Infographic software platform overview

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Infographic/Visualization Software & Platforms:
An Overview - 2013
by Information Use and Fluency, data compiled by Melissa Cornwell, practicum student
This overview provides a quick overview of a variety of infographic or visualization software and
platforms. This document is not to be all inclusive of what is available. Current Milner subscriptions to
various visualization packages are not included within this document. Within this report you will find
the following:
 Description of the software and/or platform
 Full web address
 What makes the software, platform, or service unique or different
 Whether it is web-based or a desktop software
 Cost to have an account and multiple pricing/licenses information, if relevant
The different software and platform options are presented in alphabetical order and not ranked in any
way. View the table at the end of this document for a condensed version of this overview.
ChartsBin - http://chartsbin.com/
Description of the software and/or platform:
ChartsBin allows you to create interactive maps online. You can also export the map as an image, create
choropleth and proportional symbol map, create a map displaying an image inside a tooltip, create a map
displaying a charting inside a tooltip, and specify different zoom levels and positions.
What makes the software, platform, or service unique or different:

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This platform allows you to create visualizations out of your own data without any installation of
software. You can also embed the interactive visualizations in your own website or blog, or export them
as images for a presentation. You can also embed the interactive visualizations in social media websites.
Web-based or Desktop: web-based
Cost to have an account: Free for now.
Multiple pricing/licenses options: NA
Creately - http://creately.com/
Creately is a diagram, wireframe, and web design tool that does not require a download or install. The
software allows you to create flowcharts, wireframes, UML diagrams, mindmaps, and many other kinds
of diagrams. The software is available to use online (through the browser), and you can try it out for
free. It also comes in a desktop software package that you can purchase. There is also Creately for the
server, in which you can install the software on your own server and this will enable everyone in the
organization or institution to draw and collaborate either by accessing the software via the browser or
using the desktop version. Creately also serves as a plug-in for various other programs, such as
FogBugz, Confluence, and Jira. In particular with the Confluence plug-in, you can add the diagrams you
create wiki pages and blogs.
Creately allows for real-time team collaboration, sharing, and the ability to review and leave comments
on projects. The software for specifically the server to ensure collaboration across an organization is
unique. Creately is also available in the Google Apps marketplace. Also, you can have collaboration
between the desktop software and online platform.

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Web-based or Desktop: Both
Cost to have an account:
Online is subscription-based with a certain amount due each month depending on how many people are
going to be expected to use it. Users can create a free, public account, but they are limited to only 5
public diagrams, 1 project, and 3 collaborators. The plans go up to a team of 25 people for $75 a month
or $749 per year. Users could also create a personal account that allows for unlimited public and private
diagrams as well as unlimited projects; the personal account is $5 a month or $49 per year.
The desktop software costs $75 for unlimited offline and online diagramming. There is also the option
for desktop for teams that cost $40 per user. There are also deals for more users in a team: 5 users
($349), 10 users ($649), 25 users ($1299), 50 users ($2499), 100 users ($3999), and an enterprise has to
call for a quote.
Multiple pricing/licenses options:
Prices for Online:
Personal (1 user) - $5 a month/$49 per year
Team (5 users) - $25 a month/$249 per year
Public (1 user, limited features) – Free
Prices for Desktop:
Desktop Personal- $75
Desktop for Teams- $40 per user
Team (5 users) - $349
Team (10 users) - $649
Team (25 users) - $1299
Team (50 users) - $2499
Team (100 users) - $3999
Datameer - http://www.datameer.com/

