When managing a project, staying organized is key to its success. One of the most powerful tools for keeping your projects on track is a Gantt chart. But what exactly is a Gantt chart, and how does it help you manage your work more effectively?
In this blog, we’ll walk you through what a Gantt chart is, why it’s important, and introduce 13 of the best free Gantt chart templates you can start using in Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, or Lark to simplify your project planning and execution.
What is a Gantt chart and why is it essential?
What is a Gantt chart?
A Gantt chart is a visual tool used for project planning that allows you to track tasks, timelines, and dependencies.
The chart displays tasks as horizontal bars, with the length of each bar representing the duration of the task. This provides an immediate visual representation of your entire project, helping you see not only what needs to be done but also when and in what order.
Why Gantt charts are important
Gantt charts are invaluable because they provide clarity and structure to even the most complex projects. By visualizing your project’s tasks and deadlines, you can:
Plan efficiently: Map out all tasks and their durations in a single view.
Track progress: Easily see which tasks are completed, in progress, or delayed.
Ensure collaboration: A clear timeline makes it easier for teams to work together and stay on track.
In industries ranging from construction and IT to marketing and event management, Gantt charts help teams coordinate and ensure that everything runs smoothly.
Gantt chart templates: The fast and easy way to get started
Creating a Gantt chart from scratch in Excel and Sheets can be time-consuming, especially for larger, more complex projects. This is where Gantt chart templates come in.
Templates provide a pre-built structure for your project, allowing you to get started right away without needing to design the chart from the ground up. Gantt chart templates save time, ensure consistency, and make it easy to focus on managing your project rather than building the chart itself.
Benefits of using a Gantt chart template
Why struggle with creating a Gantt chart from scratch when you can use a Gantt chart that’s already set up for you? Here’s why Gantt chart templates are a game changer:
1. Time-Saving
A Gantt chart template eliminates the need to create charts from scratch. Instead of spending hours figuring out how to structure your project timeline, you can simply add your tasks and dates into the template.
2. Customizable
Every project is unique, along with its specific requirements. A Gantt chart template allows you to tailor the chart to your needs—whether it’s adding custom milestones, adjusting task dependencies, or changing the design.
Whether you’re managing a marketing campaign, or a product launch, templates allow you to tweak timelines, task details, and dependencies to fit your workflow perfectly.
3. Collaboration-friendly
Gantt chart templates provided by collaboration platforms like Lark go beyond static charts. Using templates in Lark, you can set up AI automation, enable real-time updates, and synchronize information with your team. This ensures everyone stays aligned and up-to-date, making collaboration seamless.
4. Versatility
Gantt chart templates aren’t limited to a specific industry or project type. From construction to event planning to software development, these templates provide a universal framework that can be tailored for a variety of tasks.
5. Free to use
One big benefit for your team is that some Gantt chart templates are free to use. This makes them an excellent choice for startups, small businesses, or teams working with limited budgets. Platforms like Lark provide free, high-quality templates with advanced features, giving you access to powerful project management tools without additional costs.
Free Gantt chart templates for your work
Finding the right Gantt chart template can be challenging, especially with so many options available for different industries and use cases. To simplify your search, here’s a curated list of free Gantt chart templates.
These templates are free to download or free to use online, helping you get started with your next project.
Gantt chart templates for beginners
1. Basic Gantt Chart template by Lark
Why we recommend it:
This free Gantt chart template is ideal for project managers, team leaders, and anyone involved in planning and executing projects. It is particularly useful for managing multiple tasks and deadlines. Whether you’re handling a small-scale project or overseeing a large team, this Gantt chart template will help you stay organized and keep your project on track.
2. Simple Gantt Chart Template for Microsoft Excel
Why we recommend it:
You can download this free Excel gantt chart template to create a project schedule and track progress. After you’re done, you can share the Excel file with your team for collaborative review and editing. It's perfect for business plans, project management, or work assignments.
3. Simple Gantt Chart Template for Google Sheets
Why we recommend it:
This Google Sheets Gantt chart template for Google Sheets is an excellent option if you need a fast way to generate a Gantt chart. It’s simple design means you can use it to get started building a Gantt chart right away.
Although Google Sheets is a free, and user-friendly tool, it’s known for its subpar charts and limited mobile app functionality, making it not ideal for teams needing to present data visually or teams that need to work on mobile and desktop.
Need stunning visuals and a mobile-friendly tool? Try Lark for free.
