Migrating from Wrike to Smartsheet
Smartsheet and Wrike both handle project tracking and resource management, but they differ on pricing — Smartsheet comes in $0.8000000000000007/user/mo/user/mo lower. This guide covers how to move your team across without losing data, context, or momentum.
At a Glance
- Extremely versatile work management platform — supports Gantt, Kanban, table, calendar, and workload views in a single workspace
- Powerful resource management and workload balancing with real-time capacity insights (Business plan and above)
- Built-in proofing and approval workflows for creative assets — images, videos, PDFs — making it ideal for marketing and creative teams
- 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 leave behind
- −time tracking
Migration Steps
Audit and export your current workspace
Before touching Smartsheet, document what lives in Wrike: 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 custom fields and 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 — $0.8000000000000007/user/mo less than your current Wrike spend. Run with a single pilot team before migrating everyone.
Map your workflow equivalents
Find the closest Smartsheet equivalent for each Wrike feature your team relies on. projects and tasks in Wrike maps to tasks and projects in Smartsheet. Smartsheet supports custom fields — recreate your Wrike field schema here first. Gantt-style timeline views are available if your team used them in Wrike. 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 Wrike. 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 Wrike in parallel for two weeks
Keep Wrike 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 Wrike, archive the workspace and make Smartsheet the official home.
Ready to switch?
Read the full Smartsheet review for pricing, integrations, and team fit details.