Don't Just Renew | Smartsheet is Out

Smartsheet used to be the default “cheap” bet — an acceptable “good enough” tool when you couldn’t afford full-blown PPM. But that era is ending. Smartsheet is now raising prices at an alarming rate. 

The once “cost-effective solution”.. is now an expensive problem. 

Smartsheet’s pricing changes now include renewal jumps of 30 %–50 % or more (per NPI Financial), and the new licensing constructs (e.g. “connected user” counts, tiered seats) are introducing opacity and unpredictability.

Real-World Pulse: “Navigating the Rate Increase”

A thread on the Smartsheet community titled “Navigating the rate increase” captures ground-level frustrations. One user reports that their organization was hit with nearly a 1,000 % cost increase, threatening the very viability of their Smartsheet deployment. 

They’re in a tough spot: they've invested in adoption, built cross-team workflows, and educated stakeholders — now facing a cost cliff that may force a reset. Some have attempted “workarounds,” suggested by consultants in the thread, using Forms, Requests, and Dynamic View to avoid paying for higher tiers of sheet access. But these fixes are stopgaps — hacky patches on top of a fundamentally constrained model.

This community tension matches what’s reported publicly: the “cheap bet” is slipping away, and many customers are questioning whether continued commitment makes sense.

Why Consider SPM in ServiceNow — Especially Now

1. Unified Platform, Not Point Tools

ServiceNow’s Strategic Portfolio Management (SPM) isn’t just another overlay — it’s natively built on the Now Platform. That yields one data model, shared infrastructure (CMDB, service backbone, identity, flows), and cross-domain orchestration (ITSM, SecOps, HR, etc.). For technical leads, that means fewer silos, less integration debt, and more consistent governance and security.

2. Broad, Integrated Capabilities

SPM spans demand intake, investment planning, resource modeling, scenario-based funding, project + agile portfolio execution, and outcome measurement — all aligned to strategic objectives. Contrast that with Smartsheet’s limitations: essentially grid + dashboard + rudimentary collaboration versus a full PPM/PPB stack.

3. Built for AI & Automation

With ServiceNow positioning itself as a foundation for Agentic AI (autonomous systems that act on your behalf), SPM stands to benefit from prescriptive analytics, anomaly detection, auto-rebalancing of portfolios, and more. If your platform is already AI-ready, you’re ahead of the curve. (This is more than a “future benefit” — it’s a direction ServiceNow is actively pushing.)

4. Cost Predictability & Scale

Unlike Smartsheet’s shifting licensing and surprise variance, ServiceNow’s models (especially in enterprise settings) typically include predictable seat, service, and module structures. Because SPM is one module in the broader platform, you gain leverage: when one arm of your operations grows (e.g. ITSM, DevOps, GRC), you already have the infrastructure.

5. Technical & Operational Governance Fit

For delivery leads, architects, and engineers, SPM brings stronger enforcement of governance (policies, approvals), integration with CI/CD/DevOps pipelines, reporting tied to real operational Master Data (CMDB, asset data), and tighter alignment with execution systems. Smartsheet often ends up being a “data extract + dashboard” layer divorced from actual systems of record.

In Summary

Smartsheet’s value proposition as the affordable fallback is eroding — its new pricing model is triggering real pain.

Community stories confirm: teams committed to adoption are now scrambling to absorb cost shocks, and stopgap “workarounds” using Forms, Requests, and Dynamic Views are symptomatic of structural limitations, not solutions. 

SPM in ServiceNow offers a compelling alternative: a unified, enterprise-grade platform built for growth, integration, and AI-enabled automation — not a siloed point tool.