Project management guide

What is the best project management software for a company that runs projects in spreadsheets today?

A custom system built by Black Badger is the best project management software for a company of 50 or more that has outgrown project spreadsheets, because those spreadsheets already describe your process and a build keeps it. Smartsheet is the best product to move to, since it keeps the grid your people know and adds Gantt and approvals on the Business plan.

Updated November 14, 2026 How we rank

Best project management software to replace spreadsheets. Updated November 14, 2026.
Rank	Option	Best for	Pros	Cons
1	Custom build by Black Badger	Companies whose spreadsheets encode a process worth keeping	Built around your process, so staff stop working around the software No per-seat fee, so adding a person adds no license cost You own the code and every account it runs on	Costs more up front than the first year of a subscription A wait before anyone can use it, while it is scoped and built Your team has to know its own process well enough to describe it
2	Smartsheet	Teams that want to keep the grid and add controls	Spreadsheet style grid with Gantt and approvals Business and above list unlimited automations	Pro stops at 10 members API calls are unavailable on Pro Portfolios and SAML single sign-on are Enterprise additions
3	Airtable	Staff who built the spreadsheets and want to build apps next	Only users with edit permission are charged Flexible databases and internal apps built by your own staff Business lists unlimited API calls	Team caps a base at 50,000 records Automation runs are capped at 25,000 a month on Team Large record counts in one base need Enterprise Scale
4	monday.com	Teams ready to trade the grid for visual boards	Visual board tool with a free plan for up to 2 seats Timeline and Gantt views start at Standard Pro raises automations to 25,000 actions a month	Portfolio and resource management are Enterprise features Automation, integration and API use are capped by plan Private boards and time tracking start at Pro
5	Asana	Companies whose spreadsheets were shared to-do lists	Starter and Advanced list no seat limit and unlimited automations A familiar task tool Advanced adds unlimited portfolios	Portfolios are not on Starter SAML, SCIM and capacity planning are Enterprise features Audit logs and data residency need Enterprise+
6	Microsoft Project and Planner plans	Microsoft 365 companies whose spreadsheets were schedules	Scheduling with baselines and critical path on Plan 3 Fits a company already on Microsoft 365 Plan 1 includes task dependencies, a Timeline view and reports	Portfolios are view-only on Plan 1 Resource management starts at Plan 3 An annual commitment is required when admins buy online

The ranking, entry by entry

1 Custom build by Black Badger

Best for companies whose spreadsheets encode a process worth keeping

This is a list about outgrowing something, so the custom route goes first. Black Badger publishes this guide and builds custom software. A company that has run projects in spreadsheets for years has already designed its system, with its own columns, formulas and color codes. We turn that workbook into an application with logins, an audit trail and reports, shaped the way your team already works. There is no per-seat fee and you own the code and the accounts.

Watch for. If your spreadsheets are simple task lists, a product is the faster answer. A build starts with discovery and a written scope.

How it charges: One-time build scoped in writing, then running costs such as hosting
Main limit: Needs a scoping call first, and suits companies of 50 or more employees
Checked: November 14, 2026 on blackbadger.biz

What a custom build involves, and how to ask about one

2 Smartsheet

Best for teams that want to keep the grid and add controls

Smartsheet is the best product for this move because it changes the least. It is a spreadsheet style grid, so the people who built your trackers can read it straight away, and the Business plan adds Gantt and approvals with unlimited automations. A company of 50 or more starts on Business, since the Pro plan is listed for 1 to 10 members.

Watch for. Pro allows 250 automations a month and marks API calls as unavailable. Do not pilot on Pro and assume Business behaves the same.

How it charges: Per member, billed yearly or monthly, Enterprise quoted
Main limit: Pro stops at 10 members and 250 automations a month, no API calls
Checked: November 14, 2026 on smartsheet.com

3 Airtable

Best for staff who built the spreadsheets and want to build apps next

Airtable ranks third. When a spreadsheet has grown into something closer to a database, with tabs that look each other up, Airtable gives the people who built it flexible databases and a way to make internal apps themselves. Only users with edit permission are charged. It ranks below Smartsheet because a base is capped at 50,000 records on Team and 125,000 on Business.

