Project Online has retired. What are your options now?

Microsoft retired Project Online on September 30, 2026. It stopped selling Project Online to new customers on October 1, 2025, and blocked new Project Web App (PWA) sites from April 1, 2026.

First, secure your data

Microsoft hasn't published a clear statement on whether Project Online data stays reachable after the retirement date, so plan as if it won't. If you haven't exported your projects, schedules, and project site content, contact Microsoft support right away.

Check your reports too. Power BI reports that read the Project Online reporting feed (the /_api/ProjectData OData endpoint) stop refreshing when that source goes away, so they need a new data source.

Your main options

Microsoft Planner with a premium plan

Microsoft's recommended path for most customers. Planner's premium plans add timelines, dependencies, goals, and portfolio views. Best for: teams that need schedules and task tracking without heavy resource management.

Project Server Subscription Edition

The on-premises version of Project Server offers the closest match to Project Online's features. Best for: organizations that need the most complete feature match and are prepared to run their own servers.

Dynamics 365 Project Operations

Combines project planning with time, expenses, and billing. Best for: project-based businesses that bill clients for their work.

SharePoint lists, Power Apps, and Power BI

Many businesses used Project Online mainly to track status, risks, issues, and decisions rather than detailed resource-leveled schedules. For them, a purpose-built tracker on SharePoint with a Power Apps front end and Power BI reporting is often simpler, and it can run largely on Microsoft 365 licenses you already have. Best for: status tracking and reporting more than scheduling.

Don't forget the project sites

Each PWA project usually had its own SharePoint site with risks, issues, and documents, and many organizations added their own lists for change requests, decision logs, and status reports. That content often matters more day to day than the schedule itself. Plan to move it to modern SharePoint sites, and note that task lists synced from PWA can't be edited the normal way, so they need special handling.

Questions that point to the right choice

• Do you manage people's capacity across projects, or just track tasks?
• Do you bill clients for project time and expenses?
• Who actually updates schedules, and how often?
• Which reports do leaders look at every week?

The answers usually make the decision obvious, and they point you to a tool that fits how your team actually works.