Microsoft closes the book on Publisher and unplugs Project Online
- ID
- 22741
- Status
- summarized
- Published
- 09 Sep 2026, 8:03 PM
- Fetched
- 09 Sep 2026, 8:47 PM
- Provider
- The Register
- Category
- technology
- Original URL
- https://www.theregister.com/software/2026/09/09/microsoft-closes-the-book-on-publisher-and-unplugs-project-online/5295205
- Source URL
- https://www.theregister.com/headlines.atom
Summary
- Score
- 3.5
- Created
- 09 Sep 2026, 8:48 PM
- Tags
- Audience
- saas_founders
What happened
Microsoft is retiring Project Online on September 30, 2026, removing Publisher from Microsoft 365 on October 1, and ending support for Office 2021 on October 13. Project Online Essentials licenses (closed to new customers since October 2025) hit end-of-life October 1, forcing affected users to migrate to Planner Plan 1 or Project Plan 3 at potentially higher cost, or to third-party alternatives like ProjectLibre Cloud AI 2.0 at ~$10/user/month.
Why it matters
If your organization still assigns Project Online Essentials licenses, users lose access October 1 — move them to Planner plans or a third-party alternative before then. Office 2021 shops get no Extended Security Updates from Microsoft, though 0patch plans unofficial critical patches for three more years. No direct Publisher replacement exists, so anyone relying on it needs a migration plan now.
Discussion angle
Whether the gap left by Publisher and the forced Project Online migration creates a real opportunity for lightweight SaaS alternatives in the Malaysian SME market, or whether most affected users will just absorb the Planner upsell.