We list the best free Gantt chart software, to make it simple and easy to follow the progress of project management schedules, without having to pay for software.
A Gantt chart is a very important project management tool. It is basically a bar chart that illustrates the schedule of a project. It was popularized by Henry Gantt, a 19th-century American mechanical engineer, hence the name.
Gantt charts show not just the schedule of a project but also the dependency between various activities that make up the project. You can draw a Gantt chart manually, but that’ll take a lot of time compared to using a software platform.
We researched extensively to identify the best free Gantt chart software that you can use. To draw up our list, we considered several important factors like pricing, customer support, features, performance, etc.
We've also listed the best free project management software.
The best free Gantt chart software of 2024 in full:
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Best free Gantt chart software for dashboards
This work management platform, Monday.com, is designed to facilitate the planning, tracking, and management of tasks, projects, and workflows. It provides a workspace for teams to access, and boards for them to organize their work. The boards can be customized with columns that contain the necessary information, including task titles, dates, owners, status, and priorities.
Teams can also use the collaboration features of Monday.com to communicate with one another, such as commenting, mentioning, Gantt charts, and attaching attachments. This all works together to foster collaboration on a project, allowing for better visualization of tasks, better decision-making on tasks, and increased efficiency with pre-programmed automations. Finally, the entire project can be monitored through a dashboard that can bring together data from multiple boards.
We are pleased to note that there are five tiers to select from, with the lowest tier being the free plan, which is restricted to two seats and three boards. Other plans begin with the Basic plan, which offers a minimum of three seats at a monthly fee of $8, when paid annually at a discounted rate. To access automations, one must upgrade to the Standard plan, which costs $10 per seat per month and has a maximum monthly limit of 250 automations. Finally, the Enterprise plan is the most customizable plan available.
Access to support is provided through a variety of channels, including chat, email, and phone call requests. A free trial is available, as well as smartphone applications for iOS and Android devices.
Read our full Monday Work Management review.
Best free Gantt chart software for small businesses
Zoho is an Indian software company famous for providing free or affordable alternatives to popular software tools. Zoho Projects is a project management tool offered by the company. The free version of this software lets you manage a maximum of 2 projects at a time and has limited storage, but you can upgrade to a premium plan for managing unlimited projects and have unlimited storage for an affordable fee.
With Zoho Projects, you can use Gantt charts to plan and track your projects. Zoho offers its own Gantt chart tool that operates based on a drag-and-drop interface, so you just need to drag and drop between task bars to define relationships and dependencies. This tool supports the four types of task dependencies; Finish to Start, Finish to Finish, Start to Finish, and Start to Start.
You can even add new tasks right within Zoho's Gantt chart tool. Hovering over a task name will display additional information such as the owner, progress percentage, and start and end dates.
You can download a copy of your Gantt chart in PDF format or share it via email to be used in project presentations. In all, Zoho Projects is a stellar tool to keep track of your projects in the Gantt chart format.
Read our full Zoho Projects review.
Best free Gantt chart software for creatives
ClickUp is a project management tool that’s popular with designers and people in creative jobs. It offers a free plan that’s suitable for personal use. This free plan enables you to manage unlimited tasks/projects and collaborate on tasks with other users.
As a team lead, you can create a project and assign subtasks to different people under your team. They’ll indicate their progress on ClickUp, and you as the administrator can easily monitor individual or group progress. This is where ClickUp’s Gantt chart view comes into play.
You can visualize the progress of any project with ClickUp’s Gantt chart view. Just hover your mouse on any task on the chart, and ClickUp will show you a progress percentage; it calculates this by dividing the completed tasks by the total number of tasks in the chart.
A major problem with Gantt charts is that some tasks are dependent on other tasks within the chart, so you would have to notify other team members if you make any changes, and doing that individually can be time-consuming. ClickUp makes it easy by automatically notifying anyone after making changes to a related task. Likewise, the platform prevents users from accessing a task only until the preceding task has been completed.
An advantage of using ClickUp is that the platform goes a long way to foster collaboration among a team. There's a real-time chat feature, so team members can communicate instantly and exchange important information. Multiple people can also edit documents simultaneously, with any change reflected in real time. Likewise, multiple users can brainstorm and exchange ideas using the virtual whiteboard.
