If you’re comparing Microsoft Project vs. GanttPRO to decide which is best for your project, you may not have an answer yet. Both products offer excellent tools you need to successfully plan and organize your project, including project scheduling and planning; views for Gantt charts, boards, and grids. But they also vary in substantial ways.
Microsoft Project: Best for Enterprises
From $10
Microsoft Project is a powerful project management software product that has all the standard features you’d expect as well as some advanced tools that are geared towards larger enterprises. It has a more comprehensive feature set than GanttPRO and is geared toward users who are experts in project management and work for larger companies. The trade-off is that Project is more difficult to use and pricier.
You’ll probably also want to be a user of Microsoft’s other suite of paid products, like Word, Excel, Teams, Dynamics, to get the full benefit from it. Microsoft also offers a desktop version of Project, but you’ll have to be running a version of Windows to run it.
Project has tools for project scheduling and planning; views for Gantt charts, boards, and grids; task, time, and team management; and collaboration and reporting tools. The higher tiers Plans 2 and 3 provide resource management tools, and give you the option of installing a desktop client. Finally, Plan 3 provides advanced portfolio selection and optimization tools, demand management, and enterprise resource planning and management.
Features
Microsoft Project
Project planning
Task management
Time management
Resource management
Yes, but only on Plans 2 and 3
Team management
Budget tracking
Reporting tools
Pricing
$10 to $55 per user per month
- Powerful advanced tools that larger enterprises might require
- Smooth integration with the Microsoft product family
- Desktop option provides up-front pricing
- Steep learning curve
- More expensive than GanttPRO
- Limited integrations outside of other Microsoft products
Pricing
Microsoft Project has multiple pricing options. The cloud-based solution has three tiers. Project Plan 1 is $10 per user per month. You’ll pay $30 per user per month for Plan 2. For Plan 3, the cost is $55 per user per month. Plan 2 has everything in Plan 1, plus a resource management feature and a desktop client. You’ll get everything in Plans 1 and 2 in Plan 3, plus portfolio selection and optimization, demand management, and enterprise and resource planning and management.
There are on-premises solutions that are stored locally. Project Standard 2021 is $679.99 and has features similar to cloud-based Plan 1. There is also Project Professional 2021, which is $1,129.99. It adds resource management, the ability to sync with a server, and timesheet submission. Finally, there is Project Server, which is a flexible, scalable on-premises solution that gives demand management and advanced analytics features. The pricing for Project Server is by quote only.
GanttPRO: Best for Small and Midsize Businesses
From $8.90
GanttPRO’s project management software offers affordable pricing and an intuitive web-based interface while still offering advanced features, making it an excellent choice for small and midsize businesses. Businesses using GanttPRO will be able to plan their project timelines, oversee tasks, resources, and team members, as well as enable users to collaborate on their work.
Like with Project, you’ll get grid view, board view, and Gantt chart view. There’s also a portfolio view, which provides a high-level overview of your projects and quick access to resource management and progress tracking.
There are nice features in GanttPRO, like a history and baseline mode, importing and exporting options, and custom and pre-configured templates. GanttPRO also integrates software commonly used by small businesses, such as Slack, Google Drive, and Jira Cloud, as well as an API for custom integrations.
Features
GanttPRO
Project planning
Task management
Time management
Resource management
Team management
Budget tracking
Reporting tools
Pricing
$8.90 to $15 per user per month
- Intuitive and easy-to-use interface
- Affordable and simple pricing structure
- History and baseline mode let you save and return to previous project versions
- Limited reporting options
- Only integrates with Slack, Google, Jira, and an API
Pricing:
Individual: $15 per user month (billed annually)
Team: $8.90 per user month (billed annually)
MS Project vs GanttPRO: Pricing & Features Comparison
When comparing GanttPRO vs Microsoft Project, you’ll see that both have features like project planning and scheduling, task management, team management, resource management, time tracking, portfolio management, and budget tracking. However, the implementation of these features differs between the two products in some ways.
Project planning
Yes, with Gantt chart view, grid view, and board view
Yes, with Gantt chart view, grid view, board view, and portfolio view
Task management
Yes
Yes
Time management
Yes
Yes
Resource management
Yes, but only on Plans 2 and 3
Yes
Team management
Yes
Yes
Budget tracking
Yes
Yes
Reporting tools
Yes
Yes
Pricing
$10 to $55 per user per month
$8.90 to $15 per user per month
Project Planning Breakdown
Creating, planning, and monitoring projects is at the heart of project management software. These features relate to the overall management of the project, such as viewing the project, making estimations of time, and identifying key tasks toward project goals.
