Buying
Smartsheet Pricing: A Complete Guide to Plans, Costs, and Savings
Explore Smartsheet’s pricing, features, and alternatives in this guide. Learn discount strategies and how Spendflo helps optimize your Smartsheet costs effectively.
Published on:
August 31, 2024
Ajay Ramamoorthy
Senior Content Marketer
Karthikeyan Manivannan
Head of Visual Design
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Smartsheet is a popular collaborative work management platform that helps teams plan, automate, track, and report on work. With its robust set of features for project management, collaboration, and workflow automation, Smartsheet has become an invaluable tool for many businesses.

When considering Smartsheet for your organization, one of the first things you’ll want to understand is Smartsheet pricing. In this blog post, we’ll provide an overview of Smartsheet pricing, tips for getting a better deal, a look at key features, alternatives, and how Spendflo can help optimize your software spend.

How Much Does Smartsheet Cost?

Smartsheet uses a subscription-based pricing model, with plans ranging from $5,200 to $17,500 per year. Your organization's cost will depend on your specific business needs, number of users, and required features. Plans and pricing may also vary based on the level of collaboration capabilities, security, integrations, and support you need.

They offer three main plans:

  • Pro: $9 per Member/​​month, Billed yearly, 1-10 Members, unlimited Viewers, 250 automations per month
  • Business: $19 per Member/​​month, Billed yearly, 3+ Members, unlimited Guests and Viewers, Timeline view, Team workload tracking
  • Enterprise: Custom pricing, AI formulas, texts, and charts, Enterprise Plan Manager, Unlimited attachment storage, Directory integrations

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How to Get a Better Deal on Smartsheet

While Smartsheet doesn't openly publish discounts, you can use a few proven tactics to reduce your Smartsheet spending.

Leverage Annual Contracts

Agreeing to an annual contract rather than month-to-month payments can qualify you for discounts of 10-20% off regular Smartsheet pricing. With annual contracts, you commit to using Smartsheet for a full year in exchange for an upfront discount. This helps Smartsheet by securing your business for the longer term.

Prepay for 1-2 Years Upfront

Prepaying for 1 or 2 years of Smartsheet upfront allows you to secure additional discounts beyond the standard annual contract savings. The more months you prepay, the deeper the discount you can negotiate. Prepaying annually versus monthly can save you 15-20%. Prepaying for the full 2 years could save 20-30%. The key is working these prepayment discounts into your contract terms. This incentivizes Smartsheet with a large upfront payment while lowering your effective annual subscription cost.

Use Nonprofit Discounts

If you operate as a registered nonprofit, use Smartsheet's standard nonprofit discounts. Verified nonprofit organizations qualify for 15% off the normal pricing for Smartsheet plans. Have your tax documents ready to validate your nonprofit status.

Ask About Volume Discounts

Ask your Smartsheet sales rep about volume discounts if your organization has many users. For deployments with 100+ users, you can often negotiate custom enterprise pricing. Make sure to benchmark against other vendors to demonstrate where additional discounts make Smartsheet more cost-competitive.

Optimize Licenses for Unused Seats

Carefully monitor seat usage and trim any vacant licenses to right-size your Smartsheet contract. Eliminating just a few unused seats each renewal can generate substantial savings over time. Regularly reviewing and optimizing your contract for active usage is key.

Conduct Annual Reviews

Schedule contract reviews at every renewal to reassess usage and renegotiate discounts. Discuss extending existing terms or adding additional products in exchange for better pricing. Over time, ongoing reviews can produce meaningful reductions.

Work with a Procurement Specialist

Leveraging the tactics above takes expertise and dedicated resources. Working with a procurement specialist like Spendflo provides professional guidance and support for reducing your Smartsheet spending over time.

Smartsheet's Core Features

Some of the key features that make Smartsheet a popular work management platform include:

  • Cross-Team Collaboration: Smartsheet provides a centralized workspace for real-time collaboration across teams and departments.
  • Project Management: Tools like Gantt charts, dependencies, and reminders streamline project planning and execution.
  • Reporting and Dashboards: Smartsheet offers robust reporting to visualize progress and performance. Dashboards provide high-level views.
  • Work Automation: Built-in workflow automation saves time by standardizing repetitive processes.
  • Forms and Surveys: Custom forms and surveys collect information seamlessly from internal and external stakeholders.
  • Calendar: The interactive calendar helps teams coordinate schedules, book resources, and manage deadlines.
  • Microsoft Office Integration: Smartsheet integrates tightly with Office apps like Excel for easy data exchange.
  • APIs and Integrations: Smartsheet offers APIs along with hundreds of pre-built integrations with top business apps.

