Comparison · Risk software
Primavera Risk Analysis Alternative
Schedule risk analysis on the P6 schedules you already have
What is the best alternative to Primavera Risk Analysis?
It depends on where your schedules live. If your planners work in Primavera P6 or Microsoft Project and you want a desktop tool that reads those schedules directly, checks them before modelling, updates in one click when the plan changes and has a published price, Tamara is the closest like-for-like replacement for Oracle Primavera Risk Analysis (PRA).
It is not the only option. This page covers what a replacement has to do, how to move a schedule risk model across without losing the thinking behind it, and what it costs. Our review of the wider category — Deltek Acumen Risk, Oracle Primavera Risk Analysis, Lumivero Schedule Risk Analysis, Intaver RiskyProject, Safran Risk and Tamara, each scored on usability, capability and price — is the top 6 project risk analysis tools.
Which option to evaluate first
If
Schedules in desktop P6 or MS Project; QSRA done by a planning or risk team
Evaluate first
Tamara: imports both, Schedule Audit on import, one-click update, cost and schedule risk in one model
If
Organisation already moving its scheduling to Oracle Primavera Cloud
Evaluate first
Primavera Cloud's own risk analysis, which Oracle describes as letting you “quantitatively analyze the effect of assessed risks on the schedule and cost of a project” (Oracle Primavera Cloud help, retrieved 1 October 2026) — compare it against a dedicated tool on one of your own schedules
If
Risk register held in an enterprise platform; schedule results needed in portfolio dashboards
Evaluate first
Tamara with Pelican: Tamara pulls risks from the Pelican register and publishes the likely range of cost and delivery back to the dashboard
If
Several tools on the shortlist
Evaluate first
Our comparison of six tools, with published prices where vendors publish them
What should a replacement for PRA be able to do?
A replacement has to do the whole quantitative schedule risk analysis (QSRA) job, not just put three-point ranges on durations: read the P6 schedule, check it is fit to simulate, model everyday uncertainty and discrete risk events separately, handle correlation, simulate cost with time, and report P-dates and drivers in a form management will read.
Use the checklist below on any tool you evaluate. The right-hand column is what Tamara does today.
| Capability | Why it matters | In Tamara |
|---|---|---|
| Schedule import | The analysis should start from the plan the planners maintain, not a re-keyed copy | Imports Primavera P6 and Microsoft Project, including nested and inter-connected projects; the original file is never modified |
| Schedule check before modelling | Missing logic and hard constraints stop a schedule responding to simulated variation | A Schedule Audit runs on import, with quality scores and the offending tasks listed |
| Keeping up with the plan | A risk model that has to be rebuilt every update is a one-off exercise | One-click update when the master schedule changes, with the risk information carried across |
| Everyday uncertainty | Task-by-task percentages are slow and inconsistent | Uncertainty described as work amount and productivity, grouped by work type |
| Risk events | Threats and opportunities behave differently from everyday variability | Events that delay a task, part of the project or the whole project; extra-work risks (probabilistic branching); disruptions; productivity risks |
| Correlation | Ignoring it makes the result look precise and be wrong | Induced by shared risk events and common productivity factors, with no correlation matrix to fill in |
| Cost with time | Late projects are usually expensive projects too | Cost uncertainty and cost risks simulated together with the schedule, plus a spreadsheet for costs outside the master schedule |
| Results | Decisions are made on P-dates and drivers | Histogram and cumulative plots, tornado charts, stochastic Gantt, cost-versus-finish scatter, cashflow projections |
| Reporting | Updated reports are often needed at short notice | Report templates generated as PDF; charts copy straight into Word and PowerPoint |
| Scale | Large programmes cannot wait hours for a run | Tested on real plans of up to 80,000 tasks; 10,000 iterations of a 40,000-task schedule in under five minutes |
A P80 date, for readers new to the term, is the finish date the project meets or beats in 80% of simulated outcomes. The gap between the deterministic date and the P80 date is the schedule contingency. The method behind all of this is set out in our guide to Primavera P6 schedule risk analysis.
