Comparison

Microsoft Planner vs Bluebeam

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Microsoft Planner

Organize teamwork visually with a simple, interactive board. Assign tasks, track progress, and collaborate with your team through integrated conversations and file sharing. Stay updated on all your tasks across different plans and devices.

Highlights
  • Visual task boards
  • Task assignment and tracking
  • Team collaboration and chat
  • File sharing
  • Cross-device synchronization
  • My Tasks view
Read full description

Microsoft Planner requires an eligible Office 365 work or school subscription. This app does not support Office 365 personal accounts (for example: name@outlook.com or name@hotmail.com). If you are not sure about your company’s subscription or the services you have access to, please contact your IT department. Planner provides a simple, visual way to organize teamwork. Planner makes it easy for your team to create new plans, organize and assign tasks, share files, chat about what you’re working on, and get updates on progress. -- Organize work visually -- Each plan has its own board, where you can organize tasks into buckets. You can categorize tasks based on their status or on whom they’re assigned to. To update the status or change assignments, just drag and drop tasks between columns. -- Visibility -- The My Tasks view provides a comprehensive list of all your tasks and their status across all your plans. When working together on a plan, team members always know who is working on what. -- Collaborate -- Built for Office 365, Planner lets you work together on the same tasks, attach captured photos directly to them, and even have conversations around tasks without switching between apps. With Planner, all your team’s discussions and deliverables stay with the plan and don’t get locked away across disparate applications. -- Works across devices -- Planner works across all your devices. And with Planner, everyone is always on the same page. Continue conversations and updates tasks while on-the-go or at your desk. Terms of service: https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=846830 Privacy policy: https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=521839 To learn more, please visit https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=849067 The Microsoft Planner app will request permission to access your photos and your camera: When you try to attach a photo to a Planner task, the app requests permission to access your Photos app in order to select images. If you choose to take a photo to attach to a Planner task, the app will request permission to access your Camera app.

About

Bluebeam

Access and collaborate on PDF documents directly from your mobile device. Communicate project updates with markups and work offline by syncing files. Seamlessly join live collaboration sessions and manage document revisions from the field.

Highlights
  • Real-time PDF collaboration
  • Markup and annotation tools
  • Offline file access
  • Document syncing
  • Studio Project management
  • Live session joining
Features
Read full description

Bluebeam for iOS keeps you connected to your teams and documents, so you can quickly access the information you need in the field and capture what matters for the office. - Communicate with markups using tools like callouts, text, clouds, and status indicators - Import your team's custom Tool Sets from Revu, so your standardized markups are ready to go in the field, even offline - Attach photos captured in the field directly to a markup, so supporting documentation stays organized without cluttering your drawings - Open your files stored on your device, Studio Projects, or Studio Sessions - Join Studio Sessions for live collaboration. If your connection drops, your changes sync when you're back online - Check out files in Studio Projects to make edits, then check them back in when you're ready - Work offline by syncing Project files ahead of time or opening PDFs stored on your device Whether you’re reviewing submittals, placing markups in the field, or tracking revisions with your team, Bluebeam gives you the flexibility to get the job done from anywhere.

Screenshots

Microsoft Planner4 screens
Bluebeam4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Microsoft Planner at 4.6 against Bluebeam's 1.5. Microsoft Planner also leads on review sentiment (28% vs 3%) and ratings volume (13K vs 417). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Microsoft Planner holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 1.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Microsoft Planner has 13K ratings behind it against 417, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 28% of Microsoft Planner's written reviews are positive against 3% of Bluebeam's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Microsoft Planner ships an update every 6 weeks, Bluebeam monthly. The most recent releases landed on November 15, 2026 and November 13, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Microsoft Planner versus Bluebeam: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMicrosoft PlannerBluebeam
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (13K ratings) — better1.5 (417 ratings)
Positive reviews28.3% of reviews — better2.9% of reviews
Number of ratings13K — better417
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeksMonthly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.0 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size158 MB295 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMicrosoft CorporationBluebeam, Inc.

