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Believe it or not, there are millions of Microsoft Project users around the world, with over 300M+ using Microsoft 365. In recent decades, Microsoft has taken the project and task management space by storm.
This is through their arsenal of interconnected tools and applications, powering both startups through to enterprise projects. Why? Because they are trusted, innovative, and well-established name in the world of business!
Deliver powerful end-to-end projects with edison365
From project plan to project perfection. Do your best work, every step of the way with edison365
But in 2025, the tides are changing. The tools millions once knew and loved are receiving less support, and fewer innovative updates. Right now, things aren’t so clear, and the future of Microsoft Project Online, specifically, is very unpredictable.
We recently sat down with 12x MVP Paul Mather to understand what the future could look like, putting the puzzle together one question at a time. Take a look at the video below, and understand what limitation and potential consequences lay ahead for Microsoft Project Online users.
What’s Wrong with Microsoft Project Online?
Despite common belief, Microsoft Project Online doesn’t have an end-of-life date. That said, many of the key functionality and capabilities that help teams manage tasks and projects are being deprecated.
This has left a lot of users questioning the stability of their future projects. One of the biggest decisions project managers must make is whether they stay or move on. But what should they move on to exactly?
Our biggest takeaway for this Microsoft Project alternative guide is to look for a solution that offers seamless migration for project and portfolio data. Why? This will make the process much easier and keep things simple in every regard!
What Features to Look for in a Microsoft Project Alternative?
But besides seamless migration, there are several must-haves features any new Microsoft project alternative should have. Let’s break them down in a little more detail, shall we?
Gantt Chart Views
First and foremost, Gantt charts! It’s important your next solution offers a clear and user-friendly Gantt Chart view for your projects and portfolio. These should be interactive with drag-and-drop functionality.
A good Microsoft Project alternative would ensure things like dependencies and milestone tracking are easy manage as your projects progress. The ultimate goal with any new Gantt Chart feature is to provide a bird’s-eye, visually intuitive view for everyone within your team.
Real-time Collaboration
If one thing’s for certain, projects shouldn’t be managed in silos! A great Microsoft Project alternative allows your entire project management office, portfolio managers, and more, collaborate in real time.
What does this look like? Everything from commenting on projects, tagging team members, attaching files to project dashboards, and receiving notifications. Communication and collaboration are critical to smooth-running projects!
Resource Management
Project management success is determined by understanding who’s doing what, and when. It’s not a nice-to-have, it’s an essential. The right Microsoft Project alternative must offer some degree of resource management.
This means workload balancing, tracking team member availability, capacity planning features, utilization reports, and more. These not only prevent employee burnout, but also over-allocation on important projects.
Risk Management
If your next MS project alternative must empower your team to be proactive, not reactive. Risk management ensures you can avoid bottlenecks, issues, and setbacks as they move toward you!
In your next solution, look for opportunities to create issue logs and risk registers, while producing status tracking and reporting around risks. Of course, Microsoft Project can handle basic task-level issues, but robust risk management tools help you always move more confidently through your projects and tasks!
In-depth Reporting Dashboards
Reporting dashboards are a true guiding-light for your projects. They provide essential visibility for your team. The right tool must include customizable dashboards, with pre-built templates, and real-time data visualize.
From burn-down charts, progress summaries, portfolio views, and more. A robust reporting functionality gives teams the chance to inform stakeholders at every stage of progress.
Top tip: Your tool should integrate well with tools like Power BI, just like edison365 does, with Power BI being the standard reporting tool.
Workflow Automation
Most modern solutions offer no-code or low-code automation features to help streamline repetitive tasks like status updates etc. Automation minimises human error and helps project managers save hours of time.
Workflows are often the backbone of processes and PPM strategies. It’s important you look for a tool that offers drag-and-drop easy functionality for workflow creation and automation.
Scalability
One of our final must-have features for a great Microsoft Project alternative is scalability and customization. In order for teams, projects, and portfolios to succeed and grow, your tool must be scalable. Look for custom fields, flexible permission options, and more.
When speaking with solution providers, it’s important to raise questions around enterprise capabilities for large-scale use. This ensures you are entering into a partnership with a Microsoft Project alternative that can support scalability.
Deliver powerful end-to-end projects with edison365
From project plan to project perfection. Do your best work, every step of the way with edison365
The Big Top 6 Microsoft Project Alternatives in 2025
The following 6 Microsoft Project alternatives provide a great way to scale your PMO in 2025 and beyond. For each alternative, we’re looking at key features, pros, cons, user ratings, and more! Let’s jump into it, shall we?
