Project Plan 3 vs Plan 5: Microsoft Project Pricing 2026
Project Plan 3 vs Project Plan 5: what each license includes, the true bundled cost per seat, and what each keeps after Project Online's 2026 retirement.
Project Plan 3 costs $30 per seat per month and covers full project and resource management: Gantt, critical path, baselines, and timesheets. Project Plan 5, last listed at $55, adds portfolio analysis and enterprise resource capacity planning, but Microsoft's plans page no longer lists it. That is the core difference. The catch: the $30 headline number is accurate and completely misleading.
Project Online Plan 3 at $30 per seat is the license fee. It is not the project management cost. The project management cost includes the M365 subscription that every Project Online user needs to access the SharePoint-based environment, the PWA administrator whose ongoing attention keeps Enterprise Custom Fields current, lookup tables clean, and the OData feed healthy, and the Power BI developer whose quarterly maintenance keeps the portfolio reports your executives actually read from going stale. None of those appear on the Project Online renewal invoice. All of them are real costs.
The conversation about which Microsoft tier to be on, or whether to stay at all, cannot be had sensibly using the $30 headline. Here is the version with the full number.
TL;DR: Project Online Plan 3 costs $30/seat/month in license. Fully loaded over three years at 100 seats, the actual cost is $230,000 to $270,000. Plan 5, last listed at $55/seat, adds portfolio capabilities but no longer appears on Microsoft's plans page. Project Online's retirement on September 30, 2026 ended the Project Online part of both plans; Microsoft says the Project desktop app and Planner are not affected. Modern alternatives like Onplana Business at $20/seat include portfolio management, native .mpp import, and AI features with no supporting infrastructure overhead, putting the three-year total at roughly $72,000 in license. The Migration Cost Calculator builds the side-by-side at your specific PMO scale.
How Much Does Microsoft Project Cost?
Microsoft Project costs $10 to $30 per user per month as a subscription, or $679.99 to $1,129.99 as a one-time purchase of the desktop app. Of the options Microsoft lists today, the Project desktop application comes only with Planner and Project Plan 3 or with a one-time Project 2024 licence, so that is usually the deciding line. The table below lists every option on Microsoft's US pricing pages as they read on September 29, 2026. Prices change, so check Microsoft's Planner plans and pricing page before you buy.
If the only reason for a Plan 3 seat is opening .mpp files that other people send you, Onplana Schedule opens and edits them for free, and saves Project XML that Microsoft Project reads.
| Option | US price | What it includes |
|---|---|---|
| Planner Plan 1 | $10.00 per user/month, paid yearly | Planner web and Teams apps with premium plans, sprints, finish-to-start dependencies and a timeline (Gantt) view. No Project desktop app. |
| Planner and Project Plan 3 | $30.00 per user/month, paid yearly | Everything in Plan 1, plus baselines, critical path, lead and lag, the Project desktop app, and Project Online until its September 30, 2026 retirement |
| Planner and Project Plan 5 | Not listed | No longer on Microsoft's plans page. Last listed at $55.00 per user/month, paid yearly. |
| Project Standard 2024 | $679.99 one-time, one user, one PC | Desktop scheduling with Gantt, baselines, milestones, critical path and resource leveling |
| Project Professional 2024 | $1,129.99 one-time, one user, one PC | Everything in Standard, plus resource management, timesheets, and a connection to Project Server Subscription Edition |
Prices as published on Microsoft's US pricing pages on September 29, 2026. Plan 5's last listed price comes from Microsoft's Plan 5 page as archived on February 13, 2026; that page now redirects to the Planner plans page.
None of the options in this table is free. Whether Microsoft Project has a free version, and what the free alternatives cover instead, is set out separately.
Project Plan 3 vs Plan 5, as of September 29, 2026: Plan 3 is the tier Microsoft still lists, at $30 per user per month. Plan 5 no longer appears on Microsoft's plans page, so a new buyer comparing the two is really choosing between Plan 1 and Plan 3. Plan 5 matters to organizations that already hold it, and the feature difference in the next section is what they would give up by moving to Plan 3.
