Rally Software vs Smartsheet comparison

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Rally Software

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Rally Software and Smartsheet based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Atlassian, Microsoft, Nutanix and others in Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites.

To learn more, read our detailed Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites Report (Updated: December 2025).

Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites

December 2025

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Helped 881,082 peers since 2012

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

7.5

Rally Software boosts efficiency by 10%, offers 15X ROI, saves time, and is cost-effective despite some user challenges.

Sentiment score

6.9

Smartsheet enhances productivity and collaboration, automates processes, manages timelines, and is cost-effective compared to Microsoft Project alternatives.

The ROI is visible, as that's why we are investing in these tools and running our projects successfully through them, despite a few challenges such as role-based access being somewhat difficult.

For more quotes and insights, download the Rally Software report

Sr. Information Architect and Principal Consultant UX at Tech Mahindra Limited

Compared to Microsoft Project, which is more expensive, we save costs using Smartsheet.

For more quotes and insights, download the Smartsheet report

Project Manager at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees

Customer Service

Sentiment score

6.8

Rally Software's customer service is responsive, with quick, knowledgeable support and proactive communication, generally satisfying users despite occasional delays.

Sentiment score

6.8

Smartsheet's customer service feedback is mixed, with praise for responsiveness and resources but concerns over response delays and ticket management.

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the Rally Software report

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the Smartsheet report

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score

7.2

Rally Software offers strong scalability supporting large enterprises, despite occasional performance issues, effectively handling significant user volumes globally.

Sentiment score

7.4

Smartsheet is praised for scalability, integration features, and cost-effectiveness, with some concerns over task tracking in larger projects.

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the Rally Software report

Smartsheet is pretty flexible and scalable.

For more quotes and insights, download the Smartsheet report

Project Manager at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees

Stability Issues

Sentiment score

7.4

Rally Software is generally stable and reliable, with occasional slowness and downtime, but users appreciate the responsive support.

Sentiment score

7.9

Users find Smartsheet stable, with minor issues, high reliability ratings, and minimal disruptions enhancing overall satisfaction.

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the Rally Software report

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the Smartsheet report

Room For Improvement

Rally Software struggles with navigation, integration, user-friendliness, and requires improvements in reporting, customization, and workflow efficiency.

Users want better data management, UI, integration, security, support, and Excel-like features in Smartsheet.

One area for improvement might be the rigidity in role and access configurations, which require many process changes to fit the tool.

For more quotes and insights, download the Rally Software report

Sr. Information Architect and Principal Consultant UX at Tech Mahindra Limited

I have a novice understanding of Smartsheet, so I sought a solution more suited to repeatable projects and process-oriented governance.

reviewer2678097

Strategic Programs Vice President, Project Management Office at a financial services firm with 11-50 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Smartsheet report

Setup Cost

Enterprise users find Rally Software pricing high but valuable for large-scale agile projects, suggesting a more flexible model.

Smartsheet pricing is user-based, varies by plan, and advanced features can increase costs compared to competitors like Microsoft Project.

Rally Software is affordable because our customers also prefer it.

For more quotes and insights, download the Rally Software report

Sr. Information Architect and Principal Consultant UX at Tech Mahindra Limited

Licensing might be cheaper per user.

For more quotes and insights, download the Smartsheet report

Project Manager at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees

Valuable Features

Rally Software offers user-friendly Agile project management with real-time dashboards, customizable reporting, and robust integration capabilities.

Smartsheet offers real-time collaboration, customizable dashboards, automation, and integration, making it ideal for efficient project management.

Rally Software provides real-time dashboards for different kinds of stakeholders and governance, giving clear insights into project progress, team velocity, and potential risks.

For more quotes and insights, download the Rally Software report

Sr. Information Architect and Principal Consultant UX at Tech Mahindra Limited

Automation helps by simplifying some manual work, saving time and facilitating communication.

For more quotes and insights, download the Smartsheet report

Project Manager at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees

We were looking for a tool that allowed for repeatable projects and process-oriented governance.

reviewer2678097

Strategic Programs Vice President, Project Management Office at a financial services firm with 11-50 employees

What I appreciate best about Smartsheet is the straight Gantt chart and its flexibility.

StevenThompson

Solution Architect at Think People

Categories and Ranking

Rally Software

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

120

Ranking in other categories

Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites (9th), Enterprise Agile Planning Tools (7th)

Smartsheet

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Project Portfolio Management (3rd), Project Management Software (7th)

Mindshare comparison

Rally Software and Smartsheet aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Rally Software is designed for Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites and holds a mindshare of 5.3%, down 6.9% compared to last year.
Smartsheet, on the other hand, focuses on Project Portfolio Management, holds 6.3% mindshare, down 8.3% since last year.

Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Rally Software	5.3%
Jira	13.3%
Microsoft Azure DevOps	10.3%
Other	71.1%

Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites

Project Portfolio Management Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Smartsheet	6.3%
Planisware	7.7%
Broadcom Clarity	7.7%
Other	78.3%

Project Portfolio Management

Featured Reviews

Real-time dashboards provide clear insights into project progress and team velocity

Sr. Information Architect and Principal Consultant UX at Tech Mahindra Limited

Rally Software is easy to use for Agile project methodology because it follows Scrum and Kanban, helping with sprint planning and backlog management. Rally Software provides real-time dashboards for different kinds of stakeholders and governance, giving clear insights into project progress, team velocity, and potential risks. Backlog management is present in the product, allowing prioritization of tasks. The dashboards provide all types of insights through analytics. Capacity planning helps optimize resource allocation, ensuring balanced workload and realistic sprint commitments for our projects. The solution integrates with GitHub, and we can also integrate with Excel and CI/CD pipelines.

Read full review

Automation simplifies manual tasks and facilitates team communication

Project Manager at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees

There are many useful features in Smartsheet. One can easily share plans with the entire team, and it functions similarly to Microsoft Project. Creating dependencies across all tasks is smooth, and team members can make adjustments if necessary. Automation helps by simplifying some manual work, saving time and facilitating communication.

Read full review

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881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Insurance Company

Healthcare Company

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	13
Midsize Enterprise	14
Large Enterprise	110

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	19
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	22

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Rally Software?

Rally offers many features that help the management of activities, coordination, alignment and reports, which applies agility across the organization. If I were to highlight a particular feature, i...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Rally Software?

Rally Software is affordable because our customers also prefer it, and I have never heard concerns about pricing preventing us from using this tool.

What needs improvement with Rally Software?

While I'm not heavily involved in project management tools, I am familiar with these tools. One area for improvement might be the rigidity in role and access configurations, which require many proc...

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?

Licensing might be cheaper per user. I rate it as seven or eight due to its demanding nature. For personal use, I have a monthly subscription, while the company uses an annual basis.

Microsoft Azure DevOps vs Rally Software

Comparisons

Compared 28% of the time

Jira vs Rally Software

Compared 19% of the time

Jira Align vs Rally Software

Compared 6% of the time

OpenText Application Quality Management vs Rally Software

Compared 5% of the time

Codebeamer vs Rally Software

Compared 2% of the time

More Rally Software Competitors

monday.com vs Smartsheet

Compared 10% of the time

ServiceNow Strategic Portfolio Management vs Smartsheet

Compared 8% of the time

Planisware vs Smartsheet

Compared 6% of the time

Jira vs Smartsheet

Compared 6% of the time

More Smartsheet Competitors

Product Reports

Download Rally Software product report

Rally Software

January 2026

Download Smartsheet product report

January 2026

Also Known As

CA Agile Central, Rally Enterprise, CA Agile Training, CA Agile Coaching, CA Agile Academy, CA Agile Management , CA ALM

No data available

Overview

With Rally Software, you can plan, prioritize, manage, track, and continuously improve your work so that you can deliver the value that your customers need with speed, quality, and efficiency. Our enterprise-class Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) SaaS platform provides visibility into progress, roadblocks, and dependencies across multiple teams, projects, and programs. This allows you to align to your strategic goals and create better business results, and to do it all in a single system of record.

Broadcom

Smartsheet offers a comprehensive platform for project management, featuring real-time sharing, cloud accessibility, and a user-friendly interface, which enhance workflow efficiency and project tracking capabilities.

Smartsheet stands out in the realm of project management by integrating robust tools like Gantt chart creation and seamless compatibility with products like Jira and Microsoft Teams. Its dashboards, intuitive design, and flexible customization options support efficient collaboration and centralized management. Enhancements such as real-time change visibility without refreshing, advanced automation capabilities, and improved integration with APIs address user needs. Sectors spanning from strategic initiatives to operational tasks benefit from this customizable, cloud-based platform.

What are the key features of Smartsheet?

Real-Time Sharing: Facilitates immediate collaboration across teams.
Cloud Accessibility: Work from anywhere with cloud-based tools.
User-Friendliness: Simplified project management through an intuitive interface.
Gantt Chart Creation: Offers dynamic timelines for project tracking.
Integrations: Seamless connectivity with Jira, Microsoft Teams, and more.

What benefits or ROI does Smartsheet provide?

Enhanced Efficiency: Streamline workflows for quicker project completion.
Improved Collaboration: Centralized tools support teamwork and communication.
Project Tracking: Real-time updates keep projects on schedule.
Customizable Solutions: Adaptable to meet diverse management needs.

In specific industries, Smartsheet is leveraged for creating project plans, managing tasks, and compiling statistics. Teams use dashboards for data visualization to monitor multiple projects efficiently. The platform supports resource management, approvals, and collaboration, integrating features like automation and data export for comprehensive project oversight.

Sample Customers

Physicians Mutual, Harvard Pilgrim HealthCare, Editora Abril, Tata Communications, Level 3 Communications, Seagate, TomTom, Philips, Hiscox, Physicians Mutual, MYOB

Sony Music, ESPN, Hilton, Unisource, Colliers, Extreme Networks, Groupon, Netflix