Best Online Org Chart: LucidChart vs Gliffy vs OrgWeaver
Online Org Charts: Key Questions
Org charts need to be easy to create and update. If you’re thinking of creating an online org chart, take a few minutes to understand if updating it will be as easy as creating it.
Imagine your manager asks you to create an org chart. Instead of just saying, “I’m on it, boss!”, ask a few more questions:
- How often should I update the org chart? Every month, every year, or each time an employee is hired, fired, or changes roles?
- Who needs the org chart? Just one person, all managers, or all employees?
- Do you need to view it online, in PowerPoint, in Excel, or all three?
The answers you get will point you in the direction of the right kind of org chart software. Let’s discuss the difference between drawing software and org chart software.
Best Online Org Chart 2017: Drawing software vs. Org chart software
LucidChart and Gliffy are drawing software (or diagram software). While we’re at it, so are PowerPoint, Visio, SmartDraw, Creately, and Draw.io.
When most people think they need an org chart, they assume they need to draw boxes and lines and fill them with content. That is why drawing software is so popular.
The problem with drawing software is that you have to physically draw, place, and arrange each box with the right content. This can take considerable time to create in the first place, and even longer to update.
OrgWeaver is an org chart software. With an org chart software, you never have to draw boxes and lines by hand. Instead, the boxes and lines are automatically created and visualized in the best way based on the data you already have.
If you love drawing boxes and manually adding employee info, then a drawing software is a great alternative. If you prefer software that automatically does the drawing and arranging for you, then org chart software can be a real time-saver.
If you’re going to make an org chart in 2017, consider exploring an org chart software instead just picking up the nearest drawing software.
LucidChart vs Gliffy vs OrgWeaver
Here’s a common scenario: You have a team of 6 who need access to create and update an org chart that includes 400 people (or jobs, roles, or units). Here’s how you can compare LucidChart to Gliffy and OrgWeaver. There are other alternatives, but this is a good start. The table below shows prices and features for this scenario.
| LucidChart | Gliffy | OrgWeaver | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Getting started price (what will your first credit card bill be) | $72 | $180 | $30 |
| Billing options | Monthly or Annual | Annual | Monthly or Annual |
| Automatically draw org chart boxes from spreadsheet data | Yes | No | Yes |
| Export org chart to PowerPoint (as real shapes that can be edited, not just SVG, PNG, or JPG) | No | No | Yes |
| Export all org chart data to Excel | No | No | Yes |
| One-click switching between org chart layouts | No | No | Yes |
| Update org chart automatically with data from a spreadsheet (or an HR system via API) | No | No | Yes |
Comparisons to other LucidChart and Gliffy alternatives
There is a lot of discussion about the best online org chart tools. As you surf the web to find the right solution for your needs, remember the key questions to ask and the difference between drawing software and org chart software. Here are some other resources that we find helpful when deciding what online org chart creator to try.
- Quora: What’s the best free-of-charge software for making an org chart?
- G2 Crowd: Compare Gliffy vs LucidChart
- DiscoverCloud: Gliffy vs LucidChart
If you’re ready to try an org chart software for free, we’d love to know what you think of OrgWeaver. Sign up for a free account here.
PS: This post was updated on January 9, 2017 based on feedback from Dave Grow (@dmgrow on Twitter)
