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Microsoft Project Server vs Planview Portfolios comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 4, 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

Microsoft Project Server
Ranking in Project Portfolio Management
5th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
62
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Planview Portfolios
Ranking in Project Portfolio Management
7th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
63
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Architecture Management (11th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Project Portfolio Management category, the mindshare of Microsoft Project Server is 3.9%, down from 6.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Planview Portfolios is 6.2%, down from 6.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Project Portfolio Management Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Microsoft Project Server3.9%
Planview Portfolios6.2%
Other89.9%
Project Portfolio Management
 

Featured Reviews

Ipsita Seth - PeerSpot reviewer
Project Manager at Marvell Technology Group
Enables effective workload monitoring and data insights with powerful features
Microsoft Project Server is quite a powerful tool and offers a good way of seeing dependencies and interactions, along with baselines. The resource management feature allows us to monitor workload and resource load effectively. Additionally, the dashboards are amazing for data crunching and provide a project focus with upcoming predictions, including burn-up and burn-down charts.
it_user1684173 - PeerSpot reviewer
PM Systems Analyst at a insurance company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Increases our on-time completion rate and helps in managing the demand and capacity, and we get excellent service in terms of feature requests and support
We've been encouraging our users to manage their schedules directly in the Work and Assignments module. So far, it has been good, but we've been in conversation with the vendor product team to improve the performance of the Work and Assignments module. Right now, it is a bit slower. We don't use the Progression feature. We will use it at some point in time. Until then, we want to have a way to set time to help decide what's in the past, present, and future. It is one of the things we've been discussing with Planview. It provides flexibility for configuring assignments, but one of the things about which we've been talking to Planview is related to certain resources that are associated with a project. When the project extends, their demand also equally goes up. There are also resources where if a particular task has to crash, it may need additional effort. So, it is between the fixed effort versus fixed duration. Planview is more duration-based. For example, if you crash a task, the system rightly thinks that you're crashing the task, and you need to finish the work by doing overtime or working additional hours. If you are taking 30 hours to finish a task in three weeks, and for whatever reason, you have to crash the task into two weeks, 30 hours need to be fulfilled within those two weeks. If the task moves to four weeks, instead of three weeks, you still have 30 hours that get distributed among four weeks, so you will be able to finish the task. That makes sense for those resources that are associated with the task, but there are certain resources, such as a project manager or project administrator, for whom when a project extends, the demand also equally goes up. So, if somebody is assigned 50% for a project, and assuming that the project is moving out by a month or two or three months, the effort shouldn't go down. Currently, the allocation goes down, and our resource managers have to go and update the effort back up to 50% or whatever the demand is. We are interacting with Planview to provide a solution. Right now, we have to go and update the additional demand because of the change in the project.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution has easy integration with Excel."
"I found the portfolio management valuable."
"Capacity management and task baselining are the most valuable features of Microsoft Project Server."
"The scheduling and the customization are very powerful."
"The solution is stable."
"Using Power BI and SQL Server, I can extract a lot more data."
"It's stable and reliable."
"The technical support for Microsoft Project Server and the support is very good. Microsoft support is working very well."
"It gives us the vast ability to churn out-of-the-box reports and have an overview about approach rates and resource utilization."
"We're still in an early stage. Things will change as we use it more. I did program reports that are important and that will provide us with value."
"We've brought our portfolio altogether. We have had multiple ways of reporting out what our portfolio is, whether it's in Excel, Word, or in different places. We brought all of our projects together in one place. That has worked out well for us. We've been able to manage the work on Gantt charts and our resources better. The big thing for us on research and development is around managing people's time, on which projects they are working on, and how much effort does it take to launch our projects."
"The portfolio and technology management are well built."
"We are able to see where everyone in the team is in terms of hours, where there is capacity, and where we can actually add them, e.g., other projects that they're not currently staffed to."
"It has helped improve governance, mostly. People want to know where their money's going. Projects sponsors need to know what we're spending money on and what our burn rate is. Planview can give that to you straightaway."
"The solution’s integrated product portfolio has transformed our organization’s delivery because people are a lot more accountable. When you have no accountability, then people don't always deliver the way that you want them to. Once you get accountability, they know that somebody is watching and the way that they manage their work changes quite a bit."
"We provided whatever feedback we had to the Planview team, and they went in and built those additional features that we requested. For example, they created a great way for our users to search for a specific resource, project, program, or role. We were not using some of the features, and we wanted them to not be visible, and they helped us with that. They also brought a feature to provide visibility into when a resource was never assigned to any task. There was no visibility to this before. This feature was really very good for visibility into the resource portfolio."
 

