Microsoft Project vs Planview AdaptiveWork comparison

Microsoft and Planview are both solutions in the Project Management Software category. Microsoft is ranked #3 with an average rating of 7.7, while Planview is ranked #17 with an average rating of 8.0. Microsoft holds a 2.8% mindshare in PMS, compared to Planview’s 1.2% mindshare. Additionally, 93% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Planview users who would recommend it.

Microsoft Project

Read 85 Microsoft Project reviews

3,258 Views
2,606 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

Planview AdaptiveWork

Read 8 Planview AdaptiveWork reviews

1,120 Views
795 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Microsoft Project

Planview AdaptiveWork

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 19, 2024

Planview AdaptiveWork and Microsoft Project are both key players in the project management software category. Microsoft Project seems to hold an edge due to its comprehensive feature suite, even though it demands a higher financial commitment.

Features: Planview AdaptiveWork offers capabilities like task management, collaborative workspaces, and robust reporting tools. Microsoft Project provides advanced scheduling tools, resource management, and seamless integration with Microsoft 365.

Room for Improvement: Planview AdaptiveWork could enhance its integration options and reporting customization. Microsoft Project might benefit from simplifying its interface and improving user guidance.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Planview AdaptiveWork is straightforward to deploy with its cloud-based model and strong customer support. Microsoft Project offers flexible cloud and on-premise solutions but its extensive customer base may complicate customer service interactions.

Pricing and ROI: Planview AdaptiveWork is cost-effective and offers a strong ROI through competitive pricing. Microsoft Project, while requiring a higher initial investment, justifies its pricing with potential productivity enhancements owing to its extensive feature set.

To learn more, read our detailed Microsoft Project vs. Planview AdaptiveWork Report (Updated: March 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Project vs. Planview AdaptiveWork

March 2026

Download the complete report

Helped 884,122 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

3rd

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Planview AdaptiveWork

Ranking in Project Management Software

17th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Project Management Software category, the mindshare of Microsoft Project is 2.8%, down from 8.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Planview AdaptiveWork is 1.2%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Project Management Software Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Microsoft Project	2.8%
Planview AdaptiveWork	1.2%
Other	96.0%

Project Management Software

Featured Reviews

Jacob-George

Domain Consultant at a consultancy with 501-1,000 employees

Improved project scheduling has maximized resource utilization and has reduced delays

I think the licensing structure presents a significant area for improvement. The full features are not offered on the standard E4 license. This becomes problematic when distributing the project plan. I can export the plan as Excel and CSV files, but then I lose all the rich features, including dependency mapping. To recreate all that functionality without proper licensing is challenging. Microsoft Project offers a light version available for free, but when I try to distribute a project plan, it requires separate licensing. Microsoft Project Central used to be more of an enterprise product. Microsoft Project currently focuses on very low-level task management, and it could do much more. I do not see significant advancement happening because there is confusion about where Microsoft Project is heading. I believe Microsoft should bundle the license with Outlook, Teams, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. This approach would result in more people using Microsoft Project. That is my opinion on how to improve adoption and the product offering.

Read full review

reviewer2383668

Product Manager at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

Helps to organize projects across multiple teams and automates manual tasks

Integration with other tools can sometimes be a hiccup, but this isn't necessarily a limitation of Planview AdaptiveWork. It's more often a result of company policies regarding integration with other systems and tools. From what I've gathered from discussions on various platforms, it appears that AdaptiveWork does integrate well with other tools. However, our experience is limited due to company policy restrictions. Some teams use it in agile settings. We follow the waterfall approach. I would recommend it, but users should ensure they strategically build out their workflows and logic. I rate the overall product an eight out of ten.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Project is scheduling. The solution is useful on a daily basis."

"A lot of valuable features have been added in the last three years, including scheduling automation and intelligence."

"The tool has a simple and excellent approach."

"It's an easy solution to set up."

"It is easy to use and pretty intuitive. User interfaces have stayed the same for the most part for the last 20 years. So, there is a familiarity."

"Dependencies (not typically effectively used in "Agile" techniques) allow understanding of actual project status and challenges."

"Being able to get a milestone schedule or a breakdown out of it is valuable. It can integrate into Visio, which is helpful."

"I find all the features of the solution valuable."

More Microsoft Project pros

"Clarizen's strength is reporting. Aside from reporting, I also like the ability to create customized workflow and custom actions. The workflow rules are handy. For example, you can create custom fields and dependent picklists."

"I like the project management solution. It's really nice."

"Clarizen Slide Publisher has helped increase transparency and communication with project stakeholders for us."

"The feature that has improved our project planning the most is the ability to create custom workflows, which allows us to automate manual tasks that project managers need to perform. The collaboration feature enhances our team's productivity by allowing individuals to see the impact of their decisions on projects owned and managed by other teams."

Cons

"When a project plan becomes huge, it is painful to arrange and structure the project in Microsoft Project. Currently, you require a separate product for managing agile projects, and people are using Jira and Rally to manage stories in agile. Primarily, on the software development side, people are kind of moving away from Microsoft Project."

