Google Sheets vs. Smartsheet

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Google Sheets
Score 8.9 out of 10
N/A
Google Sheets is the spreadsheet app available on Google Workspace, or standalone, with a free plan for personal use and accessible via mobile apps for iOS and Android.N/A
Smartsheet
Score 8.3 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
Google SheetsSmartsheet
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
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
Google SheetsSmartsheet
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsA discount is offered for annual billing.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Google SheetsSmartsheet
Considered Both Products
Google Sheets
Chose Google Sheets
Google Sheets is better than smartsheets and excel when it comes to integrating into different applications for automation as well as for team collaboration. While excel is better for analysis and higher level formulas/Marcos when working in a team environment or involving …
Chose Google Sheets
Significantly easier to use and more dynamic than Smartsheet or Excel. Not complicated to use, especially for those with an understanding of spreadsheets and formulas.
Chose Google Sheets
Google sheets allows the most cross-team collaboration in balance with the most user-friendly interface and data limits.
Smartsheet is a close second, however some of the interface and tools are trickier for people unfamiliar and it's not as UX friendly.
Excel is fantastic for …
Chose Google Sheets
In my opinion, based on my own experience, I believe that Google Sheets stands in the second position in my list of spreadsheet software largely because of things such as ease to share and access data, multiple edits simultaneously and keep a track of the real-time changes, …
Chose Google Sheets
It is easy to use and better for collaboration than excel. It is missing several things as compared to Excel, but most organizations are not advanced excel users, so they will not feel the difference.

I would also say that it does make it easier to integrate with other systems …
Smartsheet

No answer on this topic

TrustRadius Insights
Google SheetsSmartsheet
Highlights

TrustRadius
Research Team Insight
Published

Users have consistently emphasized the robust project management capabilities of Smartsheet. It is widely praised for its advanced features such as Gantt charts, extensive automation, and data visualization tools, which facilitate comprehensive project tracking and management. Smartsheet is particularly appreciated in environments that require intricate planning and collaboration amongst various stakeholders, offering both project managers and team members a platform to monitor progress efficiently.

In contrast, Google Sheets is predominantly recognized for its accessibility, ease of use, and integration with other Google Workspace tools. Users value Google Sheets for tasks that require real-time collaboration and straightforward data management. While it may lack some of the advanced project management features of Smartsheet, its simplicity and seamless integration with familiar tools make it a preferred choice for users who prioritize ease of use and quick setup over detailed project tracking.

Overall, while both platforms serve fundamental data handling and collaboration needs, Smartsheet stands out for detailed project management, whereas Google Sheets offers greater simplicity and ease of adoption for general spreadsheet tasks.

