Airtable vs Smartsheet: Pros & cons in 2024

Airtable is a popular collaboration and spreadsheet management tool that mainly uses spreadsheets and different data view types.

Smartsheet, on the other hand, mainly focuses on data management but works through your good old classic spreadsheets – if you can call the limited number of views and formulas enough, that is.

Today, we will dive deep into both of those tools and help you figure out which tool will be a better fit for your company’s needs. Let’s start with each tool’s strengths and weaknesses, and then get to the Smartsheet vs. Airtable comparison.

Table of contents

• What is Airtable?
• What is Smartsheet?
• A better alternative: Retable!
• Smartsheet vs Airtable – side by side comparison
• Conclusion
• Frequently asked questions

What is Airtable?

Airtable is a spreadsheet-based collaboration and project management tool. Don’t think that the only thing Airtable does is spreadsheets, though. You can create whole workflows with Airtable project management or combine different trackers on a single dashboard.

Most Airtable users use the tool as a better version of popular spreadsheets – aka Google Sheets and Excel. But once you manage to dive into the tool, you can find out that Airtable has:  

• Better views,  
• A better aesthetic that is relatively easier to manage,  
• And functions that don’t require you to be a math genius.  

But, Airtable has its flaws. While the tool does make spreadsheets more meaningful, most users on G2 state that the tool is very difficult to get used to.  

Also, compared to similar spreadsheet management tools, Airtable has less view types and a limited number of native formulas – which can make you data management more difficult than you want it to be.

Also, the steep Airtable cost and their inflexibility for different company types and needs is another concern that leaves users to think twice of Airtable as a project management tool.

Airtable pricing

Important note: unlike many other tools that allow you to upgrade all your workspaces with upgrades, Airtable’s pricing and upgrades only apply to a single workspace. This means that you will have to upgrade all your workspaces and pay for each of them separately, which skyrockets the pricing.

• The free plan of Airtable provides up to 5 editors and up to 100 automations.
• The team plan of Airtable costs $20/month/seat and unlocks integrations, gantt and timeline views, and more customization options
• The business plan of Airtable costs $45/month/seat. This plan unlocks premium two-way integrations and the administrator panel.
• The enterprise scale plan of Airtable unlocks enterprise API and audit logs and DLP. For enterprise level pricing, contact their sales teams.

Airtable key features

• Interface designer
• Workflow management
• Automation
• Advanced data views and column types
• Integrations with third-party apps
• Transform workflows with AI
• Scalable data model

Airtable reviews

Airtable has a rating of 4.6 on G2 and its rating on Capterra is 4.7.

Airtable pros

• G2 - “I use Airtable to manage my client information, client processes, projects, KPIs, personal finances, and content management. It's pretty intense and incredible as to how I'm able to use it for so many different purposes.”
• G2 - “Easy Integrations: Integrated apps such as Gmail, Twilio, or custom apps via Zapier and using them are extremely easy and straightforward!”

Airtable cons

• G2 - “Though Airtable has a smooth and user-friendly interface, there is a learning curve that involves its operations. It took some time for me to know and become familiar with some of its amazing features.”
• G2 - “There is room for development in the forms part to make them more configurable in their design; if this were the case, I would be more inclined to embed an Airtable form on a website. It may be difficult to get everyone on the same page about how to use the systems Airtable provides, so additional documentation to assist optimize the tools available would be nice.”

What is Smartsheet?

Smartsheet is a “modern work management” platform, as they claim. It brings spreadsheets and project management together to simplify work and data processes.

Smartsheet would be a great choice for people who like classic spreadsheets, data management and reporting capabilities. Because with its classic approach to data management, Smartsheet follows both a great and unfortunately old approach to data management.

This brings a couple of problems with it. Some of those are:

• There are only a few native formulas that you can use in Smartsheet and the tool relies more on technical knowledge to transfer data within a sheet or between different sheets.
• Compared to most modern spreadsheet tools, Smartsheet has only a limited number of different view types.
• But most importantly, Smartsheet has a surprisingly low number of column types – which makes it very difficult to manage different types of data and visualize it properly.

There are tips and tricks to overcome those challenges through technical knowledge. But even then, you come across two new obstacles, which are the high pricing, and the unresponsive support team.

