There are a lot of project management software tools to choose from, and there are a few that truly seem to dominate the space, like Oracle’s Primavera P6. How can you find the project management solution that fits your organization, project and how your team works? You must first understand what these tools are and the feature set they offer.

Primavera P6 is the product of the multinational computer technology corporation Oracle. For such a well-known brand, it’s a product that doesn’t have great name recognition, even among those in the industry.

It’s time to change that. Let’s take a closer look at Oracle Primavera P6 to see what it can do and if it’s right the right choice for your project management needs.

What Is Primavera P6?

Oracle Primavera P6 is a project, program and portfolio management tool that’s used for planning, managing and executing your project work. It’s designed to handle large and small projects in many diverse industries, such as construction, manufacturing, energy, and IT. It’s been doing so for more than 30 years in projects across the globe.

Primavera P6 can trace its origins to 1983 when it was first established under the name Primavera Systems. In the next 15 years, it rapidly gained popularity. By the late 90s, advancements in server technology drove the company to split Primavera systems into two versions of the software: a desktop application (which is preferred by contractors, suppliers and manufacturing companies) and a web-based enterprise option.

In 2008, Primavera Systems was bought out by Oracle, which then developed the tool into the Primavera software that’s used today.

The modern incarnation, Oracle Primavera P6, sells itself as a project portfolio management tool to increase your efficiency when planning, which reduces the risk of schedule overruns. One way it does this is by providing visibility into the work, so potential bottlenecks can be identified and resolved before they cause delays. It claims to work on projects of all sizes.

If you’re looking for a less expensive and more flexible project portfolio management software, there’s ProjectManager. Unlike Primavera P6, we offer a collaborative, intuitive platform with multiple project views—managers can plan projects on Gantt charts or the sheet view while teams can use kanban boards, calendars or robust task lists to manage their work. Plus, ProjectManager has built-in, automated dashboards and reports so you can stay on top of your portfolio resources, costs and roadmap. Get started today for free.

Primavera P6 Editions

Primavera P6 is available in several distinct versions, each designed to serve different project management needs. These include on-premise, web-based, and cloud solutions that scale from individual planners to large enterprises. Below are the current versions of Primavera P6 software offered by Oracle, all built to improve scheduling, collaboration, and project visibility across organizations.

Primavera P6 Enterprise Project Portfolio Management (EPPM)

Primavera P6 EPPM is Oracle’s web-based, enterprise project, program, and portfolio management solution. It supports prioritization, planning, execution, and evaluation of projects across the organization. It offers role-based interfaces, integrated risk management, resource optimization, dashboards, reporting, and real-time visibility.

Primavera P6 Progress Reporter

Primavera P6 Progress Reporter is a restricted-use module intended for timesheet / progress entry by project team members. It allows resources to report hours worked, update activity status, and send timesheet notes against their assignments. This module integrates with P6 EPPM, enabling project managers to include these updates in project execution.

Primavera P6 Professional Project Management

Primavera P6 Professional is Oracle’s high-performance desktop client software for detailed project planning and scheduling. It supports large, complex projects with unlimited resources, multiple target plans, and advanced scheduling features. It can operate standalone or be connected to an EPPM database.

Oracle Primavera P6 Cloud Service

Oracle offers a suite of Primavera P6 Cloud Services that extend the capabilities of licensed Primavera P6 editions. These are not standalone products but add-ons designed to enhance deployment flexibility and collaboration. The suite includes:

• Primavera P6 Enterprise Project Portfolio Management Cloud Service
• Primavera P6 Progress Reporter Cloud Service
• P6 EPPM Web Services Cloud Service
• Primavera Virtual Desktop Cloud Service

Primavera P6 Features

Now that we have a better idea of what each of the versions of Primavera P6 offer, let’s go through its key features in more detail.

