Microsoft Project For Mac Alternatives: Best Project Management Software For Mac of 2020 (Free & Paid)

Microsoft Project For Mac Alternatives: Best Project Management Software For Mac of 2020 (Free & Paid)

The bad news is, Microsoft Project for Mac no longer exists. The good news is there are some seriously better (and cheaper) alternatives for Mac users in 2020.

The last version of Microsoft Project for Mac died way back in 1994 so we’ve taken a look at the best project management software for Mac of 2020.

The apps featured here are suitable for a wide range of industries including Digital Agencies, Event Planning, Construction Companies, Marketing Teams, Manufacturing, HR Teams and Software Developers.

After extensive research, we found that Teamwork is the best project management software for Mac due to its ease of use, superb interface, ability to import Microsoft Project files and overall value for money.

Although there are also ways to run Microsoft Project on a Mac, it’s complicated, expensive and you’re far better off using one of the native solutions reviewed here.

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How We Ranked These Microsoft Project Alternatives

Here’s what we looked for in choosing which was the best project scheduling software for Mac in 2020.

Price: We only chose PM tools that offer excellent value for money with free trials or plans to start out with

We only chose PM tools that offer excellent value for money with free trials or plans to start out with Reviews: We selected tools that are widely acclaimed by Project Managers and other professionals for project management

We selected tools that are widely acclaimed by Project Managers and other professionals for project management Usability: We ranked higher those apps with a clear and easy to use user interface and dashboard.

We ranked higher those apps with a clear and easy to use user interface and dashboard. Microsoft Project Import: We gave preference to software that allow you to import MS Project files in MPP format

We gave preference to software that allow you to import MS Project files in MPP format Microsoft Project Export: We gave added preference to software that can also export to the Microsoft Project format

We gave added preference to software that can also export to the Microsoft Project format Timelines & Gantt Charts: We ranked those apps higher that have a wide choice of timeline views and Gantt Charts for a range of project management needs

We ranked those apps higher that have a wide choice of timeline views and for a range of project management needs Project Summaries: We preferred those tools that quickly gives you an exec top-down summary of project statuses

We preferred those tools that quickly gives you an exec top-down summary of project statuses Sharing: We valued those programs that make it easy to share project timelines via link or export to Microsoft Office, Google Apps, PDF etc.

We valued those programs that make it easy to share project timelines via link or export to Microsoft Office, Google Apps, PDF etc. Integrations: We valued those apps that allow you to integrate with third party software such as MS Office, Jira, Confluence, Trello etc.

Can You Run Microsoft Project on a Mac?

Yes you can run Microsoft Project on a Mac by installing Windows on macOS however we don’t recommend it as a long term solutions for various reasons.

One is that you’ll have to purchase extra software such as Parallels and then of course, you’ll also have to pay for for a Microsoft Project license as well which will work out a lot more expensive than the solutions featured here.

We think that the software featured here are not only better than Microsoft Project but also avoid the hassle and expense of installing Windows on your Mac.

Are There Any Free Alternatives To Microsoft Project?

As you might expect, there’s no such thing as a free project management solution that can compete with an enterprise application like Microsoft Project.

However, there are free versions of the apps featured in these reviews but they all have restrictions.

For example, the Free Forever Plan of Teamwork is an excellent free alternative to Microsoft Project but unless you upgrade to a paid plan, you can only do 2 projects and use 100MB of storage.

All project scheduling tools impose similar limitations on the free versions and they’re not suitable for professional use.

For more on this, you can check out our look at the best free alternatives to Microsoft Project on Mac.

Can You View Project Files On a Mac?

Many of the apps featured here can import Microsoft Project MPP files so that you can just view them if you want to.

However, there are some Microsoft Project viewers for Mac that allow you to open and view Microsoft Project files in macOS if that’s all you need.

However, they’re very limited and do not allow you to edit.

What’s The Google Equivalent Of Microsoft Project?

Surprisingly, Google doesn’t offer its own Project Management software but most of the apps here do offer integration with Google Drive.

