monday.com vs ClickUp vs Smartsheet

Written head to head: monday.com vs ClickUp, with when to choose each side.

Compared on	monday.com Free plan · from $9/seat/mo VisitRemove	ClickUp Free plan · from $7/user/mo VisitRemove	Smartsheet Free trial · from $9/member/mo VisitRemove
What it is	Board-based work management with AI agents and credits on every paid plan, sold in seat buckets from 3 seats	Work management app combining tasks, docs, chat and AI in one workspace	Spreadsheet-style work management for projects, programs and processes
Free plan	Up to 2 seats, up to 3 boards, up to 3 Docs, 200+ templates, 8 column types, iOS and Android apps; the help centre adds a 200-item limit and 500 MB storage. No AI features.	60 MB storage, unlimited tasks, unlimited free plan members, 1 form; AI limited to trial access.	No
Cheapest paid plan	$9/seat/mo billed annually (Basic)monday.com pricing	$7/user/mo billed annually (Unlimited)ClickUp pricing	$9/member/mo billed annually (Pro)Smartsheet pricing
What it covers	$9 per seat a month billed yearly, $12 billed monthly. Sold in seat buckets (3, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 100, 200+) with a 3-seat minimum, so the lowest Basic bill is $27 a month billed yearly or $36 monthly. Includes 1,000 AI credits a month, unlimited items and free viewers; no automation or integration actions.	AI is a separate add-on: Brain AI from $9 per user/month.	1 to 10 members with unlimited free contributors; 250 automations per month.
Free trial	14-day free trial of the Pro plan; trials cannot be extended	None stated	30-day free trial
Platforms	Web, iOS, Android, API	Web, macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android, Chrome extension	Web
Integrations (vendor's figure)	850+ integrations and apps	Not stated	Not stated
Open source	No	No	No
Good for	Teams that want to build their own boards and workflows without code Running projects with AI agents and an AI assistant on the same boards Departments such as marketing, operations or a PMO standardising work across teams	Running client projects with tasks, deadlines and Gantt timelines Keeping team docs, chat and task lists in one place Automating routine status changes and assignments	Planning a project on a Gantt timeline shared with clients as contributors Collecting requests through forms into a tracked sheet Reporting on several projects in dashboards
Watch out for	Seats are sold in buckets (3, 5, 10, 15, 20 and up) with a 3-seat minimum, so a team of 4 pays for 5 The free plan allows 2 seats, 3 boards and 3 docs, with no AI features Basic includes no automation or integration actions, and Standard is capped at 250 of each a month	Free Forever is capped at 60 MB of storage and 1 form AI beyond a trial needs a paid add-on ($9 or $28 per user/month) on top of the workspace plan SAML SSO, SCIM and audit logs are limited to Enterprise	No free plan; a 30-day free trial only Pro is limited to 10 members and 250 automations per month SAML SSO, portfolios and scenario planning require Enterprise
Made by	monday.com	ClickUp	Smartsheet Inc.

Entry prices are the cheapest paid plan, as each vendor publishes it; “What it covers” says what that price is per (a user, a channel, a brand, a number of contacts). The sources are listed on each tool's page.

Every tool in project management tools, AI productivity and scheduling tools and AI spreadsheet and data tools is on their category pages, with the written head-to-heads on Compare.