Quick answer: Project 2024 is Microsoft's one-time-purchase desktop scheduler for detailed plans, critical paths and resource levelling. Project Online, the cloud PPM service, retired on 30 September 2026. Planner is now Microsoft's cloud tool for team and project work, with premium tiers adding Gantt timelines, dependencies and baselines. Choose Project 2024 for complex schedules owned by one planner, Planner for collaborative team plans.
Written by the Softkeyworld technical team · Updated October 2026
Microsoft's project management line-up has changed more in the last eighteen months than in the previous decade. Project for the web has been folded into Planner, Project Online has now reached its retirement date, the subscription plans have been renamed, and the desktop app continues as Project 2024. If you last looked at this a couple of years ago, much of what you remember is out of date. This guide sets out where each product stands in October 2026, what each one is genuinely good at, and how to choose without paying for features you won't use.
Key takeaways
- Project Online retired on 30 September 2026. Microsoft points customers to Planner, Project Server Subscription Edition or Dynamics 365 Project Operations.
- Project for the web started redirecting users to Planner in August 2025.
- Planner now comes in tiers: basic Planner in Microsoft 365, Planner Plan 1, and Planner and Project Plan 3, which also includes the Project desktop client.
- Project 2024 (Standard and Professional) is a perpetual licence supported until October 2029, with no subscription required.
What happened to Project Online?
Microsoft announced in 2025 that Project Online, the SharePoint-based project and portfolio management service that included Project Web App (PWA), would retire. Microsoft's Planner team set out the timeline in Microsoft Project Online is retiring: what you need to know, and a final Message Center reminder (MC1478955) confirmed the date. The milestones were:
| Date | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 1 October 2025 | Project Online licences no longer sold to new customers |
| 1 April 2026 | Creation of new PWA sites blocked (as reported by Microsoft partners) |
| 30 September 2026 | Project Online retired; Microsoft warned that access to the service and its data ends |
Microsoft's recommended destinations are Planner (with premium licences) for most teams, Project Server Subscription Edition for organisations that need on-premises portfolio management, and Dynamics 365 Project Operations for project-based businesses that need timesheets, resource scheduling and finance. If your organisation still had schedules in PWA and did not export them before the deadline, speak to your Microsoft partner or Microsoft support immediately rather than assuming anything is recoverable.
One knock-on effect matters for desktop users: Project Professional's ability to publish to a server only now applies if you run Project Server. For a standalone planner using .mpp files, nothing changes.
What happened to Project for the web?
Project for the web was Microsoft's simpler cloud scheduler, built on Dataverse. In 2025 Microsoft merged it into the new Planner. In its post on transitioning to Microsoft Planner and retiring Project for the web, Microsoft said that from early August 2025 users opening Project for the web or Roadmap would be redirected to Planner. Existing premium plans carried over and now appear in Planner as premium plans.
Microsoft Planner in 2026: the tiers explained
"Planner" now covers two quite different experiences: basic plans (the familiar task boards in Microsoft 365 and Teams) and premium plans (the former Project for the web features). Which you get depends on your licence. Microsoft lists the current line-up on its Planner plans comparison page:
| Licence | Formerly | Main capabilities | Project desktop app? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Planner (in Microsoft 365) | Planner | Basic plans: board, grid, schedule and charts views; checklists; Teams integration | No |
| Planner Plan 1 | Project Plan 1 | Premium plans: timeline (Gantt) view, dependencies, goals, sprints, premium templates | No |
| Planner and Project Plan 3 | Project Plan 3 | Plan 1 plus baselines, critical path, task history, advanced dependencies with lead and lag, roadmaps, portfolios | Yes (subscription desktop client) |
| Planner and Project Plan 5 | Project Plan 5 | Plan 3 plus advanced portfolio features; Microsoft lists it as end of sale from 1 May 2026 | Yes |
Planner's premium tiers also integrate with Microsoft 365 Copilot, including a Project Manager agent that can draft plans and status reports. Those AI features depend on your Microsoft 365 and Copilot licensing, so check what your tenant actually has before you plan around them.
