Microsoft Planner organises tasks in Microsoft 365 and Teams: boards, grids, schedules, and, on paid plans, sprints, Gantt timelines, and dependencies. It estimates effort, but it does not keep a timesheet of the hours people actually worked or turn them into invoices. Keito covers that part of the job: actual time logged by client, project, and task, approved by a reviewer at each person’s billing rate, and turned into invoices and client-ready reports at a flat workspace price.
If you only need a different task board, Trello, Asana, or monday.com are the usual Planner alternatives. If the real gap is billable time, Keito is the alternative for that job. Planner tracks tasks, effort estimates, and progress, but it has no timesheet, billing rates, or invoicing. In Keito, people log actual hours against client projects and tasks, a reviewer approves them at each person’s billing rate on Pro and Business, and approved hours become invoices, client reports, and Stripe payments. Many teams keep Planner for the plan and use Keito for the hours.
Illustrative timesheet review
Illustrative billing period
Hours approved
Entries confirmed
184
Client projects
9
Team members
11
Actual hours by client, project, and task
Billable status and notes on every entry, separate from Planner effort estimates
Timesheets approved at the member’s rate
A reviewer approves hours priced at per-member billing rates
Invoice from approved time
Approved hours become invoice lines, a client report, and a Stripe payment link
Teams on Microsoft Planner usually plan client work as tasks in a Teams channel or the Planner web app, then record hours somewhere else: an Excel sheet, a Microsoft Form, or a separate time tracker. At month end someone totals the hours by client, applies rates, and types an invoice into accounting software. Planner handles the task list well; the gap is a reviewed record of billable time. Keito handles the hours, the approval, and the invoice in one workspace while the plan stays in Planner.
Create the clients, projects, and tasks your team bills against, with project budgets by total hours, total fees, task, or person. Keito does not import Planner plans or sync with Planner tasks, so you set up the billing structure once and keep planning in Planner.
Run a timer in the web app, the Mac, Windows, or iOS app, or the Chrome extension, or add completed time. Pull meetings from Outlook or Google Calendar, map each event to a project and task, and save only what you worked. AI assistants such as Claude Desktop or ChatGPT can also log entries through Keito’s hosted MCP connector.
On Pro and Business, timekeepers submit timesheets and a reviewer approves them at each person’s billing rate. By default, Keito invoices include only approved billable time and expenses, and invoices can be paid through Stripe.
Task planner or billable-hours tool
Microsoft’s Planner pricing page (checked 2026-10-19) lists three tiers: Planner included in Microsoft 365 with Grid, Board, Schedule, and Charts views; Planner Plan 1 at $10 USD per user per month, which adds sprints, dependencies, and Timeline (Gantt), People, and Goals views; and Planner and Project Plan 3 at $30 USD per user per month, which adds baselines, critical path, the Assignments view, and the Project desktop app, both paid yearly. Planner plans carry effort and duration estimates, but none of them is a timesheet or client invoicing product. Keito is not a task board, sprint planner, or Gantt scheduler, so it is not a like-for-like replacement for Planner. Its case is that actual billable hours, their approval, and the invoice built from them belong in one reviewed record at a published flat price.
Choose Planner, or another task tool such as Trello or Asana, when the core need is organising tasks, sprints, and schedules inside Microsoft 365
Choose Keito when the problem is billable hours: capturing actual time by client and project, approving it at each person’s rate, and invoicing from approved time
Prove it in one billing period: keep Planner for the plan, log hours in Keito, and compare the invoice with the one you built from spreadsheets last month
Workflow fit
Keito keeps Microsoft Planner alternative connected to client, project, billable status, approval, and invoice context before the work reaches finance.
Choose Planner, or another task tool such as Trello or Asana, when the core need is organising tasks, sprints, and schedules inside Microsoft 365
Choose Keito when the problem is billable hours: capturing actual time by client and project, approving it at each person’s rate, and invoicing from approved time
Prove it in one billing period: keep Planner for the plan, log hours in Keito, and compare the invoice with the one you built from spreadsheets last month
Planner’s effort and duration fields describe how long a task should take. Keito records how long it did take: each entry carries the client, project, task, person, duration, notes, and billable status, captured by timer, manual entry, reviewed calendar import, or an AI assistant.
Microsoft prices Planner Plan 1 and Plan 3 per user. Keito Pro, at $49 USD/month per workspace with no per-user fees, includes timesheet and expense approvals, project-scoped approval workflows, per-member billing rates, and team capacity and utilization.