Gantt chart templates for project management
4. Project management Gantt Chart template for Google Sheets
Why we recommend it:
This Gantt chart template from The Digital Project Manager (DPM) is an effective tool for organizing project timelines and ensuring tasks stay on schedule. With its stacked bar chart format, it visually represents the progress of all project tasks clearly. Easy to set up and beneficial for team collaboration, this template is an invaluable resource for successful project management.
5. Employee task tracker template by Lark
Why we recommend it:
This free Employee Task Tracker template offers a ready-to-use Gantt chart for monitoring task progress, along with a Kanban board for task leaders and customizable filters for task lists. You can easily adjust fields and add records to meet your specific needs, providing a clear overview of task descriptions, deadlines, and current statuses.
6. Project planner template for Microsoft Excel
Why we recommend it:
This free Excel Gantt chart template serves as an effective project planner, enabling you to track and coordinate project activities. Based on the traditional Gantt chart model, it visually represents project timelines, allowing you to input start dates, durations, and task statuses.
7. OKR template by Lark
Why we recommend it:
This free OKR Management template assists in managing your objectives and key results throughout the year. It provides a structured approach to track annual goals, including their priority, status, and start and end dates. You can decompose objectives into key results and monitor their progress using both a Gantt chart and a Kanban board.
Gantt chart templates for specific roles
8. Web Design & Development template by Lark
Why we recommend it:
This free Web Design & Development template encompasses every stage of a website project, from design and coding to content creation. It ensures that all requirements are met while keeping the project organized and on schedule. In addition, the template features both a Gantt chart and a Kanban board, allowing you to track progress through multiple viewing options.
9. Podcast Content Management template by Lark
Why we recommend it:
This free Podcast Content Management template simplifies the complex process of creating a podcast, covering everything from content selection and production scheduling to episode releases. It enables you to track and manage your podcast production schedule while customizing fields to fit your needs. You can also visualize your timeline with a Gantt chart. Additional fields for channel, topic or title, and host are included to provide a comprehensive overview of your podcast workflow.
10. Social media marketing plan template for Canva
Why we recommend it:
This Social Media Marketing Canva template plan template offers a visually appealing Gantt chart that allows stakeholders to visualize timelines and tasks. Crafted by Canva design experts, it allows for easy customization to fit your brand and project needs, ensuring a professional look. While it may not resemble traditional charts, this template provides clear visual representation, making it easier for teams to understand project progress and dependencies at a glance.
11. Recruitment and onboarding template by Lark
Why we recommend it:
This free Recruitment and Onboarding template is designed to help HR professionals manage recruitment and onboarding processes efficiently. It provides a structured format to track the progress of each candidate through the recruitment process Gantt chart, from the first round of interviews to the final selection. It also includes fields for key information about each candidate, such as their strengths, current company, years at the current company, and education.
12. Training plan Gantt template for Excel and Sheets
Why we recommend it:
This Training Plan Gantt template is a versatile tool designed to enhance your training programs. It provides a clear framework for organizing courses, schedules, and key milestones, facilitating effective learning journeys. Customizable and user-friendly, it allows you to adjust fields and settings to meet your specific needs, making it an essential resource for successful training management.
The best part? You can download it as a Google Sheets Gantt chart template or an Excel Gantt chart template.
13. Content calendar template by Lark
Why we recommend it:
This free Content Calendar template allows you to keep track of all your content in one place, with fields for campaign names, content format, progress, and associated events. It also includes a Gantt chart for visualizing your content timeline and a Kanban board for tracking progress.
How to choose the best Gantt chart template
Selecting the right Gantt chart template depends on several factors:
Project type: Consider the complexity of your project. For larger, more intricate projects, opt for templates with dependency tracking and milestones.
Team size: Collaborative templates like Lark’s Employee Task Tracker are ideal for larger teams who need real-time updates.
Preferred format: Whether you prefer Excel Gantt charts or Google Sheets Gantt charts. Alternatively, you can use both in collaboration software such as Lark.
Customization needs: If you require specific workflows or branding, look for templates that give you more room for customization.
Lark’s Gantt chart templates are versatile, making it a great choice for a wide variety of projects. Whether you’re managing a small team or overseeing a large-scale initiative, Lark’s platform can adapt to your needs.
How to use a Gantt Chart template
Using a Gantt chart template is simple, but to get the most out of it, follow these steps:
Download or access the template: Choose one of the free templates from the list above that fits your project needs.
Customize the chart: Add project tasks, start/end dates, and assign team members.
Set dependencies and milestones: Define task relationships and deadlines to ensure clarity.
