trello offers a Kanban-inspired project management tool. Your virtual board has cards for each task and columns to track project progress. It’s a highly visual way to plan and track projects.

This simple setup makes Trello one of the simplest project management tools out there. Unlike other PM software that requires complex onboarding, Trello lets you get started in no time at all. Just name your new board and start adding tasks. Likewise, team members should have no problem picking up Trello. Its drag-and-drop interface and visual layout make Trello about as complex as a game of Microsoft Solitaire. In other words, it’s the ideal project management solution for teams that want to hit the ground running.

Trello pros and cons

Pros

  • Feature-rich free plan
  • Unlimited cards and users on all plans
  • Pre-designed templates for many use cases
  • 14-day free trial of Premium plan

Cons

  • Limited views on most plans
  • Lack of chat and other common features
  • Lack of global task management
  • Potential issues combining power-ups

Trello key features

Kanban board: Trello uses a virtual Kanban board to display your projects (though you don’t have to use the Kanban method). This visual display lets you see tasks and progress at a glance. You can choose to create a new board for each project, or you can track multiple projects on one board.  

Power-ups: Use Trello power-ups (plugins that add features and integrations) to add more functionality to your board. For instance, you can get power-ups that let you easily copy cards to manage recurring tasks. Or you can add power-ups to integrate your Trello board with Slack, Google Calendar, and other software.

Templates: Pick from dozens of templates to create a thoughtfully designed workflow with no effort on your part. Choose from templates like a scrum board for agile project management or a work request form to create and assign tasks.

Jira: Best for software development

Jira is a project management app that focuses on agile project management. It uses Scrum and Kanban boards to break down complex projects. Plus, it includes plenty of dev-focused tools.

These tools make Jira a uniquely great PM tool for software development teams. It has features for bug tracking, version tracking, and other common development needs. Plus, Jira software includes all kinds of security and privacy settings. Tools like customized permissions, IP allowlisting, and data residency keep your code safe and compliant with any relevant regulations.

Jira pros and cons

Pros

  • Bug tracking and resolution tools
  • Over 3,000 integrations
  • Advanced security and privacy features
  • Affordable annual plans

Cons

  • Scrum and Kanban boards only
  • Required setup
  • Complexity of management
  • Discontinued server support

Jira key features

Scrum: Jira’s scrum board has all the built-in features you need for agile project management―like sprint points for project planning and burndown charts to monitor team collaboration.

Bug tracking: Spend less time worrying about bugs with Jira bug tracking. It can automatically assign bugs to team members, link bugs to relevant tasks, and prioritize bugs based on your project rules.

Roadmap: Project managers can get a bird’s-eye view of projects with Jira roadmaps. This PM tool lets you view projects across sprints and teams and helps you spot potential roadblocks.

Airtable: Best for data viewing

Airtable is a spreadsheet-based project management app. Its customizable tables let you add nearly endless data to projects and tasks. Then you can use Airtable’s many viewing options to visualize your data as needed.

In fact, Airtable’s visual project management software lets you visualize your project data in everything from a spreadsheet to a Gantt chart―whatever makes sense for your projects and your workflow. Airtable also lets your remember members focus on just the data they need with personalized views. Plus, Airtable has great reporting tools. You can learn more about your data with simple default reports or design the specific reports you want. In other words, Airtable makes it easy to view data from any angle you like.

Airtable pros and cons

Pros

  • Multiple ways to view data
  • Individual views for users
  • 2-week free trial
  • Code-free and code-based reporting

Cons

  • Limited attachment storage
  • Relatively few software integrations
  • Limited records by plan
  • High cost for more than 5 users

Airtable key features

View options: Airtable includes quite a few different view options, such as a basic table, Kanban board, Gantt chart, calendar, or gallery view.

Custom views: Users can sort and filter data with personalized views. These custom views won’t affect other users’ views. Plus, management can create and lock views for specific collaboration needs.

Reporting: Get everything from basic reports to complex analysis. Use Airtable’s default reports, use its code-free tool to create custom reports, or even code your own reports.

Asana: Best for task management

Asana’s project management app helps you manage specific projects as well as your team’s processes and workflow. It places a big emphasis on teamwork projects and collaboration between people.

We mostly love how Asana makes it easy to manage complex projects with its task management tools. Start by creating tasks and subtasks. Then you can group those tasks, show dependencies between them, create milestones for tasks, and more. Even the most complex projects can get broken down into small parts. That way, you can easily understand where a task is at any given time―and by extension, the project as a whole.

Asana pros and cons

Pros

  • Personalized “My Tasks” page
  • Simple workflow template creation
  • Clean dashboard for at-a-glance project status
  • 30-day free trial

Cons

  • Inability to assign multiple users to tasks
  • High starting price
  • Lack of data export on most plans
  • Overwhelming features for small teams

Asana key features

Task granularity: Asana lets you break down projects as much as you need. Create tasks and dependent subtasks. Then group tasks or create dependencies to keep your project moving forward as a whole.

Dashboard: Customize what you see on your Asana dashboard. Include the most important tasks or contributors to see where things stand without having to sift through project data.

Permissions: Project managers can choose who gets to do what with the Asana app. Protect your projects and workflow by assigning permission for viewing, adding, deleting, and managing projects.

Choosing the best project management software

Whether you need a powerful PM tool or a simple app for project planning, you can find plenty of software to help with managing projects. 

monday.com offers project management tools that work across different teams with different workflows, making it a one-stop solution for your whole small business.

Trello’s simple Kanban boards and intuitive interface make it perfect for easy setup and adoption by your team.

Jira’s software offers powerful PM tools for software development, from bug tracking to sprint planning to version tracking.

Airtable gives you standout options for viewing your project data, with multiple displays, personalized views, and advanced reporting features.

Asana has tons of task management tools to help you break down complex projects and keep them on track.

Not sure those are the right project planning and management tool for your small business? Browse even more options in our Project Management Software Guide.

FAQ

What are the types of project management software?

The types of project management software include individual productivity software, team collaboration tools, and software specifically for project managers.

Why do you need a project management tool?

You need a project management tool to easily assign tasks, track project progress, keep an eye on resources, and have a source of truth for your projects.

Which Project Management tool is right for
your business?

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