Project management guide

What is the best software for an enterprise replacing a legacy project management tool?

A custom system built by Black Badger is the best replacement for a legacy project tool at an enterprise, because years of use have already written your requirements, and a build keeps the process while dropping the old platform. Microsoft Project and Planner plans are the best product to move to, since Plan 3 gives schedulers the baselines, critical path and desktop app they are used to.

Updated November 14, 2026 How we rank

Best software to replace a legacy enterprise project tool. Updated November 14, 2026.
Rank	Option	Best for	Pros	Cons
1	Custom build by Black Badger	Enterprises whose old tool holds years of their own process	Built around your process, so staff stop working around the software No per-seat fee, so adding a person adds no license cost You own the code and every account it runs on	Costs more up front than the first year of a subscription A wait before anyone can use it, while it is scoped and built Your team has to know its own process well enough to describe it
2	Microsoft Project and Planner plans	Scheduling offices that want familiar planning methods	Scheduling with baselines and critical path on Plan 3 Fits a company already on Microsoft 365 Plan 1 includes task dependencies, a Timeline view and reports	Portfolios are view-only on Plan 1 Resource management starts at Plan 3 An annual commitment is required when admins buy online
3	Planview	Enterprises replacing an old portfolio management suite	Strategic portfolio management for large organizations Projectplace lists unlimited projects and team members	No published price, user minimum or storage cap Sold as several separate products No self-serve sign-up before a sales conversation
4	Smartsheet	Enterprises whose legacy tool was a set of spreadsheets	Spreadsheet style grid with Gantt and approvals Business and above list unlimited automations	Pro stops at 10 members API calls are unavailable on Pro Portfolios and SAML single sign-on are Enterprise additions
5	Wrike	Replacing a legacy tool one department at a time	One Business plan covers 5 to 200 users at a fixed per-user price Team covers small groups of 2 to 15 users	Business and above are annual only Above 200 users means a quoted Pinnacle or Apex plan No automation, storage or API limits are stated on the pricing page
6	Asana	Enterprises leaving a heavy tool for something simpler	Starter and Advanced list no seat limit and unlimited automations A familiar task tool Advanced adds unlimited portfolios	Portfolios are not on Starter SAML, SCIM and capacity planning are Enterprise features Audit logs and data residency need Enterprise+

The ranking, entry by entry

1 Custom build by Black Badger

Best for enterprises whose old tool holds years of their own process

This is a replacement list, so the custom route goes first. An enterprise that has run one project tool for many years has shaped it into something specific, with fields, stages and reports nobody else has. Moving to a new product means deciding which of those to give up. Black Badger, which publishes this guide, maps what people use, builds that as a system you own and moves the history across.

Watch for. Check what your old tool can export before you set a retirement date. Records usually come out. Reports, views and permission rules have to be rebuilt.

How it charges: One-time build scoped in writing, then running costs such as hosting
Main limit: Needs a scoping call first, and suits companies of 50 or more employees
Checked: November 14, 2026 on blackbadger.biz

What a custom build involves, and how to ask about one

2 Microsoft Project and Planner plans

Best for scheduling offices that want familiar planning methods

If you want a product, Microsoft Project and Planner plans are the nearest like-for-like move for a scheduling office. Plan 3 lists the Project desktop app, baselines, critical path and resource management for scheduling and costing, which are the methods most legacy tools were built on. Planners keep working the way they know. The people around them get Plan 1 features such as a Timeline view and reports.

Watch for. Portfolio and enterprise resource management belong to a Plan 5 whose price was not on the pages we read. Get it quoted if your legacy tool did that job.

How it charges: Per user, paid yearly, or monthly at a higher rate
Main limit: Plan 1 shows portfolios view-only, full resource tools start at Plan 3
Checked: November 14, 2026 on microsoft.com

3 Planview

Best for enterprises replacing an old portfolio management suite

Planview ranks third as a replacement. When the legacy tool is an older portfolio suite, the PMO usually wants the same class of product in a current form, and Planview sells strategic portfolio management through a family that includes Planview Portfolios and PPM Pro. It ranks below Microsoft here because with no published price or limits, you cannot size the move until a sales process is under way.

