Wrike vs. Smartsheet: which project management tool is best for your team? (2023)

Home > Comparisons > Wrike vs. Smartsheet: which project management tool is best for your team?

Smartsheet and Wrike are both project management software options that simplify team collaboration.

At first, their features look eerily similar, but the devil is in the details, right?

We put our detective hats on and went about digging up their finer differences: what their workspace looks like, who they’re best for, and the level of support they offer.

Get excited! You’re about to find out if Smartsheet or Wrike (or another app like monday.com) is the answer to your project management woes.

Try monday.com

What is Smartsheet?

Smartsheet gives your regular spreadsheet a facelift (well, obviously) and powers it up with project management capabilities. Teams can collaborate, track progress, and provide feedback.

They also have unique automated workflows for processes such as mergers and acquisitions and client onboarding.

It looks a little something like this:

Wrike vs. Smartsheet: which project management tool is best for your team? (1)

What is Wrike?

In short, Wrike is also a task management tool.

(Video) Smartsheet vs Wrike Compared Side-by-Side

Its boards look like this:

What are the differences between Smartsheet and Wrike?

TL;DR — Smartsheet is better for enterprise companies looking to scale and automate processes, while Wrike is better suited for simple collaboration.

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to project management software. Each team and manager has a unique working style.

When looking at a potential team collaboration tool, think about the following:

  • Which features are most important to you? Collaboration, analytics, project views (such as a Gantt chart)?
  • Will you need assistance with setting up workflows? If so, you’ll want a tool with customizable templates such as, ahem, monday.com.
  • What kind of customer support do you need?
  • How easy will it be to onboard your team to a new project management tool?

Armed with answers to these questions, take a look at what Smartsheet and Wrike have in store for you:

Get started

Smartsheet features: built for large teams, but with a learning curve

All projects in Smartsheet start in a spreadsheet. Within each, you can assign work, visualize projects as Gantt charts, Kanban-style boards, or as a calendar, and create reports.

It’s more powerful automation features are reserved for Enterprise users, at an added cost. This includes custom integrations for construction, engineering, sales, and IT.

(Video) Wrike vs Smartsheet - Which One is Better ?

Wrike features: ideal for small teams

Wrike has a busy workspace: there are projects for related tasks, folders for related projects, and spaces for related projects and tasks.

Organization ninjas may find Wrike very appealing. Others might find it a tad complicated.

Wrike allows you to visualize work, approve projects, and automate workflows. You can also collect data through forms. PS, we also have the ability to create, customize, and share forms 🙂

So, what if you want a Smartsheet or Wrike alternative that adapts to your team at scale, offers automated workflows, but is easy on the eyes and grows with your team? Check out monday.com! (More on our offerings below.)

Pricing: Smartsheet is more expensive than Wrike (and monday.com!)

Wrike has a wide range of plans for teams of all sizes, while Smartsheet offers limited options for small teams.

Smartsheet pricing and plans:

Smartsheet offers two types of plans, Standard and Enterprise.

Here’s what’s included in each:

  • Individual: This standard plan costs $14 per month. Individual users can create a maximum of 10 sheets, visualize projects, and integrate with G Suite.
  • Business: At $25/user per month, this standard plan offers more customization, reporting, and user management options. It has integrations with Slack and Skype.
  • Enterprise: With an unlisted price, it offers unlimited sheets, premium add ons, support, and integration with Tableau and Adobe Creative Cloud. Even on this plan, several add ons are paid.
  • Premier: This is the only plan that includes every Smartsheet feature by default. This means integrations with Salesforce, Jira, and custom apps such as Data Mesh.

Wrike pricing and plans:

Take a look at what Wrike’s plans offer:

  • Free: This base plan is for small teams, with up to 5 members. It offers a board view for task management, file sharing, and basic integrations such as Google Drive.
  • Professional: This plan costs $9.80/user per month, for teams with up to 15 people. It offers a shareable dashboard, Gantt chart views, and advanced integrations such as Microsoft Project.
  • Business: This one is for teams with 5–200 members. It sets you back by $24.80/user per month. Additional features include report templates, calendar view, request forms, and Salesforce integration
  • Enterprise: Meant for large teams, this plan offers more control with passwords and user access, plus it has resource management. Pricing is unavailable.
  • Wrike for Marketers: This combines the Business plan with Wrike Proof (approval for creative deliverables) and an integration with Adobe Creative Cloud.
  • Wrike for Marketers Performance: This includes advanced reporting and integrations with Salesforce and Marketo.
  • Wrike for Professional Services: Combines Business plan features with automated workflows and time tracking.
  • Wrike for Professional Services Performance: This one also includes integrations with Quickbooks and Salesforce.

