When it comes to project management software, there are a plethora of options available in the market. Two of the most popular ones are Monday.com and Microsoft Project. Both of these software solutions are designed to help teams manage their projects more efficiently and effectively. However, they differ in terms of their features, pricing, and target audience.
Monday.com is a cloud-based project management software that offers a visual and intuitive interface for teams to collaborate and manage their projects. It is known for its flexibility and customization options, allowing teams to create workflows that suit their specific needs. Monday.com is suitable for teams of all sizes and industries, from startups to enterprise-level organizations.
On the other hand, Microsoft Project is a desktop-based project management software that has been around for over three decades. It is a comprehensive tool that offers features such as Gantt charts, resource management, and budget tracking. Microsoft Project is ideal for large organizations that require a robust project management solution.
In this article, we will compare Monday.com and Microsoft Project in terms of their features, pricing, and target audience. We will help you determine which software solution is best suited for your team’s needs. So, whether you are a small startup or a large corporation, read on to find out which project management software is right for you.
monday.com vs Microsoft Project: Which is Better?
Monday.com and Microsoft Project are both project management tools that help teams plan, track, and manage projects. However, there are some key differences between the two.
| Comparison | monday.com | Microsoft Project |
|---|---|---|
| Plans | Starts at under $10/user/mo. | Starts at $10/user/mo. |
| Turnkey options | Yes, including monday marketer, monday CRM, monday projects, and monday dev | Few |
| Templates | Yes | Few |
| Integrations | 200+ | Few outside of Microsoft family |
| Automation | Yes | Limited on basic plan |
| Project views | Many, including Gantt chart and kanban board | Many, including auto-scheduling |
| Reporting | Dashboards | Detailed reporting included |
| Cost management | No specific tool | Yes |
| Resource management | No specific tool | Yes |
| Time tracking | Basic on high-tier plans | Advanced |
| Portfolio management | Limited except on Enterprise plan | Yes, with detailed roadmaps |
| Price | Cheaper plans all around | High starting price |
| Billing discounts | Yes, with annual billing | No |
monday.com: Best for Small Businesses and Startups
monday.com is a highly customizable work management platform that allows users to build and customize boards for project management, resource management, support tickets, and more. It allows teams to collaborate in real-time, assign tasks, set deadlines, and track progress. Monday.com also offers a range of integrations with other tools, such as Slack, Google Drive, and Trello.
Monday.com is the best cloud-based project management tool that helps teams manage their workflow and collaborate more effectively. It provides a visual overview of your team's progress, making it easy to identify bottlenecks and areas for improvement. It's a great option for teams looking for a flexible and intuitive project management solution.
- User-friendly interface that allows for easy task and project management
- Customizable templates for various industries and functions
- Integration with popular apps like Slack, Google Drive, and Trello
- Visual overview of team progress and project status
- Flexible and intuitive project management solution
The platform also offers pre-built products like monday marketer, monday CRM, monday projects, and monday dev, providing turnkey options for specific use cases.
This feature makes monday.com usable right out of the box, with user-friendly design and extensive self-help database to easily tailor it to your needs. It is a versatile platform suitable for many businesses, especially for those that want to stick with one software across multiple types of teams.
For small businesses, monday.com may be the better choice because it offers more affordable plans that still provide many project management features. The cheapest plan starts at under $10 per user per month, and the mid-tier plan comes with project boards, dashboards, Gantt chart views, workflow automation, and software integrations.
Pros and Cons of monday.com
Pros
- Highly customizable work management platform
- Affordable plans, starting at under $10/user/mo.
- Many project views, including Gantt chart and kanban board
- 200+ software integrations
- Task automation
- Reporting dashboards
- Unlimited viewers on all plans
- Extensive self-help database
Cons
- No specific tool for cost or resource management
- Basic time tracking on high-tier plans
- Limited templates
- Limited portfolio management features except on Enterprise plan
Microsoft Project: Better for Enterprise
On the other hand, Microsoft Project is a desktop-based software that provides a more traditional approach to project management. It offers a comprehensive set of features, including Gantt charts, resource management, and budget tracking. Microsoft Project also integrates with other Microsoft tools, such as Excel and SharePoint.
