How to Make a Gantt Chart Online (Free Project Plan)

To make a Gantt chart, open the Gantt Chart Maker and add your tasks with a Task Name, Start Date and End Date, plus their Progress and Status. Each task becomes a bar on the timeline. Drag bars to move them, drag their ends to change durations, switch between Day, Week and Month View, and Export PNG to share the plan — or Export JSON to keep its data.

Build a Gantt chart step by step

1. Open the Gantt Chart Maker.
2. Add a task: type the Task Name, pick the Start Date and End Date, set the progress percentage and the Status — Not Started, In Progress, Completed or Delayed.
3. Repeat for every task. The bars appear on the timeline, coloured by status.
4. Drag a bar to move a task; drag its right end to make it longer or shorter.
5. Use the edit and delete buttons to change or remove tasks.
6. Switch between Day View, Week View and Month View, and turn weekend shading on or off.
7. Export PNG to share the chart, or Export JSON to save the task list.

What a good project plan looks like

• Tasks of a few days to two weeks. "Website" is not a task; "Write homepage copy" is.
• Clear names starting with a verb: draft, review, build, test, launch.
• Realistic dates, with a little slack before deadlines you can't move.
• Owners in the task name if several people are involved: "Design logo (Mia)".
• Milestones as one-day tasks: "Launch", "Client sign-off".

Using status colours

Statuses make the chart a progress report as well as a plan:

• Completed tasks show what's done.
• In Progress shows what's happening now.
• Delayed stands out — mark slipping tasks early so problems are visible in the next meeting, not after the deadline.

Update progress percentages weekly, then export a fresh PNG for the status email.

Which view?

• Day View — short projects (a week or two) or detailed sprint plans.
• Week View — most projects of one to three months.
• Month View — long programmes and roadmaps.

Gantt chart or timeline?

A Gantt chart shows durations and overlaps — what runs in parallel and how long each piece takes. For a simpler story of key dates (milestones, releases, history), a timeline is clearer. And before planning dates at all, brainstorm the work with a mind map.

A simple example plan

For a small website project:

1. Gather content — 1 week.
2. Design pages — 2 weeks, starting halfway through content gathering.
3. Build the site — 2 weeks, after design.
4. Test and fix — 1 week.
5. Launch — a one-day milestone.

In the chart you'll see at once that design overlaps content, and that any delay in design pushes the launch.

Sharing and saving

• Export PNG for slides, emails and documents.
• Export JSON keeps a copy of the task list — names, dates, progress and status — for your records or other tools.
• The plan lives in your browser tab, so export before closing it.

Privacy

Tasks stay in your browser; nothing is uploaded or stored on a server.

Frequently asked questions

Can I add dependencies between tasks?

Not as linked arrows. Order tasks so each follows the one it depends on, and leave the visual gap clear.

Can several people edit the plan together?

The chart is a single-person tool. Share the exported PNG, and keep the JSON as the master copy.

Does it work on a phone?

It's best on a computer or tablet; dragging bars precisely is easier with a mouse.