Free Gantt Chart for Jira Cloud: What Are Your Real Options in 2026?

If you have searched for “free Gantt chart for Jira,” you have probably noticed that “free” means different things depending on who is saying it. Some apps are genuinely free for small teams. Some offer a free trial that expires. Some say “free” in their marketing but require a paid plan to access basic features like dependencies or baselines.

Here is an honest rundown of what is actually available without spending money, and where each option runs into limits.

Option 1: Jira’s Built-in Timeline (Free, Limited)

Jira Cloud includes a Timeline view on every project at no extra cost. It is not technically a Gantt chart, but it is the closest thing Jira offers natively.

What you get for free:

Task bars on a timeline
Drag-and-drop date editing
Basic Finish-to-Start dependencies
Child issue rollup

What you do not get:

Critical path analysis
Multiple dependency types (only FS)
Baselines or plan-vs-actual comparison
Project health metrics
Cross-project scheduling
Phases or milestones

For small projects with simple sequential dependencies, Timeline works fine. Once you need to know which tasks drive your deadline or want to compare your current schedule against the original plan, you will hit its limits.

Option 2: Jira Plans / Advanced Roadmaps (Paid — Jira Premium)

Jira Plans (formerly Advanced Roadmaps) is Atlassian’s more advanced planning tool. It supports cross-project views, capacity planning, and scenario modeling.

But it is not free. It requires Jira Premium or Enterprise, which costs significantly more per user than the standard Jira plan. For a 50-person team, you are looking at thousands of dollars per year, and most of that cost is for features unrelated to Gantt charts.

It also still does not do proper critical path analysis. If critical path is the main thing you need, paying for Jira Premium will not solve it.

Option 3: Marketplace Apps with Free Tiers

Several Atlassian Marketplace apps offer free tiers for small teams. Here is how the main ones break down:

BigGantt

Free for up to 10 users. BigGantt has been around for years and is the most-installed Gantt app on the Marketplace. The free tier includes basic Gantt chart functionality but becomes paid as your team grows. Rated 2.8/4 on the Marketplace, with user feedback pointing to performance issues and a complex interface.

WBS Gantt-Chart for Jira

Free tier available for small teams. WBS Gantt-Chart brings an MS Project-style experience to Jira — detailed scheduling, resource management, and a dense interface aimed at traditional project managers. It is comprehensive but has a steep learning curve. Also rated 2.8/4.

Structure + Structure.Gantt

No free tier. Structure requires a paid license, and Structure.Gantt requires a second paid license. For 100 users, you are looking at roughly $473/month for both. It is the most powerful option for portfolio management, but it is the most expensive by a wide margin.

Simple Gantt

Free to start, no credit card required. Simple Gantt is newer on the Marketplace but covers the features most teams actually need: all four dependency types, critical path analysis, up to 10 baselines, sprint overlay, project health dashboard, and phases with milestones. It is the only option built on Atlassian Forge, which means your data never leaves Atlassian’s infrastructure.

Full disclosure: this is our product, so take that for what it is worth. We built it because we were frustrated with the existing options — either too expensive, too complex, or too limited on the free tier.

What to Look for in a “Free” Gantt App

Before you install anything, check these things:

What is actually included in the free tier? Some apps offer a free plan but lock critical features behind paid tiers. If you need dependencies and critical path, make sure those are available on the free plan, not just the paid one.

Is there a time limit? “Free trial” and “free tier” are different things. A 30-day trial that turns into $5/user/month is not free. A permanent free tier for small teams is.

Where does your data go? This matters more than people think. Connect apps (the older Marketplace architecture) run on the vendor’s servers. Your Jira data gets sent to an external service for processing. Forge apps run entirely on Atlassian’s infrastructure. No external servers. No data leaving your Jira instance.

If your organization cares about data residency or has security requirements, the architecture matters. A Forge app automatically inherits your Atlassian data residency settings and does not introduce a new third-party data processor.

How does it handle Jira permissions? A good Gantt app should respect your existing Jira permission scheme. Users should only see issues they already have access to. If the app requires broad admin permissions or does not filter by project roles, that is a red flag.

The Honest Answer

There is no perfect free Gantt chart for Jira. The built-in Timeline is free but limited. Marketplace apps with generous free tiers come closest, but they all have boundaries.

The practical approach for most teams: start with a free tier, use it on a real project, and evaluate whether the limits are acceptable for your workflow. If your project has more than a handful of dependencies and a deadline that matters, you will probably need more than Jira Timeline. The question is which app fits how you work.

Simple Gantt is free to start and takes about five minutes to set up. Install it from the Atlassian Marketplace, point it at your Jira project with a JQL query, and see your data on a real Gantt chart. No credit card, no commitment, no data leaving Atlassian.