Microsoft Lists vs. Smartsheet

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Microsoft Lists
Score 9.5 out of 10
N/A
Lists is an information tracking app in Microsoft 365 that enables users to work with anyone, anywhere. Users can configure lists to better organize events, issues, and assets.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
Microsoft ListsSmartsheet
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
Microsoft ListsSmartsheet
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
Microsoft ListsSmartsheet
Features
Microsoft ListsSmartsheet
Project Management
Comparison of Project Management features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Lists
-
Ratings
Smartsheet
9.1
129 Ratings
16% above category average
Task Management00 Ratings9.8126 Ratings
Resource Management00 Ratings9.8108 Ratings
Gantt Charts00 Ratings9.0109 Ratings
Scheduling00 Ratings9.8111 Ratings
Workflow Automation00 Ratings9.1100 Ratings
Team Collaboration00 Ratings10.0122 Ratings
Support for Agile Methodology00 Ratings8.681 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 Ratings8.269 Ratings
Budget and Expense Management00 Ratings8.275 Ratings
Professional Services Automation
Comparison of Professional Services Automation features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Lists
-
Ratings
Smartsheet
8.1
66 Ratings
5% above category average
Quotes/estimates00 Ratings8.144 Ratings
Invoicing00 Ratings7.837 Ratings
Project & financial reporting00 Ratings8.760 Ratings
Integration with accounting software00 Ratings7.832 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Microsoft ListsSmartsheet
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Score 9.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Todoist
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Score 9.1 out of 10
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Score 9.5 out of 10
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Score 9.2 out of 10
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All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Microsoft ListsSmartsheet
Likelihood to Recommend
9.0
(1 ratings)
9.4
(146 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(24 ratings)
Usability
-
(0 ratings)
9.2
(17 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
-
(0 ratings)
8.1
(45 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
7.0
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(6 ratings)
User Testimonials
Microsoft ListsSmartsheet
Likelihood to Recommend
Microsoft
It's great for anything that needs to hold data and process it into automation. It's a bit limiting if you like multi-line text fields or rich text fields. They lose a bit of their capability to filter.
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
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Pros
Microsoft
  • great for capturing loads of data
  • great for manipulating and viewing the data many ways
  • strong integration with other M365 products and Power Automate
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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
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Cons
Microsoft
  • It's definitely getting better but for the average user, there is still a fairly big learning curve if you want to do anything beyond the basics
  • It would be cool to get Microsoft List addons that could further enhance the capabilities within Lists itself
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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
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
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
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
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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Support Rating
Microsoft
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.
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Implementation Rating
Microsoft
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
Microsoft
They are all different but can be used for the same things. They all have different benefits, and I use them except Airtable. Trello has the best automation capabilities natively built into the product of any product I've ever used. (I've personally built over 1,000 automations or more for clients on Trello.) ClickUp has the best flexibility to view data in very different ways and from different organisation levels (i.e. High level data through to detailed specific data across multiple departments or projetcs. Microsoft Lists is an excellent choice if you work in M365 already and you want a deeply integrated way to hold data and use it within M365
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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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Return on Investment
Microsoft
  • Massively positive, we have build a business that can scale with ease
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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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ScreenShots