RationalPlan
Project management software for planning, tracking, and resource control
About RationalPlan
RationalPlan is a project management platform available as cloud, desktop, and on-premise editions. It helps project managers plan, schedule, and track projects using Gantt charts, resource management, budgeting, and portfolio tools. The cloud edition adds multi-user collaboration with permission controls and browser-based access.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Flexible deployment: cloud, desktop, and on-premise editions of the same product
- Strong traditional PM toolkit (Gantt, critical path, EVM, resource leveling) at low per-seat pricing
- Generous free tier for small teams and solo project managers
- Imports and edits Microsoft Project files without conversion gymnastics
- Portfolio view with shared resources across multiple projects
Cons
- Interface looks dated compared to modern PM tools like Monday or ClickUp
- Light on modern collaboration features (no real-time chat, limited integrations)
- Cloud editions cap projects and tasks below the Production tier
- Smaller third-party ecosystem and community than mainstream competitors
Key Features
Gantt Charts
Visual project planning with dependencies, baselines, and automatic critical-path detection.
Resource Management
Assign resources across projects, track workload, and surface overallocations before they become problems.
Portfolio Management
Manage multiple projects together with shared resources and inter-project dependencies.
Cost & Budget Tracking
Budget estimation, cost management, and Earned Value Management for financial control.
Kanban Board
Organize and move activities through completion stages in a visual Kanban view.
Task Scheduling
Work- or duration-driven activities with dependencies, time constraints, milestones, and recurring tasks.
Document Management
Upload, share, and control access to project documents inside the workspace.
MS Project Integration
Open and edit Microsoft Project files directly within RationalPlan.
Reports & Dashboards
Generate project status reports for stakeholders and executives.
Multi-User Collaboration
Concurrent web access with role-based permissions, comments, and email notifications.
Pricing
- 2 projects
- 100 tasks
- 10 MB storage
- Up to 2 users
- 20 projects
- 700 tasks
- 7 GB storage
- Volume discounts available
- 50 projects
- 2,000 tasks
- 15 GB storage
- Best price-to-feature ratio
- Unlimited projects
- Unlimited tasks
- 20 GB storage
- Full production environment
Best For
Construction project scheduling
Plan multi-phase builds with dependencies, milestones, and resource constraints using Gantt and critical path.
Professional services portfolio
Run multiple client projects in parallel while balancing shared consultants across engagements.
Engineering & manufacturing planning
Track costs, budgets, and earned value across long-running engineering programs.
Small business project tracking
Use the free or Beginner tier to plan small internal projects without paying for enterprise PM suites.
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