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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
5th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
62
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 (12th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Project Portfolio Management category, the mindshare of Microsoft Project Server is 4.9%, down from 8.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Planview Portfolios is 7.1%, up from 5.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Project Portfolio Management Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Microsoft Project Server4.9%
Planview Portfolios7.1%
Other88.0%
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 stability of the 2019 version is quite good."
"It is easily adaptable. In addition, it is easily used on mobile applications."
"It's stable and reliable."
"Using Power BI and SQL Server, I can extract a lot more data."
"This is a scalable solution. It is easy to set up and to add clusters to your environment."
"Microsoft Project Server is quite a powerful tool and offers a good way of seeing dependencies and interactions, along with baselines."
"Microsoft Project Server helps organizations in collaboration."
"It is a scalable solution. We have been able to manage larger scale projects easily using this solution."
"Enterprise One provides end-to-end work management for the full spectrum of types of work in one tool."
"Enterprise One has enabled us to eliminate Excel. We don't track financials anymore in an Excel format, which the company was doing before. Even now, being a new portfolio manager four months in, I'm able to just pick up my project. I'm able to see where I am right now. That improvised it to be more automated. The only missing part is the integration between tools. I'm not able to see my full schedule, but I know what are my important milestones are like watching the financials and all that stuff."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is the completeness of the standard, underlying metamodel."
"When it comes to managing project plans, Enterprise One is awesome at enabling us to see what stage work is at. I've always thought it was awesome because it's good whether we're doing a traditional WBS or we're linking in epics into projects that are supporting the programs and the strategies, I've always thought it was an excellent tool."
"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."
"Our reporting is much better. There is much more visibility on projects, schedules, tasks, and in our milestones. Now, we have a consistent way of reporting out to the committees and getting all of our schedules and milestones."
"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."
"We use time reporting. We convert time reporting into financial costs and do contractor and capacity planning for our resources. We track our work. So, that's the module we use extensively. As a matter of fact, we have upwards of 300 open projects at this given moment. It is pretty close to 300 open activities that are working."
 

Cons

"It would be better if the solution had some more training or resources available for a person who is new to Microsoft Project Server."
"I am not convinced that the pricing model is the right one."
"In terms of tech support, it took a long time for them to resolve a ticket."
"When we started using this solution from scratch, we got lost. Microsoft should provide some templates for configurations for certain use cases."
"Stability of the solution is an area with certain shortcomings where improvements are required."
"Permission management needs improvement."
"The user interface looks quite old and needs to be improved."
"Microsoft Project Server needs improvement in the integration of more tools and syncing of Blockly tools on time."
"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."
"We had issues with the data rephrasing."
"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."
"It is not an end-user-friendly product, and that's really the biggest thing. The hardest or the biggest hurdle I've ever had to face was adoption. I did the installation of the HP product in 2011. The company used it from 2011 to 2015, and the adoption was very high. When I was given the Planview product, adoption was very low. It wasn't as extensively used. We actually had people who wanted to go back to HP PPM because the interface of Planview was so broken, and it still is to some degree. So, it is not user-friendly. It doesn't flow the way a project manager thinks. What we did with HP PPM was a lot more manual programming. It wasn't as nice in terms of the interface, and it wasn't as pretty, but you could design it and build it so that everything flows with the way you worked, but Planview doesn't quite do that. There are a lot of screens. You have to jump back and forth. There are so many different places you have to go to just to do some basic tasks. That's the biggest thing that has really hindered adoption."
"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."
"The solution needs to be better at accepting new ideas for upcoming releases."
"One big issue we have been having during our annual planning is that only the creator of a portfolio can edit it. This means that only the creator of a portfolio can edit which projects are included or excluded in it."
"The number one thing that needs improvement is the UI. It should be easy for a casual project manager. It should provide customizable screens that can be a choice for project managers to choose as a professional level, medium level, and a very easy level."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There are some payments related to the licensing cost of Microsoft Project Server."
"Microsoft Project Server is an expensive solution. Small businesses will not be able to afford it."
"The licensing was procured before my involvement."
"I think they need more flexibility with licensing, because there are preconceived ideas that don't allow as much flexibility with the various licenses."
"I cannot comment on the price as I was not responsible for purchasing the solution."
"There is a licensing cost."
"We pay an annual licensing fee for the solution."
"A standard license is cheaper, but if you want more features, then there is a premium license or professional license."
"With the costs, they were very understanding. Knowing that we were an existing customer, they were very much willing to work with us to make sure that we were able to transition to Enterprise One from PPM Pro."
"Our licensing costs are about a quarter of a million dollars per year."
"I don't think we have necessarily purchased everything that I would have liked to have seen."
"We have several hundred licenses. It costs us several hundred thousand dollars a year."
"I think all in we are at $33,000 a year and that includes Projectplace and Planview. We used to have the integration to JIRA, but we don't pay for that anymore."
"We overbought our licenses. We looked at our needs three to four years down the road and tried based our contract on that. However, we were over aggressive. We use about a third of the licenses that we have. We're looking to adjust the makeup so we can start utilizing the amount of money that we are spending. Right now, we're overspending, and my organization is not seeing the value in Planview because we are paying so much for licenses that we're not using."
"Planview is a little pricey. From a licensing perspective, for just a simple timesheet user who does nothing in the system but reports time, the licensing is a little pricey, but you have to look at it from what it is that you get. We have 6,000 users, and I don't manage the system at all. I just have to do add them to the system. The servers, maintenance, OS levels, security patching for the OS, and all other things are not something that we maintain. So, you have to look at it from an operational perspective. It is not just the product itself. A holistic view has to be taken when you look at the product and how you're going to support it. I would have to hire an entire operation staff to bring it in-house, and at the end of the day, that might cost me more."
"The cost of other pieces and integrating them in needs improvement."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
14%
Computer Software Company
13%
Government
9%
Energy/Utilities Company
6%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Healthcare Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business25
Midsize Enterprise12
Large Enterprise33
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise58
 

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?
The pricing for Microsoft Project Server is standard, around $200-$250, but I think it's actually $80 to $100 per year. The pricing for Microsoft Project Server is relative; I would say it is cheap.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Project Server?
In order to improve Microsoft Project Server, collaborative features could be enhanced, as it is possible to improve it in a collaborative way similar to other office products, for example, using c...
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 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...
What is your primary use case for Planview Portfolios?
We use Planview Management to assess the current project portfolio, evaluate resource availability, and prioritize projects based on strategic objectives, ROI, and risk factors. Planview Management...
 

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: September 2025.
872,098 professionals have used our research since 2012.