Jira vs Microsoft Project comparison

Atlassian and Microsoft are both solutions in the Project Management Software category. Atlassian is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.5, while Microsoft is ranked #8 with an average rating of 7.8. Atlassian holds a 3.9% mindshare in PMS, compared to Microsoft’s 2.2% mindshare. Additionally, 91% of Atlassian users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 93% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

Jira

Read 281 Jira reviews

19,738 Views
5,132 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

Microsoft Project

Read 85 Microsoft Project reviews

4,421 Views
3,581 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

Jira

Microsoft Project

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 19, 2024

Jira and Microsoft Project compete in the project management software category. Jira appears to have the edge for agile project management and customization, while Microsoft Project offers strong scheduling and resource allocation which are beneficial for complex project oversight.

Features: Jira is known for its strong agile project management capabilities, extensive plugin ecosystem, and powerful API for integration. It is highly customizable, making it flexible and user-friendly, especially in task management and team collaboration. Microsoft Project is lauded for its robust scheduling features, resource allocation, and milestone tracking, which are particularly advantageous for enterprise-level planning and project management.

Room for Improvement: Jira can be complex due to its configuration settings and extensive reliance on plugins, with users often seeking enhancements in reporting and stability. Microsoft Project's interface is considered outdated and not fully aligned with Agile methodologies. Users desire improved integration and more intuitive collaboration features.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Jira offers deployment flexibility across multiple environments including public, private, hybrid cloud, and on-premises setups. While it provides extensive self-service resources, technical support is sometimes noted as slow and less personalized. Microsoft Project, typically deployed on-premises, integrates well with Microsoft applications offering seamless integration, but has less flexibility in cloud deployment. Its comprehensive documentation is noted, though more integrated support channels would be beneficial.

Pricing and ROI: Jira's tiered pricing model is competitive, especially for small to medium-sized businesses using cloud services. Costs can increase with additional plugins. Microsoft Project is positioned higher in terms of pricing, particularly as user numbers and additional services from Microsoft increase. While both are seen to provide good ROI, Microsoft Project's higher pricing points to a need for more competitive pricing.

To learn more, read our detailed Jira vs. Microsoft Project Report (Updated: April 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Jira vs. Microsoft Project

April 2026

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Helped 892,646 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score

6.7

Jira enhances team efficiency and productivity, offering cost-effectiveness and features, outweighing initial costs through significant time and error reduction.

Sentiment score

7.4

Microsoft Project optimizes resource use and efficiency, enhancing project management, reducing costs, and improving transparency and completion timelines.

A return on investment has been seen with Jira, as a lot of time has been saved in arranging tasks, converting software features into epics, tasks, and milestones, making it easy to track progress and plan future roadmaps.

Akhil Viswam

Senior Consultant at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees

We implement it and track it with the help of the time tracking feature, which makes it quite easy to manage everything in a single platform.

Amar-Kumar

Technical Lead at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees

Tracking has helped people see productivity measures and different observability metrics and traceability metrics of different tools.

reviewer2650416

Integration Supervisor Lead at a manufacturing company with 5,001-10,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Jira report

If I can eliminate delays, I achieve good ROI because resources can be utilized to their maximum capacity.

Jacob-George

Domain Consultant at a consultancy with 501-1,000 employees

Microsoft Project does help save time and money due to its completeness as a project management solution.

Rod Organ

Principal: Cyber Security, Information Security Management, Data Privacy at Astrum

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Project report

Customer Service

Sentiment score

6.6

Jira's support receives mixed reviews, with Premier Support praised, but suggestions for improved efficiency and localized service remain.

Sentiment score

6.4

Microsoft Project support receives mixed reviews, with responsiveness varying by location, support type, and specific customer needs.

Jira's customer support is one of the best I have ever dealt with because they respond quickly.

Nathan Akimoff

CEO at 2Help

They usually reach out within one to two business days and give specific answers.

Yervand Akelyan

Senior Technical Support Engineer I at Krisp

I did not face any issues with stability or upgrades.

Gadi Perets

Senior Director, Head of Information Systems Division at Israel Innovation Authority

For more quotes and insights, download the Jira report

Currently, there are more support personnel who speak English, and Microsoft has increased its Spanish language support compared to previous years.

Alveiro Goyeneche

Desarrollo de negocios at SEGEN GROUP SAS

There is a website and a connection to AI for support.

Nurul Asyikin Wahab

Management Design Civil Structure at Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd

I would give somewhere around 10 for my overall experience with support.

reviewer1487187

Associate Director at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Project report

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score

7.2

Jira is generally praised for scalability, accommodating growth, but some users face challenges without customization.

Sentiment score

6.9

Microsoft Project is scalable and adaptable, integrating well with Microsoft tools but needing better external system integration.

As the number of users, projects, and work items grows, Jira can scale effectively.

reviewer2650416

Integration Supervisor Lead at a manufacturing company with 5,001-10,000 employees

Scalability for Jira is great, and it handles growth easily from 100 to thousands.

