Zoho Projects vs Microsoft Project: 2024 Project Management Comparison
Microsoft Project and Zoho Project are project management platforms used by Agile teams. They can help you work on simple and complex tasks, but that doesn't mean they're equal. In this Zoho Projects vs Microsoft Project comparison, we'll show you which is the better tool.
Written by Brett Day (Editor)
Reviewed by Aleksander Hougen (Managing Editor)
Facts checked by Jasna Mishevska (Lead Fact-Checking Editor)
Last Updated: 2024-02-14T16:44:00+00:00
All our content is written fully by humans; we do not publish AI writing. Learn more here.
Key Takeaways: Zoho vs Microsoft
- The main difference between Zoho Projects and Microsoft Project is that Zoho Projects is an affordable, intuitive project management tool, while Microsoft Project suffers from laggy performance and lack of integrations makes it a challenging tool.
- Zoho Projects is easier to learn and use, offers many integrations, has a free version and is far cheaper than Microsoft Project.
- Microsoft Project has nice workflow tools, but a poor interface lets it down, with a lack of overall features and ridiculous pricing further sinking its ship.
Finding new project management software for remote and locally based teams can be difficult. Zoho Projects made our list of the best project management software, but Microsoft Project is still popular with many organizations. Our Zoho Projects vs Microsoft Projects guide examines both so that the decision you need to make can be less stressful.
Stick around and we’ll show you the strengths and weaknesses of these online project management software solutions. When we’re done, you’ll know which way to turn.
How Did We Rate Zoho Projects vs Microsoft Project?
We have reviewed lots of project management software at Cloudwards, including Zoho Projects (here’s our Zoho Projects review) and Microsoft Project (here’s our Microsoft Project review).
When reviewing, we use the software in real-world scenarios to fairly rate each tool so that you can make a more informed purchasing decision. We use that same first-hand experience to compare software options.
Microsoft Project vs Zoho Projects: Similarities & Differences
If you’d like to quickly look at the similarities and differences between Zoho Projects and Microsoft Project, our handy table below will show you exactly what you need to know.
 |  | |
|---|---|---|
| $4 / month(All Plans) | $10 / month(All Plans) 30-days money-back guarantee | |
| Review | Review | |
| Management Views | ||
| Kanban board | ||
| List | ||
| Calendar | ||
| Timeline | ||
| Spreadsheet view | ||
| Gantt charts | ||
| Workload planning | ||
| Long-term planning | ||
| Management Features | ||
| Multiple project management | ||
| Dependency management | ||
| Native scrum management | ||
| Set user permissions | ||
| File storage | ||
| Time-tracking | ||
| Built-in integrations | ||
| Reporting features | ||
| General Features | ||
| Free plan | ||
| Free Trial | ||
| Web app | ||
| Windows | ||
| MacOS | ||
| Android | ||
| iOS | ||
| Support | ||
| Ticket-based support | ||
| Tutorials | ||
| Knowledgebase | ||
| Forum | ||
| Live chat | ||
| Phone support |
Similarities
There will always be similarities between project management tools, because they’re designed to do the same thing. Below, we’ll cover the key features that Zoho Projects and Microsoft Project have in common.
Core Features
It doesn’t matter whether you choose Zoho Projects or Microsoft Project; you’ll find similar core features to help you create projects and manage them. Both platforms offer users similar workflow tools, time-tracking functionality and reporting features (here’s an overview of Zoho Projects’ time-tracking tool). Microsoft Project offers portfolio management, as well.
In addition, each piece of software has the usual gamut of admin features that can help you manage teams. You can integrate each platform with other applications and rest easy knowing that security features are in place to help keep data secure.
Zoho Projects and Microsoft Projects are not as feature dense as monday.com (here’s our monday.com review), Asana (check out our Asana review and Zoho Projects vs Asana comparison) or ClickUp (we have a ClickUp review and Zoho Projects vs ClickUp comparison, too), but you’ll find enough tools in each to help you plan projects, create, organize and track tasks, and manage your teams.
Task Management Tools
Microsoft Project and Zoho Projects have very similar workflow tools. Fire up either platform, and you’ll find kanban boards, Gantt charts and lists. There are also dashboards that can display task-related items and reports. Both have calendars, but Microsoft Project’s is, oddly, only in the desktop app, not the web version.
