Microsoft Project

Overview

Microsoft Project is Microsoft's project and portfolio management software for planning schedules, assigning resources and tracking progress. It is sold as cloud subscriptions inside the Microsoft 365 and Planner family (Planner Plan 1, and Planner and Project Plan 3, which adds the Project desktop client along with roadmap and portfolio features) and as one-time desktop licenses (Project Standard and Project Professional 2024). On-premises deployments run on Project Server. It offers Gantt scheduling, resource management and reporting that connects to Power BI and the wider Microsoft ecosystem.

Best for organizations that need detailed scheduling and resource management within the Microsoft ecosystem.

Microsoft Project earns its place where a schedule is a commitment to be defended rather than a shared to-do list, which is why it keeps turning up on engineering, construction and consulting work whose dependencies have to hold. A team that mainly wants to see who is doing what this week will find the apparatus in the way, and something lighter will serve it better. The harder call is not whether to buy it but how, because the subscription route and the one-time desktop route answer different questions and commit you to different amounts of capability; settle what the work actually demands before comparing rates. Much of the payoff also assumes the rest of the Microsoft stack is already in place, so an organization living elsewhere should weigh it against that reality rather than against the feature list.

Key Facts

Features

Task planning

Yes, Gantt scheduling with task dependencies and baselines, plus grid, board and timeline views in the web app

Resource planning

Yes, resource assignment and management across projects, fuller in Project Professional and the higher plans

Time tracking

Timesheet capture in Project Online and the higher Project plans

Reporting and controlling

Yes, built-in reports and dashboards, with Power BI for portfolio reporting

Integrations and API

Yes, through Power Platform connectors and Microsoft Graph

Integrations

• Microsoft Teams
• Power BI
• Power Automate
• SharePoint

Deployment and Support

Deployment

• Cloud (SaaS)
• Browser-based
• On-premise

Support

• Email helpdesk
• Phone
• Community forum

Onboarding

• Documentation and knowledge base
• Video tutorials

Company size

• Small and mid-sized
• Enterprise

Suitability

The table combines the industries the vendor addresses with the company sizes the tool is aimed at. An empty cell means the combination is not stated, not that it is ruled out.

Pros and Cons

Pricing

• Planner Plan 1

  $10

  Per user and month, paid yearly.

• Planner and Project Plan 3

  $30

  Per user and month, paid yearly. Adds the Project desktop client, roadmaps and portfolio features.

• Project Standard 2024

  $679.99

  One-time purchase for one PC.

• Project Professional 2024

  $1,129.99

  One-time purchase for one PC. Adds resource management and Project Server connectivity.

• Project Server Subscription Edition

  Not stated

  On-premises, priced through a Microsoft partner.

Best For

• Architecture & Engineering
• Consulting
• Technology

Alternatives and Comparisons

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