Microsoft Project vs. Planview Portfolios

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Microsoft Project
Score 7.9 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft Project is a project management software. It provides core PM functionality, including agile workflow support and resource management. Project can be deployed in the cloud or on-premise.
$120
per year per user
Planview Portfolios
Score 8.5 out of 10
N/A
Planview Portfolios is an end-to-end project portfolio management and enterprise architecture management tool. It includes two components: Portfolio and Resource Management and Capability and Technology Management. The platform is available as a cloud-based or on-premise service.N/A
Pricing
Microsoft ProjectPlanview Portfolios
Editions & Modules
Project Server
$0
Planner Plan 1
$10
per month per user
Planner and Project Plan 3
$30
per month per user
Planner and Project Plan 5
$55
per month per user
Project Standard 2024
$679.99
one-time fee per installation
Project Professional 2024
$1,129.99
one-time fee per installation
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Microsoft ProjectPlanview Portfolios
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsPlans are billed annually.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Microsoft ProjectPlanview Portfolios
Considered Both Products
Microsoft Project
Chose Microsoft Project
Selected Microsoft due to cost verses capabilities and ease of use.
Chose Microsoft Project
Microsoft Project is better suited to layout and manage project schedules. In regard to building project schedules with dependencies and resource loading, There is more flexibility and ease of use in Microsoft Project over Planview Enterprise.
Planview Portfolios
Chose Planview Portfolios
MS Project Server and MS Project provided MANY more capabilities for detailed project planning than Planview. Unfortunately, I did not select Planview.
Chose Planview Portfolios
In a mature SharePoint environment the Microsoft Project Server can be an appealing option - in prior environments I saw very easy integration between Project Server and SharePoint. Microsoft Project is a great tool for projects that are conducted in isolation, meaning they …
Chose Planview Portfolios
HP PPM and MS Project Server were past predecessors to PVE1, and both fraught with misconfiguration, lack of top-down support, and neither had effective resource management capabilities. We sort of backed-into PVE1, as we were initially entrenched with Projectplace. As luck …
Chose Planview Portfolios
When we first started using Planview it was not as user (PM) friendly as MS Project but has improved significantly over the years
Chose Planview Portfolios
Planview and Microsoft Project have many similar features. However, the direct contact with the Planview team for questions, tech support, and training is unprecedented and appreciated.
Microsoft Project:
-Weaknesses: Limited to single project management, lacks risk and time …
Chose Planview Portfolios
Planview Portfolios help with aggregate financials forecast and budget
Chose Planview Portfolios
Planview Portfolios is the market leader in the area, the flexibility of the product and the continuous investment by Planview makes Planview Portfolios currently the best in the market. The support organisation for implementation and run of Planview Portfolios rounds off the …
Chose Planview Portfolios
We are just in the process of deploying AgilePlace and will connect with Portfolios Smartsheet, which does have the functionality we need. We are just starting to use AgilePlace. We have a business group doing a proof of concept.
Chose Planview Portfolios
In our organization we selected Planview Portfolios for the capabilities it offered.
Chose Planview Portfolios
Planview Portfolios has an easier interface for users and executives. Ease of use was key for us.
Chose Planview Portfolios
Planview Portfolios product capabilities positions it well, as a leader in the industry
Chose Planview Portfolios
Planview has much more potential in terms of it's products and capabilities. It can integrate more easily with many more of our other products and software. Planview reporting is much more intuitive.
Chose Planview Portfolios
I think Planview Portfolios is having very user friendly UI and easily navigate to different modules and proper naming conventions
Chose Planview Portfolios
We find Planview Portfolios gives us a better platform to work with projects and with the use of Planview ProjectPlace can run our stand-ups and interact with the cards on the boards more readily.
Chose Planview Portfolios
Compared with other systems, Planview is much easier to use. It has the right balance between functionalities and configuration. It offers a good value against the cost. It offers also a cloud service that help companies to start with the right effort.
Chose Planview Portfolios
No experience with the previous product.
Chose Planview Portfolios
Planview Enterprise allows us to maintain a hierarchy of projects and resources and allows us to report on the projects for each department.
Chose Planview Portfolios

Clarity PPM. I prefer Planview for the following reasons:

