Google Calendar vs. Microsoft Planner

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Google Calendar
Score 9.3 out of 10
N/A
Google Calendar is a time-management and scheduling calendar service, from Google, available as part of its productivity tool suite.N/A
Microsoft Planner
Score 7.7 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft Planner is presented as a solution to organize teamwork with intuitive, collaborative, visual task management. With it, users can create Kanban boards using task cards with files, checklists, and labels. Users can collaborate in Planner and Microsoft Teams and check visual status charts—all in the Microsoft cloud.N/A
Pricing
Google CalendarMicrosoft Planner
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Google CalendarMicrosoft Planner
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Google CalendarMicrosoft Planner
Considered Both Products
Google Calendar
Chose Google Calendar
There are a lot of overlapping similarities between iCal and Google Calendar, which made it difficult to land on one at first. Ultimately, since we have some folks in Apple environments and some in Microsoft environments, Google was the best option to bridge those workspaces. …
Microsoft Planner

No answer on this topic

Best Alternatives
Google CalendarMicrosoft Planner
Small Businesses
CoSchedule Marketing Suite
CoSchedule Marketing Suite
Score 10.0 out of 10
7shifts
7shifts
Score 9.8 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
CoSchedule Marketing Suite
CoSchedule Marketing Suite
Score 10.0 out of 10
Todoist
Todoist
Score 9.1 out of 10
Enterprises
Microsoft 365
Microsoft 365
Score 8.6 out of 10
Whimsical
Whimsical
Score 9.2 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Google CalendarMicrosoft Planner
Likelihood to Recommend
9.3
(26 ratings)
7.4
(28 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(3 ratings)
7.7
(12 ratings)
User Testimonials
Google CalendarMicrosoft Planner
Likelihood to Recommend
Google
I think it's appropriate for everyone that meets with customers, meets with people within their businesses. I even put my personal calendar on my work calendar. I'm just looking at it every day, so I think everyone could use it.
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Microsoft
There are a few examples where MS Planner would be suitable for employees at a mature organization. In my opinion, if you have Outlook or Teams, you already have built-in calendars and to-do lists. If you need a project management tool, you have two options: either pay for MS Project or use an alternative tool like Monday, Asana, or Jira. Regardless, their free versions are much more sophisticated than Microsoft's (MS Planner). Any team wishing to put together a halfway-decent project management board will need to look elsewhere, as MS Planner is only suitable for a personal to-do list.
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Pros
Google
  • Enables the creation of designated Focus Hours
  • Enables users to set their "working hours" and others can see if they are setting up a meetings a moon symbol next to their name to show it is outside of that invitees working hours
  • Allows you to easily create scheduled tasks directly on your Google Calendar
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Microsoft
  • I love the ability to tag and untag others as needed
  • I love the ability to customize the tag labels and that there are so many options
  • I love the ability to add comments and it notifies the others tagged in the task
  • I love that the task description can be changed as needed without notification to others assigned to the task
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Cons
Google
  • Being able to group a team much easier so I don't have to add the same people over and over again without having to have access right to create a Google group
  • Room or space management, because of repeating events the rooms of the office tend to be always "occupied" but not everyone is there due to how the new hybrid way of working is
  • Better way of working together in the calendar events where it's easier for the team to prepare if I give a clearer better UI of all the documents/presentations they might need to look over
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Microsoft
  • Would be nice to see a calendar view instead of a list view
  • Permissions aren't configurable, anyone can delete any task at any time and there is no recycle bin
  • Notifications aren't great, you have to be attached as an owner to a task to see comments and be notified of changes, and even then notifications aren't shown for a lot of things
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Likelihood to Renew
Google
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
It is a very useful tool that brings teams in sync with one another. The integration with other Microsoft products makes it an obvious choice because you don't have to purchase a license for a completely different tool that doesn't have cross-functional capabilities with the software you already use on a daily basis.
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Usability
Google
It's a bit outdated on how things should be working, the UI per say hasn't changed much and I believe there is still a lot more room for improvement in how the calendar shows, the creating process, the parameters on setting up an event and it could be better integrated with the g-suite and other tools
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Microsoft
The board-and-bucket layout makes it easy to organize tasks, track progress, and prioritize work at a glance, even for first-time users. I also appreciate how Planner seamlessly integrates with tools like Teams, Outlook, and SharePoint, enabling users to collaborate, schedule tasks, and access their plans without needing to switch platforms. I also like how it’s accessible not only on desktops, but also on mobile devices.
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Alternatives Considered
Google
Most of the other services we would use don't have the same integration with other Google services that Google Calendar has. The ability to view and set things from your email is very convenient. So is the ability to have your notifications automatically show up on an Android phone as a reminder.
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Microsoft
Many areas of the company still use Trello to organize their activities and tasks, but gradually Microsoft Planner must replace the activities. Users are often "attached" to familiar technologies, but Office 365 takes advantage of the more organized use of the tools. This year we will not renew the Trello contract.
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Return on Investment
Google
  • Very significant improvement in employee productivity (more than 10%), because people spend much less time arranging meetings.
  • Essential tool to develop remote work within the company during Covid.
  • No need to build an email infrastructure (significant cost reduction in IT infrastructure).
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Microsoft
  • In my experience, productivity is negatively impacted because assigning subtasks aren't clear on Microsoft Planner
  • Managers aren't able to track direct reports' tasks across multiple boards -- leading to poor visibility for us
  • Notifications aren't always sent to inbox, so you rely on people's own project management skills to follow the communication on tasks they're assigned to. In my experience, this leads to missed deadlines impacting customer relationships.
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ScreenShots