ActiveCollab vs Smartsheet

ActiveCollab

Overall, ActiveCollab is a great project management tool. If you're looking for a platform for your team to track their tasks, communicate with one another, share files, etc., then ActiveCollab is the exact right choice. It even allows you to invite external users to collaborate with (such as clients) and lets you set up custom visibility for them.

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Ali Zakeri

Data Analyst | SEO Specialist

Xivic, Inc.Information Technology and Services, 51-200 employees

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Smartsheet

Smartsheets is very well suited for building and managing project plans, no matter how simple or complex they are. Budgets are easily managed and maintained, as are scheduling dates and assigning users 'action items' and permissions, with cell-level security features available out of the box. Smartsheets is well suited for collaboration. Multiple users, if given admin or editor privileges have the ability to make changes at once, avoiding issues that often can materialize regarding versioning errors typical, as a result of multiple authors or editors.For project managers, smartsheets has multiple 'views' available, which can come in handy depending on your specific purpose. For those interested in seeing all of the details, the standard view is a table/spreadsheet type of view. For a more agile approach, or a simplified user view, their 'task-list' type view can help to easily view in a card-type of format and classify those tasks that have been 'completed' versus 'in-progress' , 'in qa' or other relevant category / classification. Other views include the Gannt chart view, which is helpful for seeing things in a calendar-like view, helpful in showcasing things like dependencies.

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Verified User

Project Manager in Professional Services

Management Consulting Company, 51-200 employees

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Feature Rating Comparison

ActiveCollab

7.4

Smartsheet

8.3

Task Management

9.3

8.6

Resource Management

7.5

8.4

Gantt Charts

6.1

9.0

Scheduling

6.5

8.5

Workflow Automation

7.0

8.7

Team Collaboration

8.6

9.2

Support for Agile Methodology

6.7

8.2

Support for Waterfall Methodology

7.0

8.1

Document Management

9.0

8.8

Email integration

8.0

7.4

Mobile Access

6.8

7.8

Timesheet Tracking

8.5

7.9

Change request and Case Management

5.3

7.7

Budget and Expense Management

7.0

7.9

ActiveCollab

6.2

Smartsheet

7.6

Quotes/estimates

5.7

6.8

Invoicing

6.5

6.4

Project & financial reporting

7.7

8.4

Integration with accounting software

5.0

8.7

Pros

Very nice interface for all user roles in the system.
Effective notification of pending tasks and optimal management of the equipment.
Organized work flow, productive tasks and correct execution.
Creation of filters to better locate artifacts for daily use.

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Daniel Pacheco

Consultor ADF

Innova4JProgram Development, 201-500 employees

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Organizing and editing of items
Aggregated reporting of disparate sheet
Many structured categories
Flexible templates for many use cases

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Thomas Boon Koo

UX Program Manager

Google via Artech Information SystemsInternet, 10,001+ employees

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Cons

It does not provide support to scaled agile frameworks like SAfe which is there for Rally & Agilecraft.

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Sourav Singla ,Safe Agilist, CSP, ICP-ACC, CSM, CSPO, SSM, LSSG

Enterprise Agile Coach

Tata Consultancy ServicesInformation Technology and Services, 10,001+ employees

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Better linking between Smartsheets
Integration with Google Forms where submissions can go straight to a Smartsheet.
Allow for card creation at all levels (when view is changed from grid mode that has nested rows)

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Thomas Boon Koo

UX Program Manager

Google via Artech Information SystemsInternet, 10,001+ employees

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Likelihood to Renew

No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

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Smartsheet8.9

Based on 20 answers

Smartsheet has made my work life easier. Reduced my email significantly. Smartsheet and SaneBox have got me leaving the office with 0... Yes 0 emails in my inbox. My inbox would reach 150-250 email per day. Smartsheet brought that number down significantly and SaneBox took it the rest of the way. Do yourself a favor and check out SaneBox, too.

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Kris Walsh

Senior Marketing Manager

VMwareComputer Software, 10,001+ employees

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Usability

No score

No answers yet

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Smartsheet9.2

Based on 5 answers

Smartsheet is very easy to learn. However, while I have been able to pick it easily, Microsoft Excel and Project super users that I have trained on Smartsheet get bogged down in the differences and can find it frustrating. Explaining the differences ahead of time and why Smartsheet is being chosen instead of a different software seems to counteract those reactions

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Meghan M. Prentiss

Program Assistant, Epidemiology Planning and Communications Division

Tri-County Health DepartmentProgram Development, 201-500 employees

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Support

No score

No answers yet

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Smartsheet6.8

Based on 5 answers

The product works great. The support team is responsive, but hardly ever needed. Training and consulting is free.

