Smartsheet vs LiquidPlanner

Last Updated:

Our analysts compared Smartsheet vs LiquidPlanner based on data from our 400+ point analysis of Project Management Software, user reviews and our own crowdsourced data from our free software selection platform.

LiquidPlanner Software Tool

Product Basics

Smartsheet is an enterprise-level SaaS management application that helps teams streamline processes through collaboration, project planning and task management. Users can set up tasks using a grid view, similar to a spreadsheet with automations, formulas, comments and mentions. 

It provides templates for projects and automations that can be modified and saved as a template to save time. Project views include a Kanban board, Gantt chart, timeline, calendar view, card view and a custom dashboard.

Its file and sheet sharing capabilities, comment feature and conversations remove team and data silos and give stakeholders insight into project details. A user-friendly interface helps managers and team members boost adoption rates, maintain consistency and increase efficiency. 

read more...
LiquidPlanner is a cloud-based solution that lets teams monitor and collaborate while managing resources, projects and portfolios. It uses a distinct scheduling methodology that focuses on prioritizing tasks. It provides a simple drag-and-drop interface, social communication tools and integrations to support project workflows of all sizes.

It matches the needs of SMEs and large enterprises in industries like IT, professional services, marketing teams, development management and more. It provides a 14-day free trial and a professional plan priced per user per month. It also offers an enterprise plan, which is ideal for large organizations.
read more...
$9/User, Monthly
Get a free price quote
Tailored to your specific needs
$15/User, Monthly
Get a free price quote
Tailored to your specific needs
Small 
i
Medium 
i
Large 
i
Small 
i
Medium 
i
Large 
i
Windows
Mac
Linux
Android
Chromebook
Windows
Mac
Linux
Android
Chromebook
Cloud
On-Premise
Mobile
Cloud
On-Premise
Mobile

Product Assistance

Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars
Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars
Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
Forum
Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support
Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
Forum
Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support

Product Insights

  • Use Familiar Spreadsheet Formatting: Move from regular spreadsheets to spreadsheets with versatile views and much less formula knowledge required for formatting. Make adoption and training smoother because you’re not starting from scratch with processes. We especially liked the ability to enter data using a familiar cell view and then convert it to, say, a Kanban board.
  • Create No-Code Automations: Use templates or build from scratch with a trigger, condition and action automation format. Save time on admin tasks with automations for alerts, approvals, document creation and sheet changes. Choose from four starting cell-related triggers and build from there. We thought the automation building was intuitive and straightforward. Check out our test in the “See It In Action” section below.
  • Access Multiple Views: Add dynamic views to your projects and filter and customize views to meet task requirements. For example, we added a card view organized by status and a Kanban Board sorted by task assignee. Create a customizable dashboard to pull data like task progress, workload and duration using widgets.
  • Share Proofs and Additional Information: Collaborate on team documents, provide context and add proofs and files to individual tasks or the entire sheet. We set a piece of content as a task and added extra files like logos and docs along with comments for specific client requests.
  • Train As You Go: Kick your project off with a checklist outlining best practices and research material. Use pop-ups and explainer icons with video links as you work to get a better understanding of features and capabilities. We popped over to the help center to learn how to set up baselines for our Gantt chart (you need to edit the start date and end date columns).
read more...
  • Smart Scheduling: Comes with an insight algorithm engine that automatically adapts to schedule changes. Any changes made to dates, priorities and task dependencies are automatically updated in real-time based on member availability for more efficient workflows. 
  • Effective Collaboration: Reduce team meetings and email silos by collaborating using the comment section. Organize comments and notify individual team members by using @ mentions and tags. 
  • Streamline Task: Create and assign tasks that can be broken into subtasks for each project. Checklist items under subtasks can also be assigned to one or more members to help meet deadlines. 
  • Visualization: Dashboards simplify project visualization using highly customizable widgets dynamically linked to the workplace. Measure and track KPIs. Creative teams can share visual concepts or communicate with clients about key project statuses. 
  • Time Tracking: Track actual working hours for each task, event or milestone. Members can enter multiple time entries to add additional time to tasks. Each member has a personal timesheet, and managers can review and export timesheet data. 
  • Advanced Analytics: Analytics and reporting are highly customizable, enabling project teams to produce roll-up reports across all data dimensions. Gain insight into current plan data, including delta calculations, by comparing the original plan to what actually happened. 
  • Job Costing: Calculates project cost automatically based on submitted timesheets, helping management monitor budgets. 
  • Leverage Integration: Integrate with Google Drive, Dropbox and Box to enable direct file uploading and live document linking. Automate work and boost productivity by connecting LiquidPlanner with 2,000+ other apps. 
  • Mobile Application: Available on iOS and Android, users can view projects, collaborate, track time, update progress and more from anywhere at any time. 
read more...
  • Dashboards and Reports: Customize your dashboard by adding widgets like reports, project-specific charts, shortcuts, images and text. Consolidate data from multiple sheets into a summary view using system reports. Track sheet changes using bi-directional functionality. Send reports via collaborative tools and change statuses to recur.
  • Multiple Views: View your tasks using the grid view, akin to a spreadsheet, a Gantt view as an add-on to your grid view, a Kanban board where you can drag and drop tasks and group them by assignee or status, a timeline view, a card view with customizable lanes and a calendar view that displays your tasks across its duration or by start dates only.
  • Task Management: Add your tasks and subtasks into each cell and use the indent and outdent buttons to divide tasks into groups that can be minimized to provide a project overview. Create or modify custom fields with your own text, dropdown lists and symbols to show status, assignees, priority, dates and latest comment. Attach files and proofs, write comments and mention users and set reminders for tasks.
  • Automations and Workflows: Save time with custom processes and workflows you can build by modifying templates for reminders and alerts, document generation, row changes, sheet changes and updates, and approval requests. Build your own workflow automations from scratch by choosing your trigger, setting conditions and adding actions. Manage automations by deactivating, deleting, duplicating or unsubscribing.
  • Templates: Use pre-built templates ranging from event management to HR workflows and marketing to streamline project creation. View complexity, task management and process before you apply a template. Build and save your own templates by customizing pre-built templates or creating them from scratch.
  • Integrations: Drive productivity with integrations like Office 365, Dropbox, DocuSign and Google Workspace and use iCal or Google Calendar to track project statuses.
  • Team Collaboration: Communicate with team members by commenting and mentioning users in individual tasks, adding files for additional information and chatting via the conversations tool where everyone with access to the sheet can see your comments. Integrate with Slack or Microsoft Teams to receive updates about your sheet and send messages to channels.
read more...
  • Workflow Management: Use packages to group and store projects in the workspace to streamline workflow. The status model offers visibility into active vs. pending projects and naturally strengthens priorities by listing projects from top-to-bottom
  • Project Management: Create projects, tasks, subtasks and enter estimated completion hours to get a predictive scheduling date for project completion. Predictive scheduling automatically takes into account team availability, workload and priority
  • Built-In Collaboration: Use the collaborative tab to provide detailed work descriptions, conduct threaded discussions, add links and attach documents to projects. Collaborate through mention comments and hashtags
  • Resource Management: Resource workload reports help management visualize team capacity and assign tasks accordingly. The People tab shows team members’ working hours, dates, assigned tasks and indicators for when a member risks missing a date
  • Dashboard: Provides a dashboard that can be customized and shared with teams, shareholders and external collaborators. It offers visibility into projects, finances and trends in real time
  • Timesheet: Daily and weekly subtotals of logged hours are displayed below each date and week. Quick Filter fields locate matching results from names, packages, clients, sub-folder or projects
  • Budget Management: Billing and pay rules allow users to set rate sheets that permit adding currency value in terms of money in and out for each estimated hour. The scheduling engine can also determine assigned work and calculate cost accordingly
  • Card View: Provides a Kanban-style flow to move projects and tasks through custom fields — from In Progress to Pending, Approved and Done. Customize cards to represent a working item and its status as it moves through a workflow
  • Reporting: Generate reports for project performance reports, resources, baseline trends, costs and profits, customer portfolio and more for one single project or the whole portfolio
  • Baseline Metrics: Snaps a daily project plan baseline automatically to compare project status to any point in the past. Run a baseline report on tasks, projects or clients
read more...

