If you’re a project manager, you probably work a lot with Gantt charts. If not, let me explain:

Gantt charts are bar charts that represent the amount of work that needs to be done in certain chunks of time. They are ultimately used to visually lay out a project schedule. If you have a clear due date for your project with milestones in between, which is common for construction, textiles, and inventory strategy, you probably want to make use of these handy charts.

Unfortunately, Gantt charts are more complex than they initially seem. They are inefficient, if hand-drawn — no one wants to keep manually updating a moving chart as tasks are completed — and require skills in resource allocation, task-dependency management, and team collaboration.

That’s why I’ve gone through the extensive list of project management software that offers Gantt charts and selected the best.

Gantt chart software

What criteria did I use? First, I filtered through the Gantt chart software to make sure they offered an installed version for security reasons. From there, I opted for apps that could handle project planning, collaboration, and resource management. After that, I narrowed the list so that readers would be able to select the right suite for their business size; some companies might need enterprise project management software, but not all have to pay for it.

With that said, here’s the top Gantt chart software, sorted alphabetically.

Celoxis is a great option for large, global companies. It offers its services in multiple languages (Chinese, English, French, German, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish) and has an impressive system for project portfolio management. Its notable clients include Deloitte, HBO, KPMG, LiveNation, and Xerox.

Celoxis has an impressive breadth of reporting options that pulls from Gantt chart information. While its resource allocation and project planning resources are the best, pay attention to how their reports can effectively analyze projected project costs (like resource hours, billable hours, and even product utilization) and how those projections compare to actual use. From there, project managers can learn how to improve their project management system internally.

One drawback is that Celoxis has very few integrations. Sure, it works with Microsoft Project, QuickBooks, Salesforce, and Google Apps, but offers little beyond that. However, Celoxis does offer an open API, so developers are constantly creating their own plug-ins to make Celoxis work best for them.

Price: $25 per user/month for web; $450 per user, one time (offers volume discounts) for installed version

Operating System(s): Linux, Mac OS X, Windows, Online

Company size: Large and enterprise

Used Celoxis? Leave a review!

Easy Projects is best suited for companies with tons of outside clients. The Gantt chart software offers unlimited guest accounts, so your clients can follow their projects’ progress through to completion. It is available in French, German, Russian, and Spanish.

The nicest thing about Easy Projects is that it’s so easy to use. As one reviewer noted, “The software is suitable for ‘accidental project managers,’ meaning it does not use confusing industry jargon and is simple to learn to use, regardless of your project management experience.” Other user reviews confirm this sentiment — along with helpful customer service and overall functionality.

Easy Projects allows users to have both private and public calendars. Gantt charts are created with a simple drag-and-drop system, and project managers (accidental or not) can easily track and modify tasks, schedules, and dependencies.

I’d recommend Easy Projects to teams that are small in size, but need big project management features; large and enterprise companies can succeed with Easy Projects (as Toshiba, Staples, and UPS certainly have), but there may be similar options at a lower price point.

Price: Starts at $121 per user/month for web (paid annually and scales down per person with team size); $189 per user/year (offers volume discounts) for installed version

Operating System(s): Windows, Online

Company size: All, though better for smaller teams

Used Easy Projects? Leave a review!

If you’re a part of a growing company and are looking for a Gantt chart- based project management system that can scale from small to medium to large, check out Project Insight. Most of its clients are in the tech industry, like Dell and Cisco, and you can tell that it’s tailored its product to companies with a strong professional services program that want to have a project management system focused on tech resources and allocation.

Because it’s made for businesses with a range of projects, Project Insight gives project managers the ability to prioritize and sort different projects down to the granular level. They offer templates, time tracking, and a collaboration system, which allows users to comment on tasks, projects, and issues.

Users love Project Insight. One reviewer from Cardiff Consulting said, “I’d totally recommend this software to someone looking to understand where their efforts and money are going month to month.” In other words, if you’re a small business looking for the big picture or a big business looking for small details, Project Insight is likely a good investment for you.

Price: Starts at $3,900 per year for installed; starts from $10 per user/month for web

Operating System(s): Windows, Online

Company size: Mid-size

Used Project Insight? Leave a review!

RationalPlan is a well-known Microsoft Project alternative that matches MS Project feature-to-feature — and it’s a lot cheaper to boot. One reviewer noted, “It doesn’t have the big brand name on it like MS Project, however, it offers superior performance and more functionality, in particular the possibility to schedule work at a percentage of someone’s time – a big gap in that big brand product. Customer support is really good and helpful, with knowledgeable staff.” It’s available in English, Dutch, and Italian.

RationalPlan has incredibly strong Gantt chart features. It has users start off by making a work breakdown structure to create task lists for your team. The whole system is drag-and-drop, and the system automatically highlights tasks that are along the critical path.

RationalPlan is particularly good for small businesses because it also offers budgeting features, like forecasting and cost management. While RationalPlan would work well with larger businesses, it doesn’t have that many enterprise clients… yet.

Price: Unpublished price for installed; starts from $19 per user/month for web

Operating System(s): Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Online

Company size: Small to Mid-size

Used RationalPlan? Leave a review!

If you’re looking for Gantt chart software that also offers functionality for IT teams, look no further than TeamHeadquarters. This project management application is the intersection of help desk software, resource management software, and scheduling software.

One reviewer at Capterra summed it up: “It strikes a terrific balance between project management, time tracking, and support ticket control.”

If your IT team is struggling with communication, TeamHeadquarters offers an all-in-one solution so that you don’t need to jump from app to app for each project. It also has a customer service portal, so customer tickets can be scheduled alongside internal tickets. As you update your Gantt chart, everyone stays informed.

With all that said, software can’t be all the things. TeamHeadquarters does offer basic project management features, but it pales as a full solution compared to project management-specific software. For example, it’s missing some reporting and budgeting features.

Price: $499 User, one time fee for on-premise license; $24 per user/month for on-premise subscription; starts from $28 per user/month for web

Operating System(s): Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Online

Company size: Small to Mid-size

Used TeamHeadquarters? Leave a review!

You’ve gotten down to the last option on this article and might be thinking, “I like elements of all these options. I wish there was Gantt chart software where I could pick and choose functionality and pricing from each!”

Enter VisionFlow.

VisionFlow is modular software, meaning project managers and IT managers can choose its best modules.

VisionFlow offers the following modules:

And of course:

The final module, which contains its Gantt chart functionality, also offers full project management capabilities. From resource allocation to budgeting to time tracking to reports, VisionFlow offers a viable project management suite for any serious manager.

VisionFlow is available in English, Swedish, German, French, Spanish, Norwegian, Czech, Russian, and Polish.

Price: Very flexible because it’s modular. The project management module costs $5.50 with a base price of $45 per user/month.

Operating System(s): Online, Windows

Company size: All

Used VisionFlow? Leave a review!

More?

There are certainly more amazing Gantt chart software options than the six listed above. Who did I miss? Do you like any of them? Let me know in the comments below!