Two one-time purchases for the same Windows PC: the schedule is built in Project, the diagram that explains it is built in Visio, and each program can read the other's file.
Microsoft Visio Professional 2019 – Diagramming for flowcharts, network and rack diagrams, floor plans, org charts, UML 2.5 and database models. Professional adds data-linked shapes and PivotDiagrams that Visio Standard 2019 does not offer; browser-based Visio for the web is not part of this licence.
Microsoft Project Professional 2019 – Scheduling with Gantt charts, task dependencies, baselines, critical path and resource management. Team Planner, the drag-and-drop resource view, exists only in Project Professional; a connection to Project Server or Project Online needs its own licence and is not included.
Visio Professional 2019 – Diagrams, floor plans, network and database models.
Data-linked shapes – Link shapes to Excel or SQL Server.
Project Professional 2019 – Gantt schedules, dependencies, baselines and critical path.
Team Planner – Resource view found only in Project Professional.
Shared file import – Visio builds timelines from Project .mpp files.
Important – No Office applications included, Windows only.
Visio's Timeline and Gantt chart templates can build a diagram directly from an .mpp file, and Microsoft states plainly that Project must be installed on the machine for that import to work at all. The link runs both ways: Project's Visual Reports push schedule data into a Visio PivotDiagram, and PivotDiagram is a template Microsoft lists for Visio Professional and Visio Plan 2, not for Visio Standard.
Timeline import – Visio reads .mpp files when Project is installed.
Visual Reports – Project renders schedule data as Visio PivotDiagrams.
PivotDiagram template – A Professional edition template, not Standard.
Timeline export – Visio timelines export back to Project files.
Same installer technology – Both use Click-to-Run and install side by side.
Combined price – Lower than the two keys bought separately.
Yes, and the dependency is documented rather than assumed. Microsoft's instructions for importing timeline data into Visio note that Microsoft Project must be installed to use the feature, and that article applies to Visio Professional 2019 and Visio Standard 2019 among the listed versions. Both products belong to the same 16.0 Office generation and both install using Click-to-Run, so they coexist without the conflict Microsoft describes between a Click-to-Run product and a Windows Installer product carrying the same version number. Microsoft's Visio version comparison lists Visio 2019 as compatible with Windows 11, and both applications are Windows desktop programs with no macOS version. The one strict condition is architecture: every Office-family program on the machine must be 32-bit or 64-bit, never a mixture.
Between these two the order is free, but the order against an existing Office suite is not. Microsoft's guidance is to install earlier versions first, and it applies that rule explicitly to Visio and Project as well, so an Office 2016 installation belongs on the machine before Visio 2019 and Project 2019 are added; done the other way round, the later installation may need to be repaired afterwards. Whichever of the two you install first sets the architecture for the second: a 64-bit Visio Professional 2019 means Project Professional 2019 must also be 64-bit, otherwise setup stops with an architecture error. Install one, start it once so it finishes configuring itself, then install the other.
It fits work where a schedule has to be explained to people who will never open the schedule file. An office or server-room move is the clearest case: phases, dependencies and resource assignments live in Project, the rack layout and network diagram live in Visio, and the timeline shown to management is generated in Visio from the same .mpp file instead of being redrawn by hand every time a date slips. Visio Professional's data-linked shapes then let the same rack or network drawing carry live values from an Excel inventory or a SQL Server table. If your diagrams never relate to a schedule, or nobody outside the planning team ever sees the plan, that argument does not apply and the two products are better bought one at a time.
Only one of them can actually schedule. Microsoft's Gantt chart article applies to Visio Professional and Visio Standard, so a Visio Gantt chart is a genuine built-in template, but it is a drawing: no critical path, no resource levelling, no baseline comparison. Project calculates the schedule and recalculates it when a duration changes; Visio presents the result in a form that can be styled, annotated and dropped into a report. Anyone who only ever needs a bar chart for a presentation is buying two products where one would be enough.
Whenever one half is already on the machine, or one half will never be opened. A PC that already runs a current Visio needs only the Project key, and the reverse is equally true. The edition question matters just as much: Visio Standard 2019 can import Project data into a timeline or Gantt chart exactly as the Professional edition does, because Microsoft lists that feature for both editions, so a buyer who only wants the schedule visualised, without data-linked shapes, PivotDiagrams or the engineering and rack templates, does not need Visio Professional. On the other side, Project Standard 2019 covers planning for a single scheduler; Team Planner and the wider resource tooling are what the Professional edition adds.
No Office application at all: no Word, no Excel, no Outlook, no PowerPoint, and no macOS version of either program. On the Visio side, co-authoring a diagram in real time requires the file to sit in Microsoft 365 or SharePoint, and the browser-based Visio for the web belongs to the Visio subscription plans rather than to a 2019 desktop licence. On the Project side, a connection to Project Server or Project Online needs its own separate licence, and neither product in this generation offers Copilot or AI-assisted scheduling. Microsoft ended support for Visio 2019 and Project 2019 on 14 October 2025, so neither receives further security updates, bug fixes or technical support, although existing installations continue to run.
| Task | Visio Professional 2019 | Project Professional 2019 |
|---|---|---|
| Flowcharts and network diagrams | ✓ | ✕ |
| Floor plans and rack layouts | ✓ | ✕ |
| Shapes linked to Excel or SQL Server | ✓ | ✕ |
| Gantt chart | ✓ | ✓ |
| Critical path and baselines | ✕ | ✓ |
| Resource management | ✕ | ✓ |
| Team Planner view | ✕ | ✓ |
| Real-time co-authoring | Needs SharePoint | ✕ |
| Word, Excel and Outlook | ✕ | ✕ |
| macOS version | ✕ | ✕ |
No. Neither application is contained in any Office 2019 edition, including Professional Plus, which is why they are sold as separate products and combined here. An Office suite on the same PC changes nothing about that: Word, Excel and Outlook cannot open or edit a .vsdx diagram or an .mpp schedule.
Yes. Only the exchange functions depend on the other program: the Import Data wizard in the Timeline and Gantt chart templates requires Project to be installed, as Microsoft notes in its documentation. Every other template, stencil and data-linking feature in Visio works on its own, and the same applies in reverse to Project, whose scheduling, reporting and resource views do not need Visio.
Only for its own task data. Project has a Network Diagram view that shows tasks and their dependencies as boxes, but it has no shape library, no stencils and no way to draw an org chart, a floor plan or a network topology. That is the part Visio covers, and it is why the Visual Reports feature hands its data to Visio rather than drawing the report itself.
| Operating Systems | Windows 11 Windows 10 Windows 10 LTSC 2021 Windows 10 LTSC 2019 Windows Server 2025 Windows Server 2022 Windows Server 2019 |
| Processor | 1.6 GHz or faster processor with 2 cores. |
| Memory RAM | 4 GB RAM. 2 GB RAM for 32-bit installations. |
| Hard Disk | 4 GB of available disk space. |
| Display | 1280 × 768 screen resolution or higher. |
| Graphics | DirectX 9 or later compatible graphics with WDDM 2.0 or higher for Windows 10. |
| NET Version | Some features may require .NET Framework 3.5 or .NET Framework 4.6 and higher. |
| Note | Internet connectivity is required for supported online functionality. The current version of Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, or Mozilla Firefox is supported for browser-based functionality. Visio 2019 Professional and Project 2019 Professional are Windows applications. Support for Office 2019 commercial standalone applications ended on October 14, 2025. Connections to Microsoft 365 services are no longer supported for Office 2019 products. |
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