Microsoft Planner and Project review

Microsoft Planner and Project rank eighth overall but score highest on features. Planner Plan 1 costs $10 per user a month paid yearly and adds premium plans with sub-tasks, backlogs and sprints, finish-to-start dependencies, milestones, custom fields and a Calendar, Timeline (Gantt) and People view to the basic Planner in Microsoft 365. Planner and Project Plan 3 at $30 per user a month is the plan a scheduling professional will want: it adds task history, an assignments view, portfolios, baselines, critical path and advanced dependencies with lead and lag, plus the Project desktop app for advanced planning. Everything runs inside Microsoft Teams and the web, which helps organizations already standardized on Microsoft 365. The lower ease-of-use and value scores reflect the gap between plans: the affordable Plan 1 is a lighter planner, and the full scheduling engine costs three times as much and takes more training than the drag-and-drop tools ranked above it.

Who it is for

Microsoft 365 organizations that need formal scheduling with baselines, critical path and lead and lag dependencies.

Price

Planner Plan 1 from $10 per user per month paid yearly; Planner and Project Plan 3 $30.

Planner Plan 1 Robust web and Teams apps for structured project planning with premium plans, sprints, and finish-to-start dependencies. $10.00 user/month, paid yearly
Quoted from the vendor pricing page on November 9, 2026.

Key features

• Calendar, Timeline (Gantt) and People views with task dependencies on Plan 1
• Backlogs, sprints, milestones, goals and custom task fields on Plan 1
• Baselines, critical path and advanced dependencies with lead and lag on Plan 3
• Portfolio creation and an assignments view on Plan 3
• Project desktop app included with Plan 3

Strengths and weaknesses

• Strength: Deepest scheduling engine on this list at Plan 3
• Strength: Works inside Microsoft Teams and Microsoft 365
• Strength: One month free trial
• Weakness: Plan 1 only lists finish-to-start dependencies
• Weakness: Baselines and critical path need the $30 Plan 3
• Weakness: Steeper learning curve than the dedicated web Gantt tools

Key facts

• Plans: Planner Plan 1 and Planner and Project Plan 3
• Plan 3 price: $30 per user a month, paid yearly
• Free trial: One month
• Desktop app: Project desktop included with Plan 3

Where it ranks

Microsoft Planner and Project is No. 7 in our Best Gantt Chart Software verdict and No. 7 in Best Project Management Software for Enterprise and No. 2 in Best Project Portfolio Management Software.