GanttPRO Project Management Blog

GanttPRO as the Best Microsoft Project Alternative for Creating Gantt Charts

Andrew Stepanov

Looking for an alternative to MS Project?

We offer an efficient solution as an alternative to the product of Microsoft.

Project managers are busy people. They have to do a bunch of various activities, from planning to the final accomplishment of a project. It’s challenging, no doubts.

However, they can feel somehow happy as they can choose between so many management tools, so sometimes it hurts to make a choice rather than to manage a project.

Those who deal with projects are highly likely to be acquainted with the Microsoft Project tool.

But the truth is that even most widespread software oftentimes doesn’t meet the needs.

It can be so due to different reasons: too complicated, inefficient, not affordable or does not have required features, etc. In such cases, managers begin to look for the best Microsoft Project alternatives. Fortunately, to find alternatives to MS Project is not even a problem nowadays.

In this article, we present GanttPRO as an efficient and robust alternative to MS Project. Here are the reasons why we do that.

Why GanttPRO is an efficient alternative to MS Project:

Alternative to MS Project: quick and easy registration

What can scare a user away from using software? One of the first steps – registration. If you have to fill in fields with the information you consider insignificant or it takes too much time, this software won’t work for you.

To register in our Microsoft Project alternative, you don’t need to give us your phone number, company name, and its organizational size. Simply sign up using your email, Google or Microsoft account, LinkedIn or Facebook.

After that, you can immediately plan and manage your tasks in our alternative to Microsoft Project.

Alternative to MS Project: intuitive interface

After registration, the interface takes the stage. There is no common model of how an ideal interface should look like. It’s a purely individual choice.

But what really matters is simplicity and intuitive design. MS Project users know firsthand how this software is difficult to study out. To learn even simple actions, a user needs time, tons of time.

Our MS Project alternative is like your favorite work chair in the office after you have been sitting in an uncomfortable one at the meeting. When your limbs fell asleep and you finally changed position – it is such a relief. This is what managers feel after switching from MS Project to our alternative.

To become an advanced user, a manager needs literally a few minutes. Buttons, options, and the Gantt chart itself – everything is nice and intuitive.

Alternative to MS Project: ease of use

Imagine, you have a robust project planning tool, with lots of features and it is simple to work with. Do you know any?

We definitely know that MS Project is not the easiest software to use. One can simply get lost in it. 

And we are 100% sure that our Microsoft Project alternative is the tool where a manager and a team can work together, even if it is used for the first time thanks to its short learning curve.

No questions like “What is this?”, “What if I click here?”, etc. All you need to do in your project, you will find intuitively in our alternative to MS Project. Set dependencies between tasks, drag and drop them, set milestones, view history of changes, manage resources, log time  – a few clicks, and you already use all these features.

Alternative to MS Project: all activities on one screen

If you work on a project, it is as clear as day that you need to have everything at hand, not scattered somewhere in different options, buttons, and screens.

In our alternative to MS Project, a manager has everything on one screen. There is no need to search for the required features. All tasks, assignees, estimates, duration, and time, resources, statuses, and priorities – right in front of you.

Alternative to MS Project: easy collaboration with the team

To collaborate with your team in MS Project is like trying to reach your friend who is 100 m away from you on a rock show – hard and painful, with a shadow of impossibility. For this purpose, the Microsoft product requires the license.

Our alternative makes the collaboration process smooth and joyful. Leave comments, attach files, invite team members, mention them, browse the history of changes in real time – vast space for the efficient collaboration with team members.

Alternative to MS Project: export to popular formats including PNG and PDF

Managers need to have their projects everywhere. For many reasons: to control them, to present them during meetings or report to stakeholders. The Export feature is a good way out.

Both tools have this feature.

In GanttPRO, a manager can export charts to 4 popular formats: XLSX, PNG, PDF or XML. With only one click. Our Microsoft Project alternative also allows including your Gantt charts into presentations or any other multimedia files – your clients and team are always aware of estimates and progress.

Alternative to MS Project: easy import from popular formats with wide options

Have you already started your chart in MS Project but you are tired of working in it?

In our Microsoft Project alternative, you can easily import your project from .mpp MS format. It is convenient: you import and go on working on your project with all data.

This is not all. Import to GanttPRO is also possible from .xlsx, .xls and .csv formats.

Watch this video for more details on how to import your project from MS Project and Excel.

Note: import is possible in two tools. But it is really easier to make it in GanttPRO.

Alternative to MS Project: public URL

In our Microsoft Project alternative, it is easy to share your project with everyone. This can be done with the help of a generated link. You grant anyone you want the right to view your project in two ways: static (snapshot) or dynamic (all the following changes will be available via that link). No licenses, no hard-to-make steps – just use a public URL.

You can apply filters, write a description, see a creation date, and its status.

You can deactivate a link at any moment in two ways: switch the status off or simply delete it. The previous link will no longer be available.

Alternative to MS Project: own templates

Templates are available in both tools. However, in our Microsoft project alternative, there is a possibility to save your own templates.

For example, you manage a project or already accomplished it. You realize that it is a really successful template that can be used for future charts. Save it and use it as many times as you need.

Alternative to MS Project: history of changes

How many times have you made wrong actions in your chart? Probably, plenty. So did your team members. This can lead your project to bad directions.

In our alternative to MS Project, it is simple to view the history of all changes made by you and your team. Browse all actions and events, catch where everything went wrong, and restore the version of your Gantt chart before wrong actions were implemented.

You fully control your project.

Alternative to MS Project: time log

In our alternative to Microsoft Project, you can log time spent on tasks. Owners can control and log time for everyone. Members can work with time only for their tasks.

Our software allows project participants to log time not only after tasks are finished but also start the timer for tasks in progress.

Alternative to MS Project: works fine on Mac

MS Project is the product of Microsoft. No wonder, they do not support the OS of their competitors.

However, it is very important to create conditions when everyone has access to a project and works on it wherever it can be.

Our Microsoft Project Mac alternative gives that possibility. The software works on any platform be it Windows, Mac or Linux.

Forget about your search for Microsoft Project alternative for Mac – you have already found it.

Alternative to MS Project: free trial

GanttPRO allows everyone to use a 14-day free trial. You can create an unlimited number of projects, invite an unlimited number of team members and virtual resources. The free trial offers all the features including export and sharing.

Moreover, paid plans are at a lower price for this Microsoft Project alternative.

Alternative to MS Project: the key differences

Let’s summarize everything that was stated above.

All this information may not be absorbed immediately, but you can visually refresh in memory what you’ve just learned.

In the video below, you can learn even more details about why GanttPRO is considered one of the best alternatives to Microsoft Project.

Microsoft Project alternative selection criteria: free features

GanttPRO has a free trial and paid options. To use MS Project, you need to pay. The only free option available is to use trial. But its functionality is poor and doesn’t let to create robust projects.

This is not the case of GanttPRO. In the free trial, our alternative to Microsoft Project offers:

GanttPRO is an affordable and efficient alternative to MS Project. It covers the planning needs of single users as well as teams.

Try GanttPRO for free!

GanttPRO as an alternative to MS Project

GanttPRO already proved to be an efficient online Microsoft Project alternative for many managers. More than 500K managers already created more than 530K schedules.

Paul O’Donnell, a delivery manager at Equal Experts:

By the way, we have not enumerated all the features giving the possibility to discover them to you.

Watch this tutorial on how to create your first Gantt chart and start working in GanttPRO.

Have you already tried GanttPRO as a Microsoft Project alternative?

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