Microsoft Project Online retires September 30, 2026, migrate to a modern platform before it's too late.Start migration
Project Online retires Sep 30, 2026

Onplana vs Microsoft Planner

Microsoft positions Planner Premium as the official Project Online successor. For many PMOs it isn't, the 3,000-task cap, missing critical path, and 10-custom-field limit bite within the first quarter.

Microsoft Planner Premium is the right call if your PMO already runs entirely on M365, your projects fit inside the 3,000-task cap, and you don't need critical path, baselines, or formal stage-gate governance. Onplana is the right call if any of those constraints bite, most enterprise PMOs hit at least one within the first quarter.

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For teams committing to AI-first workflows: Onplana ships a public MCP server so Claude Desktop, Gemini CLI, ChatGPT, and Cursor work directly against your projects. Microsoft's strategy for Planner is Copilot-only; no public MCP server as of May 2026.

Feature-by-feature comparison

Sourced from Microsoft's own Planner Premium documentation and Onplana product specs. Where Planner has parity, we mark it.

Feature
Microsoft Planner Premium
Project Online's M365 successor
Onplana
Modern & AI-native
Task limit per plan
3,000 tasks per plan
Unlimited (50,000+ tested)
Custom fields
10 plain-typed fields
Unlimited typed (text, number, date, picklist, multi-select, formula)
Dependency types
Finish-to-Start only
FS, SS, FF, SF + lag/lead
Critical path
Not supported
Auto-computed + visualised on Gantt
Baselines
Not supported
Saved baselines + variance overlay
Resource pool / workload
Per-plan only, no enterprise pool
Org-wide pool + capacity heatmap
Portfolio rollups
Not supported
Multi-project portfolios + RAG health
Stage-gate governance
Not supported
12-stage pipeline + gate reviews
.mpp / MSPDI native import
No (manual rebuild required)
Native, preserves all four dep types, ECFs, baselines, calendars
Desktop app that opens .mpp files
No (Microsoft Project desktop is a separate paid licence)
Onplana Schedule: free Windows and Mac app, opens, edits and reschedules, saves back to Project XML
AI integration
Microsoft 365 Copilot (paid add-on)
Claude (Anthropic) + Azure OpenAI, both disclosed, included from PRO
Pricing at PMO scale (50 seats)
~$50/seat/mo for Planner Premium + M365 base
$29/seat/mo ENTERPRISE (no M365 prerequisite)
Free tier
Basic Planner only (in M365)
✓ Free plan with full Gantt + critical path
Microsoft 365 SSO
Native
SAML / OIDC (ENTERPRISE) + Microsoft consumer SSO (STARTER)
On-prem / self-host option
No
ENTERPRISE_PLUS self-host
ResultM365-native, capability-limited Wins 14/15

These gaps in detail

One question each, with the Microsoft position checked and dated.

Past the 3,000-task cap

Formal governance, not just a bigger task list

Planner Premium caps a plan at 3,000 tasks and has no stage gates. This is a twelve-stage proposal pipeline with weighted scoring, multi-reviewer gates with a quorum, and a project created automatically on approval.

Stage-gate governance with an audit trail, on Enterprise.

When Planner Premium is the right call

  • •Your org already runs entirely on M365 and your CIO has standardised on Microsoft's stack as a strategic policy.
  • •Your projects fit comfortably under the 3,000-task cap and you don't see that changing in the next 24 months.
  • •You don't currently use critical path, baselines, or stage-gate governance, and you don't plan to.
  • •You've already paid for Microsoft 365 Copilot and want a single AI surface across Word, Outlook, Teams, and Planner.

When Onplana is the right call

  • •Any of your active projects has more than a few hundred tasks, the 3,000 cap will start blocking work sooner than expected.
  • •You rely on critical path or baseline tracking for executive reporting.
  • •You have an existing portfolio of .mpp files that need to migrate without manual rebuild.
  • •You want choice of AI provider (Claude vs Azure OpenAI) per workload, not one Microsoft-locked default.
  • •You need formal stage-gate governance with audit trail (regulated industries, federal PMOs).
  • •You want a free starting tier to evaluate before committing seats.

Already on Project Online? You have one decision to make.

Microsoft retires Project Online on September 30, 2026. The two real successors are Planner Premium (constraints above) and Onplana. The migration playbook is identical either way, same 5 steps, same export window, same gate criteria.

See migration path Read 3-year cost breakdown

Pressure-test the comparison with your own data

Three free tools, no signup. Run them against your real Project Online or.mpp files before you choose.

Inventory Checklist

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Migration Preview

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Migration Cost Calculator

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Frequently asked questions

Is Microsoft Planner Premium the same as Project Online?▾
No. Planner Premium is a partial subset of Project Online's capabilities, repackaged into the new Microsoft Planner surface. It removes critical path, baselines, the resource pool, and portfolio management, features many Project Online customers depended on. Microsoft's own retirement guidance acknowledges Planner Premium as a "successor for many use cases", not all of them.
Can Microsoft Planner Premium handle a 5,000-task project?▾
No. The 3,000-task cap is enforced at the plan level. Workarounds include splitting one plan into multiple linked plans (which loses cross-plan dependencies and rollup) or moving to Project for the Web Premium (which has its own constraints around licensing and governance). Onplana has no such cap.
Does Microsoft Planner Premium import .mpp files?▾
Not natively. Microsoft Planner accepts CSV imports and offers limited Excel import; .mpp binary files require Project Desktop or Project for the Web as an intermediate. Onplana imports .mpp directly via its Java MPXJ-based parser, preserving all four dependency types, custom fields, baselines, and calendars in a single upload.
How does Onplana compare on cost at 50 seats?▾
Planner Premium is roughly $30/seat/mo on top of an M365 license that runs $12.50–$22/seat for an E3/E5 plan, call it $42–$52 effective. Onplana ENTERPRISE is $29/seat/mo with no M365 prerequisite. At 50 seats over 12 months, the gap is around $8,000–$13,000.
What about AI features, Microsoft Copilot vs Onplana?▾
Microsoft 365 Copilot is a separate paid add-on at ~$30/seat/mo. Onplana includes Claude (Anthropic) and Azure OpenAI in every plan, including Free, operated by Onplana with per-endpoint routing and automatic failover. The features overlap but Onplana's billing model bundles AI into the seat price.

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