Microsoft Planner Alternatives

Quick answer: The best Microsoft Planner alternative depends on why you are leaving. Teams that have outgrown Planner's task features usually look at Asana, monday.com, Smartsheet, Wrike or ClickUp, and software teams at Jira. But many organizations searching for an alternative do not actually have a Planner problem. They have a portfolio problem: leadership wants capacity, cost and priorities across all projects, and no task tool provides that. Replacing Planner does not fix it. Adding a portfolio layer above Planner does, without moving anyone's work.

First, name the problem

People leave Planner for four different reasons, and each one points to a different answer.

1. The plans are too light for the work. A team needs richer workflows, forms, automations or reporting inside its own projects than Planner offers. This is a real reason to look at another work management tool, although Planner Premium closes more of that gap than many people realize.

2. The team does not live in Microsoft 365. Marketing works in one tool, engineering in Jira, and Planner is the odd one out. Here the tool choice follows the team.

3. Leadership cannot see across the plans. The PMO is asked who is overallocated, what the portfolio costs against budget and which proposals to fund next. That is a portfolio question, and every tool on this list answers it only in paid tiers, if at all.

4. The licence count is becoming expensive. Premium features in Planner are priced per person, and so is every alternative below. Switching tools changes the rate, not the model.

Reasons one and two are good reasons to replace Planner. Reasons three and four usually are not.

If you need to replace Planner: the main alternatives

Asana

Strong for cross-functional work management, with goals that connect to the work. Portfolios, goals, resource management and time tracking start at the Advanced plan, listed at $24.99 per user per month on annual billing. Budgets, rates and audit logging are priced separately.

monday.com

A no-code work platform that teams adopt quickly, with flexible boards and automations. Portfolio management, advanced analytics and governance sit in the Enterprise tier.

Smartsheet

Familiar to anyone who plans in spreadsheets, and widely used by PMOs. Portfolios, scenario planning and SAML SSO come with Enterprise, and time tracking and delivery-tool connectors are priced separately.

Wrike

Good at request intake, approvals and proofing, which suits marketing and creative operations. Portfolio budgeting and advanced capacity planning require the Pinnacle tier.

ClickUp

Tasks, docs, sprints and Gantt charts in one hierarchy, with Enterprise governance and free guests at scale. Portfolios and workload views are available from the Unlimited plan, though ClickUp does not publish its Enterprise price.

Jira

The default for software teams. Cross-team planning through Plans is included with Jira Premium and Enterprise. Outside engineering, adoption tends to be harder.

Microsoft Project desktop

If the problem is scheduling depth rather than collaboration, the alternative may already be in your Microsoft estate. Project desktop handles detailed schedules with resource leveling and cost, and comes with Planner and Project Plan 3. See Microsoft Planner vs Project in 2026.

How the alternatives compare

Two things stand out. Most alternatives put portfolio features in their paid upper tiers. And every one charges per person, so the cost of portfolio visibility grows with the number of people doing the work, not the number asking the portfolio questions. The full PPM alternatives comparison covers 19 vendors against the same enterprise PMO requirements.

What switching costs beyond the price list

A per-user price is the visible part. The rest is what makes switching slow:

• Moving plans, history and attachments out of Planner.
• Losing the Teams and Outlook integration people use every day.
• Retraining everyone who updates a task, not just project managers.
• Running two tools during the transition, and often longer, because some teams never move.

If your reason for leaving is one or two from the list above, those costs are worth paying. If the reason is portfolio visibility, you pay them and still end up with project data spread across tools.

The other option: keep Planner and add a portfolio layer

Most organizations do not need a Planner alternative. They need the layer Planner was never given.

A portfolio layer reads the plans your teams already work in and adds what task tools do not hold: resource capacity across projects, budgets and benefits, risks, intake and prioritization. Teams keep working exactly as they do today. The PMO gets one portfolio, even when some teams use Planner and others already use Jira or Smartsheet.

A simple way to decide:

• Replace Planner if the teams doing the work need features Planner cannot give them, or do not work in Microsoft 365.
• Keep Planner and add a portfolio layer if the teams are fine and the questions that hurt come from leadership.
• Do both if some teams really need another tool. Let them move, and keep one portfolio above every tool.

We go deeper on the portfolio side in portfolio management for Microsoft Planner.

How PPM Express Enterprise does it

PPM Express Enterprise connects to Planner basic and premium plans, including plans created in Teams. It reads plans, buckets, tasks, assignments, dates and progress, and writes nothing back, so nobody's way of working changes.

Above those plans it holds programs and portfolios, resource capacity and utilization, budgets, forecasts and benefits, risks and issues, and what-if funding scenarios. Jira, Azure DevOps, Smartsheet, monday.com and Microsoft Project connect into the same portfolio, so teams that have already left Planner stay in view.

It is priced as a flat annual subscription with unlimited users. The people doing the work stay on the tools they already have, and everyone who needs the portfolio gets access without a seat count to manage.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best alternative to Microsoft Planner? It depends on the reason. Asana and monday.com suit cross-functional teams, Smartsheet suits spreadsheet-style planners, Wrike suits intake-heavy work, and Jira suits software teams. If the goal is portfolio visibility across projects, a portfolio layer above Planner usually fits better than replacing it.

Is Microsoft Planner good enough for project management? For many teams, yes. Premium plans add timelines, dependencies, sprints and goals, and Plan 3 adds baselines and critical path. Planner's limits show at the portfolio level: capacity across plans, cost, benefits and prioritization.

Which Planner alternatives include portfolio management? Most offer it in paid upper tiers: ClickUp from Unlimited, Asana from Advanced, monday.com and Smartsheet in Enterprise, Wrike in Pinnacle and Jira in Premium. In Planner itself, Portfolios need a Plan 3 or Plan 5 licence and cover premium plans only.

Can I keep Planner and still get portfolio management? Yes. A portfolio layer such as PPM Express reads Planner plans as they are and adds capacity, financials, risk and prioritization above them. No migration is needed.

Does PPM Express replace Microsoft Planner? No. Teams keep working in Planner. PPM Express reads their plans into an enterprise portfolio and writes nothing back to Planner.

The short version

Look for a Planner alternative when your teams need a different way to work. Asana, monday.com, Smartsheet, Wrike, ClickUp and Jira are all credible, each with portfolio features in paid tiers and per-user pricing. But if the pressure comes from the PMO and leadership rather than from the teams, switching tools moves the data without answering the questions. Keep Planner where it works, and put a portfolio layer above Microsoft Planner.

Last verified 15 September 2026 against each vendor's public pricing and documentation. Tier names and prices change without notice. Microsoft, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Planner, Microsoft Project and Microsoft Teams are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. Asana, monday.com, Smartsheet, Wrike, ClickUp, Jira and Atlassian are trademarks of their respective owners. PPM Express is not affiliated with or endorsed by any of these companies.