Best Microsoft Project Alternatives
Here’s my list of the best MS Project alternatives.
- 2. ClickUp — Best alternative for having more features, nice visuals, and colorful boards with loads of information.
- 8. Easy Projects — Best Microsoft Project Alternative for enterprise and portfolio project management
Microsoft Project remains one of the most popular project management software. However, loads of companies are moving away from it and onto products that are updated more frequently. Long gone are the days when we had to wait a year for a product upgrade, plus Microsoft Project alternatives are more robust nowadays.
Having said that, Microsoft has released an online version of its software and is making strides to make it a competitive product. While we wait for it to be better, here are a few options to consider and the features that make them a great alternative to MS Project.
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How I Picked The Best Microsoft Project Alternatives
The following are the criteria I used to evaluate the alternatives after carefully selecting them from the wide range of options available in the market. I researched the top tools in the space and analyzed what would make them a good alternative to Microsoft Project.
User Interface (UI)
I look at the tool from a designer's perspective. Therefore, every element on the screen is part of the analysis of its visual appeal. Although you might think it’s secondary to functionality, a pretty tool affects our mood and performance if we see it every day.
Usability
Is it intuitive and user-friendly? Similar to the criterion above, the elements on the screen and their distribution must make sense to the user. A pretty tool without a good user experience is equal to having a Ferrari without an engine. Something that boosts this category is the availability of tutorials, detailed documentation, and training.
Integrations
Is it easy to connect with other tools? I look into the available pre-built connections with other tools that extend its functionality. Further, I fetch details on available APIs in case your team wants to jump in and build their own integrations.
Pricing
Here, I go into their pricing structure, analyze plans, starting costs, free trials or even a free version that you can use.
Best Microsoft Project Alternatives
In the overview of Microsoft Project alternatives below, I break down the features, pricing, and main benefits of the best MS Project alternatives.
monday.com
Best alternative for integrating with other tools
monday.com is one of the few tools that prides itself in ‘not being a project management tool’! This work management platform focuses on simple structures that help clarify the sequence of work that needs to be done.
Why I picked monday.com: This tool is a great Microsoft Project alternative in that it functions a lot like a spreadsheet—but one that’s more intuitive to use and modify without having to mess around with formulas. Likewise, it offers more than a basic spreadsheet by giving you various views of your projects—view as spreadsheets or as lists, on a map, on a Kanban board, and other views. Users can upload and attach files to cards, make comments, mention teammates, and more.
It offers the ability to create summary charts as well as export and share project plans. However, one downside is that it doesn’t allow you to make Gantt charts in the traditional sense (they have a feature that serves the same purpose and works just as well, called “timelines”), nor can you import or export MPP files. That said, monday.com is designed as a true alternative to MS Project, not something to be used in tandem with it.
monday.com Standout Features & Integrations
Features include resource and project management, time tracking, collaboration, file management, collaborative docs and reporting dashboards.
Integrations include project management apps like Slack, Excel, Google Drive, Gmail, Google Calendar, Jira, GitHub, Trello, Dropbox, Typeform, and many more, accessible via Zapier.
Its free plan is available for a maximum of 2 users.
ClickUp
Best alternative for having more features, nice visuals, and colorful boards with loads of information.
ClickUp is a project management platform with a focus on becoming the only tool you need to use at work.
Why I picked ClickUp: This is definitely a tool that you can get as an alternative to Microsoft Project. It has features like task management, time management, collaboration documents, whiteboards, and reporting tools that make it a viable option if you want a strong performance and low cost solution.
Unlike MS Project, ClickUp has beautiful visuals, an intuitive interface, support for sprints, goals, and workload view of your resources. Every detail in this tool has been properly designed, created, and deployed to give you a 5-star user experience on mobile, desktop and browser.
Although you can’t import your .mpp files, it does have importing capabilities for .csv files, .xlsx, and other project tools like Trello, Asana, Jira, and more.
