Microsoft Planner vs Jira
Learn more about your options and pick the best tool for your team.
Unsure whether to choose Microsoft Planner or Atlassian Jira? You've come to the right place.
If you are evaluating project management tools, you will likely find Planner and Jira on your shortlist. Both tools are highly popular and are used by thousands of organizations across the globe.
But which tool should you choose for your business? In this article, we will take a closer look at both Microsoft Planner and Jira and examine their strengths and weaknesses to help you make the right decision for your company.
Microsoft Planner and Jira compared
Developed by Atlassian, Jira is a robust, widely used project management tool. It's renowned for its flexibility and scalability, making it a go-to choice for software development teams. On the other hand, Microsoft Planner is a more lightweight tool, integrated into the Microsoft 365 suite.
The main difference between Microsoft Planner and Jira is the depth of functionality. Jira is a much more powerful tool that is particularly popular among software development teams due to its extensive customization options and scalability. In contrast, Microsoft Planner keeps things simple and may be the better choice for smaller teams or projects that don't require the complexity offered by Jira.
To make the most informed decision, let's first dive deeper into what Planner and Jira have to offer, taking into account their strengths, limitations, notable features, pricing, and user reviews. We will also have a look at other alternatives you may want to consider.
Microsoft Planner
Pricing: Starting from $5/user/month
Rating on Capterra: 4.3/5
Microsoft Planner is a task management tool designed for teamwork and collaboration within the Microsoft 365 suite. It provides a simple, visual way for teams to organize and track work. Unlike Jira, which started as a tool for bug tracking and issue management, Planner is a more general-purpose tool.
Planner operates around the concept of "plans," which are essentially containers for tasks. Within a plan, users can create tasks, assign them to team members, set due dates, and attach files. Planner provides a Kanban board view where tasks are represented as cards that can be moved between customizable columns, offering a clear overview of the workflow.
One of Planner's key strengths lies in its integration with other Microsoft 365 applications such as Teams, SharePoint, and Outlook. It comes bundled with most Microsoft 365 subscription plans, making it a cost-effective choice for those who want an integrated task management solution without incurring additional expenses.
Planner does have limitations compared to more specialized, feature-rich tools like Jira. It lacks the advanced customization options and intricate workflow management capabilities that Jira offers. This simplicity may be an advantage for teams seeking a straightforward solution, but it could be a drawback for those with complex project management needs.
Why you might prefer Microsoft Planner over Jira:
Microsoft Planner is included in Microsoft 365 subscriptions, making it a more cost-effective choice for organizations already using the Microsoft ecosystem.
Planner is tightly integrated with other Microsoft products, such as Teams and Outlook.
Planner is a more straightforward tool and provides just enough functionality for basic task management, in contrast to Jira's more complex capabilities.
What users say about Microsoft Planner:
"Jira was my #1 choice, but the price of it was too high. In searching for alternatives in the tool of my Microsoft 365 platform, I've discovered Planner and after a few trials, I adopted it. In comparison to other tools I've used like Jira, this tool is really easy to configure, to use and it works extremely well with Microsoft Teams."
Looking for more tools similar to Microsoft Planner? Check out this list of best Microsoft Planner alternatives.
Jira
Pricing: Free, advanced features starting from $7.75/user/month
Rating on Capterra: 4.5/5
Unlike Microsoft Planner, Jira is a more specialized project management tool, designed, first and foremost, for Agile software development teams. It allows you to plan sprints, define user stories, prioritize your backlog, and more.
Unlike Microsoft Planner, which is geared more towards simple task management, Jira is designed for more complex project workflows and issue tracking across teams. It offers advanced customization options, extensive reporting capabilities, and support for complex workflows through plugins. Jira's complexity can be seen as both a strength and a weakness, and smaller, non-technical teams may find Jira to be too over-engineered for their needs.
Why you might prefer Jira over Microsoft Planner:
Jira is developer-friendly and offers a wide range of specialized features, including velocity charts, Scrum tracking, and more.
Jira can be customized in a more granular way than Microsoft Planner and has a more extensive feature set.
Atlassian offers a wide range of complementary products, including Confluence and BitBucket, all of which are tightly integrated with Jira.
What users say about Jira:
"It's the gold standard in the software development industry. It's more robust than Asana or Trello, and it's less convoluted than the Microsoft product. Jira is flexible and powerful. It's got all the tools you need to organize highly complex tasks and workflows, even in multi-team environments. I'd highly suggest it, but it may be overkill for things that are simpler than product development."
Looking for more tools similar to Jira? Check out this list of Jira alternatives.
Other alternatives
It should be mentioned that your options are not limited to just Microsoft Planner and Jira, and there are many other great project management and issue tracking tools.
For example, if you are looking for a more lightweight and modern alternative to Planner and Jira, consider Nuclino. The interface of Nuclino is clean and distraction-free, without any clunky menus and rarely-used options. It works right out of the box and requires almost no configuration, so your team can be productive from day one.
Nuclino stands out thanks to how it brings structured data and long-form content together — like Jira and Confluence in one. Every Nuclino item is a collaborative document where you can add notes, create to-do lists, embed files, and more, managing and simultaneously documenting your projects in one place.
You can use comments to exchange feedback directly in Nuclino and preserve the context of every decision.
But project management is just one of the many things you can do with Nuclino. It's a unified workspace where you can build your internal knowledge base or team wiki, collaborate on internal documentation, take meeting minutes, onboard employees, and more. Nuclino works like a collective brain, allowing you to bring all your team's work together in one place and collaborate without the chaos of files and folders, context switching, or silos.
Microsoft Planner vs Jira: So which is better?
Ultimately, the choice between Jira and Microsoft Planner boils down to the specific needs and preferences of your team. If you're handling intricate projects with a need for detailed customization, Jira might be the better fit. However, for teams that value simplicity and easy integration within the Microsoft ecosystem, Microsoft Planner is a solid choice.
On the other hand, if you want the best of Planner and Jira but in a more modern, lightweight, and fast package, consider exploring other alternatives, such as Nuclino.
We hope this article has made your decision a little easier and recommend you take all three tools for a spin.
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