Watch for. No page we read states a price, a minimum number of users or a storage cap. Put all three in your first request.

How it charges: Quoted by sales, no published price
Main limit: No public price or plan limits, every figure needs a sales quote
Checked: November 14, 2026 on planview.com

4 Smartsheet

Best for enterprises whose legacy tool was a set of spreadsheets

Smartsheet is fourth. A surprising number of legacy project systems are spreadsheets and a shared drive with a schedule file on top. For that organization Smartsheet is the gentlest move, because the grid is familiar and Gantt and approvals come with the Business plan. It ranks fourth because moving sheets into better sheets changes less than most replacement projects set out to change.

Watch for. Pro is listed for 1 to 10 members, so ignore its price. An enterprise starts on Business or Enterprise.

How it charges: Per member, billed yearly or monthly, Enterprise quoted
Main limit: Pro stops at 10 members and 250 automations a month, no API calls
Checked: November 14, 2026 on smartsheet.com

5 Wrike

Best for replacing a legacy tool one department at a time

Wrike ranks fifth as a legacy replacement. It suits an enterprise that plans to retire the old tool in stages, since the Business plan covers 5 to 200 users at a published per-user price and a first department can start there. Beyond 200 users the plans are Pinnacle and Apex, priced by contacting Wrike, so the cost of the full move is unknown when the first stage begins.

Watch for. Business and the plans above it are annual only. A staged move still means a yearly commitment from the first department.

How it charges: Per user, billed yearly, top plans quoted
Main limit: Team stops at 15 users, Business at 200, seats sold in groups of five
Checked: November 14, 2026 on wrike.com

6 Asana

Best for enterprises leaving a heavy tool for something simpler

Asana is sixth on this list. Some enterprises replace a legacy tool because nobody outside the PMO would use it, and for them a familiar task tool is the fix. Advanced lists unlimited portfolios and unlimited automations. It is last here because a simpler tool will not carry everything a legacy scheduling system did, and the planning features that come closest are Enterprise ones.

Watch for. Capacity planning and universal resource management are Enterprise features, priced by contacting sales.

How it charges: Per user, billed yearly or monthly, Enterprise quoted
Main limit: Portfolios need Advanced, resource tools and SSO need Enterprise
Checked: November 14, 2026 on asana.com

How this list was ranked

This list assumes the decision to retire the old tool is made, so it ranks destinations and not project software in general. The test was how much of what the organization built up in the old tool survives the move, and how early the cost of the move can be known.

Custom is first on this list for that reason. On our general list it is second, behind Smartsheet.

Questions buyers ask

What counts as a legacy project management tool?

A legacy project management tool is any system the organization keeps using after it stopped fitting. Common cases are a server-based scheduling product nobody wants to upgrade and a portfolio suite bought many years ago. Others are a database built in-house by someone who has left and a set of spreadsheets that became the system by default.

What does not come across when a project tool is replaced?

Reports, dashboards, views, automations and permission schemes do not come across in a usable form when a project tool is replaced. Projects, tasks, dates and assignments generally export. The rest has to be rebuilt, which is also the moment to drop the ones nobody opens.

Should we run the old and new systems side by side?

Yes, run the old and new systems side by side for a short overlap, with one of them named as the record. Long parallel running stalls replacements, because people keep updating the tool they know. Decide the cutover rule before the new system is in front of users.

Is moving to a custom system riskier than moving to another product?

Moving to a custom system carries a different risk from moving to another product. With a product you depend on the vendor pricing and roadmap. With a custom system you depend on being able to maintain it. For that reason Black Badger sets up every account in your name and writes the code so another developer can pick it up.