Collaborate with your team: Share the chart and update it with your team using Lark’s real-time collaborative features.
Track Progress: Regularly update the chart to reflect task completion and any changes to deadlines.
With Lark’s project management tool Lark Base, customizing, setting dependencies, and tracking progress is straightforward. You can easily transform a template into a functional Gantt chart or convert an existing data table into a Gantt chart with just a few clicks.
Learn how to build a Gantt chart in Lark Base with our step-by-step guide.
Build Gantt charts and manage projects in Lark
While Gantt chart templates are incredibly useful, the platform you use to manage them plays a crucial role in your project’s success. Lark stands out as the best tool for Gantt chart management due to its powerful combination of features designed to simplify collaboration, communication, and project tracking.
Real-time collaboration: Teams can update tasks and timelines simultaneously, ensuring seamless communication and progress tracking.
Integrated communication: Share files, chat, and hold video calls all within the same platform, making project management more efficient.
Customizable templates: Lark offers a wide range of project management templates, including Gantt charts tailored to different industries and project types.
Cross-platform access: Whether on desktop, mobile, or web, your project is always within reach, ensuring flexibility for your team.
Free to use: Lark offers a free plan and it includes a variety of free templates.
In addition, working on Lark gives you access to Lark Base, an advanced project management tool, which is part of Lark’s collaboration suite.
Base is the ideal solution for creating and managing Gantt charts, whether you're part of a small team or overseeing a large organization.
Lark Base: Your Gantt chart expert
Alt: Turn a Gantt chart template into a fully functioning chart for your team in Lark Base.
Base provides an intuitive, flexible platform for managing your Gantt charts and project workflows. Here’s why Base is the perfect Gantt chart maker for teams of any size:
1. Simple project planning for small teams
For smaller teams, Lark's free plan includes Base, offering a user-friendly interface that integrates with essential tools like chat, calendar, and task management. With Lark Base, teams can create Gantt charts, dashboards, and visual workflows, ensuring streamlined project tracking and progress monitoring.
Additionally, your charts can be embedded directly in documents for real-time collaboration, ensuring that everyone is on the same page.
2. Enhanced collaboration for large teams
As Base is integrated with Lark’s other products it excels in facilitating cross-departmental communication. For larger teams, its integration with chat, meetings, and task management tools keeps everyone connected, informed, and aligned.
Base’s Gantt chart capabilities support complex project tracking, and its flexibility allows for customization to fit the specific needs of your team.
3. Automated Gantt chart creation
Base includes a feature that generates time bars based on data from date fields. This eliminates manual input, saving time and improving accuracy. Additionally, Base supports formula-based date calculations, automatically adjusting start and end times for your tasks.
4. Drag-and-drop editing
Editing your Gantt chart is simple with Base’s drag-and-drop functionality. You can adjust the start and end times of tasks with ease, and all changes sync automatically across views. The one-click option to expand or collapse task details further simplifies navigation, making it easier to manage complex projects.
5. Data filtering and grouping
With Base, you can easily group and filter Gantt chart data using grouping and filtering functions. This allows you to focus on the most important tasks and improve your team's ability to prioritize work effectively.
6. Color-coding for easy tracking
Base makes it easy to visually track progress with color-coded time bars. Different tasks or categories can be highlighted in distinct colors, providing an at-a-glance view of project milestones. You can also customize colors based on field values, making it easier to distinguish between different task types or priorities.
7. Compatible with Excel and Sheets
Base works with Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel files. This means you can open and work on Sheets and Excel files directly in Lark or convert them to Lark files. This compatibility makes switching to Lark easier without losing the documents you’ve already created.
Ready to take your project management to the next level? Sign up for Lark now and start building your Gantt charts with ease.
Final thoughts on Gantt chart templates
Gantt chart templates are an excellent starting point for any project, but they can only take you so far without the right platform to manage them. That's where Lark shines. Not only does Lark provide a wide variety of customizable free Gantt chart templates for every industry and project type, but it also offers the powerful tools needed to enhance collaboration and streamline project tracking.
With Lark, you can easily create, edit, and update Gantt charts in real time, ensuring that your team stays aligned no matter where they are. Its intuitive platform allows for easy drag-and-drop editing, automated task creation, and seamless integration with your existing tools, like Google Sheets and Excel.
For teams of all sizes, Lark's real-time communication, customizable templates, and project management features make it the ideal choice for managing Gantt charts efficiently and effectively. Take advantage of Lark’s free templates and start organizing your projects with ease. Try Lark today and unlock the full potential of your team.
