5 Free Tools for Data Visualization You Must Use in 2024

Free Data Visualization Tools

1. Tableau Public

Want to understand your data in the best possible way? Use Tableau Public. It shows data in visual graphs and charts. The tool is free, easy to use, and works on your mobile devices, Windows, and Mac. 

For anyone new to Tableau Public, the platform offers how-to-videos teaching about its different features. In case of any doubt, there is a large community to guide and support you. However, the Tableau Support is not available for free users. 

Features 

• Export data from the web, spreadsheets, or cloud-based platforms. 
• Create dashboards and visualizations without any coding as it offers a drag-and-drop feature. 
• See your data with multiple visualization options such as maps, line charts, heat maps, etc. 
• Collaborate and share your work with anyone on the web.
• Explore and analyze publicly available data.

Pricing: Free

Also Read: Tableau or Power BI?

2. DataHero

If you organize data in spreadsheets or rely on third-party sources, this cloud-based data visualization tool is perfect for you. It saves your time on data compiling, cleaning, and uploading. Furthermore, creating charts and graphs is as easy as drag-and-drop with DataHero. 

Features

• Ad hoc analysis and reporting
• Conversion tracking
• Charting
• Dashboard creation
• Filtered views
• Compliance tracking 
• Data cleansing, warehousing, and blending 
• Multivariate analysis 

Pricing: Available for free and its subscription plan starts at $59 per month. The team version is available at $89 per user monthly. 

3. Microsoft Power BI

One of the best data visualization tools for businesses is Power BI. It can generate interactive reports and dashboards from huge data. Copilot, its AI feature, makes this tool an even-worthy competitor in our list. This LLM helps you understand and create new reports through prompts. Learn how to use Copilot in Power BI. 

Power BI works on any Windows OS, Android, and iOS. It is not only easy to use but also versatile due to its cool features and functionalities. 

Features

• Built-in connectors for integrating multiple data sources. 
• Quick insights from data subsets. 
• Customization feature to improve the reports
• APIs to integrate reports in different software products. 
• Model view to simplify complex data models.

Pricing: Free and subscription plan starts at $10/user monthly.

4. Google Data Studio

Now known as Google Looker Studio, it is a web-based tool by Google Marketing Platform. It transforms data into insights and shows through custom dashboards and reports.  

Instead of creating a one-time view, users can also create multiple views of their data. This makes it different from other free data visualization tools. Also, with multiple data connectors and templates, it is easy to source data from more than 700 platforms including Google Analytics. 

Features

• Templates to create reports in minutes.
• Option to create custom report themes and dashboards. 
• Easy sharing with scheduled report feature.
• Report-level and chart filters for interactive insights. 
• Real-time reporting and analytics. 

Pricing: Free

5. Openheatmap

Openheatmap is a great tool to visualize location-based data. It presents the data on any geographical area of your choice in an interactive and animated view. You can even share this data online through Google Docs and Excel files. 

Features

• Custom map controls and layers
• Analyze visitors’ behavior
• Zoom-in feature for mobile users
• Images suggestions
• Smart Rendering

Pricing: Free 

6. RAWGraphs

It is an open-source tool for representing complex data into simple visuals. You don’t have to download the software since it is a web application. Therefore, importing, and visualizing data from the website is easy with RAWGraphs. Best part is no coding knowledge is essential to use the software. Graphic designers can even use this visualization tool to create graphics from data sets and even edit the outputs. 

Features

• Visualize any type of data in 30 visual models.
• Generate results in SVG and PNG format. 

Pricing: Free

7. Datawrapper

With Datawrapper, you can choose how you want the data to be seen-as charts, maps, or tables. Each offers different types to make your visuals clearer and more understandable. Just like RAWGraphs, coding is not the mandatory skill to use this visualization tool. Simply copy paste or upload your data from the spreadsheet or web, choose the visual type, edit, and embed in your CMS.

Datawrapper also allows you to download the visuals as PNG, SVG, or PDF. 

Features

• Create visuals as many as you want.
• Share the visuals with your team on Slack and MS Team.
• Decide whether you want the data to be public or private. 
• See your visuals everywhere-smartphones to desktops. 
• Create custom design theme that matches your style and brand color. 
• Make your visuals live periodically. 
• Save or print the visuals at pre-defined size.

Pricing: Zero fee for free plan, $599/month for professionals, and custom pricing for enterprises. 

How to Choose the Best Data Visualization Tools?

Though each tool is built to bring the best out of your data, you should not make a random selection. After all, the key decisions will rely on the type of insights you would get from these visualization tools. 

To get the best one for your business, consider these questions when deciding:

• How comfortable is your team with the platform?
• Where is your data stored?
• What kind of visuals do you need (charts, maps, dashboards)?
• Do you need to share your visualizations with others?

Conclusion

Transforming your data into something pleasing to the eyes, clear, and quick to understand is painful. From removing duplicate data, and incomplete data to converting them into a single format; a lot of work happens behind the scenes. Data visualization tool makes this painstaking process simple without taking much of your time. 

Free tools are a great starting point, but there are feature-rich paid options too. As your data visualization needs evolve, you might consider exploring these options for enhanced functionality and control.