Selecting the Right Gantt Chart Visual for Power BI
Selecting the Right Gantt Chart Visual for Power BI
Gantt charts are essential tools in project management, offering a clear visual representation of timelines, tasks and milestones. With the integration of Primavera P6 and Power BI, selecting the right Gantt chart offers many opportunities for improved project tracking and reporting.
Here we’ll review some popular custom Gantt chart visual for Power BI, along with their features and user reviews.
What to consider in a Gantt Chart Visual for Power BI?
When selecting a Gantt chart visual for Power BI, it’s essential to balance several factors to meet your project’s specific needs.
First, consider the complexity of your project: some charts are more suited for simple timelines, while others handle intricate, layered tasks effectively. The ease of customization and formatting is crucial for aligning the visual with your branding or presentation requirements. Evaluate the chart’s data integration capabilities to ensure seamless incorporation of your project management data. The level of detail it can display, such as task durations, dependencies, milestones and resources, is vital for comprehensive tracking.
Assess the interactivity and user experience: a good Gantt chart should be intuitive and user-friendly. Consider performance and scalability, especially for large projects with extensive data sets.
Importantly, factor in pricing – some visuals are free, while others require a subscription or per-user license, which can impact the overall cost for your team or organization.
Finally, consider user reviews and support from the developers, as these insights can indicate reliability and responsiveness.
Balancing these aspects, including cost considerations, will help you choose a Gantt chart visual for Power BI that meets your project management and reporting needs. Now, let’s take a look at the custom Gantt visuals available in Power BI.
1. Gantt by Microsoft Corporation
User Reviews Highlight: This visual is appreciated for its functionality, but users note a need for more formatting and customization options. Conditional formatting for milestones, persistent custom colors and enhanced tooltip configuration are among the most requested features. The Parent/Child feature has its limitations, and users seek improvements in the representation of task completion and the flexibility of the Resource field.
Pricing: Free
2. Promo Gantt Chart by Vibecode Studio
Promo Gantt Chart is a Microsoft-certified Power BI visual that combines interactive Gantt reporting with schedule analysis. Originally designed for FMCG trade-promotion planning, it is now used across a growing range of industries and functions, from PMO and portfolio management to production planning, R&D and operational scheduling.
Key features:
Expandable project hierarchy with phases, sub-phases, tasks and roll-up bars.
Milestones, planned-versus-actual baselines and percentage complete.
Up to three additional row columns for information such as owner, status or budget.
Conditional formatting, period filtering and a Today button.
Flexible timeline headers, including year, quarter, month, week and fiscal calendars such as 4-4-5, 4-5-4 and 13-period.
Task dependencies in all four relationship types: Finish-to-Start, Start-to-Start, Finish-to-Finish and Start-to-Finish, including lead and lag.
Reads dependencies directly from a Microsoft Project Predecessors column in five languages.
Highlights conflicting dependency links.
Includes a Power Query script for importing Microsoft Project XML files.
Critical path calculated inside the visual, including near-critical tasks, slack bars, and total and free slack in the tooltip.
Smooth interaction with 10,000+ rows, plus cross-filtering of other Power BI visuals through bars, row labels and legends.
For FMCG planning, Promo Gantt also provides a separate campaign track, event-week overlays, year-over-year ghost bars, and markers for multi-brand, overlapping and duplicate promotions.
Business use case: Project and PMO teams can bring a (Microsoft) Project schedule into Power BI and review dependencies, critical path, milestones and progress alongside financial, resource and portfolio reporting. Planning teams can use the same visual as an interactive calendar across projects, production lines, retailers or brands.
Privacy and deployment: The visual is Microsoft-certified, licences are validated offline and no report data leaves Power BI. New capabilities are optional and switched off by default, so existing reports retain their current layout and behaviour.
Pricing:
Free: Core Gantt functionality for reports with up to 100 data rows.
Pro: From €199 per month per country, excluding VAT, with unlimited users. Monthly and annual billing are available.
Trial: All Pro capabilities are activated automatically for 14 days from first use.
Try it free: Add Promo Gantt Chart from Microsoft Marketplace to a new Power BI report. The complete Pro trial starts automatically, with no separate trial request required. After 14 days, the visual remains available in Free mode, so teams can evaluate it without committing to a licence.