ClickUp Standout Features & Integrations
Features include real-time reporting, whiteboards and shared documents for collaboration, task management with different views, goal tracking, and templates.
Integrations include Slack, G Suite, Hubspot, Toggl Track, One Drive, Dropbox, and many more tools. Additional integrations with over 1,000+ apps can be connected through Zapier. If you want to build custom integrations, you can use its public API to do so.
ClickUp's free plan gives you access to all features so you can properly test the software.
Smartsheet
Best alternative with a built-in critical path feature
Smartsheet is a spreadsheet based software that looks and feels like the most natural transition from MS Project to other cloud-based project management software.
Why I picked Smartsheet: Smartsheet's online project management tool takes some of the most useful features of Microsoft Project, combines them with the simple use of an online spreadsheet, and then incorporates team collaboration and automation functions to save money. It offers the basics: functions such as making a schedule with tasks, subtasks, activities, assigned resources, and sections on tasks.
Smartsheet helps you organize projects, grids, calendars, dashboards, portals, forms, and more all from a unified control center. They have pre-built Gantt chart templates with customizable fonts and colors, “% Complete” and “Assigned To” columns, and more. It has useful features such as workflow automation and visualization of tasks in Gantt, calendar, and card views. Team members get notified of critical changes in real-time, and the tool provides shared views, detail history, activity logs, automated alerts, reminders, and status reports to keep everyone aligned and informed.
The Critical Path feature highlights all the tasks which directly impact your project completion date so you can keep an eye on important milestones. Reporting is a strong feature of this tool, with editable summary reports that you can easily export to Excel.
Smartsheet Standout Features & Integrations
Features include dashboards, reports that consolidate multiple sheets, workflow automation, resource management, multiple views, forms to collect information, and digital asset management using Brandfolder.
Integrations include Microsoft and Google apps, as well as development essentials like Jira, and useful business apps like Salesforce, ServiceNow, Slack, Box, and Tableau. The platform is extensible through a REST API and webhooks.
Zoho Projects
Best alternative for complex project visualization
Zoho Projects is a MS Project alternative that has a simple, easy-to-use interface that also comes with a mobile application.
Why I picked Zoho Projects: It has extensive Gantt chart features and capabilities at an affordable price range which creates an all-round project management experience. It has an intuitive Gantt chart that can be operated with simple drag-and-drop actions. It supports all four kinds of dependencies and contains a critical path and baseline to help avoid delays.
Zoho Projects comes with features like task management, time tracking, and resource utilization. All projects can be split into milestones that you want to reach at various time periods. Task management is easy with features like custom fields and statuses, task recurrence, reminders, and a Kanban view. You can manage your time by splitting and allocating your available hours to all your work items.
The resource utilization chart comes with simple seesaws that depict the workload of your resources. While allocating tasks, you can easily see who is over-utilized, under-utilized, or unavailable. Collaboration is possible with any of the project’s stakeholders with interactive feeds and forums, wiki pages, and built-in chat.
Zoho Projects Standout Features & Integrations
Features include task management, task automation, blueprints, time and issue tracking, reporting, and forums for detailed discussions with your team.
Integrations include several Zoho applications like Zoho CRM, Zoho Books, Zoho People, and other applications like Office 360, Google Drive, G Cal, GitHub, BitBucket, and Crashlytics. Zoho has a Marketplace that has several pre-built extensions. Zoho Projects also has support engineers and live chat support to help with onboarding.
They have a freemium version for up to 3 users and 2 projects.
Forecast
Best Microsoft Project alternative for resource management
Forecast is a powerful combination of resource management and project management built on the foundation that successful projects require a combination of short and long term planning.
Why I picked Forecast: You can build advanced interactive Gantt charts with Forecast’s full suite of project management features. Powered by AI, it is designed for companies that want to monitor the progress of their projects, programs, and portfolios in real-time. Forecast learns from hundreds of thousands of projects and turns a simple list of tasks into a project plan with assigned team members, estimated task duration, and precise delivery dates - allowing you to be more efficient and build project timelines in seconds.