Some PM apps like Gantter even offer a Google Chrome plugin that integrates with Google Calendar, Google Hangouts, Google Drive and Google Team Drive.

Why In There No Microsoft Project For Mac?

Quite simply Microsoft decided long ago it wasn’t worth the effort and resources to develop a version of Project for the Mac market.

The market for Mac users is a lot smaller than for Windows and it would require Microsoft to develop and maintain an entirely different product on macOS.

The same applies to other Windows only programs such as Access, Visio and Publisher.

With this in mind, here is our list of the best online and desktop project management software for Mac in 2020 that make great alternatives to Microsoft Project.

Teamwork (formerly known as Teamwork Projects) really pushes the boat out when it comes to project management and in our view, is the best project management software for Mac.

Teamwork has been around for over a decade now and is all about helping employees, teams and PMs be more organized, cooperative and informed without getting in the way.

It’s suitable for use in all industries although its particularly popular with marketing, creative, software and customer support teams.

From the way it feels like something made for macOS to the way it accurately imports and exports MS Project files, Teamwork is also so much better to use than MS Project in almost every way.

Teamwork also has the best integration with Microsoft Project of any project management software we’ve tried.

The Teamwork Microsoft Office add-on not only allows you to import and export to Microsoft Project but even integrate with Microsoft Project in real-time with it too.

Combined with clear, color coordinated Gantt Chart and Kanban project views, automated Triggers and Webhooks to alert others when work is complete and Zoho Reports integration, Teamwork is a pleasure to use when it comes to project management.

Although Teamwork is an enterprise project management tool, private individuals or freelancers can use it for free but note that free accounts are limited to just 2 projects and 100MB of storage.

Professional Plans start at a reasonable $10 per user/month but you’ll need the enhanced Premium Plan for MS Project integration which costs $18 per user/month.

You can find full details here on Teamwork pricing.

You can try a 30 day free trial of any Plan with no credit card required.

You can also read our full Teamwork review for a more in-depth look.

You can see a full comparison of how Teamwork vs Microsoft Project compares below.

Pricing: Free/$10+ per month

Teamwork vs Microsoft Project Teamwork Microsoft Project Pro Works on Mac Gantt Charts Kanban Boards Import & Export MS Project Project Overview Chart Multiple Timelines MS Project Integration - Project Reports Export (PDF/JPG) Collaborate Online Works on iPad/Android Cloud Storage EU Hosting Option Free Trial Price Free / $10+/month

$30/month

Free Account

OmniPlan is easily one the most popular native Mac desktop project management apps for macOS.

OmniPlan is from Omni Group, the same team that created the excellent diagramming software Omnigraffle which is a popular alternative to Microsoft Visio on Mac.

OmniPlan is easier to use than Microsoft Project, imports MS Project files (although only up to MS Project 2016) and looks great on a Mac because it’s designed specifically for macOS.

OmniPlan uses a clear Gantt chart layout which gives you a very clear overview of what needs to be done.

The smart thing is OmniPlan adjusts itself automatically according to the resources you drag and drop into the project bars.

You can read our full review of OmniPlan for a more in-depth look.

You can also download and try a fully featured free 14 day trial of OmniPlan for Mac.

Pricing: $199.99 Mac App Store

Wrike is one of the most popular cloud based project management apps available and used by over 10,000 organizations worldwide.

Wrike is like a mix between project management tools Trello and Jira but in a slicker and more intuitive interface.

Wrike is very flexible and suitable for everything from creative projects to corporate project management and marketing campaigns.

When it comes to scheduling and project overviews, Wrike uses a classic Gantt chart timeline to help you see how you’re doing and make adjustments to project estimates.

Wrike is also one of the most well-integrated apps we’ve seen and works with over 30 major apps such as Microsoft Office 365 including Microsoft Project, Google Drive, Dropbox, Box and OneDrive.

You can import MS Project files into the Professional and Business versions of Wrike as long as they are in MPP, MPX and XML format.

