Microsoft Project Online is retiring: What you need to know

Thank you for posting that it could be just the thing to give inspiration to someone who needs it! Keep up the great https://hot51.com/. 

Transition to another product that is feature compatible will take more than 12 months for most corporate clients, and this announcement simply shows how unrealistic and out of touch Microsoft is with their customers. Two things are certain - when Microsoft said that Project Online wasn’t going anywhere back in February and that they were committed to supporting their customers, they lied. The previously promised date of June 2030 seems to have evaporated. With this timescale corporates won’t even have a full financial year to transition data and that will be a massive headache. The sheer volume of customers requiring help is ire to be overwhelming.  Either Planner needs to reach parity in terms of features in the next two months (not going to happen) or Project Server SE needs to have a smooth way of supporting all the Power BI reporting. Then there’s the issue of corporates with high end integrations that would normally take well over 12 months to plan, develop and execute. Microsft is incredibly naive if it thinks this is all possible within 12 months for all of their Project Online customers. A lot of customers are going to be very angry at this announcement and I don’t blame them. I’d like to understand what additional resources Microsoft is putting in place to support customers, including manpower (essential). Funding alone won’t cut it. Hugely disappointing and poorly thought out announcement from Microsoft. After 40 years in IT this is the single worst move I ever saw from Microsoft. 

As a Microsoft Project Partner of over 20 years, we have shepherded our client partners through multiple transitions as Microsoft’s product line has evolved. Our PPM experience is deep and covers the full breadth of PPM functionality, from project scheduling to resource management, from portfolio analysis to time tracking.

Every product end-of-life announcement brings some angst and challenges to organizations, but Milestone has consistently supported our clients with product knowledge, migration planning and tools, and technical support services to successfully transition their project portfolio processes, tools, and data into this new world. Milestone’s significant experience and tools have us well-positioned to be there for you as you take this journey.

Schedule a free initial consultation to plan out your next steps:  https://www.milestoneconsultinggroup.com/support/free-same-day-support-ticket

Planner does not hold a candle to the capabilities of Microsoft Project desktop and it doesn't seem like the Planner team has the intention to give planner all of those advanced scheduling capabilities. Can Microsoft please make something that continues to work with MS Project desktop? Please don't give people a reason to switch to Primavera!

Thank you, George, for bringing clarity to this key moment.

After 13 years of service, Project Online customers need to start planning their transition to a PPM solution that has all the critical capabilities for PMOs while maintaining their existing investment in Microsoft Project desktop, Power BI and Power Apps subscriptions.

With OnePlan, customers have an AI-powered Project and Portfolio Management platform that enables them to connect their Project schedules and Planner Plans to manage, optimize, and monitor their projects, programs, and portfolios, leveraging Power BI reports, and Power Automate for complex workflows inside OnePlan. They can also connect to other sources of “plans”, like Azure DevOps, so their leadership teams can understand the connection between their corporate goals, their executives' programs and projects, and their teams' deliverables and releases. Everything integrated into a single “OnePlan”.

We are ready to help you plan this transition… Time is of the essence.

https://oneplan.ai/project-online-end-of-life-in-2026/

With Project Online retiring, organizations need more than just a replacement—they need a clear path to Strategic Portfolio Management. Microsoft’s vision is clear: Planner, Planner Premium, and Teams will anchor collaborative work management for the future.

This is where OnePlan completes the picture. Built in close partnership with Microsoft (and a 5-time Microsoft Partner of the Year) OnePlan seamlessly extends Microsoft’s modern work foundation—empowering organizations to keep leveraging Microsoft Project and Planner (and Azure DevOps) while unlocking best-of-breed Strategic Portfolio Management in a secure SaaS platform.

OnePlan is purpose-built for Microsoft SPM:

• Certified Microsoft integration across Power Apps, Power Automate, Logic Apps, and Power BI.
• Seamless connections to MS Project, Azure DevOps, and JIRA.
• Full Project Online parity—plus strategic alignment, resource/financial planning, native status reporting, and timesheets.

The result? A modern, low-friction path to Strategic Portfolio Management that aligns and integrates perfectly with Microsoft’s ecosystem—making OnePlan the optimal and preferred choice for every enterprise PMO.

For those exploring what comes next for their Microsoft project management environment, more detail is available here: https://oneplan.ai/project-online-end-of-life-in-2026/.

This announcement is tough, and we know a lot of you are probably feeling the weight of it. Project Online has been a core part of how so many teams have managed work for years, and change on this scale isn’t easy.

We’re not thrilled to see it go either, but we want you to know you don’t have to figure this out alone. Our focus right now is helping organizations navigate the uncertainty, sort through the options, and make a plan that fits their needs, not just what Microsoft is putting forward.

If you’re a Project Online customer, you still have time. Use it wisely, ask the hard questions, and lean on partners who can walk you through what this transition really means. That’s what we’ll be doing with our customers every step of the way.

- Advisicon Consulting

Hello, With these changes, will Premium Plans be available in Power Automate? This is an important feature that is currently missing.

Thank you

Sam

Project Online’s retirement is a big moment for PPM teams. At Sensei, we’ve built Sensei IQ to extend Planner and the Power Platform with enterprise features like resource management, financials, and portfolio analysis — all while keeping your data in your own Microsoft tenant. Because it’s a true managed solution, you don’t have to worry about building or maintaining custom apps. Explore our full take on the transition here: https://www.senseiprojectsolutions.com/resources/microsoft-project-online-end-of-life/

As George said above : "Microsoft is prioritizing innovation within Planner, Microsoft 365 Copilot, and the Project Manager agent, which represents a new generation of work management tools designed to be more intuitive, scalable, and powered by AI. These tools are built to support both simple task tracking and complex project planning, while integrating deeply across Microsoft 365."  We have been helping customers on this exact journey towards Modernizing PPM for over five years.  Checkout our Rapid Modernization Program (RPM) https://innovative-e.com/project-online