Download OmniPlan for Mac - Project management made painless. MacUpdate Mac Product Mangement Software Downloads

This is a release candidate. See Related Links for the latest stable release, as well as a link for the English-only version of the beta.

With OmniPlan, you can create logical, manageable project plans with Gantt charts, schedules, summaries, milestones, and critical paths. Break down the tasks needed to make your project a success, optimize resources, and streamline budgets. It's project management made painless.

How to get your project done on time and under budget:

Translate strategy into tactics everyone can understand
Create summaries of work broken into lists of activities
Distribute workloads fairly and efficiently
Manage costs as you go

Plan, monitor, and control it all with software designed to make your job easier, not harder.

Version 1.6.4 rc 2:

Removed recurring console log about OSLayoutManager unexpectedly subscribing for notifications.
Fixed incorrect cost accounting for assignments to resource groups.

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MARUKO DRINKING TEAM I love Omni. Wanted to love this, but don't. Even using the 1-day demo, I experienced myriad problems: 3 crashes, insane difficulties (and ultimately failure) to print sections of the Gantt chart without ugly flaws, one corrupted project file (probably a result of one of the crashes), and many nonfatal UI freakouts and bogosities.

Also, there is a glaring design flaw: resources (people, rooms, equipment) cannot be shared among projects. This means that you either have to only use one project file (very unwieldy if you actually have a dozen real-life projects going on), or you have to guesstimate the availability of each person or resource as some smaller percentage for each project, an then hope it works out (which it does not, at all).

I really hope Omni gets this in shape someday. But they have not yet, and it feels more like a pre-1.0 beta than a shipping product, when you try to actually use it to plan projects in a real business.
(Version 1.6.1)

Replies:

Dec 16 2008

ESPIRIDION It's interesting that you mentioned the resources issue. Back in December of 2006 I wrote that the application "has some limitations, such as sharing/managing multiple resources across various projects simultaneously."

I guess that 2 years later they still have not added that functionality. I would not be surprised if that is added for version 2, along with a plethora of other requests from users, and with a significant upgrade fee.
(Version 1.6.1)

ESPIRIDION Without doing a thorough comparison since I dont have the time, I briefly tried this new version and like it better than the beta. Is it the best as stated below? That will depend on your particular needs.

After trying to import 2 files I had, Merlin 2 would not import one and OmniPlan would not import the other.

I then downloaded 2 Microsoft Project files from the web, and imported them using FastTrack Schedule 9, Merlin 2, and OmniPlan.

All programs imported the files quickly and FastTrack was always the fastest. Times were approximately 8 seconds for Merlin and OmniPlan, and 3 or 4 seconds for FastTrack.

FastTrack also opened a dialog box in case the user wanted more information regarding the import process.

Visually the only display I did not like was OmniPlans. This was a surprise since Im a huge fan of OMNI and have Graffle Pro, Outliner Pro, and Web.

OmniPlan Indicated certain violations after each import. A suggested solution was to change the scheduling for this task to As Early As Possible Looking at the problematic tasks in the other programs yielded no warning messages, and their inspectors showed that they already had the attributes set for As soon as possible.

Since demos are available for these programs I would suggest the people try them for themselves. Another nice alternative that I didnt use here is iTaskX, which also has a beautiful, intuitive interface and is the cheapest of the bunch at $86 approximately.

For simple projects OmniPlan may be more than sufficient. For more complex projects I would probably choose an alternative product. OmniPlanStill apparently has some limitations, such as sharing/managing multiple resources across various projects simultaneously. I did not test this, but some information may be found at the OMNI forums.

I hope this helps.
(Version 1.0)

ESPIRIDION Two years ago I wrote some comments about OmniPlan. In two years, OmniPlan has certainly gone through various improvements. A quick guesstimate is that they've been mostly fixes, and eventually 1.5 did bring some new features:

http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omniplan/releasenotes/

I have a lot of respect for AMBERV, and highly recommend reading her comments below. To me they make more sense than comments such as "OmniPlan is the best PM solution for Mac" or "This program is a friggin masterpiece."

Fortunately for Omni, there are people who will pay $150 for OmniPlan. I would not be surprised if version 2 comes out in 2009 with a new price and an upgrade fee for current users. I'm pretty sure that version 2 is going to be a huge improvement over version 1, which is the one I'm rating (1.6.1).

