Smartsheet is hired to do one job: run project plans, requests and reporting out of spreadsheet-style sheets. This is one of the harder jobs on the list to move because the sheets carry formulas, forms and approvals. Below: what the plans cost as published, the realistic replacements, and the procedure for leaving without dropping a process somebody depends on.
A sheet starts as a tracker and becomes a plan that other people report against. Forms feed it, approvals run on it and a dashboard sits on top. None of that is in the contract, and all of it is what makes leaving feel risky.
The rows are the easy part. The work in leaving is finding which sheets are real plans and which are lists, which is why we inventory before we recommend anything.
Only alternatives we have checked. An open-source project is listed with the license its repository reports, on the date shown; one whose license could not be read as a single standard id is not offered as open source. Read the license guide before running any of them.
| Alternative | Kind | License | Read from |
|---|---|---|---|
| OpenProject | Open source | GPL-3.0 | OpenProject repositoryChecked Oct 25, 2026 |
| Plane | Open source | AGPL-3.0 | Plane repositoryChecked Oct 25, 2026 |
Each feature below is what the product's own page or README says, linked to where we read it on the date shown. Pros and cons are limited to what those pages state and to what the path itself changes. We do not rank products on quality.
| Plan | Price as published | Includes | Read from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pro | $9 per member per month billed yearly, or $12 billed monthly | 1 to 10 members, unlimited contributors, multiple views, 250 automations per month; available only to new customers | Smartsheet pricingChecked Oct 25, 2026 |
| Business | $19 per member per month billed yearly, or $24 billed monthly | 3 or more members, unlimited guests and contributors, timeline view, workload tracking, unlimited automations, 1 TB attachment storage | Smartsheet pricingChecked Oct 25, 2026 |
| Enterprise | Custom pricing | 10 or more members, SAML-based SSO, portfolios, unlimited attachment storage | Smartsheet pricingChecked Oct 25, 2026 |
List prices as printed on Smartsheet's pricing page on the checked date, per member per month, with yearly and monthly billing shown. Add-ons are listed from a monthly price on the page and are left out.
Smartsheet's own page lists grid, timeline, card, Gantt and calendar views over the same data, plus automation, dashboards and integrations. Some sheets are real project plans; many are trackers that a simpler tool holds just as well. Sort them first, because the plans are the hard part of any move.
Samples are made up and are not Smartsheet's prices. Type in the figures from your own invoice or order form.
The honest yearly cost of running open-source software yourself, set against the bill it replaces, with the seat count where it stops paying.
Paid seats against seats in use: what the idle ones cost a year, and what you save by right-sizing at renewal.
Arithmetic only, not tax, accounting or legal advice. Check the figures against your own order form.
In outline:
List every sheet, form, report and dashboard, who last used it, and what each one is for. Sort project plans apart from simple trackers.
Pick the destination and move one team's plan first. Run the team's real week on it before moving anyone else.
Export the sheet data, import it into the destination, and compare row counts, dates and owners on both sides. Rebuild the forms and approvals the team actually relied on.
Tell people the date, make the old sheets read-only, and re-point forms, reports and links.
Wait a full month, keep an export, then end the plan inside the contract's notice window.
Run the vendor report for QuickBooks Online or Xero, then open the free audit.
General information, not legal advice. See cancelling without penalties. Last reviewed Oct 25, 2026. Product names belong to their owners and are used only to identify them.
Send us the export and see which lines are worth a second look. A connected version is planned. Smartsheet is one of the lines worth a look.
Worked example. Type over it.
Result
| Self-hosting, per year | Amount |
|---|---|
| Hosting, backups, tooling | 720.00 |
| Admin and restore-test time | 2,640.00 |
| Total | 3,360.00 |
| One-off set-up (not in the yearly total) | 1,200.00 |
The saving holds only if the time is real. Price the admin hours at what that person's time costs the company, not at zero.
Worked example. Type over it.
Result
“In use” is your call: last sign-in in the past 30 or 90 days from the vendor's admin report. A seat for someone on leave is not idle.