Choose spreadsheets if you are a very small studio with a few clients, you like building your own formulas, and you don't need a client portal or meeting analysis.
Choose SmoothOS if requests are slipping through between meetings and invoices, and you want tasks, retainers, VAT and a client portal kept in one place instead of in tabs.
| What matters | SmoothOS | Spreadsheets (Excel and Google Sheets) |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Flat monthly plan set by meeting hours and storage; seat limits apply | Google Sheets free with a Google account; Workspace per user |
| Free plan | No free plan; join early access | Yes, free with a Google account |
| Meeting transcripts to tasks | Yes, from delivered transcripts; recording bot coming soon | Manual: someone types tasks from notes |
| Scope creep detection | Yes, client requests checked against the signed proposal | Manual: someone has to notice |
| Draft invoices from meetings | Yes, a scope alert becomes a private draft invoice | Manual: copy into an invoice template |
| Brand memory and client rejections | Yes, per-brand dossier; portal revisions become Avoid rules | Notes in cells, if someone writes them |
| White-label client portal with your domain | Yes, your domain, logo and colors; custom domain by plan | No portal; you share files or links |
| Retainers with rollover | Yes, hour packs that roll over up to a cap | Formulas you build and maintain |
| VAT and FX on invoices | Automatic VAT mode; rate locked on issue day (Turkish rules today) | Formulas you build; no automatic VAT mode |
| AI with your own keys | Yes, your own Anthropic or Google keys | Gemini in Sheets from Google; own keys not applicable |
| Self-host option | Community Edition planned, not available yet | Excel files can stay on your own drive |
| Languages (incl. RTL) | English, Turkish and Arabic (RTL) | Right-to-left sheets and text supported in Google Sheets |
Where spreadsheets are stronger
- Google Sheets is free with a Google account.
- Everyone already knows how to use them.
- Total freedom: any layout, any formula, any report.
- Right-to-left sheets and text are supported in Google Sheets.
- Files are easy to export, copy and keep.
What it costs
- 10 people
SmoothOS: $129 / month: Agency plan covers up to 10 users, 10 meeting hours of AI analysis and 250 GB
Spreadsheets (Excel and Google Sheets): $0 / month with free Google accounts; Google Workspace plans per user (USD price not verified)
- 20 people
SmoothOS: $299 / month: Agency stops at 10 users, so Scale (up to 50 users, 30 meeting hours, 1 TB)
Spreadsheets (Excel and Google Sheets): $0 / month with free Google accounts; Google Workspace plans per user (USD price not verified)
SmoothOS prices are list prices in US dollars. Extra meeting hours are $4 each and extra storage is $5 per 100 GB a month. Plans carry user limits today (Studio 3, Agency 10, Scale 50). Founding 100 agencies keep 30% off for life. Spreadsheets: Google Sheets is available to anyone with a Google Account. Business features sit in Google Workspace plans priced per user; the pricing page served to us showed Turkish lira only, so a US dollar figure is not verified here. The real cost of a spreadsheet is the time spent keeping it up and the requests it lets slip; see the Free Work Calculator.
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Your task list, yes. Export it as CSV and import it. Clients, projects and invoices aren't part of the import yet, so those are set up in SmoothOS.
Often it is, at first. The cost shows up when a client asks for extra work in a call and nobody bills it. SmoothOS checks each request in a meeting transcript against the signed proposal.
No. SmoothOS has three paid plans and no free plan or trial today. Join early access and we'll write when your seat is ready.
