A side-by-side look at what’s kept, what’s lost, and what can be restored, for PMOs deciding what to do before 30 September 2026.
Every organisation moving off Project Online eventually asks the same question: what, exactly, are we going to be missing? Here’s the honest answer, capability by capability.
| Capability | Project Online (retiring) | Planner Premium (vanilla) | Extended with a Power Platform accelerator |
|---|---|---|---|
| Task scale per plan | Effectively unlimited | ~3,000 task cap, silent drop on import¹ | Removed via Dataverse layer |
| Custom fields | Enterprise-wide library, lookups | ~10 fields, no lookups² | Governed field library, lookups, validation |
| Dependencies | FS / SS / FF / SF + lag/lead | FS only, per some user reports³ | Full dependency logic restored |
| Resource pool | Enterprise-wide, cross-project | Single-plan only | Cross-portfolio pool & capacity heat-map |
| Portfolio rollups | Full PPM rollups, EPT | Plans only, no financials | Programme/portfolio rollups with RAG & financials |
| Governance (stage-gates, intake) | SharePoint workflows / InfoPath | None native | Power Automate-driven approvals & intake |
| Reporting | OData, Power BI, enterprise-wide | Per-plan only | Enterprise Power BI semantic model |
| Timesheets / cost tracking | Native | Limited even at top tier | Time & cost module |
| AI / Copilot | Minimal | Native Copilot, Planner Agent | Copilot on a governed, structured data model |
The one thing this table doesn’t tell you
A feature list makes it look like a straight downgrade. It isn’t quite that simple.
Planner Premium’s execution layer, the actual day-to-day scheduling, task boards, Gantt views is genuinely a step forward from Project Online’s ageing web experience. Real-time collaboration, native Teams integration, and modern mobile access aren’t marginal improvements; they’re a different generation of product.
What’s missing isn’t the “how.” It’s the “why” and the “who” — the layer that let a PMO look across fifty projects and answer questions like who’s over-allocated, which programmes are at risk, and does this new request even align with strategy. That layer was never really “Project,” it was governance software wearing a project-management interface.
Why this matters for your decision
If your organisation runs a handful of straightforward projects with no cross-project resourcing or formal governance, Planner Premium alone may genuinely be enough. Don’t over-buy.
If you’re running a real PMO, multiple concurrent programmes, shared resource pools, stage-gated approvals, portfolio reporting to leadership, the gap in this table isn’t cosmetic. It has to be filled by something: a manual process, a spreadsheet workaround, or a proper extension layer built on the same Microsoft 365 tenant you’re already paying for.
Next in this series: why every migration hits the same wall, and a framework for thinking about where your organisation actually sits on it.
¹ Based on direct, first-hand experience importing an MSP schedule into Project for the Web, the underlying engine behind Planner Premium Plan 3 and Plan 5. ² Applies to vanilla Planner; this is the specific limitation that typically drives organisations to extend via Power Apps/Power Platform. ³ Reported by some users; not independently verified across every plan tier or configuration, confirm against your own tenant. Retirement dates and Microsoft’s stated replacement path are per Microsoft’s official Project Online retirement announcement.
