Infographics are popular because they are highly shareable and convey statistics in a visually pleasing and easy to understand manner. But can a local business create infographics with a small budget?
This post, 12 Tools to Create Infographics, was first published on WebMarketingToday.
While hiring a graphic designer may make the job easier, you can create an effective infographic with the right tools, a sense of design, and time for planning.
Local businesses, non-profits, and municipalities can effectively use infographics to:
- Share the results of a whitepaper or study;
- Pique the interest of a reporter;
- Explain a complex concept in a visual format;
- Illustrate your company’s experience or product evolution;
- Drive traffic to your website or increase reader engagement.
The 12 tools listed below are either free or reasonably priced. Most of them involve 3-4 steps and are created for the non-designer or as a time-saver for the graphics professional. See which tool matches your data, skill level, and vision best. Once created, test infographics on multiple devices, including smartphones, for readability.
1. Venngage
With Venngage, business owners need to take just three steps to create an infographic: template selection, drag and drop library images and icons addition, and font and color customization. Save infographics as an image or PDF, which can be shared on social networks or embedded on blogs or websites.
Cost: Free with limited features. A premium version is available for $19 per month or $190 a year.
2. Canva
Canva’s forte is infographic creation for non-designers. As with its other design products, Canva offers free elements and premium images for $1. Businesses can also upload their images. You can access Canva via a web browser or download onto an iPad.
Cost: Free with optional $1 premium images.
3. Piktochart
Created for the non-designer, Piktochart has over 1.92 million registered users and is a drop and drag program that emphasizes simplicity. Businesses can import data from Excel, CSV files, or Google spreadsheets into design-driven charts.
Features include over 400 fully customizable themes, interactive maps, thousands of library images and categorized icons, the ability to upload images, and Slideshare and Evernote integration. There are no usage limits.
Cost: Free. Premium packages start at $29 per month or $290 per year.
4. Visme
Visme is a multi-tool that produces visual content including infographics, reports, product demos, web banners, resumes, and presentations.
Create infographics by choosing a template or a blank canvas and access millions of free images from Flickr or thousands of free vector assets and graph tools using a drag and drop editor. More than 100 fonts are available, to support every language.
Cost: Free for teachers and students; $7 per month for the Standard plan or $16 per month for the Complete package.
5. Easelly
While a free account is possible, Easelly offers an upgraded Pro account for $3 a month that gives you access to dozens of templates, 1000’s of free images, and more than 50 fonts.
Get started by choosing a “vheme” (visual + theme), add objects, backgrounds, shapes, charts, and text using a drag and drop approach. Easelly’s home page features a multitude of infographics that serve as examples and that direct you to a particular layout preloaded for your convenience.
Cost: Free. Pro version is $3 per month.
6. Infogr.am
Infogr.am can connect live data sources to infographics, charts, and visualizations so that the data doesn’t become stale. You can create infographics in three steps. Infographics are responsive, with more than 30 interactive charts available.
Cost: The free plan is limited and non-commercial; Pro – $18 per month; Business – $50 per month.
7. Visualize.me
An infographic tool specially created to depict resumes that include maps, skill bubbles, experience timelines, treemaps, and pictograms. For businesses, this type of infographic can be a welcome addition to a website’s About Us page, and shared via social media.
8. Tiki-Toki
Create interactive 3D timelines by integrating images, videos, and text. Embedding on a website or blog is possible with a paid account. The homepage features examples, for inspiration.
Cost: The Silver account is for businesses and costs $25 per month. Agency use requires a custom quote.
9. Sprites
With Sprites, businesses can make animated infographics and online presentations. Responsive infographics are created using an intuitive editor and a multi-slide layout. With the Ultimate Plan, users can export the infographic to a video with audio addition, upload it to YouTube, connect live data, and have real-time collaboration.
Cost: Free; Pro – $3 per month; Ultimate – $9 per month.
10. SmartDraw
SmartDraw is downloadable software that integrates with Microsoft Office. It features more than 40 smart templates to reduce the learning curve and 15 infographic samples to get businesses creating infographics quickly. Publishing and sharing infographics is possible with a single click or the use of a share button.
Cost: Free trial; Standard Plan – $197; Business – $297.
11. Gliffy Online
Diagrams are created and edited quickly using Gliffy Online and its drag and drop features. Resulting diagrams include flow charts, floor plans, SWOT Analysis, Venn diagrams, Org charts, and technical drawings. Diagrams can be repainted using color themes that employ designer-approved palettes.
Cost: Free; Standard – $4.95 per month, billed quarterly; Business – $9.95 per month, billed quarterly.
12. Powerpoint Templates from Hubspot
Most businesses have access to PowerPoint. Hubspot created ten infographic templates with a timeline, flowchart, comparison, how-to, data, or image-heavy options.
It’s important to choose an appropriate template based on your data or content. If you use third-party data, you can add the data sources or URL to the template’s “Sources” section. Hubspot also includes a cheat sheet for using PowerPoint. The time estimate for infographic completion is one hour.
Cost: Free templates. Hubspot requires an email for access.
