User Subscription Model Change - Implications on your business?

Debbie Sawyer

Thank you @Genevieve P. (I hope you are enjoying Engage!!)

I hope this helps clarify for you too @Emily T.

Kind regards
Debbie

Cheree Peterson

@Genevieve P. We currently have internal users who use forms, update requests and reports to enter/update information in our sheets. They are currently FREE editors on sheets which from what I understand will automatically? convert to PAID licensed users upon renewal OR we need to change them to Viewers to keep them FREE - is that correct? If we change them to viewers - they will lose the capability to edit data in a report? As viewers will they still be able to use forms and update requests to enter data? Where can I see a list of capabilities for an internal Viewer?

I spoke to our "account rep" who announced this new pricing structure, used a lot of scare tactics and fear to try to get us to add more licensed users and upgrade to Enterprise and that conversation did not go well. He would not correspond with me in email as I requested and insisted I set up an appointment with him because he wanted to discuss "security issues" with our account. Now that I have had time to look more into the change in pricing, he will not answer my email with questions about how this change will affect us - I am guessing because we are not likely to upgrade. How can I talk to someone who can help me understand the changes, who will take the time to understand our needs and help us decide the best path forward without the goal being to upgrade us to Enterprise? Am I able to switch account reps?

Genevieve P.

Hi @Cheree Peterson

Forms and Update Requests do not count as editing the sheet, since the users filling them out do not need to be shared to the sheet to complete those actions. 🙂

This Help Article defines the three user types in the User Subscription Model: https://help.smartsheet.com/articles/2483260-user-subscription-model-overview

In regards to your account representative, please keep following-up with them via email to make sure they know your questions have not been resolved. You can also contact the Sales team with questions about plan pricing from this page: https://www.smartsheet.com/contact/sales

Cheers,
Genevieve

Debbie Sawyer

@Cheree Peterson

Hi Cheree, I am not a Smartsheet Employee, but I have been able to help a few of our clients pick their way through this change, through the answers in this thread and some email threads that I have had with an Smartsheet Account rep. Sadly though Cheree I am experiencing the same aggressive tone with the sales rep and am finding the whole change quite frustrating, hence me asking questions here.

I must say @Isaac A. and @Genevieve P. have been very helpful indeed, the links in this thread have helped me enormously. Please feel free to reach out and I'll gladly take a call with you and see if I can help point out anything that might be helpful to you and share what I've learnt about this process to date.

Genevieve / Isaac, I have been advised that clients have to buy whatever licenses the Sales Rep deem appropriate and the True Up facility is only available AFTER you are on the new subscription plan. He inferred that we can't use it 30 days prior to renewal (changeover) to organise who the client would like to pay for. Is this correct? The help articles seem to indicate the True Up facility would be available 30 days before renewal, but the rep is contradicting this.

It would be most helpful to a lot of clients to have access to the True Up facility 90 days before switching over. I have found the User Type report to be very valuable indeed (thank you for pointing it out) however it still doesn't identify who the "Members" are. EG I have a client that has 447 "Internal" + "Unlicensed Admin and Editor" users listed that have all accessed in an editor capacity in 2024 in that user type report, but the rep is saying that at renewal he needs to pay for 184 of them. We can't work out what filters Smartsheet are using to identify the 184 out of the possible 447. So using that report is still very difficult to identify who has to be downgraded prior to actually buying the licenses. The rep also said, even if we downgrade some users to viewers, he will not requote unless he is told to by his system and in that case his numbers would be definitive, not ours.

Without the identified Members being visible, this is a real struggle for a lot of people.

Mparker89

Our business is the same. Looking at an increase from 20 to >400. We will never be able to justify this use on users which use the platform a few times a month. We are quickly trying to remove the need to use Smartsheet for more bespoke business process solutions and leave only the outstanding use cases for Projects (which there are many alternatives).

With budgets being agreed, we have yet been given clear pricing, but it is looking more likely we will be planning to phase out Smartsheet going forward. Shame, because the original selling point for Smartsheet just isn’t cutting it with, and on a per user, no free collaborator model there are better products in the market.

