Motion
Smartsheet
| Feature | Motion | Smartsheet |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | From $12/mo | Free / from $9/mo |
| Free Plan | ✗ No | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 4.3 / 5 | 4.2 / 5 |
| Best For | executives, founders, busy-professionals, freelancers | enterprise, pmo-teams, operations, construction, it-teams |
| Founded | 2019 | 2005 |
| Ai Scheduling | ✓ | ✗ |
| Task Management | ✓ | ✗ |
| Project Boards | ✓ | ✗ |
| Meeting Scheduler | ✓ | ✗ |
| Auto Prioritization | ✓ | ✗ |
| Team Calendars | ✓ | ✗ |
| Integrations | ✓ | ✗ |
| Grid View | ✗ | ✓ |
| Gantt | ✗ | ✓ |
| Card View | ✗ | ✓ |
| Automations | ✗ | ✓ |
| Reports | ✗ | ✓ |
| Dashboards | ✗ | ✓ |
| Resource Management | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ Motion Pros
- AI auto-schedules your entire day
- Combines calendar + tasks + projects
- Automatically reschedules when things change
- Reduces decision fatigue
✗ Motion Cons
- No free tier
- AI scheduling can feel restrictive
- Learning to trust the AI takes time
✓ 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
Motion is built for executives and founders, with a focus on ai-scheduling and task-management. Smartsheet targets enterprise and pmo teams and leads with grid-view and gantt.
Pricing is close: Smartsheet starts at $9/mo versus $12/mo for Motion — not a deciding factor on its own.
Smartsheet has a free plan, which gives it a meaningful edge for individuals and small teams exploring their options. Motion requires a paid subscription from day one.
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.