Frequently Asked Questions

Who is behind Datawrapper?

Datawrapper is created by a team of designers, developers and journalists who worked in companies like the New York Times, NPR, Deutsche Welle, Bloomberg and ZEIT Online.

The company behind the tool is called Datawrapper GmbH, a German startup owned by Mirko Lorenz, Gregor Aisch, and David Kokkelink. We’re self-funded by our customers’ subscription revenue. Our main office is in Berlin (Prenzlauer Berg), so if you’re in town, say hi! We love lunch breaks with visitors.

Which kind of charts and maps can I create with Datawrapper?

Just try it out! Create a Chart or a map now; no need to sign up. Or you can visit our Datawrapper River, which features hundreds of charts that other Datawrapper users built and which you can reuse. We also include our own charts in almost all our blog posts, especially in our Weekly Chart.

How do I sign up for a specific plan?

There are two ways to choose a plan: Sign up, then click on ☰ and “Settings” in the top right, then “Upgrade” (or simply click here to directly go there). You will arrive at a page on which you can select any of our available plans.

If you’re having trouble with that process or additional questions, write to support@datawrapper.de. We’re happy to create an account or upgrade a plan for you.

Why do you offer such a strong Free plan?

Our Free plan enables you to create, publish, embed and export Datawrapper visualizations as PNGs without limits. We offer such a strong free plan because we know that a lot of our current users and customers find out about Datawrapper through workshops, university classes or by trying out the tool after spotting an embedded chart online. We want to make it as easy as possible to do that.

But we understand that relying on a service you don’t pay for can feel odd: There must be a downside to it, no? We promise: There is not. Even on the free plan, we ensure to you:

• We won’t sell your data. Some companies make the user into the product, but this is not our business model. All data you upload to Datawrapper is treated as confidential and only belongs to your account.
• We won’t track your readers. Your embedded charts will not contain any code that tracks you or your readers. We’ve never done that, and will continue to not do that, regardless of your plan.
• Your charts are private. You decide when it’s time to share your charts with the world. Until you hit “Publish”, your charts are visible only to you and your team.
• Published charts will stay online indefinitely. We will never delete or disable any of your Datawrapper visualizations that you embedded somewhere. We stand by our pledge to keep all our users’ charts online.

Can I use my charts or maps in a commercial product or publication?

Yes, you have the full copyright to your charts and maps. Even visualizations created with a Single 10k or Single Flat account can be embedded in commercial products – just make sure to keep the label “Created with Datawrapper” that you find below your visualization.

Can I use my charts in a printed publication?

Yes, you can use Datawrapper charts you’ve exported as PNG or PDF in your printed publication. If you’re using Datawrapper on a free plan and only need to export charts once or twice, you can work with screenshots or your browser’s “Print” function.

Who can see my charts before I publish them?

Nobody but you. Our charts are private by default until you hit “publish”. You can create as many charts as you like without publishing a single one.

If I publish a chart in Datawrapper, does it appear in a public feed or profile?

No, your charts won’t appear in any kind of public feed when you publish them. All Datawrapper charts are private by default, and even published charts can only be accessed through a direct link to the chart with a unique ID, which is up to you to share (or not!). The link looks something like this: https://www.datawrapper.de/_/lsM4n/. If you want to make sure nobody finds your charts, keep them unpublished.

There is also a public feed with charts: Our River, a place for sharing ideas and getting inspiration. But only you (and others within your Datawrapper if team have one) can add charts to the River. We won’t add your charts to the River. Other people can’t add your charts to the River – even if they’re public charts. To add your charts to the River, go to step 4: Publish and click “Add to the River”. As long as you don’t do that, they won’t appear in the River.

There are also no public profiles. Nobody on the web knows you signed up for Datawrapper unless you put your byline on a published chart.

Is there a limit to how many people can view my graphics online?

No. We limited chart views for free users a while ago, but changed that in December 2019. You can create and publish as many graphics as you want with any Datawrapper account, no matter how many people see them.

Can I use custom fonts in my charts?

Yes. If you’re using the Custom or Enterprise plan, Datawrapper will provide a fully customized design template for you, which includes own fonts. You can either send the font files to us and have them hosted on our high-performance server (the same one that makes sure your charts load fast), or you can send us links and we’ll load them from your site. We can also work with platforms such as TypeKit and load the fonts from there.

What does “Custom Branding” entail and what do you need from me?

If you choose a plan with a design template (e.g. the Custom plan), all charts, maps and tables can be fully customized to fit in with your organization’s design guide. That can mean a change in font family, size & color, in background color and the color palette of all charts, extra borders or padding or adding a logo.
For example, The Times asked us to add a black line on the top of their charts, De Tijd wanted a logo, and both of them requested a change in background color and custom typefaces.