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Datameer provides a single application on the Hadoop platform for data integration, data analytics and
data visualizations. The steps include data integration, dynamic data management, and self-service
analytics. With data integration, you just have to load raw data of any type, size, or source, and the data
can come from either structured sources (Oracle, MySQL, etc.) or unstructured sources (like Twitter,
Facebook, Linkedin, etc.). For creating infographics, you would use the drag and drop, WYSIWYG
Infographic Designer. Datameer also has a library of widgets that includes tables, graphs, charts,
diagrams, maps, and tag clouds.
A unique feature of this platform is the ability to “liberate your data” and use both structured and
unstructured sources for gathering data on users/customers. Also, there is the ability to share your data
visually on any device. The application also scales with your needs, and you choose where you want to
store and analyze your data. Datameer also uses HTML 5 in its design. Workgroup space:
http://www.datameer.com/datavis-workgroup.html
Personal account (1 desktop) - $299/year
Workgroup (1 server) - $2,999/year
Enterprise (1 hadoop cluster) – Have to request a quote
The Enterprise package is priced on a data plan model of how much new data is brought into Datameer
in a given year. There is no mention of an educational discount.
Dipity - http://www.dipity.com/

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Dipity is an online platform for creating digital timelines. “Users can create, share, embed, and
collaborate on interactive, visually engaging timelines that integrate video, audio, images, text, links,
social media, location and timestamps.” You can create a free account with limited features or pay for a
Dipity Premium account. Dipity Premium, which is any other package than the free account, may offer
custom branding and backgrounds, multi-user support, stats and analytics, custom iPhone Apps, and
hosting by Dipity.
This service is unique because it integrates many different types of multimedia on a timeline feature.
You can also embed the timeline in your own website to increase user engagement. You can make
multiple interactive timelines, depending on what version or package you want to purchase, and
synchronize content from a wide variety of social media sources. The site allows you to sign in with
your Facebook account.
Personal- Free
Plus- $4.95/month
Prime- $49.95/month
Pro- $99.95/month
Partner- contact for price
Easel.ly - http://www.easel.ly/

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Easelly is an online website/platform for creating and sharing visual ideas online. To create a vheme
(visual theme), you drag and drop a vheme onto your canvas.
This product is still in the beta stage, and so it does not have a lot of features yet.
Cost to have an account: Free (?)
GeoCommons - http://geocommons.com/
GeoCommons is an online, public community site for open data and maps. The users of the site are
intent on building an open repository of data and maps for the world. You can create map visualizations
using GeoIQ’s simple workflow and exploration capabilities. You can also animate your data through
time and space with the one-click temporal analysis. You can also share your visualizations on
Facebook, Twitter, or embed them in your blog. GeoCommons provides a full data upload and a search
feature to easily share data with the world; they also automatically calculate statistics for your data and
convert it to a dozen different formats. You can also view, edit, and track the usage of your data. There
are also filtering options by number, string, or data attributes.

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This platform is unique because you can just start putting in data through the home page of the website
and get a map back in minutes. There are options to upload data or make a map. You can also share
your visualizations through Facebook or put them on your blog. There is also the emphasis on open data
and maps, and sharing that data with a public community. There is also a freely available API that is
built on the GeoIQ platform that you can use to build dashboards and web applications.
Web-based or Desktop: web-based and API
Cost to have an account: Free for the online version, but there is also an option for GeoIQ Enterprise,
which is the same platform that powers GeoCommons but has many additional features for collecting
social, local and mobile data. The GeoIQ software comes in many different packages.
Multiple pricing/licenses options: Please see http://www.geoiq.com/products/ for information on the
different software packages and features.
Gliffy - http://www.gliffy.com/
Gliffy is an online diagram and flowchart application that you can use to create, share, and collaborate
on diagrams. You can create diagrams, drawings, process flows, interfaces, and designs. Gliffy stores
and backs up your documents on their servers. You use the software by dragging and dropping shapes
from the library and formatting the diagrams by point-and-click.
This software is unique in the amount of different diagrams you can create and the ways in which you
can share them. You can embed your images and diagrams into wikis, blogs, and other hosted office
applications. You can also save and export your diagram as a .JPG, .PNG, or .SVG. You can also invite