What Project Online Plan 3 and Plan 5 Actually Include
Project Online has been sold through two tiers: Planner and Project Plan 3 at $30 per user per month and Planner and Project Plan 5, last listed at $55 per user per month. Plan 5 no longer appears on Microsoft's Planner plans and pricing page (checked September 29, 2026), so new customers cannot buy it there. The information below covers both tiers for the benefit of PMOs currently on Plan 5 who are evaluating their migration options.
Plan 3 (the baseline tier) includes the full Project Online scheduling engine: Gantt view, critical path, baselines, FS/SS/FF/SF dependency types, task assignments, resource pools, custom fields, timesheets, and timesheet approvals. It also includes Microsoft Roadmaps and OData-based reporting (with a Power BI license for anything beyond the out-of-box views). Most mid-market PMOs are on Plan 3.
Plan 5 (the enterprise tier) adds capabilities that Plan 3 does not provide:
- Portfolio analysis and prioritization (the Portfolio Analyzer with scenario modeling and driver prioritization)
- Resource capacity planning at the enterprise level (not just project-level resource views)
- Non-working time setup for individual resources
- Full user management and service administration controls
- Resource engagement approval workflows (Plan 3 users can submit engagement requests but cannot review or approve them)
- Custom branding for the PWA site
For PMOs that run formal portfolio governance, rely on the Portfolio Analyzer for project selection, or need enterprise-level resource capacity planning, Plan 5 provided capabilities that Plan 3 cannot replicate. Those capabilities run in Project Online, so they end with its retirement on September 30, 2026, whichever plan a PMO holds.
Project Online's retirement on September 30, 2026 ends Project Online, not the two plans. Microsoft's retirement announcement says the change does not affect Project desktop, Project Server or Planner, and that Plan 3 and Plan 5 holders already have premium Planner and the Project desktop app. What the plans lose is Project Online itself, and with it Plan 5's portfolio layer. There is no path within Microsoft's cloud that preserves the full Plan 5 feature set: Planner Premium, Microsoft's stated successor, has a 3,000-task limit per plan, 10 custom fields, and no portfolio analysis engine.
The True M365-Bundled Cost
Project Online runs on SharePoint Online. Every user who accesses the PWA site needs a SharePoint-capable M365 license. Most organizations already hold M365 Business Standard or higher for other reasons, which means the M365 cost is not incremental. But organizations that upgraded their M365 tier specifically to support Project Online are carrying an incremental cost that belongs in the licensing comparison.
Beyond the base license, three additional cost layers accumulate:
PWA administration. Project Online requires ongoing human attention: user provisioning, Enterprise Custom Field (ECF) updates, lookup table maintenance, permission group management, OData feed monitoring, and periodic SharePoint site collection maintenance. This is not optional; a neglected PWA environment accumulates stale ECFs, broken resource pools, and orphaned projects within months. At a blended internal rate of $90 per hour:
- 50 seats: quarter-FTE, ~$18,000/year
- 100 seats: quarter-FTE to half-FTE, ~$27,000 to $45,000/year
- 250 seats: half-FTE, ~$45,000 to $90,000/year
Power BI reporting. The OData feed is the only supported way to query portfolio-level data from Project Online. That means the reports executives read are built on Power BI, maintained by someone, refreshed quarterly, and rebuilt whenever the ECF schema changes. At three to five person-days per report per maintenance cycle and $90/hour, a PMO with eight active Power BI reports accumulates $77,760 in annual maintenance at quarterly refresh frequency.
SharePoint storage overage. Project Online project data, attachments, and document libraries live in a SharePoint site collection. Large PMOs with long-running archives regularly exceed the base allocation and incur storage overage charges. This is typically $2,000 to $15,000 per year depending on archive size.
Onplana's Tiers
Onplana's published tiers run Free (0 cost, 2 projects), Starter ($7/seat/month), Pro ($12/seat/month), Business ($20/seat/month), and Enterprise ($29/seat/month). Full detail is on the Onplana pricing page.
