Microsoft Project vs Planner: Which Do Small Teams Need?

Microsoft Project vs Planner comes down to scheduling depth: Planner organises tasks on boards and timelines for everyday team work, while Project desktop calculates schedules with dependencies, resources, baselines and critical paths. With Project Online retired on 30 September 2026, small teams now choose between Planner's tiers and a one-time Project desktop licence.

Prices are Microsoft's US list prices at the time of writing (November 2026), taken from Microsoft's Planner and Project comparison pages. Regional prices differ.

What is the difference between Microsoft Project and Planner?

Planner is a task management tool: you create tasks, assign people, set due dates and track progress on boards, charts and, in paid tiers, timelines. Project is a scheduling tool: it calculates start and finish dates from durations, dependencies and resource availability, so changing one task automatically moves everything that depends on it.

That distinction matters more than the feature lists. If your work is a list of jobs that people tick off, Planner fits. If your work has a fixed end date, linked phases and shared resources, such as a fit-out, a software release or an event, you need a scheduling engine.

Planner's basic tier comes free with most Microsoft 365 business plans, which is why many small teams start there and only move up when a deadline slips.

What happened to Project Online?

Microsoft retired Project Online on 30 September 2026. Sales of new Project Online-only subscriptions ended in October 2025, and existing customers kept access until the retirement date. Microsoft points most customers to Planner, with Project Server Subscription Edition for on-premises portfolio management and the Project desktop apps for single-user scheduling.

The Microsoft Planner blog announcement sets out the timeline. Project desktop, Project Server Subscription Edition and Planner itself are not affected by the retirement.

If you still had project data in Project Online, it should have been exported before 30 September. Our earlier comparison of Project 2024, Project 2021 and Project Online explains how the three related before the retirement.

What can Planner do on each plan?

Basic Planner in Microsoft 365 gives you boards, buckets, checklists, assignments and charts. Planner Plan 1 adds the Timeline (Gantt) view, task dependencies, goals, sprints, backlogs and custom fields. Planner and Project Plan 3 adds baselines, critical path, advanced lead-and-lag dependencies, portfolios and the Project desktop app.

• Planner in Microsoft 365: shared to-do boards for a team or Teams channel.
• Planner Plan 1: lightweight project plans with a timeline and simple dependencies.
• Planner and Project Plan 3: formal project management with baselines and critical path, plus the desktop app.

Microsoft's Planner plans and pricing page lists every feature per tier. A Planner and Project Plan 5 tier also exists for enterprise portfolio and resource management.

When do small teams need Microsoft Project instead of Planner?

Small teams need Project when the schedule itself is the deliverable: when a client expects a Gantt chart with dependencies, when a late task must automatically push the end date, when you track planned versus actual progress against a baseline, or when one person's workload spans several projects and must be levelled.

Four signs you have outgrown Planner: you re-type dates by hand whenever one task slips, clients ask for a baseline comparison, the same people are double-booked across projects, or you need to show the critical path in a progress meeting. Planner Plan 3 or Project desktop handles all four.

Typical examples include construction and fit-out contractors, engineering consultancies, IT migrations and event companies. These teams usually have one or two planners who build schedules, while everyone else just needs to see and update their tasks.

What we commonly see: a five-to-twenty person firm buys a single Project desktop licence for the person who builds schedules, then shares PDF or Excel exports, while the wider team tracks day-to-day tasks in free Planner. That keeps the per-user subscription bill near zero.

Is Planner Premium the same as Project for the web?

Effectively, yes. Microsoft folded Project for the web into Planner, so the premium Planner experience, unlocked by Planner Plan 1 or Planner and Project Plan 3, is where the former Project for the web features now live, alongside the rebranded Project subscription plans.

For buyers, the naming change matters more than the technology. Older guides refer to Project Plan 1, Plan 3 and Plan 5; current Microsoft pages call them Planner Plan 1, Planner and Project Plan 3 and Planner and Project Plan 5.