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others to collaborate on the diagrams. Gliffy also automatically keeps a copy every time a document is
saved so you can track changes or revert to an earlier version. The API, which you can add to your
existing web based applications. Examples of this include creating drawings in wiki pages, including
Gliffy in your blog software, and add drawings to your content management system.
Web-based or Desktop: web-based (works through your web browser). Gliffy also offers an API.
Cost to have an account: Free Basics Account and Paid-Full Feature Accounts
The paid-full feature accounts, especially multiuser accounts, are billed monthly.
Free Basic Account
Standard Account – Individual ($4.95/user/month) and $49.50/user/year
Pro Account- Individual ($9.95/user/month) and $9.95/user/year
There are discounted rates available for academic institutions. Currently, Gliffy offers a 50% discount
for groups of academic users (starting at $12.50/month for 5 users). However, they do not offer
discounted rates for premium, individual academic use. You would have to upgrade to premium to have
multiuser accounts. See this link for choosing which Gliffy account is right for your classroom:
http://support.gliffy.com/entries/463410-options-for-using-gliffy-in-a-classroom.
Google Chart Tools - https://developers.google.com/chart/
Google Chart Tools allows you to create charts for your websites. To build these charts, you must go
through a series to steps such as choosing a chart from the Chart Library, populating the chart with data
using a common JavaScript DataTable class. Google Chart Tools provides a step-by-step manual for
building charts and embedding them into your website. Some of the charts offered are area charts, bar

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charts, bubble charts, column charts, gauge charts, pie charts, scatter charts, and many others. You can
also easily customize your charts to fit your needs.
Google Chart Tools provides a step-by-step manual for creating a chart specifically for your website’s
needs. Also, the charts are based on pure HTML5/SVG technology so there are no plugins required to
embed or view your charts. Charts are also fully customizable.
Web-based or Desktop: web-based API
Cost to have an account: Completely free for all uses: commercial, governmental, personal, or
educational.
Google Public Data - http://www.google.com/publicdata/directory
Google Public Data is a free source of open data and graphs; it provides public data and forecasts from a
range of international organizations and academic institutions including the World Bank, OECD,
Eurostat, and the University of Denver. The data can be displayed and exported as line graphs, bar
graphs, cross-sectional plots, or as maps. The Google Public Data Explorer makes the public-interest
datasets easy to explore, visualize, and communicate. You can also play with the tool to create
visualizations of public data, link to the, or embed them in your own webpages.
This platform is unique in that you can manipulate, export, and share the public data. You can also
upload different formats of data, and you can also upload, visualize, and share your own datasets.

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Cost to have an account: Free (has to be a Google account though)
Hohli - http://charts.hohli.com/
Hohli is an online charts builder where you just upload the data on the webpage, set a data max value,
give the chart a title, and set the range for the axes; you also need to set the size for your chart, and
choose whether it’s going to be horizontal, vertical, or square. You can also set a background image for
your chart. The types of charts you can create are line, bar, and pie graphs. You can also make Venn
diagrams, scatter plots, and radar charts. The company behind this is Google, and it is Google Charts
API that allows you to create the charts.
What makes this platform unique is that you can just add your data on the webpage and even manipulate
the chart to make it look like you want it to. Your chart will be created as you enter information so that
you can see how the new data you add affects the chart. When you are done with your chart, you can
either save it to your computer or use the embed code to add it to a blog or website.
Web-based or Desktop: Web-based
Cost to have an account: Free

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Infogr.am - http://infogr.am/
Infogram is online platform for creating interactive infographics and charts. The process of creating an
infographic includes selecting a template from Infogram’s selection, adding your own data, customizing
the graphic, and then sharing it via Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest, or viewing it on the web. For
creating online charts, you can import data from Microsoft Excel or CSV and then edit it with
Infogram’s online Excel compatible spreadsheet. Then, you can embed the charts you make in articles or
share them on social networks.
I think the social networking capabilities of this software are what make it unique. You can share any of
the infographics you make on Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest, or even publish them separately on the
web. You can also log into Infogram with your Twitter of Facebook account information. Another
feature of this platform is that you can add Vimeo and YouTube videos or also create interactive maps.
Also, the use of templates for infographics might also make this platform unique depending on what
templates are available.
Cost to have an account: Nothing, it’s free.

