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Microsoft Project vs Planview Daptiv comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Project
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
85
Ranking in other categories
Project Management Software (3rd)
Planview Daptiv
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
Project Portfolio Management (14th)
 

Featured Reviews

Jacob-George - PeerSpot reviewer
Domain Consultant at a consultancy with 501-1,000 employees
Improved project scheduling has maximized resource utilization and has reduced delays
I think the licensing structure presents a significant area for improvement. The full features are not offered on the standard E4 license. This becomes problematic when distributing the project plan. I can export the plan as Excel and CSV files, but then I lose all the rich features, including dependency mapping. To recreate all that functionality without proper licensing is challenging. Microsoft Project offers a light version available for free, but when I try to distribute a project plan, it requires separate licensing. Microsoft Project Central used to be more of an enterprise product. Microsoft Project currently focuses on very low-level task management, and it could do much more. I do not see significant advancement happening because there is confusion about where Microsoft Project is heading. I believe Microsoft should bundle the license with Outlook, Teams, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. This approach would result in more people using Microsoft Project. That is my opinion on how to improve adoption and the product offering.
reviewer2068344 - PeerSpot reviewer
Director of Operations at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Useful project management capabilities, beneficial dashboards, but project planning could improve
The areas that should be improved in Planview Daptiv are a subject that can be viewed differently depending on who you ask. I feel they should focus on excelling in one specific area rather than providing average capabilities in many areas. For example, their project planning software is satisfactory but not as advanced as Microsoft Projects. The same goes for the capacity planning tool and reporting capabilities, which can be improved upon by using custom Excel spreadsheets or by hiring a business analyst for additional support. In short, the biggest weakness of Daptiv is that it does not excel in any one area and only provides average performance. In a future release, it would be beneficial to have a undo button.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"Microsoft Project is one of the only solutions you can use in just about any industry. It's difficult to do that with most other project management tools. There is a lot of flexibility within the product assets. Most sectors can utilize Microsoft Project successfully because it doesn't have any generic adapters."
"The most valuable features of this solution are dependency management, milestone progress, multiple resource rates, and RAG views."
"The setup is pretty simple."
"It's a scalable product, especially the online version."
"It is easy to check project costs in the solution."
"The tool helps us to check milestones. After doing tasks, our team updates them. Regarding functionalities in Microsoft Project, the number one feature is reminders. With so many projects, sometimes you forget; some projects might slip up or disappear. This feature is very useful."
"The ability to break down project phases is most valuable. Being able to align the tasks and reporting with project milestones and progress is also valuable."
"Technical support has been very helpful."
"Changepoint gives us a view of the project status and needs very clearly, which are things that we used to miss with MS Project and Excel."
"It's difficult to pinpoint just one most valuable feature, as there are many features that can be beneficial. For the specific use case of my client's project management office, they found the project management features of the application to be particularly valuable, such as project boards, reporting, and the ability to customize views. Additionally, task management and project scheduling were also highly utilized. However, capacity planning was not used as much as the others, as there was a lack of support from executives to invest in training and implementing it due to a lack of processes in place. The project planning features, dashboard, and reporting capabilities were considered the most valuable."
"The timekeeping features are great and very helpful."
"The powerful collaboration is definitely the most valuable and the fact that you can adjust flexibility to almost any methodology, and the easy creation of complete new functionalities without programming code."
"I like the reporting engine, IBM Cognos, especially the analytics. That's a good tool. It's quite strong on the ideation and capacity-planning side, which is a huge plus."
 

