the template library

Gantt chart templates you can copy

A template is just someone else's task list — so here are six good ones. Each is a reusable set of phases, drawn on a real timeline, with a note on how to make it yours. Copy the list, change the words, keep the shape.

Want the reasoning first? Read five worked Gantt chart examples. New to the vocabulary? There's a plain-English glossary. Set on a spreadsheet? Here's the honest Excel guide.

In the library 06 templates

01 Product launch Software & product
02 Marketing campaign Marketing
03 Event & conference Events
04 Development sprint Engineering
05 Renovation project Construction
06 Employee onboarding People & ops

Software & product

Product launch

8 weeks

Shipping a new product or a headline feature to a date everyone can see.

The template — copy this

1. Scope & spec 1 wk
2. Build 3.5 wk
3. Marketing prep 2.5 wk
4. Beta & fixes 2 wk
5. Launch runway 1.5 wk
Launch milestone

week 1 → week 8 milestone

Scope & spec

Build

Marketing prep

Beta & fixes

Launch runway

Launch

Make it yours

The chain that decides your date is Scope → Build → Beta → Launch — that is the critical path. Marketing prep runs alongside it with real slack, so it can slip a few days without touching launch day. Keep the half-week of runway before the milestone as buffer, not as more Build.

Marketing

Marketing campaign

6 weeks

A campaign with a fixed go-live — a sale, a report, a seasonal push.

The template — copy this

1. Strategy & brief 1 wk
2. Creative & copy 2 wk
3. Landing page 1.5 wk
4. Ads & scheduling 1.5 wk
5. Live & optimise 1.5 wk
Go live milestone

week 1 → week 6 milestone

Strategy & brief

Creative & copy

Landing page

Ads & scheduling

Live & optimise

Go live

Make it yours

Everything waits on the brief — a plain finish-to-start dependency, because creative built before the strategy is settled is rework, not progress. Landing page overlaps Creative deliberately. If your channels need lead time for approvals, lengthen Ads & scheduling first — it is the phase most likely to hide a queue.

Events

Event & conference

10 weeks

An event where the date is set in stone and everything works backwards from it.

The template — copy this

1. Venue & budget 2 wk
2. Speakers & program 3 wk
3. Registration open 1 wk
4. Promotion 4 wk
5. Logistics & run-sheet 2 wk
Event day milestone

week 1 → week 10 milestone

Venue & budget

Speakers & program

Registration open

Promotion

Logistics & run-sheet

Event day

Make it yours

Events are all milestone: the date cannot move, so the plan is a countdown. Registration cannot open before the venue and at least one speaker are locked — that is why it starts at week four, not week one. Promotion runs right up to the doors, because it is the one phase where more time reliably helps.

Engineering

Development sprint

4 weeks

A two-to-four-week cycle that has to end with something shippable.

The template — copy this

1. Planning & tickets 0.5 wk
2. Core build 2 wk
3. Integration 1 wk
4. QA & review 1 wk
5. Hardening 0.5 wk
Ship milestone

week 1 → week 4 milestone

Planning & tickets

Core build

Integration

QA & review

Hardening

Ship

Make it yours

A sprint is almost all critical path — there is no slack to hide in, which is the point. Size the work so Core build is a real duration, not a wish; if it will not fit, cut scope in Planning, not corners in QA. The half-week of hardening at the end is the buffer that keeps "ship" from meaning "ship and firefight".

Construction

Renovation project

12 weeks

A build or remodel with trades that have to follow each other in order.

The template — copy this

1. Design & permits 3 wk
2. Demolition 1 wk
3. Rough-in (elec/plumb) 2.5 wk
4. Finishes 4 wk
5. Snag & handover 1.5 wk
Move-in milestone

week 1 → week 12 milestone

Design & permits

Demolition

Rough-in (elec/plumb)

Finishes

Snag & handover

Move-in

Make it yours

Physical work is the strictest kind of dependency: you cannot paint a wall that is not built. Permits gate everything, so protect that first bar — a slip there moves every trade behind it. Order matters more than optimism here; when in doubt, leave a day of lag between trades so nobody works on top of nobody.

People & ops

Employee onboarding

8 weeks

A structured first two months — the 30/60/90 laid out as a real plan.

The template — copy this

1. Pre-boarding 1 wk
2. Week 1 — ramp 1 wk
3. First 30 — learn 2.5 wk
4. To 60 — contribute 2.5 wk
5. To 90 — own 2 wk
90-day review milestone

week 1 → week 8 milestone

Pre-boarding

Week 1 — ramp

First 30 — learn

To 60 — contribute

To 90 — own

90-day review

Make it yours

The deliverable of onboarding is a person who owns their work — so the phases are outcomes, not paperwork. Pre-boarding is the one bar people skip and regret: kit, accounts, and a first task ready before day one. Treat each block as a milestone to check in on, not a box to tick.

Not sure a timeline is even the right shape? Start with Gantt chart, kanban board, or to-do list?

five steps

How to use any template

A template gives you a head start, not a finished plan. The five steps that turn a scaffold into your project:

01

Pick the closest template

The scaffold matters more than the labels — a marketing campaign and a product launch share more shape than they look.
02

Copy the phase list and rename it

Paste the phases into your tool of choice, then rename each to the work your project actually does.
03

Set an honest duration on each

Swap the example weeks for real estimates. A single number is a guess in disguise — estimate a fast case and a bad day, and bank the gap as one buffer.
04

Mark what waits on what

Draw the dependencies. The longest unbroken chain of dependent phases is the critical path, and it alone sets your finish date.
05

Add your milestone and share it

Place the fixed date as a zero-day milestone, then share the chart as a live link and keep it matching reality.

Want the long version? The field guide to planning a project walks the same five moves in depth, and how to make a Gantt chart compares every way to draw one.

common questions

About these templates

Are these Gantt chart templates free?

Yes — every template on this page is free to copy, with no sign-up and nothing to download. Each one is a phase list you can select, paste into any tool, and adapt. If you want it as an editable, shareable chart, paste the one-sentence prompt shown with each template into ganttchart.ai and it draws the bars for you.

What's the difference between a template and an example?

A template is a reusable scaffold — the phases most projects of a given type share, ready for you to rename and re-time. An example is one specific plan, drawn to show why it is shaped the way it is. Start from a template when you want a head start on your own plan; read the worked examples when you want to understand the reasoning first.

Can I use these templates in Excel or Google Sheets?

Yes. Copy the phase list into a sheet, put start weeks and durations in two columns, and follow the stacked-bar-chart trick — the exact clicks and formulas are in our Excel guide and Google Sheets guide. The catch is the same for every spreadsheet: it will draw the bars, but it will not understand the dependencies, so it will not reflow when a date slips.

How do I turn a template into an editable chart?

Type the plan as one plain-English sentence — the prompt under each template is written to be pasted straight in — and ganttchart.ai renders an editable, shareable Gantt chart in seconds. Then drag the bars until the plan matches your reality, which is the part a static template can never do for you.

How many tasks should a Gantt chart template have?

Five to seven phases for a chart people will actually read. Each bar here stands for a batch of real work — "Build" might be forty tickets — because the timeline is for the room, not the task tracker. When a phase gets too big to reason about, break it down with a work breakdown structure, then keep the detail off the chart.

Skip the copy-paste

Every template here is one sentence away from being an editable chart. Type the prompt, watch the bars appear, then drag them until the plan is yours.

Try ganttchart.ai → See the worked examples