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Adobe Workfront vs Microsoft Project comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 19, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
5.6
Adobe Workfront boosts efficiency and productivity significantly, saving time and resources while enhancing collaboration and user growth.
Sentiment score
7.4
Microsoft Project boosts ROI through better resource use, quicker timelines, and centralized management, streamlining workflow and reducing costs.
We tracked all of the savings through Adobe Workfront, and at the end of the year, for those 2,500 users, we saved over 1,200 hours, or 1,200 man hours.
Microsoft Project does help save time and money due to its completeness as a project management solution.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.0
Adobe Workfront's support is well-rated for expertise and responsiveness, though complex issues can experience longer response times.
Sentiment score
6.5
Users experience mixed tech support, balancing onsite/offshore models, community forums, and improved language availability; average rating is 7/10.
They provide answers and guidance on how to resolve issues, such as clearing cookies and cache, and assist in best practice configuration and optimization of the platform.
It is considered a citizen admin system, and you don't need to be an IT professional to be an administrator.
If L5 does not understand, it moves to L4. If they can't solve it, it moves to a higher level.
Currently, there are more support personnel who speak English, and Microsoft has increased its Spanish language support compared to previous years.
There is a website and a connection to AI for support.
I would give somewhere around 10 for my overall experience with support.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.7
Adobe Workfront scales well for midsize to enterprise businesses, offering flexibility, customization, and strategic planning with manageable scalability challenges.
Sentiment score
7.0
Microsoft Project supports large-scale users and complex tasks, with noted challenges in version differences and cloud integration.
We have gone from two or three marketing teams up to over 40 marketing teams and 6,500 users in a few years.
The solution is really scalable.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
6.8
Adobe Workfront is praised for its stability, with issues resolved quickly and performance consistently rated highly by users.
Sentiment score
7.9
Microsoft Project is stable and reliable, with users reporting minimal issues, consistent performance, and positive usability experiences.
Adobe Workfront provides a stable foundation for project management.
Overall, I would rate the stability and reliability of Adobe Workfront a ten.
I have not faced any challenges with the stability of Adobe Workfront.
Microsoft Project is a stable tool, and when using it in different projects, it works perfectly.
I would rate the stability of Microsoft Project as an eight out of ten.
 

Room For Improvement

Adobe Workfront users want improved reporting, integration, and interface customization for better usability, efficiency, and data visualization.
Microsoft Project needs enhanced UI, better integration, collaboration features, streamlined reporting, improved training resources, and more affordable pricing.
We can enhance integrations, such as ensuring Adobe Workfront integrates more seamlessly with other Adobe products like Experience Manager and Creative Cloud.
If I have issue-level data and project-level data that I need to see, with some custom coding, you can do some of it in a report, but in general, if you have a lot of that blended data between levels, you need to use a dashboard, which requires two different reports due to the difficulty in pulling data at the different levels into one thing.
Integration with Azure DevOps could be improved to facilitate better communication between the two systems.
The worst part is handling too many items, like 1,000 items, which Microsoft Project struggles with, especially when printing.
It would be beneficial to see enhanced reporting functionalities in future versions.
Microsoft Project tends to become very unstable on large project plans with more than 400 lines.
 

Setup Cost

Adobe Workfront's pricing is high but offers flexibility, discounts, and value for large remote teams with efficiency improvements.
Microsoft Project offers cost-effective pricing, but expenses rise with plugins and users, bundled within Microsoft 365 subscriptions.
This can include items such as mileage, supplies, software, licenses, and travel costs.
The per-user cost in the ultimate plan of Adobe Workfront is approximately $1,232 when purchasing 800 to 1,000 licenses.
The issue with Microsoft is that the license is per personnel, making it expensive.
I believe it's usually included in the Microsoft 365 package.
 

Valuable Features

Adobe Workfront offers customizable tools for effective project management, enhancing collaboration, automation, integration, and workflow flexibility for users.
Microsoft Project is praised for its detailed scheduling, integration, and user-friendly interface, supporting complex plans with robust features.
It provides comprehensive features with built-in integration for creative tools, addressing the pain point of creative collaboration in the content supply chain.
Reporting is a major part of Adobe Workfront, making it not just a workflow management tool but also a tool where we can get data and present it to executives through comprehensive reporting.
The system aids in supporting demand management and producing high-level status reports.
This tool is the most accurate project management tool, allowing me to run a full set of project activities without having to switch between different tools for scheduling and other tasks.
The collaboration features are valuable for controlling the project and transmitting information to other team members when working in a team.
The most valuable features are in the successor and predecessor determination and the tracking tools, such as obtaining data on the S curve financial curve.
 

