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Adobe Workfront vs Microsoft Project Server vs Smartsheet comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
5.6
Adobe Workfront boosts efficiency and productivity significantly, saving time and resources while enhancing collaboration and user growth.
Sentiment score
5.1
Microsoft Project Server offers positive ROI, varying by organization type, with benefits of time savings and improved reporting.
Sentiment score
6.7
Smartsheet boosts efficiency and collaboration, streamlining project management with Excel-like simplicity, enhancing productivity, and offering cost-effective solutions.
We tracked all of the savings through Adobe Workfront, and at the end of the year, for those 2,500 users, we saved over 1,200 hours, or 1,200 man hours.
Microsoft Project provides significant return on investment through time savings, enhanced visibility, real-time reporting, and risk mitigation for projects.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.0
Adobe Workfront's support is well-rated for expertise and responsiveness, though complex issues can experience longer response times.
Sentiment score
4.4
Microsoft Project Server support is decent but inconsistent; users rely on external resources and partners for comprehensive assistance.
Sentiment score
7.1
Smartsheet customer service is praised for responsiveness and training but criticized for ticket management and inconsistency.
They provide answers and guidance on how to resolve issues, such as clearing cookies and cache, and assist in best practice configuration and optimization of the platform.
It is considered a citizen admin system, and you don't need to be an IT professional to be an administrator.
If L5 does not understand, it moves to L4. If they can't solve it, it moves to a higher level.
It's challenging to navigate, often making it necessary to search for solutions externally.
Their support tends to decline when not supporting cloud solutions.
Communication with two people, one was knowledgeable while the other was learning.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.6
Adobe Workfront scales well for midsize to enterprise businesses, offering flexibility, customization, and strategic planning with manageable scalability challenges.
Sentiment score
7.5
Microsoft Project Server is scalable for large projects, though performance may vary based on version and infrastructure costs.
Sentiment score
7.4
Smartsheet effectively scales for diverse user needs, with strong integration capabilities, despite some advanced feature limitations and cost concerns.
We have gone from two or three marketing teams up to over 40 marketing teams and 6,500 users in a few years.
The solution is really scalable.
The desktop version does not have scalability.
Microsoft Project Server is fully scalable and is widely used in many industries.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
6.8
Adobe Workfront is praised for its stability, with issues resolved quickly and performance consistently rated highly by users.
Sentiment score
7.1
Microsoft Project Server is stable and robust, with minor delays, improved in newer versions, especially the cloud version.
Sentiment score
7.9
Smartsheet is a reliable, stable cloud-based platform for project management, with minimal disruptions and frequent improvements enhancing its performance.
Adobe Workfront provides a stable foundation for project management.
Overall, I would rate the stability and reliability of Adobe Workfront a ten.
I have not faced any challenges with the stability of Adobe Workfront.
I have never had to reach out to their support because the product works as expected.
 

Room For Improvement

Adobe Workfront users want improved reporting, integration, and interface customization for better usability, efficiency, and data visualization.
Microsoft Project Server requires better integration, customization, user-friendliness, cloud functionality, and agile methodologies to compete with alternatives.
Smartsheet needs a more intuitive interface, better integration, robust features, and enhanced support for an improved user experience.
We can enhance integrations, such as ensuring Adobe Workfront integrates more seamlessly with other Adobe products like Experience Manager and Creative Cloud.
If I have issue-level data and project-level data that I need to see, with some custom coding, you can do some of it in a report, but in general, if you have a lot of that blended data between levels, you need to use a dashboard, which requires two different reports due to the difficulty in pulling data at the different levels into one thing.
Integration with Azure DevOps could be improved to facilitate better communication between the two systems.
Exporting data from Microsoft Project, especially Gantt charts, is overly complex and not user-friendly.
The lack of collaboration capabilities on the desktop version, unlike the cloud version, is a limitation.
Microsoft has become increasingly expensive, and there seems to be a push towards cloud solutions which can be challenging for some.
I have a novice understanding of Smartsheet, so I sought a solution more suited to repeatable projects and process-oriented governance.
 

Setup Cost

Adobe Workfront's pricing is high but offers flexibility, discounts, and value for large remote teams with efficiency improvements.
Microsoft Project Server offers flexible pricing, with on-premise and cloud options, potentially costing enterprises $120,000 to $150,000 annually.
Smartsheet offers flexible, competitively-priced licensing options appealing to various users, providing value through extensive functionality and customization.
This can include items such as mileage, supplies, software, licenses, and travel costs.
Microsoft Project Server is on the expensive side due to high licensing costs.
Microsoft's products are expensive for individuals.
Considering the infrastructure commitments to SharePoint and SQL, the implementation costs are low if already set up.
 

