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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:
 

Categories and Ranking

Adobe Workfront
Ranking in Project Management Software
6th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
34
Ranking in other categories
Digital Asset Management (1st)
Microsoft Project
Ranking in Project Management Software
3rd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
81
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Project Management Software category, the mindshare of Adobe Workfront is 3.6%, down from 3.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Project is 7.7%, down from 12.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Project Management Software
 

Featured Reviews

Graham Sprague - PeerSpot reviewer
Centralized task management and simplified creative collaboration but interface is inconsistent
Adobe Workfront could improve its interface, which may benefit from an overhaul for better consistency between the web interface and the API. The current setup was not originally designed API-first, leading to some confusion and differences in available functions. Additionally, the low-code environment in Workfront Fusion is beneficial yet sometimes limiting, and it might be more powerful with enhancements.
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution is stable."
"Instead of following everything on email, business users can track everything on Adobe Workfront when the other systems are integrated with it."
"I can say it is a powerful tool. We have everything in-house in that tool, like, creating reports, dashboards, creating various workflows, and everything we have inside one application."
"Workfront is innovative and these were plenty of features that I found valuable while working at Logitech. Workfront had this feature of Project Schedule Templatization. This saves time and effort and even leads to the standardization of processes that are well-assorted. The Intelligent Graphical Interfaces of Workfront allow one to look at a specific type of resource and a specific phase for a specific family of products. You can get quite granular with the data and even zoom in or out of the timeline. It also categorizes projects according to classes and portfolios so that over time, you can more easily understand what are the various metrics involved in producing a specific portfolio Another important feature is Workfront allowing you to validate milestones and investigate the project. This also helped me to understand which projects are performing well and whether it was beneficial to invest in the same. The IT and the app configuration is quite secure and it is one of the benefits. One more valuable feature is the integration of communication systems inside Workfront. This helps you differentiate between normal business emails and project-specific conversations. This is also known as ‘queues’ and I absolutely find this feature extremely powerful."
"I also like Workfront's integration. The solution integrates natively with other systems. It's easy to connect Workfront to any product that has a customer service database, such as a CRM or service ticket management solution."
"The tool is very user-friendly."
"Monitoring the progress of projects and tasks is very effective."
"Feature-wise, I would say that its overall ability to be infinitely customizable is valuable...My experience with the support team has been amazing."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is planning."
"Microsoft Project integrates well with the Microsoft Office family of applications. It has plugins that interact with it and you can use it with Microsoft Teams. We can use plugins to communicate with JIRA, Projectplace, and Planview. It's not widely used in the company, of course, but it's something that can interact with the official tools that we have."
"Microsoft Project offers comprehensive project overviews and the ability to rate down what we have and what we need in terms of software."
"The product's initial setup phase is easy."
"The solution is well established and runs very accurately."
"I find the planning features the most valuable to me."
"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Project is status reporting."
"Microsoft Project is used to track the project delivery and the project management."
 

Cons

"Sometimes there are glitches when we are reviewing an interactive proof."
"The solution's visualization feature could be user-friendly."
"I would say that the stability, honestly, has gone down since the Adobe acquisition, and the quality when they roll out their updates."
"Sometimes, new users find it a bit difficult to handle Adobe Workfront."
"The interface can also be customized to fit and accept many tools for better performance and customer service improvement."
"Adobe Workfront could improve its interface, which may benefit from an overhaul for better consistency between the web interface and the API."
"Workfront's reporting capabilities must be improved."
"Integration with Azure DevOps could be improved to facilitate better communication between the two systems."
"This solution needs more templates focused on types of projects to ease setup."
"We need more integration with Microsoft Teams and other collaboration tools."
"The collaboration has room for improvement."
"It would be better if Microsoft Project were included in the DevOps stack. That is, I'd like to see this tool integrated to a different stack of the applications that we normally use in DevOps, such as in Jira, for example, to deploy a different version related to the different tasks that are included in Microsoft Project."
"Collaboration is an area that needs improvements."
"We'd like to have more resource allocation and monitoring features."
"It would be better if there were more access to Agile implementations."
"I would like to see both Time and Team based options improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We are partners with Adobe, so we get the licensing at a cheaper rate."
"Speaking about pricing, I wouldn't recommend it to a smaller company because I do think the price point is higher than other solutions that can work."
"Adobe purchased Workfront in the past year, and they're putting work into developing the platform, so I expect the price to rise. It isn't cheap, but it's reasonable for the value it provides. It isn't Monday.com where you pick a license with a set price, and you've got a project manager."
"Adobe Workfront is an expensive solution."
"The pricing of Workfront is completely license based."
"The pricing is a barrier to implementation. It is expensive compared to other competitors. Speaking about licensing, they have a private manager license for $1000, which you can use for administration as well. Then they offer a worker license for $500, and then a reviewer or contributor license which is free."
"We have to pay for a yearly license for Microsoft Project."
"The solution has a decent annual license subscription cost, which is not high."
"We purchase perpetual licenses due to the high cost of subscriptions, which are about 1,000 Australian dollars."
"The pricing is based on a licensing model and is reasonable."
"You only need a Team's license in order to use Microsoft Project within Teams, which is very helpful."
"I believe the licensing for the solution is based on an annual fee."
"I rate the solution's pricing a three out of ten."
"Pricing-wise, I rate the solution a seven out of ten since I feel it is a bit costly."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
64%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Computer Software Company
4%
Healthcare Company
4%
Educational Organization
68%
Computer Software Company
4%
Government
3%
Manufacturing Company
3%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Workfront?
I can say it is a powerful tool. We have everything in-house in that tool, like, creating reports, dashboards, creating various workflows, and everything we have inside one application.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Workfront?
Workfront incurs around a hundred thousand plus dollars per year. Licensing is strict, particularly with free accounts, however, it offers flexibility in project access, which could be enhanced fur...
What needs improvement with Workfront?
Adobe Workfront could improve its interface, which may benefit from an overhaul for better consistency between the web interface and the API. The current setup was not originally designed API-first...
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 issue with Microsoft is that the license is per personnel, making it expensive.
 

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: March 2025.
845,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.