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GanttProject

Features
Ease of use
Ease of management
Quality of support
Affordability
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Pricing from
$5 one-time
Free Trial unavailable
Free version
User corporate size
Small
Medium
Large
User industry
  1. Transportation and logistics
  2. Agriculture, fishing, and forestry
  3. Real estate and property management

What is GanttProject

GanttProject is a desktop project scheduling application focused on building and maintaining Gantt charts for small to mid-sized projects. It supports task hierarchies, dependencies, milestones, and basic resource assignment to help project managers plan timelines and track progress. The product runs locally (primarily on Windows, macOS, and Linux) and emphasizes offline use and file-based project storage rather than a web-based, multi-user workspace. It can exchange data via common formats such as PDF/PNG exports and Microsoft Project-compatible files (with format limitations).

pros

Strong Gantt scheduling basics

GanttProject provides core scheduling functions such as task hierarchies, dependencies, milestones, baselines, and critical path visualization. These capabilities cover common planning needs without requiring a full enterprise PPM suite. For teams that mainly need timeline planning and reporting, it can be sufficient without additional modules.

Offline, cross-platform desktop use

The application runs as a local desktop tool on major operating systems, which suits users who need offline access or cannot use cloud services. Local files make it straightforward to store projects in internal repositories or shared drives. This model can simplify deployment in environments with strict network or data residency constraints.

Practical export and sharing options

GanttProject supports exporting Gantt charts to PDF and image formats for sharing status with stakeholders. It also supports interchange with Microsoft Project formats (import/export), which can help when collaborating with organizations standardized on MS Project. These outputs make it usable as a planning tool even when execution happens elsewhere.

cons

Limited collaboration and governance

GanttProject is not designed as a multi-user, real-time collaborative workspace with role-based access controls. It lacks portfolio-level governance features such as centralized project intake, cross-project capacity planning, and standardized workflows. Teams needing shared backlogs, approvals, and audit trails typically require additional systems.

Basic reporting and analytics

Reporting is oriented toward chart exports rather than configurable dashboards and analytics. It does not provide advanced portfolio reporting, KPI rollups, or automated status aggregation across multiple projects. Organizations that need executive-level reporting often need to integrate with other reporting tools.

Interoperability constraints

While it supports Microsoft Project-compatible file exchange, complex schedules and advanced MS Project constructs may not round-trip perfectly. Integrations with modern work management ecosystems (e.g., email/workspace tools, issue trackers, or time tracking) are limited compared with web-based platforms. This can increase manual effort when coordinating execution across multiple tools.

Plan & Pricing

Pricing model: Free desktop application (open-source) with optional "pay-to-download" (pay-what-you-want) support.

Free tier/plan: GanttProject is distributed under GPLv3 and all desktop packages are available for free — you can download and use the software at no cost. Feature parity: paid and free downloads are identical.

Optional paid download: The project offers a paid-download / "Your Price" option when downloading (a pay-what-you-want model). Official support posts indicate a minimum amount of $5 for the paid-download option and that a full refund is available within 30 days.

Commercial/cloud offering: GanttProject Cloud is a separate commercial cloud/collaboration server (linked from the official site); pricing for the cloud service is separate and is not specified on the GanttProject desktop pages.

Notes & sources: All statements above are taken from the official GanttProject website and official support forums (GanttProject pages & support).

Seller details

GanttProject Team
2003
Open Source
https://www.ganttproject.biz/
https://x.com/ganttproject

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