Google Sheets for Project Management: Can It Replace Monday.com?

The $1,800 Per Year Question

You have a team of 12 people. Monday.com costs $10 per user per month at the minimum tier. That's $1,440 annually, except you need the Standard plan at $12/user to get timeline views and automations, so actually $1,728 per year. And that's before anyone on the sales or executive team needs view-only access.

Meanwhile, your team already uses Google Workspace. Everyone knows Sheets. The question isn't whether Monday.com is powerful — it is — but whether you need that much power, or whether an automated Google Sheet could handle your actual project management needs at a fraction of the cost.

What an Automated Project Tracker Can Actually Do

We're not talking about a static spreadsheet where someone manually types task names. A properly automated project tracker in Google Sheets can handle sophisticated workflows:

Task tracking with automatic status updates — Tasks flow through stages with color-coded indicators that update based on due dates and completion.
Deadline alerts and notifications — Automated emails notify team members when tasks are assigned, when deadlines approach, or when dependencies are completed.
Timeline and Gantt-style views — Conditional formatting creates visual timelines showing project phases, task duration, and deadline conflicts.
Progress dashboards — Summary sheets automatically calculate completion percentages, upcoming deadlines, blocked tasks, and workload distribution.
Resource allocation — Track who's assigned to what, visualize workload balance, and identify overcommitted team members.
Time tracking integration — Estimated vs. actual hours with automatic totaling and budget tracking.

When Sheets Work Better Than Software

Teams that live in spreadsheets. If your team already tracks everything in Sheets, adding project management to the same ecosystem eliminates tool-switching. Project status lives where people already work.

Simple, consistent workflows. If your projects follow predictable patterns — client onboarding, content production, service delivery — a customized sheet tailored to your exact process beats a general-purpose tool's assumptions.

Budget-conscious small teams. A custom Google Sheet costs a fraction of annual PM software subscriptions, with no ongoing per-user fees.

Companies with integration needs. Google Sheets connects easily to other tools via APIs and Apps Script. Your project tracker can pull data from your CRM, push updates to Slack, or sync with financial tracking systems.

The Real Limitations

Scale beyond 15-20 users. Performance degrades with many concurrent users. Past a certain team size, dedicated software is more reliable.

Complex dependencies. In Monday.com, you click a button to say "Task B depends on Task A." In Sheets, dependency tracking requires careful design rather than a checkbox.

Mobile experience. Google Sheets on mobile works but isn't designed for task management. If your team updates status from phones constantly, a mobile-first PM tool provides a better experience.

Visual polish. Your timeline views and dashboards won't look as polished as Monday.com's Gantt charts. If client-facing project visibility matters, dedicated tools present better.

When to Upgrade to Dedicated Software

If you're spending more time maintaining the sheet than using it, you've outgrown it. If you need sophisticated features like resource leveling or portfolio management across dozens of simultaneous projects, PM platforms offer capabilities hard to replicate in Sheets.

The transition isn't all-or-nothing. Many teams use Sheets for internal tracking while maintaining Monday.com for client-facing collaboration.

Getting the Best of Both Worlds

The ideal scenario for most small teams is a custom-built project tracker that's properly automated from the start. Not a template you modify yourself, but a system designed specifically for your workflow with built-in automations and room to grow.

If you're evaluating project management tools, let's talk about your workflow. We build custom project trackers that handle the complexity in the background while keeping the user experience simple and spreadsheet-familiar.