Best project schedule makers

What does building a first schedule look like?

Start with a short task list and the work each task waits for. For an office move, that might be finding a space, signing the lease, ordering furniture, setting up the network, packing and moving.

1. List the tasks with how long each takes. Not when. "Order furniture, 3 weeks for delivery" is the useful version.
2. Mark the date you cannot move as a milestone. Here it is the day the old lease ends.
3. Link only what genuinely waits. Furniture waits on the layout, the layout waits on the lease. Packing does not wait on the network. Over-linking is the usual mistake, and which tasks to link covers how to tell the difference.
4. Switch to working days. In Ganttile that is Hide weekends under Settings. Treat supplier lead times separately: a 30-day delivery wait is elapsed time, not 30 days of your team's work.
5. Turn on the critical path. The chain that decides the move date lights up. Check whether supplier lead times, the network installation or another chain controls the finish date.
6. Decide who sees what. The team works from the live chart. The landlord or the client gets an export or, in tools that offer one, a share link.

If you want to see a finished chart with the critical path already worked out before you build your own, the critical path example has three parallel tracks feeding one deadline, which makes the idea obvious in about a minute.

What should a project schedule maker actually do?

It should work out dates for you, not just display the ones you type in. A schedule is a set of tasks with lengths and links between them, and the tool's job is to turn that into start and finish dates, then keep them true as the project changes. Anything that cannot do the second part is a timeline drawing tool, which is fine for a slide but not for running the work.

In practice, that comes down to a short list of things to check before you commit to any of them:

• Durations, not just deadlines. A task that takes three weeks should look different from one that takes an afternoon, and changing its length should change its end date.
• Dependencies that push later work. When the foundations slip a week, the framing that waits on them should move a week too, without you dragging it there.
• Working days. A five-day task that starts on Thursday finishes the following Wednesday, not on Monday. The tool has to know about weekends.
• A critical path. The chain of tasks with no spare time, so you know which delays move the finish date and which ones do not.
• A baseline, if you report on progress. A saved copy of the agreed plan to measure slippage against. Useful for client and board reporting, less so for a small internal project.
• A way to share it. Either a live link for people outside the tool, or an export clean enough to send.

If what you need is a good-looking timeline to present rather than a schedule to run, the bar is lower, and our roundup of online Gantt chart makers is the better place to look. The tools below are judged on the scheduling list above.

Which project schedule makers are worth trying?

Eight options, covering a free online tool, paid tools built around the schedule, broader platforms that include one, a free desktop app and the spreadsheet most people start with.

• Ganttile
• TeamGantt
• GanttPRO
• Microsoft Planner and Project
• Smartsheet
• Wrike
• ProjectLibre
• Excel or Google Sheets template

1. Ganttile - free online schedule maker with a critical path

Ganttile builds the schedule in your browser. You add tasks with a start and an end, draw links between bars by dragging from one to the next, and turn on Auto schedule under Settings so that moving or stretching a task pushes everything linked after it. Critical path in the same menu highlights the chain that sets the finish date, and Hide weekends makes the chart count working days. There is an Estimate column for the hours of effort, separate from how long the bar runs, and the timescale goes from days to years. Everything is free, with no cap on projects, and there is a project schedule template to start from if a blank chart feels slow.

What it does not do matters as much for a schedule maker. There are no baselines, so you cannot save the agreed plan and measure slippage against it. Links have no lead or lag time. Progress is done or not done rather than a percentage, and there is no resource or workload view. You cannot import a file from Microsoft Project or Excel, only export to them. And there is no public link: the live chart is for people with access to the project in your account, so a client outside it gets a PDF, an image, an Excel file or a Microsoft Project XML file instead.

• Best for: small teams and freelancers who want a schedule that reschedules itself, free, with nothing to install.
• Pricing: Free, every feature included and no project cap (dependencies, auto scheduling, critical path, milestones, export to PDF, image, Excel and Microsoft Project XML).

Pros

• Auto scheduling and a critical path on a free plan with no project limit
• Weekends can be taken out of the schedule with one switch
• Effort in hours sits next to the dates, so a two-day bar can carry five hours of work
• Exports to PDF, image, Excel and Microsoft Project XML

Cons

• No baselines, so planned versus actual has to be tracked another way
• No public share link; people outside your account get an export
• No lead or lag on links, no percentage progress and no workload view
• No import from Microsoft Project or Excel

A note on reviews

Ganttile does not yet have an independent review base to summarise. The fastest test is to build one real schedule, link the tasks and stretch a bar to see what moves.

2. TeamGantt - the friendliest paid schedule, priced per plan

TeamGantt is built around one drag-and-drop schedule that non-specialists can read. Dependencies are part of every plan, including the free one, and the paid plans add critical path scheduling and a live schedule you can share with anyone, updated as you change it. That last point is the reason to pick it over most tools on this list: a client or a subcontractor can watch the dates move without an account.

The pricing model is unusual. TeamGantt charges a flat price per plan rather than per person, and limits projects instead. That is cheap for a team of ten running a handful of projects and expensive for one person running a dozen. The free Personal plan is enough to try the tool but not to run a project, at one user, one project and 40 tasks. Exports are PDF and CSV.

