No project ever kicks off with the goal of chaos, but without a solid plan, that’s often what you get. Whether you're launching a new product, organizing an event, or building a website, success starts with structure. And that’s where a project plan template becomes your secret weapon. It gives your ideas a clear path forward, keeps your team aligned, and saves hours of repetitive setup work.
Instead of starting from scratch every time, you get a ready-made framework that lets you focus on execution—not admin. In this guide, you’ll find 11 free project plan templates designed to help you plan smarter, move faster, and deliver better results no matter the project size or team setup. In addition, we'll introduce AI prompts you can use to generate templates yourself.
What is a project plan template?
A project plan template is a ready-made guide that helps you map out everything your project needs to succeed—think goals, tasks, timelines, and key milestones. It’s a reusable framework that brings structure and consistency to your project management process. Instead of starting from scratch each time, you can plan more efficiently, stay on top of progress, and keep your team aligned—making project management simpler and more effective.
11 free project plan templates to help you achieve project goals
To help you get started quickly and stay organized, we’ve rounded up 10 free project plan templates you can use right away that cover different document types.
1. Project Roadmap template - Lark Docs
This project work plan template is ideal for your next project if you need a clear overview and roadmap. It allows teams to track key milestones, timelines, and progress in one place. It also helps with planning by organizing project phases, monitoring status updates, setting task dependencies, and assigning responsibilities.
2. Simple Project Plan template - Microsoft Excel
Here's a simple project management plan template that outlines the step-by-step process and resources necessary to complete a project. This template allows managers and team members to track progress, stay organized, and communicate with stakeholders.
3. Roadmap Presentation template - Google Slides
Need to present your plan? This roadmap presentation template includes a road-like visual layout that reflects the project’s path, milestones (key events) marked on the road, a timeline for each milestone, a brief title and description, optional color coding to show different phases, and more.
4. Project Plan Mind Map template - Canva
For your future projects, you may need to brainstorm the major phases and break one project into specific project tasks. With this free project planner template by Canva, you can visually map out your project with your project team or by yourself before presenting the fine plan to stakeholders.
5. Project Management Gantt Chart template - Lark Base
This simple project management template is designed for project planning and scheduling. It allows you to display the timeline of a project, the tasks involved, team roles and the project owners. It provides a clear view of the project's progress, with tasks displayed against time. It is an excellent tool for managing complex projects with the help of both Kanban boards and Gantt charts.
6. Project Plan template - Microsoft Word
This project planner template not only gives you a structured way to plan your next project in Word, but also contains a detailed guide on the topics included in a project plan. It's an ideal template for new project managers as it guides you on how to fill in part of the template.
7. Multi-Project Tracker template - Lark Base
This free project tracker template is a comprehensive project management tool that allows you to track and manage your projects in a structured and organized manner. It provides a Gantt chart for visualizing project progress, project risks, and project schedules, plus a task priority view for identifying critical tasks, and customizable fields for tailoring the template to your specific needs.
8. Simple Project Plan template - Google Sheets
Properly schedule key tasks, subtasks, and milestones to keep your project on track with this easy-to-use Google Sheets template. The simple project plan template also includes built-in sections for tracking project statuses and identifying potential risks—so you can stay ahead of issues and maintain control from start to finish.
9. Project Planning & Implementation template - Lark Docs
This project planning and management template by Lark is designed to help you plan and implement your projects by providing a clear structure for outlining the project background, objectives, and core team members. With Lark's advanced features, you can easily collaborate with your team, track progress, and ensure that everyone stays on the same page throughout the project.
10. OKR & Progress Control template - Lark Base
The OKR (Objectives and Key Results) Task Subdivision and Progress Control template is a comprehensive tool designed to help you break down your key results into manageable tasks, track their progress, and control their execution. This template is ideal when planning projects in which you want to set measurable goals.
11. Team Task Allocation template - Lark Base
While not created as a project list template, this team task template can easily be converted to list projects and who is responsible for them. This can help you assign projects to team members, set priorities, deadlines, and track the progress of each project.
Create a free project plan template with AI prompts
With ChatGPT, DeepSeek, Gemini, and other models readily available, you may be wondering whether AI can help generate a project planning template. Well, the good news is that with the right prompts, AI can generate just about any project management template you need.
Source: revistanovaimagem.com
Instead of settling for a free downloadable template, you can try creating your template directly using one of these five prompts:
Prompt 1 – Team Resource Allocation template:
“Create a project resource management template with a team roster, role definitions, hourly rate, availability schedule, and task assignments.”
Prompt 2 – Budget-Oriented Resource Planner:
“Build a resource planning template that includes estimated vs actual costs per resource, broken down weekly for a 3-month marketing campaign."
Prompt 3 – Daily/Weekly Task Management template:
“Create a weekly project management template for a remote team. Include task tracking, owner assignments, priorities, deadlines, and team notes.”
Prompt 4 – Agile Project Management Format:
“Generate a project management template using Agile methodology. Include sprint goals, backlog tracking, sprint reviews, and retrospective sections.”
Prompt 5 – KPI-Driven template:
“Write a project management template that includes KPIs, timeline adherence tracking, budget tracking, and team performance indicators.”
Tips for using AI Prompts to create project plan templates
Be specific: The more detail you provide, the more accurate the output.