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Many Eyes - http://www-958.ibm.com/software/data/cognos/manyeyes/
Many Eyes is an experiment being performed by IBM Research and the IBM Cognos software group.
Many Eyes allows you to view and discuss visualizations and data sets; you can also create
visualizations from existing data sets. After you make an account and register, you can also upload your
own data, create and participate in topic centers (a topic center is a page devoted to a topic or theme),
watch items, track your contributions to the site, and see comments others have written.
This software and program is unique because it is just in the experimental phase, but it is essentially
social networking over visualizations and data sets. You can also share whatever visualizations you’ve
created on Twitter and Facebook. You can delete any data set you’ve uploaded, and other users can use
your data to make new visualizations. You can upload data by cutting and pasting from spreadsheets or
tab-delimited text files, or by cutting and pasting from word processing files. Many Eyes also has many
different options for different types of visualizations, including analyze a text. For data, the format has
to be either text or numbers.
Web-based or Desktop: Web-based
There is no cost to have an account, and the registration is free. However, because it is an experiment,
none of the data sets or visualizations you create are considered confidential.

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Photo Stats - http://photostatsapp.com/
Photo Stats is an infographic creator for the iPhone. The software is an app for the iPhone that you can
purchase from the iTunes store. How it works is you chose a time range of photos to be analyzed and
then choose the visual theme of your infographic from a list of pre-selected themes. Your photo can say
how, when, and where you take photos with the iPhone.
This software is unique because it is app-based for Apple products. The app works on the iPhone, iPod
Touch, iPad, and the iPad mini. However, it is optimized for iPhone 5.
Web-based or Desktop: Neither (app-based)
Cost to have an account: $0.99 for the app

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Piktochart - http://piktochart.com/
Piktochart is an online platform where you can create infographics and charts. The platform serves as a
creator and an editor of infographics with a drag and drop feature, and provides a collection of design
themes. The platform has just moved to a new design called the Magical App, and you can get a free
account with limited features or pay for either the Monthly Pro or Annual Pro packages, which provide
additional features.
This platform is unique because it serves as both a creator and editor for infographics. Also, with the
free version, any Piktochart image you export comes with a watermark (while the Pro version allows
you export just the image). The Pro version comes with the ability to create bar charts, line charts,
bubble charts, and pie charts as well as infographics. The platform also makes your exported graphics
search-engine friendly, and you can share your infographics on Facebook and Twitter.
Free (for casual users)
Monthly Pro- $29 (usually for professional users)
Annual Pro- $169 (for professionals, agencies, brands)
Free (for casual users)
Monthly Education Price - $3.33 per month
Annual Education Price- $39.00
This is also an option for a school bulk subscription starting from $1/month/student for school-wide
subscriptions.

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Stat Silk - http://www.statsilk.com/
The software comes in different packages that have different functionalities. The software is divided into
three major packages: StatPlanet, StatTrends, and StatWorld. StatPlanet comes in three different
platforms: StatPlanet, StatPlanet Plus, and StatPlanet Lite. StatTrends comes in two different platforms:
StatTrends and StatTrends Plus. StatWorld comes in two platforms: StatWorld and StatPlanet World
Bank. StatPlanet is free, and allows you to create interactive maps, graphs, and charts; StatPlanet Lite
allows you to create a simple interactive map with more basic features, and StatPlanet Plus gives support
for large data sets and importing and exporting maps. StatTrends is a free web-based or desktop
application that allows you to embed charts and graphs into webpages and websites; you can use Excel
or other spreadsheet software to import data. StatTrend Plus allows for greater support of large data sets,
export options, and a custom logo. StatWorld provides maps of open data in an interactive environment;
you can choose which maps of data you want to see and the indicators by which you want to view the
data. StatPlanet World Bank allows direct access to search around 5,000 indicators of open data, and this
feature comes as a desktop app.
This software is unique because of the different levels that are available and that most of the software is
free. The free software offers really great features even without choosing the upgraded versions.
StatPlanet also has an experimental map creator, which allows data to be copied and pasted directly into
it. StatPlanet comes with World and USA maps, and even a template to make your own flash maps.
With StatTrends, you can create bar and column charts, scatter plots or bubble carts, time series graphs,
or bullet graphs and embed them in websites. There is also the play time-based animation feature for all
chart and graph types. With StatTrends, you can also insert or import data from Excel. StatPlanet is
unique because you are allowed to interact with open data, but also you can create graphs to compare