Team members can collaborate and comment on tasks, and Forecast gives you profitability insights as well, so management can monitor revenue by project.
Forecast Standout Features & Integrations
Features include project management, project accounting, fully customizable dashboards, advanced warnings to mitigate risk, timesheets, smart invoices, and project financials.
Integrations include Slack, Microsoft Teams, iCloud Calendar, Google Drive, Google Calendar, Outlook, Harvest, Trello, Asana, GitLab, Github, and dozens more using a paid plan through Zapier. Higher-tier subscriptions include native integrations with Timelog, Xero, QuickBooks Online, JIRA, Azure DevOps, Salesforce, Okta, OneLogin, and Azure Active Directory.
Forecast is currently used in 40+ countries worldwide, by agencies, consulting companies, and enterprises.
ProjectManager.com
Best MS Project alternative for progress tracking and reporting
ProjectManager combines Gantt chart functionality with many other project views—kanban boards, spreadsheets, task lists, and more—to support the needs of hybrid teams. While the project manager may prefer the Gantt view to create a detailed work breakdown structure, others team members can work on the same project through a simple task list.
Why I picked ProjectManager: It is simple enough for anyone to use, yet powerful enough for managers to make data-driven decisions and for businesses to manage projects of all levels of complexity.
Gantt charts allow users to drag and drop to adjust deadlines, add and visualize dependencies, and set specific milestones. Users can import Gantt charts to and from other tools (including .mpp files from MS Project) to get projects up and running quickly. The tool also allows users to create reports in one click, view progress bars for quick project health checks, and create PDF versions and shareable links.
ProjectManager Standout Features & Integrations
Features include project portfolios, Kanban boards, reporting, workflow automation, customizable dashboards with real-time information, and collaboration tools.
Integrations include Office 365, Jira, Slack, and Google Drive, with even more connections available through Zapier.
Although this tool does not offer a free version, you can cancel or change plans at any time while on a monthly account.
Hive
Best Microsoft Project alternative for scalability
Hive is a project management tool and collaboration platform that powers companies like Starbucks, Uber, WeWork, and IBM. Hive is the world's first community-built software, with a roadmap comprised entirely of customer-voted features.
Why I picked Hive: With flexible project views, dependencies, and thousands of integrations, Hive streamlines your work in one centralized platform and offers much more than just Gantt charts. Used by teams of varying sizes, from 10 people to 1,000, Hive is a great option as a Microsoft Project alternative for a diverse range of companies and work styles.
Hive’s time tracking, resourcing, and flexible view capabilities allow for a transparent understanding of other team members’ work and upcoming projects. Hive also has full email integration in their project management tool, which allows you to send and receive Gmail and Outlook messages from the app.
Hive Standout Features & Integrations
Features include collaboration and messaging, time tracking, goal tracking, notes AI, task and process automation, and analytics.
Integrations include Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Box, Google Drive, Slack, Jira, Github, and many more available through Zapier. It also has a free API you can use to build custom integrations.
Choose Hive if you’re in the market for a well-laid-out, comprehensive Microsoft Project alternative tool that can be scaled up or down based on team needs.
Easy Projects
Best Microsoft Project Alternative for enterprise and portfolio project management
Easy Projects is built to plan and deliver on projects that have varying complexity levels, anywhere from simple tasks to more in-depth projects that involve multiple departments. Easy Projects enables real-time collaboration between executives, project managers, stakeholders, and all other team members.
Easy Projects includes tools like Gantt charts, Kanban boards, resource loading simulations, and project calendars, which are easy to use and allow all users, not just PMs, to efficiently manage tasks and projects by mapping out all activities on a timeline. The tool also offers critical paths and multiple dependencies, which are clearly laid out so project managers can anticipate changes to a deadline.
