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Project Management Comparison

Motion vs. Smartsheet

At a glance

At a glance

Motion

Best for

Best for busy teams and solo operators who want their task list scheduled into the calendar automatically instead of triaged by hand.

  • Freelancers
  • Small and mid-sized
  • Enterprise

Smartsheet

Best for

Best for operations and PMO teams that run structured, spreadsheet-style projects at scale.

  • Small and mid-sized
  • Enterprise

Cataleo does not name a winner. Both statements come from the vendors themselves.

Full Comparison

Criterion Motion Smartsheet
Starting price From $12.73 / user / month Pro AI billed yearly; $19 per seat and month billed monthly. Business AI is $19.43 billed yearly or $29 monthly, and an enterprise tier is quoted separately. Plans carry 7,500 AI credits per seat per month on Pro AI and 15,000 on Business AI; further credits cost 25 cents per 100 on Pro AI and 19 cents per 100 on Business AI. lower value From $12 / member / month Pro billed monthly; $9 per member per month billed yearly, for 1 to 10 members. Business is $24 monthly or $19 yearly with a minimum of three members. Enterprise and Advanced Work Management are quoted.
Free trial Free trial 30-day trial, no free plan
API Yes, a REST API covering tasks, projects, custom fields, recurring tasks, comments, schedules, statuses, users and workspaces Not stated
Hosting Cloud (SaaS) Not stated
Made in Not stated USA
Task planning Yes, tasks and projects with an AI planner that timeblocks work onto the calendar and reschedules it as the day changes. Tasks carry a do date next to the due date, and the planner flags those at risk of missing a deadline. A project with stages, deadlines and assignees can be generated from a short description Yes, grid, Gantt, board and calendar views
Resource planning Team capacity planning on the Business AI plan, with the planner distributing work across the team by availability Yes, workload tracking; Resource Management available
Time tracking Included on the Business AI plan; not part of Pro AI Yes, timesheets and expense tracking, but only in Resource Management by Smartsheet, an upgrade on top of the core plans
Reporting and controlling Advanced dashboards and reports plus timeline and Gantt charts on the Business AI plan, with project ETAs and bottleneck analysis Yes, dashboards and cross-sheet reports
Integrations and API Yes, a REST API for tasks, projects, custom fields, recurring tasks, comments, schedules, statuses, users and workspaces, alongside native integrations with Zoom, Google Meet, Gmail, Outlook, Slack, Teams, Siri, HubSpot and Salesforce Yes, REST API and an official MCP server
AI features Yes Yes
MCP-ready No stated Yes
Deployment Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based
Support Email helpdesk, Chat more entries Email helpdesk, Phone, Chat, Community forum
Onboarding Documentation and knowledge base, Guided onboarding more entries Documentation and knowledge base, Video tutorials, Live online demos and webinars, Personal consulting
Company size more entries Freelancers, Small and mid-sized, Enterprise Small and mid-sized, Enterprise
Integrations more entries Zoom, Google Meet, Gmail, Outlook, Slack, Microsoft Teams, HubSpot, Salesforce, Siri Google Workspace, Microsoft Teams, Slack, Salesforce, Box, Dropbox

Compare more tools

Row where the values differ The small markers point at the lower number, the longer list or the stated feature. They describe the data, they are not a verdict.

The short version

Key Differences

  • Starting price Motion From $12.73 / user / month Smartsheet From $12 / member / month
  • Free trial Motion Free trial Smartsheet 30-day trial, no free plan
  • Company size Motion Freelancers, Small and mid-sized, Enterprise Smartsheet Small and mid-sized, Enterprise
  • Support Motion Email helpdesk, Chat Smartsheet Email helpdesk, Phone, Chat, Community forum
  • MCP-ready Motion No Smartsheet Yes

Every line is one datapoint from the table above, picked automatically. Nothing here is written text.

The trade-offs

Strengths and Limitations

Motion

Strengths

  • The AI planner schedules the work rather than leaving a task list to be triaged by hand
  • Tasks, calendar, docs and meeting notes sit in one product instead of four
  • Warns days ahead when a task is at risk of missing its deadline
  • Web, desktop and mobile apps, with a documented REST API

Limitations

  • No free plan, only a trial
  • Capacity planning, time tracking, Gantt views and advanced reporting are Business AI only
  • AI use is metered in credits, so heavy use costs extra beyond the monthly allowance
  • Published per-seat rates are the annual ones, so paying monthly costs more

Smartsheet

Strengths

  • Familiar spreadsheet interface with Gantt, board and calendar views
  • Strong dashboards, reporting and workload tracking
  • Official MCP server for AI assistant access

Limitations

  • Steeper learning curve for advanced features
  • No free plan, only a trial

Plans

Pricing

Motion

  • Pro AI $12.73 Per seat and month billed yearly, or $19 monthly. AI chat, projects and tasks, calendar and meetings, docs, wiki and notes, the task planner, writer and editor, unlimited storage, mobile and desktop apps, integrations, and 7,500 credits per seat per month.
  • Business AI $19.43 Per seat and month billed yearly, or $29 monthly. Everything in Pro AI plus team capacity planning, advanced dashboards and reports, timeline and Gantt charts, time tracking, permissions and access control, central billing, priority support, and 15,000 credits per seat per month.
  • Enterprise Not stated Quoted separately. Listed with priority business support and white-glove onboarding.
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Smartsheet

  • Pro $12 Per member per month billed monthly, $9 billed yearly. 1 to 10 members, unlimited contributors.
  • Business $24 Per member per month billed monthly, $19 billed yearly. Minimum three members, unlimited guests and contributors.
  • Enterprise Not stated Quoted, from 10 members. Adds 24x7 global phone support and Smartsheet University.
  • Advanced Work Management Not stated Quoted, for large-scale portfolio management.
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What users say

Review Scores · opens after launch

Motion

Ease of use
Not rated yet
User interface
Not rated yet
Onboarding
Not rated yet
Support and service
Not rated yet
Value for money
Not rated yet
Features
Not rated yet

No reviews yet. Be the first to review this tool. Every review is checked for fairness before it appears, and the vendor cannot have one removed.

Smartsheet

Ease of use
Not rated yet
User interface
Not rated yet
Onboarding
Not rated yet
Support and service
Not rated yet
Value for money
Not rated yet
Features
Not rated yet

No reviews yet. Be the first to review this tool. Every review is checked for fairness before it appears, and the vendor cannot have one removed.

Where this comes from

Where this comes from

Motion https://www.usemotion.com · checked against the official source on 2026-09-01

Smartsheet https://www.smartsheet.com · no check date recorded yet

This table lists factual criteria taken from information the vendors publish themselves. For how we put it together, see the methodology.