Microsoft Project is built for scheduling: tasks, dependencies, baselines, critical path, and resource assignments. Many firms also relied on Project Online timesheets to record actual hours, and Project Online retired on 30 September 2026. Microsoft now points most customers to Planner, with Project Server Subscription Edition or Dynamics 365 Project Operations for heavier needs. Keito covers the part of the job that bills clients: AI-drafted time entries each person confirms, approved by a reviewer, priced at their billing rate, and turned into invoices and client-ready reports at a flat workspace price.
If you need Gantt charts, critical path, and baselines, stay in the Microsoft family: Planner and Project Plan 3 or Project desktop still handle scheduling. If the real gap is the timesheet and billing workflow that Project Online used to hold, Keito is the alternative for that job. People confirm AI-drafted entries against client projects and tasks, a reviewer approves them at each person’s billing rate, and approved hours become invoices, client reports, and Stripe payments, with invoices copied to QuickBooks Online or Xero on Business.
Illustrative timesheet review
Illustrative billing period
Hours approved
Entries confirmed
236
Client projects
11
Team members
14
Actual hours by project and task
Client, project, task, and billable status on every entry
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
Microsoft Project teams typically plan work in Project desktop, Project for the web, or Planner, then record actual hours in Project Online or Project Server timesheets, Excel, or a separate time tool, and build client invoices in accounting software. With Project Online retired, the timesheet step needs a new home, and Planner is a task and scheduling tool rather than a billing timesheet. Keito handles the actual-hours, approval, and invoicing steps in one workspace while your schedule stays wherever you plan it.
Create the clients, projects, and tasks your team bills against, with project budgets by total hours, total fees, task, or person. Keep the schedule in Microsoft Project or Planner; Keito does not import or edit Microsoft Project plans.
Keito drafts time entries from the work a person did for them to confirm against the right client, project, and task. Outlook Calendar reviewed imports can turn selected meetings into time entries on every plan.
On Pro and Business, a reviewer approves timesheets before the period closes. Approved hours become Keito estimates, invoices, recurring invoices, and client-ready reports, with Stripe invoice payments.
Scheduling tool or billable-hours tool
Microsoft’s Planner pricing page (checked 2026-10-15) lists Planner Plan 1 at $10 USD per user per month and Planner and Project Plan 3, which adds baselines, critical path, the Assignments view, and the Project desktop app, at $30 USD per user per month, both paid yearly. Microsoft retired Project Online on 30 September 2026, including its Project Web App timesheets, and recommends Planner, Project Server Subscription Edition, or Dynamics 365 Project Operations depending on the organisation. None of the Planner plans is a client invoicing product. Keito is not a Gantt scheduler, critical-path engine, or portfolio tool, so it is not a like-for-like replacement for Microsoft Project. 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 Microsoft Project or Planner when the core need is scheduling: dependencies, baselines, critical path, and resource assignments
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: run Keito alongside your Microsoft schedule and compare invoices built from approved hours with your current export-and-rebuild process
Workflow fit
Keito keeps Microsoft Project alternative connected to client, project, billable status, approval, and invoice context before the work reaches finance.
Choose Microsoft Project or Planner when the core need is scheduling: dependencies, baselines, critical path, and resource assignments
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: run Keito alongside your Microsoft schedule and compare invoices built from approved hours with your current export-and-rebuild process
Project’s effort, work, and assignment fields describe planned work. Keito records the actual time: it drafts an entry from the work done, and the person confirms and corrects it against the right client, project, and task, marking what is billable.
Microsoft prices Planner and Project 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. Project budgets track hours or fees against what you planned.
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 publishes Planner and Project for scheduling: tasks, dependencies, Gantt timelines, baselines, critical path, and portfolios.
Timesheets
AI drafts an entry from the work done; the person confirms it against a client, project, and task, and a reviewer approves it on Pro and Business.
Project Online timesheets retired on 30 September 2026; Project Server Subscription Edition and Dynamics 365 Project Operations are Microsoft’s remaining timesheet routes.
Rates and approvals
Per-member billing rates, timesheet approvals, and project-scoped approval workflows on Pro and Business.
Project desktop can hold resource cost rates for planned cost; Planner has no billing-rate approval workflow.
Invoicing
Estimates, invoices, and recurring invoices built from approved hours on every paid plan, with Stripe payments.
No client invoicing in Planner or Project; teams export to accounting software or move to Dynamics 365 Project Operations.
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.
Planner Plan 1 at $10 USD and Planner and Project Plan 3 at $30 USD per user per month, paid yearly (checked 2026-10-15).
Working together
Keep your schedule in Microsoft; Keito tracks, approves, and invoices the actual hours. Outlook Calendar reviewed imports work on every plan.
Keeps plans, dependencies, and resource schedules; Keito never edits Microsoft Project or Planner files.
It is software a team uses instead of, or alongside, Microsoft Project, Microsoft’s scheduling tool for tasks, dependencies, baselines, and critical path. Some teams move to another planner such as Smartsheet, Wrike, or monday.com. Firms that bill clients by the hour often need a better home for actual billable time instead. Keito is that alternative: AI-drafted time each person confirms, approved by a reviewer, then turned into invoices and client reports.
Microsoft retired Project Online on 30 September 2026, and its Project Web App timesheets and reporting stopped with it. Microsoft recommends Planner for most teams, Project Server Subscription Edition for on-premises project and portfolio management, and Dynamics 365 Project Operations for timesheet- and resource-heavy organisations. Planner does not provide billing timesheets, so many teams now need a separate tool for actual hours and approvals. Keito covers that step and turns approved hours into invoices.
Microsoft Project tracks planned work, effort, and assignments, and Project desktop can calculate planned cost from resource cost rates. It does not send client invoices, and Planner has no billing timesheet or invoicing feature. Teams that bill clients usually export hours to Excel or accounting software. Keito records actual hours, approves them at each person’s billing rate, and builds estimates, invoices, recurring invoices, and client reports from approved time.
Microsoft’s Planner pricing page (checked 2026-10-15) lists 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.
Keep Microsoft Project or Planner when the main need is scheduling: Gantt timelines, dependencies with lead and lag, baselines, critical path, and portfolios. Keito is not a scheduling engine, so it is the wrong choice for replacing those. Many teams keep both: Microsoft for the plan, and Keito for capturing actual billable hours, approving them at each person’s rate, and invoicing from approved time.
Keito does not import Microsoft Project plans or Project Online timesheet exports directly. Keep your exported timesheet history as the archive, set up clients, projects, and tasks in Keito, and start the next billing period there, running it alongside your Microsoft schedule. Developers can also create time entries through the Keito API with an Administrator-created full-access integration key if older hours need to be backfilled.
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.