My overall impressions of OmniPlan have not changed. For simple projects OmniPlan may be more than sufficient. Having said this, I've never chosen OmniPlan for any of my projects. It's evident that Omni's strength resides in superb visual design and ease of use, but for this first version Omni lacked the focus of a true Project Management company. Merlin 2 and FastTrack Schedule show a different level of maturity in that regard. (These are 2 programs that I've used more frequently, but there are at least a dozen other Project Management programs for the Mac.)

It's nice to see a pretty interface, but for my needs that's not enough. Compared to other "Project Management" software I have, I would choose OmniPlan over Jumsoft's Operation, but in 2 years I have not chosen it over Merlin 2 or FastTrack Schedule.

These 2 programs are more expensive than OmniPlan, and to me they've been worth it.

My Omni licenses include:

Out of these, now I only use OmniGraffle Pro (4) from time to time and have no plans of upgrading their software anymore.

To their credit, Omni has some amazing people offering customer support.

Like AMBERV, "I used to recommend them [OMNI] to everyone...Lately, I never recommend, and I haven't bought a license in years."
(Version 1.6.1)

PUFFINZ As an integrated scheduler at a major Aerospace program, I found some features lacking in this product. How do you insert columns to see Start and Finish dates? How do you insert customized filters and sorts? How can float analysis be conducted in this tool? Is there a total slack/float column?

Also, I have to work with my "PC" friends and need something that exports to MS Project in a workable fashion. I was working with a client in Canada and using the beta version. I was working with Concept Pro's Project, but had some problems exporting into MS Project. WHen I exported the file as an MS Project XML file, MS Project could not read the file. When I exported the file as an MPX file, then all the tasks were not set up as "as early as possible" or "early dates". Thus, changing the lags on the predessessor or successor didn't move the start and finish dates.

OmniPlan needs to workout this export function. Also, I work with projects that are 1000s of tasks lines long, the predessessor for a particular task could be several hundered lines above...the OmniPlan program doesn't appear to let you enter in an activity ID or a line number as a predessessor or successor.
(Version 1.1.2)

Replies:

Nov 1 2007

D9 You would be well served to try Merlin. It is much more robust than OmniPlan and has a very good track record with MS Project exchanges.

OmniPlan seems to fit into that low level, single project type users. Still, I wouldn't put it pass OmniGroup to make this a very strong tool by the 2nd or 3rd version; OmniGraffle and OmniOutliner are testament to that.

/
(Version 1.5 beta 1)

MMEIKSON OmniPlan is the best PM solution for Mac.

Having tried a lot of the other software, I can say this is the best balance of features and simplicity.

The UI is great and the output is really nice, which helps with sharing.

At $150, it's totally standard in the category. Nice work, Omni.
(Version 1.0)

ESPIRIDION Im not a projects leader, but this type of software already exists for the Mac in different versions and price ranges.

Ive used iTaskX, FastTrack Schedule, Merlin, and OmniPlan while in beta.

Although Im a huge fan of OMNI and their products, OmniPlan has been my least favorite software of its kind. (Disclaimer: I have not tried version 1, but the previous beta).

I do find it odd that 5-star reviews have appeared both here and at VersionTracker, and the reviews come from first-time posters.

I will give this version a try out of curiosity, although Im very happy that I purchased Merlin 2.
(Version 1.0)

AMBERV Omni used to be pretty neat when they made powerful software for affordable prices. A clean, simple outliner for the price of a CD. A clean, simple diagram designer for the price of a DVD.

I guess it all went to their head, though. They've started charging ludicrious prices. The prices creep up every year it seems, and with hardly any basis in reality. It reminds me a lot of Second Life, where designers will just slap some arbitrary price tag on their product. There is no cost of fabrication, no supply concerns, no inventory. A sale is simply a small change in a database somewhere. Accordingly, some designers charge a few bucks (in equivalent), where others get their ego involved and charge ten or twenty dollars for a pseudo dress in a pseudo world.

Now, I know the software world is different. They have mouths to feed, and servers to run. There are costs. But it seems a little "off" to me, in basis with what much surely be reality. Unless they moved into some swank, expensive San Fran office and hired a few extra employees, why the massive boost in sales price?

Anyway, I'm not really reviewing this product, which is why I have not tagged this as a review. It is just a comment on Omni, and what I feel is a sad trend in the company. I used to recommend them to everyone, and hold licenses to everything they made. Lately, I never recommend, and I haven't bought a license in years.

