The 22 Best Gantt Chart Software for Project Management in 2019

The 22 Best Gantt Chart Software for Project Management in 2019

By Fred Wilson

Gantt Charts. The two words that have recently been on a meteoric rise in the world of project management. Everybody is in search of Gantt Charts. Quora is full of scouting inquiries circling around “what is the best Gantt Chart software?”

All in all, small businesses and large, have become increasingly cognizant of what an absolute necessity Gantt Charts have become for managing workflow and adding products to the practice of project management.

Which is why we decided to formulate a list of 22 project management tools that offer dynamic Gantt Charts as an innate part of their application.

Table of Contents

The 22 Best Gantt Chart Software of 2018:

• nTask
• ProofHub
• Teamwork
• Smartsheets
• Workzone
• Team Gantt
• InstaGantt
• Easy Projects
• SmartDraw
• Tom’s Planner
• Hansoft
• Clarizen
• Redbooth
• GanttPRO
• Wrike
• Avaza
• Freedcamp
• Teamweek
• Zoho Projects
• Cacoo by Nulab
• Agantty
• ProjectPlace by Planview

Before we dive right into the list, for those of you who do not know what Gantt Charts are or for those who know what they are but are not quite sure how useful Gantt Charts can be, let’s take a quick overview.

What are Gantt Charts?

In simpler terms, Gantt Charts are a visual demonstration of task progress scheduled on a given timeline. It is a bar chart that shows you which activities or tasks need to be completed, by who and by when.

This graphical depiction of task status in relation to its deadline is a quick summary view that erases the hassle of constantly referring back and forth to each task detail individually.

How do you read a Gantt Chart?

A Gantt Chart is made up of a series of rows and columns with bars that run in a horizontal direction. The bars represent tasks or projects listed on the column on the left. The length of the bar signifies how far along is the activity in terms of its schedule. Whereas the columns extending parallel to the bars denote the time period.

Benefits of using a Gantt Chart

From startups to global brands, Gantt Charts have fallen into popular use to help teams in tracking results, improving team communication and increasing project productivity. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The benefits of using a Gantt Chart don’t end here.

When used the right way, Gantt Charts help you:

1. Discern the critical path of a project
2. Ensure task accountability; who is working on which task
3. Track the progress of a project and each task within the project
4. Gain a quick and clear view of a project outline
5. Determine what activities need to be planned versus activities that have been completed
6. Conduct efficient resource management by deciding which task should be assigned to which expertise.
7. Set milestones and task dependencies on a given timeline

Gantt Charts are not always the most convenient method of improving time and project management. How so? Well, for starters, not all of your favorite project management toolsout there, provide Gantt Chart feature. And those that do, are not very flexible or easy to use.

Here is a list of 6 of the best Gantt Chart software that is easy to use and worth spending your money on:

1. nTask

nTask is the perfect solution for businesses of all types (both for IT and software projects) for teams of all sizes (one-person user or a group of 50). It has everything you expect to find in a project management tool, starting from simple task management to efficient time tracking, extending from interactive team collaboration to quick meeting management and on top of everything, effective risk & issue tracking to keep projects afloat.

What makes nTask an effortlessly pleasing tool to use is its user-friendly interface. No complex functionality or convoluted mechanisms of accessing one feature over another. It is so simple that users from any background can get a handle on it in less than a week.

Speaking of simplicity, nTask Gantt Charts are no exception.

Key Features:

Here’s what you can do with the delightfully-simple Gantt Charts of nTask :

• Gantt Charts in nTask are a self-generating feature, removing the extra work from your shoulders to make room for other more important tasks.
• In a simple, single-click process, you can quickly share fully formed Gantt Charts with project managers, clients or any external party via Email. Or even better, use the Public Link option to directly share the link of your application page consisting of a Gantt Chart.
• With visually engaging icons that represent due dates, start dates and the current date, you can easily track the progress of each task present within a project. The icons are subjected to automatic color change depending on the progress of a task. If a project has exceeded its due date, the icon on the bar specific to that task will turn red. If a task has been completed on time, the icon will turn green.
• To keep monetary aspects in check, you can carry out expense tracking for each project as well. The Gantt chart collects data inserted by you in the resource manager feature of nTask and displays the total cost of a project at any given point of its life cycle.
• Assigning tasks and avoiding project delays is not enough. Gantt Charts in nTask give you a quick summary of the total number of identified risks and issues posing a likely impediment to the stability of your project
• You can also create a copy of your project roadmap. A single click on an easily locatable action button called ‘Copy’, nTask creates an instant project duplicate, transferring all your task and task details alongside.

