Project Standard and Project Professional look almost identical when you open them, which is exactly why buyers struggle to choose. The differences sit in team resource management and server connectivity, and this comparison shows where they matter.
| Feature | Project Standard | Project Professional |
|---|---|---|
| Gantt charts, baselines, critical path | Included | Included |
| Resource levelling and cost tracking | Included | Included |
| Pre-built reports and custom fields | Included | Included |
| Team Planner view | Not included | Included |
| Timesheets for project and non-project time | Not included | Included |
| Generic and non-generic enterprise resources | Not included | Included |
| Inactive tasks | View only | Included |
| Connect to Project Server Subscription Edition | Not included | Included |
| Licence | One user, one PC, one-time purchase | One user, one PC, one-time purchase |
This table follows Microsoft's own Project comparison page for the 2024 editions. Both editions run on Windows only.
What is the difference between Project Standard and Project Professional?
Project Standard is a complete desktop scheduling tool for one planner managing their own plans, while Project Professional adds team-level features: the Team Planner view, timesheets, enterprise resources, full inactive-task control and the ability to connect to Project Server, while both share the same scheduling engine, Gantt views and reports.
In practice, the deciding question is whether your plans stay as standalone .mpp files on your PC, or whether they need to feed a central server where several managers share resources. Standalone work suits Standard; shared resource pools need Professional.
Volume-licensed copies of both editions ship as part of Office LTSC 2024, which Microsoft states receives security updates but no new features during its support life.
What does Project Professional have that Standard does not?
Project Professional adds four groups of capability that Standard lacks: the Team Planner view for visual workload balancing, timesheets for recording project and non-project hours, enterprise and generic resources, and connection to Project Server Subscription Edition, plus full control of inactive tasks, which Standard can only display.
- Team Planner: a visual view of each person's allocation and capacity, including non-project work and non-working time, so you can spot overload quickly.
- Timesheets: capture time spent on project and non-project tasks, which gives more realistic utilisation data.
- Generic resources: plan with role placeholders such as "Network engineer" before you know who will do the work.
- Inactive tasks: switch a task off for what-if planning while keeping it in the plan; Standard can show inactive tasks but cannot create them.
The cause and effect with inactive tasks is worth knowing. Deactivating a task removes its effect on the schedule and resource load without deleting its history, which is how Professional users test scope cuts safely.
Can Project Standard connect to Project Server or Project Online?
No, Project Standard works only with local, file-based plans, while Project Professional 2024 can connect to Project Server Subscription Edition, Microsoft's current on-premises server, so organisations that publish plans to a central server, share an enterprise resource pool or report across a portfolio need Professional on every scheduler's PC.
Project Online, Microsoft's cloud project portfolio service, is a separate matter. Microsoft has announced that Project Online retires on 30 September 2026, so buying a desktop edition specifically to connect to Project Online no longer makes sense.
Our companion guide to Project 2024 vs 2021 vs Project Online covers that retirement and the subscription alternatives in more detail.
Who should buy Project Standard?
Project Standard suits individual planners who build and track their own schedules: freelance project managers, construction and engineering schedulers, consultants, students and small teams where one person owns the plan, because it includes the full scheduling engine, Gantt charts, baselines, costs and reports.
Typical Standard users share their work by exporting reports or PDFs, or by sending the .mpp file. That works well when the plan has a single owner.
What we commonly see is buyers choosing Professional by default without using its team features. If your organisation has no Project Server and you manage resources in the plan itself, Project 2024 Standard LTSC is a sensible starting point.
Who should buy Project Professional?
Project Professional suits project managers who coordinate a shared team or work inside a project management office: people who balance several staff across projects, need timesheets, plan with generic roles before staffing, or must publish to Project Server, and it is the safer choice if server-based project management may come later.
The Team Planner alone often justifies the upgrade for resource managers. Seeing every person's workload on one screen saves considerable time compared with filtering resource usage tables.
If that describes your role, see Project 2024 Professional LTSC, or browse the full range in our Microsoft Office collection.
Should I choose Project 2024 or Project 2021?
For a new purchase, Project 2024 is usually the better choice because Microsoft supports it until 9 October 2029, while Project 2021 reaches retirement on 13 October 2026, and because the Standard versus Professional split is essentially the same in both, support life decides.
Microsoft's lifecycle pages for Project 2024 give the exact dates. After retirement a product keeps working, but it receives no further security updates, which matters on internet-connected PCs.
Project 2021 remains a reasonable option where an organisation has standardised on Office 2021 and needs matching versions. Our Project 2021 Professional install guide covers that setup.
Can I upgrade from Project Standard to Professional later?
Moving from Standard to Professional normally means buying a Professional licence, uninstalling Standard and installing Professional with the new key, because each edition has its own product key and installer, while your .mpp files open in either edition so existing plans carry over.
Uninstall Standard first so the two editions do not compete for activation on the same PC.
Product IDs also differ between the editions in the Office Deployment Tool, so your configuration file must name the edition that matches your key. Our guide to Office product IDs for the ODT explains that link.
How are Project Standard and Professional licensed and activated?
Both editions are one-time purchase licences for one user on one Windows PC, and both activate online with a 25-character product key after installation through Microsoft's Click-to-Run installer, so activation is identical for the two editions and the choice between them depends only on features, not on setup difficulty.
Keys come in retail and volume (LTSC) channels. The cause and effect matters here: the edition and channel named in your installer configuration must match the key, otherwise activation fails with a product mismatch even though the key itself is genuine.
Once activated, you can confirm the licence status with the same ospp.vbs report used for Office, which lists Project licences separately. Every key from LicenceHouse comes with a 30-day warranty and activation help by email.
Frequently asked questions
Is Project Standard enough for a small business?
Often, yes. If one or two people own the schedules and resources are managed inside each plan, Standard provides the full scheduling engine, Gantt charts, costs and reports. Choose Professional when several managers share the same people across projects or when you need timesheets or a server connection.
Do Project Standard and Professional open the same files?
Yes. Both editions use the same .mpp file format, so a plan created in Standard opens in Professional and the reverse also works. Professional-only elements, such as the ability to create inactive tasks, cannot be edited when the file is opened in Standard.
Does Project Standard or Professional work on a Mac?
No. Microsoft lists the volume editions of Project 2024 for devices running Windows, and there is no native macOS version of the Project desktop app. Mac users typically run Windows in a virtual machine or use a browser-based planning service instead.
Is Microsoft Project included with Office Professional Plus?
No. Project is a separate product with its own licence, and it is not part of Office Professional Plus, Office Standard or Office Home and Business. You need a separate Project Standard or Project Professional key, which installs alongside a compatible Office version on the same PC.
Can I install Project 2024 alongside Office 2021?
Mixing versions is a common cause of installation errors with Click-to-Run Office products. Microsoft lists Project 2024 as compatible with Office 2024 and Office LTSC 2024, so matching the Project version to your installed Office version is the safest approach.