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Microsoft Project vs Planview ProjectPlace 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
7.0
Microsoft Project improves efficiency and transparency, reduces costs, and consolidates tools, providing significant financial and time savings.
Sentiment score
5.6
Planview ProjectPlace enhances ROI through streamlined tracking, resource assessment, and improved visibility, though ROI varies with feature exploration.
If I can eliminate delays, I achieve good ROI because resources can be utilized to their maximum capacity.
Domain Consultant at a consultancy with 501-1,000 employees
Microsoft Project does help save time and money due to its completeness as a project management solution.
Principal: Cyber Security, Information Security Management, Data Privacy at Astrum
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.4
Microsoft Project's technical support is mixed; users value resource documentation, but some experience delays and expert accessibility issues.
Sentiment score
6.5
Users have mixed experiences with Planview ProjectPlace support, praising resources but citing issues with service quality and response times.
Currently, there are more support personnel who speak English, and Microsoft has increased its Spanish language support compared to previous years.
Desarrollo de negocios at SEGEN GROUP SAS
I would give somewhere around 10 for my overall experience with support.
Associate Director at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
There is a website and a connection to AI for support.
Management Design Civil Structure at Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.9
Microsoft Project is scalable, supports various project sizes and needs, but requires understanding for adaptation and licensing considerations.
Sentiment score
7.0
Planview ProjectPlace scales efficiently, accommodating increased users and projects, offering a collaborative space despite minor technical constraints.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.9
Microsoft Project is stable and reliable but may face challenges with large projects and complex dependencies.
Sentiment score
7.7
Planview ProjectPlace is generally stable, though Indian users report occasional crashes; newer versions address some issues.
Microsoft Project is a stable tool, and when using it in different projects, it works perfectly.
Desarrollo de negocios at SEGEN GROUP SAS
Microsoft Project is a stable product.
Domain Consultant at a consultancy with 501-1,000 employees
I would rate the stability of Microsoft Project as an eight out of ten.
Project Lead at ABB
 

Room For Improvement

Microsoft Project requires enhanced intuitiveness, integration, agile support, user-friendliness, training resources, licensing flexibility, and cost-effective collaboration tools.
Planview ProjectPlace needs improved reporting, UI updates, better integration, and enhanced performance for competitive functionality and user experience.
It would be beneficial to see enhanced reporting functionalities in future versions.
Project Lead at ABB
The worst part is handling too many items, like 1,000 items, which Microsoft Project struggles with, especially when printing.
Management Design Civil Structure at Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd
I believe Microsoft should bundle the license with Outlook, Teams, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
Domain Consultant at a consultancy with 501-1,000 employees
 

Setup Cost

Microsoft Project offers flexible pricing for cloud and on-premise licenses, starting around $30, with favorable enterprise reviews.
Planview ProjectPlace offers moderate costs and functionalities but requires staffing, with confusing licensing models and potential unexpected expenses.
The issue with Microsoft is that the license is per personnel, making it expensive.
Management Design Civil Structure at Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd
I believe it's usually included in the Microsoft 365 package.
Desarrollo de negocios at SEGEN GROUP SAS
Microsoft Project is affordable, but the standalone Project license should be included in the Office price to increase adoption.
Domain Consultant at a consultancy with 501-1,000 employees
 

Valuable Features

Microsoft Project offers a familiar interface, robust tools, and integrations enhancing project management through scheduling, tracking, and collaboration.
Planview ProjectPlace boosts collaboration with real-time updates, flexible workspaces, and seamless integration, enhancing project visibility and resource management.
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.
Principal: Cyber Security, Information Security Management, Data Privacy at Astrum
The collaboration features are valuable for controlling the project and transmitting information to other team members when working in a team.
Desarrollo de negocios at SEGEN GROUP SAS
The integration with Teams and Outlook allows for notifications, which is a significant reason why people are using Microsoft Project.
Domain Consultant at a consultancy with 501-1,000 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Project
Ranking in Project Management Software
7th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
86
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Planview ProjectPlace
Ranking in Project Management Software
24th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Project Management Software category, the mindshare of Microsoft Project is 2.0%, down from 7.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Planview ProjectPlace is 1.3%, down from 2.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Project Management Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Project2.0%
Planview ProjectPlace1.3%
Other96.7%
Project Management Software
 

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.
reviewer1851348 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Tech Manager at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Good integration with resource management and handles time management well, but the licensing is absurd
We did not purchase the agile package. I believe this relates to what we had. We had Planview and Projectplace, but not, the full agile package. We had cards in Projectplace, but we couldn't put them into Epix and then stories because they were part of the agile package. Planview turned out to be completely useless for my use cases because I needed to be able to take large, stories or large Epix and put them on a backlog and associate them with Planview work breakdown structure schedules. In Planview, we would have to migrate application A and application B, but we would be doing this for 30 different applications. In the absence of a way to represent large sub-projects in Planview and have them moveable in time, with the resources associated with them also moving as you move them, I had to work around that limitation and mostly work in Projectplace. That being said, I did not have access to the agile module, but my suspicions are that it would not have made much of a difference due to the poor integration between Projectplace and Planview. Planview is a resource management and project management system. Projectplace allows you to create boards and associate some of Planview's work breakdown structure as a top-level tree under which you can place cards, but there are many limitations because when you make a change in Planview, it is reflected in Projectplace. However, except for a few specific things, changes made in Projectplace are not ported back to Planview. At this point, they're two completely different products. The flaw is that there is very little integration between the two.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Government
6%
Construction Company
16%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
10%
University
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business31
Midsize Enterprise15
Large Enterprise42
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business1
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise7
 

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...
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Also Known As

Project Pro, MS Project
Projectplace
 

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
Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals, Florida Virtual Campus, Amazing.com, 2degrees NZ, Kendrick Content & Consulting
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Project vs. Planview ProjectPlace and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
902,270 professionals have used our research since 2012.