# RationalPlan Reviews **Vendor:** Stand By Soft **Category:** [Project Management Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/project-management) **Average Rating:** 4.6/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 23 ## About RationalPlan RationalPlan is a project management software that follows the general recommended guidelines from project management domain. Its main goal is to make the process of planning projects as short and as straightforward as possible, guiding novice project managers through each step but offering enough tools to those more experienced. It was designed to assist project managers in developing plans, allocating resources, tracking progress, managing budgets and analyzing workload. Useful for project planning, project scheduling and project tracking. If you are working in the area of construction, engineering, services&consulting, business, software development or even working on a simple student project then you can use RationalPlan. It will help you to complete your project as scheduled, on time and within budget. If you have projects that are interrelated that is certain tasks from one project depend on other tasks from the other projects then you should opt in for a Multi Project version. Even more... you should choose a Multi Project version if you have resources that are working in multiple projects. Otherwise the Single Project version is enough. For more powerful features and increased collaboration the Server version is the way to go. Here are some key reasons for using RationalPlan Project Management Software: \* manage your company's projects and share resources between them \* provides a clean way to break down your project, build schedules, allocate resources, and manage budgets \* get resources and finances under control (realistic cost estimates mechanisms, screening cash-flow time distribution for tasks and resources) \* gives you a step by step project guide that walks you through the project management process so you can lay down a project plan immediately \* track project evolution regarding task's completion, time and costs \* brings project's critical issues to your attention The application is covering project management area from WBS construction, project planning and scheduling to critical path management, overallocated resources detection, project and task tracking, cost estimation. ## RationalPlan Reviews ### 1. Planning is organizing, not programming! **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Jan N. | Teamleader, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 23, 2019 **What do you like best about RationalPlan?** When I want to "plan", I should not think about how to use a software packet. This should come by intuition. And, that is how I feel when I use your soft. **What do you dislike about RationalPlan?** I can not find anything that I would possibly dislike **Recommendations to others considering RationalPlan:** easy and intuitive way of using **What problems is RationalPlan solving and how is that benefiting you?** just starting up with the soft. ### 2. Great Software for Project Management **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Dave A. | Project Manager, Telecommunications, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 11, 2018 **What do you like best about RationalPlan?** I really like this software. It has a WBS portion to help construct your project ans it also has a Risk management Area. These are 2 features that really set this apart from other basic task tracking software. Don't get me wrong it does have task tracking and a Gantt View for schedule. **What do you dislike about RationalPlan?** The only thing I would like is a mobile app. I am out of the office and a mobile app would make this software so much better. **Recommendations to others considering RationalPlan:** Give it a try it is really nice software. **What problems is RationalPlan solving and how is that benefiting you?** We used this software to create an internal tech training project. ### 3. Simple but effective **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Martin W. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 02, 2018 **What do you like best about RationalPlan?** I have been planning projects lasting months with several workstreams and dependencies between activities. It allows me to do this in a simple enough way to be effective **What do you dislike about RationalPlan?** I haven't really found anything to dislike! **Recommendations to others considering RationalPlan:** Worth considering **What problems is RationalPlan solving and how is that benefiting you?** Both the creation of the plan, and the communication of it ### 4. BRILLIANT PROGRAME **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Construction | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 02, 2018 **What do you like best about RationalPlan?** Ease of use, clear gantt chart and useful for budgeting **What do you dislike about RationalPlan?** Cant shorten the bars from the left side by drawing them **Recommendations to others considering RationalPlan:** I have tried nearly every program available for gantt charts and this one beats them all as far as im concerned **What problems is RationalPlan solving and how is that benefiting you?** construction of 45 houses, ideal for programming time lines and resources ### 5. Multi Project **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Recreational Facilities and Services | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 02, 2018 **What do you like best about RationalPlan?** The ability to set up a projects and track the progress **What do you dislike about RationalPlan?