How do you move a schedule risk model from PRA to Tamara?
Start from the schedule, not from the old risk model. Import the current P6 or Microsoft Project schedule into Tamara, fix what the Schedule Audit flags, then rebuild uncertainty by work type, bring in the risk register, let shared factors carry the correlation, and run the result side by side with your last PRA analysis of the same schedule.
- Import the current schedule. Use the live P6 or Microsoft Project schedule rather than the copy the last risk model was built on. Tamara keeps its own copy, so the planners' file is untouched.
- Act on the Schedule Audit. Missing links, open ends and hard constraints were problems in the old model too; the migration is a good moment to fix them in the master schedule.
- Rebuild everyday uncertainty by work type. Rather than re-entering hundreds of task-level three-point estimates, group similar activities and describe how much work there is and how productively it will be done. It is usually faster and more consistent than the original.
- Bring in the risk register. Each threat or opportunity goes in with its probability and impact and is linked to the tasks it affects. If the register already lives in Pelican, Tamara reads it from there.
- Let common factors carry correlation. Where the old model used a correlation matrix or none at all, identify the shared drivers (productivity, weather, approvals) and attach them to the tasks they affect.
- Run both and explain the difference. Compare Tamara's P50 and P80 dates with your last PRA result on the same schedule. Differences usually trace back to how correlation, merge points and risk shapes are modelled, and explaining them is the best way to build confidence in the new model.
- Set up the report templates. Design the executive and project-manager reports once; after that, regenerating them from an updated schedule takes minutes.
How much does Tamara cost?
Tamara Desktop costs €2,150 per user per year, and a concurrent network seat costs €6,350 per year. Prices are published on our price list, with time and volume discounts on the price calculator, and there is a fully functional 15-day free trial.
For the prices other schedule risk tools publish, and how each scores on usability and capability, see the top 6 project risk analysis tools. When you compare, include the cost of the time your team spends rebuilding the model after each schedule update: a one-click update changes that number more than the licence price does.
Will Tamara give the same answer as PRA?
Not necessarily, and that is worth knowing before you start. With the same schedule and the same inputs, two Monte Carlo tools should land close together. In practice the inputs change during a migration, because work-type uncertainty, factor-driven correlation and richer risk shapes replace task-by-task ranges, and those changes can move the P80 date, typically later if the old model left correlation out.
A later P80 is not a flaw in the new tool. It is usually the merge effect and correlation being priced in where the old model left them out, which is exactly what a schedule risk analysis is for. Running both side by side on one schedule, and tracing each difference to its cause, turns that conversation from “the new tool is pessimistic” into “this is the risk we were not seeing”.
Frequently asked questions
Does Tamara change my Primavera P6 file?
No. Tamara stores the risk model with a copy of the imported schedule in its own file and never modifies the original P6 or Microsoft Project file. When the plan is updated, one click re-imports it and the risk information is carried across.
Can Tamara handle very large schedules?
Yes. Tamara has been tested on real project plans of up to 80,000 tasks, well beyond the 1,000 to 10,000 tasks of most real schedules, and 10,000 iterations of a 40,000-task schedule run in under five minutes.
Does Tamara work with Microsoft Project as well as P6?
Yes. Tamara imports both Primavera P6 and Microsoft Project schedules, including nested and inter-connected projects, so a portfolio that mixes the two can be analysed with one tool.
Can I model costs and risks that are not in the schedule?
Yes. Tamara includes a spreadsheet with the ModelRisk modelling tools, so costs, risks and calculations that live outside the master schedule, such as an NPV driven by the simulated finish date, sit in the same model.
Is there a free trial?
Yes. The 15-day free trial is fully functional and imports your own P6 or Microsoft Project schedule, so you can run your first analysis on a project you are working on and compare it with your last result from your current tool.
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Tamara
Project cost and schedule risk analysis
Import your own Primavera P6 or Microsoft Project schedule, see its Schedule Audit, and get P-dates, drivers and cost risk in one model, with a fully functional 15-day free trial.