Project Planning: Quickbase vs. Smartsheet

Smartsheet helps you organize projects. Quickbase helps you run your entire operation. When your work is complex and constantly evolving, a pretty spreadsheet isn’t enough. Quickbase adapts to how you work and scales with the speed of your data — surpassing Smartsheet’s capabilities and giving you a competitive edge across your industry.

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The choice isn't just easy, it's obvious

Complex projects shouldn’t be complicated to manage. Smartsheet moves your spreadsheets online with static capabilities, but when work is constantly changing, that’s not enough. Its tools are disconnected, making it hard to keep everything updated. This often leads to delays, missed deadlines, and lost revenue. And when you’re paying a premium for software, the last thing you want is for it to cost you money in the long run.

Quickbase is built differently, because it’s built to be customizable and scalable. It adapts to the way you work, rather than forcing you into a rigid system. You get full visibility across every workflow, team, and piece of data in one place. Whether you're managing a few projects or running company-wide operations, Quickbase scales with you. With AI built in, it helps you work smarter, uncover insights faster, and stay ahead of the curve.

Side-by-side comparison

	Quickbase	Smartsheet
Capability
Intuitive, spreadsheet-like editing
Simple spreadsheet import
Mobile app
Audit logs
AI-assisted smart builder for building custom apps
AI-powered spreadsheet import with data mapping
Interactive, personalized dashboards
Powerful reporting available on all plans without add-ons
Predictive analytics
Built-in integrations available on all plans
Centralized governance with granular controls across all plans
Built-in granular role-based access control
Application lifecycle management
Performance management tools

A screenshot of an app dashboard in Quickbase

For real-time insights you can actually use, there’s no comparison

Smartsheet offers basic reporting, but Quickbase lets you dig deeper — without needing extra add-ons. Reporting is built into the platform, so you can uncover real-time insights across all your projects, systems, and teams.

With Quickbase, you get:

Clear visibility into projects, tasks, and resources through live dashboards
Custom dashboards and reports tailored to your role and goals
AI-powered predictive analytics to spot issues early and stay ahead of the competition

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Why compromise? Get the familiarity of a spreadsheet with the power of a flexible platform

Smartsheet may look familiar, but it falls short when you need real power behind your operations. Quickbase gives you the strength of a full operations platform and the simplicity your team expects and requires.

With Quickbase’s new Grid Reports, you can:

Use spreadsheet-style editing right from your reports
Filter, edit, and fill down with just a few clicks
Make quick updates, even from embedded dashboards

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Your data should grow and scale with your business — not be held back by it

Smartsheet limits how much data you can upload, but Quickbase gives your organization the scalability it needs to succeed. With Quickbase, you can:

Build large, complex apps without strict data limits
Protect sensitive information with built-in, role-based access controls customizable down to the field level
Keep your apps running smoothly as they grow using performance management tools that identify and help resolve bottlenecks

See for yourself

In terms of a preference, I usually go for Quickbase because I really don't like Smartsheet. Even its cost, Smartsheet is not that smart. There's a lot of functionality I expect them to have, and they don't have it. In most situations, if I have control to say which platform we are using, I always switch to Quickbase.
Hui Wei
Sr Data Analyst, Verizon Communications

The decision was between Quickbase and Smartsheet. Smartsheet is really a fancy spreadsheet. And I think they have a really good solution, but we met with them a few times and by the third time they said, ‘You know what? You're not going to be happy with what we provide. We don't think we can do what you need us to do. We're out.’ And so, we dove into Quickbase again and it passed all of our reviews.
Steve Terrell
PMO, BG Products

I've had some experience with Smartsheet. Smartsheet is good for... Excel on steroids. It's good for one sheet, or if you only had 20 fields. The problem is, that's where it dies.
Bayron Zungia
Network Supply Chain Business Transformation Project Manager, Verizon Communications

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