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Website project Gantt chart template

A typical marketing website on a CMS takes about nine weeks from kickoff to go-live, plus a week of fixes after launch. This template lays that out in four phases (discovery, design, build and launch) and flags the three jobs the client owns: supplying content, reviewing the design and user acceptance testing. Those three are where most website timelines slip.

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Opens in the NeoGantt editor in your browser.

Task

W10

Discovery
Kickoff workshop
Stakeholder interviews
Sitemap & content plan
Content & brand assets suppliedclient
Discovery sign-off
Design
Wireframes
Visual design
Design review & feedbackclient
Design approved
Build
Front-end development
CMS setup & integrations
Content entry
Launch
QA & browser testing
User acceptance testingclient
Go live 🚀
Post-launch fixes

Website project: 13 tasks, 3 milestones, about 10 weeks milestone client-owned task

This is the actual template. Durations count working days; weekends are skipped. Drag any bar to reshape it once it’s open.

When to use it

You’re quoting a new site and the proposal needs a timeline that holds the client to their dates as well as you to yours.
Design, development and whoever writes the copy work in different places, and nobody can see the whole schedule.
On the last project the content turned up a week before launch. This time its deadline goes on the plan in week two.
You’re building in-house and marketing keeps asking when they can start loading pages.

What’s in it

The template is split into phases. Here’s what each one covers and why it’s there.

01
Discovery
Kickoff, stakeholder interviews, then the sitemap and content plan, closing at Discovery sign-off around the end of week two. The client’s content and brand assets bar starts in week two and runs on into design. Ask for logo files, photography and existing copy at kickoff; new page copy can follow once the sitemap says which pages exist.
02
Design
Wireframes, then visual design, then a one-week client review before Design approved at about week six. Agree the number of feedback rounds in the contract as well as on the chart. Open-ended rounds are how a three-week design phase turns into six.
03
Build
Front-end development runs about two and a half weeks, with CMS setup and integrations alongside. Content entry starts about a week and a half in, once page templates exist, and it’s slower than anyone quotes: images need resizing, alt text needs writing, and copy pasted from Word brings its formatting along. If the client is loading their own content, flag that bar as a client task too.
04
Launch
QA and browser testing, the client’s user acceptance testing, then Go live at about week nine and a week of post-launch fixes. Put the dull checks on the list before launch day: DNS and SSL, form notifications reaching a monitored inbox, analytics firing, and redirects if an old site lived on the same domain.

Adapting it to your project

Put the content deadline in the contract

The client content bar is the one to settle at kickoff. Agree a date for final copy and what happens if it’s missed (launch moves, or you go live with placeholder pages), then drag the bar to that date so the plan and the contract say the same thing.

Ask for access in week one

Domain registrar, DNS, hosting, the old CMS, analytics. Logins from a client’s IT team can take longer to arrive than the page that needed them. Add an access task in discovery and flag it as the client’s.

Save an iteration at design approval

That’s the point the scope becomes concrete. If build dates move afterwards, the next iteration lists which bars shifted and by how much.

Add shutdowns before you quote

A Christmas closure in the middle of a build is easy to forget in a proposal. Add it as a non-working period and durations skip it, so a 10-day task stays 10 working days.

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Questions

How long does it take to build a website?

About nine to ten weeks for a marketing site on a CMS, which is what this template assumes. Small brochure sites can launch in six to eight weeks; e-commerce, custom integrations or large content migrations often take four to six months. The biggest variable is how quickly content and feedback come back from the client.

What should a website project timeline include?

Discovery (kickoff, interviews, sitemap and content plan), design (wireframes, visual design, client review), build (development, CMS setup, content entry), launch (QA, user acceptance testing, go-live) and a short window for fixes afterwards. Milestones at discovery sign-off, design approval and go-live give the client three clear decision points.

Can the client follow the plan without logging in?

Yes. Send them a view-only share link; it always shows the current dates, and bars flagged as client tasks carry the client’s logo, so they can see which jobs are theirs. For a proposal, export it as a one-page PDF instead.

Website redesign templateA free website redesign timeline: audit, redesign, build and content migration, a redirect map, relaunch at about nine weeks, then ten days of ranking checks.Client onboarding templateA free client onboarding timeline: kickoff, access and setup, a success plan and the first deliverable over five to six weeks, with the client’s tasks flagged.Project plan templateA free project plan Gantt chart in four phases (initiation, planning, delivery, close). About seven weeks, with approval milestones and two workstreams.NeoGantt for agenciesClient-facing timelines, branded exports and change history.How to share a Gantt chart with clients Using milestones in a Gantt chart

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Open it, drag the bars onto your real dates and rename anything that doesn’t fit. Sign up when you want to keep it.

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