There are 4 main versions of Wrike, Free, Professional, Business and Enterprise plus an extra version Wrike for Marketeers which is designed specifically for marketing professionals.

You can get more information on Wrike pricing here.

You can try it for yourself as all plans have a free trial of Wrike.

You can also check out our full review of Wrike.

Pricing: Free/$9.80+/month

Monday.com is simple but deceptively powerful and unbelievably effective at helping you keep on top of projects.

What we like about Monday.com is that it doesn’t try to be the ultimate project management tool. It just keeps things to a bare minimum making it easy for anyone to learn and use within minutes of signing-up.

The best thing that Monday.com does is make it crystal clear the sequence in which tasks need to be completed before the next can be done.

In fact, Monday feels a lot like a spreadsheet but is far easier to manage, track and modify without complicated formulas or endless numbers of cells.

You can actually choose various views for projects such as spreadsheets, lists, maps, Kanban boards and more.

You can easily upload attachments to cards and leave comments for colleagues. Although there is no specific Gantt chart view, Monday.com does have something very similar called timelines.

You can create some really slick summary charts and export them for sharing with anyone that doesn’t use Monday.com.

You can’t import or export Microsoft Project files into Monday.com but there’s lots of integration with third party products such as Jira, Google Drive, Slack, Excel and more.

You can try Monday.com now for free and pricing starts at $39 a month for 5 users which works out at just under $8 per user.

Pricing gets cheaper the more users you subscribe with Enterprise plans available.

Project Online is Microsoft’s Cloud project management software but it’s important to be aware that it’s not the same as Microsoft Project.

Microsoft clearly states that:

Project Online is an entirely separate service that offers full portfolio and project management tools on the web.

If you’ve already got a Microsoft Office 365 account then you can start using Project Online on your Mac now. Windows users can also open Project Online plans in Microsoft Project on their PC but of course, this isn’t possible for Mac users.

Project Online can though be used on all platforms, including Mac, and does many of the things MS Project can including Gantt charts, project planning and scheduling and team collaboration.

If you just want to track timescales, balance resources and manage projects Project Online is sufficient although it feels very dates and lacks the modern approach of tools like Teamwork which offers far more.

The other thing to be aware of is that Project Online isn’t cheap.

If you want to access all features, it costs $55.00 per user per month which is a lot more than most of the alternatives to Microsoft Project featured here.

Pricing: Office 365 Subscription/$55 per user/month

RationalPlan is one of the few project managements apps that includes Fixed Duration, Fixed Work and Fixed Units including Dependency Driven Durations for complex projects.

RationalPlan can import files from Microsoft Project and displays projects using Gantt charts.

You can choose from either a cloud version or an on-premise installation of RationalPlan.

RationalPlan has a Mac desktop client but you can collaborate with other users in real-time using the web app too.

RationalPlan comes in two versions: RationalPlan Single Project is suitable for those that just need to manage one project and RationalPlan Multi Project allows you to manage several projects at once.

The trial versions of both can be used for an unlimited period of time although there is a limitation of 20 tasks (apart from on Linux where the Single version is completely free). After that, it’s $57 for the Single version or $98 for the multi version.

You can find start a free trial of RationalPlan and judge for yourself.

Pricing: 20 Tasks Free then Single version $87 or Multi version $149

iTaskX is a well designed PM tool made specifically for Mac desktops.

It’s surprisingly powerful when you dig around and it imports Microsoft Project MPP files.

iTaskX supports over 60 different detailed task fields such as calculations for slack time, overtime, WBS codes and much more.

Some of the features unique to iTaskX include cost rate tables for work and material resources, usage views which work similar to MS Project, support for all resource types (work, material, cost) and task types (fixed units, fixed duration, fixed work).

iTaskX is highly customizable allowing you to customize fonts, bar labels and inserting graphics and images in schedules.

iTaskX also supports importing of MPP, MS Project XML and MS Project MPX files. Importing doesn’t always turn out perfectly – some formatting may be lost but this is the same for most replacements for Project and you can fix this manually.

