A Smartsheet alternative for service businesses that outgrew the sheet
Short answer: Smartsheet is a powerful work management tool that feels like a spreadsheet with project features on top. If you are looking for a Smartsheet alternative because your rows are really customers, jobs and invoices, Alori gives those rows a home: projects, tasks and jobs in one all-in-one app, with the fields you ask for in plain words.
Who Smartsheet fits well
Smartsheet is a strong fit when:
- Your team thinks in grids and wants spreadsheet-style editing with formulas.
- You plan long projects with Gantt timelines, dependencies and dashboards.
- Several departments share sheets and reports across a larger organization.
As of October 2026, Smartsheet's pricing page lists Pro at $9 per member per month billed yearly ($12 monthly), Business at $19 billed yearly ($24 monthly), and custom pricing for Enterprise and Advanced Work Management.
Why service owners look for an alternative
Many service businesses start tracking work in a sheet because it is flexible. Over time, the sheet becomes the CRM, the job list and the to-do list at once:
- Rows copy data that already lives in your quotes, jobs and invoices, and nobody is sure which copy is right.
- The sheet does not act. It does not send the quote, text the customer, or remind you about an unpaid invoice.
- Technicians cannot use it in the field easily, so the office retypes what happened.
- Columns multiply until only one person understands the sheet.
Side by side
| Smartsheet | Alori | |
|---|---|---|
| Grid editing and formulas | Yes, its core | No spreadsheet grid |
| Gantt timelines and dependencies | Yes | Not today |
| Projects | Sheets and workspaces | Projects with suggested tasks, a lead, a target date and progress |
| Tasks | Rows with assignees | Tasks you assign, accept or send back, with a board and repeats |
| Your own fields | Add a column | Ask in plain words: "Add a gate code to each customer" |
| Customers, quotes, jobs, invoices | Built by you in sheets | Built in, on one set of data |
| Technician view | Mobile app for sheets | A technician view with the job, checklist and photos |
What Alori replaces, and what it does not
Alori replaces the sheet you use to run customer work:
- Projects that group tasks and jobs, like a renovation or the maintenance season, with or without a customer. Link a job, quote or invoice to bring in its money. See tasks.
- Tasks with priorities, due dates, assignees and a board, plus repeating tasks every week, month or year.
- Jobs from booked to done, with checklists and photos, and a technician view for the field. See jobs.
- Your own fields and screens. Write what you want changed in the chat, Alori shows it in a preview, and your team sees it when you publish. See build your own CRM.
- Ask Alori for answers instead of filtering columns: "which quotes from last month were not signed?"
What it does not replace: spreadsheet-style grids with formulas, Gantt charts with dependencies, and cross-department dashboards. Alori's Dashboard shows today's work, money and sales at a glance, and a read-only key lets Power BI or Excel pull your records for deeper reports. If your work is long project planning across many teams, Smartsheet remains the stronger tool.
How to switch
- Pick one sheet that tracks customer work, like your job list or task tracker.
- Import the tasks. Save the sheet as Excel or CSV, then use Import in Tasks. Alori finds titles, due dates, people, customers, projects and statuses on its own. Columns it cannot place go into each task's description.
- Paste your customer list into Ask Alori ("Add these customers:"), even if it is messy.
- Ask for the missing fields in the chat, then invite the team.
Comparing task tools too? See the Asana alternative. Plans are on pricing, with a free plan and no card needed.
FAQ
Is Alori a good Smartsheet alternative? For a service business that uses sheets to track customers, jobs and tasks, yes: those become real records that send quotes, schedule visits and invoice. For long cross-team projects with Gantt charts and formulas, Smartsheet stays the better fit.
Can I import my Smartsheet rows? Tasks, yes: save the sheet as Excel or CSV and use Import in Tasks, up to 2,000 rows per file, with Undo. Customers can be pasted into Ask Alori.
Can I add my own columns? Ask for the field in the chat, like "Add a contract end date to each customer". Ask Alori can also add custom fields and fill them in.
Does Alori have Gantt charts? Not today. Projects show their state, target date and progress, and tasks have due dates and a board.