Microsoft Project 2024: the desktop option
Project 2024 was released on 1 October 2024 as a perpetual, one-time-purchase product in Standard and Professional editions. Microsoft's lifecycle page lists support ending in October 2029. It's the direct successor to Project 2021 and keeps the scheduling engine that serious planners rely on.
What Project 2024 does that Planner doesn't
- Full scheduling engine: task types (fixed units, fixed duration, fixed work), effort-driven scheduling, constraints and deadlines.
- Resource management: resource sheets, calendars, cost rates, overallocation detection and resource levelling.
- Earned value and cost tracking: baselines (up to 11), variance and earned value fields.
- Custom fields and formulas: calculated fields, graphical indicators, custom views and grouping.
-
Works offline: plans are
.mppfiles you control, with no dependency on a cloud service or subscription. - Interoperability: opens files from earlier Project versions and exports to Excel, XML and PDF.
Standard vs Professional
Both share the same scheduling engine. Professional adds features aimed at teams: resource engagement and team planner views, connecting to Project Server, and syncing with SharePoint task lists. If you plan alone and share PDFs or exported timelines, Standard is usually enough; if you manage a shared resource pool or use Project Server, choose Professional. We compare the two most recent versions in Project 2024 vs 2021 for teams.
Side-by-side comparison
| Factor | Project 2024 | Project Online | Planner (premium) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Status (October 2026) | Supported until October 2029 | Retired 30 September 2026 | Actively developed |
| Licensing | One-time purchase per PC | Was subscription | Per-user subscription |
| Where it runs | Windows desktop | Browser (PWA) | Browser, Teams, mobile |
| Scheduling depth | Full engine, levelling, earned value | Full (with desktop client) | Dependencies, baselines and critical path on Plan 3 |
| Collaboration | File-based; Professional connects to Project Server | Central PWA | Real-time, task assignment, Teams |
| Offline use | Yes | No | No |
| Portfolio management | Limited (master projects) | Yes | Portfolios on Plan 3 |
| Best fit | Construction, engineering, PMO schedulers | No longer available | Cross-functional teams, agile work |
Which should you choose?
Choose Project 2024 if…
- One person or a small PMO builds and owns the schedule, and others mainly consume outputs.
- You need resource levelling, cost-loaded schedules or contract-required
.mppfiles (common in construction and engineering). - You prefer a perpetual licence and don't want a per-user subscription for a single scheduler.
- You work offline or on sites with unreliable connectivity.
Choose Planner if…
- Many people update tasks themselves and you want real-time visibility in Teams.
- Your plans are measured in weeks and tasks rather than thousands of linked activities.
- You already have Microsoft 365 and only need basic boards (free with your licence) or light Gantt timelines (Plan 1).
- You run agile work with sprints and backlogs.
Use both if…
This is a common, sensible setup: the project manager builds the master schedule in Project 2024 and teams track day-to-day tasks in Planner. The trade-off is that the two do not sync automatically, so agree who updates what and how often. There's no one-click round trip between .mpp files and Planner plans; check Microsoft's current import options before relying on one.
How the licensing models differ in practice
The pricing structures behave very differently over time, so it helps to think in terms of who needs access rather than headline cost.
- Project 2024 is licensed per PC with a one-time purchase. One scheduler on one desktop needs one licence, and it keeps working after Microsoft's support ends in 2029, although without security updates.
- Planner tiers are licensed per user, per month or year. Everyone who needs premium features (timeline view, dependencies, baselines) needs the relevant licence; people who only view or update basic tasks may be covered by their existing Microsoft 365 plan.
- Planner and Project Plan 3 includes the subscription desktop client, which is tied to the user's sign-in. If the subscription lapses, the desktop app drops into reduced functionality rather than continuing to work.
