A
Axtio
Comparisons

The best Microsoft Planner alternatives in 2026

A
Axtio Team
October 6, 2026 ยท 3 min read

Microsoft Planner is the default task board for many teams on Microsoft 365, and in 2026 Microsoft reshaped it. Reporting at the time, including Neowin's coverage, described task chats coming to basic plans, custom templates, a project manager agent for Copilot-licensed users, and the retirement of some features such as Planner components in Loop pages.

For many teams the changes are welcome. Others find Planner heavier or more tied to licensing than they want, or never liked its board for tracking work across several projects. Here are five alternatives worth a look. Check each vendor's current features and pricing before you decide.

Trello

The best-known Kanban board. Simple to start, with many integrations. Good for teams that like moving cards through stages. Like Planner, it organises work by board, so tracking many small projects means many boards.

Asana

Strong on task ownership, timelines and workload. A good step up if Planner feels too simple, though it takes more setup.

Notion

Docs, databases and boards in one workspace. Flexible, but needs someone to design and maintain the structure.

Todoist

A personal-first task manager with projects and sharing. Good for individuals and very small teams who think in lists rather than boards.

Axtio

A 2D board that puts every project on one screen as a row, with columns for who has the ball: Mine, Other, Next and Done. It is designed for the problem Planner rarely solves: seeing what you are waiting on, across all projects, at a glance. Actions waiting on someone for a week turn red so they do not go quiet. The free mode needs no signup or Microsoft account and keeps data in your browser. See Axtio vs Microsoft Planner.

How to choose

  • Staying in Microsoft 365? Planner is integrated and may still be the right call, especially with its new task chats.
  • Need structured project management? Asana.
  • Need a flexible workspace? Notion.
  • Need a simple personal list? Todoist.
  • Need to see ownership across many small projects? Axtio.

Before you switch

Write down why Planner is not working. If the answer is "we do not know who is waiting on whom", any tool that makes that visible will help, and the habit of updating it matters more than the tool. See why teams hate PM software.