For PMOs migrating from Project Online, the relevant comparison is Business ($20/seat/month), which includes:
- Full Gantt with all four dependency types (FS, SS, FF, SF) and lag values
- Critical path calculation and baselines
- Native .mpp and MSPDI XML import (no desktop client required)
- AI features: risk detection, plan generation from a one-paragraph brief, status report drafts
- Portfolio management and resource heatmap views
- No Power BI requirement for portfolio reporting
- No dedicated administrator requirement for ongoing operations
- Deployment on Onplana's SaaS or self-hosted (AWS, Azure, GCP, Docker)
The Enterprise tier ($29/seat) adds SSO/SCIM, customer-managed keys, dedicated support, and audit log export for regulated environments.
Side-by-Side Comparison
The table below compares Project Plan 3, Project Plan 5, and Onplana Business across the dimensions that matter most to a migrating PMO. En dashes (–) indicate a feature is not available.
| Feature | Project Plan 3 | Project Plan 5 | Onplana Business |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly price (per seat, annual billing) | $30 | $55 (last listed) | $20 |
| Gantt + critical path + baselines | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Portfolio analysis / scenario modeling | – | Yes | Yes |
| AI features | – | – | Risk detection, plan generation, status drafts |
| Native .mpp file import | – (desktop required) | – (desktop required) | Yes |
| Power BI required for portfolio reporting | Yes | Yes | – |
| Dedicated admin required for operations | Yes | Yes | – |
| Cloud deployment options | Microsoft cloud only | Microsoft cloud only | SaaS, AWS, Azure, GCP, self-hosted |
| Ends with Project Online (September 30, 2026) | Project Online access only | Project Online access only | Not applicable |
| New customer availability (September 29, 2026) | Yes | No (not listed) | Yes |
The five-column gap on Power BI, dedicated admin, and deployment options does not appear in any per-seat price comparison because those costs don't show up in the license line item. They are the hidden costs that make Project Online substantially more expensive than the $30 headline suggests.
Three-Year License Cost at 100 Seats
The diagram below shows the three-year license cost for the three tiers at 100 seats. This is license only, not fully loaded TCO. The purpose is to isolate the licensing comparison before layering on supporting-stack costs.
These are license costs only. The fully loaded TCO comparison, which adds the supporting-stack costs that Project Online requires but purpose-built alternatives do not, is covered in the three-year TCO model. The supporting stack adds $130,000 to $160,000 over three years at 100 seats on top of the $108,000 Plan 3 license, bringing the total to roughly $240,000 to $270,000. Onplana Business has no equivalent supporting stack requirement; the $72,000 license figure is close to the actual three-year cost.
True Cost at Three PMO Scales
The following comparison uses fully loaded costs: license plus supporting stack for Project Online, license only for Onplana Business (no admin or Power BI overhead required).
| PMO scale | Plan 3 fully loaded (3 yr) | Onplana Business license (3 yr) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50 seats | $150,000–$210,000 | $36,000 | $114,000–$174,000 |
| 100 seats | $240,000–$270,000 | $72,000 | $168,000–$198,000 |
| 250 seats | $700,000–$1,100,000 | $180,000 | $520,000–$920,000 |
| 1,000 seats | $2,600,000–$4,200,000 | $720,000 | $1,880,000–$3,480,000 |
The Project Online ranges come from the three-year TCO analysis. The Onplana Business figures are license only; migration cost (a one-time investment) is excluded from this table because it is not a recurring cost and should be modeled separately using the Migration Cost Calculator.
For Plan 5 organizations still on existing licenses, the license cost alone at 250 seats over three years is $495,000, against which Onplana Business's $180,000 represents a $315,000 license-only saving before any supporting stack comparison.
Which Tier Fits Which PMO?
Project Plan 3 (still available for new customers): The baseline tier for PMOs already invested in the Microsoft ecosystem and not yet ready to migrate. Plan 3 covers the core scheduling and resource management capabilities that most project-level work requires. It does not provide portfolio analysis. At $30/seat it is the least expensive Project Online entry point, though the fully loaded cost is substantially higher.
