monday CRM and Smartsheet have a lot in common but they aren’t interchangeable. monday CRM is our favorite project and work management solution–it’s not as powerful as Smartsheet, but it’s a lot easier to use. Overall, they’re both customizable, advanced, and flexible platforms built on relational databases.
Smartsheet and monday CRM Compared to the Best Project Management Software
Both Smartsheet and monday CRM are on our list of the best project management software. They’re versatile, flexible, and highly customizable. You can also use either to track a wide range of things besides projects, including customers, leads, expenses, content production, and more.
However, they’re both hard to use and require a lot of configuring at the beginning.
ClickUp and Asana are better alternatives if you prefer a platform that’s mostly set up for you. Both have more structure to them so you don’t have to decide how it all works. ClickUp offers more features and is constantly adding new tools you can play around with.
Asana, on the other hand, is more traditional and laser-focused on project management.
Service-based businesses and agencies can use any of the tools we’ve already talked about. But Teamwork is built specifically around how they work. It may be a better fit because of that.
What Smartsheet and monday CRM Have in Common
Both solutions are great for managing work, projects, tasks, and a wide range of other things. If you learn how to use them well, they can replace multiple tools, including a CRM, sales tracking, and team collaboration, to name a few.
Here’s a closer look at what these two have in common before we dive into their differences.
A free-forever plan: Smartsheet recently introduced a free plan, making them identical in this regard. monday CRM allows for up to three boards, unlimited documents, and two users. Smartsheet lets you have one user and two editors, but limits you to two sheets.
Free viewer accounts: Both platforms let you invite view-only users at no additional cost. On higher tiers, you get more granular access options, some of which cost extra for each user.
Numerous project views: Table view is standard for both, but they also offer a wide range of other project views, including Gantt, timeline, Kanban, and calendar. Just because table or grid view is the standard doesn’t mean you can’t view your projects in other ways.
Basic workload management: You’ll be able to set up basic resource management with either. Smartsheet just recently added this capability to its Business plan and monday CRM offers it on its Pro plan.
Built on relational databases: Unlike Asana, Trello, or ClickUp, relational databases are what give Smartsheet and monday CRM their unmatched versatility. You’ll be able to create multiple databases, connect them together, pull in information from other tables, and sync it all seamlessly for a truly connected experience.
Incredible versatility: You can set up full-fledged CRM systems, sales pipelines, content production systems, expense management solutions, conference room management, scheduling, and more with either platform. Ultimately, you can keep track of just about anything.
Requires a lot of configuration up front: Both are pretty much a blank slate out of the box. With Smartsheet, you’ll see a spreadsheet. With monday CRM, you’ll see something that resembles a spreadsheet but looks a bit more modern. Making it match how you work is entirely on you. This can be a blessing and a curse, depending on who you are. Some people love the ability to customize, others just want something that works right away. The best folks for Smartsheet and monday CRM are definitely the former.
Templates to help you get started: There are templates you can use as a starting point if you’d like. So, you don’t necessarily have to start entirely from scratch. But how well these templates will work for you depends. If you’re not up for the task of customizing them, you should probably look elsewhere.
Smartsheet vs. monday CRM Pros and Cons
An excellent way to compare project management software is to look at the virtues and drawbacks of each option. This way, you can identify solid reasons for choosing one over another. It’s also great to spot deal-breakers before you lock into a contract with either software.
Where Smartsheet Shines
Familiar interface for spreadsheet users: Smartsheet has a spreadsheet-centric interface similar to Excel and Google Sheets. Users accustomed to using spreadsheets will find Smartsheet to be user-friendly and intuitive. The software is also highly customizable, allowing you to create separate bespoke sheets for most business processes, including project management, inventory management, budget and expense monitoring, and campaign tracking.
Excellent data privacy: Smartsheet offers some of the market’s most robust data privacy and security assurance. The platform complies with multiple data privacy legislations and regulations, including the AICPA SOC, HIPPA, ISO, DOD SRG, CCPA, and GDPR. The company also has a stringent Vendor Privacy and Data Handling policy for vendors and other third-party affiliates.
Robust entry-level plan: Smartsheet’s cheapest plan offers more features than most competitors’ entry-level plans. For example, the Pro plan includes Card, Grid, Gantt, and Calendar views, up to 250 automations per month, and 20 GB storage. You’d need a mid-level plan or higher to enjoy similar capabilities on monday CRM.
Powerful workflows: Both let you create workflows, but Smartsheet has a much more advanced automation engine. You’ll be able to choose from a massive library of triggers and actions, including those taken in other platforms.
Built-in dynamic forms: Smartsheet has a built-in form builder with conditional logic. It’s a handy feature for creating shorter forms, personalizing the forms’ experience, and reducing the number of choices per question. It’s a nice touch if you regularly use forms for internal and external business processes. monday CRM also offers forms, but they’re severely lacking in comparison.