  • Better user interface.
  • Better customer service and issue resolution.
Chose Planview Portfolios
Palnview Enterprise has much more status indicators than Microsoft's project management software.
Chose Planview Portfolios
Planview is a much more robust Resource and Portfolio Management tool. It is easier to use and provides drill down visibility to address critical issues.
Chose Planview Portfolios
They don't have a resource management feature, no portfolio feature, it would have cost hundreds of thousands each year for us to have our data transferred to our data warehouse nightly in order for us to do real time reporting.
Chose Planview Portfolios
Pretty comparable in functionality but we needed a tool that could do portfolio and investment/capacity management.
Features
Microsoft ProjectPlanview Portfolios
Project Management
Comparison of Project Management features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Project
8.1
111 Ratings
5% above category average
Planview Portfolios
-
Ratings
Task Management8.2110 Ratings00 Ratings
Resource Management7.7107 Ratings00 Ratings
Gantt Charts9.0107 Ratings00 Ratings
Scheduling8.5109 Ratings00 Ratings
Workflow Automation10.083 Ratings00 Ratings
Team Collaboration7.398 Ratings00 Ratings
Support for Agile Methodology4.983 Ratings00 Ratings
Support for Waterfall Methodology7.783 Ratings00 Ratings
Document Management9.077 Ratings00 Ratings
Email integration5.082 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile Access10.067 Ratings00 Ratings
Timesheet Tracking10.073 Ratings00 Ratings
Change request and Case Management7.964 Ratings00 Ratings
Budget and Expense Management7.786 Ratings00 Ratings
Professional Services Automation
Comparison of Professional Services Automation features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Project
8.8
79 Ratings
13% above category average
Planview Portfolios
-
Ratings
Quotes/estimates7.955 Ratings00 Ratings
Invoicing10.045 Ratings00 Ratings
Project & financial reporting7.576 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with accounting software10.050 Ratings00 Ratings
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Microsoft ProjectPlanview Portfolios
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Planview PPM Pro
Planview PPM Pro
Score 9.0 out of 10
Enterprises
InEight
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Score 8.5 out of 10
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User Ratings
Microsoft ProjectPlanview Portfolios
Likelihood to Recommend
8.1
(111 ratings)
8.6
(114 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(3 ratings)
9.3
(18 ratings)
Usability
8.7
(9 ratings)
7.1
(13 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(3 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
7.1
(2 ratings)
Support Rating
8.2
(34 ratings)
7.7
(13 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
6.4
(1 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
6.8
(3 ratings)
Implementation Rating
5.0
(1 ratings)
10.0
(4 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
8.6
(3 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
-
(0 ratings)
6.4
(1 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
4.0
(1 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(2 ratings)
Professional Services
-
(0 ratings)
8.3
(2 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
7.9
(2 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
5.5
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
Microsoft ProjectPlanview Portfolios
Likelihood to Recommend
Microsoft
Microsoft Project Online is suited to Turnkey Projects where more Collaboration is required in Project Progress monitoring, risk assessment and conveying, issue recording and tracking. It is less appropriate when ERP Suites other than MS Dynamics are used, i.e when Enterprises need to integrate Finance / Accounting with It and having straight project management workflow
Read full review
Planview
Planview Portfolios is well suited to provide a single, central, view of the truth. There is clear expansion capabilities to integrate it as a true Enterprise toolset with existing organisation wide (not just delivery) - you can pick and choose what you need to implement and that list gets longer. The ability to quickly gain an understanding of resources within the overall portfolio and some really clever tools regarding capacity and demand modelling. I think the only challenge we have encountered is modelling our Business as Usual activity to a level of detail - this is due to other tools being very embedded not just in the organisation but across a lot of industries.
Read full review
Pros
Microsoft
  • I love the Gantt Chart that Microsoft Project offers me, because it provides me with a view from various aspects, it provides me with exact details about the fulfillment of tasks over a period of time, it also allows me to make comparisons with the necessary data and the fulfilled data. by the employees, in order to know exactly if the project's expectations have been met.
  • I love the Gantt Chart that Microsoft Project offers me, because it provides me with a view from various aspects, it provides me with exact details about the fulfillment of tasks over a period of time, it also allows me to make comparisons with the necessary data and the fulfilled data by the employees, in order to know exactly if the project's expectations have been met.
  • The alert system for the fulfillment and delay of assignments is perfect. Microsoft Project allows me to configure the task system, I can assign the necessary tasks to fulfill the project, and the software alerts me immediately if the managers are fulfilling the assignments.
Read full review
Planview
  • Manage large portfolios with thousands of projects.
  • Roll up financials across strategic hierarchy for projects around the world.
  • Manage access in multiple ways so we can set up each user/role with just the right permissions.
  • Support a variety of reporting and analytics methods.
Read full review
Cons
Microsoft
  • Seems overly complicated for users sometimes in using Project and its functionalities
  • Hard to share files for those folks who do not have MS Project, and then have to print out for them
  • Can be confusing since it looks and feels like MS Excel
Read full review
Planview
  • Capturing lower-level detailed expenditures within a project so that financial screens can show the details of the roll-up.
  • Reporting flexibility so that end users can create their own quick ad hoc reports for analysis.
  • Capturing matrixed skills on resources to ensure staffing is adequate and better align demand to supply.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Microsoft
I like using Microsoft Project. It simplifies building a schedule
Read full review
Planview
We have been a Planview customer since 1999 and have seen it grow and mature as a tool. We have looked at other tools and have found that PV continues to meet our needs and is easy for our resources to use. They work to stay up on the project management industry and the direction it is going, keep on on current technology so that we can work more effectively, provide excellent customer support and have great pricing for what they offer. We can purchase only the modules we need versus buying a tool where we would only use a portion of the functionality.
Read full review
Usability
Microsoft
Microsoft
Project is easy to operate because data could be inserted, changed and
deleted like you are in an Excel timesheet. Besides, it provides a great
level of automation beween his fields allowing few data changes. Also, its
funcionalities are well defined and grouped in upper menus, so you can find a
funcionality quickly
Read full review
Planview
Perfect tool for planning resource time management. Giving flexibility with ease in uptodate . Team collabration . Team aligment. Top management aligment. Close the project with feed back . Team aligment. Expert contribution in task . Task management easy for project manager . Nice tool to have for project manager. Cost contol & project management is very easy with Planview
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Planview
We are long time Planview users and its availability is only limited to our internal SLAs for nightly backups. I have never experienced any unexpected or prolonged software downtime from Planview itself.
Read full review
Performance
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Planview
There are occasions when the system is a bit sluggish. However, it may not always be on the Planview side. We are investing in better tools to monitor our network performance, which will help us diagnose issues more effectively in the future.
Read full review
Support Rating
Microsoft
Microsoft in recent years has transformed itself and gives a positive feeling when one interacts with the company. The company is focusing on its customers and willing to go extra mile to make customers happy.The company continues to invest in its products and bringing new features from time to time. Overall it is a positive feeling to be associated with such an iconic company.
Read full review
Planview
Going through proper channels of support is fine for minor to moderate issues. However, lately the critical issues that arise have been frequent and the standard support cases do not always seem to relay just how critical these issues are and we have to utilize our customer rep to help escalate. Fortunate to have that escalation method.
Read full review
Online Training
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Planview
Generally good. Sometimes, users are a bit overwhelmed, and it takes multiple sessions for them to get the hang of it.
Read full review
Implementation Rating
Microsoft
I wasn't part of it so I don't know
Read full review
Planview
Always have a pre-implementation meeting or conference call with Planview to ensure all are on the same page, disclosure of all and any customization (including reports) and plan for support after implementation of a specified amount of time with the assigned implementation resource. And document everything
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
Microsoft
While many of the above tools are extremely well-versed, Microsoft Project's largest advantage comes from it being related to the largest business productivity company in the world. Project does have its sharing limitations - but regardless, offers one of the most robust tools in the market today. Microsoft Project is built with large-scale projects in mind but is more than up to the task for smaller projects as well. However, there are options available (especially cloud-based options) that may be more fitting for higher-level projects that do not require going into the weeds.
Read full review
Planview
We are currently using Planview AgilePlace. Also we use Tasktop Hub for integrating with other applications within the organization. We would like to use ProjectPlace which is integrated with Planview Portfolios in the future.
Read full review
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Planview
Did not help purchase product.
Read full review
Scalability
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Planview
We are constantly growing and expanding. It is challenging to accommodate different user needs, but the system does provide means of doing that as we desire.
Read full review
Professional Services
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Planview
some resources were great, but too much on their plates to be available
Read full review
Return on Investment
Microsoft
  • Project saved me, as the project manager, countless hours of digging through tickets and schedules to plan everything out. It also saved me time in adjusting the project triangle as needed, since it does so much automatically.
  • It is costly, and since it requires extensive training to master, it's not just the high licensing cost that you need to take into account.
  • The reporting features - even just printing out Gantt charts - makes it far easier to communicate with stakeholders. That means less time for PMs doing all of this manually, and it means less follow-up questions and delays moving forward.
Read full review
Planview
  • The positive impact is the ability to manage our projects enterprise wide.
  • Managing and reporting on projects and programs via portfolios makes it easy to identify troubled projects/programs that need immediate attention.
  • The negative is that pushing too much change too quickly is hard for us. We need to get our users focused on the basics of PM before we can adopt everything else. We need to introduce change to different companies based on their maturity level. Too much change too quickly is not always beneficial. We need to focus on core competencies.
Read full review
ScreenShots

