25 Free Project Management Templates 2023

Looking for a project management template?

Project management templates can help a project manager save tons of time when creating new projects. As they don’t have to start from scratch, the template helps them eliminate repetitive, tedious work. 

There are hundreds of templates out there in tools like excel and project management software like ClickUp. Not every free template is going to suit every project manager!

Luckily, we have compiled the best templates for your project management needs!

In this article, we’ll cover what a project management template is, why you need them, and highlight 25 useful templates for different project management needs. We’ll also cover how a project management tool can help you manage multiple projects effectively.

Let’s get started!

A project management template is a sheet with placeholders that help you document various project activities, like:

But how useful are they in real-life projects?

Let’s find out…

Here are some Excel & ClickUp templates that are designed for basic project management:

Before we highlight some useful templates, note that Excel has some limitations.

Remember:

Excel was never built for project management.

However, it does offer some free project management templates you could use to manage projects easily. 

But wait… how do you access them?

Open MS Excel, click on the ‘New’ tab and then type ‘project’ in the search bar on the right.

You’ll get access to any project template Excel has, like: 

Let’s take a closer look at some of these templates:

Hospitals need to create a patient chart for every new patient that visits them.

Similarly, a project manager needs to create a project charter before starting any project. 

What is a project charter?

A project charter is a short formal document that describes your entire project.

Created during project planning, the charter:

Here’s a simple template you can use to create a project charter quickly:

This ClickUp Project Charter template is a document that authorizes a project from initiation to closure. It sets the scope, objectives, and people involved in the project. It entails the goals and deadlines of the project.

This is an easy and visually pleasing charter template to help you create high-level summaries of your project. You can describe your project scope and even rate project risks based on their severity (high, low, med).

👉 More project charter templates!

This ClickUp product brief template is a pre-made ClickUp Doc that helps you organize each element of your product development into one easy-to-navigate document.

As a project manager, you need to keep track of your team’s work schedule.

You need to track:

Based on the level of details that you require, here are two work schedule formats you could choose from:

Use this ClickUp Schedule Blocking template to assist you in monitoring your past, current, and upcoming activities.

A basic five-day schedule template that you can use to keep track of your team’s work activities.

This daily work schedule format helps you manage your team’s day-to-day activities by the hour. It also has a to-do list template for better task management.

A project timeline template can track each project phase as your project moves towards its finish line. 

This way, you’ll know what stage your project is at all times.

Here are two project timeline templates you could use:

This template lets you color-code your project timeline to differentiate between different categories of tasks. You can also update your project status in this template. 

This timeline template uses a visual project timeline chart to help track your project milestones.

Want a more in-depth guide? Read how to create an Excel timeline.

This ClickUp Roadmap template helps you inform your team of a project’s timeline in a visual way. Outline what to expect and link back to designated tasks or current documentation for a better experience.

⭐️ Learn how to create a timeline in Microsoft Word!

Patients aren’t the only ones who need to worry about bills!

In project management, determining the project budget is crucial for any project’s success.

Project budget templates can help a project sponsor and the team:

Here’s a budget template that you can use for software development projects:

Suitable for IT projects, this budget template considers various costs like software, hardware, network, and customer support.

This ClickUp Budget template gives you a way to easily visualize your spending and plan out your future budget.

A project manager must make a status report to regularly update the stakeholders about the project’s progress.

And the quickest way to do that is by using a report template.

It helps you:

Bonus: Incident report templates!

Here are two pre-made templates that you could use to create a project status report:

This report template can track the project’s main tasks, budget, and issues to keep your stakeholders updated.

This ClickUp Project Status Report whiteboard template aims to keep all stakeholders up to date on the development, prevent problems before they occur, and guarantee that the project will be completed within the allotted time frame.

Use this report template to list your milestones, financial data, and other statuses at the end of each month. It also contains a separate report that can be used solely for internal reporting purposes.

Bonus: Check out these RACI chart templates!

As a project manager, you always need to keep an eye on your team’s timesheet.

