The Ultimate Guide to Choosing the Best Timeline Maker

Hey there! Are you looking to create an awesome timeline to organize information and showcase events more clearly? As a timeline enthusiast, let me walk you through the best timeline makers out there to help you visualize processes and share knowledge effectively.


Why Use an Online Timeline Maker?

Before jumping into the tools, let‘s first talk about why you may want to create a timeline in the first place and how it can help you.

Timelines provide tons of benefits like:

• Visualizing the chronological sequence of events, product launches, milestones, etc.

• Simplifying complex historical information or processes into an easy-to-grasp visualization.

• Identifying patterns and connections between events spread out over time.

• Enhancing presentations and reports with interactive timeline visuals.

• Improving project planning when you map tasks and deadlines to a timeline.

• Helping analyze causes and effects when you see everything plotted sequentially.

For example, as a marketing manager you could use a timeline to showcase your product‘s evolution and new feature releases over time. As a project manager, a timeline can help organize tasks and deadlines across your project plan.

Students can use timelines to easily grasp the sequence of major events that led to a war. The possibilities are endless!

Having the past, present, and future mapped out on an intuitive timeline makes contextual relationships more clear. An online timeline creator tool makes the process of actually building the timeline visualization super simple.

Now let‘s look at how to actually create a timeline before diving into the top tools.

How to Develop a Timeline

The exact process may vary slightly depending on the scope and purpose, but here are the key steps:

1. Define the timeline scope

• Determine the overall start and end dates for your timeline. This provides the high level timeframe.

• Identify the units that make sense for your events – decades, years, quarters, months, etc.

2. Identify the major events

• Brainstorm the key events, milestones, stages, or launches that are most relevant to include.

• Conduct research if needed to pinpoint critical dates.

3. Organize the sequence

• Arrange the events sequentially based on when they occurred within your defined scope and units.

• Try grouping events into higher level buckets or eras to add structure.

4. Add supporting details

• For each event, add descriptive text, images, videos, links, etc. to provide context.

• Make sure the relationship between events is clear.

5. Choose visual design

• Select a timeline template and style it with fonts, colors, etc. aligned to your brand.

• Consistent design enhances clarity and recall.

6. Publish and share

• Export as an image, PDF, embed code, or shareable link.

• Upload to your website, slides, or share directly.

That‘s the general process in a nutshell. Now let‘s explore some awesome timeline creation tools to make every step simple.

Top Timeline Makers Compared

There are a variety of great timeline builder tools out there, but I‘ve condensed it down to the top 8 options based on ease of use, customization features, and output flexibility.

Tool	Key Highlights	Price
Adobe Express	Great templates, easy to customize, shareable links	Free
Lucidchart	Drag-and-drop editor, templates, embeds	Free – $11.95/month
Creately	Drag-and-drop, templates, collaboration features	Free – $6/month
Visme	Easy drag-and-drop, templates, exports as images	Free – $19/month
Canva	Tons of templates, photos, icons, illustrations	Free – $12.95/month
TimeGraphics	Build fully custom timelines with multimedia	Free
SmartDraw	Desktop app, tons of templates and assets	$9.95 – $297/one-time
Timeline Maker	Auto-generates timelines from data, 5 timeline styles	$7/month

These cover both free and paid options perfect for any use case including business, marketing, projects, and education. Let‘s explore each one in more detail.

1. Adobe Express

Adobe Express makes it easy to create elegant timelines through your web browser.

Some key features:

• Hundreds of professionally designed timeline templates to customize

• Drag-and-drop interface to add/edit events, text, icons, images

• Tons of Adobe fonts, graphics, and color schemes to style with

• Share via link, PDF, image, embed code

It‘s straightforward to tailor the look and feel of templates based on your brand and timeline content. Adobe Express is likely the simplest, quickest way to develop great looking timelines for free.

2. Lucidchart

Lucidchart provides a versatile online timeline builder with powerful visual editing capabilities.

Key Lucidchart features:

• Drag-and-drop timeline designer with shape and connector tools

• Numerous expertly designed templates

• Easily add milestones, dates, text, links, etc.

• Customize fonts, colors, styles

• Embed timelines in websites

• Export timelines in various formats

Lucidchart makes it easy to plot sequential events on a timeline and clearly highlight important milestones. The tool has robust styling options to customize the look.