Microsoft Project
Project gives you a home area where you can create new projects, access important information about existing projects, and open projects. Project allows you to create and manage multiple projects at the same time. Once inside of a project, you can see them in either a grid view, a board view (where tasks are divided up into buckets), or a Gantt chart.
The interface is quite bare-bones, like an Excel spreadsheet, and it doesn’t give you a lot of information at a glance. In each of these views, you’ll be able to see a list of your tasks, people involved in the project, and any filters you want to be set up around deadlines, progress, or custom labels. There’s a zoom slider that lets you change the date range you are looking at from months down to days.
GanttPRO
GanttPRO’s main project page has multiple views, including Gantt chart, board view, a grid or “workload” view, and a people view. The Gantt chart mode is the default setting where you can get an overview on your project tasks and people involved. You can vary the timescale on the Gantt chart from hours to days to weeks, all the way up to years.
The main screen also has buttons for filters, exporting charts, and identifying any overdue tasks. There’s a project calendar which lets you set up days with set hours and breaks. GanttPRO has a feature that lets you save a snapshot of your project known as a baseline, that you can use for later reference. You’re also able to look back in the history of the project and revert to previous versions.
Winner: GanttPRO gives you more views, easy access to tools, and an intuitive interface.
Task Management Breakdown
Tasks are the building blocks of projects. Project management software allows you to create and manipulate them in various ways.
Microsoft Project
Once you are in a project, you’re able to add tasks, give them deadlines, and connect them to other tasks via dependencies. The interface is bare and minimalist, though it is interactive and clicking on various tasks brings up information about them. Tasks can be given deadlines and dependencies, which are connections between tasks.
GanttPRO
Like Project, GanttPRO’s project planning tools allows you to create tasks, modify tasks, and remove tasks. You can add tasks through dependencies which are indicated through lines and arrows. Related tasks can be put into groups that lets you organize them visually. You can set deadlines, attach users to the tasks, add related, so-called “sibling tasks,” and track their progress and status. You can set up custom columns about each task with information such as who it’s assigned to, progress made, current status, or end date.
Winner: GanttPRO offers more customization of tasks, including creating subtasks and attaching users to various tasks.
Time Management Breakdown
Time management allows users to keep track of hours spent on tasks using timers and logs and attach those hours to specific tasks.
Microsoft Project
In Project, you’re able to capture project and non-project time on payroll, invoicing, and other business tasks. With the timesheet submission feature, team members are able to submit their timesheets for approval.
GanttPRO
GanttPRO has a task time tracker tool, which allows team members to track their time either using a timer or with a time log report.
Winner: MS Project lets you track time more easily and apply it appropriately.
Resource Management Breakdown
Resource management allows users to keep track of the various resources used in a project. This typically includes physical resources but also other kinds of resources like shipping costs and labor resources.
Microsoft Project
Only the Plan 2 and 3 tiers of Project have resource management. In Project, there are three kinds of resources: working resources, material resources, and cost resources. People and machines are working resources and require time in Project. Material resources are things like steel, wood, or glass. Finally, cost resources are things that must be purchased, like travel or shipping costs.
GanttPRO
You can track three different types of resources in GanttPRO: labor, materials, and resources with a fixed cost. You can set values to these resources by the hour, item, or a flat cost. These resources can then be assigned to different team members and people. You can assign as many resources to one task as you need. Virtual resources can also be assigned. All of these resources can be tracked and logged.
GanttPRO has several advanced features when it comes to resources. These include systemic resource request, which lets you use Resource Engagements to request and lock in resources. Another feature are visual heat maps, which allow you to view how resources are used with Capacity heat maps and quickly identify resources that haven’t been optimized. Finally, there are resource analytics, which let you compare resources across standard data and also forecast projected usage.
Winner: GanttPRO wins here simply because it includes resource management as a standard feature for all users, rather than locking it in a higher-priced plan.
Team Management Breakdown
People are a key part of any project, and project management software lets you track what they’re doing and how much time it is taking them.
Microsoft Project
People can be added to projects and assigned tasks. You can then modify their work calendar to take into account working time, vacations, and sick time. People can be shared across tasks using a resource pool that is created under master projects. People can also be given costs.
GanttPRO
With GanttPRO you can add members to your team, set roles for them such as owner, admin, or member, set values for them, and create personalized working calendars. You can then attach members to tasks and give permissions according to their roles and responsibilities.
Winner: Tie. Both MS Project and GanttPRO offer useful team management tools.
Budget Tracking Breakdown
Keeping tabs on your budget is an important part of management. Budget tracking allows you to monitor how much money is being spent on your project based on the cost of tasks and resources.
