Microsoft Project vs Planview AdaptiveWork comparison

Microsoft and Planview are both solutions in the Project Management Software category. Microsoft is ranked #4 with an average rating of 7.7, while Planview is ranked #24. Microsoft holds a 2.3% mindshare in PMS, compared to Planview’s 1.3% 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

3,843 Views
3,113 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

Planview AdaptiveWork

Read 8 Planview AdaptiveWork reviews

1,502 Views
1,111 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Microsoft Project

Planview AdaptiveWork

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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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: April 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Project vs. Planview AdaptiveWork

April 2026

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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

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Planview AdaptiveWork

Ranking in Project Management Software

24th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2026, in the Project Management Software category, the mindshare of Microsoft Project is 2.3%, down from 7.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Planview AdaptiveWork is 1.3%, 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	2.3%
Planview AdaptiveWork	1.3%
Other	96.4%

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.

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VishalSingh11

Director BPM at a marketing services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

Has resources management and timesheets but could be more flexible

Compared to Broadcom Clarity, there was some flexibility with blueprints, etc. You can create a blueprint for different business groups or different customers. Planview AdaptiveWork doesn't have something like that. If they can build up something like a view price. It's still a traditional way where you have to create different instances for different customers. The PPM solution uses queries if I'm rolling out for different divisions. In that case, I have to create different instances for each region because each division may have a different look and feel. But if I have a blueprint, then it's very convenient. I can create multiple interfaces for different processes. Broadcom Clarity has some access control on those viewpoints.

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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 pricing is pretty good on the enterprise agreement we have."

"We used it in my previous organization for business process optimization projects, application development projects, system integration projects, program management over a multitude of projects, and program interdependencies."

"One of the best features is that it is easy to use."

"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 integration between SharePoint and Power BI has been great."

"It is a complete and all-rounded enterprise product, and from a portfolio management perspective and an individual project management perspective, it is a corporate-wide project management product that can be used for resource planning, financial planning, task planning, etc."

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

"Resource leveling is very useful. We like this feature. We like to be able to expand tasks and look at different resources and tasks usages. It is good at assigning tasks to teams. It is pretty compliant with the Project Management Institute approach, which is useful for being comprehensive. It allows us to make little Gantt charts and network diagrams."

More Microsoft Project pros

"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."

"Clarizen's reporting features have been critical."

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

"Slide Publisher has been a lifesaver for us; it saves us five to 10 hours a week."

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

"I like the project management solution."

"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."

"Provides visibility into employee utilization, progress on specific client projects and a portfolio view of all programs."

Cons

"I find the setup a little bit cumbersome."

"The solution could offer waterfall options for agile and sprint planning."

"I would like to have more access to templates and tools that could be used to teach project management best practices."

"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."

"The Gantt set needs to be improved. The grid lines needs to be more interactive."

"Time-based planning becomes very difficult because the big projects every task is related to each other, if you change some processes a little bit, every detail is changing."

"It would be better if Microsoft Project were included in the DevOps stack. That is, I'd like to see this tool integrated to a different stack of the applications that we normally use in DevOps, such as in Jira, for example, to deploy a different version related to the different tasks that are included in Microsoft Project."

"The critical path evaluation features in Microsoft Project could be improved."

More Microsoft Project cons

"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."

"Have struggled with reporting and user adoption."

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

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

"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."

"If I start customizing too many things, Clarizen tends to get 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."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It probably was $30 per license on a monthly basis. There is no additional fee."

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

"The solution is less expensive than other options."

"You only need a Team's license in order to use Microsoft Project within Teams, which is very helpful."

"I rate the solution's pricing a three out of ten."

"Its price could be reduced a little."

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

"I do not have personal experience with pricing or licensing of this product."

More Microsoft Project pricing and cost advice

Information not available

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

10%

Construction Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Aerospace/Defense Firm

Manufacturing Company

12%

Construction Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software 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.

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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?

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 oth...

See all answers

Comparisons

Jira vs Microsoft Project

Compared 14% of the time

Asana vs Microsoft Project

Compared 8% of the time

monday.com vs Microsoft Project

Compared 7% 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 7% of the time

Planview Portfolios vs Planview AdaptiveWork

Compared 6% of the time

Planview PPM Pro vs Planview AdaptiveWork

Compared 5% of the time

Broadcom Clarity vs Planview AdaptiveWork

Compared 5% of the time

Semantic Space Technologies PPM Studio vs Planview AdaptiveWork

Compared 5% of the time

More Planview AdaptiveWork Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Project

March 2026

Download Microsoft Project product report

Buyer's Guide

Planview AdaptiveWork

March 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

April 2026

Free Report: Microsoft Project vs. Planview AdaptiveWork

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