Get started

What about customer support and integrations?

Smartsheet customer service: email for all, phone for some

The only free support options for Individual users are community forums, the learning center, and email.

Support by phone and instructor-led training is available only to Enterprise and Premier users by default, while Business users can pay to access it. Individual users can pay for on-demand training too.

(Video) Wrike vs Asana vs Monday.com | Project Management for Teams

Wrike customer service: premium support for sale

The best kind of support they offer is available for purchase.

Everyone, including users on the free plan, gets email support, but only five days a week.

Paid users get 24/5 email, chat, and phone support, with a 24-hour response time.

Finally, premium support is available at an undisclosed price. It’s available 24/7, with a one hour response time, phone, and chat support.

Smartsheet integrations: more if you pay more

Smartsheet offers basic integrations such as Box, Zapier, Microsoft Office and Slack.

Business and enterprise users have options such as Microsoft Teams, Adobe Creative Cloud and Tableau. Salesforce and Jira are available exclusively to premier users.

Wrike integrations: (Business) members only

Wrike Integrate lets you connect to 400 apps, but is only available to Business users and above.

It has custom integrations for popular work apps such as Gmail, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Outlook, Github, and JIRA. Business users also get integrations with Salesforce, MS Project, Excel, and RSS.

Smartsheet customer reviews: 4.2 out of 5 on G2

Software review site G2 lists the average user rating for Smartsheet as 4.2 out of 5, based on 2,135 reviews in all.

Wrike customer reviews: 4.2 out of 5 on G2

Wrike performs as well as Smartsheet on G2, but has fewer reviews (1,318 user reviews).

Wrike vs. Smartsheet: which project management tool is best for your team? (3)

(Video) Wrike vs Smartsheet - Which One Is Better?

Get started

So which one, Smartsheet or Wrike?

Smartsheet is a better fit for you if you want automations, though it is more expensive than many of its competitors.

Wrike offers simpler, affordable options for small teams, but is somewhat complex.

Smartsheet and Wrike both have solid offerings for small to mid-sized teams.

But, if you’re really looking for automation and flexibility for teams of all sizes and kinds, we suggest you give monday.com a try.

Fortunately, there is a project management platform for teams of all sizes, with a welcoming workspace and plenty of automation options: monday.com.

Meet monday.com: the Wrike and Smartsheet alternative for all teams

Want to check out what you can do with monday.com? Here’s a quick sneak peek:

  • Create a board for each of your projects and teams. Assign tasks, due dates, and track progress in a simple and clear way.
  • Automate tasks, such as sending notifications, with “if” and “then” rules, no coding needed.
  • Choose from templates for projects of all kinds: content planning, construction, events, social media, holiday planning, and recruitment.
  • Visualize your work as a calendar, Kanban board, chart, or timeline.
  • Get 24/7 customer support, no matter what plan you’re on. Our first response times are less than an hour and we also offer live chat, webinars, and tutorials to empower our users.
  • Integrate with your favorite work apps such as Gmail, Mailchimp, Google Drive, Box, Zoom, and Hubspot.
  • View your team’s workload, so they’re not overwhelmed at any point.

Here’s just one of the MANY boards you can create with monday.com:

Wrike vs. Smartsheet: which project management tool is best for your team? (4)

Don’t take our word for it, take monday.com for a spin and see for yourself!

Your team can get up and running in minutes, and our customer support crew will be there with you every step of the way!

(Video) Wrike vs Clickup for Project Management! Which is Better?

Try monday.com for two weeks, for free!

Get started

FAQs

Is wrike a good project management tool? ›

Wrike is a powerful tool for teams, one that ranks highly as both collaboration software and project management software.

