Best Free Org Chart Software in 2026: 9 Tools Compared

2026-10-2213 min read

TL;DR: If you want an org chart today without creating an account, use SimplOrg or draw.io. SimplOrg is built only for org charts, so it is the easier and faster of the two for this job: you add people and reporting lines, and the layout draws itself. draw.io is a general diagram tool that also covers flowcharts and architecture diagrams. If your company already lives in Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, Google Sheets and PowerPoint SmartArt are free and good enough for small teams. Lucidchart, Miro and Creately are polished, but their free plans cap documents or shapes. Canva makes the prettiest slide, and yEd is a free desktop power tool for large, data-driven charts.

Last updated: October 2026. Free-plan limits were checked on each vendor's own pricing or help page in October 2026 and can change; follow the links to confirm before you commit.

"Free org chart software" covers very different things. Some tools are free forever with no account. Some are free for three documents. Some are free to edit but charge you to export. And some are not really org chart tools at all, but drawing tools where you place every box by hand.

This list is written by the team behind SimplOrg, so read the SimplOrg entry with that in mind. We have tried to be exact about every other tool's free plan and to say plainly where SimplOrg is the wrong choice. If you only want a three-way head-to-head, see Lucidchart vs draw.io vs SimplOrg.

Quick Picks

If you need…	Pick
A chart in minutes, no account, data stays in your browser	SimplOrg
One free tool for every kind of diagram	draw.io
A chart inside your existing spreadsheet	Google Sheets
A small chart for a slide deck	PowerPoint SmartArt
A designed, on-brand graphic	Canva
Real-time collaboration on a whiteboard	Miro
Team-wide diagramming with integrations (paid later)	Lucidchart
Org chart from CSV with AI column mapping	Creately
Large charts from data, offline, at no cost	yEd

Why a Dedicated Org Chart Tool Is Faster

Most tools on this list are general drawing tools: whiteboards, design apps or diagram editors. To make an org chart in them, you place a box, type a name, draw a connector, line it up with the boxes next to it, and repeat. When someone changes teams, you move their box, redraw the lines and tidy the layout again.

A tool made only for org charts works the other way around. You tell it who reports to whom, and it draws and arranges the chart for you. Adding a person is one click on their manager. Moving a person to another team is choosing a new manager, and their whole sub-team moves with them. Nothing needs to be aligned by hand, and the chart stays tidy as it grows.

That is the main difference between SimplOrg and most of the other tools here, and the reason it is quicker for this one job. The trade-off is focus: SimplOrg only makes org charts, so if you also need flowcharts or mind maps, a general tool may suit you better.

How We Compared Them

We looked at the things that decide whether a free plan actually works for an org chart:

Signup: can you start without an account?
Free-plan limits: documents, shapes or people.
Org chart logic: does the tool understand reporting lines, or are you drawing boxes and lines by hand?
Import: can you build the chart from a CSV or spreadsheet instead of typing every person?
Export and sharing: PNG, PDF, SVG, a link.
Privacy: where your employees' names and titles end up.

We did not score tools with points. A tool that is perfect for a 300-person HR team can be overkill for a 12-person startup, so each entry says who it is for.

1. SimplOrg — Best for a Quick Chart With No Account

What it is: a browser-based editor built only for org charts. Because it does one job, it needs fewer steps than a general drawing tool: no shape library to search, no connectors to draw, no boxes to align.

Free plan: everything is free. There is no paid plan and no account.

Good: It is the easiest and fastest way on this list to get from a list of people to a finished chart. You add a person by selecting their manager and clicking Add Child, and the layout arranges itself; to move someone, you pick a new manager and their team moves with them. Or import a CSV/Excel file and the whole chart appears at once. CSV and Excel import, dotted-line ("also reports to") links, photos or emoji on cards, a card layout editor, and PNG, SVG and PDF export are all included. Charts are saved in your browser and as a JSON file; nothing is uploaded unless you create a share link, and the chart is then stored inside the link itself. It also works with Claude and ChatGPT through a connector, so an AI assistant can draft the chart for you (setup).
Not so good: No real-time co-editing, no HR system sync, and no cloud account to keep charts in, so you keep your own JSON file. Share links are view-only; the other person clicks "Create My Copy" to edit.
Best for: founders, office managers and HR generalists who need a clean chart this week and don't want to create another account.