Cons

"There are certain shortcomings in the documentation part where improvements are required."
"Work needs to be done on collaboration with SharePoint."
"Exporting data from Microsoft Project, especially Gantt charts, is overly complex and not user-friendly."
"It would be better if the solution had some more training or resources available for a person who is new to Microsoft Project Server."
"There need to be more tutorials available to users."
"The solution could improve the ease of access could improve. It can be time-consuming."
"The solution must provide Agile and AI features."
"Microsoft doesn't always have all the answers, and they rely more on communities. Their support tends to decline when not supporting cloud solutions, and there is often an attempt to upsell alternate products rather than solve problems."
"The content management definitely needs to improve. We don't really use content management for projects inside Enterprise One. We have actually switched to a SharePoint site. We have a feed from Enterprise One every night of all the projects that are created."
"The resource area needs improvement. The improvements that have been made recently in the later versions have been good improvements, but I think there are some more improvements needed there."
"The technical people are very competent, but there is so much turnover in the people that we talk to, and that's frustrating. They will say, "We can make this work." Suddenly, that guy has left, and we have no one. Then, we have to start all over."
"The only area that I can see currently needing improvement is just the modernization of the look and feel of it."
"The outcome management and work resource management in terms of teams needs improvement. Team handling, how team requirements are generated, and how the resource managers can work with teams needs to be improved."
"We have almost like a third-party group who has to do a lot of our configurations. It's a bit painful for us anytime we want to make a change. The other issue is that we have different groups all in the same instance. So, if one group wants to make a change, it impacts everyone. Then, we all have to come together, to say, "Yes, we approve this change, or no, we do not." Thus, it has not been as flexible for us."
"Their off-shore support is something new that they're laying out and the team just needed some development in terms of skill and experience."
"We have required more time from our resource managers to spend time in the tool. The adoption has been slower than we would have hoped. So, I would think from a rollout perspective, if Planview could help us with material which gets non-Planview users or previously light Planview users to become more heavy users of the system, then this would help us with the rollout."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is an inexpensive product."
"Microsoft Project Server is an expensive solution. Small businesses will not be able to afford it."
"The licensing was procured before my involvement."
"It has features that cannot be bought by other rivals, so cost does not matter."
"Microsoft Project Server is more expensive than other solutions on the market. We purchase the license annually."
"The technical assistance is expensive but the solution is an open source software."
"Microsoft Project Server is relatively cheaper than other products."
"We pay an annual licensing fee for the solution."
"We have unlimited licenses for all of our functionalities. Since we went global, we went with that model."
"We overbought our licenses. We looked at our needs three to four years down the road and tried based our contract on that. However, we were over aggressive. We use about a third of the licenses that we have. We're looking to adjust the makeup so we can start utilizing the amount of money that we are spending. Right now, we're overspending, and my organization is not seeing the value in Planview because we are paying so much for licenses that we're not using."
"We have portfolio managers, resource managers, project managers, and time reporting licenses. These are the licenses that we have."
"The licensing part is a bit costly in comparison with the other available PPM tools."
"With the costs, they were very understanding. Knowing that we were an existing customer, they were very much willing to work with us to make sure that we were able to transition to Enterprise One from PPM Pro."
"I don't know about the actual pricing. I have not come across any costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."
"I don't think we have necessarily purchased everything that I would have liked to have seen."
"Our licensing costs are probably $150,000 to $180,000 a year with 270 licenses total."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
14%
Marketing Services Firm
11%
Computer Software Company
10%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Marketing Services Firm
8%
Healthcare Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business25
Midsize Enterprise12
Large Enterprise33
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business2
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise59
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Microsoft Project Server?
The ability to track a project's progress using Microsoft Project Server is the most valuable aspect. It depends, especially when managing multiple projects.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Project Server?
The pricing for Microsoft Project Server is standard, around $200-$250, but I think it's actually $80 to $100 per year. The pricing for Microsoft Project Server is relative; I would say it is cheap.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Project Server?
In order to improve Microsoft Project Server, collaborative features could be enhanced, as it is possible to improve it in a collaborative way similar to other office products, for example, using c...
What do you like most about Planview Portfolios?
Planview Management integrates seamlessly with other tools and systems used within the organization, such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, customer relationship management (CRM) syst...
What needs improvement with Planview Portfolios?
Enhancements are needed in: Advanced reporting and analytics: While Planview Management provides robust reporting and analytics capabilities, further enhancements could include more advanced data v...
What is your primary use case for Planview Portfolios?
We use Planview Management to assess the current project portfolio, evaluate resource availability, and prioritize projects based on strategic objectives, ROI, and risk factors. Planview Management...
 

Also Known As

MS Project Server
Planview Enterprise One, Troux
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Magnachip, Gwinnett County Schools, CLEAResult, Medbit Oy, Intelbras S.A., ETS, CORE Construction, Keller Foundations
UPS, NatWest, Ingram Micro, Canadian Tire, Viessmann, Volvo, NASCO, UNESCO
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Project Server vs. Planview Portfolios and other solutions. Updated: February 2026.
881,733 professionals have used our research since 2012.