Smartsheet Pricing: Hidden Costs & how Stackby compares

Introduction

When it comes to organizing projects, managing tasks, or collaborating across departments, Smartsheet often tops the list, especially for enterprise teams and structured project managers. But as teams grow and their needs evolve, pricing becomes a key consideration. Is Smartsheet delivering the right value for its cost? And how does it compare to no-code tools like Stackby?

In this blog, we’ll take a deep dive into Smartsheet’s pricing, review its key features, evaluate hidden costs, and compare it to Stackby, a rising alternative built for flexibility, automation, and visual collaboration.

What is Smartsheet?

Smartsheet is a work management and automation platform built to help organizations plan, track, and execute projects at scale. Known for its spreadsheet-like interface paired with Gantt charts and resource planning tools, Smartsheet is especially popular among project managers and operations teams.

Smartsheet has carved a niche among operations, project managers, and IT professionals by offering enterprise-grade scalability and integrations. However, its structure, pricing tiers, and add-ons can sometimes present barriers for smaller teams or growing businesses.

Smartsheet Key Features

• Project & Task Management: Spreadsheet-based project planning with Gantt, calendar, and card views.
• Dashboards & Reports: Create real-time dashboards for stakeholder visibility.
• Workflow Automations: Trigger-based rules for reminders, approvals, and status updates.
• Forms: Collect data directly into sheets through custom forms.
• Resource Management: Track team availability, project timelines, and workload.
• Integrations: Works with Microsoft Teams, Slack, Google Workspace, Jira, Salesforce, and more.
• Templates & Solutions: Pre-built templates for PMO, IT ticketing, marketing campaign tracking, and more.

Smartsheet is designed for structure and predictability, and is great for large teams and projects that require detailed oversight.

Smartsheet Pricing Plans (Old and New)

*Prices last updated in 2023.

Smartsheet Pricing Breakdown: What You Pay For

Let’s unpack each plan and what it includes so you know exactly where your money is going:

1. Free Plan

It's a free forever plan with 1 licensed user + 2 editors. It includes:

• 2 sheets
• Grid, Card, and Calendar views
• Limited automations
• Basic reports
• Basic forms
• Limited sharing and collaboration
• Community support only

It is best for individual use or basic task tracking, but it is not suited for real collaboration.

2. Pro Plan

With up to 10 licensed editors, this plan is priced at $9/user/month (billed annually) and $12/user (billed monthly). It includes:

• Unlimited sheets and viewers
• Gantt, Card, Grid, Calendar views
• 250 automations per month
• 1 dashboard per user
• Basic reports
• Forms with conditional logic
• Attachments, comments, notifications
• Basic email integrations (Gmail, Outlook)
• File uploads and document builder
• Email support

This plan is good for small teams who need structured task management but don't require full enterprise workflows.

3. Business Plan

This plan is priced at $19/user/month (billed annually) and $24/user (billed monthly). It includes everything in Pro, plus:

• Unlimited guests and viewers
• Unlimited dashboards
• Unlimited automations
• Activity logs and Conditional form logic
• Group management & permissions
• Advanced integrations (Jira, Salesforce, Teams)
• Document generation with DocuSign
• Resource management integration (as add-on)
• Priority support
• Custom branding

This one is best for growing teams managing larger projects with multiple stakeholders.

4. Enterprise Plan

This plan has custom pricing depending on scale and features. It includes everything in Business, plus:

• Enterprise-grade governance (SSO, directory integration)
• Admin console and audit reports
• Advanced IT and compliance controls
• Premium support & SLAs
• Work insights
• Access to Smartsheet Advance tiers

This plan can work well for large enterprises with high security, compliance, and control needs but can create confusion for SMBs trying to predict total costs.