Open SimplOrg or start from one of the free org chart templates.

2. draw.io (diagrams.net) — Best Free General Diagram Tool

What it is: a free, open-source diagram editor (Apache 2.0) that runs in the browser and as a desktop app.

Free plan: fully free; the site says no sign-up is required. You can save files on your own device or in Google Drive, OneDrive or SharePoint (drawio.com).

Good: Unlimited diagrams, works offline in the desktop app, and integrates with Confluence and Jira. It has org chart shapes and templates.
Not so good: It is a general diagram tool. Org charts mean placing boxes and connectors yourself, and building one from a spreadsheet uses an advanced CSV import format that takes some learning.
Best for: people who also draw flowcharts, network diagrams and architecture diagrams and want one tool for all of them.

3. Google Sheets Org Chart — Best if Your Data Is Already in a Spreadsheet

What it is: a built-in chart type in Google Sheets.

Free plan: free with a Google account.

Good: You put names in the first column and each person's manager in the second, and an optional third column becomes a hover tooltip (Google's help page). When the sheet changes, the chart updates.
Not so good: Customization is limited to things like box size and color. Each box shows little more than a name, and large charts become hard to read and hard to export cleanly.
Best for: a quick internal chart when the people list already lives in a shared spreadsheet.

4. PowerPoint and Word SmartArt — Best for a Small Chart on a Slide

What it is: the "Hierarchy" SmartArt graphics in Microsoft Office.

Free plan: included if you already have Microsoft Office; the web versions of PowerPoint and Word are free with a Microsoft account.

Good: The chart lives right in your slide or document, uses your theme's fonts and colors, and nobody needs another tool.
Not so good: SmartArt is designed for small diagrams. Past a couple of dozen boxes, text shrinks and rearranging branches gets fiddly, and there is no import from a people list.
Best for: a board deck or onboarding slide showing the leadership team or one department.

5. Canva — Best for a Designed, On-Brand Graphic

What it is: an online design tool with org chart templates and a whiteboard canvas.

Free plan: Canva Free includes its free templates and 5 GB of cloud storage (Canva pricing). You need a free Canva account.

Good: Polished templates, photos, brand colors and fonts. Ideal when the chart is part of a brochure, annual report or welcome pack.
Not so good: Canva org charts are graphics, not hierarchies. Moving a team means moving boxes and redrawing lines, and some template elements are paid-only.
Best for: a one-off chart where design matters more than keeping it up to date.

6. Miro — Best for Collaborative Workshops

What it is: an online whiteboard used for workshops and planning.

Free plan: 3 editable boards (you can create more, but only the three most recent stay editable), 7,000+ templates, and low-resolution exports only (Miro pricing). Account required.

Good: Several people can edit the chart together live, which works well when you are designing a new structure in a workshop.
Not so good: The three-board limit fills up fast, high-resolution export needs a paid plan, and the org chart is one template among thousands rather than the core feature.
Best for: teams already using Miro who want to sketch a reorganization together.

7. Lucidchart — Best Polished Option if You Plan to Pay Later

What it is: a professional online diagramming platform.

Free plan: 3 editable documents, 75 shapes per document and 100 templates (Lucidchart pricing). Account required.

Good: Polished editor, strong collaboration, and integrations with Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Confluence and Jira on paid plans. Paid plans add data-linked org charts.
Not so good: 75 shapes go quickly, because connectors and text count too, so a 30-person chart may not fit. Most of what makes Lucidchart great is on paid plans.
Best for: teams that will pay for a diagramming tool anyway and want to try it on a small chart first.

8. Creately — Best for CSV Import With AI Help

What it is: a visual workspace with an org chart module.

Free plan: up to 40 shapes per diagram; building an org chart from scratch or from a CSV with AI column mapping is included, but PNG, JPEG, PDF and SVG export are not (Creately plans). Account required.

