LiquidPlanner vs. Microsoft Project

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
LiquidPlanner
Score 8.3 out of 10
Mid-Size Companies (51-1,000 employees)
LiquidPlanner is a cloud based predictive project management solution. Some key features include: Dynamic Timeline View, Workload View, and Real-Time Activity Stream.
$0
per month per user
Microsoft Project
Score 8.0 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft Project is a project management software. It provides core PM functionality, including agile workflow support and resource management. Project can be deployed in the cloud or on-premise.
$0
Pricing
LiquidPlannerMicrosoft Project
Editions & Modules
Free
$0
per month per user
Essentials
$15.00
per month per user
Professional
$25
per month per user
Ultimate
$35
per month per user
Enterprise
CALL FOR VOLUME PRICING
Project Server
$0
Planner Plan 1
$10
per month per user
Planner and Project Plan 3
$30
per month per user
Planner and Project Plan 5
$55
per month per user
Project Standard 2024
$679.99
one-time fee per installation
Project Professional 2024
$1,129.99
one-time fee per installation
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
LiquidPlannerMicrosoft Project
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsPlans are billed annually.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
LiquidPlannerMicrosoft Project
Considered Both Products
LiquidPlanner
Chose LiquidPlanner
LiquidPlanner offers centralized tools to manage the requirements and objectives of each project, as well as the management of deliveries, monitoring, and team management. The tool integrates with Hubstaff and other platforms.
Chose LiquidPlanner
Wanted to try other products in the same group to evaluate which can better. Had heard good reviews from common friends so wanted to have data points for competitive analysis
Chose LiquidPlanner
Miro is a more versatile tool, but not quite made for planning and organizing. LiquidPlanner is very intuitive, fast to learn and easy to communicate. The added value of prioritizing tasks, personalized boards and gantt charts are really important during the planning and design …
Chose LiquidPlanner
Like LiquidPlanner, Monday.com is designed to plan our projects perfectly. Project management is easy and effective, they offer integrations with third-party software without any problem.
Chose LiquidPlanner
MS Project is more complicated to use, we needed a more simple solution that is based around collaboration, and MS Project wasn’t suitable for this and costs more.
Chose LiquidPlanner
We had a "homebrew" time track program previously. It did one thing and it did it well--track time spent on an individual tactic or project, and it was deployed across all departments. It did not, however, capture the conversations or the work that could shed light on where …
Chose LiquidPlanner
I have tried many project trackers, and in my opinion LiquidPlanner fits in somewhere in the middle of them. It's more powerful than some of the trackers I've used (such as Trello), but it's also more complicated and harder to navigate and collaborate with others on than some …
Chose LiquidPlanner
We use Teamwork for managing projects and love it for that, but we stick with LiquidPlanner for the high-level overview of our project workload, as well as for time-tracking (specifically for being able to bill out actuals). Teamwork and LiquidPlanner each have their merits; we …
Chose LiquidPlanner
We ruled out Microsoft Project because of its complexity, cost, and perception that is is more of a project manager's tool rather than a collaborative solution that anyone could use. We evaluated Clarizen quite rigorously alongside LiquidPlanner, but we selected LiquidPlanner …
Chose LiquidPlanner
LiquidPlanner is far more robust. Basecamp worked great for managing smaller projects, but LiquidPlanner was a great improvement as our company and project management needs grew.
Chose LiquidPlanner
LiquidPlanner beats all other project management software for these reasons:
  • Web based
  • Priority based
Chose LiquidPlanner
LiquidPlanner is not nearly as integrated and extensive as Project, but offered us a low-cost alternative for general project management functions and resource tracking.
Chose LiquidPlanner
MS Project was much more difficult to use for entering tasks. LiquidPlanner was more user-friendly.
MS SharePoint was not used for Gantt charts, but really excelled in document and data sharing between different teams.
Chose LiquidPlanner
LiquidPlanner is leaps and bounds ahead of NetSuite - at least for Project Management. It's much more user friendly and more pleasing on the eyes. Since NetSuite isn't a true project management software, the benefits far outweigh some of the negatives like limited reporting …
Microsoft Project
Chose Microsoft Project
Jira and Miro are very visual, they provide us a very friendly interface (specially Miro), and in the case of Jira, it give us very customizable workflows that suit team needs.