Smartsheet Alternatives

For organizations looking at alternatives to Smartsheet, there are a few other popular collaborative work management platforms to consider.

Microsoft Project

Microsoft Project is designed specifically for project management. It provides robust tools for creating Gantt charts, scheduling projects, managing resources, and integrating with other Microsoft Office applications. The software is well-suited for formal project managers who need advanced scheduling, cost reporting, and change tracking. It may be overkill for lighter-weight team task management.

Asana

Asana is a flexible web and mobile app for managing team projects and tasks. It provides features like customizable Kanban boards, calendars, forms, and reporting to visualize work. This tool is great for agile teams that want to organize work in a visual, collaborative way. The interface is very user-friendly and supports workflows. But, Asana lacks some of Smartsheet's deeper analytics and automation capabilities.

Airtable

Airtable combines a spreadsheet's flexibility with a database's relationships for collaborative work and data management. It lets teams set up customized bases to organize projects, tasks, and other information. The unique spreadsheet-database hybrid model makes Airtable great for flexible data organization. The platform is not as purpose-built for structured team project management as Smartsheet though.

Monday.com

Monday.com focuses on visual project management and team collaboration using Kanban-style boards. The software provides extensive customization and automation options to streamline team workflows. For creative teams who want a highly visual interface for managing work, Monday.com is a great choice. It may not offer the breadth of portfolio management and enterprise analytics that Smartsheet can provide.

Wrike

Wrike delivers robust project management, task management, and collaboration tools for marketing, creative, and enterprise teams. Flexible dashboards, Gantt charts, calendars, and custom workflows help teams streamline work. This platform competes head-to-head with Smartsheet on many enterprise features. Wrike can be a viable alternative for large organizations seeking a similar project management tool.

Basecamp

Unlike Smartsheet, Basecamp is an all-in-one project management and team communication tool designed for simplicity and ease of use. It combines task management with shared messaging, docs, schedules, and more on a single platform. For small teams that want a straightforward collaboration solution, Basecamp provides a clutter-free experience. However, it lacks the scale, depth of reporting, and automation of Smartsheet.

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How Spendflo Can Help You Get Better Deals on Smartsheet

Getting the best deal on Smartsheet requires keeping up with the latest pricing options while negotiating leverage for your organization. This is where a procurement and sourcing platform like Spendflo can help.

With Spendflo, you can take advantage of exclusive discounts from leading software vendors while automating the renewal process. Key benefits include:

  • Pre-Negotiated Discounts: Access special rates and pricing through Spendflo’s vendor partnerships.
  • Usage Optimization: Consolidate renewals and eliminate unused software to optimize spending.
  • Auto-Renewals: Automated workflows ensure you never miss a renewal deadline and overpay.
  • Centralized Spending: Gain full visibility into software spending across your organization.
  • Procurement Expertise: Get support from dedicated procurement specialists for every renewal.

By leveraging Spendflo’s sourcing technology and procurement expertise, you can secure significant savings on Smartsheet and all other software subscriptions. See how Spendflo can help optimize your software spend today.

Frequently Asked Questions about Smartsheet Pricing

What is the cheapest version of Smartsheet?

The lowest-cost Smartsheet plan is the Pro plan, which is $9 per Member/​​month and billed yearly. This option provides core features like Gantt, grid, board, and calendar view.

Does Smartsheet offer discounts for nonprofits and education?

Yes, verified nonprofits can get Smartsheet at a 15% discount. Academic institutions are also eligible for discounted education pricing.

How does Smartsheet pricing compare to competitors?

Smartsheet pricing is competitive with other collaborative work apps. It is more expensive than lightweight options like Asana or Airtable but offers more robust enterprise capabilities.

Is there a free version of Smartsheet?

No, Smartsheet does not currently offer a free version. However, you can sign up for a 30-day free trial to evaluate Smartsheet before purchasing.

Can I get a discount on Smartsheet by prepaying annually?

Yes, Smartsheet offers additional discounts for customers who prepay for 1 or 2 years upfront rather than paying monthly or annually.

How many sheets can I create on each Smartsheet plan?

The number of sheets depends on your plan. The Business plan allows for about 50,000, and Enterprise provides unlimited sheets.

Need a rough estimate before you go further?

Here's what the average Spendflo user saves annually:
$2 Million
Your potential savings
$600,000
Simplify Procurement
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