• Best for: teams that need a client or partner to see a live schedule without logging in.
• Pricing: Personal free (1 user, 1 project, 40 tasks). Base $59 a month or $590 a year, flat, for up to 5 projects with 1 manager and 10 collaborators. Business from $120 a month for 5 projects plus $24 a month for each extra project, up to 20, with unlimited managers and collaborators. Builder Edition for construction from $199 a month. The 14-day trial asks for a card.
• Rating: 4.6/5 on Capterra (204 reviews), 4.8/5 on G2 (895 reviews)

Pros

• Live share link on paid plans, so outsiders see current dates
• Critical path scheduling on the paid plans
• Flat price per plan, not per seat

Cons

• Free plan is limited to one project and 40 tasks
• Project limits on every paid plan, with extra projects charged on Business
• Exports are PDF and CSV only

What users say about TeamGantt

3. GanttPRO - baselines and critical path on every plan

GanttPRO is a scheduling tool first and a team tool second, and its plan table shows it. Auto scheduling, dependencies, milestones, baselines and the critical path are on every plan, including the cheapest, which makes it the least expensive way on this list to get a saved baseline in the browser. Higher plans add custom fields, saved project templates, workload management and portfolio reports.

There is no free plan, only a 14-day trial that needs no card, and the price is per user. The figures GanttPRO shows by default are for a 20-member team; smaller teams pay a little more per person, and monthly billing costs more than yearly. For a single schedule that only you edit, that is a lot to pay for. For a team that schedules every project the same way, the baselines alone can justify it.

• Best for: teams that report planned against actual dates and want baselines without enterprise software.
• Pricing: Core $7, Advanced $10 and Business $17 per user per month, billed yearly, as shown for a 20-member team. Enterprise $35 per user per month, or $25 on a limited-time offer, billed yearly with a 5-user minimum. No free plan; 14-day trial without a card. Plan details.
• Rating: 4.8/5 on Capterra (559 reviews), 4.8/5 on G2 (590 reviews)

Pros

• Baselines and critical path included on the cheapest plan
• Auto scheduling with cascading dependencies
• Workload and portfolio views on Business

Cons

• No free plan, and the trial is two weeks
• Per-user pricing adds up for occasional editors
• Workload management only arrives on Business

What users say about GanttPRO

4. Microsoft Planner and Project - the scheduler many offices already pay for

Microsoft now sells its scheduling through Planner. The basic Planner that comes with Microsoft 365 is a task board with no timeline. Planner Plan 1 adds the Timeline (Gantt) view, finish-to-start dependencies, milestones and sprints. Planner and Project Plan 3 is where the serious scheduling lives: baselines, the critical path, dependencies with lead and lag, an assignments view and the Project desktop app. Project Online was retired on 30 September 2026, so new cloud schedules from Microsoft are built in Planner.

If your organisation is already on Microsoft 365, this needs the least setup and approval, because the schedule sits next to Teams and Outlook and IT already manages the accounts. The two paid plans are far apart. Plan 1 gets you a Gantt view but not the critical path or baselines that make it a scheduler, and Plan 3 costs three times as much per person.

• Best for: organisations on Microsoft 365 that want baselines, critical path and lead and lag in a familiar place.
• Pricing: Planner in Microsoft 365 included with Microsoft 365 (no timeline view). Planner Plan 1 $10 and Planner and Project Plan 3 $30 per user per month, paid yearly on an annual subscription. One-month free trial with a card.
• Rating: Microsoft Planner 4.3/5 on Capterra (298 reviews) and 4.2/5 on G2 (237 reviews); Microsoft Project, all editions, 4.0/5 on G2 (1,627 reviews)

Pros

• Baselines, critical path and lead and lag on Plan 3
• Includes the Project desktop app on Plan 3
• Sits inside Teams and the rest of Microsoft 365

Cons

• Plan 1 has the Gantt view but not the critical path or baselines
• Plan 3 is $30 per user per month on a yearly commitment
• Little reason to choose it outside the Microsoft ecosystem

What users say about Microsoft Planner and Project

5. Smartsheet - a spreadsheet that schedules

Smartsheet looks like a spreadsheet and works like a scheduling tool once you switch dependencies on. Rows are tasks, a predecessor column holds the links and a duration column holds the lengths, and from there the Gantt view draws the bars and can highlight the critical path. Change a duration and the dates downstream follow, which is exactly what an ordinary spreadsheet cannot do.

It suits teams that already think in rows and columns, and organisations that want automations, forms and dashboards around the schedule. Baselines are on Business and above, not Pro. The cost of all that is setup: the scheduling only works once the sheet is built the right way, and someone has to own that.

