Microsoft Project Pricing 2026: Plan 1, Plan 3 and Plan 5

$10.00 per user per month for Planner Plan 1 and $30.00 per user per month for Planner and Project Plan 3, both paid yearly, on Microsoft's US plans page read on October 6, 2026. Project Plan 5 is no longer listed on Microsoft's plans pages; its last listed price was $55.00 per user per month, paid yearly, seen on September 29, 2026. The desktop editions are one-time purchases rather than monthly: Project Standard 2024 at $679.99 and Project Professional 2024 at $1,129.99.

No. The basic Microsoft Planner task boards are included in Microsoft 365, but Microsoft Project, meaning the Timeline (Gantt) view, task dependencies, baselines, the critical path and the Project desktop app, is sold separately: as Planner Plan 1, as Planner and Project Plan 3, or as the one-time Project Standard 2024 and Project Professional 2024 desktop editions.

Yes, for the subscription plans. Microsoft's plans page offers a one-month free trial of Planner Plan 1 and of Planner and Project Plan 3 (read October 6, 2026). A credit card is required, and the trial converts to a paid subscription at the end of the month unless it is cancelled before then. A trial that never converts is Onplana's Free plan: the Gantt with the critical path, dependencies and baselines on every plan, including Free, for up to 5 members and 2 projects, with no card.

Microsoft no longer lists Project Plan 5 on its public plans pages (checked October 6, 2026). Its last listed price was $55.00 per user per month, paid yearly, seen on September 29, 2026. Plan 5 carried portfolio, governance and enterprise resource pool features; Microsoft says Plan 5 holders keep premium Planner and the Project desktop app. Where the portfolio and governance work goes next is the decision the rest of this page is about.

Yes. Project Standard 2024 is $679.99 and Project Professional 2024 is $1,129.99, both one-time purchases for one PC on Microsoft's US page read on October 6, 2026. Neither includes cloud sync or team collaboration on its own. If the one-time purchase is only to open .mpp files other people send you, Onplana Schedule opens, edits and saves them free on Windows and Mac.

Project Plan 5 is the top SKU in Microsoft's Project subscription family. It bundled the Project Professional desktop client, Project Server, and enterprise PMO features like the resource pool, formal governance, costed timesheets, and Power BI reporting. Microsoft says Plan 5 holders already have premium Planner and the Project desktop app. Plan 5 itself is no longer listed on Microsoft's plans pages (checked October 6, 2026). PMOs that ran portfolio work on Plan 5 choose where that work goes next: Planner, Project Server Subscription Edition, or a third-party PM platform. Microsoft has not published a clean Plan-5-to-Planner-Premium feature-mapping document, which is the primary reason enterprise PMOs evaluate third-party alternatives.

Not at the feature level, as of the current Microsoft messaging. Microsoft Planner Premium does not currently ship the enterprise resource pool, formal multi-stage governance with quorum approvals, or costed timesheets at the depth Plan 5 had. Microsoft has said feature parity is on the roadmap but has not committed to dates. Enterprise PMOs that depended on those Plan-5-specific primitives typically need to evaluate third-party platforms rather than wait. The /ms-project-alternative page covers the gap analysis in detail.

Project Server 2019 extended support ended on July 14, 2026 (per Microsoft Learn). Two paths from there: upgrade to Project Server Subscription Edition + SharePoint Server SE (Microsoft's supported on-prem continuation, subscription-licensed, closest like-for-like continuation), or migrate off Microsoft's PM line entirely. The full sovereignty-aware comparison is at /project-server-2019-end-of-life. If your data must stay in an environment you control, Onplana Enterprise+ is a dedicated deployment that Onplana runs in your own Azure subscription; it is not an on-premises install.

The Long-Term Servicing Channel build of Project Professional, released in 2024. Perpetual license, locked-feature, security-only updates for the support window. No cloud sync, no Power Platform integration, no auto-updates. Microsoft's recommended path for air-gapped and sovereignty-bound workstation deployments. Suitable when you need desktop Gantt + critical path + .mpp file format for an individual project manager in a regulated environment. Not a replacement for Project Server, which is a multi-user platform.

Yes. The desktop Project clients (Standard and Professional) continue to ship. The Project file format (.mpp) is the industry standard for project schedules and keeps working. Team collaboration around the desktop client needs either an on-prem Project Server Subscription Edition deployment, a Planner Premium subscription, or a third-party PM platform that imports the .mpp file format. Onplana imports .mpp + MSPDI XML natively and preserves the full dependency graph, resource assignments and baseline cost.

The standalone Microsoft Planner (the lightweight task-board product included in Microsoft 365 since 2016) has been merged with Planner Premium under a single "Microsoft Planner" umbrella during 2024-2025. The unified Planner has a basic tier included in Microsoft 365 (the classic task surface) and premium tiers (the former Project for the Web + portfolio features, sold as Planner Plan 1 and Planner and Project Plan 3). Most classic Planner users see no functional disruption; teams using classic Planner via the Microsoft Graph API or with Power Automate flows on the classic surface may need to update those integrations to the unified shape.

Microsoft's public plans pages no longer list Plan 5 (checked October 6, 2026), and its new-sales end date was never stated cleanly in Microsoft's public communications; confirm with a Microsoft licensing partner before assuming a specific date. What Plan 5 holders keep, per Microsoft, is premium Planner and the Project desktop app.

Onplana is positioned for the cohort that needs PMO-grade depth (enterprise resource pool, formal governance, costed timesheets, AI risk detection, native .mpp import, multi-project portfolio rollup) but doesn't find that depth in Planner Premium today. The honest read is: if your Microsoft Project usage is Plan 1 or light Plan 3, Planner Premium is the right answer and Onplana is overkill. If your usage is heavy Plan 3 or Plan 5 and you can't wait on Microsoft's roadmap for feature parity, Onplana is built for that gap. The Gantt, dependencies, critical path and baselines are on every plan, including Free; timesheets are on the Professional plan and up, portfolios on the Business plan and up, and the governance pipeline and audit trail on the Enterprise plan and up. See /ms-project-alternative for the full positioning.