Microsoft Project vs. Rally Software

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
Rally Software
Score 7.7 out of 10
N/A
Rally Software headquartered in Boulder, Colorado developed the Rally agile software development / ALM platform which was acquired by CA Technologies and rebranded as CA Agile Central. After CA's acquisition by Broadcom the software was once again rebranded as Rally.N/A
Pricing
Microsoft ProjectRally Software
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 ProjectRally Software
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 ProjectRally Software
Considered Both Products
Microsoft Project
Chose Microsoft Project
After using other web-based project management tools, Project would not be my first choice.
Rally Software
Chose Rally Software
The process we used to select a tool was to create a scorecard of IT and Business stakeholder needs. We then reviewed seven tools and graded them against the scorecard requirements. We took the top two products and had a one day hands on demonstration with selected IT and …
Features
Microsoft ProjectRally Software
Project Management
Comparison of Project Management features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Project
8.0
111 Ratings
3% above category average
Rally Software
7.8
4 Ratings
4% above category average
Task Management8.2110 Ratings8.84 Ratings
Resource Management7.7107 Ratings8.04 Ratings
Gantt Charts9.0107 Ratings7.04 Ratings
Scheduling8.5109 Ratings8.84 Ratings
Workflow Automation10.083 Ratings00 Ratings
Team Collaboration7.398 Ratings00 Ratings
Support for Agile Methodology4.883 Ratings8.84 Ratings
Support for Waterfall Methodology7.783 Ratings7.84 Ratings
Document Management9.077 Ratings7.34 Ratings
Email integration5.082 Ratings8.54 Ratings
Mobile Access10.067 Ratings7.03 Ratings
Timesheet Tracking10.073 Ratings7.33 Ratings
Change request and Case Management7.864 Ratings6.73 Ratings
Budget and Expense Management7.686 Ratings8.33 Ratings
Search00 Ratings7.34 Ratings
Visual planning tools00 Ratings8.04 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
Rally Software
-
Ratings
Quotes/estimates7.855 Ratings00 Ratings
Invoicing10.045 Ratings00 Ratings
Project & financial reporting7.576 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with accounting software10.050 Ratings00 Ratings
Agile Development
Comparison of Agile Development features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Project
-
Ratings
Rally Software
7.3
4 Ratings
8% below category average
DevOps Tool Integrations00 Ratings6.33 Ratings
Code Review00 Ratings6.01 Ratings
Code Collaboration00 Ratings8.01 Ratings
Velocity Calculation00 Ratings7.84 Ratings
Dependencies and Blockers00 Ratings8.34 Ratings
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User Ratings
Microsoft ProjectRally Software
Likelihood to Recommend
8.1
(111 ratings)
8.7
(20 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(3 ratings)
9.0
(4 ratings)
Usability
8.7
(9 ratings)
8.0
(8 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
7.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
8.2
(34 ratings)
5.7
(5 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
7.0
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
5.0
(1 ratings)
8.0
(2 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
7.0
(1 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
7.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
Microsoft ProjectRally Software
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
Broadcom
Rally Software is well suited for large Agile or scrum teams who do sprints and it helps managing sprints and backlogs. It is well suited for organizations who want visibility into work being done and progress. Suitable for tracking is user stories, defects and release planning. Works well with CI CD too. It would not be suitable for small teams or startups. For teams that don't use agile. Teams who want lightweight tools like Jira. Companies with a limited budget.
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
Broadcom
  • There are dashboards that provide friendly and useful metrics at the team, program and portfolio levels which help get an easy and quick visual representation of what's going on.
  • Story management made easier, It offers a quick way of quickly entering a number of user stories without losing the overview, by just typing the title and selecting a few attributes directly in the overview screen.
  • Sprint management is seamless in CA Agile Central . It allows you to drag stories from the backlog to the sprints and back again. When a story is dragged into an sprint, it automatically checks the velocity for that sprint and indicates how many more story points can be chipped in. No more manual checking needed by scrum master with respect to allocation and team velocity.
  • Though CA Agile Central has many inbuilt apps, but it also has an App-SDK that allows you to build free app extensions using JavaScript and HTML. So, as per their needs, teams can customize & build various apps & dashboards.
  • Dashboard is an awesome feature which allows you to select and drag panels with all kinds of graphical information about the current sprints and releases.
  • It offers tremendous support for scaled Agile & almost all scaling frameworks are supported specifically tuned to SAFe .
  • CA Agile Central includes several applications but it also integrates well with Jira, Confluence, Jenkins, Eclipse, Subversion, IBM, HP, Salesforce.com and many other products to allow users to organize projects to their specifications. So you can still use Jira at a team level & CA Agile Central at the program & portfolio level for efficient tracking & management.
  • The custom tags are very helpful in segregating the user stories based on the project needs. Even though it's a very small feature, it is very effective ( you will realize why specifically if you are using Jira).
  • CA Central Agile enables agile delivery with ease and provides comprehensive features to track time-boxes, Work In Progress items of the forecast increments.
  • Backlog management is hassle free since you can either drag and drop your user stories to the desired position on the backlog, or change a setting and manually enter priorities as a number.
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
Broadcom
  • User management is pretty basic and could be better. For example more filters and reports and more ability to do mass updates.
  • The report generator is very, very basic and is not WYSIWYG. It has limited filters to generate reports. Often a Scrum master will need to export data to Excel or a tool like Crystal Reports to get enhanced reporting capability.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Microsoft
I like using Microsoft Project. It simplifies building a schedule
Read full review
Broadcom
  • To keep connecting my people, platform, and process for faster, smarter, better results.
  • Making the right contribution to the community. Use Agile and Lean processes to manage the work of your team.
  • Once you have tasted the positive result with Rally Software, you don't want to give up and come back to the old school of development pain any more.
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
Broadcom
Great UI, recent refresh was terrific. Great graphs and metrics, inline editing for updates, and a multitude of views on sprint progress make for a great team collaboration experience. There is also an active community and forums so that if you do need help, it is readily available
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Broadcom
Don’t recall ever being unavailable.
Read full review
Performance
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Broadcom
The screens render relatively quickly but many actions that you would expect to require a single click require multiple clicks and pop-up windows. The extra windows and clicks make the product feel ponderous.
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
Broadcom
I've had to use support only one time and my issue was eventually resolved but not because of my ticket--because others complained about the functionality taken away so they brought it back. My ticket was never answered or addressed. So I can't really say much for the support factor for Rally.
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Online Training
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Broadcom
It more or less confirmed that we are using it the way they had in mind. We were hoping for a epiphany in terms of how we could use it better.

