Microsoft Planner Premium Licensing: Is It Worth £8.30/User and When to Buy It

The Planner Consolidation and What It Means for Licensing

In 2024 Microsoft completed a significant consolidation of its task and project management tools. Microsoft To Do, the old Microsoft Planner, and Project for the web were unified under the single "Microsoft Planner" brand. What was previously sold as a standalone "Project for the web" subscription is now marketed as "Planner Premium." The underlying product capabilities are essentially the same as Project for the web — Gantt charts, task dependencies, baselines, sprint planning, custom fields — but the branding and go-to-market have changed.

This matters commercially because the consolidation did not change the fundamental licensing economics. Planner Basic remains included in all Microsoft 365 commercial plans at no additional cost. Planner Premium remains a paid add-on at approximately £8.30/user/month. What changed is the presentation: organisations that previously evaluated "Project for the web" now evaluate "Planner Premium" — and may be more inclined to buy it because it sounds like a natural upgrade to something they already have, rather than a separate product purchase.

That framing benefits Microsoft. It does not necessarily benefit you. This guide gives you the commercial framework to evaluate whether Planner Premium is justified for your organisation — and if so, for how many users and at what price.

Planner Basic vs Planner Premium: What You Actually Get

The capability gap between Planner Basic and Planner Premium is real but narrower than Microsoft's marketing suggests. The choice of which users genuinely need Premium capabilities — versus which users are using Planner for task coordination that Basic handles adequately — determines whether a Planner Premium deployment is commercially justified or commercially wasteful.

The Gantt and Dependencies Gap

The two capabilities that most commonly drive genuine Planner Premium purchases are Gantt charts and task dependencies. These are foundational to traditional project management — the ability to visualise a project schedule as a timeline and to define that Task B cannot start until Task A is complete. Without these, Planner is a task coordination tool, not a project management tool.

The question is: what proportion of your organisation's "project managers" actually run projects that require Gantt charts and dependencies? In most enterprises, a significant fraction of people with "project" in their job title are running workstreams, coordinating initiatives, or managing ongoing programmes where Kanban boards and task lists are entirely adequate. They do not build Gantt schedules. They do not manage task dependencies. They would not use Planner Premium's distinguishing features if licenced for them.

We consistently find in client engagements that only 20–40% of users receiving Planner Premium licences actually use the Gantt and dependency features. The remainder use Premium-licenced Planner as a slightly enhanced Kanban board — at 2.3x the cost of Planner Basic they already have in their M365 plan.

Planner Premium vs Project Plan 3: The Overlap Problem

One of the most commercially important questions in Microsoft task and project management licensing is whether an organisation needs Planner Premium, Project Plan 3, or both — and for which user populations.

The honest answer is that for many project management use cases, Planner Premium and Project Plan 3 overlap substantially. The key differentiators of Project Plan 3 over Planner Premium are the Project desktop client, full resource management (resource capacity planning across projects), and Project Online access. For organisations that have migrated to Project for the web and whose project managers do not use resource management or the desktop client, Project Plan 3 provides limited additional value over Planner Premium at more than double the cost.

The Dataverse Storage Implication

One aspect of Planner Premium licensing that most procurement teams overlook is the Dataverse storage consumption. Unlike Planner Basic — which stores data in SharePoint and Exchange, both included in M365 plans — Planner Premium stores project data in Dataverse. This matters commercially because Dataverse storage is subject to capacity-based billing and overages can represent a meaningful hidden cost of Planner Premium deployments.

Each Planner Premium user licence contributes a small Dataverse database storage entitlement. For small deployments this is not material. For large Planner Premium rollouts — hundreds or thousands of users creating project plans, tasks, and custom field data at scale — Dataverse storage consumption can exceed entitlements, generating overage charges at approximately £0.030–0.035/GB/month for database storage.

The practical risk is highest for organisations that deploy Planner Premium broadly to replace other tools (including SharePoint-based project tracking), accumulate years of project data without archiving, or allow extensive use of custom fields that dramatically increase per-plan data volume. Before committing to a large Planner Premium deployment, model the Dataverse storage consumption against your existing entitlements from Dynamics 365 and Power Platform licences.

Who Actually Needs Planner Premium

The commercially disciplined approach is to licence Planner Premium only for users who will actively use the distinguishing capabilities that Basic does not provide. The following framework identifies the user populations where Planner Premium is justified versus where Planner Basic is adequate.