You can also export iTaskX files to XML, OPML, iCal and PDF format plus edit headers, footers and legends before printing.

You buy iTaskX direct from the developer for $99 for the Standard version or $179.99 for the Professional version.

By default, the iTaskX works as an unregistered demo for 14 days but you can also request to extend the trial if you need more time.

Pricing: Starts at $99.99

SG Project Pro is a very powerful software for PMs designed specifically for Mac desktops.

Although SG Project Pro is not as well-known as its closest rival OmniPlan, it has a similar Gantt chart layout and offers almost all of the same features.

The one major drawback is that there’s no support for importing or exporting MS Project files but if you don’t need that, then it’s as good as OmniPlan if not better in certain areas.

Managing multiple projects that are ongoing at the same time is particularly well implemented giving you a clear overview of how resources have been deployed and any potential conflicts.

SG Project Pro also has a companion iPad app which allows you to manage projects on the go although it’s limited in functionality and costs an extra $49.99 on top of the $99.99 for the Mac desktop app.

SG Project Pro is packed with essential project management features but doesn’t overwhelm you with hundreds of functions and tools that you’ll never use like Microsoft Project.

Pricing: $99.99 Mac App Store

ConceptDraw Project is a professional project management tool that has particularly strong reporting features.

ConceptDraw Project is the sister application to ConceptDraw Diagram for drawing professional flowcharts, organizational hierarchies and more.

It allows you to add hyperlinks and files to projects and displays the current status of your projects via Gantt charts.

Everything is updated in real-time so project managers and participants are always up to date on what’s happening.

One of ConceptDraw’s strongest points is how powerful it is when it comes to importing files.

It can import and export files not only from Microsoft Project but also from Microsoft Word and Excel so you don’t have to tediously manually input lines of text or data.

ConceptDraw products are quite rich in features and take some getting used to but you also get a free personalized 30 minute one-one-one webinar with each purchase to help you get to grips with them.

You can get a free trial of ConceptDraw Project Pro project by signing-up for an account.

Pricing: $199

Merlin Project is definitely one of the best looking desktop project management tools for Mac users and uses an innovative “hybrid” approach to project planning.

Merlin Project does both traditional and agile project management (Gantt meets Kanban) and has a slick interface that looks great on macOS.

You can use Merlin Project with a Gantt Chart layout which is excellent at showing the dependencies between multiple projects and potential problems.

You can also use Kanban Boards as used by popular web-based collaboration tools like Trello. Just move work from your backlog to in progress, verifying and completed when done.

Other useful tools include resource pools, groupings and a mind mapping tool to help you brainstorm ideas which it can then automatically breakdown into a project Gantt chart.

There’s plenty of third-party integration with other apps including Excel, Dropbox and it can import Microsoft Project files.

The full version of Merlin Project costs $149 per user/year but there’s also a lighter version Merlin Project Express which is cheaper than the full app at $39.99 per user/year but only allows Gantt chart views.

There’s also a standalone Merlin iPad and iPhone app (formerly known as Merlin Project Go) that syncs with the desktop app via Merlin Server.

It can also be used on its own without purchasing Merlin Project if you just want a project management app for your iPad instead and costs $6.99 per month or $69.99 per year.

If you’re new to project management, Merlin Project is attractive, innovative and user-friendly. If you’re looking for a more modern Mac alternative to MS Project, Merlin Project is a great project management tool.

You can find full details of Merlin Project Pricing here.

You can start a free trial of Merlin Project to see for yourself.

Pricing: $149 per user/year

FastTrack Schedule is a slick project management tool that has lots of project templates, useful reports and even works on older PPC Macs.

FastTrack Schedule has been around a long time on Mac and over the years more and more features have been added to make it a durable and effective PM tool.

There are so many different tools and reports that it can be intimidating at first but from the minute you open it, there lots of video tutorials to help you get to grips with all of FastTrack Schedule’s features.