Project Plan 5 (no longer listed for new customers): If your PMO relies on the Portfolio Analyzer for project selection and prioritization, Plan 5 provided a capability that neither Plan 3 nor Planner Premium replicate. The hard constraint is Project Online's retirement on September 30, 2026: the Portfolio Analyzer runs in Project Online, so it ends with it, even though Plan 5 holders keep the Project desktop app and premium Planner. Plan 5 no longer appears on Microsoft's plans page, so new customers cannot buy it there. PMOs on Plan 5 have a stronger migration incentive than Plan 3 customers because their replacement options are narrower within the Microsoft stack.
Onplana Business ($20/seat): The direct replacement tier for mid-market PMOs migrating from either Project Plan 3 or Plan 5. At $20/seat it is below Plan 3's $30/seat license cost and well below Plan 5's $55/seat; it includes portfolio management that Plan 5 provides but Plan 3 doesn't; and it includes AI features that neither Microsoft tier offers. The zero Power BI and zero dedicated-admin requirements are significant ongoing savings that the per-seat comparison does not capture.
Losing Project Online's portfolio features has a practical implication: PMOs that were using Plan 5's portfolio features and are now deciding where to migrate have no path forward within Microsoft's cloud that preserves those capabilities. Planner Premium's 3,000-task per-plan limit and 10-custom-field ceiling make it unsuitable for enterprise portfolio management. The migration calculus for Plan 5 customers is different from Plan 3 customers because the feature parity question has already been answered by Microsoft's own product decisions.
For the detailed cost model including migration investment and three-year break-even analysis, the cost of migrating from Project Online covers the full picture by PMO size and complexity tier.
Compare your specific scenario with the Migration Cost Calculator Enter your PMO size, current Microsoft tier, and integration complexity. See the license-only and fully loaded comparison for your profile. No signup required. Open the Migration Cost Calculator
Microsoft Project Online™ is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. Onplana is not affiliated with Microsoft.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Microsoft Project cost?
On Microsoft's US pricing pages on September 29, 2026, Planner Plan 1 is $10.00 and Planner and Project Plan 3 is $30.00 per user per month, paid yearly, and the desktop app is a one-time $679.99 for Project Standard 2024 or $1,129.99 for Project Professional 2024. Plan 3 is the subscription that includes the Project desktop app.
How much does Project Online Plan 3 cost per user per month?
Project Plan 3 (formerly Project Online Professional) costs $30 per user per month on an annual subscription. This is the license price only; the fully loaded cost per seat is higher once you account for the required M365 subscription, SharePoint storage, and PWA administration.
Is Project Online Plan 5 still available?
Not for new customers. Planner and Project Plan 5 no longer appears on Microsoft's plans page (checked September 29, 2026); its last listed price was $55 per user per month, paid yearly. Microsoft's retirement announcement says Project Online's retirement on September 30, 2026 does not affect Project desktop, Project Server or Planner, and that Plan 5 holders already have premium Planner and the Project desktop app.
What is the difference between Project Plan 3 and Project Plan 5?
Plan 3 includes full project and resource management with Gantt, baselines, dependencies, and custom fields. Plan 5 adds portfolio analysis and prioritization, non-working time setup for resources, full user management, and service administration. Plan 5 also supported resource engagement approval workflows that Plan 3 could only initiate.
How does the true cost of Project Online compare to Onplana?
For a 100-seat PMO on Plan 3, the fully loaded three-year TCO runs roughly $240,000 to $270,000 including admin, Power BI, and storage. Onplana Business at the same scale costs $72,000 in license over three years with no admin overhead or separate reporting infrastructure required.
Does Project Online require a separate M365 license?
Project Online requires SharePoint Online to function and most users also need an M365 Business Standard or higher subscription for the desktop client and the full integration set. If those licenses were purchased for other reasons, the incremental Project Online cost is the Plan 3 or Plan 5 license alone.
What happens to existing Project Online licenses after September 30, 2026?
Project Online is no longer available after September 30, 2026, but the licenses that included it do not end with it. Microsoft's retirement announcement says the change does not affect Project desktop, Project Server or Planner, so Plan 3 and Plan 5 holders keep the Project desktop app and premium Planner. Check what your team still uses before changing a subscription: cancelling Plan 3 also removes the desktop app and premium Planner.
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