Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Backlog
Score 8.7 out of 10
N/A
Backlog is a project management and bug tracking tool for teams that want higher productivity, greater visibility, and simple project tracking. Development teams can work together with Design, Marketing, IT, and more. Backlog is designed to get everyone on track by organizing work, teammates, projects and tasks. The activity feed and watchlist are designed to help users keep an eye on relevant work and deadlines. Gantt charts and burndown charts are designed to help users visualize project…N/A
Notion
Score 8.7 out of 10
N/A
Notion aims to present users with an all-in-one workspace — for notes, tasks, wikis, and databases, from Notion Labs in San Francisco.
$5
per month per user
Smartsheet
Score 8.4 out of 10
N/A
Smartsheet is an online project management and collaboration tool. It includes automated alerts, instantaneous updating and sharing across team members, resource management, nested tasks organized in a hierarchy, a Gantt chart view, exportable and automated reports, and integration with email.
$12
per month per user (up to 10 users)
Pricing
BacklogNotionSmartsheet
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Free
$0
Plus
$12
per month per user
Business
$24
per month per user
Enterprise
Custom Pricing
Pro
$12
per month per user (up to 10 users)
Business
$24
per month per user (3 user minimum)
Enterprise
Contact Sales
Advanced Work Management
Contact Sales
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
BacklogNotionSmartsheet
Free Trial
YesYesYes
Free/Freemium Version
YesYesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsA discount is offered for annual billing.A discount is offered for annual billing.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
BacklogNotionSmartsheet
Considered Multiple Products
Backlog

No answer on this topic

Notion
Chose Notion
Jira is a great tool, that is probably more robust than Notion and more scalable. But for a small company (under 50 people) the investment is hard to swallow without a significant revenue stream justifying it. Notion is a perfect low cost option that meets 80% of the …
Smartsheet

