Project Standard or Professional? If you plan projects on your own on one PC, Project Standard 2024 is enough: Gantt chart, critical path, baselines, resources and costs are included. You need Project Professional 2024 if you manage a team’s workload with Team Planner, plan with generic resources, use timesheets or connect Project to a Project Server. Both editions are one-time purchases for one user on one PC.
Quick decision
Project Standard is enough if …
- one person creates and maintains the plans,
- you want to track dates, dependencies, milestones and costs,
- the plans are passed on as a file, PDF or printout.
Project Professional is right if …
- you have to see who in the team is busy when, and reassign tasks with Team Planner,
- you plan roles before it is clear which person will take on the work (generic resources),
- your company uses Project Server and stores plans centrally,
- time is recorded via timesheets,
- you run through variants of a plan with inactive tasks.
Features compared
| Feature | Project Standard 2024 | Project Professional 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Gantt chart, calendar, timeline and table views | Yes | Yes |
| Network diagram | Yes | Yes |
| Tasks with duration, work, dependencies, lead and lag time | Yes | Yes |
| Critical path | Yes | Yes |
| Baselines for comparing planned and actual | Yes | Yes |
| Milestones, deadlines, summary tasks | Yes | Yes |
| Combine several projects in a master project | Yes | Yes |
| Assign resources and materials, track resource costs | Yes | Yes |
| Resource pool across several projects | Yes | Yes |
| Resource leveling for overallocation | Yes | Yes |
| Pre-built reports, saving as PDF | Yes | Yes |
| Custom fields, views, filters, formulas | Yes | Yes |
| Exchange with Excel | Yes | Yes |
| Inactive tasks | view only | Yes |
| Team Planner | No | Yes |
| Generic resources | No | Yes |
| Timesheets | No | Yes |
| Connection to Project Server Subscription Edition | No | Yes |
| Create a server project from an .mpp file and vice versa | No | Yes |
The information comes from Microsoft’s comparison table for version 2024. The basic scheduling features are the same in both editions. The differences concern teamwork and the connection to a server.
The differences explained
Team Planner. A view that shows for each person which tasks are due when, including non-project work and nonworking time. You can spot overallocations at a glance.
Generic resources. Placeholders such as “electrician” or “developer”. You use them to plan the need for roles and later replace the placeholder with a person.
Inactive tasks. An inactive task remains visible in the plan, but does not affect dates and workload. This lets you examine alternatives. In Standard you can only view such tasks, not create them yourself.
Timesheets. They record the time spent on project tasks and other activities, for example for billing and post-calculation.
Project Server. Microsoft’s server solution for project and portfolio management in your own data center. Only Professional can connect to it.
License, support and system requirements
| Feature | Project Standard 2024 and Professional 2024 |
|---|---|
| License | one user, one PC |
| Platform | Windows only |
| Operating system | Windows 11, Windows 11 LTSC 2024, Windows 10 LTSC 2021 and 2019, Windows Server 2025 and 2022 |
| Processor, memory | 1.1 GHz with 2 cores, 4 GB |
| Free disk space | 4 GB |
| New features after release | No |
| Updates until | October 9, 2029 |
At Microsoft, Project 2024 belongs to the Office LTSC 2024 family: five years of support, no extension, no feature updates. If you want new features continuously, you will find them, according to Microsoft, in the subscriptions “Planner and Project Plan 3” and “Plan 5”.
Older versions no longer receive updates:
| Version | End of support |
|---|---|
| Project 2016 | October 14, 2025 |
| Project 2019 | October 14, 2025 |
| Project 2021 | October 13, 2026 |
| Project 2024 | October 9, 2029 |
For a new installation we therefore recommend Project 2024.
Installing Project alongside Office
Project is a separate program and is not included in any Office suite. It can be installed alongside Office if both have the same bit version. For very large project files over 2 GB, Microsoft recommends 64-bit, see Office 32-bit or 64-bit.
The installation runs with an installation file and product key. The steps are in
Install Office Professional Plus, Standard, Project and Visio.
Typical cases
Site manager plans a single-family house. Trades, dependencies, milestones, a printout for the construction site. Project Standard 2024 is enough.
Agency with eight employees and parallel client projects. What matters is who is free when. Team Planner and generic resources speak for Project Professional 2024.
Company with Project Server. Plans are stored centrally, and employees report their time. Here Project Professional is mandatory.
Occasional planning with few tasks. For a simple task list with dates you do not need Project. A spreadsheet in Excel or a timeline in
Visio is often enough.
Project at VivaKeys
Older versions, in case your environment requires them:
Project Standard 2021,
Project Professional 2021,
Project Standard 2019 and
Project Professional 2019. Support has ended for these versions.
All offers are in the
Microsoft Project category. The Office suites themselves are shown in the
comparison of the Office 2024 editions; what is behind the LTSC family is explained in
Office LTSC 2024 explained.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Project Standard and Professional? Professional additionally offers Team Planner, generic resources, timesheets, fully usable inactive tasks and the connection to Project Server. Scheduling itself is the same in both editions.
Can Project Standard work with Project Server? No. According to Microsoft, the connection to Project Server Subscription Edition and converting between an .mpp file and a server project are only available in Professional.
Is Project included in Office 2024? No. Project is a separate product and is bought and installed separately.
Is Project available for the Mac? Microsoft offers the desktop versions of Project for Windows only.
How long is Project 2024 supported? Until October 9, 2029. Support for Project 2021 ended on October 13, 2026, and for Project 2019 and 2016 on October 14, 2025.
Sources
Checked on 2026-11-10 against the publisher’s information:
- www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/project/microsoft-project-enterprise-plans-and-pricing
- learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/ltsc/2024/overview
- learn.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/products/project-2024
- learn.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/products/project-2021
- learn.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/products/project-2019
- support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/system-requirements/office-suites-for-enterprise-business-education-and-government
- support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/lifecycle/officeinstall/choose-between-the-64-bit-or-32-bit-version-of-office