Timeline Studio vs Microsoft Project
A Microsoft Project alternative for small teams
Microsoft Project is a deep scheduling tool built for professional project managers. Timeline Studio is a lighter Gantt chart planner that runs in the browser and is made for small teams who plan together. Here is an honest look at where each one fits.
The short version
Different tools for different jobs
Microsoft Project has been the standard for formal project scheduling for decades. The Project desktop app gives a dedicated planner fine control over the schedule, including baselines, resource leveling and cost management, and many organisations have years of plans saved as .mpp files. According to Microsoft's own documentation, the desktop client runs on Windows and needs a Project licence; Microsoft also offers browser-based planning through its Microsoft 365 plans.
Timeline Studio is built for a different situation: a small team, often without a full-time project manager, that needs one shared plan everyone can open and change. It runs in any modern browser on Windows, Mac, Linux, tablets and phones, starts you on an empty Gantt chart with nothing to configure, and puts collaboration at the centre: roles, live cursors, comments and chat on the timeline itself.
Microsoft Project may suit you better if
- You have a dedicated project manager who lives in the schedule
- You need baselines, resource leveling or cost tracking
- Your organisation already standardises on Microsoft licences and .mpp files
- You report earned value or similar formal metrics
Timeline Studio may suit you better if
- Your whole team needs to see and edit the plan, not one planner
- You work on a Mac, or want the plan on a phone or tablet
- You want to start planning today without setup or training
- You want what-if simulation, workload and holidays without a manual
What Timeline Studio does, at a glance
This table lists what Timeline Studio offers. Microsoft changes its plans and features over time, so check Microsoft's site for the current details of each Project edition.
| Area | Timeline Studio |
|---|---|
| Where it runs | In the browser on desktop, tablet and phone. Nothing to install. |
| Plan structure | Initiatives, epics, features, milestones, tasks and subtasks on a Gantt chart, with Board and List views of the same data. |
| Scheduling | Dependency arrows, critical path, per-timeline work week, your own holidays and one-click public holidays for seven countries. |
| What-if planning | Simulation mode: try changes in a sandbox, then apply or discard them. |
| Resources | An assignee and allocation on each task, weekly peak load per person, over-100% warnings. No automatic leveling. |
| Collaboration | Can edit, Can comment and View only roles, live cursors, comments with @mentions, timeline chat, activity feed, a view-only public link. |
| MS Project files | Imports MS Project XML: outline, links, resources, work week and holidays. Save .mpp as XML first. |
| Not included | Baselines, cost and budget tracking, timesheets, earned value, automatic resource leveling. |
Switching
Bring your MS Project plans with you
In Microsoft Project, save the plan as an XML file. Import it into Timeline Studio and the outline becomes the task hierarchy, links become dependency arrows, resources become assignees, and the project's work week and holidays become the timeline's working days.
Before anything is created you see a plain list of what the import had to adjust. For example, start-to-start and finish-to-finish links come in as finish-to-start, and links on summary rows or rows deeper than four levels are adjusted. You can fix names, dates and assignees right there. Files are read in your browser.
- Outline, links and resources come across
- MS Project work weeks and holidays come across
- Up to 1,000 rows and 2,000 links
Collaboration
A plan the whole team works in, not a file one person owns
A traditional schedule often has one owner, who updates it and sends it round. In Timeline Studio the plan is shared from the start. Invite people by email as editors, commenters or viewers. Everyone sees each other's cursors and which bar someone is editing, and changes from teammates appear without a reload.
Comments sit on the task they are about, @mentions send an email, and the activity feed shows who changed what. When someone outside the team needs to look, switch on a view-only public link.
- Can edit, Can comment and View only roles
- Live cursors, presence and timeline chat
- Changes from others show up without a reload
What-if simulation
Try a change before you commit to it
Switch on simulation mode to drag dates, change durations and rearrange dependencies in a sandbox. Every dependent task moves with the change, so you see the knock-on effect straight away. Apply the result, or exit and the real plan is exactly as you left it. There is no copy of the file to keep track of.
- Changes stay in the sandbox until you apply them
- Dependent tasks move with every change
- Broken dependencies are flagged before you apply
What you give up, and what you don't
If your work depends on baselines, cost tracking, resource leveling or formal reporting, Microsoft Project does more than Timeline Studio, and you should keep using it for those plans. Timeline Studio doesn't try to match it feature for feature.
What you keep: a real Gantt chart with dependencies and the critical path, working-day scheduling with custom work weeks and holidays, and workload by person. What you gain is speed and sharing. A new teammate can open the timeline in a browser, find their tasks and update progress in minutes. You can export the timeline as an image for reports, or as a CSV file that opens in any spreadsheet.
Microsoft and Microsoft Project are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. Timeline Studio is not affiliated with or endorsed by Microsoft. Details about Microsoft Project were checked in October 2026 and may have changed since.
Try your MS Project plan in Timeline Studio
Save the .mpp file as XML, import it, and see your outline, links, resources, work week and holidays on a shared timeline in a few minutes.
Free to start, with limited usage. Works in the browser on desktop, tablet and phone.