The workflow tools in each platform are self-explanatory. The kanban boards work via dragging and dropping. Gantt charts can be pulled and dragged to extend or reduce dates, and lists work as expected. You can create custom fields, milestones, dependencies and subtasks. Both also support issue tracking.
Microsoft Project and Zoho Projects have enough views to support many Agile workflows, along with other project management methodologies like Waterfall and the critical path method. There will not be many complaints about the robust tools for task management on either platform.
Differences
In this section, we will address some significant differences between Zoho Projects and Microsoft Project, so you can better understand what these platforms are (or aren’t) about.
Pricing
Zoho Projects and Microsoft Project have taken two different approaches to pricing and plans. Zoho Projects pricing offers a free plan with limited features and two affordable paid options. Microsoft Project has no free version, and its paid plans ask for crazy money.
Zoho Projects Pricing
The two paid options Zoho Projects has are Premium and Enterprise. The Premium plan, which has many features, costs $4 per user per month if you opt for annual payments and $5 per user per month if you pay monthly. The loaded Enterprise plan jumps to $9 per user per month if you pay for a year upfront and $10 per user with monthly payments.
Microsoft Project Pricing
Microsoft offers three paid plans: Project Plan One, Three and Five. Project Plan One costs $10 per user per month. On the surface, this price doesn’t seem unreasonable, but you only get a basic suite of workflow tools (kanban, Gantt and list views), limited scheduling and reporting tools, and a time sheet submission feature. This plan amounts to the free plan on other services.
Project Plan Three includes more tools, like resource management features and access to the desktop client, but jumps to $30 per user per month. Project Plan Five, which includes Enterprise resource planning and demand and portfolio management, costs an eye-watering $55 per user per month. Microsoft offers no discounts for purchasing a year upfront.
Microsoft Projects isn’t just poorly priced compared to Zoho Projects — it’s poorly priced within the industry, and no free plan is just another kick in the teeth. Zoho Projects’ free plan isn’t exactly great, either, so, if you’re looking for a project management tool with a robust free plan, check out our best free project management software roundup.
User-Friendliness and Training
If software isn’t easy to learn and use, it’s already lost half the battle. Microsoft Project is not at all user-friendly. For the longest time, we thought Wrike (here’s our Wrike review) was hit with the large end of the ugly stick, but Microsoft Project proves otherwise. Additionally, to say Microsoft Project has a steep learning curve would be an understatement.
Navigating Microsoft Project is problematic due to poor menus. The interface is bland and infuriatingly slow. The only saving grace is that the tools (kanban boards and Gantt charts) are intuitive. Microsoft Project offers a searchable knowledgebase, where you’ll find well-thought-out articles that have videos embedded in them. There’s also a forum where you can ask questions.
On the other hand, Zoho Projects has an intuitive interface and is one of the cleanest, snappiest pieces of project management software you’ll find. Navigating is easy. You can get where you need to be in just a click or two. All of the tools are simple to use, too. Overall, Zoho Projects is just effortless to use.
Should you find yourself in a pickle, there’s a comprehensive knowledgebase with plenty of articles and informative videos, as well as a community where you can seek help. If you want to hit the ground running, Zoho Projects is the way to go.
Integrations
If you want to integrate many other platforms, choosing between Zoho Projects and Microsoft Project will be easy. While both platforms allow integrations, Microsoft keeps it all in the family with first-party offerings. Zoho Projects allows first- and third-party tools to connect natively or through Zapier.
Microsoft Project links to very few tools. You can integrate with Microsoft Teams and Microsoft OneDrive, and that’s it. Once you connect Teams and OneDrive (here’s our OneDrive review), those tools can integrate with other platforms, so there is a workaround, but it’s messy. You can’t even use Zapier for integrations unless you connect it to your Office 365 account and try to slip through a loophole.
Zoho Projects is different. You’ll find nearly 50 first- and third-party integrations for tools like Slack, many Google tools, some of the best cloud storage solutions and Microsoft tools, including Microsoft Project, Teams, Sharepoint and more. Zoho Projects also connects with other tools from Zoho, like Zoho CRM, Zoho Sprints, Zoho People and 11 others.