Roland Horwood

Hi all,

yep, I cynically believe that when the new subscription model was proposed a calculation was made based on the balance between losing established subscribers and the increase in revenue for new subscribers, and those existing ones who will have no alternative and will just "suck it up", but try to mitigate the increase in costs. I'm not sure which way I'll have to go, but either way it's going to be a shed load of work for me.

Not happy.

Lindsay AR

In agreement with all the noted concern and would like to add my concern with the limited ability to designate creators vs editors. We don't want users going rogue and coming up with their own processes and going off book. With the current model, we are able to curate the experience of Smartsheet, but if anyone who needs to edit is also able to create then we lose the ability to manage roles to the desired detail. It would be an easier pill to swallow if in their new licensing model they offered a creator role and price and editor/commentator role and price.

Roland Horwood

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/comment/455275#Comment_455275

I'm interested in knowing the answer to this too. I can't seem to find an answer. Do "Guests"/external collaborators need their own licence to edit stuff shared with them?

Debbie Sawyer

Hi @Roland Horwood

I believe guests are continuing to be able to edit your sheets free of charge without the need to purchase their own license (or use one of yours).

I found this statement on a Smartsheet Help Article:

Guests

 are users outside of your company, available only on our Business and Enterprise plans, who can edit and comment on items shared with them. You're also not charged for these users.

Does this help?

Kind regards

Debbie

RVgs

Hi,

We are also very concerned. We only have 3 licensed users but almost 300 colleagues who can edit as free users.
My boss will never in his life give me the budget to provide these 300 users with paid accounts.

We are now looking for alternatives.

No matter how this turns out, we now have a lot of work to do with this announcement. We are very upset.

But I was still wondering:
Will it actually be possible to publish sheets in the new user subscription model so that they can be edited in this way by unlicensed users?

Debbie Sawyer

@RVgs

I've heard Dynamic View (albeit a premium app) might offer a workaround for the editors. Alternatively we have a tool that might help you too.

Feel free to make contact with me so I can explain a potential alternative. My contact details are in my profile data.

Kind regards

Debbie

Julia L Rumburg

Hey Debbie & all! 👋 Totally get the pricing concerns! Building on what @Debbie Sawyer said about premium apps, here's a fun scenario (just my thoughts on the user model):

New folks can try out full access for 90 days at no cost ✨, with admins having the flexibility to review/adjust user levels monthly or quarterly

Picture the Turkey Day Planning Committee coordinating their feast 🦃:

• Creating a master dashboard 📱
• Testing premium features for RSVPs/meals 📝
• Getting 25 volunteer coordinators onboard risk-free 🙌

By day 80, they'll know if they need 3 full licenses for core planners while making 20+ occasional volunteers viewers. Perfect for next year's planning too! ✅

Not a Smartsheet employee (but work with reps). I've seen costs go both ways. Happy to brainstorm ideas! 🦃 My contact deets are below!

Mark at ACCFB

As a non-profit, Smartsheet enabled us to move quickly during COVID. Among other things, we Smartsheets to enable emergency drive thru food distribution to countless people in needs. Smartsheet has continued to add value in many places, but the new licensing model is changing this.

Cost increases to this scale are not easy to manage and absorb as a non-profit. Our rep does note seem to care or have any ability to assist. We cannot quickly pull out of Smartsheet without disrupting business. The new model will drive up cost this year and next. In addition to cost, the auto-provisioning is going to create extra work just to stop something we do not want turned on.

I've been a longtime supporter of Smartsheet. Unfortunately it seems that Smartsheet does not seem to value it customers with the new model. We are a mission driven organization and I would encourage Smartsheet to think about corporate social responsibility and not just revenue.

@Debbie Sawyer what would you offer to non-profit organizations like us to mitigate the disruption and cost increases? We would love to continue using Smartsheet to support our community, providing food and support to those worried about where their next meal will come from.

Thank you,

Mark

Andrée Starå

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/comment/464086#Comment_464086

Hi,

I hope you're well and safe!

Feel free to reach out (contact info below), and I'd be happy to help research what workarounds or special deals I can help with.

I hope that helps!

Be safe, and have a fantastic day!

