Microsoft Project vs Notion comparison

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Microsoft Project

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 19, 2024

Microsoft Project and Notion compete in the project management sector. Microsoft Project appears to have the upper hand due to its extensive enterprise features essential for large organizations, while Notion stands out for its affordability and flexibility tailored to small teams and individuals.

Features: Microsoft Project includes detailed scheduling, resource leveling, and cost tracking, ideal for managing complex projects. Notion provides versatile note-taking, database management, and customizable task organization for better real-time collaboration.

Room for Improvement: Microsoft Project's complexity makes it challenging for simple projects, requiring better integration and real-time data handling. Notion needs enhanced automation, more color options, and improved integration with external platforms.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Microsoft Project offers various deployment models like on-premises and cloud but often needs technical support. Notion's online deployment is accessible, though complex scenarios require support due to limited mobile and integration support.

Pricing and ROI: Microsoft Project is costly, with pricing based on licenses, offering good ROI for enterprises needing extensive features. Notion provides a free plan and affordable paid options, delivering substantial ROI through flexibility and task management, suitable for smaller teams and individual users.

To learn more, read our detailed Microsoft Project vs. Notion Report (Updated: June 2025).

Microsoft Project vs. Notion

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Helped 860,168 peers since 2012

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

Ranking in Project Management Software

4th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Notion

Ranking in Project Management Software

10th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Knowledge Management Software (2nd), Document Automation Software (3rd)

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Project Management Software category, the mindshare of Microsoft Project is 7.2%, down from 10.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Notion is 2.1%, up from 1.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Project Management Software

Featured Reviews

Nurul Asyikin Wahab

Management Design Civil Structure at Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd

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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Iván Fanego

Founder at AppCritic

Creates customizable systems and improve team collaboration

Notion is a very flexible and customizable platform, allowing users to create whatever they need. The most impactful feature for project management is the ability to invite multiple client stakeholders without complication. Once I understand the basics, it's easy to use despite an initial learning curve. It also significantly improves team collaboration through customized views and visualizations of data.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The product's initial setup phase is easy."

"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Project is status reporting."

"It's most useful feature is that it interfaces with Project Server so we can, from my perspective, from a portfolio perspective, we can see across the organization."

"The resource allocation features, which help allocate resources to tasks, are quite valuable."

"Microsoft Project is one of the only solutions you can use in just about any industry. It's difficult to do that with most other project management tools. There is a lot of flexibility within the product assets. Most sectors can utilize Microsoft Project successfully because it doesn't have any generic adapters."

"The features I find the most valuable are scheduling and reporting."

"The most valuable features of this solution are dependency management, milestone progress, multiple resource rates, and RAG views."

"The Gantt chart view is great."

More Microsoft Project pros

"Notion is heavily used in my workflow."

"The ability to structure data is one of the most essential functions of Notion."

"Notion has very strong integration capabilities."

"The initial setup is easy."

"Notion is a very flexible and customizable platform, allowing users to create whatever they need."

"The product has a valuable feature for databases. It has a table and a calendar view and saves various documents in the system."

"I like the high level of customization in Notion."

"Notion has a lot of integrations."

More Notion pros

Cons

"There needs to be better integration with other Microsoft products such as SharePoint, and the like."

"It is positioned at the more high end. Sometimes it's more complicated than we need."

"If Project had a better mechanism to allow those who are not the project manager to see their own work tasks, that would be of help or of value to us."

"I am not that close to it anymore, but I know that there were some cut and paste issues when we were trying to move one group of roles to another, and they used to muck up the interdependencies between the tiers, rows, and other things."

"Microsoft Project should include more visualization, queries to filter out data, and more reporting structures."

"We'd like to have more resource allocation and monitoring features."

"Planview FLEX licensing gives us a central repository where all the projects are stored so you can check the finances, resources, etc. It's quite useful to have everything connected. We don't have that for Microsoft Project. It's disconnected. The reporting capabilities could also be better, especially with finance and resources. Everybody complains about reports. That's why we need another tool."

"The tool's most valuable feature is scheduling."

More Microsoft Project cons

"The main problem with Notion is that it's not flexible enough for all of the use cases we intend to address. For instance, it is challenging to focus on a single KPI as it's mandatory to have a chart for this purpose, complicating some of our use cases."

