Azure DevOps vs Resource Management by Smartsheet: Complete Comparison (2026)
An in-depth comparison of Azure DevOps and Resource Management by Smartsheet to help you choose the right tool for your business.
Last updated: November 2026
Azure DevOps
7.2/10
Microsoft's cloud suite for software teams, combining Azure Boards agile planning with Git repos, CI/CD pipelines, test plans, artifacts and wikis.
Resource Management by Smartsheet
5.7/10
A resource planning and time tracking add-on for Smartsheet that helps service teams balance workloads, plan capacity, track hours, and forecast staffing and budgets.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Feature | A Azure DevOps | |
|---|---|---|
| Scores | ||
| Overall Rating | 7.2/10 | 5.7/10 |
| Cost | 8/10 | 4/10 |
| Ease of Use | 5/10 | 7/10 |
| Analytics | 7/10 | 7/10 |
| Customization | 7/10 | 4/10 |
| Scalability | 9/10 | 7/10 |
| Support | 6/10 | 6/10 |
| Integration | 8/10 | 6/10 |
| Security | 8/10 | 6/10 |
| Pricing | ||
| Free plan | Yes | No |
| Cheapest paid plan | $6/user/mo Basic | Contact for pricing |
| Estimated cost for 10 users | Free Stakeholder | Contact for pricing |
| Features | ||
| App integrations | ||
| Dashboards | ||
| Reporting | ||
| Timeline view | ||
| Collaboration tools | Not listed | |
| Docs | Not listed | |
| File sharing | Not listed | |
| Gantt charts | Not listed | |
| Kanban boards | Not listed | |
| Knowledge base | Not listed | |
| Scheduling | Not listed | |
| Spreadsheet interface | Not listed | |
| Task lists | Not listed | |
| Task management | Not listed | |
| Time tracking | Not listed | |
Azure DevOps vs Resource Management by Smartsheet cost by team size
| Team size | Azure DevOps | Resource Management by Smartsheet |
|---|---|---|
| 1 user | FreeStakeholder | Contact for pricing |
| 5 users | FreeStakeholder | Contact for pricing |
| 10 users | FreeStakeholder | Contact for pricing |
| 25 users | FreeStakeholder | Contact for pricing |
| 50 users | FreeStakeholder | Contact for pricing |
The plan that fits each team size, billed monthly, before add-ons and usage charges. Each cost opens that tool's pricing calculator for the team size.
Which One Should You Choose?
AWhy choose Azure DevOps
- Has a free plan (Resource Management by Smartsheet does not)
- Higher Cost score (8/10 vs 4/10)
- Higher Customization score (7/10 vs 4/10)
- Better fit for startups (7/10 vs 2/10)
- Better fit for small business (6/10 vs 3/10)
Why choose Resource Management by Smartsheet
- Higher Ease of Use score (7/10 vs 5/10)
- Better fit for agencies (8/10 vs 3/10)
Pros & Cons
AAzure DevOps
Pros
- Free for up to five Basic users plus unlimited stakeholders, so small development teams can start at no cost.
- Work items link to branches, pull requests, builds, and releases, giving traceability from requirement to production.
- Process settings let teams add custom fields, work item types, and portfolio backlog levels.
- Analytics views feed Power BI, and configurable dashboards show burndown and trend reporting.
- Integrates with GitHub, Microsoft Teams, Slack, and Excel, and has a large extension marketplace.
Cons
- Reviewers describe a steep learning curve and an interface that is less intuitive than simpler project management tools.
- Users report weak roadmap and portfolio views and limited progress rollup at the portfolio level.
- It is built for software teams and does not suit non-technical business projects.
- Add-ons such as Test Plans at $52 per user and extra pipeline jobs raise the total cost.
Resource Management by Smartsheet
Pros
- Heatmaps and a visual schedule show availability and percentage allocation across every project in one place.
- Comes with Time + Fees, Expense, Budget, and Utilization reports, so services firms do not have to build them.
- Placeholders and role-based planning let managers staff a project before naming people, and help forecast hiring.
- Reviewers say time logging and adding projects are easy, and that teams need little training.
- Connects to Smartsheet projects through Control Center and Advanced Reporting.
Cons
- Prices are not published, and it costs extra on top of a Smartsheet Business or Enterprise plan.
- Smartsheet's documentation says it has no task-level tracking, subtasks, dependencies, or Gantt views.
- Its dashboards cannot be customized, and permissions are set only at the project or account level.
- Reviewers report that exported data lands in the wrong fields and that work items cannot be tied to subphases.
- One reviewer reports a minimum purchase of 15 licences.
Not sold on either?
Frequently Asked Questions
Azure DevOps scores higher on our Project Management criteria: 7.2/10 against 5.7/10 for Resource Management by Smartsheet. The largest gap is in Cost: 8/10 for Azure DevOps and 4/10 for Resource Management by Smartsheet.
Azure DevOps has a free plan; Resource Management by Smartsheet does not list one.
Resource Management by Smartsheet is the better fit for agencies: we rate it 8/10 for them, against 3/10 for Azure DevOps.