Advanced reporting capabilities allow managers to view and analyze project performance and profitability as well as quickly spot potential bottlenecks. Managers can also provide project metrics and birds-eye view updates to executive team members with custom in-depth business intelligence reports.
In addition, Easy Projects offers an extensive product knowledge base, plus real people are always standing by to answer your questions. Users can conveniently import and export data back and forth from Microsoft Project and Easy Projects as well.
Easy Projects is accessible from any device and includes an app for Apple or Android. The tool is available from at $24/month per user and a free two-week trial is available.
Pros
- Responsive and helpful support
- Over 2000+ integrations available
- Great for handling complex projects
Cons
- More flexibility in reporting would be welcome
- Less suitable for smaller businesses
Merlin Project
MS Project alternative for iOS with customization
In its latest iteration, Merlin Project works pretty well. It’s a great Mac alternative to Microsoft Project, and looks very similar, with many of the granular controls for creating project plans that many of the other options out there gloss over.
You can create tasks and subtasks with dependencies and constraints, add work and duration separately, assign resources with an option to decrease duration or increase work, see how much work each resource has assigned, and add your own fields to each task, for which you can define the field type (e.g. checkbox, date, etc.). Merlin Project also comes with some cool new features such as Kanban board, resource pools, mind mapping and even a standalone app available in the Apple App Store.
Importing in and out of Merlin is pretty straightforward, import native MPP and export MS Project XML, but you lose a lot of formatting which is annoying.
Merlin Project costs $99/year.
Moovila
Best Microsoft Project alternative for project scoring features
Moovila is a project management software suite that brings a higher level of intelligence to the software through AI, patented visualizations, and project scoring capabilities.
Moovila's standout feature is the mPIX Score, which was developed by credit industry veterans with advisory oversight by Stanford, MIT, and Princeton mathematicians. The mPIX score captures the amount of preventable risk in a plan with a single, actionable number.
The tool also includes a Project Debugger feature which allows users to see at a glance where problems are and fix them. Moovila's philosophy is that project structures follow a format—like code—and thus can be debugged—like code. Moovila also includes an AI project management coach named Carmen that will walk you step-by-step through what needs to be done to clean up a project. Carmen can even check calendars to make scheduling a snap.
Moovila also includes a critical path feature that works with Carmen to do the math for project managers, rather than users having to do difficult calculations themselves. Users can drag-and-drop tasks into the critical path and Carmen will find out if the project timeline is achievable.
Other features offered by Moovila include remote & extended team management, contextual collaboration features that ensure knowledge transfer as people come and go, resource management, spreadsheets, Gantt charts, calendars, and Kanban boards.
Pricing for Moovila is available upon request.
Pros
- Critical Path visualization more accessible as the tool does the math for you
- mPIX score provides more accurate picture of risk in a project
- AI coach assists with project scheduling and clean-up
Cons
- Learning curve when acclimating to Moovila's philosophy on project work and best practices
- Due to the number of features, some may not be immediately obvious to users
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The Best Microsoft Project Alternatives Comparison Chart
It’s easy to be overwhelmed by the baffling array of Microsoft Project alternatives out there.
Below, we’ve put together a reader-friendly table neatly summarizing basic info about the tools described in this article. We’ve investigated the pricing and availability of free trials and demo versions for you to make a side-by-side comparison that much simpler.
