I wanted to share some real-world feedback on the recent changes to seat types and the User Subscription Model (USM) that rolled out for company/enterprise accounts.
Previously, we could easily collaborate with partner companies. We would share workspaces or sheets, add their team members as Admins (or Editors with full capabilities), and seamlessly transfer projects back and forth between our two separate company plans. It worked smoothly for joint initiatives.
Since the seat type updates (Members, Provisional Members, Guests, Contributors, etc.) and the shift to plan-tied asset ownership, this has become extremely difficult:
- We can no longer reliably transfer projects between our two company accounts.
- Even when I add users from the other company as Admins on the sheet or workspace, they still encounter major limitations and have a hard time fully working on our projects.
- Basic collaboration that used to be straightforward now requires workarounds, extra licensing, or simply doesn’t function as expected.
This change may have been intended to improve internal governance and licensing clarity, but in practice it has created unnecessary friction for legitimate business partnerships. For many organizations that regularly work with external partners, vendors, or sister companies, it feels like a step backward rather than an improvement.
Has anyone else run into these same issues with cross-company collaboration since the USM updates?Are there any recommended workarounds for transferring ownership of sheets/workspaces between different company plans?Smartsheet team — is there any plan to restore more flexible collaboration options for external Admins across plans, or provide clearer guidance on how joint projects should work now?
This is making real collaboration harder for users, and I believe it deserves attention.
Thanks for reading — looking forward to your thoughts.