Planview Portfolios Screenshots

Screenshot of END to END VISIBILITY: Planview offers complete visibility across all strategic endeavors, the status, spend, and progress. This gives organizations a connected view of how all initiatives are tracking without having to manage disparate teams and tools.Screenshot of SCENARIO ANALYSIS: Unlike strategic portfolio management solutions that only allow users to create different plans and manually compare them, Planview users can compare plans, analyze investment trade-offs, and prioritize investments across different types of portfolios to ensure delivery of the best outcomes. This helps users to ensure the organization's capacity and investments are aligned to the highest priority initiatives.Screenshot of PERSONALIZED USER EXPERIENCE: Planview can create unique, real-time views based on a job and the status, progress, and other data-oriented use cases. As a result, it can pinpoint where to focus, issues to address, and risks to mitigate in a single view.Screenshot of DYNAMIC PLANNING AND FUNDING: Unlike applications that do not allow for the reprioritization of in-flight initiatives, with Planview you can pivot plans and key priorities at any time, and continue planning as needed based on your organizational strategies and goals. As a result, you get a portfolio mix of investments, initiatives, products, and projects that meet stakeholder and customer expectations.Screenshot of GENERATIVE AI ASSISTANT: Unlike other AI Copilots, Planview Copilot taps into decades of Planview knowledge and learnings from thousands of Planview customers to glean insights, derive recommendations based on best practices, and inform strategic decisions. It connects data across project and product initiatives to help you understand insights from all parts of your organization – and it does this using a natural language interface. As a result, you can surface previously hidden insights, identify delivery risks, and act in seconds.