• Best for: spreadsheet-minded teams who want real scheduling and are willing to set the sheet up properly.
• Pricing: Pro $9 per member per month billed yearly ($12 monthly) for 1 to 10 members. Business $19 per member per month billed yearly ($24 monthly) for 3 or more members. Enterprise on request. 30-day free trial.
• Rating: 4.5/5 on Capterra (3,557 reviews), 4.4/5 on G2 (22,766 reviews)

Pros

• Familiar grid with real dependencies and a critical path in the Gantt view
• Automations, forms and dashboards around the schedule
• Baselines on Business and above

Cons

• Scheduling depends on setting up predecessor and duration columns correctly
• No baselines on Pro
• No free plan after the trial

What users say about Smartsheet

6. Wrike - schedules inside a full work management platform

Wrike's Gantt chart is a genuine scheduler. Its own feature page lists all four dependency types, dependent tasks that shift when you move one, a critical path, baselines and a schedule you can share with people outside your organisation. Around it sit request forms, custom workflows, dashboards and reporting, which is the real reason teams buy it.

The free plan does not include the Gantt chart; it starts on Team. Wrike's pricing page also does not say which plan unlocks the critical path and baselines, so ask before you buy if those are the point. For a single project schedule, Wrike is a lot of platform. For an organisation scheduling many overlapping projects with intake and reporting, the scheduling comes with everything else it needs.

• Best for: organisations running many overlapping projects that need intake, workflows and reporting around the schedule.
• Pricing: Free plan without the Gantt chart. Team $10 per user per month for 2 to 15 users and Business $25 per user per month for 5 to 200 users, billed yearly. Pinnacle and Apex on request. 14-day free trial. Plan details.
• Rating: 4.4/5 on Capterra (3,040 reviews), 4.2/5 on G2 (4,537 reviews)

Pros

• All four dependency types and automatic shifting of dependent tasks
• Schedules can be shared with people outside your organisation
• Workflows, request forms and reporting around the schedule

Cons

• No Gantt chart on the free plan
• Plan availability of critical path and baselines is not stated on the pricing page
• Heavy for a single project

What users say about Wrike

7. ProjectLibre - free desktop scheduling with the classic toolkit

ProjectLibre is the free answer for anyone who wants Microsoft Project's way of scheduling without the licence. The desktop app does the full classic set: critical path and float, baselines and constraints, a Gantt chart, and it opens Microsoft Project files directly. If you have been sent an .mpp file and need to work on it, it is the obvious free tool.

It is a desktop program, so the schedule lives in a file on your computer. Sharing means sending the file or an export, and nobody else sees a live version. ProjectLibre also sells a separate cloud version with per-user pricing for teams who want the same engine online.

• Best for: one scheduler who wants Microsoft Project style planning, offline and free.
• Pricing: Desktop app free to download. ProjectLibre cloud Core $9.99 and Enterprise $29.99 per user per month, billed yearly.
• Rating: 4.4/5 on Capterra (43 reviews), 4.2/5 on G2 (36 reviews)

Pros

• Free critical path, float and baselines
• Opens Microsoft Project files directly
• Works offline

Cons

• A file on one computer, not a shared live schedule
• Steeper to learn than the browser tools
• Online collaboration means paying for the separate cloud version

What users say about ProjectLibre

8. Excel or Google Sheets template - free, but every dependency is a formula you maintain

A spreadsheet can carry a basic schedule further than people expect. A start date plus a duration gives you an end date, a formula can make each task start the day after the one before it finishes, and a WORKDAY formula skips weekends. Shade the cells or build a stacked bar chart and you have something that looks like a Gantt chart, with no new tool to learn.

It stops there. There is no built-in critical-path calculation in an ordinary spreadsheet template, and each dependency needs a formula you write and check, and when someone inserts a row the chain can quietly break. A spreadsheet is a sensible schedule for a short, stable project that one person maintains. Our Excel Gantt chart steps show how far you can take it.

• Best for: a short, stable schedule kept by one person who already lives in spreadsheets.
• Pricing: Free in Google Sheets and Excel for the web; included in Microsoft 365.

Pros

• Free and already familiar
• Formulas can chain start dates and skip weekends
• Easy to share as a file anyone can open

Cons

• No critical path
• Every dependency is a hand-written formula that can break
• Gets fragile as soon as several people edit it

There is no meaningful review listing for a spreadsheet template, so there is no rating here. The judgement is simpler: it is fine until the schedule changes often or more than one person edits it.

How do they compare on price and scheduling?

The table sticks to what decides most choices: where the tool runs, what you get without paying, whether it finds the critical path, and the lowest price for a plan with a Gantt view.

Who should pick which one?

Start from the person who has to see the schedule and the thing you most need it to do, not from the feature list. Most of these tools can draw the same chart; they differ in who pays, who can look and what happens when a date slips.

• Free and online, with real rescheduling: Ganttile. If you need offline work or Microsoft Project files, ProjectLibre.
• A client must see a live schedule: TeamGantt on a paid plan, or Wrike. Ganttile and ProjectLibre only send exports.
• You report planned against actual: GanttPRO is the cheapest browser tool with baselines; Planner Plan 3, Smartsheet Business and ProjectLibre also have them.
• Your company runs on Microsoft 365: Planner, and Plan 3 if the critical path and baselines matter.
• Your team already plans in spreadsheets: Smartsheet keeps the grid and adds real dependencies.
• You schedule many projects with requests and reporting around them: Wrike.
• One short, stable project: a spreadsheet is enough.