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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 January 2026, in the Project Portfolio Management category, the mindshare of Microsoft Project Server is 4.1%, down from 7.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Planview Portfolios is 5.9%, down from 6.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Project Portfolio Management Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Microsoft Project Server4.1%
Planview Portfolios5.9%
Other90.0%
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

"Microsoft Project Server is easy to use compared to other similar solutions, such as Primavera. It functions similar to Excel or others Microsoft solutions which makes it simple for most people to be able to use right away."
"It's fine to navigate for a layperson."
"It's stable and reliable."
"Microsoft Project Server is quite a powerful tool and offers a good way of seeing dependencies and interactions, along with baselines."
"A single place for all our organisation's project records."
"The solution is scalable and easy to expand."
"The most useful feature of Microsoft Project Server is you can select a function to see the baseline."
"Microsoft Project Server is a powerful tool I've used for years."
"The look and feel of it is pretty clean."
"It gives us the vast ability to churn out-of-the-box reports and have an overview about approach rates and resource utilization."
"It maps back to our SDLC process pretty well. I'm able to see the stage of where things are at. We also use Azure DevOps for all of our requirements and our coding."
"Its ability to create summary reports across multiple projects is one of the best features. They have very good data warehousing. You can put that out. You can tell that data warehousing from Planview Enterprise One is excellent."
"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."
"We can easily see which functions are overcapacity. Before, we did not have visibility into that."
"The financial planning capabilities are very useful. We have integration for an SAP system, and so we load financial data from SAP into Planview for prior months. And then we use the forecasting capabilities to get a complete picture of the cost of a specific project. The financial management is very useful."
"We can view a project both at the top level and dig into the particularities. It's given us greater visibility into the work itself."
 

Cons

"The user interface looks quite old and needs to be improved."
"We need to be able to compare milestones, calls, and other variables regarding the projects we are working on. I have to contract developers to make reports, which is where things get complicated. They need to develop personal and custom fields for us."
"The reporting in the desktop version is not highly customizable or professional compared to other solutions."
"There are certain shortcomings in the documentation part where improvements are required."
"The product's UI is not very user-friendly."
"The reporting in the desktop version is not highly customizable or professional compared to other solutions."
"Stability of the solution is an area with certain shortcomings where improvements are required."
"Project Server could be improved by simplifying how tasks are assigned and reviewed on a daily basis."
"The number one thing that needs improvement is the UI. It should be easy for a casual project manager. It should provide customizable screens that can be a choice for project managers to choose as a professional level, medium level, and a very easy level."
"Recently, we have gotten on a newer version. We're currently on version 15. Some of the things that we've been running into roadblocks on, it looks like the solutions will be coming out in versions 17 or 18. So, we have to upgrade before somethings can get completed."
"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."
"I would suggest for the request module that they open up the fields and columns so it's like we are doing our work in the work module. You can't do that with today. We also have to make sure that the fields can go both ways with the request and work modules. Including fields in the column sets would be helpful, because today they only use attributes."
"One of the reasons why we've upgraded so many times is because of performance standards. We've just run into issues where we've had performance problems. Maybe they are not upgrading, but they're adding more horsepower. Then, we do go upgrade and lose that horsepower, which is frustrating from my perspective as an admin to lose that horsepower. Hopefully, that'll change."
"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."
"When we first deployed, there were some issues. We never got to the root cause of why they happened. Since we didn't have any history with it, we weren't quite sure if this was a standard operating procedure or it truly was a glitch."
"We've been using it for a while, so it's about maturity. It's about being able to build out things in Agile groups and teams and some of that. Then really trying to drive into the direction of Lean Portfolio Management and more Agile program management, I think is where we're heading."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There is a subscription model for different types of users for different types of roles."
"It has features that cannot be bought by other rivals, so cost does not matter."
"It's not subscription-based, we purchased the on-premises version."
"The product is expensive."
"A standard license is cheaper, but if you want more features, then there is a premium license or professional license."
"I rate the pricing a one out of ten because the price is way too high."
"I think they need more flexibility with licensing, because there are preconceived ideas that don't allow as much flexibility with the various licenses."
"It is on the expensive side."
"We are on the Flex licenses."
"I don't think we have necessarily purchased everything that I would have liked to have seen."
"The licensing part is a bit costly in comparison with the other available PPM tools."
"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."
"I don't know about the actual pricing. I have not come across any costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."
"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."
"Our licensing costs are probably $150,000 to $180,000 a year with 270 licenses total."
"We have several hundred licenses. It costs us several hundred thousand dollars a year."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
16%
Computer Software Company
12%
Government
9%
Energy/Utilities Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Healthcare Company
8%
Insurance Company
6%
 

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 Enterprise2
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: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.