Microsoft Planner as a kanban board: what it handles and what it leaves out
If your organization has Microsoft 365, the Microsoft kanban board you already have is Planner. Every plan in Planner has a Board view: buckets as columns, tasks as cards, drag to move. It runs in the Planner web app and as a tab in Microsoft Teams, and it costs nothing extra on top of Microsoft 365. For a team that wants a shared board quickly, that is usually the right first answer.
The details are where teams get surprised. Some features people expect from a kanban tool, such as creating dependencies, a timeline view, sprints and subtasks, sit in a paid add-on licence. Others, such as baselines and task history, sit in a higher one. Microsoft also has three other places to run a board: Microsoft Lists, Azure Boards and Project. This guide sets out what each tier includes as of October 8, 2026, the documented limits that matter day to day, and how to set up a Planner board so it behaves like a working kanban system rather than a shared to-do list.
What the board in Planner actually is
A plan in Planner is a container for tasks, attached to a Microsoft 365 group. The Board view shows tasks grouped into columns. By default the columns are buckets, which you create and name yourself, so "To do", "Doing", "Review", "Done" is a five-minute setup. Each card shows its title, assignees, due date, labels and checklist progress.
Two details make Planner's board different from a classic kanban board:
- Buckets and progress are separate. Every task also has a progress state (Not started, In progress, Completed). Moving a card to a "Done" bucket does not complete it, and completing a task does not move it. Teams that do not decide which one is the truth end up with two conflicting answers.
- The board can be regrouped. Board view can group by bucket, by progress, by assignee, by due date, by priority or by label. Grouping by assignee is a quick way to see who is overloaded; grouping by due date shows what is late.
According to Microsoft's Planner plans and pricing page, checked on October 8, 2026, the version included in Microsoft 365 provides Grid, Board, Schedule and Chart views, real-time collaboration, files, checklists and labels on tasks, basic and custom plan templates, and the ability to view task dependencies and custom fields. Creating dependencies and custom fields is in the paid tiers.
Basic Planner, Plan 1 and Plan 3 compared
Microsoft sells two add-on licences on top of the Planner included in Microsoft 365. The table below reflects the plans and pricing page on October 8, 2026. Prices are per user per month, paid yearly.
| Planner in Microsoft 365 | Planner Plan 1 | Planner and Project Plan 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Included in Microsoft 365 | $10.00 | $30.00 |
| Board, Grid, Schedule, Chart views | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Calendar, Timeline (Gantt), People views | No | Yes | Yes |
| Create task dependencies | View only | Finish-to-start | Advanced, with lead and lag |
| Subtasks | No | Yes | Yes |
| Backlogs and sprints | No | Yes | Yes |
| Milestones and project goals | No | Yes | Yes |
| Custom task fields | View only | Up to 10 | Up to 10 |
| Task history | No | No | Yes |
| Baselines and critical path | No | No | Yes |
| Project desktop app | No | No | Yes |
Plan 1 lists a one-month free trial. Microsoft 365 Copilot, which adds AI features in Planner such as generated status reports, is a separate add-on at $30.00 per user per month, paid yearly.
The practical reading: the board itself is free. What costs money is everything that connects tasks to time, such as dependencies, a Gantt timeline and sprints. A team that only needs columns and cards does not need the add-on. A team that needs to see how a delay in one task pushes others will be looking at Plan 1 at minimum, and the licence is needed for each person who uses those features.
The limits that matter in daily use
Microsoft documents Planner's limits on its Learn site. The page was last updated on January 14, 2025, and notes that limits can change without notice. As of October 8, 2026, it lists:
| Limit | Value |
|---|---|
| Active (not completed) tasks in a plan | 3,000 |
| Total tasks in a plan | 9,000 |
| Buckets in a plan | 200 |
| Plans owned by a group or user | 400 |
| Assignees on a task | 20 |
| Checklist items on a task | 20 |
| References (links and files) on a task | 15 |
| Users receiving real-time updates for a plan | 100 |
Delta sync lets users passively receive updates in real-time while the app is open. Users beyond the delta-sync limits won't see updates in real-time. Source: learn.microsoft.com
Most small teams never reach the task limits. The one that shows up in daily use is the 20 checklist items per task. A task representing a launch checklist or an onboarding procedure runs past it, and the workaround, splitting one task into several, changes how the board reads. The 100-user real-time limit matters for larger departments that share one plan: people beyond it still see the plan, but changes do not appear live while they have it open.
The other Microsoft kanban boards
Searches for a Microsoft kanban board turn up several products. They are built for different teams.
| Option | Where it lives | Best fit | Cost noted on October 8, 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Planner | Planner web app, Teams | General team task boards | Included in Microsoft 365, add-ons from $10.00 |
| Microsoft Lists, board view | Lists, SharePoint, Teams | Tracking items that are really records, such as requests or assets, with a board as one view | Included with Microsoft 365 plans that include Lists |
| Azure Boards | Azure DevOps | Software teams working with backlogs, sprints, and linked code | Basic plan: first 5 users free, then $6 per user per month |
| Project / Plan 3 | Planner web app, Project desktop | Scheduled projects with dependencies, baselines and critical path | $30.00 per user per month, paid yearly |
Azure Boards deserves a note for software teams: its kanban boards are tied to work items, repositories and pipelines, and Azure DevOps lists its Basic plan as free for the first five users. For a non-technical team, though, its terminology (work items, iterations, area paths) is more than a board needs.
