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Jira vs Microsoft Project Server comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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
7.3
Jira enhances efficiency and productivity, offering quick ROI and integration, though opinions on updates and support are mixed.
Sentiment score
7.2
Microsoft Project Server offers significant ROI through time savings, effective management, and enhanced visibility, though assessment varies.
Microsoft Project provides significant return on investment through time savings, enhanced visibility, real-time reporting, and risk mitigation for projects.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.7
Atlassian's documentation and forums often suffice, but customer support has mixed reviews on responsiveness and problem-solving effectiveness.
Sentiment score
6.0
Microsoft Project Server support is satisfactory but issues include slow resolution, complex documentation, and varying service quality by plan.
Their support tends to decline when not supporting cloud solutions.
It's challenging to navigate, often making it necessary to search for solutions externally.
Communication with two people, one was knowledgeable while the other was learning.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
Jira is scalable with planning, though some face performance issues and integration concerns as demands grow.
Sentiment score
7.9
Microsoft Project Server is scalable for various organization sizes, but older versions and costs may hinder adoption and navigation.
The desktop version does not have scalability.
Microsoft Project Server is fully scalable and is widely used in many industries.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
Jira is praised for its stability and performance, with occasional issues mostly related to server setups or customizations.
Sentiment score
7.3
Microsoft Project Server is stable, but performance varies with Nintex workflows, configuration, version, and SharePoint integration issues.
I have never had to reach out to their support because the product works as expected.
 

Room For Improvement

Jira's complex interface, limited features, and high costs hinder usability, requiring improvements in performance, integration, and customization.
Microsoft Project Server needs improvements in integration, UI, flexibility, automation, agile support, deployment, and user training resources.
Exporting data from Microsoft Project, especially Gantt charts, is overly complex and not user-friendly.
Microsoft has become increasingly expensive, and there seems to be a push towards cloud solutions which can be challenging for some.
The lack of collaboration capabilities on the desktop version, unlike the cloud version, is a limitation.
 

Setup Cost

Jira offers flexible, moderately priced licensing with subscription options, but costs can rise with plugins and large deployments.
Microsoft Project Server offers flexible licensing, with varying costs based on deployment type, user count, and enterprise plans.
Microsoft Project Server is on the expensive side due to high licensing costs.
Microsoft's products are expensive for individuals.
Considering the infrastructure commitments to SharePoint and SQL, the implementation costs are low if already set up.
 

Valuable Features

Jira provides robust project management, Agile support, and integrations, enhancing team collaboration with customizable workflows and a user-friendly interface.
Microsoft Project Server enhances project management with resource management, scheduling, collaboration, dashboards, and integration, simplifying navigation with familiar tools.
This setup allows for comprehensive reporting and management across multiple projects and portfolios.
The Gantt chart is also a very powerful tool for a visual presentation of sequences, critical paths, and execution processes, which simplifies comprehension for users.
The dashboards are amazing for data crunching and provide a project focus with upcoming predictions, including burn-up and burn-down charts.
 

Categories and Ranking

Jira
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
274
Ranking in other categories
Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites (1st), Application Requirements Management (2nd), Project Management Software (2nd)
Microsoft Project Server
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
61
Ranking in other categories
Project Portfolio Management (4th)
 

Featured Reviews

Saroj Ekka - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers good repository integration, sprint board and easy to set up
There are some features and reports we need that are not there. For example, if I have to find out the capacity of the current sprint by user and compare it with the previous sprint, that visibility isn't there. We can know the capacity and what happened with the whole sprint, but not for an individual person to see where it's falling and how it's tracking. Report and analytics capabilities are important for a product manager. That visibility is important, so we use Jira. Some of the features are there, and I use my own Excels or other data things to compensate for that.
Sean Achim - PeerSpot reviewer
Unlock comprehensive reporting and management with robust data extraction
The major advantage for me in using Microsoft Project Server is the SQL Server component. Using Power BI and SQL Server, I can extract a lot more data. The combination of Microsoft Project with Project Server and SharePoint provides a perfect solution for me. This setup allows for comprehensive reporting and management across multiple projects and portfolios.
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Project Portfolio Management solutions are best for your needs.
849,190 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
51%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Computer Software Company
5%
Computer Software Company
17%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Government
10%
Financial Services Firm
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

Is Jira better or would you go with Micro Focus ALM Octane?
Hi Netanya, Basically , it all depends on the use cases for your environment and the business needs. Hope the below data may be relevant to you for identifying your needs and deciding on the approp...
Which is better - Jira or Microsoft Azure DevOps?
Jira is a great centralized tool for just about everything, from local team management to keeping track of products and work logs. It is easy to implement and navigate, and it is stable and scalabl...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Jira?
We operate under a nonlimited license with Jira, allowing a number of users to access it with a single enterprise license.
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?
Microsoft Project Server is on the expensive side due to high licensing costs, but it is mainly accessible to project managers. Online tools are cheaper and present competition.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Project Server?
The main drawback of Microsoft Project Server is that it is offline. Having it online would offer better access to other managers.
 

Also Known As

Jira Software
MS Project Server
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Square, Nasa, eBay, Cisco, SalesForce, Adobe, BNP Paribas, BMW and LinkedIn, Pfizer, Citi.
Magnachip, Gwinnett County Schools, CLEAResult, Medbit Oy, Intelbras S.A., ETS, CORE Construction, Keller Foundations
Find out what your peers are saying about Jira vs. Microsoft Project Server and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
849,190 professionals have used our research since 2012.