Include project type: Software, marketing, construction, etc.
Use follow-ups: Ask ChatGPT to revise, add sections, or reformat.
Test for reuse: Save and iterate on high-quality prompt templates.
The great thing about creating templates with AI is that you can generate just about anything. Whether you need a program management template, a project notes template, or just a simple project planner template, the possibilities are endless.
Benefits of using project plan templates
Project plan templates aren’t just time-savers—they’re powerful tools that bring structure, clarity, and consistency to your project management process. Here are the key benefits of using them:
Save time and reduce manual work
One of the biggest advantages of using a template is avoiding the need to start from scratch. With a ready-made structure, you can quickly jump into execution instead of spending hours building a plan. This speeds up project kickoffs and frees your team to focus on what matters most.
Streamline project management
Templates provide a clear, organized framework for managing tasks, timelines, and goals. This streamlines workflows and improves productivity by keeping everyone aligned on what needs to happen and when.
Standardize processes across projects
Using templates helps establish consistent processes, reducing the chance of errors and ensuring that best practices are followed. This consistency is especially valuable when managing multiple or repeatable projects.
Improve team collaboration
With standardized formats, it’s easier to communicate, share updates, and keep everyone on the same page. Templates clarify roles and responsibilities, making it easier for teams to collaborate effectively toward shared goals.
Enhance clarity and communication
A well-structured project plan template acts as a roadmap, laying out goals, tasks, deadlines, and ownership in a transparent way. This reduces confusion and miscommunication throughout the project lifecycle.
Support Goal-Setting and Accountability
Templates make it easy to define clear goals, break them into actionable tasks, and assign responsibilities. This structured approach keeps team members accountable and ensures progress stays on track.
Offer flexibility and customization
Most project templates are adaptable, allowing you to tailor them to the specific needs of your project or business. Whether you're managing a product launch or a marketing campaign, templates can flex to fit your unique requirements.
What every project plan template should include
A comprehensive project plan template should include several key components to ensure effective project execution.
Clear goals and objectives
Define the project's purpose and desired outcomes to give the team a clear direction. Include success metrics to measure progress and determine when objectives are met.
Stakeholder roles and communication
Clarify the roles and responsibilities of key stakeholders to ensure accountability and streamline collaboration. A robust communication plan should be part of the template to outline how updates, decisions, and deliverables will be shared. Maintaining consistent communication minimizes misunderstandings and reinforces alignment across the team.
Budget planning
Establishing the project budget early supports resource allocation and helps track financial performance throughout the project lifecycle.
Milestones and timeline
Milestones mark major accomplishments and checkpoints, while a detailed timeline outlines task sequences and deadlines. Together, they help ensure smooth project flow and provide visibility into progress.
Centralized task management
The project plan template should include a centralized space to organize all project elements—project tasks, project milestones, deadlines, assigned responsibilities, and documentation. This structure makes it easier to manage complex projects and track all moving parts effectively.
How to use a project plan template effectively
Using a project plan template effectively begins with defining the project’s scope and success metrics. This initial step sets the foundation for the entire project lifecycle, ensuring that all team members understand the project’s objectives and what success looks like. Once the scope is established, the next step is to identify milestones and break down the project deliverables into smaller, manageable tasks during the initiation phase of the project execution phase.
Organizing the project plan into clear sections—such as tasks, resources, and documentation—adds clarity and thoroughness to the plan. This structure makes it easier for team members to find the information they need and stay on track. For example, a project timeline template can help visualize important milestones and deadlines, ensuring that everyone is aware of the project’s schedule.
Regularly updating the project plan and keeping all stakeholders informed is crucial for effective project management. This practice not only helps in tracking progress but also allows for timely adjustments if any issues arise, enabling you to easily communicate with all stakeholders. Following these steps allows you to use project plan templates for efficient project management and goal achievement.
Tools to create, manage, and implement project plans
With over 85% of businesses actively using project management software and the market is expected to reach a valuation of $7 billion by 2026 according to Gartner, you're putting yourself at a disadvantage if you're still trying to plan projects with only documents. Therefore, to help your future projects, here are four tools each offering a unique take on creating and managing projects.
Lark: An all-in-one superapp for project management and team collaboration. Its free plan includes Lark Base, a no-code solution with real-time dashboards, AI automation, and customizable workflows.
Microsoft Project: Known for its interactive dashboards and reporting tools, making it easy to visualize project progress, timelines, and team updates in one place.
Trello: Offers a simple Kanban-style interface that helps teams organize tasks, set deadlines, and track progress using customizable boards and cards.
monday.com: Provides a library of prebuilt templates that speed up project setup and ensure consistency in planning and execution across different teams.
To learn more about project management tools, read: Top 20 Project Management Tools to Boost Productivity in 2025
Summary
Project plan templates are more than just documents. Whether you’re planning a product launch, sprinting through Agile development, or juggling multiple timelines, templates give you a ready-made structure to keep everything organized and on track.
But if none of the 11 templates we’ve shared feel like the perfect fit, don’t worry. You can use AI prompts to generate a custom project plan template tailored to your team, workflow, and goals. It’s an easy way to build something that works just right for you. Alternatively, you can always check out Lark's template library with hundreds of free templates waiting for you to explore.
So why wait? Explore these templates—or create your own—and make project planning one less thing to stress about.
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