Google Sheets vs OpenProject: Complete Comparison (2026)
An in-depth comparison of Google Sheets and OpenProject to help you choose the right tool for your business.
Last updated: November 2026
Google Sheets
7.2/10
Google Sheets is a browser-based spreadsheet in Google Workspace that teams can edit together and often use to track simple projects and tasks.
OpenProject
6.7/10
Open source project management software for classic, agile and hybrid teams, available self-hosted for free or as an EU-hosted paid cloud.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Feature | G Google Sheets | |
|---|---|---|
| Scores | ||
| Overall Rating | 7.2/10 | 6.7/10 |
| Analytics | 6/10 | 6/10 |
| Cost | 9/10 | 8/10 |
| Customization | 8/10 | 8/10 |
| Ease of Use | 8/10 | 5/10 |
| Integration | 7/10 | 5/10 |
| Scalability | 4/10 | 7/10 |
| Security | 7/10 | 9/10 |
| Support | 5/10 | 6/10 |
| Pricing | ||
| Free plan | No | Yes |
| Cheapest paid plan | €7/user/mo Business Starter | €6/user/mo Basic |
| Estimated cost for 10 users | €211/mo Business Plus | Free Community |
| Features | ||
| Gantt charts | ||
| Kanban boards | ||
| Time tracking | ||
| App integrations | ||
| Collaboration tools | ||
| File sharing | ||
| Task lists | ||
| Timeline view | ||
| Client collaboration | Not listed | |
| Dashboards | Not listed | |
| Docs | Not listed | |
| Knowledge base | Not listed | |
| Reporting | Not listed | |
| Spreadsheet interface | Not listed | |
| Task management | Not listed | |
| Workflow automation | Not listed | |
Google Sheets vs OpenProject cost by team size
OpenProject costs less at every team size we checked.
| Team size | Google Sheets | OpenProject |
|---|---|---|
| 1 user | €21/moBusiness Plus | FreeCommunity |
| 5 users | €106/moBusiness Plus | FreeCommunity |
| 10 users | €211/moBusiness Plus | FreeCommunity |
| 25 users | €528/moBusiness Plus | FreeCommunity |
| 50 users | €1,055/moBusiness Plus | FreeCommunity |
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?
GWhy choose Google Sheets
- Higher Ease of Use score (8/10 vs 5/10)
- Higher Integration score (7/10 vs 5/10)
- Better fit for freelancers (8/10 vs 2/10)
- Better fit for startups (7/10 vs 4/10)
Why choose OpenProject
- Has a free plan (Google Sheets does not)
- Lower estimated cost for 10 users: Free vs €211/mo
- Higher Scalability score (7/10 vs 4/10)
- Higher Security score (9/10 vs 7/10)
- Better fit for construction (7/10 vs 2/10)
Pros & Cons
GGoogle Sheets
Pros
- Real-time co-editing, comments and version history make it easy for a team to share one tracker.
- Prebuilt project management and event-planning templates mean teams do not have to build a tracker from scratch.
- There is no extra cost for organisations that already pay for Google Workspace seats.
- Connected Sheets can analyse BigQuery or Looker data with billions of rows directly in a spreadsheet.
- On higher Workspace tiers, Gemini can create trackers and write formulas from plain-language prompts.
Cons
- It has no native Gantt charts, task dependencies or time tracking for real project scheduling.
- Missed deadlines do not trigger automatic alerts, so team members have to be notified by hand.
- Large or complex shared sheets slow down and are easy to break when several people edit at once.
- Timeline view is limited to certain paid Workspace editions.
- Dashboards and reporting have to be built by hand or added with add-ons.
OpenProject
Pros
- The free self-hosted Community edition is GPLv3 open source and shares one codebase with the paid editions.
- It hosts cloud data in the EU, encrypts it with AES-256 at rest, and offers a signable GDPR data processing agreement.
- It supports classic Gantt planning and agile boards and backlogs in the same tool.
- Time and cost tracking with budget reports is built in.
- Long contract terms carry large discounts, for example fifteen months free on a five-year term.
Cons
- Paid plans require at least 25 users, and Premium requires 100.
- Several Reddit users report that self-hosted installation is hard, and some find the tool too elaborate for simple needs.
- Slack, Toggl and Mattermost connections are unsupported community plugins.
- Reviewers say the interface is less polished than tools like Asana, and that resource and workload management is weak.
- Many features, including SSO and portfolio management, require paid Enterprise tiers.
Not sold on either?
Frequently Asked Questions
Google Sheets scores higher on our Project Management criteria: 7.2/10 against 6.7/10 for OpenProject. The largest gap is in Ease of Use: 8/10 for Google Sheets and 5/10 for OpenProject.
OpenProject costs less for 10 users: free on its Community plan, against about €211/mo on its Business Plus plan for Google Sheets, billed monthly.
OpenProject has a free plan; Google Sheets does not list one.
Google Sheets is the better fit for freelancers: we rate it 8/10 for them, against 2/10 for OpenProject.
OpenProject has Gantt charts, Kanban boards and Time tracking, which Google Sheets lacks.
