Smartsheet vs Trello

- ✦ Grid View
- ✦ Gantt Charts
- ✦ Card View

- ✦ Kanban Boards
- ✦ Cards & Lists
- ✦ Power-Ups
Smartsheet and Trello are both Project Management tools. Smartsheet starts at $12/mo, Trello at $6/mo. Compare features, pricing, and ratings below to find the best fit for your team.
When to Choose Smartsheet vs Trello
The question that matters: “In what situation will I regret choosing A over B after 3 months?”
A master test case library in Grid View tracks real-time pass/fail status per sprint; Forms auto-populate execution data from field testers across geographies without manual.
Calendar View maps milestones across email, social, and paid channels in one timeline; Automations trigger stakeholder alerts 48 hours before each gate, cutting missed handoffs.
Card View organizes staff by skill; Grid View allocates headcount across projects; Dashboards surface real-time bench percentage and capacity gaps six weeks out to inform hiring.
Gantt Charts lock milestones; Forms capture intake; automated escalations fire on SLA drift; dashboards flag at-risk customer accounts within 24 hours of slippage.
Custom Fields categorize bugs by severity and product area, while Butler automation routes cards through triage stages based on customer report volume thresholds.
Each morning, engineers add a Card with Custom Fields for completed work and blockers; Butler automation compiles the responses and posts a team chat digest by 9 AM.
Requests flow through Queue → In Progress → Review → Delivered on a Kanban board, with Custom Fields logging turnaround time and deliverable type per client.
Card Links connect issues across multiple Kanban Boards; Timeline View renders those relationships as a Gantt chart, surfacing cross-team scheduling conflicts weeks in advance.
Pricing Comparison & PlansHigh· Verified Jun 3, 2026
Free
Free- ✓1 licensed user
- ✓2 editors
- ✓Unlimited viewers
- ✓Basic project management features
Pro
$12/user/moBest for: Ideal for individuals or small teams needing core project management features
- ✓Unlimited sheets, forms, and reports
- ✓Gantt, table, board, and calendar views
- ✓Rich formulas
- ✓Unlimited free Viewers/Contributors
- ✓Basic integrations (Microsoft Office, Google Workspace, Slack)
Business
$24/user/moBest for: growing teams requiring advanced features like automation, resource management, and robust reporting
- ✓Everything in Pro plan
- ✓Unlimited automations
- ✓Unlimited free Guests
- ✓Admin-level controls
- ✓Timeline view
Enterprise
Contact SalesBest for: Suited for large organizations needing enterprise-grade security, governance, and scalability
- ✓Everything in Business plan
- ✓Premium apps (Dynamic View, Control Center, DataMesh, Bridge, WorkApps)
- ✓Enhanced security and governance (SAML SSO, advanced admin controls)
- ✓Premier Support
- ✓Dedicated customer success
Advanced Work Management
Contact SalesBest for: Designed for organizations with complex, cross-functional work needing advanced portfolio management and strategic alignment
- ✓Best for PMOs and Multi-system Operations
Free
FreeBest for: Ideal for individuals or small teams needing basic task management
- ✓Unlimited cards
- ✓Up to 10 boards per Workspace
- ✓Unlimited Power-Ups per board
- ✓Unlimited activity log
- ✓Assignee and due dates
Standard
$6/user/moBest for: growing teams needing more features than Free
- ✓Unlimited boards
- ✓Unlimited collaborators
- ✓Advanced checklists
- ✓Custom fields
- ✓Saved searches
Premium
$13/user/moBest for: Suited for larger teams requiring advanced project visibility and control
- ✓All Standard features
- ✓Unlimited automation runs
- ✓Atlassian Intelligence (AI)
- ✓Admin and security features
- ✓CSV exports
Enterprise
$18/user/moBest for: Designed for large organizations needing robust security, compliance, and centralized administration
- ✓All Premium features
