Smartsheet alternatives are sought by two groups. Teams that adopted the grid for its familiarity find that portfolios sit on the Enterprise plan and the larger control tools on a further tier, so the published per-member price is not the price of portfolio management. Others outgrow a spreadsheet-shaped model and want resource planning, scenarios and governance built into the product. They move to dedicated portfolio tools, priced per resource, per planner or by quotation.
Short answer: The first three alternatives to Smartsheet in our project portfolio management ranking are Meisterplan, Celoxis and Planforge (formerly ONEPOINT Projects). Places 1 to 3 go to challengers, vendors outside the best-known brands in a category, wherever the category has them; the established names follow from place 4 in their ranked order. Choose Meisterplan if the real need is deciding which projects fit the available people, and many staff only need to view. All 11 alternatives below are ranked products from Best Project Portfolio Management Software in 2026, and each says where it differs from Smartsheet.
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Pricing: Per user per month, published; enterprise tiers quoted
Established in: United States
Built for: Organisations whose project work already lives in shared spreadsheets today
Not for: PMOs that need enforced stage gates and formal approvals
01
Why buyers look past Smartsheet
01
Portfolios sit above the published prices
Smartsheet publishes Pro and Business per-member prices, yet its comparison table lists Portfolios only from the Enterprise plan, which is priced as custom for 10 or more members. Scenario Planning is also Enterprise, and Control Center, Data Shuttle and Dynamic View appear under the Advanced Work Management tier, again quoted. A buyer who came for portfolio roll-ups often learns the real price only after a sales conversation.
02
Seat rules shape the bill
The Pro plan covers 1 to 10 members and the Business plan starts at 3 members, with unlimited free Contributors on Pro and unlimited free Guests on Business. Tools built around a different unit change the arithmetic: Meisterplan prices by planned resource and leaves users unlimited, while Celoxis charges planners at the full rate and contributors less. Which model is cheaper depends on how many people only update their own tasks.
03
Portfolio discipline is a design task
Smartsheet is built from sheets, reports and dashboards that teams assemble themselves. That flexibility is why people adopt it, but standard intake, capacity and financial structures are something an organisation builds or buys as add-ons. PMOs that want these in the product from the first day look at tools designed around the portfolio rather than around the grid.
Quoted per organisation, on top of platform licensing
Portfolio management for organisations that already run ServiceNow everywhere
ServiceNow is already the system of record for IT work and you want portfolio data in the same place
#12
03
What each one does differently
1
Meisterplan
Germany · Priced per planned resource, users unlimited; 30-day trial
Meisterplan is built for portfolio and capacity planning, priced by the number of planned resources while users are free and unlimited. A 30-day trial is offered and packages above 1,000 resources are quoted. It lists Smartsheet among its integrations. It is not a grid for ad hoc tracking of tasks and process work, which is where Smartsheet is most flexible.
Switch from Smartsheet if the real need is deciding which projects fit the available people, and many staff only need to view.
India · Per user per month, published; cloud or self-hosted
Celoxis publishes four plans from $10 to $45 per standard user per month, billed annually, with cheaper contributor and timesheet users and read-only users included. Resource workload arrives on Essentials, project intake and risk on Professional. It runs as cloud with a European data centre option, or on-premise. Smartsheet's free Contributors and open-ended grid have no direct equivalent.
Switch from Smartsheet if you want portfolio, resource and cost controls at published per-user prices and need on-premise hosting as an option.
Austria · Per user per month, published; free plan up to 4 users; cloud or on-premise
Planforge, formerly ONEPOINT Projects, comes from Austria and publishes a free plan for up to 4 users, then Lean at 45 euros, Professional at 54 euros and Enterprise at 88 euros per user per month, each from 5 users. It can run in the cloud or on-premises. Pricing is higher per seat than Smartsheet's Business plan, and it is a structured planner, not a sheet.
Switch from Smartsheet if a European vendor with an on-premises option and a free tier for a small first team matters.
Planisware sells a family of products, from Orchestra (a turnkey PPM platform for PMOs) to Horizon for IT, Nova for product development and Valoris for capital investment planning. Pricing is quoted per organisation. It targets large portfolios and long implementations, and offers nothing like Smartsheet's self-service start with a trial of the grid.
Switch from Smartsheet if a large PMO needs a portfolio platform with a specialised edition for IT, R&D or capital planning.
Adobe Workfront is Adobe's enterprise work management product and sits inside the Adobe business portfolio, with pricing quoted per organisation. It is aimed at marketing and creative operations as much as PMOs. We could not retrieve its product page in this session, so we say no more about its features here.
Switch from Smartsheet if marketing or creative operations run on Adobe tools and need work management in the same estate.
United States · Quoted per organisation, per module
Planview is a broad suite for strategic portfolio management and software delivery, with named products such as Portfolios, AdaptiveWork, AgilePlace and ProjectAdvantage. It states 3,000 or more enterprise customers. Pricing is quoted per organisation and per module, so the bill depends on which modules are combined. That breadth is more than a team replacing a grid needs.