The Right-Sizing Methodology

Identifying who needs Planner Premium requires a short but structured exercise. The approach we use with clients has three components:

First, identify confirmed project managers — people who create and own project plans (not just participate in them). In most organisations, this is 15–25% of the workforce, not the entire organisation. Within that population, assess whether they run projects that are sequential and dependency-driven (schedule management) or primarily parallel and effort-tracked (task coordination). Only the former genuinely needs Planner Premium.

Second, assess existing tooling overlap. Organisations running Azure DevOps or GitHub have sprint and backlog management built into their developer tooling — deploying Planner Premium for software teams represents duplication. Organisations using Smartsheet, monday.com, Jira, or Asana for project management have existing Gantt and dependency tooling — Planner Premium is a potential substitution, not an addition, and the business case needs to demonstrate the consolidated cost position.

Third, run a 90-day pilot before committing to a large deployment. Planner Premium adoption has been uneven in enterprise environments. The tool is materially better than Planner Basic for genuine project management work, but it is not as mature as dedicated project management platforms for complex programme management. Pilot with the highest-need user population first, measure actual feature utilisation (particularly Gantt and dependency usage), and right-size the licensed population based on observed behaviour rather than self-reported need.

Planner Premium vs Third-Party Tools

The competitive evaluation for Planner Premium is not just internal — it is against the dedicated project management platforms that many organisations already pay for. Smartsheet, monday.com, Asana, Jira, and Wrike all compete in the same market segment. Understanding the commercial position helps both with buy/keep/replace decisions and with negotiation leverage against Microsoft.

The commercial case for Planner Premium over third-party tools rests primarily on M365 integration and reduced procurement overhead, not feature superiority. If your project management requirement is genuinely complex — large programme management, deep automation, sophisticated reporting — a dedicated platform frequently outperforms Planner Premium. If your requirement is moderate-complexity project scheduling with strong Teams integration and minimal IT overhead, Planner Premium is a credible commercial choice.

Planner Premium and the M365 Copilot Intersection

Planner Premium includes AI-assisted features when combined with a Microsoft 365 Copilot licence. Copilot in Planner can suggest task breakdown structures from project briefs, prioritise tasks based on deadlines and dependencies, and generate status summaries. These features require both a Planner Premium licence and a separately purchased M365 Copilot add-on (~£24.70/user/month) — they are not included in Planner Premium alone.

The commercial implication is straightforward: if the primary driver for your Planner Premium evaluation is the AI project assistance capability, the total cost is £8.30 + £24.70 = £33.00/user/month. At that price point, the commercial case needs to be evaluated against the full Copilot benefit stack, not just the Planner AI features — and the decision should be made in the context of your broader Copilot deployment strategy, not as a standalone project management purchase.

EA Negotiation Strategy for Planner Premium

Planner Premium is typically negotiated as part of a broader M365 EA renewal, not as a standalone product. The commercial levers available to you depend on context, but there are several consistent principles that apply across most enterprise negotiations.

1. Negotiate Count, Not Price

The most powerful lever for Planner Premium is getting the licenced user count right before the EA is signed. A deployment of 3,000 Planner Premium licences that should be 800 licences is a £228,000/year overspend at EA pricing. Reducing from 3,000 to 800 by correctly classifying users saves more than any discount negotiation on the original 3,000-seat count. This is not a negotiation tactic — it is arithmetic. Do the right-sizing analysis before you begin the commercial conversation.

2. Use Third-Party Tool Consolidation as Leverage

If your organisation is currently paying for Smartsheet, monday.com, Asana, or similar tools, the decision to consolidate onto Planner Premium represents meaningful contract value for Microsoft. That consolidation should translate into volume commitment acknowledgement in the EA — either as enhanced discount on Planner Premium itself, or as evidence of total M365 commitment that supports better pricing on other products in the deal.

3. Connect to EA Volume Tier

Planner Premium seat count contributes to your overall Microsoft 365 commitment, which affects the volume discount tier that governs pricing across your entire EA. If adding Planner Premium for a qualifying population pushes you across a tier boundary, the effective discount improvement across all M365 products can be worth more than the Planner Premium spend itself. Model the volume tier impact before isolating the Planner Premium negotiation. See our guide to EA volume discount tiers for the thresholds and mechanics.