• Project timelines: Use a traditional Gantt chart to plan and track project tasks over time. Primavera P6 allows managers to assign dependencies, adjust durations, and visualize how every activity aligns with the overall project timeline.
• Risk management: Identify, analyze, and monitor project risks before they become costly issues. P6 provides tools to define risk events, assign probability and impact, and link mitigation strategies to specific activities.
• Information dashboard: Access a customizable dashboard that consolidates schedule, cost, and resource data. Primavera P6 dashboards give project managers real-time visibility into project performance.
• Reporting & analytics: Generate automated status reports and detailed analytics for stakeholders. P6 includes built-in reporting tools for earned value analysis, cost tracking, and schedule variance.
• Calendar & activity views: Visualize tasks within daily, weekly, or monthly calendars to keep schedules aligned with resource availability.
• Scheduling alerts: Receive automated alerts when milestones or critical activities approach or fall behind schedule. P6 supports configurable notifications and visual cues that highlight schedule variances.
• Project network view: Display project dependencies using a network diagram that sequences activities according to logic relationships.
• Work breakdown structure: Create a hierarchical work breakdown structure (WBS) to organize tasks by deliverable or phase.
• Critical path method (CPM): Use the critical path method to identify the sequence of tasks that determine a project’s minimum completion time. It calculates early and late start dates, total float, and critical activities.

What Is Primavera P6 Used for?

Primavera P6 is used for project, program and portfolio management, thanks to its robust project management features. Here’s an overview of how Oracle Primavera works.

• Project planning & scheduling: Primavera P6 provides a full suite of project planning and scheduling tools, including Gantt charts, project tables, and network diagrams. Users can establish scope, schedule, and cost baselines.
• Project portfolio management: Primavera P6 allows organizations to group projects by business unit, region, or client, providing executives and PMOs with portfolio-level visibility.
• Resource management: Allocate, track, and optimize labor, equipment, and material resources across all active projects. P6 includes resource histograms, usage profiles, and customizable resource leveling forms to prevent overallocations.
• Risk management: Use integrated risk analysis tools to identify, evaluate, and mitigate potential threats before they impact schedule or cost.
• Contract management: Coordinate project execution by linking schedule data with contract deliverables and progress milestones. While not a dedicated contract management system, Primavera P6 supports tracking contract-based activities, dependencies, and progress.
• Project reporting: Generate detailed reports covering timelines, costs, and resource performance. Primavera P6 includes built-in reporting templates, dashboards, and earned value analysis tools.

Who Uses Primavera P6?

Oracle Primavera P6 is used by project managers who are in charge of delivering a project, program or portfolio of projects. Primavera P6 is mostly used for large-scale construction projects, but it can also be used in other fields such as business and manufacturing.

Any project professional can benefit from P6, such as engineers, schedulers and others who are instrumental in planning, management and reporting on the project. It’s usually recommended that whoever uses the Primavera software takes a training course. The tool is built to help manage complex projects and therefore using it can be complicated as well.

Primavera P6 Plans and Pricing

There are two main versions of Primavera P6. There’s Primavera P6 Professional and Primavera P6 Enterprise Project Portfolio Management (EPPM). In addition, Oracle developed Oracle Primavera Cloud, which is a new cloud-based PPM platform. Here’s a quick overview of their pricing plans, based in the official  .

Oracle Primavera P6 Professional Project Management

The P6 Professional version of Primavera is a desktop-based software that can be purchased directly from Oracle, or through an authorized Oracle reseller. You’ll need to install the software on all your workstations. Oracle Primavera P6 Professional will cost $2,570 for an annual subscription. That price includes $2,500 plus an annual maintenance fee of $550 for upgrades, fixes, patches, etc. The renewal of the maintenance cost isn’t required, but it’s suggested.

Oracle Primavera P6 Enterprise Project Portfolio Management (EPPM)

There’s also the enterprise option, Primavera P6 Enterprise Professional Project Management (EPPM). This version of Primavera P6 is accessed via the web rather than being a desktop software application which makes it easier to implement in large organizations. It also has a slightly different feature set from the P6 Professional option. This option will run you $2,750 for a perpetual license, which includes an annual maintenance fee of $605.

Primavera P6 Progress Reporter

Primavera P6 Progress Reporter is a web-based module designed to let team members submit timesheets and update task progress directly from the field. It integrates seamlessly with Primavera P6 EPPM, allowing project managers to review and approve activity updates in real time. The Progress Reporter module costs approximately $950 per user (perpetual license) and requires an active EPPM environment to function. Additionally, users will have to pay for the $209 annual maintenance fee.

Oracle Primavera P6 Cloud Service

To purchase the cloud services for the Primavera P6 products, users need to pay a monthly subscription fee.

• Primavera P6 Enterprise Project Portfolio Management Cloud Service: $125/user/month
• Primavera P6 Progress Reporter Cloud Service: $12/user/month
• P6 EPPM Web Services Cloud Service: $20/user/month
• Primavera Virtual Desktop Cloud Service: $1000/user/month

*Prices are based on Oracle’s official pricing sheet available at the time of the publication of this blog, and may vary by region, licensing terms, or discounts.

