Burndown Chart Generator — Free Sprint Burndown Chart Maker
The only free online burndown chart tool that plots ideal vs actual lines live, calculates team velocity, shows sprint health, and forecasts completion. Enter daily actuals, print to A4, or export as PNG and CSV. No signup required.
Configure your sprint, then enter daily actuals to track progress
Ideal line generates instantly. Update the Actual column daily — chart, velocity, health and forecast update in real time.
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The most complete free burndown chart generator online
How to create a burndown chart in 6 steps
LazyTools vs other burndown chart generator tools
We analysed the top free burndown chart tools. LazyTools is the only free tool that renders a live interactive chart from daily actuals — all competitors generate static blank templates you fill in by hand.
| Feature | LazyTools | EasyRetro | BurndownGenerator | PrintYourBurndown | Teamcamp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Live interactive chart | ✅ Yes | ❌ Template only | ❌ PDF blank only | ❌ Template only | Requires account |
| Enter daily actuals | ✅ Yes | ❌ Manual/paper | ❌ No | ❌ Manual/paper | Requires account |
| Ideal vs actual lines | ✅ Both lines | ❌ Ideal only | ❌ None | ❌ Ideal only | Requires account |
| Forecast / projection line | ✅ Yes | ❌ No | ❌ No | ❌ No | Requires account |
| Velocity calculation | ✅ Automatic | ❌ No | ❌ No | ❌ No | Requires account |
| Sprint health indicator | ✅ On Track / At Risk / Behind | ❌ No | ❌ No | ❌ No | Requires account |
| Scope change support | ✅ Per-day | ❌ No | ❌ No | ❌ No | Requires account |
| Print-ready output | ✅ A4 print stylesheet | ✅ Basic | ✅ Print grid | Requires account | |
| Export PNG | ✅ Yes | ❌ No | ❌ No | ❌ No | ❌ No |
| Export CSV | ✅ Yes | ❌ No | ❌ No | ❌ No | Requires account |
| Weekend skip toggle | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ❌ No | ✅ Yes | Requires account |
| Multiple work units | ✅ Points / Hours / Tasks / Issues | Points only | Points only | Points / Hours | Requires account |
| No signup required | ✅ Always free | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ❌ Account required |
Sprint health thresholds and burndown chart metrics
| Metric | Definition | Formula | Target / benchmark |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ideal daily burn rate | Points per day needed for perfect completion | Total points / working days | Consistent across sprint |
| Actual velocity | Average points burned per elapsed day | (Start points − current remaining) / days elapsed | Should match or exceed ideal burn rate |
| Sprint health: On Track | Projected finish within 5% of sprint end | Projected day / total days ≤ 1.05 | Green — no action needed |
| Sprint health: At Risk | Projected to overrun by 5–20% | 1.05 < Projected day / total days ≤ 1.20 | Amber — scope review recommended |
| Sprint health: Behind | Projected to overrun by more than 20% | Projected day / total days > 1.20 | Red — sprint replanning required |
| Projected completion day | Day on which remaining work reaches zero at current velocity | Last actual day + (remaining / velocity) | Should be ≤ sprint duration |
| Scope change | Points added or removed from sprint mid-flight | Running total of daily adjustments | Ideally zero — indicates stable scope |
| Sprint completion rate | Percentage of original scope delivered | (Original scope − final remaining) / original scope × 100 | Target: 80–100% |
Burndown Chart Guide — Sprint Tracking, Velocity & Agile Project Management
A burndown chart is the most widely used visual tracking tool in Agile and Scrum project management. It answers the most important question in any sprint: will the team finish on time? By plotting remaining work against time, the burndown chart makes the answer visible to every stakeholder — at a glance, every day.
What is a burndown chart?
A burndown chart is a two-axis graph where the horizontal axis represents time (sprint days) and the vertical axis represents remaining work (story points, hours, or tasks). Two lines are plotted. The ideal burndown line is a straight diagonal from the total work at day zero to zero at the last sprint day. It represents perfect, linear progress. The actual burndown line tracks real remaining work, updated daily. A third line — the forecast line — projects where the actual line will end if the team continues at its current velocity. This forecast is the most actionable element: it tells the Scrum Master and Product Owner with several days of warning whether the sprint is in danger.
Burndown chart vs burnup chart — which should you use?
A burndown chart shows remaining work going down towards zero. A burnup chart shows completed work going up towards total scope. Both tell the same story but burndown charts are preferred in Scrum sprints because they make the question "how much is left?" immediately obvious — the remaining work is the Y-axis value. Burnup charts are better for release planning across multiple sprints because they can show scope changes more transparently: when scope is added, the total-scope line goes up while the completed-work line continues rising, clearly showing the impact of scope creep.