4. Pilot Provisions Before Committing

Planner Premium adoption in enterprise environments is less predictable than adoption of productivity tools like M365 Apps or Teams. Request a 90-day pilot provision in the EA — a time-limited, reduced-count deployment that allows you to validate adoption before committing to the full-term licensed population. Microsoft does accommodate pilot structures for Planner Premium in EA contexts, particularly where the alternative is a deferred decision or a third-party tool that remains in place.

5. Mid-Term Reduction Provisions

If you cannot avoid committing to a larger Planner Premium count at EA signature, negotiate mid-term reduction rights — the ability to reduce the licenced population at the Year 1 or Year 2 anniversary based on measured adoption. Microsoft resists downward flexibility in EAs, but Planner Premium is a product category where the adoption risk is real enough that the argument is commercially credible. Document the request in writing during the negotiation phase, and see our guide on EA mid-term reviews for the mechanics of using annual reviews as a commercial lever.

Common Mistakes When Buying Planner Premium

Buying tenant-wide. Planner Premium for all M365 users is almost always the wrong commercial decision. Even in project-intensive organisations, a significant proportion of users are task consumers, not project creators. A targeted deployment based on demonstrated need is invariably more cost-effective than a tenant-wide roll-out driven by "everyone might use it."

Buying it because Project Online is being retired. Project Online is not currently being retired by Microsoft — it remains a supported platform. The product receiving reduced investment is Project Online relative to Project for the web (included in Plan 3). If you are running Project Online and evaluating migration options, the correct analysis compares Project Plan 3 (which includes both platforms) against Planner Premium (which covers Project for the web only) — not a forced migration to Planner Premium as a replacement for Project Online capabilities.

Ignoring Dataverse storage implications for large deployments. Planner Premium data stored in Dataverse consumes storage entitlements. For deployments above 500 users, model the storage impact before committing. The overage rates for Dataverse database storage are materially higher than for SharePoint — an oversight that turns a reasonable per-user cost into an unexpected ancillary spend.

Confusing it with Project Plan 3 for resource management. Planner Premium does not include resource capacity management across projects. Organisations whose PMO function requires resource demand planning and capacity optimisation across a project portfolio need Project Plan 5 for portfolio management, not Planner Premium. Planner Premium is a project scheduling tool, not a portfolio management platform.

Not benchmarking against current third-party contracts. If your organisation currently pays for Smartsheet or monday.com, the decision to replace with Planner Premium should be driven by a genuine total cost comparison — including per-user pricing, administrative overhead, contract consolidation value, and capability adequacy. Simply buying Planner Premium because it is "part of M365" without calculating whether the third-party displacement creates positive ROI is not a commercial decision — it is a default.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can Planner Premium licences be mixed with Planner Basic users in the same plan?

Yes. Planner Basic is available to all M365 users at no additional cost. Planner Premium is an add-on applied to specific named users. Users without Planner Premium can be assigned to plans and access tasks, but cannot access Premium features (Gantt, dependencies, custom fields, sprint views). In practice, this means a project manager with Premium can invite team members with Basic — team members see tasks and deadlines in the board/calendar view, the PM sees the full Gantt and dependency structure.

Is Planner Premium included in Microsoft 365 E5?

No. Planner Premium is not included in any M365 plan, including E5. Planner Basic is included in all commercial M365 plans. Planner Premium is a standalone paid add-on regardless of your M365 subscription tier. This is one of the most common misconceptions we encounter in enterprise licensing reviews — the assumption that E5 includes all Microsoft productivity tools.

Does Planner Premium replace Project Online?

No. Planner Premium provides access to Project for the web (the modern platform) but not Project Online (the legacy SharePoint-based platform). Project Plan 3 and Plan 5 provide access to both platforms. If your organisation actively uses Project Online — particularly its resource management, earned value, or Project Server integration features — Planner Premium does not replace it. Project Plan 3 is the correct migration path for Project Online users who want a sustainable platform investment.

How does Planner Premium interact with Power Automate?

Planner (both Basic and Premium) has standard connectors available in Power Automate — but advanced automations that interact with Planner Premium project data stored in Dataverse require premium Power Automate connectors. If your workflow automation strategy includes complex Planner integrations with business systems (CRM, ERP, ITSM), factor in the Power Platform premium connector licensing costs as part of the total Planner Premium deployment cost.