ClickUp is an effective project management tool with an intuitive interface, and the Gantt chart display feature is just one of its attractions.
Best free Gantt chart software for personal use
The name “Tom’s Planner” has a personal feel, which provides a hint that it’s a project management tool designed for individual use. Unlike other platforms on this list, Tom’s Planner is purely web-based; there’s no mobile or desktop app for it.
Tom’s Planner is designed specifically for creating and managing Gantt charts. It uses a drag-and-drop interface, so you just need to use your mouse to drag and drop modules to build your Gantt chart. You can add blocks easily to your chart and extend, contract, or move them around.
You can invite unlimited team members to participate in building your Gantt chart. Tom’s planner offers an intuitive interface that makes it easy to use, so other team members may not need much training to get used to it.
Tom's Planner lets you track the progress of the Gantt chart tasks with visual tools like traffic lights and colored time blocks. You’ll also see the progress percentage of every task, which makes it easy to know who is on schedule or behind schedule.
With a single click, you can change your monitoring schedule from monthly to weekly, daily, hourly, or down to specific times. This dynamic overview of the project schedule makes it easy to spot any errors before they morph into something serious.
The free plan of Tom's Planner lets you monitor just one project at a time. The Professional plan ($9.95 per month) increases that limit to 20 and the Unlimited plan ($19.95 per month) has no limit on the number of projects.
Best free Gantt chart software for small teams
TeamGantt, as its name suggests, is a software package that enables teams to create and collaborate on Gantt charts. You can take advantage of the free plan, although it supports a maximum of 1 project and 2 collaborators. If you want to upgrade, you can start with the Lite plan which costs $24 per month for each manager and 5 collaborators working under them.
Just like other tools on this list, TeamGantt sports a drag-and-drop interface. You can simply use your mouse to drag and drop building blocks and connect them with arrows to create your Gantt charts. With a single mouse click, you can change start and end dates reorder tasks just the way you want, and adjust your timelines.
With this tool, you can monitor all your projects from one screen and easily spot any conflicts between them. You'll also get additional tools to manage your human resources and ensure everyone is working but not overloaded.
Users can see every update about their projects on a single page and share them with others if need be. With a single click, you can see the completion status of all your projects and identify which ones are going well or falling behind.
If you want to switch from Gantt charts, no problem, as TeamGantt also supports calendar and list view. This platform notably has a mobile app, so you can work from anywhere and on the go.
TeamGantt is good for personal use and for small teams. It gets pretty expensive for large teams, which makes it unideal in this case.
Best free Gantt chart software for technical users
dotProject stands out from other tools on this list because it is completely free and open-source. There is no “company” behind this product; it is maintained by a global team of volunteers. Anyone is free to download it or contribute changes and updates if they have the time.
dotProject allows you to create Gantt charts with ease. But, unlike other tools, it doesn’t have a modern, drag-and-drop interface. You’ll need to input values and do some programming to customize your Gantt chart. This is why dotProject is best for technical users that are familiar with programming; non-technical users should stay away from it.
dotProject also lacks third-party integrations, which puts it at a disadvantage compared to the competition.
Gantt software FAQs
Factors to consider when choosing Gantt chart software
Compatibility: How can you access the platform? Is it web-based or does it offer mobile or desktop apps? You should consider how you prefer to access your project management tool before picking it. Otherwise, using it may be inconvenient and stressful.
Cost: If you need to upgrade from the free version, how much would it cost? Does it fit within your personal or organizational budget? The good thing is that most project management tools list their prices on their website, so you’ll always know what to pay beforehand.
Third-party integration: No platform will offer everything that you need, so you may need third-party integration for extra functionality. For instance, you may need to link your Gantt chart software with a tool that enables instant messaging between team members.
Ease of use: It’s important to select a tool that you and your team will find easy to navigate, especially if they are non-technical people.
How we tested the best free Gantt chart software
To test for the best free Gantt chart software we first set up an account with the relevant software platform, whether as a download or as an online service. We then tested the service to see how the software could be used for different purposes and in different situations. The aim was to push each platform to see how useful its basic tools were and also how easy it was to get to grips with any more advanced tools.
Read how we test, rate, and review products on TechRadar.
We've also listed the best collaboration apps.
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