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Comparison · PM

Planify vs GanttProject

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

Planify vs GanttProject: at a glance

FeaturePlanifyGanttProject
SectorPMPM
Velocity score2.50.0
Sparks · 30d00
Top themescaldav, gnome, task-management, interoperabilityproject-management, gantt, desktop-app, java
Last editorial update2h ago2h ago
WebsiteVisit →Visit →

What is Planify?

A GNOME task app that has turned CalDAV interoperability into the product.

Planify is a GTK task manager for GNOME on a fast release train — six releases in the window shown, most of them sync work. The 4.19 line spent nearly all its effort making CalDAV survive real servers: Mailbox.org, Open-Xchange, Posteo, Nextcloud Deck, and DAVx5 on Android each got a named fix. Feature work still lands, but alongside the sync repairs rather than instead of them.

Read the full Planify trajectory →

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 →

Planify vs GanttProject: editorial side-by-side

P2.5

A GNOME task app that has turned CalDAV interoperability into the product.

◆ Current state

Planify is a GTK task manager for GNOME on a fast release train — six releases in the window shown, most of them sync work. The 4.19 line spent nearly all its effort making CalDAV survive real servers: Mailbox.org, Open-Xchange, Posteo, Nextcloud Deck, and DAVx5 on Android each got a named fix. Feature work still lands, but alongside the sync repairs rather than instead of them.

◆ Where it's heading

The direction shows in what gets fixed. Planify is positioning as the GNOME client that works against whatever CalDAV server you already run, not a client for one service — sync-token fallbacks, ETag retries, and CDATA parsing are all compatibility debt paid down per-server. The second thread is pushing into the desktop itself: a Shell search provider, system accent color, a CLI. Both are the same bet, that the app's value is behaving well inside an existing setup.

◆ Prediction

Expect another CalDAV compatibility pass naming a specific server next, since four of the last six releases took that shape. Feature work will most likely extend the backup and section support added in 4.19.2 rather than open a new area.

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.

Alternatives to Planify and GanttProject

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 Planify or GanttProject.

See all Planify alternatives → · See all GanttProject alternatives →

Recent activity from Planify and GanttProject

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

  1. 13d agoPlanifyStartup backup recovery and recurring-task notification fix
  2. 2mo agoPlanifyPlanify 4.19.4
  3. 2mo agoPlanifyPlanify 4.19.3
  4. 2mo agoPlanifyPlanify 4.19.2
  5. 3mo agoPlanifyPlanify 4.19.1
  6. 3mo agoPlanifyPlanify 4.19.0
  7. 7mo 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 Planify and GanttProject?

They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Planify is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 2.5 vs 0.0), with 0 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 Planify better than GanttProject?

Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Planify is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 2.5 vs 0.0), with 0 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 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.

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.