| Tool | Free Option | Price | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | monday.com Best alternative for integrating with other tools | 14-day free trial + freemium plan available | From $8/user/month (billed annually, min 3 seats) | Visit Website |
| 2 | ClickUp Best alternative for having more features, nice visuals, and colorful boards with loads of information. | Freemium plan available | From $9/user/month | Visit Website |
| 3 | Smartsheet Best alternative with a built-in critical path feature | Freemium version available | From $7/user/month | Visit Website |
| 4 | Zoho Projects Best alternative for complex project visualization | 10-day free trial | From $5/user/month | Visit Website |
| 5 | Forecast Best Microsoft Project alternative for resource management | 14-day free trial | From $29/user/month | Visit Website |
| 6 | ProjectManager.com Best MS Project alternative for progress tracking and reporting | 30-day free trial | From $16/user/month | Visit Website |
| 7 | Hive Best Microsoft Project alternative for scalability | 14-day free trial | From $16/user/month | Visit Website |
| 8 | Easy Projects Best Microsoft Project Alternative for enterprise and portfolio project management | Not available | From $24/user/month | Visit Website |
| 9 | Merlin Project MS Project alternative for iOS with customization | 30 days free trial | From $16.99 / month | Visit Website |
| 10 | Moovila Best Microsoft Project alternative for project scoring features | 30 days free trial | Pricing available upon request | Visit Website |
Other project scheduling software alternatives worth considering:
There are some new kids on the Gantt chart block! I haven’t had a chance to review these properly, but if none of the above work for you, it’s worth checking some of these out:
- Project Plan 365
Best MS Project MPP compatibility
- Workzone
Best for project template capabilities
- TeamGantt
Best for viewing multiple projects on one Gantt chart
- Tom's Planner
Collaborative Gantt chart software for teams who use MS Excel
- GanttPRO
Best Microsoft Project alternative for creating powerful Gantt charts
- Nifty
Best alternative for its user experience
- Wrike
Best Microsoft Project alternative for team collaboration
- Planview Clarizen
Best enterprise Microsoft Project alternative
- Celoxis
Best alternative for its omprehensive project and portfolio management features
Microsoft Project Alternatives FAQs
What do people wonder about when exploring an alternative?
What is Microsoft Project?
Microsoft Project is a project management tool used by different types of users, with varying levels of access. The software provides tables, views, filters, fields, calendars, and a database for doing things like:
- Developing project plans
- Assigning resources
- Tracking time & progress
- Creating Gantt charts
- Creating & managing budgets
- Balancing workloads
- Scheduling tasks & resources
- Creating graphical reports
- Storing project data in a shared database
You can learn more about Microsoft Project features, benefits, cost, and use cases in my overview of Microsoft project management software.
Is Microsoft Project useful?
For a lot of agencies, yes. In many cases, the default project management tool for creating project plans is still Microsoft Project, and it provides a lot of useful tools.
For starters, Microsoft Project is not just a fuzzy old tool that Microsoft doesn’t really care about. They’ve been in business for over 30 years, and they’re introducing some really smart integrations with Power BI, Internet of Things, bots, and machine learning that are awesome.
What has replaced Microsoft Project?
For many years, MS Project was the default project management tool for most project managers. However, because of its laser focus on the PM and its responsibilities, it was slow to respond to the collaboration needs of this role.
Because of it, Microsoft Project has been replaced with cloud-based project management tools that, in addition to project management, offer collaboration features such as an in-app chat, mentions, comments, approval and proofing workflows.
Is there a free MS Project alternative?
If you don't have the budget to upgrade and are okay with having limited functionality, here are some options.
- Project Libre – open source project management software
- GanttProject – free project management and scheduling app to make Gantt charts on Windows, OSX, and Linux
- Ganttology – interactive Gantt chart software with basic free plan (1 chart, 50 tasks), in addition to paid plans
- Toggl Plan – simple, sleek project planning software with a free plan (5 people max) in addition to paid plan
MS Project alternatives Buyer's Guide
Here are some questions to ask yourself when choosing the right MS project alternative for your particular needs.
How do you use your project plans and schedules?
The software on this list is meant to keep your project plans front and center. They promote visibility and communication around the plan. Consider if this is the use you currently give your plans and schedules or if it’s what you would like to have.
Here are some common uses:
- Gantt charts exist at the beginning of the project and are never updated again.
- Timelines serve as a tool for baseline analysis.
- Schedules communicate progress to the project and executive team.