Product Ranking

#5

among all
Project Management Software

#106

among all
Project Management Software

Find out who the leaders are

Analyst Rating Summary

81
72
83
57
80
97
88
16
Show More Show More
Project Tracking
Platform Features
Mobile Capabilities
Task Management
Dashboards and Reporting
Task Management

Analyst Ratings for Functional Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

Smartsheet
LiquidPlanner
+ Add Product + Add Product
Customizations Dashboards And Reporting Mobile Capabilities Platform Features Project Planning And Scheduling Project Tracking Task Management Team Collaboration Time Tracking And Management 83 80 88 92 78 96 85 77 56 57 97 16 72 81 68 93 73 71 0 25 50 75 100
57%
43%
0%
57%
0%
43%
80%
0%
20%
100%
0%
0%
86%
0%
14%
14%
0%
86%
88%
0%
12%
67%
0%
33%
67%
8%
25%
75%
0%
25%
86%
14%
0%
71%
0%
29%
75%
17%
8%
92%
0%
8%
67%
8%
25%
58%
0%
42%
14%
57%
29%
71%
0%
29%

Analyst Ratings for Technical Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

67%
6%
27%
44%
0%
56%
63%
0%
37%
75%
0%
25%

User Sentiment Summary

Great User Sentiment 22301 reviews
Great User Sentiment 1654 reviews
88%
of users recommend this product

Smartsheet has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 88% when considering 22301 user reviews from 5 recognized software review sites.

86%
of users recommend this product

LiquidPlanner has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 86% when considering 1654 user reviews from 6 recognized software review sites.

5.0 (20)
4.8 (15)
4.4 (17366)
4.2 (227)
n/a
4.3 (634)
4.5 (3333)
4.3 (642)
4.7 (728)
4.8 (107)
4.3 (854)
4.4 (29)

Awards

SelectHub research analysts have evaluated Smartsheet and concluded it earns best-in-class honors for Mobile Capabilities and Project Tracking.

