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Microsoft Project vs Planview Daptiv comparison

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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:
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Project
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
86
Ranking in other categories
Project Management Software (8th)
Planview Daptiv
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
Project Portfolio Management (10th)
 

Featured Reviews

Jacob-George - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
reviewer2068344 - PeerSpot reviewer
Director of Operations at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Useful project management capabilities, beneficial dashboards, but project planning could improve
The areas that should be improved in Planview Daptiv are a subject that can be viewed differently depending on who you ask. I feel they should focus on excelling in one specific area rather than providing average capabilities in many areas. For example, their project planning software is satisfactory but not as advanced as Microsoft Projects. The same goes for the capacity planning tool and reporting capabilities, which can be improved upon by using custom Excel spreadsheets or by hiring a business analyst for additional support. In short, the biggest weakness of Daptiv is that it does not excel in any one area and only provides average performance. In a future release, it would be beneficial to have a undo button.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"A lot of valuable features have been added in the last three years, including scheduling automation and intelligence."
"The user interface is simple and it helps me in planning what needs to be accomplished."
"If you work with Microsoft, it's very easy to work with this."
"Resource leveling is very useful. We like this feature. We like to be able to expand tasks and look at different resources and tasks usages. It is good at assigning tasks to teams. It is pretty compliant with the Project Management Institute approach, which is useful for being comprehensive. It allows us to make little Gantt charts and network diagrams."
"Technical support has been very helpful."
"We have not had any problems with Microsoft's technical support. We are happy with the support."
"We love, in general, the usability and the user interface; it's quite intuitive and easy to use."
"Microsoft Project's integrated timeline is tied to the project plan almost seamlessly, and you add whatever action item or milestone you choose. All you have to do is set up a column and click on the timeline. It will automatically put it in there and allow you to choose the type, whether it's a bar or if it's a milestone, just pointing out that single milestone"
"Changepoint allowed us to model resource request/assignment workflow in our large PS organization."
"Consequently, it is the single point of truth for both our project managers and our senior leadership."
"The most valuable features are resource allocation and capacity planning."
"The powerful collaboration is definitely the most valuable and the fact that you can adjust flexibility to almost any methodology, and the easy creation of complete new functionalities without programming code."
"Daptiv templates give you a world of possibilities, no matter the PMI maturity level the company has."
"It's difficult to pinpoint just one most valuable feature, as there are many features that can be beneficial. For the specific use case of my client's project management office, they found the project management features of the application to be particularly valuable, such as project boards, reporting, and the ability to customize views. Additionally, task management and project scheduling were also highly utilized. However, capacity planning was not used as much as the others, as there was a lack of support from executives to invest in training and implementing it due to a lack of processes in place. The project planning features, dashboard, and reporting capabilities were considered the most valuable."
"Changepoint gives us a view of the project status and needs very clearly, which are things that we used to miss with MS Project and Excel."
"The timekeeping features are great and very helpful."
 

Cons

"The Microsoft license is relatively expensive."
"The only drawbacks are the customization."
"The technical support could be improved. They are okay, however, they could be much better."
"We need more integration with Microsoft Teams and other collaboration tools."
"The Gantt set needs to be improved. The grid lines needs to be more interactive."
"It needs to be more comprehensive."
"Its price can be improved."
"The licensing cost is expensive and has room for improvement."
"I find the solution has an excessive amount of features. Many aren't even kept current."
"The user interface is quirky and does not always conform to the expected Microsoft UI standards."
"Limited unless you purchase additional support hours."
"Expense management, simulation scenarios, and budget control could be great and useful features to include."
"I would say there is too much work that has to go into the configuration up front and for the first 6 months to 1 year after, which costs time, money, and resources, and it is not a very advanced tool and seems interface-wise to be behind the times."
"I find the solution has an excessive amount of features. Many aren't even kept current. Some aren't useful at all. There's an overall lack of coherence within the solution. It can make the execution difficult. Many features can easily be eliminated and it would help streamline the solution. They should get rid of 80% of the features and then really focus on the leftover 20% to make it a really great product."
"It would also be nice to see some improvements on the IBM Cognos Analytics. There's still work to be done on the analytics side of things, like your condition formality."
"The previous solution that we were using was Projector PSA; it was overall a superior product."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"You only need a Team's license in order to use Microsoft Project within Teams, which is very helpful."
"The solution is less expensive than other options."
"It gets expensive when having to add all of the plugins and everything that you need."
"The product is not expensive. My company has opted for an annual subscription."
"The licensing model is somewhat complex."
"I am not aware of any additional costs apart from the standard licensing fees of the solution."
"Microsoft Project is an expensive solution."
"We have to pay for a yearly license for Microsoft Project."
"It's a yearly license, but it's not an open license. It's based on users and their roles. So your administrator is priced differently from your timesheet user."
"The licensing is pretty complex. Each kind of user is a different price. It's approximately $300 per year. They charge additional fees for technical support and other additional services."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Outsourcing Company
18%
Construction Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
13%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business31
Midsize Enterprise16
Large Enterprise42
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise4
 

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 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.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Project?
I am not expert enough to explain areas of improvement for Microsoft Project because I have not explored it extensively or used it enough, so I am not the right person to comment on this. I have no...
Ask a question
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Comparisons

 

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
AOS Studley, Austrian Airlines, bpost bank, Employees Provident Fund, Stena Metall, VitalityHealth, Precor
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Project vs. Planview Daptiv and other solutions. Updated: October 2026.
915,341 professionals have used our research since 2012.