Cons

"Microsoft's solution isn't really a collaboration tool, however. If you need a collaboration tool, you can use Slack, which can be integrated with your JIRA."
"The tool's deployment is complex. Integration and automation also need to be improved."
"It would be better if Microsoft Project were included in the DevOps stack. That is, I'd like to see this tool integrated to a different stack of the applications that we normally use in DevOps, such as in Jira, for example, to deploy a different version related to the different tasks that are included in Microsoft Project."
"I would like Microsoft Project to better align with our business needs, with improved consultant support for setup and integration features that show all relevant aspects at the top level."
"In a future release, the dashboard should improve because there isn't one, I had to create my own."
"The dashboard could be improved."
"Microsoft Project could improve the interface, it should be more intuitive. It could be adjusted a little bit to make it a little easier to use and more user-friendly. It is a very powerful tool and it takes people a while to get used to it."
"In a future update, the system should be more inclusive and open to everyone, not just limited to one organization. For example, there may be instances where we want to bring in a guest from outside our organization and integrate them into our project. It would be beneficial if the system was more accessible and easy to integrate with other projects. Additionally, it would be great if there was a way to receive notifications, regardless of whether they come from a Gmail domain or another domain, to keep us informed of any incoming tasks."
"This solution needs more standard connectors to other solutions."
"I find the solution has an excessive amount of features. Many aren't even kept current. Some aren't useful at all. There's an overall lack of coherence within the solution. It can make the execution difficult. Many features can easily be eliminated and it would help streamline the solution. They should get rid of 80% of the features and then really focus on the leftover 20% to make it a really great product."
"It would also be nice to see some improvements on the IBM Cognos Analytics. There's still work to be done on the analytics side of things, like your condition formality."
"The areas that should be improved in Planview Daptiv are a subject that can be viewed differently depending on who you ask. I feel they should focus on excelling in one specific area rather than providing average capabilities in many areas. For example, their project planning software is satisfactory but not as advanced as Microsoft Projects. The same goes for the capacity planning tool and reporting capabilities, which can be improved upon by using custom Excel spreadsheets or by hiring a business analyst for additional support. In short, the biggest weakness of Daptiv is that it does not excel in any one area and only provides average performance."
"Expense management, simulation scenarios, and budget control could be great and useful features to include."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I do not remember the exact cost we paid but usually, they charge per user per month."
"The license fees for the professional version, which is estimated to be approximately $1,600, and the standard version, which is approximately $1,200, may be considered expensive by some users. This is something that could be improved to make the platform more accessible to a wider audience."
"The pricing is based on a licensing model and is reasonable."
"The solution is expensive."
"I rate the solution's pricing a three out of ten."
"The product is not expensive. My company has opted for an annual subscription."
"I rate Microsoft Project's pricing a five out of ten."
"I am not aware of any additional costs apart from the standard licensing fees of the solution."
"It's a yearly license, but it's not an open license. It's based on users and their roles. So your administrator is priced differently from your timesheet user."
"The licensing is pretty complex. Each kind of user is a different price. It's approximately $300 per year. They charge additional fees for technical support and other additional services."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
11%
Aerospace/Defense Firm
9%
Government
8%
Computer Software Company
6%
Performing Arts
11%
Marketing Services Firm
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business31
Midsize Enterprise15
Large Enterprise41
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise4
 

Questions from the Community

Has anyone moved from Microsoft Project to Smartsheet? How has your experience been with Smartsheet?
Hi @Eire Zimmermann, I helped an organization evaluate both MS-Project and Smartsheet when they were conducting their PM tool RFP. The short of it is this, MS Project is not caught up with the mo...
What do you like most about Microsoft Project?
The product's initial setup phase is easy.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Project?
I would say Microsoft Project is affordable, but the standalone Project license should be included in the Office price to increase adoption.
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Also Known As

Project Pro, MS Project
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Aston Martin, ABANCA, Airbus Group, Capita, Cardiff University, City of Saskatoon, Intel, Pegasus Airlines, South Australia Power Network (SAPN), Israeli Ministry of Construction and Housing
AOS Studley, Austrian Airlines, bpost bank, Employees Provident Fund, Stena Metall, VitalityHealth, Precor
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Project vs. Planview Daptiv and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
883,692 professionals have used our research since 2012.