Smartsheet

Smartsheet

Smartsheet is the spreadsheet-style work management platform that scales from project tracking to enterprise portfolio and operations management, now with Smartsheet AI built in. Smartsheet AI generates formulas from plain English, analyzes text and numeric data for insights, and drafts content directly in cells. Smartsheet serves 85%+ of the Fortune 500 and is purpose-built for teams that think in rows and columns.

Production credibility: Used by 85%+ of the Fortune 500; was publicly traded (NYSE: SMAR) before its $8.4B take-private acquisition by Blackstone and Vista Equity Partners in 2024. Founded 2005 by Mark Mader and Brent Frei. Smartsheet AI (formula generation, text/insight analysis, content drafting) ships across the grid, card, Gantt, and dashboard views.

Key Features

• Smartsheet AI generates formulas from natural-language descriptions
• AI text and numeric analysis surfaces insights and summaries from sheet data
• AI content drafting directly in cells for status notes and descriptions
• Grid, card, Gantt, and calendar views on the same underlying data
• No-code automation with conditional workflows, alerts, and approvals
• Dashboards and portfolio rollups for executive reporting
• Founded 2005; taken private by Blackstone + Vista for $8.4B in 2024

Ideal Use Case

Operations, PMO, and program-management teams at large enterprises that think in spreadsheets and need to scale that mental model to portfolio tracking, resource management, and executive dashboards — with AI formula generation and insight analysis layered on.

How Smartsheet differentiates

Airtable competes on database flexibility; Asana and Monday.com on structured work management. Smartsheet's positioning is the spreadsheet-native enterprise — teams that already live in Excel get a familiar grid that scales to portfolio management, with Smartsheet AI removing the formula expertise barrier. The trade-off is a less modern UI than Airtable or Monday; the upside is Fortune 500-grade scale and governance on a spreadsheet paradigm teams already know.

FAQ

Q: What is Smartsheet? A: Smartsheet is a spreadsheet-style work management platform that scales from project tracking to enterprise portfolio management, with Smartsheet AI for formula generation, text/insight analysis, and content drafting.

Q: What does Smartsheet AI do? A: Smartsheet AI generates formulas from plain-English descriptions, analyzes text and numeric data for insights, and drafts content directly in cells — removing the formula-expertise barrier.

Q: Smartsheet vs Airtable vs Monday.com? A: Airtable competes on database flexibility; Monday.com on structured work management. Smartsheet is spreadsheet-native — teams that live in Excel get a familiar grid that scales to Fortune 500 portfolio management with AI formula generation.

Q: Who owns Smartsheet? A: Smartsheet was taken private in 2024 by Blackstone and Vista Equity Partners for $8.4B. It was founded in 2005 by Mark Mader and Brent Frei.

Q: Is Smartsheet free? A: Smartsheet offers a free trial. Pro, Business, and Enterprise plans unlock Smartsheet AI, automation, and portfolio-level dashboards and governance.

tl;dr

Smartsheet is the spreadsheet-style work management platform with Smartsheet AI — formula generation from plain English, text/insight analysis, and content drafting. Used by 85%+ of the Fortune 500. Taken private by Blackstone + Vista for $8.4B in 2024. Enterprise scale on a spreadsheet paradigm.

Related

Looking for more options? Browse the Productivity directory or read our best AI productivity tools listicle. Smartsheet is also tracked on Crunchbase.