Written by Duncan Lambden Reviewed by James Macey Updated on 26 January 2023 On this page ClickUp monday.com Smartsheet Wrike Asana Zoho Projects Teamwork Why Do You Need a Gantt Chart Maker? What Kind of Templates Do I Need to Use in Project Management? Verdict How We Test Project Management Software Expand Our site is reader-supported – by clicking our links, we can match you with a potential supplier, and we may earn a small commission for this referral. It’d be hard to find a viable project management software platform that doesn’t come with a Gantt chart in its most basic offerings. Gantt charts are a crucial element for almost any project management process, so it’s important to get the right one for your team.For those unaware, a Gantt chart is a calendar-based chart through which users can easily assess the amount of work done, as well as the amount of work left to do. This is hugely useful in more long-term projects, where deadlines and budgets can slip away from you if you’re not careful.Here are seven of the best Gantt chart templates offered by different project management software platforms, all backed up by our own market and product research. Top 7 Gantt Chart Templates at one glance These are the providers we recommend based on our research. Clicking on the links will take you to the provider’s website.ClickUp – Best overallmonday.com – Best for versatilitySmartsheet – Best for beginnersWrike – Best for small teamsAsana – Best for visual customisationZoho Projects – Best for ease of useTeamwork – Best for collaboration featuresThe Top 7 Gantt Chart TemplatesAs mentioned, a Gantt chart is an incredibly useful tool for any project team with a variety of ongoing tasks. A good Gantt chart can help you with deadlines, budgets, and an overall view of how the project is progressing.Here are seven of the best Gantt charts on the market, each coming with their own pros and cons. Unless specified otherwise, Gantt charts are available on all plans. ClickUp – From $5 per Member per MonthClickUp is Expert Market’s favourite project management platform. It’s affordable, has a free tier, is ranked as very usable, and is an overall well-scoring platform when it comes to user satisfaction.Its Gantt chart is very usable. It comes in two forms, one being a standard, fully-featured Gantt chart, and the other being a simple, more watered-down chart that can help newer users get to grips with the concept. Pros Very easy to figure out, plus it comes with a beginner Gantt chart Our favourite project management software on the market Cons The free plan only allows 100 Gantt "uses" monday.com – From £8 per Member per Monthmonday.com is tied first for our favourite project management platform. Having the best customer score of all the platforms we looked at, and coming with a very modest price tag, you could do a lot worse than monday.monday’s main perk is its versatility and customisation, and this spills over into its Gantt chart offering. Its smooth interface, enticing colours, and overall ease of use allow for a lot of playing with the software to find what works best for you and your team.Read more about monday.com here. Pros Easily the best looking chart out there monday.com is our overall second favourite project management software Cons Gantt chart is only offered on the Basic plan and above And dependencies are only available on the Standard plan and above Smartsheet – From £5 per Member per MonthSmartsheet, as the name might suggest, is less like a project management software, and more like a spreadsheet software (think Excel or Google Sheets). In our research, it’s the highest scoring platform when it comes to usability, which makes sense, as it’d be the most familiar platform to anyone just starting out with project management.As such, their Gantt chart isn’t the easiest on the eyes. It’s quite utilitarian, but in both the positive and negative connotations of that word. It’s somewhat colourless, but it also gets the job done. If you’re looking for a simple platform with few frills, this is the choice for you. Pros No frills Gantt chart and overall interface Everything you'd want in a standard Gantt chart Cons ... but it's a fairly basic offering No chart presets Wrike – From $9.80 per Member per MonthWrike is one of the pricier platforms on the market. It has one of our best usability scores, and customers rate it quite highly as a product. It’s not the best for collaboration or customer service, but for a small team that knows what they’re doing, Wrike serves the job well.As for its Gantt offerings, they’re nice and snappy, auto-populating Gantt chart tasks with information entered elsewhere in the project management software. However, Gantt charts and dependencies aren’t offered on the free tier, which is a shame when considering how basic of a feature it is. Pros Auto-populated Gantt charts based on information you've entered elsewhere User interface is clean and snappy Cons Gantt charts are only available on the paid plans As such, users can't use dependencies Asana – From £9.49 per Member per MonthAsana is one of the more popular project management platforms, scoring well across the board during our research. Some of its best features include a great app marketplace, and a great array of team communication functionalities.As far as its Gantt charts are concerned, Asana has some of the best visual customisation out there. It can be easily switched to timeline views, and the interface is very nice to look at and use. Unfortunately it can be a bit rigid. A lot of the time with Gantt charts, you can reverse engineer a fix for a specific problem you’re having, but Asana isn’t too conducive to this approach. Pros Easily switchable from timeline view Loads of cosmetic customisation Clean user interface Cons Dependencies unavailable on free plan Not easy to formulate workarounds Zoho Projects – From £4 per Member per MonthIf the word “Zoho” sounds familiar, don’t worry! Zoho makes all kinds of business software, some of which you may already be familiar with or even use yourself. If this is the case, then that’s some extra incentive to use Zoho, as most of its software can integrate with other Zoho software. And it’s obviously very affordable.As for its Gantt chart, however, it’s one of our favourites. It allows all the classic Gantt chart functionalities, like dependencies, as well as some very helpful