ProcessMaker vs Smartsheet
ProcessMaker and Smartsheet are both workflow management software. ProcessMaker is open source under AGPL-3.0, with 538 GitHub stars. Smartsheet is a commercial product from Smartsheet Inc.
Which to pick
- Pick ProcessMaker when
- You want an open-source workflow and approval system on your own server and can model processes in BPMN.
- Pick Smartsheet when
- A project office or operations team that thinks in spreadsheets needs structured tracking and reporting across many projects.
Side by side
A self-hosted workflow suite with a BPMN modeler, a screen builder for forms, assignment and routing rules, task due dates and request history.
Spreadsheet-style work management with Gantt charts, forms, automations, dashboards and resource management.
Several packages, saved searches among them, are not in the open-source edition, and there is no stage board.
Licensing changes after its take-private have raised costs for some customers.
Usable
Production-ready
Self-hosted server
Cloud service and mobile app
PHP, Laravel, Vue and MySQL
Not published
Open source, AGPL-3.0 (network copyleft)
Closed source, sold by Smartsheet Inc.
Use inside your business is unrestricted. If you change it and let customers use it over the internet, you must publish your changes.
Closed source: you use it under the maker's terms and cannot change or resell the code.
538 GitHub stars
860 Wikipedia readers a month on phones
Established: started 8 years ago, latest release v4.14.0.
Not known
Other comparisons
More workflow management tools
Both sides were judged on 2026-11-06 from makers' descriptions, Wikipedia, READMEs and GitHub data. License, age and popularity lines are worked out directly.