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Adobe Workfront vs Smartsheet comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 19, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
6.1
Adobe Workfront boosts productivity by 250%, enhancing efficiency, collaboration, and justifying investment despite challenging precise ROI tracking.
Sentiment score
6.7
Smartsheet boosts efficiency and collaboration, streamlining project management with Excel-like simplicity, enhancing productivity, and offering cost-effective solutions.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.3
Adobe Workfront support is generally positive but variable, with quick responses for most, yet delays for complex issues.
Sentiment score
7.1
Smartsheet customer service is praised for responsiveness and training but criticized for ticket management and inconsistency.
They provide answers and guidance on how to resolve issues, such as clearing cookies and cache, and assist in best practice configuration and optimization of the platform.
If L5 does not understand, it moves to L4. If they can't solve it, it moves to a higher level.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.9
Adobe Workfront scales globally, handling complexity and data, favored by larger enterprises, though costs and admin efforts increase.
Sentiment score
7.4
Smartsheet effectively scales for diverse user needs, with strong integration capabilities, despite some advanced feature limitations and cost concerns.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
6.6
Adobe Workfront is generally stable, with minimal downtime; occasional bugs occur, but issues are resolved promptly, with varied stability.
Sentiment score
7.9
Smartsheet is a reliable, stable cloud-based platform for project management, with minimal disruptions and frequent improvements enhancing its performance.
Adobe Workfront provides a stable foundation for project management.
There is no data loss, indicating good reliability with Adobe Workfront.
I have not faced any challenges with the stability of Adobe Workfront.
 

Room For Improvement

Adobe Workfront needs better reporting, interface flexibility, third-party integration, customization options, and faster updates to improve user experience.
Smartsheet needs a more intuitive interface, better integration, robust features, and enhanced support for an improved user experience.
We can enhance integrations, such as ensuring Adobe Workfront integrates more seamlessly with other Adobe products like Experience Manager and Creative Cloud.
Integration with Azure DevOps could be improved to facilitate better communication between the two systems.
The performance needs to be smoother, and there is room for improvement in Data Connect while writing queries and integrating with other analysis tools.
I have a novice understanding of Smartsheet, so I sought a solution more suited to repeatable projects and process-oriented governance.
 

Setup Cost

Adobe Workfront offers costly, scalable enterprise solutions, with flexible licenses and discounts, enhancing service and morale for large teams.
Smartsheet offers flexible, competitively-priced licensing options appealing to various users, providing value through extensive functionality and customization.
This can include items such as mileage, supplies, software, licenses, and travel costs.
 

Valuable Features

Adobe Workfront offers customizable templates, intuitive interfaces, and secure integrations, enhancing collaboration, project tracking, and decision-making efficiency.
Smartsheet excels in real-time data sharing, automation, integration, and customization, making it a favored alternative to Microsoft Project.
The system aids in supporting demand management and producing high-level status reports.
Adobe Workfront acts as a centralized platform, providing a single source of truth for project tasks and resources.
You can set up the complete workflow from start to end with Adobe Workfront, such as content creation, content publication, and getting that approval process, storing it somewhere.
We were looking for a tool that allowed for repeatable projects and process-oriented governance.
What I appreciate best about Smartsheet is the straight Gantt chart and its flexibility.
 

Categories and Ranking

Adobe Workfront
Ranking in Project Management Software
11th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
38
Ranking in other categories
Digital Asset Management (2nd)
Smartsheet
Ranking in Project Management Software
5th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
42
Ranking in other categories
Project Portfolio Management (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Project Management Software category, the mindshare of Adobe Workfront is 3.1%, down from 4.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Smartsheet is 4.6%, down from 5.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Project Management Software
 

Featured Reviews

Graham Sprague - PeerSpot reviewer
Centralized task management and simplified creative collaboration but interface is inconsistent
Adobe Workfront could improve its interface, which may benefit from an overhaul for better consistency between the web interface and the API. The current setup was not originally designed API-first, leading to some confusion and differences in available functions. Additionally, the low-code environment in Workfront Fusion is beneficial yet sometimes limiting, and it might be more powerful with enhancements.
PaulDiaz - PeerSpot reviewer
Needs to improve baselines and changing dates can be frustrating
I like the dashboarding feature best, as it lets me assemble a workspace with source sheets, dashboards, and reports simultaneously. The standard reports and worksheets are most useful for team collaboration. People look at dashboards during presentations, but they go to the sheets to update projects, add comments, or make notifications. It's automated, so changes come to me or whoever needs to see them. I can send notifications from specific line items. The worksheet is key for tracking project progress, though we track it at a higher level rather than detailed work breakdown structures. Subject matter experts say when they'll deliver things, and that's what we track.
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Project Management Software solutions are best for your needs.
865,295 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
9%
Healthcare Company
9%
Retailer
8%
Manufacturing Company
14%
Government
10%
Healthcare Company
9%
University
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Workfront?
Workfront incurs around a hundred thousand plus dollars per year. Licensing is strict, particularly with free accounts, however, it offers flexibility in project access, which could be enhanced fur...
What needs improvement with Workfront?
Integration with Azure DevOps could be improved to facilitate better communication between the two systems. The current report is not providing the expected side-by-side comparison of capabilities,...
What is your primary use case for Workfront?
For my team, we are using Adobe Workfront ( /products/adobe-workfront-reviews ) right now to support demand management, primarily. We also pull some high-level reports on status. From our perspecti...
Has anyone moved from Microsoft Project to Smartsheet? How has your experience been with Smartsheet?
Hi @Eire Zimmermann, I helped an organization evaluate both MS-Project and Smartsheet when they were conducting their PM tool RFP. The short of it is this, MS Project is not caught up with the mo...
What do you like most about Smartsheet?
The tool creates shareable dashboards. These dashboards allow us to display project deliverables' status, their position in the queue, expected delivery timelines, and more. The best part is that t...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Smartsheet?
The pricing is great and reasonable enough that I maintained my copy and bought it for my team independently.
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

AtTask, Workfront DAM
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Advance Autoparts, Emerson, Covario, Cisco, Caroma, TREK, Sapient Nitro, ATB, LexisNexis, CarPhone Warehouse
Sony Music, ESPN, Hilton, Unisource, Colliers, Extreme Networks, Groupon, Netflix
Find out what your peers are saying about Adobe Workfront vs. Smartsheet and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
865,295 professionals have used our research since 2012.