True cost · Project management software
Microsoft Project true cost: the 36-month total
Microsoft Project costs $3,600 over 36 months on Planner Plan 1 at 10 users, billed annually, before 4 cost lines that sit outside the plan price.
What Microsoft Project costs over 36 months
Every figure below is Microsoft Project's own published rate, annualised and multiplied out over 36 months at 10 users. Where Microsoft Project publishes no rate, the row says so instead of guessing.
The same plan at four team sizes
Microsoft Project charges per user, so the 36-month figure scales linearly with headcount. These are Planner Plan 1 totals, on annual billing, with no fees added.
Renewal sensitivity: three scenarios, not a forecast
Nobody knows what Microsoft Project charges in 2029. The table below is arithmetic on a rate you choose, not a prediction: it compounds the year-one total forward at 0%, 5% and 10% so you can see how much of the 36-month figure is exposed to a renewal you have not negotiated yet.
Scenario arithmetic on Microsoft Project's own published year-one figure. Uplift rates are illustrative inputs, not observed or predicted rates.
What sits outside the Microsoft Project list price
4 lines, sorted by when in the contract lifecycle they land. Lines marked as derived are arithmetic on Microsoft Project's own tier table rather than vendor prose.
Each line, what triggers it, and how to avoid it
Migration, export and retention
Stated on the pricing page: Project Online retires on 30 September 2026; migrations may be required.
What triggers it. Triggered by moving or keeping data. Neither is optional over 36 months, so unlike most lines here this one is a question of when, not whether.
How to avoid it. Negotiate export terms while you still have bargaining power, before signature, not at renewal. Get the format, the completeness and the cost written into the order form.
Unpublished pricing
Stated on the pricing page: Project Server priced via Microsoft sales.
What triggers it. Opacity rather than expense. It may cost nothing; the point is that neither you nor this page can currently tell, and a three-year commitment deserves better than that.
How to avoid it. Treat the unpublished element as a risk line in the business case with an explicit assumed value. A named assumption can be challenged; a gap cannot.
Feature gated to a higher tier
Derived from the published tiers: Moving from Planner Plan 1 to Project Professional 2024 (one-time) costs a further $7,699.90 over 36 months at 10 users, which is 3.1x the entry total.
What triggers it. Fires when a requirement lands that Planner Plan 1 does not cover. The jump is rarely proportional: you pay the higher tier across the whole 10 users basis to unlock one capability.
How to avoid it. List every gated capability you will plausibly need in three years, then price Microsoft Project at that tier from the start. Comparing entry tiers you will not stay on is how a $3,600 plan becomes a much larger invoice.
Seat expansion
Derived from the published tiers: Five more users on Planner Plan 1 add $1,800 across 36 months, on top of the $3,600 above.
What triggers it. Growth is the trigger. Because Microsoft Project bills on a per-user with one-time purchase options, adding people mid-term adds cost on the original rate card, not on whatever you negotiated once.
How to avoid it. Price your year-three headcount now, not today's. Negotiating the $3,600 commitment at the size you expect to be is how you avoid buying seats twice.
How that compares across project management software
The median project management software tool we track charges $9 a month at its cheapest paid tier. Re-expressed on the same basis as the figure above, 10 users for 36 months, that median works out at $3,240.
Microsoft Project lands $360 above that figure, 11.1%, measured across 30 tracked tools. A gap either way is a question, not a verdict: cheaper often means fewer included seats or a thinner support tier, and the fee lines below are where that difference usually reappears.
What changes at enterprise scale
Everything above prices the self-serve ladder. Enterprise sits off that ladder, which means the $3,600 figure is a floor for a large deployment rather than an estimate of one.
Project Server is enterprise-only and quoted by Microsoft for portfolio management.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Microsoft Project cost over three years?
$3,600 on Planner Plan 1 at 10 users, billed annually, which is $100 a month held flat for 36 months. That figure covers the subscription only.
Does paying Microsoft Project annually save money?
Microsoft Project publishes the same effective rate either way on Planner Plan 1, so there is no prepay discount to capture. Keep the monthly option unless the vendor offers something for the commitment.
What does Microsoft Project charge for outside the plan price?
4 lines: migration, export and retention, unpublished pricing, feature gated to a higher tier, seat expansion. Each one is broken down above with what triggers it and how to avoid it.
Could Microsoft Project cost more at renewal?
Possibly, and nothing on this page predicts it. If the rate held flat the three-year total would be $3,600; at a hypothetical 10% a year it would be $3,972. Cap the uplift in the contract and the question stops mattering.
What does Microsoft Project cost for a team of 25?
$9,000 over 36 months on Planner Plan 1, billed annually. Microsoft Project charges per user, so that scales directly with headcount.
Price Microsoft Project on your own numbers
This page holds the term axis. The pricing breakdown holds the seat axis: every tier, the per-seat calculator, and the same fee list against the monthly figure.
Microsoft Project pricing breakdown → Microsoft Project alternatives Microsoft Project features
Sources and method
- List rates and fee disclosures: Microsoft Project official pricing page, verified 17 May 2026.
- 36-month totals: the published annual-equivalent rate multiplied by 36, at 10 users. No inflation, no discount, no fee estimates included.
- Renewal rows: scenario arithmetic on rates stated in the table. They are inputs, not observations.
- Category median: the cheapest paid monthly tier of every tool we track in the same category, re-expressed over 36 months.