Migrating from Confluence to Smartsheet
Smartsheet and Confluence both handle project tracking and resource management, but they differ on pricing — Confluence comes in $2.95/user/mo/user/mo lower. This guide covers how to move your team across without losing data, context, or momentum.
At a Glance
- Deep native integration with Jira makes it the de facto documentation tool for teams already using Atlassian — Jira issues embed seamlessly in pages
- Extensive template library with 100+ templates for PRDs, meeting notes, retrospectives, decision logs, and more — accelerates team onboarding
- Real-time collaborative editing with inline comments, @mentions, and page watching enables asynchronous team communication at scale
- Spreadsheet-familiar interface makes adoption easy for teams transitioning from Excel — minimal training needed for basic use
- Extremely powerful Gantt chart and dependency tracking capabilities, ideal for traditional project management and waterfall methodologies
- Robust automation engine with conditional logic, approval workflows, and automated notifications that scale across the organization
You gain with Smartsheet
- +Kanban boards
- +Gantt charts
- +custom fields
Migration Steps
Audit and export your current workspace
Before touching Smartsheet, document what lives in Confluence: projects and tasks, custom fields, automations, integrations, and team permissions. Export a full CSV backup — most tools support this from Settings → Export. Pay particular attention to any workflow automations that your team relies on daily.
Set up your Smartsheet workspace
Create your Smartsheet workspace and replicate your project structure using tasks and projects. Smartsheet starts at $9/user/mo/user/mo with a free tier available — budget $2.95/user/mo more per user. Run with a single pilot team before migrating everyone.
Map your workflow equivalents
Find the closest Smartsheet equivalent for each Confluence feature your team relies on. projects and tasks in Confluence maps to tasks and projects in Smartsheet. Smartsheet supports custom fields — recreate your Confluence field schema here first. Gantt-style timeline views are available if your team used them in Confluence. Prioritise the critical path: task creation, status tracking, and assignment.
Import your data
Smartsheet supports CSV import for tasks and projects and has 20+ native integrations. After importing, rebuild your key automations — Smartsheet's automation engine can replicate most rules you had in Confluence. Start with your most active project rather than importing everything at once.
Onboard your team
Run a 30-minute walkthrough covering the daily workflow: how to create tasks and projects, update status, and find your board. Expect a moderate ramp — most engineers and PMs hit their stride within a week. The biggest adjustment is usually the project hierarchy.
Run Confluence in parallel for two weeks
Keep Confluence read-only while your team works primarily in Smartsheet. This reduces risk and lets people reference historical context — old decisions, archived tickets, past sprint data — without slowing the migration. After two weeks with no new work going into Confluence, archive the workspace and make Smartsheet the official home.
Ready to switch?
Read the full Smartsheet review for pricing, integrations, and team fit details.