Features: MAQ’s Gantt Chart stands out with its grid for additional task information like budget and project status. It offers a hierarchical view, colored bars based on task categories, and detailed tooltips. The premium version adds more functionalities like a progress bar, increased category limits and configurable bar height.
Business Use Case: This visual is versatile, serving project managers, sales, marketing teams, and administrators effectively by tracking various KPIs, budgets and success criteria.
Pricing: The pricing for the Gantt Chart by MAQ Software varies based on the number of users and is structured into different tiers, each offering a free first month followed by a subscription fee:
1 – 99 users: $3.00 per user per month or $30.00 per user per year.
100 – 499 users: $2.50 per user per month or $25.00 per user per year.
500 – 999 users: $2.00 per user per month or $20.00 per user per year.
1000 – 4999 users: $1.25 per user per month or $12.50 per user per year.
5000+ users: $1.00 per user per month or $10.00 per user per year.
All plans include additional features like progress bars, task status flags, task milestones and row configuration options. The cost per user decreases as the number of users increases, offering more economical rates for larger user groups.
4. Gantt Chart – xViz
xViz’s Gantt Chart is a modern project planning tool with advanced enterprise-level features. It supports two modes – regular and resource planning. Key features include customizable connector lines for task dependencies, advanced alerting techniques, milestone configuration and dynamic analytics capabilities.
Why Choose xViz Visuals: Trusted by a large number of customers globally, xViz offers a comprehensive solution for project reporting in Power BI, addressing features and functionality gaps unmet by native Power BI visuals.
Pricing: The xViz Gantt Chart offers pricing tiers based on the number of users, each tier requiring each viewer to have a named license, similar to Office 365 licenses:
2 – 19 users: First month free, then $9.99 per user per month or $99.99 per user per year.
20 – 99 users: $7.99 per user per month or $79.90 per user per year.
100 – 499 users: $5.99 per user per month or $59.90 per user per year.
500 – 999 users: $3.99 per user per month or $39.90 per user per year.
Domain-wide license: Unlimited users company-wide licensing at $48,000 per year, which equates to approximately $0.48 per user per year for large organizations.
It’s important to note that AppSource purchases are not supported for certain use cases, including the Report Server (On-Premise) environment, embedded use cases (like Public Web URL, App Owns Data embed, etc.) and Commercial OEM Embedded use cases (using xViz Visual to sell template apps or industry solutions). For these specific cases, licenses need to be purchased directly from the xViz website. The plan offers a full-featured trial experience for the first month.
5. Gantt Timeline by Stratada
New Capabilities: Stratada’s Timeline V3 offers unlimited category levels, the ability to display headers for categories and a horizontal grid with various formatting options. It also supports summary bars, milestones on summary bars and data from multiple project management sources.
Unique Features: This visual is notable for its versatility in displaying data from various sources like OnePlan, Microsoft Project and Jira, making it suitable for diverse project management needs.
Pricing: For the Stratada Timeline, users have the option to choose a free version or select from various paid plans, each offering a first month free trial. The plans provide features like summary, timeline and baseline bars, milestones and more:
Timeline P5: First month free, then $2.47 per user per month or $24.70 per user per year.
Timeline P4: First month free, then $2.63 per user per month or $26.30 per user per year.
Timeline P3: First month free, then $2.80 per user per month or $28.00 per user per year.
Timeline P2: First month free, then $3.33 per user per month or $33.33 per user per year.
Timeline P1: First month free, then $3.98 per user per month or $39.98 per user per year.
These plans cater to different user needs and budgets, with the cost increasing for higher-tier plans that likely offer more advanced features or support. The availability of a free version provides an accessible option for users with basic requirements or those wishing to evaluate the tool before committing to a paid plan.
6. PowerGantt Chart by Nova Silva
Key Features: PowerGantt excels in visualizing program and project schedules. It supports unlimited tasks, hierarchy levels and milestones. Users can customize columns, color codes, and tooltips and benefit from a zoom slider for specific period focus.
User Experience: This chart is highly customizable and aligns with Power BI’s interface, offering independent tooltips for tasks and milestones and providing a detailed overview of project timelines.
Pricing: The PowerGantt Chart starts free but offers various pricing plans tailored to different group sizes, with the cost per user decreasing for larger groups:
Personal Plan: For up to 5 users, priced at $3.90 per user per month or $41.90 per user per year.
Team Plan: For 5 to 50 users, priced at $3.30 per user per month or $35.90 per user per year.