Pricing:

Pro Version – $2.99 per user/month. Unlimited workspaces, unlimited projects, unlimited storage.

 The most beautifully designed Gantt Chart tool online

Visualize team progress with beautiful Gantt charts in nTask. It’s free!

2. ProofHub

Whether your part of a growing business or a remote setup, ProofHub will solve all your needs with its abundantly rich project management features. It is a 2-in-1 collaboration tool that helps unifies team communication and enables them to work smarter.

In its sea of powerful features, comes floating the neatly designed feature of Gantt Charts as well. Inspired to strengthen team collaboration, ProofHub Gantt Charts were built for the sole purpose of speeding up the workflow, eliminating project delays and enhancing team motivation.

Key Features:

• Set dependencies between sequential tasks, so you can check which on-going activity is dependent on the completion of a precursor task
• Quantify the progress of a task against a visually convenient timeline. So, you and your team are constantly aware of which task needs is pending and which is completed
• Gain a clear and concise view of a consolidated timeline under which all projects and tasks can be scheduled, assigned and iterated.
• Export Gantt Charts to external parties and clients in the form of a PDF and a printed version.
• Drag-and-drop tasks from one section to another for quick transfer in terms of scheduling, repetition, setting dependencies or creating overlapping due dates.
• Highlight the critical path on the chart so as to identify tasks with extending impact on the overall progress of the project

Pricing:

$45/month – Unlimited users, 40 projects, 150 MB storage

3. Teamwork

Teamwork is one of the best Gantt chart software tools out there. A project management tool for agencies and creatives, enterprises, and teams of varying scopes, Teamwork is quite the popular name in the world of project management. It offers three world-class products, Teamwork Desk, Teamwork Projects and Teamwork Chat that can be inter-linked to streamline your team collaboration and workflow.

Teamwork offers a wide array of integrations with your most favorite apps available such as Slack, Gmail, Google Calendar, Dropbox, Box, Harvest, HubSpot, Time Doctor, Hubstaff and many more.

Only recently, a few years ago Teamwork introduced Gantt Charts to their Teamwork Projects tool on popular customer demand. Much like the application itself, Teamwork Gantt Charts are flexible and intuitive to use.

Key Features:

• Create sequential and parallel relationships between tasks with flexible drag-and-drop ability from one column to another.
• Assign each task to a specific team member within the Gantt Chart view. You can color code each task according to their assignee
• Monitor invalid task dependencies that automatically highlight in red on your behalf
• Collapse and break down your project into lists containing high priority tasks and tasks that are not functional
• Manually govern the progress of each task by changing the % levels in the progress meter next to each taskbar
• Gain a magnified 6-level zoom in view of tasks, sub-tasks, and milestones to limit screen clutter and grant maximum legibility.

Pricing:

Pro version – $9 per user/month. 50 users, 100GB file space, and 300 projects

4. Smartsheet

Smartsheet is another infamous contender in the Hall of Project Management tools. But it’s not just any project management tool equipped with a bundle of impressive features. Smartsheet offers a generous range of Smartsheet Solutions that cater to a diverse number of roles and industries such as Sales, IT & Ops, Software Development, Marketing and Human Resources.

Smartsheet offers a high-performance Gantt Chart feature. Though it is not quite the visually appealing interface many users would prefer but with the help of their Gantt Chart Instructional Video, teams can bring inordinate levels of work efficiency once they learn how to use them.

Key Features:

• Save time and use Smartsheet free Gantt Chart template to get a head start in creating your project roadmap.
• Create a cohesive network of predecessor tasks, task dependencies, and milestones for each project
• Make real-time edits such as new due dates, task details, task assignees and task duration with the easy drag-and-drop option
• Color code each task category to quickly locate and assess the task you need to refer
• Track progress of each task by adding messages, attaching files and changing task status in separate columns dedicated for each function
• Use the Hierarchy option to indent rows and create a ranking relationship between sub-tasks.
• Share Gantt Charts with team members, clients, and customers outside the application

Pricing:

Individual Plan – $14 per user/month.

5. Workzone

Workzone is another powerful tool that doesn’t lag far behind in claiming the prize for a fully-featured project management that lets you do anything anytime. It’s been in the business for 15+ years, helping organizations such as Sephora, DKNY, and UPenn to organize and get work done on time.