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With a free account, you can build unlimited timelines, but advanced features require a paid plan ranging from $7.95 to $11.95 per month. Lucidchart is great for business and project management uses.

3. Creately

Creately is packed with handy features to craft interactive timelines of any kind.

Why Creately stands out:

• Simple drag-and-drop timeline creator

• Vast template library for any need

• Shape and connector tools to add events, milestones

• Real-time collaboration abilities

• Embed timelines in websites/portals

• Export timelines in multiple formats

Creately makes it easy to chronologically structure milestones and events on a visually appealing timeline. Handy collaboration features allow teams to work together.

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Paid plans start at $5 per month for full access to Creately‘s timeline features, icons, templates, etc. But you can still use core editing features free of charge.

4. Visme

Visme provides an online drag-and-drop timeline maker with a vast array of templates to start customizing quickly.

Why Visme is a top choice:

• Huge collection of timeline design templates

• Drag-and-drop interface to edit events, text, etc.

• Upload your own photos and videos

• Animated timeline options available

• Download as image files or PDF

• Embed timelines in websites

Visme simplifies the process of building timelines for business, projects, or educational use cases. It has robust customization options while still being easy for beginners.

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Visme offers a forever free plan allowing 5 downloads per month or paid upgrades starting at $19 per month for more capabilities.

5. Canva

Well-known graphic design tool Canva offers an easy-to-use online timeline maker packed with features.

Key benefits of Canva:

• 100+ professionally designed timeline templates

• Massive library of visuals and media to customize with

• Simple drag-and-drop editing

• Collaborative editing abilities

• Download in many file formats or share via link

• iOS and Android apps available

Canva takes the complication out of building clean timelines by providing tons of pre-made templates, photos, illustrations, icons, and fonts to work with.

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While free accounts are available, unlocking the full library of content requires a Pro plan starting at $12.95 per month. But you can go far with the free version as well.

6. TimeGraphics

If you want full creative control to build a 100% custom timeline, TimeGraphics is an excellent choice.

Key features of TimeGraphics:

• Add your own photos, videos, documents

• Insert hyperlinks, text, and captions

• No templates – full flexibility

• Build chronological sequences easily

• Download files to work offline

• Export into multiple formats

The benefit of TimeGraphics is the ability to completely customize your timeline with your visuals, multimedia, and content. Everything is added directly from your computer.

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Educators commonly use TimeGraphics for building interactive history timelines. And the tool is free to use!

7. SmartDraw

For desktop timeline creation software, SmartDraw is a leader in the space.

Why consider SmartDraw:

• Desktop app with advanced timeline tools

• Hundreds of templates and design assets

• Import data from spreadsheets

• Easily add milestones, events, text, images

• Fully customizable styling

• Export files or share via link

• On Windows, Mac, and cloud

SmartDraw provides robust features for building timelines of all types. And templates make it easy to get started quickly.

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Pricing ranges from a $9.95 one-time fee for basic features up to $297 for the full premium software. But they offer free trials as well.

8. Timeline Maker

Lastly, Timeline Maker takes a unique approach by auto-generating timelines for you based on spreadsheet data.

Why Timeline Maker stands out:

• Imports data to auto-build timelines

• 5 timeline visualization styles

• Easily create multiple timeline views

• No need to manually enter events

• Customize colors, fonts, etc.

• Download images or embeds

With Timeline Maker, you skip the work of manually entering each event and date. Just import your timeline data, and it creates the interactive visualization automatically!

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Pricing starts at $7 per month. They also offer free trials.

Key Takeaways

• Adobe Express – Best for easy customization and sharing online
• Lucidchart – Top for advanced interactive features
• Creately – Great for team collaboration abilities
• Visme – Ideal for simply making great visual timelines
• Canva – Excellent for tons of media and templates
• TimeGraphics – Best for fully custom multimedia timelines
• SmartDraw – Leading desktop timeline software
• Timeline Maker – Unique auto-generation from data

Hopefully this guide gave you a helpful overview of the timeline creation process and top tools to simplify it! Here are a few parting thoughts:

• Use timelines to visualize sequential events, milestones, and processes.

• Online timeline makers streamline the design process for you.

• Choose a tool based on your budget, use case, and customization needs.

• Try Adobe Express, Lucidchart, or Visme for quick, free creation.

• Canva, Creately, and SmartDraw offer the most features.

Let me know if you have any other questions! Wishing you the best on your timeline creation journey.