Departmental Plan: For 50 to 150 users, priced at $2.60 per user per month or $27.90 per user per year.
Organizational Plan: For 150 to 400 users, priced at $2.10 per user per month or $22.50 per user per year.
Corporate Plan: For more than 400 users, priced at $1.80 per user per month or $19.50 per user per year.
These plans are designed to accommodate a range of needs, from individual users to large corporations, offering more economical rates for larger teams and organizations. This tiered pricing structure makes it accessible for different scales of operation, ensuring that both small teams and large enterprises can find a suitable plan.
7. Advanced Gantt Chart by Definitive Logic
Specialization: This Gantt Chart is unique for its task swim lanes and advanced customization options. It supports calendar and federal fiscal years and allows conditional formatting through boolean measures.
User Feedback: Users appreciate its ability to display projects and placements efficiently. However, they seek improvements in color customization of axis labels and milestones as well as the ability to change font sizes for added groups.
Pricing: Free
8. Acterys Gantt by Managility
Features: Acterys Gantt allows task editing directly within Power BI, offers multiple hierarchy levels and supports editing task progress and managing resources. It stands out for its quick setup and direct editing capabilities in Power BI.
User Experience: Users praise Acterys for its impressive integration capabilities, seamlessly connecting data from various sources like Excel, Power BI and SQL databases. However, there are some limitations in features, which can restrict achieving specific reporting outcomes.
Pricing: Additional purchase may be required. What they mean by this is not specified on the visual store.
9. Gantt Chart – Project Timeline by APEX Project Management
Key Features: Apex Gantt Chart excels in integrating with scheduling software like Primavera P6 and Microsoft Project. It offers two baseline bars for task comparison, unlimited hierarchy levels, customizable timeline levels, automatic milestone identification and a custom tooltip feature.
Review Highlight: Users commend the Apex Gantt visual for its ability to handle unlimited layers of WBS and effortlessly compare multiple schedules, significantly enhancing schedule management efficiency.
Pricing: For the Apex Gantt Chart, users have the option to use a free version or choose from several paid plans, each offering a first month free trial and all features available:
1-9 users: First month free, then $5.00 per user per month or $55.00 per user per year.
10-50 users: First month free, then $4.50 per user per month or $49.50 per user per year.
51-100 users: First month free, then $4.00 per user per month or $44.00 per user per year.
101-250 users: First month free, then $3.50 per user per month or $38.50 per user per year.
250+ users: First month free, then $2.50 per user per month or $27.50 per user per year.
The pricing structure is tiered, providing discounts for annual purchases and becoming more cost-effective per user as the number of users increases. This approach caters to a wide range of needs, from individuals and small teams to large organizations, allowing for flexibility in scaling up the number of users.
10. Craydec Timelines by Craydec Oy
Capabilities: This tool is designed for precision planning and tracking, suitable for equipment, personnel, or production line data. It offers customizable features like color assignments, overlay text and pattern usage. The visual supports millisecond precision, making it ideal for detailed timeline analysis.
User Feedback: While users appreciate the functionality, there are concerns about support and maintenance. Features like Patterns are reported to be broken and visual glitches have been observed, particularly after deployment to PowerBI.com.
Pricing: Additional Purchases may be necessary according to website. This is not specified on the visual store.
11. RoadMap / Gantt by Adwise
Features: This visual offers a flexible and comprehensive solution for reporting plans, schedules, and roadmaps. It supports a tree and table hierarchy, new bar shapes, additional columns, custom sorting, target lines and intervals. The latest version boasts significant performance improvements and new formatting options.
Review: Users have praised the continual updates and the responsive support from the ADWISE team. This visual is particularly appreciated for its adaptability to different presentation needs and company design requirements.
Price: Additional purchase may be necessary per the visual store.
12. GANTT by Lingaro
Customization: Lingaro’s Gantt charts are tailored for complex project portfolios, offering an unlimited number of dates per project, automatic creation of project phases, color-coding and numerous visualization options.
Usage: Ideal for enterprise environments with complex project structures. It excels in providing a comprehensive view of large project portfolios, enhancing tracking and management.
Pricing: Free
13. Gantt by Profitbase
Main Features: Profitbase Gantt supports unlimited hierarchy, individual formatting for hierarchy levels, multiple milestones per task, zoom functionalities, highlighting curtains and dynamic event markers. It also offers extensive sorting, filtering, and searching capabilities.
