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Microsoft Project Server vs RationalPlan 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:
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Project Server
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
61
Ranking in other categories
Project Portfolio Management (4th)
RationalPlan
Average Rating
10.0
Reviews Sentiment
8.4
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
Project Management Software (54th)
 

Featured Reviews

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.
reviewer1976010 - PeerSpot reviewer
Easy to understand with fair pricing and lots of unique features
We use the desktop version of RationalPlan, and It seems some desktop software has the ability to share a document as a web view. This would be a nice feature allowing us to share our plans with clients without needing additional software. This may be something that is offered in the RationalPlan cloud plan. However, it would be nice for the desktop version to have this ability to bring it one more step ahead of the competition. As a side note, RationalPlan does have a free viewer as well.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The stability of the 2019 version is quite good."
"The solution's ease of use is its most valuable aspect."
"The level of customization is significant, and there are ample resources available online about how to use it."
"The solution offers excellent resource allocation tools and is flexible, particularly in portfolio management."
"The technical support for Microsoft Project Server and the support is very good. Microsoft support is working very well."
"There are many valuable features of this solution. It is very advanced and once you understand and learn how to use it, it can be quite powerful. The whole package can be quite powerful."
"Deliverables List: Most useful to enable meaningful status reporting at an enterprise level."
"Microsoft Project Server is a scalable solution."
"Support is top-notch whenever help is needed."
 

Cons

"In terms of tech support, it took a long time for them to resolve a ticket."
"Collaboration within the tool is lacking when you compare it to online or cloud-based tools."
"The price of the product must be improved."
"It needs to be more collaborative from inside the application. It only does project scheduling for me. It would be good if it could do other things and be more collaborative, such as sharing tasks for users. It is not really incorporated into MS Office, so you can't copy-paste stuff. It is on its own, doing its own thing. It is only used for scheduling, and it doesn't work well with anything else."
"Exporting data from Microsoft Project, especially Gantt charts, is overly complex and not user-friendly."
"There need to be more tutorials available to users."
"The product is difficult to use for complex projects."
"EPM 2010 UI seems a bit dated now that 2016 is available."
"We use the desktop version of RationalPlan, and It seems some desktop software has the ability to share a document as a web view. This would be a nice feature allowing us to share our plans with clients without needing additional software. This may be something that is offered in the RationalPlan cloud plan."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Microsoft Project Server is more expensive than other solutions on the market. We purchase the license annually."
"Microsoft Project Server is an expensive solution. Small businesses will not be able to afford it."
"Microsoft Project Server is relatively cheaper than other products."
"There is a subscription model for different types of users for different types of roles."
"We have an enterprise agreement with Microsoft, and our licensing is based on the agreement."
"I rate the pricing a one out of ten because the price is way too high."
"I'm not quite sure about the licensing costs. We're probably paying somewhere in the neighborhood of about 80,000 to 90,000 a year for our current on-prem because we handle our own licensing. As far as Project Online is concerned, we're still trying to get a good handle on that. It looks like it is going to be in a neighborhood of about 120,000 to 150,000 a year, but we're getting a lot more capability out of it."
"It has features that cannot be bought by other rivals, so cost does not matter."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Government
10%
Financial Services Firm
6%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

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?
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.
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Also Known As

MS Project Server
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Overview

 

Sample Customers

Magnachip, Gwinnett County Schools, CLEAResult, Medbit Oy, Intelbras S.A., ETS, CORE Construction, Keller Foundations
James Cook University, NASA, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Teleflex, Garmin, University of Missouri, BEA, Eurocoating, Adidas Group, Termoemcali, Solid Power
Find out what your peers are saying about ServiceNow, Broadcom, Smartsheet and others in Project Portfolio Management. Updated: April 2025.
849,210 professionals have used our research since 2012.