- ✓Organization visible boards
- ✓Organization-wide permissions
- ✓Unlimited workspaces
- ✓Multi-board guests
Capability Breakdown
10 differences found across 20 standardized features
- •Grid View
- •Gantt Charts
- •Card View
- •Calendar View
- •Automations
- •Forms
- •Dashboards
- •Reports
- •Proofing
- •WorkApps
- •DataMesh
- •Resource Management
- •Integrations
- •Mobile Apps
- •API
- •Conditional Formatting Rules
- •Project Templates
- •Task Dependencies
- •Custom Workflows
- •Automated Reminders
- •Time Tracking
- •Budgeting Tools
- •Resource Allocation
- •Project Portfolio
- •Real Time Notifications
- •Collaborator Permissions
- •Version History
- •Cell Linking
- •Formula Builder
- •Data Validation
- •Sheet Sharing
- •Row Filtering
- •Column Freezing
- •Cell Formatting
- •Project Scheduling
- •Kanban Boards
- •Cards & Lists
- •Power-Ups
- •Automation (Butler)
- •Custom Fields
- •Calendar View
- •Timeline View
- •Dashboard
- •Templates
- •Mobile Apps
- •Integrations
- •AI Features
- •Checklists
- •Labels & Filters
- •Team Collaboration
- •Due Date Reminders
- •Task Dependencies
- •Board Map View
Strengths & Limitations
Evaluative strengths and weaknesses: not feature lists
- +Combines spreadsheet UI with powerful project management automation.
- +Extensive reporting and dashboarding capabilities for portfolio views.
- +Advanced security and compliance features (HIPAA, FedRAMP).
- +Highly scalable for cross-departmental enterprise workflows.
- +Flexible grid, card, Gantt, and calendar views for diverse tasks.
- −Steep learning curve for advanced features like formulas and automation.
- −Lacks true baseline functionality for formal project variance tracking.
- −Per-user pricing becomes expensive for large, less-active teams.
- −The mobile app has limited functionality compared to the desktop version.
- −No free-forever plan, only a 30-day trial.
- +Extremely intuitive Kanban interface with a minimal learning curve.
- +Generous free plan with unlimited cards and up to 10 boards.
- +Rich automation (Butler) is included even on the free plan.
- +Vast ecosystem of Power-Ups for extensive customization.
- +Visually appealing and simple for non-technical teams to adopt.
- −Lacks native reporting, Gantt charts, and dependency management.
- −Becomes cluttered and slow when managing many cards on a single board.
- −No built-in time tracking; requires a third-party Power-Up.
- −Limited view options beyond Kanban, Calendar, and basic lists.
- −Poor for managing complex, cross-functional projects at scale.
At a Glance
Recent Price History
Smartsheet added a new "Free" plan at $0/mo (Free)
Plan added · Jun 3, 2026
Smartsheet removed the "Free" plan
Plan removed · May 30, 2026
Smartsheet added a new "Advanced Work Management" plan (Custom pricing)
Plan added · May 30, 2026
Smartsheet raised "Pro" from $9/mo to $12/mo (+33%)
Price change · May 30, 2026
Smartsheet lowered "Business" from $32/mo to $24/mo (-25%)
Price change · May 30, 2026
Trello raised "Standard" from $5/mo to $6/mo (+20%)
Price change · May 28, 2026
Trello raised "Premium" from $10/mo to $12.5/mo (+25%)
Price change · May 28, 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
Related Comparisons
Sources & Data Trail · Smartsheet
- 1.Official Pricing Page·Source of verified tiers(Checked: 2026-06-03)
- 2.Official Website·Official vendor website
- 3.G2·G2 verified reviews · 4.5/5 · 22,023 reviews
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Sources & Data Trail · Trello
- 1.Official Pricing Page·Source of verified tiers(Checked: 2026-05-28)
- 2.Official Website·Official vendor website
- 3.G2·G2 verified reviews · 4.4/5 · 13,985 reviews
- 4.Capterra·Capterra verified reviews · 4.5/5
- 5.TrustRadius·TrustRadius verified reviews
- 6.PeerSpot·PeerSpot enterprise peer reviews
- 7.StackShare·StackShare developer community