Which tool is best for project management? ›

10 Best Project Management Tools (Features, Pros, Cons, Pricing)
  • ClickUp.
  • Wrike.
  • Asana.
  • Trello.
  • Workzone.
  • ProofHub.
  • MeisterTask.
  • Monday.com.
Jan 6, 2023

Can Smartsheet be used for project management? ›

Regardless of the size or complexity of your project, Smartsheet provides a real-time view of tasks across entire projects. That's why companies around the world rely on Smartsheet as their project management tool.

Why is Smartsheet good for project management? ›

Smartsheet is a powerful project management and collaboration tool with a clean and simple spreadsheet-like interface. It offers advanced automation and collaborative features that help streamline processes and save time.

Who does Wrike compete with? ›

Competitors and Alternatives to Wrike
  • Smartsheet.
  • Microsoft Project Online.
  • Planview AdaptiveWork.
  • Zoho Projects.
  • monday.com.
  • Clarity PPM.
  • ServiceNow Strategic Portfolio Management.
  • KeyedIn Projects.

Why should I use Wrike? ›

Wrike is a project management tool that enables businesses to plan, coordinate, and manage work. It helps cut down on unnecessary or unclear communications while streamlining and perfecting workflows.

What are the two most popular project management methods? ›

Some of the most popular project management methodologies include: Critical Path Method (CMP) Critical Chain Project Management. Lean.

What are the 4 types of project management? ›

A 2017 report published by the Harvard Business Review divides project manager personalities into four different types—executor, prophet, expert, and gambler [2]. Knowing how you or other project managers operate can be useful in discerning what kind of project management style is best for the situation.

What are the 4 most important project manager's functions in a software project? ›

planning and monitoring the project. adopting any delegation and use of project assurance roles within agreed reporting structures. preparing and maintaining project, stage and exception plans as required. managing project risks, including the development of contingency plans.

Why do companies use Smartsheet? ›

Smartsheet is the only platform that can scale from a single project to end-to-end work management, connecting business on a no-code, cloud-based platform where anyone can create the solution they need — backed by the control and security IT requires.

Does Smartsheet do Gantt charts? ›

Gantt View is one of the four ways to view your sheet in Smartsheet and offers a visual timeline of your work. Gantt charts are a staple in traditional waterfall project management but can be used anytime you want a visual representation of your schedule and the relationships between tasks.

Is Smartsheet good for agile project management? ›

Smartsheet for Agile Project Management helps you scale your efforts and be more successful. This demo shows how Smartsheet can help you: Streamline the project intake process. Provide real-time visibility into status across your program.

What is Smartsheet not good for? ›

Not Ideal for Certain PM Methodologies: Agile teams that want to use Kanban boards and other hybrid project management methodologies will struggle with Smartsheet. The software just doesn't offer that type of functionality. Everything is spreadsheet-based.

What are the limitations of Smartsheet? ›

Rate limits per hour will apply. You can have up to 66,000 portfolio users (rolled up from users in various projects in the Portfolio WorkApps). If you are planning a Portfolio with more than 20,000 projects or more than 2000 projects per blueprint, Portfolio WorkApps may not be the best fit.

Who is Smartsheet competition? ›

Other important factors to consider when researching alternatives to Smartsheet include user interface and task management. We have compiled a list of solutions that reviewers voted as the best overall alternatives and competitors to Smartsheet, including ClickUp, Asana, Wrike, and monday.com.

Does Wrike work with teams? ›

Wrike is powerful online project management software that enables every type of team to accomplish more, at scale. With our Microsoft Teams integration, you can create, access, and update all your Wrike projects and collaborate more effectively by quickly connecting chats in Microsoft Teams with tasks and projects.

What is unique about Wrike? ›

What makes Wrike different? Wrike's easy-to-create, completely interactive Gantt chart view makes Wrike different from other popular project management apps. Besides Gantt cChart, Wrike offers different views, such as board, list and file view to support different working styles of a diverse workforce.

What makes Wrike different? ›

For example, Wrike provides you with multiple customizable calendars, which can be assigned to individual projects, teams, or even a specific folder. For those who like a well-organized hierarchy of tasks, Wrike is the ideal choice.

Is Wrike a Russian company? ›

Wrike, Inc. is an American project management application service provider based in San Jose, California.