Good: Importing a CSV and having columns mapped for you is convenient, and it handles hierarchy rather than loose boxes.
Not so good: The 40-shape limit and the lack of image or PDF export on the free plan make it hard to deliver a finished chart without paying.
Best for: trying out a data-driven org chart before deciding on a paid plan.

9. yEd — Best Free Desktop Tool for Large Charts

What it is: a free desktop diagram application from yWorks for Windows, macOS and Linux, with a browser version called yEd Live (yEd).

Free plan: free of charge, including commercial use. No account for the desktop app.

Good: Automatic layout algorithms that handle large graphs well, data import from Excel, and fully offline use.
Not so good: The interface feels technical, and turning a spreadsheet into a tidy org chart takes some setup. It is not designed for non-technical users.
Best for: analysts and IT teams charting hundreds of people from an export, offline.

Side-by-Side Comparison

Tool	Account needed	Free-plan limit	Builds hierarchy for you	Import people list	Free export
SimplOrg	No	None	Yes	CSV, Excel	PNG, SVG, PDF
draw.io	No	None	Partly (templates, CSV syntax)	CSV (advanced)	PNG, SVG, PDF
Google Sheets	Google	None	Yes (basic)	It is a spreadsheet	Image, via the chart
PowerPoint SmartArt	Microsoft (web)	Practical size limit	Yes (basic)	No	As part of the file
Canva	Canva	Some paid elements	No	No	Yes
Miro	Miro	3 editable boards	No	No	Low-res only
Lucidchart	Lucid	3 documents, 75 shapes	Yes	Paid plans	Yes
Creately	Creately	40 shapes per diagram	Yes	CSV	No
yEd	No (desktop)	None	Yes (auto-layout)	Excel	Yes

Which One Should You Use?

You need a chart for a meeting this week: SimplOrg. It is free with no account and, because it only does org charts, it is the quickest route from a people list to a finished chart. Choose draw.io instead if you also need other kinds of diagrams.
You have 50+ people in a spreadsheet: SimplOrg (CSV/Excel import) or yEd for very large charts. Google Sheets works if a basic look is fine.
It goes on a slide: PowerPoint SmartArt for a small chart. For a larger one, build it elsewhere and paste a PNG or SVG.
Design matters most: Canva.
You are redesigning the structure as a group: Miro, or share a SimplOrg view link and let each person make their own copy.
You will pay for a tool anyway: try Lucidchart or Creately on their free plans first.

Not sure which structure you are drawing? The 7 types of org charts explains functional, divisional, matrix and flat charts, and the org chart examples are ready to open and edit.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best free org chart software?

It depends on what "free" has to cover. For a complete org chart with no account and no limits, SimplOrg and draw.io are fully free. If you already use Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, Google Sheets and PowerPoint SmartArt cost nothing extra but suit smaller charts.

What is the easiest free way to make an org chart?

Use a tool built for org charts rather than a general drawing tool. In SimplOrg you only enter people and their managers; the boxes, lines and layout are created for you, and reorganizing is a matter of changing someone's manager. General tools such as Canva, Miro or draw.io make you draw and align every box and line yourself.

Is there a free org chart maker without signup?

Yes. SimplOrg and draw.io both work in the browser without an account, and yEd's desktop app needs no account either. Lucidchart, Miro, Canva and Creately require a free account.

Can I make an org chart from Excel for free?

Yes. SimplOrg imports CSV and Excel files directly (one row per person, with a manager column), Google Sheets can chart a name-and-manager list, and yEd imports Excel data. draw.io can import CSV using its own format.

Which free tool is best for large org charts?

For hundreds of people, use a tool that lays out the hierarchy automatically from data, such as SimplOrg or yEd. Shape-limited free plans (Lucidchart 75 shapes, Creately 40 shapes) and SmartArt are not practical at that size.

Is my employee data safe in a free org chart tool?

Check where the chart is stored. Cloud tools keep your chart on their servers under your account. SimplOrg keeps charts in your browser and in files you save, and draw.io and yEd can save to your own device.

The Bottom Line

The best free org chart tool is the one whose free plan covers your whole chart, not just the first ten boxes. For most small and mid-sized teams that means a dedicated, no-account tool; for teams already paying for Google or Microsoft, the built-in options are fine for small charts.

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