A Microsoft Project alternative you buy once
Looking for a Microsoft Project alternative that runs on your desktop, costs €4,99 once instead of a monthly plan, and adds an AI assistant that understands your schedule? Here's how shadow-planner compares.
Microsoft Project is the reference tool for Gantt-based planning, and for large PMOs with enterprise licensing it's hard to argue with. For a project manager, a team lead or a freelancer who needs a serious timeline and resource plan without a per-user monthly plan, it's heavy, expensive and increasingly cloud-first.
shadow-planner covers the core of what most people actually use Project for — a dependency-aware Gantt chart, resource utilisation, a portfolio roll-up — as a lightweight desktop app, with a one-time price and an AI assistant built in.
Side by side
| shadow-planner | Microsoft Project | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free tier; €4,99 one-time for unlimited use | Per-user subscription plans (Planner / Project) |
| Runs | Desktop app (Windows, macOS, Linux); data stored locally | Desktop app on Windows; Project for the web is cloud-hosted |
| Account required | No | Microsoft 365 account |
| Gantt chart | Drag-to-reschedule, finish-to-start dependencies, cascade preview, day/month zoom | Full critical-path scheduling engine |
| Resource utilisation | Weekly capacity vs. allocation, over-capacity highlighting, daily rates and cost roll-ups | Resource sheet, usage views |
| Scenarios / what-if | Isolated scenarios, snapshots, templates | Baselines; what-if via copies |
| AI assistant | Built-in chat connected to your data; planning agent drafts plans from a brief; local (Ollama) or cloud models | Copilot, with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license |
| Import / export | Excel employee import, JSON / XLSX / CSV scenario export | MPP, XML, Excel |
| Best for | Individuals and small teams who want a fast, private, affordable planner | Enterprise PMOs standardised on Microsoft 365 |
Where shadow-planner is the better fit
You want to own the tool. Install it, use the free tier, pay €4,99 once if you need more than 3 projects. No renewal, no license server, no re-verification.
Your data shouldn't live in someone else's tenant. shadow-planner keeps everything in a SQLite file on your machine. Nothing syncs unless you export it. If you use a cloud AI provider, only your chat messages are sent — never the database.
You'd rather talk to the plan than click through it. "Move the beta out a week and show me what shifts." "Who's over capacity in March?" "Add a QA task under Release, 3 days, assign Dev." The assistant does it and pauses for approval before anything destructive.
You start from a brief, not a blank Gantt. Paste a Markdown description and the planning agent drafts epics, tasks, dates and assignments for review.
Where Microsoft Project is the better fit
- You need critical-path analysis, resource levelling algorithms, or earned-value reporting.
- Your organisation requires Project Server / Project Online integration with SharePoint and Power BI.
- You exchange
.mppfiles with partners — shadow-planner doesn't read or write MPP.
Moving over
Import your team from Excel, create a project per initiative, and either rebuild the structure in the Gantt or — faster — paste the project description into the planning agent and let it draft the breakdown. Most users are up and running in an afternoon.
shadow-planner is free to install from the Microsoft Store — the same place you may have gotten Project — and opens straight away.