Filevine
Smartsheet
| Feature | Filevine | Smartsheet |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Contact sales | Free / from $9/mo |
| Free Plan | ✗ No | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 4.3 / 5 | 4.2 / 5 |
| Best For | plaintiff-firms, insurance-defense, personal-injury, litigation-teams | enterprise, pmo-teams, operations, construction, it-teams |
| Founded | 2014 | 2005 |
| Case Management | ✓ | ✗ |
| Document Automation | ✓ | ✗ |
| Ai Contracts | ✓ | ✗ |
| Task Management | ✓ | ✗ |
| Reporting | ✓ | ✗ |
| Client Portal | ✓ | ✗ |
| Grid View | ✗ | ✓ |
| Gantt | ✗ | ✓ |
| Card View | ✗ | ✓ |
| Automations | ✗ | ✓ |
| Reports | ✗ | ✓ |
| Dashboards | ✗ | ✓ |
| Resource Management | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ Filevine Pros
- Excellent for litigation firms
- Good document automation
- AI contract tools
- Strong task management
✗ Filevine Cons
- Not ideal for transactional practice
- Pricing not transparent
- Implementation timeline long
✓ Smartsheet Pros
- Familiar spreadsheet interface reduces learning curve
- Powerful automation with no-code workflows
- Enterprise-grade permissions and governance
- Excellent for resource management at scale
✗ Smartsheet Cons
- Can feel overwhelming for simple projects
- Expensive at enterprise scale
- Mobile experience is limited
The Verdict
Filevine is built for plaintiff firms and insurance defense, with a focus on case-management and document-automation. Smartsheet targets enterprise and pmo teams and leads with grid-view and gantt.
Filevine uses custom enterprise pricing, while Smartsheet starts at $9/mo — a tangible advantage for teams with a fixed budget.
Smartsheet has a free plan, which gives it a meaningful edge for individuals and small teams exploring their options. Filevine requires a paid subscription from day one.
Feature-wise, Smartsheet offers broader built-in capabilities (7 features vs 6), while Filevine takes a more focused approach — which can mean a simpler, faster onboarding experience.
This is a genuinely close comparison. If you can, sign up for both free trials (where available) and run a one-week test with your actual team tasks before deciding.