Chose Microsoft Project
Our company already has our client and tracking database in microsoft 365 so it was the logical step to stay with microsoft although it is a bit lacking compared to other offerings. If our team was on the go one of these other products might work better. We needed something …
Chose Microsoft Project
Honestly, I am not really using those platforms, but I am familiar with them. Thing is, I know that Microsoft platforms is game changer for everyone not just the Microsoft Project, that's why I chose this platform because I have been using it for a longer time even when I still …
Chose Microsoft Project
Microsoft Project provided more robust, collaborative solution to Turnkey Project Management. With Excel like sheets for Project Task Schedules are used for contractors and users it was well accepted i.e good UI UX. Integration capability of Microsoft Project Online with Power …
Chose Microsoft Project
Dependency tracking and automated task management helped its raking above other competitors in the usage. Microsoft support and updates are also reliable. Security is also good for this tool. UI is also good and task management is very effective. Integrations are also easy.
Chose Microsoft Project
Microsoft Project will continue to be my tool of choice for high stakes high complexity projects with over 100 tasks and many requirements to control costs and delivery but the assumption is that a dedicated PM is needed to keep the file updated and manage communication with …
Chose Microsoft Project
Better suited for everyone in the team due to an existing partnership with Microsoft for access to other software suite provided by them.
Chose Microsoft Project
As our IT is based on Microsft Office 365, we have privileged access to MS Project licences, resources, training and support, so we didn't use any other PM software.
Chose Microsoft Project
Initially, I tried using Smartsheet and then Wrike, all for Gantt Chart availability and task management. They don't come close to the flexibility or depth of features that Microsoft Project provides.

Wrike does have better collaboration amongst team members and provides an …
Chose Microsoft Project
Mostly I chose Microsoft Project due to the usage we're using for our clients. The primary reason for using Microsoft Project is because it's working well with our legacy in-house applications/solutions for our project management. We have many users who have multiple different …
Chose Microsoft Project
Because is a powerful tool that include everything that you need to manage your projects also are on-line on cloud. On app very easy to use the other vendor offer minimal support and upgrades for the tool MS project is always improvement, new features a lots of information …
Chose Microsoft Project
Microsoft Project was the most expensive project management software that we utilized aside from the costs associated with developing and in-house service. Microsoft Project provide a wealth of features for managing a large scale project like planning all of the tasks …
Chose Microsoft Project
We picked Microsoft Project instead of Proofhub due to us already using Office 365. Microsoft Project was the cheaper of the two options and seemed to fit our needs better than Proofhub. It seemed to be easier to use on the front end since some of our less technology-savvy …
Chose Microsoft Project
Microsoft Project is a reasonable price and provides all of the functions we need, and even more. The fancier tools will be more expensive but not necessarily be more effective, so sticking with the industry standard seems to be the reasonable choice.
Chose Microsoft Project
I can't remember because it was many years ago. But Microsoft Project was very affordable and had a much larger set of features. Also the stability of its technology, as well as the number of existing users, the abundant documentation and the possibility of having well-defined …
Chose Microsoft Project
ProjectLibre is a free or open source version of MS Project. It’s supported by a community of programmers that maintain its versions. It’s definitely not MS Project but definitely gives you a good idea what to expect from MS Project. I would recommend trying it first to see if …
Chose Microsoft Project
Procore allows Microsoft Project schedules to be uploaded into it. It is not an easy feature to use. The uploading is a piece of cake, but changing anything after that is challenging and never seems to track correctly for me. Maybe I need more practice but it is not a feature I …
Chose Microsoft Project
Microsoft Project had the strongest integrations and Gantt chart qualities. As a team that uses Outlook, Skype, DevOps and the Office Suite, it became clear that Project suited our needs best. Additionally, testing found that the user interface and security features pleased …
Chose Microsoft Project
Microsoft Project seems more intuitive and user friendly than Agiliti. It helps with organization and planning.
Chose Microsoft Project
Project is comprehensive and many project professionals are familiar with it, however the other tools are more business user friendly. Little training needed, Airtable and Trello are more intuitive so anyone can make updates and understand progress.