How to read a burndown chart — patterns and what they mean
Several common patterns appear in sprint burndown charts. Flat line: actual line is horizontal, not going down. Indicates no progress is being made — either no work is being completed or remaining estimates are not being updated. Action: investigate blockers immediately. Steep drop followed by flat: a burst of early work followed by stagnation. Often indicates tasks completed but not closed in the tracking system, or dependencies blocking later work. Actual line above ideal: team is burning slower than planned and is at risk of not finishing. Requires scope reduction or daily standup intervention. Actual line below ideal: team is burning faster than planned. Generally positive, but may indicate underestimation of original scope or overly optimistic story point estimates. Step pattern: large drops on specific days with flat periods. Common in teams that update remaining work in batches rather than daily.
How to calculate sprint velocity
Sprint velocity is the average amount of work a team completes per unit of time (usually per day in a sprint context, or per sprint in a release context). To calculate daily velocity: subtract the current remaining work from the original total scope, then divide by the number of days that have elapsed. Formula: velocity = (total points − remaining points) / days elapsed. For example, if a team started a sprint with 40 story points and has 22 remaining after 6 days, the velocity is (40 − 22) / 6 = 3.0 points per day. Teams track velocity across multiple sprints to establish a reliable planning baseline. A team with consistent velocity can accurately forecast how much work will fit in the next sprint.
Story points vs hours vs tasks — choosing your work unit
The choice of work unit affects how meaningful the burndown chart is. Story points are the standard in Scrum. They measure relative effort, not time, so a team with different member capacities can still produce a meaningful burndown. Story points are immune to the productivity fluctuations caused by meetings, interruptions, and individual skill differences. Hours are preferred in teams or projects that require precise time tracking, such as client-billed work or hourly contract projects. They produce more granular data but are more sensitive to estimation errors. Tasks are the simplest metric — ideal for teams new to agile tracking or for sprints with tasks of relatively uniform size. They are the least predictive because tasks vary enormously in complexity.
Scope change and how to handle it in a burndown chart
Scope change (adding or removing work mid-sprint) is a reality in agile teams. When scope is added, the remaining work increases even if the team is making progress — which can make an otherwise healthy burndown look like it is going backwards. The LazyTools burndown chart generator handles scope change with a dedicated column in the daily data table. Adding scope on a given day adjusts the ideal line forward from that point, making the impact of scope change visually clear. The Scrum Guide recommends minimising scope changes within a sprint, but when they are unavoidable, transparency about their impact is essential.
Printing your burndown chart for the team wall
Physical burndown charts posted on the team wall remain a best practice in many Scrum environments. A printed chart visible to the whole team creates ambient awareness of sprint progress without requiring anyone to log into a tool. The LazyTools burndown chart generator produces a clean, print-ready output via a dedicated @media print stylesheet that removes all editor controls and renders just the chart SVG and data table. The result is suitable for standard A4 printing. Printing daily and posting on the wall allows team members and stakeholders to track progress at a glance during standups, sprint reviews, and stakeholder walk-throughs.
Burndown chart — 10 questions answered
A burndown chart is a visual tool used in Agile and Scrum to track remaining work against time. The horizontal axis shows sprint days and the vertical axis shows remaining work (story points, hours, or tasks). An ideal line shows what perfect progress looks like, and an actual line is updated daily to show real progress. When the actual line is below the ideal line, the team is ahead of schedule.
Enter your sprint name, start date, duration, total story points, and work unit. Click Generate Chart. The ideal burndown line appears instantly. Each sprint day, enter the actual remaining work in the data table below the chart. The chart, velocity, health indicator, and forecast update automatically.
The ideal burndown line is a straight diagonal from total story points on day zero to zero on the last sprint day. It represents perfect linear progress. In practice teams rarely follow this exactly, but it serves as a reference. If the actual line is consistently above the ideal line, the team risks not completing the sprint.
Velocity is the average work completed per day, calculated as (total points minus current remaining) divided by days elapsed. LazyTools calculates this automatically from your actual data. Consistent velocity across sprints allows accurate sprint capacity planning.
The forecast line extends from the last actual data point at current velocity to show where the team will finish. If it reaches zero before the sprint end date the team is on track. If it extends past the sprint end date, corrective action is needed.
Sprint health is a status derived from projected completion vs sprint end. On Track means the team will finish within 5% of the sprint duration. At Risk means a 5-20% overrun is projected. Behind means more than 20% overrun is projected. The status updates automatically as you enter actuals.
Yes. Click Print Chart to open the browser print dialog with a dedicated print stylesheet applied. Only the chart and data table are printed — all editor controls are hidden. The output is A4-ready. You can also export the chart as PNG using Export PNG.
A burndown chart shows remaining work decreasing toward zero. A burnup chart shows completed work increasing toward total scope. Burndown charts are more common in Scrum sprints because they make remaining work immediately visible. Burnup charts are better for release planning because they show scope changes more clearly.
Yes. Enable the Skip Weekends toggle to plot only Monday through Friday on the horizontal axis. This produces an accurate ideal burndown line that reflects actual working days available in the sprint.
LazyTools Burndown Chart Generator is 100% free with no signup, no account, and no watermarks. Generate live interactive charts for unlimited sprints, print to A4, and export as PNG or CSV without registration.