Users commend Workzone for its easy-to-use approach. Keeping customer usability in mind, each feature present in Workzone, was designed to accommodate users from all backgrounds. And the same thinking is applied to the Gantt Chart feature.

Key Features:

• Gain a flexible but a percipient insight of all project timelines in an orderly structured view
• Review and monitor the status of each task and task assignee with separate columns aligned in uniform prose for easy reading
• View task reports and assess what part of the workload is done and what needs to be completed by expanding the dashboard into larger more generous views.
• Create projects and tasks on separate boards which are then transferred into an auto-generating Gantt Chart view

Pricing:

Team Plan – $24 per user/month.

6. TeamGantt

TeamGantt is one of the best Gantt Chart Software out there. Given its name, TeamGanttis a software created to help teams hit deadlines, manage resources and perform expense tracking using only Gantt Charts. Sounds too ambitious right? In TeamGantt it isn’t and in fact very much do-able.

Strictly speaking, although TeamGantt is not a project management tool, it was creatively built to have all such features that combine the practices of project management within a Gantt Chart. Users can use sticky notes to store key points, upload files and attachments for comprehensive team collaboration and track total billable hours logged on each task and project.

Key Features:

• Edit creation & due dates, the order of tasks, and their timelines with flexible drag-and-drop ability.
• Switch from Gantt view to calendar and list view to see all your tasks by day, week or month
• Manage team workload by seeing who is working on how many tasks via the Availability tab
• Use baseline reports to compare planned timelines with the actual timeline of each task
• Create project dependencies to formulate an order in which each task should be performed
• Export Gantt Charts into PDFs and Excel sheets to share with clients and/or in meetings
• Communicate with your team and discuss minute-to-minute task details using Chat feature

Pricing:

Standard Plan – $39/ month. Up to 5 users. Unlimited Projects

7. Instagantt

If you are an avid Asana fan and cannot think of switching over to another task management tool just for their lack of Gantt Charts, Instagantt meets your needs. Like Ganttify completes Bitrix24, Instagantt makes Asana a Gantt chart software through easy integration.

With a number of useful features creating the Gantt chart module, Instagantt makes work easy for Asana users through easy setup for tasks, user assignment, scheduling, modification in workflows, setting milestones and lot more.

With a separate row dedicated to each user, it allows for reassignment of tasks between users as well as altering tasks and their dependencies on their own.

Key Features:

• Work with ease and transparency when creating workflows through its drag and drop feature
• Efficiently set up tasks and their dependencies so you can realign relationships and modify tasks without affecting your work plan
• Have a separate timeline for each user or resource with tasks, subtasks, and milestones
• Drag and drop horizontally to change dates and time interval for the tasks and vertically to change task assignee
• Customized color coding to chart bars to display progress for projects
• Set, change and monitor the progress of your tasks and sections as a percent
• Set and define special events in the Gantt chart
• Swift conversion of tasks into milestones
• Export charts as images or spreadsheets and embed

Pricing:

7 days free trial. Single user $7 per month (full featured, unlimited projects per workbook, unlimited workbooks) and multiple users $5 per month (full featured, unlimited projects, unlimited workbooks, user management)

8. Easy Projects

Another tool lined up in our best Gantt chart software list is the powerful yet user-friendly project management tool, Easy Projects. A cloud-based project planning software, Easy Projects comprises a feature set that allows for effective project planning and execution.

Powerful modules such as Gantt chart, Resource Loading Simulations, and Project Calendar give you a visual perspective to your project progress and team management. Through a drag-and-drop interface, you can reorganize your workflow at any time without affecting the timeline.

Plus, it is intelligent enough to detect the resources available for potential task assignment.

Key Features:

• User-friendly, drag-and-drop for easy placement of items onto the timeline during project planning
• Efficiently detects and shows user available for tasks depending on their task assignment
• Swift modification in projects schedule without affecting program flow
• Allows for adding and changing dependencies between tasks so you can alter project sequence on the go
• View and monitor the critical path for the projects, the time needed for activities and anticipated project handover
• Track project and task progress efficiently on the timeline visually

Pricing:

14 days free trial. Easy Projects offers a Pro plan at $24 per user per month and a customized Enterprise plan.

9. SmartDraw

Best suited for Enterprise level projects, SmartDraw is a great Gantt chart software that lets you create and customize Gantt charts, project charts, project schedules, and much more to help you optimise your project management cycle.

It comes with the option of online usage or downloadable desktop edition. It is a powerful alternative to the classic MS Visio that seems to have held its mark in the diagramming industry for decades.