Microsoft Project is available as both a cloud-based and on-site option, and comes in different versions, such as Microsoft Project Online, Project on the web, and an on-premises option. These versions integrate well with other Microsoft products and offer a range of project management tools, including task dependencies, auto-scheduling, and advanced roadmaps.
The software has advanced project and portfolio management features that can be useful for managing complex projects or projects with many moving parts. Despite its steep learning curve and high starting price, Microsoft Project is designed to help users manage plans, schedules, resources, and budgets, as well as track tasks and analyze workloads. However, its focus on desktop use can be a significant drawback for teams working on the go.
Microsoft Project is ideal for enterprise-level project management due to its advanced features for project and portfolio management. It can efficiently handle complex projects with many moving parts.
Pros and Cons of Microsoft Project
Pros
- Advanced project and portfolio management features
- Auto-scheduling and advanced roadmaps
- Advanced time tracking and timesheets
- Integration with Microsoft products
- Detailed reporting included
- Suitable for managing complex projects with many moving parts
Cons
- Steep learning curve
- High starting price
- Focus on
Overall, Monday.com is a more modern and user-friendly tool that is ideal for teams that value collaboration and flexibility. Microsoft Project, on the other hand, is a more robust and feature-rich tool that is better suited for larger and more complex projects.
monday.com vs. Microsoft Project: Pricing
monday.com Pricing Plan
| Plan | Starting Price | Features |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | $10/user/mo. | Unlimited items, 5 GB file storage |
| Standard | $15/user/mo. | Gantt chart, automations, integrations, 250 automation actions/month |
| Pro | $20/user/mo. | Time tracking, formula columns, calendar view, private boards, 25,000 actions per month |
Microsoft Project Pricing Plans
| Cloud-based Plan | Starting Price | Features |
|---|---|---|
| Project Plan 1 | $10/user/mo. | Basic project management features |
| Project Plan 3 | $30/user/mo. | Advanced project and portfolio management features |
| Project Plan 5 | $55/user/mo. | Comprehensive project and portfolio management features |
Note: Microsoft Project also offers on-premises pricing options that start at $719.99.
monday.com Wins in Pricing
monday.com is generally cheaper than Microsoft Project, with the cheapest plan starting at under $10 per user per month. In addition, monday.com offers billing discounts with annual billing, whereas Microsoft Project does not.
monday.com vs. Microsoft Project: Project Management Features comparison
| Feature | monday.com | Microsoft Project |
|---|---|---|
| Customizable work management platform | Yes | No |
| Cost management tool | No | Yes |
| Resource management tool | No | Yes |
| Templates | Many | Few |
| Task lists | Yes | Yes |
| Color-coding | Yes | Yes |
| Chat and comment features | Yes | Yes |
| Automation capabilities | Yes | Yes |
| Software integrations | 200+ | Few outside of Microsoft family |
| Gantt chart view | Yes | Yes |
| Auto-scheduling | Many project views, including auto-scheduling | Yes |
| Reporting dashboards | Yes | Detailed reporting included |
| Time tracking | Basic on high-tier plans | Advanced |
| Portfolio management feature | Limited except on Enterprise plan | Yes, with detailed roadmaps |
| Creating Gantt charts | Yes | Yes |
| Storing project data in a shared database | Yes | Yes |
monday.com
Monday.com is a versatile project management tool that offers various features to suit most teams. Its platform has a user-friendly design that allows for cost and resource management, and it provides many templates for user convenience. Users can set up work timelines, move tasks around, and create notes, making it easy to organize and prioritize tasks and projects.
In addition, users can create task lists, prioritize tasks, and color-code them. Each board typically houses one project or task, and team members can track pending tasks and who’s working on what. Team members can also chat back and forth via boards and leave comments on them.
Monday.com offers time tracking on high-tier plans, but it may not be comprehensive enough for some teams. Additionally, it does not offer a specific tool for budget or resource tracking, so teams with complex projects and large amounts of data might opt for a more specialized tool.
