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Microsoft Project Server vs Planview Portfolios comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 4, 2024

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 Server
Ranking in Project Portfolio Management
4th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
61
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Planview Portfolios
Ranking in Project Portfolio Management
7th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
63
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Architecture Management (13th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Project Portfolio Management category, the mindshare of Microsoft Project Server is 6.1%, down from 8.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Planview Portfolios is 7.7%, up from 6.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Project Portfolio Management
 

Featured Reviews

Mouloud Fourali - PeerSpot reviewer
Visual project planning enhances collaboration and proactive management
The dependency management in Microsoft Project is highly valuable, as it visually maps dependencies and impacts within a project plan. The online version facilitates easy collaboration without having to share multiple versions of the file. The Gantt chart is also a very powerful tool for a visual presentation of sequences, critical paths, and execution processes, which simplifies comprehension for users.
EduardoMaya - PeerSpot reviewer
A solution that gives you all the information you need to plan detailed projects
The initial setup was just a little complex. I rate the initial setup a seven out of ten. Deploying the solution took two weeks. While deploying the solution, we had two instances, one for the IT team and one for the business team. And we had to connect the two and explain things to the team. Only two people were needed to deploy the solution, me and another person.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The ability to look at the resource loading is most valuable."
"Microsoft Project Server is a scalable solution."
"Microsoft Project Server is a powerful tool I've used for years."
"I would recommend Microsoft Project Server to other organizations and would rate the solution ten out of ten."
"It is easily adaptable. In addition, it is easily used on mobile applications."
"The solution's ease of use is its most valuable aspect."
"I like being able to manage the capacity in terms of the resources. I also like being able to share documents and information between teams. It's the best solution for collaboration."
"We use the tool in our IT-related projects. All IT efforts are managed using the Microsoft Project Server. Every week, we have a project status meeting where we demonstrate the project's status using the tool. We track tasks and progress, assign owners, and monitor milestones and all project-related work using it."
"Its ability to create summary reports across multiple projects is one of the best features. They have very good data warehousing. You can put that out. You can tell that data warehousing from Planview Enterprise One is excellent."
"The biggest impact has been the visibility into our IT assets."
"We have a fairly good picture of time tracking."
"The resource capacity planning is the most valuable feature because you can evaluate your team's capacity by team and what projects they're working on and you can forecast easily by team."
"It maps back to our SDLC process pretty well. I'm able to see the stage of where things are at. We also use Azure DevOps for all of our requirements and our coding."
"I like that everyone is able to see the same data. All of our users who aren't just time reporters have read access to all the data that is out there. So, it is one source of truth where everybody can go in and see the exact same data that everybody else sees. It is transparent."
"The biggest impact for using Planview currently would be to understand the true costs of projects. We are trying to get to a point where not only do we take into account technical costs, but what the business cost is. Trying to integrate our business right now into Planview is helping us identify the true cost of the investments that we make so we can try and understand their value."
"The biggest impact has been getting all these global groups into one space so we can even have intelligent conversations about what are we trying to accomplish. Before, it was just different regions doing whatever. Now, we're all talking the same language, and that's good."
 