Collaboration Tools
Zoho Projects isn’t flush with collaboration tools, but it still offers more than Microsoft Project. In Zoho Projects, you’ll find a nifty chat app that allows you to send voice and text messages, images and documents, and fun emojis. You can also leave @mentions for team members in comment cards.
While not included in the base software, you can integrate Zoho Projects with Zoho Meetings for video calls and collaborative whiteboards. You can also work with your team on documents in real time with Zoho Writer.
Microsoft Project has no built-in communication tools. You can’t leave comments on task cards natively, and there’s no chat app. Instead, you must connect to Microsoft Teams for any communication. There is a co-authoring tool that lets you work with your team and external stakeholders on documents, but only in the web app, and it requires integrations with Excel or Powerpoint.
If team collaboration is important, forget about Microsoft Project entirely and stick with Zoho Projects. If you need even more robust collaboration tools, check out Notion app review or Basecamp (here’s our Basecamp review).
Mobile and Desktop Applications
If you want to work on the road, Zoho Projects is the way to go. Microsoft Project does not offer mobile applications, and the desktop app is a hideous mess that does not sync with your online Project account. It’s quite possibly the worst desktop app we’ve used — and for obvious reasons, won’t be making our list of the best project management software for Windows soon.
Zoho Projects’ apps for iOS, iPadOS and Android are feature-packed. You’ll find Zoho Projects kanban and list views, as well as the ability to create and assign new tasks, add due dates, attach files, comment on tasks and keep on top of things with the calendar view. The iPadOS version fills the larger screen and has pencil support. Everything needed for project tracking can be found in the app.
Security
While Zoho Projects and Microsoft Project offer security features, we place security in the differences section because only one company is forthcoming with data handling information. After reaching out to Microsoft, our team of experts discovered that they use AES 256-bit encryption, but that’s all Microsoft would tell us.
Meanwhile, Zoho Projects lays everything out. It uses AES-256 and TLS encryption methods, has multiple ISO certifications and is SOC 2 compliant. We also know that data is stored on Amazon Web Services servers.
Both platforms offer two-factor authentication tools for added security, and Zoho expands on that with SAML and single sign-on options. With so many unknowns about Microsoft Project, we recommend Zoho Projects over Microsoft Project for the security conscious.
Which Is Better: Zoho Projects vs Microsoft Project?
Zoho Projects is easily the better of the two options we have covered in this comparison guide. Generally, at this point, we would say that only you can decide which platform is better for you, but in 99.9% of cases, the answer will be Zoho Projects unless you absolutely must use Microsoft’s ecosystem of products.
We Recommend Zoho Projects If You Want…
- A versatile project management tool: Zoho Projects has enough tools and features to suit numerous work styles.
- Powerful collaboration tools: Team communication is effortless in Zoho Projects.
- To save money: Zoho Projects has a free version and offers two affordable paid plans.
We Recommend Microsoft Project If You Want…
- To work in Microsoft’s ecosystem: If you’re heavily vested in Microsoft products, staying with Microsoft Project might make sense.
- A simple task management tool: Microsoft Project’s boards and Gantt charts are easy to use, making them ideal for simple tasks.
- Comprehensive training materials: Microsoft’s knowledgebase might be a little dated, but it’s still packed with helpful information for newcomers.
If You Want to Consider Other Services, Check Out…
- 1$9.80 / month(All Plans)
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5$15 / month(All Plans)
The Verdict: Why We Think Zoho Projects Wins Overall
Zoho Projects is the better project management tool. Microsoft Project is fine for simple tasks, but its lack of built-in collaboration tools, laggy performance and lack of integrations put it behind Zoho Projects, which is slick, intuitive, integration-friendly and easy on the wallet.
Have you used Zoho Projects, Microsoft Project or a different project management tool? What do you love or dislike about them? Let us know in the comment section below, and as always, thanks for reading.
FAQ: Microsoft Project vs Zoho Projects
Microsoft Project isn’t being replaced, but Microsoft is pushing the web-based version of MS Project more than the desktop version.
Zoho Projects is easy to learn and use, with plenty of task management tools and collaboration features. You can also expand its capabilities by integrating Zoho Projects with many other Zoho products.
Yes. Zoho Projects has an import function that enables you to import timesheets, tasks and entire projects.