They also want to be a go to source for agile processes and have an online resource center. It’s not that great but had a couple of nuggets. It hasn’t really helped us too much and we are not too far off from the classical interpretation of agile.

I would recommend training, in particular for organizations that multiple on-going projects. The product seems optimized for larger, more complex teams and getting proper training on how to configure, administer and use the system would be beneficial
Read full review
Implementation Rating
Microsoft
I wasn't part of it so I don't know
Read full review
Broadcom
Implementation of RALLY services and program satisfaction among various group,... 1) Dev Outcomes: How were our resiliencies, development, learning & practitioners “make them do the work,” but that they ask you to do it “in a way like before. 2) The Ops group: Just wish to make sure any change won't break current production envirements All the stake holders has to be on the same page
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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
Broadcom
Rally and Asana have comparable features and are both valuable project management tools, but Asana's user interface is well-organized and highly intuitive. It's easy to add tasks and collaborators, edit due dates, indicate progress on tasks, close out projects, etc. However, Rally's interface is somewhat cluttered and difficult to navigate. My team ended up choosing Asana over Rally due to these concerns.
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
Broadcom
  • it helped organizing many of the processes management use to communicate tasks with engineers, and provided detailed charts on the speed/blockage during any iteration
  • with time Rally became the main tool we used to track and report tasks/defects in our projects, but frequent service outages made it very hard to continue consider as a reliable solution
  • too much features is good, but for engineers a few features (User Stories section, iterations, defects, and Kanban boards) are necessary and the rest is just noise
  • Kanban board support is lacking
Read full review
ScreenShots