You might not know that Microsoft has a full-featured task management tool, like Asana, Trello, Motion, and AirTable. It’s called Microsoft Planner, and even though it’s getting a new design and more features, you still can’t use it.
Microsoft Planner started as Office 365 Planner in 2015, and it was overhauled in 2024 with the combined functionality of Microsoft To Do and Project. It’s now a powerful project management application, with tasks and to-do lists you can share with other people. Planner also has deep integration with Teams and other Microsoft services.
Microsoft has announced a new design for Planner, with a “more modern interface that offers faster performance and brings a more consistent planning experience across work.” It now closely matches the Fluent design language found in modern versions of Windows, Outlook, and other Microsoft software.
Tasks in Planner also has a new task chat, giving you a place to discuss tasks with other people. You can use @ mentions to tag others, attach files, and use other rich formatting as necessary. It’s just like the comments in Trello or Asana. Notifications for new comments are only sent to people mentioned in a comment, instead of being sent to everyone. This is only live for basic plans for now—premium plans are staying on the current conversation features until “a later point in time.”
Planner’s basic plans also now included a Goals view, “allowing teams to set clear, well-defined objectives to help prioritize work.” Goals can be connected to tasks, making it easy to track progress for long-term projects. That feature currently requires a premium license, though.
Even though Microsoft Planner is now a powerful and flexible project management tool, it’s still not available to individuals. You can’t access it with a personal Microsoft 365 account, even if you pay for an individual or family Microsoft 365 plan. The pricing structure is tailored towards companies and other organizations, ranging from $10-55 per month per person, with some features available in the standard Microsoft 365 enterprise plans.
I have tried Asana, Trello, and other similar tools for my own task management, but they all ended up as too expensive or too impractical. I would love to try Microsoft Planner as an alternative, but Microsoft still won’t give to me, even though I pay for a Microsoft 365 premium account. Let me in!
Microsoft To Do is still available for free on all personal Microsoft 365 accounts, but it’s much more basic, and seems to be in maintenance mode. I’m not sure I’ve seen a new feature or design update since I first installed it years ago.
Source: Microsoft Planner Blog
