← Back to home
Comparison · PM

GanttProject vs Planify

A side-by-side editorial comparison of GanttProject and Planify — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.

GanttProject vs Planify: at a glance

FeatureGanttProjectPlanify
SectorPMPM
Velocity score0.03.8
Sparks · 30d01
Top themesproject-management, gantt, desktop-app, javagnome-app, task-management, caldav, nextcloud
Last editorial update1mo ago3d ago
WebsiteVisit →Visit →

What is GanttProject?

A desktop Gantt tool on a multi-year cadence, tethering itself to its own cloud

GanttProject is a desktop project scheduling application released every one to three years, with occasional build-only tags in between. The most recent feature update, 3.3, added calculated columns driven by SQL expressions in the task table, project-relative week numbers, and a native Apple Silicon package. The intervening tags are packaging work rather than product: restoring Linux and Windows builds, and producing both Intel and Silicon macOS packages.

Read the full GanttProject trajectory →

What is Planify?

Planify 4.20 lands Nextcloud Deck sync and a productivity goals system, crossing from personal task manager into team-adjacent territory.

Planify has been on an active release cycle through 2026, shipping multiple minor releases focused on CalDAV compatibility, bug hardening, and incremental UX polish. The 4.20.0 release breaks from this pattern with two substantial additions: two-way Nextcloud Deck sync (boards/stacks/cards map to projects/sections/tasks with label, archive, and order preservation) and a structured productivity goals system with daily/weekly targets and an 8-week activity heatmap. These land alongside a natural-language date picker (via Chrono), improved PDF export, and notable memory usage reductions.

Read the full Planify trajectory →

GanttProject vs Planify: editorial side-by-side

G0.0

A desktop Gantt tool on a multi-year cadence, tethering itself to its own cloud

◆ Current state

GanttProject is a desktop project scheduling application released every one to three years, with occasional build-only tags in between. The most recent feature update, 3.3, added calculated columns driven by SQL expressions in the task table, project-relative week numbers, and a native Apple Silicon package. The intervening tags are packaging work rather than product: restoring Linux and Windows builds, and producing both Intel and Silicon macOS packages.

◆ Where it's heading

The through-line since 3.0 is a desktop application acquiring a service tail. GanttProject Cloud arrived in 3.0 alongside a bundled Java runtime and an update channel, 3.1 added a connection toggle and pulled a shared human-resource database from the cloud, and 3.2 rewrote the task table with filtering and non-destructive sorting. By 3.3 the table is programmable through SQL expressions. Each release deepens either the cloud tie or the table, which are the two places a desktop planner can still differentiate — but the cadence means any given year may show only a packaging fix.

◆ Prediction

Expect the next feature release to extend calculated columns or the cloud collaboration surface; on this cadence it is unlikely to arrive quickly, and the entries give no indication of timing.

P3.8

Planify 4.20 lands Nextcloud Deck sync and a productivity goals system, crossing from personal task manager into team-adjacent territory.

◆ Current state

Planify has been on an active release cycle through 2026, shipping multiple minor releases focused on CalDAV compatibility, bug hardening, and incremental UX polish. The 4.20.0 release breaks from this pattern with two substantial additions: two-way Nextcloud Deck sync (boards/stacks/cards map to projects/sections/tasks with label, archive, and order preservation) and a structured productivity goals system with daily/weekly targets and an 8-week activity heatmap. These land alongside a natural-language date picker (via Chrono), improved PDF export, and notable memory usage reductions.

◆ Where it's heading

Planify is extending outward from personal task management toward team-adjacent workflows by making Nextcloud Deck a first-class data source. The CalDAV compatibility work — ETag handling, sync-token fallback, VALARM reminder sync — keeps it connected to the open-source groupware ecosystem broadly. The productivity goals and reporting layer suggests investment in retention features rather than pure workflow tooling, trying to give users a daily reason to open the app.

◆ Prediction

Deeper Nextcloud Deck integration — comments, assignment metadata, due date bidirectionality — is the logical next step given that 4.20.0 covers board structure but not all Deck metadata. The GNOME Online Accounts and GNOME Shell search integration suggest continued investment in platform-native discoverability.

Alternatives to GanttProject and Planify

Other PM products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either GanttProject or Planify.

See all GanttProject alternatives → · See all Planify alternatives →

Recent activity from GanttProject and Planify

Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.

  1. 4d agoPlanifyPlanify 4.20.0
  2. 1mo agoPlanifyPlanify 4.19.5
  3. 3mo agoPlanifyPlanify 4.19.4
  4. 3mo agoPlanifyPlanify 4.19.3
  5. 4mo agoPlanifyPlanify 4.19.2
  6. 4mo agoPlanifyPlanify 4.19.1
  7. 9mo agoGanttProjectGanttProject 3.3
  8. 1y agoGanttProjectBuild tag restores Linux and Windows packages
  9. 2y agoGanttProjectBuild tag adds Intel and Apple Silicon macOS packages
  10. 4y agoGanttProjectGanttProject 3.2
  11. 5y agoGanttProjectGanttProject 3.1
  12. 5y agoGanttProjectGanttProject 3.0

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between GanttProject and Planify?

They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Planify is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 3.8 vs 0.0), with 1 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.

Is GanttProject better than Planify?

Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Planify is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 3.8 vs 0.0), with 1 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other PM products to evaluate alongside.

What are the best alternatives to GanttProject?

Top GanttProject alternatives in PM are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "GanttProject alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/ganttproject for the full list with editorial commentary on each.

What are the best alternatives to Planify?

Top Planify alternatives in PM are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Planify alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/planify for the full list with editorial commentary on each.