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Microsoft Project vs Planisware 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
7.4
Microsoft Project boosts ROI by optimizing resource use, reducing delays, and centralizing data for cost-effective project management.
Sentiment score
1.0
Planisware is highly valued in pharma for project management, though opinions differ on its financial benefits and effectiveness.
Microsoft Project does help save time and money due to its completeness as a project management solution.
It is primarily used for the pharma vertical and related fields, and since we were running a full ERP digital transformation project in the life sciences domain, it suited that requirement very well.
Sometimes I feel that the ROI is not optimal because we are totally dependent on Planisware's system stability.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.6
Microsoft Project support has mixed reviews; it's responsive for some, but others face delays and suggest consistency improvements.
Sentiment score
2.8
Planisware's customer service is enthusiastic yet dependent on costly advanced support, with some feedback noting varied response accuracy.
I would give somewhere around 10 for my overall experience with support.
There is a website and a connection to AI for support.
The support was good, but there's more space for collaboration that we can do internally through Planisware, which was not the case.
We experienced a couple of issues, and they responded and resolved the issues and bugs promptly.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.0
Microsoft Project is scalable for various teams but faces challenges with external integration and performance in large deployments.
Sentiment score
4.9
Planisware offers stable scalability on resourceful servers, with customization on-premises and strategic modifications for extensive user environments.
The scalability of Planisware is good, as when you want to implement changes, you need to manage the process with your collaborators.
We experienced crashes in the upcoming year, but these mostly occurred on weekends, which minimized the impact on our users.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.9
Microsoft Project is stable and reliable, but larger projects may experience crashes and require caution and customization.
Sentiment score
6.4
Planisware, especially in SaaS, is stable and reliable, with minor bugs, and praised by companies like Pepsico and Ford.
They have made significant improvements, but still, there is a long way to go in terms of their flexibility, adaptability, and usability.
Sometimes the ROI is affected because we are totally dependent on Planisware's system stability.
 

Room For Improvement

Microsoft Project needs better integration, reporting, collaboration, real-time updates, and affordability, along with improved scalability and modern interface.
Planisware needs enhancements in integration, UI/UX, reporting, accessibility, stability, collaboration, flexibility, and third-party system integration.
The worst part is handling too many items, like 1,000 items, which Microsoft Project struggles with, especially when printing.
Maybe some generative AI features such as having tasks or activities being suggested automatically based on the rest of the tasks in the project would be useful; I haven't really missed them so far.
Microsoft Project tends to become very unstable on large project plans with more than 400 lines.
The integrations to Agile are essential; we had to do a full build to accomplish that.
We have experienced crashes in Planisware and system slowdowns.
The reports should be improved because all companies now need reporting, and with tools such as Grafana or Tableau, Planisware needs to add interfaces for data lakes since all companies require this.
 

Setup Cost

Microsoft Project's pricing is moderate to expensive, varying by company needs, especially for large teams or comprehensive features.
Planisware is a costly tool with licensing, setup, support, and training expenses, requiring strategic management commitment.
The issue with Microsoft is that the license is per personnel, making it expensive.
 

Valuable Features

Microsoft Project excels in scheduling, resource allocation, and cost tracking, integrating seamlessly for efficient enterprise-level project management.
Planisware provides robust project management with resource planning, data integration, Agile support, and built-in BI tools for enhanced decision-making.
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.
The scheduling part of Microsoft Project is easy; if you change one of the dates, the rest of the dates automatically get changed based on the dependency.
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.
The tools communicate with other tools, making it effective, and when we have a new resource, we can add it and send it to the resource management team, who can view it in Planisware.
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Project
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
82
Ranking in other categories
Project Management Software (4th)
Planisware
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
5.6
Number of Reviews
19
Ranking in other categories
Project Portfolio Management (5th)
 

Featured Reviews

Nurul Asyikin Wahab - PeerSpot reviewer
Efficient project management with robust data tracking and an easy setup
When I have too many elements or items in a project, it becomes cumbersome, especially during printing. Non-technical users do not need all the data, so it's primarily for technical personnel. Without guidance, it's challenging to use the app. With guidance and expert knowledge, it becomes manageable, however, it's not for non-technical teams. The worst part is handling too many items, like 1,000 items, which Microsoft Project struggles with, especially when printing. Printing on A3 size is quite burdensome, so I prefer viewing it on a tablet or computer. On a tablet or phone, I can see the full project elements depending on the screen size.
Avinash Padmanabhan - PeerSpot reviewer
Efficient project management and resource allocation, but agile capabilities need improvement
One drawback with Planisware is that it doesn't have good features for test management or agile; it lacks many concepts in agile such as retrospective, velocity planning, and backlog view. Some features are still missing because they have introduced these agile modules only in version seven and are still improving that product, so I see a good roadmap on those modules from Planisware's end. I find Planisware's collaboration tools to be good but not great as they still have certain restrictions. It can interact with Jira, it can interact with ADO, and you can have APIs created to interact with your internal HR systems or other systems for data flow. However, the error messages or fail scenarios don't provide good visibility of what is happening, why errors occur, or why something is not working. Regarding scenario planning, I haven't explored much on that side. We have the strategic module, strategic planning module, but we haven't explored much on the other side, so I don't have much experience or exposure to scenario planning.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
8%
Aerospace/Defense Firm
7%
Manufacturing Company
18%
Energy/Utilities Company
15%
Computer Software Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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'm not aware of the price as we use organization-wide licenses.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Planisware?
Planisware is very costly. I can comment that it's expensive, and even the consultants from Planisware charge a very high rate for their time. Generally speaking, they are expensive.
What needs improvement with Planisware?
The tool can be improved with integrations to Agile tools. We used Azure DevOps, which I dislike. Better integrations to JIRAs and perhaps open APIs for task management would be super beneficial. A...
What is your primary use case for Planisware?
My use cases involve building out a template library based on our methodology and continuing to iterate on that. We used a template, and basically, to start this out, we built out the template libr...
 

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
Apotex, Alstom Transport, HP, Stryker, Rexam, Jotun, Gelita, Kraton Performance Polymers, Abbvie, Rio Tinto Alcan, Maruho, Teva, SK Chemicals
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Project vs. Planisware and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
864,053 professionals have used our research since 2012.