Top-5 Free Infographic Tools for Everyone
12th of December, 2018 | Infowithart
Infographics are an increasingly popular form of sharing information. If you are not a graphic designer, creating an infographic may seem complicated. It requires at least two components: design skills and certain software such as Adobe Creative Cloud.
Lately, though, we can find more and more simplified ways of making/sharing infographics on your own. There’s a huge variety of websites that offer you different solutions. Depending on a pricing, you receive access to the database of images/photos/charts/maps and so on.
Since most of the abovementioned services are paid, you might just as well order the custom infographic design. In the latter case, you leave the work to professionals and receive a final product at the end. If you’re still hesitating, learn about cons and pros of each option in our article.
Meanwhile, we’ve been testing the most popular infographic tools. Having selected only those that provide free options in their packages, we prepared a top-5 list for you.
So, the first option may be not that obvious. But you’re likely to already have it on your computer.
MICROSOFT
If you want to create a simple graphic without buying a new software package, it’s right for you. Two Microsoft programs allow you to devise basic infographics.
Publisher is a desktop publishing program is quite easy and intuitive. It differs from Microsoft Word as it deals more with page layout and design rather than text composition and proofing.
PowerPoint presentations are often filled with statistics, facts, and dense data. They are plain and simple. The only thing you should pay attention to the size. Different platforms have different recommended sizes, so you need to fit your slides to those standards.
There’re also lots of resources where you can download infographic PowerPoint templates. Go this way and find more than 35 links to free templates databases.
The other 4 infographics tools are suitable to aid you to publish infographics online conveniently without any hassle. All of them have:
• easy and intuitive interfaces with “drag and drop” editors;
• the ability to upload your own pictures/icons/photos to insert and match your design;
• the option to publish your graphics online by sending directly to Facebook/Twitter/Pinterest etc.;
• another option to post the infographic pieces on your website by inserting URL.
Now, we suggest that you take a closer look at their specific advantages and learn more about limitations.
INFOGR.AM (infogram.com)
The creators of Infogr.am claim it to be “the world’s simplest application for making infographics”. It’s an excel-style tool that automatically changes the look of the infographic to represent your data in the table.
$ Only basic account is free. The option for downloading infographics as a PDF, PNG, JPG file is provided with the paid version (from $19/month).
What’s available for free?
• 37+ interactive charts types and 13 map types;
• up to 10 projects stored in your library at the same time;
• up to 3 pages per 1 project.
+ You can insert media, for instance, video from Youtube.
+ Objects can be animated.
– You cannot download your infographic unless you upgrade to the paid account.
– Your content is public: anything you upload is visible and shareable by anyone.
EASEL.LY (easel.ly)
The name speaks for itself. Creating infographic pieces is quite simple with this tool.
$ The free account offers you a basic set of features. Pro accounts provide you with more resources and cost $4/month.
What do you get without charge?
• 10 infographic templates;
• 65 images, 25 photos, 10 fonts, 4 charts;
• pre-made drawings and icons grouped into broad general categories;
+ The ability to resize the infographics: you can create custom size or choose of the standard ones (A3, A4, Photo, Tabloid etc.).
+ You can download the graphic in JPG format.
– Your infographics are viewable by all Easel.ly users.
– You cannot add maps for free.
– JPG is only one download format available.
CANVA (canva.com)
$ The Individual Account is free. The access to the photo storage costs from $1. There’s also a corporate account. It’s price starts from $12.95/month.
What is free of cost?
• +8000 templates;
• 2 folders to categorize your designs;
• 1GB of storage for your photos and elements;
+ There’s an option to create a team (up to 1000 members) to share your folders and designs. Full functionality is available in Canva for Work Account.
+ You can either use it in the browser or download the Canva iPad app to design on the move. It’s also available for Android phones/tablets.
+ There’re thousands of layout for designing social media graphics and presentations besides infographics.
– You can download your graphic in PNG, JPG and PDF format.
– You cannot filter templates as well as sort out photos in folders.
– There’s no option to upload designs with a transparent background or export graphics with animated GIF-images;
– You cannot set the standard sizes of your designs
PIKTOCHART (piktochart.com)
$ There’re a free version and 3 paid plans that start from $12.5/month.
Features at no extra cost:
• 12 infographic templates;
• 4000+ icons and images;
• 5 fonts and 120+ text frames;
• 6 built-in colour schemes: you can adjust your infographic templates to them automatically;
+ There’s a great variety of charts and maps.
+ The option to insert a video URL (Vimeo and Youtube are supported).
+ You can download the graphic in PNG format;
+ The ability to demonstrate your graphics in a slideshow-based presentation mode;
– PDF downloading isn’t available in the free version.
We hope that at least one of these resources would be helpful for you. Anyway, in case you want to let a pro handle your infographics, Infowithart is always there for you. Our skilled designers are ready to help you create a real masterpiece and make your business grow by presenting you and your data in the most favourable light.
SOURCES
dummies.com/programming/big-data/big-data-visualization/4-uncommon-design-tools-for-infographics
razorsocial.com/make-your-own-infographic
oberlo.com/blog/infographic-makers
globaldigitalcitizen.org/4-amazing-infographic-tools
hongkiat.com/blog/infographic-tools
creativebloq.com/infographic/tools-2131971
blog.usejournal.com/tips-and-tools-to-create-a-killer-infographic-post-65dd773d7643
smallbiztrends.com/2013/12/tools-for-creating-infographics-charts.html
infographicdesignteam.com/blog/top-12-tools-for-creating-infographics