Smartsheet pricing

• The free plan of Smartsheet includes 1 team member, 2 editors, 2 sheets, and 4 different view types.
• The pro plan of Smartsheet costs $7/user/month and includes up to 10 editors, unlimited sheets and unlimited viewers.
• The business plan of Smartsheet costs $25/user/month and unlocks unlimited free viewers, workload tracking, and unlimited automations.
• The enterprise plan of Smartsheet doesn’t have a public pricing and you need to get in touch with their sales team to get a custom quote.

Smartsheet key features

• Workflow management
• Automation
• Conditional form logic
• Templates
• Formulas
• Integrations with third-party apps

Smartsheet reviews

Smartsheet has a rating of 4.4 on G2 and its rating on Capterra is 4.5.

Smartsheet pros

• G2 - “In particular, it is helpful to have the ability to link numerous sheets, dashboards, etc. together, thereby making it easy to upload a single document and have updates made automatically in all linked documents”
• G2 - “It has many advanced features that are not available in any other similar tool. Its auto reminders work well.”

Smartsheet cons

• G2 - “SmartSheets is not nearly as robust as other services that cost significantly less. There are fee alternatives to SmartSheets that can do more and you never have to pay for additional functionality.”
• G2 - “Support is awful. They outsource it to low-cost countries and take several days to provide resolutions that leave us unable to log into SmartSheet. I've never had any other company let a show-stopping issue go on for so many days without any resolution.”

An easier alternative to not break the bank: Retable!

Airtable is functional and intuitive, but it is hidden behind a huge price and a steep learning curve.

As for Smartsheet, the tool has amazing features – mostly for enterprise customers, but the lower tiers don’t get enough juice. As if that isn’t bad enough, there is barely any support except for enterprise users – again.

Don’t you just think that there should be a better tool that suits your needs?

Retable is at your service.

With Retable, you can:

✅ Easily create tables with different column types and functionalities,

✅ View all your data from multiple views with tables, maps, kanban boards, or charts,

✅ Benefit from unlimited sharing capabilities and real-time updates,

✅ Work on your own project, share with a team, or even create an internal organization for all your data.

And all this for only a fraction of the cost of Airtable or Smartsheet...

So don’t waste any time. Check out Retable Right here 👈

Smartsheet vs Airtable – side by side comparison

Now that you are familiar with both, let’s compare the key points of each of those tool's side by side to give you a better view over which is better suited for your needs.

Features comparison

Overall, Airtable has a higher feature satisfaction rate compared to Smartsheet.

Customer satisfaction comparison

Overall, Airtable has a higher customer satisfaction rate compared to Smartsheet.

Pricing comparison

There are two things to consider with this pricing comparison:

1. The price itself: If the budget is your main concern and the key features are all you need, then Smartsheet is more affordable.

2. The pricing package: But if you want to do more for less, then Smartsheet will let you down since Airtable’s packages are more packed with valuable features and less limitations.

Conclusion

In a sense, Smartsheet and Airtable have similar flaws. But the balance between smartsheet pros and cons and the ones between Airtable pros and cons is significant.

For enterprises, Smartsheet is a data garden where you can get the support team to provide anything you need. But if you are just a regular user and you need actual features – such as real-time collaboration or more formulas – then it’s better not to choose Smartsheet.

As for Airtable, it’s simpler than most tools out there, but it is also one of the most expensive ones – and it still lacks the number of views and formulas that Retable provides.

So, make your choice wisely – is it Smartsheet, is it Airtable, or is it Retable?

Start your free trial right now and benefit from all features of Retable for 30 days!

Frequently asked questions

Is Smartsheet better than Airtable?

Whether Smartsheet is better or Airtable depends on your needs. If you need a project management tool with lots of integrations, then Smartsheet is better. But if you need a better spreadsheet tool to manage your data – while also having different views, then Airtable is better.

What is better than Airtable?

Retable is the best Airtable alternative since it is easier to use, has more view types and more column types, and is much easier to get used to.

Can Smartsheet integrate with Airtable?

Unfortunately, neither Smartsheet nor Airtable has an integration with the other tool.

Is Airtable a project management tool?

Airtable is a spreadsheet and data management tool at its core, but it also has functionalities for users to track their projects.

How much does Smartsheet enterprise plan cost?

While Smartsheet doesn’t show their pricing for the enterprise plan, different users across the internet have talked about Smartsheet’s enterprise cost. One user in particular stated that they were paying $900/month for 3 licenses.

What is an alternative to Airtable and Smartsheet?

The best alternative to Airtable project management or Smartsheet project management software is Retable as it has better onboarding, a more responsive support team, and more affordable pricing.