Why?

Timesheet templates will not only help you monitor your team’s productivity but also help bill your clients or project sponsor accurately.

So here are two templates that can help you out here:

This Microsoft Word timesheet template is perfect for tracking employee hours and payroll. It allows you to enter the date, clock in and out times, total hours worked per day, regular and overtime pay rates, total payment due for the week, and more.

Use this ClickUp Timesheet template to allow team members to track their work hours on a weekly basis. The numbers tracked can be used cost tracking and payment collection purposes.

This template helps you keep track of a team member’s activity for an entire week, including additional details about their projects, like billable hours.

Agile project plans are always changing. Use this agile roadmap template from excel to manage your team’s tasks in one spot.

Bonus: Project Roadmap Templates

This ClickUp Agile project management template helps your Agile team prioritize project planning, organize project statuses, and more.

Check out our project planning template for engineering and project plan template for DevOps teams.

This ClickUp Graphic Design template allows you to organize your files, workflows, and deadlines, you’ll spend more time focusing on creating the work you love!

Use this project tracker template from Excel to stay on track with your graphic design projects.

This ClickUp Brand Guidelines Template will list the precise hues, types, graphics, patterns, taglines, etc., of your brand so you can ensure that the brand machine functions properly.

Bonus: Brand guideline examples

This simple Gantt Chart allows you to create a project schedule and track your progress within Excel.

Get a big picture overview of a project, visualize dependencies, and get ahead of blockers before they happen with this simple Gantt Chart template.

Check out more Gantt chart templates!

This Gantt chart Excel template can be used as a project planner, allowing you to track and synchronize all the activities of a project.

Using Excel, or even a Google Sheet for project management isn’t the best way to manage any project.

Let’s find out why…

The templates we discussed so far can help you manage your projects in Excel or a Google sheet. But remember, these tools were never built for project or task management!

But don’t just take our word for it.

Here are three reasons why you should consider Excel alternatives to manage projects:

Dedicated free project management tools like ClickUp offer everything you need for effective project management!

It’s what they’re made to do.

From designing a project management plan and creating a to-do list to keeping an eye on your status report or managing multiple projects — they can help you with anything you need.

Say goodbye to relying on those pre-made templates!

Oftentimes, a business case may need out-of-the-box thinking.

Certain projects are going to be unique with different needs and requirements.

However, as every Excel template is pre-built, you can’t customize them according to your project needs. 

For example, if your stakeholders ask for a particular invoice format and you can’t find it online — you’re done for! 

No project manager wants to sit in front of a computer and spend hours entering project data manually!

You need to spend time on activities where your input is actually required, like signing off on project deliverables or analyzing productivity reports.

Unfortunately, all Excel templates require you to input all data manually.

For example, an Excel timesheet requires you and your project team to manually log data each time they sign in, take a break, or sign out. 

That’s like throwing your productivity out the window!

Bonus: Project Management Examples!

Excel templates can make it really easy for you to start working on projects, especially recurring projects that are similar in nature.

If you create a project outline manually, every time you start a new project, you won’t have any time left to actually work on your assignments!

Now of course, it’s unimaginably easier to manage projects with dedicated free project management tools like ClickUp.

However let’s understand how Excel templates can help in the beginning of your project management journey.

You need to create a project proposal, define your project scope, create a breakdown structure, and more!

However, if a project manager has a set of templates, they can quickly input their project data and get started immediately.

This way, you don’t have to waste time setting things up from scratch every time around.

Bonus: Project Proposal Templates & Business Proposal Templates

While an Excel template can help you out, they can’t eliminate all the issues with Excel project management. 

I mean, you wouldn’t put your loved ones (projects) in the hands of someone who isn’t a specialist (Excel), right?

Instead, you need to use powerful Agile project management tools like ClickUp that were built for managing multiple projects!

Sign up for ClickUp today and get fully equipped to diagnose and treat any project problem you face! 

Questions? Comments? Visit our Help Center for support.