Our Custom plan includes one custom style, but you can add as many as you want for an extra fee. Visit our Pricing page to learn more.

To customize your charts, please send us your style guide at support@datawrapper.de. We can work with all kinds of different formats, so just send us whatever you think gives the best indication of what you’re looking for. At the minimum, we recommend to include the following:

• Font family, size and color for headline, description, chart and footer
• Color palette (a primary color and list of colors that suit your brand)
• Logo (if you’d like to include it in the chart)

Once we’ve received your style guide, we will create a first version of that design in your Datawrapper account. We’ll fine-tune the design together with you to make sure it fits in well. Once you’re happy, your team members will be able to apply any of your styles to the graphic they’re creating.

I need to create a specific map, but I can’t find it in Datawrapper. What now?

Our mapping tool features more than 1000 maps with administrative boundaries, but we’re happy to add more if they will be helpful to other users as well: Get in touch with our map creator Anna at support@datawrapper.de and explain which map(s) you’ll need. To make sure that you get exactly what you want, we recommend sending links to the official geodata (shapefiles, TopoJSONs or GeoJSONs, e.g. from government sites). Anna will add your request to the end of the queue and add your map as soon as possible.

If you need a map urgently, you can sponsor it. For 300 Euro, your map request will become Anna’s top priority, and she will add your map as quickly as possible. If you choose this option, write to us at support@datawrapper.de as well.

Another option is to use your own geodata to create and upload a custom map in TopoJSON or GeoJSON format.

What are you doing in terms of accessibility?

Naturally, accessibility is a tricky issue for charts and maps: They’re visual by default. But we do our best to include as many measures as we can to ensure that no one is excluded from reading a Datawrapper visualization. We offer a colorblind check for users, a data download for your readers and ARIA labels in embed codes. You can find a full explanation of these features in this Academy article we wrote about the topic.

I found an error in a map! What do I do?

Please write to our map creator Anna at support@datawrapper.de. We have high standards when creating new maps, but with more than 1000 maps, some mistakes might be made, or maps might simply be outdated. She will fix the map as soon as possible, and other users will benefit from the corrected map as well. We’re thankful for every error or bug you let us know about.

I want to show my data with the chart type x. Why don’t you offer it?

It takes a lot of energy and time to build and maintain well-designed chart types. We have some exciting new ones in our pipeline, but they will be added slowly. Basically, we’re always trying to answer the question: What will be most useful for most users? Our current chart types won’t be the best fit for all kinds of data – but we hope they will be the best fit for most. Do write to us at support@datawrapper.de if you think that a specific chart type might be useful for lots of users and use cases.

That said, we also decide consciously against adding certain chart types. Our tool is designed to be easy to use by everyone, and we are reluctant to add chart types that could easily be misused or bring more harm than good to the data. We wrote down our thoughts on diverging stacked bars and on charts with a dual axis to explain why we have not added these chart types yet.

How can I remove the “Created with Datawrapper” attribution at the bottom of the chart?

​The Datawrapper attribution appears if you use a free Basic, Single or Team plan. It allows your readers to discover how they too might be able to make similar charts as you did. We want to democratise data visualization and enable content creators to tell their data-driven stories without needing special skills or lots of money, which is why we offer such an extensive free plan – and which is why the attribution remains important. To remove it, you’ll need to update to a Custom or Enterprise plan.

What happens to my charts when I cancel my plan or close my account?

We’d be sorry to see you go. (Let us know your reasons so that we can improve our app!) But you don’t need to worry about your chart & map creations: Even if you’re not our user anymore, they will stay online forever and remain visible to your readers.

What happens to my charts in case Datawrapper should close one day?

First of all, we’re not planning to shut down or sell the company. We’re alive and well and we’re excited about the future. But you never know. If at some point we can’t host your charts anymore, we will make it easy for you to download all your charts from Datawrapper, to give you the option to host them yourself.

I have a question that isn’t answered here.

Write to support@datawrapper.de and we’re happy to answer all the questions you might have (about Datawrapper, that is).

If you want to know how to create or customize certain chart & map types, visit our Academy with dozens of How-to-articles.

If you need to freshen up your chart design skills, visit our blog “Chartable”.

If you want to be kept updated about recent features, the “Datawrapper News” section of our blog and our Changelog might be useful.

And if you want to see what other users have created with Datawrapper or need some inspiration, visit our Datawrapper River, which features hundreds of charts that other Datawrapper users built and which you can reuse.