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Kris Walsh

Senior Marketing Manager

VMwareComputer Software, 10,001+ employees

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Implementation

No score

No answers yet

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Smartsheet9.7

Based on 5 answers

It's absolutely paramount to take a few minutes to actually play with the software. It's nearly impossible to do anything wrong or make a mistake which cannot be fixed easily. Under the help menu is Live Training option. After you familiarize yourself with the commands, watch the live training for some in depth understanding of how to make the software fit your needs perfectly.

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Stephanie Carpenter

Project Manager

Vitatech ElectromagneticsEnvironmental Services, 1-10 employees

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Alternatives Considered

ActiveCollab has all the functions that are in these services, unlike them. Not everywhere there is a diagram of gantt. And somewhere the interface is very rewarded and in general looks obsolete.

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Иван Шайхисламов

CEO

Remeslo Branding agencyDesign, 1-10 employees

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I have used Microsoft Project, Basecamp, OmniPlan and Excel to organize projects. Smartsheet, by far, is my favorite. Although Smartsheet is not quite as detailed with Gantt charts as Microsoft Project and OmniPlan, it is much more user friendly. Smartsheet also has the capability to do similar functions that you find in Excel such as formulas, sorting, etc. However, my favorite [thing about] Smartsheet is the collaboration features and real-time updates. Linking cells across sheets together, leaving comment threads, adding attachments, using Google Hangouts, entering a sheet at the same time as your teammates, and sending updates and reminders are just a few examples of how teams can work together. Collaborators don't even need a license - they can simply log in if you invite them! Lastly, Smartsheet has solutions for so many different kinds of projects that I have used it both at work and for my many volunteer projects for large project management, planning events, managing grants, developing/conducting surveys and more. This does not even include the additional platforms I have not tried such as employee hiring, budgeting, and document routing. There seems to be a template or solution for just about anything. You just have to get in there and play!

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Meghan M. Prentiss

Program Assistant, Epidemiology Planning and Communications Division

Tri-County Health DepartmentProgram Development, 201-500 employees

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Return on Investment

For T& M teams, it is very good tools not only to manage teams but billing & invoicing.
we are able to generate invoices easily which earlier was a lot of headache & took lot of effort & time to do.
Whenever we encounter any issue in using any feature of AC, we get lot of support from their support desk.
Their customer service has been very responsive and helpful throughout.
Task management is USP of AC. It supports active tracking of our daily tasks & serves reminder if we miss on the targets defined, this helping us keeping on track & meeting the customer SLA's.

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Sourav Singla ,Safe Agilist, CSP, ICP-ACC, CSM, CSPO, SSM, LSSG

Enterprise Agile Coach

Tata Consultancy ServicesInformation Technology and Services, 10,001+ employees

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Increased employee efficiency - keeping them on task and reminded of when their project deadlines are.
Improved staff involvement - project tracking helps identify clear project deadlines and milestones for SMART objectives.
Provides additional professional development opportunities for staff to learn a project management tool.

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Meghan M. Prentiss

Program Assistant, Epidemiology Planning and Communications Division

Tri-County Health DepartmentProgram Development, 201-500 employees

View all 62 answers on this topic

Pricing Details

ActiveCollab

General

Free Trial

Yes

Free/Freemium Version

—

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

Yes

Entry-level set up fee?

Optional

$6.25*

1. per member, per month, annual billing

ActiveCollab Editions & Modules

ActiveCollab

On-premise Edition

Self-Hosted Plan

$9991

1. license

SaaS Edition

Member annually

6.251

Addition - Get Paid Bundle Annually

$21

Addition - Get Paid Bundle Monthly

2.52

Member monthly

$72

1. per member, per month, annual billing

2. per member, per month, monthly billing

Additional Pricing Details

—

Smartsheet

General

Free Trial

—

Free/Freemium Version

—

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

—

Smartsheet Editions & Modules

Smartsheet

—

Additional Pricing Details

—

ActiveCollab vs Smartsheet

Add comparison

Likelihood to Recommend

ActiveCollab

Smartsheet

Feature Rating Comparison

Task Management

Resource Management

Gantt Charts

Scheduling

Workflow Automation

Team Collaboration

Support for Agile Methodology

Support for Waterfall Methodology

Document Management

Email integration

Mobile Access

Timesheet Tracking

Change request and Case Management

Budget and Expense Management

Quotes/estimates

Invoicing

Project & financial reporting

Integration with accounting software

Pros

Cons

Likelihood to Renew

Usability

Support

Implementation

Alternatives Considered

Return on Investment

Screenshots

Pricing Details

ActiveCollab

General

Free Trial

Free/Freemium Version

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

Entry-level set up fee?

ActiveCollab Editions & Modules

On-premise Edition

SaaS Edition

Additional Pricing Details

Smartsheet

General

Free Trial

Free/Freemium Version

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

Entry-level set up fee?

Smartsheet Editions & Modules

Additional Pricing Details

Rating Summary