If you need something really high-end, we recommend trying the 21 day FastTrack Schedule free trial because at $349, it’s one of the most expensive project management apps for Mac available.

Pricing: $349

SmartSheet is a powerful online alternative to Microsoft Project which puts making Gantt charts easy at the center of its design.

It’s incredibly easy to get up and running with SmartSheet as the learning curve is minimal compared to most project management software but it does not skimp on features and capabilities.

SmartSheet is very easy to use and makes it simple to create timelines, calendars and share or collaborate on projects with other users.

If you need to work with Microsoft Project users, SmartSheet can import and export Microsoft Project files as well as PDF, PNG and other major formats.

Managing timelines is also easy allowing you to drag and drop tasks to change duration or completion dates and enter more information.

You can also add Milestones and choose whether you want them to have a knock-on effect on the rest of your tasks or not.

SmartSheet costs $10 a month for single users or $15 per month for team users of more than three people.

You can also try SmartSheet for free before deciding whether it’s for you.

Pricing: $10+/month

ProjectManager.com is a Cloud project management tool which provides an easy to use and colorful way to plan and track projects.

ProjectManager is a powerful Gantt chart software with major corporate customers such as Volvo, NASA and Nike using it.

You can import MPP files and although it’s web-based, there is a free iPad and iPhone app which syncs with it so you can edit projects anywhere.

The useful thing about ProjectManager.com is that multiple members of a team can log onto it at the same time and update tasks, roadmaps and reports in real-time.

There’s a 30 day free trial of ProjectManager.com and then pricing plans start from $15 a month for 1-5 users up to $45 a month for more than 10 users.

Pricing: $15+/month

LiquidPlanner is a powerful software-as-a-service (SaaS) project management application aimed at technology teams.

LiquidPlanner is ideal for task management, project scheduling, and team collaboration in one application.

LiquidPlanner is suitable for agile environments but could also be easily deployed in waterfall environments too.

LiquidPlanner attempts to be a bit different from most software by using “predictive project management” to help identify issues, bottlenecks and problems before they arise.

The idea behind this is that you end up with more realistic deadlines due to the LiquidPlanner scheduling engine which automatically calculates dates for projects and task across the entire project timeline in real-time.

If you already use a CRM software on your Mac, you can integrate LiquidPlanner into major CRM platforms such as Salesforce and Zapier.

If you want to integrate into a specific application, there’s a RESTful API to connect to other services.

LiquidPlanner starts at $9.99 per user per month for small businesses and $39 for larger enterprises although it depends on how many users you need it for.

Your best bet is to try the free trial of LiquidPlanner to judge for yourself before subscribing.

Pricing: Free/$45 per month

ProofHub is an online project management solution that’s used by everyone from freelancers to large corporations.

It’s designed for project of all size and industries and according to the developers, is already used by companies such as Netflix, Google, Disney and NASA.

One of the main attractions of ProofHub is its accessibility and ease of use for all technical abilities. This is partly because ProofHub feels a little bit like a Google product with a navigational interface like Google Docs and an instant messenger client that’s not unlike GChat.

Although you can use a Gantt chart style overview of your projects, it’s not at the center of ProofHub.

You can navigate ProofHub using the different tabs at the top such as the Tasks bar which allows you to add, modify and set the priority of tasks and jobs.

You can breakdown tasks into subtasks with ProofHub and easily assign tasks to different members of your team. If you need to switch to a Gantt chart view of your timeline, you can do using the Gantt tab.

Outside of the main taskbar across the top, the ProofHub chat client allows you to start direct chats, group chats and includes chart history and emojis.

There are also advanced features such as IP restrictions, white label branding of the client and advanced search tools.

The developer is also constantly updating ProofHub with new features and has recently added Kanban, third-party integrations and an iOS app.

There’s a lot more to ProofHub and you can check out the full list of features here.

You can try ProofHub for free but a basic Essential plan starts at $45 per month (limited to 40 projects and 15GB of data) and goes up to $89 per month for Enterprise plans with no restrictions.

Pricing: $45+/month