Conflo vs Microsoft Project for Construction Schedules

• The schedule is part of the job, not a file. Microsoft describes many Project users building schedules in the desktop client and sharing them as .mpp files (Microsoft Support). In Conflo the GC edits the schedule and everyone invited to the project reads the same one.
• Subcontractors update their own work. A sub sees its company's tasks marked as its own and sets their progress; it can't change anyone else's dates or links.
• A lookahead by company. The 2-week lookahead shows the next 14 days grouped by the company responsible, with critical tasks marked, for the weekly subcontractor meeting.
• Buffers by audience. The GC can add buffer days to what subcontractors and the owner see on a task, while working to the real dates.
• One platform. RFIs, submittals, daily logs, inspections, change orders and pay applications sit on the same project, and every tool is on every plan.
• A published price. Conflo is priced per active project with unlimited users, and subcontractors, owners and architects are always free (pricing).

Microsoft's side of the table is from its own support pages: critical path, free slack, resource leveling, how Project schedules tasks (project, task and resource calendars, constraints and cost resources), baselines and interim plans, file formats and the feature comparison that lists deadlines, master projects, the network diagram, Team Planner, task inspector and task path, and describes many users sharing .mpp files and keeping them updated. Microsoft publishes Project's plans and prices on its own website; check them there.

Two dates matter if you use Microsoft's online products. Microsoft's lifecycle page puts Project Online's retirement on September 30, 2026, and its support pages say Project for the web is becoming Microsoft Planner.

Conflo doesn't open .mpp files directly. Conflo's import asks for the XML file Microsoft Project saves (File, Save As, XML Format); summary tasks, tasks, milestones, links, lag, constraints, progress and actual dates come across. Baselines don't: save a new baseline in Conflo after the import. Going the other way, Conflo's "Download for MS Project" button writes a Microsoft Project XML file with the same tasks, links and holidays. Each task carries its Conflo id in a text field, so a later import of the same file updates tasks instead of duplicating them.

Primavera P6 schedules come in as P6 XML exports; Conflo doesn't read P6's .xer format, and it doesn't write P6 files.

• You load and level resources: crews, equipment and their availability, with Project delaying or splitting tasks to clear overallocations.
• You need free slack, multiple critical paths, a network diagram or master projects across several schedules.
• Your schedule needs more than one calendar, for example a 7-day calendar for cure times or a weather calendar, as federal guide specifications such as UFGS 01 32 01.00 10 describe. Conflo has one calendar per project.
• Your owner wants a native .mpp file each month, or your scheduler works offline in a desktop file.
• You only need a scheduling tool, not RFIs, submittals, logs and pay applications in the same place.

And if your contract requires Primavera P6 (many federal and DOT jobs do), you need P6: neither Conflo nor Microsoft Project replaces it.

• You want subs to update their own progress and owners to read the same schedule, without emailing files.
• Your weekly meeting runs off a lookahead by company, and you are tired of rebuilding it in a spreadsheet.
• You want the schedule on the same project as the critical path work's RFIs, submittals and daily logs.
• You want a price you can read before you call anyone, with unlimited users.

The schedule header carries Import, Download for MS Project, Calendar, Versions and Save baseline. Key dates sit above the Gantt with how far each is behind its baseline, and the 2-week lookahead is one tab away.

Microsoft Project is the stronger pure scheduling engine, especially for resources. Conflo's schedule is the one the whole job shares: subs update their own work, owners read it, and it sits next to everything else on the project.

If you schedule in Project today, you can import your XML into Conflo and download it back. Join the waitlist to try it on a job.

Join the waitlist

1. Show the critical path of your project in Project — Microsoft Support. Read October 16, 2026.
2. Free Slack (task field) — Microsoft Support. Read October 16, 2026.
3. Distribute project work evenly (level resource assignments) — Microsoft Support. Read October 16, 2026.
4. Project for the web and Microsoft Project desktop client — Microsoft Support. Read October 16, 2026.
5. How Project schedules tasks: Behind the scenes — Microsoft Support. Read October 16, 2026.
6. Create or update a baseline or an interim plan in Project desktop — Microsoft Support. Read October 17, 2026.
7. File formats supported by Microsoft Project desktop client — Microsoft Support. Read October 17, 2026.
8. Project Online lifecycle — Microsoft Learn. Read October 16, 2026.
9. UFGS 01 32 01.00 10, Project Schedule (August 2026), §3.3.10 Calendars — U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Whole Building Design Guide). Read October 16, 2026.