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different data from different countries. StatWorld is a great tool to use for creating graphs from already
pre-collected data.
StatPlanet- Free
StatPlanet Lite- Free
StatTrends- Free
StatWorld- Free
StatPlanet World Bank- Free
StatTrends Plus- see table below
StatPlanet Plus- see table below
There has been no mention on the site of an educational discount.
StatPlanet Plus: Prices listed are for one edition of StatPlanet Plus. The license is valid forever (it never
expires) and is valid for one web domain (the web-version is licensed for usage only a single web
domain). There is no limitation to how many times it can be used within that web domain. The upgrade
cost is for a one-time upgrade only. StatTrends Plus: Prices are listed for a license; the license is valid
forever and is valid for only web domain (for the web-version). The upgrade cost is for a one-time
upgrade only.
StatPlanet Plus StatTrends Plus
Non-commercial
license (USD)
Commercial
license (USD)
Non-commercial
license (USD)
Commercial
license (USD)
Desktop
version:
Free 595
Desktop
version:
Free 395
Web version: 395 595 Web version: 250 395
Upgrade: 250 350 Upgrade: 150 250

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Tableau Public - http://www.tableausoftware.com/public/
Tableau Public is a free tool that you can use to create interactive visualizations with your data. You can
then post whatever visualizations you create on the web. Once the data is published on the web, anyone
can interact with it, download it, or create visualizations of it. There is no programming skills needed
either. Tableau Publish includes a free desktop product that you can download and use to publish data,
and the data is saved to the Tableau Public web servers and not saved locally on your computer. You can
share the data on your blog, website, etc.
This platform is unique in that it is a free and focuses primarily on creating free data that can be shared
by everyone. Also, all the data saved to Tableau Public will be accessible by everyone on the internet, so
you have to make sure that you work only with publically available and appropriate data. There is also a
50 megabyte limit on storage space for data.
Web-based or Desktop: Desktop
Cost to have an account: Free for the Public Edition. Organizations can also use the software but only
as an introductory service. If an organization wants to put data online for the public, you can do it as an
introductory service. You can contact Tableau public to discuss a commercial relationship. There are
also Professional and Personal editions of the desktop software.
Tableau Desktop comes in three editions.
Professional Edition ($1,999), Personal Edition ($999) and the Public Edition (Free).

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Timeline JS - http://timeline.verite.co/
Timeline JS allows you to create online timelines using features of a JavaScript Library. The software
pulls in media from different sources, and has built in support for Twitter, Flickr, Google Maps,
YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion, Wikipedia, SoundCloud, and many other media types.
This software is unique because it allows you to pull data from different online media sources. You can
also upload data from Google spreadsheets, and you can embed your timeline on your site. The online
platform comes with a tool to help prepare your timeline to be embedded (called the Timeline JS Embed
Generator). You can also build your timeline in a Google Docs spreadsheet or in JSON. The site even
provides a Google Doc template.

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Venngage - https://venngage.com/
Venngage is an online-based platform for creating detailed reports. There is no design or analytics
experience necessary to use the platform. Venngage allows you create a report within minutes of
uploading your data. Also, there is a security system in place so that your data and reports will be
encrypted and accessible only to you and your team. There is also a collection of templates to choose
from that have been built for communicating data and information. The steps are as simple as selecting
your layout, dragging and dropping items, and saving and publishing data.
This platform is unique because it is specifically used to create reports. Also, there is the ability to
incorporate data from 3rd
party sources such as Google Analytics, Bitly, and Facebook. There is also a
Venngage app that you can use to show your reports via iPad.
Cost to have an account: Yes
The pricing starts at $1,000 a month for agencies and enterprises. The features included for Agency and
Enterprise are:
Agency
5 Publishing Users
Share with unlimited clients
50 Report Exports a Month
Excel upload of up to 50MB