Licensing: Requires a license for each user, applicable for both developers and viewers in Power BI Desktop and Power BI Service.
Pricing: Profitbase Gantt Premium offers several pricing plans for different user groups, each providing access to all premium features including advanced customization, zoom buttons, advanced search fields and hierarchy formatting:
1-10 users: Priced at $8.00 per user per month or $80.00 per user per year.
10-20 users: Priced at $7.40 per user per month or $74.00 per user per year.
20-50 users: Priced at $6.70 per user per month or $67.00 per user per year.
50-100 users: Priced at $6.20 per user per month or $62.00 per user per year.
100-500 users: Priced at $5.00 per user per month or $50.00 per user per year.
These plans are designed to be flexible and scalable, catering to a range of needs from small teams to larger organizations. The pricing decreases per user as the number of users increases, offering more economical options for larger groups. For plans and capacities beyond these tiers, Profitbase invites users to contact them directly for customized solutions.
14. Timeline Pro by Traqplan
Capabilities: Traqplan Timeline is designed for visualizing complex programs in a simple manner. It offers multiple themes, edge-wrap for clean presentation, change tracking and advanced swimlanes. The visual is particularly effective in sectors like construction, government and defense.
Flexibility: Allows users to tailor views and scaling to their needs without altering the published version. Compatible with data from various project management tools.
Pricing: Traqplan Timeline offers a range of pricing plans for its timeline software, which includes features like clean timelines, professional swimlane layouts, Gantt tracking, percentage completion, coloring and outline number structuring. Additionally, there is a free download option available. The paid plans are tiered based on the number of users:
1-20 users: First month free, then $4.99 per user per month, or $49.90 per user per year.
21-100 users: $3.99 per user per month, or $39.90 per user per year.
101-250 users: $2.99 per user per month, or $29.90 per user per year.
251-500 users: $1.99 per user per month, or $19.90 per user per year.
501-1000 users: $1.49 per user per month, or $14.90 per user per year.
1001-5000 users: $0.99 per user per month, or $9.90 per user per year.
5001-10000 users: $0.59 per user per month, or $5.90 per user per year.
10001-100000 users: $0.39 per user per month, or $3.90 per user per year.
100001+ users: $0.049 per user per month, or $0.49 per user per year.
The pricing per user decreases as the number of users increases, providing cost-effective solutions for larger organizations. This tiered structure allows businesses of various sizes to choose a plan that best fits their needs and budget.
15. Gantt-Basic by SCvation
Use Case: Ideal for visualizing process data, tasks, and project phases with high precision. It offers interactive filtering with other visuals and various customization options for rectangles, text, axis and title.
Documentation: Comprehensive documentation is available on their website, guiding users on how to effectively use the visual.
Pricing: The SCvation-Gantt-Basic software offers different pricing plans based on the number of users, each tailored to unlock enhanced features and remove the data row limit:
1 to 4 users: First month free, then $1.50 per user per month, or $16.50 per user per year.
5 to 49 users: $1.20 per user per month, or $13.20 per user per year.
50 to 99 users: $1.00 per user per month, or $11.00 per user per year.
100 to 999 users: $0.50 per user per month, or $5.50 per user per year.
More than 1000 users: $0.30 per user per month, or $3.30 per user per year.
This pricing structure is designed to be scalable, making it more cost-effective per user as the number of users increases. It caters to a wide range of user groups, from small teams to large organizations, ensuring that businesses of different sizes can access the enhanced features and data capacity that SCvation-Gantt-Basic provides.
16. JVIZ Gantt Chart by JINETT
Key Features: JVIZ Gantt Chart offers custom styling, multiple timeline views, project drill-down capabilities, percent complete tracking and date range filtering. It’s designed to accommodate various project management styles, from agile to waterfall.
User Experience: Known for its professional look, this visual is suitable for project managers and SCRUM masters, providing an engaging presentation of the project portfolio.
Pricing: First month free, then$10.00/user/month or $100.00/user/year
Conclusion
Choosing the right Gantt chart visual for Power BI depends on your specific project management needs, data complexity and desired level of customization. Each of these visuals offers unique features and capabilities, addressing different aspects of project visualization and tracking.
By carefully considering user reviews and features, you can select a Gantt chart visual for Power BI that best fits your project’s requirements and enhances your reporting capabilities.
1. Gantt by Microsoft Corporation
2. Promo Gantt Chart by Vibecode Studio