Categories and Ranking

Adobe Workfront
Ranking in Project Management Software
6th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
42
Ranking in other categories
Digital Asset Management (1st)
Microsoft Project
Ranking in Project Management Software
3rd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
84
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Project Management Software category, the mindshare of Adobe Workfront is 2.7%, down from 4.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Project is 5.6%, down from 9.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Project Management Software Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Microsoft Project5.6%
Adobe Workfront2.7%
Other91.7%
Project Management Software
 

Featured Reviews

Chris French - PeerSpot reviewer
Enhanced project management and automation simplify reporting and approval processes
I think that Adobe Workfront could be improved in several areas, including reporting, which I've already mentioned. There are very specific things within the custom forms that I think could be improved, such as having different labels within forms instead of system-wide. The ability to hide options in a drop-down at the custom form level instead of system-wide would be another improvement. There are times we have to create brand new fields because we need slightly different wording within the label. If we had the capability, we could easily trim down from over 1,000 custom fields to about 400 custom fields if we had the ability to have individual labels by form. So reporting is a big one, and I think there are some not huge changes needed, but improvements to custom forms and custom fields would be beneficial. My experience with reporting in Adobe Workfront so far is that the reporting could be better. The ability to report is great, but I think it is too difficult. Regarding dashboards, they are crucial to be able to pull information from different levels, but that's also a negative because it is very difficult to do that on a report. If I have issue-level data and project-level data that I need to see, with some custom coding, you can do some of it in a report, but in general, if you have a lot of that blended data between levels, you need to use a dashboard, which requires two different reports due to the difficulty in pulling data at the different levels into one thing.
Nurul Asyikin Wahab - PeerSpot reviewer
Efficient project management with robust data tracking and an easy setup
When I have too many elements or items in a project, it becomes cumbersome, especially during printing. Non-technical users do not need all the data, so it's primarily for technical personnel. Without guidance, it's challenging to use the app. With guidance and expert knowledge, it becomes manageable, however, it's not for non-technical teams. The worst part is handling too many items, like 1,000 items, which Microsoft Project struggles with, especially when printing. Printing on A3 size is quite burdensome, so I prefer viewing it on a tablet or computer. On a tablet or phone, I can see the full project elements depending on the screen size.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Healthcare Company
11%
Computer Software Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Computer Software Company
11%
Government
9%
Aerospace/Defense Firm
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise30
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business31
Midsize Enterprise14
Large Enterprise41
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Workfront?
Adobe Workfront features include expenses associated with a project or task that are not related to labor hours. This can include items such as mileage, supplies, software, licenses, and travel cos...
What needs improvement with Workfront?
The platform could benefit from additional customization features. The external lookup field, which allows custom API calls to fill data, is limited to two thousand results, which is insufficient f...
What is your primary use case for Workfront?
We specifically implement Adobe Workfront for other clients as Deloitte is a partner of Adobe. We work with different clients to implement Workfront and streamline marketing resource management wit...
Has anyone moved from Microsoft Project to Smartsheet? How has your experience been with Smartsheet?
Hi @Eire Zimmermann, I helped an organization evaluate both MS-Project and Smartsheet when they were conducting their PM tool RFP. The short of it is this, MS Project is not caught up with the mo...
What do you like most about Microsoft Project?
The product's initial setup phase is easy.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Project?
The company typically pays for the Microsoft Project licensing. I'm not certain about the exact cost of the licenses, but I believe it's usually included in the Microsoft 365 package.
 

Also Known As

AtTask, Workfront DAM
Project Pro, MS Project
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Advance Autoparts, Emerson, Covario, Cisco, Caroma, TREK, Sapient Nitro, ATB, LexisNexis, CarPhone Warehouse
Aston Martin, ABANCA, Airbus Group, Capita, Cardiff University, City of Saskatoon, Intel, Pegasus Airlines, South Australia Power Network (SAPN), Israeli Ministry of Construction and Housing
Find out what your peers are saying about Adobe Workfront vs. Microsoft Project and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
868,787 professionals have used our research since 2012.