The chart below originally accompanied our story 22 free tools for data visualization and analysis (April 20, 2011). We're updating it as we cover additional tools, including 8 cool tools for data analysis, visualization and presentation (March 27, 2012), Startup offers 1-click data analysis (Aug. 29, 2012), Infogr.am offers quick Web charts (Oct. 16, 2012) and Create simple, free charts with Datawrapper (Nov. 21, 2012). Click through to those articles for full tool reviews.
Features: You can sort the chart by clicking on any column
header once to sort in ascending order and a second time to sort by
descending (browser JavaScript required).
Skill levels are represented as numbers from easiest to most difficult to learn and use:
- Users who are comfortable with basic spreadsheet tasks
- Users who are technically proficient enough not to be frightened off by spending a couple of hours learning a new application
- Power users
- Users with coding experience or specialized knowledge in a field like GIS or network analysis. Next page: Screenshots of several tools
Data visualization and analysis tools
Tool |
Category | Multi-purpose visualization |
Mapping |
Platform |
Skill level |
Data stored or processed |
Designed for Web publishing? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Wrangler | Data cleaning | No | No | Browser | 2 | External server | No |
| Google Refine | Data cleaning | No | No | Browser | 2 | Local | No |
| R Project | Statistical analysis | Yes | With plugin | Linux, Mac OS X, Unix, Windows XP or later | 4 | Local | No |
| Google Fusion Tables | Visualization app/service | Yes | Yes | Browser | 1 | External server | Yes |
| Impure | Visualization app/service | Yes | No | Browser | 3 | Varies | Yes |
| Many Eyes | Visualization app/service | Yes | Limited | Browser | 1 | Public external server | Yes |
| Tableau Public | Visualization app/service | Yes | Yes | Windows | 3 | Public external server | Yes |
| VIDI | Visualization app/service | Yes | Yes | Browser | 1 | External server | Yes |
| Zoho Reports | Visualization app/service | Yes | No | Browser | 2 | External server | Yes |
| Choosel | Framework | Yes | Yes | Chrome, Firefox, Safari | 4 | Local or external server | Not yet |
| Exhibit | Library | Yes | Yes | Code editor and browser | 4 | Local or external server | Yes |
| Google Chart Tools | Library and Visualization app/service | Yes | Yes | Code editor and browser | 2 | Local or external server | Yes |
| JavaScript InfoVis Toolkit | Library | Yes | No | Code editor and browser | 4 | Local or external server | Yes |
| Protovis | Library | Yes | Yes | Code editor and browser | 4 | Local or external server | Yes |
| Quantum GIS (QGIS) | GIS/mapping: Desktop | No | Yes | Linux, Unix, Mac OS X, Windows | 4 | Local | With plugin |
| OpenHeatMap | GIS/mapping: Web | No | Yes | Browser | 1 | External server | Yes |
| OpenLayers | GIS/mapping: Web, Library | No | Yes | Code editor and browser | 4 | local or external server | Yes |
| OpenStreetMap | GIS/mapping: Web | No | Yes | Browser or desktops running Java | 3 | Local or external server | Yes |
| TimeFlow | Temporal data analysis | No | No | Desktops running Java | 1 | Local | No |
| IBM Word-Cloud Generator | Word clouds | No | No | Desktops running Java | 2 | Local | As image |
| Gephi | Network analysis | No | No | Desktops running Java | 4 | Local | As image |
| NodeXL | Network analysis | No | No | Excel 2007 and 2010 on Windows | 4 | Local | As image |
| CSVKit | CSV file analysis | No | No | Linux, Mac OS X or Linux with Python installed | 3 | Local | No |
| DataTables | Create sortable, searchable tables | No | No | Code editor and browser | 3 | Local or external server | Yes |
| FreeDive | Create sortable, searchable tables | No | No | Browser | 2 | External server | Yes |
| Highcharts* | Library | Yes | No | Code editor and browser | 3 | Local or external server | Yes |
| Mr. Data Converter | Data reformatting | No | No | Browser | 1 | Local or external server | No |
| Panda Project | Create searchable tables | No | No | Browser with Amazon EC2 or Ubuntu Linux | 2 | Local or external server | No |
| PowerPivot | Analysis and charting | Yes | No | Excel 2010 on Windows | 3 | Local | No |
| Weave | Visualization app/service | Yes | Yes | Flash-enabled browsers; Linux server on backend | 4 | Local or external server | Yes |
| Statwing | Visualization app/service | Yes | No | Browser | 1 | External server | Not yet |
| Infogr.am | Visualization app/service | Yes | Limited | Browser | 1 | External server | Yes |
| Datawrapper | Visualization app/service | Yes | No | Browser | 1 | Local or external server | Yes |
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