Smartsheet Advance (Add-On for Enterprise Plan Only)

A premium suite layered on top of the Enterprise plan, available in Silver, Gold, and Platinum tiers. Modules include:

• Control Center: Scalable project portfolio management
• Data Shuttle: Automated data import/export
• Dynamic View: Secure external collaboration
• Bridge: No-code integrations across systems
• Pivot & Calendar App: Advanced data visualization
• Workbench: Scenario planning and reporting

Smartsheet Advance is optional but often essential for large deployments, billed separately and can significantly raise the total cost.

What Does Smartsheet Pricing Mean for Users?

• Solo users or freelancers can get started on the Free Plan, but functionality is extremely limited.
• Small teams benefit most from the Pro Plan. However, they may quickly hit a wall as they scale due to user caps and automation limits.
• Mid to large teams using the Business Plan may find value in features like resource tracking and dashboards, but will face a hefty bill if the team size exceeds 10-15 people.
• Enterprises with complex workflows may justify the cost for the governance and control features.
• The Advance add-ons can take your monthly price far beyond the advertised tiers, which can be overwhelming for smaller teams or agencies with moderate needs.

The key challenge: scaling with Smartsheet gets expensive fast, and essential features like automation, dashboards, and collaboration views are tier-locked.

Hidden Costs of Using Smartsheet

Smartsheet’s layered pricing model leads to several hidden costs:

• Add-ons like Resource Management, Brandfolder, or Dynamic View are separate purchases.
• Limited automation on lower plans may force early upgrades.
• Training and onboarding for teams unfamiliar with complex workflows adds time and cost.
• Advanced integrations and controls often locked behind Business or Enterprise tiers.
• Pay-per-user model leads to even inactive collaborators counting toward billing in some plans.

These hidden costs can compound as you scale and can push smaller teams to pay more than planned just to get the necessary functionality.

Stackby: A Smarter Alternative to Smartsheet

Stackby is a modern no code platform that brings together - the ease of use of spreadsheets with the power of databases, automations, and team collaboration. It’s intuitive, flexible, and built for teams that want to work faster without jumping between tools.

Unlike Smartsheet (that looks dated), Stackby keeps essential features accessible across plans, so you don’t get stuck upgrading just to unlock what you need. It’s simple to set up, easy to use, and gives you full control over how your data and workflows are managed.

Key Features of Stackby:

1. Multiple views: Grid, Kanban, Gallery, Calendar, Form (with Updatable Forms), and newly added List and Timeline Views.

2. Powerful Automation Engine: Time-triggered, column-based, and webhook-triggered automations.

3. Integrations with over 5000+ tools: including Google Analytics, YouTube, Mailchimp, Facebook Ads, Typeform, Shopify, OpenAI and more - using Zapier, Make, n8n and more.

4. 50+ API connectors and incoming webhook support for custom workflows.

5. Visual and easy to setup dashboards, with charts, pivots and more, build forms, and real-time data columns even in lower plans.

6. Cleaner UI for creators: Simpler than Smartsheet with faster table setup and fewer structural limitations.

Where Smartsheet may feel rigid due to cell caps or UI complexity, Stackby provides more freedom to create your own visually appealing workflows without extra charges or advanced onboarding.

Smartsheet vs Stackby: Pricing Comparison (2025)

Stackby also offers discounted annual plans starting as low as $149 for 3 users on Economy and $299 for 3 users on Business Plan.

Smartsheet vs Stackby: Feature Comparison Table

Smartsheet Pricing FAQs

Final Thoughts: Smartsheet or Stackby?

Smartsheet is built for structure-heavy teams needing layered control, compliance, and large-scale coordination. But the pricing, along with add-on complexity and usage caps, can turn off agile teams or budget-conscious startups.

Stackby, in contrast, is a simple, visual, automation-first alternative built for adaptability. Whether you’re a marketing team managing content calendars or a startup tracking CRM pipelines, you’ll get the functionality you need, without the steep cost curve.

Stackby is also continuously evolving. With updates like internal automations and webhook triggers, and a roadmap packed with more enhancements, it's worth considering if you want more power for less price.

Make the smarter switch. Build better workflows. Spend less. Scale more, on your terms, with Stackby. Sign up for free and avail a 14 days Business trial.