Planitude vs Planner and Project Plan 3: no per-user licenses

With the retirement of Project Online, Microsoft is directing customers to Planner with premium licenses, included in Planner and Project Plan 3 and Plan 5, which provide portfolios, baselines, dependencies and Gantt charts^[3]. Project desktop remains available^[3]. It is a solid path, but it carries a cost for every person involved.

This article compares Planitude with Planner and Project Plan 3 based solely on Microsoft’s official pages, to help you assess which option fits best.

Who Plan 3 and Planitude are for#

Plan 3 is designed for organizations already standardized on Microsoft 365 that intend to stay within the ecosystem: the Project desktop app is included^[1], and its advanced capabilities include resource management with Team Planner and automatic leveling of assignments^[2].

Planitude is designed for those who need the essential scheduling capabilities without the per-seat model:

• project managers who work with dependencies, constraints and the critical path;
• mixed teams, with external contributors or clients who need to view the plan;
• small and medium-sized businesses that do not want to pay for a license for every person who opens the Gantt chart.

Comparison at a glance#

The data is the same as in our full comparison. Where Microsoft is ahead, we say so: Planitude does not offer resource leveling or earned value.

Scheduling#

Plan 3 offers advanced dependencies with lead and lag; with Planner Plan 1, by contrast, dependencies are finish-to-start only^[1]. Baselines and the critical path are among the capabilities of Plan 3^[1].

In Planitude, all of these capabilities are included for every user, with no higher tiers to unlock: four dependency types with lead and lag, constraints and deadlines, calendars with holidays and exceptions, an automatic critical path, baselines with the variance of each task, and multi-level subtasks created with Tab, as in MS Project. The Summary, Gantt, List, Board, Calendar and Workload views all work on the same plan.

The areas in which Plan 3 remains ahead are automatic leveling of assignments and earned value^[2]. Planitude flags overallocations day by day, but does not move tasks automatically.

Import, export and migration#

Plan 3 includes the Project desktop app, which opens .mpp files natively^[1]. Planitude opens them in the browser: when the file is uploaded, tasks, dependencies, calendars and baselines are imported, with a report of the items that could not be mapped, and assigned resources are listed in each task’s notes. It also reads Microsoft Project XML and Primavera .xer.

For output, Planitude exports to Microsoft Project XML, CSV for Excel and print/PDF: returning to Project desktop always remains possible.

Collaboration#

Plan 3 follows a per-seat model^[1]. In Planitude, you can invite anyone by link and choose their role (owner, editor, viewer) with no per-user cost. Each task has a unique key, comments with mentions and a history; for stakeholders outside the team, a read-only public link is available.

Pricing#

Planner and Project Plan 3 costs USD 30.00 per user per month with annual payment; Planner Plan 1 costs USD 10.00^[1]. The basic version of Planner is included in Microsoft 365, but without the premium capabilities^[3]. Planitude is free, supported by advertising, with no limit on the number of users.

For a team of ten people, the difference is significant: Plan 3 requires ten licenses, Planitude none.

Planner Plan 1 or Plan 3: what changes for a Gantt chart#

Microsoft sells Planner premium in several tiers. For Gantt-based scheduling the difference that matters is between Plan 1 and Plan 3: with Plan 1, dependencies are finish-to-start only, and baselines and the critical path are missing^[1].

US list prices with annual payment, excluding taxes^[1]: in other countries Microsoft uses local-currency price lists that may differ.

What a team costs: 5, 10 and 25 people#

The per-seat model weighs most when the plan has to be shared with people who only check it now and then: clients, suppliers, colleagues in other departments. This is the annual list cost if everyone needs the scheduling features:

A common setup is a mixed one: one or two Plan 3 licenses for whoever builds complex plans in Project desktop, and Planitude for the rest of the team, exchanging plans as Microsoft Project XML.

What happens to .mpp files#

.mpp files remain the exchange format between organizations after Project Online too. With Plan 3 they open in Project desktop^[1]; with Planitude they import in the browser with tasks, dependencies, calendars, baselines and resources. To look at a file without a license or an account there is the free MPP viewer; to build a plan from scratch, the online Gantt chart maker.

Languages, data and AI assistant#

Planitude is available in 24 languages and hosts projects on servers in the European Union, in Germany. It includes an AI assistant that reads the plan and proposes changes for you to confirm, generates a first version of a plan from a description and, through API keys and the MCP server, integrates with Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Cursor and VS Code.

How to move to Planitude#

1. Gather your files: save your projects from Project desktop as .mpp or in XML format.
2. Create a free Planitude account and a workspace.
3. Import the files through the guided import and review the report.
4. Save a baseline immediately after the import.
5. Invite your team by link: viewers incur no cost.
6. Use the AI assistant to request estimates or reorganize phases, confirming each change.

Conclusion#

Planner and Project Plan 3 is the natural choice for organizations that work entirely within Microsoft 365 and need resource leveling and earned value. If, on the other hand, you need dependency-based scheduling with a critical path, the ability to open .mpp files and the involvement of the whole team without licenses, Planitude provides the core capabilities of MS Project free of charge, in the browser.

Frequently asked questions#