Depentra vs Microsoft Project
Microsoft Project is the long-established desktop scheduler, with deep scheduling, resource and cost features. Depentra is a browser-based planner built around dependencies: what links to what, what a delay moves, and what to do about it.
Last verified 1 October 2026 against Microsoft Project's public documentation.
Choose Microsoft Project if you need a desktop scheduler with automatic resource levelling, cost and earned-value fields, and .mpp files your organization already exchanges.
Choose Depentra if you want a plan the whole team can open in a browser, see what a delay moves before it happens, and follow dependencies across projects in one place.
This compares Project desktop, the scheduling application Microsoft continues after retiring Project for the web in August 2025 and Project Online on 30 September 2026; Microsoft's web planning now lives in Planner.[7][8]
Dependencies and scheduling, side by side
| Capability | Depentra | Microsoft Project |
|---|---|---|
| Dependency types | All four: FS, SS, FF and SF, on every plan, including Free | All four: FS, SS, FF and SF[1] |
| Lag and lead | Yes, on every plan, including Free | Yes, in days or as a percentage[2] |
| Total float on every task | Yes, on every plan, including Free | Yes, the Total Slack field[3] |
| Critical path | Yes, on the Standard plan and up | Yes[4] |
| Baselines | Yes, on the Professional plan and up | Yes, up to 11 per project[5] |
| Dependencies between projects | Yes, in Programs, on the Standard plan and up | Yes, links to tasks in other project files[6] |
| Simulate a delay without changing the plan | Yes, the What-If Delay Simulator, on the Professional plan and up | Not described in the documentation we reviewed |
"Not described in the documentation we reviewed" means we could not find it in Microsoft Project's help pages, not that it is impossible. If something here has changed, tell us and we will correct it.
Where Microsoft Project is the better fit
- Decades of use on large engineering, construction and government programs, and a file format many organizations exchange.
- Automatic resource levelling, cost tracking and earned-value fields inside the scheduler.
- Works offline as a desktop application.
What Depentra does differently
- Every dependency type with lead and lag, and total float on every task, on every plan, including Free.
- The What-If Delay Simulator: delay any task and see what moves, the new finish date and the float used, without touching the live plan, on the Professional plan and up.
- Dependency analysis that shows how a delay travelled, task by task, and what sits downstream of any task, on the Standard plan and up.
- Programs that roll projects up and link tasks across them, so a dependency between two teams sits in one place, on the Standard plan and up.
- Pentra, Depentra's AI assistant, answers questions about your plan in plain language.
Depentra does not do automatic resource levelling or time tracking, and has no public API.
Moving a plan to Depentra
Export the plan from Project to Excel, then import the file into Depentra; import from Excel or CSV is on every plan. Depentra does not open .mpp files directly.
Every Microsoft Project alternative, compared
To see your own plan's dependencies first, paste its rows into the free delay simulator: no account needed.
Sources
- Microsoft Support: Link tasks in a project
- Microsoft Support: Add lead or lag time to a task
- Microsoft Support: Total Slack (task field)
- Microsoft Support: Manage your project's critical path
- Microsoft Support: Set and save a baseline
- Microsoft Support: Successors (task field)
- Microsoft Planner blog: Transitioning to Microsoft Planner and retiring Project for the web
- Microsoft Planner blog: Microsoft Project Online is retiring
Microsoft Project is a trademark of its owner. Depentra is not affiliated with or endorsed by Microsoft Project's owner.