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Comparison · PM
Ellie Planner vs Smartsheet
A side-by-side editorial comparison of Ellie Planner and Smartsheet — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Ellie Planner vs Smartsheet: at a glance
What is Ellie Planner?
Ellie follows its MCP opening with a 30-day Trash and Google Calendar editing.
Ellie is a solo-built task and calendar planner on web, desktop, iPhone and iPad. The August catch-up release opened task data to outside agents through MCP and an API in beta, alongside iPad Week Calendar, Pomodoro and Quick Capture. The October 5 update added a 30-day Trash across platforms, Google Calendar editing and more iPhone features.
What is Smartsheet?
Smartsheet becomes where plans drafted in Claude Sheets get executed.
Smartsheet is rebuilding its core around table view: a table view report builder, Enterprise sheets above 500,000 cells, reports above 1,500,000 rows and a new Gantt view with critical path. On November 10 it added a beta that sends a plan started in Claude Sheets into Smartsheet, ready for a team to act on. Earlier it retired card view for Enterprise and limited AI to Table, Board and Timeline views.
Ellie Planner vs Smartsheet: editorial side-by-side
Ellie follows its MCP opening with a 30-day Trash and Google Calendar editing.
◆ Current state
Ellie is a solo-built task and calendar planner on web, desktop, iPhone and iPad. The August catch-up release opened task data to outside agents through MCP and an API in beta, alongside iPad Week Calendar, Pomodoro and Quick Capture. The October 5 update added a 30-day Trash across platforms, Google Calendar editing and more iPhone features.
◆ Where it's heading
After a long quiet stretch, releases are arriving more often and filling gaps in safety and calendar parity between platforms. MCP access remains the directional bet, while recent work is mostly parity and polish.
◆ Prediction
Expect more iPhone and iPad parity work; whether MCP access leaves beta is unclear from the entries.
Smartsheet
5.0COLLABPM
Smartsheet becomes where plans drafted in Claude Sheets get executed.
◆ Current state
Smartsheet is rebuilding its core around table view: a table view report builder, Enterprise sheets above 500,000 cells, reports above 1,500,000 rows and a new Gantt view with critical path. On November 10 it added a beta that sends a plan started in Claude Sheets into Smartsheet, ready for a team to act on. Earlier it retired card view for Enterprise and limited AI to Table, Board and Timeline views.
◆ Where it's heading
Two tracks are visible. The core product is consolidating onto fewer, larger views, and Smartsheet is positioning itself as the execution layer for work drafted elsewhere, starting with an AI spreadsheet. Imports from SharePoint and Workday sync point the same way: pull data in, run the work in Smartsheet.
◆ Prediction
Expect the Claude Sheets handoff to leave beta and similar send-to paths from other AI assistants, since the release frames Smartsheet as the destination rather than the drafting tool.
Ellie Planner alternatives
Other PM products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Tap any card for the full editorial trajectory or compare directly with Ellie Planner.
Asana
Asana lets Division admins run their own custom roles, on top Enterprise plans only.
NocoBase
NocoBase's v3 beta lets apps ship their own CLI, separate from Agents.
Productboard
Productboard's v2 documents API now keeps plain web addresses and emoji as ordinary text.
Hive
Hive turns reporting into a planning tool: shared inputs, grouped values, per-person drill-downs.
Tracecat
Tracecat 1.5 alpha patches add sub-cases and lock down agent sandboxes.
Smartsheet alternatives
Other PM products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Tap any card for the full editorial trajectory or compare directly with Smartsheet.
Interact
Interact opens its intranet to outside AI assistants and uses Claude to attack its own platform.
Nextcloud
Nextcloud's November patches lean on preview speed and sharing fixes across three branches.
Mattermost
Mattermost v12.1 puts bots and burn-after-reading messages under the same access rules.
Asana
Asana lets Division admins run their own custom roles, on top Enterprise plans only.
Double
Double turns a recorded Chrome session into an agent that repeats the task.
SiYuan
SiYuan 3.8.11 alphas add freeform mind maps and plugin snapshots right after 3.8.10.
Recent activity from Ellie Planner and Smartsheet
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 5d agoSmartsheetUse the Jira Smartsheet Connector with Jira v11.x
- 5d agoSmartsheetSort, filter, and find workspaces in Browse
- 5d agoSmartsheetSmartsheet adds bidirectional sync with Dynamics 365
- 5d agoSmartsheetSend to Smartsheet from Claude Sheets, now available in beta!
- 11d agoSmartsheetWork with large-scale sheets and reports in table view
- 11d agoSmartsheetVisualize your project schedule in the new Gantt view
- 1mo agoEllie PlannerEllie adds Trash, Google Calendar editing and iPhone features
- 2mo agoEllie PlanneriPad Week Calendar, Pomodoro, Quick Capture, rich notes, and MCP ⚡
- 10mo agoEllie Planner🧹 Todoist integration, improved Slack/Notion integrations and more
- 1y agoEllie PlannerEllie AI, Task templates, "Add task" from calendar events and more ✨ ⚡
- 1y agoEllie PlannerNotion integration, Analytics, Rituals, Notifications and a ton more
- 2y agoEllie Planner🐹 Outlook Calendar Integration, iOS Widgets, Slack integration and more
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Ellie Planner and Smartsheet?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Smartsheet is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 5.0 vs 2.5), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is Ellie Planner better than Smartsheet?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Smartsheet is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 5.0 vs 2.5), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other PM products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to Ellie Planner?
Top Ellie Planner alternatives in PM are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Ellie Planner alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/ellie for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to Smartsheet?
Top Smartsheet alternatives in PM are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Smartsheet alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/smartsheet for the full list with editorial commentary on each.