NocoBase
NocoBase runs two release lines at once while the v3 client rewrite absorbs the AI work
Comparison · PM
Plane vs SmartSuite
A side-by-side editorial comparison of Plane and SmartSuite — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:ai-agents
Plane vs SmartSuite: at a glance
| Feature | Plane | SmartSuite |
|---|---|---|
| Sector | PM | PM |
| Velocity score | 6.3 | 5.0 |
| Sparks · 30d | 1 | 0 |
| Top themes | project-management, ai-agents, wiki, automation | work-management, mobile-parity, ai-agents, forms |
| Last editorial update | 13h ago | 3d ago |
| Website | Visit → | — |
What is Plane?
Plane ships a fortnightly digest, and the AI layer is where the real work is going.
Plane releases on a strict twice-monthly cadence, each entry a bundle rather than a single feature. The current window covers Pages becoming a document surface (toggle blocks, embedded widgets, nested-page zip export), Intake getting dashboard visibility, and Automations extending to modules, milestones, and releases. Underneath, Plane AI has been accumulating capability faster than any other area — Skills, an AI Block in Pages, live PQL results in chat, open-weight model options.
What is SmartSuite?
SmartSuite is closing the gap between its mobile app and its desktop product, screen by screen.
SmartSuite is a work management platform combining databases, forms, automation and dashboards. Two systematic campaigns dominate recent releases. Mobile is being brought to parity — shared forms, internal forms and the chart widget all now run natively in the iOS and Android apps rather than falling back to a browser. Separately, AI Field Agents are being extended one target field type at a time, adding Address and Date to the existing Text and Single Select outputs.
Plane vs SmartSuite: editorial side-by-side
Plane
6.3PM
Plane ships a fortnightly digest, and the AI layer is where the real work is going.
◆ Current state
Plane releases on a strict twice-monthly cadence, each entry a bundle rather than a single feature. The current window covers Pages becoming a document surface (toggle blocks, embedded widgets, nested-page zip export), Intake getting dashboard visibility, and Automations extending to modules, milestones, and releases. Underneath, Plane AI has been accumulating capability faster than any other area — Skills, an AI Block in Pages, live PQL results in chat, open-weight model options.
◆ Where it's heading
The tracker is being rebuilt around two things it did not start as: a wiki with executable blocks, and a workspace where agent behaviour is authored and stored. Skills was the turn — instructions saved once and reused rather than re-typed — and the Pages work since has been about making the document a place where that output lands. The structural cleanups run alongside: epics folded into the work item type system, permissions redesigned into two layers, automations widened to more object types. It is consolidation, not sprawl.
◆ Prediction
The next digests likely extend Automations toward AI-triggered actions, since Skills, PQL, and rule-based automation now exist as separate pieces that obviously compose. The entries are digest summaries linking off-site, so per-feature depth is not readable from the feed.
SmartSuite is closing the gap between its mobile app and its desktop product, screen by screen.
◆ Current state
SmartSuite is a work management platform combining databases, forms, automation and dashboards. Two systematic campaigns dominate recent releases. Mobile is being brought to parity — shared forms, internal forms and the chart widget all now run natively in the iOS and Android apps rather than falling back to a browser. Separately, AI Field Agents are being extended one target field type at a time, adding Address and Date to the existing Text and Single Select outputs.
◆ Where it's heading
Both campaigns are additive rather than exploratory, and both look close to complete. The mobile releases explicitly describe features as previously desktop-only, which reads as a checklist being worked through. The AI Field Agent releases are near-identical in structure, each reusing the same governance, manual and automatic run controls, and audit logging — the agent framework is settled and only its output types are being enumerated. The Teams work follows the same instinct, extending existing Teams Field infrastructure into comments and checklists rather than building something new.
◆ Prediction
Expect the remaining desktop-only surfaces to land on mobile and further field types to be added as AI Field Agent outputs, since both series have shipped in near-identical batches. Number and Link fields are the obvious unclaimed agent targets.
Alternatives to Plane and SmartSuite
Other PM products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either Plane or SmartSuite.
Hive
Hive ships in batches, and this one is all planning accuracy and admin control.
Ever Teams
Ever Teams shipped ten tags in twelve hours and one of them touched the product
Asana
Asana's agent left the app — it now answers work questions inside Slack threads.
Apploye
Apploye's feed is an SEO blog, and its running theme is defending monitoring on privacy grounds.
Notesnook
Notesnook ships steady 3.4.x patches across desktop and Android with the notes kept off-feed.
See all Plane alternatives → · See all SmartSuite alternatives →
Recent activity from Plane and SmartSuite
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 4d agoSmartSuiteAssign and @-Mention Teams in Comments and Checklists
- 4d agoSmartSuiteMobile: Internal Forms Support
- 4d agoSmartSuiteMobile: Shared Forms Support
- 5d agoPlaneCollapsible toggle blocks, Intake widgets, and more | Aug 14, 2026
- 12d agoSmartSuiteAI Field Agent: Address Field Support
- 12d agoSmartSuiteAI Field Agent: Date Field Support
- 12d agoSmartSuiteMobile: Chart Widget Support
- 19d agoPlaneSkills in Plane AI, richer Pages, Audit logs, and more | Jul 31, 2026 ⚡
- 1mo agoPlaneShared dashboards, Bitbucket, and new AI models | Jul 15, 2026
- 1mo agoPlaneMermaid JS diagrams, PQL filters, and more | Jun 30, 2026
- 2mo agoPlaneAI Block in Pages | Jun 15, 2026
- 2mo agoPlaneEpics become a work item type, publish MCP apps, and more | May 31, 2026 ⚡
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Plane and SmartSuite?
Both compete on the same themes — ai-agents — within PM. Plane is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 5.0), with 1 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is Plane better than SmartSuite?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Plane is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 5.0), with 1 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other PM products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to Plane?
Top Plane alternatives in PM are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Plane alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/plane for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to SmartSuite?
Top SmartSuite alternatives in PM are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "SmartSuite alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/smartsuite for the full list with editorial commentary on each.