Smartsheet Alternatives 2026: 5 Free Options
Smartsheet alternatives: NocoDB, Baserow, OpenProject, monday.com and 1 more. Prices and licenses checked October 23, 2026.
•3 min read•Project & Task Management
Verdict:Smartsheet has no free plan, only a 30-day trial, and Pro is $9 per member per month billed yearly ($12 monthly) for 1 to 10 members and new customers only. If you adopted it as a spreadsheet that tracks projects, the nearest free replacements are database-style: NocoDB or Baserow give you grids, forms and views, and both can be self-hosted. They are weaker at the project management layer, so Gantt dependencies and resource views are the first things you lose. If you actually use Smartsheet for timelines and dependencies, OpenProject is the better match, because its Community edition has scheduling at no cost, although its paid plans need 25 users. monday.com and Asana are the easy paid-or-free-for-two options if you want a managed tool and can live without formulas. The practical trade-off is formulas and cross-sheet references: Smartsheet users build long automations around them, and none of the alternatives copy them one for one. Export a representative sheet to Excel or CSV first and see how each tool imports columns, attachments and comments. For a small team tracking a handful of projects, Baserow's free plan is the least-effort start; for a construction or engineering schedule, try OpenProject before paying anyone.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Price | Platforms | Best for | Tested |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NocoDB | Free (Cloud Free has 3 editor seats, 1,000 records and 1 GB; the self-hosted Community edition has unlimited records, storage and seats but only 2 workflows per base); paid from $12 per seat/month, billed annually ($15 billed monthly, Plus) | Web, Self-hosted | A spreadsheet-like database you can self-host | Docs only |
| Baserow | Free (Free plan: 3,000 rows and 2 GB of storage per workspace); paid from $10 per user/month, billed yearly ($12 billed monthly; Premium) | Web, Self-hosted | Open-source tables for small teams | Docs only |
| OpenProject | Free (Community edition with no minimum users and community-only support); paid from EUR 5.95 per user/month, 25-user minimum (Basic) | Web, Self-hosted | Project schedules and Gantt charts | Docs only |
| monday.com | Free (up to 2 seats, 3 boards and 3 docs); paid from $9 per seat/month, billed annually, 3-seat minimum for paid plans | Web, iOS, Android | Visual project boards | Docs only |
| Asana | Free (Personal plan for up to 2 users with unlimited tasks and projects and list, board and calendar views); paid from $10.99 per user/month, billed annually ($13.49 billed monthly) | Web, iOS, Android | Task tracking without the spreadsheet feel | Docs only |
| Wrike | Free (Free plan with project and task management and board and table views; the page gives no numeric limits); paid from $10 per user/month, billed annually (Team, 2 to 15 users) | Web, iOS, Android | Project management | Docs only |
| Microsoft Project | See pricing page | Web, Windows | Project Management | Docs only |
Independent comparison. Paid placements are labelled separately; editorial links earn no affiliate commissions. Learn more.
Good fit if
- A free spreadsheet-style database (Baserow is the pick)
- Self-hosted tables with unlimited records (NocoDB is the pick)
- Gantt and dependencies (OpenProject is the pick)
- Visual boards for a paying small team (monday.com is the pick)
- Plain task tracking (Asana is the pick)
Not ideal if
- You rely on Smartsheet features or integrations that these tools do not replicate
Smartsheet today: Paid from $9 per member/month, billed yearly ($12 billed monthly; Pro, 1-10 members, new customers only) (Smartsheet pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Why people look for Smartsheet alternatives
Smartsheet has no free-forever plan, only a 30-day trial. Pro is $9 per member a month billed yearly ($12 monthly), limited to 1 to 10 members, for new customers only, and includes 250 automations a month. Business is $19 per member yearly with a three-member minimum, and unlimited automations start there. Enterprise needs at least 10 members. Free Contributors on Pro can view and comment but have limited editing.
NocoDB
Compared with Smartsheet: NocoDB gives a spreadsheet-style interface over a database. Cloud Free has 3 editor seats and 1,000 records, while the self-hosted Community edition has unlimited records and seats; you lose Smartsheet's Gantt and portfolio reporting.