Features
Google SheetsSmartsheet
Project Management
Comparison of Project Management features of Product A and Product B
Google Sheets
-
Ratings
Smartsheet
9.1
129 Ratings
16% above category average
Task Management00 Ratings9.8126 Ratings
Resource Management00 Ratings9.9108 Ratings
Gantt Charts00 Ratings9.0109 Ratings
Scheduling00 Ratings9.8111 Ratings
Workflow Automation00 Ratings9.1100 Ratings
Team Collaboration00 Ratings10.0122 Ratings
Support for Agile Methodology00 Ratings8.781 Ratings
Support for Waterfall Methodology00 Ratings9.079 Ratings
Document Management00 Ratings9.2101 Ratings
Email integration00 Ratings9.1100 Ratings
Mobile Access00 Ratings8.096 Ratings
Timesheet Tracking00 Ratings9.762 Ratings
Change request and Case Management00 Ratings8.169 Ratings
Budget and Expense Management00 Ratings8.175 Ratings
Professional Services Automation
Comparison of Professional Services Automation features of Product A and Product B
Google Sheets
-
Ratings
Smartsheet
8.0
66 Ratings
3% above category average
Quotes/estimates00 Ratings8.144 Ratings
Invoicing00 Ratings7.737 Ratings
Project & financial reporting00 Ratings8.760 Ratings
Integration with accounting software00 Ratings7.732 Ratings
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Google SheetsSmartsheet
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Score 8.9 out of 10
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Score 8.5 out of 10
Enterprises
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Score 8.9 out of 10
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User Ratings
Google SheetsSmartsheet
Likelihood to Recommend
9.0
(40 ratings)
9.4
(146 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(2 ratings)
9.0
(24 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(4 ratings)
9.2
(17 ratings)
Availability
8.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
8.0
(1 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
8.0
(1 ratings)
8.1
(45 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
7.0
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(6 ratings)
Configurability
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Google SheetsSmartsheet
Likelihood to Recommend
Google
Google Sheets is well suited in two main areas: is free to use and you don't need to buy a license to use it, comparing to the most direct competitors ; collaboration is in my opinion the best advantage, with multiple people working together and seeing others working in real time. It's less appropriate in low connectivity environments (offline capabilities)
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
Google
  • Collaborative planning : In the initial phase of project, Team leads and architects create a permission matrix along with the naming convention simultaneously, seeing who is editing / adding the details in real-time.
  • Cost tracking : We use this tool to track cloud resource usage monthly costs, so that we can analyse it and send out comms for high cost based resources. By storing cost data here, it's easy for use to store data of last couple of years.
  • Flexible documentation : For change logging of different scenarios we would need different / ad-hoc columns to be added on the fly, which makes using this tool much simpler then reputed third party tools.
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
Google
  • Ease of use - I collaborate with a lot of folks on these and a lot of them have trouble using it.
  • Would love more live features; for example, being able to have cells react to other inputs (checkboxes, etc) with reactive formatting
  • More cross-usability with other Google products; it's hard to think of drawbacks honestly, this is a pretty seamless software.
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
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Likelihood to Renew
Google
I am not involved in the purchase/selection process, but my organization is a Google shop, and Sheets meets most of our spreadsheet needs and works seamlessly with our other tools. I don't anticipate our switching anytime soon.
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.
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Usability
Google
It can easily handle most uses and functions. It is only for very large datasets or advanced analysis that it either lacks the proper functions or performance begins to slow. Most employees who continue to use competitors' products do so out of preference, familiarity with the user interface, or other surface-level reasons.
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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
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Reliability and Availability
Google
Like most Google products, Google Sheets rarely has outages or slowness, and when it does, connection is always momentarily restored. I can't recall a time when I've been unable to access Google Sheets but able to access other sites just fine. That said, errors aren't uncommon when handling large data volume. You know what they say about using spreadsheets as databases, but sometimes it's just the most convenient option, especially for smaller or one-off projects, and not being able to store large amounts of data hampers our ability to move quickly with scrappy prototypes or full solutions. It would be great if we could better integrate our data manipulation (Apps Script) with big data in the sheet.
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Smartsheet
No answers on this topic
Performance
Google
Again, Google Sheets is no exception to Google's general high speed and reliability, but load times can be slow for larger amounts of data. I've used Sheets with Zapier and have used the Python API, and speed has never been an issue.
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Smartsheet
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Google
I have never contacted Google Sheets support, but Google Sheets makes it very easy to report an issue or suggest a feature from Sheets itself (Help > Help Sheets improve), and I've had mostly good experiences with support for other Google products.
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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.
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Implementation Rating
Google
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.
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Alternatives Considered
Google
I have found that I can do almost everything I could have done in Microsoft Excel faster and easier in Google Sheets. We recommend Google Sheets in 99.9% of our use cases and feel it meets the needs of our workers very well. I am sure there are other spreadsheet creation programs out there, but because we are already in the Google environment, adopting Google Sheets in very easy.
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!
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Contract Terms and Pricing Model
Google
I'm not involved with the purchase, but I assume everything goes smoothly and that the pricing structure is predictable and reasonable. We do not get surprise fees.
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Smartsheet
No answers on this topic
Scalability
Google
Google Sheets works very well with multiple users. It's convenient to see in real-time who is collaborating in a sheet, down to the specific cell that they're viewing/editing. Linking Sheets across departments is convenient with the IMPORTRANGE function.
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Smartsheet
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Google
  • Don't need to pay for windows 365 license as it is free
  • Has a positive impact since I am not cursing excel for annoying problems(I don't want the new Pivot table format, I want to use Classic and I don't want to expand/collapse arrows. "x$#%")
  • [Haven't] looked at return on investment on work, but has "simplified" for basic and medium spreadsheets.
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.
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