functions, like task notes, easy resizing, and the ability to export into various formats. Pros Very easy to use Gantt chart can be easily edited Editing the time frame will update all following tasks with dependencies Cons Searching for individual tasks can be tricky Teamwork – From £10 per Member per MonthFinally, we have Teamwork, which, true to its name, has some of the smoothest collaboration features on the project management market. Not only that, but it scores well for customer service, and customer satisfaction is quite high too.Their Gantt chart offerings are solid, don’t get us wrong, but it’s nothing amazing. This does mean, however, if you just want a basic Gantt chart (albeit with a selection of above-average collaboration features), then this is a great pick for you. Pros Very easy to use Editing timelines of projects and steps is smooth Views can be easily changed from Gantt to other applicable forms Cons Jack of all trades, master of none Why Do You Need a Gantt Chart Maker?A Gantt chart is the bread and butter of project management. As such, it’s not too complicated, but still worth doing correctly. Sure, you can put together a rudimentary example on Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets, but it will always be a second-class product when compared to the real thing.Project management software is a great way of formalising the process, while also making it more collaborative, customisable, and accessible. Gantt charts are only one of the formats on offer within project management software. Here are some other important project management templates. What Kind of Templates Do I Need to Use in Project Management?Of course, Gantt charts are one of many chart types and tools that a project management software can come with. Here are some other handy features that project management software can offer you:RACI chart: RACI stands for “responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed.” These are a broad umbrella for the four ways someone can be involved in the project, and designating each member with one of these titles can improve communication and workflow.MoSCoW chart: MoSCoW generously stands for “must, should, could, and won’t.” These four designations are given to the various steps within a project. For example, if you’re making a website for a product, you must have a homepage, you should include imagery of your product, you could include customer testimonials, and you won’t play annoying music on every page.Task list: While a task list could just be written down on a whiteboard, having a virtual collaborative space is a lot easier and more efficient. Team members can claim certain tasks, and update their progress as they go.Roadmap: A broader document than a task list, the roadmap is the bird’s eye view of the entire project from day one to the finish date. It might not have each individual step, but it will address the broader segments of the project.Kanban chart: While Gantt charts are popular, Kanban charts are another great solution for projects with more independent stages. Team members can move projects from one stage to another, like “in progress” or “in review,” while encountering little in the form of roadblocks from other unfinished steps. An example of Asana’s Kansan chart is below. Verdict There’s only so different a Gantt chart can be to stand out, but all of these products do it well. If you’re entirely new to the world of Gantt charts, then it’s a good idea to check out ClickUp. They have a simplified Gantt chart option so that you can get to grips with the system and functions.However, ClickUp only offers 100 uses on their free tier, which might not be enough if you’re looking to save money. If you’re looking to be on a free plan for an extended period of time, monday.com is a better choice, as it offers an unlimited amount of Gantt chart uses.In any case, all of these platforms will do their jobs when it comes to Gantt charts, so if one has piqued your interest, it’s definitely worth a shot. How We Test Project Management Software for BusinessesWe tested 14 market-leading project management software to evaluate them in terms of functionality, usability, accuracy, customer support, and more so we can make the most useful recommendations to UK businesses.Our rigorous testing process means these products have been scored and rated in five main categories of investigation and nine subcategories – in fact, we covered 51 areas of investigation in total. We then gave each category score a ‘relevance weighting' to ensure the product's final score perfectly reflects the needs and requirements of Expert Market readers – and that's our algorithm in a nutshell!Our main testing categories for project management software are:Customer Score: external customer opinion; the feedback and ratings given by customers who have used a particular project management provider – the market position and reputation a project management tool holds.Features: the functionalities and capabilities offered by the project management solution, including features such as task management, team collaboration, and project planning and scheduling.Customer Support: the assistance and resources provided by the project management solution provider to users, including phone support, email or chat support, and online forums.Usability Testing: this is where we get people just like you to test out the products to focus on evaluating the ease of use and user experience of the project management solution. We assess factors such as the user interface, navigation, and task organisation.Cost Factors: the financial considerations associated with using a project management solution, e.g. licensing fees, subscription plans, or additional charges for advanced features or add-ons. Written by: Duncan Lambden Software Expert Duncan (BA in English Textual Studies and Game Design) is one of Expert Market's local Software Experts. His articles focus on ecommerce platforms and business software that allows small businesses to improve their efficiency or reach, with an emphasis on invoice financing, project management, and customer relations. Reviewed by: James Macey Senior Business Software Researcher James draws on his 4+ years experience as a researcher to offer specialized advice on a wide range of categories from CRM to Fleet Management. He believes all businesses can grow if they use the right tools and services.