Three common scenarios
| Organisation | Typical need | Sensible setup |
|---|---|---|
| Small construction or engineering firm | Detailed programmes, client-mandated .mpp files, one planner |
Project 2024 Professional on the planner's PC; team views shared as PDF |
| Marketing or creative agency | Many short projects, lots of contributors, Teams-centric | Basic Planner for everyone; Planner Plan 1 for project leads who need timelines |
| Internal IT or PMO team | Portfolio view, baselines, critical path across several projects | Planner and Project Plan 3 for project managers, basic Planner for contributors |
Moving off Project Online: practical options
-
Single-scheduler projects: open the plans in Project Professional, save as local
.mppfiles, and continue in Project 2024. - Team-tracked projects: recreate them as premium Planner plans. Simple plans move quickly; complex resource-loaded plans lose detail.
- Enterprise PPM: Project Server Subscription Edition gives you PWA on your own SharePoint Server infrastructure, with the operational overhead that implies.
- Services businesses: evaluate Dynamics 365 Project Operations if you need integrated time, expense and billing.
A word on Project Server Subscription Edition: it is the on-premises successor to Project Server 2019 and gives you a familiar PWA, but you take on the SharePoint Server farm, SQL Server, patching and backups yourself. It suits organisations that already run SharePoint on-premises and have the skills to support it; for a small business it is usually far more infrastructure than the problem needs. Many PMOs also pair their schedules with process and network diagrams; if that is you, our overview of Visio 2024 features and use cases shows how the two desktop tools complement each other.
Whichever path you take, keep a copy of historical schedules as .mpp or XML. Contracts and claims often depend on baseline data years after a project closes.
Installing Project 2024 alongside Office
Project 2024 is a Click-to-Run product. It installs alongside Office 2024 or Microsoft 365 Apps as long as the bitness (32-bit or 64-bit) and installation type match; mixing versions or bitness is the most common reason setup fails. Our Project 2024 Professional download, install and activation guide walks through the process step by step. If you are still weighing up subscription versus perpetual licences more broadly, see Office 2024 vs Microsoft 365; many of the same trade-offs apply.
Frequently asked questions
Is Project Online still available?
No. Microsoft retired Project Online on 30 September 2026, and new customers could not buy it from 1 October 2025. Microsoft recommends Planner, Project Server Subscription Edition or Dynamics 365 Project Operations instead.
Is Microsoft Project being discontinued?
No. The Project desktop app continues: Project 2024 is supported until October 2029, and the subscription desktop client remains part of Planner and Project Plan 3. What was retired is the Project Online service and the Project for the web brand.
Can Planner replace Microsoft Project?
For many team projects, yes, especially with Plan 3 features such as baselines and critical path. For resource levelling, earned value, cost-loaded schedules or very large plans, Project desktop remains more capable.
Does Project 2024 need a Microsoft 365 subscription?
No. Project 2024 is a one-time purchase that activates on its own. It runs alongside Office or Microsoft 365 as long as the versions and bitness are compatible.
What is the difference between Project 2024 Standard and Professional?
Both share the same scheduling engine. Professional adds team-oriented features such as Team Planner, resource engagements, SharePoint task list sync and Project Server connectivity.
Can I still open old Project files in Project 2024?
Yes. Project 2024 opens .mpp files from earlier versions, and you can export to XML or Excel for archiving.
Our recommendation
With Project Online gone, the decision has become simpler. Use Planner if your priority is team collaboration inside Microsoft 365, stepping up to Plan 3 only when you need baselines and critical path. Use Project 2024 when the schedule itself is the deliverable and needs a full scheduling engine, offline access and a licence that does not lapse. For most professional schedulers we recommend Project 2024 Professional, which keeps the team features open if you later adopt Project Server.
View Project 2024 Professional
Related reading
| Resource | Why read it |
|---|---|
| Project 2024 vs 2021 | What changed between the last two desktop versions |
| Project 2024 install guide | Download, install and activate step by step |
| Office 2024 vs Microsoft 365 | Perpetual vs subscription trade-offs |