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Microsoft Project vs Planview AdaptiveWork comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 19, 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
Ranking in Project Management Software
3rd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
82
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Planview AdaptiveWork
Ranking in Project Management Software
20th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
8
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Project Management Software category, the mindshare of Microsoft Project is 7.2%, down from 11.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Planview AdaptiveWork is 1.3%, down from 1.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Project Management Software
 

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.
VishalSingh11 - PeerSpot reviewer
Has resources management and timesheets but could be more flexible
Compared to Broadcom Clarity, there was some flexibility with blueprints, etc. You can create a blueprint for different business groups or different customers. Planview AdaptiveWork doesn't have something like that. If they can build up something like a view price. It's still a traditional way where you have to create different instances for different customers. The PPM solution uses queries if I'm rolling out for different divisions. In that case, I have to create different instances for each region because each division may have a different look and feel. But if I have a blueprint, then it's very convenient. I can create multiple interfaces for different processes. Broadcom Clarity has some access control on those viewpoints.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature of the solution is planning."
"It's a scalable product, especially the online version."
"Being able to get a milestone schedule or a breakdown out of it is valuable. It can integrate into Visio, which is helpful."
"It is easy to use and pretty intuitive. User interfaces have stayed the same for the most part for the last 20 years. So, there is a familiarity."
"I especially like the reporting tools, which are visual tools and offer visual reports."
"It served the purpose. It was pretty user-friendly."
"The tool has a simple and excellent approach."
"The product's initial setup phase is easy."
"The feature that has improved our project planning the most is the ability to create custom workflows, which allows us to automate manual tasks that project managers need to perform. The collaboration feature enhances our team's productivity by allowing individuals to see the impact of their decisions on projects owned and managed by other teams."
"Clarizen's strength is reporting. Aside from reporting, I also like the ability to create customized workflow and custom actions. The workflow rules are handy. For example, you can create custom fields and dependent picklists."
"I like the project management solution. It's really nice."
"Clarizen Slide Publisher has helped increase transparency and communication with project stakeholders for us."
 

Cons

"Microsoft Project tends to become very unstable on large project plans with more than 400 lines."
"It is a traditional Waterfall-based solution, so it doesn't lend itself particularly well to Agile development. You can record Agile sprints within it, but it is not really an Agile-based product. It can store the basic information about budgets that an Agile set of work is looking to use, but that's about it."
"The stability of the solution is an area with certain shortcomings that need improvement."
"The solution is currently a bit slow and can be faster."
"When I have too many elements or items in a project, it becomes cumbersome, especially during printing."
"Microsoft Project should include more visualization, queries to filter out data, and more reporting structures."
"I would like to have more access to templates and tools that could be used to teach project management best practices."
"Tracking timeline, resource allocation, and monitoring are areas of concern for the tool where improvements are required."
"One specific area for improvement could be implementing a development environment to test workflows with live production data."
"If I start customizing too many things, Clarizen tends to get really slow in our environment and especially if I'm tunneled in an environment, like if I'm connected to my VPN."
"I felt like the slide publisher isn't that user-friendly. I think it wasn't that easy to use or to figure out because of formatting constraints, or maybe we need to get better at understanding some of its limitations."
"It could be more user-friendly. I think it is too overwhelming, initially, in terms of possibilities and so on."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The cost for an on-premises-based license is a one-time fee, and the cloud-based is an annual payment plan."
"Microsoft Project is an expensive solution."
"Licensing costs vary depending on the user volume. The pricing is good, I'd rate it four out of five."
"I rate the solution's pricing a three out of ten."
"It was a three-year license deal that was reconciled on a quarterly basis. It is a reasonably priced product, and I consider that we got good value for money."
"You only need a Team's license in order to use Microsoft Project within Teams, which is very helpful."
"The license is a one-time payment but it is expensive."
"I do not have personal experience with pricing or licensing of this product."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
54%
Computer Software Company
6%
Manufacturing Company
5%
Government
5%
Educational Organization
36%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
 

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 do you like most about Planview AdaptiveWork?
The feature that has improved our project planning the most is the ability to create custom workflows, which allows us to automate manual tasks that project managers need to perform. The collaborat...
What needs improvement with Planview AdaptiveWork?
One specific area for improvement could be implementing a development environment to test workflows with live production data.
What advice do you have for others considering Planview AdaptiveWork?
Integration with other tools can sometimes be a hiccup, but this isn't necessarily a limitation of Planview AdaptiveWork. It's more often a result of company policies regarding integration with oth...
 

Also Known As

Project Pro, MS Project
Planview Clarizen
 

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
Cisco Capital, JLL, Conagra Brands, Cargill, JLL, IBM, IIROC, Siemens Energy
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Project vs. Planview AdaptiveWork and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.