Microsoft Project Alternatives 2026: 5 Free Options
Microsoft Project alternatives: OpenProject, Plane, Vikunja, ClickUp and 1 more. Prices and licenses checked October 23, 2026.
•3 min read•Project & Task Management
Verdict:Leave Microsoft Project if you pay per seat for a Gantt chart your team rarely opens, or if a browser-only plan keeps you from the features you wanted. Check Microsoft's pricing page for current plans. Third-party pages describe browser-only Plan 1 and desktop clients on higher plans, so check the plan you actually need. OpenProject is the nearest like-for-like swap: Gantt charts, work packages and a free Community edition you host yourself. Plane and Vikunja are lighter and quicker, with free tiers, and fit teams that plan in cycles or lists rather than long schedules. ClickUp and Asana are hosted, easier to roll out, and have free plans for small groups, though both limit the free tier and treat scheduling as one feature among many. The trade-off is scheduling depth. Project handles critical-path work, resource levelling and baselines in a way that none of these match in their free versions, so construction, engineering and heavy resource planning should test an alternative on a real plan first. Teams that only track tasks and deadlines can switch with little loss.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Price | Platforms | Best for | Tested |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpenProject | Free (Community edition with no minimum users and community-only support); paid from EUR 5.95 per user/month, 25-user minimum (Basic) | Web, Self-hosted | Gantt-based project plans | Docs only |
| Plane | Free (up to 12 users with basic roles and views); paid from $6 per user/month, billed annually ($8 billed monthly, Pro) | Web, Self-hosted | Agile teams | Docs only |
| Vikunja | Free (Self-host free forever); paid from EUR 4 per month, Vikunja Cloud Personal (Organization EUR 5 per user/month) | Web, Self-hosted | Small teams and personal planning | Docs only |
| ClickUp | Free (Free Forever plan with unlimited members, 60 MB of storage, 5 Spaces and 100 automation actions a month) | Web, iOS, Android | Teams that want an all-in-one workspace | Docs only |
| Asana | Free (Personal plan for up to 2 users with unlimited tasks and projects and list, board and calendar views); paid from $10.99 per user/month, billed annually ($13.49 billed monthly) | Web, iOS, Android | Cross-team task tracking | Docs only |
| Wrike | Free (Free plan with project and task management and board and table views; the page gives no numeric limits); paid from $10 per user/month, billed annually (Team, 2 to 15 users) | Web, iOS, Android | Project management | Docs only |
| Smartsheet | Paid from $9 per member/month, billed yearly ($12 billed monthly; Pro, 1-10 members, new customers only) | Web, iOS, Android | Project management | Docs only |
Independent comparison. Paid placements are labelled separately; editorial links earn no affiliate commissions. Learn more.
Good fit if
- You want Gantt charts on a server you control (OpenProject is the pick)
- Your team plans in sprints and issues (Plane is the pick)
- You need a small private planner (Vikunja is the pick)
- You want one hosted workspace with a free tier (ClickUp is the pick)
Not ideal if
- You rely on Microsoft Project features or integrations that these tools do not replicate
Microsoft Project today: See pricing page (Microsoft Project pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
OpenProject
Compared with Microsoft Project: Free Community edition under GPL-3.0, self-hosted, with Gantt charts and work packages. Closest in spirit to Project, but you give up its resource-levelling depth and Office integration, and the paid cloud tier needs 25 users.
Price: Free (Community edition with no minimum users and community-only support); paid from EUR 5.95 per user/month, 25-user minimum (Basic) (OpenProject pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web, Self-hosted. GPL-3.0 (open source).
Project activity: 16.7k GitHub stars · latest release v17.9.4 (Oct 26, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Gantt-based project plans.
Plane
Compared with Microsoft Project: Free for up to 12 users, AGPL-licensed, with Pro at $6 a user a month billed annually. A modern issue and cycle tracker rather than a classic Gantt scheduler, so it replaces Project for agile teams more than for construction plans.
Price: Free (up to 12 users with basic roles and views); paid from $6 per user/month, billed annually ($8 billed monthly, Pro) (Plane pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web, Self-hosted. AGPL-3.0 (open source).
Project activity: 61.6k GitHub stars · latest release v1.4.2 (Aug 23, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Agile teams.
Worth knowing: SSO (SAML, OIDC), wiki, time tracking and intake forms are paid features.
Vikunja
Compared with Microsoft Project: Free self-hosted, AGPL-licensed, with Gantt and Kanban views. Lighter than Project for scheduling and has no resource management, but it is quick to run and the Cloud Personal plan is 4 EUR a month.
Price: Free (Self-host free forever); paid from EUR 4 per month, Vikunja Cloud Personal (Organization EUR 5 per user/month) (Vikunja pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web, Self-hosted. AGPL-3.0 (open source).
Project activity: 5.9k GitHub stars · latest release v2.7.1 (Oct 20, 2026) · last commit Oct 28, 2026
Best for: Small teams and personal planning.
ClickUp
Compared with Microsoft Project: Free Forever plan with unlimited members, 60 MB storage and 5 Spaces. Gantt and dependency tools exist, but free limits cap storage and automations, and it is far broader than Project, which can overwhelm.
Price: Free (Free Forever plan with unlimited members, 60 MB of storage, 5 Spaces and 100 automation actions a month) (ClickUp pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web, iOS, Android. Proprietary.
Best for: Teams that want an all-in-one workspace.
Asana
Compared with Microsoft Project: Personal plan is free for up to 2 users; paid from $10.99 a user a month billed annually. Easier to roll out than Project and good for task work, but long-range scheduling and resource features are lighter.
Price: Free (Personal plan for up to 2 users with unlimited tasks and projects and list, board and calendar views); paid from $10.99 per user/month, billed annually ($13.49 billed monthly) (Asana pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web, iOS, Android. Proprietary.
Best for: Cross-team task tracking.
Other popular options (paid)
Wrike
Compared with Microsoft Project: Team is $10 per user per month billed annually for 2 to 15 users, and a free plan exists. Roundups position it for enterprise teams and note it can import Microsoft Project data.
Price: Free (Free plan with project and task management and board and table views; the page gives no numeric limits); paid from $10 per user/month, billed annually (Team, 2 to 15 users) (Wrike pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Smartsheet
Compared with Microsoft Project: Pro is $9 per member per month billed yearly ($12 monthly) for 1 to 10 members, new customers only. Roundups list it among the paid alternatives to Microsoft Project.
Price: Paid from $9 per member/month, billed yearly ($12 billed monthly; Pro, 1-10 members, new customers only) (Smartsheet pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Which one to pick
- You want Gantt charts on a server you control: OpenProject
- Your team plans in sprints and issues: Plane
- You need a small private planner: Vikunja
- You want one hosted workspace with a free tier: ClickUp
Limits of this review
Docs-only for OpenProject, Plane, Vikunja, ClickUp, Asana: we did not install or run them, so feature claims come from vendor pages and we did not test import from Microsoft Project. Vendor prices and free limits change; confirm on the linked pricing page before you buy or migrate.
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Kevin Fan
Kevin Fan is a SaaS founder. He runs Free Instead Of, which tracks free and open-source alternatives to paid software and checks each price and free-plan limit against the vendor's own pages.
Methodology
Based on official pricing and product pages checked between 2026-10-22 and 2026-10-23: Microsoft Project, OpenProject, Plane, Vikunja, ClickUp, Asana, Wrike, Smartsheet. Prices, free limits and licenses are the figures shown on those pages on those dates. No tool on this page was installed or run. No accounts were created.