** it is not very easy to learn are your own. Needed to have an instructor/expert **What problems is RationalPlan solving and how is that benefiting you?** employee are more productive and timely ### 6. Simple and easy to use **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Luv L. | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 03, 2018 **What do you like best about RationalPlan?** Ability to export to PDF and also to MS Project via XML. **What do you dislike about RationalPlan?** Sometimes the XML export doesn’t work for all users **What problems is RationalPlan solving and how is that benefiting you?** Ability to create project plans using a Mac computer. ### 7. Gantt Charts **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Renewables & Environment | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 02, 2018 **What do you like best about RationalPlan?** I like the simplicity of the program and ease of use while still having enough functions to create meaningful schedules. **What do you dislike about RationalPlan?** At times I run across buggy issues while using the program that keeps lines highlighted. **What problems is RationalPlan solving and how is that benefiting you?** The ability to create clear Gantt charts with dependencies. ### 8. One word: Amazing **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Rui Miguel C. | Owner and Consultant, Computer Software, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 20, 2015 **What do you like best about RationalPlan?** Transitioning from Windows to Linux became a challenge when it comes to Project Management software. I though nothing could beat MS Project and until finding RationalPlan, all the applications I tested were either buggy or seriously missing features. It was a huge relief finding RationalPlan as (almost) all of the features I expected were there, and even more. The product is solid, extremely intuitive, extremely helpful and don't think this as unimportant, it looks good! Absolutely nothing to complain about on the usability front. It is very clear lots of investment has been made so the application is a doddle to use. On thing it does not have and possibly rightfully so, automatic leveling. This is completely compensated by a flawless manual leveling interface. After using it for a while I started understanding the idea behind the decision of not doing auto leveling and it started making sense. Moreover, it has excellent reports and I absolutely loved the fact that they are customizable so I can export them and send them directly to customers without having to worry about branding issues. Spectacular! The other lovely feature is the fact that it makes it very easy to send emails concerning the project. I have only tested the Single version, on which I got all this for free, but the prices are very acceptable as even the Multi version will take no one to bankruptcy. Even small companies should be able to afford it. The bottom line is that I intend using it even if getting back to Windows. Amazing value! **What do you dislike about RationalPlan?** The fact that it took me so long and too much pain before I discovered the existence of this application! **Recommendations to others considering RationalPlan:** Try it! **What problems is RationalPlan solving and how is that benefiting you?** I am budgeting custom made software development projects. ### 9. Great project planner **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Banking | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 10, 2015 **What do you like best about RationalPlan?** Simple and straight forward project planner. The quality is in the ease of use and functionality. RationalPlan is a tool I use in every project. Helps to organize the stages of a project (I use the Multi version)/phases and all the activities. Nowadays I even use it to calculate costs and resources (hours) to plan the project portfolio. Support from RationalPlan is exceeding expectation. Prompt and correct response. The team solves issues swiftly. **What do you dislike about RationalPlan?** The reports on costs and resource usage are very detailled. I would prefer an overview of highlights on resource capacity (though I can present it on a screen, printing it is not really easy). Next to that I would like to print a full project report (front page, financial overview, gantt, resources and costs) in 1 print. Risk management is still minimalistic (for most sufficient though). **Recommendations to others considering RationalPlan:** Easy to use tool for starting, medior and senior project managers. For senior users RationalPlan could lack on some functionality (sophisticated resource leveling e.g.). Something I never use/do. **What problems is RationalPlan solving and how is that benefiting you?** Project planning; resource planning (multi projects); fast adjustments in complex projects with a lot of changes during the start-up of the project(s). ### 10. Love it more than MS Project **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Tanya F. | Director of Executive Project Development, Hospital & Health Care, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 09, 2015 **What do you like best about RationalPlan?** I like that it is web-based and easily compatible with Mac, and it has similar features to MS Project which made it very easy to switch. It has all of the task and Gantt Chart features that the executives work with want to see. It integrates with Outlook, so tasks can be emailed to responsible staff. The export to PDF is great for sharing a snapshot of all the tasks in the entire project along with the Gantt Chart. **What do you dislike about RationalPlan?