Excellent collaboration features: Smartsheet makes it easy to review and approve various content types, including images, videos, PDFs, and Microsoft Office documents. Teammates, clients, and vendors can make annotations, pin comments, discuss feedback, and input their approval decision on the proof. It’s an essential collaboration feature that isn’t available on some PM software, including monday CRM.
Numerous integrations: Smartsheet offers 100+ connectors and integrations to advance its capabilities. The possibilities are near limitless and cover communications, data visualization, automation, content creation, and security integrations.
Better scalability: Overall, Smartsheet has a lot more power behind it. There are tons of add-ons you can use when you’re ready to grow, including asset management, resource management, a no-code app builder, data connectors, and more. You virtually will never have to worry about outgrowing Smartsheet as there’s always room for more.
Where Smartsheet Needs Improvement
Lacks native time tracking: Unlike most other project management software, Smartsheet doesn’t have built-in time tracking. However, Smartsheet offers a premium add-on called Resource Management that you can link with your account to access three different types of time tracking. On the downside, you’re paying extra for a feature that monday CRM and many other PM software include in your subscription.
It’s harder to learn and use: Smartsheet requires a lot more getting used to. Sure, it looks like a spreadsheet and is plenty easy if you’re going to use it like that. But to take full advantage of its power and capabilities, you’re going to have to spend a lot of time digging into it.
Clunky interface: monday CRM feels modern, bright, and relatively intuitive. Smartsheet, on the other hand, feels more like a word processor with lots of menus that have submenus inside and icons you have to learn.
Higher price tag at scale: On lower tiers, monday CRM is actually more expensive. But as you get to the more powerful capabilities, the two converge and Smartsheet becomes the pricier option.
Where monday CRM Shines
Easier to get the hang of: monday CRM’s interface is definitely a step above Smartsheet. It’s a lot easier to understand and navigate on day one. It’s more like traditional SaaS software vs. Smartsheet’s word processor vibe.
Document co-editing: Many project management tools overlook document synchronization, so it is refreshing to seemonday CRM’s work docs. The feature lets you co-edit documents in real-time, where each contributor gets their own space to contribute ideas without disrupting others’ work. Contributors can add boards, widgets, visual task lists, and charts to create more interactive and engaging brainstorming sessions.
Artificial intelligence: Smartsheet hasn’t yet jumped on the AI bandwagon. monday CRM has, although not to the same extent as other project management tools out there. You’ll be able to generate summaries, create AI-powered fields, and use AI within your automations.
New solution for IT and support teams: monday CRM’s newest product, Monday Service, is a customizable and versatile ticketing tool for IT and customer service. They’re constantly looking for new ways to add value for their customers. Aside from that, monday CRM also has specific solutions for CRM and Dev teams, too.
Easy-to-use automations: monday CRM automations follow three simple steps. These include choosing a trigger, selecting a condition, and setting an action. The feature is easily accessible within your project. Plus, the logical automation builder makes creating custom automations a breeze.
Panic button: monday CRM has a panic button in case you spot suspicious activity on the account. Activating panic mode locks out all users, including admins. You’ll need to contact support for an assessment and account reactivation.
Offline mode for mobile: The monday CRM mobile app lets you work without an internet connection, which is helpful on an airplane, subway, or in locations with weak or no cellular coverage. You can perform up to 70% of board actions, including editing boards, viewing notifications and updates, changing column values, and creating new items.
Native integrations with other work management tools: Dev teams are notorious for their allegiance to specific work management tools such as Jira and Asana. monday CRM supports native integrations with most work management tools to minimize context switching. Smartsheet requires connectors and other third-party integrations for popular work management platforms.
Where monday CRM Needs Improvement
Low storage limits for the entry-level plan: monday CRM allows unlimited seats for all its paid plans. However, every plan has a storage limit, starting from 5 GB with the entry-level plan, and this storage threshold can limit the number of people using the entry-level plan. By contrast, Smartsheet’s entry-level plan offers 20 GB of storage space.
Batched pricing: Unlike Smartsheet, monday CRM charges per group of seats rather than per seat. Therefore, you might pay for more seats than you need. The seats are only available in increments of five.
For example, you’ll need to purchase ten seats even if you only have seven, eight, or nine users. The pricing structure can also be confusing, and you must also contact monday CRM for custom pricing if you purchase 50 or more seats.
Limited scalability in comparison: Don’t get us wrong, monday CRM can handle a lot. But it has nothing on Smartsheet’s enterprise-level capabilities.
The Last Word on Smartsheet Compared to monday CRM
Smartsheet and monday CRM both offer work management solutions built on relational databases. They’re versatile and flexible, letting you track and manage just about anything you need to.
monday CRM is easier to use, but more expensive for small teams and not as scalable. Smartsheet, on the other hand, is an enterprise powerhouse that’s capable of anything you throw at it. With dozens of add-ons and additional products, there’s always more room to grow if you need it.
Want more details? Head to our monday CRM review or Smartsheet review to learn more. Alternatively, you can check out our full list of the best project management solutions if neither sounds like the right fit.