"The product could be integrated with external platforms."

"User management needs improvement."

"The only problem I experience is that it often hangs."

"Notion's UI needs improvement."

"The only problem I experience is that it often hangs. I might find myself trying to load a new page, but I am unable to move from one page to another due to frequent hanging."

"There could be an automation feature included in the product."

"There are a lot of things, but one thing that is absolutely necessary is the mobile application."

More Notion cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The license fees for the professional version, which is estimated to be approximately $1,600, and the standard version, which is approximately $1,200, may be considered expensive by some users. This is something that could be improved to make the platform more accessible to a wider audience."

"You do not have to invest much in terms of configuring this solution to suit your needs."

"The solution is expensive."

"We purchase perpetual licenses due to the high cost of subscriptions, which are about 1,000 Australian dollars."

"I am not involved with this."

"The solution has a decent annual license subscription cost, which is not high."

"The licensing model is somewhat complex."

"The license is a one-time payment but it is expensive."

More Microsoft Project pricing and cost advice

"The product has good pricing."

"The product's pricing depends on the usage plans."

"The solution's pricing can seem steep, especially when you work with a lot of people. If you are working on your own or for another business, the solution's price won't affect you much."

"I rate the product's pricing a three out of ten. We only need to pay for it if we use it in the workspace."

"The product has good pricing."

"Notion is free to use."

"Notion offers a free plan that covers most functionalities. Clients are only prompted to upgrade if they require AI capabilities, priced at $10 for unlimited usage, or if they need to add team members, typically around $10 per member."

"It's pretty affordable."

More Notion pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Project Management Software solutions are best for your needs.

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860,168 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

42%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

17%

University

Comms Service Provider

Media Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

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?

I'm not aware of the price as we use organization-wide licenses.

What do you like most about Notion?

I like the high level of customization in Notion.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Notion?

The licensing and setup cost for Notion is affordable for us as a small company.

What needs improvement with Notion?

The main problem with Notion is that it's not flexible enough for all of the use cases we intend to address. For instance, it is challenging to focus on a single KPI as it's mandatory to have a cha...

Jira vs Microsoft Project

Comparisons

Compared 19% of the time

Microsoft Project Server vs Microsoft Project

Compared 10% of the time

Asana vs Microsoft Project

Compared 9% of the time

SAP Portfolio and Project Management vs Microsoft Project

Compared 7% of the time

Smartsheet vs Microsoft Project

Compared 5% of the time

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AFFiNE vs Notion

Compared 28% of the time

Tana vs Notion

Compared 17% of the time

Zendesk vs Notion

Compared 14% of the time

Zoho Projects vs Notion

Compared 11% of the time

Smartsheet vs Notion

Compared 7% of the time

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Product Reports

Microsoft Project

Download Microsoft Project product report

Download Notion product report

Also Known As

Project Pro, MS Project

No data available

Overview

Microsoft Project helps you get started quickly and execute projects with ease. Built-in templates and familiar scheduling tools help project managers and teams stay productive.

Microsoft

Notion is an all-in-one workspace that enables teams to collaborate, organize, and manage their work effectively. Its primary use case is to streamline project management, knowledge sharing, and task tracking. With its versatile functionality, Notion allows users to create and customize databases, wikis, and documents, making it a powerful tool for organizing information.

The most valuable functionality of Notion lies in its flexibility and ease of use. Users can create and link various types of content, such as text, images, files, and even embed external resources. This enables teams to centralize their work and collaborate seamlessly, eliminating the need for multiple tools. Notion's drag-and-drop interface and intuitive editing features make it accessible to users of all technical backgrounds.

Notion helps organizations by fostering transparency, improving productivity, and enhancing knowledge management. By providing a centralized platform for collaboration, teams can easily access and contribute to shared projects, reducing communication gaps and ensuring everyone is on the same page.

Notion's powerful search functionality and tagging system enable efficient information retrieval, making it easier to find and share knowledge within the organization.

Sample Customers

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

Startups like Loom, Mixpanel, Blinkist, Adobe, Deel and Education facilities such as USC, Dartmouth and The University of Chicago.

Microsoft Project vs. Notion