Wrike
Founded in 2006, Wrike offers a powerful, all-in-one project management tool. It supports the flexibility a lot of cross-functional teams require within enterprise and large-scale businesses.
Wrike has become especially popular among operations, IT, and marketing teams for its automation, collaborative functionality and real-time updates.
Key Wrike Features
When it comes to key features, Wrike know exactly how to win over teams who manage large-scale operations and enterprise projects. Their tools stand out as a Microsoft Project alternative for their flexibility, resource planning, and bespoke configuration for user needs.
- Multiple Project views, including Kanban, Calendar, Gantt Chart.
- 300+ integrations available for seamless PPM.
- Custom workflows to match your process.
- PPM dashboards that work in real-time.
| Pros of Wrike | Cons of Wrike |
|---|---|
| Updates available in real-time with advanced dashboards | Complexity may be an issue for new users. |
| A great tool for enterprise teams | Gantt Charts may not be visually apt for some customers. |
| High-level of customer support. | Pricing may be expensive for enterprise packages. |
Wrike G2 Customer Review
“I like that it’s like a public to-do list for your team, including who is assigned to certain tasks as well as an overview of the length and scope of a task. It is also fairly simple to create tasks to add to lists of priorities and the notifications definitely help everyone keep track on projects.” – Kayla L’s Wrike Review.
Monday.com
Monday.com has become a household name in the world of project and task management. With a global userbase, robust tools, and a visually appealing user-interface, it’s clear why so many teams, both big and small opt for Monday.com
Monday.com captures both simplicity with power with it’s approach to project management, with an easy to navigate, easy to use environment. What’s more it integrates effortlessly with many apps to double it’s impact.
Key Monday.com Features
What makes Monday.com a brilliant Microsoft Project alternative is its robust project management tools that don’t overwhelm users. It focuses customization and cross-functional collaboration built for everyday teams.
- Supports automation for repetitive tasks.
- Integrates with more than 30+ tools (including MS Teams).
- Provides customizable project views such as drag-and-drop boards.
| Monday.com Pros | Monday.com Cons |
|---|---|
| Very easy to adopt for project management professionals, and everyday users. | Gantt Charts may lack the sophisticated functionality seen in other tools. |
| Automation is robust, and requires no-code for users to build. | Reporting can be basic depending on the package you have. |
| A robust integration system that can pair up with many popular tools, including Microsoft. | May become expensive as your team scales it’s projects. |
Monday.com G2 Customer Review
“Monday.com has transformed the way our team collaborates and tracks progress. The interface is clean, visually engaging, and easy to use, even for less tech-savvy team members.” – Claire C’s review of Monday.com
ClickUp
ClickUp is a well-regarded Microsoft Project alternative for many reasons. It’s used by numerous teams and departments, from product development to marketing. Why? Because it effectively replaces several tools many businesses use, bringing project management, communication, and documentation into one place.
Key ClickUp Features
Whether it’s task management, documentation, goal-tracking, or automation, ClickUp offers a robust plethora of tools and functions that many Microsoft Project Online users can appreciate! It also provides a sophisticated depth to its customization, making it a tool that can grow with teams, and their projects.
- In-app communication such as whiteboards, chat, and email tools.
- More than 900+ integrations with major productivity apps.
- Effective tracking for task dependency, milestones, and time tracking.
| Pros of ClickUp | Cons of ClickUp |
|---|---|
| An extensive free plan for users to explore many of ClickUp’s features. | Complexity of tools may overwhelm some beginner users. |
| Powerful communication and documentation, especially in remote/hybrid teams. | Some reporting aspects may not match the sophistication of other Microsoft Project alternatives. |
| Scales well across different teams, departments and varying needs. | A steep learning curve for teams looking to move quickly. |
G2 ClickUp Customer Review
“ClickUp is extremely helpful for managing tasks and keeping everything organized in one place. The platform is very intuitive, offers a high level of customization, and makes it easy to prioritize activities and meet deadlines.” – Escritório E’s G2 ClickUp review
edison365
edison365 is an end-to-end business transformation platform powered by Microsoft. Existing Project Online users can migrate all their data across with ease, and enjoy a new way to manage projects, develop portfolios, build custom workflows, and take reporting to a whole new level!