Chose Microsoft Project
Microsoft Project needs to do better job on the flexibility and user interface of the software. The colors used by Monday.com and shortcuts they have provided are much smoother. However, Microsoft project is more compatible with other Microsoft products like excel which gives …
Chose Microsoft Project
Microsoft Project is similar in its setup, but as with other Microsoft products there are many features buried in the tabs. You have to know what you are looking for.
Chose Microsoft Project
Microsoft Project is an excellent tool for most businesses to help visualize company progress. This software compares to many others out there, however it doesn't offer anything extra or "different". Since it is Microsoft brand, I will say it runs extremely smooth and you know …
Chose Microsoft Project
Microsoft Project has all the functionalities of the others and Microsoft Project responds to all our needs to control the projects. Additionally, Microsoft Project is part of our licensing of Microsoft products. This advantage is the main key to adopt Microsoft Project against …
Features
LiquidPlannerMicrosoft Project
Project Management
Comparison of Project Management features of Product A and Product B
LiquidPlanner
8.1
Ratings
6% above category average
Microsoft Project
9.1
Ratings
17% above category average
Task Management8.70 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Resource Management8.60 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Gantt Charts8.60 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Scheduling8.80 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Workflow Automation8.40 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Team Collaboration8.90 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Support for Agile Methodology7.70 Ratings6.00 Ratings
Support for Waterfall Methodology8.40 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Document Management9.90 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Email integration7.90 Ratings5.00 Ratings
Mobile Access4.80 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Timesheet Tracking7.20 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Budget and Expense Management7.60 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Change request and Case Management00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Professional Services Automation
Comparison of Professional Services Automation features of Product A and Product B
LiquidPlanner
8.3
Ratings
10% above category average
Microsoft Project
10.0
Ratings
28% above category average
Quotes/estimates8.60 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Project & financial reporting8.40 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Integration with accounting software7.90 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Invoicing00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
LiquidPlannerMicrosoft Project
Small Businesses
Stackby
Stackby
Score 9.0 out of 10
Stackby
Stackby
Score 9.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
InEight
InEight
Score 8.3 out of 10
InEight
InEight
Score 8.3 out of 10
Enterprises
InEight
InEight
Score 8.3 out of 10
InEight
InEight
Score 8.3 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
LiquidPlannerMicrosoft Project
Likelihood to Recommend
8.5
(0 ratings)
9.6
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
4.4
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Usability
10.0
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
9.0
(0 ratings)
8.2
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
5.0
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
LiquidPlannerMicrosoft Project
Likelihood to Recommend
LiquidPlanner is amazing for any time of project management scenario where you have to manage several teams and details. Running a project through LiquidPlanner is so easy because it lets you break down the project into sections and folders and small tasks that you can assign to specific people. With a small to medium size team-- LiquidPlanner is amazing for organizing and tracking details. If you have a huge team or not a ton of details to track LiquidPlanner might not be right for you because it is a software that requires some good training to learn and has tons of functions that can be utilized so it seems better suited to be used by a smaller group looking to coordinate or for people who have lots of details that can be difficult to track.
Read full review
Microsoft Project is the perfect platform for medium and large companies. I do not recommend this software for small businesses, because all its functions in the work plans are high cost and this would cause the small business to not perform well in the use of MS Project in the long term. It is very easy to use software, it allows adding, modifying and eliminating all kinds of assignments and tasks for all employees, it allows monitoring the progress of all projects in real time and it also shows the gaps in the planned project. It has a very good performance, it does not take up many computer resources and all the information is stored in sync with the Office 365 service. It occasionally has crashing problems, but this is something that does not affect users as much.
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Pros
  • Priority based planning. Every other planning software we've used relies on dates and therefore needs constant attention. Priority based planning means that the plan is always up to date.
  • Ease of use. LiquidPlanner has a very short learning curve. This is critical to getting team members to use it.
  • Forecasting. LiquidPlanner makes it very easy to run scenarios by simply dragging and dropping projects and reassigning resources.
  • Awesome Support. I get personal responses very fast. Usually within a couple hours. And, they listen and ask for more information.