Is Wrike free with Microsoft teams? ›

Yes, the Microsoft Teams integration for Wrike is free. Improve project communication with Wrike and Teams without upgrading or buying any additional plans.

Is Wrike an Agile tool? ›

Wrike has built the best Agile project management software to enable your team to prioritize tasks, share information, and collaborate with ease.

What are the 7 types of project management? ›

7 project management styles to consider
  • Waterfall project management. ...
  • Agile project management. ...
  • Scrum project management. ...
  • Kanban project management. ...
  • Lean project management. ...
  • Six Sigma project management. ...
  • PRINCE2 project management.
Feb 21, 2023

What technique is the simplest and most often use in project management? ›

Kanban – The Simplest Project Management Technique

Kanban is one of the easiest project management techniques for first-time project managers. The whole philosophy is in creating three columns: To-do. Doing.

What are the 3 S's of project management? ›

Scope, schedule, cost. Good, fast, cheap.

What are the 4 C's in project management? ›

To solve this problem, PBL has evolved to include a new Gold Standard that incorporates the “Four Cs” of the Partnership for 21st Century Learning: communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity.

Which project should not use project management? ›

Project management is generally not the right fit for a functional organization. This is a topic for things like accounting or managing personnel records or doing things like performance reviews. You really need to have some basic practices that are ongoing with the business.

What are the 3 most important skills of a project manager please explain why? ›

The most important skills of a project manager include leadership, communication, time management, negotiating, team management, and critical thinking. Furthermore, he/she must also be able to keep up with the project management trends and use the tools they have to their fullest.

What are the five project management in order? ›

These stages include:
  • initiation.
  • planning.
  • execution.
  • monitoring and control.
  • closure.

What is the hardest thing a project manager does what's the most important? ›

As a project manager, one must ensure that the risk of working on a particular project remains low. This might be one of the hardest tasks to deal with, especially if the project manager is affected by internal issues, like unrealistic deadlines, poor teamwork and lack of budget.

Who should use Smartsheet? ›

Smartsheet project management software offers a range of benefits for large retail and FMCG companies, and IT PMO departments, who continually need to manage multiple projects.

What industries use Smartsheet? ›

Companies using SmartSheet for Collaboration include: AmerisourceBergen Corp., a United States based Distribution organisation with 39000 employees and revenues of $238.59 billion, Stellantis, formerly Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, a Netherlands based Automotive organisation with 281595 employees and revenues of $169.95 ...

Is Smartsheet part of Microsoft teams? ›

With the Smartsheet for Microsoft Teams integration enabled, Smartsheet and Teams customers can add Smartsheet sheets, dashboards, and reports as 'Tabs' within a Team channel, helping their teams bring conversations together with a current view of projects, while providing a central location where teams can work more ...

Does wrike have Gantt charts? ›

Wrike's online Gantt Chart gives you a bird's eye view of project progress and a complete view of work scope and dependencies. Intelligent critical path analysis helps you spot potential bottlenecks that can cause operational inefficiencies.

Does Smartsheet have a scheduling tool? ›

Easy Project Scheduling Software for Businesses of Any Size

Smartsheet is an online work execution platform that empowers you to stay ahead of your project schedules, keep tasks on track, and deliver projects on time and on budget.

What does Smartsheet do that Excel Cannot? ›

Smartsheet has flexible views to display data including grid, card (Kanban), Gantt, and calendar, empowering teams to work together with agility, speed, and accountability. Excel is limited to a grid view, which makes it difficult to plan, track, and report on key workflows.

Can Smartsheet do kanban? ›

Smartsheet is an online work execution platform with a robust Kanban view that enables project managers to easily visualize and collaborate on workflows.

Can Smartsheet be used for scrum? ›

Using Smartsheet as a Scrum Board

It can also be used to facilitate Scrum methodology, and help the Scrum Master prioritize tasks and customize sprint data that will ultimately help the product owner and additional stakeholders make difficult decisions.

Which software do you recommend to manage Agile projects? ›

Jira. One of the most well-known Agile project management tools is Atlassian Jira, an Agile development solution. Teams around the world love this agile project management software, but it isn't without its flaws. You can read more about Jira alternatives and our detailed Jira review.