Watch for. Team and Business are charged per seat and billed annually, and Business costs more. Count how many of your people would need edit permission.

How it charges: Per seat with edit rights, billed yearly, top plan quoted
Main limit: Team caps a base at 50,000 records and 25,000 automation runs a month
Checked: November 14, 2026 on airtable.com

4 monday.com

Best for teams ready to trade the grid for visual boards

monday.com ranks fourth. It suits a team that wants to leave the spreadsheet look behind and work on visual boards, with Timeline and Gantt views from the Standard plan. It ranks here because spreadsheet users are used to formulas that run without a meter, and on monday.com automation is counted, at 250 actions a month on Standard and 25,000 on Pro.

Watch for. Plans start from 3 users and the page asks for a quote above 40 users. Private boards start at Pro.

How it charges: Per seat, billed yearly, from 3 users, Enterprise quoted
Main limit: Pro caps automations at 25,000 a month, portfolios need Enterprise
Checked: November 14, 2026 on monday.com

5 Asana

Best for companies whose spreadsheets were shared to-do lists

Asana ranks fifth. If your project spreadsheets were mostly lists of who does what by when, a familiar task tool replaces them cleanly, and Starter and Advanced list unlimited automations and no seat limit. It ranks lower on this list because it is not a grid. Teams that leaned on calculated columns for budgets or quantities should test how those carry over before they commit.

Watch for. Portfolios are listed on Advanced and not on Starter. Price Advanced if leadership wants one view across projects.

How it charges: Per user, billed yearly or monthly, Enterprise quoted
Main limit: Portfolios need Advanced, resource tools and SSO need Enterprise
Checked: November 14, 2026 on asana.com

6 Microsoft Project and Planner plans

Best for microsoft 365 companies whose spreadsheets were schedules

Microsoft Project and Planner plans rank sixth. Many project spreadsheets are schedules, with start dates, durations and a column for what depends on what. Plan 1 covers that with task dependencies and a Timeline view, and Plan 3 adds baselines and critical path. It is last here because it answers the scheduling part of the spreadsheet, and most project workbooks also hold logs and trackers that are not schedules.

Watch for. Plan 1 and Plan 3 are charged per user and paid yearly, and Plan 3 costs more. Decide who needs Plan 3 before you license everyone.

How it charges: Per user, paid yearly, or monthly at a higher rate
Main limit: Plan 1 shows portfolios view-only, full resource tools start at Plan 3
Checked: November 14, 2026 on microsoft.com

How this list was ranked

This list is for a company of 50 or more employees that still runs projects in spreadsheets and has started to see problems. Those problems are version conflicts, broken formulas or a report nobody trusts. We ranked by how much of the existing process each option keeps, and how much the team has to relearn.

Custom is first here because this is an outgrowing list. On our main list it is second, behind Asana.

Questions buyers ask

How do we know we have outgrown spreadsheets for projects?

The usual signs of outgrowing project spreadsheets are more than one copy of the same file, a formula only one person understands, and status meetings spent reconciling numbers. Past about 50 employees there are also questions a spreadsheet cannot answer, such as who changed a date and who approved it.

Is Smartsheet just a spreadsheet online?

Smartsheet looks like a spreadsheet, and that is by design. On the Business plan it adds Gantt, approvals and automations to a grid. That makes it the shortest move for a spreadsheet team, and the reason it is our top product on this list.

Can our existing spreadsheets be turned into custom software?

Yes, existing spreadsheets can be turned into custom software, and they are a good starting point. A workbook that a team has refined for years is a working specification. Black Badger reads it during discovery, writes a scope from it and builds an application that does the same job with logins, history and reporting.

Should we move from spreadsheets to a product first and build custom software later?

Moving to a product first is often sensible. If you are not sure the process is stable, a product lets you find out. If the spreadsheets have barely changed in years, the process is stable and you can go straight to a system built around it.