Best,

Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

✅ Did my comment(s) help/answer your question or solve your problem? Please support the Community and me by marking it - Insightful 💡- Vote Up ⬆️ - Aweseome ❤️ - or/and as the accepted answer. It will make it easier for others to find a solution or help to answer! I appreciate it, thanks!

jmyzk_cloudsmart_jp

Hi @Mark at ACCFB

Thank you for sharing your concerns, and I deeply admire the work your organization is doing to support those in need. I understand how challenging it can be to manage costs as a nonprofit, especially when facing unexpected changes like the new licensing model.

While Smartsheet’s pricing changes may pose difficulties, I’d love to help mitigate some of the disruptions for your team. Here’s a potential solution to address one of your challenges: enabling viewers to update sheet values without requiring additional licenses.

Below is an example setup using formulas and automation in Smartsheet. This indirectly allows a viewer to interact with and update sheet data via a pre-filled form.

I’ve created a demo sheet to showcase how this works. [Link to demo sheet] (Please log in to Smartsheet to access).

Solution Overview:

This approach offers two methods to leverage URL query strings for updating or managing data:

1. Direct Data Update by Form: Viewers can input new data into a secondary sheet using a pre-configured URL. This data is then dynamically retrieved in the primary sheet using formulas and an ID-based key.
2. Initiating Update Requests: The URL query string can also be used just to retrieve the ID (key) and Created By values, allowing a viewer to initiate an update request. Those changes trigger an automation to notify the viewer via email, prompting them to provide additional updates.

Both methods utilize formulas and Smartsheet automation to streamline processes and ensure the integrity of your main data set.

https://app.smartsheet.com/b/publish?EQBCT=bcd0aaf5b41f4776866bde7827952588 (Link to demo sheet, you need to login to Smartsheet)

[Primary Column] =IFERROR(INDEX({Form Sheet : Primary Column}, MATCH(ID@row, {Form Sheet : Row}, -1)), "")
[Data 1] =JOIN(COLLECT({Form Sheet : Data 1}, {Form Sheet : Row}, ID@row, {Form Sheet : Latest}, 1))
[Data 2] =JOIN(COLLECT({Form Sheet : Data 2}, {Form Sheet : Row}, ID@row, {Form Sheet : Latest}, 1))

[Requester] =JOIN(COLLECT({Form Sheet : Created By}, {Form Sheet : Row}, ID@row, {Form Sheet : Latest}, 1))
[Created date] =JOIN(COLLECT({Form Sheet : Created}, {Form Sheet : Row}, ID@row, {Form Sheet : Latest}, 1))
[Initiate Update Request from here] =SUBSTITUTE([Form URL]# + "?ID=" + ID@row + "&Primary Column=" + [Primary Column]@row + "&Data 1=" + [Data 1]@row + "&Data 2=" + [Data 2]@row, " ", "%20")

Viewers can initiate updates via a pre-configured link in the [Initiate Update Request from here] column. This link uses URL parameters to pre-fill form fields with existing values. Once they submit the form, the secondary sheet records the changes, and formulas in the main sheet automatically update the data.

• To change the values in the Primary Column and Data 1 to 4, a viewer can click the link in the [Initiate Update Request from here] column.
• Using the URL string query, the link pre-fills the ID and presents the values of the Primary Column to the Data 2 column.
• When a viewer inputs data, the second sheet gets new values, updating the Primary Column to the Data 2 column.
• The Requester column's value also changes, triggering the update request automation. So, the viewer gets an email to update Data 3 to 4.

This approach requires no additional licenses, leverages existing Smartsheet features, and allows for dynamic updates without compromising the integrity of your main data set.

https://app.smartsheet.com/b/publish?EQBCT=875922ddae914c61ad62bd47ec56248d

[Latest]=IF(MAX(COLLECT(Created:Created, ID:ID, ID@row)) = Created@row, 1)

How This Helps:

• Cost Efficiency: Viewers can update data without needing additional licenses.
• Simplicity: Automations and formulas reduce manual effort.
• Customization: You can adapt the setup to suit your specific workflows.

If this solution aligns with your needs or you have other specific challenges, please don’t hesitate to contact me. I’d be delighted to assist you further—pro bono!

I hope Smartsheet will continue to play a valuable role in your mission.