Pros and Cons of Primavera P6

There are some things that Primavera P6 does well, along with some features that have some drawbacks. If you’re still on the fence, here’s a look at its pros and cons.

Pros of Using Primavera P6

• Primavera software is flexible when it comes to managing tasks, with one platform that allows users to prioritize, execute and monitor their work
• A multiuser system lets teams work at the same time on the same project across the organization.
• Real-time reporting provides meaningful data delivered fast, either on-demand or scheduled.
• The dashboard allows users to manage a single project or even a portfolio, with great flexibility.
• Primavera P6 integrates with Oracle and other third-party products.
• P6 can be used on multiple devices, such as tablets and mobile devices for access anywhere and at any time.
• P6 works on Windows as a desktop (or web app with the Enterprise option).

Cons of Using Primavera P6

• Primavera software is very expensive; you’re going to spend close to three grand a year for something you can get elsewhere for less financial investment.
• The complicated interface of Oracle’s Primavera P6 also looks outdated and not up to the design and ease of use of its competition.
• There’s a steep learning curve; unlike other tools, it can take up to 40 hours to get comfortable on the device and that’s with the use of specialized trainers.
• Primavera P6 is for Windows only, which puts Mac users out in the cold, making the tool immediately limited and denying whole industries that run on Apple products.
• P6 is cumbersome for smaller and simpler projects, seemingly interested only in the larger project sector.
• The Primavera software customer service could be better, at least there’s a lot of chatter online from customers who feel the support needs to improve.
• Primavera P6 lacks a portfolio roadmap, which is a problem for managing portfolios, even though the product does have some features directly targeting this market.

ProjectManager Is the Best Primavera P6 Alternative

If Primavera P6 doesn’t seem like the right project management software for you, then you may be interested in an alternative. ProjectManager is a cloud-based project management tool that’s less expensive and easier to use than Oracle Primavera P6, with all the same features you need to manage your project, program or portfolio. Instead of an expensive licensing fee, you can pick the subscription tier that fits your team and budget.

Robust Gantt Charts for Project, Program and Portfolio Management

ProjectManager’s Gantt charts let you plan, schedule and track projects, programs and portfolios. Create schedule baselines and automatically generate a work breakdown structure (WBS) and find the critical path of your projects as you add tasks to the Gantt chart. You can also track costs for each task and use resource management tools such as timesheets and workload charts for better resource allocation and resource-leveling.

Powerful PPM Roadmaps, Dashboards & Reports

Like Primavera P6, we have portfolio project management features. Unlike Primavera software, we offer a portfolio roadmap to see all your projects on one timeline. This allows you to make strategic decisions on sharing resources to keep costs down and schedules tight. There’s also a portfolio dashboard and you can see all your projects with metrics on the overview projects page. You can also generate project, program and portfolio management reports in minutes.

Get Analysis and Suggestions With AI-Powered Insights

ProjectManager stands out from Primavera P6 by leveraging AI to transform project management. Our AI-driven analytics monitor project performance in real time, forecast risks and suggest proactive schedule adjustments to prevent delays. The system analyzes timesheets, resource allocation and task progress to optimize workloads automatically. By using AI, teams gain actionable insights instantly, improve decision-making, and keep projects on track without manual calculations or guesswork.

ProjectManager Works on Mac

Unfortunately, Primavera P6 only works on Windows. If your team uses Macs, then they won’t be able to use the tool. Luckily, ProjectManager can work with any operating system and on any browser. Like Primavera P6, we have portfolio project management features. Unlike Primavera P6, we offer a portfolio roadmap to see all your projects on one timeline, allowing you to make strategic decisions on sharing resources to keep costs down and schedules tight. There’s also a portfolio dashboard and you can see all your projects with metrics on the overview projects page.

If you want to learn more about our award-winning software, visit our homepage to check out the rest of our features and see why we’re trusted by brands like Volvo, NASA and more.

Related Primavera Content

• What Is Oracle Primavera Cloud? Uses, Features & Pricing
• Primavera P6 vs. Microsoft Project: In-Depth Software Comparison

ProjectManager is online project management software that organizes your projects and teams to work more productively. It can handle big to small projects, whether you’re working in a traditional methodology or within an agile framework. See how we can help you plan, monitor and report on your project more effectively by taking advantage of our free 30-day trial offer.