Valuable Features

Adobe Workfront offers customizable tools for effective project management, enhancing collaboration, automation, integration, and workflow flexibility for users.
Microsoft Project Server streamlines complex project management with resource allocation, integration, and robust tools for efficient collaboration and scheduling.
Smartsheet excels in real-time data sharing, automation, integration, and customization, making it a favored alternative to Microsoft Project.
It provides comprehensive features with built-in integration for creative tools, addressing the pain point of creative collaboration in the content supply chain.
The system aids in supporting demand management and producing high-level status reports.
You can set up the complete workflow from start to end with Adobe Workfront, such as content creation, content publication, and getting that approval process, storing it somewhere.
The Gantt chart is also a very powerful tool for a visual presentation of sequences, critical paths, and execution processes, which simplifies comprehension for users.
This setup allows for comprehensive reporting and management across multiple projects and portfolios.
The dashboards are amazing for data crunching and provide a project focus with upcoming predictions, including burn-up and burn-down charts.
We were looking for a tool that allowed for repeatable projects and process-oriented governance.
What I appreciate best about Smartsheet is the straight Gantt chart and its flexibility.
 

Featured Reviews

Chris French - PeerSpot reviewer
Enhanced project management and automation simplify reporting and approval processes
I think that Adobe Workfront could be improved in several areas, including reporting, which I've already mentioned. There are very specific things within the custom forms that I think could be improved, such as having different labels within forms instead of system-wide. The ability to hide options in a drop-down at the custom form level instead of system-wide would be another improvement. There are times we have to create brand new fields because we need slightly different wording within the label. If we had the capability, we could easily trim down from over 1,000 custom fields to about 400 custom fields if we had the ability to have individual labels by form. So reporting is a big one, and I think there are some not huge changes needed, but improvements to custom forms and custom fields would be beneficial. My experience with reporting in Adobe Workfront so far is that the reporting could be better. The ability to report is great, but I think it is too difficult. Regarding dashboards, they are crucial to be able to pull information from different levels, but that's also a negative because it is very difficult to do that on a report. If I have issue-level data and project-level data that I need to see, with some custom coding, you can do some of it in a report, but in general, if you have a lot of that blended data between levels, you need to use a dashboard, which requires two different reports due to the difficulty in pulling data at the different levels into one thing.
Mouloud Fourali - PeerSpot reviewer
Visual project planning enhances collaboration and proactive management
The dependency management in Microsoft Project is highly valuable, as it visually maps dependencies and impacts within a project plan. The online version facilitates easy collaboration without having to share multiple versions of the file. The Gantt chart is also a very powerful tool for a visual presentation of sequences, critical paths, and execution processes, which simplifies comprehension for users.
PaulDiaz - PeerSpot reviewer
Needs to improve baselines and changing dates can be frustrating
I like the dashboarding feature best, as it lets me assemble a workspace with source sheets, dashboards, and reports simultaneously. The standard reports and worksheets are most useful for team collaboration. People look at dashboards during presentations, but they go to the sheets to update projects, add comments, or make notifications. It's automated, so changes come to me or whoever needs to see them. I can send notifications from specific line items. The worksheet is key for tracking project progress, though we track it at a higher level rather than detailed work breakdown structures. Subject matter experts say when they'll deliver things, and that's what we track.
report
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Healthcare Company
8%
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Government
8%
Energy/Utilities Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Government
10%
Healthcare Company
9%
University
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise29
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business25
Midsize Enterprise12
Large Enterprise33
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise22
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Workfront?
Adobe Workfront features include expenses associated with a project or task that are not related to labor hours. This...
What needs improvement with Workfront?
In Adobe Workfront, there is a limit of 2,000 users that can be shown on a page. I would suggest increasing this to s...
What is your primary use case for Workfront?
We use Adobe Workfront for project management where users manage their projects, add tasks to the project, track thei...
What do you like most about Microsoft Project Server?
The ability to track a project's progress using Microsoft Project Server is the most valuable aspect. It depends, esp...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Project Server?
The pricing for Microsoft Project Server is standard, around $200-$250, but I think it's actually $80 to $100 per yea...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Project Server?
In order to improve Microsoft Project Server, collaborative features could be enhanced, as it is possible to improve ...
Has anyone moved from Microsoft Project to Smartsheet? How has your experience been with Smartsheet?
Hi @Eire Zimmermann, I helped an organization evaluate both MS-Project and Smartsheet when they were conducting thei...
What do you like most about Smartsheet?
The tool creates shareable dashboards. These dashboards allow us to display project deliverables' status, their posit...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Smartsheet?
The pricing is great and reasonable enough that I maintained my copy and bought it for my team independently.
 

Also Known As

AtTask, Workfront DAM
MS Project Server
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Advance Autoparts, Emerson, Covario, Cisco, Caroma, TREK, Sapient Nitro, ATB, LexisNexis, CarPhone Warehouse
Magnachip, Gwinnett County Schools, CLEAResult, Medbit Oy, Intelbras S.A., ETS, CORE Construction, Keller Foundations
Sony Music, ESPN, Hilton, Unisource, Colliers, Extreme Networks, Groupon, Netflix
Find out what your peers are saying about Planisware, ServiceNow, Smartsheet and others in Project Portfolio Management. Updated: September 2025.
867,341 professionals have used our research since 2012.