** The export to Excel loses the tier levels of the tasks and subtasks. There's no way to set up emails on tasks that are late. The main way to track tasks is by manually entering the percentage of work completed. **Recommendations to others considering RationalPlan:** This is a great product for anyone comfortable using MS. Project but wanting to get others in the company more involved and participating with updates. **What problems is RationalPlan solving and how is that benefiting you?** I am using Rational Plan as a MS Project substitute and have greatly benefitted from the PDF export which allows me to quickly provide a copy of any project for status at executive meetings. ### 11. Excellent Teaching Project Software Tool **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Roy W. | Lecturer, Higher Education, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 29, 2015 **What do you like best about RationalPlan?** I have over the last 4years, have used RationalPlan software successfully as a teaching aid for Project Management at James Cook Univeristy. I find it is well supported, intuitive to use and the students are confident and competent in its use in less than one hours tuition, which allows teaching and learning to be a more rewarding process for all. Students have been able to successfully develop highly detailed and well constructed plans with the use of this tool. The steps take away anxiety with the software's inbuilt guides and hints and its ability to quickly transform schedules into budget costs which non-accounting students are very pleased with. At the end of the subject they are very proficient with this project tool and have found it easy to translate into other industry compliant project software. I would highly recommend this as a great tool for teaching project management & planning. This tool delivers at a fraction of the cost what other much more expensive software does. **What do you dislike about RationalPlan?** I have none and find this latest version smoother to use than previous and have found that each upgrade is delivering a better finished product and very good value. **What problems is RationalPlan solving and how is that benefiting you?** Teaching Project Planning to Tertiary students. Students who have utilised this class have gone on to use the software in developing plans and schedules for group assignments in other tertiary subjects and in planning their PhD. In teaching, this tool delivers the ability of much more sophisticated software at a level that reduces anxiety in students and allows better learning to be acquired. ### 12. compatible and better that MS Project **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** David M. | Director, Real Estate, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 25, 2015 **What do you like best about RationalPlan?** As a project manager we use GANTT charts to understand where we are. We run RationalPan our own server and it is fantastic value for money. **What do you dislike about RationalPlan?** There is nothing really to say here, if you know and like Microsoft Project then this fits the bill and exceeds. **Recommendations to others considering RationalPlan:** Trial the software, import an existing Microsoft project plan and play. You wont go back! **What problems is RationalPlan solving and how is that benefiting you?** We run multiple engineering and construction projects and use RationalPlan to control everything from concept to close out. The additional enhancements like risk control are a value add that we find extremely useful. ### 13. Best choice I found for my small projects **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Rick S. | Environmental health researcher; visiting research scientist, Research, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 05, 2015 **What do you like best about RationalPlan?** I need a project planning/mgmt tool that is simple to use, fast to learn, and has the basics. Something that allows me to create project timelines, with lag times and other standard constraints and interdependencies. I do not have time to learn the more complex tools, and rationalplan has filled the void for me. **What do you dislike about RationalPlan?** It looks like it's built in Java. Does not use the OS X interface elements, such as the Save dialog box. It works though and it is usable. **Recommendations to others considering RationalPlan:** as noted in product review **What problems is RationalPlan solving and how is that benefiting you?** I am just trying to manage simple research projects in which I have very few people working on the project, and so just want to get a basic idea of how lag times and other interdependencies will effects when major project phases are likely to complete. ### 14. Incomparable Value **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Steve F. | Manager, Automotive, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 09, 2015 **What do you like best about RationalPlan?** An easy-to-use project management tool with dependencies and a gantt chart for a tiny fraction of the MS project price, and it doesn't slow down my poor bloated laptop. It generates pdfs and it's file can be viewed by anyone with a free viewer **What do you dislike about RationalPlan?** Filters on the different columns could be easier to use, and so could levelling resources; however, they are just a thing to learn and they work fine once you do so **Recommendations to others considering RationalPlan:** Buy it **What problems is RationalPlan solving and how is that benefiting you?