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Microsoft Project vs RationalPlan 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:
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Project
Ranking in Project Management Software
3rd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
84
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
RationalPlan
Ranking in Project Management Software
44th
Average Rating
10.0
Reviews Sentiment
8.4
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Project Management Software category, the mindshare of Microsoft Project is 5.7%, down from 10.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of RationalPlan is 0.4%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Project Management Software Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Microsoft Project5.7%
RationalPlan0.4%
Other93.9%
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.
reviewer1976010 - PeerSpot reviewer
Easy to understand with fair pricing and lots of unique features
We use the desktop version of RationalPlan, and It seems some desktop software has the ability to share a document as a web view. This would be a nice feature allowing us to share our plans with clients without needing additional software. This may be something that is offered in the RationalPlan cloud plan. However, it would be nice for the desktop version to have this ability to bring it one more step ahead of the competition. As a side note, RationalPlan does have a free viewer as well.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Microsoft Project integrates well with the Microsoft Office family of applications. It has plugins that interact with it and you can use it with Microsoft Teams. We can use plugins to communicate with JIRA, Projectplace, and Planview. It's not widely used in the company, of course, but it's something that can interact with the official tools that we have."
"The solution is very complete. It makes it a great option for project managers and they can use it extensively in almost any organizational setup."
"Microsoft Project is easy to use and helps our teams visualize the evolution of our projects."
"Microsoft Project is one of the only solutions you can use in just about any industry. It's difficult to do that with most other project management tools. There is a lot of flexibility within the product assets. Most sectors can utilize Microsoft Project successfully because it doesn't have any generic adapters."
"Time tracking and budget tracking are the most valuable features of the solution."
"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Project is the reminder feature. This feature allows for the system to send notifications or reminders to individuals who have a task to complete once someone has finished their task. This has been especially useful in situations where multiple people are involved in a task. For example, if I have completed my task and the next person is just beginning, the system will send them a reminder to notify them of my completion. This feature has proven to be very beneficial and convenient for me in my tasks."
"We use Microsoft Project for its timeline and task management capabilities. The primary advantage is the easy application of tasks in sequence, confirming dependencies, and establishing relationships between tasks. It simplifies handling conditions, significant dates, and dependencies between various tasks."
"One of the best features is that it is easy to use."
"Support is top-notch whenever help is needed."
 

Cons

"I am not that close to it anymore, but I know that there were some cut and paste issues when we were trying to move one group of roles to another, and they used to muck up the interdependencies between the tiers, rows, and other things."
"When a project plan becomes huge, it is painful to arrange and structure the project in Microsoft Project. Currently, you require a separate product for managing agile projects, and people are using Jira and Rally to manage stories in agile. Primarily, on the software development side, people are kind of moving away from Microsoft Project."
"When you start getting into the more advanced features, it can become unstable. The more you use the advanced features, the more exposure you have to an unanticipated result. I think we need to add the Kanban Board capability to the product that would help them advance that board into the project management methodology that's being used in the industry today. Being able to depend on Scrum management is key."
"I have no idea about the cost because it is a corporate decision."
"I would like to have more access to templates and tools that could be used to teach project management best practices."
"Microsoft Project could improve the interface, it should be more intuitive. It could be adjusted a little bit to make it a little easier to use and more user-friendly. It is a very powerful tool and it takes people a while to get used to it."
"When moving resources between projects, it could be a bit more clear."
"What could have been better is the integration with Office 365 so that if you're discussing a project on Teams or there's an email related to the project, it can be tagged to the project in Microsoft Project. That functionality is currently not there."
"We use the desktop version of RationalPlan, and It seems some desktop software has the ability to share a document as a web view. This would be a nice feature allowing us to share our plans with clients without needing additional software. This may be something that is offered in the RationalPlan cloud plan."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is expensive."
"The solution is expensive."
"I do not have personal experience with pricing or licensing of this product."
"The license is a one-time payment but it is expensive."
"I believe the licensing for the solution is based on an annual fee."
"The cost for an on-premises-based license is a one-time fee, and the cloud-based is an annual payment plan."
"The pricing is based on a licensing model and is reasonable."
"Pricing-wise, I rate the solution a seven out of ten since I feel it is a bit costly."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Government
8%
Aerospace/Defense Firm
8%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business31
Midsize Enterprise14
Large Enterprise41
No data available
 

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.
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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
James Cook University, NASA, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Teleflex, Garmin, University of Missouri, BEA, Eurocoating, Adidas Group, Termoemcali, Solid Power
Find out what your peers are saying about Atlassian, monday.com, Microsoft and others in Project Management Software. Updated: August 2025.
866,857 professionals have used our research since 2012.