Nathan Akimoff

CEO at 2Help

For more quotes and insights, download the Jira report

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Project report

Stability Issues

Sentiment score

7.6

Jira is generally stable and reliable, with occasional slowdowns; most users appreciate its consistency and robust functionality.

Sentiment score

7.9

Microsoft Project is generally stable and reliable, with occasional issues in complex projects, rated 8-9 for stability.

In my experience, Jira is stable, with around 99% uptime.

Akhil Viswam

Senior Consultant at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Jira report

Microsoft Project is a stable tool, and when using it in different projects, it works perfectly.

Alveiro Goyeneche

Desarrollo de negocios at SEGEN GROUP SAS

Microsoft Project is a stable product.

Jacob-George

Domain Consultant at a consultancy with 501-1,000 employees

I would rate the stability of Microsoft Project as an eight out of ten.

SanjeevKumar26

Project Lead at ABB

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Project report

Room For Improvement

Jira's usability is hindered by outdated documentation, complex customization, limited search, stability issues, and difficult third-party integration.

Microsoft Project users seek improved usability, integration, real-time data, reporting, automation, collaboration features, and better pricing with Office apps.

Focus more on improving API integration and automation tools, not just the design.

Nathan Akimoff

CEO at 2Help

One feature that could improve Jira is the integration of AI capabilities, such as organizing Jira tasks autonomously with minimum human intervention and executing aggregations and clustering of these tasks.

Akhil Viswam

Senior Consultant at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees

A simpler user experience for new users is necessary.

Vyas Shubham

Product Analyst at a consultancy with 51-200 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Jira report

The worst part is handling too many items, like 1,000 items, which Microsoft Project struggles with, especially when printing.

Nurul Asyikin Wahab

Management Design Civil Structure at Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd

It would be beneficial to see enhanced reporting functionalities in future versions.

SanjeevKumar26

Project Lead at ABB

Microsoft Project tends to become very unstable on large project plans with more than 400 lines.

Rod Organ

Principal: Cyber Security, Information Security Management, Data Privacy at Astrum

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Project report

Setup Cost

Jira's pricing ranges from affordable to costly, depending on users, plugins, and transitioning to cloud options.

Microsoft Project offers varied pricing; value in bundles but standalone licenses may be costly, seen as competitive overall.

Even if only five people from your team use a financial plugin, you still pay for all 100 seats.

Nathan Akimoff

CEO at 2Help

For more quotes and insights, download the Jira report

The issue with Microsoft is that the license is per personnel, making it expensive.

Nurul Asyikin Wahab

Management Design Civil Structure at Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd

I believe it's usually included in the Microsoft 365 package.

Alveiro Goyeneche

Desarrollo de negocios at SEGEN GROUP SAS

Microsoft Project is affordable, but the standalone Project license should be included in the Office price to increase adoption.

Jacob-George

Domain Consultant at a consultancy with 501-1,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Project report

Valuable Features

Jira's customization, Agile compatibility, and integrations enhance project management with user-friendly interfaces, reporting, and collaboration tools.

Microsoft Project offers intuitive scheduling, resource management, and integration with Office Suite for streamlined and efficient project planning.

You can build your own workflows and make it work exactly the way your team needs and integrate it with almost every third-party software.

Nathan Akimoff

CEO at 2Help

Agile boards give instant visibility into what is in progress, blocked, or completed. It provides clear status and ownership, which helps the team stay aligned without constant follow-ups.

Vyas Shubham

Product Analyst at a consultancy with 51-200 employees

Jira has helped not only our organization but many organizations to be very focused and understand what needs to be done and to prioritize things effectively.

Yervand Akelyan

Senior Technical Support Engineer I at Krisp

For more quotes and insights, download the Jira report

This tool is the most accurate project management tool, allowing me to run a full set of project activities without having to switch between different tools for scheduling and other tasks.

Rod Organ

Principal: Cyber Security, Information Security Management, Data Privacy at Astrum

The collaboration features are valuable for controlling the project and transmitting information to other team members when working in a team.

Alveiro Goyeneche

Desarrollo de negocios at SEGEN GROUP SAS

The most valuable features are in the successor and predecessor determination and the tracking tools, such as obtaining data on the S curve financial curve.

Nurul Asyikin Wahab

Management Design Civil Structure at Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Project report

Categories and Ranking

Jira

Ranking in Project Management Software

1st

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

281

Ranking in other categories

Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites (1st), Application Requirements Management (2nd)

Microsoft Project

Ranking in Project Management Software

8th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Project Management Software category, the mindshare of Jira is 3.9%, down from 9.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Project is 2.2%, down from 7.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Project Management Software Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Jira	3.9%
Microsoft Project	2.2%
Other	93.9%

Project Management Software

Featured Reviews

Akhil Viswam

Senior Consultant at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees

Agile workflows have streamlined sprint planning and tracking for faster feature delivery

Jira has a very good interface and it is very easy to manage sprints, tasks, and epics. The main feature is the hierarchy, as features can be converted into epics and topics, allowing bigger tasks to be partitioned into smaller ones. The hierarchy feature in Jira helps the team significantly compared to other tools that have been used, such as Trello, which is mainly useful only for a waterfall model. For modern Agile practices, Jira is the most adapted tool in the industry. Another valuable feature is that Jira APIs have been used for data science projects to analyze tasks and get insights. This has also been very helpful in the project.

