Project for the Web vs. Planner P1: What Microsoft’s Retirement Announcement Really Means

Photo credit: Gemini

Microsoft’s recent announcements around the retirement of Project for the Web have created a wave of confusion for Microsoft 365 admins. The biggest question I keep hearing is simple:

“Is Project for the Web the same thing as Planner Premium?”

The short answer is no, but Microsoft’s new unified Planner experience makes it look like they’re merging. This post breaks down what’s actually happening, how licensing maps forward, and what admins should prepare for. And then there’s a kicker.. that is, Planner is essentially (2) products in one. There’s a LOT going on here, and considerations not just for licensing, but those who tinker with low code automations. APIs are changing, license models are evolving, products are retiring, there’s just so much drama! Let’s get into it…

Table of Contents

1. Timeline
   1. May 2, 2025 — Unified Planner Announced
   2. August 2025 — Project for the Web Retires
   3. January–February 2026 — Major Planner Update
   4. September 30, 2026 — Project Online Retirement
2. Changes
   1. Planner is not the same as Project for the Web
3. Two Apps One Planner | Table Comparison of Features and Licensing
4. What Admins Should Do Now
5. Final Thoughts
6. Optional Read: Technical dive and nuance around extensibility

Timeline

Changes

Shown above, Microsoft has confirmed that Project for the Web will be retired in August 2025.
Its capabilities aren’t disappearing, they’re being absorbed into the new Planner Premium experience.

This includes:

• Timeline (Gantt) views
• Dependencies
• Resource and effort fields
• Roadmaps
• Structured project scheduling
• Advanced reporting

All of this becomes part of Planner Premium, which lives inside the new unified Planner app.

Planner is not the same as Project for the Web

My assumption and the biggest mistake made was assuming there was feature parity between these two products. Don’t make that mistake! Planner Plan 1, formerly known as Project Plan 1, is the basic task management tier.
It provides:

• Standard Planner boards
• Basic task lists
• To Do integration
• Light collaboration features

It does not include the project‑level capabilities that Project for the Web offered.

This is where the confusion starts: both experiences now live under the “Planner” brand, but they remain different tiers with different capabilities.

Two Apps One Planner | Table Comparison of Features and Licensing

In case you aren’t confused yet, Microsoft is consolidating branding, not licensing.
That means:

• The name “Project for the Web” is going away
• Its features are moving into Planner Premium
• Planner P1 continues as the basic tier
• Everything is now called “Planner” (See below table with P3/P5)

Feature	Planner Standard	Planner Plan 1	Planner Plan 3	Planner Plan 5
Included In	M365 Business & Enterprise (E1/E3/E5)	Low-cost Add-on	Project Plan 3 Rebrand	Project Plan 5 Rebrand
Core UI	Basic Kanban & Lists	Advanced Task Metadata	Full Project Power	Enterprise Portfolio
Gantt / Timeline	❌ View Only	✅ Included	✅ Included	✅ Included
Dependencies	❌ No	✅ Basic	✅ Advanced (Lead/Lag)	✅ Advanced
Agile (Sprints)	❌ No	✅ Included	✅ Included	✅ Included
Copilot AI	❌ No	❌ No	✅ Full Integration	✅ Full Integration
Advanced Tools	❌ No	❌ No	✅ Baselines, Roadmaps	✅ Capacity Planning
Portfolio View	❌ No	❌ No	❌ No	✅ Portfolio Analysis

From an admin perspective, this creates the illusion that P1 replaced Project for the Web but the licensing boundaries remain intact.

What Admins Should Do Now

1. Identify users who relied on Project for the Web

These users will need Project Plan 3 or Plan 5 to access equivalent functionality in Planner Premium.

2. Confirm which teams only need basic task boards

These users can stay on Planner Plan 1 without disruption.

3. Communicate the change early

Teams using timelines, dependencies, or structured project schedules will notice the shift.
A short internal announcement can prevent confusion later.

4. Review your licensing footprint

If your organization used Project for the Web lightly, you may be able to consolidate licenses.
If you used it heavily, you’ll want to ensure continuity through Planner Premium.

Final Thoughts

Microsoft’s move to unify task and project management under the Planner brand makes long‑term sense, but the transition period is understandably confusing. The important thing to remember is this:

Project for the Web isn’t becoming Planner P1.
It’s becoming Planner Premium.

Once you map the old capabilities to the new tiers, the licensing picture becomes much clearer.

Optional Read: Technical dive and nuance around extensibility

There are some technical considerations with I would say, the ‘vision’ on Planner going forward. While I cannot predict the future, hopefully we can mitigate pain and invest in the appropriate platforms with regards to extending these platforms.

1. Planner Standard is, for a lack of better term, a blob of JSON code, with very basic data storage considerations to group tasks together.
2. Planner Premium on the other hand, is built on Dataverse (this is also what Project for the web was built on). This is a robust SaaS SQL table on the backend.

These two technology stacks are vastly different. And the Premium upgrade does take the end user out of the M365 world and open up the door of possibilities for extending functionality. For example, go ahead and pop over to Power automate and compare the Planner connectors to the Dataverse connectors. You will see, you can do a lot more with Dataverse. And that doesn’t mean we are limited to Power Automate. That is just what I know. Customizations via Microsoft Graph are there for you too! Ok, so that is all for the good news. Now, on to the bad news… I am not sure if the Planner Standard will be with us for long at least in it’s current form. As we noted earlier, Standard and Premium are (2) different products. And then we get this whopper from MC1193421 which essentials states the following,

Features in Planner that will be retired: to begin between mid-January 2026 and mid-February 2026. The following changes will take effect as this build rolls out to your organization:

• A new Task chat experience will replace the prior comments experience for basic plan tasks:
• The whiteboard tab for premium plans will be retired.
• Planner component in Loop pages will be retired.
• Planner integration in Viva Goals will be retired.
• iCalendar feed integration will be retired.

Again, I am not saying that we should abandon standard. But as a business owner, I am waiting to see a clearer roadmap on the product before I tell me clients to invest in it. I hope Planner Standard sticks around and only gets better. As it’s very popular in the orgs I support. I hope this write up was helpful!

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