Best tools for creating genealogy timelines: A comparison

Your ancestors’ lives span decades and centuries, but family trees charts cannot adequately capture the chronology of their experiences. Genealogy timelines enrich family history research, revealing how historical events shaped your family’s journey, and uncovering patterns that traditional charts miss entirely.

Genealogy timeline tools range from basic spreadsheet templates to sophisticated diagramming software. The variety of timeline tools can overwhelm researchers trying to choose the right solution.

This comparison cuts through the confusion, evaluating seven leading tools across two crucial categories: creating beautiful illustrative timelines for sharing your discoveries, and building powerful analytical timelines for serious genealogical research.

Please note: This article reflects my personal opinions based on my experience. Your preferences may differ depending on your research style, budget and familiarity with software.

First, consider the purpose of your timeline and your audience

Before choosing a tool, think about what you want to achieve with your timeline. Ask yourself: is your timeline for illustration or analysis?

• Illustrative timelines are used to clearly display or summarise information. They are useful for presentations, reports or sharing with family.
• Analytical timelines help you test hypotheses, identify inconsistencies and evaluate evidence. They are useful for research planning, DNA analysis and problem solving.

Your choice of a timeline tool also depends on your audience. Family and friends will probably prefer illustrative timelines, while analytical timelines are more suited to other genealogists.

The right timeline tool depends on your goals, audience, budget and comfort with software. Here is my comparison, to help you make your decision.

Quick overview: Timeline tools at a glance

Tool	Best for	Cost	Complexity level
Spreadsheets	Deep analysis, data comparison	Free	Low-Medium
Notion	Research planning, linked notes	Free/Paid	Medium
SmartArt	Quick simple illustrations	Free with Office	Low
SmartDraw	Basic diagrams	Paid	Medium
Visio	Custom diagrams	Paid	Medium-Difficult
Lucidchart	Professional illustrations	Paid	Medium
Family history software	Individual timelines	Free/Paid	Low

Comparison of timeline tools

Spreadsheets, such as Excel, Airtable & Google Sheets

Best for: Deep analysis, sorting, filtering, comparisons

Assessment: Spreadsheets are one of the best tools for genealogy timelines. They allow detailed, flexible analysis using features like sorting, filtering and hiding columns. The formatting features allow you to illustrate your timeline in different views. You can use built-in templates or build from scratch. Easily modified and you can store multiple timelines on different worksheets within a spreadsheet.

Learning curve: Low-Medium. You only need to learn a few features and basic formatting

Availability: Free with Microsoft Office; Airtable has a free plan; Google Sheets is free with a Google account

Verdict: Ideal for analytical tasks. Handles a lot of data. Familiar and powerful, while still being quite simple to use.

Notion

Best for: Master timelines, linking events to research notes and research plans

Assessment: Notion uses databases, making it a flexible tool for capturing timeline data with context. It’s not designed for diagrams, but the table view can be customised to show events by person, place, or date. Data can easily be rearranged using sorting and filtering.

Learning curve: Medium.Learn how in my article, How to build a timeline in Notion (with linked views)

Availability: Free for individuals; paid plans for teams

Verdict: Excellent if you already use Notion for research notes and research planning. Less suited to complex analytical tasks.

SmartArt (Word & PowerPoint)

Best for: Simple illustrative timelines

Assessment: SmartArt is a quick way to create basic timelines. You just insert a Process diagram into Word or PowerPoint. Limited in customisation and not suited to analysis, but perfect for simple illustrative timelines.

Learning curve: Low

Availability: Free with Microsoft Office

Verdict: Handy for quick visuals and beginner-friendly.

SmartDraw

Best for: Simple illustrative diagrams and bar charts (Gantt-style, showing the duration of an event)

Assessment: Offers horizontal and table formats, with templates for quick setup. You can customise text, colours, and add images. Suited for illustrative purposes, not complex analytical timelines. Produces good quality images for inclusion in presentations or reports.

Learning curve: Medium, but easier if you are familiar with the software or similar tools

Availability: Free trial; subscription required for ongoing use

Verdict: Suitable for presentations. Subscription cost is hard to justify if timelines are your only use.

Visio

Best for: Simple illustrative flowcharts and diagrams, including timelines

Assessment: The desktop version is more customisable than SmartDraw. Like SmartDraw, you can customise text, colours, and add images. Suited for illustrative purposes, not complex analytical timelines.

Learning curve: More difficult than SmartDraw

Availability: Basic version included with Microsoft 365 business; full version is a paid app

Verdict: A mid-tier option—more flexible than SmartArt, less than Excel or Lucidchart. Good if you already have access.

Lucidchart

Best for: Both illustrative and analytical timelines, where customisation is important

Assessment: Offers vertical, horizontal, Gantt and bar chart timeline templates. Highly customisable with colour coding, shapes and labels. Strong contender for both illustrative and analytical needs.

Learning curve: Medium. Learning the features and processes takes a little while, but step-by-step instructions are provided

Availability: Free trial; subscription required

Verdict: One of the most versatile options. Worth if you need complex visuals or also want to create family tree diagrams. Easy to insert a Lucidchart into a Word document or PowerPoint presentation.

Family history software

Best for: Simple timelines for an individual, not requiring customisation

Assessment: Limited to events of an individual within the context of their immediate family. Very little customisation available. Easy to incorporate into a report generated by the software.

Learning curve: None, the timeline is generated automatically as you enter data to your family tree

Availability: Included in all family history software. Some, such as Legacy Family Tree, are free.

Verdict: Very useful for day-to-day research and simple illustrative timelines in reports. Limited value for complex analysis.

Final thoughts

From my experience, three tools emerge as the clear winners for different genealogy scenarios. Spreadsheets excel at analytical work. Their sorting, filtering, and comparison capabilities make them the most powerful choice for serious research. Lucidchart takes the stands out for visual presentation, offering professional-quality timelines to enrich your family history. For quick, everyday use, SmartArt provides the perfect balance of simplicity and effectiveness.

My recommendation? Start with Excel to build your analytical skills and understanding of timeline creation. Once you’re comfortable with the fundamentals, add Lucidchart for when you need to create impressive visuals for sharing. This two-tool approach covers 90% of genealogy timeline needs while keeping costs reasonable and learning curves manageable.

Learn more about using genealogy timelines in my article, Use Genealogy Timelines to Organise, Analyse and Improve Your Research

For more articles about resources and tools for family history, go to the Resources page.

For more of my articles about using Excel for family history, go to the Using Excel page.