Key features of Monday.com include the ability to automate processes and tasks, reducing the risk of human error and streamlining workflows. With simple prompts to guide them, users can assign specific tasks to team members and create new tasks without manual intervention.
Monday.com also provides over 200 templates and eight data visualizations that include Gantt, map, form, workload, Kanban, timeline, and calendar. Users can view an overview of their project’s progress from their dashboard and analyze the performance of individuals, teams, and tasks. Furthermore, users can download their project boards and attached files in Excel format.
In summary, monday.com provides the following key features and benefits:
- User-friendly and versatile platform
- Cost and resource management
- Many templates available
- Task lists and color-coding
- Chat and comment features
- Automation capabilities
- Over 200 templates and eight data visualizations
- Overview of project progress and performance analysis
- Excel format download for project boards and attached files
Microsoft Project
Microsoft Project offers advanced project management features, including auto-scheduling, budget and resource management tools, and advanced time tracking and timesheets. The platform provides an interactive roadmap for tracking multiple projects at a glance, making it perfect for portfolio management or complex, changing projects.
Some of the key features of Microsoft Project include:
- Customizable Gantt charts for visualizing project resources and workflows
- High-level budgeting and cost-tracking tool for strategizing which projects to take on
- Ability to define projects, create sub-tasks and milestones, and use auto-scheduling to plan a calendar of tasks
- Kanban cards or boards with four predetermined columns, which can be customized to meet the needs of the project’s workflow
- Visualizations using views, filters, tables, calendars, and databases
- Portfolio management feature to weigh different project proposals based on available resources, costs, and timelines
- Creating Gantt charts, managing budgets, scheduling tasks and resources, creating graphical reports, and storing project data in a shared database
Is monday.com or Microsoft Project better in terms of project management features?
It depends on the specific needs of your team. If you require advanced project and portfolio management tools, then Microsoft Project may be the better choice. However, for small businesses and startups, monday.com offers many project management features at a more affordable price point.
Monday.com also offers more templates for user convenience and a highly customizable work management platform that allows users to build and customize boards for project management, resource management, support tickets, and more. Furthermore, it provides task automation, reporting dashboards, and over 200 software integrations.
On the other hand, Microsoft Project has fewer integrations outside of the Microsoft family, limited turnkey options, and limited templates.
monday.com vs Microsoft Project Ease of Use and Customer Support
| Comparison | monday.com | Microsoft Project |
|---|---|---|
| Ease of use | User-friendly design and extensive self-help database | Unintuitive interface requires significant time to master |
| Customer support | 24/7 support through live chat, online contact forms, FAQs, forum, phone support, and online knowledge base | Professional support not typically included with most plans, with larger enterprises assigned an account manager for customer support |
monday.com
monday.com is a work operating system that serves as a highly customizable work management platform for many different uses. It offers pre-built products for different use cases, such as marketing, portfolio management, and development. Alternatively, you can create your own monday.com boards from scratch, using templates to get up and running quickly.
The platform has a clean, modern design that most users seem to pick up quickly. If you or a team member gets stuck while setting things up or trying a new feature, all monday.com plans come with 24/7 customer support. Overall, monday.com is exceptionally easy to use, and customer satisfaction seems high. However, things can get slightly more confusing if the team size is large or there are many active projects. In these cases, the dashboard can become cluttered and harder to navigate. However, staying on top of things should prevent this from becoming a major issue.
One significant aspect of monday.com is that they keep new users in mind and offer various walkthroughs and video tutorials to teach you and your team how to use the available features. In addition to 24/7 support through a live chat, monday.com also offers an online contact form (whether you’re a monday.com user or not) and a separate online form for contacting their sales team. Other forms of support include FAQs, a forum, phone support, and an online knowledge base.
Microsoft Project
Microsoft Project offers a variety of templates to get started, but most project boards are created from scratch. Users have reported struggling to learn the software, finding it unintuitive and requiring significant time to master.