What key features should I look for when selecting MS Project alternatives?
A great alternative to software must at least match the features in the one you are trying to replace. Here’s what to look for in your new software.
- Import and export .mpp files: The tool should be able to open and import MS Project files, either natively or through a .csv file. Then, export PDFs or shareable project plans.
- Resource management: The tool should have a module that handles workload and resource scheduling and supports capacity planning.
- Time tracking: From simple to complex projects, the software needs a time tracking tool so the team can record the time they invest in activities. This can be built into the tool itself or handled through an add-on (like an integration).
- Roadmap: The ability to track multiple projects in one view, display goals, and overall progress. This specific feature might be available only on higher-tier plans.
- Reporting: The tool must have a reporting module that lets you track progress on your projects, portfolios, programs, and resources.
- Views: The ability to see information in diverse formats. The minimum required is a Gantt and a Kanban view. Modern tools will have more, such as calendar, table, box, and list views, for example.
Disclaimer, I left a couple of features that belong to the Enterprise plan out. This is on purpose because, if you are at that level, almost any of the tools on this list will out-feature MS Project anyway.
Who will use it?
Think of who needs to see the project information. Is it a team member, client, third party, or only the project manager? The more people need to be involved and collaborate, the bigger the need for a tool that has integrated chat features, the ability to export dashboard information and create external users for the tool.
What other tools are you using?
Make a list of all the tools that you currently use. Then, define which ones are, should, and you would like to be connected. Finally, go into the integrations section of your tool of choice and see if it can mimic what’s on your list.
Sometimes these integrations are already built. Other times, they have to be connected through an external party like Zapier, or programmed by your IT team using the tool’s API.
Are you always online?
Cloud-based project apps can be great, and they can be kept more up to date with ‘live’ information, but consider that they require an active internet connection to work.If you do not have a reliable internet connection or are constantly on the go, look for apps that have offline capabilities. This can be from a desktop version of the software or a mobile app.
What's the cost?
The cost of Microsoft Project tends to be one of the primary reasons that people look for an alternative. Microsoft Project isn’t cheap, but if you do a quick search on Amazon, you can find Microsoft Project 2019 for less than $600. In addition, you should factor in the number of users and the cost of ownership of the product.
Consider Projects vs Users
Most of the Microsoft Project alternatives are priced on a cost-per-user basis. So in working out which solution is the most affordable, consider what makes the most sense for you; is it a tool that many people in the organization will need to use, or will it be used principally by the project manager?
Consider The Lifetime Cost Of Ownership
While web-based apps might seem affordable in the short run, typically costing around $15/user/month, the cost of ownership over 3 years is actually the same as buying a copy of Microsoft Project. So before deciding on subscribing to a service, consider purchasing a desktop-based non-cloud solution like:
- Omniplan (Mac only)
- Merlin Project (Mac only)
Summary of Microsoft Project Alternatives
While Microsoft Project might seem like an easy tool to replace, when you can subscribe to Project Online Professional for $30/user/month, it’s worth weighing up all the options before subscribing to a cloud-based option.
But if you’re not using it every day, and just need a simple Gantt project planner, there are lots of great, cheap, and even free options for you.
Just realized that you need a different type of tool? Check out these other reviews:
- Time tracking software to help track time and easily manage timesheets and invoices.
- Resource scheduling software to help you allocate equipment, rooms, staff, and other resources.
What Do You Think?
What project management tools do you think we’re missing? Any other great alternatives to Microsoft Project for project scheduling, making Gantt charts, and project plans? We’d love to hear if you’ve got any suggestions, tips, or thoughts on using this kind of project scheduling software – why not share them using the comments below?
47 Comments
I would highly recommend to take a look at Hansoft ( https://www.hansoft.com ) to which you can easily import MS Project XML. It is completely free for up to 9 users (it is intended to be used collaboratively) and then costs 28$/user/month. It is stable, super fast and very flexible.