Microsoft Project

Overview

Microsoft Project is presented as Planner, Microsoft’s online workspace for tasks and project work. It suits teams that want to start with shared task management and add more structured planning as their needs grow. The range extends from basic work coordination to portfolio and resource management, but paid plans use custom pricing.

Key features

The Microsoft Planner offering covers task creation and management with files, checklists, labels, and basic or custom templates. Grid, Board, Schedule, and Charts views, plus My Day, My Tasks, and Assigned to Me, support both personal task organization and team coordination. That is a useful starting point for everyday work; teams needing dependencies or Gantt planning will need a higher tier.

Planner Plan 1 adds a Timeline (Gantt) view, task dependencies, backlogs and sprints, milestones, project goals, and reports. Those tools make it a better fit for teams coordinating delivery order and checkpoints than a basic task board alone. Timeline, People, and Goals views are also available with Plan 1.

Planner and Project Plan 3 includes Plan 1 features and adds advanced dependencies, resource requests, portfolios, baselines, critical path, and the Project desktop app, as well as Project Online and its desktop client. This tier makes sense when teams need more formal project controls and resource requests. Plan 5 includes Plan 3 features, then adds advanced portfolio management and enterprise resource management and allocation. That is the most relevant tier for organization-wide portfolio and capacity planning, though its custom pricing makes budget comparison harder.

Microsoft lists integrations with Loop, Outlook, Teams, Copilot, and Power Automate. The plan comparison also includes Power Automate workflow automation, APIs for customizing experiences, Microsoft 365 Groups access control, and tools for managing risk and regulatory compliance. The Planner offering includes Microsoft 365 customer support, and Microsoft provides help and learning articles. Access to Planner Agent and its AI capabilities requires a Microsoft 365 Copilot license, so those capabilities are not simply part of the base offering.

Pricing

Planner in Microsoft 365 is priced at free, billed as included in Microsoft 365. It includes basic plan templates, Grid, Board, Schedule, and Charts views, and Microsoft Teams integration. This is the natural starting point for teams that already have Microsoft 365 and need basic planning; it does not include the Plan 1 project-planning additions.

Microsoft Planner has no published price and includes task management with files, checklists, and labels, My Day, My Tasks, and Assigned to Me, basic and custom templates, four core views, and Microsoft 365 app integrations. Planner Plan 1 also has custom pricing; it adds task dependencies, Timeline, backlogs and sprints, and reports. Choose it when those planning tools justify moving beyond the included tier.

Planner and Project Plan 3 and Plan 5 both have custom pricing. Plan 3 adds advanced dependencies, resource requests, Project Online, and the Project Online desktop client to Plan 1 features. Plan 5 builds on Plan 3 with advanced portfolio and enterprise resource management. These tiers serve increasingly complex planning needs, but buyers must weigh their value against a price they will need to obtain directly.

Microsoft offers a one-month free trial. It requires a credit card and converts to a paid subscription unless canceled, so the renewal terms matter when evaluating the paid plans.

Platforms

Planner is available on the web and Windows, with API support. The listed platform set is broad enough for browser-based work and Windows users, while API access supports custom experiences. Teams seeking a listed Linux or macOS app should consider alternatives instead.

Who it's for

Microsoft describes Planner for teams across marketing, sales, software development, IT, human resources, project management, and operations. It is most compelling for groups that can begin with shared tasks and step up to dependencies, project controls, or portfolio planning within the same offering. It is less suitable for buyers who need known prices before evaluating paid tiers, or who need a listed Linux or macOS platform.

Pros and cons

• Pros: The progression from basic task work to Gantt timelines, dependencies, critical path, and enterprise resource management can support teams as planning needs become more demanding.
• Pros: Microsoft 365 app integrations, Teams integration in the included offering, and Power Automate support connect planning with Microsoft’s broader work tools.
• Cons: Paid plans use custom pricing, making it difficult to compare costs before requesting a quote.
• Cons: The free trial requires a credit card and renews into a paid subscription unless canceled.
• Cons: Planner Agent AI capabilities require a separate Microsoft 365 Copilot license.

Alternatives

For spreadsheet and data-preparation work rather than project planning, qsv has a free tier for importing spreadsheets up to 1MB, free recipes, one CKAN instance, and qsv slice from Flow. csvkit is a free, MIT-licensed option with no paid tiers stated. DataCleaner offers a free, open-source community edition under LGPL. EasyMorph is worth considering for Windows-based data workflows: its free desktop plan is forever but limited to 20 actions and 20 loop iterations per project. OpenRefine is a free, open-source desktop installation under a BSD 3-clause license. CSV Engine is a web option with a free plan capped at five credits per month and three active templates, limited to text and email fields. Frictionless Framework is free open-source MIT software installed with pip, while Open Data Editor is a free, open-source desktop app.

For browsing related categories, see Data Preparation Software, Workplace Management Software, AI Project Management Software, Gantt Chart Software, Work Management Software, and Project Management Software.

Verdict

Choose Microsoft Project if your team wants Microsoft-centered task management with a clear path to dependencies, formal project controls, and portfolio planning. Its range of planning depth is the main reason to choose it; custom pricing across paid tiers is the main reason to look elsewhere if upfront cost certainty matters. Also account for the stated retirement of Project Online on September 30, 2026 when weighing the Plan 3 offering.