Microsoft Lists is a good fit when each card is really a row with many fields: an equipment register, an intake queue, a content calendar. Its board view groups items by a choice column. It is less suited to a team's day-to-day task flow, because it is built around records and fields rather than tasks with checklists.
Setting up a Planner board that works as kanban
Planner's board becomes a kanban system with a few decisions made up front. A setup that holds up:
- Create the plan inside the team's Teams channel. In the channel, add a tab, choose Planner, and create a new plan. The board then lives where the team already talks, and the plan belongs to the team's Microsoft 365 group.
- Make the buckets the workflow. Rename the default bucket to "Backlog" and add "Ready", "Doing", "Review" and "Done". Keep it to five or six buckets.
- Decide what Done means. Pick one rule and write it in the plan's first task: either "tasks in the Done bucket are marked Completed the same day", or "use Completed only and hide completed tasks". Do not run both.
- Put the WIP limit in the bucket name. Planner has no built-in work-in-progress limit. Naming the bucket "Doing (4)" is a plain but effective substitute.
- Use labels for one dimension only. Rename labels to the type of work, such as Client, Internal, Bug. Using labels for priority as well as type makes the board noisy; Planner has a separate priority field for that.
- Keep checklists short. With a 20-item ceiling, use the checklist for the steps of one task, not as a project plan.
- Review by grouping. In the weekly review, switch Group by to Assigned to, then to Due date. The first shows load; the second shows what is slipping.
The setup takes about half an hour. The bigger decision is whether everyone who needs to work with dates and dependencies will have a Plan 1 licence, or whether the team will live within the included tier.
Where Planner fits and where teams look elsewhere
Planner fits well when the whole team is inside one Microsoft 365 tenant, the work is a flow of tasks rather than a dated schedule, and conversations already happen in Teams. In that setting, the zero added cost and the Teams integration are hard to beat. The plans and pricing page also lists task chat for threaded conversations on a task, and the ability to add collaborators inside and outside your organization.
Teams tend to look at other tools in four situations:
- People outside the tenant need to work on the board regularly. External access runs through guest accounts and Microsoft 365 groups, which an IT administrator may restrict. Contractors and clients on their own email domains are a common friction point.
- Dates matter, and not everyone has a licence. The included tier can view dependencies but not create them, and has no Timeline (Gantt) or Calendar view. Licensing Plan 1 for a team of ten is $100 a month, paid yearly.
- The team works across several clients. Each plan is tied to a group, so a separate plan per client means separate groups, and workload across plans is only visible through Plan 1 or Plan 3 features such as the People view and portfolios.
- The organization is not on Microsoft 365. Planner needs a Microsoft 365 work or school account. A small company on another email platform would be adding a subscription for the board.
In those cases, a standalone board tool may be simpler. These differ mainly in what the free tier includes. Some put kanban, Gantt and calendar boards plus chat on the free plan and limit only the number of people and boards: one such tool, checked on October 8, 2026, is free for up to 5 people and 10 boards, then $5 per user a month ($4 billed annually, excluding tax), with view-only guests not counted. The trade-off is the reverse of Planner's: no Microsoft 365 integration, no Teams tab, and fewer automation options than Power Automate offers. The comparison with Asana and the full comparison list set out how several tools divide their tiers.
What to change first
If the team is on Microsoft 365 and only needs columns and cards, set up Planner in the team's Teams channel today, with WIP limits in the bucket names and one agreed meaning for Done. If the team needs a timeline, dependencies or regular work with outside partners, price Plan 1 for everyone involved and compare it with a board tool such as Pinateca that includes Gantt and calendar boards on the free plan.
Q1. Is Microsoft Planner's kanban board free?
The Board view is included in Microsoft 365 at no extra cost. Features such as creating dependencies, the Timeline (Gantt) view, subtasks and sprints need Planner Plan 1, listed at $10.00 per user per month paid yearly on October 8, 2026. Baselines and critical path need Planner and Project Plan 3 at $30.00.
Q2. Can I set WIP limits on a Planner board?
Planner does not have a built-in work-in-progress limit. The common workaround is to put the limit in the bucket name, such as "Doing (4)", and check it at the stand-up. Azure Boards, aimed at software teams, does support column limits on its kanban boards.
Q3. Does Planner have a Gantt chart?
Yes, but not in the version included in Microsoft 365. The Timeline (Gantt) view comes with Planner Plan 1. The included version has a Schedule view that places tasks on a calendar by due date, which covers simple deadline tracking.
Q4. How many tasks can a Planner board hold?
Microsoft's documented limits are 3,000 active tasks and 9,000 total tasks per plan, with up to 200 buckets. The limit teams notice first is 20 checklist items per task, which affects long procedural tasks.
Q5. Should a software team use Planner or Azure Boards?
Azure Boards is built for software work, with backlogs, sprints, work items linked to code, and configurable kanban columns. Its Basic plan is free for the first five users. Planner is simpler and better for mixed teams where most members are not developers.