Why is Smartsheet slow? ›

If you're experiencing issues with a specific sheet not loading or saving as expected, Smartsheet may be timing out because it's processing significant amounts of data. This behavior most commonly occurs in the following situations: The sheet is approaching Smartsheet size limits.

What is Smartsheet known for? ›

Smartsheet is a software as a service (SaaS) offering for collaboration and work management, developed and marketed by Smartsheet Inc. It is used to assign tasks, track project progress, manage calendars, share documents, and manage other work, using a tabular user interface. Smartsheet Inc.

How can I make my Smartsheet more efficient? ›

1. Support your personalized work style
  1. Embed project sheets or key reports you need to access often — including your to do list.
  2. Create a chart tracking toward your personal key performance indicators (KPIs)
  3. Add shortcuts to frequently accessed links.
  4. Embed forms you use frequently for easy access.

Can multiple people work in Smartsheet at the same time? ›

When multiple people are working on the same sheet, you'll always be aware. Here's what you'll see in Smartsheet so that you know who you're working with and whether they've made changes: Active Faces (next to the Sharing button).

How many workflows can you have in Smartsheet? ›

Each sheet can have up to 150 workflows. Each workflow can have up to 100 blocks. This includes the Trigger, Condition, and Action blocks.

How many rows can Smartsheet handle? ›

Sheet maximums:

Rows: 20,000. Columns: 400. Cells: 500,000. Characters in a cell: 4,000.

Is Smartsheet used for project management? ›

Regardless of the size or complexity of your project, Smartsheet provides a real-time view of tasks across entire projects. That's why companies around the world rely on Smartsheet as their project management tool.

Is Smartsheet blocked in China? ›

@youngdonkey Smartsheet is not blocked in China, we are using it daily, only affect with Chinese users who want to reset their password or back to company account login.

Is Wrike good for Agile? ›

Wrike has built the best Agile project management software to enable your team to prioritize tasks, share information, and collaborate with ease.

Is Wrike certification worth it? ›

Certification value is real

Just as you would adding a Google Ads or HubSpot inbound marketing certified badge, adding a Wrike Certified Bronze or Silver badge could help you advance your career and establish you as a cut above the rest of your peers.

Is Wrike same as Jira? ›

Wrike excels at the cross-team collaboration necessary to complete large volumes of work. Jira, on the other hand, is designed for small teams to run short sprints with limited collaboration.

Is Wrike hard to learn? ›

Wrike is definitely one of the easiest project management tools on the market. It is quite simple to navigate, easy to learn, and does not require any technical knowledge. Its dashboard gives you a clear view of all your tasks, highlighting those nearing their due dates.

Who should use Wrike? ›

Wrike is a project management app that doubles as a collaborative work management tool and works well for businesses of all sizes. Besides its general project management app, Wrike offers customized packages for marketing, creative, product development and professional services teams.

Do people like Wrike? ›

Wrike: A Powerful and Easy-to-Use Project Management Tool

Wrike is an incredibly powerful and comprehensive project management tool that makes it easy to keep track of tasks and collaborate with team members. It's incredibly intuitive and user-friendly, and the customer service is top-notch. Highly recommend!

Does Wrike have Kanban? ›

Wrike offers multiple project views, including Kanban, Gantt, Task view, and more.

Does Wrike have Kanban board? ›

Teams' project processes are often unique, and Wrike's online Kanban board lets your team work how they like. Create custom workflows that reflect the task completion stages of individual teams or specific project types.

Is Wrike a scrum? ›

Successful Scrum teams use Wrike

In Agile methodology, it is essential that Scrum teams are able to work and collaborate effectively, prioritize work, and deliver quickly. Project management software like Wrike gives teams visibility and enables them to plan and executive more collaborative sprints.

Does Wrike have project templates? ›

And we have the answer: project templates. Project templates are a great way to easily replicate work within Wrike, and can be set up in just a few minutes.

Does Google use Wrike? ›

Gmail, Google Drive, Google Calendar — Wrike integrates with them all to help you collaborate with your team and get more things done together.

Is Wrike expensive? ›

Wrike pricing plans start as low as $9.80 per user per month, and have a higher tier option for $24.80 per user per month. Wrike also offers a free plan that is quite impressive, and an enterprise-level solution with no publicly available pricing.

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