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Highlight campaign results with interaction
Access to 3rd party data sources such as Google Analytics, Bitly, and Facebook
Access to direct support hotline
Whitelabel reports for clients
iPad app
Enterprise
Team Collaboration
Database integration
Unlimited report exports
Drill down and filter capabilities
Customization
Access to 3rd party data sources such as Google Analytics, Bitly, and Facebook
User privilege settings
Access to direct support hotline
iPad app
Visual.ly - http://visual.ly/
Visually is an online platform for creating interactive infographics, data visualizations, and motion
graphics. To create an infographic, you need to choose one you want to customize from the gallery.
Then, you have to connect to Twitter or Facebook and authorize the Create app. Then, you customize
the infographic by selecting the accounts, hashtags, or pages that you want to explore. The platform’s
main function is to make it easier for buyers and sellers of infographics to get them made, distributed,
liked, commented on, and shared. The whole theme of the company is telling stories with data.

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The platform is designed to share and socially interact with infographics. The site offers infographics
divided by topics, and they offer services specifically for creating infographics for agencies, brands,
organizations, and businesses. You can use personally use Visually in three different ways: as a fan
(which is just creating and exploring infographics; as a designer (where you post your work and want to
be considered for projects throughout the marketplace); and as a publisher (you would like to share work
and you may be looking for hire data viz talent for projects). The most unique feature of this platform is
the ability to share whatever infographics you make on numerous social networking sites. However, you
can also download the infographics you create as PNG files. You also need a Twitter or Facebook
account to authorize the creation of the infographic.
Multiple pricing/licenses options: NA (need to contact them for information)
What About Me? -
http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/what-about-me/what-about-me.html
What About Me? is a product offered by Intel for creating an infographic of your digital life. This
software is particularly social as you can add your Twitter or YouTube profile and also connect with
Facebook. When you login with your Facebook account, it shows up as an app. The app takes data from
your basic information, email address, profile information, your photos, your status updates, friends’
descriptions, friends’ birthdays, and photos shared with you.

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This software is unique because it is solely for gathering data from social networking sites and then
creating an infographic from that data to show a person’s interests, activities, etc.
Cost to have an account: Free but you need a Facebook, YouTube, or Twitter account to participate.

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Infographics Analysis Table
C: 1 - with webpages; 2- for some data
DM: 1- with Workgroup; 2 - in the form of widgets
GPD: 1 - free; 2 - has pre-determined options
GC: 1 -for more advanced services; 2 - for some data
GL in a library
H has pre-determined options
ME: using existing data
PC: with the Pro version
PS: iPhone app
SS: for some data
V: for some data
Name
As Web-based
(WB) or
Desktop (D)
Group
Services and
Prices
Educational
Discount
Allows Group
Collaboration
Sharing
Capabilities With
Other Sites
Uses Pre-
Determined
Templates
Uses Open
and Public
Data
ChartsBin WB No No NA Yes Sort of No
Creately WB, D Yes NA Yes YesC-1
() YesC-2
No
Datameer WB, D Yes NA YesDM-1
NA YesDM-2
No
Dipity WB NA No Yes Yes No No
Easelly WB No No NA NA Yes No
GeoCommons WB YesGC-1
NA NA Yes YesGC-2
Yes
Gliffy WB Yes Yes Yes Yes YesGL
No
Google Chart Tools WB NA NA Yes Yes Yes No
Google Public Data WB YesGPD-1
NA Yes Yes NoGPD-2
Yes
Hohli WB No No No Yes NoH
No
Infogram WB NA NA No Yes Yes No
Many Eyes WB No No NA Yes YesME
Yes
Photo Stats NAPS
No No No Yes Yes No
Piktochart WB Yes Yes YesPC
Yes Yes No
Stat Silk WB, D Yes NA NA Yes YesSS
Yes
Tableau Public D Yes No Yes Yes NA Yes
Timeline JS WB NA NA NA Yes No No
Visually WB Yes NA No Yes YesV
No
Venngage WB Yes No Yes NA Yes No
What About Me? WB No No No Yes NA No

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