For many teams, the spreadsheet remains one of the most familiar tools in daily work. It’s flexible, intuitive, and easy to pick up, which is why the grid-like structure still feels natural to many modern users managing everyday processes and data.
As Christian Gentle, Digital Engineer at Both& team, explains, “People want tools that help them move forward and automate more of their work, but they’re not always eager to switch to something completely new. The real challenge is finding that balance between familiarity and innovation.”
As organisations look for systems that offer more structure and automation without losing that familiarity, tools like Smartsheet and Zoho Tables have come into the picture. They’re both work-management tools that build on the comfort of a spreadsheet while giving teams more control, visibility, room to grow and automate.
Here’s how the two tools stack up across the features that matter in real work.
Data Types
Smartsheet keeps things fairly simple with a smaller set of data types, which works well for teams that don’t need heavy structure. Zoho Tables offers far more options, giving users more precision when shaping their data. This is helpful for setups that rely on specific field behaviour or more detailed data modelling.
Structure
Smartsheet treats every sheet as its own unit, so separate datasets usually end up in separate files. Zoho Tables groups multiple tables and views inside a single base, which can feel more organised for teams managing related datasets. Having everything in one place also keeps navigation straightforward.
Cross-Sheet / Cross-Base Linking
Linking is an area where Smartsheet offers broader options. It supports connections between sheets, even across different workspaces. Zoho Tables allows linking, but only inside a single base. Smartsheet’s approach works well for teams managing data across multiple projects or departments, while Zoho’s structure is more contained and suits scenarios where everything lives in a single base.
Reports & Dashboards
Smartsheet has well-established reporting and dashboard capabilities, with plenty of widget options for giving teams quick visibility. Zoho Tables has introduced similar features, but they’re still in beta and not as mature. They work well for basic views and charts, but Smartsheet offers more depth and flexibility.
Sheet Summary
Smartsheet includes a dedicated summary area that lets teams store key metrics or calculations for a sheet. Zoho Tables doesn’t have an exact equivalent, though you can achieve something similar by creating an extra table or view. Smartsheet’s approach is simply more direct and built-in.
Automation & Workflows
Smartsheet offers a more complete automation engine with branching logic, time-based triggers, and multi-step workflows. Zoho Tables also supports automation, but it uses a simple trigger-and-action approach. It works well for straightforward tasks, while Smartsheet can handle larger or more complex workflow needs.
Integrations & Ecosystem
Smartsheet integrates well with widely used tools such as Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Slack, Jira, and Salesforce. Zoho Tables fits naturally into Zoho’s own ecosystem, including CRM, Analytics, and Projects, but has fewer third-party integrations. The right fit largely depends on the systems your organisation already uses.
Interoperability in Platform or Tech Architecture
Zoho Tables integrates with other Zoho applications through Zoho Flow, Zoho’s no-code integration and automation platform. With Flow, you can connect Tables to Zoho CRM, Analytics, Projects, and hundreds of other apps, and build workflows that move data and actions between them without custom coding. This makes it relatively easy to tie Zoho Tables into a broader Zoho-centric tech landscape.
Smartsheet takes a more platform-agnostic approach. It offers well-established integrations with tools like Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Slack, Jira, and Salesforce. These integrations are widely used, but because they span many external systems rather than being built into a single ecosystem, they typically require more setup and configuration steps than Zoho’s native Flow connections.
In practice, this means Zoho Tables can be particularly smooth to adopt and integrate when your organisation already runs other Zoho products, while Smartsheet provides broad connectivity across diverse tech stacks with a bit more implementation effort.
Final Thoughts
Smartsheet has been around since 2005, and that maturity shows in the depth of its features. Its automations, reporting, and broader work-management capabilities have evolved over the years, giving it a level of stability and refinement that long-established platforms tend to have.