Cause and effect: because premium Planner is browser-based and per user, costs grow with headcount. A team of eight on Plan 3 at the US list price pays $2,880 a year, every year, which is more than two one-time Project Professional 2024 licences.

Should you buy Project desktop as a one-time licence?

A one-time Project desktop licence makes sense when one or two people build the schedules, the rest of the team does not need to edit them, and you prefer a single payment to a growing per-user subscription. It also suits consultants who deliver Project files to clients that already use Project.

Project comes in two desktop editions. Standard covers scheduling for a single planner; Professional adds team collaboration and resource-management features. Our guide to Project Standard vs Professional explains the differences in detail.

For a new purchase, choose Project 2024: it is supported until 9 October 2029. Project 2021 retired on 13 October 2026, so Project 2021 Professional mainly suits organisations matching an existing Office 2021 estate or opening legacy files on offline machines, while Project 2024 Professional LTSC is the supported choice. See the current price on each product page.

Does Project desktop work with Planner and Teams?

Partly. Project desktop works with local .mpp files and can save them to OneDrive or SharePoint for sharing, but it does not sync live with Planner boards. Teams can surface Planner tasks in a channel tab, and people can view shared Project files, but editing a Project schedule still happens in the desktop app.

Advanced nuance: the Project desktop app included with Planner and Project Plan 3 is a subscription client that connects to online services, whereas Project Professional 2024 is a perpetual client. Both open the same .mpp format, so schedules move between them without conversion.

Remember to install Project alongside a compatible Office version. Our guide to installing Visio and Project with Office covers the rules that prevent setup errors.

Which option is cheapest for a team of five?

For a team of five, basic Planner is cheapest because it comes with Microsoft 365 business plans. A Gantt timeline for everyone on Planner Plan 1 costs $600 a year at the US list price. If only one person builds formal schedules, one Project licence often costs less over three years than a Plan 3 seat.

1. Count who builds schedules and who only updates tasks.
2. Give task-only users basic Planner.
3. Price either Plan 3 seats or one-time Project licences for schedule builders.
4. Compare totals over the three to five years you expect to use them.

Plan 3 at $30.00 per user per month is $360 a year per user, so the Project Standard 2024 list price is roughly equal to two years of one Plan 3 seat. Factor in that subscriptions update continuously while Project 2024 support ends in October 2029.

Frequently asked questions

Is Microsoft Planner free?

Basic Planner is included at no extra cost in most Microsoft 365 business and education plans, including Business Basic, Standard and Premium. It provides boards, buckets, assignments, checklists and charts. Timeline views, dependencies, goals and sprints need a paid Planner Plan 1 or Planner and Project Plan 3 licence for each user who uses them.

Can I still buy Project Online?

No. Microsoft stopped selling new Project Online-only subscriptions in October 2025 and retired the service on 30 September 2026. Organisations that relied on it now use Planner with a premium plan, Project Server Subscription Edition on their own servers, or the Project desktop apps for scheduling.

Is Project 2021 still worth buying?

Only for specific cases. Project 2021 reached end of support on 13 October 2026, so it no longer receives security updates. It still works and suits offline machines or teams matching an existing Office 2021 setup, but for a new purchase Project 2024, supported until 9 October 2029, is the safer choice.

Does Planner have a Gantt chart?

Yes, on paid tiers. The Timeline view in Planner Plan 1 shows tasks as bars over time with finish-to-start dependencies, which works as a simple Gantt chart. Planner and Project Plan 3 adds baselines, critical path and lead-and-lag dependencies, bringing it much closer to the scheduling depth of Project desktop.

Do I need Microsoft 365 to use Project 2024?

No. Project Standard 2024 and Project Professional 2024 are one-time desktop licences that activate with a product key and run without a Microsoft 365 subscription. You only need Microsoft 365 if you want to store files in OneDrive or SharePoint, use Teams, or combine Project with Planner boards for the wider team.

Related guides

• Project 2024 Professional: download, install and activate
• Project 2021 Professional: download, install and activate
• Microsoft Office for small business: licensing guide
• Visio Standard vs Professional

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