Read full review

Jacob-George

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.

Read full review

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

14%

Computer Software Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

10%

Construction Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Aerospace/Defense Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	108
Midsize Enterprise	58
Large Enterprise	151

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	31
Midsize Enterprise	15
Large Enterprise	41

Questions from the Community

Is Jira better or would you go with Micro Focus ALM Octane?

Hi Netanya, Basically , it all depends on the use cases for your environment and the business needs. Hope the below data may be relevant to you for identifying your needs and deciding on the approp...

See all answers

Which is better - Jira or Microsoft Azure DevOps?

Jira is a great centralized tool for just about everything, from local team management to keeping track of products and work logs. It is easy to implement and navigate, and it is stable and scalabl...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Jira?

Jira itself is fairly priced for the features it provides, but pricing is a bit higher than some alternatives, mostly because many plugins and add-ons are paid and licensed per user. So even if onl...

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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...

See all answers

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.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Microsoft Project?

See all answers

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Compared 5% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Jira

April 2026

Download Jira product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Project

April 2026

Download Microsoft Project product report

Also Known As

Jira Software

Project Pro, MS Project

Overview

Jira is a comprehensive tool favored by teams for its ability to streamline project management and enhance Agile workflows. Its versatile features, such as customization options and integration capabilities, enable efficient task management and collaboration.

Jira supports Agile methodologies through its adaptability and robust functionalities. Teams benefit from its customizable workflows, enabling seamless integration with third-party applications. Despite its complexity in customization and interface challenges, Jira is invaluable for sprint planning, backlog management, and issue tracking. It provides strong reporting tools, though some users highlight areas for improvement in documentation and stability. It's especially useful for IT, development, and marketing teams to maintain productivity and effective collaboration.

What are the key features of Jira?

Customization: Allows crafting specific workflows and processes tailored to team needs.
Agile Compatibility: Supports Scrum and Kanban boards for efficient Agile practices.
API Integration: Offers robust integration options with numerous plugins and tools.
Reporting Tools: Provides detailed analytics for informed sprint planning and tracking.

What benefits should users expect from Jira?

Enhanced Collaboration: Facilitates communication and teamwork across departments.
Improved Task Management: Streamlines tracking of tasks and issues for projects.
Flexibility: Adapts to diverse team requirements through customizable features.
Efficiency: Boosts productivity with support for Agile methodologies.

Jira's implementation in software development and project management sectors underscores its suitability for managing complex projects. Its use extends to QA and marketing for organizing workflows and ensuring effective task distribution. Despite some areas needing refinement, Jira remains integral for teams aiming to boost collaboration and maintain streamlined project processes.

Atlassian

Microsoft Project offers scheduling, resource management, and budget tracking with a user-friendly interface, integrating smoothly with Microsoft products to enhance project management efficiency across industries.

Microsoft Project delivers powerful tools for enterprise-level planning and project management, aiding in tasks like resource allocation, earned value management, and detailed tracking. With seamless integration into Microsoft Office Suite, it supports collaboration through Teams and SharePoint. Equipped with features such as Gantt charts, critical path analysis, and dependency management, it streamlines complex projects. Despite its stability and scalability, areas for improvement include simplification, enhanced integrations, and better templates.

What are the key features of Microsoft Project?

Scheduling: Helps organize tasks and timelines for efficient project flow.
Resource Management: Optimizes use of manpower and assets across projects.
Budget Tracking: Monitors financials to ensure cost-effective execution.
Integration with Microsoft Office: Aligns with Teams, SharePoint, and Power BI for enhanced collaboration.
Gantt Charts: Visualizes project timelines and dependencies efficiently.

What benefits should users look for when evaluating Microsoft Project?

Enhanced Collaboration: Integrates with Teams and SharePoint to boost team interaction.
Scalability: Supports projects of all sizes, making it adaptable to business needs.
Comprehensive Planning Tools: Offers a suite of analysis options for precise project management.
Ease of Use: Intuitive interface ensures quick user adoption and productivity.
Improved Reporting: Generates detailed insights to facilitate informed decision-making.

Microsoft Project is extensively used in industries like IT, telecommunications, and infrastructure, providing essential tools for managing internal and external projects. Its capabilities support sectors in handling timelines, dependencies, and complex reporting effectively. Integration with cloud solutions furthers its usability across enterprise environments.

Microsoft

Sample Customers

Square, Nasa, eBay, Cisco, SalesForce, Adobe, BNP Paribas, BMW and LinkedIn, Pfizer, Citi.

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

Buyer's Guide

Jira vs. Microsoft Project

April 2026

Free Report: Jira vs. Microsoft Project

Find out what your peers are saying about Jira vs. Microsoft Project and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.

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