From robust business case management to sophisticated project planning and delivery, edison365 allows enterprise PMOs to move confidently and successfully, all backed by an easy-to-use UI for swift user adoption.
Key edison365 Features
When it comes to features, edison365 goes the extra distance! From business templates to reporting, resource management to innovation management, edison365 is a true end-to-end environment.
- Fully integrates with the wider Microsoft environment.
- From idea-to-deliver for all projects, ideas, and opportunities.
- PPM views, risk and benefit management, and AI and automation.
- Fully configurable, customizable, and scalable.
edison365’s Pros edison365’s Cons Brilliant choice for Microsoft Project users Lack of native reporting module. A true end-to-end solution Notification and alerts are functional but less customizable. Super configurable for enterprise PMO Lack of internal one-to-one chat feature.
edison365’s G2 Customer Review
“edison365 is easy to use and easy to set up. It comes with a configuration that can work out of the box and get you up and running super quickly. You can use it on any device, and you can be sure about its security as it enables single sign-on through Microsoft 365. All data are stored in your tenant and Azure subscription (if using gamification features).” – Christopher P’s G2 review of edison365.
Smartsheet
Smartsheet is a big player in the project management space, and shapes up as a great Microsoft Project alternative to consider. Think Excel, but with wings! Smartsheet takes collaboration and automation to a new level.
For users of Excel, Smartsheet may be the one. It’s improved structure as a project management app, its connectivity, along with project views and reporting isn’t something to be overlooked.
For a more in-depth review of Smartsheet, we have written an extensive guide to Smartsheet vs Microsoft Project, including key feature differences, reviews, pricing, and much more.
Key Smartsheet Features
Smartsheet thrives on data entry with dynamic features and functionality. For easy adoption, any project managers familiar with Excel will find Smartsheet to be a solid Microsoft Project alternative.
- Gantt Chart views, calendars, and robust Kanban views.
- Spreadsheet-style project management.
- Automation and collaboration for wider teams.
| Smartsheet Pros | Smartsheet Cons |
|---|---|
| Familiar excel-style layout for users. | May feel too ‘spreadsheet-heavy’ for some project managers. |
| Powerful automation and workflows. | Certain tools may feel quite basic for heavier PPM needs. |
| Integrates with Microsoft well. | Advance filtering around Gantt Charts may not be readily available. |
Smartsheet G2 User Review
“Smartsheet is the best cloud based platform to manage the project workflow, daily tasks and automate the repetitive processes.” – Ashwini J’s G2 review of Smartsheet.
ProjectManager
ProjectManager is a robust, cloud-based Microsoft Project alternative. This platform is best suited to hybrid teams, and offers great project dashboards with real-time insights, and an enterprise feel without overwhelming users.
Key ProjectManager Features
ProjectManager supports well built Gantt Charts, workload management, and more, all in a single, centralized environment. A great option for expansive PMOs looking to plan, deliver and succeed with their projects.
- Real-time dashboards for project management.
- A robust mobile app for on-the-go project management.
- Versatile planning with Gantt Charts, Calendar views, and more.
| ProjectManager’s Pros | ProjectManager’s Cons |
|---|---|
| Excellent Gantt Charts and real-time dashboards. | Mobile app may not perform as well as the desktop application. |
| Project planning, reporting, and tracking, all in one solution. | May not support as many integrations as other Microsoft Project alternatives. |
| Great for remote teams needing visibility and collaboration | Custom reporting may be limited. |
Project Manager’s G2 User Review
“Project Manager is very user friendly and helpful website used for project managers to learn new technologies.” – Chandra Sekhar’s G2 review of Project Manager
Finding Your Best Fit for a Microsoft Project Alternative
So, which platform is right for you? Of course, this depends on your team, the complexity of your projects, collaboration style, and more. To help you make the right decision on a Microsoft Project alternative, we’ve broken down the common user groups for the top Microsoft Project alternatives in this article!
Small to Medium Teams
A growing team often has a lot of spinning plates, i.e multiple tasks or clients. Despite this, these teams typically don’t have the enterprise budget global companies do. This means that their scope for a good Microsoft Project alternative is limited, and fewer boxes must be ticked.
But what should a tool for small to medium teams include? First and foremost, affordability is key, and an intuitive UX will keep software adoption simple. Not only this, but having an all-in-one functionality allows smaller teams to create, plan, and execute project management all in one place!
Best fit: ClickUp or Monday.com (both offer very capable free plans, flexible project views, backed by a simple onboarding process for individuals and teams).