When you get down to it. $150 is something Microsoft would charge for this. I have a hard time believing that Omni's operating expenses are even remotely in the same league as a software division at Microsoft. And you know that Microsoft is jacking up prices to make a profit -- what does that tell you about a small operation with a fraction of Microsoft's overhead?
(Version 1.0 beta 2)

Replies:

Jul 27 2006

KEN AT OMNI I understand that you feel the product costs more than you would want to pay, but I'm a bit puzzled by your assertion that $150 is what Microsoft would charge--when, actually, Microsoft charges $599 (four times as much) for Microsoft Project Standard, and $999 for Microsoft Project Professional.
(Version 1.0 beta 3)

Jul 27 2006

AMBERV I hadn't mean to imply that they were price equivalent. I am talking more of price ranges and how they effect the type of people who can afford them. For the non-business user who would need something along the lines of MS Standard, $150 would be too expensive to justify the cost, and thus anything higher than that is also too expensive, and just how much more expensive becomes irrelevant if you cannot afford the entire range. Whether Photoshop were $250 or $700 does not really matter to the hobbiest photography who wants to do a little re-touching. Both are prohibitively priced for someone who does not make money using it. Does that make more sense?

Apps that are generally targeted at businesses are jacked up because businesses will pay that price -- when there are individuals out there who could actually use these feature-sets, but never justify paying what a business would pay to use it. It would be nice if you had "personal" license or something that was priced more like your non-"pro" products.
(Version 1.0 beta 3)

Jul 27 2006

KEN AT OMNI Thanks for your reply, I think I understand where you're coming from. I'll try to explain our perspective on this a little better:

We're trying to build a very easy-to-use and affordable solution for project management professionals who are scheduling large projects which involve scheduling lots of tasks across a number of people and tools. This is a very complicated task, and the tools which do this well tend to cost a lot of money and be difficult to use. My hope is that we've built something which is much easier to use as well as costing much less.

Are you really in the market for something which manages large projects, using Gantt charts to schedule tasks optimally across multiple staff members, each of which have their own work schedule?

If what you're really looking for is a personal productivity tool which will help you manage your own workload, then I think you'll be much happier with the next product in our pipeline (and its pricing!).

In any case, thanks again for your reply, and for taking the time to consider our application (even if it doesn't really meet your needs).
(Version 1.0b4)

Aug 1 2006

AMBERV While I am only one person, I have dozens of projects which range from complex to insanely complex. Tracking them from the ground up has always been a nightmare for me, where most of the project has to be contained somewhere in my brain due to lacking good software for tracking it.

I understand that while many of these apps are targetting at the types of things you listed, that does not mean they can be abused into a system completely orthogonal to what they are meant to do. It might seem a little weird to do things that way, but when your alternative is to just track it in your brain, or force your concepts into an unreasonably restrictive software package, it gets tough.

So something like this with more variables and data-types coming in at different data vectors -- I can see a lot of room for implementation.

Anyway. I've heard rumours of your next project! Indeed I do wait anxiously for it. I already have a fairly powerful system built using Tinderbox, so that is what I will be comparing your software against once it debuts. Given Omni's belief in AppleScript, I have no doubt that while yours may not be as "flexible" as Tinderbox, it will certainly be extensible, which is important in the area of project tracking, where each person has individual needs.

Thanks for the response. I understand where you are coming from. You charge what the market will pay, why not. Fancy restaurants get away with charging high prices dollars for bottled water, because their clientelle will pay for it.
(Version 1.0b4)

VINODLIVE Price is the major deterrent. Hoping for it to come down. Till then I will be contented with LiquidPlanner online.
(Version 1.5.1 rc 2)

After years of "futzing" with Microsoft Project and countless attempts at trying to use other Mac-only project planning software, here is finally something that works and works well.

Training time: Minimal.

I just went through the built in help step by step while working on my first project. It wasn't long before I'd abandoned it and was well on my way with more complex things.

I think I'll finally get back in control of my projects! Thanks Omni!

ical, website export, tasklist integration is great! Maybe a kind person at Omni would consider adding Basecamp support for tasks and milestones someday. That would be thuper!
(Version 1.1)

SAXON As a projects leader, I was expecting this software for a long time.

And I can say that it's really a great one, easier than Microsoft project, and compatible with it (and not so expensive).

Plannification is really easy with Omniplan, and the interface is great, like every other omnigroup's software.

A VERY good solution gantt on a mac.