Planner has no invoicing. Keito builds estimates, invoices, recurring invoices, and client-ready reports from approved hours, with Stripe invoice payments, and copies invoices to QuickBooks Online or Xero on Business so the books stay in your accounting tool.
The difference is not just recording time. It is whether the record can support billing, project decisions, and client conversations.
Product shape
A workspace for time and expense tracking, reviewed billable hours, project budgets, estimates, invoices, and client reporting.
Microsoft describes Planner as task management and project planning in Microsoft 365 and Teams: boards, grids, schedules, sprints, and Gantt timelines.
Time tracking
Timers, manual entries, reviewed Outlook or Google Calendar imports, and entries from AI assistants, the API, or the CLI, each tied to a client, project, and task.
Effort and duration estimates on tasks; no timesheet of actual hours worked in any Planner tier.
Rates and approvals
Per-member billing rates, timesheet approvals, and project-scoped approval workflows on Pro and Business.
Task assignments and progress tracking; no billing rates or timesheet approval workflow.
Invoicing
Estimates, invoices, and recurring invoices built from approved hours on every paid plan, with Stripe payments.
No client invoicing; teams export hours to Excel or accounting software.
Pricing
Published flat pricing: Solo $19 USD/month for one licensed user; Pro $49 USD/month and Business $199 USD/month per workspace, with no per-user fees.
Basic Planner included in Microsoft 365; Planner Plan 1 at $10 USD and Planner and Project Plan 3 at $30 USD per user per month, paid yearly (checked 2026-10-19).
Working together
Keep your tasks in Planner; Keito tracks, approves, and invoices the actual hours. Outlook Calendar reviewed imports work on every plan.
Keeps plans, tasks, and schedules; Keito does not read or change Planner plans.
It depends on the gap. If you want a different task board, teams often look at Trello, Asana, or monday.com. If Planner works for tasks but you bill clients by the hour, the missing piece is a timesheet and invoicing tool. Keito is that alternative: people log actual hours against client projects and tasks, a reviewer approves them at each person’s billing rate, and approved hours become invoices and client reports.
Not in the timesheet sense. Planner tasks can carry effort and duration estimates, and Planner Plan 1 adds sprints and Gantt timelines, but no Planner tier records the actual hours each person worked or approves them for billing. Project Online timesheets retired on 30 September 2026. Teams that bill clients usually log hours in Excel or a separate tool such as Keito.
Microsoft’s pricing page (checked 2026-10-19) lists basic Planner as included in Microsoft 365, Planner Plan 1 at $10 USD per user per month, and Planner and Project Plan 3 at $30 USD per user per month, both paid yearly. Keito publishes flat workspace pricing: Solo at $19 USD/month for one licensed user, Pro at $49 USD/month with timesheet approvals and billing rates, and Business at $199 USD/month, with no per-user fees.
Yes, and that is the usual setup. Keito does not sync with Planner, so you keep tasks and schedules in Planner and set up the clients, projects, and tasks you bill against in Keito once. People then log time in Keito by timer, manual entry, reviewed Outlook or Google Calendar imports, or an AI assistant, and the approved hours flow into invoices.
Keito has no Planner import. Keep your old Excel or exported timesheets as the archive, set up clients, projects, tasks, and billing rates in Keito, and start the next billing period there. Run one period alongside your current process and compare the invoices before switching. Developers can backfill older hours through the Keito API.
Each approved entry carries the client, project, task, person, duration, notes, billable status, and billing rate. By default, Keito invoices include only approved billable time and expenses. Keito builds invoices, estimates, and recurring invoices from them, accepts Stripe payments, and produces time and budget reports by client and project; on Business, invoices can be copied to QuickBooks Online or Xero.
Solo includes 1 licensed user, unlimited AI agents, Mac, Windows, and iOS apps, Stripe payments, and standard CSV and Excel exports. Pro adds your team. Business adds integrations, planning, advanced reporting, and stronger controls.
1 licensed user
For independent consultants, freelancers, and small studios running work with AI agents.
Flat workspace price for 1 licensed user
Team collaboration
For teams that need shared workspaces, approvals, and team-level project visibility.
Flat workspace price with no per-user fees
Advanced operations
For organizations that need integrations, planning, advanced reporting, and stronger controls.
Flat workspace price with no per-user fees
Optional Business add-on: Microsoft Entra SSO.
View add-on and pricingAI agents do not require licenses on any plan.
Solo, Pro, and Business can use API keys for agent workflows.
Solo, Pro, and Business include standard CSV and Excel data export.
Start with Solo, add people on Pro when you need reviewers or collaborators, and see how Keito turns tracked effort into clearer reports.