** I have used this program for building a school with a large team and for a personal task list that had complicated dependencies, and everything in between. ### 15. Best project scheduling alternative to Microsoft Project **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Sandra K. | Project Manager, Project Management Office, Hospital & Health Care, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 12, 2015 **What do you like best about RationalPlan?** This tool, unlike many others my organization investigated, is based on sound project management principles. the sidebar "Project Guide" walks the user through the basis process of setting up, planning, and controlling the project. We were especially impressed that the WBS view keeps the focus on the tasks, before moving on to identification of predecessors and dates. It also offers the functionality of assigning and leveling resources at the correct stage of the project scheduling process. Once you have experienced the right-click functionality to indent/outdent tasks, add predecessors, etc., you might not want to ever go back to MS Project. The email support is reliable, fast, and friendly, regardless of the time of day. The free Viewer allowing users to open MS Project files is fantastic. **What do you dislike about RationalPlan?** Some of the language used to describe Fixed Units vs Fixed Work tasks is somewhat awkward. we have also found that it does not play well with WebEx, which we use to train remote users. **Recommendations to others considering RationalPlan:** If you are a non-profit organization, this is the number one best, most cost-effective tool for managing project schedules. **What problems is RationalPlan solving and how is that benefiting you?** Our organization conducted an exhaustive search of project scheduling tool vendors. Our criteria included: - Based on sound project management principles - User-friendly interface - Lower cost than MS Project - User/administrator support - Most of the functionality described below: Must have Features: - Gantt Chart view - Automatic duration/finish date calculation - Manual date entry option - Import function - Reports Nice to have features: - Non-working time calendars - Multiple dependency types RationalPlan was the only tool that met all these criteria. ### 16. Managing projects on a Mac in a windows environment **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Research | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 04, 2016 **What do you like best about RationalPlan?** Fully featured. Easy to learn. Does a full import of mpp files. **What do you dislike about RationalPlan?** As far as I can tell, I cannot export to mpp files. I guess it is doable through a xml file, but this is implies an extra step I don´t want my colleagues to have to do. **What problems is RationalPlan solving and how is that benefiting you?** We work in development of scientific equipment in an operational setting. The group includes scientists, many using Macs, and engineers, mostly using windows and microsoft project. ### 17. Rational Plan project planning software **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Joseph M. | Owner, Utilities, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 18, 2015 **What do you like best about RationalPlan?** This is the best alternative to Microsoft Project I have seen. It is much easier to use for either a very simple project or to expand as much as you wish for more complexity. I have used many planning software products going back many years to when these programs were only on mainframes. I have a small business now and use it for keeping things on track and also to estimate projects. I would recommend this to anyone. **What do you dislike about RationalPlan?** Not much. I have a little trouble printing portions of a project. **Recommendations to others considering RationalPlan:** If you, like me, want project management functionality for small to medium sized projects, and only spend a portion of your time on project planning, I would recommend this program. It is easy to use, and easy to make changes. **What problems is RationalPlan solving and how is that benefiting you?** Exploring how to manage my time on multiple projects. Estimating project durations and cost. Staying on track with projects. **Official Response from Tiberiu Ghioca:** > Thank you, Joseph! We are glad that you like it. ### 18. Lightweight and fully featured alternative to Microsoft Project at a fraction of the costs **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Christoph R. | CIO, Head of Software Engineering, Mechanical or Industrial Engineering, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 22, 2015 **What do you like best about RationalPlan?** RationalPlan is a lightweight and fully featured alternative to Microsoft Project at a fraction of the costs. For our company it was important to get a system which fits into the existing IT budget and allows collaboration throughout the company. Therefore we choose to use RatioinalPlan server which fulfills all our current requirements. **What do you dislike about RationalPlan?** A few years back we had some issues with the upload of projects to the server. However all these issues could be solved after we reported them to the very friendly development team. Sometimes we find a missing feature but there is often a way around it - or we suggest it to the RationalPlan developers (some of them then find their way into the an upcoming release). **What problems is RationalPlan solving and how is that benefiting you?** We now have a consolidated and therefore efficient and effective planning environment used by all employees at our company. ### 19. It works as a very competent project management tool, and is free on Ubuntu for single-use **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Information Technology and Services | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 23, 2015 **What do you like best about RationalPlan?