WBS & Gantt Charts,
Made Right Now, As an App.
An Excel schedule breaks a little more with every row you insert. Ploto imports it as-is and turns it into a Gantt chart — free to build, edit, and export back to Excel. When a Gantt chart alone isn't enough, add Kanban or Priority Matrix as a one-time-purchase Pro upgrade.
How a task looks depends on the view
From here, follow a single task through five views and see how differently the same work can look, screen by screen.
-
The first view is time
When does it start, when does it end? What has to finish before it can begin? What a Gantt chart shows you is one cross-section, cut along the axis of time.
- Put the plan down as you picture it You don't type in a start and an end date to build the sheet. Grab the end of a bar and pull to set the duration; grab the middle and slide to move the whole thing. The order in your head goes onto the chart by hand.
- Give big work a structure A task can hold tasks. There is no limit on depth, so the real structure of the work goes in as it is. A parent's dates and progress are calculated from its children, so nothing above needs fixing after you split it.
- Draw the links across time Connect two tasks with a line and the order between them is recorded as a dependency in time. Turn on auto-scheduling and everything after a delayed step moves with it. Redrawing the whole sheet after every change is over.
-
The next view is status
Even at 90% complete, a task is not necessarily on track. What is happening now, and where is it stuck? A Kanban board shows what a timeline cannot: where the work really stands.
- See at a glance where the work stands Arrange tasks by their real-world status, such as “In progress” or “Awaiting review.” The columns where work stalls reveal bottlenecks that a progress percentage cannot.
- Turn repeatable work into a workflow Save the to-dos required at each stage. When a card enters that column, the same to-dos are added automatically, turning the board into a reusable workflow.
- Update status and progress together Move a card and its status is reflected in the Gantt chart. Link to-dos to progress, and working from the Kanban board keeps the schedule up to date too.
Free plan New boards need Pro (existing ones stay editable)
Read the manual → -
Next comes context
Dates, progress, and status are not enough to understand difficult work. Why was that decision made? What was researched, and how far did the thinking go? Add the context that numbers and fields cannot capture directly to the task.
- Keep your thinking with the task There is no separate document to create or title. Write down research and the reasons behind decisions directly on the task they belong to.
- Organize your thinking in a structured note The parent-child relationships from the Gantt chart become the note's headings. Without building titles or an outline from scratch, you can follow the tasks and write each piece in its place.
- Search everything you have written Even if you cannot remember which task holds it, search the text across tasks at once. As the record grows, the words you remember lead you back to what you need.
-
Use two axes to decide what to tackle first
When priority is only High, Medium, or Low, every task tends to end up High. How urgent is it, and how important is it really? Separating those questions reveals the differences between tasks.
- Plot urgency × importance Consider urgency and importance for each task, then plot it on the plane. Instead of treating “urgent” as “important,” preserve the two judgments as a single position.
- Compare tasks by position A priority score is calculated automatically from where each task is placed. Instead of making everything top priority, compare what to tackle first through the differences in position.
- Do not lose sight of important, non-urgent work Work that sinks when sorted by deadline remains visible in the “important but not urgent” area. Even when immediate demands take over, you do not lose track of what keeps getting postponed.
-
Finally, see everything on one canvas
The tasks that now carry dates, status, context, and priority are finally spread across a single canvas. Instead of snapping everything to a grid, move tasks, draw relationships, and add the summaries you need. It is a whiteboard for grasping the whole through position and connection.
- Draw the whole picture freely Place not only tasks but also shapes, text, and sticky notes wherever you want. Add frames and lines to show relationships, and express on one canvas the clusters and flows that a table cannot reveal.
- Put live tasks on the canvas Place the same tasks you have been working with in the other views on the canvas too. Changes to progress, deadlines, and assignees are reflected automatically, so there is nothing to re-pin or rewrite.
- Connect the tasks you want to aggregate Connect tasks with arrows to a small summary panel (widget) that displays progress and other totals. Only the connected tasks are aggregated, letting you check the numbers for exactly the group of work you want and use them to decide what comes next.
Free plan New boards need Pro (existing ones stay editable)
Read the manual →
See what Ploto can do, in the manual
Check the actual screens and step-by-step instructions before installing. No account is required, and the essential features remain free with no time limit, so you can start using anything that looks useful.
Basics
From launching the app to saving your file: the File and Help menus and the sidebar panels. Start here.
Read the manual →Gantt chart
Drag bars to adjust dates and progress, link tasks with dependencies, and reflect holidays and company days off.
Read the manual →Kanban
Manage the same tasks as columns of process steps. Moving a card changes its status, and each column can apply its own standard to-dos.
Read the manual →Notes
Write a record for each task in one long note, then search across all of them later.
Read the manual →Whiteboard
Lay tasks out freely as a diagram, connect them with lines, and drop progress widgets onto the board.
Read the manual →Priority matrix
Place tasks on the urgency and importance axes to decide what deserves your attention now.
Read the manual →WBS and Gantt charts, free for good.
Building and editing Gantt charts, plus importing from and exporting to Excel, stay free with no time limit. When a Gantt chart alone isn't enough, add Kanban or Priority Matrix as a one-time Pro purchase, only when you create a new one.
What stays free, and what Pro adds
Building and editing Gantt charts, plus importing from and exporting to Excel, stay free with no time limit. Views beyond Gantt — Kanban, Priority Matrix, Notes, and more — need Pro only when you create a new one.
| Feature | Free | Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Kanban boards | New boards need Pro (existing ones stay editable) | Unlimited |
| Whiteboards | New boards need Pro (existing ones stay editable) | Unlimited |
| Baselines | Not available | Save plans and compare with current progress |
| Project templates | Importing is free | Exporting (.ploto-pack) too |
| Holiday setup | Add and edit manually | Manual setup + bulk country import |
* Creating a new Priority Matrix, Member Tasks view, or Note needs Pro too, same as Kanban (anything already created stays editable). Anything not listed here remains unrestricted without Pro. The one exception: whiteboards created by someone else are view-only without Pro.
* Pro is only required when creating a new view. A file containing views made with Pro still opens and edits normally without Pro. A serial code can be registered on several of your own devices, and once registered it validates offline.
No Cloud Required. Your Data Stays with You.
Ploto does not depend on an internet connection or cloud storage. Project data stays on your PC, while the app and its updates come through Microsoft Store.
Works Completely Offline
Creating, editing, and saving tasks requires no internet connection. You can use Ploto without creating or signing in to an account.
Project Data Saved as a Local File
Your data is stored in a .ploto file on your PC. Ploto does not automatically send its contents to external servers.
Install and Update through Microsoft Store
Install Ploto from Microsoft Store and receive updates through the Store as well. There is no need to find and reinstall a new installer for every release.
Start Today, On Your Own
No account, no monthly contract. Download it and every essential feature is yours to use for free from day one.
* Compatible with Windows 10/11. Ships with local SQLite 3 support.
Send feedback
Send us your bug reports, feature requests, or general feedback.