Price: Free (Cloud Free has 3 editor seats, 1,000 records and 1 GB; the self-hosted Community edition has unlimited records, storage and seats but only 2 workflows per base); paid from $12 per seat/month, billed annually ($15 billed monthly, Plus) (NocoDB pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web, Self-hosted. Sustainable Use License (source-available, not OSI open source).
Best for: A spreadsheet-like database you can self-host.
Worth knowing: Self-hosted use is under a source-available license, not an OSI-approved open-source one.
Baserow
Compared with Smartsheet: Baserow is MIT-licensed core with a free plan of 3,000 rows and 2 GB per workspace, and Premium at $10 per user per month billed yearly. It is closer to a database than Smartsheet's project sheets, so Gantt and dependencies are lighter.
Price: Free (Free plan: 3,000 rows and 2 GB of storage per workspace); paid from $10 per user/month, billed yearly ($12 billed monthly; Premium) (Baserow pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web, Self-hosted. MIT (core) (open source).
Project activity: 6.2k GitHub stars · latest release 2.4.1 (Oct 13, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Open-source tables for small teams.
OpenProject
Compared with Smartsheet: OpenProject is GPL-3.0 with a free Community edition and Gantt-style scheduling, the part of Smartsheet many teams actually use. Its paid plans start at $5.95 per user per month but need 25 users.
Price: Free (Community edition with no minimum users and community-only support); paid from EUR 5.95 per user/month, 25-user minimum (Basic) (OpenProject pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web, Self-hosted. GPL-3.0 (open source).
Project activity: 16.7k GitHub stars · latest release v17.9.4 (Oct 26, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Project schedules and Gantt charts.
monday.com
Compared with Smartsheet: monday.com is free for 2 seats and 3 boards, with paid from $9 per seat per month billed annually, matching Smartsheet Pro's $9. It looks more like boards than sheets, so spreadsheet-habit users may miss the grid.
Price: Free (up to 2 seats, 3 boards and 3 docs); paid from $9 per seat/month, billed annually, 3-seat minimum for paid plans (monday.com pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web, iOS, Android. Proprietary.
Best for: Visual project boards.
Asana
Compared with Smartsheet: Asana has a free Personal plan for up to 2 users, with paid from $10.99 per user per month billed annually. You lose Smartsheet's grid and formulas for cleaner task lists and timelines.
Price: Free (Personal plan for up to 2 users with unlimited tasks and projects and list, board and calendar views); paid from $10.99 per user/month, billed annually ($13.49 billed monthly) (Asana pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web, iOS, Android. Proprietary.
Best for: Task tracking without the spreadsheet feel.
Other popular options (paid)
Wrike
Compared with Smartsheet: Has a free plan, and paid Team is $10 per user a month billed annually for 2 to 15 users, close to Smartsheet Pro at $9. You gain a free tier for light work, with less of Smartsheet's spreadsheet-style grid.
Price: Free (Free plan with project and task management and board and table views; the page gives no numeric limits); paid from $10 per user/month, billed annually (Team, 2 to 15 users) (Wrike pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Microsoft Project
Compared with Smartsheet: Microsoft's project planner is sold without a free plan, and no price is published on its Microsoft page. It suits teams that already live in Microsoft 365 and want Gantt-style scheduling, but it is less spreadsheet-like than Smartsheet.
Price: See pricing page (Microsoft Project pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
Which one to pick
- A free spreadsheet-style database: Baserow
- Self-hosted tables with unlimited records: NocoDB
- Gantt and dependencies: OpenProject
- Visual boards for a paying small team: monday.com
- Plain task tracking: Asana
Limits of this review
Docs-only for NocoDB, Baserow, OpenProject, monday.com, Asana: we did not install or run them, so feature claims come from vendor pages and we did not test import from Smartsheet. Vendor prices and free limits change; confirm on the linked pricing page before you buy or migrate.
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Kevin Fan
Kevin Fan is a SaaS founder. He runs Free Instead Of, which tracks free and open-source alternatives to paid software and checks each price and free-plan limit against the vendor's own pages.
Methodology
Based on official pricing and product pages checked between 2026-10-22 and 2026-10-23: Smartsheet, NocoDB, Baserow, OpenProject, monday.com, Asana, Wrike, Microsoft Project. Prices, free limits and licenses are the figures shown on those pages on those dates. No tool on this page was installed or run. No accounts were created.