Neandertal immature craniofacial remains are remarkably well preserved, providing a unique diachronic perspective on the evolution of human growth and development. To directly compare Neandertal and modern human infants, juveniles, and subadults, an interpolation of growth trajectories is conducted using piecewise regression that provides estimates of rates of growth and maturation of craniofacial dimensions. Growth models for twenty well‐preserved craniofacial dimensions in Neandertals (n = 41) are compared to those of modern humans (n = 294), and multivariate tools are employed to examine growth trajectories and shape change separately for the calvarium, face, and mandible. The two species of Pan (P. troglodytes, n = 156, and P. paniscus, n = 151) provide a parallel example upon which to gauge the differences between Neandertals and modern humans. Differences between modern human and Neandertal craniofacial ontogeny are complex, and no single description can adequately characterize differences in growth rates and the duration of growth of craniofacial dimensions. Modeled growth curves indicate that Neandertal maturation was accelerated only for some gnathic dimensions. For dimensions of the calvarium, such as upper cranial height, it is modern humans who exhibit a more rapid growth rate but with a shorter duration of growth vis‐γ‐vis Neandertals. Modeled growth curves for Neandertals imply that they achieved craniofacial maturation at stages of dental maturation comparable to those characterizing modern humans, suggesting fundamental patterns of human life history arose in an ancestor of archaic and modern Homo.