No answer on this topic

Features
BacklogNotionSmartsheet
Project Management
Comparison of Project Management features of Product A and Product B
Backlog
7.0
3 Ratings
10% below category average
Notion
7.3
79 Ratings
6% below category average
Smartsheet
9.1
129 Ratings
16% above category average
Task Management10.03 Ratings8.174 Ratings9.8126 Ratings
Gantt Charts7.03 Ratings6.846 Ratings9.0109 Ratings
Scheduling10.03 Ratings6.957 Ratings9.8111 Ratings
Team Collaboration10.03 Ratings00 Ratings10.0122 Ratings
Support for Waterfall Methodology5.03 Ratings00 Ratings9.079 Ratings
Document Management10.03 Ratings00 Ratings9.2101 Ratings
Email integration3.03 Ratings00 Ratings9.1100 Ratings
Mobile Access1.03 Ratings7.372 Ratings8.096 Ratings
Workflow Automation00 Ratings6.455 Ratings9.1100 Ratings
Search00 Ratings8.075 Ratings00 Ratings
Visual planning tools00 Ratings7.968 Ratings00 Ratings
Resource Management00 Ratings00 Ratings9.9108 Ratings
Support for Agile Methodology00 Ratings00 Ratings8.781 Ratings
Timesheet Tracking00 Ratings00 Ratings9.762 Ratings
Change request and Case Management00 Ratings00 Ratings8.169 Ratings
Budget and Expense Management00 Ratings00 Ratings8.175 Ratings
Communication
Comparison of Communication features of Product A and Product B
Backlog
-
Ratings
Notion
7.8
76 Ratings
3% below category average
Smartsheet
-
Ratings
Chat00 Ratings6.229 Ratings00 Ratings
Notifications00 Ratings7.568 Ratings00 Ratings
Discussions00 Ratings7.349 Ratings00 Ratings
Surveys00 Ratings6.720 Ratings00 Ratings
Internal knowledgebase00 Ratings8.869 Ratings00 Ratings
Integrates with Gmail and Google Hangouts00 Ratings8.98 Ratings00 Ratings
Integrates with Outlook00 Ratings9.02 Ratings00 Ratings
File Sharing & Management
Comparison of File Sharing & Management features of Product A and Product B
Backlog
-
Ratings
Notion
8.1
76 Ratings
1% above category average
Smartsheet
-
Ratings
Versioning00 Ratings7.657 Ratings00 Ratings
Video files00 Ratings7.649 Ratings00 Ratings
Audio files00 Ratings7.343 Ratings00 Ratings
Document collaboration00 Ratings8.571 Ratings00 Ratings
Access control00 Ratings8.271 Ratings00 Ratings
Advanced security features00 Ratings7.251 Ratings00 Ratings
Integrates with Google Drive00 Ratings9.213 Ratings00 Ratings
Device sync00 Ratings9.253 Ratings00 Ratings
Professional Services Automation
Comparison of Professional Services Automation features of Product A and Product B
Backlog
-
Ratings
Notion
-
Ratings
Smartsheet
8.0
66 Ratings
3% above category average
Quotes/estimates00 Ratings00 Ratings8.144 Ratings
Invoicing00 Ratings00 Ratings7.637 Ratings
Project & financial reporting00 Ratings00 Ratings8.760 Ratings
Integration with accounting software00 Ratings00 Ratings7.632 Ratings
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User Ratings
BacklogNotionSmartsheet
Likelihood to Recommend
9.0
(3 ratings)
8.6
(85 ratings)
9.3
(146 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
9.0
(24 ratings)
Usability
10.0
(1 ratings)
8.4
(55 ratings)
9.2
(17 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
8.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
8.1
(45 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
7.0
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(6 ratings)
User Testimonials
BacklogNotionSmartsheet
Likelihood to Recommend
Nulab, Inc.
ticket management
Read full review
Notion Labs, Inc
If you want a customizable solution that can be adapted for just about any scenario, I recommend using Notion. If you need a solution that's easy to share with people outside your organization, Notion is great and allows individual or team permission-setting. If you want a turnkey solution, Notion might not be the best since it requires a fair bit of set-up. There are templates that can be purchased to handle this, but I haven't found them very helpful.
Read full review
Smartsheet
Smartsheet shines for collaboration. When you have multiple people involved with planning events Smartsheet makes it easy to share and collaborate. For instance, multiple people can be in Smartsheet working at the same time. Also setting permissions for exactly those who need to know is quite easy with Smartsheet. For data analytics and general spreadsheet purposes Excel is better but for project management and event planning Smartsheet is superior
Read full review
Pros
Nulab, Inc.
  • Backlog is one of the best management and collaboration tools available in the market for better managing of resources at the workplace.
  • I have been using this platform for a very long time and it has been helping me a lot to manage the business processes, manage employees, managing leads on different projects, and coordinating with colleagues.
  • It has been helping me a lot to check the issue in the project completion.
  • It gives me real-time status on the project/gives right insights of the system.
Read full review
Notion Labs, Inc
  • I love that you can create nested pages, allowing for separate sections to organize information as needed.
  • I appreciate the convenience of effortlessly uploading images to any section.
  • I appreciate that when adding links, you can embed them so the website displays directly on the page.
Read full review
Smartsheet
  • Its hard to overstate the value of familiarity. Being able to use a tool that has some familiarity takes away the time needed to train and orient employees on a new tool and allows an organization to hit the ground running.
  • Smartsheet covers most of the basics of a project management tool, the usual tasks, milestones and project viewing options.