Customer experience

Microsoft Planner

All ratings13,168 ratings
Positive90.9%
Neutral4.1%
Negative4.9%
Written reviews460 reviews
Positive28.3%
Neutral17.4%
Negative54.3%

Bluebeam

All ratings406 ratings
Positive9.9%
Neutral2.0%
Negative88.2%
Written reviews245 reviews
Positive2.9%
Neutral2.9%
Negative94.3%

User reviews

Microsoft Planner

From 13K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Great for team collaboration
  • 👍 Easy to use and intuitive
  • 🚀 Helpful for personal organization
  • 👍 Good integration with Microsoft 365 suite

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Buggy and unstable
  • 🔒 Limited to work/school accounts only
  • 🔒 Lack of customization options
  • 🐛 Slow performance and sync issues
  • 🔒 Missing key features like calendar view

Bluebeam

From 417 App Store ratings

What we love

  • ✅ Automatic saving functionality works well
  • 📱 Useful for viewing PDFs on the go
  • 🔄 Good for accessing Studio sessions
  • 📊 Desktop version is powerful and feature-rich
  • 🎯 Cleaner, more modern interface design

Room to improve

  • ❌ Massive feature loss compared to Revu for iPad
  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and freezing issues
  • 📉 Severely limited markup tools and capabilities
  • 🖊️ Apple Pencil input is unresponsive and laggy
  • 💾 Data loss and corruption issues

Bugs and requests

Microsoft Planner

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Freezing on login screen
  • Inability to create or edit plans
  • Tasks disappearing or not syncing properly
  • Compatibility issues on older devices
  • Comments not saving or editable

Requested features

5 requests
  • Recurring tasks and calendar integration
  • Ability to copy/move tasks between plans
  • More flexible labeling and filtering options
  • Offline mode and export/import functionality
  • Deeper integration with Outlook and Teams

Bluebeam

Reported bugs

28 issues
  • Markups fail to load or display correctly
  • App deletes markups instead of saving them
  • Documents wipe clean when reopened
  • Files uploaded disappear from app
  • Corrupted file errors when opening PDFs
Show 23 more
  • Keyboard disappears during login
  • Selection boundaries too large, preventing precise markup selection
  • Apple Pencil input stops working intermittently
  • Pen tool produces no line output despite input
  • App crashes when opening large file sets
  • Session documents fail to load
  • Blank PDF pages displayed
  • Scaling doesn't work properly
  • Blue screen errors
  • Markups missing after checkout and checkin
  • Incomplete markups syncing between devices
  • App freezes during document checkin
  • Unable to add users to sessions
  • Projects not showing up in app
  • App crashes when opening Studio sessions
  • Drawings won't load or open
  • Markup placement doesn't correspond to tap location
  • PDF goes blank when inserting callouts
  • Constant logout requiring re-authentication
  • Links to details don't work
  • App crashes on older iOS versions
  • Audio communication issues
  • File synchronization failures

Requested features

25 requests
  • Restore measurement and scaling tools
  • Add custom toolsets and tool libraries
  • Implement bookmarks for document navigation
  • Enable image embedding in callouts
  • Add undo/redo functionality
Show 20 more
  • Support multiple PDF tabs simultaneously
  • Create stamp library with standardized markups
  • Add dimension markup capabilities
  • Allow local PDF file access and import
  • Full Studio session integration
  • Improve Apple Pencil responsiveness and precision
  • Add eraser tool for pen markups
  • Enable photo capture and attachment to markups
  • Support Dropbox and cloud storage integration
  • Add form field editing capabilities
  • Implement punch list and defect tracking
  • Add RFI creation functionality
  • Support for custom columns and data fields
  • Reset viewpoints feature
  • Pen width and cloud shape customization
  • Settings menu for preferences
  • Better pen and drawing mechanics like Notability
  • Ability to download session documents to device
  • Support for opening PDF attachments from desktop
  • Batch file upload capability

In-app purchases

None

Microsoft Planner

No in-app purchases

None

Bluebeam

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Microsoft Planner free?
Microsoft Planner is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Bluebeam free?
Bluebeam is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Microsoft Planner or Bluebeam?
Microsoft Planner is rated higher. Microsoft Planner averages 4.6 out of 5 from 13K ratings, while Bluebeam averages 1.5 from 417 ratings.
Do Microsoft Planner or Bluebeam have ads?
Neither Microsoft Planner nor Bluebeam shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Microsoft Planner or Bluebeam?
Microsoft Planner ships an update every 6 weeks, and Bluebeam monthly. Most recently, Microsoft Planner was updated on November 15, 2026 and Bluebeam on November 13, 2026.

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