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Notion vs Smartsheet comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 19, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

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

Categories and Ranking

Notion
Ranking in Project Management Software
10th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
Knowledge Management Software (2nd), Document Automation Software (4th)
Smartsheet
Ranking in Project Management Software
5th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
41
Ranking in other categories
Project Portfolio Management (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Project Management Software category, the mindshare of Notion is 2.2%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Smartsheet is 4.5%, down from 5.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Project Management Software
 

Featured Reviews

Iván Fanego - PeerSpot reviewer
Creates customizable systems and improve team collaboration
Notion is a very flexible and customizable platform, allowing users to create whatever they need. The most impactful feature for project management is the ability to invite multiple client stakeholders without complication. Once I understand the basics, it's easy to use despite an initial learning curve. It also significantly improves team collaboration through customized views and visualizations of data.
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The product has a valuable feature for databases. It has a table and a calendar view and saves various documents in the system."
"The ability to structure data is one of the most essential functions of Notion."
"We can install it on mobile phones, making it feasible to manage productivity."
"The product is easy to use and has good responsiveness."
"It is easy to use and very intuitive compared to Microsoft Project."
"The product is easy to use and has good responsiveness."
"I like the high level of customization in Notion."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is its flexibility...The initial setup of Notion is easy."
"For doing project plans what was really valuable is the ability to do a predecessor."
"If you just need a planning tool, it's a low-cost and effective option."
"The solution has subtasks and a rollup."
"What I found most valuable in Smartsheet is its project customization feature. It's a great solution because you can add in your own WBS. You can see it in Jira style, Kanban, and you can even do Agile and Waterfall. Another feature that's valuable in the solution is when you have those connections, you have that API, you have a sandbox, and you can make a solution, it's a tremendous product because you can pull data."
"Granting access to Smartsheet is much simpler. Anyone can access it with just a link and password. Smartsheet also offers intelligent forms, allowing us to collect project proposals easily. Before our first meeting, I can review initial project ideas submitted through these forms. Additionally, attaching files is straightforward - no need to navigate through menus. The search function is also nice."
"Smartsheet is easy to use."
"The most valuable feature of Smartsheet is it can be highly customized."
"As I am in the corporate legal department, I have to deal with a number of contracts and sometimes it's hard to keep up with email transactions. Having the tracker sheet and being able to build dashboards and workflow has been quite valuable."
 

Cons

"User management needs improvement."
"If the internet or Notion's servers are down, I cannot access information. This is a big disadvantage."
"It can be difficult to contact the people at Notion."
"The only problem I experience is that it often hangs."
"User management needs improvement. It's difficult to determine what information is private. It's a bit complicated for me."
"The product could be integrated with external platforms."
"One area for improvement in the solution is the absence of integrated charts."
"Notion's UI needs improvement."
"Smartsheet could improve the UI and integrations. Some of Smartsheet's competitors have more than 2,000 integrations while Smartsheet only has approximately 40 integration applications."
"The long-term timelines could be improved, especially the visuals on the projection Gantt chart."
"You were forced to create a new tab rather than add another sheet."
"There are some pain points for me. Other people use it a little differently, but I would like to be able to do a little more with it. I would like database functionality with it wherein if I bring in several Excel spreadsheets of data and load them into Smartsheets, I should be able to make a correlation between an index field and run a report against those two. I can do it, but it's a little clunky. So, I need a little more experience to feel comfortable doing that."
"The solution should include integrations with other platforms or software."
"With a large quantity of data, the solution lags a bit."
"Smartsheet could improve by having seamless integration with Azure Board."
"The main challenge with Smartsheet is that when you start putting components on the Smartsheet dashboard, they don't know about each other. So, if I filter something in one widget, or if I click on a region or a project ID, the other widget or component and the visualization that's on that dashboard don't change. It doesn't know about the other component."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product has good pricing."
"I rate the product's pricing a three out of ten. We only need to pay for it if we use it in the workspace."
"The product's pricing depends on the usage plans."
"The product is affordable compared to other platforms."
"The product has good pricing."
"I pay around $100 per year."
"The solution's pricing can seem steep, especially when you work with a lot of people. If you are working on your own or for another business, the solution's price won't affect you much."
"Notion is free to use."
"Smartsheet only requires licenses for project managers. When we were using Asana, we had to purchase a license for everyone who wanted to access their tasks and use the system. That gets costly fast. It was one of the main reasons we left Asana. As Asana and these other tools scale, they become way more expensive."
"There's a trial version and a free version. Each license costs a decent amount, $25 per month or something."
"The tool's monthly fee is 25 dollars, which is within the range of most cloud-based project management tools. I rate the tool's pricing a five out of ten."
"Smartsheet has many licensing models. You need to add the package that best suits your requirements. The license is paid per user and it is monthly. The cost was approximately $7 per PC, $15 for professional, and $33 for the enterprise plan."
"I would assume there is a licensing fee. I don't think that it is free."
"The solution is expensive."
"If I'm not mistaken, it was pretty manageable. It was about 200 bucks a seed. The business really felt a strong need for it. So, it was viewed as a safer and more straightforward cost that we were willing to pay as compared to Domo, which took some convincing."
"This licensing is straightforward and they charge per user."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
University
10%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Media Company
7%
Educational Organization
29%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Healthcare Company
7%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Notion?
I like the high level of customization in Notion.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Notion?
The licensing and setup cost for Notion is affordable for us as a small company.
What needs improvement with Notion?
The main problem with Notion is that it's not flexible enough for all of the use cases we intend to address. For instance, it is challenging to focus on a single KPI as it's mandatory to have a cha...
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 their PM tool RFP. The short of it is this, MS Project is not caught up with the mo...
What do you like most about Smartsheet?
The tool creates shareable dashboards. These dashboards allow us to display project deliverables' status, their position in the queue, expected delivery timelines, and more. The best part is that t...
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.
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Startups like Loom, Mixpanel, Blinkist, Adobe, Deel and Education facilities such as USC, Dartmouth and The University of Chicago.
Sony Music, ESPN, Hilton, Unisource, Colliers, Extreme Networks, Groupon, Netflix
Find out what your peers are saying about Notion vs. Smartsheet and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.