Microsoft has officially announced the retirement of Microsoft Project Online, marking a significant shift for organizations that rely on it for project and portfolio management (PPM). While the change does not take effect immediately, it does require proactive planning. For many teams, this moment is less about replacing a single tool and more about rethinking how portfolio management fits into modern, collaborative ways of working. With Project Online reaching end of life in September 2026, organizations have time to evaluate alternatives. The key question is “What approach best supports how our teams actually plan, track, and deliver work today?”
End of Life for Microsoft Project Online
Project Online will officially retire on September 30, 2026. This change applies only to Project Online and does not impact Project desktop, Project Server Subscription Edition, or Microsoft Planner. Until that date, existing environments will continue to operate with full support. There is no immediate disruption, but after retirement, projects and data will no longer be available unless they are backed up and migrated.
Microsoft is shifting investment toward Microsoft Planner, Microsoft 365 Copilot, and the Project Manager agent. These tools are designed to be more intuitive, collaborative, and embedded across Microsoft 365.
Portfolio Management Alternatives to Consider
With Project Online sunsetting, organizations can stay within the Microsoft ecosystem or move to other portfolio tools.
Microsoft Planner Premium and Beyond
Microsoft Planner now combines task management, lightweight project planning, and AI-assisted capabilities.
- Planner Basic: Included with Microsoft 365 E3 and E5
- Planner Premium: Available through Planner Plan 1, Planner and Project Plan 3, or Plan 5
Planner Premium is a better alternative than Microsoft Planner, as it adds portfolios, dependencies, baselines, milestones, and Gantt-style timelines. Microsoft is also introducing the Project Manager agent, an AI assistant that automates task creation, status reporting, and progress updates. Planner Premium is a strong option for organizations that want to remain fully within Microsoft 365 and prefer lighter-weight portfolio capabilities over deep, configurable PPM.
Options from the Atlassian Ecosystem
Atlassian offers a broad ecosystem; however, not every option fits every organization’s budget or maturity.
Core Jira and Supporting Tools
Atlassian’s strength is its flexibility when tools are combined intentionally:
- Jira excels at day-to-day project tracking, breaking work into milestones, epics, and achievable tasks.
- Jira Service Management helps ensure service requests, incidents, and operational work do not derail project delivery.
- Confluence provides shared documentation, planning pages, and whiteboards for brainstorming and alignment.
- Jira Product Discovery supports idea intake, prioritization, and roadmapping based on customer impact.
On their own, these tools are not full PPM replacements. Combined with the right portfolio add-ons, however, they become a strong, scalable alternative.
Jira Align
Jira Align is an Atlassian acquisition of AgileCraft from a few years ago and provides enterprise-level portfolio planning, strategy alignment, and real-time visibility across teams. It is powerful, but it is also complex and expensive. For many organizations transitioning from Project Online, Jira Align can be more than they need, and may not align to the way your company operates today. It can require many Agile coaches to work with development teams to ensure data is entered into systems such that Jira Align can present value.
Jira Portfolio Management Add-Ons
For organizations moving away from Project Online, Jira with integrated portfolio add-ons often delivers the best balance of cost, flexibility, and capability. Here are some of our favorite Jira add-ons:
BigPicture by Appfire
BigPicture is a comprehensive PPM solution for Jira. It provides:
- Advanced Gantt and timeline planning
- Flexible portfolio structures using configurable “Boxes”
- Resource and capacity management
- Support for Agile, hybrid, and classic project models
- SAFe-compliant roadmaps, sprints, and program increments
BigPicture works well for PMOs and enterprises that need structured portfolio oversight without moving to Jira Align.
Structure PPM by Tempo
Structure focuses on portfolio visibility through hierarchical views. It includes:
- Spreadsheet-like portfolio tables inside Jira
- Cross-project tracking of epics, initiatives, and portfolios
- Capacity and workload analysis
- Early risk and demand overload detection
Structure PPM is ideal for teams that want strong portfolio reporting while staying close to Jira’s native experience.
Other Jira Portfolio and Resource Add-Ons
Additional Jira marketplace tools can address specific needs:
- WBS Gantt Chart for Jira is an enterprise solution for multi-project timelines, milestones, baselines, and critical path tracking
- Project Management and Resource Planning for Jira for drag-and-drop scheduling, multi-assignee tasks, workload visualization, time tracking, portfolio dashboards, and resource utilization reporting
These tools allow organizations to tailor portfolio management capabilities without forcing all teams into a single rigid model.
Migrating from Microsoft Project Online
The retirement of Microsoft Project Online is inconvenient for users, but it also provides an opportunity. Rather than replacing Project Online with a one-to-one equivalent, many organizations are using this moment to modernize how they manage portfolios altogether. Microsoft Planner Premium offers a natural evolution for teams staying in Microsoft 365. For organizations already using Jira, Jira-based portfolio add-ons like BigPicture and Structure PPM provide powerful, flexible alternatives without the cost and complexity of enterprise-only tools. With nearly two years to prepare, now is the time to assess options, back up data, and design a portfolio management approach that will scale well beyond 2026. If you need help selecting the best option for your organization, contact our experts.