Visual Thinking Teams
Many Microsoft Project alternatives are better suited to visual project managers. These are tools that help teams fully map out projects with tools such as whiteboard, mind-maps, drag-and-drop functionality, all built on a robust user-interface and experience.
Some people are visual learners, and have a preference to work with tailored, colourful, and personalized board-views, Gantt Chart views, and custom dashboards. This helps them stay on top of their work and truly understand what’s happening around their projects and tasks.
Best fit: Miro (for brainstorming) + Smartsheet or Notion (for delivering execution)
Enterprise PMOs
For extensive, enterprise PPM, it takes a little more than robust task management and personalized dashboards. See, enterprise teams need something scalable and bespoke. An enterprise PMO-ready Microsoft Project alternative must include several core features.
From resource capacity planning to real-time collaboration, reporting and strong PMO governance features, enterprise tools are often an end-to-end, all-in-one solution. One that can be expanded into different departments and teams with a large-scale business.
Best fit: Both Wrike and ProjectManager provide enterprise-ready features such as advanced reporting, workload balancing and integrations. It’s also worth noting that edison365 can support enterprise-ready requirements too!
Microsoft-Centric Teams
Finally, we have Microsoft-centric Teams! In this category of Microsoft Project alternatives are those that integrate seamlessly without fracturing your existing processes, projects, and portfolios. These are tools connect with the Microsoft ecosystem, e.g. Teams, Outlook, SharePoint.
Not only does this provide a perfect transition, as you move away from Microsoft Project Online, but it makes things much easier, with the support of familiar tools in an upgraded environment.
Best fit: In this category, both Smartsheet and edison365 offer strong Microsoft Integrations, with edison365 being powered by Microsoft, and providing Power BI as the key reporting integration.
Deliver powerful end-to-end projects with edison365
From project plan to project perfection. Do your best work, every step of the way with edison365
Microsoft Project Alternatives FAQs
Now let’s dive into some of the most common questions surrounding Microsoft Project alternatives. For a thorough Q&A, remember, we recently sat down with 12x Microsoft MVP Paul Mather to discuss the future of MS Project Online.
What is the best Microsoft Project alternative in 2025?
This depends on your requirements. All Microsoft Project alternatives are different. Some are better for small teams, while others can support enterprise needs. There is no one-size-fits-all MS Project alternative.
That said, we recommend you explore solutions such as ClickUp, edison365, Monday.com, Wrike, Smartsheet, and ProjectManager. All of which have been thoroughly reviewed in this guide!
Is Microsoft Project Coming to an end?
While no date has been set, Microsoft are beginning to slow down their support, with no future feature updates or improvements expected for Microsoft Project Online. Head over to our guide on the future of Microsoft Project Online for a detailed review of key changes, including our Q&A with 12x MVP Paul Mather.
Is There a free Alternative to Microsoft Project?
There are plenty of Microsoft Project alternatives that offer robust free/freemium versions of their more robust tools. This includes platforms like ClickUp, Trello, Planner, and Zoho Projects.
However, these often come with feature limitations. It’s important to weigh-up these roadblocks before spending time building your projects and portfolios within their applications to avoid duplicate efforts in the future, should you choose not to proceed with the premium licenses.
Is Seamless Migration for a Microsoft Project alternative Important?
Yes! Above all the key features you require, seamless migration is an absolute must! Think about it in terms of time spent. Your PMO may spend hours manually moving projects, tasks, templates, and more across to a MS Project alternative.
This could cost your business thousands of dollars, not only to upgrade to a better tool, but to manually migrate across! Not all solutions offer seamless migration, however, you should know that edison365 does!
Microsoft Project Online Conclusion: What Should You Do Next?
That’s a wrap. Hopefully now, you have a greater understanding of some of the biggest Microsoft Project alternatives. From ClickUp to Smartsheet, edison365 to Monday.com, the perfect choice depends on your needs and requirements.
As Microsoft continues to scale down parts of Microsoft Project Online, many project managers will look to jump ship to a new and improved solution. This guide provides a quickfire round-up of the tools you must consider.
That said, there are many more project management tools, for big and small teams, and for all kinds of projects. Our top tip is this, do your research, make the most of free trials, and look for a solution that is customizable, scalable, and offers seamless migration for your processes, projects, and more.
If you’d like to test our edison365’s project management capabilities, please speak to our friendly team, who are more than happy to get you started!
