- Graph makers side by side
- Ten graph makers to try
- Which graph maker fits what you're making
- When a pie chart is the wrong choice
- Design tool, chart builder or graphing calculator?
- Six checks before you share a graph
- Signs your graph is confusing people
- My plain advice on graphs that make a point
- Frequently asked questions
A graph maker turns a table of numbers into a bar, line, pie or scatter chart you can download, embed or drop into a report. Some are design tools, some are quick online chart builders and some are graphing calculators for maths. Ten options follow in no particular order.
A good graph makes one point obvious in a few seconds. A bad one makes readers squint at a legend and give up, which is a shame when the numbers behind it took hours to gather.
The ten tools below cover reports, classrooms, websites and maths homework. They're listed alphabetically and in no particular order, and every description comes from the vendor's own website, read this week. If your data already lives in a spreadsheet, my guide to building a Gantt chart in a spreadsheet shows how far a spreadsheet alone can go.
Graph makers side by side
I checked the free plan column on each tool's own website, as of Oct 2026. Yes means the site says the tool, or a plan or version of it, is free or open source. Trial only means a time-limited trial. Not stated means the pages I read named neither, even where there's a button inviting you to try it, so check the vendor's page before you sign up.
| Tool | Type | Good for | Free plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canva | Online design tool with a graph maker | Charts dropped into a designed page | Yes |
| ChartGo | Online chart builder | A quick bar or line chart | Yes |
| Datawrapper | Charts, maps and tables tool | Publishing charts on a website | Not stated |
| Desmos | Graphing calculator | Plotting equations and functions | Yes |
| Flourish | Interactive data visualisation tool | Interactive charts and data stories | Not stated |
| GeoGebra | Graphing calculator | Graphing functions in maths lessons | Not stated |
| LiveGap Charts | Online graph maker | Charts in many languages | Yes |
| Meta-Chart | Free online graphing tool | Pie, Venn and histogram charts | Yes |
| NCES Create a Graph | Government graphing tool for kids | Teaching children to make graphs | Not stated |
| Visme | Online design tool with a graph maker | Graphs inside reports and slides | Yes |
Ten graph makers to try
Canva
Best for: Marketers who want free, ready-made charts they can drag into a design and fill by typing in their own numbers.
ChartGo
Best for: Anyone who needs a bar, line, area or pie chart built online quickly, with a guide to choosing the chart type.
Datawrapper
Best for: Writers and newsrooms that want charts, maps and tables made for publishing online rather than slides.
Desmos
Best for: Students and maths teachers who want to graph equations and see how a curve changes, in a free graphing calculator.
Flourish
Best for: Teams that want interactive charts and maps from no-code templates, or multi-step stories with charts and captions.
GeoGebra
Best for: Classrooms and learners who want an online graphing calculator for functions, points and geometry.
LiveGap Charts
Best for: People who want to create charts online for free from templates, in a tool offered in many languages.
Meta-Chart
Best for: Students and small businesses that want a free graphing tool for pie, bar, Venn, histogram and box plot charts.
NCES Create a Graph
Best for: Primary teachers and parents who want children to make bar, line, area, pie and XY graphs on a government education site.
Visme
Best for: Teams that want a graph maker inside the same tool they use for presentations, documents and infographics.
Which graph maker fits what you're making
- Charts inside a designed page: Canva or Visme.
- A quick bar or line chart: ChartGo or LiveGap Charts.
- Charts for a website or article: Datawrapper or Flourish.
- Graphing equations: Desmos or GeoGebra.
- Pie, Venn and histogram charts: Meta-Chart.
- Children learning to make graphs: NCES Create a Graph.
When a pie chart is the wrong choice
The UK Government Analysis Function, which writes chart guidance for people across government, says pie charts should only be used when there are five categories or fewer, the categories sum to a meaningful whole and there's a dominant category. If several categories are a similar size, it says to use a bar chart instead.
Most pie charts break at least one of those rules. Seven slices of roughly equal size tell readers almost nothing, because people are poor at comparing angles. The same guidance points out that pie charts are hard to understand when magnified, which matters for anyone zooming in on a screen. When in doubt, sort the categories by size and draw a bar chart.
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Design tool, chart builder or graphing calculator?
A design tool puts the chart inside a slide, poster or report with your fonts and colours. It's the easiest route for marketing material.
A chart builder focuses on the data. You paste numbers, pick a chart type and export or embed it, often with interactive tooltips for a website.
A graphing calculator plots equations and functions rather than tables. It's what maths students and teachers need for homework and lessons.
For planning layouts, see our schedule maker roundup.
Six checks before you share a graph
- Does the title say what the graph shows?
- Do the axes have labels and units?
- Does the vertical axis start at zero on a bar chart?
- Are categories sorted in a sensible order?
- Can someone who's colour-blind read it?
- Does the source of the data appear under it?
For visualising dates rather than numbers, try our timeline maker roundup.
Signs your graph is confusing people
- The legend needs reading twice. Label the data directly.
- The pie has seven equal slices. Use bars.
- The axis starts halfway up. Start bars at zero.
- Nobody knows where the numbers came from. Add the source.
Do you make a graph maker? Tool makers can ask to be considered for a featured place on this list.
My plain advice on graphs that make a point
Write the headline before you draw the chart. If you can't say in one sentence what the reader should notice, the graph isn't ready, however nice it looks. Then pick the chart type that makes that one sentence obvious, and delete anything on the chart that doesn't support it.
If you're turning the graph into a bigger visual, my look at the best infographic maker for quick designs covers the next step.
Frequently asked questions
What is a graph maker?
It's a tool that turns a table of numbers into a bar, line, pie or scatter chart you can download, embed or add to a report.
Are graph makers free?
Many online graph makers are free to use, and some offer upgrades with extra features. Check the free plan column above.
When should I use a pie chart?
The UK Government Analysis Function says only when there are five categories or fewer, they add up to a meaningful whole and one category dominates.
What's the difference between a graph and a chart?
People use the words interchangeably. In maths, a graph often means a plotted equation, while chart covers bars, lines and pies.
Can I graph an equation online?
Yes. Graphing calculators plot equations and functions in a browser for free.
How do I make a graph readable for colour-blind people?
Label lines and bars directly, and don't rely on colour alone to tell categories apart.