** It works as a very competent project management tool, and is free on Ubuntu for single-use. It will open and save MS Project files - which helps with sharing plans. **What do you dislike about RationalPlan?** Could do with additional analytics (unless these are on more expensive version) No full open-source edition (esp for Windows) **What problems is RationalPlan solving and how is that benefiting you?** Planning relatively simple projects and sharing with other teams ### 20. Good alternative to MS Project **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Edward R. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 13, 2015 **What do you like best about RationalPlan?** Value! MS Project is a hugely expensive piece of software. I needed something better than a spreadsheet but couldn't justify Microsoft's juggernaut. **What do you dislike about RationalPlan?** The learning curve. This is the same with whatever software I chose but the documentation was a little lacking (MS Project is well documented with books etc to supplement the manual). **What problems is RationalPlan solving and how is that benefiting you?** Ongoing planning and scheduling. Spreadsheets weren't good at moving tasks about. ### 21. great project software, the best for Linux! **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Stefano F. | CTO, VP Engineering, Wireless, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 28, 2015 **What do you like best about RationalPlan?** It's clean and easy to use. Definitely the best for Linux (I use Ubuntu) **What do you dislike about RationalPlan?** The printing functionality could be improved to make it easier to create a PDF to send to customer (it should be easier add comments, additional information like project name, ecc) **Recommendations to others considering RationalPlan:** keep improving compatibility with microsoft project, keep an eye on usability **What problems is RationalPlan solving and how is that benefiting you?** create plans and share it with team and customers **Official Response from Tiberiu Ghioca:** > Thank you for the review, Stefano! Just a side note - starting with version 4.7 RationalPlan Single is distributed as freeware on Linux operating systems: http://www.rationalplan.com/projectmanagementblog/rationalplan-single-is-distributed-as-freeware-on-linux-operating-systems/ ### 22. Best Multi-Platform project manager **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Benjamin M. | CTO, Information Technology and Services, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 07, 2015 **What do you like best about RationalPlan?** Working on a multidisciplinary group we always have people working in different OS. This is the best alternative for us. Is a complete project management tool. **What do you dislike about RationalPlan?** better integration with MSProject is some times needed, but in general is a complete tool for me. **Recommendations to others considering RationalPlan:** Yes, specially if you need to share projects between different OS. **What problems is RationalPlan solving and how is that benefiting you?** Exploring how to manage my time on multiple projects. ### 23. Great Project Management Software **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Ariel L. | Senior geophysical interpreter, Oil & Energy, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 02, 2015 **What do you like best about RationalPlan?** Simple, llightweight, multi-user, excellent customer support that usually respods in less than an hour. **What do you dislike about RationalPlan?** None. Rational Plan fills our needs perfectly. **What problems is RationalPlan solving and how is that benefiting you?** We use Rational Plan for our local office project management. - [View RationalPlan pricing details and edition comparison](https://www.g2.com/products/rationalplan/reviews?section=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-05-16+19%3A24%3A41+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=d61b49dc-040a-4ae4-8e61-11f318d3b224&secure%5Btoken%5D=bf0cd845ec14cc509d8dbc14dd7b020106ffa12099a2427916b5630778f9a9bc&format=llm_user) ## RationalPlan Features **Tasks** - Creation & Assignment - Due Dates - Task Prioritization - To-Do Lists - Dependencies - Mass Updates - Drag & Drop - Recurring Tasks **Projects** - Planning - Project Map - GANTT - Calendar View - Views - Project Budgeting - Issue Tracking - Templates - Critical Path - Time & Expense - Methodologies **Time Tracking** - Ease of Completing Timesheets - Tracking Time to Project/Task - Billable Time Rate Management **Resource Management** - Resource Definiton - Capacity - Scheduling **Project Monitoring** - Baselining / KPIs - Resource Allocation - Dashboards **Generative AI** - AI Text Generation - AI Text Summarization **Agentic AI - Project Management** - Autonomous Task Execution - Multi-step Planning - Cross-system Integration - Adaptive Learning - Natural Language Interaction - Proactive Assistance - Decision Making **Administration** - Automated Reminders - User, Role, and Access Management **Platform** - Reporting - APIs / Integration - Internationalization - Performance and Reliability - Offline ## Top RationalPlan Alternatives - [Smartsheet](https://www.g2.com/products/smartsheet/reviews) - 4.4/5.0 (21,552 reviews) - [Wrike](https://www.g2.com/products/wrike/reviews) - 4.2/5.0 (4,448 reviews) - [Planview AdaptiveWork](https://www.g2.com/products/planview-adaptivework/reviews) - 4.1/5.0 (519 reviews)