Excel vs Smartsheet for Project Tracking

Excel vs Smartsheet for project tracking comes down to who updates the plan and what you need from it. Excel is a general spreadsheet: you build the task list, the date formulas and the Gantt bars yourself, and you can analyse anything. Smartsheet is a cloud work-management tool with a spreadsheet-like grid, and it adds shared Gantt views, task dependencies and automated reminders out of the box. This guide compares them on the same small project so you can choose, or use both.

Excel vs Smartsheet at a glance#

Excel gives you a blank, flexible grid; Smartsheet gives you a grid that is already set up for shared tasks.

A dependency means one task can't start until another finishes. A Gantt chart shows each task as a bar on a calendar, so you can see overlaps and the finish date at a glance.

What Excel does best for project tracking#

Excel is strongest when the project data needs calculation or custom reporting. Because any cell can hold any formula, you can shape the tracker around your project instead of the other way round.

• Date maths. WORKDAY returns an end date a set number of working days after a start date, skipping weekends and holidays. NETWORKDAYS counts the working days between two dates. The WORKDAY function guide covers the syntax.
• Gantt-style bars. A grid of dates coloured with conditional formatting makes a simple Gantt chart that updates when the dates change. The step-by-step guide to making a project timeline in Excel builds one from scratch.
• Analysis. PivotTables, lookups and charts can answer questions like "how many tasks did each owner finish late?" in a few minutes.
• Offline and private work. The desktop app works without an internet connection, and the file lives wherever you save it.

The trade-off is that Excel doesn't know what a "task" is. Dependencies, reminders and status rules exist only if you build them.

What Smartsheet does best for project tracking#

Smartsheet is strongest when many people update one plan. Its grid looks like a spreadsheet, but each sheet can switch between grid, Gantt, card and calendar views of the same rows.

• Dependencies. When dependencies are turned on in a sheet's project settings, you add predecessors and durations, and Smartsheet works out start and end dates. Change one task and the tasks after it move.
• Hierarchy. You can indent rows under a parent row, so phases group their tasks.
• Automations. Workflows can send alerts when a row changes, remind owners before a due date, and ask someone to approve a step.
• Collecting updates. Forms add new rows, and update requests ask a person to fill in specific fields without opening the whole sheet.
• Reports and dashboards. Reports pull rows from several sheets, and dashboards show summaries for people who only need the headline.

Smartsheet formulas work by column name. A formula such as =NETWORKDAYS([Start]@row, [End]@row) uses the Start and End values in the same row. A column formula applies one formula to every row in that column.

The same task in Excel and Smartsheet#

Here is one small project tracked both ways. The Build task runs from 16 November to 4 December 2026, and 26 November is a public holiday for this team.

In Excel#

To count Build's working days, skipping weekends and the holiday in E2:

=NETWORKDAYS(B3,C3,E2)

The result is 14. The three weeks hold 15 weekdays, and the holiday falls on a Thursday, so it removes one more. NETWORKDAYS counts both the start and end dates.

To go the other way and find an end date, use WORKDAY. A 10-day Design task that starts on Monday 2 November ends on Friday 13 November:

=WORKDAY(B2,10-1,E2)

WORKDAY doesn't count the start day, so subtract 1 from the duration. Then link each task's start to the previous end with =WORKDAY(C2,1,E2), and later tasks move when an earlier one slips. Add conditional formatting to a date grid to show the bars.

In Smartsheet#

With dependencies turned on, you would type a duration of 10 for Design, set Design as the predecessor of Build, and list 26 November as a non-working day in the project settings. Smartsheet fills in the dates, and the Gantt view draws the bars. If you need the count in a column, =NETWORKDAYS([Start]@row, [End]@row) works much like the Excel version.

Both tools give the same answer. Excel shows the logic in formulas you write. Smartsheet keeps it in the sheet's settings.

When to use Excel#

Choose Excel for project tracking when:

• You manage the plan yourself, or a few people update it and you can share one workbook.
• The plan needs calculations, such as costs, hours, resource totals or what-if scenarios.
• You need custom reports, like a PivotTable of late tasks by owner or a chart for a steering meeting.
• You work offline or must keep the file inside your own systems.
• The project is short. A two-week plan doesn't need a separate tool.

Excel is also where most project data ends up for analysis. The guide to Excel skills for project managers lists the formulas worth knowing first.

When to use Smartsheet#

Choose Smartsheet when:

• Many people update the same plan, and you want to control who can view or edit it.
• Dependencies matter. Long plans with many linked tasks are easier when dates move by themselves.
• You need reminders and approvals without chasing people by email.
• Stakeholders want views, like a Gantt chart for managers and a card board for the team, from one set of rows.
• Work arrives through forms, such as requests that should become tasks.

Many teams use both: Smartsheet for the live plan, and Excel for a deeper look at an export.

Common mistakes when tracking projects in either tool#

These slips cause most wrong dates and messy trackers:

1. Counting the start day twice. NETWORKDAYS includes the start date, but WORKDAY doesn't. A 10-day task needs WORKDAY(start,10-1) as its end date.
2. Forgetting holidays. Without a holiday list, both tools count public holidays as working days. Keep one list and point every formula at it.
3. Assuming a Saturday-Sunday weekend. If your team works another pattern, use NETWORKDAYS.INTL in Excel. See NETWORKDAYS vs NETWORKDAYS.INTL for the weekend codes.
4. Typing dates as text. "Nov 16" typed in a text column won't work in date maths. Use real date cells in Excel and date columns in Smartsheet.
5. Mixing up the two functions. NETWORKDAYS answers "how many working days?"; WORKDAY answers "which date?". The comparison of NETWORKDAYS vs WORKDAY shows both on one table.
6. Hard-coding dates that should be linked. If you type every start date, one late task won't move the rest. Link starts to the previous end.

Our recommendation#

Use Excel when the project is small, the plan needs real calculation, or you mainly need to analyse and report. Use Smartsheet when a team shares one live plan with dependencies, reminders and several views. Neither is better for everyone: match the tool to the number of people updating the plan and to how much automation you need.

Whichever you choose, the core skills are the same: real date cells, working-day functions, a holiday list and clear status columns. Learning them in Excel first carries over, and lookups such as VLOOKUP and XLOOKUP are just as useful when you analyse an export.

Practise it#

Practise NETWORKDAYS and WORKDAY in a live spreadsheet: you type the formulas, add a holiday list, and the lesson checks each answer instantly. Then practise conditional formatting to turn a date grid into Gantt-style bars, or try the exercise on this page first.