Switch from Smartsheet if portfolio, resource and delivery tooling must come from one vendor across a large enterprise.
Triskell Software lists solutions for project, agile, IT and strategic portfolio management, plus resource, demand and financial management, and offers a free trial. Pricing is quoted per organisation. It is portfolio-first software, so it lacks the freeform sheets and forms that make Smartsheet easy to start.
Switch from Smartsheet if you want demand, resource and financial management in a mid-market portfolio tool rather than in sheets.
Sciforma was acquired by Planview in 2025, and Sciforma Vantage was renamed Planview ProjectAdvantage. It supports portfolio planning, resource optimisation and project delivery, aimed at IT PMOs, product development and public sector. Pricing is quoted. Because it now belongs to the Planview family, its roadmap follows the parent.
Switch from Smartsheet if an IT PMO or public body wants a portfolio tool and is comfortable with the Planview parent.
Cora Systems sells pre-configured products by industry: Cora Edge for engineering and manufacturing, Cora GovCon for regulated contractors with earned value management, and a Project Control Tower. It frames control as quote to cash. Pricing is quoted per organisation. It is built for project-based firms, not for general office teams tracking work in sheets.
Switch from Smartsheet if you are a contractor or engineering firm that must govern projects from quote to cash.
Clarity is Broadcom's digital and strategic portfolio management product, in the same company as its value stream management range. Pricing is quoted per organisation. We could not retrieve more than its title from the vendor page, so we make no further claims about features or hosting. It is an enterprise IT-governance product, not a self-service grid.
Switch from Smartsheet if your portfolio is IT-led, and Broadcom is already a supplier for other tooling.
United States · Quoted per organisation, on top of platform licensing
ServiceNow Strategic Portfolio Management is a module of the ServiceNow platform, so it is bought on top of platform licensing and quoted per organisation. It makes sense where IT service and workflow processes already run on that platform. It is no substitute for a stand-alone grid tool, and an organisation without ServiceNow takes on the platform as well.
Switch from Smartsheet if ServiceNow is already the system of record for IT work and you want portfolio data in the same place.
Smartsheet remains the right choice when the organisation already thinks in spreadsheets and wants roll-ups without retraining. Pro and Business publish their prices, unlimited Contributors on Pro and Guests on Business keep occasional participants free, and the grid, Gantt, board, calendar and timeline views cover most project tracking. If portfolios and scenario planning are needed only for a few programmes and the Enterprise quotation is acceptable, the cost of switching to a dedicated tool is hard to recover.
05
What moving off Smartsheet involves
01
Sheets do not convert into a portfolio model
A Smartsheet estate is made of sheets, reports and dashboards that people built. A dedicated portfolio tool expects projects, resources and demand as distinct objects. Plan to rebuild the structure rather than import it, and decide which sheets are genuine projects and which are lists that should stay as lists.
02
Count the people who only update tasks
Smartsheet counts members, contributors and guests differently, and the alternatives count planners, resources or all users. Count how many staff edit plans, how many only report time or status, and how many only read, before asking any vendor for a price.
06
Questions about replacing Smartsheet
5 answers
Why is Smartsheet's price not the whole price?
The published prices cover Pro and Business. Portfolios and Scenario Planning are listed from the Enterprise plan, which is custom priced for 10 or more members, and further tools such as Control Center sit in the Advanced Work Management tier.
Ask for the quotation for the features you need, not for the entry plan.
Which alternative has published prices?
Celoxis publishes four plans from $10 to $45 per standard user per month billed annually, and Planforge publishes a free plan for up to 4 users plus paid plans from 45 euros per user per month.
Meisterplan prices by resource and the larger suites are quoted.
Is there an alternative with on-premise hosting?
Celoxis and Planforge both list cloud and on-premise options on their pricing pages.
Which alternative charges for resources rather than users?
Meisterplan. Users are free and unlimited, and the licence follows the number of planned resources. That suits organisations where many managers and executives only view the portfolio.
Can I keep Smartsheet and add a portfolio tool?
Yes. Meisterplan lists Smartsheet among its integrations, so a team can keep delivery in sheets and plan capacity above them. Check which fields sync before relying on it.
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Sources
Checked 9 October 2026
Smartsheet pricing: Pro and Business per-member prices, 1-10 members on Pro, 3+ on Business, Portfolios and Scenario Planning from Enterprise (custom, 10+ members), Control Center and Data Shuttle on Advanced Work Management.
Smartsheet homepage: Smartsheet positions itself as a work management platform covering project and portfolio management.
Meisterplan pricing: Users free and unlimited, price set by planned resources, 30-day trial, custom quote above 1,000 resources.
Meisterplan imprint: Product of itdesign GmbH, Tuebingen, Germany, with a US entity in Seattle.
Celoxis pricing: Core, Essentials, Professional, Business prices per user per month billed annually, contributor pricing, cloud or on-premise, 14-day trial.
