Planner Is The Future of Project

• Planner is now Microsoft’s focus for project management, but Project Desktop and Project Server SE remain unchanged.
• Project for the Web capabilities have become part of an updated Planner cloud service, as premium subscription features.
• Project Server SE and Project Desktop remain supported but will likely see few, if any, new capabilities in the future.
• Sept. 8, 2025: Microsoft has announced that Project Online will be retired effective Sept. 2026.

This report, originally published in Jan. 2024, has been updated to account for the current state of Planner and the announced retirement of Project Online.

The capabilities of Project for the Web became part of a new Planner service that became available in 2024, and Project for the Web was retired as a standalone service in Aug. 2025. Microsoft originally intended to replace the hosted Project Online service with Project for the Web; that mantle has fallen to Planner, and Microsoft announced in Sept. 2025 that Project Online will be retired in Sept. 2026. The retirement does not effect Project Desktop or Project Server Subscription Edition (SE); Microsoft has announced that SharePoint Server SE (which includes Project Server SE) will be supported until at least Dec. 21, 2035. However, customers using Project Online should immediately start migrating to Planner or another alternative before the announced retirement date.