  • For data viewing, you get multiple data viewing options including a calendar view (good for marketing teams and those who work around scheduling), Kanban, Gaant etc
Read full review
Cons
Nulab, Inc.
  • Price is very high for small teams and department of short term contracts.
  • GUI can be more intuitive.
Read full review
Notion Labs, Inc
  • I use Notion on my personal tablet, and unlike on the computer, I have a lot of difficulty editing backgrounds, GIFs, and page dividers. It's not as user-friendly, and often the elements end up cut off or misaligned, which is frustrating.
  • While the current calendar feature is helpful, I'd love to see more customization options. The Google Calendar style isn't always ideal, especially for tasks without specific times or for ongoing projects that require daily maintenance.
  • It would be fantastic to have more flexibility in customizing Notion pages. For example, I'd love to create planners with the freedom to add illustration boxes, stickers, or GIFs without being restricted to a fixed layout.
Read full review
Smartsheet
  • Smartsheet set up is similar to Excel, yet when you upload an Excel file, things like conditional formatting are lost. Smartsheet has its own conditional formatting, and you have to reinstate the rules. It would be great if those would apply automatically once a file is uploaded
  • Some Smartsheet management and access rules can take some tweaking to work properly. This may be a case of offering more info to admins so they can apply these better and with more efficiency
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Nulab, Inc.
No answers on this topic
Notion Labs, Inc
We're too settled in the ecosystem and we have no major complaints with it. No reason to move unless you have a burning pain point
Read full review
Smartsheet
It definitely meets our needs as far as organizing and archiving our tasks and files. As we train more staff to view it, I see opportunities for more improvement, which I am sure this program can handle. I look forward to seeing continued improvement from Smartsheet on their capabilities and functionality.
Read full review
Usability
Nulab, Inc.
nice to use in the night as well
Read full review
Notion Labs, Inc
Very easy to use (I learned how to use everything on my own) and I was able to set up an entire ecosystem without any courses or other tools. I often say that Notion is like Lego for adults, because there we can use all the available tools to create a multitude of things, from funnels to projects with calculated deadlines and tags.
Read full review
Smartsheet
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
Read full review
Support Rating
Nulab, Inc.
I would give 9 but one less because of the high price.
Read full review
Notion Labs, Inc
No answers on this topic
Smartsheet
I give this rating because it fills a niche in the market. MS Project scares many away from proper task management but there are limited tools our there, especially cloud-based that are mobile-friendly. Smartsheet fills this market gap, especially for small to medium-sized businesses. IT is not fair to compare it to MS Project, but fairer to see what gaps it fills.
Read full review
Implementation Rating
Nulab, Inc.
No answers on this topic
Notion Labs, Inc
No answers on this topic
Smartsheet
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.
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
Nulab, Inc.
Backlog has all of the top-notch features to increase productivity, visibility, and project tracking. Backlog is easy to use. I first just logged in to the platform and it was [ready] to go. I easily started working on it and it started giving me the bugs’ details on our project. Always available for queries. Listen to the queries very attentively and try to give a solution on the go if applicable. Otherwise, take some time and respond with the advanced workable solution in the limited time frame.
Read full review
Notion Labs, Inc
The company uses both Notion and Trello within the company. Notion is more for North America employees while Trello is used between Operation team overseas and in North America. Sometimes it's a preference of how the tools look like for project management. I would say both Notion and Trello are nice tools and serves our needs.
Read full review
Smartsheet
Jira and Redmine are much more robust and technologically advanced project management solutions. I enjoy using either when managing a very large project. However, I prefer to use Smartsheet for my smaller to medium sized projects. As for Google Drive - I would say that Google sheets and Smartsheet are almost identical in my opinion when it comes to functionality. Personally I prefer to manage smaller projects via Google Drive, but it is a personal preference!
Read full review
Return on Investment
Nulab, Inc.
  • SLA should be given by single candle
Read full review
Notion Labs, Inc
  • It has streamlined our processes across various teams to all work from a signle source of truth
  • Maintaining this source of truth is a full time job
  • It has reduced our overall tool set by completely eliminating two other softwares we were paying for
Read full review
Smartsheet
  • This has really opened up collaboration across teams. A lot less working in silos.
  • It hasn't fully replaced any one tool so it means having to go to another place. Hopefully, we can eliminate a tool or two in the next six months.
Read full review
ScreenShots

Backlog Screenshots

Screenshot of Projects home pageScreenshot of Gantt chartScreenshot of GitScreenshot of commenting in issuesScreenshot of subtasking