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  • It is part of Office365 subscription. The look and feel is similar to other tools like excel. Helps in creating project plans, Gantt charts, work break down structures etc.
  • Helps in resource allocation and tracking the projects. There is an option to use it to capture timesheets too.
  • Helps project managers in producing weekly status reports and integrates well with other collaboration tools like Skype, sharepoint etc.
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Cons
  • LiquidPlanner's mobile app definitely needs some work. It doesn't display properly, having many things on the right hand side cut off. It doesn't update/refresh well. I can't imagine the mobile app will ever have the functionality of the Web version, but it needs to come a lot closer.
  • LiquidPlanner requires that everyone actively participate in order to maximize its benefit. However, it can be difficult for everyone to be on top of all of their responsibilities all of the time. Not sure on a solution, but it can be a lot to manage.
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  • Remote work can be challenging - as Project must be downloaded to a specific computer.
  • Upgrading to the top of the line version can feel like a requirement. There is a lot of functionality that is not available unless in the most expensive pay-tiers.
  • Microsoft Project can be extremely expensive on a per user basis. Other tools can be much more cost-effective - especially for more basic project management needs.
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Likelihood to Renew
We may not renew LiquidPlanner's contract, but only because my company has recently been acquired and we'll be adopting some of the software that they're using to standardize process. LiquidPlanner's development team releases new features pretty often, so it seems like the gaps and inefficiencies are slowly getting smaller/less frequent
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I like using Microsoft Project. It simplifies building a schedule
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Usability
Easy to learn and utilize. Can export charts and reports for sharing with colleagues.
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Microsoft
Project is easy to operate because data could be inserted, changed and
deleted like you are in an Excel timesheet. Besides, it provides a great
level of automation beween his fields allowing few data changes. Also, its
funcionalities are well defined and grouped in upper menus, so you can find a
funcionality quickly
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Support Rating
They have been great in trying to come up with creative solutions to help us do what we want to do with the platform. I would say their support has been exceptional because we have hit them with some complex requests.
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I’m giving MS Project an 8 because in general this is a solid scheduling program. It’s definitely designed with the professional in mind, and they have done well preparing the program to integrate with their other Microsoft products. The program is a workhorse so if you have serious scheduling needs then I would highly recommend MS Project.
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Implementation Rating
No answers on this topic
I wasn't part of it so I don't know
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Alternatives Considered
We had a "homebrew" time track program previously. It did one thing and it did it well--track time spent on an individual tactic or project, and it was deployed across all departments. It did not, however, capture the conversations or the work that could shed light on where problems occurred or issues were encountered.
Read full review
Microsoft Project provided more robust, collaborative solution to Turnkey Project Management. With Excel like sheets for Project Task Schedules are used for contractors and users it was well accepted i.e good UI UX. Integration capability of Microsoft Project Online with Power App and Power Automate + Share point made collaboration most useful. Security features of Microsoft Project is managed by Azure Active Directory Settings.
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Return on Investment
  • LiquidPlanner has improved everybody's visibility into tasks, decreasing the communication load required and increasing client communication and status updates, effectively increasing client satisfaction and likely helping to generate more business.
  • LiquidPlanner has improved our estimation and communication about changing estimates. Allowing us to keep a running estimate of the remaining work lets our account managers bill appropriately for overages ahead of time, preventing issues with customers who may not want to pay for work that was done.
  • LiquidPlanner sometimes takes time to navigate, find the right tasks, etc. and in this way, it may have added time to our day that we are not getting paid for. However, this is fairly negligible.
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  • Since it is reasonable priced and flexible and fits into our Microsoft products, it meets our objectives
  • It has prevented expensive scope creep, this has saved us money and had solid ROI
  • Project does require light training cost to use it effectively
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ScreenShots

LiquidPlanner Screenshots

Screenshot of Project Dashboards allow users to build high-level views that help visualize data.Screenshot of Workload Views allow users to see an entire team's workload at once and make resource adjustments in stride.Screenshot of Time Sheets keep track of hours per task and automatically update project estimates.Screenshot of Project View allows users to view any project in detail, assign tasks, set their priority, and access schedule risk.Screenshot of My Work View is a personalized view of all work to always know what to work on next.