Commercial Microsoft Project Viewers

There are several options available for commercial project viewers.

The project viewers listed here were selected because they can open project files stored in the Microsoft Project native format (MPP). Remembering that the main benefit project viewers provide is cost savings, we did not test web-based viewers that require a server. The additional expenses that those products incur make it an apples and oranges comparison. For the same reason, we don't include Microsoft Project Web Access although we recommend it for those companies using Project Server.

The following project viewers are compared:

[More Detailed Descriptions]

Steelray Afinion iProjectViewer Housatonic Project Reader Company, Location Steelray Software, USA Afinion AG, Switzerland IECB, Bangladesh Housatonic Software, USA K-SOL, Italy Evaluation Terms 10 day trial 30 day trial 15 day trial 30 views 30 day trial Price, Single License, USD $34.95 46.00 $30.00 $29.99 $ 29.00 Volume Discounts? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Site License Available? Yes No Yes Yes Yes Support Web, Phone, Email Web form Web, Email Web, Email Email only The file used to test performance can be downloaded here (9 MB). Compatibility (Opened all files in our test) Yes No No No No Performance (time to open 6k task file) Excellent (11 secs) Poor (over 2 minutes) Could not open test file. Average (25.5 secs) Poor (over 2 minutes) Core Views (Gantt, Network Diagram, Calendar, etc) Yes Gantt only Gantt only Yes Some One-click Navigation Yes No No No No Search built-in search engine, free text search No No restricted by fields No Export Yes No No Yes No Ease of Use Easiest to use Missing many key features Missing many key features Missing some key features Missing many key features Detail Views Split Window No No Popup Window Popup Window Remembers Customized Views Yes cannot customize views No No No Filters Yes Yes No Yes No Platforms Windows, Mac, Linux, Unix Windows, Mac, Linux, Unix Windows, Mac, Linux, Unix Windows Windows