Cons

"Collaboration within the tool is lacking when you compare it to online or cloud-based tools."
"I am not convinced that the pricing model is the right one."
"Stability of the solution is an area with certain shortcomings where improvements are required."
"The solution should be made more collaborative."
"Collaboration should be better integrated in the desktop version."
"Microsoft doesn't always have all the answers, and they rely more on communities. Their support tends to decline when not supporting cloud solutions, and there is often an attempt to upsell alternate products rather than solve problems."
"We sometimes need support from the IT department for installing and deploying the Microsoft Project Server. It is not user-friendly, and users cannot install it themselves."
"Microsoft Project Server could improve by making the solution more user-friendly."
"The solution needs to be better at accepting new ideas for upcoming releases."
"The biggest room for improvement are the scripted dialogues. The scripted dialogues are a logic that you set up to force a certain workflow or process to happen. It's very old in respect that there are no clauses that you can apply to that logic. That definitely can use a lot of room for improvement."
"There's still a lot of reluctance within the organization. We're not using all of the capabilities that we have today. We're still doing our strategic and capital investment planning on spreadsheets rather than using the capabilities that exist within Enterprise One. I definitely need to leverage the experts here at Planview to help drive a culture change. There's just a lot of reluctance on behalf of people within the company to put data into the tool."
"We've been using it for a while, so it's about maturity. It's about being able to build out things in Agile groups and teams and some of that. Then really trying to drive into the direction of Lean Portfolio Management and more Agile program management, I think is where we're heading."
"Its ability to create summary reports across multiple projects is very limited. In terms of the out-of-the-box reporting for summary reports, the reporting that we typically leverage is around forecasting for resources, timesheets, and actuals, and just looking at what is the capacity. There is no real summary of what work is being done and how work is being accomplished. So, what we typically do is that we get a copy of the data files from Enterprise One daily, and then we have a team that manages the data mod outside of Enterprise One. They use data from Enterprise One as well as other additional sources to provide the reporting that we share with the management. So, we leverage a lot of Enterprise One data for reporting, but we don't use the reporting capabilities within Enterprise One. So, reporting can be improved, and they could help us make more customized reporting. I know it is very configurable out of the box, but we have to leverage an outside data mod that pulls in a lot of data from Enterprise One. So, the reporting function, and being able to customize reports, is the area that could be very beneficial."
"Sometimes within the application, when you pull a report, it takes awhile performance-wise for the reports to pull up."
"I would suggest for the request module that they open up the fields and columns so it's like we are doing our work in the work module. You can't do that with today. We also have to make sure that the fields can go both ways with the request and work modules. Including fields in the column sets would be helpful, because today they only use attributes."
"Even though Enterprise One is easy and user-friendly, it could provide better training like a demo. Providing more tutorials or sessions would really help."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I'm not quite sure about the licensing costs. We're probably paying somewhere in the neighborhood of about 80,000 to 90,000 a year for our current on-prem because we handle our own licensing. As far as Project Online is concerned, we're still trying to get a good handle on that. It looks like it is going to be in a neighborhood of about 120,000 to 150,000 a year, but we're getting a lot more capability out of it."
"I rate the pricing a one out of ten because the price is way too high."
"There is a licensing cost."
"It is an inexpensive product."
"Microsoft Project Server is relatively cheaper than other products."
"The technical assistance is expensive but the solution is an open source software."
"We pay an annual licensing fee for the solution."
"Microsoft Project Server is more expensive than other solutions on the market. We purchase the license annually."
"I don't know about the actual pricing. I have not come across any costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."
"The cost of other pieces and integrating them in needs improvement."
"We recently did a new bundle for all of Enterprise One. It includes some of the newer pieces, like Projectplace and LeanKit. It bundled our CTM in with it as well. I think the total came out to be about $900,000 a year. This is for unlimited licenses."
"We have unlimited licenses for all of our functionalities. Since we went global, we went with that model."
"I don't think we have necessarily purchased everything that I would have liked to have seen."
"The licensing part is a bit costly in comparison with the other available PPM tools."
"Our licensing costs are about a quarter of a million dollars per year."
"When we went through that process, I believe it is competitive with others on the market. However, there are less expensive options available. It's a more premium offering at a higher price."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Government
8%
Energy/Utilities Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Healthcare Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Microsoft Project Server?
The ability to track a project's progress using Microsoft Project Server is the most valuable aspect. It depends, especially when managing multiple projects.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Project Server?
Microsoft Project Server is on the expensive side due to high licensing costs, but it is mainly accessible to project managers. Online tools are cheaper and present competition.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Project Server?
The main drawback of Microsoft Project Server is that it is offline. Having it online would offer better access to other managers.
What do you like most about Planview Portfolios?
Planview Management integrates seamlessly with other tools and systems used within the organization, such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, customer relationship management (CRM) syst...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Planview Portfolios?
Planview Portfolios is not too expensive. You get what you paid for.
What needs improvement with Planview Portfolios?
Enhancements are needed in: Advanced reporting and analytics: While Planview Management provides robust reporting and analytics capabilities, further enhancements could include more advanced data v...
 

Also Known As

MS Project Server
Planview Enterprise One, Troux
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Magnachip, Gwinnett County Schools, CLEAResult, Medbit Oy, Intelbras S.A., ETS, CORE Construction, Keller Foundations
UPS, NatWest, Ingram Micro, Canadian Tire, Viessmann, Volvo, NASCO, UNESCO
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Project Server vs. Planview Portfolios and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
861,524 professionals have used our research since 2012.