Microsoft Project
You can make a budget in Project by creating and entering cost values for budget resources that are assigned to the project summary task. Project also has cost tracking, which allows you to compare original cost estimates, actual costs, projected costs, and see the variances between costs at any time and at any level of detail.
GanttPRO
With GanttPRO, you calculate the cost of your project based on the cost of tasks and resources using a clear visual reporting format.
Winner: MS Project. Although GanttPRO offers a good budget report, Microsoft Project gets more granular with cost tracking.
Reporting Tools Breakdown
Reporting tools are necessary for any project management software, as they give you clear views on a project’s time, budget, tasks, and people. Reports help you ensure your project stays on track and on time.
Microsoft Project
Project has extensive reporting tools, including built-in reports that let you track progress on your projects, resources, programs, and portfolios. There is a Project Overview report that combines tables and graphs to give information about each phase of the project, upcoming milestones and tasks that are late. There are dozens of other kinds of reports that you can use to gather information about specific areas of your project.
GanttPRO
GanttPRO also has reports, but they are more limited. You can create reports for budgeting with details like projects, tasks, assignees, time, cost, and actual cost. There are also time log reports for people in your team, with the same kind of details as with budgeting.
Winner: MS Project offers far more built-in reports than GanttPRO, so you can view project details over a timeline from almost any angle.
Customer Service
Customer service is the service provided by the maker of the project management software, whether that be online resources, chat, email, or telephone communication.
Microsoft Project
Project has extensive online resources that help provide you with the basics of using the software. There are also guides to help you build a project, share and assign resources, or install the desktop hardware. Through their Microsoft 365 business product line, Microsoft also offers technical support through chat with an upgrade option to purchase phone support.
GanttPRO
GanttPRO offers support through a live chat system on their website and through email. You can find documentation on GanttPRO’s website, along with video demos and tutorials to guide you through use of features.
Winner: Tie. Both services provide tech support via live chat and email, and although MS Project provides tech support by phone, it costs extra. GanttPRO doesn’t offer it at all, so it evens out.
Alternative Project Management Options
Still unsure which project management software is best for you after reading through our comparison of GanttPRO vs MS Project? There may be a better option for you.
If you want to stick with the waterfall methodology and are looking for another Gantt project management software, TeamGantt is another amazing option. This PM software is designed to help you monitor project progress and have a clear overview of which tasks are dependent on others. TeamGantt also offers task management and collaboration features.
If you’re looking for a free Gantt chart software, you’re in luck because TeamGantt offers that! But remember that the free version will only work best for smaller projects with no more than a few people. If you’ve got a bigger team, you might want to look at its paid versions.
- Great at making exportable charts
- Drag and drop interface
- Easy collaboration and organization tools
- Lacks invoicing tools
- Lacks budgeting tools
- Reports lack features of some competitors
Pricing:
Free to $24.45 and $29.95 per user per month
Wrike is a well designed project management software with lots of useful features. Although it’s on the more expensive side, it’s one of the best project management software for startups.
Wrike also offers a free plan for small projects. If you want more professional tools, you’d have to pay a small cost. With its recently updated interface with more information visible on the default view, Wrike has made things much more organized and easy to use. You can see your inbox, to-do list, and all current tasks directly without clicking any buttons.
It offers numerous project templates you can use to get different types of projects started. You can also make custom templates. Read the complete Wrike review to find more about it.
- Strong customization options
- Real-time information sharing and updates
- Premium security features
- Complex pricing options
- Limited tasks for free tier.
- Deployment services cost more
Pricing:
Free to $24.80 per user per month plus an Enterprise plan that needs custom pricing
Zoho Projects is an easy-to-use and affordable project management solution for SMBs. It gives you features like project scheduling and budgeting. This allows you to define project tasks, assign them to respective teams, estimate costs and follow up task progress with ease.
This PM software solution lets you automate revision tracking, access control and search and retrieval tasks. Zoho Projects also offers document management which helps you share documents with your team easily. Project managers can also resolve errors in project tasks with its issue management features.
- Affordable Pricing
- Mobile apps included
- Integrates with the Zoho suite and many third-party products
- Lacks some enterprise-level features
- Project templates must be custom built
- Unusual resource management view
Pricing
$0 to $10 per user per month
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for Microsoft Project vs. GanttPRO
Microsoft Project Vs GanttPRO Bottom Line
Overall, we prefer GanttPRO to Microsoft Project. GanttPRO has an easier-to-use interface, more features directed at small and midsize businesses, and a more affordable pricing structure. With that said, if your business already uses the Microsoft suite of products and needs advanced features like demand management or enterprise resource planning and management, then Project might be a better fit.