If you use Smartsheet to track loan closings, the alternatives fall into three groups. Spreadsheets you already own, Excel or Google Sheets, are cheaper and do the same grid with less structure. Work management platforms, monday.com, Asana and Airtable, swap one configurable tool for another, with different strengths on guests, forms and automations. A closing workspace built for lending, such as Prodeal, is a different category: a product to buy rather than a tool to configure. The right choice depends on whether you want to keep building the tool or stop.
Why do lending teams look for a Smartsheet alternative?
Smartsheet is a capable platform, and lending operations teams adopt it for good reasons: a grid everyone understands, automations, forms and dashboards. The trouble starts when the grid becomes the closing system. Someone has to design it, maintain the template, rebuild the automations when a process changes and keep outside parties in step.
Three gaps show up in closings specifically. Documents attach to rows but the sheet is not a document room, so the actual files live somewhere else. Outside parties need the right seat type: per Smartsheet's pricing page, Pro and Business include unlimited Contributors, who can view, comment, upload attachments and submit forms, and Business adds unlimited free Guests, who can also edit. And cell history is not the same thing as a time-stamped record of who viewed, downloaded or changed each document, which is what an examiner asks for.
Smartsheet alternatives compared for closing checklists
Pricing is what each vendor published on its own pricing page, read on 9 November 2026. For reference, Smartsheet lists Pro at $9 and Business at $19 per member a month billed annually ($12 and $24 billed monthly), with Business requiring three members.
| Alternative | Type | Published pricing | Fit for a closing checklist |
|---|---|---|---|
| Excel or Google Sheets | Spreadsheet | Included in Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace | Cheapest; status is manual and copies drift |
| Microsoft Lists and Planner | Lists and tasks inside Microsoft 365 | Included in Microsoft 365 subscriptions | Good for internal tasks; outside parties are awkward |
| monday.com | Work management | From $9 per seat a month billed annually, 3 seats minimum | Flexible boards; you still build and maintain the closing |
| Asana | Work management | From $10.99 per user a month billed annually, unlimited free guests | Strong tasks and approvals; not a document room |
| Airtable | Database and apps | $20 per seat a month on Team, billed annually | Most flexible build; most upkeep |
| Prodeal | Closing workspace for CRE lenders | No public list price; quoted on request | A product to adopt, not a grid to configure; see the head-to-head |
How does each alternative handle a closing checklist?
Excel and Google Sheets are where most closing checklists start, and for a small shop they work. The weakness is not the grid; it is that the sheet cannot hold documents, the borrower cannot work against it, and three versions exist by midweek. Prodeal vs spreadsheets covers where that breaks.
Microsoft Lists and Planner are the natural move for a Microsoft 365 shop that wants structure without a new vendor. They suit internal task tracking. Bringing a borrower or outside counsel into them is clumsy, and documents still live in SharePoint beside the list.
monday.com, Asana and Airtable are peers to Smartsheet, each with a different emphasis. monday.com lists plans from $9 per seat with a three-seat minimum. Asana's Starter plan includes unlimited free guests and forms that capture requests as tasks, and Advanced adds approvals and proofing. Airtable is the most flexible, a database you shape into apps, and asks the most of whoever maintains it. All three trade one build for another.
A closing workspace built for lending, such as Prodeal, is the other path: a product designed around the closing rather than a grid you configure for it. Whether that trade is worth it comes down to the build hours and the record, covered below. Prodeal vs Smartsheet sets the two side by side.
When should you stay on Smartsheet?
Smartsheet is the right tool in plenty of lending organizations. Keep it when these hold.
- It runs far more than closingsIf Smartsheet manages portfolio reporting, projects and operations across the firm, a closing tool is an addition, not a replacement.
- You have a builderSomeone owns the templates and automations and has the time to keep them current.
- Few outside partiesInternal teams do most of the work and borrowers rarely need access.
- Documents already have a homeFiles live in a data room or document system, and the sheet only tracks status.
How do you decide between building and buying a closing tracker?
Count the hours. Add up the time spent each month maintaining the template, fixing automations, updating status by hand and answering where-are-we emails from borrowers and counsel. If that number is small, a configurable tool is cheaper. If it is a meaningful share of a closer's week, the build is costing more than a product would.
Then test the record. Pick a deal that closed six months ago and try to show who uploaded the final survey, who approved it and who downloaded it, with timestamps. If the answer takes an afternoon of inbox searching, the tracker is not the system of record, whatever tool it is built in. The guide to the post-closing audit trail lists what examiners ask for.
Questions lenders ask
- What are the disadvantages of using Smartsheet?
- For closings, three stand out: you design and maintain the tracker yourself, the sheet is not a document room so files live elsewhere, and cell history is not a time-stamped record of who viewed or downloaded each document. Outside parties also need the right seat type for the plan you are on.
- Is Smartsheet difficult to learn?
- The grid is familiar to anyone who uses spreadsheets, so basic use is quick. The learning curve sits with whoever builds the automations, forms and dashboards that turn it into a closing system, and that person becomes the single point of failure.
- How is Smartsheet different than Excel?
- Smartsheet is a shared, cloud grid with automations, forms, attachments and dashboards, so many people work in one copy. Excel is a file, more powerful for analysis but prone to versions multiplying by email. For tracking closings Smartsheet is the more collaborative of the two.
- Is Smartsheet a Microsoft platform?
- No. Smartsheet is an independent company. It integrates with Microsoft 365, but it is not part of it. Microsoft's own closest tools are Lists, Planner and Excel, which come with Microsoft 365 subscriptions.
- What is the best Smartsheet alternative for loan closings?
- If you want to keep building, Asana or Airtable are the strongest peers. If you want to stop building, look at a closing workspace designed for lending, such as Prodeal, and compare it against the hours your team spends maintaining the tracker today.
Sources and further reading
- Prodeal vs Smartsheet for loan closingsThe head-to-head, row by row.
- The commercial loan closing checklistThe structure to track.
- Loan pipeline tracking for commercial lendersEvery deal in flight on one view.
- Deal management software for commercial lendingThe category, defined.
- Dropbox alternativesWhen the folder is the problem.