While Microsoft does offer self-help guidance and resources on their website, including a Microsoft Get Help app that provides possible solutions based on user input, the self-help database is poorly organized and light on details, making it likely that users will require external help to truly learn the software. Professional support is not typically included with most Project plans, though users can call Microsoft customer service. Larger enterprises are typically assigned an account manager for customer support.
monday.com Wins in East of Use and Support
Monday.com is easier to use than Microsoft Project and offers better customer support with 24/7 service, extensive self-help resources, various walkthroughs, and video tutorials. Microsoft Project is reported to be unintuitive, requires significant time to master, and has a poorly organized self-help database. Professional support is not typically included with most Project plans, although larger enterprises are assigned an account manager for customer support.
FAQs
monday.com is a highly customizable work management platform that allows users to build and customize boards for project management, resource management, support tickets, and more. It is a versatile platform suitable for many businesses, especially for those that want to stick with one software across multiple types of teams.
Microsoft Project is a powerful project management solution offered by Microsoft. It is available as both a cloud-based and on-site option, and comes in different versions, such as Microsoft Project Online, Project on the web, and an on-premises option.
For small businesses, monday.com may be the better choice because it offers more affordable plans that still provide many project management features. The cheapest plan starts at under $10 per user per month, and the mid-tier plan comes with project boards, dashboards, Gantt chart views, workflow automation, and software integrations.
Microsoft Project is ideal for enterprise-level project management due to its advanced features for project and portfolio management. It can efficiently handle complex projects with many moving parts.
monday.com is generally cheaper than Microsoft Project, with the cheapest plan starting at under $10 per user per month. In addition, monday.com offers billing discounts with annual billing, whereas Microsoft Project does not.
monday.com offers 24/7 customer support through live chat, online contact forms, FAQs, a forum, phone support, and an online knowledge base. In contrast, professional support is not typically included with most Microsoft Project plans, although larger enterprises are assigned an account manager for customer support.
monday.com is easier to use than Microsoft Project and offers better customer support with 24/7 service, extensive self-help resources, various walkthroughs, and video tutorials. Microsoft Project is reported to be unintuitive, requires significant time to master, and has a poorly organized self-help database.
monday.com offers more templates than Microsoft Project. The platform provides over 200 templates and eight data visualizations that include Gantt, map, form, workload, Kanban, timeline, and calendar. In contrast, Microsoft Project offers few templates to get started, and most project boards are created from scratch.
monday.com has more software integrations than Microsoft Project, with over 200 integrations available. In contrast, Microsoft Project has few integrations outside of the Microsoft family.
It depends on the specific needs of your team. If you require advanced project and portfolio management tools, then Microsoft Project may be the better choice. However, for small businesses and startups, monday.com offers many project management features at a more affordable price point.
Monday.com also offers more templates for user convenience and a highly customizable work management platform that allows users to build and customize boards for project management, resource management, support tickets, and more. Furthermore, it provides task automation, reporting dashboards, and over 200 software integrations.
Conclusion
In conclusion, both Monday.com and Microsoft Project offer powerful project management tools with various features, software integrations, and templates for users to choose from. However, the two platforms differ significantly in their approach to managing projects, pricing, ease of use, and customer support.
Monday.com is a highly customizable work management platform that offers pre-built products, task automation, reporting dashboards, and over 200 software integrations. It is a versatile platform suitable for many businesses, especially for those that want to stick with one software across multiple types of teams. Additionally, Monday.com is generally cheaper than Microsoft Project, with the cheapest plan starting at under $10 per user per month.
On the other hand, Microsoft Project offers advanced project and portfolio management tools, budget and resource management tools, and advanced time tracking and timesheets. The software has advanced project and portfolio management features that can be useful for managing complex projects or projects with many moving parts. However, Microsoft Project is more expensive than Monday.com, with the cheapest plan starting at $10 per user per month.
Ultimately, the choice between Monday.com and Microsoft Project depends on the specific needs of your team. If you require advanced project and portfolio management tools, then Microsoft Project may be the better choice. However, for small businesses and startups, Monday.com offers many project management features at a more affordable price point.