"It should be easier to break things. Breaking up the visualization from the task is sometimes a little bit tricky to do. You can do it, but it takes a minute. It's not an easy function to do. The way you have to format it and stuff like that takes a minute."

"It would be better if there were more access to Agile implementations."

"Its user interface could be a little bit more intuitive. Not everybody has the luxury of going to training and understanding which button does what and the functionality. The user interface should be improved to make it a little bit more intuitive. It is not user-friendly. I've dealt with it for a number of years, so it is not hard for me to figure it out, but you would need a quick reference guide or something to say, "Here are the basics. This is how you do X.""

"I have no idea about the cost because it is a corporate decision."

"Microsoft's solution isn't really a collaboration tool, however. If you need a collaboration tool, you can use Slack, which can be integrated with your JIRA."

"The dashboard could be improved."

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

More Microsoft Project cons

"If I start customizing too many things, Clarizen tends to get really slow in our environment and especially if I'm tunneled in an environment, like if I'm connected to my VPN."

"It could be more user-friendly. I think it is too overwhelming, initially, in terms of possibilities and so on."

"I felt like the slide publisher isn't that user-friendly. I think it wasn't that easy to use or to figure out because of formatting constraints, or maybe we need to get better at understanding some of its limitations."

"One specific area for improvement could be implementing a development environment to test workflows with live production data."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Microsoft Project is an expensive solution."

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

"It gets expensive when having to add all of the plugins and everything that you need."

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

"The pricing is based on a licensing model and is reasonable."

"We have to pay for a yearly license for Microsoft Project."

"I am not involved with this."

"The product is not expensive. My company has opted for an annual subscription."

More Microsoft Project pricing and cost advice

Information not available

See which vendors are best for you

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

See recommendations

884,122 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

11%

Aerospace/Defense Firm

Government

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

15%

Computer Software Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

Outsourcing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	31
Midsize Enterprise	15
Large Enterprise	41

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	2
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	4

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...

See all answers

What do you like most about Microsoft Project?

The product's initial setup phase is easy.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Project?

I would say Microsoft Project is affordable, but the standalone Project license should be included in the Office price to increase adoption.

See all answers

What do you like most about Planview AdaptiveWork?

The feature that has improved our project planning the most is the ability to create custom workflows, which allows us to automate manual tasks that project managers need to perform. The collaborat...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Planview AdaptiveWork?

One specific area for improvement could be implementing a development environment to test workflows with live production data.

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering Planview AdaptiveWork?

See all answers

Comparisons

Jira vs Microsoft Project

Compared 16% of the time

Asana vs Microsoft Project

Compared 9% of the time

monday.com vs Microsoft Project

Compared 8% of the time

Smartsheet vs Microsoft Project

Compared 5% of the time

Microsoft Project Server vs Microsoft Project

Compared 5% of the time

More Microsoft Project Competitors

monday.com vs Planview AdaptiveWork

Compared 9% of the time

Planview Portfolios vs Planview AdaptiveWork

Compared 8% of the time

ServiceNow Strategic Portfolio Management vs Planview AdaptiveWork

Compared 6% of the time

Broadcom Clarity vs Planview AdaptiveWork

Compared 5% of the time

More Planview AdaptiveWork Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Project

February 2026

Download Microsoft Project product report

Buyer's Guide

Planview AdaptiveWork

February 2026

Download Planview AdaptiveWork product report

Also Known As

Project Pro, MS Project

Planview Clarizen

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

AdaptiveWork services the project management software needs of more than 2,500 companies in 76 countries worldwide. They boast a robust client list, including companies such as: Chanel, Cisco, The Walt Disney Company, EA, FedEx, HP, UPS, and VMWare. Founded in 2006, their goal is to change the way collaboration happens within companies of all sizes. AdaptiveWork focuses strongly on the fact that transparency, communication, and idea sharing are key in effective business models.

AdaptiveWork uses the cloud and social communications in their software. This helps AdaptiveWork project management software provide real time updates, maximize efficiency of collaboration, and keep all team members productive and on the same page. AdaptiveWork is fully configurable, and is designed to scale and adapt to different organizational needs. Their task management software is easy to implement, meaning start up will not cost clients time away from their work.

AdaptiveWork offers an enterprise-class project management software solution that fits all businesses' project management needs. With a name created from the words "Clarity" and "Zen", AdaptiveWork's software is designed to help businesses collaborate effectively and create true peace of mind. Project management software doesn't just help get work done; it helps create stronger and more efficient teams. By keeping everyone on the same page, AdaptiveWork task management software helps your team stay focused on the goal of your project.

Planview

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

Cisco Capital, JLL, Conagra Brands, Cargill, JLL, IBM, IIROC, Siemens Energy

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Project vs. Planview AdaptiveWork

March 2026

Free Report: Microsoft Project vs. Planview AdaptiveWork

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Project vs. Planview AdaptiveWork and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.

DOWNLOAD NOW

884,122 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our Microsoft Project vs. Planview AdaptiveWork report.

See our list of best Project Management Software vendors.

We monitor all Project Management Software reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.