Mobile Capabilities Award
Project Tracking Award

we're gathering data

Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

Automation: Reviewers appreciated the no-code automation and said that it helps to eliminate productivity killers and saves time.
Collaboration: Users liked the sharing option with level-based permissions that allow collaboration with non-users and help coworkers and external stakeholders stay up-to-date on projects and processes.
Ease of Use: A user-friendly interface and templates make it easy to set up, customize and access multiple views, according to reviewers.
What Users Like
Customization: “We can customize it to fit various projects, whether we’re tracking client cases, managing document revisions, or planning team tasks. For instance, I created a project tracker for a major client contract negotiation. The ability to set deadlines, assign tasks, and update statuses in real time has streamlined our communication and kept everyone on the same page.” - Russ Johnson, Founder of Linx Legal
Collaboration: “We had this one job in a high-rise condo that put Smartsheet to the test. The sliding door system was an older model with custom-sized panels that aren’t easy to source, and it needed specific adjustments due to the unique structure of the frame. Typically, coordinating the right parts, tools, and technician experience for something like this would require several phone calls and a lot of back-and-forth. With Smartsheet, we were able to set up the job details to track not only the special parts needed but also assign a technician who was experienced with that model. When the parts came in, the technician was notified directly through Smartsheet, so he knew the moment everything was ready. It saved us from potential delays and kept the customer fully updated on when the work could be done.” - Gal Cohen, Business Development Leader and Field Area Manager JDM Sliding Doors
Show more
Functionality: All reviewers who referred to functionality noted that it provides robust features for project planning, organizing, customizing, managing and reviewing analytics.
Scheduling: Every user liked the ability to enter estimated working time and have work scheduled automatically.
Tracking: Around 98% of users who specified tracking said that it makes tracking multiple projects and resources easy.
Collaboration: All reviewers liked that teams can comment while attaching files and documents on each task for a streamlined workflow.
Show more
System Integration: Limited integrations and complex configurations were an issue for reviewers.
Premium Add-Ons: Reviewers noted that advanced features come with a price tag that can be prohibitive for some businesses.
Slow Loading Time: Users reported it takes time to display screens export formats occasionally.
What Users Dislike
Integration: “Despite its many benefits, integrating Smartsheet with other systems posed some challenges. Initially, we experienced issues with data syncing between Smartsheet and our CRM software, leading to discrepancies in our financial reporting. Recognizing this, I allocated specific time for thorough testing before our full implementation, allowing us to identify and resolve any integration issues early on.” - Austin Rulfs, Founder of Zanda Wealth Mortgage Brokers
Learning Curve: “While Smartsheet is powerful, it can feel a bit overwhelming at first. I found that investing time in training sessions helped bridge that gap, making it easier for everyone to adapt and use the tool effectively.” - Russ Johnson, Founder of Linx Legal
Show more
Outdated UI: Almost all reviewers disliked that it has an out-dated user interface that makes it difficult to navigate.
Learning Curve: The system involves a steep learning curve, as noted by 95% of users.
Expensive: Nearly 92% of users said that it is expensive in comparison to similar applications.
Show more

Smartsheet is a cloud-based work management platform that helps users streamline and organize processes with a spreadsheet-esque interface, flexible templates, multiple views and team collaboration. Apart from the grid view, you can visualize projects using a Gantt chart, Kanban board, calendar view, card view or timeline view. No-code automations are another note-worthy feature, where you can build from templates or scratch.It streamlines project creation with templates suited to different industries and end goals, so you have a jumping-off point instead of going in blind. Team collaboration is another area where Smartsheet shines, with comments, conversations and file and sheet sharing (even with people outside your organization). It also offers a customizable dashboard view, although I did find some of the chart widgets a little tricky to work, without training.Highlights for me were definitely the familiarity of spreadsheet formatting (but with more views and automations), robust collaboration capabilities and guided explainers throughout the setup. However, user reviews noted limited filters and integrations, lags and expensive add-ons as downsides.Overall, Smartsheet is a great option for teams familiar with spreadsheets but are on the lookout for more visualization and collaboration, along with the budget to spend on advanced features.

Show more

LiquidPlanner provides robust functionality to plan and execute work. It offers unique predictive resource-based scheduling that organizes based on priority. It makes tracking multiple, large, complex projects possible and easy. Users can comment and attach files to each task to simplify communication and collaboration. Reviewers complained that its outdated user interface has made navigation difficult and confusing at times. It also involves a steep learning curve that requires time and training to get used to it. Its high price tag compared to other solutions was also mentioned.

Show more

Screenshots

Top Alternatives in Project Management Software


Airtable

Asana

Basecamp

ClickUp

Jira

LiquidPlanner

MeisterTask

Microsoft Project

monday.com

ProofHub

TeamGantt

Teamwork

Wrike

Zoho Projects

Related Categories

Head-to-Head Comparison

WE DISTILL IT INTO REAL REQUIREMENTS, COMPARISON REPORTS, PRICE GUIDES and more...

Compare products
Comparison Report
Just drag this link to the bookmark bar.
?
Table settings