How to make a Gantt chart in Jira

Which Jira Gantt chart do you actually need?

Pick by scope, not by feature list.

Jira Free supports up to 10 users. The Jira pricing page displays headline monthly rates of $7.91 per user for Standard and $14.54 for Premium. These are not annual contract quotes; the total depends on user count and billing term. Compare Premium's wider feature set rather than treating the price difference as the cost of one chart.

How to build a Gantt chart with Jira's Timeline view

For a single software space, start with Timeline. Check that the work you want to plan appears, then add dates and dependencies. If the view looks empty, dates are one thing to check, alongside filters and the work hierarchy.

1. Turn on the Timeline

1. Open the project and look at the left sidebar. Timeline is listed with Board and Backlog. If it is missing, ask a space admin to check whether Timeline is enabled for your space.
2. Open the space menu to confirm whether it is team-managed or company-managed; configuration options differ.

2. Make sure epics have a start date and a due date

1. Timeline draws each epic as a bar from its start date to its due date. Both fields need to be available for date-based scheduling; a custom field with a similar name may not work.
2. On a team-managed project, open an epic and both dates are in the details panel. Fill them in.
3. On a company-managed project, if you cannot see a Start date field on the epic, ask an admin to add the system Start date field to the required screens. Atlassian documents this Start date issue.
4. Faster than opening each epic: in the Timeline itself, drag on the empty row next to an epic's name to draw a bar, which sets both dates at once. Drag the ends of the bar afterwards to adjust.

If dates still do not appear, check the space's scheduling settings and whether the view is using sprint dates. Do not replace the system date fields with new custom fields just to make a bar appear.

3. Show the child issues under each epic

1. Click the chevron next to an epic to expand it. Its stories and tasks appear as smaller bars beneath, each on its own dates.
2. Check how child work items are scheduled. Scrum spaces may use sprint dates; date-based scheduling uses the item's Start date and Due date.
3. Use Timeline's create controls to add work under the appropriate epic. Check that an existing item has the right parent if it is missing from the view.

4. Add dependencies

1. Hover over the end of a bar and a small handle appears. Drag it to another bar. Jira creates a blocks issue link between them and draws a line on the chart.
2. Alternatively, open the issue and add a link of type blocks or is blocked by in the linked issues section. The Timeline reads the same links.
3. If the dates conflict, meaning the blocked issue starts before the blocker ends, the line turns red. Jira warns; it does not move anything.

Treat the red dependency line as a prompt to review the schedule. It shows a conflict between linked dates rather than deciding how to resolve it. Atlassian's Timeline dependency documentation also notes that work-item linking must be enabled and Timeline displays Blocks links within one space.

5. Set the view and share it

1. Choose a readable time scale. Open View settings to adjust dependencies, completed work and hierarchy. The available controls depend on your space.
2. Filter by assignee, label or status to cut the chart down when presenting it.
3. Share the project URL with people who have access. For a static copy, select Export, choose the date range and download a PNG. Atlassian's Timeline export instructions cover the available settings.

What Jira Plans adds, and why it needs Premium

Plans brings work from several projects and boards into one planning view. It supports dependencies across teams, capacity, releases and scenarios. That can help when a release depends on work owned by several groups, even if each group already maintains its own board.

Two features are worth calling out because they are the ones the Timeline lacks. Plans can auto-schedule, filling in dates from estimates, dependencies and capacity rather than waiting for someone to drag every bar. And it has a dependencies report that lists every link across the plan and flags the ones in conflict, which is how you find the red lines on a chart too big to read.

A Premium upgrade affects the site subscription, not just the people who open Plans. Price it for your full user count and compare the planning work it would replace. Atlassian's December 2026 usage-billing changes are a separate consideration for metered features, with included allowances and settings for extra usage.

Marketplace Gantt apps for Jira

If you need a particular scheduling feature, compare Marketplace apps such as BigPicture, BigGantt and WBS Gantt-Chart for Jira. Check each app's current support for baselines, critical path, dependency types and date write-back. An app's Gantt layout alone does not tell you how it handles a complex schedule.

Include the app subscription alongside Jira's cost. Marketplace licensing can depend on the size of the host site rather than the number of people actively using the app, so confirm the quote for your deployment. Test a representative project before relying on its scheduling rules or applying bulk date changes.

When does a Jira schedule need more preparation?

Jira can hold work beyond software development, including marketing, approvals and launch tasks. The question is whether those teams actually maintain their work there. If their dates live elsewhere, adding placeholder issues creates another schedule someone must keep current.

Agree who owns each external milestone and how changes reach the plan. A client approval might need a named coordinator in Jira even though the client never signs in. For a supplier delivery, record the source of the expected date and who will confirm it.

The audience also matters. A filtered view or PNG export may be enough for stakeholders who only need milestones. If they need a live plan, check access and readability before introducing another tool.

When should you build the schedule outside Jira?

A separate chart can help when several teams use different tools or when you need a shared schedule without extending the Jira subscription. The trade-off is maintaining dates in two places. Decide which system holds the agreed plan and how changes will be communicated.

Ganttile offers a free browser-based chart with dependencies, baselines and critical path highlighting. You can start from the software development plan template, rename the phases and add the wider launch work.

Put Jira links in the relevant task notes so people can find the detail. Those links do not synchronise dates or completion status. Assign an owner to reconcile the shared schedule with Jira after a change.

If you are considering replacing Jira altogether, compare the Jira alternatives against the workflows and integrations you depend on. A separate chart and a full migration solve different problems.

What should you check if the chart looks wrong?

Start with filters, parent relationships and scheduling settings. A child item may be hidden under a collapsed epic or excluded by the current view. A date-based bar needs the correct system fields; a sprint-based view may use different dates.

Next, inspect the links. A dependency line requires a supported link type, and the software Timeline only shows dependencies within its space. If the blocker sits in another project, a single-project view may not show the relationship you need.

Finally, compare the plan with the team's actual capacity. Dates and arrows do not establish that the assigned people have enough time. Review overlapping work with the owners before treating the chart as a commitment.

Start with the smallest useful view

Use Timeline to plan one software space. Confirm the dates, expand the relevant work, link genuine dependencies and export or share a readable view. Move to Plans or a Marketplace app when you can name the scheduling requirement the current view does not meet.

If the wider schedule belongs outside Jira, test the software development plan template with one project. Agree who updates it before making it the shared plan.