Microsoft Project
Project management software
Microsoft Project is commercial project management software made by Microsoft. It was first released in 1984. Its English Wikipedia article has about 1.2k readers a month on phones.
- Made by
- Microsoft
- Since
- 1984
- Wikipedia readers on phones
- 1.2k a month
- Source code
- Closed
Judgement
- What it is
- Complete system
- What it does
- Microsoft's scheduling software for detailed project plans with tasks, dependencies, critical path, resources and baselines.
- Adopt it when
- Professional project managers in construction, engineering or government need formal schedules and critical-path planning.
- Watch out
- Microsoft is moving web features into Planner, and the desktop app is costly and Windows-only.
- Ready for
- Production-ready
- Runs as
- Desktop app and cloud service
- What the license allows
- Closed source: you use it under the maker's terms and cannot change or resell the code.
Judged on 2026-11-03 from the maker's description and Wikipedia. The license and age lines are worked out directly.
Compare Microsoft Project
Open-source alternatives to Microsoft Project
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1
Plane makeplane
🔥🔥🔥 Open-source Jira, Linear, Monday, and ClickUp alternative. Plane is a modern project management platform to manage tasks, sprints, docs, and triage.
Complete system Production-ready A product or engineering team wants a modern Jira alternative it can self-host.
★ 62k AGPL-3.0 TypeScript Active, pushed 5 days ago -
2
Platform hcengineering
Huly — All-in-One Project Management Platform (alternative to Linear, Jira, Slack, Notion, Motion)
Complete system Usable Only for existing installs; new users should look at the Platform-Collective fork.
★ 28k EPL-2.0 TypeScript Active, pushed 5 days ago -
3
WeKan wekan
FLOSS kanban, built with Meteor. Official Public Support at GitHub issues only. Official Private Pre-Paid Support at https://wekan.fi/commercial-support/ only. Translation PRs to imports/i18n/data/en.i18n.json, other translations at https://app.transifex.com/wekan/wekan . No telemetry.
Complete system Production-ready You want a free self-hosted Trello replacement and are comfortable with MongoDB.
★ 21k MIT JavaScript Active, pushed 7 days ago -
4
ActivityWatch ActivityWatch
The best free and open-source automated time tracker. Cross-platform, extensible, privacy-focused.
Complete system Production-ready You want private automatic time tracking without a cloud service.
★ 19k MPL-2.0 Python Active, pushed 7 days ago -
5
OpenProject opf
OpenProject is the leading open source project management software for product, project and portfolio management. A powerful Jira alternative with agile planning, issue tracking, roadmaps, Gantt charts, time tracking, collaboration features, and more. Available on premises or in the cloud. ⭐ Star us on GitHub
Complete system Production-ready An organisation, especially in the public sector or EU, needs classic project management with data sovereignty.
★ 17k GPL-3.0 Ruby Active, pushed 5 days ago -
6
Leantime Leantime
Leantime is a goals focused project management system for non-project managers. Building with ADHD, Autism, and dyslexia in mind.
Complete system Production-ready A small team without a dedicated PM wants a friendly self-hosted tool.
★ 12k AGPL-3.0 PHP Active, pushed 4 days ago -
7
Kanboard kanboard
Kanban project management software
Complete system Production-ready You want a lightweight, stable kanban board that runs on almost any PHP host.
★ 9.9k MIT PHP Active, pushed 3 days ago -
8
Kaneo usekaneo
⚡ Project management that doesn't become the project. Boards, Gantt charts, and GitHub integration. Self-host it or use Kaneo Cloud.
Complete system Usable A small team finds Plane or Jira too heavy and wants something simple to host.
★ 9.6k MIT TypeScript Active, pushed 6 days ago -
9
Solidtime solidtime-io
Modern open-source time-tracking app
Complete system Usable An agency wants a modern self-hosted Toggl or Clockify replacement.
★ 9k AGPL-3.0 PHP Active, pushed 7 days ago -
10
CCPM automazeio
Project management skill system for Agents that uses GitHub Issues and Git worktrees for parallel agent execution.
Developer tool Experimental A developer uses Claude Code heavily and wants spec-driven tasks tracked in GitHub Issues.
★ 8.4k MIT Shell Active, pushed 14 days ago
Other commercial project management tools
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1
Asana Asana, Inc.
Work management software for teams and AI agents. Plan, automate, and execute critical workflows together.
Complete system Production-ready Marketing, operations or cross-functional teams want a clear project and task tool that non-technical staff use.
4.7k readers a month Since 2008 Commercial -
2
Jira Atlassian
Jira brings teams together to reach the next level of productivity with AI agents that orchestrate, plan, and track projects at scale.
Complete system Production-ready A software team wants the industry-standard tracker with deep integrations and configurable workflows.
3.7k readers a month Commercial -
3
Trello Atlassian
Make the impossible, possible with Trello. The ultimate tool to boost your productivity. Escape the clutter and chaos—stay efficient with Inbox, Boards, and Planner from anywhere, even on mobile.
Complete system Production-ready A small team or individual wants simple visual task boards with almost no setup.
1.1k readers a month Since 2011 Commercial -
4
ClickUp ClickUp
Our mission is to make the world more productive. To do this, we built the everything app for work - Tasks, Docs, Goals, and Chat.
Complete system Production-ready A team wants to replace several tools with one highly configurable workspace and has patience to set it up.
978 readers a month Since 2017 Commercial -
5
Smartsheet Smartsheet Inc.
Personalize workflows, predict outcomes, and move faster with Smartsheet – a platform built for the way you work.
Complete system Production-ready A project office or operations team that thinks in spreadsheets needs structured tracking and reporting across many projects.
860 readers a month Since 2006 Commercial -
6
Harvest Harvest
Time tracking and management software with powerful easy reporting and streamlined online invoicing. Loved by 73,000 businesses. Get started for free.
Complete system Production-ready An agency or consultancy bills by the hour and wants staff to track time easily against project budgets.
503 readers a month Commercial -
7
Basecamp 37signals
Trusted by millions, Basecamp puts everything you need to get work done in one place. It’s the calm, organized way to manage projects, work with clients, and communicate company-wide.
Complete system Production-ready A small company or agency wants calm project communication with clients and a predictable flat bill.
Commercial -
8
Microsoft Planner Microsoft
Task management software
Complete system Production-ready A team on Microsoft 365 wants basic task tracking it already pays for.
300 readers a month Commercial -
9
Wrike Wrike
Wrike is the trusted work delivery platform for people and AI. We help enterprises reach the outcome faster, without losing control of how work gets done.
Complete system Production-ready A marketing or professional services department needs structured project delivery with request intake and resource planning.
223 readers a month Since 2006 Commercial -
10
Notion Projects Notion Labs
With Notion’s connected workspace, get your projects to the finish line faster and with less context switching.
Complete system Production-ready A team already keeps its docs in Notion and wants projects next to them.
Commercial
Under it
Every program, Microsoft Project included, runs on a microchip.
Facts come from Wikipedia and refresh weekly. Readers are counted on Wikipedia's mobile site only, because automated traffic that Wikimedia does not flag inflates desktop counts.